hot bear summer

sawyer rhodes / 28 / insurance agent @ shroomstate / horror queen

[hotbearsawyer]

[ As a token of their appreciation for attending their party, Baz sends Sawyer a large oil painting. In keeping with the theme of the party, the painting is of... Baz. At least they're clothed? ]

[Sawyer is thrilled! She hangs this up in the ShroomState office because it needs more art. Such a boring office, but now it has this. Great!]

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] Do you though? Seems to me like you're caught up more on your feelings. What you want. Trying to force me to confess to you, the truth you want to be told? What version of the truth works for you? Do you want me to tell you a truth you want to agree with? Or do you want the truth?

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] What I want? Ursa Major, you're such a dick. So what that I have feelings! Breaking fucking news, some of us have those!!! I'm not trying to force you to do anything. I just want to know why you're trying to gaslight me by ignoring everything I'm saying and sending to you. Fine, what's the truth then? What's your truth?

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] Maybe because it's not worth the effort to convince you of something you refuse to believe, regardless of what the truth is. You don't care about the truth. You only care about being right. That's the only truth you care about here, isn't it? 😌

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] What are you talking about? I do care about the truth. The truth is that you are ignoring everything I've been saying and trying to cast me as the villain here. Why? I don't know! We were having a normal chat, and you decided to get all rude and obnoxious. You called me a bitch and implied that I'm a cunt, and what, I'm just supposed to just act all happy and friendly about that? No.

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] Well, I'm pretty bad at it if I were. [Disappears for several hours after being shown the screenshots, and doesn't remember them when he comes back]

Fine. Have it your way.

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] You are bad at it, that's true! You're so not gonna convince me of a damn thing. I know what our conversation has been, unlike you.

I will have it my way! By the way, I've noticed I'm not the only person pointing out your attempts to gaslight them. [user links Rory's post.] You're doing a terrible job at this if multiple people are pointing it out to you. Just shut up and admit you're wrong or whatever!

[madisonnotmaddie]

Well, that is not correct but I respect that it seems that way to you. Everyone has different vibes though, don't they?

Even though it's not real?

Well, thankfully, I care enough to maybe outweigh the people who don't care. But also it's not a big deal if people don't like math.

[hotbearsawyer]

Dude, you don't have to respect it lol.

[...] Do you want the blood and gore to be real?

Sure, great, awesome. So do you only like math or do you have any other interests?

[necrosemancy]

Yeah. Graphic novels, novels where Victor Frankenstein's a woman, versions where they're both women, versions where they're in love, comedy versions.... If you can think of it, there's a chance someone's written it.

[hotbearsawyer]

Huh, weird. But I guess that makes sense since its in the public domain. You can do all sorts of things with it. Like that Winnie the Pooh movie that those people made a few years ago. [...] Someone should do a movie with Winnie the Pooh, Frankenstein, and Dracula.

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] [Growing frustrated with Sawyer blaming him for things he is certain he didn't do, he taps on his keyboard for a moment, thinking about what to do next, before typing]

Don't know what you're talking about. What screenshots? I don't see anything except for us talking about gobf and innocent stuff like that when I scroll up. What are you talking about? You're right. It's not your problem.

So let's just drop it and talk about something else, alright? I'm sorry for what I typed before. I didn't mean to upset you.

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] Dude, are you fucking gaslighting me? [User sends screenshots of their text exchange that shows when she sent screenshots. She also resends all of the earlier screenshots.]

No, I actually won't drop it. I want to know exactly why you're acting this way. Why are you so interested in lying?

[hotbearsawyer]

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Kelly's House PARTIES: @kellydays & @hotbearsawyer SUMMARY: Sawyer just wants to float in a stranger's pool, but Kelly wants that bugbear off his property. CONTENT WARNINGS: none!

The early morning sun shined down on Sawyer’s face as she floated on her back. Her eyes were shut as she floated in the same spot, soaking in the early rays as the world slowly woke up around her. She didn’t fully remember how she ended up in the pool—mostly she remembered Baz’s birthday party and leaving at some point once all the people got too exhausting for her. But now? Now, she was fully relaxed in the water. She knew that she probably needed to get out of the pool before the homeowner woke up, but even as she floated closer to the side and ran her paw along the side of the pool, she couldn’t convince herself to pull herself out of the water.

