Even The Smallest Trees need Sunlight to Grow (private for Liza and Daffodil)

Brooke hid behind a tree when she saw the demigod coming. Why couldn't she ever just enjoy being by herself? There were always demigods everywhere. All the time. Luckily for her, her bush was where demigods hardly ever came, deep in the woods.

Then the demigod climbed up the tree she was hiding behind. He was high up before Brooke decided to move, where he couldn't see her. But with no luck. She stepped on a twig and it snapped, causing the demigod to look around. And she was right where anyone could see her. She tried jumping back to the tree, but the demigod made eye contact with her and she started to sweat. Her heart beat faster in her chest. Her legs went limp and she fell to her knees. "D-d-don't-" Was all she could get out.

Aaron turned around to see a girl fall to her knees and yell, "Don't!" before he felt himself panic. Was she in danger? Was he in danger? He hesitated to move, if there was a monster watching them he didn't want to make any sudden movements.

He observed the girl who had just fallen. She had long, tawny brown hair that went past her shoulders. It was beautiful hair too, blonde highlights here and there, but they were natural highlights, and that made her hair even prettier. Her eyes were green, light spring green, or maybe a better description was mint green? She had a skinny build.

"Are you okay?" he asked, climbing out of the tree, once he was sure there were no monsters around.

Brooke scrambled backwards when the demigod jumped down. She started breathing heavily and she felt like she was about to faint. He looked like he said something, but the blood rushing in her ears blocked it out. She looked around frantically for a way out. She looked back up at the demigod, and he looked sort of concerned. Why would a demigod be worried about a simple dryad? She stopped what she was doing and stood up, feeling more confident. Until she tried to speak.
"I-i.... D-don't h-hurt me..." She said in a small voice.

Aaron squinted into the girl's eyes. Yep definitely mint green. But now her eyes were glazed over and her face was white as a ghost. Aaron grabbed her arm, and sure enough her body felt limp and weak.

"I-i.... D-don't h-hurt me..." She said standing up.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Hey my name's Aaron. I'm from the Apollo Cabin. Are you sick? I can help you." He asked gently grabbing her arms.

Aaron tried smiling to calm her, and wrapped his arm around her. She felt unstable, like she was about to crash down onto the ground once more. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and her long blue dress was covered in stains.

"Hey? Hey can you hear me? It's gonna be okay."

Brooke felt calmer when he smiled and grabbed her arms. But then she realized what was happening and tore herself away from his grip. She screamed and ran, then tripped over a stump. She noticed the demigod coming towards her but she jumped back up. "What do you want?" She yelled, surprised at herself.

"What do you want?" The girl yelled, falling over a stump and then scrambling back up to her feet. Aaron noticed her face getting even paler as she slowly walked away from Aaron, still facing him. Aaron thought that if maybe she wore some workout clothes instead of her blue dress, she might look like one of those girls who got up each morning for running and Starbucks. Her dress was a robin's egg blue, slightly faded, but beautiful.

She was younger than him, fourteen maybe? She wasn't a camper either, he would've noticed her earlier, but she definitely wasn't mortal? What was she exactly? She didn't seem like a monster.

Aaron remember the day he found his two dogs (which weren't his dogs at the time) abandoned on the side of the road. They were extremely skittish and had tried to run away from him just like this girl was. What had he done then?

Aaron sat down on the dirt ground, hopefully seeming less threatening "I wanted to make sure you're okay, you seemed scared of something. Was it me? I don't bite, ya know!" He gave a friendly smile, and extended his hand for her to shake.

Brooke watched the boy walk towards her, relieved when he sat down. She continued to back away slowly, hoping to get away quickly. Brooke took a shaky breath and stepped a little bit more towards the boy. "What do you want?" She said, more calm than the last time. The boy didn't look too harmful. He had funny looking red hair, in Brooke's opinion, and kind eyes. But she knew to trust no one. Any one of these demigods could be helpers with the next evil titan lord.

Brooke lowered her caution but was still tense. He didn't have any weapons, maybe he did just want to socialize with her. But the dryad wasn't sure she wanted to. 

Brooke took a step forward towards the boy. He seemed pretty laid back, just looking at her calmly. She sighed and stepped back again. "O-okay." She almost whispered, trying to get her courage back. "I'm Brooke." Her voice was barely audible.

Brooke shook her head when Aaron asked if she was a camper. "No, I'm just a dryad..." She looked around, deciding anywhere but this boys eyes. But she smiled and stared off into the distance, watching a squirrel scuttle up a tree. "Well, um, nice to meet you Aaron."

Brooke was careful to not trust him to carefully. Last time she trusted anyone it ended tragically, and she didn't want to relive that pain.

Brooke looked at Aaron, slightly confused. She wasn't sure what was funny, but she thought it wasn't bad he was feeling happy.

She stood there awkwardly, her hands clasped in front of her. She switched weight from one foot to another, looking past Aaron, then to her feet.

"...your a goddess, right?" Brooke shot her head toward Aaron. She never thought she was a goddess, even a minor nature spirit. All she thought was about how easily someone could kill her bush. But Aaron didn't seem to notice and continued talking. She tried glaring at his comment but could only summon a confused look.

"I'm not a goddess." She said but it sounded more like a question.

Brooke looked at Aaron with confusion. She found him quite odd, thinking she was a goddess. Goddesses were supposed to be immortal. Dryads could die very easy. Easier than humans, in fact.

"I really don't think I'm all that important." She shook her head and looked down at the dirt. She knew nymphs were nature spirits, but she absolutely did not think she was a goddess. 

Brooke looked up at Aaron, who was grinning. "I don't understand. How would I be a goddess? Even a minor nature goddess?"

Aaron chuckled and shrugged.

"Well no one's sure who is the father of dryads but a lot of people think he could be Helios, Hermes, Seilenos, or Pan. Those are all pretty important gods, especially Hermes. So even if you're not a god you still have a pretty powerful father whoever he is."

Aaron's forehead wrinkled, so she was related to a god. Most mythical creatures had the gods for their parents. Even Charybdis, Empousai, and Furies had gods and/or titans for parents.

Goodness, the gods needed to keep their pants on.

OOC; Sorry for the late post! School had me busy for a couple of days!

ooc: Nah man, you can see mine is really late too.

Bic: Brooke narrowed her eyes at Aaron. She wasn't sure how to act with him telling her that she was a goddess.

She stepped backwards into the woods and watched a squirrel run up a tree. "Well, um, nice to meet you Aaron."


ooc: sorry it's short too