The Original Roleplaying High School Side-Story: Camp Dares

"Ah, um, are you sure that's safe?" Seraphim asked. Eliot was splashing around, bubbles coming to the surface, and then slight stillness. "I-I don't think he's okay!" She was starting to panic.

Eliot actually was fine for a few more seconds. Temari has surprised him, and if he were a normal human, he might have been in trouble. But he had a plan.

He ducked out from under Temari's hands, knocked them away, and resurfaced, coughing and spluttering. "You could have killed me!" he informed the girl, still choking out water.

"I thought those only lived in southern swamps," Aden said, a little surprised to see a crawfish. "If we can get enough of them, I know how to make a really good boiled batch."

"Hot dogs are made of ground up pork squeezed into a sausage. At one point, they used to be made of whatever was left over--kinda like chicken McNuggets--but now they tend to be made of the cheaper cuts like shoulder or the back."

"I don't care. It's meat." Eliot took a huge bite of his hot dog and ended up eating it in three bites. "Can I have another?" he asked the cook.

Seraphim accepted her hamburger, and after decking it out with pickles, ketchup, tomatos, and lettuce, took a big bite. "It's really good, Yuuta!" she said brightly.

"Yeah, maybe in the ancient days of sausages," Aden scoffed, bopping Temari on the head. "Don't gross people out while we're eating."

"I knew someone who makes hot dogs. They don't." He finished his hot dog and looked to Yuuta for help controlling Temari and her exaggerations.

"Are they ripe?" Seraphim asked excitedly. She ran up to the tree and stared in the branches. The fruit was higher up, so it was hard to tell. "Lemme check." She stretched her white wings and fluttered up to the peaches. "They look ripe to me!" she called down, picking an armful and gliding back down with them.

"We could make something like a cobbler here," Seraphim suggested. "I brought cake mix and we've got a dutch oven. We could make a dump cake. All you've got to do is dump the cake mix and sliced peaches in and cook it in the fire."

Aden scratched one of the cat's ears and it purred happily. "I was wondering when these two would make their appearance," he commented. "They're sweeties," he told the others. "Just be careful they don't sleep on your face. You might suffocate."

Eliot inched away from the cats. He didn't like cats, and it didn't help that the wolf inside him was a little dog-like when it came to cats. He had to resist the urge to chase one of them. So he stayed close to Rena, hoping he wouldn't have to look at the cats.

Seraphim laughed. "Sure. You can cut up the peaches, Temari," she said happily. "Oh, and I have some canned fruit, too, since the cake's supposed to be made with those for the liquids. How about peach and strawberry spice cake?"

"Yes, please," Eliot said, gladly taking Rena's hand and heading for the trail she had mentioned.

"Sorry," he whispered, "cats get the wolf riled up..."

Seraphim grinned. "Temari, help peel and cut up the peaches while I get everything together to make that dump cake. Yuuta, we need a hot fire to cook it in." She left the peaches with Temari with a knife and Yuuta to start the fire while she went to get their dutch oven and the other things she needed.

"Wow, you're pretty handy with a knife, Temari. Remind me never to get on your bad side." Then Aden thought of something. "Hey, Yuuta, maybe we should put the coals from the grill in the fire, too. That way it'll be hot enough for the cake to cook."

Seraphim came back with the dutch oven, two cans of strawberry pie filling, a stick of butter she'd tossed in the cooler to be used tonight, and two boxes of cake filling. She dumped in the pie filling, the peaches Temari sliced, and then the two boxes of cake mix. Then she cut the butter on top and put the lid on. "All right. Now we just stick it in the fire and wait for the pie filling to bubble up and the cake to cook."

"If they don't wake me up, we'll be fine," Eliot replied as they walked. "It's really nice out here."