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 Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:28 pm
They reached the campground at the top of the ridge right as sunset reached its apex. The trail opened up to a clearing that overlooked the whole river valley and a summer sky streaked red and gold and deep purple.
"Looks like the weather's going to hold out tonight," Finn called to Griffin as they surveyed the campsite. This deep into the park it was pretty slim pickings - just a metal-lined fire pit and a clear space to pitch a tent. Or lay down a tarp and a sleeping bag, as Finn and Griffin were aiming to do. "I don't think we need to pitch the cover tarp."
He smoothed out the ground guard and unfurled his sleeping bag from his pack. "We should get a fire going before it gets dark," he added, "And get started on dinner and boiling water for tomorrow. The purple Nalgenes are both water from the stream on the way up."
The boy stood back up, ready to get to work, but stopped for a moment. He stared admiringly into the distance. "Wow, Griff. Would you lookit' that view?!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 10:24 pm
By the time they reached the campsite in the evening, Griffin hardly felt tired. It was this new-fangled ultralight backpacking that Finn introduced her to, and while she felt mildly unprepared, she trusted Finn was and had ever so happily agreed to come along. And with very little fuss about what to bring, too! She always liked to be over-prepared so this was quite the change of pace.
She was grateful the weather looked good. Too hot would mean she'd be rolling around on the ground all night without a sleeping bag and too cold would mean trying to mooch heat from Finn. "I'll get started on the fire." She was already picking up sticks as he was setting up the sleeping quarters, and only regretted that there could be no 'tent pitching' jokes. What a shame.
She straightened for a minute to soak in the view. She whistled long and low, "You're right. It's gorgeous." She scrabbled over to her bag quickly and got her camera. It was the one thing she would insist on bringing everywhere. She snapped a quick picture and went back to admiring.
"If it didn't make me a hobo, I'd camp forever." She looked at her buddy and nodded. Aside from hobo-ship, it would be the life. However, she and Finn both had to go back to school in the fall. Get educations. Get real jobs. Not camp forever. What a drag.
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 5:18 am
"I'm going to be a park ranger," Finn replied, more certain now than ever. He forced himself to turn away from the view and began skirting the perimeter of the campsite for firewood as well. "That is sort of camping forever and getting paid for it." But in the meantime he had to take a class about invasive species control which had, strangely, included lessons on how to wrestle a Burmese python.
He dropped his sticks next to the fire pit and pulled his pack over. "We've got kind of slim pickings for dinner..." This did not stop him from finding two tin foil-wrapped potatoes, as if by magic, in the recesses of his bag. Food was always the trickiest thing to pack - it was lucky for Finn that he was just an enthusiast, not a true believer in Ultra-light backpacking. He didn't know how to get his pack weight down low enough by any proper definition.
"And, um, trail mix!" he added brightly, finding the last of the bags that Blake had given him at camp. Perhaps the only good thing to come out of those whole two weeks had been the free trail mix.
"We're gonna be able to see so many stars tonight!" Finn said gleefully as he rooted through his bag. "Have you got the lighter?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:01 am
Griffin let out a sigh of envy. Park ranger? Why didn't she think of that?! "Niiice. I'll come stay at your ranger cabin all the time!" Although their friendship had come about recently through shared time at the fake camp Larkspur and meeting at an outdoor supply store after recognizing each other as fellow Shlip students, Griffin felt completely at ease with her new, platonic, biffle. He was the Finn to her Griff! It was meant to be! Or something. She just had to keep it on the d.l. from her friend Talia otherwise the girl would probably jump to any number of conclusions about the nature of their relationship.
She threw a look over to the options for dinner and shrugged with a smile. "Hey, not bad. I've had worse in my dorm room." Such was the life of a college student. She tossed him the lighter, threw the last few sticks she'd found on the pile, and readied the water for boiling. After that was prepared, she sat down nearby.
"It's a new moon, right? Man, that's perfect!" In her opinion, seeing the stars were more impressive than the moon. In the city limits and even the suburbs you couldn't get a true sense of the universe's vastness or her own insignificance because of all the light pollution. Getting into nature helped with that, except for when the moon was too bright. Damn moon. Maybe if she was lucky she'd get to see the constellation of Maenalus. Then again, she didn't know which quadrant of which season's sky you could find it. Whoops.
