sixthiterationlogs | [MINGLE] Scout's Honor

For Jessica Jones

The merry little bonfire's been underway for about an hour or so when Barnes spots her, a familiar face crawling out of the woodwork for only the second time that he's noticed. He spends a lot of time chopping wood, though, so it's not really all that surprising. Either way, she looks about as dry about this whole thing as he does, and when he makes his way over to her it's with a bottle of Captain Morgan in hand.

The criteria given from on high ranged from making friends to taking bubble baths (that's an exaggeration), but there is one thing on the list he thinks he can make work without sacrificing his reputation for general surliness.

"Dare you to take a drink," He murmurs wryly, faintly amused, like it's even remotely a challenge. Disregarding the whole you usually have to pick truth or dare first aspect, technically it counts for both of them, right? Happy merit badge, JJ.

For Kira

This whole god damn thing might be a little easier if they summoned everyone down to participate while the sun was still up. How the hell they're expected to weave fucking artwork together by only the light of a campfire is beyond him, but he's doing his very best.

Bucky's arm may be a modern marvel of robotics and prosthetics technology, but it was not in fact designed to work with insanely tiny pieces of colored string. Never has anyone scowled so much in the process of making a friendship bracelet as James Barnes does now, and when he drops is fifth bead he thumps a frustrated fist onto the table.

"God damn it..."

Speak to Someone New
2 threads - from someone that has less than three threads with Bucky or that I haven't had a thread with recently

Let it not be said he isn't doing his very best to help fulfill the criteria and get them... whatever it is they're being promised after enough participation. He's two list items down so far, and he's picking off the ones it feels like he can do easily. Toasting marshmallows takes virtually no skill, and hey - he can do it a little better than everyone else because you can't singe arm hair off a metal arm, can you?

When he approaches, it's with a golden-brown marshmallow still on a stick with one hand, a bottle of liquor in the other, and a rather flat look on his face.

"Eat this and I'll share the booze."

He'd arrived to find sashes on people's chests, badges on some of them.

Idling around, he smokes as he makes a few turns around the campfire and reads the badges, trying to figure out what people are doing. He knows that he's going to want to have some marshmallows later, sticking to his fingers so he can suck them off, but that's not yet. Grabbing one of them for himself, he smirks as he drapes it over his shoulder haphazardly, deciding that he doesn't plan on making any bracelets or telling stories, but there's one that he definitely intends to do.

"Here, hold this," he says, holding his cigarette out to the nearest person he sees, already stripping with his hat and boots, pushing at the first button of his shirt as he barrels straight for the badge where he gets to take his clothes off and get in the water.

It doesn't say that he has to skinnydip, but, well, Vasquez is good at making things up the way he likes to suit him. When he's managed to get his shirt and pants off, leaving him in just his boxers, he gestures back for the cigarette, wanting another inhalation before he takes off the last of his clothes, leaving him in nothing at all.

Eyeing his new friend, he grins lasciviously at him. "You want to join?"

Building the Bonfire

One thing you get used to pretty damn quick when you work a forge every day? Building up a roaring blaze to get maximum heat with as little wood as you need. Efficiency is key. For something like a bonfire? It's a little bit less about heat and more avoiding an overabundance of smoke; which all came down to airflow. Which is something he'd perfected setting up every morning in the predawn. Easy peasy. Since the wood's already all chopped and ready to go Tony circles the fire pit and starts arranging logs, nudging them into optimal position considering how the wind seems to be blowing and where people might be setting up camp around the bonfire to be because that's a...thing. Fire. Community. Right? Right. Whatever. It's a good excuse to work on the poker and tongs he'd hammered out and drawn for Peggy once everything's burning.

"Hand me that next log?" Crouched down, Tony has one braced against his knee so he can slide the next into place before calling it good.

Truth or Dare

"Well this takes me back." Tony's in relatively good cheer, legs slung out in front of him, firelight keeping things cozy and comfortable. It's all very...domestic? Normal. Mundane as hell and maybe it's something after all that mess in the Bunker they kind of need. It's definitely something Tony's relaxing into. After the fight, after waking up here, rehashing everything with Bruce? Something uncomplicated is pretty well overdue. "Not the bonfire or anything, I never went camping, but truth or dare. The shit we'd get into."

