Times by the fire

"It's fucking -december-, why is it so god damn hot?" Megan asks while taking another swig of her water bottle.

"Ah, you weren't born here I take it?" Izzy looks at her, who is starting to become a sweaty mess.  It's not our fault, nor the weathers fault, that she decided to wear a long sleeve shirt with pants on the hottest day of the week for a camping trip.

"She will need to get used to it." Sami chimes in from behind us, nonchalant as ever. "Those who cant stand the heat die under it. Usually."

"Aww, come on Sami, isn't that a bit harsh?" Izzy pushes Sami forward and hooks her to Izzy's side, keeping her head snug inbetween her arm and chest. "There are people all over the world who dream about coming over here because of the weather, so-"

"They're here for Disneyland, Six Flags, Legoland, Knots Berry Farm and Universal Studios. Maybe Seaworld too." I add in from the front, keeping an eye on the trail ahead.  "At least we're not as bad as, say, Hawaii or anything."

We, the group of four, linger on in our walk towards the campground. This was orginally Izzy's idea, surprisingly, just for her and Sami. Then Sami proclaimed that she wouldn't go anywhere far away if I wasn't there (why?) then Megan states she following us so that she could try to find my weaknessas it is her duty of a rival (again, why?) and we're here now. Even now I can still remember the look on Eightball's face when we all came in asking for a weekend off.

...Fucking cat alien. Even if I do owe him my life I'll get him someday.

"Calm down." Sami looks dejected as she says this, most likely haven given up all hope on escaping Izzy's grasp. "You can wait to vent."

And the head of orange hair to my right would like to disagree.

"Everyone, down and be quiet." At Izzy'a command we all squat down in uniform fashion, almost . A few months of training does that to people, and I was lucky enough to do both Callidus stealth training AND some Eversor training.

"The hell is it, Izzy? I didn't see a damn thing."

"You weren't trained to see things, Megan. I was." The burn aside, she is the only Vindicare among us, and I'd trust her eyes more than my own in a heartbeat.

Sure enough, some rattling of bushes nearby silences everyone. We all continue to hunker down as the sound of grass being stepped on continues to move until Izzy pops her head out and... squees in joy?

"Ahh, I knew there would be some on the trip!" We all raise our heads to see an elk wandering around about 10 meters from us. It looks at us for a while, probably due to the most mature lady here, and returns to its buisness uninterested in us.

"Yes, and there's a good chance there'll be more later on. Come on, let's at least get to the campsite before you start stalking animals." I drag her by the arm and manage to start moving. Sami and Megan sigh in relief (or grief, maybe both) and begin following.

Another hour passes until we hit the camp site, marked by the bench, the outdoors do-it-yourself grill and the "campfire", which at this point is nothing more than a circle of rocks surrounding a pile of ash. There's a big tree right next to bench, but other than that there's nothing special. It doesn't take long to divide up the areas among us; Izzy takes her her place near the tree, Sami joins mine next to the camp fire (much to Izzys dissapointment) and Megan takes her place in the middle of us.

"The hell are we supposed to do with this?" Megan comments while standing over the fireplace. "Whoever used it last left nothing for us to use! Isn't that how its supposed to-"

She's abruptly cut off as a pile of small wood logs is dumped from Izzys backpack right next to the fireplace. "All campers are expected to bring their own tools, supplies and resources, Megan. Surely I can expect you to have fulfilled those requirements~?"

Even if it was only for a glimpse of a moment, the look on her face was pricelss.

"And before you complain, this isn't like you elementary school trips." I add in, beginning to unpack my tent. "This is a test of survival, endurence and skill. Well, at least that's what I said to Eightball so we could come here. So, i implore you; what DID you bring?"

"....Soda." Right off the bat something that shouldn't be here. "Sleeping bag, hammock, toothpaste and brush, soap, clothes, phone, wallet, tablet-"

"Enough."  Sami adds in while holding her head.  "It already hurts."

