We run, we jump, we swim and play...

[eyeofwildtiger]

Characters: Open to all!
Content: Camping time!
Location: Nature Deck
Time of Day: Morning, a couple of days after 90's Kid's funeral-thingie
Warnings: Depends on if the campers behave.


After last week, Kotetsu figured everyone needed some cheering up. Thankfully, the satellite had done most of the work for him. He had been given a councilor's apparel and, dang it, he was taking it to heart.

There was a campfire ablaze near the lake, with hot dogs and marshmallows at the ready nearby. A couple of tables were set up for arts and crafts, so the kids could make birdhouses or dreamcatchers. He'd even managed to set up a small archery field. (The tips were suction cups. No need for any more tragedies.)

Whenever anyone signed in, he greeted them with an enthusiastic "Welcome to Camp S.O.L.!", then directed them towards the activities. Finally, he pointed out where the boys and girls tents were located, with a warning that he better not find anyone in the wrong tent.

((OOC: Open posting! Tag about~ And continue the lyrics, if you know 'em!))

Comments

Re: Campfire!

[skysmirror]

As far as Xion was concerned, it certainly was easier to enjoy what was going on this week now that she knew everyone was okay. The uniform had taken some getting used to, but it wasn't bad and since this was the first time an alternative to her usual outfit that vaguely resembled something she was used to was welcome.

After spending some time at the archery area, she wandered over to the campfire and noticed Sora there. She offered him a smile and a wave in greeting, then focused on the snacks--they didn't look like anything she'd seen before. "What's all that?"

[optimistickey]

Sora had been focusing on putting his smores together when he noticed Xion coming over to join him. He waved back, smiling.

He looked down at the materials he'd gathered. Had she never had the chance to make this kind of snack before? Maybe not, considering. "It's stuff for smores! You roast a marshmallow over the fire, and then eat it with chocolate and graham crackers."

[skysmirror]

The only snack Xion had ever tried before coming here was sea-salt ice cream; that is, unless you counted what she knew from Sora's memories. When he explained the s'mores, the idea seemed familiar. Whatever the case, it looked good, if messy.

"So you make kind of a sandwich with everything?"

[optimistickey]

They were messy, but that was also part of the fun of them. He recalled instances of Donald getting marshmallow stuck in his feathers and squawking about it, and smiled a little at the memory.

"Yeah! I'll show you." He handed her some of the crackers, chocolate, and a marshmallow, and stuck his own marshmallow on the end of a metal stick. Sora held it over the fire, and turned back to her. "You let it get hot so that it gets all melty, then use it to make a sandwich with the chocolate in the middle and the crackers like bread."

[skysmirror]

Messiness being fun wasn't a concept Xion was used to, so she'd have to take his word for it. She did remember laughing with Axel and Roxas whenever one of them hadn't managed to catch all the drips from melting ice cream.

"Like this?" She stuck the marshmallow he'd given her on the end of another metal skewer she'd found. Balancing her graham crackers and chocolate on a paper plate on her lap, she held her marshmallow over the fire. It wasn't too long before it started to get brown, even a little black. She quickly shifted it away from the fire.

[optimistickey]

"Yup, just like that," Sora said with a nod. His own marshmallow finished toasting, so he carefully pulled it off the stick and squished it between his crackers and chocolate. He didn't like his getting too black, but sometimes you lost track of how quickly those things cooked.

Once his sandwich was ready, he took a big bite out of it, although immediately the stickiness of the marshmallow and chocolate made things more difficult for him. He didn't seem to care. "'S good!"

[skysmirror]

Xion didn't have any previous experience to let her know how well-done she liked her marshmallows, but she knew that black was usually not a good color on food. Burned or spoiled food was never any good. Hearing Sora's affirmation that she'd gotten the marshmallow cooked right was a relief.

She watched as he put his s'more together, then did likewise. When she bit into it, her eyes widened in surprise at the taste. It was good, even if the stickiness made it difficult to chew. "You're right."

[optimistickey]

Sora grinned back, happy to see Xion enjoying it. He always loved sharing stuff that made him happy, especially with people who never seemed to have tried it yet. "Toldja!"

He took another bite, not caring at all about the marshmallow that was getting on his hands. "So I guess you've never gotten to go camping before, huh?"