Griffin looked over at Finn and sighed. "It's too bad that Camp Larkspur thing was such a bust. So weird how that thing ended, huh?" It'd been fun in the beginning, sure, when she didn't know it was a Negaverse scam, but she'd have to remember her role as 'Griffin the civilian' when she talked to anyone about it. There were already two people who knew her secret identity as a senshi (unless you count that cat...) and she didn't need anymore finding out. Of course, she didn't realize that Finn had actually been fighting with her and everyone else through the thick of it...
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:16 am
"Yeah," answered Finn sourly, setting fire to the kindling. It took quickly, sending up sparks and smoke. He gave it a careful nudge, trying to spread it to the bigger sticks. "I tried to tell one of my friends about it when I got home, but she heard the word swamp monsters and basically asked me what I'd been smoking."
Leah, on the other hand, had not only believed him but agreed to not tell their parents. He would have suspected she'd been there, but none of the senshi or knights or even negaversers had had purple hair. (And, he thought, if his little sister was a negaverser he was going to kill her dead.)
With the fire catching, Finn looked to see what else they had by way of food. "I see.... nutella, marshmallows, and a roll of graham crackers," he said slowly, with growing anticipation. He'd forgotten he packed those, and it was like Christmas morning all over again. "AW YEAH SCORE, GRIFF, WE'RE MAKING S'MORES."
They had an entire bag of marshmallows for just the two of them. This was like summer camp, only better than summer camp had ever been.
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:37 pm
Seeing Finn's reaction to her mention of camp Larkspur made her glad she wasn't the kindling. "Yeah, I don't know what happened, I slept through it. Ha, funny, I know." She lied about being a heavy sleeper. How could anyone have been able to sleep through the shattering of the crystal and buildings being smashed by a giant blob? Griffin wondered if Finn had watched from the safety of his cabin or been in amidst the fight. She'd probably never find out. As long as he wasn't part of the Negaverse then their friendship could continue on forever unhindered. And he was too nice to be a part of the Negaverse. He didn't strike her as a menshi, though. If anything he'd probably be a page. To herself, she laughed at the thought. That was just ridiculous.
She was pulled from her musings at the word "nutella". With every following word her eyes grew bigger and bigger. <********. yes.
"Oh, Finn, it's a dream come true!" She put the back of her hand to her forehead and swooned. Miracles really could happen!
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:01 am
Finn boggled at her. "You slept through it," he repeated, finding this hard to believe. "You slept through swamp monsters." Either Griffin was a really heavy sleeper, or it was a boldfaced lie. Whichever it was, he didn't really want to probe into it too much: apparently secret identities were a big deal. "Am I going to have to, like, soak you to get you up in the morning?"
Because, don't think he wouldn't do it. He would.
The fire caught the bigger logs, and Finn nudged the potatoes towards the base with a stick. "We sure picked a good weekend to go camping, right?" It wasn't too hot or humid, as July could sometimes be, and he was in awe of their luck with the moon phases.
Laughing, he tossed the bag of marshmallows at her and hammed, "Frankly, my dear, we are going to feast like kings."
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:59 am
Griffin's smile turned sheepish and she laughed nervously. "Swamp monsters? Really? Don't you think that's a little bit silly, Finn…?" She had to admit it was outrageous but she knew better. It was very true. Her flighty demeanor then turned to a shudder as she could almost feel the sensation of being splashed with cold water and having to endure it for the rest of the cool, mountain morning. Frantically she shook her head. "A simple nudge will do. It's just sounds don't wake me up, I guess." As long as he didn't test her, they'd be fine, right?
She stared at the fire, still very aware of the reality of trying to hide her secret identity. It'd sure make things easier if she just pulled out her henshin pen and powered up to say 'Ok, I lied, I'm a Senshi, I was there for the whole fight.' She'd found out people's identities in stranger ways, such as bringing another senshi back to her Shlip dorm to sleep off some drinks and waking up to find a classmate. Only Finn's words pulled her from the staring contest and at first she silently nodded and eventually warmed to a smile. "You mean I picked the perfect week to go camping!" Except he'd been right. It was a collaboration.
