Kedrick Suwa's Estate

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Arielle's words surprised Kedrick, but he didn't stop holding her, or stroking her hair. His eye's however became thoughtful as for the first time, he really, truly thought hard about Arielle's parents. He had never asked her much about them, he knew memories of lost loved ones were painful, no matter how long it had been. But now, the young man wondered about them, who they where, and what they where like. Had her parent's been the affectionate type, the kind who openly loved each other and their daughter? Or where they more reserved, yet there was still the quiet assurance of their love. Kedrick knew for a fact that Arielle had loved her parents very much, but now he really wanted to know what they were like. He felt a twinge of sadness deep inside of him as he realized that, sometime far in the future, he would never be able to ask Arielle's father for is daughter's hand in marriage.

Kedrick smiled as Arielle pulled back a little, speaking again. He nodded his head in quiet understand, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Alright," he said gently. "I'm sure they'd understand, that you wouldn't tease us too badly, but still, you're right." The young man took her hand in his, leading her across the campsite.

As they reached the treeline, Kedrick reluctantly released her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before he did so. The boy leaned over, hair falling in his eyes as he stopped to pick up small sticks and twigs to start the fire. He straightened after a moment, looking thoughtful. "Arielle," He said quietly, picking up a few larger sticks. "tell me about your parents…What where they like? We never talked much about them..." He hesitated slightly, a soft laugh escaping his lips. "I-I didn't want to upset you, bringing up old memories and what not...but, what you said earlier...it just...made me curious I guess, I want to know what they where like..." He said with a small smile, turning to look at her, a hint of concern in his eyes. "You don't mind...do you?"

Dimitri smirked ruefully at Maria. "Be prepared, yes, but be expecting your own girlfriend to take a shot at you with a pistol? No." He said with a light grin, and then paused to hear the rest of what she was saying. Her words carried a worrisome undertone, and he didn't like what she was implying...it sounded....dangerous...More then anything else, Dimitri wanted to make sure that Maria was safe, and the idea of her putting herself in harm’s way for his sake was a thought that was nearly too much to bear. He hated the idea that she would get hurt someday because of him.

He knew how Kedrick had felt after Arielle had gotten shot, the two boys hand talked about it for hours in the evenings following the whole issue. Kedrick, to this day, carried the guilt of the accident with him. He could never forget the sound of her crying out after the gunshot, and kept playing it over and over in his head, thinking of how he might have avoided the injury. Dimitri was sure that he would never, ever forgive himself if Maria got hurt, so he would just have to make sure that that never happened.

Dimitri tried to keep the worry and concern at Maria’s word off of his face, he didn’t want her thinking that she had upset him even though her words had been somewhat unsettling. He turned to her as she spoke nodding his head. “I’ve played darts on the odd occasion, I was pretty good if I remember right.” He said with a small smirk, knowing that he was being a little on the modest side for once. Dimitri had been quite good, he and Kedrick had played darts in the den for hours in the evenings during the years that they had stayed together. Dimitri’s aim at the time had been uncanny, but he had fallen out of practice, and hoped he could pull him aiming back up to an acceptable standard.

He listened closely to Maria’s next words and could hear that they carried a weight of seriousness to them. Arielle’s injury must have changed Maria’s view on guns entirely, and Dimitri could understand why. He tried to put himself in her shoes, wonder what he would think if Kedrick were to get shot. He stopped himself, the thought making him feel sick and he closed his eyes for a moment, dispelling the horrible thought. Like with Maria, he couldn’t stand the thought of Kedrick getting hurt, and he was sure that if something like that did happen, then he too would be especially careful about guns.

He looked up, blinking himself back to the present, and then nodded his head. “Yep, I follow you,” He said with a small smirk, tossing the thin strands of dark hair out of his eyes. He took a few steps over, leaning over her slightly to get a better look at the gun again. Despite the delays of having to find a target and everything, Dimitri was still very anxious to get started.

((I’m back! I’ll be able to post again now that I’m home from camp! Hope you like it. ^w^ ))

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"Puh-lease," Maria said with a wave of her hand and a grin, "This here is way better than a pistol. She has much more beauty than some boring old pistol. And she's really sleek too." At this point, Maria had begun praising her gun like it was her own child, the pride being noticeable in her voice. She stopped, realizing what she was doing and blushed, looking away like that never happened, even though she felt like Dimitri was going to tease her about it. Had it been her brothers, they would've made her blush worse the minute she started praising it, but then again, they were siblings and they knew how to make her as red as a tomato.

She looked at Dimitri as he took her words in. She knew what she was implying was indeed somewhat of the negative side of learning how to use a gun, but nowadays, just about everything had it's downside. She didn't know that he was thinking about what happened to Arielle or how Kedrick was still carrying the guilt.

She on the other hand hadn't really touched any of her guns after the incident, suddenly becoming afraid of what they could do. For years she knew about gun violence and the abuse of such a powerful, life changing lesson from her father, who everyday had his life at stake whenever he was out in the scene. But it wasn't until someone she actually cared about had been harmed with a gun itself did the reality finally sink in. She even started to question if she really wanted to keep on with her dream job, but even though part of it scared her, a larger part of herself was even more sure that when she became police chief, she would do everything in her power to protect people like Dimitri and Arielle as much as she could and stop as much gun violence as she was able to do.

