The campfire crackled. The stars twinkled. The Freedom Fighters chatted and laughed, and Sally listened to the good-natured banter of her friends and relaxed as well as she was able.
She didn't have any particular reason not to relax, it was just that usually, dropping her guard felt wrong. It was as if it was potentially dangerous somehow. Sonic - sometimes deliberately, usually without realising it - had taught her how not to take her problems too seriously. Bunnie often soothed her with kindness and reason, and even Rotor helped in his own way with his straightforward approach to risk. But still, tension came far more naturally to the ground squirrel than for most and she depended on her friends to keep reminding her how to limit it.
It seemed to come so naturally to them, this reasonable limiting of fear, that she sometimes wondered if they knew how much she depended on them.
She looked at Antoine, aware she hadn't thought about how he might have taught her to have downtime. He enjoyed the arts and wrote a lot of poetry - and in theory this meant he had much to offer when it came to reminding her that there was more to life than war - but the poetry he wrote was so loaded with hints of his infatuation with her. She always made a point of being gracious but she'd never really liked it. In fact, it put her guard up - or at the very least reminded her that she might have to outright reject him one day, which preyed in its own small way on her mind.
Speaking of which... He'd been glued to his notepad for the past few days. She wondered with a certain grim feeling whether he was writing another one. And what had been happening to him lately, anyway? His eyes looked weary and distant, as if he was thinking about some heavy subject matter. He bent over his notepad and when he wasn't writing felt the edges of the paper and the pen. Deep in thought and restless.
"Yo, Sal," Sonic snapped his fingers and she blinked back to the present. "I'm over here."
Of course. She'd taken her attention off Sonic Hedgehog for a minute. Crime of the century. She smiled at the chance to tease him. "Oh, you are?"
"Yeah I am!"
"So?" She prompted with a spontaneous smile.
As he answered, flustered at first but quickly finding his wits, she half-heard Antoine start a conversation with Rotor.
"What, you're still thinking of that?" she heard the walrus reply. "Well... Thanks Antoine, but I'd kinda forgot about it."
Sally looked over.
"Yes," the coyote answered, his face intent. "But I was remembering this and I had not been apologising. It was wrong of me."
The walrus looked like he didn't know what to say. "Okay, thanks. Uh, apology accepted?" He shrugged and gave a small nervous laugh.
"Man," Sonic half-whispered in Sally's ear. "You have got one serious crush on Old Pee Pants!"
"What?!" she answered and gave the hedgehog a withering look. More for the fact she felt outraged by his suggestion than because there was any truth in it. And she felt sorry for Antoine - Sonic could be harsh at times. "That wasn't fair!"
"So?" he said, as an echo of their earlier flirting.
"Sonic, that's not funny!"
"Is so."
How did she ever get into these arguments with Sonic? "Is not." And to prove her point she turned away from him to listen in on Antoine and Rotor's conversation, especially now that Bunnie had joined in.
The coyote scribbled in his notebook. "So it is 'piece of cake'. I understand. So what was this other thing?"
"Uh..." Rotor gazed into the fire and chewed his lip. "Nope, it's gone."
Sally edged forwards. "Was it 'gringo'?"
"Ah - yes!" Antoine said, his face lighting up with recognition (and perhaps pleasure at Sally's help, she wasn't sure). "But what is it meaning?"
She couldn't help but voice her curiosity. "This is new Antoine. You're taking vocabulary notes?"
He nodded. "Oui oui, I was thinking that I am being the wrong in my English sometimes, so now I take the notes."
"You're gonna need a bigger book," said Sonic with a wry grin. Sally knew one of Sonic's taunts when she heard one and waited for the argument to begin. If anything got these two at each other's throats it was-
"How are you meaning?"
Sally felt an actual jolt of surprise. Antoine's answer and facial expression were a lot milder than she'd expected. She looked closely at him, determined to work out what was happening to her old friend. Even in the yellow light of the fire she could see he wasn't glaring at Sonic. No puffing himself up, no raised shoulders. He was curious, that was all. And yet she was convinced that surely his question must have sounded confrontational to Sonic.