She pushed off the wall and back out into the pool and floated some more. She deserved just a tiny bit longer in the pool. She had a rough week at work, dealing with some humans talking about…things. Sawyer couldn’t remember now. Didn’t matter. She was in a pool. Floating. Relaxing. Eyes closed and almost drifting off to sleep until—

A door shut. She opened one eye as she tilted her head back towards the direction of the sound. She heard footsteps and looked up to see some guy standing on his balcony looking down at her. Sawyer growled in annoyance. She spun around on her back so she could better face the man standing there. She had hoped that she could have just a few more minutes before dragging herself out, but now she’d been spotted. She considered a couple options: scaring him with an illusion, getting out and running away and acting like a normal scared bear, or floating on her back for a while longer. 

Floating on her back for a while longer sounded better. So Sawyer floated, splashing her paws around in the water. 

—

Kelly woke up with a hangover. Or, ugh, no. Not quite right. Waking up hungover implied he wasn’t still, maybe, a little bit, drunk. Hell, could strike “woke up,” too, if he wanted to get real technical about it. (Had he slept? Headache might be from the sleep-deprivation. God, to be a slayer and not need sleep.) Kelly ran through the night. Called out to a reported chemical fire that even dispatch was dubious about. Right to be dubious, since it was just a rager. Giselle had called him surly (sue him, his spat with Daniel had him out of sorts), had cut him from the shift, and, from there…

The ranger blinked against the early morning sun, glanced down at his chest. Oh. Right. B for bare-chested. Party requirement. Hopefully Giselle had picked his uniform shirt up from wherever it had landed, before she’d left. (She had left, right? How had Kelly gotten back? Hauling a drunk firefighter in a work vehicle… Kelly was sure that, even inebriated and, technically, off shift, he would’ve balked at that. It was the one hole in his otherwise in-tact memory.)

Arm was still fucked, so there was that. Getting shitfaced hadn’t sped up the healing none. Damn.

Sunlight would help. (Further proof that he wasn’t hungover. Take that.) Kelly pulled himself out of bed. Flip was off with… Zack? Bethany? Breakfast or an errand? Any other post-shift morning, Kelly wouldn’t be home, yet, so he still had time to make himself presentable. Think of a way to explain why the Chevy wasn’t in the driveway when whoever was wrangling the kid came back along. Few minutes on the balcony, thinking about his choices, that was all he needed. Didn’t even need to throw his sling on, for that. He could just… settle his arm against his chest. Perfect.

‘Course, the universe had other plans for him. For a second, Kelly thought, maybe, the itch was just one of his burns, mostly mending. Maybe just a place he couldn’t reach in his cast. But no. There was a bear in the pool. Well, bugbear, obviously. Splashing around, not a care in the world. Any other time, Kelly’d play the part of a frightened homeowner, drop a hint about calling Animal Control. So, he had no real excuse for what came out of his mouth.

“Now, c’mon. Get the hell out. Don’t make me get the honey out.” Kelly paused, rolling his neck to shake loose some of the tension. Must’ve laid down wrong. “Might not be scared of me, but you don’t want to end up at the bottom of a cliff, right?”

—

If she had a brow to raise, she would have raised it as the annoying man suggested getting honey. Sawyer had encountered enough humans who seemed more annoyed about a bear in their yard than upset or scared, but the honey comment seemed a little too on the nose. She stopped floating on her back, sinking most of her body down into the water with only her head poking out to look at the man. 

She tilted her head to the side as she looked at the man more closely. He seemed vaguely familiar to her, though she couldn’t put her paw on it right then. A few seconds more of staring and it clicked in Sawyer’s head—this guy was that firefighter from Baz’s party! The shirtless one! She recalled being off in the junkyard, looking at pieces of scrap, when she heard the sirens and saw the flashing lights of an emergency vehicle. A closer investigation revealed the firefighters had shown up for safety concerns, but it all somehow led to this man taking off his shirt and getting hammered. She already wasn’t scared of the random man on a balcony talking about honey and cliffs, but now she had even less to worry about from him. 

Sawyer said nothing as she swam around the pool, deciding to do a couple slow laps. If he wanted her out of this pool, he’d have to try harder than the threat of honey. She just needed a little bit more time to swim around before heading back home. Though she’d have to figure out what neighborhood she was even in… Later problem! Right then, she was lazily swimming. 

—

It hadn’t been a threat, really. More of an insinuation, then just hoping the awareness that Kelly was a ranger would do the legwork. Not like the bugbear was doing nothing, really. (Hell, he’d been planning on cleaning the pool today, anyway. Had a good reason, now: get the bear fur out of the filter.)