Maria barely even noticed the facial expressions on Dimitri's face when he was thinking, for once, since she was too busy in her own thoughts. It wasn't until Dimitri started responding to her comment about darts that she focused on him again. A faint smile appeared on her features when he mentioned that he had played darts and that he was quiet good at it. That means he has a bit of a good eye then, Maria added in her thoughts.

She nodded when he said he followed and looked down at the gun, trying to see what part of the gun mechanics she wanted to start with first. She was aware of how much closer he had gotten when he leaned in somewhat, the young Hispanic woman feeling his breath on her. The blush, which had disappeared, managed to reappear slightly. She looked up at him and smiled gently.

"Alright, so here are some decent basics about using this semi-automatic handgun," Maria said, some authority returning in her voice as she disassembled the handgun in a quick, precise manner, almost as if she could do it with her eyes closed (which she could actually do). She sat down on the ground, carefully sitting the pieces in a row and motioned for Dimitri to follow before she grinned. "Now, pay close attention, alright?" she waited for him to begin before she reassembled the gun and repeated the process, only a bit slower so that she had time to explain what each piece was, how to clean it, and what it was meant to do.

"Glad to know that I'm right," Arielle teased with a soft smirk as she held onto his hand and followed closely behind him. She wondered how Maria's lesson for Dimitri was going and wished that she was able to watch, despite the fact that part of her had probably become more wary with guns than any of them. Of course, it made sense that it was because she had been a victim to gun violence, but it was more to it than just that. Nevertheless, she refused to think back to that negative situation, knowing that it would never happen to her again.

When they reached their destination, Arielle gently squeezed Kedrick's hand back, also reluctant to let him go. She bent down and started picking up some sticks as well. She stopped midway of picking up a stick when Kedrick had asked her about her parents. She was definitely surprised that such a question had come up at a time like this, but then again, after mentioning how what he said was something her dad used to say, it didn't surprise her that Kedrick had become curious.

She picked up the stick she was reaching for and stood straight up, listening to what Kedrick had to say. He didn't have to hold back of asking me from before, Arielle thought, although she knew that if he had done so, the young girl would have a hard time trying to explain them without some sort of memory coming back to her that would make her an emotional wreck.

"I don't mind at all," Arielle answered softly, handing him her small little pile of sticks, her mind thinking about where to begin. She closed her eyes, picturing her parents, the small ache in her heart returning. She took a deep breath, making sure to calm herself before she answered.

"My parents were very decent parents," she began, her eyes opened, slightly staring at the ground, "They knew when to be goofy and when to be serious. Dad tended to be more on the goofy side though, but mom knew how to be quite the joker when the situation called for it." A soft smile appeared on her face as she thought about how the three of them would see who was the best at pranking the other on April Fool's Day. Of course usually her mother always won and her father would just tease her acting like it was completely out of her character for being so good at pulling pranks.

"They would read me stories, comfort my nightmares, and tuck me in at night like most parents do," Arielle continued, her eyes gaining a somewhat sad feel, "And we would go camping, watch the fireworks, and fly our kites when it was really nice and windy. And other times, when it was very clear out, we would have a small bonfire outside and lie down and watch the stars as my father named out all the constellations as well as teaching me a few of them. My father was really big into astrology and astronomy. Kind of a side hobby."

She was quiet, lost in thought as she tried to think of more things to say about her parents. She knew she could spend all day talking about them, on all the memories, of each of her parents' personalities, and the stories that her grandparents told her about them. Yet, she knew that she didn't have all the time in the world to do something. Well, not at the current moment.

"Sometimes, I wonder what life would be like if they weren't killed in the crash," Arielle said as she looked up at the sky before looking back at Kedrick again. "I probably would've been spared all of the scars, the abuse, and the pain, but at the same time, I wouldn't have met you and Maria would've never met Dimitri and we wouldn't be this sort of tight knit group that we are now. I miss my parents, deeply, and there are times when I wished that one of them survived or that they both survived and were still here, even if they were injured. They wouldn't have left me on my own..."

Her voice started to choke up and she felt like she was going to start crying. She looked away from him and rubbed at her eyes, sometimes feeling like she did nine years ago. Rubbing her eyes to stop herself from crying even when she just wanted to curl up in a ball. She took deep breaths, calming her mind down from the soon to be breakdown before she glanced over at Kedrick. "I'm sorry, I thought I had better control of myself," Arielle apologized, even though it was perfectly natural for her to feel that way, she still didn't want to break down crying in front of Kedrick, feeling like that at some point he would have enough of her tears.  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Dimitri felt a smirk tug at his lips as she looked up and blushed, he thought he'd never get over how cute that was. He dropped onto one knee, watching closely as she disassembled the gun, taking it all in, committing it to memory. He licked his lips uncertainly, hoping he would be able to remember all that she was teaching him, but if he closed his eyes and thought back, he was surprised to find that it all came back fairly quickly. Dimitri shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning his elbows on his knees to get a closer look. The process was fascinating, the ease with which she disassembled and reassembled the gun was riveting.

Dimitri took a deep breath as she finished the process for the second time. "Alright, I think I understand." He said, weighing his words carefully. The was all very important he knew, and he wanting to make sure he really had it down.

Kedrick accepted the small bundle of sticks that Arielle gave him, placing them on top of his pile which was growing to a decent size. He watched her closely as she closed her eyes, formulating what she was going to say, and strained not to miss one word as she began to speak.

