April. A very successful and romantic camping trip p.2

Gar shot off running towards the lake as soon as Vic stopped the car. Dick got the mental image of a dog being set loose on the beach.

The others got off from the car at normal speed, and Vic leaned against his car to peer at the lake. "Okay, looks like the lake's not frozen."

"Yet," Dick replied. They observed Gar, who was almost at the lake. They would never use him as a guinea pig—but if he was already going ahead on his own, they weren't going to stop him. He stopped by the shore, plunged his arms into the water, and all seemed good, so they resumed conversation. "There's still the chance it freezes at night," Dick finished.

Vic was noncommittal. "Let's make camp," was all he said.

He opened the trunk, lifted a bag and his arm shot up. He looked at the bag, wondering why it was so much lighter than he expected. "Whose bag is this?"

"Mine," said Raven, reaching out for it.

"Did you, uh, follow the list?" he asked her.

"No," she replied, taking her bag and walking away.

"Gar!" Dick called out.

Gar turned around, and they saw he had about half a dozen frogs crawling up each arm. "Yeah?" he replied.

Dick stared at him for a moment, wondering if there was really something about Gar that attracted animals. "Come get your bag!"

The first thing Vic did was hook a couple of loudspeakers to his car and play more music from his phone. Raven had hitherto been looking at the trees and sky thinking this would be a perfect spot to meditate, perhaps even on her feet as they went about. That was out of the question now.

Dick had gone to observe the lake up close. He was visibly disappointed by the time he came back. He looked up to Vic, who was smiling at him for some reason. "Guess this is really just a road trip now," Dick told him, sounding sorrier about it than he meant to.

Vic chuckled. "Come on. Let's fight against some evil tents. You'll feel better."

When Vic looked over, however, Kori was holding one of the tent bags, dutifully reading the instructions, and Vic got a glint in his eye. "Uh, Dick, you and Kori can handle this one, I'm gonna help those other two unload!"

Raven was unloading the car with Gar when Vic skulked towards them. He craned his neck to shout back at Dick and Kori, "Don't worry! We got this!"

Raven scrutinized him. She'd been glad to see Victor was more of a team player lately—but now he was being too accommodating.

"Vic, what are you-?" she began.

"Sh!" he cut her off, which got Gar's attention.

He peered at Dick and Kori, saw them laughingly attempt to mount one of the tents, and leaned in closer to Raven and Gar. "Listen up. I'm giving those two a chance to be alone. This is when they're getting together, okay? In this trip. This is it."

Raven and Gar exchanged a puzzled glance. "Because you just decided it?" questioned Raven.

Vic turned to them with a determined look in his eyes that they had thus far only associated with Dick. "Because it's a camping trip. This is where stuff happens! You know—you get a nice fire and you sit by each other, the girl gets cold and you lend her your jacket, you roast marshmallows for each other, you stargaze, you end up alone in a spot of the woods and you start making out…"

Raven was floored. "That's idiotic," she said. Just when she thought she got her friends…

"You guys just follow my lead," said Vic. "I'm gonna get these two in a relationship by the end of this trip, you two just watch me."

He didn't say 'If it kills me', but it was implicit in his tone.

Raven looked at Gar to see if he was as disturbed as her. Gar shrugged at her.

"You wanna try to do the other tent?" he asked her.

"Sure," she replied.

When they set up lunch, Kori had brought enough pots and pans that Raven was glad to not have brought her share of cooking utensils. Vic pulled out sausages from an ice chest. Gar failed to tempt them with his tofu dogs.

In the afternoon they organized a volleyball match, where the net was a line in the dirt. Raven stayed on the sidelines to referee.

After that they split for a while. Gar had run off in chasing a fox. Raven picked out a nice shady spot next to the tents and settled down with her book, but when Kori came to join her, she put it aside and talked to her instead; the view of the forest was too nice to stare at a book anyhow. Dick offered Vic they take a little hike, which turned into a climbing competition when the terrain turned steep.

When they came back to the campsite, Kori and Raven were still talking.

"I wonder what they talk about," Dick mused.

Vic cupped his hands around his mouth to yell out, "Who's hungry?"

Kori came running over, because she had been promised the traditional s'mores.

"Where's Gar?" Dick asked, looking around. Raven shrugged.

Vic cracked open his fire starting kit and got a fire going in minutes. They made a circle around it.

Gar appeared shortly after, shirtless and dripping water.

"Gar, you swam in the lake?" asked Dick, stunned.

"Sure did," Gar replied.

"But it's freezing," said Dick.

"Yeah it is!" Gar agreed, and shivered. "You guys should definitely not go in there."

Gar made for the bags, seemed to think twice about it, and turned back to his friends. "Uh, did any of you guys bring a towel?" he asked sheepishly.

Vic shook his head. "Nope. Wasn't in the list."

"Because it's too cold to go for a swim," said Dick, sounding annoyed that this could pass for an oversight on his part.

Raven waited until the last possible minute. But when everyone else shook their head and shrugged, she sighed, got up and went towards her bag. Gar followed her gratefully.

