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Honestly, Dorado had forgotten what it felt like to take a break for once. They leaned against the “concierge” desk as Harvest was checking all of them in. From outside the small building for checking in, Heehoo, Strumpet, and Twin were all preoccupied staring into a pond filled with a dozen colorful koi fish. The three followed one koi of their choice and named it their racer, seeing which one would go around the pond’s giant rock the fastest. Piqé held a rolled up newspaper up to his mouth, using it as a megaphone as he sat atop the giant rock.
“Tuna Sandwich takes the lead as it passes by Doggy!” Piqé announces, watching the fish eagerly. Strumpet jumps up and down excitedly,
“C’mon, c’mon, Tuna! You’re my last hope!”
“That’s unfair! Doggy’s tired!” Heehoo complained. Strumpet sticks her tongue out mockingly, “You snooze, you lose!”
“Aaaand Tuna Sandwich is our winner, folks!” Piqé spins on the rock and tries to gracefully jump back onto land. He stumbles but gets back on his feet. Heehoo cries out in despair, “YOU’RE A WINNER TO ME, DOGGY!” with a sniffle.
Strumpet elbows Heehoo lightly, “Pay up.” Heehoo sighs and hands over a burrito wrap he kept in his bag. Twin has been staring into the water for too long and brings up,
“Uh, guys, I think… my Horacio… is learning to float...”
The other three look at the dead fish in the pond, “Yeah,” Piqé says, “Thought I smelled something fishy going on.” Piqé is promptly bonked on the head by Strumpet before Harvest walks over to the group. Dorado walks promptly behind him and speaks up,
“Well, we’re signed in. Let’s...” Dorado looks at the dead fish in the pond, “...move. Let’s move.” The group promptly leaves and heads towards a cabin a ways away.
As a reward for saving Rutia’s Rest once more from some unfriendly assailants, the Archbishop had given them a chance to rest at a cabin rental camp blessed by the Archbishop herself. Not only was it cozy this time of year, the forested scenery was a nice change of pace from the sandy desert they see every day. Standing in front of a cabin with a number 8 on the front, the gang all gaze in awe and excitement as Dorado unlocks the door.
“Well, some ground rules a’course,” they say as they swing the door open, pocketing the keys, “Read the signs, clean up after yourself, don’t be a dick, so on, so forth.”
Strumpet raises her hand, Dorado nods at her as she speaks up, “Can we visit the other cabins? Like, see the other campers?” Twin nods in agreement, adding on “Good question! Can we?”
Dorado sighs and shrugs as they know they’ll do it either way, allowed or not, “Yeah, I guess, just don’t start any fights, man.” Twin and Strumpet high five each other. Dorado walks in and the rest follow as they continue, “Got three bedrooms, a living space and kitchen. Swanky place if I do say so myself!”
Strumpet and Twin lock arms in WLW/MLM solidarity as they giggle and run into a room, claiming it as theirs. Piqé swings into the kitchen and checks the cupboards for food.
“No snacks?” he asks disappointedly.
“I believe we were told to hunt, fish, or bring our own,” Harvest replies, “However, the facilities such as the fire pit, sink, refrigerator, and bathroom are free for us to use.” Piqé frowns, and with a groan, he asks Heehoo, who has made his way atop the space between the roof and the cupboards, “Druid, come hunt with me.”
Heehoo, freezing in his tracks looks at Piqé as if caught with his hand in a cookie jar, “Oh! Um! Yeah, sure! There’s a buncha trees outside anyway.” Heehoo jumps off and lands on his little bird legs, quickly following behind Piqé.
As the front door closes and the two leave, Harvest looks at Dorado, who has been awkwardly standing in the living room for some time now, staring at the newfangled contraption they call a “refrigerator” from afar. They both nod at each other out of politeness and sort of just look the other way. Harvest leaves to enter an unoccupied bedroom.
With a slump of their knapsack, Dorado lies on the couch with a thump. Looking to see if the coast was clear, they point a finger at the fireplace and set it alight. Comfortably, they take out a small bag of trail mix and munch away.
“Okay, but I think a sort of holo or sheen fabric would totally liven the place up, no?” Twin proposes.
