May I request a campfire scenario, with the RenDog man himself
The fire crackled and popped softly, sparks flying into the night sky, dancing with the fireflies and stars for an instant before fading away.
Most of the hermits has gone home. It was late. They had things to do in the morning.
But a few lingered by the warmth of the fire, sitting on the stones and logs they had dragged out of the woods or lounging on the pine needles under their feet.
On one side of the fire, Keralis, X, and Bdubs sat, huddled over a notebook that they took turns scribbling madly in. They were plotting and planning and having a wonderful time, laughter hushed into excited giggles.
Team ZIT sat on their right, all piled together under a large, fluffy blanket. Tango was asleep, and Zedaph and Impulse were playing tic tac toe in the dirt in front of them.
To their right, TFC leaned against a tree, whittling away a piece of wood with his knife, speaking quietly to a man who Ren could only really see out of the corner of his eye. ‘Evil’ Xisuma flickered in and out of view, sitting next to TFC and braiding ropes of end flowers into crowns.
And then there was Ren and Doc. Doc sat on the ground, leaning against Ren’s leg, trying not to look across the fire and fidgeting with a piece of grass.
“You could go talk to him.” Ren said quietly.
Doc sighed. “I could. But...”
“But?”
“But what if he’s different? What if I’m different, and I just haven’t noticed? What if he doesn’t like me anymore? What if...?” His voice trailed off, tossing the grass away and picking another piece. “What if the NHO really is disbanded, and I’ve just been pretending?” He asked quietly. “I don’t know if I could stand it.”
“And what if nothing’s changed? What if he’s just waiting for you to go talk to him to assure him that everything’s the same?” Ren asked, beginning to absently pick out a tune on his guitar. “You’re never going to know if you don’t go over and talk to him.”
Doc tied the grass into a knot. “Maybe.”
Ren stopped fiddling around, and strummed a chord, beginning to sing softly. “Let’s go in the garden...”
Doc sighed again, tossing the new blade of grass away and leaning more solidly against Ren’s leg.
“You’ll find something waiting- right there where you left it, lying up-side-down.” Ren sang softly. The fire illuminated his friends’ faces softly. Above them, the stars twinkled like fireflies.
“When you finally find it, you’ll see how it’s faded. The underside is lighter when you turn it around.”
“Everything stays,” And Doc joined in quietly, slightly hesitant. “Right where you left it. Everything stays, but it still changes.”
“Ever so slightly, daily and nightly, in little ways...”
“When everything stays...”
“I’ll talk to him.” Doc promised. “Tomorrow.”