A smile touched his lips as she talked about her parents, and once again, the young man felt a twinge of regret that he had never been able to meet them. As Arielle told him about the fun they would have, the fireworks, the kites, the camping trips, Kedrick pictured it all in his head as though he had been there, and vaguely wondered what it would have been like if he had What if he and Arielle had met on different terms? What if they had grown up together, as friends? But Arielle was right. Had it not been for the car crash that took Arielle's parents, had it not been for Jonsey, or Jared, or the death of Dimitri's own father, they would have never met. The fact that these tragedies had come together to make something so wonderful as the love and friendship the four of them shared was nearly mind boggling.

Kedrick stepped forward, taking her hand and pressing it to his lips. "I know, I'm sorry..." He said gently, placing his free hand on the side of her face. "It's hard to talk about, I know, but your parents never meant to leave you Arielle. They loved you, and they never would have left you, not for anything in the world..." He said softly. Kedrick felt a twinge of old sadness inside of him. Kedrick's parents had been by no means ideal, there had been no abuse, or tragic death, but instead there was a sad situation that happen far more frequently then it should.

Kedrick father and mother had been very in love when they married, and everything seemed alright. But over the years their love for each other had cooled, it had been based more on temporary passion then any real lasting commitment. Kedrick's father had become distant, and reclusive, never spending much time with his wife or children. The only time they ever saw him when in the few minutes before he went to sleep after coming home from his night shift at work. Shortly after little Terra was born, the man had simply left, disappearing without a trace, never contacting the family he had left behind again.

Kedrick supposed that he had never really thought to be angry at his father for leaving, he had never known him very well. Sakimi was the one who was the most bitter towards both of her parents. The young woman remembered the time when her parents seemed to love each other so much, she hated her father for leaving, and hated her mother for not caring. Shortly after Mr. Suwa had left, Kedrick mother had started working full time, and the duties of keeping the home, and watching the children had fallen to thirteen year old Sakimi. In many ways, Sakimi had been the mother figure of the home. Kedrick had been the second oldest, but he had only been ten at the time and could do little to really help.

When Kedrick said that Arielle's parents wouldn't have left her for anything in the world, it was his desire for the same kind of parents that had stirred in him. He wished that he could have said the same for his father especially, but even his mother still wasn't around very much. Kedrick didn't count these things as secrets, his early life wasn't tragic, or stained by darkness and perversion like Dimitri's had been. It was simply something that Kedrick preferred to keep quiet.


 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Arielle would've told Kedrick that he didn't have to apologize, especially when it wasn't his fault. But instead she kept her mouth quiet, no words being able to form out of her mouth as she let him kiss her hand, a faint blush on her cheeks. She listened to what he had to say, knowing that he was telling the truth, like he had a tendency of doing. If her parents truly had it in their power, they wouldn't have left her in this world. But sometimes you couldn't beat the reality that you lived in.

At the same time, she began to wonder about Kedrick's parents since they were now on the topic of parents. She, like Kedrick, had never brought it in herself to ask too much about his personal family life, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Now didn't seem like a time to ask about his parents after they finished talking about her own. What she honestly wanted to do was move on the topic for now and get on with the day, creating more cheerful memories instead of bringing back bittersweet moments.

She smiled gently, letting him know that she would be fine as she leaned her head into his hand and held onto it with her free hand, almost like she just wanted to stay there. "You know you had nothing to apologize about," she said softly as she looked back at him, her grin becoming more genuine. "So please, try not to apologize when something isn't your fault. Alright?"

"Well if you understand," Maria said with a gentle smirk, "Then I want you to show me just how well you were following along to what I said. I want you to disassemble and reassemble the gun. If you make any mistakes, I want you to take it apart from where are and redo it until you can do it without messing up. Understood, Hunter?" The tone of her voice had adopted a drill sergeant like tone, already taking command. There was no doubt that she would be like this when she was in the force, but all for good reason. She wanted to make sure that he fully grasped it before they would move on.

It took Dimitri some time, about six failures in the beginning before the seventh try in which he finally got it right. Maria was patient, catching Dimitri's mistake and having him repeat it. It was strange for her to be acting like a completely different person, but when he got it all right, her normal personality returned as she took the gun back from him, inspected it and nodded in approval.

"Okay, now that that's taken care of," Maria said, standing up slowly, "It's time to get to the part of the lesson that really matters; shooting."

(Meh... so short D:.)  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Kedrick smiled gently at the girl, brushing his thumb lightly along her cheek. His smile widened slightly at her words, and he shook his head slightly. "I know, I just hate to see you upset is all." He said and then added with a grin. "But alright, I'll try not to." Kedrick pulled back reluctantly and stooped to pick up the armload of firewood that he had dropped hardly without thinking about it. There was definitely enough wood there to get them started and though lunch time. He and Dimitri would probably go and collect more later to get them through the night though.

He walked back over to the fire pit, glancing back to make sure that Arielle was still with him. He sat down cross-legged and began setting up the sticks in a small tepee so there would be enough air flow to the fire. Kedrick looked over his shoulder, smiling a bit at Arielle. "Hey Arielle, would you get me some paper? I'm going to need it to get this started."