“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be sorta like, sexy if I walked up in fishnets?” Strumpet asks, already unpacking her luggage.
“Strumpet, I’m talking about decorating.”
“Oh, right.” She rummages for a bit and pulls out a lingerie set, draping it over the chair in their room, “There! It’s a conversation piece.”
“Sure, but kinda flimsy...” Twin takes a small statuette out of his bag of a little hand of Rutia. He smiles and looks at Strumpet, “Eh? Now this is decoration.” Strumpet rolls her eyes with a smirk, “Yeah, yeah, sure. We all know how devout you of all people are.”
Twin scratches the back of his head, “Yeah… okay. I guess neither of us brought any decor to spice up the place, huh.”
Strumpet slumps on her claimed bed, “Come on, let’s just sneak into other people’s cabins now. I bet there’s a lotta cute people there!” she teases, trying to egg Twin on.
“Uh, I guess, but wouldn’t it be kinda rude to leave the others?”
A loud snap of a tree branch is heard, and a following thump! Of course, following the scream of a very hurt kenku. A weird honk is heard before the utterance of “...I’m okay!”
The two share a look. “Okay fine,” Twin raises his hands, “We can take a peek.”
And so they sneak off away to peek at another cabin. The desert sun still beams down between the tree leaves. They had never seen these types of trees in the desert before, but it’s practically an entirely different biome, with dirt and grass beneath their feet rather than sand and stone. They walk between the trees, following the path of the campsite until they reach the main site with the check-in building, a few bulletin boards, and signs.
“Campsite seven’s to the left, you wanna check them out first?” Strumpet asks excitedly. Twin reads through the fliers on the bulletin board, “Ooh! They’re having a Big Fish competition! Winner gets hot chocolate!” Strumpet’s eyes widened in interest. Twin continues, “Looks like cabin seven’s competing-- and in the lead.”
“WHAT?!” Strumpet pushes him aside, “Okay, fuck that. No fuckin’, just fishing!”
Twin sneers, “Didn’t think you’d be swayed so easily by hot chocolate.”
“I literally have not had hot chocolate in YEARS man, I’ll do ANYTHING to have it again.”
“Yeah, fair enough,” he looks around to spot the river nearby, “Let’s get fishing, I guess?”
Strumpet’s eyes light up in a competitive flame, “Fuck YES!”
Entering the cabin with a slam, Strumpet startles the dark elf at the front desk,
“Uh! Can I… help you, campers?” they ask.
“Yeah!” she exclaims, “Where can we find some fishing… sticks. The sticks we use to catch the fish with.”
“Spears?” Twin asks,
“No the one with the--! The long one! String!” she replies.
“We have fishing rods for rent if you did not bring any of your own,” the dark elf suggests.
“YEAH, THOSE!” Strumpet points at the dark elf, “We’ll take two!”
“Of course, we also provide bait for sale if you would need it” the dark elf says, standing up to open a locked closet behind them, grabbing two fishing rods and a cup of chum bait, “That’s 15 gold each for the day, 3 gold for the chum. Please do return the rods before tomorrow.”
The two pay up and thank the dark elf, excitedly making their way towards the river. Near the riverside, the water flows calmly. It was clean and clear enough for them to see a few fish actually pass by. Twin sticks a piece of chum unto the hook of his fishing rod, and looks over to Strumpet, who has taken it upon herself to eat one of the pieces of chum bait. She notices Twin staring and immediately spits it out,
“What?! I thought it was a snack...”
Twin laughs and asks, “Have you ever actually gone fishing?”
Strumpet looks away blushing in embarrassment, “Well, I grew up in a desert okay! Don’t expect a lot!”
Twin laughs even more, “How are we gonna win if you can’t fish?! HAHAH!”
“I dunno! I thought we just put the sticks in the water and the fish are like… attracted to the stick!” she exclaims, crossing her arms now.
“Okay, okay, it’s kinda simple. I’ll teach you,” he demonstrates by flicking the fishing line and hook into the river. He allows some time to pass,
“So is it normally this boring?” Strumpet asks, leaning into her rod as she stands.
“Yeah,” he smiles weakly in reply, “But patience is key!”
