"What do you think? Over here somewhere?” she asked, standing on a relatively dry spot of ground. It was probably the driest spot in the little clearing they’d found, although the ground still felt spongy beneath her boots. ”It’s probably the best spot.”

Juliette had expected Colorado to still be snowy and cold near the mountains, but the warmth of spring had spread through the state, leaving most of the space without coverage. The grass was beginning to come back, and the trees were budding already. A lot of the snow was melting, making the ground muddy and wet, and she hadn’t been as cold as she’d expected on the hike. It was actually a fairly comfortable temperature.

It was so nice to be able to get away from the city and just enjoy nature for a while. Ever since she’d moved to New York, she’d barely ventured outside of the city. She could already feel her head starting to clear as she took a deep breath of mountain air. She wondered silently to herself why she'd never bothered to spend much time there before. Mountains were truly amazing.

However, the sun was starting to get low, which meant that it would get very dark. Far more dark than it ever got in the city that never slept. So, she’d urged Sam to let them stop for the night and set up a tent and the lanterns that she’d insisted upon.

She set her bag down and began to rifle through the things that she’d packed. ”I think you might have the tent, though,” she mused. The top layer of her bag was a layer of objects that were used exclusively to give off light. Under that, there were cooking supplies and clothes, as well as other things that she figured that they might need, but no tent.

Rudy was more than willing to drop them off and while Sam initially wanted to take Juliette with him to his sanctuary made of ice he knew that given the weather up there it would be less than enjoyable for Juliette mainly because as of now it was one of the few weekends where there was little to no sun and knowing he greatest fear of being in the dark Sam didn’t want to put her through that.

It didn’t take long for Rudy to get them there a few hours most and when he touched down he gave them his typical warning four days and he’d be back at this location the only difference was Sam wasn’t going through his normal camping trip. Not with Julie, it was one of the few times he played favorites. Again, she didn’t need to see him like that. She was dealing with enough when it came to the icemancer and he didn’t want to push her anymore.

The ground under his feet sank slightly leaving a small imprint his lone eye looked at the wettest point and found a small female doe track she wasn’t big probably a year or two but the ground was wet enough to retain that he doubted it would be suitable to be sleeping on it no matter what time the year however he was an icemancer and they brought sleeping bags so manipulating his surroundings was something he excelled at.

”If I wasn’t here it probably would be too wet to stay here but you’re lucky I’m like a Swiss army knife.” Sam pointed at the ground and caused some of the ground to freeze over around himself. He then shrugged off his pack and pulled a tarp. A large tarp after unfolding it and placing it onto of the ice he pointed to each corner and staked the tarp on top of the flat and cold surface. Sam then pointed to each side of the tarp and created a foggy wall if ice. ”Brining a tent is cheating.” Sam smirked as he erected four walls, the ceiling was open and a few seconds passed until he worked on a door from one of the walls. Another tarp, smaller than the first was put up by the grommets on the sides of the tarp.

Sam pulled out an even smaller tarp and put it off to the side as he pulled one large thermal sleeping bag from his pack. That was it, that was all he had in there. In fact that was far more than he usually brought. Sam poked his head out from under the tarp and asked, ”How many lanterns did you bring anyways? Might have to share a sleeping bag if you didn’t bring one.” Sam mused as he ducked his head back in.

The ground beneath her feet was quickly consumed by a layer of ice that spread across the mud. Juliette scrambled out of the way, taking refuge on a nearby tree branch that was out of the path of the ice.

The brunette crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at Sam. Sure, she liked camping, but they were clearly used to a different style of it. An ice tent. That’s what he was proposing they slept in. She sucked in a breath and shook her head, finding it impossible not to grin a little.

She stepped off of the tree branch and around the ice structure to punch Sam’s arm, avoiding the little tarp he was holding. ”No, cheating is bringing a trailer. Just because you don’t feel the cold doesn’t mean that I don’t,” she smirked, shaking her head for the second time at the walled ice thing that he’d put up. It already felt cold and the sun hadn’t even fully set yet.

>> ”How many lanterns did you bring anyways?”

”I brought enough,” she replied defensively, trotting back to her bag. Yes, she did realize that she’d brought more lanterns than any sane person had ever brought somewhere, but there was no chance of their campsite going dark that way. Every part would be lit up, and if, heaven forbid, one broke for some reason, there would be an extra to take its place.