His smile's something fond and small, a little nostalgic, a lot amused, laughter warm in his voice. "Alright, Dare. Hit me. What've you got?"

Take a Dip

Thanks to whatever mojo that vending machine gave him, Tony doesn't get ore so much at the moment- but heat's good for the skin and the joints and he spends most of his day on his feet, bent over an anvil or a makeshift drafting desk. It starts innocently enough, honest, boots and socks shucked, feet stuck in the water, stick of marshmallows in his hand. If it stays like that- well. Depends on if anyone hands him a good enough excuse to slide in the rest of the way.

The past few weeks have been... Well, they have been a series of events, haven't they? Kate didn't understand all the brooding that had happened earlier, something about clones, whatever they may be, but the other things had troubled her more. The lists. The damn lists.

The lists with her brother's name. Possibly even brothers' names. She can still feel the frantic despair of where is Ned, where is he, I must get to him, is that Dan's name? Where are they? but she is trying not to let it overwhelm her. Particularly not as her husband has been so shaken at seeing the name of his cousin, the woman to whom he'd been a devoted guard for most of his life. It's more to do with Benedict than any sense of wanting something cheerful that has Kate arriving at the site. He needs to have something distract him, so here she's dragged him. Prodded him. However it is to be described.

Once there, Kate looks around, unsure which part of the set-up confuses her more.

"What are the sashes for?" she asks no one in particular.

>Friendship Bracelet

A career made with talented fingers putting together his own computers has led to fairly decent skills with his hands. That said, it's not his career that makes Jake fairly good at weaving the strings into bracelets.

It's too many hours doing this with his niece, covering her arms and ankles, and dolls and stuffies, with woven bracelets.

So he can be found for a while, mixing colors in garish combinations that include everything but yellow, and laying them out on his leg. Later he might walk up to some people, basically laying the bracelets he's made out near them and leaving them there. Have to do something with them, right?

And if the jeans he's borrowed from somewhere are a bit short on him, and the tee shirt he wears is not quite made for a man of his height or musculature, so be it. He's gotten too much shit for the yellow scrubs to go with comfort over not being teased. At least about that.

>Hot Spring

There is no true skinny dipping in Jake's future. It's just not something he will do. He has stripped off his jeans and gets into the water with his briefs on and a tee shirt. The truth is, once he sinks into the water, he may never get out. After the shit he was in before coming to this place and then all of this - which what the hell with kidnappers making them into Scouts - he hasn't realized how tense he is until then.

>UN: JUMPINJAKEFLASH

So was anyone ever actually a scout? I lasted one month.

Edited 2018-09-21 03:37 (UTC)

Between the brown sash and the plain bra and shorts she's wearing in lieu of anything resembling actual clothing, Wynonna looks like she's in the swimsuit round in a beauty pageant organized by the Trailer Park Boys. Any judging stares or gazes that linger a little too long get greeted with a "what? it's hot out," with an accompanying middle finger if she feels it's deserved. Which it is in more cases than not, as far as she's concerned.

Take a Dip

Out of the list of suggested activities, this sounded like the easiest, so it was the first one she's sought out, easing herself into the warm spring water with the sash hanging off a nearby branch.

"These Observers are really big on the fanservice, aren't they?"

Speak To Someone New

Given how little time Wynonna's been here, this is the next-easiest thing to do. Given others are likely trying to check the same item off their list, it doesn't take terribly long to make eye contact with an approach an unfamiliar face.

"Hey. I'm Wynonna, and we may as well exchange pleasantries like good little dancing monkeys until we've satisfied whatever demon, alien or god that's putting us up to this because I sure as hell am not making a friendship bracelet."

Make a Friendship Bracelet

"Motherfucker."

It's really more of a gordion knot than a bracelet. Maybe someone can use it for a cat toy?

Truth Or Dare/Marshmallow

"Alright, I'm as toasted as this inexplicable dessert, so I'll even start and pick dare. Try me."

It's certainly a hell of a lot of an easier option than truth.

