Well that settled that. The tiny owl that had awkwardly side-hopped out of the bushes was an obvious indication that Landon had been right to send her. Danny just watched as Tyko's raccoon-friend - was it Lois, he wasn't sure - head bobbed at the owl and the woman standing a few feet away. Suddenly feeling a bit awkward and more than a little outnumbered Danny cleared his throat, ran his hand through his hair, and grabbed his pack.

"Alright. Well, if we want to make it to camp with enough time to eat before it gets dark we should get going." His eyes met Mellie's eerily blue ones, even more jarring in her dark face, "You have been waiting for us. Do you have a pack?" She didn't seem to be carrying anything, but from what he could see her car was stuffed to the gills. Hopefully she'd brought a smaller pack that would do for the night. A small part of him hoped she'd say no, just so he had an excuse to go through her car and see what supplies she had brought. He had a hunch it was going to be a long and lonely summer, and he wanted to know what she'd be able to contribute. What people chose to bring on this sort of last minute trip would be a pretty good indicator of their skills as well as their basic personality traits. He shrugged, mentally, he knew there would be time to do it. He just hoped that between the three of them they hadn't duplicated too many things.

"We'll be able to come back for another few loads tomorrow, so if you have a bag with just the necessities..."

~~~

Mellie nodded and replied "Yeah, I've got an overnight bag. It's not a pack though. I didn't know where I'd end up, Landon just sent me coordinates. It's just a gym bag." She shrugged, unsure if Landon and Ruth-Ann had even known exactly where she'd end up.

She felt a small prick on her calf and looked down to see the owl nudging her with his beak. She somehow knew he wanted a better vantage point, so she bent and lifted him to her shoulder. For once in her life she felt none of the need to cradle or protect an animal. It was the strangest feeling, but she just knew he'd be as competent as she was. She felt a quick warning, enough so she could turn her head sideways, before he launched off. He'd managed to barely miss buffeting her ear, but not by much and she heard his low 'hoo' of amusement - sure that's what it was - as he landed on top of the truck.

He boobed his head, then turned it nearly completely sideways, looking at the tall red-haired man and Mellie felt herself say "He wants to know your name." She was sure the look of shock on her own face matched that of the man's when he looked back at her. She turned her head, a little more certain of herself, "Yours too." Meeting the ice-blue eyes of the boy, and the other man.