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Post by Ashley Bates on Feb 1, 2016 0:50:12 GMT -5
Ash grinned at her when she said that she would help him and this time it wasn't the serious grin. This was working out even better than he thought. With Dakota on his side he would finally have someone else to help him with his investigation and hopefully get to the bottom of whatever was going on here. If they were lucky it wouldn't be anything at all but Ash had his intuitions on the matter and those intuitions weren't usually wrong. In that case he just hoped they weren't too late to get ready for whatever was coming.
"The hunter leader. She is the one who started all this by telling me that there would soon be a time when the whole camp would be in turmoil. Since then I've been watching her in silence and I haven't liked what I've seen. She's dangerous Dakota and she is involved in whatever is going on here I would almost guarantee it but don't worry. I'm not going to have you getting involved with her. Just mark her and avoid her Dakota I..." He paused for a moment wanting to say that he was trying to protect her but realizing how that might sound. Finally he sighed. "...Just promise me that you'll be careful around her. Instead I want you to keep an eye out in the infirmary. I've heard rumors from multiple sources about kids popping back up at camp who had disappeared or who were thought dead. It's enough to make me wonder and since you see practically everyone at some point in the infirmary what better person to be watching for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary? We may try and do other things later but right now keeping our eyes open and looking at examining everyone's actions in silence is the best thing we can do."
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 31, 2016 0:48:56 GMT -5
When Dakota said that he could trust her Ash nodded to himself. That was good. He had hoped that he could especially with something like this and the fact that she seemed to recognize the gravity of the situation meant that his instincts about her had been correct. Dakota knew him better than probably anyone here at camp and he was counting on her help in a way.
“Thank you.” He said finally, wondering how to tell her everything that he knew. “I’m going to ask you to enter into a kind of counter-conspiracy with me Dakota. I have reasons to suspect that things aren’t right here at camp. Something is building up here and I think it is going to boil over soon. I don’t have any hard evidence so you can understand why I don’t want to go to Chiron yet but I have been looking into things for a while now and I don’t think we can ignore this.” He sighed realizing this wasn’t getting anywhere and finally decided to come to the point. ”I want you to help me figure out what’s really going on here.”
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Apollo
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 29, 2016 10:29:09 GMT -5
"Good." He said simply and walked on. The path wouldn't be too much farther and once back on direction towards camp he doubted that Dru would need his help very much. He would go with her if she wanted but he supposed she was the type that liked to go at it alone if she had a choice. Still, he might be surprised. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time in any case. "Where do you normally edit your film?" He asked as they walked. "I wouldn't think camp has the facilities for it although I admit I don't really know what would be involved."
The question was meant only as a way to pass the time but something in Dru's voice struck him as odd. It sounded like she was smiling, like something was funny, and it was enough to make Ash look behind him to see her smirking and sticking her tongue out at…something? He didn’t see anything but the girl apparently had. When she turned back around he gave her an inquisitive look asking the question without really asking just in case she didn’t want to answer. It certainly wasn’t the strangest thing he had ever seen in any case.
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 29, 2016 0:39:56 GMT -5
Ash listened to Dakota’s response to his question. He wondered slightly what she meant about not feeling safe at night but decided it probably wasn’t his place to ask, at least not now. When she came to the part about the camp feeling a little uneasy he nodded along with her words as if this was something that he had expected to hear. "Most of the campers I've talked with seem to have the same opinion." He said somberly and for the most part they were right. Still, he wasn't sure about all this usurper business but there were definitely some troubling things that kept popping up that made him wonder if this was a false sense of security.
Ash looked at her steadily for a long moment and then seemed to decide something. "I'm going to you to trust you, Dakota." He realized how this must sound to her, even more so to hear it after everything that had happened between them and he lowered his head a little shamefully. When he spoke again his voice was distant. "I have to trust someone…" Shaking himself visibly from these thoughts he looked back at her and found her eyes again. "I don't know if this has to do with any usurpers but I do know this. Something is wrong here and I have reason to believe that it is something big."