I've never been much of an outdoors person. I am nothing if not good at adapting, including to the woodsy reality that has been foisted upon me in this place, but do not be fooled. My Girl Scouting career lasted exactly two weeks and two meetings, the second of which involved bugs. On purpose. Now, as an adult who is used to being up to her elbows in dead people, examining grasshoppers and fireflies and carpenter ants would be no biggie, but seven-year-old me was out of there with a quickness. No, ma'am.

I do not know the words to "Kumbaya." (I am assuming it has more than three words.)

I have never told or listened to a ghost story around a campfire.

I have only ever toasted marshmallows over fire pits in well-groomed backyards.

But you know what? I'm a girl, and where I come from, that means I know how to make a bangin' friendship bracelet. Not the lazy knotted ones — The really fat ones that spell out names or 'BFF' and have hearts on them. Needless to say, I got my friendship bracelet game on LOCK.

Maybe also needless to say, I am intensely focused on the task — More than is probably called for when we're talking about embroidery thread spelling out 'UR RAD' in neon green letters, but we've all got our coping mechanisms, okay? Mine just currently involves sitting in front of a fire, hunched over a tiny weaving project I am holding in place with my knees.

Edited 2018-09-21 07:40 (UTC)

Building a Bonfire

There were a lot of things Bruce knew, but most of them involved microscopes and mechanics. A bonfire? That one he knew very well. He spent years on the run learning how to survive and take whatever he could get to keep moving. He went searching for plenty of branches and pieces of wood to keep the fire going, just in case it would go out, not knowing it likely wouldn't no matter what. Still, he stacked them next to the pit in a very orderly fashion, and got the fire going. It made him flash back to other times, seeing the flames, feeling that warmth on his skin and the crisp smell in the air. He wasn't really ready to start mingling, so instead he stared at it, lost in thought.

Speak to Someone New

This was the hard part. Bruce hesitantly agreed to go with Tony, but the moment he stepped near to the bonfire area and saw strangers, he felt that familiar social anxiety creep up his spine. He was never going to be someone who was good with others, who felt comfortable in the presence of someone new. He said he would try his best. When he was forced into cocktail parties or social situations at the tower, he tried his best then too. Most of the time he hovered on the sidelines, much happier to watch others talk and be a fly on the wall. He planned on doing the exact same here.

But if they were all stuck here? If this was the only way to make connections enough for them to get out of here? Bruce really had to try. Nervous, it took him a little time to build up the urge, but he rubbed his hands together and found someone sitting near the fire. It was a good excuse, to sit nearby, because that's what people did with bonfires. What would an opening line be? He should have asked Tony.

"Do you know if this is a normal thing? Those messages, this set up?" There. Something he wanted to know. And could ask.

Meet Someone New (or old!)
Vergil had not been keen on the idea of going when he got the message. Luckily, Kat had managed to prod him into getting changed and coming out with her. He had washed his hair and used the pomade to style it like it even mattered. His hands in his black pea coat over his teal button up that he got at the party. He looked pretty nice for the village. He had arrived with Kat before waving her off to go make friends and do whatever was needed. He had spent awhile lingering by himself.

He hasn't been quiet the same since he came out with the Alarm team, and it was becoming more and more worrying by the day after their discovery. Someday's even Danny can't tug him out of bed. But, he was here and that was an important step.

Truth or Dare

How he had ended up here he wasn't sure, but he was sitting with one arm propped on his knee watching and listening. Finding it all very juvenile, very much something that would have happened when he was in college, but these days were different. He was a bit spaced when it came to be his turn.

"Huh? What? Oh, um, Dare." He muttered since, only a handful of people knew him well enough to get a truth from him.

Toast a Marshmellow
The platinum blonde was sitting close to the fire, a stick with a marshmallow on the end held out as he watched the fire lick the sweet treat. He had never done this before, he was far to sheltered to have ever gotten to camp out, unless Sparda had taken him back in his youngest years. It felt like something Sparda would do. Once he pulled it out he looked it over and plucked it off the stick a bit warm yet, but he didn't seem to bothered as he took a bite. His eyes widening. That was good. Another one put on the stick and held out. Once he swallowed the first down he asked the person nearest.