Strumpet sighs in disappointment, she really thought fishing would be a lot more exciting than this. Looking downstream, she notices a particularly large fish.
“Twin, twin!” she gasps, “Big fishy! Big fishy!”
Twin looks over, “Oh yeah, big one. It’s off downstream though. I doubt we can catch it by now,” he dismisses. But Strumpet was determined,
“Y’know what? Fuck the sticks!” she proclaims, speeding into a sprint alongside the river downstream, following the big fish as it swims along the current. “AAAAAGGHHH!!!” Strumpet screams as she jumps into the river trying to catch the fish with her bare hands.
“Strumpet! What the--”
Like the movement of a renaissance painting, Strumpet splashes up to a stand, holding the large trout up with both hands, as if offering it to the gods. Strumpet heaves and walks back up to land, Twin finally catching up to her. With large trout flopping in hand, Strumpet triumphantly holds it in front of Twin,
“This big enough?!”
Twin, speechless from the act he had just witnessed, “Uh, y-yeah probably! That’s like what, two feet long? Can’t find a fish bigger than that here, I’m sure!”
Strumpet smiles a big toothy grin and walks off, “Okay! We’re done here. I knew fishing was gonna be fun!”
Twin shrugs and goes with it, it was indeed a successful fishing trip. Goes to show that fishing transcends religious alliances, Rutians and Terians really can get along.
From the treetops was where this little kenku was happiest. Reaching the top, he could see the entire campsite. Ten cabins within this little forest all connect a path into the main campsite. A river runs along the east of the entire camp, where there have been some campers fishing already. Must be a good day for fishing. Heehoo climbs higher, and Piqé shouts from below cupping his hands near his mouth,
“Any squirrels?!”
“Oh! Right!” Heehoo forgot for a moment that they were hunting together, “Uh, no! Don’t think so!”
“Try hunting harder,” he says, leaning against another tree.
“Uh, try hunting at all!” Heehoo sasses from above. As he yells, a few birds fly off from their branches and it startles him. Heehoo wobbles from the branch a bit, and quickly grips the tree trunk. Piqé rolls his eyes at that remark,
“Well, I’d say I’m seeing fried chicken right about now,” sneering at Heehoo.
“HEY!” Heehoo protests, “I’m no food!” His proclamation sways the branch yet again, this time, snapping the branch below him. With a loud birdy scream, Heehoo falls, hitting almost every branch on the way down. A loud thump is heard along with a noise from Heehoo that can be described as a deflating kazoo. Piqé winces,
“You good?”
“...I’m okay!” he shouts for everyone to hear. Piqé at least tries to help him up, looking around the trees, remarking on the birds,
“We’re s’posed to be experts at this, Heehoo,” Piqé sighs, “Maybe we should be trying to snag some birds?”
Heehoo glares at him. Piqé holds his arms up as if to surrender, rolling his eyes with a sigh. “Or… we can try to look for some bushes or whatever…”
The two follow the campsite’s trail when Heehoo notices a river on the other side of the forest. Heehoo tugs on Piqé’s sleeve,
“Look! Look! We could fish!” excitedly pointing at the river. Piqé looks up ahead the trail and notices the small check-in building, through the window the staff is delightfully enjoying some takeout. He hatches a small scheme and nods at Heehoo,
“Yeah, uh, you can… look for branches we can use to fish with. I’ll be right with ya’...”
“Okay!” Heehoo hops away excitedly looking through the forest for long, sturdy branches. Piqé cracks his knuckles and quietly sneaks around the small building, passing the koi pond, making sure to walk under windows.
“Yeah, those two are definitely the Big Fish winners! A whole two foot long trout. So I just gave ‘em the prizes,” eavesdropped Piqé from one of the groundskeepers as she was opening up a wrapped burger, which totally existed at this time.
Piqé peeks over the window, and notices the two staffers chatting away, the paper bag of takeout just sitting at the tabletop counter. He looks around the back of the building and notices two garbage bins. Piqé promptly kicks them over and with a loud crash from the bins he runs to take cover in the bushes and trees.
The two staffers, a human woman and a dark elf, quickly check to see the commotion. They sigh,
“Darn raccoons again, huh?” the human woman guesses.