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 27, 2016 22:42:36 GMT -5
Ash really didn't know what he was going to do if Dakota decided to sever all ties with him here. He was not one who trusted easily and all throughout his time here he had been slow to make deep connections with anyone. Now that he actually needed someone to talk to there weren't many people he felt comfortable sharing things with. It would have been easy to go at things alone but he was smart enough to know when he needed help and if what he suspected was true he was right to be very selective in who he told. Unfortunately that still left him with the question of who he could trust but despite everything that had happened his instincts were still telling him that Dakota was that person.
“Good.” He said simply before his stance went rigid and serious. "Dakota, I want to ask you something. Not as the boy who caught you off guard or who hurt you but as a friend. This isn’t about Blue Sky or us...this is something else entirely.” It was a marked change from the tenderness he had shown a moment earlier and perhaps that leant his words a bit of solemnity but in any case it was obvious that he had something on his mind. "Do you feel safe here at camp? I’m not talking about the day to day injuries that you treat. I mean do you feel entirely secure here, from monsters or even our fellow campers?"
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 26, 2016 20:44:50 GMT -5
Ash wasn't really sure what to expect when he asked for Dakota's forgiveness. He hoped that those kisses they had shared in the clearing underneath the sunset had meant something to the girl but he didn't know if that would be enough for her to actually want to forgive him. He hoped she would at least consider it as he still had something else to ask her but he didn't pretend to be a mind reader. If he had been maybe they wouldn't have ended up in this situation.
His breath seemed to hang in his throat as he waited in quiet anticipation and when she gave him her pardon he let it out in a heavy sigh as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Ash nodded and bowed his head a little to her in appreciation. "Thank you Dakota." It felt better to have that behind them and despite the regret that he still felt when he looked at her he thought that maybe things could at least go back to normal between them or at least as normal as they could be. That would be good because he would need someone that he could trust in the coming days. “And do you think that if I promise not to put you into that situation again that we can at least be on friendly terms with one another? I think Blue Sky would like that."
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 25, 2016 23:35:09 GMT -5
Had Dakota reacted poorly to his statements? Ash supposed there were better ways that things could have gone but it would have come to the same end in either case. He could not force her to harbor feelings for him and wouldn’t have wanted her to live a lie just to appease him. Could they have at least expressed that to each other like they were now and maybe saved themselves some of the pain between? Possibly but who could know for sure? Whatever the case what was done was done and he wasn't about to get involved in an argument about who was more to blame.
He smiled at her slightly in response and this time it was the smile that made him look older than what he really was. There was still some pain in that expression as if doing this was hurting him but he kept on. “I scared you and you reacted like any scared person would. I cannot hold that against you. What’s more, I don’t think that’s really important anymore.” The simple truth of the matter was that Ash thought that they had hurt each other enough for one lifetime and even though he was by no means over Dakota he saw no reason why they should keep going on like they had been. “What is important is that we can't keep avoiding each other." He sighed."Will you at least forgive me for hurting you Dakota?"
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 25, 2016 8:13:30 GMT -5
When she looked away from him he thought for a moment that he had lost her, that things would go back to the way they had been the first time that he admitted his feelings and that she would run off. It was a possibility but he had to be truthful with her. His problem was that he accepted love as a fact rather than a flower that blooms and grows and it made him so damn sure of feelings that it hurt. He felt how he felt and he couldn’t change that but he knew that wasn't what Dakota wanted to hear. Still, when she looked back up at him and started to speak he held out a little hope.
She spoke with some difficulty struggling to find the words just as he had but when she said that he caught her off guard he simply nodded and looked away toward the pegasus stalls, he even laughed a little. "I made something of a fool of myself I think." He shook his head at this before turning back to her. "I just wanted you to know that I realize that and I am sorry." His eyes returned hers as he repeated this. There was kind of a brute stubbornness about him that allowed him to go on with something even when he should be nervous or afraid. He used that now as he spoke up again. "For what it's worth I didn't mean to force that on you like I did. That's not why I said it."
