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PD#2

Usually on missions, people would send a might her with a big sword and armor, perhaps with a manly beard, some chainmail - it was a QUEST, after all, made to create warriors and mold the shape of history. One did not usually expect a mission of such magnitude to be carried out by a lanky, slim little pale thing with a quiet voice and a feathered dragon at her side. If nothing else, a hero was supposed to slay the dragon - not let it wind about her and flutter about as they walked.

Unfortunetly for those people expecting such massive heroics, they were stuck with Emi. She needed papers for her mother to fill out, to do something with and Dagger, haing to wander any from her home for some reason, had sent her after them. Emi had gotten lost and ended up wandering the halls for about thirty minutes before finally finding Madelines office.

"I think this is it, Odette." Emis voice was a bit higher then normal; she was stressed and LOST and tired and if this wasn't it, she was going to absolutely start sniffling. Odette, being a rather simple dragon, made a little noise and allowed her girl to get to the door without much of a problem. The swan hesitated and, with one glance at her dragon, raised a small fist to rap at the door.

"Miss Madeline? May - May I come in?"

“What’s even worse is that I am the one here being accused of improper parenting. It’s outrageous Keivlos, that’s two of your teachers within the past few months that you have caused trouble for. At this stage in the game I shouldn’t be having second doubts leaving you at home,” the strange spry blonde thing had been prattling on like this for nearly a good fifteen minutes, it was clear that Madeline was upset. Over what Keivlos had not the slightest idea, at least it was nothing important that he should care about, what were grades for anyway? It was just a little letter on a peace of paper…and you could eat that.

On the ground below, wrapped about Keivlos’ chair, as usual, Dima stood his usual contented guard. Madeline hated it, hated that damn dragon, especially in her office which was already so damn tiny, but it seemed if she had insisted upon dragging one of them to her office, she would have to bring the both of him. The blasted thing had tried to take a good bite at her when she had pulled her son away from it this morning. So as the black and green menace sat there lazily soaking up the sun, it was the first of the three to sense the presences at the door. Keivlos was next, his head swiveling much in the same slow deliberate manor Dima’s had, “…Company.”

Madeline, who seemed to be the slowest of the three, had only just turned her head when she heard the small voice. “Oh that would be Emi—Come in dear,” her voice rang out in the silent room like clear crystal. It was wonderful and melodious, quite the opposite of Keivlos’ expression, which had just turned dark and sour. His mother had warned him she would be working, but the poor bird had not expected the one visitor he despised to run into the most.

Emi had grabbed only the very tail end of the conversation; she was doing her very best to not think about it. Keivlos was in there but apparently... Miss Madeline wasn't too pleased. She cringed just slightly. When Dagger was upset, the short woman had a tendancy to yell, slam her small fists against doors, to snarl at Rakha as if he was her slave - which, he was, really, but that wasn't the point. It was then that Emi would get scolded the most: she was too quiet or too thin, her dragon was large, her clothing too pink, too, too, too of everything and it was always her fault. Lately, it was just Teeu being upset with her instead of their mother. The swan wasn't exactly sure why; it seemed as if instead of every cloud having a silver lining, all of her silver linings had clouds.

Angry little sisters with claws and jaws that could clamp down hard enough to crush bone as if it was a loaf of bread certianly did not help matters. Teeu was a cloud, a dark brown one, to the silver lining that had been Odette.

But! Better thoughts! Keivlos was in there and she liked Keivlos. He was sweet, if a little shy, and he was her friend. Much better then Teeu. When she opened the door and came face-to-face (figuritively speaking) with an angry looking black-and-green dragon and a Keivlos that appeared as if someone had just shoved something rotting (or whatever he disliked) under his nose, it came as quite a shock. Emi visibly flinched at the glowering duo and Odette, unamused by the 'antics' of the stupid boys, narrowed her bird-yellow eyes all the more.

The slim dragon slipped in front of Emi, almost a shield, only to have a small pale hand nestle itself into the ruffle of feathers along the base of her skull in spine. She thrummed.

"Ah - Dagger said that you had some papers. For her." Eyes went to Madeline, away from Keivlos, as Emi fidgeted just a step or two inside the room. Then, back to Keivlos. He was still in the room - even if his dragon was a bit... intimidating. "You... You got bigger."

Such graceful social moves there, Emi.

