Run, Little Child [Dirk]

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Giselle;;

At one point, her body had been used as a toy, for anyone to use as they pleased. This was a proud woman, and at times, had refused to even acknowledge any master that had owned her. Though that brought about its own form of punishment, usually sexual, Giselle had stuck by her wits, and managed to eventually get free, though just barely. Though her wounds were slight, they still hurt, and currently, the slice on her upper right arm was stinging. A small grunt came from her as the woman trudged her way through the outskirts of town, dilapidated and trodden down. Luckily for Giselle, it was night, and though the Lycans that usually chased after slaves were supposed to be hunting down the female human, they did not?
Why, Giselle assumed, it was because of the pouring down rain. It diluted her scent, and also washed away the blood that dripped from the wound, down her arm, to her fingers before plopping on the ground.
As the female slave kept going further into unknown territory, passing on the outskirts of a forest. No, this wasn’t the smartest plan of action, but Giselle needed shelter, and fast. Breaking into a dead sprint, the woman found what she was looking for - the entrance to a mine.

Assuming it was safe enough to proceed, Giselle did just that, her hair sticking in tendrils to her face. Almost soaked to the bone, she was, though that was nothing next to the relief that she had felt at this moment. Silent up until now, the human sighed, a sound that proved how relieved Giselle was at finding this place. Continuing further in, Giselle was soon out of the harsh winds and beating rain. Her left arm ripped the ends of her pant legs off, the white cloth being used as a makeshift bandaging for her right arm. Finishing it off with a knot, the material soon turned a slight pinkish color. Further inside the cave she ventured, her green eyes scanning the dimly lit place. From what she could see, it branched off more, these tunnels like a network beneath the surface.

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Why the rain? Why did he have to travel in the rain? Dirk wanted to stay in town, in a nice warm bed, maybe have a few drinks at the bar. He rarely made trips to town, they were much to busy and Dirk preferred the wildernes, but not tonight, it was raining and very windy at that. Though it was only fair that he share the night in the storm, Trega had to stay out in it, why shouldn't he.

'Yes, why should you not?' Trega's thoughts would rumble through Dirk's mind like the thunder above him. If it were the olden days when dragons were creatures to be feared, she would have her own cave, with a mound of tresure reaching to the ceiling. Even tame dragons who made pacts with humans and fought evil across the lands were given their own rooms in every city. No this was not it at all, she had to sleep out in the wilderness every night, good or horrible. City folk who know nothing of the world beyond their pathetic walls feared her and feared her they should! 'You were only going to town for new clothes and a weapon, not to get drunk and sleep half the day tomorrow!'

She was right... again. Dirk was only in town to get a gun, it was a large clunky thing, with a silver finish and the picture of a hawk etched into the grip. It also had a really loud bang, as Dirk found it the first time he fired it at the range, the recoil would cause the gun to smack him in the face. It was Trega's idea, since Dirk was getting odd stares from locals, that he should also pick up a set of clothes. He spent more time at the clothing store than the gun shop, picking up a dark green zip-up hoodie and baggy jeans.

Dirk trundled on through the pounding rain, the outside of his cloak seemed drenched, but on the inside he was nice and dry... except his feet. The two reached the end of the forest, a large gust of wind came up and blew the hood right off Dirk`s head, soaking his shaggy hair. 'Bah, damn storm.' He turned to the stunted Dragon to find her with her head low, sniffing the ground`. Her sense of smell amazed Dirk to no end.

'Blood, human blood. Shapechangers, wolves-who-change-at-will.' Keeping her head low, she would sniff out the trail of blood. The going was slow, the trail was hardly there anymore, even for her powerful nose. The trail came to a small mine, where the smell of blood strengthened. 'Who ever it is, they are in there'

Under his cloak, Dirk took a hold of his new gun. 'Looks too small for you, if we got attacked you can't turn around. I'll go in.' Without waiting for her reply Dirk swiftly stepped into the mine, with angry rumbles from his partner echoing in his head. 'Don't worry I'll be fine.'

