Fandom I K N O W A P L A C E \\ Camp Camp Roleplay // 1x1

[TarantulaHawk]

“Just in case she tries to eat it, I bet I can find non-toxic ingredients.” Abby had to laugh a little - kids eating things they weren’t supposed to was not completely unheard of, and Nikki was definitely the one that they had to watch out for. “It’s actually pretty fun. I used to do it with some of the kids that I knew in... well, kids I was friends with I was younger.

And then he mentioned how the kids liked her song that they sang a while back and she chuckled, sort of brushing it off as she continued to paint, “I dunno, it’s not really... teaching kids to sing and stuff is not easy... and I barely- ack!”

Her eyes closed abruptly as she was sort of freckled with little green droplets of paint. And when she opened them, she looked at her reflection. It was hard to tell that she had even gotten paint on her shirt, considering it was the same shade of green, but it was quite obvious on her cheeks, the pigment was splattered across them like little freckles.

She was quiet for a minute, still staring at her reflection. But then she looked up at David on the ladder. She drew her thumb back across the brush in her opposite hand and practically splattered him in paint; she had just dipped her brush a few minutes ago, after all.

“Now we’re even.” She gave him a small smile and giggled a little at his expression, unable to help it.

 

[Pilot-66]

David winced as he watched the paint sail through the air and splatter across his co-counselor, cutting her story short and sending her into a brooding silence as she inspected herself in the window. Oh, boy. This was exactly the sort of thing Gwen would have yelled at him for. Especially since the rest of this morning had already been something of a train wreck thanks to his antics.

“Whoopsie, heh…” The redhead flashed a toothy apologetic grin at the reflection in the glass, unnerved by her long silence. He braced himself, pulling the broom handle closer to his chest to avoid flinging any more paint her way and incurring more of her wrath. “Sorry, Abby I—hey!!”

David ducked his head, pulling one hand free of the broom to try and shield himself as Abby turned and flicked her own loaded brush back at him. Without even needing to look at himself he could tell he’d been too slow. He’d have double the freckles now, half of them green. When the shower of paint was finally over, he peaked back at her over the top of his forearm, one brow arched high in confusion.

“Now we’re even.”

He watched her expression lighten as she broke into a giggle. For a heartbeat, all he could do was stare, surprised by the lightness of her voice as she laughed at him. He’d heard her laugh before, of course, but that was usually just a single giggle or a snort at something the campers had done. This was different. It was lighter and warmer and infectious. David felt himself grinning widely back at her, and he knew he couldn’t have stopped himself from smiling even if he’d wanted to. And he definitely didn’t want to. Certainty not when she was still gloating at him and wearing green splatters on her cheeks.

A second later he broke into a laugh himself as warmth settled in his chest. “You stinker!” He tried to play along and feign annoyance at her ‘revenge’, but he couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice long enough to even try to sell it and his grin never broke.

He reached up, rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand to wipe some of the paint off of his face, though he could tell he’d only really succeeded in smearing it across his cheek bone. Oh well! They still had plenty of painting left to do. There was no point in worrying about it now.

“Okay, guess we should make sure some of this paint actually gets on the old Mess Hall.” David finally urged, reaching out to knock his knuckles against the cabin’s wooden wall. Still grinning, he pried his attention away from Abby and turned to dip his paint brush back into the paint to fill it again before strolling back up to the front of the building to keep working at the sign. It wouldn’t be long before he was finished with it now.

“I’m just so excited for the kiddos to get to learn and do something with you that you enjoyed when you were their age,” The redhead mused as he worked, carefully tracing the outside edges of the sign’s lettering and trying not to let his enthusiasm unsteady his hand as he tipped up onto his toes excitedly, “Were you always a crafts sort of kid?” He ventured curiously, intrigued by what little she’d started to share about herself earlier, “No wonder our own little artist took to you so quickly~!”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

His laugh was both expected and not - she had taken a wild guess when she had splattered him with the paint, unsure as to whether he would get upset or laugh about it, though she had an inkling that he would laugh about it. His laugh is so warm and happy, and it always was so nice to hear. It made her feel... good. It stopped her from worrying for a minute, and it let her breathe again. It made her breathe again.

“Alright, alright.” she chuckled, nodding and focusing her attention back on the mess hall.

She was very close to being done with the windowsill. And she was glad because that meant that things were actually getting done and as soon as she finished, they could move onto the next thing. It was sort of nice to feel like she was actually making progress in something, even if it wasn’t with herself - she tried her hardest to forget that she even needed to think about herself, sometimes. It was just easier that way.

