[Cloasiii]

Children.
A great demographic -- minds like wet clay, untainted from experience and fit to be molded. Their heads are loose and eyes wide open to any new thrill, pain, wonder! Truly it is within the mind of a child that creativity and novelty reign.
Surely Cultist could fabricate such an archetype, albiet only outwardly. They're a good liar, especially when armed with a goal.
To harness the fuel of a mint mind would be to unlock unbounded genius and beauty --

"Sunflower for you!"

-- excuse me?

"Team sunflower!"

Sunflower?

A flower... composed of the sun? Seems decently unfeasable, but could we go further?

"I'd rather it be a... plasma plant. A nice deconstruction of 'sunflower,' I think, with more of an enigma to it. Even more intangible, even. Plant of plasma. I think that would be beautiful."

. . .

"Please just take the shirt and go."

Anxious to move on to a new concept! Already Cultist was learning new things! You can't craft beauty this abstract, you must feel the answer within you and immediately go with that. Whatever unpolished phrase arises first is perfection. It can't be altered or else it is made worse.

Sunflower, Cultist savored while shuffling away; I like it.

[roelian]

Kamp Day 1
katzuvo - - therin

The sound of gravel crunching under his feet brought yet another wave of excitement to the young teen. His first camp adventure! Heck, it was his first time away from home in general, and it was done under the disguise of a "normal" teen, making sure that no one cued into his royal lineage.

He didn't really want to be treated differently just for being a prince. The idea of such excited him, but not in a pleasant way. Just an underlying worry, a secret.

Therin fiddled with his bandana. He felt completely out of place, terror sinking in. He had begged his father for this, and requested clothing specific for camping (a prince couldn't go out in royal attire for camping!!), but he now felt a little... Overdressed. Where he was standing there, shaggy waves of hair, red bandana, and black plaid, he felt a little too outdoor-sy. Not that it was a bad thing, but the idea of standing out set a sour stone in his stomach.

He was sure this was going to be a fun adventure, but he was scared - not necessarily a bad thing. It was a good fear, the kind that challenged Therin. The kind that said "persevere and the rock wall will be all yours!!" He was often climbing the bookcases in the library (much to the chagrin of his father and the house keepers) and couldn't wait to climb something meant to be climbed!

--

"Nightshade"

The team. HIS team! TEAM! He had never worked as a team before, having been a solitary child, but he had high hopes for this. It would be fun, and, if nothing else, certainly an experience.

[orbiting]

Dear Yule;
First and foremost, I’d like to say that a whole day has passed; and I’ve not died yet!
I’m writing this at night, in my cabin, and I can’t stop smiling as I write!
I want to tell you everything but my hand is already so tired from rock climbing! I swear I jumped off 7 times. That’s a story for later.
You’ll be pleased to know my previous worries about coming here have been wiped away. While some of the Kamp Kounselors are… unique, I’m finding myself more and more intrinqued every passing minute.
Alright, so, since you can’t be here due to your serious allergy of literally every Kalon but me, I’ll tell you what happened today from start to finish: so you’ll be here with me in spirit!
Well, you already know this, but I’m a total nature freak! As soon as I stepped on campus I could see the little gnats in the air! So cute! And I got bitten by mosquitoes on every square inch on my body. I’m so glad those girls got a good dinner!
But I was also met with, like I said before, the intresting kamp leaders. They handed me a shirt with a pretty purple flower on it and told me where my cabin was - first activity of the day was canoeing, and I aced it! You’ve no idea how amazing I was - I made it tip, with my other nightshade kampers in it, 5 times! I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure that’s the goal. Everyone in the canoe was so jealous of my skill, they all glared at me and muttered under their breath. Remember Yule! Jealousy is a disease! I hope they feel better soon.
Anyways, then it was rock-climbing. You can guess: I aced that, too. The point is to get as high as possible and then jump off before everyone else. It doesn’t matter if you reach the top as long as your jump lasts the longest. My record? 3 seconds of freefalling! I knocked over a couple of other kalons trying to make it up, too, but you know what? That’s what I do! I knock out the competition! And guess what? This time, everyone was jealous too! One of them even said, “You’d think after falling so much she’d finally hit her head enough to knock her common sense back in.”
What a compliment!
Anyways, I’m writing this from the Postcard house. I think I’ll write to you every day, just because of all the stuff that happens!
Also, I caught a super cool yellow and orange spider! It’s huge! I still have it in my pocket - oh! You know what? I’ll send it in this envelope and mail it to you so you can see how big it is ! I’ll make sure there’s alot of air and dirt in the envelope for it to live. Can you make sure to keep it in a jar for me? It’ll be one of my souvenirs from camp!
I love you, babe! I’ll see you and my new spider friend in 3 weeks!
Aurelia (Live from KAMP!!)

