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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"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.

"Whoa... uh." Look, they've got sorcerers where they're from, but that's still pretty impressive. Just for being an animated skeleton... pretty amazing.

"Yeah-- that's kinda blowing my mind, man. Not sure how to wrap my head around all that." Maybe he really is just tripping on hospital meds or something. That'd probably be the more believable of the two options, right?

"If we didn't even leave the ship... you think we could... I don't know. Prove it? Find our way back up?"

Skulduggery chuckles at the admission. Considering the fairly even split between mundane and magical worlds, it's not that surprising. And hey, he's recovering like a champ, offering practical questions like he is! It's impressive, really.

"I thought I might try that by finding the edge of the forest." He points in a direction, uncaring of whether or not it's back toward camp or away from it. "Unfortunately, the end of the forest is just the beginning again. You wind up on the opposite side of the campgrounds. Unfortunately, I can't fly, so I can't see what happens when you go up."

Hey, at least-- Marc is generally used to insanity. He is pretty insane after all... and sometimes, it's just easier to roll with it. So, sure, talking magical skeleton and a weird Captain that kidnaps people and sends them to summer camp.

Why not?

And why not just-- go wandering in the forest? "Really? How is that even possible... you just wind back in a circle?"

"One of the many irritating little tricks that we've got to contend with."

If Skulduggery sounds mildly exasperated, it's because he is. None of this should be possible, and that's coming from the walking, talking skeleton. People aren't supposed to be able to create complete dimensions on a whim. (People who are trying to become gods, the way the captain is, on the other hand...)

"It's likely magic designed to warp space around us. Maybe a cleverly hidden teleportation sigil? But we would likely have noticed something like that, wouldn't we? There are too many people wandering the woods for something visible to go unnoticed."

"You sound like the magic expert, so you tell me." But it sounds like there'd have to be-- something, right? Somewhere. Shit, this is well over his paygrade.

"Have you ever seen someone do that? Able to warp the space around them... I mean, besides the Captain or whatever." Maybe that'd be something to go off of, at least.

"Feeling less and less the expert every day," he admits, although he says it cheerfully enough that it may just be a joke at his own expense. (Having not had enough time to experience Skulduggery's ego, Marc wouldn't know that this is unusual for him.)

"As to that point... I've seen things like it, but nothing is done the same way here that it was in my reality. It's... a puzzle." He sounds like that isn't a good thing. "I usually like puzzles..."

"But you're not too fond of this one?" Seems the implication at least. He shifts his weight, idly scanning around the forest around them. Not real... that's still really weird to think about.

Makes him wonder if any of this is real or just--

Well, at least he can rest assured that he's not locked in his own damn mind or something because he'd never come up with a magical skeleton. He's not that creative.

Skulduggery shakes his head. "It feels as if I've been staring at the same pieces for too long, is all. I probably need a break."

But he doesn't know how to take a break, so instead, he turns in a semi-circle until he spots a strangely reedy-looking sapling. That tree, he's decided, has to come down.

In a minute, though. "By the by... Assuming correctly that you're Marc, I've been told not to encourage any boat-stealing recklessness." Three guesses by whom!

"Maybe... clearing your head works sometimes." You know, when you've got the time at least.

Although the mention of boat stealing earns him a look. "You ran into Steven."

He doesn't even have to guess!

"Look, it's not that bad of an idea, yeah? If we figure out a way to get rid of the Captain... that's all I'm saying. Not saying storm it or anything." You gotta have a little more style than that.

It's gonna be trickier than the last captain they had. Hippo lady was good natured and a little more trusting.

"I did. Lovely fellow. A little awkward, but I'm used to it." Because he's a skeleton. "And it isn't a bad idea. ...Ah, but see, that is exactly what I'm not supposed to say."

He is absolutely making fun of the situation. After all, stealing the boat is precisely what Skulduggery thinks of as Plan B. Plan A, of course, is the egotistical notion that he might somehow negotiate the captain's unconditional surrender. (It wouldn't be the first time he's tried, although the captain would be his first successful attempt.)

"Although, I'd put a pin in murdering the captain for now. Even if we knew how to kill him, his death would likely mean the destruction of the ship as well as all of us. As things stand now, at least."

"He was pretty surprised to hear there's a--" he gestures. Skeleton that moves and talks and. Is that rude to point out? Who the hell even knows anymore... "But it is a good idea, right?"

Or a possible option. "We don't have to kill him if we can find a way to trap him..."

Probably need something stronger than rope though.

"He was extremely interested in my ambulatory self, yes," because it's not rude to point out; in fact, Skulduggery finds it stranger when people don't acknowledge it. "But he handled it great."