"Well nobody told me what to bring!"

"Because you invited yourself. Reap what you sow."

TIme passes as we get the camp together, and right after everything is set we head out. Izzy, having pre-planned the entire event, already has a map marked with everything of interest. First place to go to was a nearby waterfall; not large but sizable enough to enjoy the view. Aparently for some it just wasn't enough.

"Ahh, I needed thisssss..." Megan sighs in relief as she dips her bare feet in the water, content on just sitting on the ground as the water runs along.

"You had no hiking shoes. Expected results." Sami talks after she finds a spot on the other end of the river, eyeing the considerably red feet.

"I thought the boots would be perfectly fine for today." She glances at the pair she took with her, brown and leather-bound.  "Guess not, but I'll be fine knowing this for later on. Give me a fucking break okay?"

"I'm not sure if you're going to get that break." I comment from the side. "From your position it's giving Izzy a good opportunity to push you in."

In an instant, as expected of a trained Eversor, her legs arch out of the river as she back-flips from sitting position and turns on landing to be face-to-face with... a soaked white shirt.

...I've never really bothered with it before, but how does she manage to keep her balance throwing knives with those huge-

"Aw, geez! You all need to stare at them don't you~?" Izzy remarks as she crosses her arms over her chest, blocking view to the red/white bra.

"I think it's perfectly legitimate for anyone to be jealous of yours!" Megan points a finger at her in protest.

"Well, I sure didn't say anything about jealousy~."

"YOU GET THE POINT THOUGH, RIGHT?!"

Shenanigans like that continued throughout the day, ranging place to place from an open meadow to the very top of a hill overlooking the rest of the park (I'm pretty sure Megan almost died there from her feet).  Once dusk began to fall we made our way back to campsite; me and Sami were preparing our dinner with a gas cooker while Izzy was teaching Megan how to set the campfire up.

"Wow, you two did a really nice job this time!" Izzy comments as she begins chewing on another piece of well cooked steak. Medium rare, always the way to go.

"Yea, I'll admit this isn't bad at all." Even Megan looks happy with her food, a light smile on her lips as some juice begins pouring out of her mouth. Pure rabbits look right there.

"It was mostly her, she just told me when to move stuff." Sami, already done with her plate, adds in when she swallows and heads back to her backpack.

"Whatever, I like food." And who doesn't? No one could rebuttle that.

Soon after everyone else had finished eating as Sami came back with- OH HELL NO.

"Sami... why did you bring any if you were only going to bring ONE?" I ask as she walks over to the campfire with a metal stick with a marshmellow impaled onto it.

"Your loss for not thinking about it." She begins to twirl the stick over the fire while everyone else watches in envy. A while later she takes the marshmellow off, reaches into her bag and pulls out... gram crackers and chocolate.

God damn it, why didn't I think of this.

"Aw, Sami! You could at least let me have a bite, please~?" I'm forced to hold Izzy in place as she begins to lean over and reach over to the now-complete smore.

"Let's at least be civilised people and maybe talk about something as she speaks?" I protest while slowly dragging Izzy back down to her seat.

"Well, what's there to talk about?" Soon after Megan asks the question Sami makes some sort of noise through her mouth and holds her hand up high. When her mouth is empty she speaks.

"Who were we before the eighth, and why did we come there?"

The campsite goes quiet save for the crackling of the fire and Sami continuing to eat her smore, the questions asks beforehand holding onto everone else's thoughts. Me and Sami have already had this conversation before so we know about each other but it's a different situation to bring these two into it.

"Fine, I'll start since one of us already knows what happens." I give in and warm my hands by the fire before continuing.

"I was an only child in my family, but I was the only thing that was keeping everything together. The atmosphere at the house was tense at best, but whenever I would come home from school, piano practice or whatever it would be a complete wreck, and either one of them or both of my parents would be bleeding somewhere." Izzy had a sorrowful look while Megan looked like she couldn't ever believe what I was saying. "I knew what was going on even if they didn't tell me, but at school I always managed to look like a normal girl. I was good at putting a mask on myself; I got it from my parents."

