daringyoungman | Camping

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Camping

Dick and Cat wanted to go camping. Dick asked Bonnie. Dick asked around, then somehow the word got out and it was a CAMPING TRIP.

Which he's okay with, really. He doesn't get much chance to hang around with other kids.

They pick a spot a good distance from the bar, near enough to the lake that washing and swimming can happen, not so close to the forest that demon bunnies are a severe threat, and set about pitching a camp for the weekend, or whenever they all get bored...

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Autor watches her avidly, eating his marshmallow off his skewer. He replaces it with another and holds it out to the fire, trying to maintain the same distance that Rae has on hers.

"I've done this right before," he says, a touch sheepish. "Once." Autor turns his skewer slowly, watching the marshmallow brown. "Thanks for teaching me your technique."

"Up above the flames is too hot, you see? Heat rises, and the marshmallow'll burn too quick." Rae leans against Autor's shoulder, grinning. "It's like anything - you learn what to look for, as you go."

"How're you doing?"

Autor's marginally more successful with this marshmallow than the previous one, but only just. He still manages to catch it on fire, to which he blows out with a sigh.

"I'm all right, Rae," he says, leaning back against her as he affixes another marshmallow. "I've had a bit of memory loss, which I'm reconstructing with the use of magic. It's slow going. But other than that, I'm doing quite well, thanks for asking."

"Memory loss?" she echos, concerned. Her concern distracts her and she has to quickly pull her marshmallow away from the fire - one side was getting dangerously brown. "What happened?"

"I'm not actually sure what happened yet," Autor admits, holding his own marshmallow far above the coals. "But I know that a large part of my town just lost a great deal of their memories in a chunk. I'm recovering them with the help of a rememberizer--a blue compact which records my memories--but without that and this place, I wouldn't even know I was missing them."

That sounds terribly scary - to know it happened, but know that it's almost only by chance that you know.

Sunshine hugs him, not knowing what to say.

Autor hugs her back, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, it's okay," he says, stroking her hair. "I'm recovering them, and even though it's taking me a while, I'll get them all back."

"I'm glad you'll get them all back," she says, nodding. "Still, something made you lose them in the first place. You'll find out what caused it. What if it's still dangerous?"

Autor sets his skewer aside, having lost the marshmallow to the flames. "I will, make no mistake about that," he says a little distantly as he stares into the fire. Then he focuses on her again. "If it's dangerous, then I'll figure out what to do once I realize that fact. I can't jump at shadows before then. And I don't know if it's dangerous to begin with. It's definitely some form of supernatural--the whole town lost their memories."

"Something able to remove people's memories - a lot of memories from a lot of people - certainly sounds dangerous," she murmurs, quietly placing her marshmallow on the chocolate and graham cracker, and making herself a s'more.

Autor hesitates. "That's a good point, and one I hadn't thought of, honestly," he says, a touch sheepish. He rubs the back of his head. "The question I want to know the answer to is why would they do it. The things I've been learning have been all about a Story that controlled the town, probably for years. And people who could write the Stories that impacted reality."

"Hmmm," Rae says, frowning slightly as she eyes her s'more. The desire not to let it get cold overpowers the wish not to get her face or hands messy.

"Maybe they took an eraser to the Story?"

Autor chuckles, affixing another marshmallow to his skewer. "Possibly, though I still don't know why they would," he says, and nibbles on his lower lip as he considers that. "But that's entirely possible. I think it's more likely that the Story has... has ended, somehow. I think that's what I was working towards before I lost my memories."

"Maybe you were able to end it successfully, then," Rae mumbles, through her s'more. "But the best stories, you want to remember after they're done."

Maybe it wasn't a very good one.

"Maybe," Autor says, focused on toasting this marshmallow successfully. "It's a puzzle, it truly is. I know I'm at the point where I can figure it out, but I've not yet grasped the answer."

He shrugs, turning the skewer. "I wish I could remember this Story. I have the book to read, The Prince and the Raven, but I have the impression that's not the whole of it."

"The book may just be a clue to the whole of it. Just the beginning," Rae considers, and goes back to leaning against his side.

"You'll figure it out."

Autor is clever like that.

Autor wraps his arm around her again, beaming down at her. "Thanks," he says. "I appreciate your vote of confidence in me. I think you're right about the book being the beginning of it. I know that, for example, characters from that story manifested in real life, most notably Princess Tutu."

"What happens to characters when they're taken out of their story?" Rae wonders, content to lean against him and be hugged.

Edited 2015-06-07 04:41 (UTC)

"I'm not sure," Autor says, rubbing her shoulder. He turns his skewer again to brown the opposite side of his marshmallow. "I know that the Monster Raven came out as well, as did the Prince. So there were at least three characters running around."

"Wouldn't someone notice if a monster raven were around?"

"They should have," Autor says, pulling his marshmallow back toasted golden brown. "But he was sealed away, so he was present but not really. I wonder if someone unsealed him and defeated him to end the Story?"

"You'll find it in your memories, if that's what happened," Rae nods. It sounds likely to her, even if she's not terribly familiar with the story and how stories might enter reality.

"So I will," Autor says, squeezing her shoulder before setting his marshmallow on a graham cracker. "I just need to be patient, that's all. And thank you for listening, Rae."

"You're welcome," she smiles at him. "Good job on that marshmallow, by the way. Looks like it should be about perfect."

"Thanks!" Autor says, grinning. He adds chocolate before smushing the s'more together with another graham cracker. "It only took me six tries to get it right."

Camping

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