Fantasy A Dynamic Duo

[ichorus]

CAMP HANULA
SUMMER '17

Can you feel it? There's a certain hysterical desperation to the air this summer. This past year if we're being honest. Adults and other assorted older folk are feeling the heat. Politically that is. Teens are too, but the '00 and '99 kids are more focused on the fact that the big eighteen's right around the corner. Some of them are chasing for their freedom while others are reveling in their childhood as long as they can.

Camp isn't exactly what most people have in mind for a fun summer. Space camp being an exception obviously. There are fun summer camps, cool academic camps, and camps for delinquents and deplorables. Camp Hanula is none of those. It's just a place for long-exasperated parents to drop off kids twelve to seventeen for a long-deserved break from their offspring.

As a place, it isn't too bad. Sure, it doesn't have much going for it, but it's not an unbearable place to hang out for a month. The residents, though, leave Camp Hanula much to be desired. Obnoxious pre-teens run around with disregard for other kids or the counselors. Bored teens who don't know what to do with their growth spurts or how to handle their hormone-fueled emotions dicking around with one another and causing trouble. And counselors barely into adulthood themselves who don't care and just want the cash. Everyone's practically given free reign here.

For Tavia and Tobey, the terrible twosome, it's their last camp before they're set free. The only thing on their minds is, "Anything's possible." And maybe, this time, for these couple of kids, anything is possible.

coding by cychotic

 

[Municro]

It was the same thing each and every year. Toby's parents would drop him off at the front of the camp's entrance, say their goodbyes, and head off to god knows what place they went to. The same. Old. Dumb. Summer routine. Not to mention it'd been like that since he was a cringey twelve year old. He still couldn't understand why he couldn't have stayed home by himself while they were away.

The one and only person that made it tolerable for him to deal with the distasteful vibe of raging hormones and angsty preteens and other teens was his best friend Tavia. They'd been together since he stepped foot into camp. Well, that wasn't exactly true. It was probably about the middle of the summer of '12 where it came to the point of being bullied that Tavia decided to get her "I'm a Good Person" badge and defend him. Because, golly gee did he have some self-esteem issues back then, and probably still did. No one talked about that though...

Anyway, back to the point. Summer. Final year as a "kid." Final year to stop being in a hell hole of a place called camp. God, how he wished to just book it and pretend that he was here but actually be home. As much as he loved nature, being in it with strangers was the last thing he would wanted to deal with. Enough of the "I'm an angsty teen adult, and this is how shitty my life is" sap story. Tobey's mission was to find Tavia and cling to her 'til death once she was found. So that was what he did.

 

[ichorus]

Waving goodbye from the driver's and passenger's seats, Tavia's parents left her stranded at camp. She kept her arm up and smile on until the car crested out of sight over the top of the hill before she dropped both of them with a huff. After weeks of begging them not to bring her here, her parents still insisted on "tradition." Her siblings weren't any better either, all of them older than her and uncaring because if they had to suffer, she had to as well. So much for familial love.

Slinging her bags over her shoulder, she headed over to the check-in table. Already, there was a long line of other "early" campers ahead of her. It seemed like, yet again, every parent wanted their kids gone as fast as possible. A bunch of people were already rolling around in the grassy field next to her. The line slowly inched forward.

The summer sun was beating down around her and the air had a distinctly musty quality to it. Fiddling with her phone (no signal unsurprisingly), she used her other hand to shade her eyes so she could actually see the screen. The camp had WiFi, but only the counselors were supposed to have the password for it. She'd never bothered finding it before, but maybe this year she could hustle it out of one of the nicer ones.

"Next!" a too perky voice called out.

Walking up to him, she stared at the counselor with raised eyebrows, waiting for him to sign her in. He kept smiling. Neither of them said anything for a minute. She scowled.

"Dylan, I have been here for five years. You've known me since I was an angsty prepubescent," Tavia gritted out. "Sign me in, Dylan."

Setting her jaw, she glared at him until he rolled his eyes and petulantly checked her name off, grumbling about the process and how she'd only gotten worse as she got older.

"Serves you right, asshole." She dropped her bags off herself, not trusting any "funny" mishaps that might happen when the counselors put people's stuff away.