[skysmirror]

"Not like this, no." Xion shook her head. "Sometimes missions would take a long time, so we'd be away from the castle overnight, but that was a different kind of camping."

There hadn't been anything like s'mores, for one thing. Sora certainly was generous in sharing the things he liked--it would be nice to return the favor, but she'd tried so few things that she wasn't sure if she could show him anything new. Finally giving up on trying to clean all the traces of sticky marshmallow from her hands, she turned to him and asked, "So what else do you do when you're camping like this?"

[optimistickey]

That didn't sound like it was as much fun...at least, Xion didn't make it sound all that exciting. "I guess that would be more serious." Really, most of his camping experiences had been on a quest, too, when he was traveling with Donald and Goofy. But they still found the time to have fun when they camped out. And he'd also done it a little bit at home.

"Well, you usually stay up real late around the fire like this, and you tell stories! And during the day you just do stuff around the area...go swimming or boating or hiking, or just explore the woods, or play games with your friends."

[skysmirror]

All of Xion's camping experiences before this had been solo; if she'd been with her friends, they might have been more fun. As it was, they hadn't been that eventful or exciting. "Well, it was kind of part of our work."

She smiled at his description of camping activities. "All those sound like fun. I never really did learn to swim, and we really never had time to just enjoy looking around any of the worlds we visited."

Recon missions had been the closest they got to hiking/exploring she'd tried. If only they'd been able to see more of each place, or actually talk to the people there.

[optimistickey]

Sora never did like hearing about that kind of work...if only because much of it had been to the detriment of his friends, himself, and Xion, even if it was about battling Heartless. "Camping is a lot more fun with friends. Even when traveling...just to stop and see things, for a bit."

"I can teach you how to swim sometime, if you want," Sora offered. At least they had the pool here for that, and didn't have to worry about using the time machine. And he'd practically grown up learning to swim; it was part of living on an island, after all. "It's not that hard."

[skysmirror]

It wasn't something Xion particularly enjoyed talking about either. As much as she'd enjoyed spending time with her friends afterwards, missions had been difficult. For a while, she'd at least managed to be glad she'd finished them, but when she'd found out what she and Roxas were being used for...But that was starting to feel like an awfully long time ago. "You liked traveling with Goofy and Donald, right?"

"That would be good." She knew from Sora's memories that swimming wasn't that difficult once you got the hang of it. The pool would probably be an easier place to learn than the ocean, too.

[optimistickey]

Even though Sora had never seen or remembered anything Xion had done, battling the Organization felt like ages ago for him, too. "Yeah! It was a little rough at first, when we were trying to figure out how best to set everything up." Or rather, he and Donald had argued about whose job it was to set up the tent or go get firewood, while Goofy tried to mediate and often ended up doing a lot of it himself. "But once we did it often enough, it was routine and we just had fun while we were camping out."

Sora nodded. "All right. We'll figure out a time sometime, and I'll show you!"

[skysmirror]

Maybe someday Xion would share those memories with him--not all of them were bad. Though she wasn't sure Roxas would want Sora to know about the time he'd tried to face Heartless armed with only a stick. Granted, that was because he'd let Xion use his Keyblade. From what she knew of Sora's memories, it was easy to think of how the situation must have been when he first started traveling with Donald and Goofy. "I guess it's always a little awkward at the beginning."

"Thanks. Maybe Namine could learn, too?" She knew Namine couldn't swim, either, though she wasn't sure how much the other girl really wanted to learn.

[optimistickey]

Truth be told, Sora probably would have found Xion's story funny...it was funnier than the time he'd lost his Keyblade, anyway. "Yeah. But that way, getting through the tougher things together then helps make you friends for life!" Sora liked to think that was how it worked, in any case.

"Sure, I can teach her, too," Sora offered. It was almost a bit strange realizing that neither of the girls had ever even had an opportunity to go swimming.

[skysmirror]

Well, the only part of it that was funny was the part where Xion had felt the need to point out to Roxas that what he was proposing to defend himself with was a stick. The background wasn't as funny. Still, it had helped solidify her, Roxas, and Axel's friendship. "It really does. The others helped me through some rough times."

"Great, I'll ask if she wants to join us." She smiled. Even if Namine didn't want to, it was good to ask. It really did seem strange that they'd never learned, since Sora and Kairi were such good swimmers.