#bwfm.starter

It was dumb not gassing up the car before she drove into the mountains but now her Wrangler was officially on fumes and she wasn't going to make it back to her house. Absolutely ridiculous that she still had to care about things like gassing up her car when she still didn't understand her new biology. At least her day was enjoyable; the long hike was vigorous enough that even with her advanced physiological skills, she was tired. Maybe it had to deal with bounding up the mountain at a near-improbable angle.

Her scuffed hiking boots made the only noise in the gas station. Loading the nozzle into her car seemed to echo around the asphalt as though there had never been another creature ever in the vicinity. The hairs on the back of her neck were raised. Something was watching her. Mal turned around slowly, her hands automatically going to the knife she always carried on her hip. It had been used to cut rope more than once and she didn't go into nature without it. "Hello?" Mal called.

A 507 year old vampire sits in a bar stool at the Broken Tap, wearing a bracelet made of colorfully painted macaroni and pom-poms, and taps away a bit harshly at an iPad.

"It just makes no sense to change the entire curriculum database on the fly. They said it's all connected to Google now. And I get that, but you go to Google and it's just... the browser with the search bar. You're telling me they put it all on here? Meetings, video calls?" So maybe Aviel's had a hard time with newer technology. But he's figured out electricity and batteries and all that just fine - and his Kindle app? Forget about it. Click and go, basically.

He taps a few more times and sets it down, replacing the iPad with his Dark & Stormy and taking a nice long sip of it. "I'll just ride by the seat of my pants, like I've always done, huh? Past 30 years, haven't gotten a kick in the keister just yet."

isaiah has been practicing for this all year. he's studied the face painting books like they're gospel, and his youtube algorithm is permanently fucked due to the amount of face painting tutorials he's watched at this point. it's silly, he knows, but if he overheard a kid talking about how shitty their lion facepaint came out, he'd think he'd have to skip town.

"ah..." isaiah chuckles nervously at the other's request. he did lead with he can paint anything they wanted which has been a hit all day, but this request might be testing his artistic abilities. "that is...very interesting! i have to admit," he snaps his fingers, giving them an unsure expression.

"might be out of my comfort zone. what about a rabbit? or unicorn? maybe a tiger?"

birdie's fingers ache. they always ache. she curls them in and out as they lean against the old apple tree the other picked from. she pinches her face at the sight of a red apple in front of her, reaching for it anyway and yanking on it hard.

"i prefer green apples," birdie says absentmindedly, tossing the apple into the basket they shared with the other. there's a lot of fruit in the basket: peaches, strawberries, apples, even a squash birdie insisted they take because "what if we could use it late?" they hum down at the basket, tossing her long hair over her shoulder.

"i think we should go over the shit in here," birdie concludes after a long beat of silence. their empty eyes look up at the other, chuckling softly as they punch the other's arm playfully. "fear your arm is gonna fall off if we pick any more."

The air smells like just about anything you could possibly make out of apples all in one place, and it had been a monumental task to pick which baked good to buy. But finally he's settled near a tree on the outskirts with his four corgis settled around him, picking at fresh apple crisp - with vanilla ice cream, of course. Long legs are tucked up, enjoying his spot in the shade when he watches Freddie, the youngest, hop up in excitement and tug at her leash when someone seems to be getting closer. And she's alerted the rest - four butts wagging as they all try to get closer to the newcomer.

A soft smile. "You c-can... say hi. Cl...clearly they're s-starved for... attention."

joel hates when the fire department does educational outreach. it's fine when it's teaching children not to play with matches or stick forks in electrical outlets, but being dressed in half of his uniform behind a booth at the apple blossom celebration feels like borderline torture. when someone approaches the booth, joel clears his throat, straightening up in his chair he was leaning way too far back in and flashing the fakest smile he thinks looks genuine.

"hello, would you like to learn how to protect your home from fires?" while speaking without breaking eye contact, he reached for a pamphlet and held it out to them. joel nods towards the black wooden box with red cut out letters taped to the front that read: DONATIONS.

"or you can save us both some time and make a donation to your local fire department. we really need some new jackets."

"i'm just saying," lara starts as she kneels down to observe yet another pumpkin, "finding the perfect pumpkin is a skill. it takes time." she's only saying this because it's been an hour and a half and she still hasn't found the perfect pumpkin. lara is picky, her standards are high even when it comes to pumpkins, so when she sees slight discoloration at the bottom of the one she's looking at she sighs dramatically.

"this place is so shitty," lara deadpans with a shake of her head as she stands, continuing to walk down the path of dead grass through the pumpkin patch. "i swear every pumpkin we've looked at is disfigured or mushy. is there, like, a shortage on good, round pumpkins?"