Hillwood forest RP

((I really want to respond to Gerald, but I'm dead on my feet. My class and work schedule are nights and mornings. I've stayed up way too 'late' and I'm only going to get about four to five hours of sleep before I have to go to work as it is. I'll catch up tomorrow. Don't stop on my account. *Grins*))

((Alright. Good night, Freddie ^^ ))

((Edit, I'm gonna get me some sleep myself too.. *yawns* these different time zones and night shifts are a real killjoy))

(No worries guys, this kind of thing happens to the best of us. We'll keep it going as much as we can and we eagerly await the next moment you can post! ^^ Take care of yourselves.)

What a crazy day this turned out to be. Arnold thought to himself as he finally finished getting one of the tents up.

Things weren't going so well, and a few of them were hurt, but at least they were trying to make the best of it and make amends with the situation. Of course, it was only the beginning. They still had time to make things better and hopefully soon get things going the way they should have been, even if it may take some time and effort to get that far.

Arnold took one of the fold-out tents and released it, setting it up near the other tent he'd finished putting up. It was starting to rain harder, and lightning was threatening to strike closer and closer by now. But he kept going, to make sure all the tents were set up and everyone could be as comfortable as they could be while camping. He looked back to the others to make sure they were okay and gave them a thumbs-up to let them know everything was fine before he moved on to the next tent to set up.

A flash of lightning struck the ground, narrowly missing him, and he jumped in surprise.

"Whoa." He murmured, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Rhonda really was not the sort to go out of her way to help people, in fact, she was usually more than willing to just wait until somebody else helped, but seeing Arnold nearly get hit by lightning was clearly more of an incentive to get those tents up, and fast. She stood and quickly tied her hair back, before dashing out into the rain to help him set up the next tent.

"Come on, Arnold, be a little more careful, why don't you?" she laughed a little nervously, eyeing the sky warily while she held up the plasticky fabric of the next tent.

"Sorry, Rhonda. I didn't see it coming." Arnold apologized sheepishly. With her help, he managed to straighten the tent and make sure it stood properly. He followed her gaze and looked up at the sky, realizing that they had to hurry.

Exhaling, he took another packet, and tossed another one to her to open up.

"There's only a few more we need to put up, it shouldn't take much longer."

"Don't be crazy, huh?" Curly repeated, and even he was able to appreciate the joke. "So, I guess you're not interested in going to see my squirrel kingdom either, then, huh?"

Gino considered the brief but noticeably hostile glance Gerald sent his way. It rocked him back on his heels a little. There hadn't been much interaction between the two boys ever since Gerald stepped down as 'King.' Their friendship had been based on mutual obsession with a game. By abandoning the game, Gerald also ended up cutting his ties with Gino. Not that there was any bad blood between them. Far from it. Back then Gino respected Gerald's playing skill and over time that translated into a more general kind of esteem.
Judging from the cool, even stare he was getting, it was apparent to Gino that he'd had done something to offend his former 'Liege.' They're all out to get me! It's the only explanation for all this, Gino thought, and it widened the wry smirk he wore even further. Then... when Phoebe interposed herself between them... Gino's eyebrows went up. The truth of the situation became obvious. So that's what's going on here. The crownless king thinks I'm after his squeeze. “I ought to.” He said to Gerald. “Your friends have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at me.”

When Gerald heard the news about Curly's death wish, he took his eyes off of Gino, who used the time to steal a glance at Phoebe. She was shorter than him with slender, pleasing curves. Phoebe had a bookish quality to her largely attributed by those thick framed glasses.

Phoebe turned, having assured that her tall friend was not going to surge forward. He was, however, glaring. Following his line of sight, she also saw someone else looking: Gino, and she wasn't quite sure about the way he was looking at her.

"Is there something I can assist you with?" she asked, trying to imbue her voice with as much dryness as possible. Without waiting for an answer, she left nth boys behind to go check on Helga.

((Freddie- have I mentioned how much I adore your Gino?))