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As much as she hated her life at the moment, there was that satisfaction that seemed to give the woman a small glow, a new look to her, if one had seen her while in the midst of slavery. There was definitely a smug look about the female human, brown hair once more pushed out of her eyes. After getting a good, easy and simply layout of where Giselle currently was, the woman had returned to the front of the caves. Despite the fact that this place was abandoned, it was still in good shape. More than likely, the men and their superiors had stopped working here, for it was obvious that whatever they were looking for had no longer existed here. It was probably gold they had excavated these tunnels out for, though any other precious gemstone was a good guess, as well as coal.
These tunnels branched off, from the larger, main one, into three. From there, Giselle had proceeded to explore the first one, and the second, and finally, the third. However, she had only gone so far, for two reasons. If this place proved to be unstable, then how would she be able to get out? Getting lost within this santuary was a forbidden thought. As well, with her arm, the pain would only increase for however long Giselle continued with her travels.

And then, that noise of someone entering the caes, from the beginning. Immediately, she rose for her small resting place, eyes scanning the dimly lit place. Though she waited to call out, it still could have been the Lycans, if she was unfortunate enough to have been tracked to this place.
However, when Giselle was greeted with silence, two or three careful steps backwards made no difference. It was pure fright that emanated from the female human, her hand tugging on the silver collar around her neck. No, they would no catch her. If Giselle had no desire to be caught, then the Lycans would have a wonderful time trying to return her to the warehouse. And then, four more frantic steps backwards, when the figure of a man emerged from the darkness.

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Mines, the distant cousin to caves. They weren’t much better than one in Dirk’s opinion, dark and cold, still it was nice to be out of the rain. Hoping whoever came in here wasn’t too deep in the mine, but how knows how long ago they came by or if they were still here. His torches were soaked from the rain so he couldn’t even light one of those. Peeling off his hood Dirk shook some of the rain from his hair, when he heard what sounded like quick footsteps. ‘Wait!’ He said and instantly regretted it as his deep voice echoed through the mine. Making his voice as soft and quiet as he could Dirk repeated himself, ‘Wait! My uh… dog smelt your blood.’ He cringed when Trega voiced her thoughts in his mind.

’Dog! How dare you compare me to one of those yelping idiots!’ Humph dog indeed. She would show him next time, when she bites his hand like a dog. Trega settled herself down as she lay with her back towards the entrance. In a flicker of lightning miles away, she swore there was something skirting the edge of the forest. She brought her tail up beside her head, closing her eyes, she would appear to fall asleep, but she really had kept her eyes partially open, even in the rain she could smell beings 20ft away and was prepared for any surprises.


Dirk shook his head again as the torrent of thoughts subsided. He took a small step forwards holding his hand out palm up. ‘Are you hurt? I have some food if you’re hungry.’ It wasn’t much, but Dirk lived off what he could forage and what Trega hunted, he had a few apples, and he hoped the bread he bought wasn’t soggy.

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Her footsteps stopped, coming to a sharp halt. The woman winced, picking up one of her feet, only to see blood trickling down. Damn those slave traders. No shoes had been provided Giselle in the least, and now the truth of why was making more sense. If she ever did run away, how well could she fare if her feet were bloody and torn, close to having muscle ripped from bone, if the woman was that desperate. Setting it down, Giselle looked up, her breathing slowing and quieting. Dog? That was a red flag in Giselle's mind, but he seemed nice enough. However wary she was of him, that feeling faded as hunger replaced it. Oh, apples.. how she longed for some sort of fruit! It had been ages since she had been fed properly, and Giselle took a couple hesitant steps forward, the hunger replacing her fear of the unknown man.

The good arm made a snatch for the apple, hand rolling it over in her palm to make sure that it wasn't harmed in any way. Wehn finding that it was satisfactory, Giselle bit into it, and swallowed, before answering the stranger's question. "I'm okay. Injured, but not life threatening." Giselle looked up to the man, before scurrying backward a couple of feet. "You aren't with the Lycans? At all?" It was a precautionary question, though it came a bit too late. Scornful of her own momentary weakness, he could have harmed her right then and there. But, then again, if he was a Lycan, he could have hunted her down easily through these caves, no matter what.