The thought crossed Kelly’s mind that wrestling a werewolf pup several times a month for over a year had screwed with his risk assessment, a bit, ‘cause he should… leap into action, right? Feel more moved to ranger up than he felt? (What, like, warn the bugbear that he’d track it down and send a message? God, he could scoff. If other rangers wanted to twirl their mustaches, they certainly could. Get themselves killed quick, whether by their own stupidity or pissing off a pack. If your code was incomprehensible, how could you expect others to support you? Just wander into a bar and get all murder-happy? Someone’d set you right or tell you to fuck off to a cult. Hunters had an earned reputation for inspiring fear. Didn’t need to have idiots giving them a reputation for being guileless and trigger-happy, too.)

Instead, Kelly scratched as his scruff, leaned over the rail, and just stared out at the bugbear. If it wasn’t June, and it wasn’t underwater, its white fur could almost be mistaken for snow. Like he was interrupting a normal bear, one that hadn’t quite made it somewhere warm to hibernate. “Would it help if I said please? C’mon, you’re gonna—” Well, scare wasn’t really the word to use, since a snack would just tempt it to stick around longer. “I got a kid comin’ home, here in a bit. Ain’t scared of nothin’. You really want to hear a toddler cryin’ when I tell him he can’t pull on your fur and meet the ‘bur’?”

(Kelly was more concerned that he’d need to stop Flip from wolfing out and trying to play, really, but the bugbear didn’t need to know that.)

—

The man spoke to her as if she could understand him. Usually the humans weren’t saying please or talking about their toddler wanting to play with her. More shouting at her to get out and treating her like an actual animal. But this man? He seemed to be trying to reason with her. First he mentioned honey and now he was talking about how fearless his toddler was. Which almost made Sawyer want to meet this toddler. It was almost enticing, the idea of a toddler unafraid of her, and she wanted to test that theory.

She swam over to the side of the pool and looked back up at him. She let out a low deep growl at him and bared her teeth. But Sawyer hauled herself up out of the water with a loud, annoyed huff. She shook her soaking wet fur, sending droplets of water everywhere around her. She looked back up at the man, still trying to solve what he might be. He seemed so…unafraid. Even the humans that yelled at her to go away had some droplet of fear in them, as they worried that she might swipe her giant paw at their face or charge at them, even as she acted docile.

Sawyer walked closer towards the balcony to get a better look at this man. Slow movements as she huffed in a rhythmic, threatening pattern, just to better see how he might respond to her. Closer to the balcony, she stood up on her hind legs, reaching her full height, and looked up towards him, wanting to see what threat or bargain he might choose next. She wasn’t going to play with her illusions just yet—he seemed more inconvenienced than terrified—but she opened her mouth wide and roared up at him, before falling back down onto her front legs, her claws clattering against the concrete.

—

…And the bugbear was coming closer. Fantastic. Not like it could get at Kelly without trying to scramble up glass (add ‘install a fire escape onto the balcony’ to the running list of home improvement projects), but the approach didn’t really speak to it taking kindly to his, frankly, pretty fucking reasonable request.

Rangers were taught—well, he’d been taught—to show as little fear when handling a bugbear as possible. Kelly’d pointed out (correctly) that if bugbears could sense fear, him showing it or not was a moot point, but… that had gotten him some funny looks, over the years. See, it was better, he figured, to work on the fear itself, try and dull it down to nothing. Wasn’t like they could be immune to fear—illusions still worked fine, no matter the ranger—but you could be prepared. If you were prepared, bam, less fear for the bugbears to stoke. Easy. ‘Sides, the only thing to really be scared of was the unknown, right? Death, inevitable. Bears, widespread. (Kelly’s own fear of spiders? Not the goddamn point.)

Growl made sense to him. Fuck off, or maybe, Don’t make me use the illusions, man. Undeterred, Kelly growled back—best he could, anyway, his throat dry from his (not) hungover dehydration. (Glad the kid wasn’t here. He was making an awful example on how to handle bears.) As it came closer, he drummed his fingers on the railing, almost impatient. “Go on, then,” he mumbled. It stood to its full height… but the effect was lost on Kelly, given he was still above it. Almost made him think of a John Cusack scene more than— The roar effectively cut his thoughts off. He blinked down at the bugbear, then, because he may as well (wildlife note: if you run into a real grizzly, play dead), Kelly inhaled deep and let out a yell, banging his good hand on the railing to add a little extra noise. (It was… objectively pretty weak, by comparison.)

