He stood up with her and started gathering some rocks, sticks and a couple handfuls of dry grass and some dead leaves. As she came over with her supply, he started placing the rocks in a rough circle. ”Yeah, this should be good.” Frankie nodded. ”Thanks for helping.” he smiled.
"No problem." She said, helping him place the rocks in a circle and then putting some of the smaller sticks inside the ring to get the fire going along with a little bit of the dry grass. Selina always started her fires like that, so she assumed he did too, or some way similar to what she was doing.
Frankie lit a match and held it up to a small handful of the grass and leaves until it caught fire and carefully placed it in the center of the ring before slowly putting some of the smaller sticks on top.
She watched intently as he started the fire, crouched down and resting on the balls of her feet. "Do you need any more wood for now? I know fires burn through a lot of it very quickly." The fire gave off a warm glow, one that was quite comforting in the darkening night.
He nodded. ”Just add them slowly. We don't need too much yet. We don't want to smother the flame.” he instructed, carefully watching the flames. ”Yeah, fires tend to go through wood pretty fast. Especially the smaller pieces.” he agreed.
She nodded, watching the fire for a long moment before standing up and looking around for more wood to bring back to the fire. There were quite a few large pieces scattered down in the rock field she knew, but getting them in this dark of light, even for her would be a little challenging.
Frankie followed her with his eyes as she stood up. It took him a moment to realize what she had meant and what she was doing before he opened his backpack. The fire barely providing enough light for his little search until his fingers brushed against the right object. ”Here. Do you need any help?” he asked, holding a flashlight that his family insisted he take with him and right now he was glad he did.
"Thank you." She said, taking the flashlight and shrugging, "If you want to help me, otherwise you don't have to. Climbing up the rocks again in the dark is pretty dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt." Selina wouldn't mind the help, but she also didn't want him getting hurt if he fell or tripped.
He nodded, understanding her warning but he still wanted to try to help. ”I could come, like halfway over and you can hand me the wood.” he suggested. ”I know you can see in the dark better than I can, but I don't want you to get hurt either.”
She nodded, thinking that would be a good idea as she handed the flashlight back, "That would work, and you could shine this where I am, at least then my hands would be open and with the light, I could see slightly better."
”Sure.” he agreed, accepting the flashlight and keeping it pointed ahead of them. He glanced at their small fire and saw it was still burning, fortunately. ”We should probably get started.” he suggested, looking back at Selina.
"Yea, how big of pieces do you want me to hand up?" She asked, walking down to the start of the rock pile and starting to pick her way down, searching for any spare pieces of wood to hand up.
He followed her to the edge of the rocky terrain and kept the flashlight so she could see. ”They don't have to be very big. Maybe a little bigger than what we got the first time.” he suggested.
Selina nodded, soon finding a small dip in the rocks and pulling out quite a lot of branches and what looked like part of a tree limb before climbing back up towards where Frankie was to hand them back. "Will things like this work?" She asked, handing them up from a rock 'step' a foot or two below him.
”Yeah, these are great.” he smiled, pulling the wood up and setting them into a pile beside him. ”Need a hand getting up?” he offered.
"Yes please." She said with a smile, trying to get up on her own and almost getting it before deciding it was easier just to get some help and not hurt herself.
He smiled kindly at her and reached a free hand, kneeling down to give her a better grip. ”Ready?” he asked, waiting for her to take his hand.
She nodded, taking his hand without hesitation and getting ready to try to get up again, "I'm ready whenever you're ready."
”Ok.” he nodded and started pulling her up. They would have to work together so neither of them would get hurt. He may have been fit but he was hesitant to call himself strong… At least very strong.
Selina felt when he started pulling and she immediately scrambled up on her own, finally getting up after two tries. She did realize how close they were standing though, and her face flushed as she nodded in thanks, "Thank you for helping."
”No problem.” he smiled, despite how red his face was because of how close they were. The thought of kissing her popped into his head again but he quickly brushed it away. It was still too soon in their friendship. Clearing his throat a little, he took a step back and started picking up the wood they had gathered.
"I hope that's enough, I can always get more though." She said, scooping some of the wood up as well and waiting for Frankie to get his armful before heading back over to the fire. The fire was still burning away normally, though it was eating through the sticks quite quickly.
”I think this will be enough for the night. You shouldn't need to go back down there until we leave in the morning.” he told her, straightening his pile in his arms before grabbing the flashlight. ”Besides, we don't need to keep the fire going all night.” he smiled as he started back to their little camp.
Selina nodded and smiled, walking alongside him and dumping the wood in a pile a foot or two away from the fire. "Is there anything else we need?" She asked, knowing that otherwise, she would probably settle in for the night and watch the stars so she could fall asleep.
He shook his head as he set down his firewood before putting two pieces on the fire. ”No, I think we should be good for the night.” he told her. Honestly, there wasn't much more they needed to do, except sleep. He had a little bit of trail mix in his bag but they should save that for morning and he could cook something real good when they got back to his camp. ”Thanks for getting these.” he smiled at her, patting the ground next to him for her to sit down.
"No problem," She said with a gentle smile, sitting down next to him and looking up at the night sky. Selina knew she should get some sleep, but she really wasn't tired, and also didn't want to confront the choice of shifting or staying human when she went to sleep. It would be much warmer to shift, but easier to just stay like she was and hope it didn't get very cold further at night.
Frankie nodded and smiled at her. He obviously didn't have the benefit or option of shifting into anything. The best he could manage for the night would be to use his backpack as a pillow. There should be a rain poncho I could use as a blanket if it gets too cold. He thought as he looked at Selina. What could he do for her tonight? Did she need him to do anything? She was probably very used to sleeping outside like this. He opened his mouth to ask but floundered for the words.
Selina didn't notice his loss for words as she asked, "Do you mind if I shifted? I don't need to use any of your blankets then." She glanced over at him and waited for his answer, knowing that he needed all the blankets he had with incase it got cold. Being a wolf also meant he could use her body heat to keep himself warm as well.
He shook his head with a relieved smile as she answered his question with her own. ”If you're more comfortable that way, I don't mind.” he told her. ”Honestly, I didn't really bring any blankets up here. But I can make due for a night.” he smiled assuringly.
She nodded, smiling and getting to her feet before nodding back towards the rock mess, "I'll be right back then." Selina trusted him to give her some privacy as she walked away and found a spot mostly hidden by shadows to shift. She did make sure she wasn't going to ruin the clothes though, slipping out of them and folding them nicely next to herself before changing into her wolf form. It was slightly awkward picking the clothes back up, but she held them gently between her teeth as she padded back over and sat down next to Frankie.