JUNE EVENT: CAMP

[sailmods]

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!

Comments

[touchofcashmere]

"Elevator...shafts..." He has no idea what she's talking about honestly. But that's fine. He takes a breath and lets it out. "I'm-I'm ready." He's pretty sure. He definitely doesn't want to stay up here any longer than he has to.

[selenokinesis]

[Ebalon is trying to be romantic back! Isn't that how it works? That's how it works!! He knows things because he saw them in a book or something. Romance isn't dead, it's just being engaged in by two eldritch idiots.]

Is that not appropriate? [Ebalon that's not the point.] I thought it might be romantic to do so. Did I misunderstand?

[latersgators]

[He doesn't want to take up too much of her time and make her feel like he's a bother. He's managed to annoy so many people already, he doesn't want to add a lovely young lady to the list. If he stops bothering her now and leaves her alone, he might at least have a chance of befriending her later, when he's not stressing out over the forceful separation.]

His name's Marc. Marc Spector. I'm Steven Grant. [The names will come in handy later when she meets Marc and might find it difficult to tell them apart, hair styling and accents aside. Although it'll become obvious soon enough; fortunately or unfortunately, Marc's the muscle and Steven's the brains.]

I'm sorry to have bothered you, miss. Didn't even get your name either.

[justneedsomehelp]

"You could stay. I don't care." And Marc doesn't care what anyone else thinks at this point, honestly. Not when it comes to Steven. He's-- an exception for so many things. But he does relax at the touch, watching with interest as Steven makes his marks against his palm.

"You can always come find me, you know. Whenever you want."

There's a soft laugh at the offer. "It's alright. You sure you don't wanna keep it, man?"

[skaikru]

More with less, huh? There's a skeptical but intrigued arch to her eyebrows, and while Clarke will quietly reserve judgement and praise until she sees what he can craft, impressed is certainly the undertone here. For his bravado, if nothing else. On the belt of her insultingly short camp shorts is the rough bent handle of a knife — jagged but sharp, from her homeworld; bent from the wreckage of a dropship, sharpened against stones, and a perfect testament to the resourcefulness necessary to survive in an irradiated apocalyptic setting with scarce resources and equally scarce allies. There's long-dried blood stained into it as well, an example of what happens when that resourcefulness fails, so.

Yeah, an immediate rush of mad respect, but contained. Reserved. She ducks her head and looks at the strap of the backpack thrown over her shoulder.

The bunk by the door isn't that far away, the cabins weren't that big. But it seems like they're having a collaborative moment and thus Clarke doesn't retreat — simply shrugs off her pack, and upends it right on Ekko's bed in a flutter of red replacement shorts.

Most of it's clothes, but pawing through the contents she spots a few goodies. An aerosolized can of sunscreen —

"But no lighter."

— and a really heavy-duty Maglite. And then there's her trusted Glock, which is the only thing Clarke reaches forward to immediately grab. It's going into her waistband too, opposite the knife, a comfort weight on her hip more than any immediate threat. Ekko can peruse the rest of her pack contents and take whatever he might like for the purpose of securing Aries cabin, but the gun stayed with her.

[skaikru]

( the real pits of absolutely zero magical inclination, enhanced senses, or supernatural situational awareness — wires get crossed. threats are still distant and unknown, shadows are scary, and sometimes she gets confused. clarke's whipping her head around in a flowing curtain of drenched hair, looking this way and that, so a target that was maybe the side of her head one moment is the center of her face the next.

the acorn connects just above her left eyebrow, a tiny little plip to the face before the nut plops amidst the leaves scattered at her feet. that's rude as all hell, but at least helps clarke locate the trajectory. she's staring intently at a fifteen-by-fifteen section of tree branches now, and — is that the hint of a grin along the curve of her mouth?

what's a little trash talk between friends, anyway. )

At least come down and fight fair this time.

[skaikru]

( oh man, called out. clarke doesn't outright flinch but she doesn't look very comfortable here either. )

I'm not bullshitting you, but I wasn't —

( it was 110% bullshit, and she's sorry. )

...You were on the last excursion off ship, right?