[✧ airplane.]

Because I asked offsite, I'll give the answer to this question here so everyone knows!


I will allow one sentence only as a caption for art submissions. No words or speech bubbles allowed in the art. However the point of the art option is to answer with art, therefore those who must use captions will not be considered as highly. If you cannot convey what’s happening in your art without words, you should stick with the writing option!

[Areater]

kamp day one.

dear dads,

i'm not sure when you'll get this letter, but at the time of writing this, i just got dropped off a couple of hours ago. skittle's in a different cabin than me, so he'll probably send you his own letter if he hasn't already. he seems really excited to be here, but he's already missing you tons. i'm already getting a little homesick too...i'm not used to being away from home! i hope it wears off.
i haven't had time to really do much yet, but i'm about to go sign up for a night hike in the forbidden forest! i'm sure that'll be tons of fun! they have archery, too, and canoeing! it's nice to have the chance to be outdoors so much, but i'm starting to think maybe i'll need more sunscreen, and i'm guzzling my water quicker than i can refill it. hey, maybe skittle will finally come around to hiking! or maybe he'll spend the whole time in the mess hall and by the campfire...
try not to worry much about skittle, i'll keep an eye out for him! he's probably made friends already, you know how he is. and i know you won't be too worried about me - i'm already pretty much self sufficient, right? haha...miss you.

sincerely love, pepsi

[bakuraas.]

══════════════════════════[Darrius; First Day]══════════════════════════

The bus ride seemed so much more silent than it really was. Darrius' mind was reeling and he was clinging to his book like it was the only thing worthwhile. He had it opened to a page on creatures that could possibly live in the kampgrounds. He felt confident that someone he could be looking for was here. One of the many gods that he knew were out there among the dirt and grime of the world, waiting for the day where some kalon worth being a prophet would arrive. Darrius was confident that he would be that prophet, he just had to find them, to make them aware that he was here, he was able, and he could be the next prophet. They just had to find out that he was here and willing.

Darrius had left his home before anyone else could say goodbye, he was too excited to get started on his newest adventure in kamp, and possibly an adventure into the world of immortality as the prophet of a god. He had packed the essentials;
Snacks, specifically some granola bars and some packaged bags of sludgy gummy mix labeled 'purified sweets'.
Koolaid packets, all labeled with a smiling creature filled with koolaid, and labeled as 'Kalonaid'
And his large book that seemed to have an upside down pentagram on it. That was the most important.
He also packed changes of clothes so that his clothing would be as bright as his pelt for at least the majority of kamp, even though it wasn't exactly necessary. Darrius just liked being cleanly.

He partially hoped that some of the kalons back home could've been able to come with, but they only had enough money to send one of their kind, and since they all seemed to have their reasons to stay home except for him, it was up to Darrius to be the one sent to kamp to bring back positive memories and some trinkets. Darrius probably would have gone anyways, after all, any camp he went to felt like a second home for him! He had a feeling he could find someone who could respect him, or heck, even praise him for being so dedicated to the gods of olde around here. After all, campsites and religions go together like magnifying glasses and ants, horribly, but it was still fun to watch.

Rex and Austin had better things to do, Rex was going to be a parent soon, and Austin was going to be an uncle, both were hard at work preparing for the kits, while Rex's mate Zentangle was relaxing, not being able to do much in helping with the eventual arrival of the kits except for sewing a few small sweaters for them to have. They had asked Darrius to see if he could bring back any tiny dolls or some kind of badge for them to play with, and Darrius of course agreed to see what he could do, after all, he wanted the kids to grow up with the best life they could have, as it was one of the virtues of the blessed ones.

