Ch 9- Confrontation

Casey tried to be more considerate of Mac, over the next few days he acted like a quiet, well-behaved puppy. Eyes full of yearning and praise but waiting for an invitation to fly into his owners' arms.

Casey tried his best to keep himself occupied. Everyday he would normally go to fields in the morning and leave in the mid afternoon. All the Shera he worked with loved having him around and Casey started getting more acquainted and close with them. Casey and Mac however were keeping a polite distance from each other when at home. They spoke about their days and plans at meal times. But it seemed like all other intimate contact had been cut off.

At first Casey thought it was okay, and that once Mac's work slowed down they'd go back to normal. But as the days passed Casey slowly realized that Mac was deliberately pushing him away.

Casey started to panic and feel distressed, but he tried his best to hide it, unfortunately, though he is not a character who has ever been able to hide his emotions. Soon enough several people in the tribe started to note his depression. The days continued in this same fashion for almost two weeks, and everyone could soon see that their dragon's mood had dropped to the bottom.

On this morning Casey was working hard in the fields; trying to do his part and not be a burden. Suddenly the Shera in charge called out to him saying someone had come to see him. Casey was surprised and then super excited. "Maybe Mac finally finished work and has come to take me home!" Casey started thinking happy thoughts and trotted over to see his visitor.

When he looked ahead and saw who it was Casey's smile froze and he stopped trotting and slowly walked over to meet rose. Rose took all of his movements in and gave casey a warm smile.

"Not happy to see me?".

"No no, that's not it. I am glad to see you". Casey tried his best to raise his head and show Rose a smile but from her point of view it looked like he was about to cry.

"Can I borrow you for a bit? There's a couple things I'd like to talk with you about".

Ever since their last lesson on spiritual power, Casey had been avoiding Rose and any actual lessons or training. Facing his teacher now; he felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. But he knew he was in the wrong and shouldn't be avoiding Rose because of his issues; with that in mind he slowly nodded. He reported that he was leaving and lagged behind Rose as they walked to her house.

Upon entering the door Rose guided Casey to the table and sat him down. The two faced each other; Rose smiled at him as she opened the conversation.

"Casey, let me ask you. Is there anything bothering you lately?".

Casey looked stunned. Those weren't the first words he was expecting to hear, he abruptly lowered his head and talked softly. "Nothing at all, I just changed my goals and shifted my focus a bit".

Rose stared at him and pondered how to go about the topic. She heaved a heavy sigh; Casey flinched upon hearing it.

"It's not good to bottle up your feelings, it's best to talk it out to help process and sort your thoughts. I'll be honest Casey, everyone in the tribe can see something is wrong and we're all very worried about you".

Casey tiredly lowered his head; his eyes turning red. "Not everyone is". He dumbly said. Upon Hearing those words Rose squinted her eyes. She had originally assumed Casey was depressed because of his spiritual power, but after hearing that however she knew it was not the main issue.

"Did someone bully you?".

Casey raised his head and met her sharp eyes and was startled.

"N-no, everyone is so kind to me, ha, how could I be bullied?". As he spoke his voice got softer and softer until it could barely be heard. Rose stood up and slammed her hands on the table; Casey shrunk back frightened.

"Who was it?". Casey didn't speak and just watched Rose . "Was it that bastard Mac?". "Is he not taking care of you properly?! Do I need to go beat some sense into that brat?".

Casey sat there shocked by Rose's strong reaction, it took him a minute before he stood up himself and yelled back. "No! He really is taking care of me, it's just he's also been avoiding me". Rose looked at him and her eyes basically read "go on".

Casey resigned himself to fate and opened up honestly. "It started a couple weeks ago, all of a sudden Mac said he was too busy and would rarely appear in front of me, he was always out or holed up in the study. I talk to him whenever I can but he seems to be keeping a distance from me. He doesn't pat my head or hold me anyone and he never just comes to see or visit me. I don't know what I did wrong, but it hurts to be treated like this so suddenly. I don't know what to do or how to approach him; I'm afraid he'll dislike me even more". As he spoke, Casey's pent up emotions started to break down and he was a sobbing mess by the time all his words were said.

Rose got up and patted his head before cautiously bringing him into her arms. Let me take you somewhere. Rose took Casey over to Tala's house and asked Tala to feed him dinner and watch over him for a while. Rose turned around to leave, after closing the door she leaned against the house and pinched her nose as she took in a deep breath. She lowered her hand, stood straight, and marched her way to Mac's house.

