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

Diary making is an activity she hasn't done in a long time. The last time she opened a diary, she cried in it. Maybe now is a good time to take up the hobby again. She's not oblivious of the horrors of the captain, ship, and the situation that they're all in. Yet she smiles a whole lot more than she remembers, at least when good things happen... like now, how she's smiling over talking to someone for the first time.

Some words on the pages are partially visible, possibly something about the weather and the food of the day... just your usual journal things. The cover, at the moment, is blank card stock.

"Uh-huh. I'm gonna find a really nice-looking ribbon." Bouncing on her heels lightly, she is really itching to just show off what she has so far. But that'll ruin the surprise! (Her excitement over this may be the key to her forgetting the whole rude bracelet thing...) "Have you ever made something like this before?"

"Not really. I've never been big into art. I draw in class sometimes, but like, I'm not really good at it."

A small shrug. Darcy knows her strengths, and art is not one of them.

"Do you want to come sit with me and keep me company, after you find your ribbon? You can work on your diary and I'll keep making bracelets."

"Yeah, sure!" Fio beams. She's definitely not going to turn down the company.

And off she goes. A little later, she returns, carrying along with rolls of ribbon in black, white, and gold. She plops all her art materials on the tabletop.

"My teacher gave me a C in Art!" Her cheery voice fades back in as she totters over, carrying on a bit of their earlier conversation. She gets settled, taking a seat beside the other girl, "I'm not that good at it either, but it's fun."

That's a blast from the past. The idea of doing something just because it's fun, and not because you're good at it. Darcy tapes up a handful of threads in less awful colours, making sure to give Fio plenty of space for her work.

"I'm Darcy," she introduces herself, "do you want a bracelet?"

If she weren't so preoccupied with her journal making, she would have jumped in on making friendship bracelets too. It's an entirely new thing to her. Much like every activity in summer camp.

"Fio," She replies, looking up as she unravels a roll of gold ribbon. A brief pause, before she answers her question. It always surprises her when someone gives her something... "If it's not too much trouble."

She is going to wear that bracelet forever...

"Of course it isn't, I offered and I'm already making bracelets."

Darcy picks out similar colours as Fio's picked for her ribbons, gold and the black and white she used for Skulduggery's bracelet. She sets about taping the threads and starting the knot at the end.

"I've never actually been on a camp before- at least, not one like this. It's been kind of fun so far."

Truthfully, she had been scared. Really scared. She only signed up because the long list of names looked like everyone was leaving her. She doesn't want to say that. Clearly her mind has changed at this point and she's much more relaxed now. Hopefully the peace continues for the next few days...

She decides to briefly pause her own work, watching with interest as Darcy starts to put the threads together. Her eyes wander over to the two completed bracelets remaining on the table, quietly wondering over who the bracelets may be going to...

"I've never been to any camp before! I'm having a ton of fun too." She grins, swinging her legs a little, "And I've been making a bunch of new friends!"

Well, she would like to think everyone nice to her is her friend. Darcy for sure, since she's receiving a friendship bracelet! But even without, she'd still think so.

"I'm glad our first experience camping has been fun," she affirms, scooting around a little so Fio can get a better look at what she's doing.

She almost wants to ask if Fio was around for the last one, but... if the kid managed to dodge the worst of it, she doesn't want to bring it up. It must be tough being a ~~only slightly younger~~ kid here, Darcy has no intention of making it harder.

"Even if we're away from home and stuff, some parts of being here is nice. The friends, for sure. Have you met Undine or Skulduggery? They're who I made the bracelets for, but you can't tell them until I give them to them."

Being here is probably the only option Fio has now. She can't go home. She tries not to think too hard on what will happen to her afterward, if she were to suddenly disappear.

Placing her arms on the table, she rests her chin in her hands as she watches. The first name, Undine, is very pretty yet unfamiliar. But she keeps it in mind just in case they meet in the future. Skulduggery's name, she recognizes very well. Her eyes light up and she has to resist happily blurting out the nickname she gave him. She keeps her voice down low, in an audible whisper for only Darcy to hear.

"Duggy... I know Duggy." She giggles, wiggling her legs. "I haven't met Undine, but I promise I won't say a word to anybody. I'm sure they're both gonna love your gift."

Oh she is absolutely going to call Skulduggery that the next time she sees him. That's adorable and hysterical, and she tries her best not to make it seem like she's laughing at Fio. Fucking Duggy.

"Duggy's great, isn't he? I hope he didn't scare you too much at first. And Undine's really, really lovely. She has cool blue hair, and she's really sweet, I'm sure you'd love her. I appreciate you saying that, too, I hope they love it."

"I hope I can meet her soon then." More friends for Fio. There aren't many blue-haired people among the passengers that she's seen. She should be able to pick out Undine easily.

