From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 21st, 2011 10:53 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Meka was not the only person ignoring the warnings about being in the woods. Keegan, for one, should have especially heeded the warnings. But close encounters never really stopped him. It was uncertain whether it was stupidy or bravery, but either way he ventured into the trees with a pack of cigarettes in his hand.

When he caught sight of someone in the distance, Keegan slowed. It took a moment to recognize it as a normal moving person and not something else, and a few careful steps brought him to recognizing what he believed to be Meka's backside. Well, from what he could see of her back against the tree and the small portion of her side.

Perhaps it was stupidity that had him walking through the woods when the faculty warned against it. Simply because he heard the words 'damn velociraptor' and not being the sort to really think before he acted, he let out a sudden noise that sounded somewhat like the dinosaur she might have been referring to.

	From: learntofly	Date: March 21st, 2011 11:41 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Meka was off the ground and spinning with her wand at the ready as soon as she heard the noise. Her cigarette had dropped out of her lips, sheer terror ripping through her entire body. "Fucking what the fuck?? Velocifucks?!!!"

Her body instantly relaxed when she saw her friend standing in the woods with no monsters or velociratpors. "Holy fuck shit you scared the bejesus out of me Keegan," she laughed putting a hand over her heart which was still rapidly beating.

She stuffed her wand in her back pocket and shook her head. "That's a pretty good velociraptor," she laughed, leaning against the tree and lighting another cigarette.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 22nd, 2011 12:29 am (UTC)		(Link)

Instinctively, Keegan's hand came up with the word for a deflection charm on the edge of his tongue when he saw her jump. He expected such a reaction, but still. It was nice not to be hexed to high hell.

Once he saw that he wasn't going to have spells thrown at him, Keegan let the laughter that he held at bay loose and he relaxed. It was a good long laugh, too. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Meka move that fast.

"Thank you," he answered after a moment as he pulled his own cigarette out. That was why he ventured out that way, after all.

	From: learntofly	Date: March 22nd, 2011 01:05 am (UTC)		(Link)

Meka laughed along with him for a good while, letting her weight shift into the tree. She took a long drag on her cigarette and sighed. "For second I thought I was going to have to fight off a damn dinosaur," she grinned.

"How you been?" she asked after regaining a little balance.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 22nd, 2011 10:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"I'm... probably a lot easier to fight than a dinosaur," Keegan answered with a snicker, although the words spoken were slightly muffled by the cigarette between his lips.

After lighting said cigarette, he shrugged. "Alright. You know, about as much as repeatedly losing Quodpot games, getting attacked by a Deathmantle, and failing to come up with a spectacular April Fool's prank can allow. You?"

	From: learntofly	Date: March 22nd, 2011 10:31 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She chuckled. "Yeah I bet."

Her eyes went wide. "You got attacked by one of those fuckers?" she asked leaning forward. "I think that's one of the things that attacked Milo. What the fuck happened?"

She shrugged. "I had a rough start to the semester but things are getting better."

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 25th, 2011 10:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Yup," Keegan answered with a small nod and put his cigarette between his lips as he pushed up the sleeve of his hoodie to reveal his lower arm. "It was during that search the faculty had us on." He lifted his arm so that she could see the underside, and the scars left by the Deathmantle's teeth.

"As long as things are getting better," he added with a small shrug, "Getting worse would be something to worry about."

	From: learntofly	Date: March 26th, 2011 07:22 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She leaned in closer to get a better look, her eyebrows rose in sympathy and her stomach turned. It was too similar to the wounds she had found on Milo, too close to home. She took a step back and focused her eyes on Keegan's face. "Fuck," she said shaking her head. "I hope they caught all those bastards," taking a long drag on her cigarette she exhaled deeply. "That's brutal."

"Right?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest. "I will take steadily improving over constantly fucked over any day."

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 26th, 2011 09:41 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"I think so? I was in the only group to bring back something, I think." He gave a small shrug and put his arm down and putting the sleeve of his hoodie back the way it should be.

"As well you should." Keegan finally took the cigarette from his lips after a pause so he could get a long drag. "And at least spring vacation will be happening soon. That's always a good break to look forward to."