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Dirk chuckled at her question, and perhaps that she snatched the apple right away. "No I am not with the Lycans, I can be firce as one when i fight though." He whispered as he knelt down to her level, for he was so tall he would loom over her like a giant. Noticing how soaking wet she was Dirk began to think of creating a fire to help dry her out when Trega sent him an image of what she saw, so much for that. Pulling off his cloak Dirk placed it on the ground and sat upon the rough wooly thing, shivering as the cool damp air hit him. The cloak was large enough to be wraped around a child several times, but it was warmer than the cold cave floor and certainly much softer. "Here sit, let me take a look at your feet."

(GAWD thats such a short post...I'm bummed cause my computer died today )

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(( That's okay, hope it gets better soon. You gave me something to work with, so no problem. ))


A small smile spread across her face. No, he was definitely not a Lycan, for if this man was, Giselle would have known. Nothing would have stopped him from attacking and dragging the woman back to the warehouse. The smile disappeared, however, and she glanced back at the entrance. Slowly, the human nodded, before sitting down next to him. "Alright, thank you," she said quietly, her arms wrapping around her chest in a small effort to keep warm. It was a brutal night, this storm would not pass easily. Either a shifter was terribly upset, or something simply had triggered such a phase in nature. However, Giselle's hands slipped down to the cloak, so soft and warm, quite cotradicting to the cave floor. Smiling again, her legs foldedout from under the woman, almost as though she were giving him permission to look at her small wounds, complying with his offer.
Outside, the wind howled more, the trees shaking down to their roots. Oh, how lucky Giselle had been to pick this day to escape. Sure, she would have a terrible trouble fleeing from the Lycanthropes, but Giselle was still free. They would have enough trouble as she had during the storm. Reaching up to her bandaged arm, she slowly manuvered the wrappings off, wincing lightly. The wound had not gotten worse, but it also seemed as though it had not grown better, either. Such a pity. Injured, Giselle was as good as sitting in a cage once more.

A small hiss of pain came from Giselle as she realized that there was also some bits of rock in her foot, along with other dirt and grit. With any luck, the wound would not get infected, if this unnamed yet helpful stranger worked fast and effeciently enough. "And what might you be doing out on such a night like this?"

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Dirk would wait in silence as the woman sat down and eventually held out her feet for him to inspect. Pulling off his gloves, Dirk gently took her ankle in his rough but warm hand, gasping at how cold she was. He held her foot towards the faint amount of light from the cave entrance and looked it over. The skin was raw and cut by rocks or sharp sticks, when it healed her skin would be hardened.

’She must have been running for ages.’ Trega’s said as she watched the events unfold through her mental connection with Dirk. More questions burned like a raging fire in Trega’s forever churning mind. Who was this woman, where did she come from, were the Shapechangers chasing her, or was it just coincidence she and they were out tonight? If they were hunting for this woman, she was either an escape slave, or just got lucky and escaped the slavers?

Dirk shuffled himself a bit; laying her legs across his lap as he removed a roll of bandages from a pouch on his belt and a small leather case from another. “Me, I’m an adventurer of sorts. I’m usually out in the wilderness all the time with my… dog.” Dirk would go silent as Trega flooded his mind with angry thoughts of being called a dog. He tore a strip of bandage, rolling it into a ball and wetting it with water from his canteen, passing the water to the woman so she could take a drink afterwards. Dirk would then proceed to carefully and gently wipe away the dirt and grime from her feet. ‘This’ll probably sting.’ The words brought back a pleasant memory from his past.

’Now now Dirk, that is no way for a warrior to act.’ She would say. Dirk could picture her wondrous face warmly smiling at him, her gentle sky blue eyes gazing into his. He could still remember the touch of her lush purple hair tickling his bare chest as she worked on cleaning a sword wound across his belly, or a burn on his arm.

Dirk would appear as if in a trance as he worked on cleaning her feet. Opening his leather case, which was full of an assortment of tools, Dirk used a small set of tweezers to remove any rocks embedded in her foot before beginning to wrap it with bandages. “If you don’t mind me asking, but I can understand myself being out in this foul weather. How come you are?”

