The Deck | Afternoon | Saturday | July 10

[therewaslife]

The clouds were easing the heat a bit and, without the sun hanging high in the sky, Bod figured that spending some time outside wouldn't give way to an inevitable sunburn. He thought about walking into town but eventually decided that that could wait till later.

Instead, he veered off and clambered onto the deck, sliding into one of the empty loungers and actually choosing to be lazy for once. Usually, laziness was a side effect of having nothing to do or trying to avoid something else but today, he just wanted to relax. He found himself caught up in the movements of the clouds, dark and opaque as they were. He wondered what the sky looked like behind them, if the peeks of blue would stay long and where those clouds would go after moving off.

It wasn't heavy contemplation but he was enthralled by it anyway.

[Deck is open. I like clouds.]

Comments

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn took that in thoughtfully and sighed. "A week ago I could have just called you a morbid freak over that and run away," she said. "No offense. How'd you end up there? You don't seem very dead."

[therewaslife]

"I'm not a ghost," he said and chuckled. "I've a heartbeat. I'm alive. I was adopted by the ghosts in that graveyard. I wandered down there when I was an infant and they adopted me. That's how I ended up there."

That was the very shortened version.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like a movie," Quinn said sincerely. "And then, what, you grew up and decided you had to try this awesome high school thing?"

[therewaslife]

"I grew up and had to leave home," he corrected, a little quieter than before. "A human boy, he shouldn't live in a graveyard his entire life. Not when he has his entire life to live."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Quinn went quiet a moment; that was a heavier concept than she'd been thinking about, and she needed time to process it. "It's funny," she said at last. "All I ever wanted growing up was to get out of Lima. A lot of people don't. But that's not the same thing as a graveyard."

[therewaslife]

"I didn't want to leave at first but now, I realize I had to. I would have missed too much if I'd stayed."

That didn't stop him from missing home, missing his parents and missing the calm and safety the graveyard had given him.

"Why did you leave Lima?"

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"My cheer coach is insane," Quinn grumped. "She came to me all 'blah blah blah, more academically challenging blah blah bah scholarship,' and my parents were into it, so I transferred. Then it turns out she sent me to the insanity center of the known universe. On purpose."

She gave Bod a rueful look. "At least I got out of town, right? Because there is nothing there."

[therewaslife]

"And you've arrived on a small island," he pointed out, smiling slightly. "Though, for a small island, there's a lot to do. And the mainland is ripe with activities."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it kind of sounds like the activities here are more 'dodging things with sharp teeth,' less celibacy club," Quinn pouted. "I'm just pretending nothing will try to eat me."

[therewaslife]

"As far as I know, that hasn't happened," he said, trying to be reassuring about that. "Getting bitten, that might happen, but you could walk outside any place in the world and get bitten by a dog or a bug of some type."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"True," Quinn allowed suspiciously. "... what tends to bite people here?"

[therewaslife]

"Has anyone told you about the gremlins?" Bod asked carefully.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I think they were thing number 500 on somebody's big list of weird things," Quinn said. "So, sort of?"

[therewaslife]

"I haven't actually seen one but I've heard they do bite," said Bod with a careful nod. "They're not lethal as far as I know, but they're strange and their bites can sting."

Amongst other things.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"How do they react to being kicked?" Quinn asked carefully.

[therewaslife]

"The gremlins?" At that, Bod shrugged a shoulder. "I wouldn't know since I haven't kicked one myself. I'd imagine they don't much like as would be the case with most anyone who gets kicked. It seems like it would be a simple yet effective way of defending yourself."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Well, now I know what I'll do if I ever spot one," Quinn decided firmly.