come_sailaway | 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's early, yet Fio somehow manages to be up and ready to grab breakfast. For each day so far, she has made it an effort to wake up early just because she's one of the counselors. Even though she hasn't been doing too much to act as authority. However, the small girl's still very bleary-eyed and not entirely awake as she makes her way to the center of camp.

The sound of water doesn't immediately register as she gets close, then soon enough, she finds herself as one of the spray's casualties. The only sound she makes is a surprised gasp. Well, that really woke her up... but now she's just standing there, startled and trembling.

To be fair, Fio is a bit small and easy to miss, and aiming at her hadn't been intentional. Ava doesn't even notice that she did so at first, and then gives a bit of a surprised gasp as well.

She puts a twist in the hose to stop the spray, looking both amused and apologetic. "Hey, hey, you're okay. Sorry about that. There's a towel..." and even though Ava gestures towards it, she hurries to grab one from the small pile.

It felt rather sudden and much of Fio's guard had been let down the past few days. On top of still waking up in the morning. Maybe some of that underlying fear that they're all in a death game again started to resurface briefly. Give her a moment, for the shock to subside, then she buries that scary thought deep back into her mind. It's just a little scare... that's all.

Despite Ava being the one that sprayed her, she's also the most familiar person and closest comfort that she can see right now. She doesn't think she could ever truly be angry at anyone. She quietly follows her to get herself dried off...

Ava unfolds the towel, draping it over Fio's shoulders, using the corner of it to dab at the girl's eyes. "We were getting cleaned up," Ava tells her, thinks maybe it'll be better if Fio knows it was meant in fun and not a mean gesture.

There's a soaked Sharky over there, he (maybe?) looks like he was having a good time(???)

Sharky is definitely having a good time, getting wet and wild and a tiny bit muddy as he gets clean, but now there's an upset kid!!! And Sharky, soaking wet and trying to keep from getting too dirty in the mud, immediately goes into crisis control.

"Ohhh, woah, hey!!! Hey, it's cool, kiddo! Ava didn't mean to, she's just helpin' out!" He's going for the towels himself, trying to look more like a friendly lumberjack instead of a wet hillbilly as he waddles his ass over.

Is that water from the spray on Fio's face? Some of that might be a small bit of tears on the edges of her eyes, so she's grateful it's dried off quickly. Not about to cry at all. At least, it's quickly sinking in that she's in no danger. She looks around for a moment. It's safe and she's with people that she can trust.

She hasn't known Ava for very long, but she knows she would never be mean to her. And it looks like that lumberjack-looking man might be a friend of Ava's, so that's another reassurance.

Is she worrying everyone right now? She feels guilty for that...

"I'm okay. Good morning." A tired smile forms on her lips. Everything's fine. "Did all of you go somewhere?"

Ava looks rather grateful for Sharky's swooping in to lighten the mood, because if Fio started crying then Ava's just enough on the edge to start crying too and nobody wants that at all.

"Morning," Ava replies, and yeah it's a lot earlier than she usually likes to be up. But she hasn't actually slept yet, which probably shows a bit under her eyes. "Sharky here built a bonfire for our hiking trip, we just got back. You want a turn with the hose?" she offers.

"Oh. Welcome back... I hope all of you had fun," she says, with a small attempt to inject at least some brightness in her voice this very early morning. And she turns to the man for a moment, to quickly get her own introduction out of the way. Sharky, is it? That's a fun name. "I'm Fio, by the way. Nice to meet you, Mr. Shark."

At Ava's offer, a look of confusion crosses Fio's exhausted face briefly, then she tries to keep up her tired, awkward smile. She hasn't really thought to actually use the hose herself, despite passing by it a few times while on camp in the previous days.

"...A turn? What for?"

"We did, yes," Ava was relieved it went so well after getting off to such a rough start with her cabin mates. The bonfire seemed to really burn off (hehe) some of the stress.

"Oh, to spray me back. It's a bit hard to get yourself properly." No it's not, but, you know, she wants to give Fio a chance to participate.

"Oh," a brief pause, before she eventually decides to agree. Being fully awake now, she can't deny that she wants a turn at trying to use the hose. And won't feel bad with Ava expecting it coming... "Okay!"

Fio picks up the hose, holding onto it just as she saw Ava doing earlier. Wow, she is now wielding some kind of power! Just like her whistle, that she only used once in the entire week. "Now what?"

"Now's the fun part," Ava tells her encouragingly. Playing outside in the yard in the summer in the water sprinklers is one of her fonder childhood memories, back when she was allowed to be a kid. So it feels important to share that with Fio, doesn't want her to have her childhood stripped away just because she got interdimensionally kidnapped!

"You aim and squeeze the nozzle and..." the rest should be self-explanatory, come on give it a go.

Fio has plenty of childhood memories, but looking back on them now only makes her sad. Because the friends that were involved, only turned out to reject her in the end. Best to make new ones, with people who truly care for you...

As instructed, she points the hose at Ava and squeezes the nozzle, letting a brief burst of water spray out of the spout. It happens suddenly, that Fio lets out a high-pitched yelp in surprise. It's kind of like when she tested the whistle for the first time, startling herself with how loud it is!

"Whoa! That's crazy!" It doesn't take long for her shock to subside, at least. And she's in a fit of laughter. Again, she gives the nozzle another squeeze and allows the hose spray at Ava for a longer period of time.

Ava echoes the laughter, as exhausted as she is it's difficult to be too groggy while soaking wet. She uses it to wring some of the dirt out of her shirt, and rinse grass stains off her knees.

"You're really good at this game."

"That's 'cause you taught me!"

She squeezes the nozzle again. This time, with her newfound power, she waves the hose all over the place just to make the water spray in all different directions. She laughs, far too easily entertained. Who can blame her, when it's the first time she gets to play with something like this.

She watches with amusement as Fio gets into the fun of it, water splashing about, and Sharky takes off to change into something dry. Ava squeezes out her own pigtails.

"Way better than those weird showers," Ava laughs. The bathroom amenities of the camp are definitely lacking.

JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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