fandomhighdorms | Main Campfire, Sunday Afternoon

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Main Campfire, Sunday Afternoon

Wesley hadn't done a whole lot of camping back at his old school. And while he'd visited a few campfires since his arrival at Fandom, it was still pretty new to him. Which was why he could find himself seated at the main campfire on Sunday, enjoying the fire quietly while his favorite book turned into a stuffy old English man lectured him on the various types of demons known to enjoy campfires.

He did have food, more in case anyone else showed up than for himself. Except for the graham crackers. Those were totally his and he wasn't going to share. But everything else, though. He'd share.

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Rarely, very rarely, Effy decided she actually wanted people.

Normally, she'd search out Alex, but with how they'd left things... She was hesitant to go hunting for him. Besides, branching out from the very small group of people she chose to socialise with was a good thing. Right?

Right. "Interesting company," she noted as she found herself a seat on a nearby log. It wasn't every day you found an old bloke sitting with a teenager around their campfire.

It was like asking 'who the fuck is that?', but polite. Almost.

Edited 2010-07-25 18:48 (UTC)

Caught off guard, Wesley looked up. "Oh, hello," he said politely. "Yes, this is - er, were you aware that some people's possessions have been turning into people over the past few days? This is - er, was - a book I rather enjoy."

"Hello," said the book. "As I was saying, Wesley, the heat of a campfire is also a deterrent to certain demons, such as - "

Wesley gave him a look, and the book quieted.

Effy eyed the book guy, a moment. "Wow." Had heard about things on the radio, but it never quite sinks in until you saw it for yourself.

"Sounds... interesting," she said, tugging out her cigarettes. Weird, but... demons and fire. Effy had odd fascinations. Which she would still try and disguise with nonchalance.

"Hello," she added, offering a tip of her head in greeting. "... Reminds me of my old history teacher."

Wesley acknowledged that with a chuckle. "He's rather reminiscent of most of my former teachers at my old school as well," said Wes.

"I'm Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, by the way," he added. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Effy. Nice to meet you too." It actually was. Not so many of them from the other side of the Atlantic. Little hint of home was occasionally welcome.

Enough so, to oh-so-politely, offer him a cigarette from the pack she'd pulled out of her shirt. "Smoke?" Neither of them looked the types, but you never could tell. "Or are you good with... that." Marshmallows were almost as good to some people.

"No, thank you," said Wesley politely. It was always surprising to him to encounter students at Fandom who smoked - back at the Watchers' Academy, no one he knew dared to, as they were all either resolute rule-followers like Wes or just too afraid to cross their teachers. Either way, it was new to him.

The book refused as well, and looked a little alarmed. Wes figured that being a book, he probably wasn't too eager to have a whole lot to do with fire and smoke. The campfire alone had to be kind of a strain.

"Do many of the students here smoke?" Wesley asked, thinking of Alex and some others that he'd seen smoking.

Effy took a moment to light her cigarette, and take a drag before she responded. Taking her sweet time, just because she could.

"Lot of the ones I know." Because they all tended to congregate in similar places, and her along with them. The roof attracted smokers like bees to honey. "Having something in common, tends to draw people together."

He nodded. Yep, this was the kind of thing that interested him. "Yes, I rather thought so." Acting on his usual assumption that everyone was as geeky as him, he explained, "At my old school, nobody actually smoked or broke the rules in any way, and there wasn't much of a community there. No one liked each other much. Here, however, people do seem to get along better when they - rebel, somewhat."

Yeah. This was the stuff he thought about. The book rolled his eyes.

"Wow, your last school sounds fucking dull," she commented. More boring than any of hers, even. But that might've been because Effy rebelled and made hers a little more exciting that way.

"Really. This isn't rebellion." There wasn't anyone to tell them to stop. "Not breaking any rules, technically."

"Yes, it was rather dull," he agreed. It occured to him that there very probably was a rule against smoking, but he didn't say so.

