camppetoskey | WEEK 3

WEEK 3

Another Sunday, another day to rest and recover after trial. The weather is now uncomfortably hot and humid after all the rain - perfect swimming weather, if what happened during the execution didn't put you off from swimming for a good long while.

As before, The RV's have changed, but it might not be the best idea to go and bother them after last week's...well, mistake. Maybe give it a week to rest. Additionally, if anyone tries to play the Wii, they will find that Chloe, Talcott, and Sayama's Miis have disappeared - as well that the machine itself is spitting out some strange music at the home screen and the Mii channel. The games seem unaffected by the musical change, at least - and there's now a copy of Mario Party 9 ready to be played alongside Wii Sports. Try not to murder each other or fling the wiimotes into the tv, alright?

The rest of the camp is the same as always, though now fishing equipment is always left out near the lake and beach, and there's a taped on sign on the slope railing declaring 'DO NOT LEAN ON.' Looks like they finally noticed the hazard that thing could potentially be. The kitchen has been fully scrubbed, the faint scent of lemon wafting in the air. Hm.

Two weeks have gone by, and with it, 6 of your fellow campers are gone. There are only six weeks left - six long weeks, and your chances of making it out dwindle all the time.

Knowing that, what will you do?

23 CAMPERS REMAIN.

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((We'll have the Weekly Mission on Wednesday, 5-6pm EST. No other extra events are currently scheduled at this time.))

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[Lenka's sitting nearby when Chuuta and Drew get into their semi-silent discussion, quietly and somewhat shakily trying to get through any kind of food-adjacent activity for the morning (spoilers: it isn't really work) -- so Chuuta's sudden outbursts startles him enough that he's actually already pulled his Arc before he realizes what's happening.

He looks around wildly and orients himself to face the entrance to the mess hall. Which is thankfully clean by now. Hopefully.]

... Chuuta. What is it? Is it your-- is it Drew?

It's.... it's.... [There are a lot of people, and Chuuta himself isn't sure what's going on other than...]

It's not true, it can't be...

[Are you scared, Chuuta?]

[Lenka finally remembers to lower his blade, but he doesn't put it away just yet, approaching a little but letting Chuuta have his space in case he has another moment or in case Drew needs to pop out and do... whatever Drew does. He seemed to have a pretty long~~cat~~ form, last he remembered.

Last trial already feels like a billion years ago. He tries to keep his voice level and pitched quietly.]

Can you tell me what happened? I don't understand.

[He's not sure if Chuuta is just distraught or if he's forgotten anyone other than him and Drew are there.]

[With a bunch of people already rushing to Chuuta's side, Shirou also hangs back a little, peering over and trying to understand what's going on.]

What are you talking about? What's not true?

[Chuuta! Chuuta! You're not breathing!]

It's... [The coral is already in them. They're going to turn into...]

D-drew noticed... [He's trying to breathe.] When our senses came back.

[It happened so slowly Drew didn't notice.]

It's been...

The rocks are already in us. It wasn't a seed. It wasn't a seed!

...What.

[WELL THAT IS UTTERLY FUCKING HORRIFYING ISN'T IT]

[Well, now Lenka gets to be the one to stop breathing, eyes widening as he parses the mess of Chuuta talking around Drew and the mess of assumptions and suspicions from the past week and change that are slowly becoming reality. Whether he wants them to or not.

He closes his eyes and grits his teeth for a moment. Forces himself to keep talking normally.]

... How bad is it? Can Drew tell?

[ It's the trying to breathe that's more important at the moment. Just going to push through the others gathering. ]

Move it, yo. Get out of the way.

[ Until he's there by Chuuta. He puts a hand on his shoulder. ]

Hey, I need you to breathe.

[ And if he's still struggling, Nine moves his hand down his arm to give him a hard pinch. ]

Breathe.

[Chuuta grabs at his head, like he can just rip through his skull and tear the rock out with his hands.]

[Chuuta! That hurts!]

I... [Nine grabs him, and pinches him hard on the arm. It's familiar by now, and even if Chuuta knows that Nine can't do anything, the older boy still helps him calm down and feel safe. Nine's someone Chuuta trusts to protect him.]

[Lenka asked how bad it is. It's not hurting you.]

It's not? Of course it's hurting me, it's in my brain!

[It's everywhere, not just your brain.]

Everywhere!?

[Sorry, you're going to have to keep trying to figure out information from this one-sided conversation. Chuuta's too stressed out to do focus on anyone but Drew.]

[It's a good thing Nine knows how to handle his own cabin members, and it's something Lenka does notice and file away even as he gives them a little space to do the freakout-and-pinch routine (not that he quite knows it's a routine yet, but it's the principle of the thing).

In the meantime, he's... trying to process the rest of Chuuta's one-sided yelling and-- and it makes sense. It just makes a horrible sort of sense.]