"Care for one?"

Wild card!

Edited 2018-09-21 15:45 (UTC)

Asch was still setting up his own new home and trying to be helpful in the village without inviting people to seek him out to much. And, while the idea to ignore the odd device on his wrist was strong, he decided to go on and see what was going on. When he arrived he helped with setting up the bonfire. He had to camp enough back home to be helpful in that. His hair didn't even get caught when the fire got started.

Truth or Dare
This game was stupid, very stupid. He didn't even know why he was sitting listening to people playing it. He had been lucky enough to not be bothered with it yet, yet he was listening and watching to learn the others more than anything. He was sitting quietly with his arms crossed over his chest. His green eyes shifting from one person to the next as they spoke and such.

Display name & Text
His display name was changed from Asch the Bloody to ThisIsStupid He's such a sweet boy.

What is the point in this? This gift better be worth it.

bonfire high times

Frank will be gathering wood and depositing it by the fire silently, determined to aid in its burning for the rest of the night. If anyone wants a quick lesson in how to keep it going, he has a knife and a piece of flint ready to go. As usual, he is accompanied by a veritable pack, though tonight the Corgis are less following Frank and more trying to steal marshmallows off of people's sticks. Aloe the pitbull is starting to get used to being around people more, Aretha the bloodhound is as always hyper-vigilant, and the as-yet-unnamed Samoyed is a quiet but dutiful tagalong.

When he sits down in front of the fire, Aloe and Aretha each pick one of his thighs to lay on while Frank studies the provided sashes with a wrinkled and hopelessly crooked nose. There's bruising visible beneath his scraggly beard along his throat and on his face and he keeps sweeping his hair out of his eyes like it's finally long enough to bug him. He won't speak up unless addressed, content to watch the flames and get lost in his own head for a while.

As the night gets on, he pulls a joint out of his pocket and lights it in the flames, thinking he might need it to get talking again. He sets the sash down by his side and starts mentally scrolling through stories he could tell.

"Scary or not scary?" he asks the person sitting next to him with a hoarse voice, without providing context for what he's even talking about. CAMPFIRE STORIES, DUH.

network shenanigans

When someone he knows comes close enough he'll toss them a message to their comms rather than call out through the crowd. It's familiar and easy for him, communicating this way, and lately his voice has felt endlessly tired for how much tinfoil-hatting he's been doing since the lists went live. He would very much like an easy night even if he knows better than to take gatherings like this at face value. He still does every time. Tony Stark gave him a new display name and he's starting to rather like it.

@anarchist hotdog: do you know any camp songs?

It's times like these he really wishes he had his guitar.

best friends & marshmallow treats

Unsurprisingly, Frank is getting into the spirit of the night, braiding bracelets out of twine and groffle hair and the given thread. He'll quietly pass them out for people to give to whomever they want, and they might notice his own well-worn bracelet he's never seen without: one made of brown leather and handwoven in a Celtic pattern.

Around the same time he'll be toasting marshmallows and passing out sticks. He doesn't actually like them but he's happy to toast them for anyone having trouble to a perfect golden brown. He's now wearing his sash, more than half full of merit badges by now. He also drags out the jug of wine he made from grapes and apples and offers to share with anyone around.

Edited 2018-09-21 16:53 (UTC)

After the last party, Kat was curious enough to not only show up at the campfire but try to earn herself some of the mysterious badges. She'd never been affiliated with the boy scouts in anyway but she knew where the context came from. They were proving their skills and competence and would be rewarded if they did well.

Their captors went back and forth between being kind and cruel. Kat felt a strange sort of whiplash from it but she tried not to let it get her down. This was her reality now and she was going to face it with the same determination as she faced everything.

Dressed in her green dress from the party, a pair of black stockings and dark green boots, Kat made her way towards the campfire and whatever surprises it held.

SOMEONE NEW/TRUTH OR DARE

When Kat arrived the bonfire was already build and roaring. It meant that one of those badges was done and likely unachievable without assistance from someone else. It was just as well because the next item of the list was 'meet someone new'. That wouldn't be too difficult since Kat spent most of her time at home or around her home.

