come_sailaway | JUNE EVENT: CAMP

JUNE EVENT: CAMP

early on June 10th, Friday's morning announcements end with a request for everyone going on the latest excursion to meet her in the atrium. she seems in noticeably better spirits than she had been last time, and she leads them cheerfully to the tender. once they are all aboard, and the door is securely shut, the interior fills with gas, and, perhaps, their last thought before they slip into unconsciousness is "oh shit, not again."

passengers wake up on a rickety old school bus, driving down a dirt road surrounded by woods. what is it that they notice first? that, no matter what they were wearing before, they are now wearing a camp t-shirt and legitimately horrifyingly short shorts? the overstuffed backpack between their knees? the words "take one down and pass it around" dying on their lips? the fact that Friday is absolutely driving the bus?

or, maybe the fact that it's already slowing down, pulling up in front of a massive wooden sign, saying:

CAMP AION

when they get out of the bus, Friday is the one to divide them up into their cabin groups, and she is the one to give the counselors their very official-looking clipboards and whistles. she explains that they are in charge, and that she will be back to pick them up in a week, and... very little else. she responds to nothing outside of whatever is on her unseen little script, and she gets back on the bus shortly after, leaving them there.

welcome to camp. let's make some summer memories!

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She knows an Echo from back home actually, and almost immediately finds herself repeating his name under her breath. Nostalgia like this is basically an assault, and while they'd never been particularly close, Clarke has to wonder what the woman is doing right now. She'd survived making it into space, but then what? Had time stopped? Or were Echo, Raven, Monty and the rest of them coming to grips with the fact ~~she~~ the Captain's stolen Bellamy from them?

"Uh —" Right, a plan. "Well, last time we were on land, there were pretty clear instructions in place that we had to follow. The objective was plain, it was a fight to the death. But this time, Friday just left and I think that means we've been left to our own devices..."

The shorts, clipboard, whistle, and exhausted leadership lines etched into her face really mean nothing to any of them, Clarke has no idea what she's doing. But knows what she wants to do, and where she'd like to begin.

"But I'm going to start by making sure the cabin is secure." You know, just in case others take the lack of instruction to mean this was Battle Royale 2.0. "Windows, doors, floorboards. Get any dry brush away from the side of the building. See who's in the ones next door. Then I guess... Figure out how far we can go on into the woods without running into a barrier. Check the rations, maybe bring some nonperishables back to keep on hand. If there's a med tent, I want to get in that too. And then, uh. Soil samples I guess. Look for crabs on the beach."

Yeah, Marc isn't... doing any better. All of his coping mechanisms are back on the ship... the booze, the pills. And alright, Steven's not on the ship, but he's no longer the guy who lives in his head and takes over for him when he wants to hide away. He's-- his own guy now and he's not here to talk Marc down from bad decisions.

So that means he's anxious and not coping great. His head is aching and he's waiting for... something to come out and eat the camp from the woods or something. The voice startles him briefly, gets him to look over.

"Oh, uh--" Even if he doesn't know what Chicago or its accent sounds like, he'll hopefully notice Marc has no trace of British in the way he talks either.

"Sorry, man. I'm Marc. Steven's my twin." Sort of. "And no luck. Think this camp is dry... what kinda torment is that when there are actual adults here too, huh?"

The whole thing is adorable, and Skulduggery intends to tell Ava all about it once he sees her next. And there will be much teasing and prying later on; he's already looking forward to the time he walks by and catches them on a date at the coffee shop.

"I would imagine they have approximate facsimiles, but I wonder if they go very deep?" He's half-tempted to bring a tree down just to see, but the day is young. They have plenty of time to tear the forest apart by the root system.

He drags one finger along the broken end as if sparking a match, sparking the friction and engulfing the end in fire. It burns clean -- no smoke, and more importantly, no smell. Even the way it crackles and pops sounds right but seems somehow wrong.

[The vampire child was probably the only one who enjoyed it, other than the captain.]

Looking for animals. Maybe this place got something better than a crab.

Aw there's a glimmer of hope in Ava's eyes. See, she knows she should say no, Sharky, that's not very nice and not necessary. That's what a good counselor and a good person would do. But she's neither, really, and it's just such an appealing idea.

