[M] The Best Activity For A Beach

[Barrett]

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Barrett found himself glowing as Cassie enthusiastically chowed down and paid her compliments to the chef. He had no real reason to get big-headed--it wasn't like he'd never caught a fish or cooked up a meal before. Even as he knew this consciously, her ardour spoke to him on a deeper, instinctual level. "I'm glad you like it," he replied smoothly, taking a few nibbles of his own. The fish was rather tasty and at any other time he would have devoured it, but between the unsavoury canned soup and her zest for the fresh meat, he could guess she didn't get many good meals. "I'm not too hungry, you can finish mine." A lie, but a white one spoken evenly without hesitation. The yearling had been practising his whole life; he took after Anselm in that respect.

He listened with interest as she described a festival similar to the First Moon, finding it particularly intriguing that while his birth pack had celebrated with the moon at its fullest, hers did when it was new. A new beginning or becoming whole--he could see arguments for either case and concluded that they were fundamentally the same. He regarded the finely crafted bow and carefully sharpened arrows, briefly wondering why she didn't use these to bag herself a more substantial meal. These thoughts were cut short by her next offer, however, which he graciously accepted. "It's been known to happen," he joked lightly before tossing back a swig. The burn was sharp but familiar. "You don't muck around, do ya? This has some kick to it!" he exclaimed as he took a second mouthful of the potent liquid.

He gently placed the bottle in the sand to mull over her next question--Barrett was never really sure why he did things, he just seemed to do them. As she reclined in the sand he mimicked her behaviour, kicking back and gazing at the heavens as the stars popped up, one by one. "I have a lot of extended family around here, but I don't know. I guess I just wanted to move around, where I grew up was nice but it wasn't very exciting." It didn't sound like she had been so lucky. Barrett frowned, rolling his head to look at her. "Your dad sounds like an asshole; forget about 'im. If only you could see the way the fire catches in your eyes, it sets them aglow." Barrett wasn't usually very poetic; perhaps the liquor was starting to kick in. That was no reason not to gulp down some more. "It even reflects in your fur, you know--so did the sun, earlier. Like a warm auburn aura." There was no reason for such a lovely young woman to have such poor self esteem.

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