In the back of his mouth was a tangy, unsavory, flavor, it stung the roof of his tongue and made his throat hurt and eyes water. His mind, the thick black mass of whirring cogs it was, was trying to place a memory, a unpleasant memory of Emi. Not that Emi herself was unpleasant, but, he couldn’t …strangely enough remember why it was he had been avoiding her for so long. In the beginning he had liked her well enough, adored her, her white skin fascinated him…it still did, better than anything in that pile of junk in his room. So he had liked her, but back then he had always made her cry…ah yes, that’s why he was scared, cause she had suddenly turned tail, put on a new face, one day she had returned his adorations. That was what scared Keivlos, the possibility that she actually cared for him back. The last time they had met…he touched the side of his cheek, in a surreal state of past memory and present.

“You’ve gotten bigger too my dear,” it was Madeline who came to the rescue, breaking that blank abysmal look on her dear sons face. (Though, he did seem to be showing some faint signs of life.) “I see they thought you were old enough to give you you’re dragon, I’m assuming it is a she? She’s quite lovely.” While dragons could not speak, they very well had a language of their own, shifting his position a bit, Dima raised his head setting it into Keivlos’ lap. He was laughing to himself, laughing at the ridiculous pair of strangers whom had entered the room. Funniest of all Madeline thought that thing standing beside the timid looking girl was lovely. She, Madeline was a stupid human.

“Anyway, I’ll be back in a minute with your papers. The printer is down the hallway, unfortunately,” unaware of the mess she had left in her office, Madeline stood up and tip-toed her way around the two small children and poised dragons…thick, was what she felt as she floated out of the room, thick tension.

Now they were alone, one boy one girl, two dragons. It was as his mother had said, Emi had almost grown overnight. Changed, but exactly the same, give or take a few inches of her arms and or legs. The clocked ticked in slow silence, the seconds painfully passing as he looked at her with cold glassy eyes. He—he wanted to talk, he realized that conclusion soon enough, but…what should he say? He was—

“You…standing out there long enouf. What did you hear?”

Oh, but this was uncomfortable. Keivlos was staring at her, a universally stark expression, and his dragon was very close to him. Odette posed some sort of shield against the proverbial onslaught of the other couple, she wasn't enough to keep Emi from feeling a bit closed in. He had made her cry, in the past when she was young and taught to be a certian way, before Dagger had forced her to see that 'different' did not mean 'bad' and 'awkward' did not mean 'scary'. Keivlos had been different, been scary, he had stared at her and, looking back on it, the small girl couldn't make herself see anything except a painfully awkward little boy who didn't like to talk (to her, anyway) but had still tried to... to communicate. He was sweet. Kind of. In his own way? Like Lian could be, when he did something without telling people that made life easier - put her favorite ballerina doll back on her bed when Teeu stole it, took her water after she danced, in a quiet attempt to show something but with a fumbling insistance that made it all seem very young. Keivlos was nothing like her older brother, of course, but the parallel was still the same.

Madeline was talking with a tone that was almost harshly cheerful; it was loud enough to break her out of her staring streak with the raven. Emi blinked a few times when her attention was dragged from Keivlos once more, her free hand rising up to rub at her cheek with the meat of her small palm. "I - Yes. Her name is Odette." A near-whisper now, a soft breath of words. She talked more as she got older, when she wasn't around Dagger, but it was softer with every moment of tension.

Emi managed to squeak out a 'thank you' when Madeline left and then her eyes fell to Odette. The dragon was almost fluffed up defensively, the length of her body slowly wrapping around Emis legs. She had learned the move from Xiao; the lung was almost obsessed with protecting her boy and, as a result, had learned a few moves. Stupid dragon. He smelled of mean. Emi was almost shrinking back against the gaze when Keivlos - spoke?

Holy cow.

She blinked again, this time more out of surprise then shock of any sort. Her face was pink and, Keivlos was talking. That was a new and different sort of thing as previously, there had been some sentences but he had been twitching or looking away or on some sort of knives of nerves. His words now were said all at once and, even though she wasn't one to judge confidence, with a good deal more of... Well. She didn't know the word. But it was there.

"You're talking." Soft, fluttery. Emi almost winced; Dagger would have yelled at her for that tone. She didn't; nor did she smile or meet his eyes. Couldn't meet his eyes. They were... He was a little off-putting, with those eyes. "You didn't really... talk a lot before...I just heard that - you don't like your classes?"

