448/Camping and Hotdogs

Camping and Hotdogs
Date of Scene:	14 October 2015
Location:	Japan
Synopsis:	Gaofele and Runealy go camping, and Gao teaches Rune how to roast a hotdog.
Cast of Characters:	Runealy Waldia, Gaofele Doiru

---

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Early evening in the forest, and there's the crackling sound of a well-contained fire. It's been quite a while since Gaofele had been able to truly relax in the forest; his stint guarding the portal to Waldia had been one of watchfulness, not recreation.

Still, it had been good to get the practice in, and with Runealy feeling better, why not make sure that she's getting in some practice as well? It's been a while since Gao had last gone camping with Rune; it had been something they did on occasion back in Waldia, and they hadn't had that much spare time since they arrived on Earth. They had checked the portal earlier, finding no emergency messages sent, and so they set up camp a distance away from the portal -- less likely to draw attention to the portal, after all.

Gao nodded as the larger pieces of wood caught fire from the kindling. "Excellent -- good airflow, and large enough pieces to supply plenty of coals to cook over," he remarks.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
'Practice' might have been a relative thing in Rune's case. Between her diminished health - she is improving in some ways, and the long-term prognosis is good, but the therapy involves unavoidably triggering secondary damage from the demon poison she used - and general lack of talent for 'domestic' tasks, she ultimately only helped with the small things and otherwise needed to be guided through most of the steps involved in setting up camp. Despite having done this more than a few times with Gao in the past.

Now she's standing by the fire, looking impressed. "It's amazing how you can think about things like that. 'Airflow', and making sure you've got the right size of wood for it... pretty neat that you can just keep that straight in your head and have it be so easy."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Growing up with it helps," Gao points out. "Think about how much I /still/ struggle with courtly protocols." While he knows enough to avoid causing incidents, there's no way he'd ever be mistaken for an adept courtier. "But like everything else, knowing the 'why' of how something works can make it easier to remember how to do it."

To make the camping somewhat easier, Gao had gone shopping with Hinote to pick up some gear that was more modern than what the Waldians had brought. While it's not the extra-fancy, newest materials and simplified designs kinds of things, it still makes camping slightly easier and notably more comfortable. Metal skewers and the like for cooking, for example, and tents that zip closed instead of having to be tied shut. Warm sleeping bags, instead of wool blankets. Things like that.

Gao knocked apart some of the burned-up kindling with a poker. "In a way, fire is like a living thing," he remarks. "It needs food to eat and air to breathe. If the fuel is bigger than it can consume, it'll have problems, like choking on an too-big bite of food; not enough air, and it will faint away."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Huh... I guess you're right," Rune admits on familiarity and one's environment. She paces along, checking out some of the things Gao has brought along for this trip. "So you're managing it pretty carefully, in that case? 'Food' and air, but got the right mix like a person... wow." She laughs, "I've never actually asked you about the 'how' behind a fire, but you're really smart to be able not only do it right, but tell me how you're doing it! You know,"

She pokes a finger at the tent, "I wonder if using Earth items for this feels like cheating, when you're able to do it with what we have back home?" Her tone is fairly light, she's probably more curious rather than seriously accusing Gao of 'doing it wrong' by using more advanced equipment.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru nods. "Small fires are pretty fragile. The trick is getting them large enough to be sturdy and useful, while still keeping them under control," he points out. He does smile a bit at Rune's compliment of his skills. "Guess I just have practice with explaining things from the other times we've gone camping," he remarks.

He chuckles a bit at her comment about using Earth camping gear. "You should've seen some of the other camping gear they had -- portable stoves, tents fancier than some small cottages I've seen, lights for chasing away bugs..." He shakes his head. "Good skill can manage with average gear better than average skill can with good gear, but good skill can still benefit from good gear. And Earth does have good gear."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune heads back to the fire, leaning down to look more closely - but not too close, even she understands 'fire bad!' if one lets it get right next to their face - at it as Gao explains. And she has probably needed many such explanations over the years; she finds his 'world' fascinating, but does not truly /understand/ it... in much the way a rich patron of the arts might feel good supporting an artist, but doesn't really grasp how painting works.

His insights on Tokyo's camping products also cause her to go wide-eyed, astonished. "Really? I mean, I get the 'skill over gear, but skill and gear is nice' part, but... they have lights that get rid of insects for you? And tents that amazing? Hey." She pauses for a moment, rising up slightly to face him instead of the flames.

