(no subject)

[not_so_smooth]

Sam had everything ready that he needed for the excursion into the jungle with Coraline to find fruit. While he didn't necessarily need Coraline along, Sam knew how badly she had wanted to get out while grounded. Plus, she was pretty cool to have around, fun to kid around with and just be overly imaginative with.

"Alright, we've got backpacks, knife, water, snacks, rope, more rope..." he said, glancing around at all the supplies he had gathered. He was pretty sure that he had everything that he needed and then some. Hopefully they were only going to be gone a few hours, but with the Island you never knew what was going to happen.

"Now we just need Coraline."

Comments

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"Are you sure you've got enough rope there?" Coraline asked curiously. Coraline wondered what Sam thought he was going to need all that rope for. Not unless he wanted to sneak into dino territory and try and lasso a dinosaur and ride one. Actually that would be brilliant. Coraline was going to casually mention that later just in case. "What are you wearing? You do know proper explorers wear wellies, don't you? Or failing that they have to wear a hat like Indiana Jones the COOLEST explorer of all time."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"Some of the fruit is up in trees, so I'll have to climb up to get it," Sam explained, turning toward Coraline as he stuffed the rope into his backpack.

"Which means I'll need rope and boots I can climb with. And I don't have a hat like Indiana Jones. So you'll just have to settle for me looking just like this."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"Just use your hands and your feet but bring the rope anyway. You never know we might get lucky and fall into a hole which takes us to that new place." Coraline said laughing at the idea of needing rope to climb something. Coraline just went for it, sometimes she got stuck sure but that hadn't happened in ages. "And next time I'm bringing you a hat so you can look the part of an explorer properly. I mean, who wouldn't want an Indiana Jones hat? He's the coolest person ever."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"You watch, we will need rope," Sam said. You always needed rope. Hadn't she ever seen Boondock Saints? Okay, she probably hadn't and shouldn't, although Sam wasn't going to mention that because it would just make her want to see it all the more.

"When you see explorers? They always have rope. And Indy is pretty cool. If you've got an Indy hat, I'll wear it, but I don't have one."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"I've probably got one at home but what I do have now is-" Coraline put down her bag, pulling out a rather vivid blue t-shirt with a unicorn and pineapple design on it practically dripping in glitter. It read 'Never let a pineapple catch you unawares!' "-your t-shirt. I mean, that is the most important part of this venture. The cool t-shirts and the killer fruit."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"It's like Ke$ha and Calvin Kline had a love child, and that love child threw up all over that shirt," Sam said, staring at the bright blue shirt that contained an entire island's worth of glitter. He was knew the shirt would be coming, he just didn't think she would have it ready by now.

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

Coraline waggled the t-shirt in front of Sam, waiting for him to take it and put it on. It wasn't like she hadn't seen boys without clothes on before, in fact Coraline couldn't remember a time when Jake actually wore a shirt.

"I have no idea who they are but they sound cool," Coraline said wondering how you spelt Kay-sha. "Because this shirt is cool. It's the epitome of coolness. And you're going to wear it, right?"

Coraline put her best puppy face on. No one could resist that.

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"No. No, no, no, no," Sam said, shaking his head. As soon as she started the puppy face though he sighed and grabbed the shirt from her. He wondered just how it was possible anyone ever told her no.

Pulling his own shirt off he quickly put on the bright blue glitter disaster. It was ridiculously tight on him but not so much that it didn't actually fit.

"I look like I belong in an all gay boy band, Coraline."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"No, you don't you look like a really cool version of Justin Bieber. Just you know, less handsome." Coraline said, nodding away quite happily as she eyed the shirt. It looked even more spectacular on Sam then it did off. "No offence but he's dreamy and you're Sam."

Coraline pulled her backpack on properly, rocking back and forth in her wellies as she waited for Sam. "Okay, are we going now? Can we go now? Are you ready? This is going to be so awesome. We're going to find loads of really cool stuff."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, not much offense taken," Sam said, giving her a look. He knew that as a fourteen year old girl Coraline really couldn't help it, but she could at least have some tact. He supposed he couldn't be too hard on her as he was likely worse at her age, and if nothing else she was generally honest.

"And yes, we can go now," he said. He shrugged his own backpack on and adjusted the straps before pulling out the map. "So, here's where I've found some fruit."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"If you want me to fancy you I could do but then Cassie would be cross and you'd get very annoyed with it very quickly." Coraline said as she hovered, looking over the map and making a mental one in her head. Coraline very rarely used maps and that wasn't because she didn't know how to but more because she knew exactly where everything was. Coraline was an explorer after all.