There she went, saying things that just…well, they just made him smile. Talk? “Kevie could always talk,” The devious smile, the twist of his lips, he kept it a well guarded secret. More or less Keivlos himself was a secret, he kept himself safe, hidden, only giving away mere glimpses away when he wanted to. It was better that way, it was better to be mysterious than something the whole world could see. Besides, didn’t you feel special now when he let you have a glimpse? Shifting in his chair, feet scraping across the ground as he laid back, “Nobody likes Keivie, so Keivie doesn’t like them. Don’t like classes, don’t like teachers…they make you go too?” Right? He had…once seen her here. Only from afar though, still to afraid to get near. The kiss, he raised a hand touching his cheek again, this time absentmindedly, was still far to fresh in his head at the time.

From between his legs Keivlos’ dragon slipped and began to slither its way over towards Emi, there was something strange about the girl which he would have called food. Keivlos acted different around her. He wasn’t shouting or being his normal silent, and while Emi couldn’t see it, Dima could sense just how tense his master was wound. For some reason he feared this puny girl and Dima wanted to know why. He moved, like a stealthy cat, but with the tenacity of …well, only a dauntless dragon, which he was, he was a creature on a mission. What made this girl so special? Perhaps he could find it in her taste or smell but for that he would have to be closer.

Out of the way feathers! …Dima was going to visit Emi.

Quietly Keivlos watched, waiting for the time he would need to step in. If he knew his dragon well enough, he would have to. “…Why Emi here?”

"You always could," Emi agreed softly, "But you never did. Not... not much, anyway." Or... Maybe she was wrong? What if he had been a chatty Kathy - er, Keivvie - and she just hadn't noticed because she was becoming like Dagger? He had said a few sentences, of course he had, a lot of words and noises, but many of them had been mumbled under his breath (oh, especially after that kiss) or yelled out in a burst of desperate emotion. If she felt special, Emi didn't know it just yet. What she knew she was feeling was a wee bit numb. Yes. Numb fit. "I have to pass or Dagger doesn't let me dance anymore. Some of the kids are - a-are.. they..."

Keivlos' dragon was coming towards her. The raven was one thing; he had never hurt her purposefully - that time in his bedroom with the kiss didn't count, she had shocked him - but this dragon was a whole new experiance. Her wings spread just slightly and then pressed back, tightly, against her shoulderblades and down her spine. And so, her voice had sputtered off to wordless movements of her mouth, eyes wide on the creeping dragon. Where she was wordless shock with the slight tremors of all birds when approached by a large, impressive, angry, possibly hungry predator of a lizard, Odette was even less pleased.

The dragon drew herself up with a little grumble, wing-arms fanning out mildly. She was beautiful and lovely and didn't want to fight but.. Stupid scaley would hurt her girl. Oh, she wasn't pulled up very high, waist height if that, with the base of her tail wrapped loosely around Emi, on the ground.

"He's - Odette, don't, please - He's not going to bite me, is he?" At least she wasn't stuttering, that much she reminded herself, but her voice was back to that higher pitch, even within the small small voice, eyes still so very wide. She was tugging at her dragon, the usually lazy thing leaning back into her. "I - I need a paper.. Papers. Didn't mean to.. to bother you or.. anything."

Nothing to say…nothing to say, nobody who wanted to hear his words, it was always what Keivlos told himself. He conserved his voice, after all, it was a precious commodity. Besides whenever he did seem to speak it brought no new meaning, conversations…well, take Emi’s for example, it was meaningless. Stuck in school, trapped as all children are, in something they don’t want to do. His eyes did sparkle for a second at the mention of ‘dance’, that horrible thing that Madeline made him do, she did it too? Probably not the same, but…he and Emi, shared something?
…

It was like watching a unstoppable disaster in slow motion, Keivlos saw it coming all over again. His dragon, her fear…and then there would be tears, she was all ready mumbling. That soft, annoying mumbling…No, Emi! Shut up! Shut up! Couldn’t she see that only made Dima more interested in her, couldn’t she see how it annoyed Keivlos. He couldn’t, no, he couldn’t bare to let it happen again, to watch as Emi got hurt, to watch as he made just one more enemy on his list. “Not a bother!” Keivlos, hissed deeply, as he stood to his feet, the chair making a screech as it knocked back several inches. The noise of course was nothing compared to the sound which next came for Keivlos’ mouth. It was a noise which was directed at his dragon.

