Big Bend (g/t)

River

Angie

I opened snapchat, scrolling down to refresh. The wifi here remained finicky. A message loaded. As expected, it was from Penelope. Penelope and I had been friends since kindergarten, practically inseparable from the day they met. Of course, once we'd both found ourselves adults with adult jobs and responsibilities, we'd had to get used to getting together a few times a year instead. For me at least, it just made the times I did get to see Penelope even better. This was one of those times. We had talked to Dan and he agreed to not only let Penelope visit for a few days, but also to let her meet Easton. After getting John's okay, I had invited Easton to join us in going to see the Rio Grande when I saw him walking past from my second floor window. Even from there, I still had to lean out the window and yell. His face had lit up when I extended the invitation.

"I'd love to!" He said, squatting down to be a couple dozen feet closer to eye level. He still towered over the entirety of the employee housing building. "I mean, I'll have to check with John-"

"John said it was alright!" I said. Easton looked surprised.

"Oh. Like, with your friend?"

"Yeah! I mean, he wants to come with us, but he was like 'sounds fun! Don't drown!'," I said, doing her best John impression. It consisted of deepening my voice and putting my hands on my hips.

Easton laughed, then abruptly grew serious as John rounded the corner from housing. I was a little surprised that Easton had noticed him so quickly - I hadn't even seen him walk up. Then again, Aphirials were supposed to have supernaturally good hearing, so perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise.
"Were you talking about me?" John asked, sun glaring against his tinted shades as he looked up at Easton.

"Yes," I said flatly, suppressing a smile. That got a laugh from him and Easton.

"But, to answer your question," John said. "I don't think a few hours would hurt. And you'll be meeting plenty of people soon enough, so consider this a trial run. There are a couple of things though."

Easton nodded, listening eagerly. "Yeah, of course."

"First, sorry to be a party pooper, I'll accompany you. Second, if we run into anyone floating the river, they're probably going to have questions, let me do the talking on anything related to the park or Park Service for the time being. Third, all the normal rules apply. No handling humans or property without express permission, and so on," John said.

"Of course!" Easton agreed. I watched the exchange, smiling.

I was woken the next morning by a knock on my door. Penelope wasn't supposed to be there until noon. Rubbing my eyes, I opened the door, only for Penelope to wrap me in a tight hug. I stumbled back a bit, my half asleep status meaning my balance wasn't what it usually was. I returned the hug, and then took a step back.

"I thought you weren't getting here until closer to noon?" I asked.

"I made really good time. I couldn't wait to see you!" Penelope responded. I pulled her in for another hug.