	From: learntofly	Date: March 26th, 2011 11:29 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"I can't believe someone would actually make those things," she shook her head. "When would that ever seem like a good idea?" she rolled her eyes. "People can be so stupid sometimes."

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to have to figure out something to do otherwise I might spend the whole vacation in New York with my brother. I can't stand the thought of sitting at my dad's huge house in Hawaii all by myself," she frowned a little at that. "You got any plans?"

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 27th, 2011 04:32 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Stupid, evil, crazy. Keegan had a number of words for the people responsible for breeding those things, but instead of voicing them he simply shook his head and shrugged a bit.

"Uh... not really. I have a surprise planned for Rowan on her birthday, but that's about as far as I got." It was rather convenient that her birthday was in the middle of break, too. Made things so much easier.

	From: learntofly	Date: March 27th, 2011 04:52 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Ooo," she grinned. "Good idea. I bet she'll freak," she laughed. "We should have a party or something. I think Cinco de Mayo is at the very end of the vacation," she suggested.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 27th, 2011 04:59 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Oh, definitely," Keegan nodded with enthusiasm. "Might as well give the vacation a good end before coming back to school. Cinco de Mayo is a good enough reason to celebrate. I just wouldn't know where to do it."

	From: learntofly	Date: March 27th, 2011 05:10 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Exactly," she grinned. "It's like tradition to end vacation with a bang," she nodded. "I'm sure we'll find somewhere. There's a couple NOLA and push comes to shove there's my dad's house. It's on the floo network and everything," she shrugged.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 27th, 2011 06:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"You said your dad's house was in Hawaii, right?" He at least believed he had heard the word mentioned. "Because that would be awesome if nothing else. Nice warm weather for spring break. Granted, NOLA does too, but people like me are going back to the chilly New England spring."

	From: learntofly	Date: March 27th, 2011 07:08 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Yeah," she nodded. "And he's never home," she smiled. "We could make it a proper beach party. We have a bbq pit and everything," she beamed. A party at her house was starting to sound like a really good idea.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 31st, 2011 10:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Keegan nodded. "That would be awesome. It would be like, actual spring break. Welcoming the warm whether when it's actually warm. If you can manage it? People would love it." If there was one thing Keegan was without question, it was an enabler.

	From: learntofly	Date: March 31st, 2011 10:36 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Oh I definitely could, it might be nice to actually have people at the house for once," she grinned. "Beach BBQ party!" she did a little shuffle dance and laughed at herself.

"We can make spits and everything," she laughed. "I bet my friend Kekoa would come over to help since I can't cook for beans and I don't touch meat," she said kicking at the ground.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 31st, 2011 10:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Yea, that could work. Or I could help? I'm pretty good on a grill. Not that it's really difficult. And there's also meatless stuff." Keegan said with a shrug. His dad certainly did enough grilling during the summer for him to have picked up a good amount of knowledge.

"You could handle the music and other stuff? Oh. You could do stuff that's local, yea? Hawaiian stuff. Local vegan recipes and fruit and such. That'll give the party an interesting kick."

	From: learntofly	Date: March 31st, 2011 10:50 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Oh yeah!" she said clapping her hands together. "You and Kekoa can man the grill! And I can definitely do some local vegan recipes!" She was way too excited now and the party was a whole month away but she couldn't help herself.

"And definitely other stuff. I can put together music, a nice mix of traditional Hawaiian, some Latin in honor of Cinco de Mayo, and some popular stuff," she nodded. "And dancing! We should hula!" she blanched a little having readily admitted that she could hula.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 31st, 2011 11:02 pm (UTC)		(Link)

By this point, Keegan went to take a drag from his cigarette and learned that while he had been going on about a party, his went out. It had pretty much finished itself off anyway, so another was in order.

"Definitely stuff to honor the Cinco de Mayo thing. Can throw in some Mexican food in there too. And hula..." Keegan winced a little, "Though you really don't want to see me do that. I'm better at limbo. By a slight margin."

	From: learntofly	Date: March 31st, 2011 11:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Seeing Keegan light another cigarette reminded Meka of the cigarette in her own hand, which she discovered also went out. She dropped it on the ground and smooshed it out before lighting another one.