“Perhaps,” noted the dark elf, “Maybe even a bear by the looks of this mess. It couldn’t have gone too far if it was frightened by the noise.”
“You wanna scout the area for it?” she asks.
“You can do that, I shall clean up the mess… lest the buggers return to scavenge on the remains of their toils.”
“Whatever you say, bud!” she pats their back and flips on her flashlight, walking into the woods.
The human woman nearly passes by the bush Piqé was in. as he holds his breath. Her legs brush through the bush, flashlight peeking through the trees. As soon as she’s walked far enough, Piqé pops up from the bushes. The dark elf, now picking up the trash, notices him and is taken aback by his sudden appearance,
“Oh! May I… help you, camper?” they ask.
“Ah, yeah. I was just wondering if you guys had any like--”
“Wait a moment,” the dark elf stops him, “You’re the fellow who was atop the koi pond rock! That’s against camp rules you know.”
“Ahah, yeah! Uh, sorry about that...” Piqé sheepishly walks towards them, “I actually wanted to confess to my totally heinous crime back there.”
“Oh…! Well...” the dark elf is taken aback, “I mean, it’s totally fine just don’t do it again.”
Piqé quickly interjects “I would also like to confess to several war crimes and violations against the Geneva Convention.”
“What--?” In a quick flash, Piqé aims to headbutt the dark elf, but something hits them from behind and knocks them out cold before he could. They fall limply onto the ground, thankfully not atop the trash. Behind them is Heehoo, holding a smooth rock.
“Erm! Uh…! We should go...” the kenku says, quickly pocketing the murder weapon.
Piqé sighs in relief and quickly enters the back door, snatching up the paper bag of takeout, Heehoo quickly follows suit, pulling the body indoors.
Heehoo scribbles something on a fallen napkin and places it in the dark elf’s hand before running out the door. Already out through the front door, Piqé hurriedly jogs back to their cabin, Heehoo follows behind.
“Looks like you are a hunter after all!” Heehoo remarks,
“I told you, Heehoo,” Piqé, already eating away a half-eaten burger, “We’re experts!”
Harvest, already having removed his armor, decided to wear a cloth shirt that day (controversial, he knows). His robotic arm served to be an inconvenience to the shirt, so he decided to just roll up that sleeve. There was an important task at hand that he had to properly execute, lest he suffer for the entirety of this trip: to inspect the bathroom.
Having a relaxing shower is the first key step to starting a powerful day, Harvest thinks, and so a perfect bathroom is necessary to achieve that aura. Harvest exits his room and spots Dorado lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling as they munch on some trail mix. Dorado notices Harvest and the notable lack of armor (and the addition of an actual shirt) on the dude. There’s a first for everything they suppose. The two share an acknowledging glance and get back to their usual goings-on. Neither of them were much for talking, one has to in order to keep the gang organized. There was something comforting about that similarity, but neither of them could pinpoint it, nor would they really want to.
Harvest entered the bathroom, and it was spacious enough for him to walk into at least. However, some nitpicks: The sink and mirror were too low down, the toilet and bathtub were too close together, and there. Was. No. Shower. A disappointed sigh escapes Harvest’s mouth as he assesses the bathroom, surely this bathtub was not the best this camp had? He digresses and accepts his fate, emotionally preparing himself for a… handheld shower head. He shudders at the thought. Harvest exits the room and spots Dorado again, this time sitting up, eating cheese and crackers, staring into the fire.
He walks towards them, Dorado looks up and wordlessly offers the cheese and crackers. Harvest takes one, Dorado scoots over the couch, he takes a seat and stares into the fire as well.
“That’s good cheese,” Harvest says matter-of-factly. Dorado laughs, but in the subtle way where air blows out of your nose,
“It’s swiss actually-- not gouda,” they snicker. Harvest looks confused for a moment as he chews, then he raises his brows,
“Oh… oh! I get it, heh.”
The two continue to snack. Dorado brings up,
“Actually, I’ll be honest, I don’t know what typa cheese it really is…? I got it at the market just before we got here. I just wanted to make the joke, hah...”
“Ironically, it tastes like gouda,” Harvest replies with a chuckle.
