[YouTube Video]
Swan Says Making S'mores Is Hard
ClarityIsClear
10k Views / Posted 2 hours ago
(The first motion captured by the camera is the wild splash of a body hitting water, a spray that foams white, the choppy surface of the water roiling as a body thrashes beneath the water - and then, a dark head pops out. It's a young man, a water-soaked but recognizable Seth Clearwater, who bobs on the surface of a dark blue-grey ocean for a moment, only to let out a whoop that echoes loudly.
The camera zooms out, eventually revealing that the camera has a birds-eye view of the waters below. When the camera aligns itself with the view from the top, it is to settle on a group of bare-chested, russet-skinned boys with shining white teeth and dark eyes, each of them also wet, evidently from the ocean water below.
"This is cliff diving," Leah Clearwater's voice comes from behind the camera. "See, what happens is these fools fling themselves off this cliff - it's about, oh, 100 feet or so I think - and then dive into the ocean. It's a blast, really. Better than any rollercoaster."
"It's dangerous," comes a quiet voice from the side. The camera turns, following the voice, settling on Bella Swan, who is gnawing on her lip and watching the boy in the ocean swim back to shore.
"It's not that dangerous," Leah counters. "Everyone does it."
Bella wrinkles her nose. "Not the best argument, sis," she says, then raises her voice to parrot a tone used by mothers worldwide. "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you?"
Leah laughs so hard the camera shakes in her hand, briefly pointing at the ground and the bare feet of the girls who stand at a safe distance from the cliff. The camera rights itself and Leah says, "Yeah, okay, but this really is a lot safer than it looks."
"You would say that," Bella snipes. "You have no sense of self-preservation, either!"
Leah sighs. "Seth is fine. Look at his dumb, happy face!"
Seth, who has come back to shore and hiked back to the top of the cliff, flashes a thumbs-up sign as he jogs by. He is smiling, wide and goofy, but it doesn't seem to calm Bella at all.
"I can worry," she mutters. "Sisters are supposed to worry."
Leah reaches out, pokes Bella in the cheek, and has her hand slapped away. Bella, olive eyes riveted on the boys rough-housing at the cliff, huffs and stares at the camera with silent challenge.
Behind the camera, Leah's sigh is audible. "Okay, yeah, it can be dangerous and you can definitely worry. But it's really not that bad. See, look!"
The camera turns back to the boys. They seem to be deciding who is going to do next. Jacob Black, wearing the tightest swim trunks known to man, much to the apparent delight of one of the taller, broader guys, seems to be elected to go next.
He struts up to the cliff, chest puffed out. "Watch how it's done, boys," he says, stepping back as if to prepare for a running leap.
Before he can jet off, though, Seth shouts, "Have some style! Do a flip!"
Jake turns and gives the younger boy a stink eye. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not fancy enough for you?" Jake sneers. "I guess I should just die then."
The tallest guy, notably a little older looking than the other boys, crosses his arms over his chest and snorts. "Go ahead," he jeers. "The cliff is right there."
"Paul! Keep it up and see how nice I'll be later," Jake threatens, face puckering in annoyance.
Paul's eyebrows lift. "I can take whatever you can dish out, babe. You don't scare me."
"You-!"
"Ew! Gross!" Seth cuts in, hands raised as if pleading. Behind him, two other boys exchange mild expressions. "We don't need to hear you flirting. Just…just do your jump and let us take our turns."
"Oh, I don't have to do a flip?" Jake asks sardonically. Nonetheless, he does take a running leap, throwing himself in a graceful arc off the side of the cliff - and he does wind up doing a single flip before he touches water.
Paul wolf-whistles.
"You're both so gross," Seth whines.
Paul smiles sharply. "Sure we are, virgin."
Seth flushes, shoves at Paul, and before Paul has a chance to retaliate, dashes off to take his own dive. Just like the first time, he rises from the water with a gleeful sound, swimming over to dunk Jake in the water right before he reaches the shore.
"See," Leah says behind the camera. "Totally safe."
"Unless Seth annoys them to the point of homicide," Bella says flatly.
"A risk he takes everyday anyway," Leah says sagely.
