//------------------------------// // Camping Out // Story: Land of Equines // by Daddy Joe //------------------------------// Camping Out June 3rd, 2013 12:42 AM This night was the night that Night Hunter and I actually camped out in the arctic. Yesterday, I was able to convince him for us to stay at an inn for the night, but it was part of a deal. We both deducted the amount of time it would most likely take for us to cover the arctic at our current rate, and it came down to two more days, tonight being the last. And so, we made a deal that we would spend one night at the inn and one night in the arctic so that we can fill in Night Hunter's camp-out quota. At first I thought that I was going to hate camping out in the arctic, but it really grew on me in the early hours. Once we managed to pitch up the tent while battling the strong winds, we crawled in the tent and took off our arctic gear, only really needing our thermal clothing on. To aid in the insulation, Night Hunter brought a small heater for the tent. After the tent was heated at a pleasurable and cozy temperature, he threw it back in the Defender and let the insulation do the work for the rest of the night. At the moment, Night Hunter and I were finishing up our report on the Snow Trolls. I was writing down all the information regarding the trolls behavior, how many there were, diet, and etcetera. Night Hunter, as said before, was in charge of drawing out the appearance of both the rock variant and the fur variant of the Snow Trolls. He had a little sketchpad and used his horn's levitation to illustrate with a pencil. For writing with telekinesis, the trolls looked really spot-on. "Aaaand it's done. Finished before you." I said. "Quality takes time, Caleb." Night Hunter teased. I looked at my paper and at Night Hunter's illustration a few times. "I'm just messin' with you. How does the report look?" Night Hunter said. "Enough paragraphs to describe the creatures and everything required for documentation." I replied, showing him my writing. "Good job. Oh, but you misspelled my name as 'Nighthunter' in the first one section." Night Hunter said, showing me my spelling mistake. "Dammit." I jeered. "Hm. Might as well check the rest of paper for my misspelled name." Night Hunter said. "Yeah, I think I'll have to do that." I said, displeased in myself. "And would you mind taking the papers and putting them in the glovebox of the Defender once you're done?" Night Hunter asked. "I don't want these getting all crinkled up the tent." "Sure." I replied. I then corrected one more misspelling of Night Hunter's name before I skimmed it over a few times. With that, I grabbed the documents, illustrations and quickly ran outside to store them in the glovebox. I was in such a hurry to get out and back in the tent that I forgot to put on snow boots, and that wasn't a good feeling at all. "Forgetting something, Caleb?" Night Hunter asked as he waved my snow boots right in my face. "Kind of! Now my feet know what a snow cone feels like." I said. Night Hunter unzipped my clothing bag and levitated a fresh pair of thermal cotton socks into my hands. "Thanks." I said. "Yep. Do you want an MRE? I'm gonna have one and then it's lights out for me." Night Hunter offered. "Nah, I'll pass." I said. I then unzipped my orange sleeping bag and slipped into it, resting my head on the pillow and putting my hands behind my head. Night Hunter turned all but one light off so that he could eat, so I closed my eyes to sleep. "Hey, Caleb," Night Hunter said, prompting me to open my eyes. "You ever gone camping before?" "Sure. Back on Earth I did," I replied. "Didn't you say you used to camp a lot when you were a little colt?" "Yeah. My mother, father, and I would take our wagon to the campgrounds by the Everfree Forest and spend the night there. We did that every summer, now that I think about it." Night Hunter said. "Whatcha' guys do? Normal camp stuff?" I asked. "We would make s'mores, feed the rabbits that lived near our campsite, and tell stories around the campfire. My father would always tell 'The Mare in the Moon' story because that one was my favorite." Night Hunter said. "But we all know who that mare is now, right?" I said. "Heh. We only knew her based on her alias at the time. That's what made the story spooky." Night Hunter said. "And the Everfree Forest had campgrounds when you were a kid?" I asked. "A lot of that forest has changed over the past fifty years. There was mostly natural wildlife in the Dovere territories at the time, but times have changed, y'know." Night Hunter said. "I know what you mean." I said. "What about you? Where did you go to camp at back in your world?" Night Hunter asked. "Oh. Ahh, we would usually have a camper up at a campground in Prairie du Chien. Our camper was more of a miniature house than a tent." I replied. "A house? Where's the fun in camping if you don't spend it in the wilderness?" Night Hunter asked. "Well I guess my family decided that we didn't want to camp in that style. Before that camper, we had one that was more like a tent." I said. "What was that one for?" Night Hunter asked. "It was for the same use as the other. We used the old one for a trip to the Jellystone Park one time." I replied. "That's an odd name for a park." Night Hunter said. "It kind of is. I liked the place, but that bear mascot named Yogi scared me as a kid." I said. "I would be scared too if it was a big bear." Night Hunter said. "It's not a real bear, though. Its only someone in a cartoon bear suit." I clarified. "Oh. So you were afraid of some cartoon bear?" Night Hunter asked. "Hey, you'd be surprised at what little kids can get scared of." I said. "Really? I've never seen any foals get scared of stuff like that in all my life." Night Hunter said. "Well, it happens." I said. "Yeah, okay." Night Hunter scoffed. Night Hunter then started to eat his early morning meal. "You can go back to sleep if you want. I'm just gonna quickly eat this." "Alright." I said.