Bland

Sliding his arm around Ryan again as she rejoined him, Hunter nodded. "Yeah, where'd he run off to anyway?" The crowd was starting to disperse and mingle - they'd probably be here until the wee hours of the morning. Every once in a while Hunter stuck around that long... and every once in a while, he would stay until he was the only one left in the desert and just sit alone to watch the sunrise. He hadn't done that in a while though. And tonight... he didn't really care about staying - he was more interested in what Ryan wanted to do. 

Wandering through the crowd, he kept his arm around her, nodding to a few more people, or waving, or turning down the offer for beers. All in all, he was seeing very little negative reaction towards Ryan, and he was glad. Maybe the rumors were finally simmering down. Out towards the edge of the crowd, Hunter finally spotted Eli. "There he is." Aiming that direction, his pace suddenly slowed. Tal was there with him. And all of a sudden, Hunter didn't know where to go forward or turn around. 


Tal was perched on the trunk of his car with Eli standing next to him. "Got a big load tomorrow..."

"Mmhm..." Eli nodded absentmindedly. He really didn't want to think about work, but Tal was aways thinking ahead. "I'll be there all day, so we should be good." 

Silence. A loud motor turned both men's head to where a pickup truck and trailer were hauling away Zan's beat-up car while someone nearby was trying to clean a gash on the side of his head and he tried to tell them he was fine.

"Did I tell you I was moving?" 

Eli quirked an eyebrow and looked back to Tal. "No. Why? Where?"

"Don't know yet." Tal shrugged and pulled his legs in to sit cross-legged. "New management for the apartments and they're rewriting policy. No dogs." 

Eli cringed. Tal still had his two dobermans. "Ouch."

"Yeah. So... I'm looking for a new place." 

"Well, I'll keep my eyes open for ya too." 

"Thanks. I..." Tal's voice trailed off as he spotted Hunter and Ryan coming their direction. His eyes dropped and his fingers picked at his jeans.

Eli looked at him with question, then realized what was going on. He sighed. This had got to stop or it was going to drive him insane. He waved at Hunter and his sister, deciding to act like everything was normal. It would be if Tal could get over himself.


"Um..." Scott thought about his options, then nodded. "Just... staying around your place sounds good." Actually, he'd rather avoid the restaurant scene. He'd tried it so many times lately, but always ended up wasting his food or getting sick later. Not to mention, he didn't like fighting his mental data when he was in public. Causing a scene was not something he wanted to happen. 

He forced a smile. "Guess I don't have much of a hankering for anything but..." He grimaced a little. "Bland is good. I can always bring something for myself if you'd rather eat something more exciting." He felt badly that he couldn't handle more or better food. He didn't want Hope to suffer eating bland food just because of him. "And... lounging around sounds really nice." His smile returned. This...had been nice today. He almost felt good. Almost. Was he really on his way to feeling better every day? He hoped so.


Finished putting the poles together, Hal eased down to sit next to Sam and nodded at her question. "Yep. Actually, if you talk to avid fishermen - the obsessed ones - they'll tell you to use certain lures for certain kinds of fishes and they'll explain in great length why certain things work or not." He shrugged. "Me? I kinda just go with what the fish are biting on. It changes with weather or temperature or, personally, I think the fish sometimes just get bored with the same old stuff." He grinned. "Smaller lures for small fish." He showed her a small jig. "Bigger lures for big fish." He pointed to some larger lures with treble hooks. 

"Today though... since you've never fished... I've got an easy option." He reached over and grabbed the small, styrofoam container of worms and opened it, revealing a wad of nightcrawlers in the almost-black dirt. He handed her the container, then retrieved one of the poles and pulled out some extra line. Then he took a bobber and fastened it onto the line before moving down to the hook he'd tied on earlier. Reaching into the container, he pulled out a worm that was too big for the hook. "Now's the fun part..." He gave her a wry grin. "The easiest way is the most brutal way, unfortunately." He tore the worm in half and returned the squirming part to the container. With the other half still in his hand, he threaded it onto the hook past the barb so it wouldn't slip off. "And there we have it." His grin returned. "Wanna do your own?"