“We both feel better, now?” Kelly wasn’t sure he did. Yelling had made him a little light-headed. “You know black bears ain’t much for roarin’, right? Way more annoyin’ for you than me if you just woke up the neighbors,” who all were far enough away that he wasn’t sure they’d be that worried, “and one of ‘em decides to call Animal Control. Tranquilizers work just fine on bugbears. Don’t know how good a handle you got on shiftin’, but wakin’ up naked in the back of a van ain’t fun.” Not… that Kelly would know.

—

The man’s growl was weak and pathetic, and Sawyer wished that she could roll her eyes just to show him that. But it was almost like a game of back and forth now, with his growl only encouraging her to keep going. She never knew when to just quit something, to throw in the towel and move on. Even getting out of the pool was quite an achievement for the man, though he might not know that. 

Well, maybe he did know that, because he yelled right back at her after her roar. She tried to stand up taller—straightening her back a little, as she roared again, louder and more aggressive, her roar overpowering his sad little human yell. Sawyer was far better at this than him, as far as she was concerned, and she needed to make sure that he knew that. Even if she wasn’t going to scare him just yet, she wasn’t going to let him win this yelling match. 

From her point of view, the man assumed she was a black bear, and Sawyer huffed at that, shaking her head and stomping her front paws. She was about to grunt and growl at him again, offended that he mistook her for something else entirely, until he said the word bugbear. Now, how did this assumed-human know about bugbears, and how did he know that she was one? Tranquilizers and Animal Control were no problem for her, she decided. She could handle it all just fine—though, she had never once encountered Animal Control, but she guessed that they would be no issue to her. 

She stood back up on her hind legs and rested her paws on her hips and—whoosh, the balcony and the man were much higher above her now, as she tilted her head just a bit more. Sawyer’s hands rested on her bare hips as she glared at the man. “I think waking up naked in a random van sounds like a great time,” she replied. “And I am not a black bear!” She patted the back of her neck, annoyed that her hair was no longer in two braids. Sometimes those stayed when she shifted back, and other times her long hair was messy and frizzy. Though right then, it was just wet. “So how did you know that I’m a bugbear, Mr. Fireman?” From the corner of her eye, she saw the pool, and she sighed as she turned her head to look back at it, as the early morning sunlight sparkled across the cool blue water. And then something else caught her eye. “Actually, I don’t really care. I’m going to get in that hot tub.” She turned away from him and walked over to the hot tub that was now calling her name. 

—

Guess it didn’t feel better after having roared at him, ‘cause it reared up and roared again. Given his first yell hadn’t worked, Kelly didn’t expect a second would be worth the trouble. ‘Sides, even if he considered the possibility unlikely, he didn’t want anyone actually calling Animal Control. (Even him. Though, if Kelly’d had to juggle Flip or, God forbid, Zack, things might’ve turned out a little differently. Couldn’t be having this one-sided conversation with the bugbear without raising suspicion, likely couldn’t escape doing something. Even if Flip listened to him, and Kelly wrestled him into the den, there’d be the matter of how to get the bugbear to leave and not come back. Actual bear, you could dissuade.)

Kelly’d never been all that good at charades, but interpreting the bugbears movements wasn’t as difficult as it might’ve been. It’d taken him time to learn Flip’s tells in his shifted form, but this had been one of the first moods he’d learned to interpret. Now, it was easy enough to recognize a tantrum for what it was. Only, what the hell had he said to get the bugbear riled up? He was just about to ask—he was getting sick of talking to himself—when the bugbear changed back into its human form. Dang. Werewolves really got the short end of the stick, when it came to shifting, huh? Flip cried and whined with the pain of it, even as a born wolf. Meanwhile, his trespasser just… poof.

“I didn’t say you were a black bear,” Kelly started, averting his gaze from the stranger's naked form, focusing on the way the light caught on the water of the pool. “I said black bears—the bears that live here—don’t roar. That’s my point. Even if you weren’t makin’ a racket, anyone who can tell their bears apart’ll know you’re a long way from Yellowstone. If they ain’t callin’ Animal Control on you, they’d call ‘em on me for my ‘exotic pet.’” Kelly wrinkled his nose at that. He’d had to talk about Flip like he was a dog, before, but he knew the kid wasn’t a pet.

