Sitting With the Dragon|~Open~

[DUSTIN MEYERS]

"there has to be something that can be done...I'm not gonna stand by and let another person I care for die..." he was mad and he couldn't bring himself to calm down much, but he wanted to at least try. He had seen so many of the people he cared about die, that he didn't want to see it again. Dustin slammed his hand into the ground hissing slightly, but ignoring it and looking at her. He sat down next to her, taking her hand in his, looking at hit, mentally beating himself up for not being able to help her. He felt so weak so stupid and nothing was going to fix it now was it. "Come on...I want to help...and he said this would never happen..." he felt the stinging pain in the back of his eyes, he should have been watching, and then maybe, just maybe she would have been okay.

He wanted it to be him like that, not her, if he died he would have at least known he had taken care of her. He could not believe that he had not seen this coming.

[URIEL ELDRICH]

Aradia laughed, she couldn't help it. She just broke down into laughter. Yes, she knew she had doomed herself with a slip of clumsiness. Yes, she was aware that she wouldn't have long to be laughing.
"It's not your fault and you're not allowed to think it is. I'm just gonna go to Hades, it can't be that bad down there. I'm not scared." Aradia grinned, attempting to remember all of the good moments she'd had in life. Then the thought popped to mind.
"I found a way of making it so you won't have to miss me." Aradia smiled, flashing her teeth and a glimmer of happiness Dustin's direction. She removed her left earring. Her round sword instantly slid out of its handle, which morphed to be big enough to be the right proportion. To the best of her ability, she slit along the scar on her back, opening the wound again through torn fabric and skin. Tearing the fabric was probably something she'd regret later(she was with a boy) but whatever, it didn't matter.

[DUSTIN MEYERS]

Dustin looked at her shocked, he didnt' know why she had just done that. He put his hand on the wound looking at her, for the first time in his life fear was in his eyes, real fear not the fake fear. "why did you do that?" he wanted her to stay, he didn't know what was going on here and he couldnt' help but feel like it was his fault.'Darnit thanks father...i kinda wish I never knew anything about this...' He sighed but didnt' know what he was supposed to do, he was trying to keep calm even though inside he was breaking. He wanted to know what she was up and what she was doing. "Why..." he couldn't help it, his voice cracked slightly as he moved closer to her not worrying about the blood from the wound on her back, it wasn't bugging him like he thought it would have, part of that was a good sign. But the only real thing his mind was on, happened to be that fact that he was losing her and he was thinking back to when he had lost his sister, for awhile just like this, except in this case with her it might be forever.

[URIEL ELDRICH]

Aradia's grin grew. "You see, this wound was inflicted by the blade of Achlys, my mother. Achlys, being the goddess of poison, would obviously attract it. Thus, her blade will do the same. The poison will seep from the wound and I'll be fine, if down a little blood." The redhead winked. She replaced the earring, in its much smaller form and pulled Alamo away from the place he'd been about to peck her back from.
"Give it about five minutes, then could you help me bandage this?" Aradia, chipper as ever, began humming in her work to make the atmosphere a bit brighter. She was cutting bandages she'd pulled from the pouch on her belt. Aradia opted out of the painkiller she had still laying out of the utility belt. One, it would be overdose, and two, the pain from her back wasn't actually all that bad now that the poison was draining. A smile rested permanently on her face.

[DUSTIN MEYERS]

Dustin was so close to shaking her death, but he had decided against it, he was glad she was okay, and that was the only thought going through his head as he helped her bandage her wound." Don't scare me like that..." he was so afraid for the first time since his sister, and he didn't know what he was going to do with her. She had pulled so much, and hopefully Aradia didn't do anything else like this, becuase she might just end up killing him next time instead of hurting herself. He knew he didnt' mean that thought but it had always been there and he knew it was there and couldn't avoid it. "I'm sorry..." was all he muttered as he looked down at the ground.

[URIEL ELDRICH]

"Why are you sorry?" Aradia leaned against Dustin as her rooster pecked and scratched around where her blood had mixed with dust on the ground. "If anyone should be sorry, it's me, after all, I'm the one who worried you." Aradia's amber gaze lifted to the horizon, the sun had set at least a half an hour ago. Only the slightest glow lightened the edge of the horizon, and strange light cast from a few bottles on the redhead's utility belt. Aradia tilted her head back and took in the stars. A small happy laugh once more bubbled from her mouth. Then she stopped dead with realization.
"Wow, this has to be the best time I've had since I quit doing fairs." It was barely a whisper, she wondered if Dustin had even heard it. Then she cast her amber eyes back to the stars and the line from Suzanne Vega's 'Left of Center' popped to mind; I think that somehow/Somewhere inside of us/We must be similar/If not the same. A light blush tinged her cheeks pink, as she though about that line, but she let it go. The stars really were beautiful.

