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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"Okay- you're using 'aura' like I know what you mean by it, and I really fucking don't. The fuck is an aura?"

Other than what Skulduggery had described seeing, but if she had that kind of aura, it sure hadn't stopped her getting hit before. The lights come on pretty much simultaneously, and- oh, that's a cute girl. A bit of her hostility fades, to see an actual human person and not just a voice in the dark.

It's quite the name!

[ Some stupid superhero-sounding name that makes him laugh, but damn does it makes him homesick at the same time. ]

Are you that fast on land too, or is it a falling thing?

Not much sun where you come from, I take it?

[ he's not going to lie, he's pretty interested now in hearing about where she comes from. never being sunburned is one thing, there's plenty of ways to avoid that. never even having heard of it? now that's more interesting. but first things first. ]

There's various balms and salves you can use...but luckily, I happen to be an expert at being cool. [ he gestures at the burn on her arm. ] If I may?

"Right, sorry, sorry, still not— used to this whole 'different worlds' thing," that comes with an awkward little laugh and her rubbing the back of her head. "I keep expecting people to just— know, but so far none of you seem to come from anywhere like home."

Ruby relaxes another notch now she can see, and throws the new face a friendly smile.

"Aura's like... a personal shield? That's kinda the simplest way to put it. Where I come from, everyone has one, even if not everyone's unlocked it's actual abilities. It's sort of an extension of our soul."

Aw, that's a bit defeatist, don'tcha think? Why even come in the first place, then?

[ Maybe they were like him and didn't know about dying violent and terrible deaths. Maybe they thought to get away from the ship as soon as possible however possible. Or they also were seasick and just wanted to stand on solid ground again. ]

Anything but miss counselor. Well- not anything, I have a name. It's Darcy.

[ Darcy's probably also still growing, but she's already a respectable 5'7". It's not her fault he's a shrimp. ]

I'm not making any promises though, alright? If I hear the call of the void, I'm following that shit.

"Guess it was! I mean, I didn't see a second sign-up sheet and they didn't exactly ask us about... well, any of the rest of this, so I guess that's the uh. The logical conclusion. Yeah."

Why is she like this... she's crossed a whole continent on foot, she's a grown Huntress now and met so many new people and yet every time, awkward. It's a miracle she hasn't embarrassed herself more.

"Anyway, um, I'm Ruby."

Maeve wasn't going to question it. Mostly because she doesn't want to open up too many questions about her own life. She has most everything about the story ironed out. "Egypt." She's never heard of it before, but she pretends like she understands. "Was it nice there?"

She smiles. "Oh yes. I played the Madam of a brothel for most of my time there." She sounds pleased with herself for this. It would have been more fun being aware of herself rather than the endless loop, but that was never an option until the end. "Rather like an amusement park, but without the traditional rides." She's looked for what fictional stories she can find about various amusement parks if only to sound like she knows what she's talking about. She at least knows what an amusment park is because of Lee. But he was the one that created her story and the other version of her life in Shogunworld.

"No arts and crafts in the army, then? I'm honestly shocked." She doesn't sound shocked, but it's meant to be a bit of a teasing statement.

"Man," Kiriya says, "you're a real sharp one, aren't you?" He tries to turn to face his would-be rider. "I know I've got to be the sexiest bike you've ever seen, but please, keep your hands to yourself, huh?"

Like most semantics, it really doesn't matter if they used their own fire or lit campfires; the food was the same. He doesn't remember the meal, but he knows what they were all eating. Meat, potatoes, milk and bread. Not exactly interesting or flavorful.

"At least it's something to fill the time with," Skulduggery says. It's a lukewarm attempt to find a silver-lining; he understands her sentiment, even if their manner of semi-death is different. "Not much of an upside, but... at least you aren't limited for date night?"

It's both! Or, well, teeechnically I'm never really touching the ground when I use it, anyway, it sort of... [ she makes a vague moving gesture around shoulder height ] keeps me off it, and I can use it to go upwards, too.

It really comes in handy for quick saves of all kinds. Like catching yourself falling, heh. But also dodging and stuff.

[ It's fine if Kano's pants only reach her knees then because she doesn't need any of that height below her knees, how is that fair ]

You do that and I'm calling you "miss counselor" from now on.