So she nods. "Yes, and make sure you do..." she holds up her hands with curled fingers like claws, making blurry swiping motions. "The bear thing."

( clarke comes from a world where siblings are forbidden. having another child was considered a crime punishable by death, and being that second child meant life imprisonment — with a possible execution waiting on your eighteenth birthday. she's seen exactly one pair of siblings though, and this weirdly codependent anxiety and relentless clinginess.......

yeah, it tracks. )

Okay. Hey, it's okay. ( take a deep breath buddy. unconsciously, clarke's crowding into steven's space ever so slightly, looking for a moment like she wants to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder for comfort. but belatedly remembers they're strangers. )

Did you see him get on the tender before we all passed out? Or on the bus? If he's supposed to be around here, I'm sure he isn't far.

"It is, indeed, magic." He demonstrates with a snap of his fingers, fire flaring up around the bones in his palm before extinguishing once more.

"As for our current reality... It's certainly physically real. But the captain designed it all. I don't know where we are in relation to the ship, but my guess is either an alternate pocket dimension, or possibly an infinite space somewhere in the lower decks of the ship?"

He sounds far more sure of the first idea than the second, that's for sure.

"I already considered it, but Mizuki is in the lake and I'll electrify a good portion of it. Killing him had too many repercussions last time, I think I should avoid doing it again. Even accidentally." He is a master negotiator in his world, but even he would have a hard time politely asking someone to get out of the lake so he can kill himself in it.

So he's settled on the next best thing which is becoming a topiary.

"We've only been here a day, maybe it will get better. Or there'll be a delivery of more shirts."

Look he is trying to be optimistic (thanks Fio) but it's hard.

I've been out here for ten hours and thirty-two minutes and I haven't seen anything alive yet.

Or heard any birds or insects. I hadn't really considered that until you mentioned it, that's strange how silent it is isn't it?

[ Aiden's ear flicks. He's dragged from sleep as he hears something approach, clinking its way into the cave, the noise echoing and amplifying against the stone. It can't be an animal, right? There aren't any. He'd checked. Maybe it's one of his cabinmates...?

Yeeeuurgh. He sits up, stretches (flexing claws each the size of a small knife and attached to paws almost as wide as some people's chests), yawns (showing off carnivorous teeth with a set of wickedly curved canine teeth), and turns to blink at whoever walked in.

Oh. It is! It's that purple haired guy from earlier with the giant dangerous weapons. Hi, purple dude with the big dangerous weapons, he tries to say, though it comes out more as Roarrarhhghheurhg. ]

Maeve hasn't really gotten the hang of this sort of camping, but she's at least glad that there's a fire and that the firepit gives her a chance to catch up with Sharky. She's also mildly interested in the fact that no one has been murdered when she was assured that everyone would likely be murdered.

She quietly steps up next to Sharky, a hint of a smile as she listens to him humming a song she's never heard. She's starting to get used to knowing basically nothing. She clears her throat just to signal that she's there.

"What are you humming, darling? It sounds cheerful."

Oh, right, yeah, totally. He definitely knows how to pretend to be a furry woodland creature out to eat someone.

Which is totally why he looks super menacing as he takes a swipe at the air, goes, "Grr, dude," and throws himself in Steven's direction. Almost no warning -- just like a real bear attack!!! Or a no-holds-barred cage match. Whichever seems more terrifying.

(What happened to being adults about this is that Ava woke up that morning to discover she started her period. And she's way too embarrassed to admit it. So she's kicked them all out instead. SORRY.)

"A crew. That sounds nice." She's not sure what he means entirely, but a she supposes it could be any group of people that are friends and work together. Much like Hector and his outlaws. She's only ever really cared for Armistice. "Is your crew from home or one you've made here?"

Maeve nods at the introduction. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Maeve. I usually dress different from this as well. I'm still hoping we find clothes that suit me more, but here I am in the world of Tommy Bahama and whatever this is."

She's going to ignore it at first. Because she's got to stay strong and stand her ground and... not feel so guilty about it. Maybe it's the pitiful whining. She always wanted a dog.

Ava groans, keeps scribbling away in her notebook, but Sharky is a persistent bastard and fine. "GO WASH OFF IN THE LAKE!" she shouts through the door.

