Realistic or Modern Camp Winifred [recruiting]

[AllHailDago]

Andreas Spencer

Every fantasy story ever was quite clear when it came to dragons. You just...don't wake them up suddenly without evoking their ire in some capacity. Andreas may be a rather lax and kind man, but even he had a spot or two where he was much like fictional dragons. Even he was deeply unfond of rude awakenings, and for someone with heightened senses the morning screeches of Ricky surely qualified. As such, he was roused in a less than pleasant mood. The veritable horde of cats that had flocked to him as he slept in his dragon form, laying where he could keep a watchful eye on both cabins, picked up on his waking displeasure and gracefully decided to get off or away from his with due haste.

Standing fully and stretching his every muscle, several popping and snapping sounds could be hurt all across the clearing coming from him. Without a word or sound Andreas crossed the space between himself and Ricky, looming over him from behind. Some small, primal aspect of his brain just said to eat him then and there to discourage further disturbances from annoying prey. But the much larger portion of his brain guided by things like morals and decency or some such kept him from doing so. Instead he let out a, perhaps not so surprisingly, mighty huff of air that would surely give Ricky a hard time trying to not be knocked over from it. Pettily pleased, Andreas shifted over the course of maybe half a minute or so and stood in his human form fully dressed and ready for the day.

He even had an appropriately sized canteen on his belt, bless his hammerspace transformations. He could only imagine the displeasure and misfortune it would cause him if he went through what Blair did with each shift. Taking a long, long draw from the massive canteen he sated his morning thirst before turning his attention to the gathered male campers. It took a few seconds, but the mild annoyance of Ricky's awakening passed and Andreas gave everyone a wide, beaming grin. "Who's ready for a good, fun hike?"

Huntertabbysandshark3 Zahzi B Bag o Fruit @other boys cabin members if any

---------------------------------
Melody Vance

Melody awoke with a start as she registered a startling screech and a sudden tap on her face in startling succession. Bolting up, she extended a hand that began transforming out of reflex. Her arm seemed to thicken with taut, powerful muscle and ended in a tawny-brown horse hoof. Thankfully she stopped herself in time before she flat out pulped the poor possum that had crawled into her bed. Stopping short, she dismissed the transformation and set a hand softly on its' fur. She didn't know why she knew, but she could just tell that it was Ms. Blair from... what she would call shape shifter's intuition perhaps. She wondered how many forms Ms. Blair had, and how easy it was for her to control which she turned into. "Good morning, Miss Blair," she said with a soft, sleep-ridden voice.

Sliding herself off the bed roll she had placed over the top of the...less than pleasant looking mattress that was provided, she grabbed her suitcase from underneath the bed. She began to rustle through it to find an outfit for the day. Settling on a knit cardigan over a white t-shirt and black denim jeans. She had come a long way in many regards thanks to 108, but comfort in showing any skin was...not one of those ways. She had long since adapted to being hotter than necessary to avoid wearing revealing clothes, and today was no different from any other in that regard. She moved to a spot where she was sure she could change in private, and then after grabbing a simple sports bottle filled with water she joined the rest of the campers outside the boys' cabins.

Mister Ricky, Mister Andreas[who still made her nervous even though she now knew how nice he was], and several of the other campers were already up and gathered together. Melody tried to join the group without making too much fuss about her presence, giving only a small hand wave of greeting as she took a place standing next to Cassandra. If she remembered correctly, they were going on a hike in the woods today. She was honestly pretty excited at the prospect. There would be so many beautiful and wonderful plants and animals to see as they went! She didn't even need to fear the chance a predator or large stag or something would attack them thanks to Mister Andreas and his...fearsome presence and strength. Melody felt today was shaping up to be a great day already!

Shadow Alpha Xafin

 

[TheDaftStudent]

Colton Woods
Location: Sleep, the final frontier...
Tags:

A shouting woke Colton from his sleep, and the disgruntled hamster glared a deadly stare into the wall of his small wood house. Somewhere out there was a mushroom waking up... or was there? Was he already up? Would he wake up days from now? Strange man, that mushroom guy. He listened to Rick shouting until he finally came up for air, and then he shoved his small face back into the small pillow that had been made for him. Finally he could go back to sleep. The campers were going on a hike, and his small legs couldn't keep up with that, so instead he'd be doing things around camp today. Things about as useful as enforcing hygiene, but still needed.

Colton laid with his face down for a few moments later before finally rolling out of his bed. He made his way to his small bathroom to get cleaned up, there he found a basin with some dust in it and proceeded to roll around in it before getting something to drink and grabbing a left over food from the night before. When it was ready he made his way out of his small house to the cabin at large and found his way to one of the windows to watch the campers start moving around outside. He wasn't needed for anything right away, so he'd give it a second before he started his day "officially".

