Elegant Emu Campfire: Monday night [8-18-08]

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen was out by the campfire staring into the flames. She was glad she wasn't getting lost any time she stepped more than three feet from the cabin, but she'd actually rather enjoyed the fog.


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[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal had stepped out that evening with the intention to smoke, but a glance across the camp and the sight of another fire somewhere along the way made him think that, perhaps, if he went to visit one, he might be able to distract himself from another cigarette. He was actually feeling a little worried that it was a bad habit he should try to kick. Again.

Strolling over, he nodded to who he saw was already there. "Helen," he said, and, unsurprisingly, he smiled a little, because he still found it amusing. "Mind if I join you?"

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen looked up and sighed quietly. "You."

She gestured to a seat. "Certainly, yes, make yourslf comfortable."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"It's, uh, Cal, actually," he corrected her, jokingly, mostly, as he went ahead and sat down on a nearby log. "Not You. For the record. How's it going?"

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She blinked at him. "Uh, Cal, then," she responded, mostly joking herself. "I'm doing well, and you?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I'm not a four-legged, mangy canine," Cal informed her happily, in case she couldn't tell, "so I couldn't be better."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad to hear that," Helen said. "I am hoping I do not succumb to the animal curse myself."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I had hopes, too," Cal said, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "Alas. Not meant to be. But hopefully you'll at least get a decent animal. I'm still confused as hell about why a hyena."

He looked over at Helen with a tilt of his head. "They have those where you're from?"

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "I've never heard of them. And I have no idea what sort of animal I might end up being."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Have they got dogs?" Cal asked.

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "More or less. They are a bit more vicious than those I have seen in other worlds."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal nodded back. "Well, hyenas are kind of like that, too, except they're dirty scavengers and they always make this really unsettling laughing noise. So it was really kind of weird to be one..."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

She winced. "Ew. I can imagine it would be."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal made a face that expressed how much he shared Helen's sentiments there. "Yeah, exactly. So I'm stuck trying to decide if that was worse than the pink pony with sparkling wings that I got stuck with when I first got here or not."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"You were a..." Helen blinked at him. "Are those indigenous to this world as well?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"This world as in the crazy ass realm that makes Fandom so weird?" Cal asked, and shook his head. "No idea. As far as my world, which is like Fandom without the pure random insanity? No freaking way."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"It is a very odd world, isn't it," Helen said thoughtfully. "And I have seen a number of odd worlds."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Does this one still take the cake?"

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Take the cake?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Colloquial expression," Cal said with a small smile. "It means, basically..." He gestured with his hands a little as he tried to find the best way to explain, "you know, the clear winner. So, if Fandom Island was definitely the weirdest world so far, then it would, as they say, take the cake."

There was a slight pause, a shake of his head. "Don't ask me to explain why, because I have no idea."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Hmm... " Helen thought for a moment. "I think Joris' world with the demons and the demon hunters was the overall oddest so far, but this perhas wins for variety of oddness."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"You sound like you've experienced a lot more than me in that scope," Cal admitted lightly, "so I'll take your word for it."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"You might find my world less pleasant than any of them," she said with a rueful smile. "Few visitors seem to enjoy it much."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Cal said, with a little bit of sympathy in his voice; in a way, it kind of surprised him, but it was as if a week as a hyena had left him feeling a bit more human lately. "I think I remember you telling me a little bit about that."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"And still I miss it," she said. "Though this world is far more hospitable and the people far more accepting of me."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"People here," Cal said, his voice going a little quiet, "are almost freakishly accepting sometimes, it seems. It's still weird for me sometimes, but, you know, I think it's because so many of us are used to not being accepted, or something..."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"I know I'm certainly not used to it," Helen admitted. "And even people I'm unpleasant to don't seem to be terribly put off by it."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal briefly wondered if he fit into that category, but, hey, they were being pretty congenial to each other tonight, at least. But he could easily think of someone who fit into the category of someone he was unpleasant to but still seemed friendly back. "Maybe," he offered thoughtfully, "it's just because people subconsciously know that they've got to be living on a small, although recently bigger, island with each other, so it's best to be friendly."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Possibly," Helen admitted. "Though certainly as small as the temple was overall, people did not seem nearly as nice."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugged. "Just a theory, I guess."

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"A good one, I suppose," Helen admitted.