Running to the edge of the dock, she stopped just short of falling over and sat down. She took her shoes off and let her toes make ripples in the lake. Tobey would find her eventually and then Tavia could muscle him away from the crowd. She wasn't much of a people person either but she could handle smug teens better than he ever could.

After that, summer could get started.

 

[Municro]

Spoiler: OOC

Aw adorable you decked out the first post! I like!

Tobey couldn't find Tavia in the lines outside that were split by last name in alphabetical order. "She's probably already in there waiting for me." So he then headed into the camp, since it was rather quick getting himself checked in. Jodie was sweet and all, but she had this obnoxious laugh and an attitude that was worst than Tavia's when she was provoked. Of course he wondered how his friend's encounter with Dylan went. Though, he already kne how'd the scenario would go down.

It would start off with her waiting for Dylan to check her off, because who the hell knew. He should already know who she was since, for the past goddamn 5 years, he'd been the one to sign her in. From there on Dylan might make a comment about her before checking her off. To then Tavia grumpily walking off to go and wait for Tobey somewhere in the camp.

Sometimes Tobey wondered why Tavia wandered off instead of staying near by where he could find her. All that resulted was that if he was alone and by himself, he was bound to be jumped on by bullies that were new to the camp. Though, he had hope that this year would be the end of all that. Meeting Tavia was kind of his only chance of hope of at least boosting his confidence. Having someone to ward off people like Cody and Jose, he might manage to actually stand up for himself, even though his pacifist self really couldn't get into a fight for the life of him.

Speaking of Cody and Jose, they were actually approaching him. "Just act like you don't care and aren't bothered by them," he repeatedly told himself this over and over until they were right in front of him.

"Well, look who it is..." the taller boy coolly spoke.

Tobey probably swallowed hard as his eyes met with his. Shifting his weight as he stood.

"Jo-Jose it's good to see you here! You'd, you know... seen Tavia around have you?" Tobey stuttered. He mentally kicked himself in the ass for stuttering. God, he'd hope Tavia was around to save his sorry ass.

 

[ichorus]

Tavia had gotten tired of kicking the water underneath her feet a while ago. Her neck and shoulders were baking under the hot sun's rays and it seemed like she would have to be the one to hunt down her best friend this time. Getting up from her seat and stretching, she scratched the back of her head and yawned. It was barely noon and she was already ready to tumble back into bed.

Glancing around, she spotted some pebbles scattered along the shore of the pond. Walking along the edge, she gathered them up in her arms and idly skipped them on the water's surface. All the while, she kept her head craned in the direction of the camp entrance where mostly everyone was congregated. No matter how much she squinted, she couldn't spot him anywhere.

She kept this routine up for the next few minutes, walking back and forth and looking over every once in a while for Tobey. She almost gave up in finding him when she ran out of pebbles but heard his dulcet tones coming by the beginning of the dock. Tavia rolled her eyes and huffed. Of course he'd end up where she'd started out.

She began jogging toward him but sped up when the people around him became more visible and revealed themselves to be Cody and Jose, the morons who brought her and Tobey together in the first place. By the time she neared them, she could hear them taunting him. Throwing things around about how she wasn't here to save him and that they had to end their time here with a bang. Which. Ominous for anyone except two skinny white boys.

Skidding to a stop in between them and Tobey, she said, "Hey, assholes. I'm here now, and the party's over!"

Glaring at them, she saw them frown and try to laugh her off.

"Come on, Tavi," Jose teased with a snide smile on his face. "We're all getting along here. No need for the whole knight in shining armor act."

"Yeah, Tavi," Cody repeated in the same tone.

She rolled her eyes. "Cody, learn to talk shit or get hit." He didn't even warrant her attention honestly. It was Jose, him and his skeevy ass, that was the real issue.

"I've been here," she stepped up in his face, "stopping you from beating him up for five years and if you think I'll stop now, you've got less in between your ears than I thought." Tavia stood directly in front of Jose, staring down at him unblinking and tense. She didn't think he'd get into a fight with her but she'd be ready if he threw the first punch.

Rolling his eyes one last time, both he and Cody stepped away with a huff. They ran back towards their other asshole friends, leaving her and Tobey on their own.