 

[AFreakingBird]

Mungus the Fungus

__________________________________________________________________________________



The first rays of sunlight filtered through the forest canopy, their warming light falling on the diverse fungal avatars lying dormant throughout the forest, appearing void of thought. In reality, the Mungus’ mind was occupied elsewhere- distracted moving nutrients and extending his immense mycelium network beneath the forest. As the light warmed the moist soil at his roots, Mungus’ consciousness coalesced from his subterranean network and into the many fungal avatars distributed throughout the woods surrounding the camp. The forest had already begun to move all around him- flowers were opening, attracting the business of bees as the morning chorus of birdsong rang throughout the forest. Taking advantage of the warming rays of sun, Mungus awoke with the surrounding nature. One by one, an array of mushroom men large and small uprooted themselves from the forest floor. Most began to meander directionless deeper into the forest in search of enlightenment... or more nutrients, however a select handful instead made for the campgrounds. One by one, roughly a dozen Mungus of various size and species slowly filtered out of the forest, conglomerating around Ricky who seemed to be making some sort of loud noise.

”...Ricky…” Mungus’ voice echoed out into the camp leader’s mind, waiting a suspenseful amount of time as the first fungal avatar made his slow approach to finish his greeting.

"...hello..." The small mushroom man finished, giving a small wave. Yes, that was something people told him was polite. To wave hello. Excellent. The immediate task of having waved to Ricky complete, Mungus flopped to the ground and began to wait for the arrival of the campers. All the while, numerous other tiny Mungus filtered in from the forest edge and began to encircle the group in waiting. Today would be a good day. Today, the newcomers to his forest would be able to learn as had hem the wisdom of the forest. Firstly, he needed to make sure they could all hear him. As Cassandra and Arlon joined the accumulating group, each was approached by a miniature Mungus, who- remembering his manners, waved matter of factually before wafting up a small cloud of (friendly) spores towards their noses.

 

[Gus]

Gerald Marinos
​

Xafin B Bag o Fruit Zahzi AFreakingBird
AllHailDago Huntertabbysandshark3 TheDaftStudent ​

Gerald had woken before dawn and slipped out of his bunk and out of the cabin. Wearing just shorts and sneakers, his body blended almost seamlessly with the background as he crept along. A close observer might have caught a glimpse of the shorts or the shoes if they had a very good eye for detail in darkness, but even those were largely concealed as his weirdly flexible flesh spread itself out over his clothes, camouflaging almost every inch of him. That this required no conscious effort on his part was by far the strangest part of his strange new life. If this was an instinct, was he born with it or did it spring into being during his manifestation? Did his skin literally have a mind of its own? He supposed the thought of this ought to make his skin crawl, but then again, how would he even know if it did?

At any rate, he had found his new abilities useful for getting some quiet time to himself in the mornings. He'd been sneaking out of the house before his family awoke for weeks now, and was quite keen to explore the camp a little bit on his own in the cool quiet before the noise and heat of the day intruded.

The surrounding forest was a striking contrast to the manicured grounds of his family home. The trees here were old, unkempt, and wild. The ground underfoot was soft and smelled of rich loam with each step. Every rock and log teemed with insect life of all descriptions.

Also there were gigantic man shaped mushrooms all over the place.

So that was interesting. These ones didn't seem to be sentient, or at least, they didn't respond to his presence in any obvious way. Perhaps they were decoys or something? He walked on, keeping one eye on the slowly lightening eastern sky. He didn't want to be late for the first day's morning assembly, or whatever was planned, but also by keeping the dawn on his right at first and then walking towards it for a while before holding it on his left he could cover a good bit of ground without getting lost. Any minute now he should be getting back to... JEEZUSCHRISTWHTHELLZAT?!?!

Oh! It's just the dragon.

He let that thought inhabit his brain for a while, making itself at home, showing it every hospitality so as to reduce the odds of going mad.

Just the dragon. Right.

It was wild to see it so close up. He'd barely caught a glimpse yesterday before Andreas had taken on human form. And he was so... furry?! No, wait, that's the cats. The dragon was absolutely covered in sleeping cats. One of them raised its head in a desultory fashion as if to yawn, but stopped short to give Gerald a 'fuck the fuck off' glare as only a stray cat can do. He wondered if it was the same one that caused such a ruckus in the dining hall last night. The cat gave a low growl deep in the back of its throat, and two or three of its fellows looked up and joined forces in the glare of death. So camouflage is not so effective on cats. Noted. Time to move on before they decide to escalate or wake the dragon.

