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

[bloodmunchies]

Oh, yeah, I can do a bat. I can do a ton of bats. I can do any animal except bugs and small arthropods.

[ And just to show off, he turns into several things in quick succession: a small, very fluffy, and slightly vacant-looking cat, a massive boar, a stag, a sabertooth, and a macaw, and then he's back to Aiden. ]

Kinda got a size limit on that, though. I've never been able to get bigger than a full grown grizzly.

[neverleave]

[Natsuno raises his eyebrows, which is his way of being impressed despite himself. That's definitely a useful ability, though the pitch black fur and spooky red eyes are too much.]

No parrot should ever look like this. [Just putting it out there.] You took a risk coming here. Last time wouldn't have had lots of places to hide like this.

[But once night fell... ever the optimist, all Natsuno sees is how this ability can be put to ambush and murder.]

[bloodmunchies]

[ There are many, many, many animals who are significantly better at tracking, mobility, stealth, and killing things than any human. Luckily, they are encased in the body of a guy who thinks Newfoundland isn’t real. Like Atlantis. ]

Sorry dude, colors ain’t my choice. Believe me, I would have wanted for people to be able to see all of the truly stupendous plumages and patterns of every creature.

Besides, I know everybody had to like… off each other last time. The poster definitely said camping, though!

[neverleave]

...yes, and it said so last time, too.

[The same freaking poster. Just to rub it in.]

So you heard what happened, and signed up anyway. The other new guy I talked to had no idea.

[bloodmunchies]

Yeah.

...

Camping sounded like fun.

[ A beat. He kicks at the dirt. ]

'Sides, like... I saw some names I knew on the list. I guess if it was a second brawl to the bloody, gnarly death, I woulda felt like scum just sitting on the ship about it. You know?

[neverleave]

[Natsuno nods, somewhat reluctantly, because he doesn't like agreeing with another vampire - but his personal, bitter bias doesn't make it any less true.]

...yeah, I know.

[That's why he signed up again. It was awful on the island, but it would've been so much worse on the ship, knowing he can't do anything even if he tried.]

It's Yuuki, by the way.

[bloodmunchies]

Aiden. Uh, Copeland.

[ Last names are the polite thing to do, right?

This dude is very… how do you call it. Buzzkill? Well, that’s what some other frat kids would say, but Aiden tries to be a little less judgy. Aloof, maybe.

He stifles a yawn. ]

Sorry for scaring you there. What’s got you wandering into this tranquil corner of the woods?

[neverleave]

[Don't feel bad, Aiden, he IS a buzzkill and has been called much worse.]

I was looking for animals. Figured there's something is this cave. [He shrugs.] But it's clearly another dead end, so.

[bloodmunchies]

I don't think you're gonna find any, dude. I was trying to look too. Didn't smell anything even as a bear, and those guys are the most impressive at tracking things by smell on land. Turned into a bat, too, and I still didn't hear anything.

[ If there was anything in the radius of a couple of miles, he's pretty sure he would have found it by now. ]

Unless there's, like, a single cicada burrowed in the dirt or something.

[neverleave]

Even a cicada is better than nothing...

[But if the traps came out empty, and he couldn't find anything, and this guy has access to animal senses much sharper than his own - ]

Right. Don't let me keep from going back to sleep, then.

[bloodmunchies]

Sure, dude.

[ Aiden begins to turn around, but stops as a thought strikes him. ]

Hey, uh... I'm gonna be around. Let me know if you do find anythin', alright?

[neverleave]

Sure. I'll keep an eye out for creepy red-eyed animals.

[And the smell of a corpse, but. He's trying to be polite.]