Little Dipper Campfire [Wednesday Evening]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

Earlier in the day, Ned had decided he'd spent entirely too long holed up in his alcove. Of course, it took him several hours after that initial realization before getting up and out of bed, changing and heading outside, Digby at his heels.

The dog was, possibly, happier than anyone that Ned had decided to get out of his stupid funk. He lit a fire as best he could and took a seat.

He started contemplating baking sweets over an open fire. He decided that would only lead to tears.

Comments

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"My mom sometimes says I give her headaches if I chatter too much," she told him, shrugging.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I like to listen to you," he told her, shrugging. "You're interesting."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

That made her grin widely for some reason. "So're you."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

He made a face and shook his head. "Not really."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "Yeah, really."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You should probably rethink your definition of interesting," he said, blushing and ducking his head. "Pies are interesting. Cookies are interesting. You're interesting. I'm just an eighteen year old guy who spends weekends in bed and stares at ceilings. I gave you grass when I probably should have given you a flower and I draw in the dirt. You fixed my clock."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"You're interestin'," she argued lightly, smiling as she watched him. "You blush like it's gonna go out of style, you gave me grass 'cause you didn't have a flower, you make pie, you drew in the dirt with me, an' you gave me a clock to play with. Me, I'm just a sixteen year-old girl who talks too much an' ain't too good at bein' proper or knowin' stuff I should, an' I think starin' at ceilings is a fine activity. If, y'know, that's what you're into."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

Ned found it really hard to argue with that. So, instead, he just said, "You make it hard to argue."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"I try," she said, nodding and grinning at him.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You don't talk too much," he tried to assure her. "You talk enough for the both of us."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes I do, but that's okay," she replied cheerfully. "Usually it's just 'cause I get excited. But it's shiny of you to say that."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You should get excited more often, then," he decided. "I like seeing it."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"You should show me how to make pies, an' you'll see it," she replied.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I can do that," he said, not sound too nervous or unsure of himself. "You can watch me cook. Bake. The same thing, really. Baking is cooking and a form of cooking is baking. There's also broiling and frying and other things but baking is usually used for pies. If we broiled a pie, it might turn out...very badly."

Take a breath, Ned.

"We could broil a pie if that's how you like them where you're from. I could figure it out. I'm good with pies."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Beylix is normal," she promised, giggling. "We don't broil pies. I don't even know what broiling means."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"It basically means to expose to a lot of heat," he told her, "which isn't unlike baking but it's different. Um, pies. Back to pies. Non broiled pies. You can watch me when I finally get a chance to bake."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"What kind of pie?" she asked curiously.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Apple, cherry, chocolate, lemon meringue, peach, pumpkin," he recited and then stopped. "Um, not all in one pie."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

Kaylee's eyes were wide. "I haven't had apples in forever. Since I was a real little girl. And...I never had any of the others. 'Cept chocolate."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Never had apple pie?" Ned, dropping all pretenses of nervousness or the other twitches he typically had, almost got excited. "Ever?"

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "When I was tiny, we got apples one time for a treat 'cause they sent 'em out to us, but we just ate 'em that way."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I can make you an apple pie," he said, nodding. "I'm good at that."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Can I help?" she requested.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You could stir," he decided, already thinking of the best apple pie recipe he'd seen before. "And eat the apples that I don't use. And talk to me."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't wanna distract you, though," she noted.