She took a seat in front of the fire and smiled at the person sitting next to her. Her green eyes shined like emeralds in the flickering flame while a kind open expression touched her features.

"Hi. I'm Kat. I was thinking about the badges. Do you want to play Truth or Dare to get to know each other? It might be fun." It would be easier to play the game with someone she didn't know very well... or... that's what Kat thought. She'd never actually played Truth or Dare before but she was willing to give it a try.

HOT SPRINGS/BACK AT FIRE

She wasn't about to go stripping and getting into the hot springs but she'd heard about them from Vergil and has yet to experience their healing warmth. Following the cut path she arrived at the secluded springs, noticing others who were likely also trying to complete their badges.

She slipped off her shoes since they'd take far to long to dry and slowly waded into the warm water. She might have tried to take off more but she was wearing a dress and with this many people she didn't feel comfortable in her underwear.

After letting the water chase the chill from her bones, Kat rose and quickly dashed back to the fire with her shoes in her arms. She sat in front of the flame and warm up and dry off.

It's turning into an interesting night and by the time she finds the marshmallows, Kat is smiling.

WILD CARD

[ooc: Kat will be trying to complete the whole list so please feel free to see her trying and failing to roast marshmallows or if anyone wants to hear a story about angels and demons. She'll also be making friendship bracelets for her close friends and everything else. If you aren't sure then pm me or hit me up on plurk.

mizuyoko.]

un; MindMagic

Why are we doing this?

[While Wanda is enjoying the campfire, she isn't sure what the point to all of it is. Maybe curiosity. Either way, she changes her user name from ScarletWitch and sends out a message while sitting by the fire.]

WILD CARD

[ooc: Wanda will be around, mostly enjoying the campfire and the stars. If you want to run into her let me know. I'll be tagging out with her.]

Edited 2018-09-21 17:03 (UTC)

While Rose won’t go so far as to say she’s here under sufferance, she doesn’t exactly look like she’s thrilled to be be participating at an Observer sponsored bonfire. She’s not really one to sit around singing Kumbaya while making friendship bracelets, and it’s not so easy for her to shed the post-list worries as it might be for others who are here tonight.

She’s here because of Elena. For the fact that her spending so much time stalking the fountain or bunker at night means she hasn’t exactly been present of late, and for the harsh reality that after her friends recent untimely death, Rose doesn’t feel easy letting her wander off to anything the Observers are behind, without being there to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

She might be here in body, but it wouldn’t take much to gather that Rose’s mind is preoccupied with other things, her gaze often shooting in the direction of the fountain as she twirls the long, silver stake in her hands with a practiced ease. She can force a smile for those who catch her gaze as she casually sweeps the surrounding area but some might notice that she disappears from time to time: Headed towards the fountain to reassure herself that there hasn’t been any new - or unwelcome - arrivals.

ooc So she's not exactly the life of the party, I know. Feel free to try and nudge her into any of the activities, or just... follow her to the fountain. Whatevers clever.

SITTING AROUND THE FIRE

There isn't a whole hell of a lot about this experience that makes sense to Sirius, truth be told. Oh, he's been camping — They used to spend half their summer in a tent some years — but wizarding camping is a distinct experience from Muggle camping. The roughing it isn't the trouble — Five years sleeping on the cold stone of Azkaban saw to that. But what the bloody hell is a friendship bracelet? Why are they earning badges? Most importantly, why are they being mocked with yet another magical item when Sirius still can't even lumos his way to the toilet in the middle of the night?

The gathering's jolly, though, and he's happy enough to be in the middle of it — The warmth of the fire contrasting with the crispness of the air, the easy murmur of voices around the circle as people share stories and marshmallows and the mysterious bracelets. It reminds him of school a bit, and the feasts they'd have at the holidays. The setting and circumstances are completely different, of course, but the atmosphere is warm and congenial enough to put him in a pleasantly subdued, nostalgic mood.

TEXTING

un: Big Dick Energy @everyone

ive no idea how to change this does anyone know

un: Big Dick @everyone

got it
does this count as speaking to someone new as well

build a bonfire - truth or dare - learn a superhero origin - toast a marshmallow - friendship bracelets!!!!;

Kamala charges right into building that campfire. True it's a little different from how she learned with Frank. The name of the game in Reims is quiet, after all. Everything they did was to minimize noise. She quickly catches onto how it works when you're allowed to make sound. She'll be helping anyone needs it.

