Catch the wind from my sails

The cave became s bit quiet for a moment, until Marie heard an odd sound. Lifting her eyes from her book again, she glanced around. She looked over to Jim, about to ask if he had heard it too, but he beat her to it. Quickly placing her book in her purse, she frowned and asked, “What is it?” and began to back out slowly. Finally, she saw what he had been staring at, “Do you think…” she began before hearing another growl, slightly louder this time. Her eyes widened a little, and she shifted her bag to her shoulder, “Well aren’t you going to come too?”

If he hadn't been so used to keeping his eyes on the source of the danger, he might have rolled his eyes at her. Was she really wasting time to ask stupid questions? "It's big, strong, and probably hungry. Of the two of us, only one of us is armed which means that the idiot behind me should move so I can follow after!" Of course he was stuck in a fucking cave when this happened. None of the electronics here were strong enough to survive the surge that would occur if he tried to draw power and there was no other energy source to draw from. Well, except himself but that was a shitty place to draw it in a fight and chancy at best. Settling into a fighter's crouch, he waited to hear the sound of the girl's footsteps moving away as he searched the darkness for the source of the growling. 

Ah, summer. The season of carelessness.

You tell me. 

Raising her eyebrows, Marie replied, “Well, I’ve been in here for about…” she looked down and checked her watch, “about half an hour now, and no dragon. So…” she shrugged and opened her book. Still listening, she pursed her lips, “That’s people for you. We’re a species who have started to care about no one but ourselves. And we’re all guilty of it from time to time.” She was still curious about what he found, but didn’t want to ask again.

This didn't make sense. This knife was good quality, people didn't just leave that kind of thing lying around and it was too big to have fallen out of its sheath accidentally. Unless...glancing at the claw marks, he paused. The knife wasn't rusty so it couldn't have been there long. As he opened his mouth to say something he heard a low growl fill the cave. Looks like they had company. Wrapping the knife quickly, he shoved it in his waistband where it would be out of the way but easily reachable. "Marie, get out. Now. I'll cover you, but you need to run." As he spoke, he quickly unsheathed both wrist knives he wore, holding them ready to throw. He did not want to get in arms reach of whatever made those scratches in stone. 

"I said I wanted something exciting to happen, not a death wish," Mare stated. He seemed to be tiring of her around, at least in Marie’s mind. She sighed and stopped walking. "Well, if you don’t mind, this cave is a lot more quiet and peaceful than I anticipated, so I’m going to sit here and read. Sorry for bothering you." She sat with her back against the cave wall and pulled out her book and a little book lamp from her purse. After a moment, she looked up and saw him looking at something curiously. "What did you find there?"

"The line between those two things is pretty small. Remember? Dragon?" He ignored her comment about reading and continued to study the claw marks. They were...big. Uncomfortably big. And he wasn't good enough with wildlife or stone to figure out how old they were. On the ground he caught a glimpse of a slight shimmer and picked up a large unsheathed hunting knife. Hunting around, he found a cloth he could wrap it in to protect it slightly. "Fucking hunters. Come in and leave their shit where anyone could pick it up and get hurt by it."

Marie frowned, and followed behind him. “Look, sorry, but I’m coming in here too. I’m not looking for any items like you are, but I came in this cave to find something amazing. Good or bad, I don’t know, but almost the whole summer has past and I have not experienced anything that exciting, so I am searching this cave for something to excite me.” She looked at him matter of factly, a little worried she was too annoying, but she was finding her excitement.

With his back facing her, he figured it was safe to roll his eyes. Of course she was one of those stubborn 'adventure' types. Not that he wasn't, but that wasn't the point. "If you want excitement, go down to the lake and insult a mermaid. Then see how long they let you live. It's a blast." He picked a can out of his pathway and walked farther in, slightly distracted by the sight of large claw marks on the wall but trying to ignore them. 

Yes…i’m well aware, thank you.

Just making sure. You seemed like you were working pretty hard there, I wouldn't want you to strain yourself. 

Marie sighed, and smiled a little, feeling a little lectured, but not letting it bother her. “I’,m no expert, I’ve never seen one. I just really want to. Maybe they’re antisocial or something, so they hide. I don’t know, I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to look.” She paused, running her hands down the end of her hair, “But then I mentioned dragons, and you’re right.” She looked at him a bit sheepishly, “I’m not always the brightest crayon in the box.”

"You said it, not me." Not that Jim was the 'brightest crayon in the box' but he didn't go looking for fantastical creatures. He had better things to do with his time. Which included not talking to her. "Have fun with your search." He turned his back on her and started walking farther into the cave, trying to see if he could spot something worth salvaging. 

-sitting by a small campfire in the woods, trying not to freeze it-

You know, staring harder at the fire doesn't actually make it burn any better. 

Well I guess you could say that. Where is a good place to get fresh air around here?

Pick a trail and start walking. You might find something. 

She nodded, that made sense. “But they seemed kinda dark and mysterious in Harry Potter, and since I haven’t seen any in the woods, I thought maybe they’d be scared and hiding or something.” Sighing, she shook her head and grinned a little, “I know its dumb but…” she shrugged trailing off into her thoughts. 

At the mention of Harry Potter he almost smiled, but he kept it to himself. It's not like he was going to broadcast the fact that he'd seen the movies. "Whatever you say. Not too much to trouble a unicorn here I'd think, but you're the expert." It was kinda dumb, but no point in saying that. "Well, now you know better."

I meant more in a clearing where there are no people to make noise around. 

Well that's a little different than fresh air isn't it? More like peace and quiet. 

Uh, anywhere? You're in the middle of a forest right now. 

Tilting her head, Marie looked at him, slightly perplexed. What would someone need all that junk for? “Interesting…” she commented, trying to figure him out. Pursing her lips, she replied, “Well it could be a dragon, or it could be something totally amazing, like a unicorn! What if I would have missed a unicorn?”

Now a unicorn? What was with girls and unicorns? It was just a horse with a stick out of its forehead. Really not that exciting. "I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure unicorns are forest creatures. I mean, it is a kind of horse and they don't really like caves that much." He managed not to roll his eyes at her which he felt should earn him some points. It was heroic restraint. 

Furrowing her eyebrows, Marie chuckled lightly, “And what exactly were you hoping to find in a cave?” She sighed, shrugged, and took a step further into the cave. “I was kind of curious. I wondered what I might find in here. The I realized there could be a dragon or something ready to eat me and I kind of regretted that decision.” She smiled, “But, it seems like it wasn’t so bad.”

Jim shrugged. "Anything really. People leave a lot of shit behind whenever they go somewhere. Scrap metal, bottles, knives, whatever. Sometimes it's useful." He raised one eyebrow and shook his head. "You walked into a cave that you thought might have a dragon because you were curious? You're crazy."