A/N; This is the first part of another one of Banette and I's roleplays that I decided to chop into two portions and edit accordingly. Dawn's POV because just like with the Jo/Lightning one, I'm the one that RPs Dawn and Banette is DJ. We have done a Joning and a Doey RP set in the same universe at the same party and both of those are on tumblr if you search for them.

Summary: Dawn meets DJ at an after All Stars party at Owen's house. They help Geoff, dance and bond over spiritual things and Dawn realizes there's a deeper connection there than she could have originally planned.

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Curses, Dancing and Meditation

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This was a really odd party to say the least. It had a particular vibe to it and Dawn knew that it would have some pretty serious consequences at the end of it. She was just an observer really, and she didn't even know Owen that well. Having not competed in the All Stars season Dawn didn't know many of the previous competitors. She knew of them however and she did discover some interesting things about the ones in attendance now based on their auras. Only a few people wanted to genuinely know what Dawn could spiritually tap into about themselves, the two girls Katie, Sadie and their movie star handsome friend Justin were treating Dawn like she had some sort of party trick. The girls were alright, deep down they were misguided, but Justin's aura was dark and she honestly couldn't wait to get away from him.

Dawn decided to get away from everyone for a while and had a moment of meditation outside by the as yet unused pool. She closed her eyes and tried to drown out all the sounds from inside, which wasn't easy.

Dawn was sitting there, legs crossed in lotus position when she heard a familiar voice and opened one eye.

"Hey, Momma, yeah-things are good...I don't know, maybe a few more hours? ... No way, Momma, I haven't-no, I'm designated driver, remember?

Well, wasn't that interesting? The owner of that voice was one of the few people that she actually had wanted to talk to at this party. Sure she liked to catch up with some of her other Return of the Island contestants but there was a good reason why she wanted to speak to this particular person, she'd seen what he'd gone through on the show before. Her heart really went out to DJ, but it would take time for him to completely get over a curse like that. Everything was connected and he had mistakenly messed with the balance... and it was too bad because he had one of the purest auras she'd ever encountered.

"Well, Geoff and Bridgette will get a ride, and Tyler-actually I haven't seen him...yeah, Momma. Okay. If I see her, I'll let her know. Love you. Bye." DJ hung up and sighed, looking up at the sky.

It was as good a time as any for Dawn to announce her presence.

"You don't need to worry," she said looking over at him in the moonlight. He was probably surprised, not seeing her there. "About Tyler, he's fine." Her mouth curved into a smile. "He won't need you to drive him tonight. Your friend Geoff might however, I have a hunch his night won't turn out quite like he'd expect. You'd better keep an eye on him."

DJ indeed did jump in surprise, by the time he collected himself he stepped a little closer to see her better. "You could read auras, right?" He asked, walking over to the lawn chair she was seated at. "I remember seeing you doing it in there."

Katie and Sadie had crowded Dawn most of the night and it was a relief to get away. She had been reading auras inside but she didn't know why she bothered for so long. The people she was with only had a superficial interest in anything really. It'd been a big waste of her time. She wasn't used to attending parties however and this would not be a regular occurrence.

"I don't do it as a party trick," Dawn replied with a hint of irritation. "Some things about people are just easily revealed, that's all."

"Wait-what's going to happen to Geoff?"

"I wouldn't worry about Geoff. You have lots of time but I'm sure you'll be a good friend to him when he needs it." She stretched out her arms. "Have you ever meditated before? I think it would have given you a lot of relief on world tour if you learned how to connect with the spiritual side of nature."

"Meditation?" He sat down, looking a bit curious. "You honestly think it would've helped? I mean, it was the most stressful thing I'd ever been through." He sighed. "How does it work? Meditation, I mean."

