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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Another conversation nearly takes an unsettling turn. Then his question is an opening enough for Fio to lighten the atmosphere. She won't mention how the ride on the tender and the bus was horrifying. After that scary part and seeing no one at each other's throats, she's eased up enough to venture out into the woods.

The patch of flowers isn't too far off. She walks briskly, taking the lead a little ways ahead of Skulduggery. She would take his hand as she usually does, but her arms are a bit full with art materials...

"I've been having fun. I've never been to a summer camp before!" The joy in her voice gradually slips back in. So far, she's been mostly observing and getting familiar with the area. It's all new. That's exciting enough for her.

"And I've never been a counselor before. One of my cabinmate's was feeling really, really sad! I thought he wouldn't leave his bunk."

Skulduggery follows, trying not to loom too close behind. The silence of the forest is undeniably unsettling, but at this point, he knows there aren't any animals whatsoever. The only thing that they really have to worry about are the other campers. Which he certainly isn't about to mention to Fio! He isn't crazy.

"Ah, you were made a counselor?" When she's one of the few at the most appropriate age to be a camper? Well... it is funny. "That makes sense, I think. Were you able to talk your camper out of their mood?"

He can only hope that it wasn't someone too abrasive. Judging from her attitude, he has a good feeling that whoever it was managed to be affected by Fio's cheerful nature.

Once Fio finds herself standing before the patch of flowers, she crouches, setting her book and parchment papers aside in the grass. She can hear Skulduggery still following along, but she does give a brief glance before turning her attention back towards the plants.

"I think so. I haven't seen him in the cabin today. I hope he's having fun!" ~~Completely unaware that he's likely being a tree somewhere...~~ She feels more chatty, now that talk has shifted to something more... light, hopefully. Maybe her voice will make the forest less unsettling. "He was really upset over the clothes. I don't like it so much either... I miss my dresses. But I think we might get something nicer later."

As she speaks, she reaches over to gently hold a stem between her fingers. "First time I've met someone like him. He has a glowing face and hands. It's really cool!"

Surprising at first, which she got over rather quickly.

"Ah... yes. They are a little..." Horrifying. Humiliating. Terrible. "Unfortunate. I can't blame him for wanting to hide from the reality of the situation for a bit."

He kneels down beside her, looking over her arts supplies. She's been at it for a bit now, he thinks -- not terribly long, but long enough that if anyone were going to try to hurt her, they probably would have done it already. And she is most certainly having fun -- more fun than she would have on the ship.

He cannot believe he's thinking this, but he really hopes that the captain is just as interested in Fio pressing flowers as he would be in her fighting for her life.

"He... glows? Do you mean his skin? Or -- ahhhh." Upset about the shorts, glowing, unusual appearance to a girl who finds skeletons totally normal? "Maybe he's made of metal and a bit soft-spoken?" Currently acting like he's a tree in the forest?

Fio's thoughts drift further away from thinking of any killing, her mind focused on... what kind of gift she wants to make. It's going to be less of a surprise, when the one she wants to give a gift to is right there with her. Not like she's saying anything about it though! The flowers are going to take about an extra week or two to entirely dry up before she can use it, anyway. She's going to have to work on it more when they return to the ship...

"That's him! That's Max! You've met him too?" Beaming, as she plucks out the yellow flower. Then she adds, as if this might be some very relevant information to include, "He's an Omnic!"

Well, if Skulduggery already knows who she's talking about, then he probably knows that part about Maximilien already. The way she states it though is full of pride, like telling about some sort of fun new vocabulary word that she learned from class.

Considering her reaction, Skulduggery can safely assume Max managed to take Fio's so-called authority over him with grace and dignity. Not that he would expect Max to, say, dropkick Fio into the lake, but... a certain level of hostility wouldn't have been a terrible surprise.

"He is," and he's proud she knows the word, given how Max feels about the more common term "robot." "He's also a friend of mine." Which he says faster than he can really consider it. It might not be the best to put any sort of protection duty on Max's shoulders, given his... everything. But, all the same... "He can be a bit complicated, but I trust him to be a good camper under your watchful eye."

On that first day, Fio had learned what an Omnic is and a bunch of other new words. She feels very proud of herself! And a friend of Skulduggery? She'd better check in on him more often then... "I'll make sure Max stays nice and safe." Too bad he's not waterproof. She wishes Max could enjoy the lake!

She reaches over to pick at least three more flowers. The amount she takes is just enough to either decorate a page in a small notebook or put together a miniature charm.

Once she's decided that she has enough, she sits in the grass next to her supplies. Crouching for too long starts to get uncomfortable. Carefully she places the plants between pieces of paper, then stores them inside the book with the practiced movements of an activity done many times in the past.

"There," she says, closing the pages shut, "I'm gonna get a few white flowers and then I'll be done here."

"Good, good." He trusts Fio to keep Max out of trouble, but he's not so sure he can trust Max the same way. Ah, well. He's a good enough man to handle a seven-year-old child for a few days.

Skulduggery plucks a flower for himself as she works. He can't tell what sort of flora the captain had been imitating; not quite a daffodil, not quite a daisy. It's more-or-less a simple rendering of what a flower should look like.

"Flower pressing is a great idea," he says. "They're quite pretty, aren't they?" Even if they don't look like anything familiar at all. "What do you think you might do with all of them?"

"Um... I'm gonna..." Stammering, she trails off and pauses. It's a simple question, yet she's somehow treating it like a trick one. Because these ones I'm picking are supposed to be for you! Another range of colors remain tucked away in the pages of her book, which she hasn't thought too much on what to do with asides for display. The white and yellow flowers however, are a little more special, because they remind her of the sunlight.

Fio stops herself before she can let silence go on for a suspiciously long while. This kid doesn't know how to lie in a believable way...

"That's my secret!" she replies, with a playful giggle. Okay, she will tell the truth that it's a secret! Shifting away from her supplies, she moves to the other nearby patch to work on picking a few white flowers.

Skulduggery chuckles at the answer, remaining in his spot as he watches her move off to the white flowers. He thinks of leaithín and ialus mór, and somehow unbidden comes the thought of picking wild clary while game hunting. So old and long ago that it isn't even a memory anymore; just something to spare a moment's thought on, to see momentarily in his mind's eye before it fades out of sight once again.

"Very well," he sighs, playfully put-upon, "If you must keep it a secret, I'll have to trust that it's very important."

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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