Harold helped Rhonda and Arnold set up the last of the tents. When at last they finished, he stepped back and the three of them admired their handiwork. Their efforts were admirable even if the tent on the left seemed to be tilted a little to the left.

"I say we move Helga into one of these." Harold suggested. "She said she was still getting wet under that overhang and there's a good chance that the tent will muffle her complaints so I won't have to hear 'em."

"I heard that, Harold!" called the blonde from beneath the outcropping. However, staging off a rush of nausea, she pulled herself to her feet. Enough sitting around. She was Helga G Pataki, for crying out loud. Slowly, favoring her foot, she staggered out towards the cluster of tents.

(Yay! Super special awesome...uh...helping hand? XD)

On instinct, Arnold came to Helga's aid as she staggered, coming behind her and gently holding her by the shoulders to steady her.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk, Helga?" He carefully let go of her once she was steadied, and thought about offering to help her to her tent, but decided against it, figuring she'd just refuse and he'd feel like an idiot for even trying. He stood back at arm's length, close enough just in case. "I mean, you're doing okay, and that's good. I just don't want you to strain your injuries or anything."

Rhonda snickered at Harold's comment, then she dashed back under the overhang to pull her bag out and move it to one of the tents. She couldn't WAIT to get into some dry clothes, and in her mind she lamented her sweater, now so thoroughly soaked through she was a little chilled.

She ducked into a tent, sneezing once. "Ugh! I hate nature!"

(( In my mind, somebody yelled 'And it hates you!' ))

Harold toddled behind Rhonda, walking past Helga as she staggered in the direction of the tents. Together they managed to grab all the bags and throw them into the tents without much trouble.

Harold dug through his bag and tugged out a small yellow towel before leaning forward and throwing it over Rhonda's head. He laughed as she let out a soft yell of surprise, before he started rubbing the towel against her hair.

"Man, your hair is drenched. You look like a sea witch or something." Harold said without really thinking. He regretted his choice of words almost immediately.

"Auugh! HAROLD!" Rhonda squirmed her way out of his grip, her hair flung up into so many different directions she looked rather insane. She wanted to throttle him, but instead settled for hitting him with her sodden sweater.

"A sea-witch!? I look like a SEA-WITCH!?" The nerve of him!

Helga sighed as she settled herself in one of the tents. Arnold had tried to help her inside, but focusing on walking had prevented her from saying anything to the footballhead. Slowly her eyes began to close.

"Helga!" she was rudely interrupted by the entrance of Phoebe. She growled slightly, but said nothing. "I'm sorry Helga, but you have to stay awake for another hour or so. Besides, I find myself in a compromising position.". Helga looked up in interest.

"Yeah, Pheebs?" Phoebe glanced around nervously.
"Well, Big Gino was, how shall I put this succinctly, eyeing me just now. I'm not exactly sure of his intentions". Helga gave her a sideways glance, before speaking.

"You want me to, ah, take care of 'em?" Helga asked in a fairly accurate impersonation of Ginos's speech, offering a closed fist. Phoebe blanched and grabbed the fist, shaking her head.

“You might. I'll be sure to let you know.” Gino replied with a crooked smile.
As Phoebe trotted away through the rain, he let his gaze linger after her longer than might be considered appropriate. Truthfully, Gino wasn't absolutely certain why he'd suddenly taken an interest. To spite Gerald for giving him an nasty glare? Maybe... but Gino had to admit he liked looking at her...

Then, quite suddenly, it was only him and Gerald. Alone beneath the rocky overhang. They stared at each other in silence before Gino gave him a slow, deliberate nod. “Well your majesty, let's go find out what's become of your crew.”
Without looking to see if Gerald followed, he turned and began walking towards the newly raised tents. Something had passed between the two of them. Not contempt, not jealousy... just... an understanding. Gino wasn't likely to lose any sleep over it. They hadn't really been friends. Of course now it looked like they never would be.

((He does seem to be winning a lot of hearts. I've become rather fond of him myself.))

