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

there there....

[shiro2hero]

And in response, Shiro actually snorts, cracking a real grin. The amused kind, not the kind that usually means someone is irritated, or worse. It sounds like the sort of joke he'd make, really. Winning points in his book.

But back to the matter at hand. So to speak.

"I'm in the three-year category," he admits. "But I know of a couple people who were at the ten year mark. Or close to it."

He's trying to remember exactly what Heather had told him. It feels like it was a lifetime ago. "Heather Mason, have you met her? I don't remember how long she said, but, she's got the longest record I know of."

[uber_marionettist]

Whether his flatness is cultivated or deliberate, there's a limit to what Dirk's stoicism can withstand.

But it turns out shock is a powerful force. His head jerks back, furry eyebrows rising sharply, mouth opening wordlessly. His eyebrows snap back down before he closes it, but he still doesn't know what to say exactly. No, wait. Yes he does.

"Ten years?"

Congratulations, Shiro. You unlocked a few seconds of obvious human emotion!

Not to be confused with Dirk's actual emotional experience, which is frankly a nightmare roller coaster ride staffed by some real shady characters.

[shiro2hero]

"Yeah. I think that's what she told me. But I could be wrong."

The last bit he adds placating. Holding his hands up. He's not even sure that's what Heather had said. But he thinks it was pretty close. And she's the one who told him.

But that answer is clearly upsetting to the other young man.

"Sorry, I'm guessing that wasn't what you wanted to hear."

I misspelled 'rails' like four times it was infuriating

[uber_marionettist]

Dirk watches Shiro put his hands up and in the process becomes aware of his own reaction, or at least how that reaction was received. Which begs the question: what does this guy think Dirk is gonna do? Throw hands? Probably not. Maybe just get aggressive. But truthfully he's already past the immediately shock and into a kind of building nausea, like something thick and sticky dripping into him, one viscous drop at a time.

Ten years. He doesn't have.... okay, technically that space ship had fucking centuries to go. But ten years of the bitch from beyond, now caught up, wrecking merry havoc on his perfectly calibrated narrative design, ripping gears and slugs and wires out and casting them into the cosmic void beyond paradox space... no. No.. Fuck. Fuck this. Fuck her. He isn't panicking, because he doesn't panic. No, this is hate. He's pissed, and he's having a physiological response that makes him want to puke his guts out.

Which... justifies the hands up, maybe. But he's not pissed at this man for anything except being a laser-targetted personal attack aimed directly at his dick.

"Nah, it's chill. I put my head in the guillotine. " He keeps a level tone, presses his tension into his jaw, and plays it off. The corner of his mouth even jerks up, albeit sardonically.

"What am I expecting except for it to get chopped off? Though now that you've done the honours on my metaphorical decapitation through non-ironic delivery of the inevitable, I have another question: you ever know anyone to leave?"

Which he immediately realises is less precise than he wants; he quickly puts up a hand, forestalling an immediate answer.

"--wait. I know people can cease to be here, insamuch as I've heard another one of me has been here prior--and I do not remember that, but that's what I've heard. What I want to know if anyone's left. Not just stopped being present. Although if it is possible to fully erase yourself from the game, that'd be nice to know too."

That's actually... kind of a lot once it's all out of his mouth like that. Shit. It'll serve him right if he scares this guy off, but of course the question itself was so straightforward in his head... this whole damn conversation is off the rails.

i'm laughing i'm sorry

[shiro2hero]

There's a look on the guys' face that... doesn't look good. To say the least. "Not good" is probably putting it extremely mildly. He's worried, because of course he is. He wouldn't be Shiro if he wasn't worried. But what are you supposed to say to reassure someone you just met? With the team, it's easier. He knows them. He knows better how to talk to them. What they need to feel more at ease.

It's especially more difficult when the guy is talking about guillotines. Even metaphorical ones.

"I'm sorry." What else are you supposed to say to that? And he honestly sounds apologetic. Like this is his fault, somehow. "Do you need to sit down, or...?"

Something? How can he help. Tell him how he's supposed to help and he'll do it. Immediately, if he can. The question is a bit odd, though. Not what he's expecting. But on the other hand, hadn't he asked the same thing, in a sense, when he first arrived? How to get back again?

"I... I haven't heard anything like that. People have said you can leave if you beat the gyms, if you collect the badges. But so far, the people I know who've managed to do that are still here."

[uber_marionettist]

Dirk would dearly love to know what it is about him that makes people act like this around him, like he's made of eggshells and glass, or else shrapnel and napalm. He likes to think he makes himself pretty clear, with his words if nothing else, but then over the years he's been told it's his face, he's been told it's this or that or whatever other thing he says or does... there's a certain point where a man has to just embrace the fact that something's fucked and that something is him.

Okay. Well.

This is a hot, vexatious mess. Literally no one has given him the same answers to anything. He's going with the theory that no one knows anything, and he's got his ear to the speaker end of a long and absolutely useless game of telephone.

"I haven't heard that one before. Guess I just gotta..."

Do everything his damn self.

"... try everything."

[shiro2hero]

Look, buddy, maybe if you didn't use decapitation metaphors, less people would look at you like you were a walking bomb. Or at least, ease into those metaphors a little. Give people some time before you drop one.

But in the end, Shiro seems to shake it off, square up his shoulders, and reach out in his usual gesture of reassurance. A hand on a shoulder.

This time, though, he eases into it, giving his new buddy here enough time to shrug out of the way, if he needs it. Regardless of how it's received, however, his tone doesn't change. It's assuring, it's steel. What he says, he absolutely believes. He's just met this guy, and he already believes in his words.

"Hey, you'll figure something out. However things operate here, you'll find something that works."

Everyone else he knows has.

CW... decapitation, also Shiro's chance to talk about literally anything else, or escape,

[uber_marionettist]

Shiro's just lucky Dirk had the presence of mind not to make his decapitation into a straight-up joke. When he was 16, he made a pinata you were meant to cut the head off of and brought it to the birthday party of a kid he barely knew. (Though in fairness, that kid had once watched him commit suicide, so maybe it wasn't that out of line?)

But at least he's aware that folks here--real or otherwise--don't have the background context to make the jokes funny.

He does tense up a bit, though, when Shiro actually reaches toward him--slowly enough that it's obviously not going to be a punch in the face, but still surprising when Shiro puts his human hand on Dirk's shoulder. He doesn't duck out of it. Instead he goes very still; his expression is that kind of default sternness that in this case just means he's too unclear on the situation to emote in it.

It's.... kind of weird to hear anyone else expressing confidence in him. Like they mean it. And not even the ghost of an implication that he's a threat, or full of shit, or anything.

What the fuck.

This guy doesn't even know him. Why the hell is he so certain? Well, it's obviously how he's so certain, but it's still objectively weird. And yet--he can't disagree. He will find something that works. Even if he has to break this place apart to do it.

"Thanks."