“Wouldn’t do that, if I were you. Pool gets some use. Haven’t pulled the cover off the hot tub since I moved in,” Kelly said, sighing. “Look, just. Give me a damn minute.” Still shirtless (only fair, he supposed), the ranger made his way downstairs quickly, stopping to grab a towel and blanket from the hall closet. Given how she’d gotten here, Kelly wasn’t sure offering clothes was worth the breath, but he could be… hospitable. To a point. Out on the patio, he bundled up the towel, threw it like a football over to his apparent guest. The blanket, he placed on the ground, not approaching. “Mr. Fireman’s,” (...how did she know that?), “a ranger, by the way. Name’s Kelly.”

—

Sawyer placed both hands on her hips again as she stared up at the man, who seemed more interested in looking beyond her, at the pool. She rolled her eyes as he rattled on about the differences in bears. “As if most humans can tell the difference between bears. I doubt they even know black bears don’t roar,” she scoffed. “And I’ve never even been to Yellowstone.” Not remotely relevant to the argument, she knew, but she wanted to point it out anyway. She’d barely left the state of Maine, so a place surrounded by grizzlies was sometimes like a dream to her. Maybe one day she’d go exploring. 

She heard his warning about the hot tub, and she waved him off, not caring about what the situation was until she investigated it herself. Sawyer had no time for his remarks as she instead focused on removing the hot tub cover and taking a peak inside. The water looked kind of gross, but she’d deal with that once she figured out how to turn it on. It couldn’t be that hard to operate, right? She poked around at some of the buttons on the edge until it turned on. She clapped her hands together and then dipped her fingers into the water, waiting for it to heat up before she hopped in, most likely in her bear form. Before she could shift though, a door opened and out came the man. She groaned and stood back up as he approached her. 

He threw a towel towards her, and she watched it fly through the air, hit her shoulder, and fall to the ground. “What am I supposed to do with that?” Sawyer asked, glancing down at the towel and then back at him. She guessed that he wanted her to dry off and wrap the blanket around her, but that seemed unfair to her, with him standing there completely shirtless. He should cover up those muscles if he expected her to stop standing around naked. 

At the mention of being a ranger, Sawyer groaned and leaned her head back towards the sky. “Ugh! Yuck!” That explained everything to her—how he instantly knew she was a bugbear and talked to her as if she could understand him. She decided she should definitely get into this hot tub. She deserved to get into a ranger’s hot tub after having to deal with Darcy’s bullshit. She also wondered what were the chances of her ending up at a ranger’s house—a very nice house, too—though she had no recollection of how she got here. She only remembered him from the party last night, but that didn’t explain why she was here, at his home. 

Sawyer kneeled back down onto the concrete and checked the water temperature, ignoring all the leaves floating around and murky water. It’d be fine once she shifted and got the jets going. She leaned back onto her heels as she looked up at him. “Okay, Kelly,” she began, “what are you going to do? Kill me if I get into this hot tub?” She gasped in mock horror before settling back to her don’t care attitude. “No. Unlikely. You brought me a towel and blanket instead of pointing at me with a weapon.” She hummed as she looked back over him again, considering her next options. Scare him? Maybe. But he hadn’t tried killing her yet. She could wait for that move next. “Seems unfair too that you’re only half naked. Should probably take off those pants and that one sock. Where’s the other one? Lose that at Baz’s party too?” 

—

Arguing with a (bug)bear about bears seemed about as useful as anything else Kelly had done this morning, and, ‘sides, he only half-heard it. Much like his comment about black bears in the first place, he hadn’t meant to suggest she was from Yellowstone. Hard-headed. (Not that Kelly could fault her for it—well, not without being a hypocrite.)

Much as he had no real reason to care about this bugbear’s health or safety, Kelly knew all too well the weird shit that could lurk in water. If she wasn’t afraid, that was one thing. (How dare he suggest that.) What was important is that her lack of fear didn’t get her sick. The hot tub gurgled, the towel smacked her shoulder, and Kelly couldn’t hide a chuckle. Not his intention, and he’d have to see if his aim was thrown by the sling in a more controlled environment, later, but unless the shifter was morally opposed to cotton, there wasn’t no harm in it. “Options are important,” he said, somewhat nonsensically.