He did not know any language besides the one he spoke, broken, stilted, English. The sounds that Keivlos made were simply that, sounds, noises that he had heard his dragon speak to him, once upon a time when it had been angry. He snapped his tongue emitting a sharp his, and his dragon immediately listened. This creature with wings and strange eyes, so unlike pitiful humans may not have had teeth or claws, but in the end could sometimes be far more cruel than any bite or strike could be. Dima, turned away from Emi and instead came at Keivlos. He shrieked a bit louder than Keivlos had, and made for a n** at the boy’s hand. Not that Keivlos made the effort to move his arm…it would not be the first time he received a bite.

Keivlos flinched, but only briefly as the dragon gave him a n**, “…Please…don’t feel like a bother.”


Emi had jumped at Keivlos' noises. Of course she had. He snapped at her and jerked the chair sharply. Then - a hiss in her direction and - it was a flurry and Emi had moved back as far back as she safely could. Keivlos and Dima - they didn't act like she had seen Lian and Xiao act, or like she and Odette did and it was highly disconcerting. She couldn't help the stuttering and the softness of her voice, it was a part of her as much as his anger was a part of him. It could fade or spike, it could be burrowed away until triggered by outside forces. It was her.

It didn't really help that she tripped over her own dragon, did it? Odette was close to her, protectively so, but the thick tubing of her dragons body was right there, leaving little room for her to stumble. So, she tripped and for the second time in as many meetings with Keivlos, Emi stumbled back and against the wall. It wasn't into a pile of rusty things, she wasn't hurt, but an ungraceful 'oomph' sound left her as her hands moved back to gain support from the wall. She didn't hit ground. When eyes she hadn't realized were closed, opened, she saw Dima biting him.

Emis face smoothed out into an impassive mask, her hands planted firmly against the wall with her hair all down around her shoulders and face. She had decided earlier that since she was not at practice today, her hair could be down; now, it served as an almost-curtian. On anyone else, it would have created the appearance of half wild - on Emi, it just made her look surprised.

"Why - why did he bite you, Keivlos? Are you alright?" Oh, her voice was still soft but, as with the expression, it was so much more controlled now. No dragon was coming at her, Keivlos had stopped him, Ode had tried to help (oh, she was churring in mild concern but drawing back, unraveling now that the threat was turned to the side), so it was alright. It would be, anyway. Perhaps she wasn't the best damsel in distress alive but... Emi hesitated and pushed herself away from the wall. She was a little shaky still but, control. Calm and serene. She could handle that. It took an extra breath or two before she allowed herself to answer his ending statement. "I won't."

Emi smiled slightly then, her head canting just to the side. "Promise."

Keivlos and his dragon, it was disconcerting, something akin to giving an arsonist a match. A volatile combination, all it would take is the slightest upset and things would go up in flames. Keivlos knew D-corp was watching him closely, much like himself his dragon was a riddle that shouldn’t exist. At least, Keivlos believed that he himself should not exist, whatever these technicians up here in their ivory tower had done to create him was unnatural. His mother called him a blessing, miracle even, but in recent times he had come to his own conclusion about what he was.

He didn’t move when Emi hit the wall, but blinked his eyes in a painful slow flinch. Though his swan friend wasn’t leaking this time, at least he was saved the pain of having to watch that, again. She wasn’t running either…just standing there, looking a bit dazed, feathers ruffled, all calm composure had changed. He had never seen this side of her and for a moment fancied she looked rather…well, his face did the talking. She promised she wouldn’t consider herself a bother to him, and his face just lit up under the feathers, a bright flush. “Dima angry, I wouldn’t let him bite you, so he bit me.” Keivlos shrugged his shoulders, pulling his hat down a bit. He didn’t want Emi to notice anything different about himself, “It’s a fair tradeoff.”

What Keivlos didn’t tell Emi was that even though the dragon’s bite was small, within its mouth was an acidic saliva. Nothing completely powerful as it was a young dragon, but the wound would require one, of what had all ready been many, trips to the clinic. Not that Dima’s painful mark ever made Keivlos worry, it was Madeline on the other hand whom would have a fit about it. Speaking of the devil, or rather Madeline, heels came tapping down the hall and the door swung back open.

Her blue eyes blinked a few times in confusion, “Is everything all right here?”