She laughed at the image of her friend trying to hula. "Oh trust me, I've definitely seen worse," she giggled. "I haven't done it in a while but honestly, I don't think you can ever loose it," she shook her head but gave an experimental body roll to the side. "Still got it," she laughed.

"But yeah, Mexican food and limbo and everything," she nodded.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: March 31st, 2011 11:49 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Awesome." Keegan said with a rather pleased smile. It might be a month away, maybe a little more, but it was definitely something to look forward to.

"I'll have to gather up some ideas, then. And dig out the swim trunks." For a moment, he had to think about what he did with it. Then with a shake of his head, he went back to the topic. "But no making me hula."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 1st, 2011 12:02 am (UTC)		(Link)

"I'm so excited now!" she beamed doing a little happy dance. She had only ever had a few friends over to her dad's house and it would be quite the adventure to have everyone over.

"Me too! I have like eighty million things to do before this party," she laughed. "Most importantly, getting together an amazing playlist. "Oh the swim trunks," she sighed taking a long drag on her cigarette. She was sure that she had a couple suits laying around somewhere.

"Eh," she shrugged. "I won't make you hula," she grinned. "But I will make you wear a lei! Everyone has to wear a lei!"

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 1st, 2011 12:28 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Good." He said with a certain nod and paused to take another drag from his cigarette. "A lei I can handle. And I can make horrible jokes throughout the party about it. Getting progressively worse with the more alcohol I consume." He, at least, intended to bring along some beer if only for himself. Barbecues were silly without beer.

Naturally the horrendously stupid jokes began immediately, as he gave her a rather goofy grin. "But I will wear one only on the condition that you are the one to lei me."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 1st, 2011 12:32 am (UTC)		(Link)

"As I fully expect," she nodded. "I intend to get many much booze," she grinned. "And the bad jokes will only get better."

She snorted and smacked herself in the face with her palm, shaking her head. "Of course," she laughed. "I will lei everyone but yours will be the most special," she joked.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 5th, 2011 10:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Point proven. Keegan grinned, both at the facepalm at his own horrible joke, and at the response that followed. "Aww," he drew the word out, "I get to be the special lei."

Although the point was proven, it didn't stop him from continuing. Nearly. He couldn't resist the chance to be a little more lewd. With a waggle of his eyebrows, he asked, "So... does this mean you'll get to lei Rowan too?"

	From: learntofly	Date: April 5th, 2011 10:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"You sure do," she said shaking her head.

"Absolutely," she giggled. "Rowan gets two leis from me because I think she's coming out early," she joked.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 5th, 2011 11:39 pm (UTC)		(Link)

For a moment, Keegan was surprised he didn't get slapped for that one.

Well, if the joke got back to Rowan, he might.

Still, Keegan managed to force a pout onto his face instead of laughter, digging the toe of his sneaker into the dirt. "Aww. You girls get all the good leis."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 6th, 2011 12:02 am (UTC)		(Link)

She shook her head, giving a good laugh. "Oh Keegan," she said after she settled down from laughing. "Don't get jealy," she said with a mock girlie voice. "Girls will be girls."

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 6th, 2011 12:47 am (UTC)		(Link)

He laughed too, and after crushing out his second cigarette of the evening, he moved to put his arm around his friend's shoulders. Just for a moment. "Oh, I won't get jealous, Meka. I just want pictures."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 6th, 2011 12:56 am (UTC)		(Link)

On this one Keegan did earn a little elbow to the side. "Yeah well I'm not one who leis and tells," she laughed. "Besides, pictures are like the ultimate not classy thing ever."

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 6th, 2011 01:05 am (UTC)		(Link)

Ah, there it was. Keegan released Meka and stepped to the side after getting elbowed, setting his hand on his side for the moment. "Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying. And you know classy should never be permitted to describe me."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 6th, 2011 01:26 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Fair enough, but I can elbow the shit out of him for trying," she said taking out another cigarette with a big grin.

"You my dear friend are not classy," she laughed. "But us nerds are the pinnacle of classy," she said shaking her head. "Yeah, Meka Palakiko, classiest bitch on the planet."