Dimitri took a deep breath, wetting his lips uncertainly. He nodded his head once as she gave him his instructions, blinking, momentarily surprised as she called him 'Hunter.' He had gotten used to being called that in school, it was pretty much the normal, but to hear Maria call him that was somewhat shocking. Dimitri nodded again, this time more firmly, with more certainty. "Right." He said in a clipped tone, ready to get down to business.

The beginning failures were frustrating to say the least. It seemed that he get in only a few steps before she'd be stopping him and telling him to take it apart and redo it. Frequently, he thought about admitting defeat, but he kept going, determined to learn and not to let Maria down. Finally, Dimitri breathed a sigh and sat back a bit, gesturing to the finished gun. "What do you think, is it finally right?" He asked, anxious to know if he had finally done it properly. Her nod of approval sent a wave of relief through Dimitri, he had no desire to take apart the gun again a put it together again.

Dimitri followed her, standing to his feet, a grin breaking out on his face. "Great. Now that I know how to disassemble, reassemble, and clean it, I can learn to shoot it now." Dimitri felt his excitement rising, he was more then ready for this.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"And knowing you, you'll fail at it," Arielle said with a teasing grin, glad to know that he'd be there to make her feel better. She saw how his body was reluctant to pull away after being so close, but she understood that it was because they needed to get more firewood. She was glad that they seemed to have enough on them for the time being.

As Kedrick was heading back, Arielle followed by closely beside him, her mind already meandering in her thoughts. After thinking about past memories, she wondered just how clear the sky would be tonight. Since we aren't in the city, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to see a lot of stars tonight, she thought before wondering when the last time she had actually done any kind of stargazing.

When they returned to the campsite, Arielle was broken from her small thought as Kedrick asked her to get some paper. She nodded and went off to bring some paper back, knowing she had some in her tent. As she was going into her tent to get some paper, her phone vibrated and her back instantly went cold. She didn't want to look at it, but at the same time, she wouldn't know what it said until she did.

She pulled her phone out and read the message, reading it and wasn't sure what to make of it. It wasn't from the mysterious man, thankfully, but it was actually some notification that her phone company sometimes sends for no apparent reason. She sighed in relief, putting her phone away and pulling out the paper, returning to Kedrick.

"I got your paper," Arielle said as she handed him the paper, a bright smile on her face. She wasn't going to tell him off her little scare, especially since it was a false alarm. Thank goodness it was one though, she thought, not sure how she'd react if it was actually the mysterious person texting her.

Maria nodded, glad to see her boyfriend so enthusiastic. She stared at the target and loaded the gun, trying to get it in her mind's eye. Her mind started to think of how she could get him to do the same. She of course was used to it but someone who hadn't played darts in a while might need to remember how to keep their eye on the target. This is when I actually need dad to help me, Maria thought with a light frown before looking over at Dimitri.

"Okay, now we get to focusing on that target," Maria said, the slight authoritative tone returning. "What you're going to do is shoot directly in the center. You may or may not get it in the beginning, but I think I have enough bullets for a few tries and knowing my dad, he probably packed more."

"However, if you want to not waste so many of my bullets, you're going to take all the time you need to have that target in your mind's eye and shoot at it without fail. Still, watch what I do when I'm shooting and then we'll take it from there."

She looked over at him, a smile on her face before she starred the target down, the center in her focus again. Her finger was on the trigger as her breathing became more calm and in just a few seconds, she pulled the trigger, the gun making a loud noise before she pulled it down slowly, seeing that it had once again made its mark.

After that, she had shown Dimitri how to properly load the gun before placing it in his hand and aligning his body properly. "And remember, take as much time as you need," Maria said gently, moving away from him to give him some space. "It's always important that you never miss your target. Ever."  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Kedrick smiled gratefully and took the paper from her hand. "Thanks, this'll help a lot." He said, nodding his head once and shifting into a better position. Kedrick tore and crumpled the paper until he could stuff the wads of paper under the tepee of small sticks without blocking off all of the airflow. The young man fumbled with the matches for a second before he got the paper to catch and slowly, the flames began to lick greedily at the wood and paper.

Once he was sure that the flame wouldn't go out, Kedrick leaned back on the heels of his hands, breathing a sigh of satisfaction and looking up at Arielle. "That should keep burning for a while, Dimitri and I will have to get more wood later, but that'll be okay." He said, and with a soft grunt, pushing himself up. He sighed and looked down in the direction of the water. Even from here he could see Dimitri and Maria on the shore of the lake, the sun gleaming off of Maria's russet hair, making Dimitri's hair look even darker by contrast. The young man smiled to himself. "I wonder how the shooting lesson is comming along..." He mused to himself, but he was sure Arielle would have heard.

Kedrick was glad Dimitri was learning some form of self defense. After all, he was so slightly build that there was little he could do physically to protect himself, Jared had preyed on that fact for many years. The man had always been much stronger then Dimitri, and it took almost contemptuously little effort to pin him down and hurt him. But if Dimitri knew how to use a gun then that changed things quite a bit. Kedrick knew it wasn't ideal, because chances were Dimitri wouldn't carry a gun with him wherever he went, but it still gave him a slight edge that he hadn't had before.

Dimitri licked his lips in a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. He wanted to live up to Maria's expectations, even impress if he could, but he wasn't sure if he would even pull off an acceptable shot. Dimitri watched as his girlfriend showed him how to load the gun, and then allowed her to position him properly.