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She winced, almost holding back a hiss of pain. He was so warm that it felt like her foot was on fire, though in reality, she was just too cold. Giselle watched him, nodding when the man said that it would sting. Right he was, for Giselle immediately tried to jerk her foot back, though only once. She hated being taken care of like this, though she wouldn't let him know that. However, the human stayed still after that, making an effort not to move her leg at all when the pain came. His trance-like state worried her, as well as when he paused about his dog, each time he said it. There was definitely something up, and Giselle did not like it. However, she would wait until her injuries were taken care of, and her safety assured, before mentioning such.
She sipped on the water, thankful for it. Careful not to spill or take too much, Giselle capped it, handing it back to the man. No physical contact was made, none more than needed, anyway. Giselle was still iffy on whether or not she trusted him. His question didn't surprise her, and she thought careful about and answer.

Would it be worth it to reveal all this to him? Surely he would be paid well if he really was after he, an envoy sent by the Lycans to get her to cooperate even more, unknowingly. However, if he wasn't this man would be able to help her, if he so wished to. Green eyes watched his work, as though Giselle were really concentrating on that. However, she was still chewing things over in her mind. Slowly, she made her decision. Half the truth was what it would be, though that might still be too much.
"The Lycans decided to chase me, and here was the only place I could find to rest and get out of the rain, you see." The words were said slowly and softly, not directing answering the man's question, and not yet avoiding it, either. Elusive as always, Giselle was trying to protect herself, for now, avoiding digging a deeper hole for herself.

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Trega snorted, a small flash of flame erupting from her nostrils. She thought the woman's answer was a little funny. Why would the Lycan's be out hunting for new slaves in weather like this. And That still didn't explain why she was out here, so far from civilization. 'There is something she is not telling.

'You say that about every woman.' Dirk replied telepathicly. He didn't mind if a woman kept secrets, everyone had at least one they would rather keep buried. Finishing one foot, Dirk paused to take a drink of water before working away on the other. Being more gentle as he cleaned away the grime with a new swab, her other foot was just as bad as the first. She wouldn't be able to run away from Lycans like this, Dirk already felt the annoyance of Trega in the back of his thoughts. However he already made up his mind and sent soothing thoughts to his partner.

Finishing up on her other foot, Dirk set it gently down on the soft cloak. 'There, that should keep your feet from getting infected.' He said. Slipping off his small pack, Dirk rolled out a few apples and, amaziningly, a dry loaf of bread. Tearing it in half he would hand it to the woman before munching on his own. He'd rather of a nice tasty deer, but he'd rather not risk Trega hunting in a night like this. Gulping down his mouthful, Dirk pointed down the mine, 'Have you gone anywhere in here? Did you happen to find a place to get some rest, some kind of abandoned break room even?'

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Her green eyes watched Dirk as he worked on her feet, cleaning them and making sure there would be no infection. He didn't comment on her explanation; either he believed her, or the man was stewing over his thoughts. Well, sooner or later, that point would come up again, and Giselle would have an explantion for it when it did remerge. "Thank you," she said, lightly tearing off a small piece of bread, muching down on it, trying not to let her hunger show. After going a couple of weeks without too much food, it was very difficult to stop her starvation from showing through the human's actions.
An apple was then consumed as well, even as the male asked questions about her exploration. Slowly, she thought over what she had seen. It was a start, at the moment. "I might have seen something like that in the tunnel all the way to the left, because that was the first one I explored, but I'm not enterirely sure." Resuming her feeding on the apple and bread, the woman curled her toes in the large, soft, warm cloak, a small smile on her face. It was easy to amuse and distract Giselle, but then she looked back to the man. A hand went up to tug at her collar, silver, even under the dim lights of the mines.

"Do you think you could get this off me when we've found a more suitable resting place?"

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"Ha I knew it, she escaped the warehouse full of slaves." Trega would let a triumphant chuckle rumble through her throat. One that would likely be echoed off the stone walls. She didn't care, for why should she hide her true identity? She would leave it at that and continue her quiet watching, perhaps now wasn't the best of times to scare someone with a sudden appearance. She would let "Dirk the wonder boy" explain things to the woman.

