CAMP ALPHA: for everyone who wanted a crossover between summercamp and Ghost Adventures

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone who came to Camp Alph
Where: The Ruins of Alph
When: July 18th-21st
Summary: This is a log for all the camping shenanigans your heart desires! For part 2 of the event, there will be a second log to keep the ensuing seance situation separate from the all-purpose ruin-exploration adventures. Participation in part 2 will be entirely voluntary, so feel free to tag on part 1 as long as you like! For more information about this event, check out the info post over here!
Rating: PG-13
Log:


Been to the Ruins of Alph before? Are you an old hat at this stuff? Well turn everything you thought you knew UPSIDE DOWN because EVERYTHING. IS DIFFERENT NOW.

… Or at least, that’s what the flyers being passed out under a canopy of cheap Celebi balloons that are bobbing around in the breeze say.

One thing’s for sure, there sure are a lot more tents than normal. By the time most of you casuals get there, the entire picnicking area, usually quite spacious, has been turned into a small tent city. And the excited atmosphere is palpable.

The crackle of the Ruin Rangers’ walkie-talkies mingles with that of the ghost-hunting equipment toted around by excited Hex Maniacs, burbling Unown are drifting here and there to blink curiously at all the new people and Pokemon suddenly on their turf, and chatter from Legend Seekers of all ages (really, of ALL ages-- everyone from Youngsters to Veterans have apparently been swept up in the Seeker-mania!) rings out as stories and speculations are swapped.

There’s lots to do, plenty to explore, and (according to word on the grapevine), more than enough spooky rituals to perform once the night falls.

Will you solve some tile puzzles and fall into an underground chamber? Stick to the main group and make s’mores? Befriend a floating letter (or twenty-four)? Go directly against the advice of the tired-looking Rangers and play One Man Hide-and-Seek in the dark?

Or, most importantly, will you start a small-scale riot in order to keep the loud static boxes away from the tents where you’re trying to sleep?

Comments

[cyan_maid]

...

[I mean. When he puts it so simply, she kind of doesn't want to even explain it to him.]

You know, you've clarified your reasoning, and even though it is quite a concise clarification, I still find it none of your business.

[boy you think you're getting what you want that easily]

[uber_marionettist]

[Dirk stares at her. It's not an ambiguous act, even with the opaque wall of his shades between them. He holds his stare there for a minute, maybe less.

If she's not going to answer him, then what could have been a resolution is clearly just a time sink, a black hole of distraction that he could spend all day on, wasted effort and energy.

And here he'd actually hoped he could just be done with this already. Over, with nothing left over from it to clutter the back of his mind or present him with yet another obstacle later. But she's not having it. She's not ready.

Fine.

He turns away, putting his back to her and his mind, for all intents and purposes, back to the ruins.]

[cyan_maid]

[...

She tsks softly, glancing back to the floating J Unown, clearly the superior conversationalist.]

I swear he wasn't always like that. Sorry you had to stand by during that, it was probably terribly awkward.

[Yes, fuck you, she's going to talk to this Pokemon now.]

[uber_marionettist]

[Good job. Real mature.

More like 'real transparent.'

He ignores her with an aggressive indifference, refusing to acknowledge her or move on before he's good and ready.]

[cyan_maid]

[Boy if you're not going to be part of the conversation then you can just deal with her walking away with a floating letter as she changes the subject.]

So do you live down here, or do you come up to the surface sometimes, we're having a whole campout thing and I notice you don't have a mouth, but...

[Literally nothing is stopping Dirk from trailing her, or demanding he do so. The option is just there, if he wants it.]

[uber_marionettist]

[Honestly? He's not that desperate for the headache.

Not right now. The pressure building in his skull is just shy of his limits, the kind of expansion in a cramped space that strains him, that he can feel in the cracks of his thoughts.

Some of which follow her, restless and dissatisfied; they circle and pace and loop back on themselves, a cognitive ouroboros. He doesn't waver. Exhaustion leaks in, and he lets that drown them. And perhaps later the coldness of his heart, if he even has one, will ice everything back over.

For now he turns his back on her fully, and walks away in the opposite direction.]