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 waves back- or makes an attempt, considering her hands are covered in dough.

"What? No, bread is easy as fuck. I didn't make it all the time back home, but it's not that hard. I keep the recipe in my head, ehn?" Darcy taps the side of her head- and instantly regrets it, getting dough stuck in her hair. Instant karma. Ugh.

"A lot of it is just leaving the dough for long enough. There's a reason bread's been a staple for so long, ehn? It's not hard. Grab one-" she indicates to the most recent tray of cooling rolls, "if you want."

[ kaeya stands off to the distance for a minute, watching lumine cycle through the all too familiar constellations with an unusually somber expression on his normally amiable countenance. he knows the stars of his homeworld by heart of course, spent countless nights in his childhood on the rooftop of the winery mapping out this strange and utterly abhorrent sky. it had been a good reminder back then of the importance of his duty - to never forget where it is he comes from and what he must do, to not let himself get too attached no matter whatever kindness shown to him, because nothing in this land above ground was actually real.

it's been a long time since he's looked up at the stars. these days, he prefers to keep his vision more grounded.

eventually he hitches on his usual smile and makes his way over to where lumine is lying, plopping himself on the grass next to her without a care and resting himself on his elbows. he tilts his head back to gaze at the sky as well, though it's not the stars he's particularly focused on. ]

Little pebbles can make enormous waves. Perhaps you can't see it now, but your actions and the bonds you have made will echo across the universe in time.

[ What sort of people are they that old world habits are pirate things? Treasure hunting and playing pretend is fun and all, but not so much the cannon fire and walking the plank and there's a crocodile involved somewhere, he thinks?

He gets it, though, the desperate cling to normalcy in the face of terror, the way he would always cover people's eyes and pretend everything is alright, because you can't be scared of what you don't know. Maybe the gravity of the situation just hasn't sunk in yet because there's nobody here with him— nobody he cares about and is terrified of losing, anyways.

He looks at Clarke and then away. Before that happens, he seriously needs to get out of here... ]

...here's hoping our motley crew can keep it together, then. I'll keep hanging out with the Captain, see if I can get any table scraps or something.

[ are you fucking with him? you're totally fucking with him. even the rock knows what you're cookin'. thankfully, zhongli's dealt with a lot of children back home just like him. anyone under the age of twenty is a child to him, really, but he's quite old. he's biased. ]

It would not be fair for a singular party to determine the outcome of both. [ okay, it's a little funny. this is more his style of irreverence. his brow smooths, but it only serves to highlight how his eyes just barely crinkle at their edges. ] Moreover, I would hesitate to call the overindulgence in a confection a consequence of sufficient gravity. [ he pauses, before adding: ] In my culture, of course.

Edited (whoops forgot part of my tag wow) 2022-06-13 23:56 (UTC)

With that 'alright', Ruby releases her grip on Crescent Rose and heaves a sigh. "Not cocky, really, just— experience? I've never met anyone with a weapon that can both pop a fully-charged aura and cause damage on the same hit."

There'd probably be a lot more dead Hunters and Huntresses if that were possible. Like. A lot. Hoo boy.

She has pretty much the same idea, grabbing for her Scroll to flip the light on. Doesn't even have to unfold it to do so, so when she manages to get it on she's just sort of holding up a thin, white rectangle with rounded edges on one side, the light coming out of a small inlaid screen.

"I'm not sure. It's like being unable to process due to overload, as if something is threadlocked but I'm not sure what."

He pauses, considering the offer which already a bad sign.

"I don't think that's necessary. I'm hoping it's a glitch that works itself out after a powercycle, but I'm not going to do that here."

"I hadn't considered a lake monster, but this does seem right for masked serial killers. Though as far as I know none have perished." Though, he hadn't been keeping track. Maybe half the camp is gone and he hasn't even noticed.

"Does that actually work? Blowing a whistle at someone I mean."

[ He's totally fucking with him. ]

On top of feeling sick, you gotta worry about toothaches and brain freeze and dental caries down the line— it's something that affects the rest of your life, you know? But, huh! Differences in culture is so interesting, isn't it? [ His make-believe culture is 1000% valid, Zhongli cannot prove otherwise ]

What do you propose, then? I'm sure we can find a middle ground.

[ Kano sees this and starts laughing, I am so sorry, imagine the following wheezed out through fits of giggles ]

No, no, keep going! Pretend I'm not even here— you were gonna carve the names next, right?

"Oh probably not. But it'll annoy the shit out of them. And anyone who's that big into the 'spirit' of the camp will have to respect my authority as a counselor."

Strong is the neck that bears the weight of the whistle.

"It's kind of great, I don't know what I would've done if I'd had to listen to some fucker the whole time I'm here. Probably stolen their whistle."

Or... we throw axes!
Malcolm has just barely let his guard down. Just a hair. He doesn't want to let it slip too much because he knows that's when all hell will break loose here. His change in mood is bolstered by his conversation with Ava from the previous day and the subsequent confession that they may sort of like each other. She even agreed to go to the dance with him. He's flying a bit higher than usual. Hopefully it all won't come crashing down.

He has nothing against archery or using arrows to hit targets, but his preferred method of target hitting will always be axes. Knives are great too, but when he discovers some small hatchets in a shed, Malcolm knows what he wants to do with them. Arriving at the archery range with his gun tucked into the back of his shorts (he takes it everywhere with him, even the shower), he stands a bit closer to the targets than one might for typical archery. A bow can usually shoot further than a human hand can throw. Malcolm is pretty decent at this though, and it shows when the first axe that throws hits the first ring outside of the bullseye... then promptly drops the the ground.

