Hayley

[thisismybar]

Ric was... happy. Being able to sleep with Hayley -and really just sleep, god knew the sex wasn't lacking- even with Damon acting as a guard dog, had been good for him. No new bodies turning up, not missing chunks of time, those were pretty good, too. They weren't quite enough for him to let his guard completely down, but he didn't think there was going to be a whole lot of sleeping going on tonight, anyway.

And if there was, well, tonight Hayley would be even more equipped to play guard dog and take care of him. Elijah's reassurance helped keep that one metaphorical and mildly amusing.

He dumped the last load of camping gear onto the ground, and looked up at the sky to check the weather. "I don't think we're going to have to worry about being rained on tonight, but we should probably set up the tent." Who knew what tomorrow would bring,and it would be easier to relax somewhere enclosed. And limit bugs.

Comments

[thisismybar]

"Sounds like a cool guy." Worst. Pun. Ever. He can't even be sorry for it, given that she's mentioned her family so little and here, she has. So he's gentle without being dismissive, but... still making the pun. "Give me a marshmallow, please."

[littlewolf_girl]

She snorted and shook her head, but handed over the marshmallows after snagging one of her own. She speared it on the stick not as viciously as she might have a couple of months before. She didn't talk about her family to...anyone, but that was okay, because she never really let anyone get close enough that she felt the loss of it. But Ric...she was realizing that not talking about them sort of cut off a huge part of her life to talk about. Like...formative shit that made her who she was and all that.

[thisismybar]

Ric speared his own marshmallow, then stuck it in the fire, while he used his other hand to work on opening the graham crackers box. "So, good musical education... Who's your favorite?"

[littlewolf_girl]

"Musician of all time, or ones whose followings he indoctrinated me into?" she asked, watching her marshmallow closely as she spent a couple of moments letting it roast toward brown...before plunging it in the fire, too, until it caught aflame.

[thisismybar]

"Favorite from before... say 1990." He was watching her with her marshmallow with some concern, but clearly not baking off entirely. Though he was struggling with packaging more than he was watching her closely. Which was possibly rude, but god dammit, he'd said smores, not individual components.

[littlewolf_girl]

The marshmallow wasn't really anything to be concerned about. She pulled it out when it was lit, watching it burn, black and crackly, before blowing it out. Glancing over at him, she grinned a bit. "Until the chocolate and graham crackers are ready, I like 'em crispy..." She considered the question for a moment, picking the marshmallow off the stick and popping it in her mouth in all its gooey mess. When she'd licked her fingers clean, she answered, "The Who."

[thisismybar]

He grimaced and shuddered a bit dramatically, and kept his marshmallow out of the fire, thank you. "That's taking carmalized sugar a little far for me...." Though in truth he'd eat just about anything. Crackers opened, he passed her the 6 pack of chocolate bars. "Any particular album or song that does it for you?"

[littlewolf_girl]

She tsked. "Don't knock it until you've tried it. It's fantastic..." She got the chocolate bars open and snagged one of the crackers to layer with chocolate before starting another marshmallow. "I really like 'Substitute' and 'Amazing Journey.'"

[thisismybar]

"It's sticky charcoal." He was knocking it without trying it, but he was doing it nicely. "I need to figure out what they are, before I can offer commentary. I will check them out, though. The only Who I know are the theme songs for CSI."

[littlewolf_girl]

She shook her head, but the second marshmallow she was roasting much more slowly. "They're good.' She thought for a moment. "I really like Kansas, too."

[thisismybar]

"I like Kansas." He paused. "The group, I've never been that far west." He knew they were talking about music, but. He stopped and pulled his marshmallow out of the fire and used one of the setup cracker and chocolate combinations, ready to go, to pull it off the stick.

[littlewolf_girl]

She grinned. "I haven't either, so." Been that far west. "I can't imagine I'd really want to go to the state, come to think of it..."

[thisismybar]

"All I know about it is corn and bad weather. Not really all that appealing." He took a bite out of the s'more, with a soft, happy sound.

[littlewolf_girl]

She finished toasting her marshmallow and put her s'more together, smushing it to get the heat of the marshmallow into the chocolate. "Yeah, I'm kind of anti-getting blown away by a tornado unless I'm ending up in Oz. And even then...I'm not sure I'd want to live anywhere so trippy. Here's enough."

[thisismybar]

"I don't know," he said, watching her and giving her a quick smile. "I think I'd prefer munchkins to most vampires. Damon'd be a great Tin-Man, though...."

[littlewolf_girl]

She laughed again, shaking her head. "I don't think he'd appreciate that comparison..." And she thought for a moment. "I think the actual talking animals would freak me out."

Okay, serious irony. She realized that.

[thisismybar]

"That movie made me terrified of monkeys for... years. The other aspects didn't, so much. Of course, I thought it ended when they got to the Emerald City the first time until I was about... nine." So years of monkey fear were much later in his life.

The talking animal thing didn't even occur to him as ironic. She didn't talk when she was an animal.

[littlewolf_girl]

She gave him a look, arching her eyebrow as she did that math and laughed. "...Did you just fall asleep before the end, or did your parents refuse to let you see it?"

Still looking amused, she bit into her s'more with a happy sound.

[thisismybar]

"I think I may have fallen asleep once or twice when I was young, and then decided that there was nothing else after that point. My parents probably encouraged that, though. Wouldn't want me to be traumatized by the big bad witch and her flying army." He rolled his eyes, fondly.

His life had gotten scarier, since then.

[littlewolf_girl]

"Dude, those flying monkeys were terrifying," she agreed with a mock-serious nod. They really had been. And if real...probably matched werewolves, at least.

Speaking of which--dusk was falling and she was starting to feel that coiling mix of anticipation and dread.

[thisismybar]

"Enough to have me still kind of creeped out by monkeys...." He glanced up at the slightly cooler breeze, and paid attention to the light around the fire. "You want to stay here, or hike out?"

[littlewolf_girl]

"I doubt you're the only one." Hayley reached for a third marshmallow, shrugged and gave him a wry smile. "The fire's nice. Might as well stay here."

There was still a little while.

[thisismybar]

"All right...," Ric agreed, soft and easy, and returned to eating his first s'more. "Is there where I fess up to having brought balls? Just in case rabbits don't show themselves?" He may or may not have been, very gently, teasing her. He did tease about that, but he was always a little careful. Maybe someday that would ease off, but for now. He liked her and wanted her to be okay.

[littlewolf_girl]

Hayley stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "Oh my god...you didn't, did you?"

She wasn't sure if she was absolutely delighted or horrified or some combination of both.

[thisismybar]

Ric grinned, broadly, and gave her just a tiny bit of a look with it. "We can't have you being bored...."