Circling back around to his cabin, he instinctively ducks down as Ricky comes bustling out of it. He need not have bothered. Even aside from the camouflage, that guy is in his own little world. Oh lord and has he got a set of lungs on him! Time to get up, huh? Gerald chuckles and rolls his eyes skyward.

Time for a quick double take, and then a triple for good measure: the chef, Tobias, seemed to be about to put Ricky on the menu! Gerald froze up unsure whether to shout a warning or dive for cover. After an impossibly long moment, the man on the roof put the gun down and seemed to be ranting to himself.

Adults are so weird.

Gerald decided not to think about it further. Best go get a shirt and sun hat and join the trickle of grumbling campers coming out to join Ricky. Camp is weird and weird is camp. He slipped into the cabin and then back out again, munching a granola bar and shrugging on a plain white tee. His skin was now back to its standard blotchy purpleness, having apparently decided for its own inscrutable reasons that hiding was no longer the order of the day. He caught Cassandra's wave and tossed one back at her along with an extra granola bar.

Whatever else the day had in store, there was no sense facing it before breakfast, was there?

 

[Xafin]

Gus AllHailDago
Cassandra fumbles with the granola bar Gerard tossed her, eventually dropping it onto the ground and then scooping it up with a barely contained blush. She nods towards him in thanks, unwrapping the treat and taking a bite with haste. She sighs in relief, as her stomach had started to grumble again. He's, like, the only reason she's eaten anything today, and it definitely shows in her slightly trembling hands. She grins at Melody, trying to quietly say "Good morning, how was your sleep?" but instead it comes out at regular volume, rather than her slightly louder than normal voice. Her voice is rough with sleep, the tiredness making her eyes blink slowly in the too-bright morning sun.

 

[Shadow Alpha]

Blair Silva​

Location - With the Big Group
Interactions - Huntertabbysandshark3
Current Form -

Spoiler: Possum Form

Mentions -

The small possum leader continued to hiss at the few slackers that struggled to keep their eyes open for more than a damn minute. Blair figured they'd eventually get their shit together and head so she left to to dress for the lovely day ahead of them, one that she was overly excited for. Any chance to be out in the wild was a gift she never took for granted after her stint in a government facility. The government really knows how to build walls that even a rhino can't pierce.

The feel of unfiltered sunlight hitting her fur was welcomed as she continued her morning possum waddle to group with the rest. Blair was fairly surprised that there was more than 3 people already up and ready for the trek. Her head swiveled from side to side looking for her next victim, target was immediately spotted in all his flashy glory. Blair trotted over and climbed up on Evan, placing herself on his shoulder like some kind of Possum/Parrot. ''So I see we're just not wearing clothes outside anymore huh Flappy Boy, seems a little unfair to me. As punishment, you should carry me around until I feel ready to run off on my own.''

 

[Gus]

Auntie
Josephine


​

B Bag o Fruit welian ​

​

It was high summer, and the sun was up early, but never so early as auntie. Nobody ever caught auntie napping no how. Not in woods and not in water. None knew where auntie slept, if she slept, for she was a wily one and kept her own counsel.

The pre-dawn twilight was a deep cooling blue, but that light was a liar, yes it were. It was high summer, and auntie didn't need to cast the bones to know the day would be blazing hot. The forest air down by the lake was already thick and heavy, like day old porridge. It might be better than the bitter cold of January, but it still made auntie cross.

She was always cross.

Few things could make her smile, and not one of them would ever stop her being cross. Nor would you never smile along, not if you had a lick of sense.

Auntie was smiling now, a thin line, like the scratch left by a sharp knife in the moment before you found out if it was really just a scratch or not.

She swept the tiny bones into the center of the small leather pad and rolled them up inside it. From her throat came a low rasping sound as of some small mammal coming to a bad end in a pile of dry leaves. Perhaps it was a chuckle.

"A bad day for Jeb and his chil'uns, mmhm. Bones never lie. Meebe auntie'll send Jeb a little mess'ngr. Ole Jeb cain't read the bones, but he'll know a sign from auntie when he sees it and be a-fear'd. Won't help him no-how, but ain't it good to make him squirm, mmhm."

The rasping noise came again as she plucked a small toad up from the forest floor and drew her knife. The creature made one small chirp of protest but then fell silent when she fixed it with a glare. Very delicately she scratched a rune onto the toad's belly and then dropped it.

"Off wi' ye! Find Jeb, show 'im yer belly. A foretaste 'o disaster t'come. Let 'im sweat o'r that while the vultures gather!"

The rasping sound now rose to a full cackle as the toad hopped away toward the camp just as fast as it could go.

