Lupus Campfire, Thursday Night

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

The rain was threatening, again, and the day was cool enough that Ella was wearing a cloak over her blouse and skirt. But she'd spent too much time reading in her alcove lately, and wanted to spend more time outdoors before they left the cabins entirely. She neatly built a small campfire, half-wishing she'd bought some marshmallows to roast over it. But that was a small matter.

She settled on a log by the fire, propped her chin on one hand, and let her mind wander as she watched the flames dance.

[OOC: Open.]

Comments

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Nope," Turtle said with a proud sort of grin. "I started at the beginning of last year; I practically begged my parents to let me stay over last summer, and, thankfully, they allowed it. And are you sure? No marshmallows? Did you check real hard?"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Nice of them to let you stay," Ella grinned. "I'm not planning on heading home anytime soon either."

She gave a tiny shrug. "I suppose I didn't. I could run in and check again ..."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle's head bobbed in a nod. "You should. A campfire just feels weird without things burning over the fire. Make sure you check real good this time. Someone could be hiding them."

She wouldn't doubt it, in this cabin.

"Check where you think they might hide all their booze."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"But I don't want to look under Reno's bed!" Ella flailed slightly, resisting the order for the moment. "He might have scary things there."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"I meant in the living room!" Turtle said, eyes going as wide as half dollars because she was just as concerned about what Reno might put under his bed as Ella seemed to be. "Not in the alcoves! That's, like, invasion of privacy and stuff and potentially illegal, depending on your angle."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"You said, 'where I think they hide their booze,' " Ella reminded Turtle, sounding relieved. "I'm not sure I could find that without a little invasion of privacy. But I doubt they're so careful about sugar. I'll look again."

And then, because she was starting to get a stupid curse-caused headache, she trotted off to the cabin. Given how thoroughly she was going to have to look, she might be gone a few minutes.

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle bit her lip thoughtfully as she waited to see how Ella's search would go, trying to conceive of a back-up plan in case she turned out empty again. She could call Jeff; he'd bring some if she wanted him to, probably.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella returned triumphant (if slightly dusty), waving an almost-full bag of marshmallows over her head and with graham crackers tucked under the other arm. "Someone thought it would be clever to pull an old blanket over them," she said, rolling her eyes. "Really." It wasn't clear if her scorn was directed at the hider, or herself as the finder.

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"I told you!" Turtle said, slightly squealing as she bounced and applauded Ella's triumph. "There's always marshmallows. Someone might have accidently thrown a blanket over them on accident. You should check them first, though. If you didn't find them the first time, I imagine they were pretty well hid, and who knows how long they've been there."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella dramatically pulled a marshmallow from the bag. "So does this make me your taster?" she asked rhetorically, squeezing it a little. "It feels fresh. No bugs or mold, though I don't think these things would grow mold."

She popped it into her mouth. "Iss goo!" she said, around the sugar, then swallowed. "The campfire is saved."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Hooray!" Turtle cheered, and then grinned a little as she gave the comment about Ella being her tasted a bit of a consideration. It would be cool to have one of those; it would make you feel all important. And her tasted was even living with her! She grinned impishly, teasingly. "You are so totally my taster now. I am an important person; it's possible that someone could try to poison me."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"So you'd let your poor roommate get poisoned?" Ella asked. "There'd be easier ways to get the room to yourself again, you know."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Well," Turtle said, giggling a little. "I did mention to you that I've gone through a few roommate, right?"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella tried to look stern, which was hard when she wanted to giggle this much. "And now I know how you've gotten rid of the others."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"I didn't poison them!" Turtle insisted. "My enemies did!"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella looked dubious. "Your enemies aren't terribly effective, if they keep getting the wrong girl."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Clearly," Turtle smirked, "you didn't get a chance to meet Annette before she left, then."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"I don't think so," Ella said. "Is she an enemy, or a former roommate?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Let's call her a frenemy," Turtle decided. "She's the one who cut off my braid last summer. Well, her, and John Sheppard, but I think she bewitched him or something."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella stroked her own long hair protectively. "That's awful, even if you did make it up a little. Did she tell you why she did it?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle shrugged. "Who knows? We probably got into a fight and so I kicked her, and that was her revenge, but it was a really crappy way to do it. That braid meant everything to me back then."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella's hand hadn't left her hair. "Not at all. It takes a long time to grow hair. Not," she added quickly, "that yours looks bad now."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I love it now," Turtle said, running a hand through it. "Don't get me wrong. In a way, I kind of needed it. Clinging to that braid was like clinging to my childhood; the liberation really matured me, and I've changed a lot since then, all for the better."

She paused.

"Still totally sucked when it happened, though."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"I guess sometimes you need to let go of things," Ella philosophized, trying to look at the loss of her mother's necklace in that light. "But it seems unfair when it's not your decision."

"I'm not sure," she added, "what I'm still clinging to, but it seems the school will show me."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle nodded, sporting a slightly encouraging smile. "Definitely. I know this place has really turned me into a different, better person. I love it here. It's going to be sad when I graduate."