She took a few out of her bag and began to put them in the dirt around the ice tent. If she was going to be sleeping in the cold, then she would be sleeping in the well lit cold.

>> ”Might have to share a sleeping bag if you didn’t bring one.”

Juliette whipped around to face Sam. ”I thought you were packing the sleeping bags!” she exclaimed. Or… maybe she’d just assumed that he had. She hadn’t brought any camping supplies with her when she moved, which she told Sam, so she’d figured that he would take care of things like a tent and sleeping bags from the supplies that the mansion had. It seemed that she’d assumed wrong.

”Alright, so no tent and only one sleeping bag. What exactly did you bring?” she asked, surveying the bag he was holding with her hands on her hips. ”Do you do this with everyone you take camping? Bring them to a forest somewhere and take minimal supplies?”

Sam was hefting the tarp meant for the roof as Juliette got close and punched him in the arm. Sam dropped the tarp and rose an eyebrow smirking. Rubbing his arm instinctively he feigned ignorance. ”The fire will keep you warm.” Sam called back as she went to her bag and he his tarp. Some rope was pulled and a stick to finish the middle support Sam hefted the support and pulled the rope casing the tarp to angle upwards at an angle to allow smoke to exit the structure and prevent rain or too much wind from entering.

Typically he made a snow drift or found a cave to sleep in when he camped, not much else was needed, but Juliette was right just because he couldn’t get cold didn’t mean she couldn’t. No, he was catering more to Juliette on this trip than himself. One of the reasons he didn’t mind her setting up a ridiculous amount of lanterns around his structure. One was far more than he was used to. Normally his light was a fire or the moonlight.

”I did!” Sam said lifting his recently purchased doublewide sleeping bag that was more than enough for both of them. With his other hand on his pack he offered it up to Juliette who would have been very disappointed in the amount of supplies he had brought. They included, One large can of baked beans, one can of tomato soup, one can of ‘cream of mushroom’, a small salt and pepper shaker, a toothbrush, some toothpaste and a large hunting knife, that was it. Oh and a small flask of whiskey, but it was a small one.

”Of course not!” Sam said sounding offended and dropping their sleeping bag on the tarp. After he handed her the bag Sam put his own hands on his hips and mocked her most recent stance. ”I normally don’t bring any supplies.” Sam said exaggerating the truth. Normally he just brought a bottle or two of whiskey. Everything else he made of ice, something he figured he’d be doing anyways.

”I brought way more than usual and, you’re gonna dig this lean to.” Sam said pointing at the recently erected roof tarp. ”And the sleeping bag.” Sam said swerving his head with some sass as he pointed to the sleeping bag. ”It was built for two…. Unless the fact I only brought one means you aren’t gonna share.” Sam said grinning and backing up slightly just incase she decided to hit his arm again.

The sleeping bag was a lot bigger than she’d thought it was. She peered at it with her mouth pulled to one side of her face, wishing she could redact her previous statement. One sleeping bag was actually rather romantic, and it would probably be warmer anyway. ”Alright,” she relented, making it sound like it was a harder sell than it was.

”Do those kids know what they’re signing up for when they agree to go camping?” she queried, selfishly glad that he was going easy on her.

She couldn’t help but think that parents would be less than enthused to learn that their child had gone on a camping adventure with a man with an eyepatch and no other supplies. She also couldn’t think of any teenagers that would willingly go on a trip like that. She knew that she wouldn’t have at that age, even if the instructor had looked like Sam.

Juliette finished placing the lanterns around the area, having saved a few for the inside of the structure and then moved to take the bag that Sam had handed to her. Inside, there was a hunting knife, a few cans of food, and a toothbrush and toothpaste. At the very least, he’d accounted for not having bad breath. No extra clothes, though. There was the potential of it being a rather smelly trip.

The bag shifted, revealing a small flask that had been hidden underneath the cans of food. She reached in and pulled it out, popping a hip and raising an eyebrow at him to rival his sassy mirrored stance.

She slipped the flask into the waistband of her jeans and gave the icemancer a knowing look before handing back the bag. She couldn’t say that she was surprised that she’d found it, but she’d also hoped that she wouldn’t.

