Camp Annawanna, we hold you in our heart

[andcountry]

Characters: OPEN
Date/Time: October 12th, Anytime
Location: The Wilderness
Rating: Varied
Summary: Among concerns about the missing and the trapped with the storm raging up above, those who managed to evacuate find themselves in an idyllic paradise by comparison.

Comments

AT A POINT IN TIME NOT OCCUPIED BY OTHER THINGS

[andcountry]

Cephiro had come into camp Sunday night along with Flame, since they both decided that sooner was definitely better as far as evacuations went. Plus, they were both the sorts of people who wouldn't be able to sleep if they were going to be packing up their stuff and moving at first light. So, Sunday evening it was. Hence, Cephiro had completely missed the storm and had to guess from all of the loud noises what might be going on up there.

There was that. And there was the matter of the cabin names. If it weren't for the handy little cartoon pictures over the names, he would have no idea that some of these names were types of animals - some of them were ones he recognized, but most weren't. Without thinking too much about it, he took a walk around camp to find out what animals he might sort of recognize (at least in written and cartoon form) and found himself pretty much stuck at Jackalope before too long. It was a bit of an odd little animal, wasn't it?

That was when he noticed the guy sitting there with the wet hair and clothing, smoking something or other. Cephiro really wasn't sure, but the thought did occur to him that he had interrupted someone else's Wet And Annoyed Time - a grave offense.

"Hello," he greeted the gentleman, wide-eyed. There really was nothing else for it.

[blacklegcook]

"Hm?" A look up had Chivalry's vision fall on the appearance of a small boy. A really young one, if his height was anything to go by. Unless, of course the Shit-sphere had dwarfs hanging around; actually he wouldn't doubt it.

Apparently the kid had been eying the sign adorning their cabin and Chivalry came to the only conclusion that would logically make sense in this sort of situation.

"Yo." One hand rose with a slight wave in greeting. "You lost, kid?" The cabins were oddly set up, so it'd make sense if he was just looking for the name of his own cabin.

[andcountry]

Cephiro shook his head, of course defying all logical conclusions purely on the basis of being Cephiro.

"No, but..." he hesitated slightly before asking his question. "Have you ever seen a jackalope?"

[blacklegcook]

"E-Eh?" Chivalry blinked at that a few times, head tilted in bemusement. Did this kid think such an animal really existed? Not that he could say for certain if it did or not, but the shitty-picture of the thing had the blond doubting such an existence.

"You're going to be searching for a while, kid." He blew out a smoky sigh and pointed at the sign with his cigarette. "The only jackalope around here is that shitty-picture." There was still the possibility that the kid meant he'd been looking for this particular cabin. "Unless it's this cabin you're looking for."

[andcountry]

"Oh. Do they inhabit some other type of environment?" Plains, maybe? Looking at the picture, he supposed that it would have to be an animal that lived in the grasslands where there were fewer bushes low enough for it to tangle its horns in.

Cephiro shook his head at the man's last statement. "No, I was just curious."

[blacklegcook]

"..." The kid was seriously thinking about it. There was a small part of him that couldn't crush a kid's dreams, regardless of how fanciful or unlikely. He pictured himself in the kid's position, wanting to believe in fantasy and how shitty it'd feel if he was told it didn't exist. Something about that pained him and rang too much of something he himself might have experienced.

The blond was taking this more to heart than he should, he knew...Still--

"Oh...I didn't consider that!" It's said in feigned interest. "So many people come to this shit-sphere and it's not like such a thing couldn't exist around this weird world. Maybe one will show up if you look hard enough." And in a rare show he gives the kid an even rarer grin that had been absent these weeks since being 'hatched'.

[andcountry]

The kid cocked his head and raised one eyebrow at Chivalry's sudden change in attitude, in a very un-child-like manner. "You don't really believe that."

Then he cracked a small smile. Perhaps he should have been offended at being talked down to like... um, a child - at least, that was how he thought he should react, for some reason. Yet he couldn't help but be a little amused, as well. This guy thought the was talking to someone too naive to be able to tell the difference, anyway, so he apparently thought he was better off to keep his spirits up or... something like that, Cephiro wasn't really sure. He didn't really have a vested interest in the existence of jackalopes, but he had thought it made more sense to assume they existed than that someone had just made them up for no reason. Apparently not - how odd.

"I guess it's nice that you tried, though." He grinned, glanced up at the picture again, and then turned his back on it nonchalantly. "It just seemed kind of silly to me that someone would simply invent an animal like that."

[blacklegcook]

That had his visible widen a bit. Apparently the child wasn't as childish as he'd first thought. That tone actually sounded quite mature to be coming out of such a small runt.

"Ah...Guess you caught me." He grinned around the cigarette butt and took a long drag before slowly blowing it out. He looked off at the forest in the distance as he considered how to word how he felt about it.

"Hmm...Some people need things to believe in, even if they don't really exist." There was a slight twitch at his eye, as if saying that struck something within him, but he continued. "It may be silly to us, but to someone else it's their hope and dreams. So we can't walk over it no matter how stupid it may sound."

lol, 'maybe this guy is related to Flame' because he's blonde XD

[andcountry]

That gave Cephiro pause. That kind of speech sounded oddly familiar, and yet... not. As though the views were familiar, but his way of approaching them was different in a way that was somewhat enlightening.

"I think you're right," he replied with a faraway sort of smile. Hopes and dreams are important, aren't they? Extremely so, though he can't put into words exactly why.

"I'm Cephiro. What's your name?"

[blacklegcook]

"Chivalry." He nodded his head in greeting. Funny how the introductions came after interesting conversation, but that was fine by him.

"Nice to meet you." Another small smile graced his lips, which was a comfort to know he still could after Miss Kagerou's death.

"So, besides hunting for jackalopes, what are you doing wandering around? Sight-seeing?"

[andcountry]

"How apt." Cephiro grinned. At the question, he merely nodded. "Exploring, mostly. I was trying to find the boundary of the Wilderness, but it doesn't seem to have one."