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

[sabigoe]

I'm sorry you're not having fun...

[ Maybe others might think sitting over here, away from all the dancing might be depressing! Fio doesn't think that at all. In fact, she has company at this moment. Potentially a new friend? She doesn't know for sure. But she likes to talk. ]

You don't have to dance or anything. You can talk to people at parties too! Like right now.

[serialskiller]

What are we supposed to talk about?

[It's awkward. Bad at being around people. But this is an effort, even if from the outside it looks like a poor one.]

[sabigoe]

[ Well, first introductions are in order. She tries to keep up her perkiness, even when the dance is a little past her bedtime. ]

Um... we could talk about each other? I'll start. What's your name? I'm Fio!

[serialskiller]

I'm...SecUnit, or Rin. Whichever you prefer.

[The hesitation comes from not knowing if it needs to explain its lack of preference, its designation, its hiding itself more deeply. She's young, she doesn't need to be scared off by the big bad murderbot, right?]

[sabigoe]

[ When she hears SecUnit, she just assumes it's some unique sounding name for a person. There's all sorts of different names among the other passengers after all. However, she opts for the second name... kind of. ]

I'm gonna call you Rin-Rin! [ And she leaves no room for argument, quickly moving on to the next icebreaker question: ] Do you have any siblings?

[serialskiller]

No. I don't have any family.

[It doesn't count other SecUnits or CombatUnits as family--they're all murderbots, and murderbots don't have or need family. Right? Right. Totally self-sufficient and never lonely ever. Right.]

[sabigoe]

[ That's a little lonely! Well, she doesn't have any family either. Blood-related ones anyway. And her adoptive mother had abandoned her. There are plenty of passengers on the ship that are her friends though, who she may also view as a kind of family. ]

...Oh. What about friends?

[serialskiller]

[It's such a lovely innocent question, it makes a big feeling bloom in Murderbot's chest that it doesn't really have a name for. It blinks a few times, hesitating before answering.]

I don't know. If there's anyone who considers me a friend.

[sabigoe]

[ It's hard to believe, in a place like this. Fio was once a child who didn't have any friends. But now she has many people that she can trust. She pauses for a moment, thoughtful. ]

Did you get to spend time with anyone in camp this week?

[serialskiller]

A few, I guess. Max and Sarge. And Malcolm, we stayed up at night to patrol around the cabins. And Jinx was in my cabin, I talked to her a little.

That doesn't make any of them friends. Max hates me. Jinx...I don't know what she thinks of me, really. But I don't know if she thinks I'm a friend.

[It's actually incredibly shy and wouldn't know a friend if one bit it on the ass.]

[sabigoe]

[ Fio tends to very quickly call others' her "friend", even if she might have talked to an individual once. At least two of those names sound familiar to her: Max, one of the campers she had been put in charge of. And Jinx. She has... several questions. ]

... [ Where should she start? ] Why do you think Max hates you?

[serialskiller]

The first time we met, he...we...it got violent. [She doesn't need to know the details. She's too young to hear about Murderbot shooting out Max's knees.]

We come from similar backgrounds and cope with it in very different ways. I think he pities me.