Young Writers Society

Gabriel shrugged.

"We have plenty of food," he replied. He didn't add that, if the need ever arose, he could go without food for a bit. It was more of a habit and a pleasure than a necessity for him. "Even if we didn't, we're in the woods. We could find something."

Pratik glanced between them, pulling a little baggie of trail mix out of his own bag. He could see Ky wanted the bar as much as everyone else could see it. He wondered what her story was. Did she not bring food? Why in the world would you come on a path like this unprepared? Why was she here at all? It was clear she was terrified and miserable, and had been before they ever set out. Was this some sort of masochism? Or... punishment? Or...?

"You should take it," Pratik said, getting the sense that Ky wanted to be told what to do. Or, at least to be heavily hinted at what to do, so that then she'd only have to agree and obey rather than make a decision for herself. "That way it'd be less weight for Quinn to have to carry around, right?"

He looked at Quinn, hoping she'd go along with it. Ky was so close to accepting the food. All it would take, he was pretty sure, was one little head nod from Quinn in agreement that she didn't want to carry around the weight of the snacks anymore for Ky to accept. Probably.

Quinn hesitated for a moment, then nodded. The snacks were practically weightless at this point, but she knew what Pratik was trying to do. She wasn't going to argue.

Ky hesitated, glancing between them. She also knew what they were trying to do. But. Well. She was hungry. And it's not like Aleth would be able to tell the amount of weight a single bar would keep her from losing. And. Well. Maybe life wouldn't be quite as terrible if she wasn't this hungry. She looked at Quinn hesitantly. "... you're sure?"

Quinn nodded again.

"I'm sure," she reassured Ky. She held out the bar again, hoping that Ky was finally going to take it now.

Ky hesitated again, guilt bubbling up in her. But. Well. It was Quinn’s responsibility to know how much food she could afford to share. And… well…

Ky took the bar sheepishly, blushing a bit as she ducked her head. “Thank you.”

Quinn gave a tiny smile.

"You're welcome," she softly said.

Gabriel, meanwhile, stuffed his now empty wrapper into his pocket. He contemplated stealing another bar from Quinn's bag, but decided to go for one of the beef jerky bags they had instead. While Quinn looked at Ky, Gabriel reached over and dug his hand through the backpack. After a few moments of digging, he successfully found his quarry.

He pulled the bag out.

Quinn turned her attention to him.

"I could have gotten that for you," she said.

He tore open the bag and opened the zipped portion with a smile. "I know."

Ky quietly, anxiously nibbled on the bar, doing her absolute best to drag it out as long as humanly possible. Your brain was more likely to send ‘I’m full’ signals if you ate for a long time, even if it wasn’t much. That, and the fact that she didn’t want to be offered another bar. She’d feel too guilty. But she’d feel awkward if she was the only one not eating. So. Milk it.

"So," Gabriel said, reaching a hand into the bag and pulling out a handful of beef jerky, "next thing on the agenda: we should probably figure out how we're sleeping tonight."

It wasn't exactly nighttime yet, but the storm showed no signs of stopping and they had just set up a camp. Besides figuring out other ways of passing time, determining what sleeping supplies everyone had would be useful.

"It's not night yet," Quinn pointed out.

"If we need extra supplies, we should probably figure it out now," Gabriel replied. He threw the jerky into his mouth, chewed it for a bit, and then swallowed. "We could also figure out how to pass the time while we wait out the storm, but."

He shrugged.

Ky didn't like the sounds of this at all. She couldn't help but remember with shame chagrin what she was going to have to admit to, and soon. Her handful of granola bars and a tiny bag of jerky, flashlight, flint and steel, and tarp. And the stupid mycology books. How in the world was she going to explain that away? She wasn't, that's how. She should just leave. Risk it.

"I've got standard camp gear," Pratik said with a shrug. "Tent, blanket, food, all that good stuff."

"Same here," Gabriel confirmed. "With a few extra hunting supplies and Quinn's spell book, too. Her backpack's bigger than it looks and feels."

Quinn turned to Ky. "What do you have?" she asked. If Ky needed any extra supplies because she only expected a hike and not camping out in the wilderness, she would be happy to share some of theirs.

“I travel light.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

Pratik eyed her. Ky’s backpack didn’t look light at all. Was she in trouble somehow? Things weren’t adding up and he was getting increasingly more concerned. But he didn’t call her on it. Not yet anyway.

Gabriel also eyed Ky and her backpack. The backpack looked like it was more loaded that Quinn's was, and Quinn's would have been heavier than most backpacks if it wasn't for the spell that she had cast on it.

When Gabriel glanced over at Quinn, she seemed concerned, too. Maybe it would have been better to walk on eggshells with this one, but it seemed like everyone but Ky was concerned about whatever she was trying to hide.

"Your bag doesn't look light," he noted.

Ky looked at him, then blushed and glanced away. “Well… it is,” she lied, pulling it closer to herself so that it was between her legs so that it would be harder to pick up and call her bluff. “…And I prefer primitive camping anyway. It… adds to the experience.” The horrible, horrible experience.

Ky didn't seem to realize that moving the bag closer to hide its size only made her case worse.

Sensing the bluff, not that was it was hard to sense to begin with, Gabriel asked, "So what's your favorite part of 'primitive' camping, then?"