[Jaykobell]

He carefully made his way down the small stairs of the RV, a folded camping chair under his arm. Although he was positive the end result would be more than worth it, the setup sure was kind of a hassle!

He landed on the ground carefully, making sure not to trip over the uneven ground and the stray rocks. Good thing this thing has a leveling thing! But the thought of them trying to sleep at an angle was kind of entertaining. But traveling with a young child, sleeping on an even plane was a much better idea.

As he unfolded the chair and settled it down, he heard the small, squeaky voice of a child calling out to him. "Potpourri!"

[Jaykobell]

He turned around to see the little child running towards him, jumbling up his name in the cute way only the boy knew how. What he was trying to say was, "pop Hori", but it really just came out sounding like the word. He took no offense to it; really, it was sort of flattering for him to have his own little nickname.

"Simmy!" he called out to the child as the boy slowed down in his run. "What do you think?" he asked, hands on his hips, bending down to get closer to the child. "You like it?"

Simcha — or Simmy, one of the little nicknames Hori called him — looked up at the adult with big, round eyes. "I do!" he gasped, and he raised his arms in the sky, and he spread them. "It's huuuuge!" he declared, spreading his arms to the maximum, until he couldn't anymore. "I wanna see all of it!"

[Jaykobell]

"All of it?" Hori repeated.

Simcha nodded, his movement vastly exaggerated. "Uh-huh!" He got closer to Hori and started to tug at his shirt in an attempt to force the adult to come along. "I wanna see!" he insisted, the tugs getting harder. "Pleeeeease!"

"Whoa, whoa, okay!" Hori agreed, and he gently grabbed onto Simcha's hands to stop the child from tugging any more. "We'll go on a walk to check it out! And we'll take tons of pictures," he promised, and he delicately worked the child's fingers around so that Simcha would let go of his clothes. "But you gotta listen to me if we go, a'right?"

Simcha's face glowed, and his mouth opened wide in a silent squeal. "Okay!"

"Simcha," Hori said, a little bit more serious this time, raising an eyebrow at the excited child. "I'm serious! Promise me you'll listen and you won't go off on your own?"

[Jaykobell]

When he shifted his tone, it seemed to hit the mark. Simcha calmed down a little bit, straightening up and putting his hands behind his back. "Okay," he promised as he moved his body this way and that, all the while staying in place. "I promise, Potpourri."

"Attaboy," Hori said, and he brought a hand to Simcha's hair to ruffle it affectionately. "I don't wanna lose you out there. It is huge!" God, and how would they even find the child if they did lose him? He preferred not to think about it. He kept the fear on the outer layer of his mind, but only enough so that he could be conscientious while they were on this camping trip.

"So can we go?" Simcha asked again, more excited than ever now that Hori had confirmed they could go check out the plains. They stretched on and on and on, forever ongoing! There was so much to see! "Please, can we go?"

[Jaykobell]

Hori blinked as the boy started turning around on himself, itching to leave immediately. "Wait, hold up," he said, and the child froze in his tracks mid-turn. "Don't you want zaza Arjuna to come along?"

Simcha finished his turn once Hori had asking the question, and his excitement toned down. "Okay!" There was no indignation or upset in his voice, but certainly no equal amount of excitement as before.

Hori tilted his head, but he didn't dwell on it. "We're all here together!" he reminded the little one. "They were excited to come here together. Let's enjoy it!" He ruffled the boy's hair again. It was hard enough to find time for them all to get away from the business like this — understandable considering their company had launched so powerfully, and considering they held high end positions like CEO and vice-president. So while not impossible, it was certainly difficult to plan this sort of little family retreat.

[Jaykobell]

"Okay! You're right, Potpourri," Simcha agreed, flailing his arms a little while giggling as Hori ruffled his hair. "But are they coming? I wanna go!" he insisted, jumping in place a little.

