2021-12-12 - Firefly Foresters

A puffy, charcoal grey down jacket, hood drawn, light gloves... Garrett is dressed against the cold and wind as he makes his way, slowly, along one of the paths near the edge of Firefly Forest. A sturdy walking stick is held tight in his left hand, presumably to help with the leg he's favoring on that same side. A small backpack is on his back, a drinking tube dangling over his shoulder, and a small machete strapped to the outside of the pack.

They told her to stay away from the forest. Jules didn’t listen. She’s outfitted for a cold day, in a blue puffy jacket, black hat, jeans, and muddy hiking boots, tramping her way slowly along the trail in the opposite direction, headed Garrett’s way. At present, she has her phone out, angling for a signal. Little luck, apparently, or something isn’t quite working as it’s supposed to, because she’s frowning, brow furrowed under the low brim of her beanie. Drawing near enough to hail the fellow hiker, she offers the friendly, “Hello!” of one person passing by, except she doesn’t stop there. “Hey, you familiar with these trails? Can I ask you a question?”

Garrett glances up, the dry, hard path hard to keep quiet on, and gives a faintly amused look at the familiar signal-hunting phone raising. "Hey there." The greeting is returned with a polite nod, and he stops readily enough at the prefaced question, just a touch of relief on his face as he shifts his weight to his right leg. "Kind of, yeah. What can I help you with?" he asks, straightening up and taking a decidedly professional tone.

Jules comes to a halt a few paces away. “So I downloaded the trail map, or at least I thought I did, but I don’t think it’s working, or maybe it hasn’t been updated, or...I don’t know.” Maybe the forest’s just gone weird. She gestures vaguely with the hand holding the phone. “I was looking for the lake? Isn’t there a lake around here? Or am I totally off base?”

Oh, and yes. She’s got that shine - faint, but there it is, a halo of here I am on this gray winter day.

"Yeah, most apps that use any sort of web connection, even when they're already updated, go wonky out here. Crap signal," Garrett says, nodding knowingly, though that extra glance Garrett gives and the fact that he shines just the same, suggests there's probably a little more to it than that. "Paper map is your best bet. Give me a second." He slips the pack off his back, kneeling down and unzipping a pocket, producing a ziploc bag with a folded paper in it, and offering it to Jules as he stands. "Here. Keep it. The ones you buy are usually out of date, better off with something hand drawn. More recent. Trails get overgrown too quick around here, you use a bought one and you'll end up looking for a trail that isn't there." He clears his throat, then thinks. "There's Gray Pond? But that's not really in the woods, more over by Maple Street?" he offers.

“Oh, thank you.” Jules looks relieved as she steps up to take the map. She unfolds it, and with phone still out, compares what’s on her screen to the paper, sighs, then tucks the phone away. “Maybe that was it. It looked like there was something a couple miles in, but like you said— wonky.” She wrinkles up her nose. “It’s not important really, I just wanted to get out. Clear my head. My name’s Jules. Just moving to town.”

"No problem." Garrett flashes a bright smile, then nods. Yep, local wonky is probably to blame. "Nice to meet you, Jules. I'm Garrett." He offers a gloved handshake. "What has you moving to Gray Harbor, if you don't mind my asking?" he inquires.

Jules has cold fingers — no gloves, probably not the wisest — and after the handshake, she sticks both hands into her coat pockets. “I’m gonna start classes at Bayside next semester, in January. Doing my Associate’s in Forestry. I was working up at the Quinault fish hatchery, but if I’m gonna go any farther, I need a degree of some kind.” She doesn’t say it, but it’s not hard to figure out more from the information she does give; by Quinault, she means Quinault Nation, i.e., the reservation roughly an hour north.

"Oh are you, now?" Garrett brightens immediately at the Forestry plans. "I can't say one way or the other about the program at Bayside, but if you ever need a hand with anything, that's what I went to school for, back in Minneapolis," he offers. Which does not mesh at all with the London accent. Quinault gets a small nod, but no follow-up questions. He either is familiar enough with the area to know what she means, or doesn't want to admit he doesn't. Could go either way.

“Oh cool!” Her response is immediately enthusiastic. “How’d you end up out here? That’s a long ways away. Do you work for the Park Service? I don’t suppose you’re hiring.” Jules grins, cheeky and unrepentant.

There's a quiet laugh and the response, and he nods. "Was out of town for a while, but yeah, I'll be starting my job again up at Olympic after the new year," he confirms. "It's why I moved out here. Dream job, you know?" A grin. "As for hiring... probably? No promises, but I can ask around and find out, for sure," he tells her, returning the grin.

“That would be amazing,” Jules replies, looking grateful as all get-out. “I’ve got experience with guided hikes for tourists, and the fisheries stuff obviously with the salmon runs, but it’s a little far for me to keep that job if there’s something more local, and besides. Taholah’s real small, you know? It’d be nice to have a change.” She’s fervent as she says it. “Where you from, anyway? England?” If she’s being nosy, then she doesn’t seem to realize it. “That must be totally different than out here. Most people wouldn’t think this is a dream job place, with all the rain.”

