20 July 2010
Mount Justice, Happy Harbour

A couple of days later and once again void of any missions—sanctioned, tests or otherwise—found the Team milling about Mount Justice with little or nothing to do. Most of the day had been spent bonding or doing more team building exercises, but now, as it crept closer to Rachel's curfew, things had calmed down some. In the kitchen, M'gann busied herself with flicking through several of the recipe books that she'd found in the library, eager to try the Earthen recipes out. Wally, of course, would be more than willing to eat whatever she made, but then again, that probably wouldn't make him the most reliable taste tester either.

Aside from Robin (who was doing the Dynamic Duo-thing with Batman in Gotham) and Wally (who had taken up permanent residence on the adjacent couch), Rachel wasn't quite sure where the rest of the Team had disappeared off to. She half-pie remembered Kaldur mentioning something about a swim earlier in the afternoon, but that didn't really help matters. As for Conner, he was likely camped out in some dark corner of the Cave. Apparently not all of his Cadmus habitual conditioning had disappeared.

Tucked into the corner of one of the many couches that lined the living room, Rachel eagerly devoured the tome, Der Fluch von Malchior, that she had picked up from the Hall of Justice. The leather bound book took up most of her lap, leaving the (now) empty popcorn bowl to languish between the couch cushions next to her. More than happy to soak up the old German words, the young witch easily tuned out M'gann's cheerful mumbles and Wally's furious channel surfing, letting them turn to white noise in her ears.

"Seen it, seen it, seen it, seen it, don't wanna see it, seen it, seen it" Wally complained as he sped through the channels. "Boring! Don't own any stocks, got a Slap Chop, seen it, seen it, seen it. Heh~I can't believe we get six hundred channels on this thing and there's nothing on!"

"Hm" Rachel hummed dismissively, though she still wasn't paying attention to the ginger.

"Ooh!" Wally grinned as he caught sight of the martian shuffling about the kitchen, his sudden motion catching the witch's eye.

Eurgh! Rachel rolled her eyes, going back to her book as the speedster hopped from the litter-covered couch and zipped over to the border of the kitchen where he tried to seductively lean against the countertop. They better not start sucking lungs!

(Speedy had been the one to introduce that particular phrase to the young girl, when she'd accidentally walked in on Green Arrow snogging Black Canary once upon a time. So of course, the archer had immediately taken the mickey, telling the wide-eyed child that his mentor was trying to suck out the blonde's lungs. Black Canary had been quick to clear that up of course, but the phrase had stuck around anyway).

"Oh! Hello, Wally" M'gann greeted as she glanced up from a recipe about seafood chowder.

"Hey! Are you busy…? Uh, I mean—what's going on?" Wally stammered.

God! This is so awkward! Rachel cringed, trying to hide behind the pages of her book (it was certainly large enough).

"Not much" M'gann shrugged, "I was just going to make a sandwich. Would you like one?"

"Oh, no thanks" Wally sheepishly rubbed his neck as he glanced back over at the pile of rubbish he'd left scattered about the coffee table and his seat on the adjacent couch. "Besides, I pretty much cleaned out everything that was in here, anyway—which reminds me! Someone needs to go shopping, you got anything planned for tonight?"

"No, I was just planning on hanging around the Cave tonight"

"Oh really? That's…çool. Hey, um, here's an idea! D'you, like, wanna go to the movies?"

"Sure! I'd love to! But I don't have any money"

"Oh…me neither"

Cheapskate!

"How about surfing? D'you wanna go surfing? You & I can hit the waves, I could teach you how to surf, Kid Flash-style!"

"Wouldn't that be better in the daytime?"

"Oh yeah…I guess you're probably right; too dark out" He hummed, arms dropping down from where he had fallen into a ridiculously over the top gesture of surfing. "…There's a full moon tonight. Wanna sit outside and look at the stars?"

"Ooh! That sounds nice"

"Great! We can build a fire and everything!"

"Oh, a fire?"

"Yeah, y'know a nice roaring campfire…oh—wait! Sorry, I forgot!" Wally replied before immediately cutting himself off as he remembered a martian's weakness to fire.

"No, it's okay!" M'gann replied, waving her hands as she tried to assuage his concerns. "As long as I don't have to sit too close…"

"Great! Tonight'll be perfect! We can roast marshmallows and everything!"

"Marsh~mallows?" M'gann puzzled, brows furrowing as she sounded out the word. "I've never had a marshmallow before!"

"We can make s'mores, y'know with graham crackers, chocolate and stuff"

"I've heard about those, but I've never had one of those either. Can we make them?"

That's…that's so sad! Rachel thought aghast as she finally put her book down. She'd barely made it through the first few chapters, but this was more important—introducing the martian girl to the wonders of marshmallows and s'mores!

"What d'ya think?" Wally asked, finally turning to her for her opinion.

"Yes!" She excitedly chirped.

"Great!"

"Oh! This is going to be very exciting!"

"Gimme a few minutes to grab everything we'll need!" Wally called over his shoulder as he shot off, racing around the Cave in search of camping supplies.

"Are you going to come too, Rachel?" M'gann turned to the young witch who now sat unabashedly watching the scene play out.

"What about the others?" Rachel replied as she leant against the back of the couch. She didn't particularly feel like playing third wheel if those two were just going to be sucking lungs the entire night. "Are they coming too?"