​

 

[Bag o Fruit]

Ricky Small
Huntertabbysandshark3 AllHailDago AFreakingBird Shadow Alpha welian Xafin Gus Damafaud Grey ​

"Well, you never know, you know, Evan-essence? Ay-kay-ay better safe than sorry, am I right?" Ricky chuckled. "You know, you can get struck by lightning even on a sunny day? Uhh, in fact it even happens more often than in a storm, 'cause it takes you by-"

There was a sound, as of thunder. He jumped, and held out his hands as if to kung-fu-battle the weather. "Y'see? Anything could happen when you least expect it! That's why you always gotta be prepared!" A very, very large lizard then exhaled on Ricky, whose stance was ridiculous. He fell on his face, with many clangings, crinklings, and other sorts of noises one wouldn't have expected. Foremost among these was "Yonkers!"

He rolled, effortfully, onto his side, his face not much dirtier than it was before. There was a mushroom standing over him. ”...Ricky…” it said.

"Yeah, good buddy?"

"...hello..."

He beamed. "Hiya, Mung! How's it going with you?"

When he finally got to his feet, he noticed a possum where there had previously been a lack of possum on Evan's bare shoulder. Ricky had missed the exchange between Blair and Evan over the sound of his hiking gear protesting its displacement from the earth, and while many were naturally or supernaturally observant enough to distinguish Blair from a standard possum, Ricky was not. Fortunately, he wasn't trained enough to be appropriately wary of wild possums either, and he took it in stride.

"Oh, man, wild-man Evan over here! Where'd you find that poss', my guy? Careful, you know, all possums naturally carry syphilis!"

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

Evan
interaction: Shadow Alpha B Bag o Fruit​

evan managed to hold in his chuckle at Ricky’s response the old man was as eccentric as ever talking about lighting or something like that “oh I’m sure if anyone is gonna get struck by lighting on a sunny day it would be you“ he’d say with a smile and the usual kind voice Evan always had, as the old man fell face first into the dirt. It was at this moment he felt the somewhat familair feeling of a small mammal climbing up his back at onto his shoulder Evan. Knowing exactly who it was before she even spoke leading to evan just chuckling with a cheeky sorta smirk scratching Blair under the chin just a little as his wings flapped just a bit. “Oh of course you can sit there honestly some would think you’d taken a liking to me Blair, is it the wings the tail maybe?” he responded teasingly as was usual between the Two at the point. rickys words of caution only caused him to laugh Evans tail flicking around to tap the old man on the head. “Don’t worry bout it ricky I be this possum is a lot tamer then you think” hed replyed with a wink expecting Ricky to not get it at all.

 

[Thexcentrichilean]

Two friends: (Arthur & Bijou!)

.

The teen in question would still be feeling emotionally AND physically exhausted from the whole ordeal... he had even left his bag behind, by the table... at least, he was not hiding his face anymore, he had enough of that. SPECIALLY considering this was a camp for people like him, to not have to hide... he would try to embrace that a little more.

Though, Arthur would admit, he was still feeling somewhat nervous about facing his friend yet again... Said anxiety evaporated like water on a furnace the moment he had been spotted by the russian child, who was... waiting for him outside? And on top of that she acted extremely happy to see him, even without his hat and sunglasses on... this, honestly shook the boy internally a bit and for the first time in a long time... a light, natural smile would be plastered on his face…

"...hey" The teen would wave as he approached the girl, and actually slightly spoke up on his own initiative

"Thanks, Bijou... I didn't grab food there" He would have to put on some effort, but managed to sound legitimately grateful despite the constant anxiety permeating his words.




The little Russian hadn't actually realized anything unusual yet. Or, maybe she had seen it but not registered it as her young brain had been focused at more important things. Such as Arthur! Coming back seemingly safely from what could have been a veeery dangerous walk through the forest. Bijou's mama was always fretting about safety and whatnot, it was rather boring... BUT! She couldn't fully say it was wrong, even more during night time. They were lucky to have the nice big Dragon-man going after him so fast!

A huge part of her wanted to have intercepted the duo somewhere half-way, essentially tackle-hugging the other camper. Given the circumstances that had made him left though, the blonde girl had contained herself... kinda. She was still noticeably shaking and bouncing in place with all the pent-up energy and excitement, which only seemed to truly stop once Arthur had finally gotten to her position. Then he had been suddenly hugged... again.

"Arthur okay!!", she had let out, surely breaking the cookies more in-between themselves, "Bijou really worry! Also not get any food, but it okay, cookies better.", the girl had let go and beamed proudly with that statement, almost as if holding a dignified pose though there was nothing of 'dignified' about it. More like bratty and effervescent.