"Hey Raven, are you actually magic?" Vic asked from the circle.

"What?" she replied.

"Your bag was light as a feather. But you still brought everything you needed. Do you have a Mary Poppins bag?"

"Oh, yes. I have the magic of prioritization," she replied dryly, and held her towel out for Gar.

Gar was grinning widely at her, showing off his underbite. He opened his mouth to say 'Thanks, Rae'. But then he got another idea—he rose his dripping arms and lunged as if to hug her, going, "Thaaank youu, Rae."

Raven threw the towel on his face to defend herself, and got away to their other friends, who laughed at Gar's antics. Gar dried himself off and then draped Raven's towel over his head and shoulders as he joined the circle.

Victor was glancing at Dick. "Hey Dick, Kori looks cold."

Dick and Kori both looked at him, puzzled.

Kori said, "No I am not."

Gar was eventually dry enough to put his shirt back on. He handed Raven her towel. "Thanks, Raven. I'm warmer now."

Gar, who had been tasked with bringing the ingredients for s'mores, distributed the crackers, marshmallows and chocolate between his friends. He watched as Raven gingerly picked a cracker and split it, because it was what the others were doing. "You know how to make them?" he asked her.

"Doesn't seem like rocket science," she replied, defensive.

"No, because it's an art. Observe." Gar took the cracker halves from her, set the chocolate on one half, topped it with a marshmallow and the other cracker half, and gave the s'more to her. "Here. Be amazed."

Vic got inspired watching them. "Hey Dick, why don't you make one for Kori?"

"Oh, I wanted to make one myself," said Kori. "I brought peppers to try with them." Kori produced no less than three bell peppers and tucked them in a s'more between chocolate and marshmallow. Her friends watched the whole process. They should be used to Kori's odd palate by now, but they weren't.

Vic was disappointed but not deterred. He insisted, "Dick, why don't you show her the right way of making them, huh?"

Dick and Kori both turned to him in confusion.

"Let her do it how she wants to, jeeze," said Dick.

Raven tried her s'more. Because Gar was watching for her reaction, she challenged him, "Is this still vegan?"

"'Course it is," he said. "Graham crackers are vegan, those are vegan marshmallows, and chocolate is chocolate."

"Marshmallows are made with honey," Raven said.

Gar replied, "Harvesting honey is good for bees. If we didn't do it, the hives would overcrowd and rot." It was only when she looked unsettled that Gar realized she'd been challenging him. She didn't reply and he smirked at her knowingly. "Surprised you, didn't I?"

Raven ate her s'more and didn't look at him. "Fine, you did your research," she muttered.

Gar didn't respond, but glowed like he'd been handed a prize.

Dick was prevented from enjoying his own s'more by Victor's burning glare. "What, Vic?"

Vic snapped out of it. "What? Me? Nothing." He looked away and pretended to be plotting nothing.

"He's still trying, huh?"

Raven said this in an amazed tone as Gar sat next to her on the towel she had set on the ground. A distance away, Vic was painstakingly lighting a bunch of candles in the dark night.

"He's trying to set some sort of stargazing scene for them," Gar said. He had taken one look at what Vic was doing and decided to go sit with Raven.

Raven shook her head. "He's taking his breakup terribly."

"What?" Gar returned.

"He's throwing himself in Dick and Kori's relationship to distract himself from his own breakup," she explained.

"Oooh," went Gar. "That's what's going on?"

They watched as Dick came out of the tent and saw what Victor was doing. They couldn't hear, but they saw plain as day that Dick was questioning him, Vic looked sheepish, and Dick looked increasingly suspicious.

"No amount of stargazing is going to make Dick and Kori take a step forward," said Raven.

Sometimes Raven gave those affirmations and Gar didn't know if she just knew things about everyone. Were they opinions or decrees? "You sure about that?" he asked tentatively.

"It's what I think," she shrugged.

So his doubt went unanswered. They watched Vic light a growing number of candles, with no end in sight. After Dick had walked away he'd just gone right back to it.

"It'd be funny if this ended with us starting a forest fire," Raven commented.

Gar snickered. "Only you can protect our forests from talentless matchmakers," he quipped, putting on a TV announcer voice, and glanced at her to see if she laughed. It was a groundless habit at this point. She never did.

"I've never seen the stars like this before," she said instead, looking above.

"You've never seen them outside of a city?" he asked. She shook her head. "When I lived in Upper Lamumba I saw them like this all the time."

She paused. "You lived in Upper Lamumba? In Africa?"

Gar had said it without thinking, and now he experienced an onslaught of conflicting emotions. Horror at realizing he was opening up too close to his Nope zone. Confusion that she didn't know this already, because ever since she read him with her Tarot cards, he'd just assumed she knew all about his life. Relief, because if she didn't know about this, maybe she didn't know that much at all. Pride and surprise and glee that he'd gotten her to ask a follow-up question. Anger that the one time she did, it was about something he didn't want to answer.

In the face of all that conflict, what he chose to do was get up and run away, claiming that he heard someone calling him.

