Chapter #6: Campfire Stories

“You need to rub it faster!”

“Bitch I’m goin' as fast as I can!”

“…You’re practically destroying that twig. Geez! Calm down Popeye!”

“Oh?” Brian whipped his head to Diantha; she leaned over Brian, judging his performance as he rubbed a kindling against a tree stump. Brian handed the kindling to her. “Okay Britney Spears! I’d like ta' see you try.”

A haughty smirk spread through Diantha’s lips; she yanked the stick out of Brian's hands. “Watch and learn, big boy!”

Aden watched his two companions struggle to light a fire at a distance. He had set his goal aside and was distractedly enamored by their conversation. Infatuated, his eyes couldn’t stop admiring them; Brian and Diantha were so cool! So pretty!

“Aden. Please focus. We need to gather wood for the fire."

Aden snapped his attention back to Noriko, who was just a ways off. She could only carry a few twigs with one arm, so Noriko had asked Aden to help her collect wood for the fire.

Now remembering his goal, Aden nodded in recognition and apologized. He snapped the nearest branch off of a nearby tree and added it to the collection of firewood in his arms. The sticks crackled against each other as he arranged them for his own comfort.

What had followed that awkward silence when Diantha asked if anyone knew how to start a campfire was Brian’s lazy shrug. “Can’t be too different from the movies, right?”

Noriko would have explained to Brian how that was a completely absurd assumption, but she was cut off by Diantha’s surprising agreement. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re right. Even if it’s not completely accurate, it’s all we got to go on!”

Aden was quick to agree, despite having no idea what Diantha and Brian were talking about, and that's how their current situation came to be. Diantha and Brian tested their theory while Noriko and Aden gathered wood for the campfire.

Aden’s collection of wood became too full for him to carry, so he skipped towards the twig pile accumulating close by the kindling stump. Dumping all the twigs in one go, he was, once more, distracted by Brian and Diantha.

Diantha furiously rubbed the stick against the stump; her hands were a speedy blur at this point. Brian almost looked impressed, but there was still no trail of smoke or anything that signaled that the teeniest ember had been created.

“I'm definitely watching, but I'm not sure if I’m learning. That all ya got?” Brian gave Diantha a sly smirk, cutting through her pride. She grimaced in frustration.

Diantha blended the stick against the stump even faster, which was somehow possible for how fast Diantha already was rubbing it. A strange electrical spark briefly flashed around her fingertips, and a pink glow flickered from under her sweater.

...Bam! A bright light nearly blinded Aden, Brian, and Diantha herself. An ear-splitting buzz echoed throughout the forest.

When Brian and Diantha's vision recovered, they found that the entire stump was consumed in flames. Smoke curled up from the embers and scented the air with an ashy foulness. Diantha and Brian — in a state of panic — crawled away and hollered.

“What the fuck did you do you crazy bitch?!” Brian shrieked accusingly, glaring daggers at Diantha. He was more scared than angry at her; his quivering body made this apparent.

Diantha gave Brian an unsure shrug, studying her hands in shock. “I…I don’t know!”

Aden had curled up into a ball at the sudden explosion, covering his ears and whimpering in fear. Noriko, who wasn’t very far off, witnessed the explosion and raced towards the scene as fast as she could. “What happened?!” She yelled out, panting for breath.

“Diantha set the fuckin' stump on fire!” Brian motioned to the said fiery stump.

Noriko gawked at the blazing stump. Breathing in, and breathing out, she flapped her hands to calm herself. Ok! Ok, there was no need to panic! The stump was on a barren patch of ground, so there wouldn’t be a forest fire.

In through the nose, out through the mouth. “Everyone, please remain calm. This is, technically, what we were trying to accomplish.” Noriko reasoned. She stopped flapping her hands; she really hoped no one noticed her doing that.

Aden slowly removed his hands from his ears. He opened his eye and peaked at the fire before cautiously straightening himself up.

“…Yeah. We uh...certainly have a campfire now,” Diantha muttered to herself with an unsure smirk, trying to comfort herself.

***

Aden was sent to collect more sticks for their new campfire. Diantha came with him this time. “You look exhausted, Noriko. Sit down and rest a bit.” She had urged Noriko before wandering off to aid Aden.

So Noriko was now left by herself. Brian sat lazily on the floor next to her, leaning his chin against his hand.

“…So, How’d you find us?” Brian finally asked, awkwardly.

Noriko sighed, pressing her face against her scrunched-up legs. She rubbed the gem embedded on her forehead. “…I heard your thoughts.”

Brian blinked for a solid ten seconds. “…Huh?”

