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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sweat bands," he helpfully supplies. "You know... normally, I wouldn't condone this kind of talk, but you aren't waterproof." He gestures in the general direction of the lake, which is really any direction because these woods loop endlessly. Like a nightmare! "If you're really so miserable, you could just..."

Ugh. Even saying that much feels so weird and uncomfortable. There hasn't been enough fighting around to justify wanting to take the quick way out. "Then again, that'd be horrifying for everyone involved. Better if you do just stay here." Yep. At least here, someone can keep an eye on him?

"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.

The courtesy might be opportunistically given, but it's a courtesy nonetheless. Also, it would likely be embarrassing to have his body dredged from the lake.

"That's the spirit," Skulduggery offers, accompanied by a firm pat on the shoulder that might be intended to smack some movement into those ungreased joints of his. "We'll make the most of this atrocity one way or another!"

Please ensure he is made into only the finest of cufflinks if he gets melted down.

He does take a few steps, like three of them, before reverting back into a shrubbery. "I'm not sure how we'll make something of this."

But hey, at least he's looking around which is slightly better than before. "Why are you out in the woods?"

Slow and steady, there, Max. Skulduggery isn't in any rush -- he'll be at this for a while, regardless of whether or Max ends up following him.

"I wanted to see what the edge of reality looked like." He points in the opposite direction from the lake, which is, infuriatingly, still in the direction of the lake. "It's about eight kilometers before you wind up back at the camp. Tried it twice already. Straight that-a-way, and then... back at the lake. As if we're on a tiny planet."

He is definitely watching to see if that actually piques any interest. Gotta get this guy outta his funk for five minutes...

Well he looks in the direction Skulduggery points, and then turns his head to look in the opposite direction so that's something anyway, "You come out the other side? So if I walk that way and you walk this way we'll both end up at the lake?"

Well that's curious.

"If this is at all intriguing to you, I've been out here for twelve hours and fourteen minutes and have not seen a single sign of life. Nor heard any birds or insects. It's completely devoid of life."

Good, his head moves. That's a start. And he's curious and engaging with their surrounding a bit more, which is nice. Skulduggery can always use more curiosity in his life.

"Exactly. There's no end to it." It makes him wonder what would've happened, should someone have rowed off the island somehow? Assuming their collar didn't kill the, would they simply swim to the opposite side of the island?

He hasn't been out here nearly so long as Max, but he's also noticed the lack of life. "That lines up with what I've seen. The trees aren't really alive, either. They're not even really trees. Just... reproductions of the idea of a forest."

"So you're saying my plan of being eaten by moss and merging into the forest is not going to work?" It had been such a good well thought out plan too!

He finally sighs and takes a few more steps, further into the forest but at least he's moving. "And I'm guessing you'll say the reason is: Magic? I hate that answer so much - I went my entire existence with no magic whatsoever and now everything is magic."

That was the plan? Oof. Well, it was worth a shot...

"Once again, yes. It's magic." He sounds torn; on the one hand, he's frustrated by how generic the statement has been rendered, but on the other, this is a feat worth marveling at. It's not every day somebody just... creates a little forest for people to wander through.

At least he can try and cheer Max up. "At this point, it's a frustrating answer for us both. Every magical system is different, and yet they all seem to coexist perfectly together. That makes it almost impossible to explain exactly how anything works." It's honestly probably stupid simple and he's just overblowing it, but that's life.

Look, it was a good idea at the time.

"Why even bother creating this? What's the purpose?" He plucks a leaf off a tree and rubs it between his fingers before letting it fall to the ground. It doesn't even flutter like a leaf, just falls to the forest floor with a gentle sound.

"Maybe he uses every system combined in order to maximize efficiency. Taking some from each to create something better.'

"He's trying to become a god," Skulduggery replies, as if Max were somehow at the information meeting and knows that. "I suppose creating a fake forest for us is a good way to practice. Experiment. Try to figure out what a maple tree is meant to look like." Not quite like that one over there, that's for sure.

"I hadn't considered that," he says. "If that's what he's doing, then I have a few critiques. Namely, it's irrational and I don't like it."

Max is his safe space, where he feels comfortable enough to just be a petulant baby for a minute. Max won't judge him like Darcy might!

"Wait, when did he say that?" Someone avoided the information meeting and instead skulked about glaring at the Tommy Bahama which was a far better use of his time. "That's the goal?"

That explains Ebalon being here. And Venti too. But doesn't really account for the average normal people or himself.