When Maria stepped back, Dimitri knelt down, finding that he had more stability if he could rest his arm on his knee. He repositioned himself carefully, remembering how Maria had done it. He glanced back over his shoulder at her as she gave him that last bit of advice. The dark haired boy nodded seriously. "Don't worry, I won't." He said simply, and then turned his attention to the target. He pictured the bullet smacking into the center knot on the log, replaying that in his head. Dimitri took a deep breath, focusing hard, and aiming. He made sure that he could hold the gun in the same spot for several seconds, before he took a half breath, and fired.

The bullet flew from the gun with a bang and hit the log just a few inches off the bull's eye. Dimitri drew a sharp breath, surprised by the kick-back of the small pistol. He stood, staring in shock, not having expected his first shot to be so close. 'huh...' He thought to himself. 'I guess all those rounds of darts were worth something after all....'


 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Maria nodded gently, taking in the seriousness of his mood and was silent. Her anticipation growing as she wondered just how well he would do. She jumped slightly at the sound of the gun, remembering that she was still on planet Earth as Dimitri shot from it. Her eyes glanced to the log and saw that Dimitri was just a little off from the bulls-eye but close enough for his first try.

She walked over to him as he stood up and patted him on the shoulder, grinning widely at him. "Dimitri that was fantastic!" she exclaimed happily, giving him a hug and a kiss. "And no need to act all modest with me now, you did a better job than when I first started learning."

Moving back, she continued smiling at him and took the gun back in an easy motion. "Now, what would you like to do now?" she asked as she loaded another round. "Would you like to see if you can make it in the center or do you want to learn how to disarm a weapon? If you choose the latter, we're going to need Arielle for help. Well, most of it. I don't know any kind of martial arts to save my life."

"Definitely better than the ash soup though," Arielle said with a jestful tone as she sat right down on the log. She watched him as he tore up the pieces and fed it to the fire, but was more fascinated by how the flames were eating away at the wood and paper, almost entranced by seeing something for so many times.

Arielle nodded and watched as he stood up, looking over to see how Maria and Dimitri were doing. She stood up slowly, also knowing that standing to view was a lot better than sitting. Luckily, it was very easy to spot her two friends.

She heard her boyfriend's muse and looked back at him with a small smile. "This is Maria we're talking about here," Arielle said with a soft smile, "I'm sure it's going exceptionally well. Plus, this will be good for Dimitri. People like us, we always need to know how to self defend ourselves. Whether with our hands and in some cases, weapons. It's only to prove to those oppressing us that we aren't as weak as they think we are."  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Dimitri felt a exhilarated gin making it way across his face. He gave a short laugh at Maria's energetic respond although it was mostly cut off when she kissed him unexpectedly. Dimitri responded enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around her and nearly lifting her off of her feet as he kissed her in return. The young man could still feel himself smiling into the kiss, and he felt a thrill of accomplishment.

Dimitri let her go as she moved back, still feeling that stupid, lovesick, happy grin on his face. Dimitri laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck, almost a little embarrassed at her praise. He looked up at her question, cocking his head slightly to the side. The boy pinched his lips together, thinking for a second. "I'd like to keep trying the shooting." He said with some certainty. Dimitri's decision had been weighed by two things. First of all, he genuinely did want to see if he could hit the log in the center, he felt that one try didn't give him a very accurate idea of how good he was. After all, it could simply have been luck that carried his bullet that close to the target. But secondly, Dimitri knew that Arielle was most definitely still shaken up by this morning, and working with a gun may not be the best thing for her right now. Some other time, on a different day, Dimitri knew he'd have time to learn, but just now, he didn't want to upset her.

Dimitri took the gun from Maria's hand, turning to look towards the target again. He bit his lip uncertainly, hoping that it wasn't just luck that had taken his first shot so close. The young man knelt back now, positioning himself just as Maria had instructed him, looking thought the sight of the gun again. Dimitri called his breathing, concentrating hard on the target.

Dimitri took several more shots, the second one made it nowhere near the first. But after the second one, the shots improved, slowly making their was closer and closer to the center knot. Finally, Dimitri's bullet smacked into the target with a bang, and Dimitri straightened, walking quickly over to the target. A grin spread across his face and he look over his shoulder at Maria. "Hey Maria, might want to come look at this!" He called in a playful tone, his finger touching the hole that his bullet had made in the very center.

Kedrick looked back over at Arielle with a small smile. "Of course, this is Maria we're talking about." Kedrick joked, nudging her shoulder gently, but then he stopped to listen to the rest of what she was saying. His smile faded and he nodded his head, eyes lowered. He hesitated for a second, and then looked up again, seeing Dimitri shooting still. "I know..." He said softly, feeling a stab of sadness for his friend. What did he, a young boy who just deserved a normal life, have to deal with that kind of abuse? It wasn't fair that he had had to live with that, to have to grow up so fast just to understand what was being done to him. Along with the sadness came a flash of burning anger against Jared, Kedrick had vowed a long time ago that he would save Dimitri from him and he was still determined to keep that promise.

"Dimitri needs this.." He said quietly, looking over at Arielle now. "and you're right, the next time Jared tries something, Dimitri may just be able to help himself..." Kedrick smiled slightly, knowing that now wasn't the time to go to deep into that. "Now, by the time they're finished down there, they'll probably be wanting lunch, so, Any ideas?" Kedrick asked, reaching down and taking her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Maria was taken back by Dimitri was again lifting her feet of the ground as he kissed her in return, but she was definitely not complaining. It made her feel good to see the happy expression on his face, now ever more so than before. She knew that he had a right to be so proud and enthusiastic, and who was she to stop him from that.

