Zone E -- Highlands

[Dust]

Dust had very little characteristics it would see, but the mostly defined - other than his well-groomed muscles - was the good-humored smile that rarely left his face. It took some time to grace his face, but by the evening he was just as comfortable laughing and joking with them as he was sitting next to him. This must have bothered Illidian a great deal, how dare this mongrel feast with kings? But whatever code that passed through looks between the two while he wasn't looking kept the destructive magic at bay, and their new companion in the dark.

Although Dust was not that dense, he wasn't in any hurry to prove that assumption wrong. Besides, he had a feeling these two already knew he couldn't be stupid, but maybe even clever. Bold enough to stand up to them, which must have stirred something in the two, but persuaded easily enough not to fight because it was pretty lucrative on both sides of this coin.

He took to the food as well as you'd expect a hungry wolf would. It didn't bother him in the least that it wasn't the traditional kind of meat. It would always be better compared to his worse meal; most of a week with nothing but plain snow-cones. As he ravaged the food, careful to control his teeth from changing as he did, the other two swapped 'looks'. Maybe it was of concern, maybe it was of disgust. Maybe it was just Illidan blaming Gildarts in silent rage for inviting the welp while the human man dismissed his delusions.

Whatever the impression Dust was leaving, it was different for each man. "Too bad we don't have any marshmallows." He said after rubbing off the dirty bear juice from his mouth with a big grin. By now the ink and the squid's blood was gone, but the bruise remained ever present. His knuckle brushed along the still swollen curve of his whole cheekbone, as if the bone beneath the beastly mark may be injured in some minor way. It looked nasty as well, three different colors that seemed to also change throughout the day. They might even notice it visibly hurt him to grin, but his nature made him put up with it just to laugh at Gildarts' new hair style.

From his side of the campfire in his spare time, he was sizing the two up mentally, making profiles for them in his head. He was about to brave the question about Gildart's metallic arm, as it would seem no member of this group of men were without their scars when his ears picked up on the sound of twigs breaking under the weight of someone as they slopped through the soaked earth. Alerted by this he was up a fraction faster than Illidan.

The young guy might not look like he wanted to fight a moment ago, but he was ready at a drop of the hat by the looks of it, only to be reeled back by the slightly shorter man with red hair. Wolf barely held back the growing warning growl in his throat in the favor of the man who held out his hand to stop them. He watched silently as Gildarts smiled at the older man who appeared from the woods, and even offer him something. Safe passage?

Intrigued, Dust set slowly back into his seat. His dark gray eyes trained on the newest man and Gildarts. As he watched be began to draw conclusions, whether they were truthful or false, he came to the realization that his case with this man might not be all that special in fact. They hadn't swatted away or even left him behind in the safe house, even now they fed their stray!! But watching what it was they were doing with this new-to-him face, he wondered if Gildarts was just that sympathetic and good-natured.

He was reminded of Takezo and Dawn at that. How he himself had been willing to risk a team up with strangers he'd just met. Maybe he and the mage in front of him were in fact cut from the same cloth. It only gave his admiration for the man teeth to bite down on and not let go of. He had been ready to fight this man for that item, but now he found himself ready to fight beside him. Even learn from him. That is, anything the magic user could teach him that he didn't already know. Which he could only imagine being books worth..