On Dangerous Ground | Dakota

[Dakota King]

As they kissed, Dakota felt more than before. Her sister's words echoed in her head, but she pushed them away. There was no way that she was in love with Ash. It was completely impossible. She just missed his lips, his arms, him. Everything. She missed everything. And from what she could tell, he was missing everything too. Because their soft kiss developed into so much more and she followed suit, just finding herself giving into his kisses. Kisses she so badly missed and almost needed.

Then he pulled away from her lips and she looked up at him as she panted slightly. But with that silence between them, she started to regain her senses. Oh gods... What had she done? And Ash? His reaction was almost worse. What exactly do you want from me? She didn't know. Or she did, but she didn't want to voice them. "I... I..." she stuttered as she moved to pull away from him. "I'm sorry Ash... I shouldn't have done that... I promised you something and I broke that..." Once she was pulled away from him, she turned her back to him as she crossed her arms over her chest as she tried to compose herself. Try was the keyword. "Is there anything else you needed to show me?" she asked, her voice a bit shakily after a few moments.

[Ashley Bates]

Dakota didn’t answer him. She didn’t have to. Like it or not he could see the fear in her eyes and that was answer enough. That look told him two things. First, she had more feelings for him than she knew or perhaps was willing to admit to herself and second, until she figured that out there really was no way for this to work out to the good for them. It wasn't his love that she was rejecting. She had already done that and didn't need to do anything else. She was rejecting how his love was making her feel. That was the only way to interpret the embarrassment she showed at a kiss she had initiated, at least in his mind.

She apologized to him but Ash wouldn’t. He would never apologize for something that he felt was right and in his black and white view of the world nothing could be more right than what they had just shared. It was a damn shame for both of them. What a mess they had made of things and the worst part was that there really was no fixing the situation. She could not, would not, accept his feelings for her and he could not, would not, do anything to make her. All he could do was shove his feelings away and do his best to do what they had come here to do in the first place.

That was a task that was easier said than done however and even now as his blood cooled to a point that he trusted himself to speak he still didn't think that he could just jump right back to what he was doing before she kissed him. “Dakota I would not hurt you for the world.” He said with that calm confidence that he had. “I brought you here to show you what I’d found and tell you my suspicions. I wasn’t expecting to open things up like this again.” He sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. “I don’t have anything else to show you but do you see how precarious things are for us right now? Something is wrong here and we need to figure out what it is before it's too late.”

[Dakota King]

Dakota hoped that he would get the hint and just drop the subject. Gods knew that she had a difficult time talking about it to her sister and there was no way she was going to talk about it to Ash. The boy she was having all these conflicting feelings about. And she knew how he felt about her and there was no doubt in her mind that he mind try to probe her feelings. Feelings that she wasn't quite so sure about. And there seemed to be no escaping the situation she had been thrusted into. But an idea popped into her head. It was risky and there would be a hell of a lot of guilt associated with it afterwards, but it seemed to be her only solution.

She had only used this a couple of times before and only on unruly campers in the infirmary. She wasn't as skilled as some of her other siblings, but it was at least worth a shot to try to get herself out of this. She took a deep breath to compose herself before she turned around to face Ash. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she hoped her face wouldn't give away her true intentions. She looked Ash in the eyes as she said, "We do not need to talk about this." She tried to put as much influence into her words as possible. "We should head back to camp."

[Ashley Bates]

Ash wasn't sure what was going through Dakota's head but he knew his own thoughts on the matter. That kiss was no mistake. She still had feelings for him even if she didn't realize it. Unfortunately though it seemed as if Dakota was simply going to act as if it had never happened. If only he could make her see that he wasn't trying to pressure her, that he didn't expect her to come to terms with how she felt as quickly as he had, then maybe, just maybe, he could show her that there really was nothing to be afraid of. They didn't have to make this more difficult than it already was.

He was just about to say something to that affect but then Dakota said something that changed everything. He blinked as the power of her influence washed over him. It felt funny really. Her voice was so soft and sweet, even more so than usual. He could just imagine her whispering to him softly in that voice as she lay in his arms and...she was right. They didn't need to talk about this. In fact, why had he even brought it up when she obviously didn’t want to talk about it? They needed to head back to camp anyways. He should have thought of it before but at least Dakota had brought it up now.