Yuck? Kelly laughed, again, struck by the absurdity of the situation. He’d run across plenty of shifters that were scared of hunters (though, likely didn’t apply here), that were bloodthirsty for any number of reasons. Heard rumors that some shifters and hunters ran off together, too, though he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. There probably wasn’t a rule you could assign to feelings, much as that’d make his life a whole lot easier. Just ‘cause a ranger was fucking a shifter didn’t mean they were abandoning their duty, outright. Not all—hell, maybe not even most—shifters were threats. Even Kelly himself had aided and abetted some that were… arguably a little borderline. Personal judgment and all, the firm belief that one mistake didn’t have to define someone. If you got friendlier than that, it wasn’t a long walk to all the rest.

Kelly wouldn’t describe the current situation as friendly, though. The stranger poked a finger into the water of the hot tub, and Kelly got a good glance at the water itself. Added ‘clean that shit’ to the list of tasks. Pool could wait. “Why the hell would I kill you?” The bugbear seemed to be running through the options, a risk assessment that, Kelly saw a little of himself in. Rather than dwell on that, he quipped, “Now, I don’t know. Think smackin’ you with that towel’ll get me twenty-five-to-life.” He laughed, again, this time at his own stupid little joke. God, it was all a little funny, wasn’t it? When she suggested he lose the pants—resolving his confusion from before about how she clocked him (though, he hadn’t even noticed he’d lost a sock)—his laugh continued. Christ. More than being worried about him killing her, she’d start to worry that she broke him, if he kept being insane.

Wait. That was an idea. An idea Kelly’d already given himself a head start on, what with yelling at a bugbear. 

“Yeah, okay. Fair is fair.” Kelly thumbed at the button of his uniform pants and dropped trou with a half-shrug. His sock, he nudged off with his foot, trying to limit the body contortions, since he’d left his sling upstairs. Didn’t need his arm healing back funny. “Keepin’ my underwear on. Like I said, kid might be back any minute. I can pretend to be drunk, but I don’t wanna get my dick out in front of someone who didn’t ask to see it.” He walked past the stranger, supporting himself with his good arm as he lowered himself into the pool. “You want to get all gunked up, be my guest. You know the water’s nicer over here, though! Guess… I don’t really give a shit, so long as you don’t get caught.”

It was barely a plan, actually. But the way Kelly saw it, she’d either think he was weird and leave. Or she wouldn’t, she’d get back in the damn pool, then she’d leave out of self-preservation. It occurred to him, belatedly, that he hadn’t exactly told her not to come back, but the water… was nice. A problem for future Kelly, maybe. That guy might know what he was doing.

—

The ranger was laughing in response to her, and at any other time, Sawyer might find that offensive. Might even actually try to terrify him and scare him back into his house. Dig deep into his mind to see what little tidbits of fear she could taste. But the laughing was almost endearing—not in some evil wicked hunter way, just genuine laughter. She chuckled as he joked about how hitting her with the towel that she was supposed to catch would land him years in jail. Maybe he was a little funny. She wouldn’t admit that. The same way that she would never admit that she had gotten along with Darcy’s older sister, how she considered Bridget like a strange little human friend who somehow missed out on the bugbear gene. Once the ranger of it all was revealed, no way would she ever claim the ranger was a friend. 

Now she laughed as Kelly agreed to take off his pants for her. Ursa Major, was this man insane? “Fair is fair,” Sawyer agreed, clapping her hands as she dropped his pants and kicked off his sock. Unbelievable. How did she manage to convince a ranger to literally take off his clothes in front of her? She hummed to herself as she looked at his underwear, though she kept any of her comments to herself as she tucked that information away into the back of her mind. 

“Fine, fine, keep the underwear on this time,” she said, keeping her eyes on him as he walked into the pool. Maybe she could have a bit of fun with this ranger who was so ready to bicker with a bugbear, strip down in front of her, and now go swimming in the pool despite what seemed like a rough injury for him. Sawyer tapped her fingers on her chin as she watched him in the water and then as she glanced down at the gross hot tub water. She really didn’t want to concede that the pool water was nicer, but…he had a point. She leaned down and turned off the hot tub and followed after him into the pool. 

She stood on the edge of the pool and hopped in, making sure that she was close enough to him that the water splashed on him. She swam back up and smirked at him as she paddled closer towards him. “I’m Sawyer, by the way.” She splashed him with water. “I’ll climb outta here as soon as we hear your kid get home. But,” she grinned at him. “I’ll only do that if you agree to let me swim here sometimes. Like, when no one’s home.” Sawyer really wanted to test out that hot tub. “Deal?” 