Jesse and Clyde were both recovering, Clyde had gotten a concussion from getting his head hit with a rock, and Jesse had a broken leg from falling into a rabbit hole when the two were adventuring together as friends. Hanahaki was taking care of them and making sure they recovered okay, so he was out of the picture too, though they did tell him to see if he could get something to help them out with their injuries if at all possible, or something to make sure they don't injure themselves again while adventuring. Jesse also had went out and said to make sure his son was okay, since he had been sent to camp by his other father. Darrius kept it in his mind, Dew always was the kind who would get in trouble without realizing it.

Kerry, David, Cammo, Faline, and Acaco were all on vacation to visit David's hometown in the UK, and all of them seemed to be asking Darrius for something completely different, and it all sort of meshed together into 'please bring us stuff, we want things that are shiny and cool looking'. He was pretty sure that was what the idea was, at least. The only one of their requests that he even slightly considered taking to heart was Faline's. Faline just wanted Darrius to make a journal about his experiences so that he could read it when the male got back. Faline was always sweet like that, and no doubt Darrius would write his experiences, just for him.

When the bus stopped, Darrius felt himself suddenly jerk forwards, pushing his face against the back of the seat that was in front of him. He made a noise that almost sounded like a mixture of a parrot and a dying animal. The bus jerked itself back to it's normal position, and suddenly Darrius was back in his seat, clinging to his book a bit tighter than before thanks to the shock of the bus tossing him about. He got up along with the rest of the kalons on the bus, following them in the line as they left the bus and started to look around. Yes, Yes. This was all so perfect. Something had to be here that was worthwhile, both for his friends [including not-so-friendly friends] and himself. He rushed to sign up, he wanted to get to the festivities as soon as possible.

The first day mostly consisted of Darrius staring at the forbidden forest after he got assigned his team. The purple camp shirt wasn't exactly welcomed, but he couldn't do anything about that unless he found some kind of bleach somewhere. God he wished he had some, but for now, he made the shirt into a sort of leg accessory, tying it around his calf and grinning at the thought that he looked cool. He also happened to be visiting the swamp, seeming to grab at dirt and see if he could hear or feel something away from his line of sight. He swore he could feel a presence somewhere around here, something that wasn't a kalon, something that needed to be treated with much more respect. Darrius' book told all about these kinds of creatures, and if 200 pages he read during the ride here meant anything, he could be their next deciple. If Darrius wasn't excited enough for kamp, the thought of seeing a monstrosity made it even more intense.

He found himself back around the others at one point, making note of all the things around the kamp that made him smile. It was surprisingly clean, and it made him extremely excited to think that yes, he could very well have an adventure on his own without constantly being followed by the thoughts of becoming dirty enough to hate his own scent. Then again, if he was that worried about it, he should have brought some kind of deodorant. The place was still amazingly cozy compared to others camps, however.
At one point, he had said "Golly Gee! This place is almost as homely as Jonestown!"

Sure, it did give him some strange looks from people, but he didn't mind too much, He was used to people looking at him odd. Some of the kits looked like they didn't get it, but a lot of the adult kalons seemed to look at him like he was crazy. Sure, he was a bit crazy, but that sure didn't mean he couldn't enjoy Kamp just like everyone else!

[Birdy]

Prompt One
[Starring: Aos, Kildare, and Aisling]

Without them, the world grows cold. There was a chill in the air, unusual for the midsummer season. Aos had grown familiar with the white mist escaping their lips as they breathed out- it was something that had followed them from birth. But tonight, it was tinted with an unusual frost that made Aos uneasy, as if the mist was no longer theirs, but instead belonged to the night. It was cold without them, Kildare and Aisling. It was unfamiliar. It was lonely.

Around them, Aos began to hear the excited chirps of nearby kampers. They knew there would be a variety of characters. There would be those who were born into nature, molded by the plants and formed with the earth. They would be silent, of course, preferring to talk to the trees. There would be those who had never ventured into the woods at all- those ones would probably take to their phones, the light from their screens competing with the light from the bonfires. They would probably be quiet, too, though they may bother the others for a picture or two. Then there would be those who were here to make friends- you know, the bubbly type. Aos feared that type.

"Surely it won't be that bad?" Aos could here Kildare's purr of assurance in their head. Kildare had prompted them to go. "You got the invitation, after all. You're clearly wanted." It was true, Aos had received an invitation. The letter was hardly a typical advertisement, but rather seemed to be more of a personal invitation. But from who?