"That happened for a while until I became a teenager. As all of you know, reaching that age makes you more independent, or at least gives you the drive to become it. With myself gone from the house more often, the tension between my parents got worse every week." Deep breath. "Then dad snapped, or maybe it was mom. Either of them were far enough down the road to have it happen. But one day I snuck back home to hear my parents fighting like normal, until one of them screamed bloody murder." Another pause, keeping on their seats, then...

"In the end, my father killed my mom, and fainted before he could kill me." Their expressions get worse while Sami continues eating, since she knows whats coming. "Out of shock I couldn't do anything, I couldn't call the police. My fathereventually died from bleeding out, but he probably would have lived if I had called. But I just hid up in my bedroom for about two days until the neighbors called the cops because we -weren't- making any noise."

"I was kept at an orphanage until I made my contract, then ran off so they never could find me again. I just wanted to get out of there, away from the constant pain that I felt there from abandoned children. My wish was to take pain away from others and to put it onto those who deserve it. Thats roughly me today."

Again, dead silence as the rest of the group watches me put another log onto the camfire. "Sami, your turn."

"Was an orphan from birth, grew up in an orphanage, never wanted nor spoken too, joined the eighth because I wanted to actually do stuff, wished for the power that would make nobody be able to get in my way of what I want to do."

...I expected as much.

"Any, err, details?" Megan asks with some hesitation.

"Don't try to pry any out of her." Ah, the fire does feel nice. "Did that a long time ago and it didn't give to anything." She seems distraught at my story but lets it slide."

"Well now I just feel bad." She replies while rubbing her arms. "I mean, compared to you guys I've had a pretty good life. Wealthy, happy family that always pampers me and feeds me and..." Groaning she looks at the dirt, twisitng her foot into the ground. "It just got so much on my nerves. I didn't -need- them looking over me every single step I took. They also didn't let me do anything to physical when they feared that it could harm me. Isn't that the point of how you get tougher with sports!? Eightball was hesitant to even contract me but aparently my wish to be free got to him. Yea, so I had the best life any girl could have and I wished it all away just so I could do my own shit. Think what you fucking want to with it."

Megan nearly curls up into a ball but flinches at Izzy's grasp, who is lightly running her fingernails across her back. "Don't think we'll see you any less because of what you did." Izzy speaks lightly, softly. I've rarely seen her like this before, and every other time was with Sami. "I'll admit my story is bad too. I couldn't stop some bullying that was affecting my friend who later commited suicide. I just wished for the ability to protect my future friends." She immdiately turns and hugs Sami before I can reach her. "That's why I'm doing my best to protect and guide all of you okay~?"

"Mm-kay." Sami closes her eyes and surrenders to her embrace.

"Ooh, I got an idea! How about we make one of those pledge circles?" Izzy chimes in as she releases herself from Sami. "We can all make a circle pledges like in elementry school! Quick, everyone around the campfire!" I stand and take my spot on the other side of the campfire while Izzy moves Sami into position and repositions herself. "Now, everyone extend their hands out and hold hands, then close your eyes." I feel two very different hands on each side; the small ones of Sami in my right and the tense yet strong ones of Megan on the left.

"Soo.... anyone have any ideas on what to pledge for?"

"Wow, really Izzy? All this for nothing?"

"You can think of something, right?"

"I got one." I tighten my hands a bit to calm them both down. Not the best pledge, but this will work for me. "I pledge to never crumble under reality, to never falter in duty and to survive in this world at all costs." I peek my eyes open to see that everyone seems to agree with it, then close them again. "Then, one, two, three."

"I pledge to never crumble under reality, to never falter in durt and to survive in this world at all costs."

And so our pledge was made, and we continued to live in a world of magic and witches.