—

In the water, eyes closed, with the sun warming him up and quelling his headache finally, all Kelly could do was flip Sawyer the bird. If she took that as agreement… Future Kelly problem, right?

[echoingmuse]

I do love film as well as theater too, though I can't say I have much experience with haunted houses. They seem like a bit of an odd one out in your list, anyway. That sounds like it would be a cozy time. I do hope nothing comes out of the dark to make it actually scary. It's Echo, on Amity Road! We sell records.

[hotbearsawyer]

I think they fit right in! Like all the scares, actors, sets, costumes, and scripts. They're just a little different from the usual. It's more like an experience that a stage production. [...] Hopefully not, but it'd be kind of funny if something did! Oh, Echo! I've passed by your store a few times. Never really gone inside though.

[necrosemancy]

Yep. That's me. The sage wise old lady with wisdom. Try looking for retellings.

[hotbearsawyer]

Retellings? Oh, like a graphic novel version of Frankenstein? I could maybe read something like that.

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] How dare I not believe in a clearly made up planet? I find it very easy to dare, especially in this matter, lol.

Did I? I don't remember that.

Again, I don't remember that… Oh, soo you actually think I'm ugly?

Well, I don't remember saying such a thing. So I surely wouldn't do that?

What would be the point of me doing that? Sawyer, that sounds awful. I have no reason to do something like that. Do you think I just suddenly now want to make you mad? For what? Exactly. You're my friend. I don't want you to be mad at me and ignore me.

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] It was literally in the sky.

You did.

Not my problem that you do not remember.

You did.

I don't know. Why would I know what you're thinking about? You are being extremely annoying with all of this back and forth. I don't understand why you can't look at the screenshots I've sent you or scroll back up through our messages to see that you've done these things.

[irlsunbeam]

It's still all about balance. If you don't want books, others will find them and enjoy them, even if I am not one of those others. But I see where you are coming from!

Could I try to find the right book for you??

The ones that were written before they were made into films or otherwise adapted. Which also includes not only Eurocentric or Western-centered stories. Most every culture has some form of fairy tale, did you know that?

Do you enjoy gore?

[hotbearsawyer]

That's still not how it works.

Sure. You can try.

I did know that. I guess like, there's so many versions of the same fairy tales though. Like even the European ones, I think I read somewhere that different villages had different things going on in their tales. So does an "original" fairy tale even exist, when there's hundreds of variations of it before being written down?

Yes. Do you?

[kellydays]

[User briefly wonders if that could be true. Steel isn't iron, but he regrets not asking any of the multiple wardens he knows if they can turn their stomachs, specifically, into iron.]

Y'all hold a competition or am I supposed to take you at your word? [...] That makes a little more sense. Still don't think it's for me, though. Just ain't as big a fan of worms as you seem to be.

[hotbearsawyer]

Gonna have to trust me. Though you could always watch me eat one of these worms, and you'll know that I'm telling the truth! Aww :( what's wrong with worms? Maybe you're more into bears?

[bazzledazzle]

I agree wholeheartedly. Did you know there are people who believe taking your shirt off could never save the world? Cleary they learned nothing from Hugh Jackman's stint as that hairy superhero! Even if they can't save the world, they can save us a dreadfully dreary afternoon.

We should take it to the council. We just have to find out the when and where of it all. Aren't they meant to publicize that sort of thing? Give citizens a chance to speak up? [user is not a citizen, actually.]

[hotbearsawyer]

Literally! Hugh Jackman saved us with his hairy chest. Imagine where we would be as a society if not for him? It'd be a cold, dark, terrible world with no shirtless people.

I can so easily find that out! [user googles when the town council meets.] Okay, so it looks like it's on the second Wednesday of the month. Fuck, we just missed it! Not to worry. This gives us an entire month to gather signatures and spread the word. Maybe we'll even gather like an entire crowd to go to the next meeting. We have a whole month to plan!

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] My other brain? I only have one of those. I remember we were talking about that more than likely made up planet, Gobf? And then you started saying weird stuff.

Why would I type gibberish? [Disappears for several hours before coming back again, more exhausted.]

Yoga? Oh. I guess I should have thought about that. Being as into choreography as I am. Yoga falls under that! How long have you been taking yoga?

Oh. Well, that's not something I get a lot. What brought you to call me that?

