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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The answer: Polyester.

"I'm not entirely waterproof and it can leave residue on my wires. I hate that sensation, it's almost chalky." He shudders, not wanting to ever experience the calcification of hard water again.

"I received some movies from a world different from my own, about a spy actually, named James Bond. And I discovered they're based off of books, so I think that will be my next read." He'd gotten a complete box set of the movies and yes he binge watched all 27 of them in order in two sittings. "It'll be interesting to see the differences between the adaptation."

"You can feel what's on your wires?" That's... interesting? Creepy. But also it makes Steven shudder. Imagine being able to feel things in his veins or on his bones. Blegh. No thank you!

"Oh! You got movies? Which James Bond movies? Sean Connery era?" Steven's not really big on those films, they feel like a very similar story retold over and over again, with embarrassing bits with women that make him want to crawl into the space between the couch and lots of unnecessary violence. But it's what they're known for, innit? Fish and chips and the royal family, James Bond and Doctor Who, David Beckham and Ed Sheeran... You're obligated to know a little bit about football, a little bit about the BBC and a little bit about the Queen before leaving the country.

"Usually the books are be'er but. I haven't read any James Bond novels. Wish I had a few movies myself... although I'd want my Ghibli collection. Couldn't possibly pick just one."

"Occasionally, yes. They're normally not exposed so there's nothing to feel, however if water seeps in or I have the plating off, then yes. And it's extremely unsettling." He shudders, within twenty-four hours of arriving on the ship he'd been shot and had to have César repair him which had involved a person touching his wiring and it was absolutely the weirdest feeling he's ever experienced.

"There's over twenty of them in a huge case full of discs." His world doesn't really use DVD's anymore so that had been a new experience. "They do get slightly repetitive since it's obvious the main character will win and the action scenes are slightly exaggerated, but they're amusing."

Says the guy who once had his car sliced in half by a cyborg ninja.

"Well should you find any, I have a player for them in my room. There's not a system to make the televisions work, so that might be all there is."

"The entire box set?" Steven gets a little hopeful about that. Maybe there will be boxed sets of other things in the future, even if it's not his Ghibli collection.

"Think you'll find a lot of books in the library to be quite similar. The main character has 'plot armour'. They can't die or the book ends a couple of chapters in before they get to the juicy fight at the end." The fact that Steven has plot armour and that is more or less what's happened to him before he got here seems to be completely lost on him.

"Where did you find the DVD player? Or Blu Ray or-- whatever? Is there a pile of them somewhere we can borrow?"

"Yes, it was quite a large box. And it's the only item I have in my room other than clothing, which makes my quarters look like it's being occupied by a movie fanatic, but I don't know where else to put them than on the TV stand." Maeve has a few personal items, but altogether their room looks pretty unlived in.

Though the only other room he's been inside is Skulduggery's and since all the pirates show up there all the time and it looks like it's been hit by a storm 24/7 that's probably not the best comparison.

"It's true. But if they didn't they wouldn't exactly be fiction. I'm not sure I'd want to read about someone who always loses, or the book cuts short when the main character is hit by a bus. I think there needs to be an element of disbelief in order for the story to be accepted, if it was too accurate we'd identify all the faults easier."

Or maybe that's just him.

"It came all together. It's a small laptop style device and it was bundled with the movies."

"But it wasn't yours?" Steven clarifies, tilting his head, seeming a little confused. "Where did they come from then? How did you get them? Did you awaken on the cruise with them?" Steven is-- almost jealous. All he had was the clothes on his back. "I didn't even get my reading glasses... I'm a little miffed about it."

Give him time. Hurricane Steven takes a while to build up but he's going to make a mess of his cabin too once he starts collecting a few things here and there.

"Yeah. I'm inclined to agree. I can just look in the mirror if I want a tragedy. Something funny or winning would be nice for a change."

"No. And not only was it not mine, it's something that doesn't exist in my world. Well, to clarify, the movie doesn't. DVD's certainly did at one point, but perhaps a hundred years ago."

Everyone needs some knick-knacks and someone should teach Max what 'being sentimental' means so he can start getting possessive about miscellaneous things.

"They arrived randomly, I got a note that I had a package at the Sundries shop and it was there for me. I also received some clothing on another occasion. I'm not sure who sends these things or why. The clothing was from my world, but the movies weren't, and I'm not really sure what the point of either was."

"You're like. Proper sci-fi," Steven blurts out. There were half a dozen gentler ways of putting it but it didn't really occur to him to be a little less on the nose.

"Who would gift you some movies, I wonder... it can't be anyone you know if James Bond doesn't exist in your world. Maybe it was a secret Santa sort of thing. Mystery gifter. It's a nice thing to do, either way."

He best not learn about holding onto things from Steven. He'll never admit to having 'a bit of a hoarding problem' but the people who have been by his flat might agree to disagree.

He's not really sure how to take that, if that's a compliment or comparing him to a fictional story.

"If you mean from the future, then yes. I think there's only a few from years beyond me. But then again some aren't even from Earth."

Secret Santa? He's not really sure what that is and doesn't want to know.

"A few have suggested it's the Captain but I can't fathom why. Unless he manifests things at random for us as if we're animals in a zoo needing enrichment." His voice is ever so disdainful because now that he's said that... that's probably the right answer.

"I've only just managed to wrap my head around aliens... time travel is something else." And it feels like time travel, pulling people from everywhere, everywhen on board a cruise ship. Or chucking them together in a campsite, as the case might be. There's so many things Steven wants to ask about the future - or at least, a singular future, but at the same time, he's wary about knowing too much, and accidentally doing something catastrophic.

He's all too prone to accidentally doing catastrophic things even with what little he does know.

"Why don't you go ask him?" The Captain can't be hidden away all the time, can he? There must be opportunities to go talk to him?

"I may. He's fairly talkative when he wants to be. But whatever he tells me is likely to be whatever will make me the most annoyed. Or has been in the past anyway."

He doesn't really enjoy talking to either Friday or the Captain, but he does it on occasion to satisfy his curiosity.

"I suppose we're all aliens here, assuming that just means beings from another world. So that also means you." His tone is playful, enjoy being an alien Steven.

"Me? Well, I suppose you're right. I must be an alien to you. Although I never really thought about it that way... a lot more humans on the ship than there are Omnics. A fair number of robots in general though." He's not sure that all of them can be so easily classified as 'robots'. Maybe that's reductive and primitive of him.

"Considering the other aliens we've had have come through unpleasant, murderous invasions, it's been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Maximilien."

Wow okay, he's about to get all offended by the robot comment but then Steven goes and calls him Mr. Maximilien and uh.. can't argue with that. he practically preens.

"Likewise, I do hope the rest of this camping activity is enjoyable for you."

And he's going to nod politely and leave on the high note of someone addressing him with an honorific. Nice nice. This is awesome. Steven is going way down on the bottom of the murder list.

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JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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