"Practicing only works if he gets better at it. This forest is the same as the island. Different types of trees but the same complete silence and lack of any 'realness' to it. And he has certainly not asked me for my critique of the experience."

Though maybe that's what the dinner would have been if he didn't take a crab cracker to the head. Summoned another Friday to take notes as he inquired how the trees were.

"Can you simply.. magic it away? Cause this to cease to be?" Sure that would probably put them in some white void of blank reality but, it would sort of be a win right?

Skulduggery tilts his head. "It's apparently the answer he likes to give." He's not about to start talking about the secret information meeting; as far as he cares, nothing in this little forest dimension is private, and he's not about to go snitching on accident.

"It could be that the improvements are imperceptible to us." It could be that the Battle Royale trees had no root systems, or maybe they were constructed with an even less realistic material. "And the idea that you think I could possibly do anything to magic this away is both hilarious and flattering. Thank you for that vote of confidence, but no, I don't think I could."

"True, to be fair I wasn't paying that close of attention to the trees on the previous island. Though I did notice the lack of birds or insects or anything scuttling around in the underbrush. It made it far easier to hear footsteps." That he could then unleash a barrage of bullets at.

"You keep seeming to think I know how this works, which I do not." He huffs, sounding annoyed. But at least that's better than monotone pretending to be a shrub.

Skulduggery chuckles. "I suppose that's fair. I thought you might assume that 'building a world from scratch' would trump 'control over the elements.' But, no. I, unfortunately, do not have the ability to control and manipulate matter. Certainly not to the extent that the captain has figured it out."

Which is too bad. He wouldn't mind being able to design little dimensional terrariums as a pastime. Even if the plants weren't really plants.

"It's a shot in the dark, but do you happen to remember if they... sounded right, when you splintered the trees to hell and back?" He can't help but wonder if maybe they were... hollow or something. Different from how these trees are now. "Maybe you remember them being easier to topple than they should have been?" He doubts it, but it's worth asking.

"I'm more impressed by the fireballs than I am by creating fake trees. So perhaps my view of magical systems is skewed." Sure creating a whole island (and ship) from your mind is pretty cool, but shooting fireballs is about ten thousand times cooler.

He will not be taking questions about this opinion.

"I honestly wasn't paying that much attention. But they did splinter when shot, and a few fell over. The water was in fact water, so that much is real." He'd seen Mizuki drink some of it before turning him into swiss cheese. Though maybe Max saved him from dying horribly from drinking poisoned sludge made to look like water. He might be a hero.

"Though Natsuno found a crab."

Wow. Skulduggery knows that Max has no idea what he's talking about, but his ego doesn't care one lick. "You're right. Fireballs are more impressive."

Max might be feeling low, but shit, Skulduggery is riding high on this accidental compliment train!

He's not surprised that Max wasn't paying attention to the landscape during the Battle Royale. Even if he hadn't been having a glorious time shooting his fellow passengers, it still would have been hard to focus on the surroundings with all the violence erupting. But that last bit...

"There was a crab? Hm. Interesting. Could he have actually managed to create one? Unlikely, if he can't create a realistic tree..."

"I didn't ask him where on the island he got it, Venti said he won it but Natsuno told me he found it. I'm not sure if it was actually the prize, and if so he should ask for something better." A pause because something occurs to him, "I also don't know if he still has it. Do you think he's keeping a crab in his room and feeding it?"

Would the Captain even allow that? Something he hadn't created to be brought onto the ship? Well unless he did create it - in which case it's odd that he made the one and the lake here isn't full of ten thousand crabs.

"Maybe you should keep a branch from one of these shrubs and compare it to the next excursion." Which had better be murder or Max is never signing up for one again.

Skulduggery is already planning on stripping at least one tree for samples, from canopy to root system. He just needs to find the right tree to start with...

"I'll ask him when I see him next," Skulduggery says, because quite frankly he is astounded he hadn't learned this information sooner. "I'd like to know whether or not it is a real crab or some kind of... construct, like Friday. And if he is keeping it somewhere, how in the world is he taking care of it?"

"True, I'm not sure how one would tell if a crab didn't have a face." Unlike Friday the crab is an animal so it only has the most rudimentary of reactions to things and might be easier to create a construct of. Though why bother with a crab at all.

Unless it was practice.

Well that's dangerously close to actually caring about what the Captain does and why and Max is in no state to do that right now.

"Neither of us frequent the buffet, for all we know he's bringing it daily to pick out items to eat."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject