When Jack woke up, it was midday. He was surprised to find that Mark had taken him into a cave, where the giant had laid down and fallen asleep with a warm hand over his little human ally. Outside, it was very humid. But it was also raining heavily.

Jack sleepily pressed the heels of his hands into the surface below him as he opened his eyes. He felt a lot better than when he had first come on this island, and he hoped that his health would remain stable until someone found him and brought him back to civilization.

He looked outside to watch the rain for a little bit. He could smell the fresh scent of the rainfall, and he was also surprised to realize that it was quite cold outside despite the usual tropical humidity. Sighing, Jack shifted a little further down under Mark's hand to cover himself in the giant's warmth and hide from the storm outside. Once fully under, Jack curled up and laid there for a little while.

It was a while before Mark finally woke up, and by then Jack had dozed off. The giant was rudely woken up when a splash of water sprinkled square onto his nose, and the giant wrinkled his nose as his eyes tiredly opened. He eyed the cave roof before another raindrop hit him on the forehead. He growled and turned his head to see that the wind had changed direction, and the rain was now pouring into the mouth of the cave.

Mark huffed and got up and carried Jack deeper into the cave so that they wouldn't get wet. He sat down and leaned against the cave wall, bringing his knees up to his chest and holding the sleepy little Irishman against his shoulder. Later on though, he felt Jack stir in his hand, so Mark gently pinched his waist and set him down on his knee. He then sat and looked at the sleeping human closely, smiling a little in happiness. They were finally free. He was finally out of that horrible dark cave, and he had made a friend!

He watched as Jack blinked open his sleepy little baby blue eyes, and his smile widened to show his teeth as he watched the human wake. Jack yawned and stretched his arms and legs out, and Mark couldn't resist reaching a hand up and gently rubbing the little human's back with one finger. To his relief, Jack didn't freeze up in fear or anything, instead his shoulders rolled as he sat up and rubbed his sleepy little eyes, giving no protest to the giant's touch.

This made Mark really happy.

"Hey buddy." Jack looked at Mark to see that the giant was smiling, and he couldn't help but smile back. "Enjoying your freedom?" Jack chuckled. Mark purred and leaned his head down, gently nuzzling Jack. Jack giggled like a kid on Christmas as he reached up and stroked the giant's soft floofy hair. He then yelped a little when Mark tilted his head back up and in the process brought Jack with him, and the Irishman hauled himself safely onto the giant's hair. Mark gave a small but deep giggling noise, and Jack found himself grinning as he scratched the top of Mark's head.

"Awww!" He awed when Mark purred. He started petting the giant to the best of his ability, making him purr harder. "You're like the pet I never have had! Aw this is so cool!" He was interrupted when thunder rumbled outside, and Jack flinched away from the cave entrance. Mark gave a soft rumble, tilting his head slightly. Lightning flashed before the thunder gave a loud clap, making Jack yelp and press himself down into the messy swamp of Mark's hair.

Mark growled at the storm outside and lifted his arm. His hand skimmed over a few messy tufts before he managed to find and gently pry Jack out of the mop of hair. Jack shivered and welcomed Mark's hand as the giant pressed Jack to his chest with his hand over him, separating him from the angry thunderstorm. He laid down on the ground and curled up, and he began to purr loudly to drown out the noise of the rain.

Jack sighed gratefully as he curled up in his friend's embrace, then gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Um... no one needs to know about this, alright?" Jack called out to Mark. Mark gave a deep-throated rumble that vibrated Jack's body, and Jack smiled a little and pressed against the giant's chest. "It's just that it sounds like something that could attack me, especially now that I know giants are apparently a thing," he reasoned. Mark growled softly in agreement. Jack closed his eyes and listened to Mark's strong heartbeat for a little bit, then opened his eyes.

"... Mark!" He suddenly exclaimed. Mark rumbled curiously and opened his arms up a little, allowing Jack to run up onto his shoulder. "I know what we can do to pass the time, I can try to teach you to talk!" Jack suggested eagerly. Mark's expression fell to hesitation, and he uncertainly looked away from Jack with a small growl. "Hey, its ok buddy..." Jack soothed the giant as he put his hand on his neck. "I'm not gonna do anything bad to you, ever. I promise, scouts honor." Mark looked back at Jack and scratched the back of his head before slowly nodding in agreement to Jack's excitement. Jack even gave a little squeak and clapped his hands together.

"Yay! I think it'd be so cool if you could actually talk to me, but if you can't that's fine, I think I'm one of those people that just never shuts their pie hole." Mark gave a growl that sounded like a really deep-throated chuckle, and Jack smiled.

"Here, I'll say something, and you feel my voice box." Jack tapped his throat before lifting his chin up, and Mark gently put his pinky finger over the area to feel the vibrations.

"So this is talking," Jack began to explain. "And what you do is just growl." Jack made his best mimic of the giant's growl, and then continued. "But you could use those growls to form words out of them," Jack suggested. Mark tilted his head and blinked, then opened his mouth and growled.

"Here, press down a little more..." Once Mark's thumb was secure, Jack said a sentence for Mark to repeat. "Hello, my name is Mark." Jack had done his best to keep his accent at bay, but Mark could still only growl. "Hmmm... let's just try hello then."

Jack spent the rest of the storm trying his best to teach the giant to speak, but he made little progress. It was when the storm had finally lifted that the progress was made though. Jack had still been teaching Mark the common human greeting, so he had narrowed it all the way down to a friendly wave and simply just saying "Hi."

"Come on now, we got a little more time left, the storms almost over." Jack waved his hand and said hi, and while Mark waved back he still couldn't utter any human words. Jack sighed and thought for a moment. "... hmm..." Jack looked up at Mark. "Maybe if we started you off with a familiar way of talking, we could smooth the edges down later on," he realized. Mark tilted his head again, he was clearly confused.

"When you do a growl, I want you to go, "Hhhhhhhiiii," Jack commanded. He had started off hi with a low growl that transferred from guttural to a human noise. Mark eyes rounded a little, and he tried.

"Hhhhrr..." he winced and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, his voice still too deep to form the one word properly.

"Come on, you can do it!" Jack encouraged. "Come on, say hi to me! Say hi!" Mark bit his lower lip and then finally managed to do it.

"H-hhhhiiiiiii..." the word had been growled out in a really deep and forced out tone, but Jack was still delighted; he whooped and clapped his hands.

"You did it!" He cheered. "You spoke your first word! Aww now I feel like a parent!" Mark smiled both at Jack's words and at his own small little word. He was so happy that he even said it again, this time it came out a little more akin to the human language. He still had to growl a little to force the word out, but it was progress. He was learning!

Jack was still joyful when they both realized that the rain had finally stopped, and he gave Mark a big grin before he suddenly slid down the giant's muscular arm and started running.

"WHEEEEEEEE!" Jack burst out of the cave and did a spin, letting his arms stick out. "I love natrue! Oh it's so pretty out here!" He exclaimed as Mark poked his head out of the cave and blinked in the sunlight. "Look, look! The leaves are all shiny and the sun's out, there's not a cloud in the sky anymore," Jack observed with fascination. "Come on, let's go exploring!" Mark crawled out of the cave and got up as Jack ran off into the jungle. The Irishman was suddenly fueled with undying energy, but luckily Mark caught up to him with a few strides before he could get lost. Jack felt a lot safer in the company of his "little buddy" than when he first entered the shadows of the huge trees, and with Mark standing beside one Jack realized how gargantuan the trees were. At least they gave the giant some nice shade.

"Isn't it so pretty?" Jack looked up at Mark with a grin. Mark smiled back and nodded contently, looking around with a peaceful grin plastered on his face.

The giant suddenly broke into a run and raced ahead of Jack, who was thrown off by the whip of the wind he had left in his wake before he called out after him and ran after. " 'ey!" Mark kept running, but it wasn't hard to keep track of where he was going from the thundering footsteps. Mark emerged from the trees and skidded to a halt on a cliff that overlooked the beach and vast ocean, and he let out a triumphant roar that seemed to echo across the entire island and over the water. Jack came up behind him, breathing heavily.

"Whoa..." he stopped in Mark's shadow and looked up. "That was... really loud," he chuckled. Mark looked at him and crouched down, and he gave a happy rumble. Jack climbed up the scratchy denim cloth and onto his thigh, and he sat down to catch his breath.

"... so where should we go next?"