Dawn moved down on the lawn chair, she weighed a lot less than him so it didn't matter if she was on the flimsy side of the chair. "Come sit here and I'll show you," she told him with a smile. "It's not about alleviating stress, its about understanding how you fit in grand scheme of things. Stress is only a symptom of a bigger problem, this disconnectedness with the greater universe we all suffer from. It wasn't your fault what you went through, you just suffer from the same thing most people have to deal with. You were trying to treat a symptom." She hoped she was explaining it in a way that he'd understand. "You have to sit like I'm sitting DJ, then I'll walk you through the rest.

Smiling back at Dawn, DJ sat down next to her on the lawn chair - their closeness illustrated the height difference between the two a bit more clearly, they were so different physically speaking, opposites almost. He crossed his legs with some difficulty, sitting in a lotus position and looked over at Dawn. "Okay... now what do I do?"

She grabbed his hands, turned them palm up and hovered her own palms on top of his. It was time for the first bit of the lesson. "Do you feel that?" she asked softly. "It's energy." But more than Dawn was expecting, like there was some kind of energy between them specifically. "This is new," she mused. But she would probably confuse him with all the details if she started on it, either way there was some sort of connectedness there and maybe he'd understand without the explanation.

"New?" DJ asked her uncertainly. "That's not bad, is it...?"

Dawn was a little startled at his questioning of it, probably because she was trying to figure it out herself. "No, it's not bad. It just means our auras are attuned to each others. It's not uncommon, but I've rarely experienced it before."

She could tell he was starting to panic and she wanted to quell his anguish before it began. "The last time..." she didn't want to tell him about the last time. It certainly hadn't been with anyone that had been on Total Drama. She hadn't really found anyone she connected with on Total Drama before. Some were nice enough, she liked Sam, Zoey and Cameron and genuinely wanted one of them to win the subsequent All Stars season if anyone, but everyone expectantly saw her as a freak. It was their own misunderstanding, she felt sorry for them. "This is stronger than the last time."

"Oh."

"You need to concentrate on breathing for a second DJ. I think you're focusing too much on things that don't matter." She closed her eyes again. "You need to ignore what you can see and hear around you and focus on the pulses of the universe as a whole."

He let out a long, deep breath. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dawn spoke again, still focusing on the gentle sounds of the pool water lapping at the edge of the pool. "Have you ever done a word association before? I find it's a great way to get in touch with your inner thoughts."

He opened his eyes, loosing his concentration. "Word association...? Like, you say something, and I say whatever comes to mind?" He straightened up and closed his eyes, moving his hands under hers. "Sure, that sounds fun."

"Yes. You say the first thing that comes to mind. No thinking about it, just concentrating on the feelings you're getting from the universe." Dawn wouldn't say he was a natural. But at least he was trying. Her hands continued to hover over his, drawing on that energy. 'Ready?" When she was confident he was she began with the first word. "Fear." It was an obvious one and his answer would be revealing. You always started with the negative and worked up to the positive.

DJ nodded. "Kidnapping. Do I give you a word, now, or no?"

She wasn't planning that he would be giving her words at all... at least not now. "You can give me words after," she told him gently. New word time. "Cry."

"Tears."

"Humiliate."

"Total Drama."

She had better move onto the positive words soon, otherwise he wouldn't want to keep doing this - she could tell. But it was very enlightening. Just one more negative one. "Death."

He seemed to get choked up at that one. "...Dad."

Now she moved onto the positive words. "Earth."

"Ground."

"Chance."

"Luck," he said.

A lot of his responses were predictable. All too predictable. She did feel a little bad but then emotional wounds needed to be displayed, dealt with in Dawn's opinion, which is why she said things to people like Scott, Dakota and Zoey on the show because they needed to understand why they acted a certain way. Dakota's cry for attention and Scott's cruelty both stemmed from parental neglect and they needed to know to deal with that.

"Luxury."

"Gold?" he seemed unsure in his answer.

"Breath."

"Air."

She paused. "Happiness."

"Smiling." He smiled as well at just the thought of it.

Last one. "Love."

"Momma."

