Fantasy The Hollow

[Neptune_54]

When Ian was seven, his mother had picked him up with two of his friends after school for his first sleepover ever. Before they had gone home, she had taken the three boys to Walmart to pick up dinner, and although Ian had stayed glued to his mother’s hand the whole time, the other boys had promptly wondered off the moment they entered the store. When they’d finished shopping, they had sat on the germ-infested bench next to the glass doors, and waited for his friends to show up. After a few minutes, his mother had someone get on the PA system and try to call the boys to the front. Employees and concerned shoppers scoured the store, but no one could find the two children, and Ian caught wind of the word ‘kidnapped’ and had watched a good amount of crime shows with his mother, and knew that the odds of the two other boys ever coming back was unlikely. He told this to the police officer who arrived first, stating only that they were “dead, probably.”

Years later, his mother could look back on the incident and laugh, but Ian still didn’t find it funny. It had turned out that one of the other boys had gotten bored and used the payphone to call his mother to come get him. The police questioning, screaming of his mom and terrified cashiers was enough to traumatize him completely. From that moment on, he made a point of planning everything out to the T when spending time with friends. When asked why he was so meticulous and why anyone needed three different checklists, or the exact time of when everyone would be where, Ian asked them if they wanted to get lost in Walmart, and have a bill from the police for wasting their time? Did they want to be plastered on news stories across the county and publicly ridiculed for what was actually only a few days but, to his seven-year-old self felt like years? No one ever knew exactly what he was talking about, and his friends had come to just laugh and wave it off as one of those things Ian just did.

Now, sitting in front of the bonfire in his folding chair, a science fiction book snuggly in his lap and a can of cream soda in the cup holder, he could applaud himself for successfully planning out a camping trip he didn’t want to go on, but had because he knew his friends would probably get into way too much trouble without him. And, even with him there, they were still a little helpless, Avalon dropping two hotdogs into the bonfire before properly sticking one and finally getting it right. They had promptly gone through both bags of marshmallows which were supposed to have lasted them the whole week, but Ian had hidden four more in his bags. However, he wasn’t going to bring them out until the next night when his friends realized the severity of their marshmallow feasting. Okay, maybe he was a bit dramatic but if was all in their (and his) best interest. Everything he did was to make sure they were all safe and would return to their university in one piece. He was almost ready to turn in when Avalon emerged from her tent wearing a black, obnoxiously strappy one piece, a fluffy white and line green towel tucked under one arm.

“You’re not seriously going swimming?”

--

Don’t get her wrong, Avalon loves Ian. She loves all her friends, and had said on multiple occasions (slightly intoxicated and not) that she would go to war for them and believed that she would to her very core. But, sometimes, Ian made her so inexplicably angry that she wanted to strangle him. The past few days, she had been on her best behavior. She had put up with his endless checklists, him going through her bags to double check, his insistence on coming along on supplies trips, the two different first aid kits he had shoved into her minivan, and she had put up with it all. Not once had she screamed at him or told him to just leave her alone, because this had been her idea and why couldn’t he just let her handle it? Did he not trust her? Avalon was a perfectly reasonable, responsible adult. She had goldfish that stayed alive for years. That’s how responsible she was.

“You’re not seriously going swimming?”

Avalon liked to think, of course, that her sarcasm was carefully cultivated in a way that most people couldn’t read the snark under it. Of course, her friends had been around her for much too long to be mistaken. She put the hand that wasn’t holding the towel on her hip, and tactfully resisted the urge to remove her flip flop and whack Ian over the head with it.

“No, just thought I’d wear and bathing suit for the rest of the night. Will you help me tie the towel around my neck? It’s my cape.”

When Ian rolls his eyes, and snaps his book shut to rise, she knows she really should stop because his mother complex often leads to endless nagging and it gets annoying. She does love him. Really. Truly.

“Look,” She starts before he can dissuade them from the one thing she had been looking forward to years, “We’re all going swimming. You can stay here and keep bonfire from jumping forty yards into the forest and destroying the world. No one is going to make you get into the water. Okay?”

When he sits back down and holds his hands up like he knows better than to argue, she turns to everyone else, winks, and starts the twenty-or-so yard trek to the waiting dock, sure that everyone else will go change and meet her shortly.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

Sometimes Gavin wondered how he'd gotten here. Not something deep like what the meaning of his life was, or how life even came to be, but rather how he happened to land in this strange group of people. Let's count them.

First we had Ian, the micromanaging, list-making, nerdy mother of the group. Total control freak, pretty much the polar opposite of Gavin, and pretty ambitious in school to boot. He was probably here because Avalon was here, the two seemed to bond well enough and Avalon's free-spiritedness fought off Ian's controlling behaviour just enough for everyone else.

Then Avalon. In a way she could be considered bitchy, but that line of thinking would get you nowhere unless you're just out to condemn the world. Everyone, in one way or another, work towards something that they themselves profit from, and anything else would, honestly, be completely pointless for everyone involved. She was definitely kind, though, and being so likeable she could've hung out with any group of people.

Morrigan is expected to be bitchy, which totally lands people off on the wrong foot with her. She's beautiful, smart, liked... When you have all that and a resting bitch face, then you're instantly hard to approach. Gavin loved it though, she rocked the bitch face, and watching people judge her based off of nothing but her rumors and looks always had him laughing his ass off.

Vaughn, who definitely had the best name of everyone. Just listen to it, Vaughn. It rolls off the tongue like fucking butter, don't diss it. He was just another side of the the coin from Gavin, both of 'em had their own unspoken issues that they hid with different masks. Gavin with distasteful bitterness, Vaughn with halfway-flamboyant gayness and upbeat cheer.