Once the fire is going, Kamala will be doing every activity listed. She suggests truth or dare, offers to share stories from her world (particularly the origin of Captain Marvel as she knows it!), make marshmallows, and friendship bracelets. That last one is particularly hard for her but, she shows zero signs of giving up. She wants to make at least four!

take a dip in the hotspring;

Kamala waits until she sees ladies around before heads in wearing her green scrubs. She doesn't own a burkini here so she's making due with what she has. She lets out a soft sigh once she settles into the hot water. This is actually really nice. Why didn't she get on this sooner?

network;

un: horrorscout @ everyone:

Okay so clearly this is a huge distraction by the bad guys. That said: I haven't played video games in months so I'm gonna win all these badges and have the time of my life since this is as close as I can get to playing one!!! Come see me if you want marshmallows, stories about superheroes, or to play truth or dare. Obviously I'm building a fire too!! Oh and friendship bracelets. I love them and I'm seriously gonna win all these badges. Fight me. >) Hehehehe.

(Shoutout to @anarchisthotdog for teaching me useful life skills!!! I am going to display them proudly.)

Steph has fallen into a routine. It's a more physically active one, but it still isn't as social as she used to be. She keeps quiet for the most part as she sits by the fire, near enough to roast marshmallows but far enough to cool off by turning her back to the flames. Cooling off is difficult, however, because an adolescent female peacock cat is lying wedged at her back, to all appearances fast asleep. God forbid she disturb the creature. The warm weather doesn't bother her much, even in black scrub pants. It's more or less the same as it would be in Gotham, and the pink glitter shirt she swiped from the storeroom bares as much skin as it needs to.

She listens to the conversations around her without really hearing them. Every now and again it occurs to her to glance around the fire and see if any of her small group of friends have appeared. She doesn't want to ignore anybody just because she was too distracted to notice them arrive. At the moment there are four marshmallows on her stick, and enough chocolate and graham crackers nearby to make four s'mores. She'll eat them all if she has to, but it would be a lot more fun to share.

build a fire/toast a marshmallow/speak to someone new |

He's not into playing games. Clark may not speak up much, but he watches. He knows they're being toyed with. This just appears to be a kinder game than a list of supposedly dead people. He also knows people need levity. If building a fire and giving them marshmallows will bring them some happiness, Clark wants to do it. They've been kind to him. He owes them this much.

take a dip in the hot spring |

It is late into the night when Clark strips down to his boxers and gets into the water. He can actually get sore and hurt here so the water is a huge comfort. He lets it wash over him and tries to relax. Not easier considering even he is a bit shaken by what's supposedly going down in that bunker. He sure is trying.

Annie had... Well, she'd needed to get out of the house. Talk to some other people, which is a strange feeling for her but it speaks to how much she's been cooped up lately. How much she's cooped herself up. There'd been some entertaining, cathartic, and very thorough plottings on how to kill President Snow should (or, potentially, when) he appear in the village, but even as analytical Career as Annie is can't spend her entire time contemplating death and mayhem. And while she, as ever, understands Finnick's moods and how much of a shock it'd been to seen Snow's name on the iteration lists, she-

She needs to get and talk to other. So here she is, sans husband for the time being. She'd helped with the bonfire, so now she's sitting by her handiwork making bracelets.

Annie's from District Four. They craft jewellery to shove affection, a lot of them. Bracelets, necklaces, braided and strung with shells. She's not sure how close she is to anyone here who isn't Finnick, but if the Gamemakers here want her to make pretty pieces of cord, she can do that.

It isn't long before she has more than she could ever need, so maybe someone would like to take a few off her hands.

building the bonfire

It isn't the promised gift that has Vanille interested in being here. She's more curious about the badges and the campfire circle itself. Oerba had fires and her Cocoon family used them when they traveled, but the idea of a campfire is new. At any rate, she makes it there early enough to help out with building the campfire and she's a very dedicated worker. Eventually, though, she has to let out her natural curiosity.