"I'll do what I can," Garrett assures, sounding sincere, smile widening. The enthusiasm seems contagious. "Yeah, can't go wrong with getting out and getting somewhere new," he agrees. The England guess gets a nod, followed by an amused eyebrow raising regarding the rain. "I'm from London," he points out, shrugging at the rain. "And it beats the snow back home," he adds. "But yeah, probably not most people's dream job, but it was the only national park I could get a job with relatively immediately, so here we are."

“Oh, wow.” Small town girl that she is, Jules doesn’t quite know how to respond to big city origins except to look impressed. She shifts quickly back onto more familiar footing. “The Olympics are beautiful. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I mean, I can, kind of, maybe, but this is always going to be home.” A hint of possessiveness, there, creeps into her reply. “So is it true what they say?” She asks then, shifting again. “Someone in town told me to be careful out here, that the forest isn’t safe.”

"They really are. I admit I wasn't so sure about moving out here, but once I was up there..." Garrett shakes his head, smile taking on an almost wistful cast. Dangerous? Garrett turns contemplative, leaning a bit more heavily on his walking stick. "Hm. Well." Eventually, he nods. "It can be," he eventually confirms. "But, no worse than the rest of town. How long did you say you've been around?" he asks, though his tone is more 'how much do you know?'.

“Hmm.” Jules looks thoughtful in turn. “Just, like, two days. I’m still moving in. Found a place to rent a room, but still have to get settled.” As for the question that isn’t asked: on that, she hesitates to give much away, but she does look at Garrett a little more intently, judging. “People seem like they’re pretty open about this being a weird town,” she finally opts to say.

"Oh, wow. /Just/ getting to town, then," Garrett says, slightly surprised. The hesitation doesn't pass by unnoticed, and Garrett gives a faint nod of confirmation. "It is," he confirms. Some of the jovial mood fades. "But, you get used to it, and if things are gonna go weird for you, avoiding the woods isn't likely to help," he suggests. "...except maybe the old saw mill. Best avoided. It's on the map I gave you."

“Avoid the sawmill,” Jules repeats. “Got it. It just seems weird to not be able to get out and go hiking, you know? And besides,” and here’s that possessiveness again, “this land, my people have always lived here and taken care of it. So I should be able to learn about it and help take care of it, right?” It’s not the kind of question that demands a response—or rather, there’s a right answer and a wrong one, and it should be pretty clear which Jules expects to hear. “Anyway,” she says then, “let me give you my number, in case there are any jobs I can apply for.”

Garrett nods his agreement to... all of it, it seems, because he's nodding the whole time. "You'll notice there's nothing stopping me from being in the woods," he points out. "There's some debate about if the woods is actually extra weird. I say it's not, and the reason weird things happen to people in the woods is because /those people spend more time in the woods/. It's like most car accidents take place close to home?" He shrugs. "Do what you want or have to do, you know? Anyone who tells you not to is just being.... paranoid. Or silly. Or both." He says, moments after telling her to avoid the sawmill. The phone number gets a brighter nod, though, and he pulls his phone out. "Go ahead."

“Yeah, that makes sense. And it’s good to hear,” Jules says, sounding settled, or determined, or both. Out comes her phone, then, and she rattles off her number (a local one; there are only so many area codes, out here).

Garrett punches the number in, shooting it a quick text with his name. "It's more weird than dangerous. For what it's worth," he offers up with a (hopefully) encouraging smile. "You just starting your hike, or were you on your way out?" he asks.

Jules texts right back with her full name, Jules Black. “Better than boring,” she replies with a quick grin of her own. “Somewhere in the middle of it, but I got nowhere to be, and besides, better to hike with a buddy, right? Can I join you? And you can, like, drop some knowledge on me about what’s out here, the kind of stuff you do. If that’s okay.”

"Long as you don't mind me slowing you down too much, more the merrier," Garrett invites with a smile, resituating his pack and starting to walk again. "Weird is definitely better than boring, more often than not," he agrees as he moves down the path. "Got any specific questions? Things you wanna know about, local or work? Never been great at rambling unprompted."

“I’m in no rush,” says Jules as she turns and falls in step alongside Garrett, matching her pace to his. “Oh, I don’t know,” she says as they start off. “What’s your favorite part of the forest? Do you get a lot of stupid hikers you have to rescue? See any bears recently?”

Garrett thinks on the questions. "There's a hill that gives a pretty decent view of town, let's head that way. It's a good spot," he decides, then laughs. "Lost hikers. Occasionally. There was this one couple that had come up from L.A......" He begins, launching into a story of out of town city folk that think they know better than the experts.