Emi was perhaps not the most intuitive of people, even Dagger had to admit, the girl had an innate knack for catching people off gaurd and not even realizing it as it happened, but she noticed the change of Keivlos' expression when she had made that promise. It was as if a light had clicked behind his eyes, a brief shining of an expression she had never seen on him before. Keivlos had, albeit unknowingly, just given Emi a very, very good reason to keep not-bothering him, despite the biting dragon and his initial hositility towards her: she wanted to see that face again.

He had looked like a happy young boy. She wanted to see that more.

Luckily, she wasn't stupid enough to comment on it. Odette cawed (a sound the dragon fancied to be pretty, by the by) quietly, her beady little eyes still on Dima although she was no longer on 'alert'. Instead, Emi allowed herself that brief moment of further steadying and wiped her admittedly sweaty palms against the soft cloth of her dress. It was violet but dark enough so the slight moisture didn't leave any hugely visible markings on the fabric. A hesitant step, a little hop over the reptilian band of her dragons svelte frame, and she was edging over towards Keivlos.

Emi offered her hand out to him as she got closer and was rather proud that her fingers weren't shaking. She was hoping beyond hope that Dima wouldn't jump up and bite her, like the shark from that movie, or the snake from that other movie, but being far away from Keivlos didn't quite seem to be the way to attempt and see his face go something other then grumpy.

"His name is Dima too?" She asked instead, voice as steady as her hand. "I - I don't think I can make him clothes, Keivlos. Maybe Dagger could make him a hat like yours."

Earako could probably make him a hat but Emi had a feeling that the pale bat would be upset with the raven, probably scared. The swan knew she could be scared while with Keivlos but she hadn't been scared of him since she was very young; now she was simply fascinated. "Or--"

Madelines enterence cut her off. Emi gasped, swirled with more elegance then a girl of her age and with those wings had any right to be, and her eyes just as wide as they had been when Dima was about to snap her fingers right off her hand. The hand that had been offered to Keivlos clenched and pressed against her chest, to the heart that was beating way too loudly to her own ears.

"I -" Emi nodded quickly at the teachers question. "Fine. Yes. Keivlos?"

Carefully Keivlos tucked his hand behind his back, it seemed as if Emi was moving towards it and he didn’t want her making a fuss over him. Least she forget what had happened last time, least they both forget what had happened last time. For Keivlos the time was drawing near that they should part ways, he felt uncomfortable, things were going too well, you know? His eyes more on his dragon than they were on her now, worried that he might make another sudden move. What had happened just now in the small room was such a mere little scuffle, what if it got more out of hand? He just—he just— Keivlos’ mind was a blur with the same little, worried, irritated thoughts running through his head over and over again. He was nervous, so nervous that he jumped when she spoke.

“D-dima? M-mother threw him out, j-just this Dima now,” he pulled his hand from behind his back and bit at his thumb nail, nervously nibbling. This story, when he recalled it, also made him a bit upset. One day after he had gotten his dragon, his mysterious friend had just disappeared. ‘Where?’ He had asked, Madeline only said she had put it away, he had a real friend now. Well, at least she was right about that, it was as if his beloved childhood toy had come to life…just in a bit different form was all. Keivlos loved Dima, Keivlos loved his friend, it was his only one at the moment. And no, his dragon did not need clothes anyway Emi.

“Ma’—“ strange how even though it was usually Keivlos whom put fear in Madeline, Madeline could do the same from time to time. Instinctively the boy put his hand behind his back, no more bites, she didn’t want to see them. But Madeline did see it, it was all ready too late, that expression on her face. “Keivie? What happened, did something happen,” she brushed past Emi, not to be rude but…a mother and their young, nothing at the moment could separate her from his side. Tugging, pulling at his arm, rolling up his sleeves while he wriggled unhappily underneath her, “nonono—Keivie good!” It was back to the strange, almost babish speech that he normally spoke with.

“Emi, …see, fine?” If Emi had said they were good, certainly Madeline would listen to that? ….Or, erm, not, she was suddenly off, rambling about how he needed to get down to the clinic.

“Emi,” Madeline turned around pushing some papers in her hand, “I’m sorry sweet heart, but would you pardon Keivlos and I? It seems his dragon gave him a n** again. Did it hurt you? No? Good—give Dagger my regards. Please do come again sometime.” Like a hurricane she came in, and in a furry went out, a small mad parade following behind her. Keivlos, looking quite glum and Dima gnashing his teeth at the way Madeline was looking at him. Though before the trio completely disappeared around the corner Keivlos did manage to peer back at Emi, his strange eyes following her…he mouthed something, silently of course, but if you looked closely and slowly as Emi would have, she would see he was really saying, ‘g-o-o-d b-y-e.”