... The same as Soma. It spreads, probably through the bloodstream.

[One hand comes up reflexively to grip at his right arm, obscured by the glove, but the knuckles are white and he ignores it.]

The mosquitoes...

[It's mostly in your brain.]

It's... mostly in my brain. [Chuuta repeats, finally saying something that's at least partly directed at the group.]

Why aren't you upset about this, Drew? [That's the biggest concern right now. Why isn't Drew trying to fight back against this thing?]

[It isn't hurting Drew or Chuuta, and it isn't trying to separate us.]

[There's another pause where probably everyone is trying desperately to digest how bad things are and how bad the clarifications are -- Lenka himself is just... trying not to picture it, even though he already knows what it's like to have something take you over, vicious and visible and eating into skin, blood and bone.

... The curious thing here is Drew's reaction, considering he resides in Chuuta, even though Chuuta is only giving them the bare minimum of information. At least it's something.]

Yes. We knew a little, about the brain. [or a little too much, thanks] What does Drew think, exactly?

He... he says it's not hurting me, and it's not trying to separate us. [But there's something about that that's still... still deeply horrifying. Something that's worse than if it wasn't trying to rip them apart.]

I don't-- I don't want it to be in me! I don't care if it isn't hurting me! I don't--

Drew, if I'm a rock, you won't be in symbiosis with me, you'll be in symbiosis with a rock!

[But Drew doesn't want to leave you, Chuuta. Drew would rather be in symbiosis with a rock that's still Chuuta than in symbiosis with anyone else.]

Chuuta.

[Lenka doesn't reach for him for the moment, not the way Nine does, but his voice reaches out anyway -- firm and clear and attention-catching. He doesn't know exactly what Drew is saying, but it doesn't seem to be helping at the moment. And they need Chuuta to be here with them, as much as possible. Not to look too deep into himself.]

We're in the same boat. But we're not like the dead yet. It's all right.

[For a provisional sense of all right. But look. They're still coherent (mostly), so that counts for something. Also:]

If it's not hurting us and it's not trying to separate you from Drew... what is it doing?

[It's just growing.]

It... he says it's just growing.

... How fast?

Drew?

[... Drew just noticed it today. But Drew thinks it's probably been there for a while.]

He... says he just noticed it today but it's been here for a while. So it just got bad enough for him to notice.

[Drew will keep monitoring it!]

Thanks.

... It might just accelerate, when we die.

[That had always seemed like the most logical conclusion, and he doesn't know whether it's more or less helpful to know that they're all slowly heading in that direction -- they might need to take another look at Sayama's perhaps not-so-sudden demise, last week. Just to double check any sudden-onset symptoms.]

Did Drew say something else?

[He's assuming that's what the thanks is for, out of the blue.]

He said he'd keep monitoring it.

All right. Good.

[Chuuta has said something about Drew being related to scientific investigations, which means he’s probably got at least some experience with this stuff. Maybe not this specifically, but. It does bring up another thought.]

How much can Drew tell about this... the rock infection, in others?

[Drew can tell a lot!]

I don't want to hear it. [Chuuta says, because this is his brain, and there's nothing else he wants to hear about it. He kind of thinks he's going to be sick.]

[It might be important.]

I know. Just... go ahead.

[It's replacing Chuuta's tissues with rock, but the tissues are still functioning like they should be.]

[Chuuta looks a little green around the edges, and he feels a little bit like he's going to faint. It's a good thing he's sitting down.]

He says it's replacing my tissues. [Replacing him. He hadn't even noticed it. He still can't breathe, gasping in too shallow and too quick, and he shakes his head like he's trying to get rid of something. He's trying to get the words out around the choking feeling in his throat.]

It's still working, but it's just... it's rock now.

Hey.

[Now he reaches out, because this sounds like it's only going to get worse, and Lenka knows he's asking a lot. Pushing against something none of them were meant to know and few of them are equipped to deal with. He puts a hand carefully on Chuuta's shoulder.]

We're still alive. No matter what. Thank you for telling me.

[Unless Chuuta wants to volunteer more information... that's about as far as he's going to go, for now. There are other things they can check, perhaps with Red, perhaps with the others. They have other pieces of this puzzle to look over.]

Y-yeah. We're still alive. We're still alive. [Chuuta repeats. He doesn't feel alive. He feels dizzy and unbalanced and unreal, even under the grounding contact of Lenka's hand on his shoulder.]

As long as we're alive, we can fight this.

[He doesn't actually know that for sure; of course he doesn't. But that's the way he lives. There has to be a way forward, whether or not it's even worse than what came before. There has to be someplace else to go, while you live.

If they can all get there together, that's something. He doesn't remove his hand.]

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WEEK 3

ah yes, good times

let's condense everything into one good time experience

efficiency \o/

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