Have you? I don't really like to talk about what happens when I sleep, Sawyer. It's not fun for me, like I said before. Did I? Well, I guess I meant, more, like, I get night terrors. Should really sum up what kind of dreams I end up having, right? Yeaaah, let me tell you about all my insecurities that come to me in the middle of the night! What a great idea!

I wouldn't do that! [Again disappears for several hours and comes back even more exhausted]

Of course. I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean 'other me'? There's only one of me.

Maybe my account's getting hacked…

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] Gobf was not made up! How dare you. But no, you brought up the weird stuff.

You brought it up.

I've been doing yoga for a while.

Because you were being a dick to me, so I called you "cute" in a derogatory, bitchy way.

Okay, fine, so let's move on then. Enough about your nightmares. And don't get all pissy with me again by being all "you're a bad friend for not asking about my nightmares wah wah."

[...] Yeah, maybe it is. Or maybe you're just weird and trying to do some weird back and forth in an attempt to make me seem like a bitch when you're the one acting like an asshole. Like, are you fucking with me? You're such an ass. It's not even working either because it's just gonna make me ignore you.

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] What? Meat sweats? Why are you talking to me about that now? Did you have more mystery meat? What's Baz have to do with anything?

Trials of what? That's just gibberish, Sawyer. lol So no, I don't think I was at any trial of gibberish. Oh really? Can you? What kinds of forms and shapes?

What? What's cute?

Oh. My nightmares? I don't think they're really all worth talking about. Why are you so curious about them all of a sudden? Why would I tell you what makes me scared of something? That kind of thing sounds like something you keep to yourself. I'm very private, as you know!

What? Who called you those things? I don't know the difference, in whatever context is here? But I don't think you're either!

Are you seriously talking about kinks again? No. That's why I'm not happy you called me crazy. I don't think that was cool. I'm not crazy. Yeah, looks like we will.

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] Hon, I really need you to reread conversations if you wake up with your other brain and don't remember what's going on. It's annoying to summarize conversations while we're in the middle of having them. If you're feeling confused, go back to your previous message and read it.

It's your gibberish. [user sends screenshot of Bellamy's message.]

Oh, just some yoga poses. Like really complex ones. Bending and twisting. You know how yoga is.

You, duh.

I've been curious about them, Bell. You told me about them and I asked some questions about them. You said you'd tell me more, so I'd like to know more. What is frightening you?

You called me a bitch. Multiple times. [user sends screenshots.]

We really should. First ground rule, let me know when you're about to switch-a-roo or whatever the fuck it is you're doing! It's really throwing me off trying to have a chat with you. This you clearly isn't into whatever the other you is. Very different interests.

[infinityandmadness]

[PM] Yes! The meat sweats. You do not smell like the liar at the museum, that's true. You can't be 13 billion years old. You have certainly not completed the trials of s'hedgd-sf sdfsdfnsk dfhb sdvnse jvgfd bsdfs'lerh 'sloeth yet. Thus, you are mortal, as much as you might wish you would try to fool me into not being so. Well when you can twist your bdf-jfgjdh into a 'ndmj-nhf you can claim otherwise. That's discussed never call me cute again. Adorableness is the worst thing anything can be in the universe.

Yes. They are not good nightmares. I have many dreams. Much better than these things. You will like to hear them, more. I can make no promises for what tomorrow holds. It's a new day, a new me.

Because you are a bitch. But you are not a cunt. You even admitted to it. So, a bitch you shall remain, forevermore!

hahaha. Your role is to continue to be yourself. And watch what comes of it. That's all. If you wish to be a bitch and call me crazy and make fun of my nightmares. I welcome it! Approve and enjoy it. This is fun to me. Has this not been fun for you?

[hotbearsawyer]

[pm] Yup, just meat sweats. Not the woods or like a bear The liar at the museum? Also, how do you know that I haven't completed the trials of s'hedgd-sf sdfsdfnsk dfhb sdvnse jvgfd bsdfs'lerh 'sloeth? I don't remember seeing you there when I did them. And I can twist myself into all sorts of shapes and forms. I'm rather flexible. Aww, did I strike a chord? Cuuuute.

You're right. I would like to hear them. Tell me more about these nightmares. What makes them so terrifying to you?

What's the difference between a bitch and a cunt? I feel like I'm a bit of both, actually.

[... ...] Is this like some sort of humiliation kink? Do you want me to make fun of you? Because I can totally do that. But we'll have to set some boundaries.