”I’ll share,” Juliette promised, avoiding a lantern as she peeked into the ice structure. ”Anything I can do to help?”

If nothing else, Sam definitely knew his way around camping supplies. Even though he claimed that he usually brought nothing with him, he didn’t seem to be having any trouble setting up a tent that was, when she considered its merits, pretty amazing.

Sam shook his head and smirked a little. ”Typically, not at all.” Sam said thinking on it, ”If they are just students I go easy on them.” Sam puffed out his chest slightly to seem tougher for his next statement, ”The new team members however usually have a week on their own in places like this.” Sam said eyeing the flask as it went to her hip. Sam didn’t argue and avoided meeting her eyes when she gave him a look.

”I didn’t start pushing survival for new members till Romania.” Sam looked away towards the main support that held the roof and double knotted the rope and pulled it tighter than he needed to. He didn’t want to talk about Romania too much, he lost his eye there and was tortured. A lot of people died too. Sam ignored thinking about it and looked to Juliette and raised an eyebrow.

”Some fire wood,” Sam let out a small grunt as he pulled the stakes to make sure they were secure. Once he decided they were he shifted his weight and walked towards his girlfriend and noticing the amount of lanterns. His smirk said more than he did at forest but then he continued, ”Some kindling and some rocks. The bigger the better.” Sam nodded his head over to one of the lanterns and lifted it. ”I’ll hold the light in case it gets dark. You carry everything back?” Sam asked, ”We need a warm fire for dinner.”

”You know how to fish?” Sam asked curiously as he walked past Juliette and towards a small trail that was made by some deer. Sam ducked under the first couple branches and followed the trail bringing the light with him.

Romania. The mutant camps. Juliette had heard about them but had been lucky enough to have in no way been affected by them. She was well aware of the fact that Sam had lost his eye there, among other things. She had never pushed the topic with him, though. That seemed far too cruel.

"I can do firewood," she nodded, turning around to walk a little farther into the woods. The ground was wet, meaning that the wood would also be too wet to burn, but luckily, it dried out fairly quickly under direct light. She just had to be careful how much light she used up. The night would be dark, and there would be few options for her to absorb light from if she used too much.

She grinned at Sam as he carried the lantern beside her. She would have carried it herself, but it would have been difficult to carry everything at once, so she was glad that he had offered to accompany her. She wasn't, however, entirely sure how she would go about carrying the firewood and rocks back.

"With a fishing rod, yes, without, no," she explained. She'd been fishing a few times, but not all that often. She and her mom had mostly stuck to packing food that could be cooked over a fire rather than catching their own, but she'd still had the opportunity to do it enough to be able to successfully replicate the process on the fly. She had absolutely no idea how to do it without a rod, though. "But I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and assume that you didn't pack any rods?"

She weaved through the trees, keeping her eyes open for any logs or branches that could be used for firewood. There were a few right off the bat that look suitable - no leaves or buds, and they were reasonably dry - so she picked them up and started a pile in her arms as they walked. 

”Oh you’re in for a treat then.” Sam said smirking, ”No rods, sticks yes, maybe some rocks but that is the beauty of being out here. Got to make sure you can fend for yourself you know?” Sam said smirking as he followed Juliette around with the lantern while she picked up sticks. The ground where they were for the most part was dry except for a few small clumps of leaves on the ground no doubt left over from a storm or a strong wind. The wood she was gathering seemed dry enough.

”And anything else we might find?” Sam asked curiously hoping that she didn’t have a think against venison because even if it was just over the fire on a spit, it was delicious. ”You like venison right?” Sam found a large somewhat fresh log that still had some color. It was oak meaning it would burn slow and hot which was something he wanted it didn’t matter if it was fresh he’d make it work.

”Because if I remember correctly there is a small ravine a mile or so north of our campsite that used to be littered with deer.” he said revealing he knew the place somewhat well. With a small grunt Sam lifted the log he was examining and handed it to a pair of ice hands that started to form off of his back. This was how they were going to carry everything back. Enough fire wood and rocks.

Juliette took a moment to ponder the response that he’d given her. It had been the exact response that she’d been expecting, but it was still a little bit of a curiosity for her. ”So how do you go about fishing with just sticks? Sharpen the end and hope that you can time it just right?” she asked, imagining that they’d have to stand in the water and wait around for awhile for that to work.

