Zone E -- Highlands

[Dust]

Dust moved to the front with Erika. Who knows why he did? Be it so because he needed to get away from Tamsin before she was pinned to the wall and swept away in the waves of passion - yeah right - or maybe it was to talk to Erika pprivately? Sure the conversation with Takezo went rather well, but he was a different kind of person than Gildarts, Deadpool, or any of the other people they were in the company of.

Part of him really just wanted to be with someone he knew a bit better. She was familiar.. And despite the talk about how bitter she could end up being, or how it all came close to being true, he liked snow.

"If you aren't here to help, get your ass back there." She shot at him.

"You wound me.." Dust teased, with a simple smirk on his face. The tension released from the bruise did very little to the pain he felt in his face. He was sure the bone was broken.. How he didn't loose a tooth was beyond him, but maybe it was just a matter of time before it fell out. "I figured you could use some help." He said, as honestly as he could.

"Bite me." She said, sick of conversation at this point. She needed something to punch.

"I could if you'd just kiss me." He tried, giving her his biggest and most playful grin. It was the only thing close to a flirt, and it wasn't a terrible attempt at all. 

She looked back over her shoulder, with dead eyes and a face that dared him to say that again. Rejected!! "You're hitting on me, now?" He wasn't serious, was he?

"What? No. I told you in the safe house it wasn't like that.." He groaned, and pouted his lips. He looked close to a model, but model's tended to take better care of their faces.

"Oh.. I guess you did.." Erika said, as if she'd forgotten that part as if it were some traumatic part of Dante's Abyss that she'd rather forget, but with a listlessness that matched his eyes when he had kissed her. "I had forgotten all about that." She said, turning her back on him. She decided to climb up a wall for a better look; one moment her butt was in his face, the next it wasn't. (For the record it wasn't too bad.) "Why don't you get them to kiss you, Pecs?"

Dust glanced back as the rest of the group, they weren't that far behind. Out of ear shot but within eyesight. "I could, but they are all dudes."

"Not all of them." The blonde sang. The words brought the image of Tamsin back to him. Blood rushed to his face and he looked back at her. Before he had the chance to even think about arguing it was too late, she was already dangling half way off the rocky side of a cavern and cupped her free hand so that the sound would carry better. "Hey all of you fuckers! Dust here's feeling nervous, and needs a good luck kiss! Can anyone spare three seconds of your time!?" 

Her voice pierced the silence, and echoed off the rest of the walls about five times. Dust had to relive that moment about five times.. To match the 5 stages of grief to be sure: Denial, Anxiety, Helpless, Begging it to stop, and finally Acceptance. He wondered if she was still sore at him, but if there was anything he could say about Yuki it was that she gets shit done. "Six seconds would be be-"

"Correction, six seconds!?" Erika's voice shot off again, and again it returned five more times.

"..Thanks.."

"Anytime, big guy. I love to help." Erika had a smug look on her face before she disappeared long enough to get a lay of the land again.

At least she wasn't foaming at the mouth anymore.

"Wait, I think I see something." Erika called out. Her hand raised over her brow as she was looking over the gaps in the earth. 

Erika and Dust lead the other four(Deadpool, Jak, Tamsin, and Gildarts) from E8 to E5;
Dust's pride takes half damage - can't heal that, son.