Spellcasting 101
Magic Class #1

http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=14262105

PD # 3

Bend stretch slide lift bend stretch stretch left right dip roll back bend. The family out, the window and blinders open to let in the breeze, and Emi exercised her spare time away. She spun, hair free, head back, in complete defiance of all traditional protocol. Today was a day of full bodied leotard with a short, gray, old t-shirt, furry leggings. Her arms outstretched, both ears plugged up with an ipod attatched to her collar. Odette was asleep on the couch in a rectangular ball, snorting a high pitched snore.

It was odd behavior for Keivlos to be out during daylight hours. Scratch that, non-existent, yes, he never went out during daylight hours. Still, here he was, forced out of his home due to an un-happy circumstance of bickering with his mother. Or rather, he had climbed out the window, dragon following, to avoid her shouting at him. All Madeline had wanted was entrance to her room, but Keivlos in his bitterness couldn't even grant her that. He preferred to let the situation fester, to irritate things; it was his nature, he liked decay, of all sorts really, even the decay of a family. Heh, his family to be precise.

The heat was annoying, not even summer yet, it all ready gave him a headache. This problem could be easily avoided if only he changed his coat into something sensible, but that meant exposing himself to the public, another thing which Keivlos despised. Meandering about town, with little purpose except maybe to find something queer to bring home with him, Keivlos found his heavy boots leading him into various parts of town he should avoid.

In particular, he seemed to be heading towards a certain house. Her house. Mother had only driven by here once with him, but he knew the way clearly. As clear as day really, as clearly as he could see into her window right now …as perfectly crystal as he could see her.

Standing there. Oh, it was terrible.

The spin ended happily enough, with Emi having both feet braced on the ground, soles solid, hair all fluffed about to see - what? The small pale thing stood there, face hot with embaressment and exercise, staring at Keivlos. Odette didn't wake up, didn't move, but Emi did. She bolted away from the window with the sharp quickness benefitting a bird much smaller than herself. She almost slipped on the cool tile floor her mother had recently had put down, replacing the wood that had been there before. (Somewhere in the depths of her mind, Emi remembered that the tile drove her father crazy. Dagger had been doing that after he had said no.)

Her first hand hit the wooden door with a heady thud, the other scrambled at the door knob. Emi knew she shouldn't really be running - she already (still?) felt dizzy - but if she wasn't quick he'd either run away or the dragon would have come at her or something equally not good. There was the desire to help, to understand, and he didn't understand that. So, she was quick.

The door flew open, Emi soon followed. Outside was hot, she immediately began to sweat, but that was the last thing on her mind.

"Keivlos." The swan smiled, slow despite her movements. "Hi."

No, it was truly, utterly terrible! What in the world was he doing here? The scrawny boy gawked at the dancing figure in the window, or what had been the dancing figure in the window was now just a blur of white. In his mind Keivlos was forced to face flashback of their last meeting. Emi in Madeline's office, feathers, and nips, but worst of all she had been so kind to him. She always was, it was the worst kind of trickery. Why was such a pretty thing so cruel? Standing on the sidewalk, outside the house of his only crush, with the hot sun barring down on him. Keivlos had to wonder exactly, if maybe there was some sort of higher power? Why else would he be standing here if it were not for someone else to have a laugh at him?

Strangely enough, Keivlos could sense what was about to happen. That front door would open and Emi, with her hair sticking to her skin, lightly panting, would come out to see him. The Raven knew he should pick up his foot, or turn the other cheek and keep walking when he heard her call out his name. But not even a nudge from his dragon could get him going. He simply stood there, gawking like a fish out of water. One eye blinked slowly, and then the other he waited for her to leave, to berate him, or tell him to shoo.

Nothing came.

"W-we have lemonade." The words came slowly, loudly for her. DIminutive hands tangled up in her shirt after tugging out her ear phones. Emi could still hear the rather soft saxaphone sliding through the speakers. "Are... You look hot, Keivlos. You want lemonade?"

