Why, hello there

Stephen smiled for a brief moment. "Hey, it's not you... But, you should consider quitting. I mean... Longer lifespan ya know?" He stated, kissing her forehead. She reminded him a lot about the girl he took care of: troubled, mysterious... Somewhat fun.

Elizabeth frowned. "Then what is it?" she asked. She was honestly curious- she had to know why he was upset. "And I've been trying to quit, but it's obviously not working."

Stephen shrugged, wrapping his arms around her. "I had a bad breakfast." Liar. He didn't even eat breakfast today. He chuckled, "Maybe I can persuade you to quit?" Stephen gave her a sly wink.

Elizabeth moved her hands up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Maybe. When did you get so lovey-dovey?" she asked with a smirk.

Stephen chuckled again, pulling her closer to him so that they were together. "I don't know... Maybe when I started worrying about you?" He said, tiliting his head to the side with a questioning look on his face.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I don't need anyone worrying about me," she said, and then very, very slowly (which was totally out of her nature) she placed her lips onto his.

Stephen smirked and stayed quiet as they joined together. Kissing in the forest... Almost sounds like a fairytale moment. Almost.

Elizabeth wondered of Stephen could taste the smoke on her breathe, but wasn't too worried about it. That's when... Fat raindrops came down and splashed on Liz and Stephen, making her break away. "What the hell!" she yelled. "It's not supposed to rain here!"

Stephen was too preoccupied thinking to really put much effort into the kiss they shared. Thoughts like: what am I going to eat later? I'm tired. Do these pants make my butt look big? He then blinked as he felt raindrops. Raindrops. Does it even rain here? Well according to Elizabeth, it doesn't. "We should probably find shelter! I'm not too keen on becoming sick."

That made Elizabeth smirk, and she took a few steps back, and spun around one one foot with her arms outstretched, until she was facing Stephen once again. "Oh, come on!" she yelled through the rain, laughing. The rain came down faster and faster, until they were both soaked- but Liz couldn't care less. She was from Hawaii, after all. She welcomed this type of weather as much as people from Massachusetts welcomed the snow. "Don't you know how to have a little fun?"

Stephen sighed, and looked up, the fat raindrops splashing his face. "Just because I'm a son of Triton does NOT mean I'm immune to diseases... Like the common cold!" He exclaimed, arching his arm above his head, creating an invisible umbrella. Whenever raindrops got too close, it slid to the side. But being a son of Triton has it's perks. "Oh, I know how to have fun, but--" Stephen shook his head, watching her twirl through the rain. "You're crazy." He muttered to himself.

Elizabeth laughed again. "I'm not crazy! I just haven't been in rain in a while! Haven't you ever seen Zombieland? 'enjoy the little things!'" Liz knew Stephen probably thought she was absolutely insane, but she couldn't care less. She laughed and spun around in it until she was shivering- with joy, that is. Finally, she went over to Stephen who was still hiding under his little homemade umbrella-thing, and she wrapped her (wet) arms around his waist, pressing the side of her (wet) head to his chest. "You're no fun," she murmured.

Stephen nodded unenthusiastically as she twirled. "Yes, I've seen the movie, but that doesn't mean anything! Like I said, I'm still not immune." He explained, but he knew his argument was getting him nowhere. She's probably insane. Kicking down doors and whatnot. Then, dancing in the rain. Splendid. Stephen saw Elizabeth, dare he describe, vibrating towards him. "Oh, hey. Don't you dare--", she gave him a wet hug. "Hug me." He grumbled. "Now I'm wet... And cold. So much for dryness." He started to, discreetly, slither water out of her wet clothes with his free hand. "And hey, I am fun!"

Now, this wasn't like Elizabeth. Twirling, laughing, giving hugs. So the fact that she way doing all of these things were definitely not like her. No one ever saw this side of her- not even Damien. Everyone knew her as a badass girl who didn't let anyone in her way. Well, that was only half true- the other half was a typical 16 year old girl who acted like she actually had a bright future. She didn't know why she trusted Stephen with this piece of her- maybe it was because he already knew she was insane. Why not show him the rest? She put her chin on his chest, and smiling up at him, and shrugged. "Then prove it." she said simply.

Stephen blinked, a bit taken back by her simple reply. After all of his protests, one simple answer got to him. He sighed, surveying the rain all around them, figuring that once he lowered his arm, he was going to be soaked in a matter of seconds. "I'm going to get sick, and I'm going to blame you." He said, thinking twice of what he was about to do. A sigh escaped his lips and he lowered his arm, feeling the raindrops mat his hair down. "This is not fun." He said, with an unamused expression on his face.

