JUNE EVENT: CAMP

[sailmods]

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!

Comments

[lightconductor]

"Not fancy, she says," Watson scoffs. "Miss Undine, believe me, I am very thoroughly impressed."

He smooths his hair back into place, or at least as best as he can without a mirror. "Any sign of any lurking dangerous, mundane or supernatural, in the lake? I think I can trust you to be able to tell."

[treadwater]

"There's nothing at all in the lake. It's eerie how empty it is, but that's no different than the ocean around the ship. I haven't sensed anything lurking. Which is good, right?"

Except, it feels so very wrong.

[lightconductor]

"It's good, but it does serve to highlight how... artificial everything here is. I feel a bit like a lion in a zoo."

Watson considers this a moment.

"Perhaps that's not an inaccurate comparison, but on the ship it isn't quite so strong a feeling."

[treadwater]

"Even though the ship is a more enclosed space? Huh. What makes that feel different to you?"

She tilts her head to one side curiously.

[lightconductor]

"Ah, this isn't much like a real forest," Watson says with a shrug. "It's not even much of a botanical garden. It's too quiet, for one. No insects, no birdsong, no small animals in the undergrowth. The restaurants and shops and libraries of the ships are... well, except for the invisible staff, much more what I would expect."

[treadwater]

"I wonder if the lack of anything natural on the ship makes it easier to fake, somehow."

She looks thoughtful.

"Not that figuring out what's easier or harder for the Captain is going to solve anything for any of us."

[lightconductor]

"Mm, I wouldn't say that," Watson says. "It may lead to a weakness we might exploit. It might be a clue to the nature of this place. A friend of mind used to say that there was nothing quite so as important as trifles, and he was usually right."

He smiles. "He was a detective, you see."