Turning to her best friend, she broke into a big smile. "Hey, buddy." She slung her arm around his shoulder. "How's it goin'?"

 

[Municro]

If you could, you could have probably hear a choir singing in Tobey's mind once Tavia came. He was so relieved that he didn't have to keep up the work to keep his sorry self from receiving any injuries. With the stare down between Jose and Tavia only made him nervous. "God I hope they don't fight..." Though, he had known that Cody didn't have the balls to square up with his friend. Jose on the other hand, was unpredictable and you never knew whether he would throw a punch or not. Luckily today was their lucky day that he didn't decide to cause a fight.

Seeing them leave, the boy gave a sigh in his relief from the tension. He then felt some weight be placed onto his shoulders. Knowing the culprit of this, he grinned sheepishly.

"Once again you saved my ass for the 5th time in camp." He mimicked her and put his arm on her shoulder. "But then again, what is not new?" Tobey looked right at her with a curious puppy dog look.

 

[ichorus]

Tavia snorted and dragged them away from the general chaos of the first day of camp. She fumbled and stopped every so often to take off her shoes. With them in hand, she walked barefoot down to the dock again. Instead of going to the end of it and deep into the lake, she sat down with her legs hanging off the side as soon as her toes just barely skimmed the water's surface.

"I think I've saved it more than just five times," she said. "It's okay, though, Tobes. I know it's so hard to keep track."

She chuckled and gently kicked her feet back and forth, sending ripples along the pond. Looking up at him, she patted the space next to her. Looking up at her friend, she said, "Now, how about you sit down and tell me the first thing we're gonna do after camp officially starts, yeah?"

They usually just lazed about and did what the counselors said, seeing little reason to waste the energy fighting to do what they really wanted. But Tavia was thinking maybe they'd finally go running around doing what they wanted for their last year here. Whatever they did wouldn't have any consequences here since they'd never see any of these people again. Maybe that'd just mean they stay in the cabins the whole time and fiddle around on their phones, but better than suffering in the noon day heat of the dog days of summer.

"I'm thinking," she said, "something fun for once, you know?"

 

[Municro]

"Oh obviously.." Tobey replied waving his hand in the air as if that was nothing. He knew it was more than that amount, but who really wants to boast about those many encounters of being saved? No one.

Chuckling he rolled up his jeans up to his knees, kicking off his shoes off. He set his shoes to the side and sat right next to his friend. "Hmmm..." hummed thinking about his friend's question. He wasn't so sure what to do before they were trapped in this hell hole of a place for the whole summer. It really gotta start with a bang and end with a bang. That is, until he thought of a good idea. He was in sync with Tavia's kicking of the water.

"We gotta start this summer with a bang. Y'know?" he looked right at her, flashed one of his most devious and goofiest smiles. "Why don't we do something to scare the hell out of the other campers. Have a rumor go around and put something into the woods to scare them." he explained. Just thinking of it made him laugh, that one laugh that was loud and short. Seeing all of the younger kids terrified and then ballsy ones that went off to search for it only coming back horrified and going wild with the rumors.

 

[ichorus]

Tavia laughed, bumping into his shoulders. "You're just lucky I'll never bother to keep count."

When she heard Tobey's suggestion, she scrunched her nose and made a decidedly unpleasant face. Ghost stories and scary rumors weren't even in her head when she thought of something fun. It just seemed so... tacky. Or maybe that was the judgmental teenager inside of her. Maybe if they actually did it, it wouldn't end up with just them making fools of themselves. Or maybe it still would, but they'd get to laugh at other people along the way.

She mulled this idea over before shrugging. Tobey had had worse ideas that ended up going fine for them in the end; another one couldn't hurt.

"You know what, Tobes? I'll take you up on that idea," she said. Tavia kicked the water one last time, disrupting the relatively calm surface for the last time before she got up. Gathering her shoes, she said, "If we wanna do this right, we gotta do this now."

She gathered her stuff up, and started walking to the woods on the other side of the lake. The counselors were still wrangling up the campers and everyone was blissfully unaware of the two of them. Calling back to him, she said, "We can figure things out as we walk! Hurry up!"