Deck [Friday Evening]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

Since it was warm but not hot outside, Ned wandered out to the deck and took a seat next to one of the firepits. He lit one and stretched out beside it, enjoying the warmth from the flames.

There was a bag of marshmallows and some chocolate nearby for s'mores but he hadn't gotten that far yet. For now, he was just going to enjoy it being Friday and the week being over.

He wasn't even moping. Accomplishment!

[Oooooopen, yes.]

Comments

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"You take up a lot of deck," Andrew commented, plopping himself down next to the firepit. "You know, lengthwise."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I have long legs," he said and tapped one leg against the other. "I'm all leg. I'd be short if it weren't for my legs."

Which made...some sense.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Well, you would be stumpy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I saw a documentary once on this family where all the kids were born without legs. It was amazing watching them get around using just their hands. They even had bicycles."

Andrew leaned back and looked up at the sky, grinning. It felt awesome being out of the dorms for something other than work.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"They had no legs but they used bicycles?" Ned asked, turning his head to look at Andrew. "I can barely ride a bike with my legs."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"They were modified so that they could steer and pedal with their hands at the same time," he explained. "Plus, they had larger seats, for stability."

He looked over at Ned. "That's one of my biggest complaints about bikes, the seats. I mean, why not make it just a little wider for comfort?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I haven't ridden a bike in a long time," he said but he was nodding. "The last one I had was long but thin and I'd slide forward all the time. I kept thinking I was going to go flying over the handlebars."

He paused.

"Not that I did that more than once. Or anything."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"What? Ride a bike or fly over the handlebars?" he asked.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Fly over the handlebars," he laughed. "I can ride a bike. Just not well sometimes. Again, I blame my legs."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"I used to love riding my bike," Andrew stated. "It was a good excuse to get out of the house. Of course, keeping a bike was the hard part. The neighborhood I grew up in wasn't the kind where you could leave something like that sitting outside and expect to see it again in the morning. And my aunt wouldn't let me store a bike in the house."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Bad neighborhood?" Ned asked, frowning slightly. "I got lucky there. Boarding schools are boring but very safe, I guess. Safe from outside forces."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well there weren't many places in Sunnydale that were safe after sundown." Andrew shrugged.

"Boarding school, huh? How was it different than here?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I've never heard of Sunnydale," he said almost apologetically. "And Longburrow wasn't as...open as this place. It didn't have things like decks and common rooms or places where the students could go to hang out like this."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Sunnydale is in California," Andrew explained. "It's home to a Hellmouth, so we got all kinds of interesting characters in town -- vampires, demons, general evil doers, things like that."

He looked about the deck. "And I really like this deck. It's my first time out here."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

After work, Ella meandered slowly back to campus, struggling a little with the weight of her parrot in his cage. When she noticed the fire, she settled in beside it, setting the parrot at a distance form the flames. She'd go upstairs in a moment.

"It's a nice night," she observed.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Warmer than it has been," Ned said, smiling lightly over at the new girl. "No need for a jacket."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Not in the least," Ella agreed. "I think my bird, Pento, over there, would like me to let him out for a flight, but I'm afraid I'd lose him if I did that."

She nodded a greeting to Ned. "I'm Ella, by the way. I can't remember if I've spoken to you before or not."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Ned and I don't think so," he said, nodding back, grateful for the lack of handshakes. He was getting better but the touching thing was still hard. "What kind of a bird is Pento?"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"He's a parrot," Ella said. "Technically a blue-and-gold Macaw." As she spoke, she opened the cage door to lift out the sleeping bird, who made a soft, irritable noise. "I just got him Wednesday. He went to work with me today."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I've only seen parrots on tv and cereal boxes," Ned admitted, squinting in an attempt to see Pento more closely. "I have a dog. He doesn't fly."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"The stranger thing would be if your dog did fly," Ella laughed. "Our housekeeper at home had one. I wanted to see if I could teach him to talk."

She glanced from the bird to Ned. "He's been friendly so far. Do you want to find out if he'll sit on your shoulder?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

Ned blanched and shook his head. "Not tonight. I'm not...really good with animals. It's a gift, I have. And I wouldn't want to scare your bird. Um, sometime though!"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"But you just said you have a dog," Ella persisted, though she withdrew the parrot to his cage.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I know," he said, ducking his head and staring at the ground. "I'm...not good with him either."

It was sort of true, at least.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella just stared at Ned for a moment. "You can't be that bad with him, or he'd run away."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"He tolerates me?" Ned tried even though it was weak. "And has no place else to go!"