[secondtick]

"In the lake? How do you keep from drowning?"

Because to Ekko that's all a nap in the lake would mean, going under the water and not coming back up. Especially if it was a large body of water in Zaun. He's not sure he'd trust wading out any further than his waist even here.

As for the rest he makes notes, no bugs wouldn't be bad, no wildlife was a bit strange and could make things difficult if the food supply started to get thin. But that just meant keeping an eye on things and rationing them appropriately.

"Seems simple enough, so the main thing we'll have to watch out for are the other teams."

[touchofcashmere]

To be honest he only vaguely recognizes him, but that doesn't mean much on this ship.

"Well! Let's move to another table, shall we?" and he does have another set up with various art supplies so he can keep an eye on the first.

"I have a few colors to choose from so take your pick." And he plops a bin of tissue paper on the table. "What's your name, by the way? You can call me Stede."

[saltwaterlungs]

"You and me both."

Another nonchalant, 'please think I'm cool' shrug.

"Guess we'll learn the rules as we play. It's not like we die if we fuck up."

[treadwater]

[She lets out a heavy sigh, like someone's just placed a brick on each of her shoulders and she's deflating a little under the weight.]

Yeah, I was. Prompto and I killed one another. He shot me, I drowned him.

Why?

[touchofcashmere]

"Friendship Bracelets..." He blinks. "Well I can't say I've heard of them, but if you want we can go see if there are supplies back in the building and you can show me a thing or two if you like."

[touchofcashmere]

"Yes... It's quite a feat." He sighs and sits, turning the plate just so, so that John will have access to as much rolls and butter and jam and honey as he wants.

"And thank you...that means a lot." To be able to join him whenever- that's friendship. It's a wonderful feeling. He opens a roll and begins to butter it slowly. "If... if it's alright with you though I'd rather not think about it just now..."

[treadwater]

"Sure, I'll show you how to make them! I know all the patterns, from simple braids to candy-stripe to chevrons, even more complex styles like finger-weaving and kumihimo braids over a disk." She starts looking for string, yarn or embroidery floss, eventually unearthing a tackle box with floss in ALL THE COLORS and scissors.

"How complicated do you want to make yours? Four or five colors is usually a good place to start. And it's best if you can make them colors that whoever you're giving the bracelet to will like."

[mooninthewater]

[ Ebalon is truly a menace! Mizuki gives a very slight pout when it seems like he's not paying attention. He wasn't about to say anything about it, though, since he knows Ebalon wrote that letter Venti had sent out. More than that, though, that he knows Ebalon doesn't want a repeat of their last excursion. It seems he did listen, though, when his response is uttered against his cheek.

"You know what I meant," he starts to say, but is promptly shut up by his next line. Well now, how is he supposed to argue with that? What a sly fox this moon mage is. A few of Mizuki's tentacles twist around him in response. ]

I'd be upset if you would ever think otherwise... [ Of course he should be the one Ebalon wants most of all! That's just how it should be, in Mizuki's jealous mind. Perhaps even more so now, with the fuckery that's happening now. It's not currently on his mind, but it's perhaps still subconsciously buzzing around in his head. How could it not be? It felt like he was being outright made fun of by being in the same cabin as both Venti and Clarke. ] Will I continue to be the one you want most? For as long as I have you?

[skaikru]

You aren't bothering me.

( truthfully, she's starving for a distraction from the interpersonal drama threatening to brew back in her assigned cabin. shouldered with the duty of counselor or otherwise, being painfully human and somehow managing to drive a rift between a god and his cannibalistic jellyfish boyfriend was... less than ideal in general. then having to room with both of them was worse.

so that reassurance is immediate. her aspirations towards a career in medicine don't matter much anymore, but that same innate drive to help people persists. sometimes it's punctuated with atrocities and acts of the utmost cruelty, but they haven't been pushed towards that on this outing yet.

twins, has been established. but society hasn't changed so much in the future that she doesn't consider it weird that they don't share the same last name. just for a second though, and then she's shifting the clipboard from both hands to just one, extending an open palm to shake hands. )

My name's Clarke Griffin.

