Foul Bachelor Frog Campfire, Sunday Afternoon

[lockestheway]

It was Peter's birthday tomorrow, and his parents hadn't even called yet.

Which was fine. He didn't need the old coots anyway. Maybe he'd hear from them tomorrow? In fact, not having to deal with his parents at all meant that he'd gotten his essay for the week finished far ahead of schedule, leaving him time to... well, research the next essay.

Mostly.

Still, after a week of being locked inside because of the cold, he supposed he could take his desk outside with him now that the weather was nice and mild.

Which was where he was working now, fingers flying over the holographic display. Just don't expect him to light the fire.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[dollpocalypse]

No, this wasn't Topher's actual cabin, but that didn't stop him from parking down at the campfire upon spotting Peter. Because that was just his style. He also may have chosen a spot on the same exact log. Things like personal space weren't all that important to him, no.

"You know, it works better if you, like, light it," he advised Peter helpfully.

[[I'm actually going AFK for a couple hours fairly soon, but what the heck.]]

[lockestheway]

"Then I guess you'd know what to do next, right?" Peter asked. He wasn't looking up from his display at all, personal space violations or none.

Though he wasn't exactly as fond of them as Topher seemed to be.

[dollpocalypse]

"Nah," Topher said, wrinkling his nose.

And then he was onto a new topic.

"Dude, I swear, these cabin assignments are way worse than last time," he proclaimed. "On top of that Tony kid -- who is so not qualified to be a park ranger, just FYI -- I have that girl Ramona in my alcove, and she's... kinda violent."

Hence the black eye.

[lockestheway]

Peter looked up at Topher's face, and was thoroughly unsurprised to find the black eye. "I don't know why anyone would do that to you," he said. He was clearly not even trying to hide the fact that he was lying. "Please tell."

He could use a laugh.

[dollpocalypse]

"She thought I was being annoying!" Topher exclaimed, sounding like he was personally wounded from the incident. "She told me not to play a song, I played a song that sounded just like it, and -- bam. Fist in my face."

He paused.

"Plus, she's not inviting me to her party."

That part was more of a whine.

[lockestheway]

"Oh, that's terrible," said Peter, exercising his 'I am not trying to burst out into snickering here, honest' face with impunity. "Now you're going to miss the social event of the summer!"

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

Butters was a little disappointed to see that it had gotten warm again; what kind of August was warm? But he was definitely not going to let it spoil his afternoon as he sang to himself ("Lu lu lu") and went to find something fun to play at or maybe someone interesting out by the campfires.

And he found one!

"Well, hey, there, Peter! What'cha workin' on there?"

[lockestheway]

"Me? I'm just getting some advance research in for a school project," Peter lied fluidly like a lying thing. "Butters! My man! What have you been up to?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony should be forgiven for only noticing the display Peter was using rather than the man himself. Because that was damn cool looking, okay?

"Hardlight?"

[lockestheway]

"Obviously," Peter said, without looking up. For... at least twenty seconds, at least.

Then he did. "Hey, Tony. What's up?"

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"See," said Butters with a laugh as he had a seat on a nearby log, "that's why I get all my homework done of Friday, right after school, so then you have the whoooooole weekend!"

That, and his parents would ground him if he didn't, but that was neither here nor there.

"And, gee, I haven't been up to anything real interesting or nothin'. Just the usual. Workin' hard and playin' hard, you know what I am saying?"

[lockestheway]

"Not... really," Peter said, honestly. He peered across the unlit fire at Butters. "But that's some kind of 20th century ghetto slang thing, right?"

Hey, sometimes it paid to play little mister lost-in-time.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"We're not in the Artic anymore," Tony replied. Because 'thwarting your plans' wasn't a good answer.

[lockestheway]

"Yes, the temperature kind of tipped me off," Peter said, smugly. Because his plans hadn't been thwarted in the slightest. "Gone walkabout yet? The new mainland seems a little more hospitable than the old one."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

He'd get there soon enough!

"Maybe I'll go there for tomorrow's run," Tony said, glancing over at the town off in the distance. "Any idea when or where we are?"

[lockestheway]

Peter followed the line of his gaze, and shrugged. "Not really, but going by the farmhouses, we're probably somewhere in the States," he said.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Not Europe?"

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"Um..." No one had ever asked Butters anything that might suggest he'd be an expert on something before, really, and so he took a moment, nodded to himself, and then straightened authoratively. "Yes. That's right, fo' sho', my brotha. Word."

And then Butters' hands moved through a...much too complicated series of made-up gang signs before they finally settled by his armpits as his arms crossed over his chest, with a little backward lean.

Yeah, he was, like, the coolest pimp in the whole 'hood.

[lockestheway]

"Unless we're in Lithuania or something," Peter mused. "I think they went copy-cat after a while. New Warsaw Pact didn't like that, though."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Is that from Communist countries or something?" TONY. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. YOU'RE A COLD WAR ERA HERO.

[lockestheway]

Oh god, Peter had missed the amount of for real? that Butters managed on a regular basis. One radio broadcast a week was just not good enough.

"Word," he repeated, seriously. "Oh yes. Now I'm definitely getting it."

[lockestheway]

"That's Russia, the outlying regions, and the chunk of Europe they conquered over a century ago," Peter said, with a sigh. "I know in this day and age the countries seem pretty set. But you know, for some people, borders are just like police tape - you just have to lift 'em up and sneak underneath."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony nodded slowly. "I thought those countries were the ones breaking away from Russia."

[lockestheway]

"In the 20th century, sure, but Russia never lost its pretentions at being a super-power," Peter said, idly. "So history repeats itself the moment they get another shot at the big prize."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Huh." Well, now he was never going to trust anything to do with project Pegasus. "I guess so."