Her heart lit up seeing his lovesick grin still planted firmly on his face before he contemplated her question. She nodded when he wanted to try his shooting for a bit longer, understanding if he wanted to see if he could do better than before. "Just don't get too cocky, Dimitri," she teased as she watched him prepare to take another shot. She also began to wonder if her father had packed extra bullets before realizing that there would've been no reason to have done so.

She watched as it took Dimitri a few tries, his first one being a bit off, before she finally noticed the steady improvement. Her stoic, calm face, grew into a more pleasing and proud smirk the closer he got to the center until his shot finally made it there. She walked over to him and the target as he called her over, her playful smirk appearing on her face.

"Very good," Maria commented cheerfully before playfully punching him in the shoulder, "But don't get cocky, alright? Don't need your head to swell up anymore than it already is."

Arielle nodded, glad that Kedrick understood what she meant. Even if what happened to her never happened, she knew that self-defense would've been a good possible thing to learn in the first place. In the modern world, it'd never hurt to be able to stand on your own two feet when you come across a difficult situation.

She squeezed his hand gently in return and gave it some thought. She knew that the food from their cancelled picnic was probably still good enough to eat since she and Maria had added ice packs, plus, it would've been nice to have their makeup picnic after losing each other yesterday.

"I've got a wonderful idea," Arielle said with a bright grin as she looked up at Kedrick. "But we have to wait for the two of them to return. It wouldn't be fair if we all couldn't agree on a decent suggestion, right?"  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Dimitri still found himself grinning with pleasure as Maria walked over to examine his shot. He had a right to be proud, it was an excellent shot, especially for a first timer. The young man gave a short laugh as Maria punched his shoulder, and he rubbed his arm in slight embarrassment. "Oh come on Maria," He teased back gently. "I don't think you have to worry about that too much, after all, I would have been able to do any of it if you hadn't taught me." He said, bumping her shoulder lightly.

Dimitri may have been speaking in a jestful tone, but he really did appreciate her taking the time to teach him. It made him feel good, confident even, which weren't normal emotions for him. The knowledge that he had some skill in self defense, however little gave him a confidence that he had lacked before.

Still smiling, Dimitri looked back over at Maria. "You know," He said with a small smirk. "It's probably pretty close to lunch time, do you think we should check back in with the others?" Dimitri asked, rubbing the back of his neck, which was slightly damp from sweat. The sun had reached it's peek in the sky and had been bearing down hard and hot for the past several minutes. "Kedrick may need some help with the fire come to think of it...seeing as I kind of...dumped water on it..." He said with a nervous chuckle. Thinking back on it now, Dimitri realized that that had been far from the most tactful way he could have pull him aside. But at the time, stressed and desperate as he had been, it had seemed like the quickest avenue.

Kedrick glanced over at Arielle as she appeared to be thinking about something. As always, he wondered what was going on inside her mind. A small smile touched his lips when she seemed to come to an idea. He listened to her, and then nodded once. "Alright, great. It actually looks like they're finishing up..." Kedrick said thoughtfully, squinting to see them better. He had seen Dimitri showing Maria the target, and hoped that meant that he had had some measure of success. They were talking just now, Kedrick could see that much, but he was too far away to read their body language very well. It had been pretty hard to miss the enthusiastic hug and kiss, but other then that he had had no indication of how well Dimitri was doing.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"You do have a point," Maria said, her prideful grin growing, "Without my greatness, you wouldn't be as good. But I still have to be worried just a bit. Sometimes some of my quirks may rub off on others. And I can tell you that I can get prideful when I'm pleased with myself, so with this success, I am prideful that you're doing exceptionally well for an amateur."

She could tell that he seemed to be just a bit more confident, and she was definitely glad that she was able to do what she had promised him. No matter how long it takes, she thought with determination. She listened to him as he mentioned that it was getting close to lunch, making her body aware of it's growing hunger.

"Well let's go back and see how things are going with our lovebirds, loverboy," Maria said with a grin as she took the gun from him again, placing it in her other hand and held onto his hand with her free hand, leading him back to the campsite, fingers gently squeezing his own.

Arielle nodded, watching as Maria and Dimitri were making a return to the campsite. While they were making their way back, Arielle walked off to look for the basket, sure that Kedrick had put it away in his car or somewhere safe during the storm. "I know you're around here somewhere," Arielle said with a small sigh before she finally found it, a grin growing on her face.

She picked it up and made sure that it was behind her back, even though she was going to make it painfully obvious of what was behind her back, but still, it was worth the shot.

"We're back~," Maria announced, waving both her hand and Dimitri's. "I hope you didn't miss us too much. I mean, how you could you even miss us? We're the life of the party?"

"Stop tooting your own horn, Ria," Arielle teased, standing beside Kedrick, basket still hiding behind her and now Kedrick. "But I hope the lesson went well. Sure you two worked yourselves up an appetite."

