thisismybar | Hayley

Hayley was happy, too, which was sort of strange for her. She should have been freaking out, antsy to move on, but mostly...no. Ric made her laugh and finally getting to curl up in his arms, to have him hold her while she slept, had been amazing, even if she'd been really careful not to use anything but his name in talking to him again.

She followed his gaze to the sky, stretching out her back a little, and nodded. "Probably. It's been temperamental lately." And was getting cooler, anyway. She didn't mind, so much, or wouldn't through the night, but she didn't want him cold. "It'll be warmer in the morning, too."

When she would mind the cold after the shit back.

"Okay," he agreed, easily. "I'll fight with the tent, then, if you want to set up something for a fire? You don't have to light it yet, if you don't want, but being ready to go, at least."

He was already sorting through, finding the bag that had the poles for the tent and crouching down to sort them out.

"On it," she said, flashing him a smile. She'd made sure they packed a long lighter and kindling, at least, so she set up a circle of rocks first, then cleared all the debris out of the way, making sure everything was safe, then set about gathering up good wood to burn.

He stayed crouched down while she worked, and got the poles put together and threaded into the tent. It was going to take a few minutes, but he talked while they worked. "This was a really good idea...."

Not that he was at all smug, or anything.

"It was," she agreed, smiling over at him as she moved back and forth, stacking wood. Yes, she could carry it all at once, but then she'd just have to dump it and arrange it instead of working a bit more methodically to make sure she could build it up properly.

She had standards for campfires, apparently. "Did you pack marshmallows?"

"Marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate." He kept working on the poles, glancing at her occasionally, and keeping a stupid smile on his face. "Our diet out here may not be completely healthy, but it'll be fun." HE had packed stuff for a decent breakfast, though.

"Nice." She gave him an approving smile. "I just might keep you around, after all."

The way to a girl's heart had to involve chocolate, she was sure.

"Well, given my uselessness as an outdoorsman...." He wasn't quite useless, since he was managing the tent without killing himself, but their earlier conversations were pretty good at highlighting some of his weaknesses. "At least I can hunt Chocolate. Not that it runs very fast...."

She laughed and shook her head. "Being able to find chocolate is a highly underrated skill, I think. You'd be surprised how many guys overlook it."

Not that she really knew that from experience, but she'd heard it?

"I think we call that 'lack of foresight'...." Well! He sat back and then examined what he had done so far, and then stood to get in the vertical poles, that would keep the thing up. Thing, of course, being a tent. Other things had no issue being up.

"Just as bad," Hayley said with a grin "It's one of those things boy scouts are good for. Being prepared."

She finished stacking the wood for the initial fire and stacked the rest of if over to the side if they wanted to keep feeding it, then moved over to him. "Need a hand? Two people make these things easier, usually."

Not questioning his skill, just a genuine fact that except for super special tents, a second pair of hands made it easier to get the poles where they should be.

"I hear they're better at tents than I am." He gave her a grin. "I could use a hand. Actually, I could use both of yours and both of mine, if you don't mind." Then they could move things inside, that needed moved inside, set up and - chill for a while.

Or at least be prepared for the moon.

"Practice makes perfect," she said with a bit of a smile. They'd both get better at this if they kept at it, but. That was as close to it as she was going to come.

She moved to look over the tent, then glanced at him. "Where do you want me?" Since he had the directions, and all, and while she knew something about tents in general, each one was different.

"Bent over the-" He stopped and flashed her a grin. "Other side of the tent. If we can get the top pole in place with the rest, I think it'll stay up and we can start hammering in stakes."

He paused. "I'm really good with stakes." Total play, but - happy!

She smirked at the comment, suppressing a giggle. "Work first, then play...." Apparently she was sticking with the Boy Scout theme.

Moving around to the other side of the tent, she did as he asked, but then did laugh. "I probably shouldn't find that hot...but I do."

He stopped, once the tent was up, and moved around to look at her. "Why shouldn't you find that hot?"

"Because I'm trying to make peace with vampires," she said, a little piously, though the laughter in her eyes belied her tone.

Ric laughed. "I love Damon like a brother. There are others I'm pretty fond of. Strangely, this has not yet prevented me from killing them." Just made his criteria a little higher.

"Well, I'm glad I don't have to befriend the entire species," she said with a little laugh.

"I think if you tried to make me stop taking out vampires with Damon, Damon would cry. I know I would." Or just say no, but- "Not that... I'm exactly doing it recreationally. Damon, you'd have to ask Damon about. "

"Well, I'm so not going to ask you to stop," Hayley said with a wry smile. "Just...be careful."

She'd have to go all warpath if someone killed him.

"I will be," he promised, though careful wasn't exactly the right word. "I even promise not to get too cocky about it." He brushed his hands off, and turned to look around their campsite. "Let me get our stuff tossed into the tent, then we can figure out time?"

"Good." It sounded kind of fun to her, but, then...she wasn't generally Team Vampire. "Okay. We've still got a while." The itch hadn't even really started, yet--a low hum that let her know tonight was the night, but nothing uncomfortable, yet.

He grabbed a load of their stuff (bedding, mostly) and carried it into the tent - well, knelt and put it in, so he wasn't tracking dirt from his shoes in with him. "Good. We can do s'mores sooner, rather than later, then." They'd be a pretty lousy breakfast, after all.

She grinned and went to get the camp chairs she'd insist they bring and set them up by the fire pile. "That's a good plan. I mean, waiting and...I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have chocolate."

As a wolf. What with the chocolate and dogs thing. Yes, she was making a joke she'd normally hit someone for making.

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