Arida, Day 2: The Convent

Romano smiled slightly.

"No, I'm not trying to poison you. Instead, I'm being very bad by caving to your every whim because you're hurt. That's something I should never do," Romano picked up the antiseptic again, and used it to emphasize his last three words. "Remind me of that, in the future. Now, drink up."

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

"Being nice to me is bad?" Julietta stuck out her lower lip. "But I thought you loved me!"

The words had tumbled out before she could stop them. Again. Well, that was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Flushing a bright shade of red, Julietta gagged down the cherry lime-aid, making a face as she did so.

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

Romano was about to tell Julietta to shut up and drink up, but then she began chugging down the thick liquid. This was his chance, and he quickly flipped open the little blue case, pulled the protective tip off of the needle, and plunged it into her foot.

He cringed, anticipating the scream that was probably going to come, soon to be followed with Julietta's full wrath coming down upon his brow.

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

The scream that ripped from Julietta's lips made dogs go crazy in the next county.

"I changed my mind about you, Romano. You're brutal! And when I get my hands on you, you're going to pay. I'll do a lot more than just poke you repeatedly, I promise!"

The words just flew from her mouth in an outraged jumble. With her red hair flying every which way, Julietta greatly resembled a lunatic that was stark raving mad.

She grimaced as the pain continued to stab through her foot, even though the needle had long since been removed. I'm going to kill him. Then I'm going to dig him up, and kill him again.

She tried not to let her heart melt all over again as he continued to work. She wanted to slap herself. You are so undeniably, hopelessly, completely in love. She resisted the urge to snicker. One could say that I'm even head-over-heels in love. Literally.

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

Romano threw an arm up to protect himself from whatever blows might come his way, then peeked out around his fingers at Julietta.

"You'll feel a lot better while I'm digging that piece of glass out, trust me," he said, realizing that telling her to trust him right after he had tricked her was probably not a good idea. "Anyway, if you didn't know it was a needle, it would have just felt like I was...digging stuff out of the bottom of your foot. Just, cool it, okay? It isn't like I'm highly enjoying this, either, even though I think I can clearly delineate your flexor digitorum brevus from your abductor hallucis."

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

Julietta's eyebrows arched as a sign of her absolute confusion. "Romano... you're babbling. As a medical professional, I'm proud to admit that I understood every word you said. That said, you're still babbling." She stopped abruptly. "It's not like I can judge, though. I babble a lot. I babble more than I ever thought I could during my career. I really should stop babbling, don't you think?" She closed her eyes. "Never mind."

A slight smile graced her features. "Oh, and for the record... I don't trust you. But you're the only option I've got. If not for the fact that I can't... exactly... walk, I'd have left way sooner." She winced at the memory of the needle. "Also for the record... I meant what I said about you being brutal."

Aaaand... I meant what I said about loving him, too. But he doesn't need to know that. Not now. She rolled her eyes. This is far from the romantic scene I envisioned. Life ain't like the movies, kids.

She sent a glare in Romano's direction. "Just get it over with."

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

Romano sighed.

"You aren't a little kid, you know," he said, ignoring her barbs and focusing on finishing up with her foot. A nice shard of ceramic was on a towel nearby--it had left quite a beautiful gash in the bottom of Julietta's foot.

"You've got to grow up and get used to needles," he continued, "especially in the medical profession. And besides, when you aren't obsessing over it, you do fine. You helped me do blood draws and get the IV in and all that other stuff with the little girl this morning. You didn't even notice that you were handling needles, because you were focused on something else. You only freaked out now because you thought of it."

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

"Oh, so now it's my fault, is it? We can play the blame game all you want, Romano." She crossed her arms in spite of the fact that she was still laying down. "As a matter of fact, I might as well blame you, since you're the one who brought me the plate. If you hadn't served me food, this never would've happened!"

You're being ridiculous. It made you happy that Romano brought you food, and you know it. By the way, you really should break the habit of talking to yourself. Julietta shook these thoughts away like a stray cob web and stood her ground anyway. If Romano could be stubborn, then so could she.

Arida, Day 2: The Convent

Romano finished bandaging Julietta's foot, then neatly packed away his tools and tossed them to her.

"Here. Good luck with your hand," he said cryptically, standing up and tossing the towel over his shoulder. "Hope there's nothing stuck in it."

Day 2, Arida: The Convent

Julietta was incredulous. "What?! You're just going to leave me here alone, bleeding and hurting and who-knows-what-else?" She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Go away."

She started to dab away the blood, still entertaining the ridiculous hope that Romano might - just might - dash in and save the day. Maybe he'd confess his undying love and affection too, but that was even more doubtful after the events of this evening. She tried not to let her anger spill into her movements. "Yep, I pretty much just ruined this evening... if not my entire life."

Despite her irritation, it felt somewhat good to be extremely melodramatic.

Day 2, Sunset, edge of Parksville

Previously: "I wonder if we should wait for dawn, so this doesn’t happen again.” [Dan] gestured to the plants around him. “But I’m open to suggestions.”

