What's Normal Anyway?
"Relax!"
Duo, Heero, and Soda started. There hadn't been any sound, but the
constant call of birds for at least an hour, but that hadn't calmed
the ex gundam pilots into letting down their guard. The dog cocked
ears at Kit and let his tongue loll out as if laughing at her. Walking
single file down the narrow trail, the dog was closest to her,
followed by Duo, and then Heero bringing up the rear.
"Sorry," Duo told her sheepishly. "Old habits die hard."
"Did you do many missions in the middle of a forest?" Kit retorted
skeptically.
"Well... actually..." Duo began, but Heero cut him off.
"Let's not talk about that!" He almost snarled. "We did missions
everywhere, Kit, but we aren't here to relive them."
Kit was contrite. She was missing something here, she felt, especially
when she saw the dark expressions cross both men's faces. "Sorry,
guys," she sighed as she shrugged her backpack to a more comfortable
position.
"It's good that you don't know," Duo said. "Don't worry about
it." He
glanced back at Heero's dark expression. His lover was staring off
into the forest as if seeing ghosts and Duo knew exactly what kind.
The kind that he, himself, didn't want to think about either. "So,"
he
said, trying to distract them all. "Just where is this cabin of yours?"
"Cabin?" Kit snorted. "You are so soft, Maxwell. Why do you
think we
brought tents?"
"Emergencies?" Duo replied without much hope.
"Nope," Kit responded and Duo sighed.
"It's cold," he growled and huddled deeper into his coat.
"And it'll get colder tonight," Kit replied. "Deal with it.
You at
least have someone to snuggle with."
"Snuggle?" That brought Heero back to them and he grunted. "I
don't
think 'snuggling' is going to be enough to keep us warm in this
weather. Why didn't you want to wait until Summer?"
"And be eaten alive by mosquitoes?" Kit retorted.
Heero swatted at a large one trying to feast on his exposed hand and
glared.
Kit rolled her eyes. "Trust me, they are much, much worse in the
summer. There's also the black flies."
"I don't even like fish," Duo grumbled.
"That's not the point, Maxwell!" Kit exclaimed in exasperation. "It's
all about being in the wilderness, enjoying nature, getting back to
basics, and forgetting about the stress of the job. You can 'snuggle'
in the damned tent for the entire four days if you want and never lift
a fishing pole. It doesn't matter to me."
"That would be rude," Heero replied in all seriousness. "We
won't
ignore you, Kit. Your purpose for this trip was to go fishing and we
agreed to it. We will be fishing."
"You can have my share," Duo said under his breath.
"Then you'll starve," Kit told him with a scowl. "I didn't hear
anyone
say they didn't like fish when I made preparations for the trip. I
factored in fish as part of our supplies."
Heero looked concerned. "And if we don't catch any?"
"Then I have military ration packs galore and some stomach antacid to
go along with them," Duo told him. "Don't worry. Maxwell has everyone
covered."
"Cheater," Kit growled.
"Yeah, well, if you've had the amount of shit happen in your life that
I have in mine," Duo told her, "you make damned sure you have your
bases covered."
Kit bit her lip and then let it go. "Sorry."
Duo snorted at her. "You aren't going to keep saying 'sorry' through
the entire trip, are you?"
"Guess I didn't think the trip through enough," Kit admitted.
"No?" Duo replied, eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "You mean
you
didn't research what it would be like to camp with two ex gundam
pilots with hair trigger responses and a whole shit load of mental
baggage?" Duo grinned at her chagrined expression. "Don't worry about
it, Kit. We'll be fine, and you'll be fine, and we'll all manage to
have fun on this trip."
Kit smiled at him. "Thanks," was all she could think to say and then
she was turning and walking again, wondering if she had bit off more
than she could chew.
They found a camp site near a small, deep stream. Kit decided to pitch
camp on the first level surface she found, but Heero only grunted and
walked up a sharp incline to a higher position.
"Why?" Kit wanted to know as he unloaded and began putting up his
and
Duo's tent. "I'm not about to sleep on the side of a hill."
"Hot air rises," Heero told her, not stopping as he made the ground
as
level as he could and then began driving anchors into the hard dirt
with a small mallet. "It's warmer up here. Camping at the water's edge
is foolish besides. If there was a flash flood, we wouldn't have any
warning until we were washed down stream by it."
"I'll give you that one," Kit grumbled and looked for her own spot
to
put up her tent, "But I think you're just making an excuse to stay
more hidden."
Duo shrugged. "Camping right on the water is pretty well out in the
open," Duo told her. "I don't think I could sleep too well like that
either."
Kit threw up her hands. "All right! We'll do it your way! If Oz decides
to regroup and attack a couple of fishermen, we'll be well prepared."
There was a laugh. Duo and Kit looked at each other and then realized
that it wasn't either of them. They both looked at Heero. He was the
one laughing as he continued his task. Duo snorted in humor. "War
jokes, he gets," he told Kit.
Soda nosed around them and then pricked ears, quivering, when a
chipmunk came to investigate.
"He's well trained," Kit observed. "Any other dog would be making
Mr.
Chipmunk lunch."
Duo reached out and rubbed Soda behind the ears. "He needs to be. He's
a weapon as deadly as any gun. If he wasn't trained right, he might be
trying to make other things besides chipmunks lunch."
Kit nodded, understanding that, but then she asked, "You trained Wu
Fei's dog as well?"
Duo winced. "If you're going to rub my nose in that, I have to tell you
that the "Nameless Wonder' was a perfectly good dog when I handed him
over to Chang."