[touchofcashmere]

"Uh... well!" That's a lot of information to take in. He's surprised and impressed at how well she managed to find it, and how quickly. It generally takes him forever to find anything.

"I'll leave that decision up to you. But I'm really just making to learn." He can't imagine seeing himself give a friendship bracelet to anyone. He is, alas, not a young girl nor a young woman who can get away with that sort of thing.

[treadwater]

"Palamedes has a theory that the captain only creates what he needs to. That bringing other things like animals in would be more work to maintain. Also, I can dry you off, if you don't mind me touching you."

She pauses with her hand above his shoulder, rather than just doing the thing. That would be rude.

[opheliac]

(ah, of course he did. but she can't be huffy or mad at him for it. it's something he always does and... one of the many reasons she likes about him. she will never say it out loud, no way. that confession will between her and herself alone.

jinx takes a peek at the rough drawing and hums quietly as a response and an approval of it.)

Yeep, looks like we're not dyin' this go round. 'Less we're savin' it for the last day.

[touchofcashmere]

"Hello, Ava!" He smiles and pats a seat and gives her a baggie of marshmallows. "I see you've also been put in charge. No surprise there." He stuffs a marshmallow on a stick and puts it in the fire.

"I've not heard about the baba yaga, no. But I'd like to."

[saltwaterlungs]

Oh hey, it's that kid again. Darcy gives a small tinkling wave with her fingers.

"Not in the paint, but something like that. Just keeping my eyes out for clues."

Wow, was Darcy now especially glad this didn't seem like it was going to be a murder camp. Or, at least a camp where they killed each other. She probably couldn't kill a child, and letting a child kill her would've been worse for both of them.

"It's weird, right? It's like it's too normal. Out of a movie set or something."

[skaikru]

( it's been five days, clarke. five whole days, not a single murder that she knows of. it'd be okay to let go of an ounce of the paranoia, but then — what if that's exactly when the other shoe drops? )

I'm not... entirely convinced this outing won't end the same way. I still woke up with my gun and my knife in my bag, and I can't see why that would be unless at some point I might have to use this. And this —

( a slight shake of the colorful woven garrot. )

It wouldn't hold a hundred pounds, but worst case scenario? It'd probably hold 35.

( the amount of pressure it takes to crush someone's throat. )

[treadwater]

"Really? You don't have anyone who's your friend? That's awful!"

She gives him an uncertain look, even as she's beginning to sort through the colors she needs for what she's going to make Darcy. And Palamedes. And Watson. And maybe even the nice guy who was braiding clothing on the deck that one day.

[secondtick]

(Ekko shakes his head.)

Who could I like more? You're the only one here I've known more than a week, and I already told you I've been watching you since we were young. And if this isn't what we're supposed to do, I'd rather make a mistake than do nothing.

Tomorrow's the last of my worries.

(His heart might be pounding in his chest, but it doesn't show in his voice. Though his eyes do slip just a moment from hers downward for a moment before meeting them again. Ekko didn't plan on breaking her heart, and if anything this whole thing would backfire on him.)

[latersgators]

"Yeah mate. 'ave you heard of the Avengers?" Through no intentional effort, Steven's accent is getting stronger the longer he talks to Skulduggery. "They're on all the lunchboxes and cereal boxes and-- just all the boxes. There was a hole in the sky in New York some years ago and a horde of aliens came schooshing through and wrecked the place. It was like, absolute nutters. Anyway one of the blokes on the lunchboxes, his name is Thor, like the Norse mythology Thor. He's from an Asgard that's in outer space. Innit cool? Maybe the Norsemen of old were onto something about life outside of Earth. Or maybe some people from Asgard took a wrong turn one day and Siri was like ReCaLcUlAtInG all passive aggressive the way she is, bless her heart, and then they landed on Earth hundreds of years ago and told everyone about their story? Anyway the Avengers were able to stop New York from imploding but wound up pretty bloody useless when like Thanos came down and made half of us disappear for five years. Have you heard of Thanos?"

Apparently Steven is really chatty and gestures with his hands a lot when he gets excited.