The bag of marshmallows was a surprise and maybe karmic retribution for her bold claim when it hit her square in the face. "You are going to feast like a king. I am going to feast like a queen." She pointed her nose in the air. A snooty queen to boot. And this mountain could be their castle and the wild their kingdom. Oh, but they'd have to be married, wouldn't they? Yuck. Their friendship was way too platonic for that. Heck, Griffin couldn't even imagine kissing Finn. Not that there would be anything wrong with someone kissing Finn. It's just that she herself couldn't do it. You know, as his friend and all.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:40 am
"Egalitarian kingdom, fine," shrugged Finn. He poked the potatoes with a stick and grinned at her. "We could even both be queens. Well, actually, no, forget I said that, stupid joke." He turned the potatoes over in the fire. It was one of those lines that had sounded good in his head and horrible in practice - Finn had a lot of those moments.
"All terrible double-entendres aside," he said, wrestling the bag of marshmallows back. (If he wasn't willing to fight for them he wouldn't have thrown them in the first place.) "Good food, good company, good air. Let me see if I've got anything to toast with."
He dug through his pack, but didn't find any more interesting surprises waiting for him there. This was to be expected, as Finn was not in the habit of sticking alcoholic beverages into his bag and then forgetting they were there. Especially when the entire point of this trip was to travel light. "How do shots of water from my Nalgene sound?" he asked lamely, holding the bottle out to her. "Delicious, right? L'chaim."
It wasn't really funny if you didn't know Jewish culture. And then, even if you did, it still wasn't. Finn carefully pulled the potatoes out of the fire and set them aside to cool. "You and Tate, man, you two can just start a 'girls who think Finn Derouen is absolutely bonkers' club. She didn't believe me about the swamp things, either. You're gonna give me a complex or something."
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:08 pm
Griffin pouted. "I wanted a monarchy!" The comment about queens and whatever it was meant to imply went over her head. Finn was a boy so he had to like girls so he wasn't a queen, right? Usually that was right. She gave up the marshmallows without a fight, as her eyes were glued to the potatoes. The longer she stared at them, the more convinced that she could eat both of their portions- and then some.
"Shots of water? Delicious."
Facetious.
But she toasted him anyway. "To life!" Thank goodness she'd seen Fiddler on the Roof before. That was probably the source of at least one fourth of her knowledge on Jewish culture. She leaned over and playfully patted one of his cheeks and in a baby voice, said, "You are absolutely bonkers, Finn." She leaned back where she was sitting and smiled. "But I guess that's why people like you, or something." For the moment she was happy, and her greatest wish was that those potatoes would cool faster.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:52 pm
"You're the one who suggested egalitarianism," sniffed Finn, sounding slightly miffed. He reached for the potatoes, giving them a tentative poke. The foil had cooled considerably, and he passed one to Griffin. "These should be cool enough to eat," he said, reaching back into his bag to find a pair of impossibly small salt and pepper shakers. He offered these to her.
"Do I think of everything, or do I think of everything?" The eyebrow waggle was back. It was no less comical now than it had been every other time he tried it on this trip. It didn't even seem flirtatious so much as goofy (mostly because that was the intent).
"Are you sure?" he asked, unwrapping his potato. "It's because I'm bonkers?" He grabbed the salt out of Griffin's hand and sprinkled it liberally onto his dinner before handing it back. "Bonkers? Really? People like me because I'm bonkers?" His disbelief was like ninety-percent feigned, to be sure. "And here I was thinking it was my rogueish good looks that brought all the boys to the yard."
Wait. What.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:11 pm
Griffin didn't care about anyone's feelings once the potatoes were in her clutches. She dug in and her cheeks puffed up as she stuffed her face. She didn't care what she looked like in front of Finn. She looked like a chipmunk? Chipmunk it was. She almost forgot to use the salt that the friend giveth and then tooketh away. The camper swallowed a large bite. "You think of everything. Except for the makings of proper shots." She didn't mind, though. She'd never once wanted to get hammered while camping. It was impractical and made enjoying nature take a back seat when it was the very reason she ventured out into it in the first place.