She shrugged at the mention of venison. ”I’ve only had it a few times before. I think I like it, though,” she replied. From what she remembered, it was a little like a tougher form of beef, which sounded better than beans.

Her foot hit a rather large log, so she bent down to inspect it. It was relatively dry, so she picked it up and added it to the little load that she’d accumulated in her arms.

As she walked, she watched as new ice formations were starting to take shape around her boyfriend. After they were finished, she set the log and the sticks that she’d collected in the arms that were protruding from Sam’s back. No questions asked. Things just stopped being weird the longer you spent at a school for mutants.

Just after she’d done that, something suddenly came to her. Something very important. She stopped walking and looked at Sam, her eyes a little wider than before. ”We don’t have any coffee,” she pointed out gravely, her voice hushed. She hadn’t even thought to pack it.

Sam shrugged his shoulders there was more patience and timing involved but eventually he nodded his head, ”More or less. It’s way more satisfying when you get one though, makes ‘em taste that much better.” Sam shifted as more ice started to coat down his back and too his legs giving more support to both Sam and his ice limbs so they wouldn’t cause him to topple over.

He grunted slightly as he followed Juliette around occasionally pulling some dried bark from a long dead tree. ”Well you will be seeing a lot of it.” Sam crouched down and started to unearth a rock. ”Been craving it for a few weeks now. All you need is a little salt and pepper and…” Sam closed his eye and visualized the meal as he gave Juliette two thumbs up one of the thumbs was from his ice hand.

”****” Sam said as he too stopped and realized the implications of not having coffee. He didn’t always need it when he was out in nature like this but he knew it would have been a treat. Juliette on the other hand… he knew she was going to be hurting without it. ”Well… guess that’s why I brought you the whiskey?” Sam asked trying to force a smile. Sam walked over to Juliette and put a hand on her shoulder. ”Are you going to be okay? We can call Rudy. He might do an airdrop.” this time he was actually smiling at her.

As much as Juliette liked the idea of having fresh fish and veal over a can of beans, she wasn’t really all that excited about how they were going to go about acquiring it. She’d never been particularly concerned about where her meat came from, but she also hadn’t actively tried to hunt for herself. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it all.

She did know how she felt about coffee, though. Sure, she was caffeine dependent and occasionally grumpy in the morning without it, but she wasn’t about to make Ruddy fly back to air drop them some, even if it was just a clone. Perhaps, she figured, by not having him do that, he could do other productive things, like run the school. It wasn’t likely, but it at least upped the likelihood.

”Maybe some time out here, away from everything, will help us get over our dependencies,” she said pointedly, the flask at her side feeling somehow heavier than it really was.

She added a few more branches to the load that Sam was carrying and then turned to him, eyeing the pile that they’d accumulated. ”Think that’s enough?”

”Maybe.” Sam said with a little smirk when she mentioned his dependencies. It wasn’t a laughing matter but he still thought that approaching any subject with a smile was easier to handle. He didn’t say anything else about the coffee though. He had a feeling she’d be hurting more for a drink then he would be. Especially out in the woods where Sam felt at home the most. Even if it was so close to his not real one.

”For tonight yes.” the ice-mancer nodded his head as he took one last look around them to make sure there was nothing else that screamed to be burned. He then gestured back to the path that took them back to the campsite.

For the most part he remained silent on the walk back more to try and remember all the routes to where they were and where they were going making sure to try and sense everything that was close to them. A few dozen squirrels a few foxes and a small family of cougars. None of which would be an issue due to the noise and scent they carried with them. The fire and smoke was a good deterrent as well.

When they finally made it back Sam pushed passed the tarped door and slowly shattered all the arms made of ice around him. A few rocks fell faster than the logs but once everything was down he pulled the rocks and made a circle out of them then started to set logs. ”If you get too cold we can use some of these to heat the sleeping bag. Highly recommend not putting them in the bottom of the bag.” Sam said as he formed a small knife of ice. ”Definitely melt the bag.” Sam smirked as he hacked some of the bigger twigs into smaller ones then placed them in the ring of rocks accordingly.

”Care for a light?” Sam asked his girlfriend with a smirk.