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 24, 2016 23:00:31 GMT -5
She didn’t say anything when he spoke and supposed that was good. It was certainly a lot better than a lot of reactions she could have had. To be honest he wasn’t sure what he should have expected. The way everything ended with Dakota just leaving him standing there it didn’t really give him much to go on. What was she feeling? Did she even care to hear his offered apology? Probably not but things felt unfinished between them and he didn’t like that.
There were other reasons that he wanted to see Dakota too. Other reasons why he wanted to make things right but he was probably holding out too much hope that they could at least be on friendly terms again. Still, she wasn’t running away, wasn’t jumping on Blue Sky and flying off and maybe that was good. Only time would tell.
Being that it didn’t look like Dakota was going to say anything Ash took that as his sign to continue. He had other things to say and hoped that she would give him a chance to say all of them. Still, he carried on refusing to let things get more awkward in the silence. “I did fall in love with you.” He said with plain simplicity and although faint color rose on his cheeks his eyes never left hers. “That’s why I said it. It happened even before we kissed I think.”
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 24, 2016 14:43:11 GMT -5
Dakota looked over her shoulders at him and he could tell instantly that his sudden appearance had the same effect on her as it had on him. Well, perhaps not the same effect. Dakota had a place in his heart and he didn't know if that would ever go away. That being the case there was still something there, at least for Ash there was. Dakota, he wasn't so sure if there had ever been anything there and he realized now that he shouldn't have expected there to be. Still, his appearance had made her stop even if the look that she gave him hurt a little.
The coolness in her voice was pretty evident and it made this even harder than it was but then again he had known this would be hard from the beginning and there was nothing to be done about that now except to carry on. Ash watched her in silence for a moment choosing not to respond to the chilly comment she gave then took a step forward, seemed to think better of approaching closer and stopped. He lowered his head obviously thinking how to begin and then looked up at her again, his lips set. "Dakota, I apologize." He said and despite the seriousness on his face obviously he had not reverted completely to the rigid, unyielding character that he was before he met her and yet in some very vital ways, ways that made him a little wiser he had. "What I said to you that day was...unwarranted and unfair."
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Apollo
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 24, 2016 1:20:20 GMT -5
Ash walked along the path toward the stables. He still came here every day even when he didn’t particularly feel like it. The stables reminded him painfully of Dakota and even now, weeks later, Dakota brought about feelings of deepest sorrow. He had come through the worst of it he thought. The past few weeks were blurred together but he had finally come to grips with the fact that he had lost Dakota, probably forever, and while that didn’t make the memory of her any less painful he thought that he could at least accept that fact and begin to move on. There was one little problem though. As much as he wanted to he couldn’t.
The worst part was that he didn’t know why. He knew that he wanted to see Dakota again, wanted to own up to his part in the mess he had made but hadn’t figured out how yet. Maybe that was part of the reason why he was always coming to the stables. Oh sure he had to take care of Rusher, Blue sky too looked like she needed care as well, but admit it or not there was more than one reason he showed up every day right about the time Dakota would get off from work. Why else if not to try and catch her here?
He had all but given up hope for that in some respects so it was no wonder that when he entered the stable and took a look around that the sight of someone standing in Blue Sky’s pin caused him to stop dead in his tracks. He recognized her immediately. How could he not? It was Dakota and as he stood there, silhouetted in the doorway this time there was no boy with his heart open and on display. There was no look of the star crossed lover. This time when he gazed at her the look that was on his face was steady and serious and disquietingly adult. He looked at her in the silence of the stable and in his heart he felt something begin to stir. He welcomed it and feared it at the same time. “Good afternoon Dakota.” He said slowly, cautiously. “I’m glad to see you again.”
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Apollo
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 22, 2016 16:08:46 GMT -5
Ash didn’t mind that Ali had turned this situation around with her story. Obviously she had seen something in him that had affected her enough to open up to him and she needed to say what was on her mind. If Ash’s own experiences earlier today had been any indication then bottling up your feelings only lead to an eventually explosion. That being the case he thought it would be good for Ali to go ahead and get everything out. Maybe talking about it could provide some relief for her.