She listened to David as he spoke again, carefully swiping the brush across the top of the windowsill. And she paused at his question for a moment, her smile fading ever so slightly.

Maybe it was time to be honest.

“I mean, kind of,” she shrugged, continuing to paint and not looking at anything other than the windowsill, “I only got to do that sort of thing at...” she hesitated before changing her train of thought quickly. “well, anyway, I only had the chance to do that stuff when I was little. By high school, I was dealing with a lot of stuff, so arts and crafts were the last things on my list.”

 

[Pilot-66]

“Oh,” David settled back down onto his heels as he listened to Abby muse about her youth. He glanced down from the sign to look over at her, watching for for a quiet moment as she focused intently on the task in front of her; as if the duty protected her from being too deeply involved with this conversation. He’d known from her application that she didn’t have a GED, but he still found himself surprised to hear her call herself a drop out. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of stuff she’d been dealing with as a teenager. Had her choice (if it had been one at all) to drop out just been teenage rebellion or an act of desperation? Was that the choice that’d lead to her empty list of contacts? Or…had it always been that way?

A mixture of sympathy and concern pricked at his heart, but he didn’t dare to ask her for more. Those memories were hers to share if she wanted to—and he’d be ready to listen if that moment ever came, or if she had more she wanted to say now—but the last thing he wanted to do was press her.

Instead, he grinned softly at her, the dried paint on his freckled cheek feeling strange while he was trying to be sincere, but he did his best to ignore it. “That’s fair,” the redhead spoke warmly, not an ounce of judgment in his tone as he looked back up to his work and dabbed more paint onto the sign with a smile, “I guess none of us were really that concerned with arts and crafts as teenagers. Those days were always just about being in over your head. Or, gosh, I sure hope they were! Otherwise I did it all wrong.” He mused with a tiny chuckle, trying to ease away some of the tension his question seemed to have woven into their conversation.

Though, it was far from a lie. He might have gotten out of his teens with a GED but only barely, and high school felt like a hazy daydream he’d had between long anxious work nights behind a wheel—always fighting the urge to run.

David shook the thoughts from his mind and turned his focus back to Abby. “I’m…sorry, though.” He spoke slowly, eyes trailing down to his own arm as he continued to hold the make-shift extended brush up, “If that’s an opportunity and a part of your life you wanted and didn’t get.”

He fell silent for a moment before letting a small smile crack back across his lips, “But…we can absolutely bring back some of the fun things you did get to enjoy!” In the back of his mind, he knew a few camp activities weren’t really going to solve anything or heal any old wounds, but by golly, what was the harm in trying to make sure she had a little fun on the job? Especially if it meant recapturing a bit of lost youth. Even if only for a little bit. He certainty enjoyed it as a bit of a get away every summer, after all. Maybe others could too. “We could even try a few of the things you might have missed~! I’m sure the campers would love it. Oh, they might even have suggestions for what’s the best thing to do for fun these days!” He reached up, starting to carefully fill in the last corner of the Mess Hall’s sign as he carried on with amusement and admittedly a touch of genuine concern hidden behind his grin, “Just…promise me you’ll wear a helmet if you get the itch to try one of Ered’s ramps.”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

“Yeah, they were.” She had to agree about the statement of teenage years.

Everyone was in over their head as a teen; either they thought they would go far and get famous or they would shoot under the bar and not do much, if anything at all. She was one of the ones who had big dreams and a stupidly big and naive heart, the kind who ruined her young years with love that couldn’t last and blind obedience.

“I was a little punk of a teen,” she had to laugh, shaking her head, “foul mouth and an ‘I don’t care’ kind of attitude. So in terms of missed opportunities, I missed way more important ones than just some crafts and games.”

She had missed plenty of things anyone should probably experience; graduating high school, prom and homecoming, making actual friends who would stick around, and actually doing something with her life. Those were just a few things she had missed out on completely. Her stomach churned a little when she realized all of those things at once, but she kept painting faithfully until the sill was entirely covered with the green paint.

“We don’t have to do that,” she smiled a little, shaking her head, “camp is for them.”

She didn’t want to take up their time because of things that she missed because of a faulty childhood. She wanted them to remember their summer are Camp Campbell being fun and exciting, and part of her was almost mad at being considered a charity case. But she was also thankful that David even cared. He was just such a genuine person that it kept her feeling content despite the other worries she had in her mind.

“But I will wear a helmet.” She laughed, putting her hand on her heart, “Scouts honor.”

And then she backed up a little and sighed contentedly. One of many windowsills was painted a fresh coat of green and she was ready to move onto the next one. She looked over at David after a moment and glanced at the sign.

“Looks good.”