Well, if it was a rule, it wasn't one they enforced. It didn't count to her. She'd done worse. Ruining her lungs was her problem.

"Where was it?" she asked after a moment. He had an Eton feel about him. Maybe even Winchester. A little curious to know if her guesses were anywhere near the mark, or if he lived in some freaky other world that just shared an accent.

"The Watchers' Academy," he answered promptly. Then he added, "You've likely not heard of it. It prepares students for roles I believe are unique to my dimension."

He did wonder about her, though, and was familiar with some of the other well-known English schools. "And yourself?"

"Shit school in Bristol." Which, yeah, he was unlikely to have heard of. "Prospectus was a right laugh, though." She was only there a few days, so that was about all the impression she got of it.

That and a great view of the ceiling in the nurses office.

"Looks like we both lucked out." Fandom had its perks.

Wesley nodded. "Oh, yes," he agreed. "Well - I rather liked it there, but there are occasions on which I'm tempted to regard the expulsion as a positive thing."

That was - unusually open, for him.

"Oh, you're quite right," supplied the book. "For one thing, I'm talking to you, boy. It's a sight more appealing than being in paperback, let me tell you."

Effy briefly turned her attention back to the 'book', cocking her head curiously. The impression he'd given her had felt... hardback, so that statement surprised her a little. Occasionally her assumptions were wrong.

"Would imagine so." Not that she'd given much thought to it before today.

"You at least get kicked for something fun?" she asked, attention skipping back to Wesley.

"Not unless you would term nearly getting killed 'fun,'" he replied stiffly. And a lot of people probably would, but it wasn't Wesley's cup of tea.

Not the sort of fun she usually went out of her way to find, and Effy's eyebrows twitched upwards at that little revelation. She'd take her expulsion, thanks.

"Shit." Full of wise words, this one. "And America the punishment." For nearly getting killed. Which seemed odd.

"Quite," he replied. And that was all he was going to say on the subject.

"And what brought you to this school? Bristol to Maryland seems like quite a change," Wesley observed, hoping to change the topic from himself. The book coughed loudly, clearly unimpressed with the segue.

Yeah, not entirely subtle, and she slanted a smirky look at his book before she answered.

"Punishment," she repeated back. Or, an attempt to straighten her out that... could just barely be called successful. "Just like you." Minus the near-death experience. That had been her previous expulsion. "Mine was fun." Totally worth it.

The book smirked back at her. Wesley, meanwhile, was fascinated and clearly hanging on to every word. "If you don't mind my asking, what did you do?" he inquired politely. This vicarious interest came from lack of experience: he'd never really known anyone to consciously and deliberately get into trouble, and especially to enjoy it. Well, except Faith, but then she'd ended up being evil, a trait he rather hoped Effy didn't share.

Not evil, as such, just... morally ambiguous and messed up on occasion.

"Screwed someone on a teacher's desk." Why not go with honesty. Wasn't like it was something she hid, particularly. "Turns out they don't like that."

Besides, people's reactions to that one were generally pretty fun to watch.

Unfortunately, Wes' reaction wasn't particularly exciting. Embarrassed to have asked, yeah, but not the most animated response of all time.

He blinked, his eyes wide, and said, "Oh." And he blushed pretty hard, too. Then he thrust out his arm, still holding a box of snacks he hadn't touched in ten minutes and offered, "Graham cracker?"

The book guffawed.

Blushing was a good enough reaction for Effy, and she smirked a little wider as she leaned forward extending the hand without the cigarette in to snag one. "Why not." Embracing the weird American snacks. Some of them were good enough to merit going for when they were offered.

"Obviously getting into this camping crap." Clearly he'd learned about s'more somewhere along the way.

Wesley grinned sheepishly. "I read about it, actually," he admitted. "The entire concept seemed rather odd and unappealing initially, but I'm beginning to enjoy it."

"Though my personal favorites are still Mars Bars," he added.

"Almost too much for me." Mars Bars were a hell of a lot of sugar in one packet.