Pulling the cookies back to the front, or well, what was left of them after being crushed three different times, Bee seemed about to offer them to her older friend, glancing upwards aaaand stopping completely. With her mouth hanging open, the Russian child had been mesmerized as her purplish gaze had met with several glowy green ones, an enchanting sight against the darkness of the camp night. A low elongated 'ohhhh' had left her lips as the girl seemed to have forgotten even what she had been about to do.

She wanted to use a word, and yet her lack of vocabulary had failed her at that moment, instead forcing her to use a similar but, not quite to her standards one.

"Pretty~!!!!", innocent childish laughter had made it out together with a tiny excited hop. There was no hint of malice in there, only genuine delight and amazement.




As for the spider child in question, he was still quite nervous about facing Bijou while not hiding his face but… by this point, Arthur had gotten tired of cowering like that… specially in front of someone he could start calling a friend. And as such, he had prepared for the worst for her response…


Which left him totally blindsided to the sheer amount of positivity that the girl displayed. First showing all that overwhelming energy by jumping and moving in place (which had gotten the teen to smile without even noticing) followed by the sudden surprise speedy embrace. This in itself shook the boy more than anything bad that could have happened, than any negative possibility.

“...”

The iranian/american child found himself blushing unconsciously and tearing up ever so slightly without noticing… it was like almost all of his walls of fear and anxiety had gotten demolished like the cookies between them… crumbled to dust in an instant. This was further aided with the fact that she had been legitimately worried for him and did her best to convey it despite her limited english.
It was only now that the young teen had noticed the warm liquid flowing from many of his eyes and sneakily cleaned them up with his sleeve before Bijou would split from the hug. Then she was there, offering from her own snacks which had gotten the boy to uncharacteristically chuckle a bit, even smiling back at her enthusiasm.

In such a short timespan, the russian child had moved Arthur’s heart to the point of already endearing her to him. And then, came the reaction to the myriad of eyes he had… he was by this point expecting anything from slight aversion which was understandable to indifference, not…

“I-”

Not something as reassuring and positive as that. The boy stuttered a bit before fidgeting in place for a moment and simply deciding to do what came most naturally to himself and his moved heart right now… and hugged Bijou out of his own initiative.

“...thank you”

That was all he could muster as he was there, slightly shocked that he had been able to muster such an action… and he remained immobile for a couple of instants before letting go, still speechless at himself and what he had just done.




Bijou could not understand the impact nor depth of either of their actions, coming to a halt at first over the suddenness of the new hug... Yet, soon easing into the warmth and comfort of it with a delighted light giggle of enjoyment. The little Russian seemed rather proud of herself despite not even knowing what it was that she was being thanked for.

"No problem~!!", had been the reply, delivered with a bright satisfied smile.

Though as one can expect, the subject didn't remain for long as the girl had raised the array of snacks to the front again, not minding the lingering embrace at all. The package broken cookies had been stuffed back inside the coat, all to make up for the lack of hands, and instead her focus had gone to the cereal bars.

"Arthur wants chocolate or...", the blonde child had leaned closer to the writing in the wrappers. Ugh, this was a word that she had little familiarity with. And the other language it was written in was even weirder to look at.

Coming even closer to the information by raising the cereal bar to her face, Bee furrowed her eyebrows in ultimate concentration as she had tried her best to make out the words, then sound them out in a low voice to herself...

"C-... Ceeet? C-ceg? Ceeeeegp-pamop?", what was that even supposed to mean?? Oh, wait, she got it, "Нет. Это не п это л...!" (Nyet. Eto nye 'pe' eto 'ele'!)

With such a realization in place, Bijou had proceeded to beam up pleased to herself, she was sure to have solved the mystery of the strange new word as the flavors had been reiterated at the older camper.

"This, chocolate!", the girl followed with waving the snack a bit, "E this, cegllamol!!"[/COLOR], she had finished with a little hop, looking up at Arthur with glistening, expectant eyes, waiting to be praised for a good job.





Lucky for the teen, the child had mostly just gone along with the hug without showing more than being happy about it. This allowed Arthur to let out a sigh of relief before trying to compose himself from all that rollercoaster of emotions that had been the last hour…

Then, soon enough Bijou would, quite in-character for her, swap topics to the sweets they were going to eat which helped the boy relax a little. He was intending to respond once she had read to him all the options available but then… the girl got adorably stuck in a specific word written on the wrapper.

Arthur in question was actually having trouble containing a small laugh, but barely managed as the girl finally pronounced a mangled form of the english word... One which if he had to guess, was cinnamon, considering it was for a candy bar. Exhaling a little to let a bit of his tension out, the iranian teen smiled and nodded.

