Disclaimer: I'm not Cornelia Funke and Inkheart does not belong to me, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that.

A/N: This takes place on a random night in between Inkheart and Inkspell. I apologize for any OOCness. Enjoy...

Farid was bored.

The sun was almost gone, and the air was getting cold as day turned to night. Earlier that day Dustfinger had put on a fire eating show, and now they were sitting by a campfire, in the middle of a small wood near a village. Gwin was out hunting. Dustfinger was staring into the flames, a faraway expression on his face. And Farid was sitting next to him, bored.

He sighed, hoping to catch Dustfinger's attention.

Dustfinger didn't even look up.

Farid sighed again, louder this time, but he still failed to get a response.

A few silent minutes passed.

"I'm bored," Farid stated.

"Mmm-hmm" was all he got as an answer.

"Are you ignoring me?" Farid asked in a rather offended tone of voice.

"Wherever would you get that idea?" Dustfinger said sarcastically, then went back to staring at the fire.

Then Farid got an idea. He scooted closer to Dustfinger and gently poked his shoulder. "POKE!" he yelled enthusiastically.

Dustfinger gave him a strange look and moved away.

"Poke," Farid repeated, pressing his finger to his companion's shoulder again.

Dustfinger shook his hand off, looking annoyed.

Farid, not the least bit discouraged by the man's annoyed expression, continued poking him. "Poke, poke, poke!" he sang happily. "Pokey, pokey, poke!"

"What are you doing?" Dustfinger yelled, apparently unable to restrain himself any longer.

"I'm poking you," Farid explained, looking like he thought Dustfinger wasn't very smart. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Well, stop poking me," Dustfinger growled.

"But I'm bored," Farid whined.

Dustfinger didn't reply to that statement.

"You're being annoying," Farid informed him.

"That's nice."

"Like, really annoying," he continued.

"I could say the same thing about you."

"Maybe you should stop being annoying and start being fun," Farid suggested.

"No thanks."

Just then Gwin bounded from the trees, leaping towards them.

"GWIN!" Farid shouted joyfully, poking the marten. "POKE!"

Gwin snarled and sunk his teeth into the boy's finger.

"Hey!" Farid said, staring at the blood on his finger in outrage. "You bit me!"

Gwin leapt over to Dustfinger and disappeared into his backpack.

"Dustfinger!" Farid wailed, waving his finger in front of the man's face, "Gwin bit me!"

Dustfinger rolled his eyes, looking slightly amused. "No wonder."

Farid huffed, annoyed, and then for a few moments there was silence, which was soon broken by Farid exclaiming excitedly, "I have an idea!"

"What is it?" Dustfinger asked warily.

Farid stood up and spun around excitedly. "It's a wonderful idea!"

"What is it?" Dustfinger repeated impatiently.

"I can do your hair!"

Dustfinger gave him a blank look.

"It's so long and smooth," Farid said admiringly, feeling Dustfinger's hair.

Dustfinger moved away, getting rather freaked out.

"It would be so much fun to braid and play with!" the boy continued.

"No," Dustfinger said firmly, shuddering. "I am not going to let you mess with my hair."

"Oh," Farid said, disappointed. Then his face brightened. "Maybe I could try to braid Gwin's fur instead! What do you think?"

Dustfinger stared at him for a moment. Then he groaned and put his face in his hands.

"Uhh..." Farid said worriedly, "is that a no?"

When Dustfinger didn't answer, Farid reached over and knocked on his head. "Hello?"

Dustfinger's answer was another groan.

"I guess that is a no."

He was quiet for a minute, and then he pointed out, "I'm still bored, you know."

Farid leaned over to Dustfinger, touching his shoulder again. "Poke..."

A/N: Hope you liked it! If you did, please leave a review! If you do I shall be forever grateful. Reviews are the only way for me to know if anyone liked it. Oh, and if you did enjoy this, you'll probably also like my stories 'Dad?' and 'Stubble'! :)