Young Writers Society

"A long time ago," Gabriel said. He didn't specify how long ago it really was. She didn't need to know—and probably shouldn't know—that he had read it right around when it came out. "I've read most classics."

Quinn glanced at him again, a mischievous glint to her eyes and a smile dancing on her lips. "...It's because you're old."

Gabriel gasped in mock horror. He put a hand on his chest for good measure. "You wound me, Q."

(haha mood there's been so many ;-; )

Ky smirked, looking between them. She'd also read most classics -- and found almost all of them intolerable. The plot wasn't anywhere near good enough for her to tolerate the haughty and pretentious language. "Which one is your favorite?"

"Besides Frankenstein?" Gabriel asked.

He looked over at Quinn, a smile starting to sneak onto his lips again.

"Great Expectations," he declared, and Quinn immediately gave him a weak but annoyed push at the answer.

That one had no form changing involved. Quinn just hated it, and Gabriel knew Quinn hated it. "You don't even like reading Charles Dickens."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gabriel innocently said. "I'm very much a fan. Didn't you know I have a collector's edition of Great Expectations-"

Quinn gave him another little shove.

Pratik looked between them and raised an eyebrow. They very much seemed like a couple of dumb kids bickering with their siblings. He supposed he’d need to keep an eye on all three of them. Hopefully they’d make good choices whenever they got to something actually scary.

Gabriel's grin just grew when he noticed Pratik's raised eyebrow. He would have messed with Quinn regardless, but having someone else that was clearly reacting to the teasing made it even better.

"It's actually Dante's Inferno," Gabriel relented, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I like Virgil's take on Hell."

Ky nodded. "That's a good one."

Good enough, anyway. She still didn't see why she wasn't allowed to read books she actually wanted to read. What would it hurt Aleth, to let her read a fantasy novel sometime? It wouldn't. It wouldn't hurt anything at all.

"Thanks," Gabriel said. He raised a hand up to his forehead and looked up past the treeline, noticing that the woods had suddenly grown darker. It looked like some clouds had rolled in. There was no sign of rain—yet—but Gabriel was glad that Quinn's pack had an umbrella.

Ky followed his gaze, and a shiver ran down her spine at the thought of bad weather. Had Aleth packed anything for that? Probably not. She bit back a sigh. She supposed she should probably see what she had sooner rather than later.

But, then, it's not like she could do anything about it no matter how poorly he packed her. So what was the point in checking now? She may as well just wait until they stopped for the night.

"...Do you think it's going to rain?" Quinn asked. The question was spoken as if it was directed at everyone, but Gabriel knew she was really asking him. Rain made things tricky. Clouds made things tricky. If this trail had any partials, they were going to be more present with bad weather and nightfall. It was something about the light levels, Gabriel guessed. That's why you never really saw them haunting out in broad daylight.

"Hard to say," Gabriel replied, eyeing the clouds above them.

Pratik looked at the sky, too. "I think we can make it a bit further before we need to make camp for the night."

That was a good assessment. Gabriel nodded in agreement.

"What supplies do you have on you?" he asked. It was a last ditch attempt to see if Pratik was a hunter. He was starting to doubt it at this point, but it didn't hurt to check one last time. He had to be aware of what Quinn and him were getting into.

(ahh sorry! tank u for the boop -- you know, I just discovered a half-written auto-saved reply... I... must have gotten distracted haha)

"Ah, you know, normal camping stuff," Pratik said vaguely. They didn't need to know how many weapons he had stashed among his things; didn't need to know the blade he had strapped to his forearm even now. There was no point in worrying them when things were peaceful, and well, if something were to go down, then he assumed they wouldn't be too awfully opposed at him having protected them from it all.

Still.

"Hopefully brought enough, in case any of you forgot anything." He offered a smile. "How about you?"

He looked at Ky.

She shrugged and looked away. She didn't know what Aleth had had Yeona pack for her. And she didn't want to admit that fact. But she also couldn't very well claim she had a laundry list of supplies in case Aleth had not, in fact, sent her with them. He was fairly angry with her, which meant she probably didn't have much. She just hoped he'd given her a bit of food. And, maybe, a tarp to curl up under if she was lucky. She hadn't been expecting company, and she didn't know how she was going to explain her paucity of supplies.

Quinn, though she didn't know that Ky was also questioning how she could explain how little supplies they had. She could have left it to Gabriel. He could have probably improvised an answer. But the whole point of their deal was that she was supposed to become more independent. That she wasn't supposed to keep living in people's shadows, and that she was finally going to be someone other than Quinn Holt.

"We also brought camping supplies," Quinn said. She readjusted the straps of her backpack. "I've been trying to work out, so I made Gabriel pack his supplies in my bag to make it heavier while we walked."

If Ky or Pratik had looked closely, they would have realized that Quinn's backpack was barely big enough to fit one person's supplies—much less two people's.

Pratik glanced at her backpack, not buying the story, but there was nothing to be gained from calling her on it. Instead, he nodded. "That's very kind of you."