"I'm not that sweet." There was a reason she left the love of that sort of thing to Panda. Didn't really fit with her, somehow.

Edited 2010-07-25 22:09 (UTC)

Wes shrugged, and was going to reply when his highly-amused book cut him off. "Oh, Wesley here's a walking Mars bar. Don't let him tell you otherwise - he's sugary as they come."

Wes blushed dark red again, and made no comment.

[gotcha. night!]

Helen was feeling particularly well-satisfied today, so after a bit of a nap to catch up on missed sleep, she wandered out towards the main campfire. She nodded at the student, then looked curiously at the man talking about...

"Demons? Who like campfires?"

Wesley turned around sharply. "Oh, hello," he said. "Yes, er - "

"Not as uncommon as you might think," the book interrupted. "Some demons are drawn to the warmth."

Wesley rolled his eyes.

"They are... cold then?" Helen asked curiously. "Where they are from? I have a friend... from another place... who fights demons for a living and I have never heard of this type."

She smiled apologetically at the student, then ducked her head, looking uncomfortable. "Not that I feel I know a great deal about them, but, well, part of my destiny was to fight them as well - at least one goup of them."

The book, eager to have someone who seemed to be interested in his lecture, unlike Wesley who apparently wasn't enough of a geek, jumped to explain. "Demons generally do not originate in specific areas, as they all had full command of the Earth at one time or another. But some are drawn to specific regions, such as Carnyka demons, which are known to nest in Eastern Europe, and Wred'Nha demons, which curiously seem to favor central New Jersey. And there are also - "

Determined not to allow the book to bore the newcomer to death, Wesley cut him off. "How interesting," he said. "Part of my destiny was to aid someone in fighting them." Of course, that was very much in the past tense and very much a bust. "Are you a warrior, then?"

[sorry. edited to make it make sense.]

Helen, not being from this world had utterly no idea what the older man was talking about, but nodded politely before turning to the student. "I, well... I suppose, yes. I am The Hand of Uquar and one of the forms my arm can take is a weapon of light which can destroy most any demon, including those of the highest levels."

Wesley nodded, though he too was completely baffled. "I'm not certain we have that in our dimension," he said politely. "But it sounds quite fascinating."

She smiled apologetically. "I am the only one in mine," she admitted.

And after a moment's thought shifted her arm into the weapon of light so that he could see. "I can make it become most anything I want, but this seems to be what it was designed for."

Wes' jaw dropped. "That's astounding," he breathed. "And that is effective on all forms of demons? I wonder if it would be equally so on a demon from an alternate dimension, or one whose form allows it to resist most types of injury."

The book snorted, clearly amused by his geeking out.

She shrugged again, looking even more uncomfortable at the compliment. "I'm told it is by a man who has made demon hunting his life. I'm not sure how well it would do here, but since it is also possible to cut holes between dimensions with it, well... It might be?"

Clearly transfixed, Wesley nodded. "Fascinating," he repeated. "I'd love to - " to study it, he was about to say, but that was weird, so he quickly modified it to " - learn more about it. If possible."

Yeah, that wasn't actually that smooth, Wes.

"Might I ask who told you that?" he inquired politely. "I'm quite interested in the different forms of demon hunters that are present in this dimension."

She nodded. "I would be glad to help you with that in any way I can, if you wish. The man's name was Konstam. He is a master demon hunter. Apparently it is found in a book telling of ways to destroy demons."

"Very interesting," Wesley said. "I'll have to research that."

Then, realizing he was probably being annoying asking all these questions about her arm, he forcibly stopped himself from babbling.

She smiled at him shyly. "I'd be glad to help with that. And it's all right. I don't mind talking about it. Not here where people don't find it... Where they don't seem to mind it."

Her arm had shifted back into an ordinary arm, though if he'd been paying close attention he might have seen a small withered arm under the weapon of light.

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Main Campfire, Sunday Afternoon

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