The walk back was fairly quiet, which would have seemed a little strained if both of them weren't trying to figure out how to get back to where they were camping. For the most part, Juliette followed Sam, figuring that he would have a better chance of leading them back with his heat sensing. While they walked, she kept her eyes on the quickly setting sun, trying to soak up the last moments before it disappeared entirely.

"That'll be nice," Juliette nodded. Like a hot stone massage, only... in the middle of a forest and on a pile of ice. "Won't that melt the nice ice structure you made, though?" It didn't seem like a great idea to put a bunch of hot rocks in a room made of frozen water.

She bent down next to the freshly stacked pile of wood and held a ball of light energy in her hand. She held it just over the fire, letting it heat up for a while. After a minute or two, the kindling caught flame and the fire was going. 

Juliette let her hand return to normal as she took a seat next to a fire. The sun was going down, but their campsite was still well-lit thanks to the fire and lanterns that scattered the area. 

"So, did you bring a guitar?" she joked as she found her eyes drawn to the flame. It was mesmerising, really. 

Sam nodded his head, ”Why I made the place with an open roof.” Sam said as he pointed to the tarp that was above them. Sam then pointed to the ice around the base of the fire that quickly retracted revealing a far dryer surface than when they arrived. ”I’m pulling moisture from the ground and redirecting it on the walls. We get a warm floor and some solid walls. Every few hours I’ll have to refreeze it though.” Sam said thinking about the sculpture he had made for her. ”Kinda like the one on your nightstand.” Sam said with a little smirk.

Sam adjusted the logs around the fire in a small ring so the heat from the flames would dry out the logs faster. The ring of rocks right outside of the logs would warm them on both sides just unevingly so he’d have to tend to it. ”I’ve seen people off grid make fires in pure snow forts, which is impressive because they figure a way to vent off the smoke without a roof vent.” Sam said as he leaned into the flames and blew on them spreading the coals.

”Sadly no, didn’t bring any strings either so we can’t make one.” Sam joked back as he sat down next to the fire. ”You wouldn’t want me to play anyways. I only know a few cords and I’d hate to be ‘that’ guy.” he too got lost in the fire as the lanterns around their shelter grew brighter as the natural lighting grew dimmer. Shifting his gaze to Juliette, ”Better with the violin.” Sam said as he mocked a few strings and pushed an invisible bow. ”That and I play a mean harmonica. Which just so happens I brought but figured you’d need to be a little liquored up to enjoy properly.” Sam said as he leaned back.

”You gonna be alright with the night? I’ll protect you from the dark.” Sam beat his chest, ”Big fire, bright fire.” Sam leaned back into the small fire pit and blew on the coals again to get it hotter as he threw a few more twigs on it.

”Right. Just like Sparky,” Juliette noted. She’d almost forgotten about the dog sculpture in her room. By that point, it was just a part of the decor. The ice dog that never seemed to melt. Did that mean that he went into her room every few hours to refreeze it? She hoped that wasn’t the case; a dog statue really wasn’t worth that much effort.

She had been about to comment that it would mean that he would have to wake up in the night to refreeze the place, but she realised after a second that with his sleeping patterns, he would probably wake up anyway. If he even went to sleep at all, that was.

No guitar. Probably for the best, really. She certainly couldn’t play, and a few chords like wouldn’t get them very far without a capo or a memorised list of all the songs in one key. She nodded, her eyes on still locked on the fire, and felt the corner of her mouth turn up slightly. ”It’s probably good that you didn’t bring one. We wouldn’t want to scare off any forest creatures with horrible campfire songs.

“You should break out the harmonica at some point, though. Maybe on the last night, when we’re both really tired.”

She didn’t offer to bring out the liquor, nor did she intend to. She didn’t want music that much. If she had any say, then the trip would be a sober one.

His next comment made her look up into the horizon just in time to catch the end of the sunset. The afterglow hung on the edge of the skyline, fading up slowly to a dark blue, then finally to a black.

Juliette felt the twisting in her stomach grow stronger, just as it always did when she was outside at night. She pushed the feeling down, though. She did love the outdoors, and she did, at some point, want to be over her childish fear. With a new resolve, she nodded. She would not let it get the best of her.

”I don’t think that’s as attractive as you think it is,” she told him with a smirk. Despite her teasing words, she had moved so that she was sitting next to him and then proceeded to rest her head on his shoulder.