That should give him enough to focus on for now. She let it all sink in, breathing slowly.

She lowered her palms down on his slowly, her hands much smaller against his and opened her eyes with an encouraging smile in his direction. "You're really different DJ. You don't feel the need for outward pretenses like other people." And that was refreshing. On Total Drama it was usually people trying to be something they were not. Not many were really real, unafraid to be the people they were in front of the cameras.

"Really?" He opened his eyes and beamed back at her.

Dawn nodded. "You should be proud of yourself. It's really rare to see, especially from someone that's been on the show." She had probably taken up enough of his time though, just because she didn't mingle much at parties and needed some alone time, didn't mean that he did too. "It's okay if you don't want to stay here. Your friends are inside."

"You sure you're okay with staying out here alone?" DJ asked uncertainly. "I mean, if you want me to go, I can, but..." He seemed hesitant.

Dawn enjoyed the vibes that were returned through telling him what an open person he was. It was funny how he assumed she didn't want to be alone though. "Oh I'm never alone," she pointed out. "I'm connected to everything out here. But I do know what you meant and I like your company too."

"Oh, okay then." DJ smiled again. "I like your company, too... I wouldn't mind meditating some more. Oh! And I never got to give you words."

She didn't really need to do the exercise but she'd humor him. "If that's what you want to do," she said disconnecting their palms and closing her eyes again. "Unless you wanted to just talk instead..."

"Talk is good. If you don't mind, can I ask why you joined the show? No offense, but you don't seem like someone who'd usually be a contestant on one of these things."

Her smile got wider, her heart drumming to an unspecified beat. "I guess it was all meant to happen, somebody needed to protect the rights of those poor helpless animals that Chris exposed to toxic waste." Dawn was a strong believer in fate like that. "But originally I wanted the money to go toward a good cause for once. You know how it is, most people only go on to validate their own self worth by winning or out of selfishness. There has never yet been a winner who has done it for more noble causes, and I guess I was stupid enough to think that it could happen." Not anymore. Though Zoey most certainly had not been trying to win out of selfishness. So in a way, it was possible. "To get far in the game you usually have to lie and blackmail and to me it wasn't worth it." Dawn rested her hands on her knees. "Is that what you found too?"

DJ nodded. "Yeah, I figured that out the hard way," he said grimly. "That was part of the reason I didn't go on All Stars-I'd been asked, actually-I didn't want to go through any of that junk again. I think going on the show, besides meeting some great folks, was the worst thing to have ever happened to me."

"I do feel bad for what has befallen a lot of people on the show," Dawn agreed with a long sigh. Dakota for one, sure she was just in it for the fame but she had found out pretty quickly it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. She felt horrible for what happened to Dakota. "And now there will be a whole new set of contestants that don't know what they are in for... if only we could warn them." But that was out of the question, they would be sent away to a top secret island and everything was all hush-hush for now. "You don't have to regret it though," Dawn said, turning the conversation back to him. "I believe there was a good reason that you were put on the show. You may not know what it is now, but at very least you are a good influence on your friends."

"I am? Me?" His voice rose a couple of octaves in doubt.

"Of course, people look up to you," and not just literally. He was modest too... DJ was certainly one of a kind.

"Well, thanks. And you know, I wish you'd lasted longer-I would've liked to see you win."

As far as her not winning, she'd made her peace with it long ago. "It was better that way, I was able to help the animals and Chris ended up paying for what he'd done anyway." Which was fair, at least for a little while that he got what he deserved. He should have still been in prison though, not out and potentially hurting more contestants on a new Total Drama. Dawn peered at him intently for a second. "Something is bothering you," she said and reached for one of his hands again. "You can talk about it if you want to." She wasn't going to judge him on it.

"Oh, uh..." He gazed inside for a long amount of time, most likely working out how to say what was on his mind. "Well, actually, I'd been hoping to win World Tour," he admitted sheepishly. "The million would've seriously helped me and Momma, but..." He sighed regretfully. "Then I had to deal with that stupid curse thing, and things fell apart. I mean-we-re not all bad off now, but...what could've been, you know?"