"Completely and entirely bonkers, my dear." She spoke in a way she imagined was similar to a couple in a loveless marriage spoke over breakfast. Of course she did love Finn as a friend already. She loved all of her friends in that platonic way, and she was sure a lot of them felt the same. However, it seemed at that moment that there was further explanation coming to the surface of why their friendship had been so platonic even from the start.
"Wait. What?"
The boys to the yard? Well of course, no one else came for milkshakes, but... Hmm. How should she ask this...
"Wait, Finn." She choked down an unfortunately large piece of potato. "Are you gay?" The inflection sounded similar to as if she'd been asking him what he was majoring in at college though he'd already told her. Confused but not the least bit judgemental.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:42 pm
Finn didn't even pause in his chewing. "Yes," he replied around a mouthful of potato. He did wish he had a camera handy, though, because the look on Griffin's face when she finally put it together was basically priceless. "Honestly," he continued once he'd swallowed, "I don't know how you're just realizing this now."
While Finn knew he wasn't exactly what anyone would call a flaming hunk of queer, he was pretty surprised that Griffin even had to ask. Because having to ask implied not knowing. Because Finn Derouen wasn't exactly subtle about this stuff. It was almost enough to make him wonder if Griffin wasn't a tad dense... Nah.
"Really, Griff," he added, taking a swig out of his water bottle to wash down the slightly dry potato. "Don't sound so surprised." It wasn't like this was a secret or anything. (No really, it wasn't.)
"We can have proper shots when we get back to town," Finn decided after a bit of consideration. He took another bite of the potato and tried once more to speak and chew at the same time. Something about being out in nature made his table manners relapse to those of a neanderthal, apparently. "Sometime after showers and before watching episodes of Man vs Wild on Netflix. And before you ask, my sexuality does not mean you are allowed to sleep naked. It gets chilly up here at night."
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:32 pm
Griffin just stared at him blankly. If he'd wanted to, he could have grabbed her camera and gotten plenty of good reaction shots from hearing the news to her being mad at him for taking all those pictures of her in such poor lighting when she probably looked sweaty and nature-y. She shrugged weakly. Who was she to jump to conclusions? "I... I don't really have the most in-tune or sensitive of gay-dars, is all." She took a sip of water as though it was the most casual or nonchalant of talks to be having.
She looked at him slyly. "Shall we have said shots in a gay bar?" She grinned before she said, "I'm just kidding, we don't have to." That seemed like more than she could handle. It was probably also more than her idea of Finn as a gay could handle. As he spoke about when he was gay, she choked a little bit on a bite of potato and chortled. "Good to know. I think Bear Grylls is cute, too." She finished chewing her bite and swallowed, then pointed at her friend. "All I ask of you and your sexuality is that you never like the same boy as me. That's where I draw the line, buddy. And in return I'll do you the favor of never being naked around you. Although," she waggled an eyebrow and gestured to her body, "I gotta tell you, you're missing out." New best platonic friend for life? Griffin thought so.
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:36 pm
Finn was of the opinion that he had run the Pride flag up the flagpole at Sovereign Heights one too many times for anyone to still be in doubt of his sexuality (or at least his political leanings) unless they'd been living under a rock. Which maybe Griffin had been - he'd managed to not meet her until camp, anyways. Maybe she didn't realize the Dada art was his.
"How about Four Loko in my apartment since you and I are both underage?" suggested Finn weakly. Not to be a prude, but he hadn't exactly made his debut onto the bar scene... mostly on account of that last time he'd tried to fake his way in, his fake ID had been confiscated and ripped to shreds. Finn couldn't pass for twenty-one. Finn could barely pass for his actual age.
"Survivorman was a more authentic show, though," he countered. Mad crush on Bear Grylls aside, the man had a child named Huckleberry and that put him on level with Anthony Derouen as one of exactly two men on the planet who had thought that was a good idea. The thought that one of his 'celebrity crushes' was almost certainly similar to his dad was a total cockblock.
"I can introduce you to some guys who would probably dig you naked," answered Finn, giving her a shove. "But it's not really my thing. Actually, I've sort of... I've got my eye on someone."
Finn bit his tongue. What on earth had possessed him to admit that?
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