She was no smooth criminal, that was for sure. She tried to smile, though, shoulders rolling in an attempt to stretch out, somewhat. It didn't work but - but. Keivlos looked angry, or scared, or something twisted in between. It put her on edge but at least there was no fear now.

"I made it, so it isn't sour. Promise."

Underneath his heavy coat, Keivlos's feathers ruffled. Sweating felt terrible and he couldn't tell if it was the heat or if it was just Emi's presence that had gotten him worried and upset. She spoke and he shifted nervously to the side as if he might run. Eyes, leery of figure before him, watched her lips with timid fascination...as if Emi might say something venomous which would destroy him. He didn't know what to do. His throat felt dry. Irritated, he reached up and began scratching at the collar of his shirt, his throat up and along his neck. He fluffed up a few times before snapping out at her, frustrated that he was being forced into interaction.

"Better....promise." He, shoved a finger into his mouth, chewing at a nail that was all ready well warn down. "Better...be good," He all ready knew that it wouldn't be. Keivlos wasn't par on fruits. He would eat anything, but there was simply no appeal in a sour tasting fruit...you just couldn't get rid of the sting, heh, no matter how much sugar you put in it, no matter how Emi promised it wouldn't be. Clearing the cuticle from his ring finger, leaving a little trickle of blood, Keivlos moved to work on his pinky.

"Patience," he snapped at his dragon, who seemed less than displeased that he wasn't aloud to come in. He was so displeased in fact that he nipped at Keivlos' heals, making the boy jump five feet closer to Emi five times faster than he wanted,and his heart now beating five times faster than it should have.

Emi had grown up in the time she and Keivlos had last spoken. Well, to be honest, she hadn't gotten taller, or older in ways that most kids did but - Dagger was starting to affect her less and less. Calm instead of scared. Odette helped, the declining dress size helped, Rakhazbuns constant support assisted her, always... Always. Bottom line was that she had become less prone to backing down and being a frightened little flower.

As a result, the dragons attack at keivlos brought a frown to her lips, those little hands moving to hips that should have been wider, even for a girl just hitting puberty. The move didn't echo of her cocky cousin or her arrogant mother, still contained the Emi quiet, but it certianly showed her disapproval.

"You shouldn't bite at Keivlos." She told him with an air of certianty, still pouting. "Keivlos - Keivvie? I." Damnit, and there she faltered, when speaking to the boy, offering something out. He mentioned that it would be better but...

Well, Emi wasn't too sure what Keivlos was saying half the time anyway. It made him cuter, more vunerable. That was something she liked, to be the one taking care of someone else. It was too often the other way around, and Keivlos needed someone to take care of him.

"I can bring it out here, if .. If you don't want to go inside?"

Since Keivlos and Emi's last meeting, it seemed that the cosmos had shifted a few things around, one of them was their relationship. No longer the withering flower, Emi had bloomed into an elegant young woman, a care taker, a terrifying guardian for Keivlos. Now, he, Keivlos, once the terrifior of Emi, had become her victim. The boy had withered in her stead. Perhaps it had been the long months of self-hate and loathing, the lonliness gnawing away at him or the outcaste role he had taken among his students at D-corp, but Keivlos - Keivlos had inevitably become terrified of reality, of kindness, of human compassion. Being around Emi made him weak.

Not that a child his age could figure any of these things out. Keivlos just knew that around Emi his heart beat a little faster, his palms sweated a more than when he was out in the sun and that he couldn't think in the rational manner that he was so used to. The boy charged right on in to Emi's house, not waiting a minute longer to stand next to her. There was only one direction to move now, and that was foreword, wherever that may lead. Maybe if he was lucky Dima would eat her!

Which, of course, would be a perfectly fine idea with Dima who hissed and growled at the finger wagging his way. What an insolent little human! All ready this little girl had insulted him once and he would not have her doing it again! He would have done the deed long ago had it not been for Keivlos, whom at the mention of the act (at least when it came from Dima, and not Keivlos) would fight and bicker with the beast in such a rage that sometimes the green-and-black had trouble remembering who was the man-creature and who was the dragon.

Odette raised her head from the ground, her feathers fluffed up in curiousity. What was this? ... The little dark thing that had bothered her human! Saved her human from his own dark thing? Either one. Her mortal had liked him, though. Due to Emi's affection, all Odette was chitter at Keivlos when he ran inside, and laid her chin back down onto the ground.