"And Duggy didn't scare me. Not really." Surprising at most, for a few seconds. She kind of ran up to him during a party and just said hello. "He's great and really nice. He makes the fears go away. This one time, I had a hard time sleeping and he told me a story."

She doesn't want to specify when exactly, since it would lead right into unpleasant memories of the battle royale.

Darcy can't help but think of resting her head on Skulduggery's lap after the party, the soothing of his quiet presence, of brushing her hair out of her face. Her heart aches to want it again, though she won't let herself. She's not a baby.

"He's really nice like that. He's a good friend," when he's not getting on her nerves, and when they're not squabbling. She doesn't pry for details, making the safe assumption that it was something to do with the horror of those days.

"Have you been sleeping better since then?"

A good friend and... someone that Fio looks to as a parent. Because of that, at one point she may have nearly let slip calling him by a different name that isn't Skulduggery or the usual Duggy. (He's very perceptive to have caught that dangerously close slip up. She tries to think he didn't notice!)

"I sleep better now. I... haven't cried in awhile," which is embarrassing for her to admit. She tends to cry a lot. And she knows others may have been suffering nightmares since those rougher days. Fortunately, she doesn't really have dreams anymore since arriving on the ship, for some mysterious reason.

"Hey, that's good," she beams, restraining the urge to ruffle Fio's hair. She remembers being a kid and people deciding that it meant she didn't get any say in people getting up in her space.

"You're really brave, ehn?" Darcy can't imagine herself doing as well at that age, back when she was still soft and weak and blubbery. Darcy knots the end of the friendship bracelet and removes the tape, giving it a quick once-over for quality.

"Hold out your hand, so I can tie it on?" she asks with a small smile.

"Sure. Can you put it here?" Fio asks, holding out her left hand. A small gold disc with a dull shine already takes its place tied to her wrist. It's a gift from another passenger. But there's plenty of room to include the friendship bracelet. "This one's also from another friend I made."

While she has her hand out, she looks at it, finding it hard to believe she once wore manacles on those same wrists many months ago. It was a painful symbol that she had to see everyday, reminding her of her social status and fate. Somewhere in her cabin on the ship, those bindings are buried away in a place where she can't see it...

But now, she gets to see and wear things that make her feel warm and happy, new symbols that remind her that she's not alone anymore. She grins. "I'm gonna wear it forever and ever."

Darcy furrows her brow just momentarily at the gold disc, having not noticed it before. She exercises all the control she can to keep her touch gentle as she ties the bracelet on, despite her callouses and cold, cold hands.

"They kind of match," she indicates to the gold embroidery floss in the bracelet and Fio's other bracelet, "who gave you that?"

Fio steadies her hand, to ensure Darcy can easily fasten the bracelet on. She notes the gold similarities as it's pointed out, staring at both with awe like she's wearing the two most valuable treasures ever.

"Mr. Specs!" She blurts out the nickname readily at her question. Another one of her many nicknames, however this one is so... wildly different from the person's original name that it could be anyone. After all, there could be multiple people from the ship wearing glasses. Pausing, it takes her a moment to realize the nickname may have no meaning to her.

"Jade! That one's from Jade. I think it's magical or something? He said it makes me feel hardier, at times. Less likely to get tired." Parroting nearly word-for-word what he told her that day, after the battle royale...

"Oh, I think I know Jade too, with the glasses," she gestures towards her face, "he talks a lot, but he seems nice."

Darcy was never particularly good at dealing with magic artefacts, that much was down to the Krewe's magic scholar, Terre Mère. So if Jade said that it was magic, she wasn't going to disagree.

"Lucky you have it then, ehn? It was very kind of him to give it to you."

"That's him," she grins. Honestly, she's not sure what Jade is thinking at times. But she does consider him to be "nice", even for all his smirking. Though, she has seen a much more different, rare smile with a tinge of warmth from the man before.

"I feel very lucky. I have this and now I've got your friendship bracelet," she says, turning over her arm a little as she looks over both accessories, "It reminds me that I'm not lonely."

It's like friendship is magic too! Maybe her words sound really sappy, but Fio says it without any sense of shame.

Unlike Skulduggery, Darcy would never mock Fio for stating that friendship is magic. Fio is a child, Skulduggery is several hundred years old, there's a difference. But... honestly, it's not even like she disagrees with the assessment. Darcy has more friends here than she ever had back home. Closer friends, too, people willing to pick through her barbs and prickles, who don't take it personally when she snaps at them, who are willing to forgive her when they fight. People who wanted to see her for what she was, like a technique that needs hours sunk in before it starts feeling right. Darcy gives her a nod.

"Yeah. It's nice not being lonely. I kind of didn't... know what I was missing out on."

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