Raven was left staring after him, completely taken aback. She'd thought they were having a normal conversation for once. She truly would never understand that boy.

And like all things she didn't understand, Raven let it be.

Gar untied the strings of his rolled-up sleeping bag inside the boys' tent. From here he could hear Dick and Victor argue outside. Gar set to eavesdropping, and found out that while Kori had loved the candles when she'd seen them, Dick had refused to stay out stargazing, and Vic was trying hard not to show he was pissed off about it—if he wasn't trying to do anything, there was no reason to be upset that it hadn't worked.

"But what were you trying to do with those candles?" Dick asked. He sounded like he was trying to keep his tone light and playful.

"What do you mean?" Vic asked, trying to sound innocent. "I wasn't trying to do anything."

Gar covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

"You know what I mean," said Dick. "Who are you trying to make this trip romantic for? Are you trying to get with Gar or something?"

"Yeah, right. I barely like him as a friend!" Vic laughed.

Inside the tent, Gar's smile twisted. He tried hard not to let that sting—he knew Vic was probably joking. He told himself as much.

But when he heard the two come near the tent, he got out of it through the opposite flap. Just in case. He didn't want to see if their faces fell when they realized he'd heard them—then he'd know for sure they hadn't been joking. He came out into pitch darkness. When his eyes adjusted, he realized he was still holding his sleeping bag, so he just rolled it out next to where their fire had been and got inside it.

There, looking up at the stars, he went through the whole trip in his head. He'd been annoying in the car, yes; then he'd imposed tofu on the group, when he knew they would say no; then he'd bothered Raven out of her towel. Those things were fine if you were a liked member of a group; not when you were the kind of friend the others barely liked.

Gar wasn't sure what category he fell in with these four friends. All his life he'd been in the latter one, and that he knew for sure—people had let him know about it. He'd always been the annoying one; he'd always been too much.

What if he was still there? How would he know if he'd stopped being unlikable? Maybe he wasn't better, maybe he and his peers were just older, and these kids in particular were too nice to reject him outright. Maybe he was only in this group of friends because he'd wrung his way in. Maybe the others didn't like him as much as they had just… given in. Maybe his place in the group was shakier than he'd ever thought.

Garfield wasn't able to shake his dark thoughts that night; he just fell asleep on them.

Kori came out of the tents first the next morning. She breathed in deeply, filled her lungs with the fresh morning air and smiled at the rising sun. She went to wake up Gar, who was asleep belly down next to where their fire had been.

"Gar… Gaar," she called softly.

Gar raised his head to see Kori's sweetly sleepy face, with faded makeup and hair still wrapped in a scarf. He gave her a thumbs up and planted his face back on the ground.

Raven came out next, surprised to have woken up with the sun well up in the sky. She had pictured she would naturally wake up early and get some nice meditation time by nature. But instead of introspective, she woke up cranky from feeling dirty all over. Why did people go camping? What was the point?

Eventually the boys' tent stirred. Raven heard the sound of deodorant being sprayed and held her breath for the next few seconds.

Dick and Victor went by the lake one last time. Vic said, "We've officially been here twenty-four hours. Call it a day?"

Dick nodded. "Yep. It was nothing but a rumor after all."

They had apparently made up since last night.

The five set up a quick breakfast of cookies and powdered milk with the lukewarm water from Kori's thermos. Then they started loading up Vic's car.

Gar gave a final stroll along the lake. His ears prickled. Something was wrong—it had been wrong for a while, but he'd been too sleepy to realize it until now.

"Guys," he said. "I can't hear anything."

"It's the lack of Vic's music," said Dick, "he'll fix that soon enough."

"No, really, listen," said Gar. "…There's no birds."

Later, they would say it was mostly Gar's warning that gave them a sense of dread of what was to follow. But perhaps they would have felt something in the air even if he hadn't said anything.

In any case, there was a crackling sound—unsettling, not so much for being loud as unnatural. They turned to see the lake turning to ice before their eyes.

I'm uploading on Thursday next because both this and next chapter came out shortish… it was all for the sake of the cliffhanger :)

PenJunior: I AM having a blast writing this story, thank you for noticing! :D Gar definitely is/will become the group's wildlife expert, we saw a bit of that in this chapter; mostly his being at ease in the outdoors, and remembering Africa (which you once again kind of predicted!). I'm glad you like my take on Raven, Azar and Arella! As much as I enjoy the excessive Marv Wolfman-style trauma cocktail of her backstory that's so very comic like, I was interested in exploring how that would translate from interdimensional demons-scale to a mostly-civilian life. I love your trying to guess who Trigon is—he's gonna rear his ugly head soon enough.

Kori's for sure getting her focus chapters soon! As for video games, they're a constant for the boys, you can assume they're always playing them in the background; I do have a subplot with a video game mini-tournament between the boys in the horizon, eventually. (Also, check your PM's lol, I sent you one!)

Tythos: Ahh I'm blushing! I wanted to take Raven in a new direction (and Azarath, and Arella, and yes, eventually Trigon) and I'm so happy it's working and you're enjoying it! Thank you so much!