"So, what's the difference between a campfire and just a normal fire you set up when you're traveling? Are they bigger or something?"

un: just a kid

This is a new one. Vanille notices a couple of people playing some new game and for a while, she just listens on the outskirts. Not really eavesdropping, but more trying to understand. It doesn't really work. At some point, she turns to the network, wondering if any of them might be willing to answer that question here rather than if she just walked up and asked.

whats truth or dare
and what are the marshmallows for

wildcard her!

Vanille isn't much of a stranger here. She's very open and willing to talk to anyone. When she realizes what her badges are and how they're starting to fill out, she quickly starts tracking people down, finding anyone who looks like they might need a nudge in some direction. She also wants to see who's figured out some of the badges that she doesn't have yet.

"What badges have you gotten already?" she chirps, barely waiting for an answer before she peers over to see.

Anyone who wants to find her to try to get some of their badges filled out is more than welcome. Vanille is happy to help and make new friends in the process.

Campfire Storytime

This isn't exactly like the previous life he's used to (campfires weren't a common occurrence on board a ship, after all), but some aspects of it are close enough. When they were on land, they sometimes would end up around a fire; the time spent on Neverland was mainly one extended camping trip. But it's the camaraderie, the spirit of the group gathered around the campfire, that has him in a mood to tell a story.

He's foregoing the marshmallows (not being familiar with them anyway) and while he's not expecting anything to come of the sash, he's got one on anyway. He's in a festive mood, and he likes decoration. He'll go with it.

"That reminds me of a situation I will never forget," he says as he shifts in his seat and picks up the thread of what someone's just said. "There we were, on a stretch of sea we'd never been on before, no land in sight, when we heard the eeriest singing coming across the water. We knew it was nothing good, of course, because it could only have been a mermaid trying to wreck the ship on some rocks. But that's the thing about mermaids. Even when you know that's where the singing is coming from, you're powerless to resist.

"So there we were, on a course to assured destruction on some jagged rocks, when the lookout calls a warning. On the other side of the ship is a kracken, or at least the tentacles of one, reaching out for the ship. The largest any of us have ever seen, too, and also certain destruction. If I hadn't known better I'd have said that the kracken and the mermaid had worked together to lure us into that situation, but neither of them wants to share their prey.

"Destruction on one side, destruction on the other, and us unable to turn away from either while the mermaid sang her song. In the distance, a storm brewing, strong enough to bring us down on its own. Out of options, death certain...there was only one thing to do."

Assured of an audience now, he pauses in the telling. That's the best way to keep them hooked. Leave them waiting. And wondering.

He won't make them wait too long. Just long enough.

Telling Tales around the campfire.

[He can't get close to the fire but he's close enough to be heard. After pulling up a stump he clasps his hands together. He's got a great voice for storytelling.

He starts to tell a story - a tragic story. A knight falls in love with the daughter of the castle's king. The knight can't give the daughter anything but his love. As they fall deeper and deeper in love however, the King discovers their plot.

Enraged that his daughter has fallen in love with a commoner, he plots to sell the knight's soul to a kingdom of darkness. The King allows the girl to fall deeper in love with the knight. They plan to run away together.

On the night they're slated to leave, the black kingdom arrives to take the knight away. While the princess begged the black kingdom to spare him, they took him and made him their dark servant.

Desperate to save him, she fled her cruel father and ran into the fields where she fell weeping among the crops offering up her heart to anyone who could free her beloved from his terrible curse and punish her father. Nature heard her and transformed her into their own champion.

His voice picks up after that, describing the battle.]

Her father, contented by his decisions, began to scour the countryside in an attempt to find her. His knights rode into a forest growing thicker and thicker by the second. Packed in tightly, their horses began to whinny. Their hooves bit the earth as the forest grew thicker, and thicker still.

The knights tried in vain to cut through the brambles that grew thicker and thicker. The horses tried to flee as vines began to tangle over hooves and legs. The Knights began to scream as their mounts flailed and writhed. Fighting it, the soldiers began to drown in the good earth, pulled down by the very forces of nature itself-

From a distant hill the girl's father watched. The princess appeared behind him. Now one with the forces of nature, she could command the branches and roots of the world with a look and raise an army from the crops her father had planted. He turned away from the screams of his dying men to face her. He begged her for his life but she was deaf to his pleas. She speared him through the throat and drank his blood with her roots.