"...You're right." He said with a sigh as the slightly puzzled expression he had been wearing as her charmspeak affected him slowly melted away. It was replaced by one that was slightly concerned. He knew now that he had probably kept Dakota out too late. Not only that but he had obviously upset her. Why did he always have to pursue things so relentlessly? She would probably be mad him which wasn't his intention at all. "Come on. I'll get you back." He stepped towards her again and nodded for her to follow. He would have held her hand again but that might have turned the conversation back to that kiss and they really didn't need to do that. Whatever made Dakota happy. "Remember to watch your step around here Dakota."

[Dakota King]

It worked. It actually worked and Dakota didn't feel relief. Instead, she felt immense dread and she felt like she could puke in that exact moment. It worked and she didn't have to confront everything, but it was horrible. She could see the affect her charm speak had on Ash and it was wrong. There was almost a completely one-eighty to his personality. It was like was robot-Ash, not the Ash she knew. Was this permanent? Would he remember this at all? There were so many questions running through her head that she almost missed him speak.

She nodded her head a little too eagerly. She wanted to get away from here and maybe sort out her thoughts and maybe her feelings. She started to follow him out of the forest, making sure to take extra care with her footing.

[Ashley Bates]

The walk back to camp was done primarily in silence. Ash was normally not one to talk overly much but Dakota had told him not to talk about one of the things that weighed heavily on his heart at the moment and he didn't want to upset her again. Granted he wasn't sure that she wanted complete silence but things were safer this way. He had a bad habit of making Dakota uncomfortable with his words and sometimes the childhood rule was best, speak only when spoken to.

If there was anything out of place about his character he didn't seem to notice it. In fact, the possibility that he was somehow pleasing Dakota by remaining silent only served as further incentive for him. It was strange though. Dakota didn't seem happy and that was odd because he thought he was doing everything she asked. He wished he could inquire about why this was but that was risky business. They would just have to make due for now.

When they finally did get back to the lights of camp Ash felt that he had to say something however. He knew that it was risky business and that he might risk Dakota's displeasure but if nothing else he needed instructions. "What should we do now?" He said distantly apparently still under the power of her charm speak and eager to please. "I can walk you to your cabin if you like or we can part ways here but either way I hope I have pleased you."

[Dakota King]

Dakota's head was racing with thoughts as her stomach did several flips. She honestly felt like she could puke. Was she really that desperate that she had to use her powers on Ash just so she could avoid the conversation? Apparently she was and her sister's words kept echoing through her head. She needed to talk to someone who actually understood what she was going through. Maybe she needed to find Mickey after this and hopefully clear her head. If not, she was probably going to confiscate his booze so she could hopefully forget that this ever happened.

And the walk felt agonizingly slow and it seemed like forever until they finally reached the edge of the forest. And Ash was still under her spell. She didn't think her charm speak was that powerful, but maybe in the heat of the moment it was more powerful than she ever imagined. What she did know was that she did not want to be around when he finally snapped out of it. She gulped slightly as she shook her head. "You do not need to walk me back to my cabin," she said quickly. "I can find my way back... I'll... I'll see you around, Ash." And with that, she quickly left to head back to her cabin with all those thoughts that would not leave her alone.

[Ashley Bates]

Ash stood there for a while after she left trying to determine what to do next. Dakota had unfortunately not given him anymore instructions. She just left and the worst part was that he couldn't figure out why Dakota had seemed so upset and unhappy when she left. He thought he had done everything she had asked so it couldn't have been him could it?

Ash wasn't sure but he had some time to consider it as the effects of Dakota's charm speak slowly wore off. When they finally did he was left even more confused wondering why he was standing at the forest edge by himself or how he had even gotten there in the first place. His memory stopped short after the kiss and then things were very fuzzy from that moment on. In any case he did eventually make it back to his cabin above all else remembering that kiss and trying to make sense of his lost evening.