Something Slender || Hiking
Jul. 5th, 2024 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_chameleon posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsThe group prepares to set out for a hike.
A hike had sounded like a great idea before someone told Jessie they were expected to be up and gathered on the mansion's back porch at hell-no oh-god-why o'clock. (Okay, the sun was up, so it wasn't that bad. But still.)
"No outdoors is that great," she whined, arms wrapped around Ashley from behind like she was a big body pillow. A big, standing body pillow. Her cat hat was sitting askew on her head. "This better be the biggest, prettiest, most gorgeous outdoors that can only be witnessed by people who had to get out of bed at fuck-oh-thirty."
Ashley had adorable hiking boots with visible fleece lining, rainbow laces, and lace clips shaped like music notes, leggings (with pockets), a yellow tank-top with a hoodie over, a water bottle clipped to her backpack, and another in her hand that she kept taking long drinks from. "You could've had coffee." She waved the bottle. "Or breakfast." She patted her backpack. "I have two egg sandwiches in there." She was bright-eyed, bouncing on her toes a little, and the water bottle in her hand was absolutely not her first coffee of the day. "It'll be fun. We'll see snakes and mushrooms, and probably cool bugs."
There was a sound like tearing velcro from a nearby tree. Sharon was on her hind legs, industriously clawing at the bark. She had no interest in traversing the great outdoors as a biped, but in deference to the communal nature of the hike she had assumed her hybrid form. Pixie's special harness had been loaded with water and a collapsible silicone pet bowl.
"I love nature," Sharon agreed. "Already I have eaten a bird."
"It's not that early," Shatterstar said to Jessie, choosing to ignore Sharon's confession of bird murder. Despite his scolding of Jessie, he was slightly grumpy as well. He didn't dislike the outdoors, but he had little interest in hiking other than to hang out with his friends. Shatterstar was not a friend to bugs, as his nearly excessive application of bug spray showed. He had his own bag packed with water and snacks, including ones for Sharon, even though she seemed more interested in au natural food. Shatterstar had left his sword in his room, but had his pocket knife on his belt. He offered his bug spray to the other soon-to-be-hikers.
Mel floated down to the porch, having flown out of her bedroom window to meet everyone. “Mornin’ y’all! It’s a beautiful out today.” The weather was just right, not a cloud in the sky. She was excited for the hike even if Jay hadn’t wanted to come. It was good to get outside and be with nature. “I’ve got extra waters if anyone needs ‘em!”
"Sharon!" Liam groaned, tail swishing, "Already?" He too had a backpack of water and other essentials along with a pair of sturdy hiking boots on his feet. He was looking forward to this and bounced gently in excitement, then pulled out a breakfast sandwich to munch.
Madin yawned again and bent over to check the contents of their pack. They'd wanted to leave most of it behind, still anxious about the misunderstanding with Alani and Nica that time, where apparently hiking just meant a walk in the park not a hike-hike but training and habits died hard. And half the people here weren't prepared. "Hey, maybe we'll see squirrels," they said to Emily.
Emily had arrived only moments before, slightly out of breath and lugging two backpacks, one that contained a water sack and the other a slimline deal that she’d a compass, a map of the area and a fire stick just in case. She’d also begged a small med pack from one of the medbay people and put in a sewing kit. You never knew what you might need.
She hadn’t bothered with a blanket or a sleeping bag given it was just a day hike but it had taken her forever to find shoes that felt broken in enough to not give her blisters in the first few moments. She vaguely remembered that the orientation had said something about their phones being equipped with a satellite function but had she misheard?
She started suddenly, realising that she hadn’t answered Madin at all.
“Oh, um. Maybe! I heard they have them everywhere in North America. Do you think there’ll be raccoons too? Did you know they only really live for five years in the wild? And! They have excellent night vision. I wonder if that’s why they only come out at night?”
Rictor did not have much on him, just a backpack with snacks, water, and his shoes, in case the trail proved too dirty or dangerous for his bare feet. He walked up to Shatterstar and shared the grin with him, too, handing a bottle of sunscreen in exchange for the bug spray. "It's a good day to be outside. I can feel it, literally." He wiggled his toes in the grass as if for emphasis.
Paige groaned and inwardly agreed with Jessie. It was early and her coffee hadn’t quite kicked in yet. She hoped they weren’t going too far since she only had a pair of old tennis shoes and her school bag that held her water bottle and some trail mix she’d taken out of Sam and Jay’s pantry. She had a large flannel on over a tank top and leggings, which had been surprisingly easy to find in the laundry pile this morning.
“I’m still surprised you convinced me to do this,” she said, turning to Jono. “Especially since it’s a group activity during daylight hours.”
"It's hiking. Of course we were going." Jono typed as if that explained everything. "And I exist in daylight hours sometimes. We met in daylight hours."
Emily watched the interaction for a moment, smiled somewhat awkwardly at everyone and then pulled her backpack further up her back and set off from the front steps in a ‘North American Woods’ direction, hoping people would follow her rather than just let her wander off.
They would come after her, right? Because if they didn’t that would be incredibly upsetting and she wasn’t sure she could handle social suicide this early in the morning.
"Come on, come on, I want to make S'mores!" Ashley bounced on her toes, trying to herd people just with the sheer presence of coffee and four different apps on her phone that would identify rocks, plants, bugs and mushrooms. "We hike, we find cool things, we eat snacks. That's how this works. Emily! Have you ever had a Smores? If not, we're gonna fix that!" She waved her water bottle at the youngest of the group. "I brought vegan marshmallows and cheap chocolate, we just need fire."
