Load-bearing
"Oh, cool!" gasped Timothy in surprise. Wendy put one of her hands up to her mouth and yawned. "Are you already tired?" Carla asked Wendy while cocking her head to the side. "Mmhm." Wendy nodded for added emphasis. The three looked at the entrance in unison as if willing the others to come back.
They heard some footsteps, then heavy breathing, and Lucy appeared with a huge stack of wood and sticks in her arms. She dropped it a couple of feet away from the four closer to the entrance of the cave and continued panting with her hands on her knees. She had a few minor scrapes on her bare legs because of her wearing a pink mini-skirt instead of some pants, but she didn't pay the small wounds much heed.
Happy's figure appeared in her wake. He walked, holding a few sticks in his arms and dropped them on top of the huge stack. "Seriously," Lucy started to complain, "Natsu didn't just have to leave us, no, I mean ME with this huge pile to go running off on some goose chase!" Happy smiled, looked up at her and replied, "It didn't look like a goose to me. And, I carried my share…" Lucy held in her smile and scoffed, "Yeah, three whole sticks!" She pointed to the top of the pile. "Lucy," Happy said in a serious tone, "I think your voice is getting louder everyday. Maybe you should see a doctor before it causes an earthquake or more importantly breaks my ears." "Hmph! Breaks your…. ears?" Lucy started to laugh uncontrollably.
"I may guess that you are not the only person tired here," Carla said to Wendy with a small smile on her face watching the scene in front of her. Wendy yawned again and slid off of the stony seat to walk to Lucy and Happy slowly. Carla crossed her arms.
Lucy's laughing jerked Tiger awake. "Wha-?" He rubbed the back of his rounded ears with his paws, sat up and looked around blearily. He groaned. Then, he looked up to see Timothy and Carla on the stone seat.
Carla asked him point-blank, "Sensitive hearing?" Tiger nodded. Timothy looked at him with some sympathy and said to him, "Too bad we can't use the mushrooms as earplugs." "It's alright," Tiger murmured. Carla looked bemused for the second time that day.
Then, a soft clanking was heard of metal upon metal along with more laughter. Except, this time it was more like a crazy cackling. Natsu and Erza walked in the cave towards the woodpile. Natsu carried a big beast on his shoulders that looked like a white wolf with pink spots. It had bony projections on its back following its spine down to its tapered long tail. He laid it on the dirt packed floor and announced, "Meat, everyone!" with a silly grin. Lucy stared at it bug eyed, wiped her eyes, and shook her head in her tiredness. "Natsu, are you seriously planning to butcher that?!" she asked with concern.
Later, they all were gathered around a decent sized fire. It was now night. The fire was kept closer to the entrance since Carla suggested that the placement would keep the cave more insulated. Wendy had silently thanked Carla in her thoughts.