Little did she know that her beloved, now the avatar of the black kingdom, was in the field below. In her desperation, she had made herself the sworn enemy of her beloved who had become death, destroyer of worlds and she, as the avatar of life itself, was now destined to be locked in combat with him...forever.

[he pauses]

...I apologize. That story might be too sad.

Soaking in the Hot Springs

[He's not entirely sure about how this is going to work. Turning these into a swamp is a bad idea. He doesn't want to ruin this for everyone. Easy. He eases into the swamp. Easy. Easy.

One big green foot oozes into the water and-

Hnnngh.

He's practically glowing green. He doesn't taste normally but he's far more relaxed then he's been forever.]

That's good.

[He can't help a bit of a pleased rumble at this as he dips his other foot into the water.]

That really hits the spot.

Talk to Someone New.

[If you happen to want to ask the mossy green boulder any questions, he's got a relaxed expression on his face.]

It's been kind of a weird night, all around: lots of memories already in his brain, lots of memories coming up through conversations with people. Bonfires aren't at all unknown to him, having used them both in his personal life and professional life, but most of the time the professional side didn't need big fires breaking out everywhere - and if it did, the fires were usually a lot bigger than this. The most recent fires had all been at home, in the pit he'd dug behind the house and kept the weeds clear from, on nights when he and Laura had wanted to do something a little special with the kids without the need to leave the property. It'd been years since he'd seen one of those nights... but he couldn't forget it.

So near to the end of the night, Clint's sitting on one of the rocks someone's dragged over close to the flames to make a seat, a stick in one hand and three marshmallows on said stick. He's turning it slowly as he sits, half in a trance, looking like he's concentrating on getting them just the right golden brown but halfway lost in thought.

{Building the Bonfire}

For all that Picard can't, entirely, say the he trusts what the Observers have in mind, the idea of a campfire is at least less harmful than some of the other recent things that have been going on. And while his experience tends to run more to the smaller sorts of campfires than anything on this sort of scale, that doesn't mean that he doesn't still know the basic idea. Managing it in practice might be another story, but if nothing else he doesn't mind fetching fuel for the fire.

In fact, for a while, that's what he can most easily be found doing, as he fetches logs to help keep the fire going, and makes sure that they're far enough away from the main blaze that they aren't going to risk being set alight accidentally.

Still, if people should want a hand with getting the fire stoked as well, he's more than willing to lend his assistance there as well.

{Marshmallow toasting}

Marshmallows, on the other hand, are absolutely something he's familiar with. It's been some time since he's actually had the real thing as opposed to replicated versions, but that doesn't mean he's any less familiar with the idea of the thing, and he settles himself in next to the fire with an almost palpable joy. Toasting marshmallows might certainly be a simple pleasure, but it's one that's all too rare on board a starship, and he absolutely means to make the most of it.

And if anyone should pass by, he offers a seat and a marshmallow, in approximately that order, and with a smile besides.

{Story-telling}

The one good thing about getting into a series of misadventures is that it makes for more than a few interesting stories to tell. Some of them, of course, are things that he isn't going to talk about in a million years - his encounters with Borg among them - but that doesn't mean that there aren't more than a few that make for good enough stories. And that manage to not involve too much of the finer details of how Starfleet works that he's willing to share the story.

(Unsurprisingly, most of them involve Q.)

"Before I start properly, I should explain Q. He's... a trickster, it would probably be best to call him; and one who at least claims to omnipotence besides. not to mention an apparent interest in my ship besides."

By the tone of his voice, his visits aren't exactly the sort one might look forward.

"Anyway, there we were, in the middle of preparing to help a planet whose moon was slipping out of orbit and threatening to fall on the planet below. Only for Q himself to suddenly fall out of thin air, without so much a stitch of clothing on. And that was only the beginning of our troubles."

Bucky Barnes | See Note

Vasquez | OTA | Skinnydip

Tony Stark | OTA