"Well, I don't know about Dimitri, but I sure am hungry," Maria said with a light smile, "What's for lunch?"  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą & Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Dimitri grinned lightly at Maria as she spoke, unable to get over how silly she could be at times. "Really Maria," He chided with a grin, "Listen to yourself! And you're telling me not to get a swelled head." He laughed, still feeling warm inside from her praise though. 'Huh...' Dimitri thought to himself. 'Maybe I can do something right after all....of course...the best thing I've ever done is chased her...' He thought with a small smile, and then amended his statement. Maybe she had been the one chasing him.

Dimitri nodded his head as she mentioned going back up to see Kedrick and Arielle, or, as she had put it, 'their lovebirds.' The young man smirked, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze as she took it. He walked beside her, with a small smile on his face, enjoying the warmth of the sun on the back of his neck, and the softness of Maria's hand in his.

Kedrick looked up as Dimitri and Maria approached, Dimitri smirking proudly. Kedrick smiled in return. "How did it go?" He called to Dimitri as they drew closer.

Dimitri tossed his hair out of his eyes with a grin. "Just fine." He called back. "Maria had me taking apart the gun and putting it back together for what felt like forever, but once we actually got started, I think I did pretty well." He admitted, coming to a stop in front of Kedrick.

Kedrick smiled. "That's good, I'm glad you had some success.” He said, and then looked over at Maria with a lighthearted grin. "Of course we missed you." He said, and then added sneakily. "But not too much you know?" Kedrick teased, gently nudging her in the ribs, before looking back up at Arielle. “So, Arielle had an excellent idea for lunch, since you two disappeared on us yesterday and we were too worried to eat.” Kedrick had caught sight of the picnic basket that Arielle was holding behind her back and had fairly well guessed her idea. “I think Arielle had eating a picnic lunch in mind.”

Dimitri smirked. “Well, so long as it’s food, I don’t care, I’d eat just about anything right now!” He said, grinning as he too had seen the picnic basket that his friend was holding.

The four of them ended up taking a short walk, (And staying all together this time) into the woods. Once they had found a nice place in the shade of a large oak tree, the four friends settled in, eating the long awaited picnic lunch that had been interrupted the other day. The boys particularly seemed to think that the events of yesterday seemed to be forever ago already. All of the worry, and fear had passed and now it seemed like a long time ago that they had felt that way. The beautiful sunny day and carefree atmosphere that surrounded their picnic seemed to be a premonition of the days to come. The four friends spent the remaining few days of their trip having fun, and forgetting about the events of the beginning of the week. They had plenty of time to swim, boat, hike, stargaze, and of course, many marshmallows were roasted.

It was almost sad to pack up their temporary home at the end of the week, but in a short time, they had taken down the tents, and packed away their gear. Saying goodbye was too hard, because they all knew it would only be a matter of days until they saw each other again. Unpleasant as it was, the meeting with Jonsey had been scheduled for two days following their return home, and they would all be there.

The two day reprieve between their trip, and their appointment at the police station wasn’t long enough from Kedrick’s liking. The young man sighed softly as he stood in the kitchen waiting for Arielle to wake up. He had been too restless to sleep in, and so, he had gotten up early and started breakfast. He wondered how Arielle was feeling. He was sure she was nervous, after all, Kedrick had seen how Dimitri would act at the mere mention of his tormentor’s name. Now Arielle was going to face the man who had done the same kind of thing to her. Even if she was safe behind glass, or with police men to watch over her, it was going to be hard.

Kedrick shifted where he stood, looking at the eggs that were frying on the stove top. The silence was getting to him. He himself was nervous about this, and just sitting here stewing on it was doing him no good. Finally, Kedrick picked his phone up off of the counter, punching in Dimitri’s number.

Dimitri picked up the phone, for once, on the first ring. He too had been up for a while now, anxious, and nervous. The sound of his phone buzzing had made him jump, and he took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. “Hello?” He asked, trying to mask the fact that his surprise still had him breathing hard.

Kedrick smiled slightly, just the sound of his friend’s voice eased his nerves a bit. “Hey Dimitri, it’s Kedrick.” He said, resting his weight against the counter. “You’ve been up too haven’t you?” He asked, knowing that it wasn’t unusual for Dimitri to sleep until close to noon.

Dimitri gave the barest hint of a smirk, tugging a pair of clean socks on over his bare feet, holding the phone against his ear with his shoulder. “Yeah, I’ve been up for a while now, How’s Arielle?” He asked, hoping, just like Kedrick, that she was handling this alright.

”Not up yet.” Kedrick said with a slight shrug. “Well, maybe she is,” He corrected himself. “But she hasn’t come downstairs yet.” The young man hesitated slightly, looking out the kitchen door and towards the stairs, half expecting to see her coming down right at that moment. He looked back to the stove, stabbing at the scrambled eggs with a spatula to break them up. “Listen Dem,” He said, bringing his attention back to the phone call. “I’ll see you at the police station okay? I’ve got to finish getting breakfast ready.”

Dimitri nodding once. “Alright,” He said with a smile. “Take care of that girl of yours okay?”

Kedrick gave a small smile. “Don’t worry, I will. See you soon Dem, bye.” Kedrick clicked the phone closed, pocketing it and looking down at the eggs again. After a moment’s thought, he added a few spices in, and popped two pieces of toast in the toaster. Then he settled back, and waited for Arielle to come downstairs.


