Campfire

Edward and the others sat around the campfire as the Ostrich finished roasting. On his immediate right is Leonardo, then Emma, Elizabeth, Brody, Ezekiel, the guy with the glasses, and Andrew on his immediate left. On the campfire, 20 pieces of Ostrich were roasted. Brody had listened to Andrew and added four more, two for Edward and Andrew.

"Except for those four," Brody pointed at four Ostrich, "The others are well done."

"Finally!" Leonardo shouted, reaching for the stick closer to him and picking it up. Everyone, including Brody, watched him as he took the first bite, tearing a piece off the meat. He chewed while they all watched him, swallowing. "It tastes bad. No flavor, tasteless, dry. You need to do better, Brody."

"So bring salt next time." Brody chuckled, he took one too. He took a bite, nodding at the taste. "I never ate Ostrich, so I didn't know the perfect roasting time. Seems like it overcooked, resulting in the dry taste."

"Food is food." Ezekiel shrugged, swallowing the piece he bit off. "But you are right, Leonardo. Brody needs to get better."

"Ha! Next time you two do the cooking." Brody said, pointing his stick at Ezekiel. "Let's see how good it is."

"Woah there, Brody. This shit is busting." Ezekiel quickly said, licking his lips. "I appreciate you making this, boss. Forgive me for speaking out of turn."

"Hahaha!" Brody laughed, "Apology accepted."

Emma ate silently, forcing herself to swallow the dry meat. "Bleh." She gagged, shaking her head. "Not good."

"Why aren't you eating, Elizabeth?" Leonardo questioned, looking at Elizabeth, staring silently into the night sky with no meat in hand.

"Huh?" Elizabeth looked down from the sky, noticing everyone staring at her. "Oh, I am Allergic to meat from avians, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. If I eat that," She pointed at the bird meat roasting in the campfire, "I won't be able to digest it and would throw up."

"Sorry to hear that." Emme smiled, "It must be hard to be unable to eat meat."

"Especially now." Brody nodded in agreement, staring at the meat in his hand. "Anything must be eaten in a survival situation. I thought you were just a vegetarian, but I guess not."

Elizabeth shrugged despicably, "I am not hungry, so don't worry and feast." She smiled, gesturing at the meat. "Hunger comes hard for me."

"At least you have a good reason to be vegetarian, unlike those that are 'concerned about animal welfare.'" Ezekiel said, earning a chuckle from Edward and a laugh from everyone except Andrew and Elizabeth, who just smiled.

"Fun fact, I was an Activist Vegan at one point," Emma said with a small giggle.

"Oh? Do tell me how that went." Edward asked, taking a bite from his meat.

"Well, when I first entered college three years ago, I was easily convinced into being a vegetarian. I was an extremely gullible girl back then." She explained, "But I guess one day I got bored of not eating meat and sneakily ate one. Nobody found out I was eating meat until I entered my Junior year."

"I found out, and I snitched." Leonardo chimed in, with Emma jokingly punching him. "I was a Freshman, and she kept bothering Edward and me, shouting 'Don't eat meat!' So when I saw her eating meat on the roof of the Science Lab Building, I fucking told everyone."

"True hypocrisy," Ezekiel said with a full mouth, sticking a thumb up at Leonardo. "You did well to expose her."

"I remember that too." The guy with the glasses said, drawing everyone's attention. They had forgotten he was there. "You had those round glasses and looked like those generic library girls."

"Like that girl that said that this world was similar to a manhwa ." Edward agreed, shaking his head. "You were such a scholar back then."

"Manhwa." The guy with the glasses corrected, taking a bite from his meat.

"Wait a minute." Ezekiel cut in, pointing his stick with meat at the guy with the glasses. "What's your name? I never got it."

"Michael Hwang, at your service." He said after swallowing the meat.

"American Korean?" Brody asked, staring at Michael.

"To the core." Michael nodded, taking another bite from his meat.

"Nice to meet you, Michael. Now tell me," Ezekiel adjusted his sitting position to face Michael. "What is a manhwa ?"

"Manhwa." Michael once more corrected, "Not to be mistaken with Manga or Manhua--"

"Wait a minute. You just brought up two more words I don't know." Ezekiel cut off Micheal. "If you want to explain something, don't use words I don't know to explain it."

Sighing, Micheal explained the meaning of Manhwa, Manga, and Manhua, which interested Ezekiel a lot. Especially when he mentioned and explained Manhuas.

"So you are saying people can cultivate to gain immortality?" Ezekiel chuckled, slapping his lap with his free hand. "That's fucking dope."

"I know, right. The immaculate names of the technique make it even better. Like Battler Cyclone of the Fifty Sunsets!" Micheal shouted, nodding vigorously. "Damn, man. You missed out."

"Yeah. My daughter read Mangas. She says all Manhua is boring and cliche." Brody said, earning a surprised look from the others. "Don't look at me like that. I am 47 years old. Of course, I would have a child and wife."

"Oh, damn," Leonardo mumbled, giving Brody a strained smile. "I hope they are alright."

"Don't bother. I am sure they could take care of themselves. Their safety is guaranteed." Brody waved, taking a bite from his meat.

Even though he said that they could see how worried he was. Wanting to change the subject, Leonardo turned to Edward and Andrew whispering to each other.

"What are you two whispering about like a couple?" Leonardo asked with a smirk.

"We are planning a way to enter the omniverse and find the one where you aren't wishing for a dick in your ass," Andrew said, casually taking a bite from his meat.

"Too bad. Andrew had come up with a formula to calculate your dick wishing and thirstiness and found this out. There are zero universes in the omniverse where you don't wish for dick in your ass, which is quite sad." Edward continued, looking at Leonardo. "So we gave up on the plan. Such a tragedy, Leonardo. Who knew you were this gay."

"Ohh, shit. Sick burn." Ezekiel instigated, turning to the speechless Leonardo. "You gonna let that slide, Leo? You gonna let them come for your ass like that?"

"I have been waiting to use this for a long time," Leonardo mumbled, giving a cruel grin. "By using Stephen Hawking's multiverse theory, I concluded that there are, in fact, 14 trillion possible multiverse, but there is one problem. Out of the 14 trillion multiverse, there isn't a single one where you get some bitches because of your anger issues."

Andrew and the others burst out laughing, lifting the strained atmosphere between Andrew and the others, with Elizabeth laughing convulsively. With these two jokes, Andrew was more comfortable with them.

The campfire lit a glow almost all that night. Between the stories and jokes. Between the smiles and laughter. Their bonds grew.