He couldn’t imagine what it was like to spend so long putting on a face for others. For someone as plainly practical as Ash was the thought of being anything other than himself was foreign to him and yet Ali always put on a happy face even when she struggled with the decisions of her past. He didn’t know how she was able to do it and supposed it spoke a great deal about her personal strength. He hoped that she could see that because those ghosts would not stopping haunting her just because they were out in the open.
“This is a badly broken world Ali.” He said finally. “It’s full of wars and cruelty and senseless tragedy. All of us are served our share of that unhappiness.” Ash frowned a little as he looked at her. He didn’t like the way she was talking. It was almost like she was ready to give up in a way and he wasn’t going to have any of that. “That doesn’t mean we have to let the unhappiness control us but it sounds like you’ve let the happiness be in control for too long.”
He supposed he had never really gotten to know Ali like he should. Her happy, goofy nature was something that he had always taken for granted but he couldn’t do that anymore. As it turned out there was more to Ali then met the eyes. His sister was hurting and needed help too. “That being said some days are treasure. It seems like there’s not as many of them in comparison but I think we all get a few. I think those days make it worth it.”
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 20, 2016 17:17:31 GMT -5
Ali had always been a good healer and Ash couldn’t against that point. She bandaged his hands much better than he had done himself and that did help the situation a little. He could only do so much by himself after all and Ali’s pair of uninjured hands helped more than anything. It would still probably take some time to for the raw skin to heal completely but at least he might be able to write something now and that was the whole point.
Still, he couldn’t help but think that his sister had gone out of her way in opening herself up like this. Ali had exposed a part of her past that she still hadn’t gotten over in her 250 years of life and in doing so had shown herself to still be very vulnerable in some ways. Ash felt sorry for her. Felt sorry that she had been forced to live so long struggling with the guilt of that decision. It must have seemed unbearable and yet here she was carrying the weight of her decision on with her through endless years.
Ash was a guy who tried to live his life without regrets. That didn’t mean that he lived a mistake free life just that he made choices and stood by them to the end. He didn’t want Dakota and their short lived relationship to be something that he regretted later and if Ali’s story had done anything it had strengthened his resolve in this matter. He didn’t regret saying what he said to her and now he knew why. Hopefully she did as well because if she was hurting at all like he was then he felt truly sorry for her.
“I’m glad you were finally able to open up about all of this. I’m not sure what I’ve done apart from listening to your story but I’m glad it was able to do some good for you.” He paused for a moment considering everything he had just been told and everything that had happened to him. It seemed there was a truth there and his mind worked away at it like a painter bringing out an image on a canvas until he finally had it. “It’s hard to let go isn’t it?” He asked almost absently. “Even when what you’re holding onto is full of thorns and it hurts you, it’s hard to let go. Maybe especially then. It’s the same for you and me both Ali. Love leaves scars.” He looked and Ali and sighed. She may have been right to blame their father for all this. His love for music and poetry must have been responsible for this odd romanticism that resided at the core of his being and yet it was a part of him nonetheless. “But we have to move on. We don’t have a choice really.”
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 20, 2016 1:16:31 GMT -5
Ash heard the sound of the door opening and suddenly knew he wasn’t alone. The fact that one of his siblings had come back to the cabin early could have been either a blessing or a curse depending on who it was. He trusted his siblings but many of them, especially the youngest would have been more trouble than they were worth. He didn’t have time to explain himself now, didn’t want to explain himself if had and didn’t have the patience for any of Lucas’ antics right now. This being the case he waited in tensed silence until he heard soft foot falls that he recognized as Ali’s
He glanced up at the door as she entered fully expecting his quirky, energetic sister to be her usual self. She would freak out that he had hurt himself, make a big deal about everything and cause a big fuss until she eventually decided he was okay. In other words not really what Ash needed right now. What he got however was much different and a very welcome surprise despite the excessive concern that was evident in her voice.
“Ali I’m fine…” He began preparing to close himself off and shut his sister out but that was as far as he got. As if she had x-ray vision she saw right through him from the very beginning. He didn’t know if she had been watching him for a while to come to her conclusion or if she just knew but whatever the case she hit the nail on the head and he didn’t know how. Was he really that transparent? Was he really that easy to see through? He didn’t believe it but Ali of all people had and now here they were with her sitting on his bed.
