Little Dipper Campfire [Sunday Evening]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

So far, Ned hadn't changed into an animal. Or been bitten by a gremlin. Or had a run in with a vampire.

Instead, Ned had gotten lost on his own floor, had to fight his dog for space on his bed and had to re-pack everything to move down to a cabin. He hadn't been camping in...ever. His father had promised but then there was that postcard and the boarding school and everything else.

"It's rustic," Ned said quietly, looking over at Digby who was a safe distance away. "Right?

Digby didn't answer. "Right," Ned said, nodding and crossing his arms. "Rustic."

[Open campfire is OPEN. I love cabins.]

Comments

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Not really," he said, shaking his head. "Why, are you? I'd offer you my coat except I'm only wearing short sleeves and that wouldn't provide warmth at all."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Nah, you just look kinda cold," she giggled. "I'm fine. There's a fire." She pointed helpfully.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I do?" He looked down at himself, checking for shivers or goosebumps.

Oh, his hands. He carefully uncrossed them, wiggled his fingers and then held them out over the fire.

"It's a nice fire," he agreed. "I'd have given you my coat if I had one, though. Honest."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Awww. Remind me 'bout that when it actually gets cold out," she teased. "I could make you a little hand warmer, so it's equal, like."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Hand warmer?" Ned asked. "Like mittens?"

Mittens? Where'd that word come from?

"Gloves, I mean. Gloves. I don't wear mittens."

He did.

"Or a scarf." Except he did.

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Nah, bet I could rig something," she told him, thinking about it now. "It'd just be a matter of findin' the parts. Might be kinda bulky though."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You'd build me something?" Ned asked, surprised.

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"You gave me your coat," she pointed out. "Least I can do, so you don't get cold too."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," he said, unused to someone actually offering to do something for him. "I don't know how to build things at all. I can barely build with blocks. The last thing I tried to build with blocks was condemned as unsafe by the block police."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"The block police?" Kaylee grinned. "They the law enforcement of Toy City?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"They're the block cops," Ned said. "The Blops. I don't know where they enforce but, after that, I never built anything again."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Smart of you," she said, nodding. "I ain't never had Blops come after me. Maybe it's 'cause I never built with blocks since I was little?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Or because you're a better builder than me," Ned said, thinking that was probably the right answer. "Better hands than me."

Which was true in so many ways.

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"I'm just good with machines, not buildin' like...buildings," she said, blushing a tiny bit. "Daddy says I got natural talent."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I can't even set my alarm clock right," he confessed, smiling slightly. "It wakes me up at 3am on a daily basis because I don't know how to fix it and the instructions are gone. I think Digby ate them or I left them in North Thrush and and and...you really don't want to hear about my alarm clock."

He shut up for a minute. "You sure you're not cold? Because I could run, you know, to the next town and get a coat for you and that'd shut me up."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

She giggled, and would have reached out to pat his arm or something, but at the last second she remembered how he'd reacted before. "Bet I could fix that clock for you, if you wanted. I promise I'm not cold at all. The second I am, you'll be the first t'know."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You fixing it would be better than me throwing it out the window," Ned agreed. "You can give it a shot. It's a complicated piece of machinery."

He leaned just barely closer, almost no movement at all. "Also, I wrote my name on it in black marker."

Pause.

"Five times."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Scared someone might want your clock bad 'nough to take it?" she wondered.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"...yep," he said after a brief hesitation. "It didn't really stop people from taking it but I tended to get it back. No one really wants an alarm clock I got when I was kid. It's not something cool like a bike or a sandwich."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

She frowned. "Didja hit them?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Hit them with what?" Ned asked.

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

That answered that. She smiled. "Your fist. But I guess not, huh?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I don't do that," he replied, shaking his head. "I mean, it's not a big deal. Just an alarm clock that goes off at 3am every morning and I don't know how to fix and is old and dented but I like anyway."

Ned took a breath and tucked his hands back underneath his arms. "I probably would've missed anyway. If I'd tried to hit them."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

She caught the movement, and nodded, still kinda curious. "Offer stands, anyway. I don't know nothin' about tech here, but I promise not to make it worse, at least."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"If you fix it," he said, trying not to dwell on that whole little memory, "you can write your name on it too. I've got a lot of markers you could use."