"It's probably a stalker of some type," Aisling offered. "Maybe somebody who wants to get you to go out to the woods alone." Kildare puffed out his fur at Aisling's teasing, clearly not amused with his attempts to frighten Aos. Paying no mind to Kildare's irritability, Aisling continued, "I bet you'll show up and there's nobody there."

"He's only teasing," Kildare hissed, giving Aisling a sharp glare in warning. The three of them- Aos, Kildare, and Aisling- were all in a relationship, though they often bickered to no end. Nevertheless, Kildare and Aisling were Aos' world. And here, without them, Aos felt incomplete.

"I'll go," Aos had stated. "But only to find whoever it was that sent me the invitation."

At this, a genuine look of worry flashed in Aisling's hard eyes.

"You'll be safe, love?"

"I will."



But still, I must persist. As Aos took in their surroundings, they were hit with a sudden explosion of anxiety. Naturally introverted, Aos hadn't exactly loved the idea of venturing to a summer kamp. Now, as flashes of different colored fur bolted past them, it finally hit them that they weren't alone at all. On the contrary, there were over 100 other kampers, all scurrying around the kamp to get settled in.

Who would invite me here? Aos didn't recognize a single face in the crowd, though admittedly there were many. Still, it made no sense. Having very few friends, Aos couldn't imagine anyone having a reason to invite them to a summer kamp. Anyone who knew them knew that they wouldn't enjoy the fuss. Maybe it's one of the boys playing a prank on me. But would they really have let the prank go on so far? After all, both Kildare and Aisling were nervous to let Aos travel to the kamp on their own.

"Hi there, kamper!"

Aos nearly jumped in place as a strong, friendly voice singled them out in the crowd. Their face suddenly going flush, they turned to spot a solid gray kalon with a teal shine and eyes approaching them.

"My name's Pip! I'm one of the Kamp Kounselors!"

Aos gulped, not feeling particularly brave enough to respond. Pip, however, didn't seem to mind their silence. Instead, Pip beamed at Aos with a killer smile- one of those ear-to-ear grins that could melt you on the spot.

"Let me help you get settled in- have you been to the Roll Call?"

Suddenly very aware of the nearby bonfire's heat, Aos felt beads of sweat escaping their peachy white fur. Still refusing to speak, Aos shook their head slightly, as if too sudden or large of a movement would prompt Pip to attack them.

"Well, let's get you signed up!" Pip declared. Without giving Aos a moment to protest, Pip swung around and began to walk off. Not quite sure of what to do, Aos decided they should follow. As the stress of anxiety began to bubble in Aos' throat, they desperately thought back to Kildare and Aisling.

"Don't forget, Aos...we're only a call away."
"Yes, love. Just a call."

[Northstar.]

It's the first day of camp! || Brynna || 299 words

"Er... Am I at the wrong place? This is the Kamp... right?"

A peachy, fuzzy haired girl glances back warily at the Kamp sign. She pops her bubblegum once, twice, three times, ocean-side eyes darting around warily. A stampede of kits hustle past, excitedly squealing at high pitches she can barely understand. There's something sticky on her shoes now. Ew, is that slime? I hope it's slime. Everyone is... short. And by everyone... she means everyone. Heck, even a counselor is shorter than her. Wait, a counselor!

"Hey, I think I'm in the wrong place," Brynna murmurs, unheard as she's ushered into a group... Nightshade? Isn't that poisonous? A herd of midgets whisper sneakily to her left and she side-eyes them. Oh look, another Kamp Counselor. "Hey, dude! I think I'm at the wrong Kamp?? I'm too old to be here!" she says, ignored as the counselor continues on with a line of midgets following behind. "The heck is going on here?" she mumbles to herself, gum popping nervously. "Can I be an honorary counselor? I'm more than old enough," she nearly begs another passing kalon as a kits picks his nose and flicks it at her.

Suddenly a mini-kalon is in front of her, blocking her path to follow the red-clad counselor. It's face is red and splotchy, snot dribbling from it's nose.

"I-I want my mom!" it cries, hugging a very stiff and unwelcoming Brynna. There's snot on my shirt, there's snot on my shirt.