Malcolm laughs, slightly nervous. "I'm rusty," he tells anyone who happens to be watching him. The next throw will be better.

Huh.

[ Huh! You don't say!!

Nevertheless, he'd already been seen and can't very well just turn around and walk away— or maybe the smart thing to do is just that, and claim he'd been sleepwalking or something. But he ignores the smart thing to do and instead enters the kitchen properly, pulling his hands out of his pockets and washing something dark red off the palms of his hands before trying them off on a nearby towel. ]

Is that what you're busy doing?

"Yeah. I mean. Sort of." For people interested in that type of thing, which Malcolm thought was only freaks like him. "Anyway, um.. I figured it out..." His fingers tremble as he unfolds the letter. "Actually, you left me the letter for Max instead, so I found him and got the letter for me and then I decoded it..."

Malcolm looks up at her, his big blue eyes filled with something akin to hope. "D-Do you mean it?"

[ Kano already does trust the rope course, just imagining himself up there making him queasy, but nothing makes his heart jump into his throat at the sight of a girl falling headfirst to the ground, red scarf fluttering behind her just out of reach— a different girl, a different time, but a scene burned so thoroughly in his mind that he has to mentally kick himself to move before this girl goes—-

...

uh. ]

Did you just liquify yourself?

[ Man, other people's abilities are weird and weirder ]

"Right- the doctor thing, right? Since you're probably from before medical staples and shit."

She wasn't a doctor herself by any means, but her mother's extensive hospital stay had meant she had some familiarity with what doctors used to fix people.

"There's definitely worse ways. The ship gets so boring, I'm considering just stuffing my bag with some of the supplies to give myself something to do."

If I bitch enough, I'll probably end up horribly murdered. Which is basically a win.

[ The long pants get a glare, however. Yeah she's absolutely going to try and steal them when he's asleep. ]

Stede is an interesting man to Malcolm. A gentleman pirate. Who would have heard of such a thing? But, from what he can read of the man, he seems to be good at heart. He likes being in charge of things and helping people. Kind of a mix between a salesman and a social worker. The two of them got off on the wrong foot, but Malcolm's hoping to change that. He and his pirate crew might be the type of allies that he needs on the ship.

Malcolm stops when called to and looks over at Stede's array of crafts. He's still on high alert, the gun tucked into the back of his shorts. Part of him says that he doesn't have time for this, but he agrees that it might help him chill out a little bit. Plus, a goodwill gesture can't hurt.

"Sure," Malcolm replies with a shrug. "It's been a while since I've done anything like that."

Hey now, don't talk like that! Waking up from the dead isn't always gonna be a thing, you know?

[ It's not something he wants to rely on, and avoiding death altogether is the best way not to test that theory. ]

How 'bout this? If you make it to the end of the week without getting murdered, I'll give you my pants.

[ the gesture will be useless by the end of the week and they're all going back anyways, but it's the thought that counts, or something ]

Malcolm would consider Pal one of his friends here, and being the observant man that he is, he notices when he leaves the campfire and doesn't return for a while. Concerned, but not wanting to cause alarm, Malcolm slips away into the woods in the direction that Pal went. Hopefully he just went to pee and is taking an exceptionally long time to do it.

What he stumbles on makes him wish he had stumbled upon the other man peeing. He approaches just as he watches Pal slice into his hand and the blood starts to run.

"Uh." His eyes are wide. "What?"

That's all he can say.

Sure, I'll come find you after a week of having to be humiliated wearing these terrible fucking clothes, avoiding the only guaranteed way to stop this experience, to get a pair of pants that will probably come up to my knees, since you're shorter than me.

[ It's such a ridiculous idea that she genuinely, cannot help but laugh. ]

What's your name? I want to know who I'm asking after when I make it to Sunday.

Heh, sorry. [ she gives a bit of a laugh ] I tryyy not to get into fights unless I've got to.

[ Ruby's got herself plonked on the floor mostly out of the way, looking through the backpack they got dumped with, with Crescent Rose in its rifle form sat on the floor beside her. She really isn't going to lay claim to a bed until the others have picked. ]

Like— these specific boys or boys in general? [ like, she can guess, but also, she doesn't know anyone else in the cabin sooo... it could still be specific! ] That are annoying, I mean.

It's not like the note was long. And yet Ava suddenly can't even recall a single word she wrote to Malcolm. She's embarrassed enough by the implications of mixing the letters up, that if Max read it too...

Meaning he'd very well now know who she'd been talking about.

Ava shuffles slightly, reminding herself not to be a feeb. If a preteen in a stupid kid's book could do this, so can she.

"Yeah, I mean... if you like it. Yes. And if you don't. No."

You'd think that, but a lot of people seem to think we're all here to die violent and terrible deaths.

[He sighs.]

And then for some people just being out here in nature is sort of a slow terrible death in and of itself, I suppose. It's all fun and games until the mosquitoes come.

Huh? Oh, no, not— not liquify, that was my semblance, Petal Burst. It's more going super fast—so fast I kinda become a weird blur, heh. [ a beat ] Plus spit out a bunch of rose petals. Hence the name.

[ That's kind of more information than he asked for, but she rambles. It's a thing. 'Going super fast' also doesn't actually totally explain what just happened, but Ruby doesn't know that her semblance is more complicated than that yet. ]

Yeah, that's the spirit!

[ also shut uuuuuuupp he's going to pretend he didn't hear that dig about his height, he's still growing, there's still hope ]

You can call me Kano. What about you, miss counselor?

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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