“You were close. And, what do you like more… cinnamon, or chocolate? I’ll take the other one you like less”

His voice volume was still low, but at least he made sure to sound clear and not let his words get tied together… slight nervous voice cracks betrayed that it was an active effort from his part.

The Russian girl was disappointed to hear that she had been only close, a little pout emerging to her lips the changing sides with uncertainty. Eventually, she had come to the conclusion that while it wasn’t a total win, it hadn’t been a complete loss either. So it was okay. With a little snobbish 'hunf!' that was directed at no one in particular, Bijou seemed satisfied about the matter and back to her usual disposition.

"Cinna...mon?”, she had repeated the pronunciation that Arthur had used to the best of her ability, but it was still difficult to grasp on a first try, "What that?”, the blonde child had blinked in a mix of confusion and curiosity, hyacinth eyes full and ready to learn something new, "E chocolate, of course!”, she had announced putting a cinnamon-flavoured bar against the boy’s chest and holding it in place with her hand until he had actually grabbed it.

At the same time, Bee attempted to open her own with a single hand. Wasn’t going that well for her, stupid glued-in wrappings...

Though a rather, interesting way to offer the snack over, it was but a harmless action still.




As for Arthur in question, he was slightly nervous about possibly souring his friend’s mood just when he tried honesty… especially with that pout she was showing…

So, the russian child couldn’t fathom how relieved the iranian boy felt when she seemed to not be upset from it, unconsciously letting out a sigh of relief before having his attention snatched by Bijou’s question.

“Ah, its-” He intended to answer to the best of his knowledge (the boy knew a bit of the basics about spices due to his grandmother liking to cook), but before he had the chance the girl had pushed the cinnamon bar onto his chest! And… held it there while struggling to open her own bar… she was, a bit of an oddball… but, she was nice, and cheerful. Arthur was happy to be around her already.

Showing a slight smile, the boy carefully grabbed the candy bar from her small hand, and did his best to keep himself from chuckling at her silliness… next, he opened his bar and before taking a bite, he finally got to explaining the spice.

“Its a spice… adds smell and flavor. Cinnamon normally for sweets”

The boy did his best to keep it brief and simple for the girl. Hopefully it worked.

Once Arthur had taken his bar on his own hands, Bijou had let out a satisfied nod before going back to struggle to open hers… Now with two hands. It had still been difficult, her fingers were clearly not coordinated enough to be pulling the wrapping two ways at once, but eventually, she had triumphed over the weird glue that kept it together and managed to get her snack free from the colorful plastic containment. It tasted good! A single, rather voracious bite had taken nearly a third of the bar out already.

"Ohhhhhh~", was all that the girl had replied to the ‘spice’ explanation with excited eyes at having just learned something new about candy, though honestly, the word meant nothing to her. It had been the simplified addendum that had shed a light on the term.

Still holding the chocolate flavored one with one hand and taking a second bite, the little Russian had reached out inside her coat to pull out the second set of bars, bringing the cinnamon one close to her face as if that made any difference. Huh, maybe it had been a really good idea to have two of each! Bee was now determined to try the other flavor as soon as she was done with the current one. She just had to know what it tasted like!



Arthur nodded along to the girl’s understanding, finally taking a bite out of his cinnamon candy bar. It was… alright in all honesty. It was not high quality but it was serviceable enough at least.

He then turned to his side to see how Bijou was doing, only to see her with a second candy bar in hand already while still eating the first one! And it seemed to be… cinnamon flavor….

“...” He wordlessly pulled out the whole bar from the wrapping, and broke a chunk off his candy bar, offering it to Bijou

“If you wanted to try it, you should have asked.”

The Russian girl had been taken aback by the gesture, having to stop for a moment in complete confusion. Didn't he say that he hadn't eaten anything yet? And now he was sharing his only food like that??! Bijou seemed legitimately exasperated, as if wanting to go off to pace in thought and still sticking to the same spot. Her mind spun between tons of options at a total loss of what to do, wanting to say something and unable to utter any words.

If words were failing her then only actions were able to solve this mess...
So act she did.

From the frantic exasperation and confusion, the blonde child seemed to suddenly come to a full halt, her gaze locked on the offered piece of the snack with way too much determination for the subject... And then without any kind of warning, she was leaning forwards, eating the cereal bar right out of Arthur's hand, no hesitation.

It even made a little 'nyaw' sort of noise! Like something out of a cartoon, adorable.




“...”
He had been silently waiting for the girl to either refuse or grab the piece… not, not what had actually happened. It was not really discernable from his current poker face expression but the teen was experiencing an absolute maelstrom of thoughts right now.
Things along the lines of “that was so cute”, “That was incredibly odd”, “How am I supposed to react to something like this??” and a few more, all overwhelming the boy in his own head for a few moments as he wordlessly stared as his own open palm.