"Do you want some of that stuff? It sounds like some of it we can't really take back home, but we could use it while we're still here. Just something fun for you to play around with, maybe get some new ideas on things?" She seems fairly enthused with this idea, eager to help out a friend and be a 'patron of the environment-expert', perhaps.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Maybe some of it," Gao admits after a few moment's thought. "The portable stoves sound interesting, but most of them use fuel canisters. Still, some of them work off of charcoal; those designs might work better."

A grin crosses his face. "Still, giving some of those... 'propane' stoves a try might be interesting," he nods. "And as for the insect lights... well, they sorta glow, and they help get rid of bugs. Not something we've been having problems with at the apartment, and it apparently needs a fuel canister and some other stuff in order to be used out here."

He prods the fire a bit, checking how well the logs are burning. "Good, good," he murmurs. "Starting to get some nice coals on these." He walks over to the small ice chest near the tent, then rummages around in it to find the pack of hotdogs they brought. "Hinote mentioned that roasting these over the fire is a common Earth tradition for camping," he notes as he opens the package and pulls out a hotdog, then carefully threads it onto the skewer.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune listens with a mix of genuine interest and lack of comprehension; Gaofele liking these things is good enough for her. "Then get them. I'll cover it. Even if we can't bring them back, get them anyway. You more than have it coming. I said it before for the wrong reasons, so now I'll say it for the right ones."

She makes a sharp nod to Gao, even as he prepares snacks. "You're a huge part of why we're here. Why we made it this far, why we're in that apartment because we're making better choices now, why we're focusing on helping the people of Tokyo back while they're getting me back to one hundred percent instead of zero percent. I really can't say enough about what you've done. So you do that."

She carries on a bit longer in a bit of a rant: "You get your fancy better-than-a-cottage tent, and bug light and propane stove cell phones," she's still working on that little flaw in regard to Earth inventions, "and anything else, and roast whatever food you want in whatever way you want, Earth's way or our way or any way. You've earned it... thank you for being amazing!"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru smiles warmly as he readies a second skewer as well. "I think there's enough coals to start cooking," he notes as he hands a skewer to Rune. Kneeling near the fire, he carefully reaches his skewer into the fire, resting it on one of the burning logs while the hotdog is held near the coals on the other side. "Flames are great for light, but coals are better for heat," he explains, watching the hotdog cook.

After a while, that side of the hotdog looks done enough. With a small rotation of the skewer, Gao flips the hotdog, and lets it finish cooking. Standing up, he takes one of the hotdog buns and carefully uses it to pull the hotdog off of the skewer. "Go ahead, give it a try," he says encouragingly.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Supposing that Gaofele wants to keep things simple on this outing, Rune lets these other topics go and plays along with discussing the camp-fire and food. And so she watches with quiet attention as he works, looking at the results. "Sure..."

She takes a moment to look the hot-dog over. While it might not be an entirely alien food idea, this specific form of it is novel to her. There's not only brief hesitation though, as she takes a bite, chews on it, ponders it... and then her taste-buds make their verdict, one she voices: "Pretty nice!"

The second bite comes more quickly, as she nods over at Gao. "Mm... yeah, you got this."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru takes the second skewer and starts cooking the hotdog on it. Sometimes it's easier to go forward and do something that you know how to do than to respond to praise when you can't find the words to do so.

"I'm just glad that you /are/ getting better," he finally says. "I know that it's actually working out better the way things wound up happening, but I still feel like there was more that I could have done."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"You did plenty. Think about it," Rune adds between bits of food. "You found a good place for us to get our bearings. You talked Hinote into sticking around when I would have chased him off. You, along with the person you talked into being with us, stopped 'that man' from ruining everything when I messed up in the alley that day."

Her head shakes a few times in slow consideration. "Any one event could have gone differently, and we wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here. The things you did helped bring us to this specific point. So," She slips around to sit beside Gaofele, using her free, non-eating arm to wrap a one-armed hug around him, "Just keep that in mind. Because of you, I'm getting better when I would have stuck with doing a lot of really dumb things. You're pretty much the best friend I could think of."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru leans into the hug while he swaps the skewer from one hand to the other, then one-arm hugs Rune back with his now-free hand. "Thanks," he smiles, feeling more content than he had in a while.

He gazed into the fire, watching the hotdog cook while his mind wandered. If it wasn't for the Earth-based items, this could easily feel like one of their camping trips back in Waldia, before they had to come to Earth. Just him and Rune, two longtime friends from very different backgrounds, hanging out and learning more about each other's pastimes.