As for trapping the captain, "Now that would be a fun idea. I wonder how we could manage something like that, given that the whole ship is his domain. Then again..." The leis are something that happened without his knowledge, which implies he has more blindspots than they think. "The problem is, if we were to trap him, it would likely require making him vulnerable to an attack. And considering how some of the passengers feel about the matter, it would be... hard to stop them from monopolizing the opportunity."

But anything that might level the playing field between the captain and the passengers is a good idea. And he does know that sigil magic is, apparently, viable here...

"Yeah? You don't know what a relief that is to hear... guy's not been having a great time fitting in. I don't know why. He's-- a lot nicer than me." Maybe a little spooked, maybe a little over eager at times. But still.

But that's-- not a problem anyone can solve, especially right now. All he can do is focus on the captain idea right now, maybe.

"Yeah, guess you got a point on that." He huffs out a sigh. "We'd probably also need-- some kinda magic to combat the Captain, right? And that'd take some work."

"You're right, it's likely going to take particularly powerful magic. We have a basic idea how his magic works, but there are a few fine details I would love to know more about before we make any plans to hold him. Like his sigils. I'd love to know about those."

Like how many they are, where they are, what they look like, and if they can be altered without utterly destroying the reality keeping them alive. But, you know, these aren't things that are easy to find out when you're trapped in a neverending forest.

His tree opponent is flimsy enough that it bends when pulled on. Nice. He's going to have to get a bit higher up to actually pull the thing out of the ground, but that's an easy fix. "Steven mentioned that your reality had some form of magic, or -- his name was Doctor Strange, I think?" Great name. He loves it. The other guys on Team Avenger or whatever could really step it up. "But he didn't seem familiar with it. Does that go the same for you, or...?"

"How'd you go about finding out more?" Marc isn't sure he can help, but if there's a chance? He's willing to try, at least.

He arches a brow as the tree bends, about to ask why he's trying to bother doing anything with it if it isn't even real, but-- yeah, alright. He's distracted by that. "Doctor Strange? Uh, yeah. He was one of the guys who saved the world a little while ago. Kind of."

If you can call it saving. "Can't say I know him on a personal level, but I've seen him pop up a lot in the news. He's supposed to be one of the-- best sorcerers, I guess. Little above my pay grade though. I was just a soldier back home."

"Oh, isn't he special?" Is it a ranking system? Do they have schools for magic? Oh! Maybe that's why he's Doctor Strange. Hah. That would be hilarious if true.

"I only ask because I'm prone to showing off," he says, jumping easily twice his height with the help of some air manipulation. He grabs the tree with both hands and then applies the law of gravity liberally with a rush of wind. He and the tree come crashing down to earth -- but of course, the tree is very bendy, and Skulduggery is only so heavy, and so he finds himself sort of... grappling the thing as it threatens to whip itself out of his arms (or worse, catapult him like an anime character).

"Er..." He cranes his neck to look at Marc and asks, "Mind lending me a hand in ripping this thing out by the roots?"

"Magic isn't really my area... just know what I read in the news or see on TV, you know? Guy seems like a weirdo. Kinda arrogant too." Not that he probably hasn't earned the right, but Marc feels like Doctor Strange might get frustrating to deal with if you had to often.

"Whoa. Cool." The jump the-- well, actually, he's not entirely sure why they're trying to get the tree down, but he comes over to try to-- help where he can.

"Right. Uh-- why are we doing this?"

"Because I want to see the rudimentary attempt at a root system. Can you imagine? They probably look like wet noodles." This isn't the first time he's gone literally rooting around, but this is the first tree he's found that he'd felt confident tearing down.

It's all about physics, baby. Sure enough, with Marc's added applied force, the tree in question bends and bends and -- Pop! Right out of the ground. The tree kicks up a good bit of dirt on its way out, revealing a partially destroyed root system that looks fairly noodly indeed.

"Also, I thought it was a dumb tree, and I wanted it to come down."

Wet noodles may be the most surprisingly disgusting thing he's heard about some fake, bendy tree. And... it's about right when they get it yanked up out of the ground too. He wrinkles his nose a little bit.

At least until that last comment gets a laugh out of him. Really. "It was kind of a stupid looking tree, I guess."

VINDICATION!

"It was incredibly stupid looking." He goes around to kick the root system, which, you know. Looks like if someone thought they knew what a root system was when they were drawing it in a 3D model program. (Not good, is what that means.) "The captain is trying to deify himself, but he still can't create a genuine piece of nature. Seems like that ought to be the first thing he should master. And since he's been at this for a very long time," apparently, "Either creating life is infinitely harder than he planned it to be, or he's... hm. Phoning it in, maybe?"

Skulduggery would frown if he could. Really, could the captain not take a little more pride in some of this? It really wouldn't even be so bad, if he'd just put twenty percent more effort into it.

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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