After about a few seconds of this, the iranian teen finally muttered something that Bijou could have possibly heard:
“...cute and odd, like a cat…”

Realizing what he had just said, Arthur froze a little and his posture went a little stiff as he bit into the remaining candy bar he had still, and tried to brush over the fact that anything of this had just happened.

“So… which one you like more? Cinnamon or chocolate?”

Chewing away at the piece of the snack, Bijou had been met with an unexpected sort of flavor. It was weird, trying to be sweet still, but with a new strong punch to the taste that left her making a face of uncertainty and confusion. Also some level of betrayal. It was nothing like her caramels and cookies! This was like a pastry disguising as candy!!

Luckily for Arthur, the Russian girl’s indignation had soon been disrupted by his own words. The mention of a cat had the child looking around them, searching for the cat that had been scared out of the mess hall previously. She did not grasp the fact that the mentioned 'cat' this time was, in fact, her, believing instead that her companion had seen the feline somewhere nearby.

"Where?", she had tilted her head sightly, "Can’t find it..."

Eventually giving up on searching, especially since it was rather dark about five steps away from the building due to the lack of a bonfire, Bijou had instead focused on the teen again, called over by the new question. Of course, the answer had been immediate.

"Chocolate!!", the blonde had announced proudly, going as far as to stick her chest out, "It true sweet!", the girl had concluded with certain little nods to herself.




A small smile appeared on the boy’s face at the fact that things had moved on… or so it had seemed for a moment before Arthur froze on the spot at the mention of a cat…

His mumbling had been heard??? It may sound exaggerated but at this very moment the iranian boy broke out into a cold sweat, not knowing what to do… how would he explain his odd statement, he didn’t even have an explanation to himself about it!

Thankfully for the poker faced teen, the girl had quickly moved onto his initial question, prompting Arthur to let out a big sigh of relief and quickly moving to just nodding along, showing some amusement in a bid to get over his own awkwardness.

“I see… Chocolate is very nice… but cinnamon is too. In pastries at least… cinnamon rolls are nice”

That was as much as he could muster to say considering how scrambled the boy’s brain was right now… he had even forgotten to keep eating the remaining bar he was holding onto!



Bijou had continued oblivious to the older teen’s apprehension, merely happily nibbling away at her chocolate cereal bar and no longer willing to eat the cinnamon one as much as she had once. She liked this, just sharing snacks with her friend and making simple conversation, it was a nice time!

Normally this amount of talking would have made her bored loooong ago, but not this time. Arthur wasn’t boring and he taught her new things all the time! Instead of being bored, the Russian girl anticipated all of the fun and interesting things she’d come to learn with him. Hnnng, she couldn’t wait!!!!

"Hmm, maybe.", had been the only answer that the blonde had given here. Even more since as soon as she had said that one of the adults had shown up to announce that it was bed time, "Awwwwww alreeeady??", she had complained about it the exact same way that she would to her parents, waving her arms in a bit of a tantrum, "But Bijou having fun!!"

Despite all of the pouting and whining, there was no winning against the full group of counselors, who had bravely managed to convince the little Russian to abide by the order. At least after the situation in the mess hall, the others had been aware of not letting Ricky 'help' this time. Still somewhat bitter, Bijou had ended her chocolate bar and wished Arthur some loud farewells as she had to be dragged away by an adult, glancing back for most of the trip.

Oh well, at least she could go while having a full conviction that they’d meet again in the morning, to have even more exciting times tomorrow!




The boy was legitimately enjoying the time spent with his… new friend. Just the thought of the word was enough to warm his heart in a flash, even making the slightest of smiles creep onto his face… and all of that came crashing down in a matter of seconds due to the loud, impossible to miss announcement of the counselor.

A pitiful whimper escaped the boy’s mouth as his friend lamented the time they were spending being cut short… only being able to wave her goodbye without a word, his posture being leaning forwards and low… seemingly a bit depressed.

An exhausted sigh escaped his lips as he went to pick up his bags from the table he had sat at, and reluctantly went onto the cabin that had been assigned to him.

Sleep was never an option for him unfortunately. He spent most of his energy and mental efforts to not panic, to not scream and run away, to not make a scene and barely manage to hold on for the entire night. Had he not carried with him a portable charger to keep his lifeline to sanity online for the whole night, he would have gone mad in his anxiety propelled insomnia… strangers in a shabby place, all packed together and an extreme prankster among with them…

Arthur considered himself lucky that it was mostly an uneventful night at the boy’s cabin. That didn’t stop his anxiety from keeping the iranian boy awake for the whole length of the night, but at least there wasn’t anything to add to it… except exhaustion. Under every single eye there was a heavy dark bag, only the noises of early dawn provided by the surrounding nature would snap the teen out of his sleep-deprived stupor.

