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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Even from their short interaction it's quite obvious that the blushing and smiling idiot is quite different in demeanour from his face twin that Stede met yesterday.

Steven takes the rose like the first dinner date courtship attempt, twirling the rose between his fingers and holding it closer to his chest. He's never been given flowers before even though he's attempted to give them to others on numerous occasions. Of course he's not planning on keeping it, but he'll cherish feeling that flutter in his chest for a longer time to come.

"It's very beautiful." He loves how delicate it looks. Gingerly he puts it down and wanders a little closer.

"Where do I start?"

To be honest he only vaguely recognizes him, but that doesn't mean much on this ship.

"Well! Let's move to another table, shall we?" and he does have another set up with various art supplies so he can keep an eye on the first.

"I have a few colors to choose from so take your pick." And he plops a bin of tissue paper on the table. "What's your name, by the way? You can call me Stede."

Steven tips his head and looks over the various options before he picks out a light shade of blue. He was drawn to the darker shade but it might be hard seeing what he's doing. For the first attempt he should try and make it easier for himself.

"Alright. I think I'll use this." He plucks a bit of tissue up and puts it in front of him.

"Stede? I'm Steven. Cabin 135, if... we ever make it back." He tries not to sound too pessimistic as he extends a hand and offers an accompanying tight-lipped smile.

"Good choice." He shakes the man's hand in a friendly way. "Now I'll go slowly once first so you can see what I do, then we'll go through it together." And he starts to carefully fold the base of the rose.

"We'll make it back, Steven. I don't see why not. The last time this happened everyone made it back." Though as usual thoughts of that leave him a little unsettled. "The question is, will we be in one piece."

Was that-- meant to be reassuring? Steven glances up at Stede and tries not to look too anxious, dropping his gaze again to follow along with the folding.

"Could you-- tell me more about what happened last time?" Steven ventures quietly without lifting his gaze. Maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe he shouldn't find out more. But not knowing feels worse, like sticking his head in the sand and being wilfully ignorant. That might put himself and other people in danger...

"I don't really know..." He knows it's not reassuring and, quite frankly, anxiety inducing. But it's better to know the whole truth than to go in with blind optimism. He's learned that the hard way. Getting gut stabbed by the Spanish will do that to you.

"To be honest I wasn't in it, and I watched it but I can't remember what I exactly. But the captain put people on an island and made them kill each other. It was horrible." He lets out a slow breath. "Ah, careful there, you want to be a little more gentle with this so there's not to much creasing. Like this..." And he moves his fingers slowly in example.

"The fact is, it could happen again. Or something different can happen. Or worse. Life on that ship is going to be very hard sometimes, I think, but not wholly terrible."

"Oh..." Maybe the captain had put them all in the forest and was expecting them to do the same. The stress of the conversation alone is enough to get him to shred his rose up but he manages to keep a handle on his nerves, follow the instructions so he won't wreck his half-finished work.

"If I'd known I wouldn't have signed up to come out here," he grumbles quietly. Blind and foolish optimism on display. It was so stupid not to ask beforehand but how was he supposed to know? He just saw the piece of paper and the list of names and he thought why not?

"Why would anyone willingly sign up for this?" Steven complains, wrinkling his nose.

"Yes, there should be a warning, but don't worry, I plan to see to that." He has ideas, though that will come later and is not really something Steven has to worry about.

"As for why, well it depends on the person. For me, if there's going to be mass slaughter, I need to get used to it if I want to do what I need to." And be better prepared for piracy as well.

"For others...who knows? Maybe they were curious or bored or signed up without their consent."

"What do you need to do?" Steven asks, part curious, part incredulous. He can think of precious few scenarios where you'd have to get used to this kind of... spectator violence. None of those scenarios are particularly palatable and they all paint Stede in a negative light.

"Are there particularly... murdery people on the ship?" Steven whispers almost conspiratorially. He... won't tell Marc, because Marc will probably go murdery himself. But he would like to know if he should avoid anyone, or tread lightly around anyone. The last thing he wants to do is run his mouth and not be aware that he's running his mouth and clumsily get himself offed.

"Well, I am a captain, and as a captain I need to be part of the struggles of my crew, up to and including the bad ones." It feels only fair somehow. And not only that he has to find ways to rise above them, to be an example.

"That I can't say. I mean I haven't heard of any murder just happening so likely not- but you can't be too careful."

"A captain? Not the captain of the ship though? What crew?" Steven wasn't here for the pirate recruitment drive and honestly he's not cut out for being a pirate. He's too clumsy and too kind and too... unsuitable in general.

"Don't tell me you're planning a mutiny." That's-- so piratey that Steven sounds a little excited about it. But also so ridiculous. This isn't a tiny ship anyone could simply just commandeer. And he doesn't want the original captain to get hurt, even if he is mean and slightly delusional.

"No, not that, I'm a pirate captain back home." He grins. "Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate. I run a crew with Blackbeard." And it always thrills him to say that.

And then he frowns.

"No, I'm not planning a mutiny. A lot of work goes into a mutiny and we're up against someone who can bring us here. Besides which even if we take over the ship it's not going to get us home. So no. No mutiny."

"You're a real pirate?!" Steven gasps and he tears his tissue rose by accident as his chair makes a horrendous noise, legs scratching loudly against the floor.

"Blackbeard?! No. You're pulling my leg mate." He can't be for real? And not just any pirate but the captain himself? Who sailed with Blackbeard?

"I can't believe it. I've met a real pirate!" He hasn't just met a real pirate - he was taught how to fold paper roses by a real pirate. This is so absurd it's almost surreal. Steven is positively freaking out.

"Yep. A real pirate." He loves it when that happens. "And no, I'm not kidding. He's actually here somewhere. Tall. Covered with tattoos. Beautiful eyes... And of course the beard. I mean that's a given." He gives his flower a little fold. "We actually have a little crew here as well, though it's not quite the same vibe as the one at home."

"I'll have to keep an eye out for him. I'd love to meet him too!" And to find out that there's not one, not two, but a whole crew of pirates on board - this is terribly exciting news and Steven can barely stay in his seat. Because you can count on Steven to be amazed, astonished, bewildered and in awe with all these revelations. His life is so boring in comparison.

"Could I meet the rest of your crew?" Steven asks, sitting on his hands and pursing his lips. He thinks if he can befriend the captain then maybe he'll be able to befriend a few other people in the crew and-- and then it won't be so lonely, or burdensome, in the ship, with only Marc to babysit him all the time.

"Well, I don't see why not. In fact it might be fun to organize a little get together so everyone can meet the crew. Maybe a little bit of a celebration." Though what they are celebrating, he has no idea.

He can practically feel the man's excitement though for this and he feels the same. It wasn't too long ago that he had wanted to meet and be a pirate, to go out on some grand adventure.

"It's not as exciting here as it is back home though. On my ship. The Revenge. We get into and out of scrapes almost every day. Sometimes by the skin of our teeth." A little white lie, but that doesn't matter and it isn't too far from the truth.

Well given the mood that everyone is in, if they all make it out of this forest alive, that's certainly a cause for celebration, innit?

"Can you tell me a story about The Revenge?" He's barely deviated from the route between his flat, his old job, a few offices and a few restaurants here and there. Egypt had been an enormous undertaking for him and then that was it really. Of course he wants to hear about adventures other people have gone on. Stede could even make one up and Steven would be completely charmed and lap it all up.

"It doesn't have to be a particularly harrowing one if you don't want to..." Just any old story about pirates on the seas would do.

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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