Daggers pushing had started something good, for once. Emi, though still short and young, had started moving into something a bit different from the stuttering thing she had been. She half-turned when Keivlos started foreward, zoomed past her like a little black bird-bullet. Her wings flared in response but the swan didn't move until Dima hissed. The Dragon was leveled with a displeased frown and a pair of tightly-pressed wings against her back.

"You aren't a very nice dragon." Perhaps not the smartest thing to say before edging back to your home, but she said them and scurried straight inside. Luckily for Emi, they hadn't been too far to begin with, and she was able to close the door quite firmly. Just in case. "Odette? ... Keivlos?"

No, Dima was not a very nice dragon, but Emi looked like a very nice treat. So perhaps things evened out a bit in the grand scheme of life? Either way Dima surmised that someday he would get his opportunity, one day she would disappear, as so many of the neighbor's cats had. Until then, he was a little less than content to sit under the shade of a nearby tree and brood. Perhaps he could nab the finger of some unwary child who was interested in touching him.

It didn't take much for Keivlos to slow as he hit the deeper interior of what was unfamiliar territory, and Emi's house no less. He stood curiously, tilting his head at pictures that lined the wall, fingers scrapped against the texture of the walls, he dragged his feet along the floor. He was getting a feel for the house, a taste if you well, if he closed his eyes he could almost smell the life, the history and emotion this place contained. And where was Emi's room? His gray and red eye watched the nooks and crannies, the doorways leading off to other rooms. Was it to the left, to the right? What was it like to live here?

Keivlos slouched over, reaching out to touch a nearby doorframe as he twisted his head around his shoulder to look at the figure in the doorway. The in-pour of light made it hard to distinguish her outline, reaching up the boy wrapped his fingers around his eyes, making space to barely peek through. "What'z ees it?" He hissed, sounding much like his grumpy dragon.

The silent house didn't answer many of Keivlos' questions. It's aura was that of something quite the opposite of Emi, with bold, bright colors and many paintings, wall hangings, little knick-knacks here and there. Childrens shoes were tossed about near the kitchen, dirtied dishes in the sink from that breakfast. It was cluttered and loud, and so very unlike that little swan.

"Lemonade?" She near-squeaked out, shoulders pressed back against the door as well as they could with her wings there. "Come with me into the kitchen? And I can get you something to drink. ... Okay?"

Emi hoped it would be. She didn't like the hissing. It put her on edge. But lemonade was good! Right? Wasn't it?

Blind Zen

Melee # 2

((I am counting this as a parents journal entry as Rakha is Emi's father in every way that counts, and he's sleeping with her guardian.))


I am taking over Daggers job of the childrens updated growth log. She forgets about her obligations and with the brand new infant... It's best I do it.

Emi is growing well, Lian is going to kill himself on his skateboard, and Teeu is a horror.

First, Emi. I don't see how she keeps up with it all. She wakes up at four AM for two hours of dance, school, and then dance after school. Home work after, then she practices again before finally sleeping. the girl doesn't stop moving, save for on weekends and even then she's asking me to go out.

I don't mind. It's just... unhealthy. She'll make herself sick.

She's been doing well, regardless, and she smiles.

We ran into her first caretaker one Sunday. Emi ducked behind me, but they spoke and phone numbers were exchanged. She didn't mention it to Dagger. Nor did I.

Lian has gone crazy. He dislikes school and would rather spend his time outside, running around and getting into danger. One day he sis just going to fall, crack his neck, and then his dragon will blame us. Other than her, he doesn't seem to have any friends at all, and he's never talked about anyone. Sure, he knows some of Emis friends, but only because he's met them while out with her.

He worries me. I don't know what Dagger thinks as, obviously, she doesn't care, but nothing good will come out of this. I'm half tempted to call D-Corp, get a name of someone in his age group, and shove him at them.

"Here!" I would say. "Be friends and stop almost dying!"

He wouldn't listen, but at least I would have tried. Sometimes that counts for something.

Teeu is... tiny and crazy. I've seen him picking on Emi once or twice, but nothing serious. He knows more people than Lian does, shockingly, and we've been trying to wrestle him into some clothes. It doesn't usually work but he HAS grown fond of his overalls and tends to run around in them without a shirt underneith. That's fine. At least it's something.

I want him to grow up and get a dragon so he can start going to classes like the other children. It would be a great relief.

More later, update journal.

-Rakhazbun

PD# 5
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=16137597
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