[DUSTIN MEYERS]

He looked at her wiping his hand on his pants, the blood that was on his hands didn't scare him, but he didn't want it on his hand at this point, so he just smeared it on his pants not really caring. "As long as you are okay... I really don't care..about anything else..." Dustin was always worrying and now he found out why, but to him all that matter was that she was okay, but now he had to teach her how to be a bit less clumsy. "So maybe you should be a bit more careful..." he could tell she was blushing, but then again so was he, but he was just a bit better at covering up the fact that he was blushing.

With him no ever knew if he was blushing or even what he was doing because that was just how secretive he could be, and not like she would try to read him like a book. He hated it when people tried to read him like a book, not like they would understand him even if they did learn something about him. 'Thank you...' he muttered to a person he thought would probably never hear him, even though that person had little or nothing to do with helping her, he just felt like he had to thank them, it was all he could do, and plus his father deserved some credit to, even if he did absolutely nothing.

[ARADIA PETERSON]

"Of course I should be more careful, I learned my lesson today." Aradia's soft giggle filled the air and floated up to the sky. She leaned back on her hands as a small smile lifted the corners of her mouth. The glow disappeared from the horizon, all they had to light their faces was the strange light from Aradia's vials.
"You shouldn't just care about me. What happened to the fact that you care about being alive so we can be happy together? And about wanting to laugh and be a hero? And to smile? I don't want to be something you depend on, I'm just a friend." Something inside Aradia didn't like that last sentence, but she shoved that sleeping bit of her down. Dustin was a friend, closer now than ever before, but still a friend. Alamo pecked her hand, wanting to be picked up. For one of the first times in his life, she refused, and settled just to pet him.

[DUSTIN MEYERS]

Dustin didn't respond to what she said at first, but then he actually spoke. "Yea you are my friend...and I care a lot about you...so what I will be what I want to be, the one kid who changes this stupid big three thing..." Dustin couldn't believe that he had spoken about his dream, which he had barely brought it up at all. He turned away hoping she hadn't heard that, and if she did then he would probably have some explaining to do because ya know, he had never managed to say it. "I have a dream...and you know what I care about being alive, and I will not let anything happen to you..." He stopped talking because he wanted to say something else but he didnt' want her to get mad at him for saying this, so he kept to his thoughts. 'Maybe someday we can be more than just friends...' but he barely even thought about it because he was the one who had to keep going, who wanted to be her friend.

But deep down, this boy wanted to be something more to her, but he figured that if it was meant to happen he should just be patient, or it would never happen, plus he had to show her that he cared, and wanted friends, and see if she wanted to go any further. He wasn't going to push her to go any further because he was the one who had been the strong one, but if he pushed to hard he would hurt her, and he couldn't do that to her, becuase she was so important just because she was his first friend at this camp that didn't think she was going to get something out of him. She wasn't one who wanted to take things from him. She cared about him for what he was and what he had. He was a good kid, but he didnt' really know if she wanted to take anything, but the way she was acting meant that she didnt' want to take anything. And also the fact that she might just happen to be the one thing he wanted, and maybe they could be more than just friends.

[ARADIA PETERSON]

"Dream... I don't like dreams. Do you want to talk about it?" Aradia asked quietly. She lowered her amber eyes from the sky, and put the vials she'd taken from her utility belt back into their slots. She set the belt a few feet away from her, so she couldn't break any more vials, then returned to Dustin and Alamo, who was falling asleep on the readhead girl's bag. She sat down by the blonde boy, resting her head on his shoulder and casting her gaze off to the ocean beyond the camp. Her rooster let out a tiny huffing snore, a nightingale cooed softly overhead, and the waves on the beach crashed in the distance. A hushed orchestra of natural things. Otherwise all was silent, the only thing Aradia could hear was the beating of her quiet heart. Her hand moved softly onto his, as she watched the moon reflect waveringly off the waves.

[DUSTIN MEYERS]

"Well ever since I first learned about the big three and the way they treated everyone else...I um got this thought in my head that I wanted to change that and make everyone equal again..." he sighs and looked over at her, he liked the feeling of her this close to him and plus his shoulder wasn't hurting anymore and the fact that she was laying on it, made him feel very comfortable around her, but well other people would not be that easy. But at least for the most part he was started to make friends, even if it was just one, and it was a girl. But who cares, girls to him were awesome and you can be who you want around them, unlike the way you have to hide behind a false face with most boys.

"You know I have learned something today...that girls are better to have contact with then boys...cause you don't have to hide..or well at least with you I dont have to..." even though he was still slightly a bit scared of completely opening up, but he was going to and nothing was going to keep him from opening up, even if it wasn't right now. He felt her hand ontop of his as he smiled,looking up at the sky, the moon was reflected in his eyes, just reminding him of the dream he had and the other dream that had followed with him meeting her, even if that one would be an even harder dream to reach.