Grimacing at the day in front of him, Arthur decided to avoid any extra awkwardness that could be experienced and silently get out of his bed, sneaking out of the cabin and making use of any facilities he could to clean himself from the sweat accumulated through the sleepless night on his lonesome. Picking clothing that was on the tougher side material wise, and a backpack he had stashed inside his bags along basic supplies, he moved onto the main square to wait for any activities that were going to happen.

Yet his exhaustion was too great, and his now uncovered eyes (he was still wearing his hat, but it was not covering a third of his face anymore) felt very heavy… without realizing, he rested on his fully packed backpack against a tree, and slowly drifted into the realm of dreams for a couple hours… maybe if someone poked the boy, he would wake up naturally.

.

Interacting with: Necessity4Fun

 

[Gus]

Gerald Marinos​

Huntertabbysandshark3 AllHailDago Shadow Alpha welian Damafaud Xafin
Grey Thexcentrichilean Necessity4Fun TheDaftStudent AFreakingBird B Bag o Fruit
​

In spite of all the weirdnesses, Gerald was beginning to wonder if it was possible for camp to be boring after all. It felt like a long time since they'd been called out of their cabins to assemble in the clearing, and nothing particularly interesting had happened. Well, apart from the near assassination of Counselor Rick. And the dragon festooned with angry cats. Ok, and Rick's attempt to fist fight a fake thunderstorm. Oh, and the transformation of the girl's counselor into yet another furry critter to drape over the boy counselor's conspicuously bare shoulders. Plus Ricky's warning to Evan not to catch VD from said critter. That was funny on a wide variety of levels.

And yet...

They seemed to be stuck, somehow. Snacks were being exchanged in lieu of breakfast, but little else. Thinking of that, Gerald wondered: did they not serve breakfast here? Better husband those granola bars carefully, or there will be some hangry campers this week! At any rate, snack exchanges alone did not a camping experience make. Snack exchanges were standard school cafeteria stuff. This was... well, CAMP, wasn't it? Something should happen. Something mysterious and wild, like a moose charging at their canoe while they tried to shoot the rapids past angry grizzly bears!

Or at least... crafts? Something involving popsicle sticks and glitter.

Maybe the other counselors were just waiting for Jeb to tell them what to do for the day? Then again, Jeb didn't seem like a 'hands on' sort of camp leader. More of a 'yell at you after things went horribly wrong due to lack of leadership' sort of leader. Time would tell. Or would it? Gerald didn't wear a watch anymore because it chaffed too much, and he'd left his phone in the cabin, so he had no idea how long it had been since reveille. Maybe it had just been a few minutes, maybe six months! ...probably closer to a few minutes though.

At any rate, Gerald was bored. Bored enough to contemplate doing something radical. Bored enough to.... ask somebody in charge a question!

No, don't do it, Gerald! That's sheer madness! he thought. I have to, Gerald. If I don't, we could all be lost for eternity in the waiting room of hell! And the muzak is... ZAMFIR!

Smiling faintly at his own inner joke, he stepped into the semi circle of counselors and cleared his throat. This was going to be Gerald's moment! Yes!

"Hey, so I was wondering, if, you know, it's not a bother, I mean I don't... just... um... what are we supposed to be doing today?"

 

[Bag o Fruit]

Ricky Small
Huntertabbysandshark3 AllHailDago AFreakingBird welian Gus Grey ​

"Ohh, yeah, he could be somebody's pet..." Ricky nodded, deeply considering the possibility which Evan hadn't suggested. "Blair's, maybe?" He giggled. "Or Colton's!"

Before anyone could try to tell Ricky he was an idiot, Gerald broke the moment with a question, whatever it was. Ricky muttered a "Huh?" and swiveled a finger in his ear, collecting a thick layer of orangish wax. "You gotta speak up, little buddy, we're not all young!" he chided, as he wiped his pinkie on the front of his shirt. "Anyway, we got no time for questions! We gotta get going on our NATURE WALK!" He turned to address the group, as though he had really been addressing Gerald to begin with. "C'mon everyone! Make sure you keep your counselor at your side and your buddy in your sight! Wait... Uh, vice-a verse-a that!" With that he swung around, nearly clipping Gerald with his backpack, and forgoing any indication of who was who's buddy or who's counselor. Details would not stop Ricky today. Ricky was hiking.