Bella makes an aborted sound of exasperation. "Can you even record any of this? Is it allowed? We're on tribal lands…"
"Indian Country Etiquette only applies to visitors," Leah answers smartly. "I'm fully blooded, sis, so I do what I want. But," Leah adds after a pause, now notably addressing the viewers. "If you ever do happen to find yourself on a reservation, don't be a dick, okay? Ask permission before you take pictures or touch anything or go anywhere. Got it?"
They fall silent, the camera continuing to show the boys taking turns cliff diving. At some point, it becomes obvious that the footage is speeding along, faster and faster, until the sun is setting and the boys are no longer diving off the cliff. Leah must set the camera down somewhere, still pointed at the water and the sky - in fact, the camera seems partially submerged in water, because the high tide covers the bottom half of the screen and allows glimpses of the deep-dark of the rising waters. The camera captures the way colors watercolor over clouds, the transition as stars and the moon emerge in a mostly clear blue-black sky.
When the camera angle shifts again, it is already late, dark enough that the video quality suffers a bit, bolstered only by the presence of a crackling fire. A dozen people, most with familiar faces, are gathered around the fire, but the camera zeroes in on Bella Swan again. She's donned a denim jacket over her plain shirt at some point, her hair pulled away from her face in a messy bun. She sits on a log, knees pulled up to her chest as she fiddles with a long, thin metal skewer.
"Here it is, the content you've been waiting for," Leah says as she moves closer to the fire. "Wait! Let me do my best David Attenborough." Leah stops, clears her throats, and zooms the camera in on Bella. In a dry, poorly-done British accent she says, "Here we have the illustrious anthropomorphized Swan, a majestic creature that eats and eats, but cannot feed herself unless the food is prepared in a microwave."
Bella cuts an unimpressed glance at the camera. "I can hear you, you know."
Leah's imitation continues. "Unique to this Swan is the delusion that it is capable of discerning human speech."
"Unbelievable," Bella says, rolling her eyes and seemingly deciding to outright ignore Leah as someone passes her a bag of marshmallows, which she wastes no time skewering and holding over the fire.
Leah narrates the entire thing, as if this is a nature documentary. "Ah, watch as the Swan tries her hand at roasting a delicacy to her kind, a giant marshmallow. The Swan pits the marshmallow, copying her peers as she rotates the - and it's on fire," Leah says abruptly, capturing the exact moment when the marshmallow, held too close to the fire, blackens and catches flame. "It's on fire already? This is a record."
"Crap!" Bella yelps, quickly standing as she pulls the skewer out of the fire. She blows frantically on the marshmallow.
"Put it out!" Leah says loudly.
"I'm trying!" Bella shouts. She gives up on trying to blow the fire out and unceremoniously drops the whole skewer into the sand, which douses the flaming marshmallow immediately. She sighs explosively, hands on her hips as she stares down at her failure.
"You were doing so well," a low female voice says warmly. The voice is sitting on the other side of the fire and cannot be seen.
"No, she wasn't," Leah counters bluntly.
"Leah!"
"What?" Leah fires back. "She wasn't! She set it on fire! I'm just being honest."
Bella pouts, plopping back down on the log.
Seth, sitting beside her, finishes pressing graham crackers and chocolate around a perfectly roasted marshmallow. "Here, have this one," he says.
Bella smiles shyly. "Thank you, little brother."
Seth waves her away. "Yeah, yeah….It's safer than letting you do it, anyway," he adds.
"Making s'mores is hard!" Bella says defensively.
Leah snorts. The people around the fire snicker, some outright laughing. Bella, if possible, eats the s'more sullenly.
The video cuts out after another view of the moon rising over the ocean, followed by a link to the Quileute Nation website.)
Comments
ZomZomZombies
Okay but Bella's face at 13:44 is priceless lol she's like, oh f***!
HeartsAPlenty
I too think making s'mores is hard!
Yaheard
Okay but who wants to go clif diving? It looks so cool?
Twiiilit
My boi JB tho XD those SHORTS
PeterPanda
Haha I have a friend who would love to make s'mores with Bella
A/N: More on Quileute Nation next chapter! To a certain reader, I heard your observation on Native American erasure, so I hope that the next two chapters hit the right notes - this is how I would like to see this issue represented, anyway.
Next update tomorrow!
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it. Stay safe, stay at HOME , and wash your hands.
~Rae