“No kiddin’? Hah...”
The fire crackles, the two stare into it, continuing the conversation,
“The bathroom is… quite a disappointment,” Harvest says, “Not even a standing shower. Merely a handheld one, in a bathtub. A bathtub!” he exclaims softly.
“I like bathtubs,” Dorado states nonchalantly, “It feels like a big liquid blanket. Sorta like I’m gone somewhere else.”
“To each their own,” he says. The two crunch on their cheese and crackers.
“Y’know I’ve never been to the beach, but-- I think I’d like it there...” Dorado says out of nowhere, almost regretting bringing it up mid-sentence. Harvest leans back and the couch creaks slightly, he makes a gesture as if to say ‘Go on.’ Dorado leans on the other side of the couch, one of their cowboy boots resting on Harvest’s knee.
“It’s like-- one big bathtub, y’know?”
“Yes…? But I don’t believe it has the same cleansing factor,” Harvest adds.
“Less about the cleaning more about the… vibe, I guess,” Dorado says meekly, trying to find the words. “When I’m under the water it’s kinda like...” they crunch on a cracker, “Like I’m someplace no one can see me.”
“Well, why wouldn’t you want to be? You show great potential, Dorado. You’re a strong individual and...” he finds the words, “...and I admire that.”
Dorado looks up at the ceiling, “Don’t wanna be s’the thing, I s’pose. Not a fan of the whole… becoming powerful deal.”
Harvest makes a small chuckle, “I suppose that’s where you and I differ. I plan to be seen and make a mark on this world.”
Dorado adjusts their hat as they sink down further into the couch, “Ain’t that scary to you?” they ask. Harvest shrugs,
“It’s been my whole life, one must always aim high. Higher than the last.”
Dorado looks at him as if he had just done an unpleasant gesture,
“Aren’t ya’ settin’ yourself up for too high of an expectation that way?” they place a hand on their face to lean on, “I wouldn’t put myself under that much pressure, friend. Sacrificin’ yourself and your life just for this expectation ya’ put on yourself. I’d crack!”
Harvest scoffs, they’re one to talk, he thinks. “Well, we’ve all got different levels of tolerance, I suppose,” he shrugs, “If I don’t do that, then...” and trails off into silence. Dorado’s face softens and looks on curiously. They go back to staring at the ceiling, hands resting behind their head,
“Guess we ain’t so different at all.”
“How is that?” Harvest asks.
“We both wanna protect people,” they smile weakly, “In our own way.”
Harvest stares at Dorado contemplatively, and then smiles into a soft laughter,
“I stand in showers and you sit in bathtubs?”
“Precisely,” they bite down on a small piece of cheese with a smug grin. Dorado’s glad to have someone who understands; Harvest learns a bit more about a friend.
The front door swings open, Twin and Strumpet enter, Twin with a bucket of fish in one hand, and a jar of a brown powder in the other.
“Hey gang,” he says, lifting up the bucket, “we’ve got dinner!”
“And hot chocolate!!!” Strumpet bounces excitedly, “We got them for winning the Big Fishy contest thing. We caught THE biggest fish, it was awesome,” she continued.
With a loud creak, the front door swings open yet again, and in come Piqé and Heehoo, who have taken it upon themselves to munch on some burgers.
“Don’t worry,” Piqé says with a mouthful, “Saved some for you guys.” He throws the paper bag gently onto Dorado’s torso, who has just been laying on the couch by now.
“Where’d y’all get this…?” Dorado asks, suspicious of their actions.
“Ordered it, of course!” Heehoo replies.
“ You … ordered it?” they raise an eyebrow.
Piqé chimes in “No need to ask such silly questions, Dorado! It was ordered for takeout and we took it out!” they say, patting Dorado’s hat. Dorado takes out a small, flimsy box and opens it up to reveal small, bite-sized pieces of boneless fried chicken.
“What are these?”
“I think they’re called nuggets?” Piqé guesses.
“Well what are they made of?”
Piqé looks nervously at Heehoo, then back to Dorado, “Meat. Just eat them.”
Dorado shrugs, at least now there’s dinner, they thought.