Gerald found himself glaring at Gino's retreating back. Today was really not turning out how he'd expected. First the gas ran out then he comes back to his group of lovable misfit friends only to find Big Gino making eyes at the girl he'd had an unspoken claim on for years.

Grumbling, Gerald shoved his hands in his pocket and started forward towards the tents.

((Anne, I'm going to try to get us back with the others because it's getting hard to keep up with the separate story lines))

"So," Curly finally said, "I guess I should go back and face my doom now and just get it over with, huh? Maybe I'll get lucky and Gino will have forgotten about me...punching him in the face..." he sighed. "Okay, so he probably hasn't forgotten, but it's better I get it over with."

"I'm sure it'll be alright." Eugene responded. It had been raining for a while now and the two boys were soaked by the time Eugene finally convinced Curly to return to their friends. "Now, let's go.." he paused, "uhr.. that way!" He pointed his index finger at the direction from which they came.
He started walking and heard Curly's footsteps following him.
"And.. Curly..?", he asked, while he turned around and glanced at him for a moment, before continuing to follow the path of broken twigs and branches they left behind, "I don't know a lot about girls, but I know they don't like to be dragged away by a guy who pretends to be Tarzan.. So.., why'd you do that?"

"Well, it got her attention, didn't it?" Curly asked. "I know it's not the good type, but it seems like if I'm not being crazy she completely ignores me," he followed Eugene along the path back to the camp, and grabbed him right before he nearly slipped into an unseen hole. "Watch it, you're gonna get yourself killed. Anyways, I just...thought it would at least get her to pay attention to me. And she does, but it's always for a short while, so I have to keep acting crazier and crazier or she just sort of looks right through me."

"Well, have you ever TRIED being nice and sweet to her?" As far as Eugene could remember, Curly had been acting crazy since the day they met, he couldn't even imagine the guy being norm.. Wait a minute..!
"How 'bout that time with the kickballs? Remember that? You opened doors for people, let people cut in front of you at the drinking fountain, and they even told you that they liked you for doing so! See, Curly? You don't have to act crazy for people to pay attention to you. I'm sure Rhonda wouldn't be so mean to you if you'd try to be kind and polite!"
He paused to think about it.

"Maybe you should give her something.. I dunno, flowers perhaps? To make it up to her. I've seen some beautiful ones on our way to the lake." He paused. "Don't you just love romance, Curly? Ahhh.. Starry nights, lovely music, the scent of a thousand roses.." He sighed. Eugene got carried away by his own imagination once again. His own little 'pretend-land', as Harold liked to call it, was a place he often visited.

But one moment later, he snapped out of it by a familiar voice in the distance. He glanced at Curly and smiled at him in relief. Finally they were safely back with their friends.. At least Eugene was safe.. His smile faded. Let's hope it'll be okay, he thought to himself.

"Yeah, I guess, but it's easier to be that way when you have something to look forward to. I either have to be super nice or super crazy, or I'm not noticed. You're the only one talking to me just because you want to," he smirked, "And I'd bet you you'd run away if I told you that I want to go look for a bear tonight and see if I can get him to lead me to honey." He glanced up at the camp. "All right, let's get this over with." Together, they marched back into the middle of the camp. Proving he was still a bit crazy, maybe even with a little bit of bravery mixed in, Curly shouted:

"Hey, Big Gino! Come do your worst! I'm not afraid of you!"

((Two days with no updates makes me nervous... ))

Phoebe poked her head out of the tent when she heard Curly's voice. He and Eugene stood in the middle of the 'camp' getting drenched as Curly delivered his challenge. Seeing both boys back, she squeaked a little in happiness, and trotted out of the tent.

((Yeah, it's too quiet around here.. Freddie, where are you, we need your awesome Gino! ))

At the sound of Curly's voice, Arnold came out of the tent, coming to see that Eugene and Curly were now here. It was a relief to see that they were all right and made it back safely, but now Curly was calling out Gino. And considering what had happened earlier...

This didn't look good.

"Curly, what are you doing? I don't think you should antagonize him..." Arnold coaxed. "He's mad enough as it is. Please don't start anything rash."