"So, if we follow the path for a bit we can cut off there and go into the jungle. Come on then Sam, let's go!" Coraline said bouncing ahead before she turned to look back at Sam. Tapping her feet on the floor, Coraline looked pointedly at Sam before she spun and headed off. "You know I haven't been on an adventure in ages. I mean, I know it's only for fruit and that but well, it's really cool. The last adventure I had I ended up... stuck down a hole. Or was it when I was almost bitten by a giant snake. One of them."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"I think I'm pretty okay with you not fancying me," Sam said. He doubted it was that easy, he remembered the types of guys that 14 year old girls liked back when he was 14, and it wasn't guys like Sam.

"And yeah, for some of them we'll have to go off the paths," he said, heading out after her, nearly just as eager. "Anybody can pick the fruit near the path, but we want the stuff that's unusual and hard to get. Wait, whoa, there are giant snakes on the island? How big are we talking?"

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"There were giant snakes on the island, I don't know if there still are. It was pretty big like bigger than a person big but Indiana Jones saved me from it. It was when the island changed, sometimes it does that." Coraline explained, walking ahead of Sam and hopping and skipping across the path as she went. Some days Coraline behaved like a teenager, an almost adult but most of the time she still behaved like a kid. "And sometimes it just changes you. I woke up as Stephen Colbert before. That was an adventure I'd rather not have again."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"We? Are going to avoid all snakes, whether small or large," Sam said. It wasn't that he was afraid of snakes, it was just that they could kill you so easily. Which, okay, he supposed in that sense he was afraid of them.

"We're also going to avoid changing into Stephen Colbert, because then we'd just worry about bears all the time."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"Okay, no snakes big or small or poisonous or anything. What about gummy snakes? Can we have those?" Coraline said. Coraline didn't mind snakes, it was spiders that made her uncomfortable and for a time she'd in fact had a spider. Just because it made her... uncomfortable didn't necessarily mean she was scared. Besides Ron didn't like spiders and Ron was cool or at least Coraline thought he was cool. Not that she'd spoke to him really, she could just tell. "I really didn't like bears or men. It made me really jumpy and yelling-y all the time."

Coraline waited for Sam to pass her, she was waiting for him to get ahead before she could run and jump on his back. Or at least that was what she wanted to attempt to do. "PIGGYBACK!"

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"Gummy snakes are okay. Food in the form of snakes are perfectly acceptable," he said. "Snakes as food are less acceptable but will do if there's nothing else."

Sam had turned his back to Coraline as he headed out. In hindsight he probably should have realized this was as good as an open invitation to Coraline. For such a tiny girl (in terms of weight, definitely not height) she had a surprising amount of momentum. The fact that he had a backpack on didn't help either, and he staggered wildly while trying to keep her on his back.

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

Coraline laughed as Sam squirmed beneath her, almost buckling. Jake never buckled but then Jake was like a million times taller than Sam and certainly buffer. Percy usually buckled but that was because Coraline would sneak up and surprise him, sometimes from a great height and sometimes just to make him squeak like a girl. Coraline really did enjoy pouncing boys, it was fun.

"Come on Witwicky, straighten that back. Head up! Double time walk!" Coraline said demandingly, clinging to Sam. "I bet you I can carry you further than you can carry me."

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"You're squirming on my backpack," Sam grunted as he tried to shift her to a comfortable position. Sam wasn't exactly scrawny, but he wasn't buff either. Coraline just didn't know how to jump.

"Take some lessons on how to jump up for a piggy back," he said, shifting a bit more until he could grab her legs. "And of course you could, because I know how to be a piggy backer. You suck at this. You are the Gilgi of piggy back riders."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"Am not," Coraline said, pulling a tongue at Sam and making a noise in his ear. Coraline grinned, holding tight onto Sam until he'd finally got a handle on her mostly. She was like his very own backpack except squirmy. "I know how to jump for a piggy back, you just suck at being the piggy. What's a Gilgi?"

Coraline swung her feet back and forth pointing over Sam's shoulder to a small gap in the jungle. A sort of footworn path, barely noticeable. "Over there, that way. Hyah. Mush Sam mush!"

[not-so-smooth.livejournal.com]

"It's a really, really horrible movie," Sam explained. Now that she had stopped squirming quite so much, he was able to carry her a bit better. If she kept making noises in his ear though, he was going to dump her on the ground.

"You should watch it sometime. Several times. Repeatedly."