Sharky's halfway over to Marc when he gets corrected, but the unfamiliarity doesn't stop him! He also doesn't even consider that it could be Steven playing a prank on him, or something. That could be because Steven doesn't seem to be the type, or it could be because Sharky is kind of oblivious.

"Oh, shit, sorry dude. My bad. I'm Sharky, from his cabin." At least until they get kicked out by their counselor... "And yeah, man, it fucking blows. I'm fifty-four-goddamn-years-old, if I wanna have a beer by the fire, I should be able to." Petulantly, he adds, "They should'a put a warning up, this is totally unhealthy for me."

"That's weird," she notes of the branch, watching the fire closely. A lot of houses in Lyon still had fireplaces, and burning wood isn't a smell that's subtle or hard to detect. She holds a hand out under it to try and catch any falling ash, but her hand is clean after a minute or so.

"It's like... whoever made this only kind of knew what wood is like. Like he only heard of it and never saw it himself."

By this point, Maeve's chosen a bed somewhere in the middle, though, she's considering perhaps she should have gone closer to the door so she can come and go as she pleases.

A new person walks in and she glances up from going through her bag to see if the least hideous Tommy Bahama dress made it to the trip. It did not. She's quiet as she waits for them to speak before being asked to introduce herself.

She's never done attendance before, never really knew you just called out names, but she watches everyone else and signals when her name is called.

"So does the clipboard tell you more than our names?"

Unfortunately, Ginko is also in that direction, and Sharky's coming in from his blind spot. He starts to turn when he hears the 'growl', but it's already too late to duck out of the way. He does manage to drop his backpack, but that was less of something he planned to do and more something that just kind of happened in his sudden fumble to try and do something to stop what's about to happen.

But there's just no time. He does make an undignified yelping noise as Sharky bodily slams into him, though.

"Art, yes. Graffiti, no." She has never heard of it. It doesn't exist for her. At least it didn't in Westworld. She wonders if she saw it in the human world, in Neo Los Angeles.

"Is it always words?"

Okay. But let's make the other one too, just in case.

[A stick and a fist sized rock are easy enough to find. The branch takes a little longer, because he has to climb another tree to break one.]

Maeve smiles. "It's quite all right, darling. What's life without an interruption or two?" Certainly she's sure interruptions were expected. "I appreciate the gesture." She does worry, though, about his ability to swim. But he seems mostly okay.

And then he swims away and she considers whether to follow him out or not. It may be time to pack it in. Instead, she pauses long enough to call out, "Be careful on your way back." She's not sure what else to say as she watches him walk off. She hopes he'll find his way back to camp without too much trouble, but ultimately goes back out in the water.

The lack of murder games is a welcome surprise for Sharky, who doesn't have to worry about Maeve secretly preparing to kill him. He's still low-key prepped to die at any moment, but that's just an old habit from home.

"Maeve!" He is so excited to see her that he nearly jumps up, like, to offer her a seat or something, but there's plenty of room, and that would make it awkward. So he just sorta scoots sideways to make extra extra room. "You signed up too, huh? Uhh, oh, right, it's just, like, this disco song..." He trails off awkwardly because usually, this is the part where he gets made fun of for liking disco. Even at his age, he's still sensitive! "Y'know, about fire, and burnin' shit."

There's a moment of pause as she hears someone else by the shore. More company, she supposes. She squints to see who is there, but it's harder to see at night. Even for her.

"I'm fine with company if you are, darling." She pauses for a moment. "You do know how to swim, don't you? The last person that came through seemed to have a bit of a difficult time of it." She's not entirely aware that they are identical yet. The voices are different.

( redundancy, she likes it.

clarke waits patiently and takes whatever items natsuno proffers her. then sets to them with the kitchen shears and the bent metal knife from home, going slowly and occasionally stopping to make sure he's watching and understands the mechanics of what's being built between her fingers. a hole in one piece of wood, one end of the branch sharpened to a point. the rock is trussed up with the string and set as a lever to deploy the trap whenever a bird lands on it. all in all, it maybe takes her fifteen minutes to build this, before holding up the final product. )

Push down on the perch, ( clarke challenges mildly, it's good to test the mechanism now to see if the noose is set right. )

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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