"Uh," her eyes dart nervously around, searching for a red shirted kalon, but none are around. "There... There..." she says awkwardly, patting the kits head like a puppy. I take it back, I take it back! I don't want to be an honorary counselor! I don't want to be here at all!

[stan.]

— I —

Eliza doesn't thinks of herself as considerate. Mature, maybe, but not considerate. Mature enough to understand that her father needed her to go to summer camp.

Eliza couldn't deny she wasn't excited.
Nature, as in out in the woods nature? With birds, bright stars at night and plants that could make a kalon sick if they were to eat them? A great place to be, in her opinion, and somewhere she rarely had the opportunity to go to. Her father almost never had time to take Eliza out between all the odd and half time jobs he took to try to keep them both afloat.

And that was the main reason she had to go to a camp. Job upon job didn't left a lot of time on her father's paws, and the poor man didn't think Eliza would be okay alone in their apartment, and the (soon) fifteen years old agreed with him.

However, the green kit rejected the idea at first, but, as you could figure out from her presence at Kamp, she changed her mind. Because no matter how tempting staying home all summer sounded, Eliza honestly did not wanted to stay there all by herself.

During the research for a good camp, Kamp just came up. The best option out of them all, Eliza decided.

———

Of course, second thoughts filled her mind the last days before leaving for Kamp. She would start wondering what could happen if something went wrong, what if she didn't had fun, or what if people there weren't nice.

Eliza remained lost in all those thoughts even while she watched the landscape slowly change through the car's windows. From grey city and scattered houses, to lush, deep green woods. The farthest they got from home, the more worried she grew.

The occasional movements of things in the trees did not ease her fears of something going wrong one bit.

———

Once they arrived, Eliza was surprised, to say the least, at the sheer amount of fellow kampers. She could not count them with her fingers, and they just kept arriving!

Before he left, her father told her to try to make some friends. With so many people, there had to be someone she would get along with greatly, he said.

She waved at him as his car drove off, and did not turn back to Kamp until he was gone.

"So many people," Eliza repeated to herself.

Making a few friends normally would sound dumb to her. Back at home, she would say she had none, and having friend wasn't her biggest wish.

But out here in Kamp?
It was something she felt truly excited about.

[dolly]

When your first memories are being lost in an endless forest, having to survive on your own as a child, you usually don’t want to return to that. Not Cora. She’s actually very excited at the idea she might get to sleep in a tree again. Summer, not so much, but she’s willing to give moral support when they ultimately tell Cora to Not Do That.

Cora has always been one of those ungodly annoying people who befriend everyone and turn everywhere into a home, so anxiety over new places is certainly not her thing. She basically radiates happiness and it's almost sickening. So, of course, she’s a little confused when Summer’s silently crying beside her on the bus there.

“Hey what’s up?”, Cora asks with a curious tilt of the head.

“There's just so many things that could go wrong and I know you’re going to cause more than half of them. I need to prepare.”, Summer sniffs, wiping her tears away. Summer is not wrong. She knows better than anyone Cora is chaotic good and will most definitely probably maybe accidently set something on fire by Kamps end.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”, Cora nods to herself, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

When they reached Kamp, Cora was still grinning like a madman and Summer had prepared for the upcoming mess Cora would no doubt make. She imagines it’ll probably be Greece all over again. A fun vacation they said. It’ll be nice they said. It was certainly not fun when she woke up to a call at 2am saying “your wife accidently set the toaster oven on fire after losing a game of Uno to one of our other guest then tried to bury said toaster in the garden. She, also, somehow stole a shovel and one of our flower bushes”. They ended up paying to replace the toaster, Cora was forced to return her shovel, and had to retrieve the bush from the car they rented.

Kamp grounds are admittedly nicer than the tree Cora lived in while in the woods, so it was already pretty great if she does say so herself. The kids would probably hate it very, very much however. They aren’t here though, so she’s going to look forward to rock climbing and fun Kamp stuff damnit, Nimue.

Naturally, the women were relieved to end up on the same team because god forbid it if Cora isn’t able to annoy Summer on a daily basis. With a schedule, it was less likely for Cora to get in too much trouble, but they both knew they shouldn’t count on anything. The coming weeks were no doubt going to be interesting.