"A'right, a'right, hold on!" Hori instructed, putting his hands on Simcha's shoulders with just enough force to keep the little on grounded, both physically and psychologically. Once the child had quieted down, Hori straightened up and turned to the door of the RV. "Arjuna!"

He waited for a few seconds after calling out the name, but no answer came. He blinked, keeping his attention focused on the door. "Arjuna?" he repeated.

There were a few more seconds of silence. "Are they coming?" Simcha asked after a few seconds, and his face twisted with a little bit of worry. "I wanna go, Potpourri!"

[Jaykobell]

As much as he loved Simcha's eagerness and firecracker excitement, there were times when Hori's patience started to falter when faced with it. "Okay, okay, calm down, Simcha," he said, his tone a little bit more serious. "We're gonna go, but I want you to be patient."

He turned around and headed for the RV. "Don't go anywhere!" he instructed the boy, looking over his shoulder to make sure Simcha was listening. "I'm gonna go get zaza Arjuna." With that promise made, he made his way up the tiny RV staircase.

What a wonderful idea it had been to rent this vehicle. Renting a hotel would've left them staying much too far away from the plains, giving them little opportunity to truly enjoy them. With this great machine, they could stay and camp on the plains, allowing them to truly enjoy this little retreat. It wasn't the biggest one available, but with all the basic necessities of a tiny home — an actual, separate bedroom, a shower, a bathroom, and a kitchen — they really wouldn't complain.

[Jaykobell]

As he stepped up inside the RV, he blinked at the emptiness of it. "Arjuna?" he called out for the third time, hoping to get an answer this time since he was in closer proximity.

Finally, he heard a familiar quiet, dry voice. "I am in the bedroom, Hori."

"Finally!" Hori called out as he made his way towards and into the bedroom at the very end of the RV, past the kitchen and past the shower and bathroom.

He was relieved to see the lean, professional executive. They paid little attention to Hori as he stepped inside the room, stopping just short of the bed. "Guess you didn't hear me from outside?" he teased lightheartedly, his eyes trailing down to the Arjuna's hands as the other put down a small plush toy on the bed.

"I did," Arjuna admitted as they gently, carefully put down the plush on on the bed to lean against one of the pillows, "but I was busy setting up the bed."

[Jaykobell]

Hori got lost for a second, looking at the little bat plush on the bed, and the soft pastel colors of the bed sheets and pillowcases. The space was limited, so it had been agreed that Arjuna and Simcha, as parent and son, would share the bedroom. Hori, meanwhile, would sleep on the expendable futon bed in what was, essentially, the living room of the RV.

"Already?" he asked after a few seconds, once he was done getting distracted by the soft toy. "It's just about noon, nobody's sleeping yet," he assured his friend, chuckling a little. "Simcha's itching to go out there and check out the plains."

Arjuna straightened up, and they turned slowly to look back at Hori. They blinked slowly. "I'm glad." Although the words were positive, the flat tone made it difficult to connect all the dots together.

[Jaykobell]

Despite the lack of emotional tone, Hori knew that every word spoken by Arjuna was the truth. "You coming?" he asked, and he motioned over his shoulder with a thumb to inspire Arjuna to follow. "Simcha's going to run off if I don't get you outta here to go walk on the plains, like, right now," he laughed.

Arjuna listened, and they took a second to answer. As they spoke, they turned back around to the small suitcase at their feet. "I am not," they answered, pulling out a small pajama set.

Hori hadn't expected an emotional outburst for an answer, but he had expected agreement. "What?" he gasped, genuinely surprised: a stark contrast to the calm, dry executive. "Why not? You were so excited, and Simcha is so excited."

Arjuna paused, the pajamas still in their hands. They turned to Hori again. "I am excited," they assured their vice-president.

Hori waited, expecting some sort of follow-up to that statement. After the silence had stretched, the two just staring at each other, Hori frowned with sad, worried concern. "So why won't you come?"

[Wild Pet Found]