Heero paused and looked at Duo.
Duo glared back. "Well, he was!"
Heero kept staring.
Duo sighed in exasperation. "All right! So he wasn't the smartest one
of the litter! Still... none of our dogs ever did THAT much damage to
personal property."
"So, what happened?" Kit wondered.
Duo snorted. "Wu Fei has this... philosophy. He thinks the dog is a
person. He thinks the dog should choose his own name and decide
whether to work with him or not. He lets the dog have 'free will'. Of
course, I call it 'free reign' and I don't think that's a good thing
at all. Nameless is going to remain nameless because dogs can't talk.
He's never going to tell Wu Fei his name. And, as for letting his dog
choose, dogs will choose to eat a whole bin of dog biscuits and eat
your shoes. They aren't going to choose careers."
Kit cautiously reached out and scratched Soda behind an ear as well.
"Are you telling me, that if Soda wanted to stay home rather than be a
Preventer pooch, you wouldn't let him?"
Duo's mouth went into a thin line. Kit laughed and wagged a finger at him.
"Okay, softie! You can't lie to me!" Kit scolded. "Don't even
try to
deny it. You're just as bad as Chang."
"My dog isn't chewing up my furniture," Duo shot back.
Kit snorted. "No, just chewing up your tent stakes." She boldly pulled
a chewed plastic anchor out of Soda's mouth.
Duo took it, blushing hotly as he gave it to Heero. He growled, "Fine
soldier you are. A dog steals supplies right under your nose!"
Heero didn't look up as he began tying the tent to the anchors. He said
pointedly, "You didn't see him do it either."
"Bad dog," Duo admonished Soda and Soda perked up his ears and wagged
his tail.
Kit laughed and mocked, "Ooooh! You're scary when you discipline!"
"She mocks me, Heero," Duo complained as he bent to help Heero raise
the tent.
"Nice," Kit commented. The tent was a two room affair with a screen
'porch'. "Where did you two get that antique thing? What's it made out
of 'canvas'?"
"Yard sale," Duo replied. "It has room and I like room. None
of the new
bio tents have that."
Kit took a small package from her pack and tossed it at the ground
after pulling a tab. It sprang open in a dome shape, large enough for
a person to stand up in at the center. "I'm willing to bet that your
tent won't keep out the cold or the wet," she said and ran a hand over
the wall of her tent. "You just can't beat micro fibers."
Heero eyed Kit and her tent. "You will be in our tent by sundown and
reluctant to return to your own. That is my bet."
"You're on!" Kit laughed and then held her nose. "What IS that smell?"
Duo shrugged. "If you keep canvas all tied up for awhile, I guess it
gets a bit..."
"Mildewy?" Kit supplied.
"Canvasy, not mildewy," Duo corrected.
"Well," Kit replied as she pushed her things into her tent and then
began putting in the tie down stakes, "The smell alone is going to
keep me out of your tent, so I think you are going to lose your bet,
Agent Yuy."
"Now! Now!" Duo admonished. "No calling anybody agent anything.
We are
not Preventers here, we're fellow campers."
"Got it," Kit replied sheepishly. "Am I supposed to forget that
whole
'war hero' thing too?"
"No, you can still worship us, if you want to," Duo quipped back.
Kit growled and threw a handful of leaves at him. "I think I'll refrain
from worship for the duration, thanks."
"If you're sure?" Duo wondered with a faked look of concern.
Kit glared and he laughed.
They finished their tents and Kit made a fire pit between them.
"Why?" Heero asked, eying the pit critically.
"Well, " Kit replied. "It's just nicer than heaters and gas
cookers."
When Heero still looked puzzled, Kit said in exasperation. "You have a
fireplace in your house, right?"
"Atmosphere," Duo explained to Heero. "All that smoke and cutting
and
carrying wood is supposed to make camping more fun."
"Who's suppose to maintain it, or do we take turns?" Heero wondered.
"Taking turns would make it fair," Kit replied and then she
straightened and put hands on hips. "You'll appreciate it much more
when we cook. Nothing tastes better than food cooked on an open flame.
Gas and cell stoves just don't come close."
"You're the expert," Duo replied, making a saluting motion. "We
defer
to you in the 'how to make this camping trip fun' department."
Kit sighed. "Well, number one, stop trying to be efficient, and think
more along the lines of medieval. It's not about conserving, making
easier, or even making sense. It's about roughing it and getting back
to nature."
"Okay, oh 'One with the micro fiber, pop- up tent'. " Duo chuckled.
Kit arched an eyebrow. "Point taken. It's too late to change that now,
though, but, if you insist, I'll sleep with you guys in Mr. Mildew."
Duo snickered and almost said something, but then Heero cut in tersely,
"We both have... problems. That wouldn't be wise."
It soured the moment. Duo frowned. His mood became noticeably dark. He
turned away, growling under his breath, "I'll get the firewood."
Kit watched him walk off into the forest with Soda at heel. "Don't go
far!" she called after him. "You can get lost very easy!"
She turned to Heero then, shoved cold hands into her coat pockets, and
then dared, "You didn't have to say that."
Heero paused in his work and looked up at her. His expression turned
grim as he said self deprecatingly, "You're right, I didn't. You know
about us. That comment was unnecessary." He looked after Duo. "Was
he...?"
"Yes, he was upset," Kit told him quietly.
Heero stood, dropping his tools. "I need to talk to him, then."
Kit watched him walk after Duo and she sighed as she rubbed a hand
across her face and then turned back to her work, saying under her
breath, "Damn."