The smell of slightly overcooked meat breaks him out of his reverie. "Whoops, wasn't paying close enough attention!" he yelps, standing up and pulling the hotdog away before it gets overly burnt. He blows on it a few times, then pulls it off of the skewer with a bun. "Guess I'll be eating this one," he says with a rueful shrug.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Huh?" Rune is likewise jarred to reality when Gaofele is. "Ahh! You're right... um." She thinks on it. It would be easy for her to just go along with that; it's common enough back at the castle, the princess gets the best and is not shown the rejects. She has that luxury back home and it's very convenient indeed.

"It's... not that bad, is it?" She decides to do something different, that a friend should probably not be given second-rate either. "I could go for that one and you redo yours without me distracting you?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru takes a bite and chews on it for a bit. "Eh, not bad for campfire-cooked meat," he remarks after swallowing the mouthful. "Only slightly scorched, and that's just on one side."

An idea comes to his mind. "How about if you try cooking one yourself?" he suggests, the smile on his face just a bit too impishly wide to pass for angelic. "I'll put the hotdog on the skewer, then you can hold it in the heat."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"If you're sure," Rune concedes, letting him take the hot-dog in question. Then he has an idea. This might be a terrible idea. Rune has almost no cooking experience. She's not sure if Gaofele knows that or not.

"Okay?" She sounds less than confident on this. Willing to try, but oddly more daunted by this than she might be in facing demons. Someone taught her to face demons. Her cooking lessons have been cursory at best.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
While Gao might not /know/ if Rune has cooking experience, he strongly /suspects/ that she doesn't. He hands her the skewer, then steps towards the side of the fire. "Kneeling on one knee means that you can get the hotdog closer to the heat without having to bend over," he suggests. "And you'll want to hold the hotdog over the heat, without bumping it into the logs."

He mostly takes a hands-off approach to this, although he does make small directional gestures with his hands and index fingers to help Rune guide the hotdog to a decent cooking area. "When it looks cooked enough on one side, turn it over and cook it for about the same amount of time on the other side," he says encouragingly.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune takes the skewer with uncertain hands, as if she had just been asked to prepare to do surgery and has no idea where to begin. She's hesitant to kneel, too; not too wild about getting her outfit dirty, it seems. So she ends up just leaning over anyway.

"Right, got it..." Partially 'got it', anyway. She ends up putting the hot-dog right on the fire itself, then quickly realizes that's a bad idea and pulls back a few inches. "Ah, how will I know when it has been long enough?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru smiles -- for a beginner, Rune is doing decently well. "It will have dark brown spots on the side closest to the heat," he explains. "In fact... it's about ready to be turned over." It's not in immediate danger of scorching, but having some warning might give Rune enough time to help keep it from getting to that point.

"So far, so good!" he beams. Just one side to cook...

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune almost panics when told it's about time. "Ah!? R... right," very hurried rotation follows, as if she was worried it's going to explode if over-cooked. A moment to take a breath and calm down follows. "There... was that about how it goes?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Yup!" Gao nods. "Now you just have to wait until both sides are like that, and you'll be done!"

He does walk over and pat Rune on the back. "It wasn't in danger of immediately catching on fire or anything like that," he says reassuringly. "I just wanted to make sure you knew what to look for while cooking these."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Ohh..." Rune finishes settling down, now only slightly hesitant as she continues to mind the food-prep. "Think I've got it. Once it's done..." She thinks, visibly pondering this really hard despite Gaofele's back-pat; what's the right call here?

Then she thinks she has this, too. "Split it? Half and half?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele Doiru thinks for a moment while he grabs a bun for the hotdog. "Sure," he smiles warmly. He had been thinking of letting Rune eat the fruits of her effort, but he also knows that she want to make up for the slightly overdone hotdog. Given both of those, splitting it seems like a fair compromise.

"Ready when it is," he nods, watching the hotdog while it finishes cooking.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Left with some guidance and Gaofele watching over her efforts, even Rune with her caution and lack of experience can't really get this wrong. It might not be ideally timed, but eventually she pulls the skewer back and offers the food to Gaofele, "Think I got it?" She's unsure, but it looks about right to her and seems to match his advice, more or less.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
After a quick look-over, Gao nods. "Yup! Looks great; good job!" he declares as he uses the bun to pull the hotdog off of the skewer. He pulls out a knife and carefully cuts the hotdog in half, offering the first pick to Rune and eating the other half himself.

And you know, the thing about sharing food with a good friend is that it makes their personal triumphs, no matter their size, taste just that much better.