Heehoo takes notice of the jar Strumpet was holding, “Is that--?”
“Hot chocolate!” Strumpet finishes his sentence.
“That’s great!” Heehoo says, now also bouncing with Strumpet, “It’s gonna be such a cozy night!” Dorado wonders if they’ve even got a kettle.
Harvest gently places down the boot Dorado had been resting on his knee as he comes to a stand. He walks to the open kitchen to check the cupboards; he lifts a kettle out to show Dorado, Dorado nods towards the general direction of the others. Strumpet spots this and rushes towards the kitchen,
“Ooh! Ooh! Gimmie!” she clamors to begin, “C’mon, Twin!”
Twin places the jar down on the counter, “I gotta cook the fish, Strumpet, you guys go ahead.”
“I shall help in preparing the fish,” Harvest offers,
“Sure,” Twin says, “We can do it over a fire and stuff!”
Twin and Harvest discuss cooking, walking outside to light the fire pit, while Strumpet and Heehoo delight over hot chocolate ideas. Piqé sits down beside Dorado, and plays his tambourine to a delightful jingle and tune, humming to his own song. Dorado lays still, looking into the fire while munching on these so called ‘nuggets.’
“Wow,” they say in surprise, “These are good.”
Moments pass and the stars are already out and brightly shining in the sky. The fire pit illuminates the front of the cabin as the gang all gather around sitting on logs as Piqé sings songs. Harvest and Dorado chat away as they sprinkle cheese on the cooked fish. Twin and Strumpet dance happily to the beat of the tambourine. Heehoo bounces in his seat, siping the hot chocolate. The gang enjoyed themselves and their rest, exchanging quips and stories into the night.
Epilogue:
Nothing but dust moved that morning, when suddenly a loud knock of the door stirred Dorado awake. They were a bit disheveled, and decided to sit up and stretch, grabbing their cowboy hat so they wouldn’t have to brush their bedhead. They stood up, the door still knocking, looking over at Harvest, who was on the other side of the bedroom in his own bed hugging a pillow. Dorado tapped him awake just in case, he looked up at them and murmured something that resembled a good morning. He hears the knocking and Dorado exits the bedroom to address the front door.
They opened the door, being met by the human woman groundskeeper.
“Howdy,” Dorado says with a groggy morning voice.
“Yeah, is this where that yellow-coated fiend rests?” she asked with an aggressive tone.
“Um, Piqé? Yeah. Somethin’ the matter?” they ask.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to ask you all to leave effective immediately.”
“Wait, what happened?” Dorado asks, incredibly confused at the situation, but not entirely surprised.
“Your friend knocked out poor Zecro and left this in their hand!” she asserts, holding up a paper napkin with the message ‘Big bear behind you, had to knock you out and save u, sorry’ in what looks like actual chicken scrawl.
“Well? Was there a bear?” Dorado asked. The human woman, almost flabbergasted at the question,
“Of course not! I would certainly know if there were bear tracks anywhere near the place. There was hardly a ruckus!”
Piqé, who was now awakened by the ruckus, peeks out through his bedroom door.
“There’s the fella!” she points at him, “You are banned from these camp grounds, sir! You and your pals can leave!”
Piqé clears his throat, “But I mean, I saved their life, ma’am, my friend Heehoo,” he grabs Heehoo from within the bedroom, holding him like a football, “...Can attest to that! Right, buddy? He wrote the note!”
Heehoo, who has barely woken up, was angrily puffed up from being disturbed. He squawks out a “Yeah, what he said!” before returning to slumber.
Piqé puts him back on his perch, “See, miss? You’ve got the wrong Idea!”
+ help from Heehoo!
Dorado shrugs at the woman, “Seems my friend here’s a hero, miss. I don’t see why we should be told to leave. Now if you’ll excuse us...”
The woman sputters into babbles in disbelief, “H-Hey!--” before Dorado closes the door on her, politely of course. Harvest enters the living room, hair incredibly messy,
“What was that?” he asks,
Dorado pats his arm on their way back to the sleeping quarters, “Just settled some stuff,” they say, thinking about how trouble always seems to find the Yee Yee Gang wherever they go.
They sigh, “Same shit, different day.”