"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Sonic answered in what could have been described as a snap - if he hadn't been grinning when he'd said it. But Sally knew it wasn't a friendly grin. "Your English is way not cool!"
"He's not so bad," Sally interjected. The two males looked briefly at her and then fixed eyes on each other again. She found herself surprised by their intensity. Without Antoine's usual reaction it felt... different. She found herself leaning back a little, as if to keep out of their way until she knew what to expect.
"Yeah he is!" Said Sonic. And then his grin dropped. "And another thing - are you gonna take notes on not being a total wuss, Ant?"
Sally felt her jaw drop and saw looks of shock on Bunnie and Rotor's faces too before she swivelled her head in the Hedgehog's direction.
Antoine himself grimaced as if he'd been poked by something sharp.
"Sonic-" the ground squirrel started. This was getting out of hand. Arguments between these two were common, but this was a step up from the usual. Sonic usually mocked - but open animosity?
Rotor looked uncomfortable. Bunnie seemed much the same, wide-eyed and open-mouthed as she watched.
"What?" the hedgehog answered with a shrug he somehow managed to make look aggressive. "You've seen him Sal."
"That's not-" was as far as she got before she reined herself in. It was Antoine's place to answer, not hers. So instead she limited herself to an angry glare and a subtle shake of the head. Which he either didn't notice or ignored.
Antoine, when she turned her head back, looked misty-eyed. Dazed. But not angry as she might have expected. He said nothing, only looked at Sonic for a few seconds as if he was quietly thinking about what to say. "What do you say I should be writing, Sonic?"
Sally blinked with surprise. She looked at Sonic, interested to know how he'd answer.
The hedgehog looked surprised too, and then grinned as if he wanted to taunt Antoine. She recognised it as the same look he got when he got a chance to bait Robotnik. "I don't know, maybe to do something useful once in a while?"
Antoine tilted his head and even smiled a little. "Such as?"
"Whoa man, I'm not the one who stood around not saying anything to volunteer for bomb duty. That was you, man."
Sally found herself sharing a glance with Antoine. And just for half a second she saw something different in him, something she'd never seen before. Yes, there was definitely some kind of change.
Sonic bristled at their shared look. "And another thing. How about you be less of a creep? Like, a lot less?"
Antoine seemed to come out of his daze then and looked ashamed. He sighed and put his notepad away. "Well, thanking you Sonic," he said, his voice heavy as if he'd suddenly become tired of whatever he'd been trying to do. He stood up to go, but before he walked away paused and turned back to Sonic. "If I say another thing that is wrong, will you be correcting me? I will be liking to improve," he said, although his voice was flat with weariness and unenthusiastic.
Sonic laughed, although Sally wondered whether he'd have laughed at anything Antoine had chosen to say by that point. "Whatever, man!"
Antoine nodded in that tired way again and swept his glance over the others. "This request is for all of you." and then he left.
Sally and Bunnie and Rotor watched him in stunned silence as he disappeared through the trees towards home. Once he was out of earshot the ground squirrel turned to Sonic. "What was all that about?" she demanded, full of anger on Antoine's behalf.
"Sal, he's a waste of space!" Sonic had that belligerent look on his face. She knew there was no point in arguing with him once he got to that point. It didn't feel good to her.
"He's doing his best," she said, holding out little hope that saying this would change anything.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "So he's doing his best at being a waste of space. Yeah, great stuff, Sal."
Sally wasn't sure she wanted to talk to Sonic while he was in this kind of state. She decided to leave the fight there and looked at Bunnie and Rotor. The two Mobians were giving each other more uncomfortable looks.
The fire crackled on but the spark of conversation had been dampened.
TO BE CONTINUED...
DISCLAIMER: "Sonic the Hedgehog" and most other characters and situations in the following story are copyrighted trademarks of Sega Incorporated, Archie Comics and/or DIC Productions. Permission to reproduce this specific material may be granted by the author so long as you email first. Words and Seahorse character © 2013 Velvet D'Coolette/Hayley Deakin.