Elizabeth released the boy and laughed. "If you get sick, it means that you have a very weak immune system." she brushed a wet strand of hair that was sticking to her lip out of her face and behind her ear. "And you're a kid of Triton. Aren't you supposed to like getting wet?" she thought all offspring of water gods and goddesses liked getting soaked, like the way Ares kids liked war. She figured that hobbies like that were genetic.

Stephen shrugged slightly, looking up at the sky. "Water is fun. Rain, even better." He replied, closing his eyes. Watching his friends die in a stormy setting, was not. Did he forget to mention that? All of his life, he felt secure, well, somewhat secure. The only reason he was alive because, that bastard of a man, he made him watch as his closest friends were tortured, humiliated, and killed. That's when he decided: Stephen would train to make sure nothing like this ever happened, again. Sure, it was corny, but what could he do? He didn't mourn, he couldn't. He had mourned enough on that day.

Elizabeth frowned as she watched Stephen look up at the rain. She had a feeling he wasn't telling her everything. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, putting her hands into her jean's back pockets, so that the underside of her arms were outward towards the boy. "I have a feeling that you're not. And don't even dare to say that you're fine." a look of gentle determination was on her face- she felt like she had to know why this teen was so distant all of a sudden.

Stephen didn't have a response. How exactly was he supposed to respond? Oh, everything's just peachy. "I'm fine. Just... Lovely weather." He replied, sticking his own hands into the front of his cargo pockets, his thumbs sticking out. "Well, I am fine. A guy can't enjoy the weather?" How lame was he? Using the weather as an excuse to become quiet and distant. It was slightly amusing to him, but it didn't make him smile. He was glad it was raining...

He hadn't cried in a while.

Elizabeth but her lip as she listened to Stephen say this. That's when she realized... was he crying? She looked at her soaked boots, unsure of what to do. She had never really dealt with weeping campers before. She, herself, had never cried much as a child. She decided what she was going to do. In a blink of an eye (as usual) her arms were wrapped around the son of Triton's waist, and her head was against his chest, her eyes closed. "I'm sorry." She said it quietly and briefly, oblivious to the fact that she was even murmuring the words at all.

Stephen wasn't usually emotional. Don't get him wrong, this was an extremely rare moment. As time went by, he just stored everything inside of him. Bottled up his feelings and locked the cap. Now, it seems, it has busted open and overflowed. It felt strange... Elizabeth was almost like his saving grace. Stephen shuddered as she embraced him, almost turning his discreet tears into noticeable sobs. But he had more pride than that. "Sorry? Now, why would you be sorry?" He asked her, a prick of sadness filling his voice.

Elizabeth pulled away a little so that when she looked up at him, her face wasn't facing straight up. When he asked her why she said sorry, she felt horrible. There was a reason he was upset. She reached up and wiped a tear away from how face, which was kind of hard to do considering it was raining. "That whatever has happened to you, well... has happened." She sighed through her nose, locking her gaze with Stephen's. Biting her lip again, she turned away and walked over to a fallen tree, and sat on it. "That you have to go through with the memories of it." She could relate. Everyday, painful memories of her mother's competitive insults washed over her. She looked down at her boots.

Stephen blinked slightly as she wiped his tears, and some of the raindrops, from his face. He was cold, and not from the rain. As he heard her voice after, he chuckled. Not one of amusement, but one of... Well, he didn't quite know why. In the worst of moments, he would seem happy. Laughter is the best medicine, right? As they locked gaze, he became lost. Lost in her eyes, and his petty emotions. He was only able to blink when she turned and sat on a nearby fallen tree. "Yeah." Was his only response. It was the only response he could think of. His memories... They were painful. He had to relive it every time he closed his eyes. Stephen could see their faces as they perished. They were etched into his brain, burned into his soul.

Elizabeth pulled out her butterfly knife from her jacket pocket, and began it flip it around, all while keeping her bright blue eyes on the ground. She wanted to know what the hell had happened, but she didn't want to push him to tell her. Finally, so anxious to understand why he was crying (and why her sympathy for him was so strong) she quietly asked: "What the hell happened, Stephen?"

Stephen had a bland, almost bored expression. Crying, being emotional, that kind of crap was not his style. He had lost that with his first love. He had messed up, leaving her one day without a word. Left right after breakfast too. Many things troubled this son of Triton. Many things. As the question drifted to him, he twitched. How was he supposed to explain what he saw on... that day.

"I lost my friends. I messed up with people. I betrayed those who loved me, and I used them for my own insidious deeds. I broke a heart, and in the process, I broke mine. I burned bridges. I made mistakes I couldn't fix. Would you like me to go in detail? Would you like to hear what I've seen, what I've done to those people?" He had almost a comical tone saying this, as if he were a narrator of a thriller book.