UN: itsybitsy

[tothefly]

[public voice, January 25th, a few hours after all the videos are over and everyone's on the way back:]

Natasha here. Everyone keep an eye out for foxes around the temple. The big orange-brown variety, in case there are others. That sound they make? Apparently can teleport you. The range would be impressive if I weren't so irritated.

I'm here with Ezio and Hawke. 'Here' is apparently south of that mountain range. We're going to follow the river we've just hit and see if we can go around the mountains instead of back over them. It might take a while.

Everyone I was with--sorry to leave so suddenly. I didn't get much of a choice. I'll be home soon as I can.

[Private to Bruce:]

Don't worry. The people I'm with are skilled. We're going to be fine. Postpone date night for sometime week after next?

[Private to Betty:]

Looks like this has turned into a sightseeing tour. Feed Ginger while I'm gone? If you need gloves there's a spare pair in my dresser, top drawer.

Comments

[chondrion]

Winter here seems to mostly be gray, but I did arrive at the beginning of January, basically, so that's like arriving when even winter is over herself.

[ It's probably true she needs to live a little. It's not like she went into cold storage after Bruce tackled Harlem like it was a quarterback instead of a large neighborhood in New York City, but...it's possible she was in a rut? ]

I'll bake you a cake. The oven on will help me stay warm, and the cake probably won't be terrible even if I'm pretty sure the flour we have right now is made out of something like barley.

[tothefly]

I'm sure it'll be delicious regardless. Probably better than the charred rabbit we're going to be living off of for the next...however long it takes us to get back.

[Betty's one of the few people who so far have witnessed her atrocious attempts at improving her cooking skill. It's shameful, really. Better for everyone if she doesn't try.]

[chondrion]

You should really try to get stranded with people who can cook now and again. Bruce, as we all know, burns popcorn regularly, so he wouldn't be any better.

[ It hasn't been pretty, but Betty is still convinced that Nat just needs to keep practicing. Surely anyone who knows that many ways to kill a man can also figure out when to baste the pseudo-chicken. ]

[tothefly]

I'm sure Hawke is better at it, but it doesn't seem fair to make her do the hunting and the cooking. Although I'm sure by the time we're halfway back, I'm going to be voted away from the campfire.

[Someday she'll get it. But today is not that day. Betty has heard the tale of the Day She Burned Water.]

[chondrion]

Well, you know, it might be charred, but I doubt you've got the ingredients out there to poison them accidentally, so it could be worse.

Probably a few ingredients to poison them deliberately, but surely no one's snoring is that bad.

[ Betty needs a project, and if that project is convincing Nat to use her impressive attention to detail to pay attention to the pot on the stove, well, there are worse things. ]

[tothefly]

[She does pay attention! She pays a lot of attention! Somehow things just Always Go Wrong. Betty, it's a curse.]

Thank god, no. Poisoning takes too long, anyway, gives them too much time to call for help. It'd be more likely if I came back alone, my accidental camping buddies having tragically fallen off a cliff or rolled into a river.

[Not that she'd do that. Of course.]

[chondrion]

[ It's a long time past the time Betty might have been perturbed by theoretical conversations of this type. Sometimes she wonders if she ever had really been perturbed. Conversations had occasionally floated out of the General's study, when he'd actually been home. ]

Poison is always a risk that way, unless it's paired with something like a sleep aid.

[ She laughs. ]

If anyone can manage to be listening in on this, I'm going to get weird looks the next time I go to the Inn.

[tothefly]

[She's smiling, too, still irritated at her general situation but smiling.]

Actually, I think us being housemates will make a lot more sense to anyone who might listen in.