Upon arriving Rose heavily pounded on Mac's door. When he opened the door Mac showed a puzzled expression, before he could speak Rose launched a mental attack on him. Mac put one knee on the grounded and cradled his aching head, Rose then kicked him inside the house and shut the door.

"What the fuck are you doing Mac?" Rose looked at him as if she wanted to murder him."What on earth do you mean Rose? You can't just come and beat a person like this". Sitting on the ground Mac yelled back at her and scolded internally.

Rose got straight to the point for her visit. "Why are you hurting Casey? Everyone can see how depressed he is, so why are you; the person who lives with him not giving a shit?".

Mac was startled hearing her words and looked at her blankly. "How on earth could I hurt him when we barely even interact?" Mac's mind raced as he tried to figure out why Rose was blaming him, but he couldn't find a reason.

Rose had been watching his face sneered at him. "You are the guardian he chose and he cares deeply about you and you treated him extremely well when he first arrived. So why on earth did you drop him flat and start ignoring him? He relies and depends on you more than anyone else here, you should know that. So why are you avoiding him?". Rose rambled on in anger and her hand was itching to punch this fellow again.

Realization suddenly dawned on Mac and he frowned and felt extremely guilty.

"I didn't mean to hurt him, I was just scared I'd get too attached to him". Mac looked Rose right in the eyes and continued. "Casey is a dragon. He does not belong to our tribe and will most definitely leave us. He is cute, sweet, clingy, and especially innocent. I'm scared that by letting him cling and depend on me that I'll do the same to him. What if I become dependent on our life together and can't let him go? He's too good for me to take, I'm scared if I follow his rhythm I'll lose myself and won't be able to accept separating from him in the future".

Rose processed his words and frowned, it made sense. A lot of sense and for a moment she didn't know how to respond in a way that would be fair for Casey and Mac. Rose sighed in exasperation. "It's not fair to him, if that's how you feel you need to tell Casey so he can understand and not blindly blame himself like he is now".

"He's blaming himself?". Mac asked dumbly; Rose nodded in response.

"Mac listen. This is an opportunity you may never have again, you can be so close to a dragon and even have the honor of being considered family by him. You can receive genuine love, care, and warmth. It's understandable to be a bit afraid of the aftermath, but isn't Casey worth it? Wouldn't you rather make the most of your time together? Depending on each other and creating memories together that will stay with you for a lifetime. Don't you think that maybe the moment your living in now might be worth more than the potential pain you may or may not face in the future?". Rose watched Mac's reaction then stopped and pondered for a moment before continuing.

"Mac to be honest I don't think Casey has enough spiritual power to ever be able to go through a growth phase. I don't dare tell him for fear of upsetting him, but I think you should know. Our tribe may be the only home he has in this life, and to him you are the center of this home. Please don't ruin that for him, if you care for him, then honestly give him everything you've got and don't hold back. I guarantee he will give you the same". Rose's voice choked a bit as she forced out these words.

Mac's thoughts floated as he thought over Rose's words, everything he told her was the truth. He liked Casey and was scared of getting attached, however, he also knew more than Rose and didn't have hope that Casey would stay in their village long term.

Honestly Mac could see a little bit during meals that Casey was in a low mood and several times he would start to reach his hand out before silently pulling back. He really didn't want to hurt Casey but he was even more scared of hurting himself.

Rose saw Mac in a daze, not speaking but silently thinking over her words. She sighed and stood up; she patted his shoulder and grabbed the door knob before turning her head back.

"Please consider Casey's feelings, he is young and cares for you very much. I honestly don't think anyone in our tribe could replace you for him. None of us like seeing him so depressed like this, it doesn't suit him at all". Rose took a last glance and headed out the door.

Mac stayed in place with a solemn expression. He recalled his interactions with Casey these past two weeks, and he realized how the dragon and changed as the days went by and the past two days he was not even sure if they had actually said more than two sentences to each other.

Mac had been very busy lately and had made great progress on getting a new communication satellite together. He estimated that in another half month or so that it would be ready to send out messages.

Mac hesitated again and wondered if he should just resign himself to Casey and enjoy the short time they had. "I want to protect him and help him and yet all I've done is hurt him". At this realization Mac held his head and heaved a heavy sigh. "Let's just try to make the most of our time. It's short enough to where to shouldn't be hard to part, and like Rose said I'll have the pleasant memories to carry me through after".

"He's worth the pain".

Mac changed his mind and decided to throw caution to the wind, and make the most of his time with Casey while he had the chance. So after settling his thoughts he stood up and decided to make it up to Casey. He went into the kitchen to started to prepare a luxurious, fancy dinner for Casey.