 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"Don't pretend that you don't love hearing me talk like this," Maria teased, honestly not helping herself from enjoying the talk. Leave it to her to be this completely goofy, even though he did have a point. "You can't do much with my head anyway, it's so swelled up you can't even tell that it's swelled anymore."

She would've commented with more but at that point, Kedrick was asking how Dimitri had done with the lesson. She chose not to say anything, even though she could've completely bragged about how Dimitri was an amazing shooter and she was so proud for him to be her pupil. Instead, she noticed how Arielle was failing at trying to hide something behind her back and wondered what it was.

Arielle was glad to hear that Dimitri had done well. She was surprised Maria hadn't said anything, but she probably didn't want to steal her boyfriend's thunder. Plus, knowing Maria, she knew that Dimitri was probably just as good as her, even better (not that she'd ever admit to that unless the situation called for it).

Of course, before Arielle could even answer the question about what was for lunch, Kedrick beat her to the punch and she realized that her intention was easily noticed. As Kedrick was explaining, she looked over at her friends, and wondered how they’d think of the idea. Dimitri’s response made Arielle giggle and the happy look in Maria’s face made her glad that they all liked the idea.

“It’s not such a surprise that you would say something like that, Dimitri,” Maria teased, “I think you and my brothers are starting to become a bit similar in your thought process when it comes to food.”

Arielle giggled and soon the little group made their way to a nice site to enjoy their makeup picnic. Luckily for them, the food was still just as good as the day before, especially since Arielle slightly feared that the food might’ve spoiled overnight but glad to know that her worries were for naught. Maria definitely didn’t want to think about the events of yesterday, especially with all that delicious food in her face. The picnic was fantastic, but the rest of the trip was even more so. If anything, the troubling events made way to the start of the most amazing trip the girls could ever ask for, the last night being a bit sadder than the morning of departure.

It was strange, leaving the campsite, almost like saying goodbye to an old friend. There were some things they didn’t think they were ready to go back to, but after all was said and done, they all made their way back to their homes, thoughts on their meeting with Jonesy in two days. Arielle was of course worried about seeing the man again, and Maria was also concerned, but she also made sure to check in on Dimitri every so often to make sure that he was fine. After running into Jared, she had become slightly more protective of Dimitri and had to stop herself from going over to his apartment and staying overnight.

When the day had finally arrived, Arielle had woken up even earlier and just stared at her ceiling. She hadn’t received any more messages from the mysterious man for the time being, but she knew that she wasn’t out of the woods yet. There was a tightness in her stomach as she tried to figure out what to say to a man she hadn’t seen in about a month or two. She still wished that she could’ve dealt with it on her own, but if she had done so, she wouldn’t know what her mental state would be like.

She picked up her phone and looked at it, trying not to make too much noise even though at some point she knew that Kedrick would wake up and check on her. She saw there was a new message from Maria letting her know that she would be there with her father and that she’d see the three of them there. She wasn’t sure if she had sent it to Kedrick and Dimitri, but she knew they wouldn’t have been too pressed about it since they would all be there.

You can’t hide in the bed forever, Arielle thought as she sat up, touching her hair. She knew she probably had her infamous bed head look, but she couldn’t even bring herself to care. She glanced at the message from the mysterious man, reading it calmly even though she had it engraved in her memory.

With a gentle sigh, she fixed her shirt and opened her door, leaving her room and walking down to the kitchen, thinking it was time that she made breakfast. What she saw actually surprised her since Kedrick was up, already in the kitchen and making breakfast. She smiled gently and walked over to him. “M-Morning, Kedrick,” she said shyly, a yawn escaping. She wondered what he was doing up, but immediately figured that he was probably still worried about today’s meeting just as much as she was and probably the rest of their group. Let’s just hope it goes well though.  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

Ҝәɖʁϊϲҝ Ś. Śűѿą ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟

Always...

Kedrick looked up the moment he heard Arielle's feet on the stairs. He smiled slightly, seeing her hair still all messed up from sleeping on it as it always was. "Good morning love." He said with a smile, hoping that a cheerful attitude on his part may help to settle her nerves. Kedrick walked over, and, frying pan full of eggs still in his hand, leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I made breakfast, " He said unnecessarily, she could already see that, but he mentioned it anyways. "Hope you like scrambled eggs and toast."

Kedrick set the frying pan back down on the stove top, glancing over for a moment as the toast popped out of the toaster. The young man opened the cabinet door, pulling out two plates and setting them on the table. Quickly following that, he grabbed sliver wear for the two of them and set them beside the plates. He smiled over at Arielle, pulling out a chair for her, and then serving up the eggs and toast. "There you go," Kedrick said with a small smile, taking his own seat. "Enjoy."

As Kedrick eat, he hardly tasted the food that he had taken the time to prepare. He had put extra effort into it, wanting it to be nice for Arielle. But none the less, the food went down without him even realizing that he was eating. Despite his cheerful attitude, Kedrick was worried about what was going to happen in the days to come. Chance were, they'd be getting some information on Arielle's mysterious stalker and would be acting on that information. There would be trouble Kedrick was sure of it, but he stuck by his promise to himself that he wouldn't leave Arielle's side for anything until this man was caught. Arielle had already been hurt once during the whole Jonsey ordeal, twice would simply be too much, Kedrick was determined not to let it happen. Even in the past few day between now and the camping trip, Kedrick hadn't let Arielle out of his sight, and he knew that he would until this had all blown over.

By your side...