A hike had sounded like a great idea before someone told Jessie they were expected to be up and gathered on the mansion's back porch at hell-no oh-god-why o'clock. (Okay, the sun was up, so it wasn't that bad. But still.)
"No outdoors is that great," she whined, arms wrapped around Ashley from behind like she was a big body pillow. A big, standing body pillow. Her cat hat was sitting askew on her head. "This better be the biggest, prettiest, most gorgeous outdoors that can only be witnessed by people who had to get out of bed at fuck-oh-thirty."
Ashley had adorable hiking boots with visible fleece lining, rainbow laces, and lace clips shaped like music notes, leggings (with pockets), a yellow tank-top with a hoodie over, a water bottle clipped to her backpack, and another in her hand that she kept taking long drinks from. "You could've had coffee." She waved the bottle. "Or breakfast." She patted her backpack. "I have two egg sandwiches in there." She was bright-eyed, bouncing on her toes a little, and the water bottle in her hand was absolutely not her first coffee of the day. "It'll be fun. We'll see snakes and mushrooms, and probably cool bugs."
There was a sound like tearing velcro from a nearby tree. Sharon was on her hind legs, industriously clawing at the bark. She had no interest in traversing the great outdoors as a biped, but in deference to the communal nature of the hike she had assumed her hybrid form. Pixie's special harness had been loaded with water and a collapsible silicone pet bowl.
"I love nature," Sharon agreed. "Already I have eaten a bird."
"It's not that early," Shatterstar said to Jessie, choosing to ignore Sharon's confession of bird murder. Despite his scolding of Jessie, he was slightly grumpy as well. He didn't dislike the outdoors, but he had little interest in hiking other than to hang out with his friends. Shatterstar was not a friend to bugs, as his nearly excessive application of bug spray showed. He had his own bag packed with water and snacks, including ones for Sharon, even though she seemed more interested in au natural food. Shatterstar had left his sword in his room, but had his pocket knife on his belt. He offered his bug spray to the other soon-to-be-hikers.
Mel floated down to the porch, having flown out of her bedroom window to meet everyone. “Mornin’ y’all! It’s a beautiful out today.” The weather was just right, not a cloud in the sky. She was excited for the hike even if Jay hadn’t wanted to come. It was good to get outside and be with nature. “I’ve got extra waters if anyone needs ‘em!”
"Sharon!" Liam groaned, tail swishing, "Already?" He too had a backpack of water and other essentials along with a pair of sturdy hiking boots on his feet. He was looking forward to this and bounced gently in excitement, then pulled out a breakfast sandwich to munch.
Madin yawned again and bent over to check the contents of their pack. They'd wanted to leave most of it behind, still anxious about the misunderstanding with Alani and Nica that time, where apparently hiking just meant a walk in the park not a hike-hike but training and habits died hard. And half the people here weren't prepared. "Hey, maybe we'll see squirrels," they said to Emily.
Emily had arrived only moments before, slightly out of breath and lugging two backpacks, one that contained a water sack and the other a slimline deal that she’d a compass, a map of the area and a fire stick just in case. She’d also begged a small med pack from one of the medbay people and put in a sewing kit. You never knew what you might need.
She hadn’t bothered with a blanket or a sleeping bag given it was just a day hike but it had taken her forever to find shoes that felt broken in enough to not give her blisters in the first few moments. She vaguely remembered that the orientation had said something about their phones being equipped with a satellite function but had she misheard?
She started suddenly, realising that she hadn’t answered Madin at all.
“Oh, um. Maybe! I heard they have them everywhere in North America. Do you think there’ll be raccoons too? Did you know they only really live for five years in the wild? And! They have excellent night vision. I wonder if that’s why they only come out at night?”
Rictor did not have much on him, just a backpack with snacks, water, and his shoes, in case the trail proved too dirty or dangerous for his bare feet. He walked up to Shatterstar and shared the grin with him, too, handing a bottle of sunscreen in exchange for the bug spray. "It's a good day to be outside. I can feel it, literally." He wiggled his toes in the grass as if for emphasis.
Paige groaned and inwardly agreed with Jessie. It was early and her coffee hadn’t quite kicked in yet. She hoped they weren’t going too far since she only had a pair of old tennis shoes and her school bag that held her water bottle and some trail mix she’d taken out of Sam and Jay’s pantry. She had a large flannel on over a tank top and leggings, which had been surprisingly easy to find in the laundry pile this morning.
“I’m still surprised you convinced me to do this,” she said, turning to Jono. “Especially since it’s a group activity during daylight hours.”
"It's hiking. Of course we were going." Jono typed as if that explained everything. "And I exist in daylight hours sometimes. We met in daylight hours."
Emily watched the interaction for a moment, smiled somewhat awkwardly at everyone and then pulled her backpack further up her back and set off from the front steps in a ‘North American Woods’ direction, hoping people would follow her rather than just let her wander off.
They would come after her, right? Because if they didn’t that would be incredibly upsetting and she wasn’t sure she could handle social suicide this early in the morning.
"Come on, come on, I want to make S'mores!" Ashley bounced on her toes, trying to herd people just with the sheer presence of coffee and four different apps on her phone that would identify rocks, plants, bugs and mushrooms. "We hike, we find cool things, we eat snacks. That's how this works. Emily! Have you ever had a Smores? If not, we're gonna fix that!" She waved her water bottle at the youngest of the group. "I brought vegan marshmallows and cheap chocolate, we just need fire."
