Interlude (or Just Another Filler!)

"That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I'm stuck in the Midwest," Carol said flatly.

Dawnie opened her mouth to protest and paused. Beside her, Leilani was nodding enthusiastically.

"That's what I thought, but I'm just a kid. Who's going to agree with me?" Leilani said, eyes sparkling.

Carol nodded as well, agreeing with her own statement. She leaned back against the splintery wall and eyed Dawnie. Dawnie frowned at her, studying the wall. Something kept telling her that it was some weird optical illusion that kept the wall just looking like it was old and weathered, much like the cutesy little campground it was in.

"You actually came all this way just to ask me something stupid like that?" Carol heaved a sigh. She turned towards the firepit nearby and cocked her finger at it as if it were a gun. A jet of flame shot out and engulfed the wood, setting it aflame. "Just why?"

"Because she's scared of scary guy," Leilani said, drifting away towards the table full of groceries. There was a bag of marshmallows prominently displayed there along with some metal skewers.

"So, who's the scary guy?" Carol asked, chuckling. She sat up and leaned towards Dawnie. "Is he made out of shadows and lurking in your closet?"

"Ha-ha, Carol." Dawnie flounced down next to the firepit.

They'd found Carol hiding out in a rather upscale resort that was closed for the summer season. It had a variety of campgrounds complete with well-stocked cabins and lax security. It was understandable; most of the town didn't exist during summer, dependent as it was on tourist dollars. The residents instead stayed at another town a few miles away, occasionally sending caretakers and cops to make sure vagrants hadn't moved in.

Most of the cabins, as far as Dawnie could tell, belonged to people with more money than sense and with a weird idea of what roughing it entailed. She looked from the firepit to the cabin where the half-opened door revealed stainless steel appliances and marble countertops. At least the cabinets had a sort of rough-hewn look to them.

"How did you even find this place?" Dawnie asked.

"Oh, Biodad sold me to the guy staying two cabins down. Never got sent back," Carol added with a dark chuckle.

"What?" Dawnie exclaimed. She glanced at Leilani who was obliviously making stacks of marshmallows on skewers and back at Carol.

"Nothing happened, obviously," Carol replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, after he was mysteriously," and she air-quoted herself, "apprehended by law enforcement, that cabin and the one next to it have been empty. This cabin hadn't been sold yet. It's sorta a showpiece?"

"A model home?" Dawnie corrected, dredging up the word from the depths of her brain. She'd seen far too many of them while Lucy was trying to perfect her little kitchen space. "But how are you here?"

"Didn't feel like testifying and no one knew what I really looked like so I jetted. This place is just as fine as any other." Carol stood up and dusted off her jeans.

Dawnie eyed the small lean-to with disfavor. It went with the whole 'roughing it' theme that the little complex had going on. The bench inside just touched the back wall and it was open to the firepit. She would just bet that the splintery look was just as faux as the rest of it.

"Still, what I went through is still not as outrageous as that plan of yours," Carol laughed as she walked to the picnic table and picked up one of the marshmallow skewers.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Leilani asked, looking up at Carol.

Carol paused in the act of turning towards the firepit. She looked at Leilani and then at Dawnie, dark grey eyes inscrutable.

"Why?" Carol finally asked.

"Aren't you tempted just a bit? You want to come see what lunacy Lucy and Aarti are going to stir up." Leilani held a skewer over the flame, eyes lighting up at the sight of the marshmallows beginning to scorch. "You're bored and just a little bit scared here anyways. Why not be scared with all of us instead?"

"Because you're talking about waltzing into an overlord base and stealing all the test subjects," Carol exclaimed, waving her skewer around. The marshmallows abruptly caught fire. "Now see what you made me do?"

Dawnie reached into her pocket and pulled out an already stripped IWA bar. She absently ate it while she watched Carol jump around, waving the flaming skewer that slowly extinguished, leaving burnt marshmallow. Carol stopped, grimaced at the skewer and then closed her free hand around the bottom of the burnt marshmallows. With a steady movement, she brushed the skewer clean.

Dawnie leaned away from the particles of ash and sugar that floated past her on the wind. Carol kept waving the skewer around, cooling it off.

"See? That was a waste of perfectly good marshmallows. They were just too burnt to eat," Carol explained grumpily as she started putting fresh marshmallows on her skewer.

"You could just stay at the hideout. It's really big," Leilani said, gingerly pulling a marshmallow off of her own skewer and blowing on it. "I bet if we just left Lucy and Court alone, it'd turn into an apartment complex or something."

"I could see that happening," Dawnie agreed. She cocked her head to the side. "I really could see that happening. I still have no clue why no one's ever came to get any of the furniture."

"Furniture?" Carol asked.

"They stole a warehouse. It's full of furniture," Dawnie explained.

"How do you steal a warehouse?" Carol sat back down on the bench. She absentmindedly closed her palm around the marshmallows in turn, leaving them perfectly toasted.

"I couldn't believe it either, but then Lucy called me up," Dawnie began. She fetched herself a fresh bag of marshmallows. "Carol?"

"Lazy," Carol half-scolded. She caught the marshmallow Dawnie tossed her and tossed a half-melted one back to her friend.

"Not lazy, efficient," Dawnie corrected. "Anyways, as I was saying, this all started when Lucy called me up and said that someone botched a kidnapping."

"Who were they kidnapping?" Carol tugged a marshmallow off of her skewer and popped it into her mouth.

"Lucy, of course," Dawnie said.

"Of course," Leilani and Carol chorused before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"And then she tells me that she busted Court out of jail," Dawnie continued.

"What?"

"And then it got complicated." Dawnie tossed Carol another marshmallow for toasting. "We might need another bag of marshmallows.