Leaning forwards to see better, Dirk squinted his eyes in the dark. Examining the collar, it didn't seem to have any kind of lock, but in total darkness he couldn't really tell. If it was anything special, for say, had any magical enchantments, Dirk would likely have used a knife called a Magic Cutter and would have been able to slice through it. Unfortunately... 'You dropped it when we were flying over the ocean...'

'I know that!' Dirk would say outloud, even to the point of turning his head towards the entrance. As he turned back, he appeared as though nothing strange just happened. It wasn't until Dirk was about to answer the woman, when his mouth open, so did his eyes. Claping a hand over his mouth, he was glad it was dark and she couldn't see the look of stupidity on his face so well. 'Err...' Dirk tried speak but then sighed, he was caught now.

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Giselle watched him, jumping back as the rumble echoed through the mines. True, the woman shouldn't have been so easily startled if it were a normal day, but having become so agitated and frightened recently was going to have a negative effect on nearly anyone. And then, as he examined her collar, the woman relaxed, visibly so. It was a huge relief to trust someone, anyone. After years of slavery, it was a very welcome idea. Again, she scuttled backwards on the cloak as he shouted, fear flashing for a moment as she realized that it was directed toward herself.
But if not Giselle, then who?

That question burned through Giselle's mind, even as the man looked back to her, sheepishly. The sigh was definitely heard, and the woman peered behind him. Human eyes revealed nothing to her, and her own sigh came. "You seem to have secrets of your own." It was a soft statement, yet said with such conviction that some might have taken it as an accusation. The look in Giselle's eyes and facial features said otherwise. No, she had not meant it like such. All she was doing was stating a fact, not asking whether or not he had any. As well, in that one sentence, she was also asking what they were, and if the kind man would share them with her.

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'Hm, one that is difficult to keep sometimes.' Dirk said with a glare towards the entrance. 'She isn't really a dog, Trega...' He seemed to become stuck as how to explain what exactly she was. Not wanting to sound crazy by saying she was a Dragon, why would she believe him anyways. Dragons were believed to be hunted to near extinction and even fewer tame ones.

'Bah! Do I have to do everything myself? Is it so hard to believe that ancient creatures such as myself exist! I do, and you best better start being proud that I do.' Trega shifted herself taking her eyes off the forest for a moment, and stuck her spiked head into the mine. Her vibrant ruby colored scales gleaming in the darkness, sending an array of red colors shifting along the wall as she moved. Looking down her long snout with her golden orb like eyes, she eyed the slave-woman over before focusing on Dirk. 'Listen here you child! Do not ever call me a dog or I will show you what it is like for a cat to be chased by one' Her threat was harmless, it was her way of showing affection for Dirk, be it a little violent.

Dirk chuckled at the Dragon's sudden appearance, more interested in the glow from her scales giving everything a redish hue. He reached up and patted the side of her head, the Dragon narrowing her eyes at him. "This, this here is Trega." She would give a snort to recongize that the woman was there, a spark of flame curling from her nostrils.

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Giselle didn't comment on his crytic responses, for it seemed like Dirk was actually getting somewhere with them. However, it was not what she had expected for a fucking dragon to appear in the cave, even if it was only the head of one. Panic set in for a split second, before Giselle visibly relaxed, her shaking stopping, and she slowly got up, waiting for the small flames to die down. Unsure of how to go about this Giselle glanced to Dirk. "Oh, yes, such a secret can't be kept for long. My question is how you got here unnoticed."
Despite her enslavement, Giselle knew the goings-on about the city quite well. It was a nice thing, to hear the Lycans talking loudly about it. It often helped with figuring out the major powers in this place, as well as who was doing what.

Careful not to injure her wounded feet any more than need be, the woman put up a slightly shaking hand, her nervousness ndisguised. "May I touch?" she asked, though it was just a general question, for both Dirk and Trega, thoughGiselle had no idea that the dragon had legitmate thoughts and speech.