[ "for the rest of your life" he'd wanted to say, but it loses its effect when she won't be alive ]

I know you said you wanted to get outta here as soon as possible, but why come in the first place? It can't be worse on the ship, can it? There's a pool and, like, drinks with little umbrellas in it.

[ Going so fast that you fly... yeah, he can believe that. That's how airplanes work, probably. ]

And stuff like... running through the forest to take a quick peek if there's any civilization on the other side?

[WHY IS THE KID FROM HIS CABIN PACKING HEAT?]

Man, are you crazy? You hit my fuel tank and you'll blow this entire campsite sky high!

[Actually he's pretty sure he could take a little gunfire and really sure he would not explode anywhere near spectacularly enough to pose a threat to anyone back at camp, but just because he could doesn't mean he wants to.]

Do you really want to live with the guilt of that, huh?

I don't really know that a lot of us had a choice.

[He scratches his head.]

And I figured there should be a medical professional on hand if something did go wrong, y'know? Personal responsibility and all that.

[ don't worry about it ]

No I don't! So maybe don't let your fuel tank get hit!

[ If the camp blows sky high that's on you mysterious motorcycle thing! What even is this—-

oh

oh no, this is the Thing that's going to murder everybody in camp isn't it? He was warned about this, and is in no way equipped to stop it from happening. Doesn't mean he won't try, though. ]

What're you doing out here? Aren't rocks and stuff bad for your tires?

You'd think so, huh?

[ He's met one doctor so far, but heck if he'd know where to go if he had to go find the guy in an emergency. ]

A medical professional isn't gonna do much when heads start popping off, though.

Or you could just not shoot me, that's a much better option. Less victim-blamey.

[Oh, these conditions are far from ideal and severely limiting his speed. But he was really bored, okay. Not that he really wants to admit this.]

It's a nice night, can't a guy just go out for a little ride to admire the stars and wonder at the complete lack of crickets and things out here?

Sure I am!

[There's a big grin.]

I'm a coroner. I'm hoping to identify the source of enough horrible murders to warn other people before they get offed, too.

[Actually he is not all that great with live patients sorry.]

I mean, yeah. But can't you go do it by the blue side of camp or something?

[ sorry blue team

... ]

You weren't on the bus.

[ He's fairly certain he would remember a motorcycle being on the bus. The luggage space isn't that large, and it probably wouldn't have been tied up on the roof either. Which means! the motorcycle is the camp murderer, check and mate ]

[ What's that supposed to help if everybody's already dead!! ]

And I'm kinda hoping there aren't enough horrible murders to warn other people before they offed too, y'know? Like, if the whole murder spree happens again, people aren't gonna die in the same ways, probably.

"Shame." He does get it. Long hair can be incredibly impractical at times, but he likes the look, however impossible it is to do anything with. Feels wild, free. Unrestrained by normal conventions, even if longish hair wasn't all that rare for men of his time. There's just something about hair whipping about in the wind, or as someone pivots and dances through a swordfight that just looks...fucking cool.

"Fuckers probably didn't know how to fight with long hair and thought no one could. Your body, your rules, mate. Gut 'em if they don't agree."

He fished out a few more beads that seemed to fit with her aesthetic and pushed them over to her pile.

He gives this due consideration. Not sure how potentially Murder Island 2 is a safer forest, but at least it doesn't seem to be actively trying to murder them...yet.

"What are you, like a witch?" They burned those, didn't they? Bloody awesome, calling yourself a witch, a heretic, sticking a middle finger up at the pope and the heads of Europe--having your fuckery believed enough to be considered a credible threat, who is actually making pacts with the Devil and sleeping with demons--but the whole burning thing kind of diminished the appeal.

She doesn't look like a witch, though. But they must start somewhere.

Do the teams really control the woods? I thought it was everyone's woods.

[And he's got to laugh about that accusation. He was too on the bus waking up in awkward shorts, but he's not going to just go out and admit that, gosh, that's no fun.]

Are you sure? Maybe I was on the luggage rack.

Ed brandishes the knife almost close enough to trim the fucking fantastic mustache.

"Mention this to anyone and I cut out your tongue." If Ed's playing, and he might well be, he doesn't exactly let on. Does he fear this getting out? Yes. No. Ed almost thinks he fears Stede knowing more than this ruining his reputation.

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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