"Ooh! Good idea! I'll go ask" M'gann chirped as she clapped her hands, before spinning on her heel and racing out of the kitchen, after the speedster. Rachel didn't even bother to hide the smug smile that crept across her face as she bookmarked her page and set her book aside.


A few moments later, found everyone gathered out in the backyard where the tents had been set up around the campfire (courtesy of Robin) with skewered marshmallows already charring nicely. Both Kaldur and M'gann had sequestered themselves towards the outer ring of the camp in order to avoid the reach of the fire (apparently both atlanteans and martians were equally as averse to fire as each other). In front of them, Wally and Robin commandeered one of the logs around the fire, both boys already sticky with the flesh of burnt marshmallows and melted chocolate that dripped from the graham crackers held ever-so-delicately between their fingers. The ginger had been rather put out that his 'date' had been hijacked by the rest of the Team, but even he couldn't say no to M'gann's puppy dog eyes. He probably could've lived without Robin's knowing smirk, however.

"This was a great idea, don't you think, Wally?" Robin smirked up at the speedster who sat upon the log he leant against, burning marshmallow out over the flames. "Camping in the great outdoors!"

"I don't remember inviting you" Wally sniped around his umpteenth s'more. The only thing preventing him from irritably cuffing his friend around the head was the drink he held in his other hand. "Besides I didn't say anything about camping, I said camp fire—pretty big difference there. I don't even like camping outside! Unless of course, I'm camping with that special someone"

"Dude, kinda bordering on creepy"

"Well, I think all of us camping together is a wonderful idea!" M'gann chirped from where she & Kaldur sat further back, next to the chilly bin. Even from where she sat at Conner's feet, Rachel could see a nice ring of icing sugar and chocolate decorating the martian's chin from where she had devoured just as many s'mores as Wally.

"She doesn't seem to think so" Wally grinned, gesturing over towards the happy martian with his thumb.

"She's probably on a sugar high" Robin shrugged, sunglasses glistening in the firelight.

"Thanks to Wally, I got to try s'mores for the first time!" M'gann steamrolled on, the sugar blinding her to the other conversations around her.

"What can I say?" Grinned Wally, "I'm a sweetie!"

Eurgh! Rachel rolled her eyes at the terrible pun whilst she warmed her feet in front of the fire, toes flexing close enough to burn.

"Ha! Get it? 'Cause s'mores are sweet?"

It's even less funny when you have to explain it, dummy! Rachel yawned, trying to fight the tiredness that befell her, making her heavy lids droop.

On the other side of the fire, Rachel & Conner practically mirrored Robin & Wally's stances, down to the feet gliding ever so close to the flames and charred marshmallows that dripped from their skewers. Tucked between Conner's leg and the log at her back, Rachel flexed her bare toes in the warm heat that licked at the appendages dancing dangerously close (she had already been scolded numerous times for getting too close) as she watched the firelight dance in Robin's lenses. I'm so cool, I wear my sunglasses in the dark! She silently teased him (though the barking laugh from M'gann told her that the martian had probably heard that thought) as she bit into her s'more.

"So this is what you do when you go camping?" Conner sighed, disinterested gaze travelling over those gathered around the fire. "Sleep in these flimsy things called 'tents' and sit around the fire?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it" Wally nodded, "So if you feel like heading home, I can sit out here with Ms M alone…"

"You're about as subtle as a train wreck y'know that?" Robin chuckled quietly, trying not to spill the gooey marshmallow down his front.

"You're not going to catch any fish unless you go fishing, dude" Advised the ginger, before remembering the atlantean sat behind him "Sorry, no offence"

"No, usually you sit around the campfire and tell stories" Robin explained, turning back to the kryptonian.

"Oh! I would love to hear your story, Kaldur!" M'gann piped up, "Could you tells us how you became Aqualad?"

"I think he meant ghost stories" Rachel murmured as her mind turned to the ones she had been told growing up. The Cursed Crone, The Gehenna Express, Two Ravens & A Demon, A Crown of Antlers, Gems of Gehenna, Trigon the Terrible, The Great & Terrible Conquest, A Witch's Cat, A Tale of Four Eyes and so many more, (her favourite though, had to be Beyond the Forbidden Door). Though, if she were bring honest, those stories were less like ghost stories and more like familial memories.

"Oh" Kaldur blinked, as if caught off guard by the sudden request. Although that could have been in part, to M'gann's hyperactive nature brought on by the sugar high she was currently experiencing.

Hopefully, I can get to sleep before M'gann crashes. Rachel was not looking forward to sharing a tent with her later, particularly when that crash finally hit. She had a feeling it was not going to be pretty.

"I s'pose I could do that if you do not think it will be too boring" Kaldur hummed, glancing over at the others, most of whom nodded their assent.

Rachel couldn't deny that she was curious. Next to her, Conner seemed indifferent, aside from the quirked brow. Although the young witch had known the other sidekicks (sans the kryptonian and the martian) for just under six months (her own dalliance into heroism starting just a little before that), she had yet to find out how they became the beloved heroes the world knew them to be (sidekick or not, the people loved them). "Not at all!" M'gann chirped, almost buzzing in place, "I would love to hear it!"