Dawn felt herself nodding along. "I think you'll find its quite normal. You were probably thinking that your mother would be more proud of you too, had you won. But I have a feeling if you had won things would not have improved for you and your mother. Everything would have gotten steadily worse. I know its not easy for me to tell you to be happy that you didn't win... but I'm happy you didn't." She didn't want bad things to happen to him.

"Oh, really?" DJ let out a small rush of breath. "Wow, that's a relief. ...worse, huh? Well, actually, if anything, the fact that we've needed to work together these past months has helped a lot with bringing us together again, so there's something."

"See? There's always a reason, you just have to trust that there is."

He smiled at her, as another question popped into his head. "Hey-why'd you want to come to the party? I don't mean to be rude, but..." He shrugged sheepishly. "You really don't look like one for parties like this."

Dawn knew her feeling about that hadn't been wrong, nor her feeling about coming to this party tonight. "I felt like I should come, see some people, meet some new people. It hasn't been a waste." Quite the contrary. "I just told you how the universe has its reasons and that's how I felt about tonight."

"Oh, okay then. That makes sense." He started tapping his hand on his knee to the heavy beat going on inside the house. "Do you like dancing, or are you not a big fan?"

Dawn didn't exactly dance to the same beat as everyone else. "I've seen you dance," she said with amusement painted all over her face. "It was quite intriguing," and yes she was kind of making fun of him. The prospect of dancing was a weird one, because it wasn't something she normally did, or did like normal people. She stood up and glanced from him to the pool. "How about we try then? I do like to try new things." On occasion.

Her comments about his dancing being intriguing washed right over him. "You're in luck," he replied with a smile, standing as well. "Dancing is one of my specialties."

He stood there awkwardly. "Okay. Um...first, we need some kind of music. We could use the music in there, though it's kinda fast. You wanna try something slower, or is that fine?"

"How about we ignore the music?" Dawn suggested. They didn't have to do it the same as everyone else. He was really quite tall compared to her, like a gentle giant. "You don't need to dance necessarily to music, there is always some form of music you can tune into anyway." The wind in the trees, the lapping of the water, there were so many different forms of music if only you could open your mind to it. She held out her arms to him. "Lead the way."

"Okay, so..." DJ slowly put one arm around Dawn's waist and her hand in his free one, trying to recollect everything from cotillion. "Uh, arms like this...and a beat...!" Closing his eyes he concentrated until he was able to figure out a good beat. "One two three, One two three..." The steps to an old waltz came back, and he started carefully dancing with Dawn.

She fell in sync with his steady rhythm. She couldn't hold back a small giggle. He liked dancing, she could tell. "Have you tried this with your mother?"

"Actually, yeah."

His mother would have liked that it seemed. "What's your favorite kind of dance?" He did ballet right? Or something. She recalled it dimly. She had seen the earlier seasons, in passing but hadn't studied them enough.

"Uh, well, just regular dancing, for fun-this is nice too, though. I liked ballet-the guys on our football team all had to take it for conditioning, and I was the only one who stuck with it."

"Stop counting in your head," she said and pulled herself closer to him, saying with a whisper, "just go with it." And swaying with an undefined beat.

He opened his eyes, and his motions became more natural. "So, you've never really danced before? No lessons...nothing?"

"Not really never, rarely. But no, I've never taken dance lessons. There's something rather expressive about dance though. Maybe I'll have to take time to do it more often." She did mean it, "as long as I have a decent dance partner."

She could sense he was thinking too much or he was distracted somewhat which concerned her. She let it go though. Who knew how much time they had left before... as Dawn saw Geoff exit the house out of the corner of her eye she realized it was obviously not as much time as she'd hoped. She broke away from DJ. "This has been fun."

But he had more pressing things to attend to.

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If you want more DJawn let us know.