Ash listened to her impassively letting Ali talk because that seemed to be what she wanted to do. As he listened he thought it was the most profound and touching thing that he had ever heard her say. For once she dropped the foolish, silly pretense that she normally wore around herself like armor and opened up to him in a way that he hadn't expected. He had never seen this side of her before and to be honest he very much liked it.
She was right of course in some ways. Not the running from his emotions, he had never done that. In fact, that was precisely what had gotten him in this situation to begin with. She was right that he needed to confront this issue however which was exactly what he intended to do. His mistake wasn’t that he had fallen in love with Dakota. His mistake was that he had expected her to love him back which was why his heart hurt so much when she rejected him. That pain would probably always be there but he couldn’t hold Dakota’s feelings against her. She could no more change them than he could change his own. The issue was that they needed to get past this.
When Ali was finished Ash sighed. There was not much to say and Ash wasn’t very good with words anyways. Still, after a moment he was able to come up with a response. “Thank you Ali.” He said his voice sounding a little dry from lack of use. It was kind of odd to think about it but he suddenly realized he hadn’t really spoken to anyone since the incident with Dakota happened. “I don’t know how you see what you see but know that I do not intend to run from this.” He had a little of the fire in his eyes again. That fire was intense and a little scary at times but it was a little bit of his old self back again. “I do need help with my hands though. I don’t know how much you can do with them but I could at least use some proper bandaging I think.”
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Post by Ashley Bates on Jan 18, 2016 20:10:32 GMT -5
Ash swore under his breath as he fumbled the pencil he was holding and it clattered to the floor rolling under his bed. His hands, those killing hands that were normally so strong and sure twitched as a fresh spasm of pain jolted down his arm. The pain originated from fingertips which were bloody and raw from over use and even though they were bandaged, admittedly not very well since he had to do them himself, the wrappings did little to prevent the fresh cuts and sores from causing difficulties for him.
He hadn’t really had a choice of course. He didn’t think he could go back to the infirmary, not yet at least considering the deeper wounds on his heart still hadn't healed, and he wasn’t very good at healing magic at the best of times which these certainly were not. He supposed he could go to one of his siblings but they still didn’t know about Dakota and now that this had happened there would be more explanations required than he was willing to give. That left him to do the job himself so he did and now he was suffering through the results of his imperfect job.
It had been a week, maybe two, he tried to forget about. The time since Dakota had left him in the lurch had slipped into a misty haze that had yet to depart completely. Ash still participated in the activities that were required of him, still did the things that he had to do like hunting and tracking to take his mind off the situation but he did them with none of his usual passion and fire. In many ways he had been living life much like a man in a daze and until now he hadn’t begun to come out of it.
Things had come to a head this morning on his most recent hunting excursion. While out in the woods his normally sure and agile feet and gotten tangled in a root because he wasn’t really watching where he was going. The resulting fall been the final straw and by the time that he got to his feet the emotions that he was normally so good at stamping down under the cold oppression of his practicality had come pouring out in a massive flood. In response he did the only thing he really knew how to do anymore. He shot his bow.
For once having a quiver with and endless supply of arrows had not been a good thing. Ash shot his bow until he couldn't shoot it any more. He had shot until the fingers on his right hand had bled and when they were raw and useless he repeated the process on his left. He didn't care. He needed to get it all out and the bow had been an effective way to do that. When it was over and he sat wounded and exhausted things had finally started to make sense. Yes hearts could break. He thought that it would be better if we died when they did but we don't and that meant he had to move on. Not from loving her, he didn't think he could do that, but with his life at least. He still had a life to live.
He couldn't do that though unless he had some closure on the matter. That night Dakota had left him he hadn't understood. Now he knew where his mistake was and at least needed to clear his part in the matter. It would take talking to Dakota though and that left the question of how he would get her attention. Writing her a note wasn't happening at the moment so he would have to figure out something else. He just wished he hadn't torn up his fingers so badly.
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