(Untitled)

[noonelaughed]

Chris had been on the island for nearly two weeks now, and when it came down to it, he actually liked it. There was no pressure from anyone to pick a career or find a job or whatever, no one gave a shit if he smoked spliff in public and the sun was out just...all the time. If it weren't for the crap parties and certain people from home not being

Comments

[goingtodorking]

Karen's been playing Spy-Kids for a while now. This morning, she'd followed Dieter for half an hour, Miss Charlie for another ten minutes (Miss Charlie moved so slowly that it hadn't been very challenging at all and Karen had ended up Quite Bored). She's been following this boy for about twenty minutes when he stops to look at the giant frog.

It's sufficiently interesting for her to break cover.

"My horse tried to eat one of those once."

[noonelaughed]

"Probably wouldn't have been too good for the horse," Chris said, less concerned with the fact that this girl owned a horse than he was that he'd been followed. He'd seen the stables on the island; it was a mental idea, but for all he knew, all little kids had horses. Alternate dimensions were supposed to be weird, anyway.

Either way, being followed by a little kid meant he couldn't have the party anywhere near that spot. He was all for the island's relaxed laws and all, but he was pretty sure people'd frown on little kids going to raves.

[goingtodorking]

"It was almost as big as his head. He's very small."

Karen wanders closer, wellie boots scuffing in the grass. She tilts her head and studies it, dropping down into a crouch as she peers at it. "Do you think it's poisonous?"

[noonelaughed]

"I dunno, maybe," Chris said, then put out his joint, tucking it behind his ear as he crouched to get a better look as well. Had he been caught staring at toads by someone older, he might've mentioned what he'd been considering, but as it was, he didn't want to give her any ideas.

"Seems like it's got nerve enough to be, though. It can't be too worried that it's gonna get eaten if it's just hangin' about like that."

[leftwithmybones]

McCoy only stops in his walk because it's either that or he has the feeling he'll inevitably be getting the kid up to the clinic at some point. "I wouldn't," is all he says, attempting to guess based on the history of people in general that a look at a toad for more than three seconds never ends well.

[noonelaughed]

"Wouldn't what?" Chris asked, only realizing the man was standing there after he'd spoken. Blowing smoke out through his lips, he crouched down to get a closer look at the toad.

"D'you think it'll bite?"

[leftwithmybones]

"I think if you get too close and it gets any of its saliva on you." Or you try and lick the damn thing, he doesn't say, "you'll have one hell of a trip that I don't know that I can counteract," he warns. "As far as my experience goes, toads are bad news."

[noonelaughed]

"Why would you want to do that?" Chris asked, thoroughly convinced now that his cover had been blown. Though if telling Chris that he'd have a 'hell of a trip' was supposed to dissuade him, this bloke was mistaken.

"That'd be the fuckin' point of it, mate."

[lucked]

Claire, for her part, had been hanging out in that very tree on one of the few low-hanging branches, one which hung just slightly out of most people's line of vision. She was curled up there with a book in her hands, something urban fantasy that she couldn't quite keep her attention on, as her life before the island (or even, to an extent, on it) had felt very much like an urban fantasy that she just couldn't write herself out of. But as far as distractions went, the book wasn't too bad, effort required to push through the pages and all. It just wasn't good enough to keep her gaze from lowering when she heard rustling down below. Hooking a hand around the tree trunk, Claire tilted forward to catch the sight of that new boy, down below, crouching near a toad. At least, that's what she assumed it was, when a croak sounded from below.

"If you wanted Prince Charming," she called from above, legs dangling lazily, "I think you're supposed to kiss him."

[noonelaughed]

"I looks like it might bite me," Chris said, looking up at the girl in the tree, who he recognized from the 'party' a few days back. As far as people on the island went, she was alright, but this meant he'd definitely have to find some place further in to have the party. There was no use doing it if random people could just stumble on it while reading in trees.

"And I dunno about you, but I'm not about to kiss something that might take my face off."

[lucked]

Leaning forward a bit more, Claire swung her feet back and forth a little as her hand clutched tightly at her branch. It was impossible to get a good look at the toad from up above, but the thought of any toad biting a person's face off was a sight that, inexplicably, made her laugh. Perhaps the part that was met with the greatest amount of incredulity was the fact that Chris sounded very serious indeed in his belief that the small creature would do some sort of bodily harm to him.

"Maybe it's trying to win you over by intimidation," Claire called out with a grin, looking at the ground below as she considered sliding down the tree to talk more; then again, she wasn't sure whether or not the company was welcome. "What brings you out here, anyway? You don't look like the type who'd go hunting for frogs and toads, although I'm told they taste like chicken."

[noonelaughed]

"See, I could tell you, but then I might have to kill you," Chris answered, taking his eyes off the toad only for a moment or so, while he looked up at Claire in the tree. He didn't want it to hop away or something while he tried to figure out if he wanted to catch it in the first place.

Maybe if he took of his shirt, he could catch it in that. At least then he wouldn't have to worry about maybe getting bitten.

[dreaming_cowboy]

"Frogs are trouble, kid," Spike says.

Aren't people meant to stick to the paths? He goes for a walk off them and it still seems awfully crowded. By animals and kids both.

Frogs are trouble. Admittedly, the last one he ran into wasn't a real frog, and he was on mushrooms at the time, but he figures it counts.

[noonelaughed]

Plucking the spliff from his mouth with two fingers, Chris looked up at the bloke who'd pretty much snuck up on him. Or maybe he hadn't been paying attention to much else besides the possibilities that this tropical frog had opened up.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked, "Like your hair, by the way. Green. Right mental."

[dreaming_cowboy]

Spike's eyes flick upwards. He considers this assessment.

It was green. Right mental? "Sounds about right," he says, half to himself. Right mental does sound about right. What was the other thing? Frogs, right.

"I mean they're trouble." What was complicated about that?

[noonelaughed]

"So you've given them a go, then? You've tried it?" Chris asked, assuming that this bloke was refering to what he'd been considering ever since he'd come across the frog in the brush.

[quite_a_delight]

Marshall knew how to mind his own business. He'd mastered that skill at an impressively young age. The lack of any need to pry into everyone's business could actually get kind of lonely, but Marshall took pride in not being a complete tool.

Still, when he caught sight of the guy on one of those rare occasions when he'd wandered off the path, he allowed himself to wander closer, peeking around his shoulder and arching a brow.

"Okay, if that thing talks, this place is officially too weird to exist."

[noonelaughed]

Chris heard someone approach from behind, but had been so occupied with the toad that he didn't turn until the bloke was right next to him.

"I dunno," Chris said, the lazily took a puff of spliff, letting it settle in his lungs and exhaling before he continued, "Maybe it'd have something interesting to say."

[quite_a_delight]

"Right. And that would somehow make things less weird," Marshall said, having a hard time working out how that was even possible.

"It's not yours, is it?" Insulting a stranger's toad probably wasn't the greatest first impression ever.

[noonelaughed]

"I only just found it," Chris replied, which wasn't much of an answer, considering he was thinking of catching the toad anyway. He'd only keep it long enough to figure out whether or not the rumors were bollocks, then he'd let it go. Probably.