"I vote we keep going," said Jenny. "It's not like wild animals are any more likely to find us walking to town than sleeping out here, and your foot needs to be treated. But if you think the risk of running into more poison ivy is too great, I'll accept your judgement."

"Dogs have better night vision than humans," Volt pointed out. "We can help keep an eye out for problems as we walk to town, right Candy?"

Day 1, Arenico, Diabolis, alleyway

General backed into the alley again, unsure of his next course of action. Then he heard some human voices coming from a nearby window and decided to see if he could learn something there. He propped his forepaws onto the windowsill and peeked inside. He saw one man pacing around the room, while the other, who looked so similar in appearance General assumed they were twin brothers, sat in a chair.

"I don't see why your so worked up about this," said the sitter, "I mean, come on, we pinched so much money from that safe last night-"

"You don't get it, do you?" interrupted the pacer, "No one is going to accept paper money after a catastrophe like this! It's not worth the paper it's printed on now! We need to switch our tactics, food and water are going to be the goods we need now."

"Do dogs make good food?"

"They can be, why?"

The man in the chair pointed at the window. "Cause there's one right now!"

He pulled out a gun and General decided to make a run for it. Halfway down the alley he snuck a glance behind him to see the man climbing out the window. "I wish I could run faster like those labs," he thought, "I'm already getting tired, this hair is weighing me down!" Then a weird sensation came over him. He looked down at his legs and saw his hair getting shorter and turning black. The shape of his legs shifted too. He took another look behind him. The man had stopped and stood there staring. General took off at a greater pace and didn't stop until he was sure he had escaped. He stopped, panting for breath. He saw a broken mirror standing against a wall and he walked up to it. He looked just like Scratch the Labrador! He thought of his own body and it shifted back to his old look. A quick thought, and he was back to being a lab. A smile crossed his face. He sure knew what to do now!

Day 1, Arenico, Diabolis, Sturgeon family's apartment

"MOM!" shouted Harry. She appeared by his side in an instant.

"What is-" she started but then saw what her son was staring at. Thin puffs of smoke were coming out of Flame's nostrils. Harry stretched his hand out and gently touched his pet. His scales were warm, but not enough to burn the boy's hand. He gently shook Flame, and the skink stirred. Very slowly, he opened his eyes.

"Ow...what hitted me?"

Harry did a double take. "Mom, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked confused.

He didn't respond immediately and instead said "Are you okay Flame?"

"NO! Flame feels hot, s-s-sore, AND HUNGRY!"

"Mom, you must have heard it that time, right?" Harry said, his ears ringing from Flame's loud complaints.

"What are you talking about Harry? And shouldn't you be giving him his medicine now?"

"Oh, right." He pulled out the small vial, poured it into the water he had already prepared, and placed the bowl in front of his lizard. Flame simply stuck his blue tongue out.

"M-M-Medicine? Y-Y-Yucky! Flame would ra-a-ather-"

"Flame," Harry interrupted, "I think I can understand you!"

Day 2, Arida: The Convent

Romano walked into the kitchen and dumped the glass into the sink with a clatter. There were still dirty dishes there, since he hadn't cleaned everything before dinner, so the cup made a lot more noise than it should have. After packing up the cornstarch and the limeaid, he returned to the sink to scrub out the dishes. Finally, after the kitchen was as pristine as it was going to get, he went back to Julietta.

"How's the hand coming?" He asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the door frame and watched Julietta dab at the cut.

Day 2, Arida: The Convent

"Fine. I still think you're rude and annoying, though." Julietta used her irritation to cover up the fact that she was about to swoon. "Thanks for taking care of me. I'm really sorry that you had to like, do everything for me, just because I broke the stupid plate..." She stopped rambling, feeling once again completely dumb. "You know what? I'm shutting up now. Open mouth, insert foot." She sighed and stared at her clean yet still-bleeding hand. "So much for not talking. I need a bandage for my hand. Please."

Day 2, Arida: The Convent

"Your annoyance is duly noted," Romano said, coming over and sitting down beside her. "I'll try not to further provoke it until your hand is nicely wrapped."

Romano grinned and picked up Julietta's small, smooth hand in his own large ones. For being such a little pistol, Julietta was incredibly dainty. That never seemed to stop her, however, as Romano well knew. She was spunky. Romano shook his head slightly has he folded some gauze and applied a square bandage over the cut. He knew the bandage would have to be changed in an hour or so, once the bleeding stopped, and the gauze should be taken out.

Personally, he was quite proud that he hadn't felt any real urge to throw up through the entire evening, although he doubted anyone else noticed that.

— Day 2, Sunset —
Near Parksville

Previously...

"We can help keep an eye out for problems as we walk to town, right Candy?"

The corgi replied with a couple of enthusiastic yips, then turned and bounded away before returning to Dan and looking up at him with a look that seemed to say, “What are you waiting for? Follow me!”

He chuckled and said, “Okay, you guys win.” He glanced back at the sunset and then to Parksville below. “Besides, with luck we might get to town before it’s too late. Wouldn’t want to wake up the Kingsleys in the middle of the night, would we?”