A Realization (Tag: Dorothea)

This was nuts. Spike and Dorothea? But the two were so different. Dorothea had a good head on her shoulders, was reliable. Spike seemed...not those things. But the way Dorothea looked when she talked about him, it practically mirrored how Bella looked when she talked about Zuko. "But he seems kinda..." Bella paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words. "A little...scary. Like, out of control. The stuff he's messing with..." Bella's voice trailed off. She knew Dorothea wouldn't fall for someone dangerous, but the wild stuff she'd heard about Spike reminded her all too well of her dad. She'd seen first hand how destructive drugs could be if you got addicted to them.

"What? No, no, no, that's not what I meant," Bells said, shaking her head. She hadn't meant to sound judgmental. She thought for a moment, trying to think of how to better explain how she was feeling. She sighed before saying "It's just...my dad was into that kind of stuff. Drugs mostly. And it got out of control. He couldn't hold down a job or take care of us or anything. And it led to him and my mom splitting up." She paused for a moment before adding "Don't tell Utena I said that, she's sensitive about it." She ran a hand through her hair before wrapping her arms around her legs. "I know some people can break the habit though. You said I could keep Zuko on the straight and narrow. Maybe you can too, with Spike." Quitting stuff like that wasn't easy though. The hardest part was just admitting that you had a problem, which Bella's dad couldn't even do. But her interest was a bit piqued when Dorothea mentioned she had saved him from something. "Saved him? From what?" she asked, curious.

Dorthea promised to keep quiet about Bella's dad, although she did express sympathy about it. Bella just nodded in response. It was over and done with, in her eyes. Her dad had made his choices, and as far as she knew, she'd never see the guy again. She wanted to put her efforts into the people that were still around, that still cared. She knew Utena felt differently, that maybe their dad would come around someday, although she usually didn't say it out loud. She was quiet as Dorothea told her what had happened to Spike, that he'd fallen into the water and he'd pretty much become dead weight until Dorothea fished him out. "Jeez..." That sounded messy. Bella had been scared before, but never like that. "Is this just part of growing up?" she mused, plucking one of the orchids from the ground and spinning it between her fingers. "Like, finding out about people's emotional baggage? It seemed simpler when I was a kid. You meet someone in elementary school and you talk about your favorite dinosaur or favorite Barbie movie and that was about as deep as conversations got. Now there's...this. And it just makes me sad that they've gone through something so awful."

Bella laughed a little at that. Yeah, some parts of childhood were gone now, but getting crushes was a thing most teenagers went through, so maybe she hadn't totally grown up yet. Speaking of which, Dorothea asked about Zuko and Bella found herself getting a little red in the face again. "Oh, I mean...I don't know," she said, her fingers playing with the flower a bit more nervously. "I guess...when he smiles, it's like...it just totally changes how he looks. He doesn't look scary at all. And he's so brave. Anytime I've been caught in a monster attack or something, I've freaked out. But he just dives right in with no hesitation. Like, that hydra attack a while back, the thing almost swallowed him, I thought..." She shook the thought away, trying to get to the point. "But he got out of it. If the same thing had happened to me, I don't know what I would have..." That had been a scary moment, at least for Bella. She knew she'd been improving in reacting smarter when faced with threats, but she still doubted herself when it came to new, daunting things she'd never faced before.

"I'd like to think he'd do that," Bella laughed. "But...I want to do the saving every once in a while too, you know? I mean, that's what I'm training to do. I want to keep people safe instead of it just...being the other way around all the time." Utena was very much like that. She'd been the overprotective sister ever since Bella could remember. But she knew Utena wasn't always going to be around, she couldn't expect Zuko to save her from every monster they fought. She wanted to be the hero too. "What about Spike?" she asked curiously. "Is he the 'I'll fight my way out of a hydra's jaws if I have to' kind of guy?" She didn't have a ton of classes with him, so she hadn't exactly seen him in action much.

Huh. That was interesting. Weren't both of Spike's parents superheroes? Usually kids like that were way more flashy with their stuff. Sometimes it could go to their heads, although it was probably a lot of pressure. Bella was kind of glad her mom wasn't like that. She'd probably be happy with any career path she or Utena chose. "I hope things work out," she said. "With you and Spike." And she did mean that. Breaking addictions was usually up to the person themselves, but having someone supportive couldn't hurt, and Bella felt like Dorothea could be that for Spike.

Bella laughed a little, but she got what Dorothea was trying to say. She may be the sensitive type, but she had a stronger side to her, it'd been showing itself more and more as she got more confidence. She just needed to believe that it was there. "Thanks for listening," she said. "You're good at that, you know?" She felt lucky to have someone to confide in, besides Utena. Of course she valued her sister's opinion, but Utena could be blunt about some things, or want to take the more direct approach instead of being more subtle. Dorotha seemed to know that punching things wasn't the best solution for everything.