“I was…distracted by something when I heard voices that were not my own. When I realized my gem was glowing, I made the connection. Listening to Aden’s thoughts made me aware of the flowers he left behind, which led me to you three.”

“…Huh.”

“You think I am insane, do you not?”

“Did you get that from reading my mind?” Brian scoffed and rolled his eyes.

Noriko shook her head. “No.” She replied, almost in a whisper. “I can just tell.”

Silence. Only the crickets occasionally chipped in to fill the forest with noise.

Brian finally answered her question. “You’re kinda right, I guess. You sound like a goddamn lunatic, but Diantha set a goddamn stump on fire, so…” Brian turned to Noriko, only to find her dozing off.

He cleared his throat, Startling Noriko awake. “I am sorry.” She muttered, a small yawn escaping her throat. “I think I almost fell asleep while you were talking. Did you say something-“

“Lay down and go to sleep.”

Noriko wasn’t surprised by Brian’s bluntness; she was more surprised by what he told her to do. “I need to wait for Diantha and Aden to come back. We need to settle who is going to keep watch first, and-“

“We’ll do that shit for you. Go to sleep.”

“…Interesting how you seem to care for my well-being despite, as you’ve said yourself, 'us all being strangers-'”

Brian forcefully shoved Noriko to the ground, frowning in embarrassment. “I’m not that much of an asshole,” was all Brian retorted.

Noriko didn’t bother to protest. Sighing, she shifted to the side. A few seconds later and she was fast asleep.

Soon afterward, Diantha and Aden came back with more sticks to fuel the fire. Diantha eyed the sleeping Noriko and smiled. “She looks peaceful like that.” She whispered, crouching down next to the one-armed girl. “She’s taken the initiative to guide us so far. She deserves a break.”

Brian grunted in agreement, facing away from Diantha.

Aden skipped over towards Diantha. He was about to shout out his thoughts, but Diantha put her finger to her lips, Warning Aden not to wake Noriko up. Aden covered his mouth, nodded, and muttered an apology before speaking his comment in a whisper. “I hope she feels better.”

“Yeah, me too.” Diantha's smile faltered at Noriko’s red and puffy eyes.

“So, who’s gonna keep watch first?” Brian interrupted the moment, lazy-eyeing Diantha and Aden. “’Cause it’s not gonna be me.”

Diantha narrowed her eyes at Brian. Lazy-ass. “Ugh, Guess I’ll do it then.” Diantha huffed out.

Aden raised his hand. “I could do the watching!” Aden offered enthusiastically.

“That’s okay, Aden,” Diantha replied. She gently patted Aden’s back. “You almost got eaten by a tiger today. You deserve a good nap.”

Aden was saddened by the rejection. His smile morphed into a disappointed frown. “But I want to give help…” He remarked with a yawn. Brian almost snorted at Aden’s grammar, desperately hiding an amused smile.

Diantha gently reassured Aden that Brian would wake him up to do a shift. That seemed to be enough reassurance for Aden, who skipped towards a spot close to Noriko and laid down. Brian himself shifted to the side, facing away from the others. It was assumed he fell asleep.

Diantha sat down next to Aden and watched her surroundings in boredom the same way one would watch paint dry. Nothing much happens in a forest, not for the human eye to see anyways.

Eventually, Diantha noted that Aden still wasn’t asleep. He laid on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.

“Can’t sleep?”

Aden shook his head.

“…Maybe a story would help?” Diantha suggested. There wasn’t much else Diantha could do; it's not like there was a glass of milk to heat in a microwave for him.

“...Story?” Aden raised his eyebrow in confusion. The word seemed almost foreign to him as he pronounced it slowly.

“Y’know, a story? Like Little Red Riding Hood, or Jack and the Beanstalk-“

“¡Ah! ¡Historia! Story!”

“Yeah.”

“I know one.”

Diantha was, needless to say, intrigued. “What’s it called?”

Aden retreated into his mind. Eventually, he found what he was looking for there. “…Children of Lir?”

Diantha blinked. She had never heard of that one before. “…Maybe telling the story will help you sleep?” Listening to some folktale would be more entertaining than sitting here by a fire, observing the darkness in silence. “Do you remember how it goes?”

Aden's eyes furrowed in thought. “Only parts…Lir was ancient king of the sea. He had a wife named Eva, who he had four babies with. The most old son had name of Aodh, the daughter had name of Fionnula, and the twin boys had names of Fiachra and Conn…”

Diantha listened to Aden’s story with a soft smile on her face, twirling her hair with her fingers. Brian, who was still awake, listened in secret. The redhead's tale lulled him to sleep.