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 6th, 2011 01:35 am (UTC)		(Link)

Meka only gained a wide smile to the first statement. Or threat. Keegan preferred to look at it like a statement, though.

"Oh, totally. The epitome of class, standing out here in the woods swearing and smoking," Keegan snickered, and looked at his pack as if he was debating a third. It was almost worth it as it would be another while before he could get out.

"Rowan is just as classy," he said as he pulled out another. One more before he headed back. "Ya know, dating me and all."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 6th, 2011 02:10 am (UTC)		(Link)

"See? Told you," she laughed. "Real, true class. Fucking Queen of Sheba."

"She is though," Meka grinned. "I think she brought your classy level up, like..." she hold out her hand, showing just a little space between her thumb and forefinger. "This much," she teased.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 7th, 2011 12:52 am (UTC)		(Link)

Keegan laughed, letting the laughter fade a bit before he put the cigarette between his lips and lit it.

"I... wasn't aware I had any class to begin with," he added as an afterthought, letting the smoke come out with his words. "Good to know I at least have a little now. Minimal though it may be."

	From: learntofly	Date: April 7th, 2011 01:58 am (UTC)		(Link)

She laughed kindly. "Well my friend, I think we all have a small amount of class, no matter how minuscule it may or may not be," she grinned.

She puffed on her cigarette with a shit eating grin on her face. "Still... a cinco de mayo luau is a pretty classy idea."

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 7th, 2011 11:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Ah, true. It is. And it will be a classy event," Keegan nodded in certainty. Never mind that it would probably be the complete opposite. Fun, yes. Classy, probably not.

After another puff of his cigarette and a moment to think, he tilted his head curiously at her. "Anything else you think I should bring for this?"

	From: learntofly	Date: April 8th, 2011 12:15 am (UTC)		(Link)

She couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. First of all claiming that she was classy and then claiming to throw a classy party. "Chances are... most people were going to wake up in compromising positions on the beach with sand stuck to their asses," she laughed.

"Hmm," she took a thoughtful drag on her cigarette. "Well... we're going to need booze for sure. And maybe some floatie devices," she grinned. "I have a fuck ton of hammocks at my house," she grinned, getting even more excited.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 8th, 2011 12:21 am (UTC)		(Link)

Keegan nodded. "Booze I will try to get. I'm sure other people will bring their preferences, too. Floating devices... I can find some amusing ones. Food we have covered."

What else could a party possibly need? He thought to see if there was anything necessary that he was forgetting as he continued to smoke. "Is there anything else that's like... traditional to Cinco de Mayo other than latin music and ridiculous amounts of alcohol?"

	From: learntofly	Date: April 8th, 2011 12:54 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Yeah, I figure I'll get some tequila from Charlie because... helloooo," she grinned.

"Hmm," she tapped her chin in thought. "I think that's it. Booze, music, and dancing. Ooooo! We should get one of those plastic pools and use it like a cooler for the drinks," she said bouncing.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 10th, 2011 09:47 pm (UTC)		(Link)

He scoffed. "Having a party in honor of a Mexican festival without tequila is like... sacrilegious."

"Yes, definitely. I... well, I wouldn't doubt that someone will end up swimming in it once the ice melts." With booze involved and swimming, that was just a high possibility.

	From: learntofly	Date: April 10th, 2011 09:53 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Right? That's what I thought. Everyone is taking at least one tequila shot while there. I will hunt people down and make sure it happens."

"I can't make any promises it won't be me," she grinned.

	From: howemuchtrouble	Date: April 10th, 2011 10:30 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Good girl." He grinned. "And if it is you, I'm taking pictures."


Keegan took a couple long drags of his cigarette to finish it off a little quicker, crushing it out once it was finished. He nodded back in the direction of campus. "I'm going to head back to campus. You coming, or staying out here to swear at more velociraptors?"

	From: learntofly	Date: April 10th, 2011 11:27 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Meka laughed brightly at that and crushed her cigarette butt against the tree, she stood up straight and grinned. "As long as it doesn't end up on facebook I will entirely worthy of having said picture taken."

"Yeah, I should probably get going," she said. "I don't know if I can handle anymore velociraptors at this point," she started back for campus at his side.