They also included the biggest, hardest woman that Gavin had ever seen, and he wasn't even a woman. Tsela was a fucking wonderchild, but kinda buttfuck-insane. He wasn't sure how to read him, he was smart and had this indian shaman sorta vibe to him, but... yeah, no idea what to say. Cool dude, all in all, but hardly a social prodigy.

Finally, here's Gavin, a tattooed freak, and as he sits on his as with his legs crossed, chin leaned on one hand, other hand clutching a beer can and a cigarette between the middle and index finger, staring blankly into the bonfire before him, he couldn't help but to wonder what role he fit. The one down-to-earth dude, maybe?

They felt like a group of intelligent misfits, all of them. And he wouldn't want it any other way.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------​

His eyes wandered up to Avalon when she suggested swimming, and couldn't help but stiffle a laugh at her cape remark. She had a way of making Ian chill just a little bit more, and when he sat back down Gavin jumped to his feet and took the last drag of his cigarette. "Hell yeah boys, let's catch some colds and drown or some shit, I'm in!" He flicked the butt into the fire and tossed his empty beer can carelessly over his shoulder. "Wait for me!" He shouted after Avalon and broke into a sprint, throwing his tank top aside in the process.

He swiftly changed into his black bathing trunks and came running out of his tent down towards the docks with another case of beer in hand. It wasn't exactly big news to anyone that he enjoyed drinking and had little care for his own health, but he was hardly an alcoholic. He dropped it in the sand and took two bottles along with him to the docks, popping one open for himself and holding the other one out for Avalon. The moon hovered peacefully in the sky, and the tranquil water reflected it's light beautifully. It threw artistic shadows behind everyone, and illuminated the tattoos covering Gavin. The ones everyone knew he was very, very proud of.

"Hey Avalon, this was a sweetass idea, gotta admit. Haven't had this much fun since we accidentally set my uncle's vacation home on fire. On the other hand, I'm just a lil' with Ian on this one. Did we miss some shitty forecast or something? Because there have been a total of eight billion mosquitoes and two beavers spending their vacation here."

 

[Restful]

Morrigan Paisley Carter​

Morrigan always seemed to have her shit together, until you looked into her bedroom. She had plants growing on whatever shelf she could find that would get light, books were hardly ever on their shelves, and clothes were anywhere but hanging up in her closet. It was exactly like her erratic and crazy soul, and she always mentally had to thank Ian for keeping her and the rest of the group right on track or else she wouldn't know how to fit in. With Ian as their mama bear Morrigan had the ability to lean back and enjoy the ride, which is everything she wanted to do with her life.

Leaning back in a lawn chair, her bare feet hanging off of the arm on one side, Morrigan stares up at the stars. On her bare skin she traces out the different constellations, mouthing their names off every time she finishes tracing one. She almost misses the interaction between Ian and Avalon if it wasn't for Gavin jumping to his feet. "Oh I love swimming!" Morrigan mutters softly moving off her chair and to her feet. Even after all these years after moving from Montana to the city she still preferred her feet to be bare, and has learned how to deal with the pain.

Ducking into her tent it takes Morrigan a few minutes of trying to change in the small space, but soon enough she emerges in a two piece blue and pink flower bathing suit. With her blue towel in hand Morrigan skips away from her tent, back over to the fire and the others. "Come on, you want to make sure we don't die right?" Smiling at Ian she directs this to him, before leaning down planting a quick kiss on his cheek then skips off after the others. Almost slipping on the dock, Morrigan rights herself, wrapping one arm around Gavin's neck and the other around Avalon's pulling them in close to her.

With most people Morrigan hated anyone touching her in anyway. You trying to get past her in the hall, you better suck in your arms and any lose hair or else you will be getting her death glare. Her friends though? They all had to learn the hard way that when she actually cared for someone she forgets that they have bubbles and not everyone wants to be kissed and hugged all the time. "I'm so excited to spend spring break out here with you guys!" Closing her eyes she lets out a soft and happy little sigh. She didn't want to think about all the finals she would have to start prepping for, and then prep for her summer courses. "We should go on a morning hike tomorrow." She suggests trying to keep her voice chipper, even as her mind begins to stray to other things. "I think it is nice how quiet it is, I'm glad no one else is out here with us."

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

There was no activity Vaughn loved more than camping, and no people he loved more than those here (aside from family, of course), so the redheaded slacker was as happy as a clam to be sitting by the bonfire that night. He held an old but beautiful acoustic guitar, strumming the chords he knew went well together to form various anonymous tunes.

All of his friends were here, with him, where they belonged. It was a cozy feeling, despite all of the mosquitoes buzzing about like tiny little demons. Nothing mattered in that moment but his friends, his guitar and the fire. Someone suddenly called for a swim, making Vaughn glance up to see everyone else rushing to the docks. A grin spread across his cheery face, standing and setting the instrument on his camping chair to keep it from dirtying.

"Hell yeah!" He cried, running to his tent and changing quickly into a pair of swimming trunks that were black with red hibiscus flowers trailing down the right pant leg. When he emerged, he started to sprint for the dock when he caught sight of a pouty mama bear known as Ian sulking by the fire. Bare feet stopped their movements on the sand. "Ian? Do you want me to stay here with you?" He offered, his gentle hazel eyes concerned. Vaughn knew all about Ian's hydrophobia, and he didn't want him to be alone because of it.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Tsela stepped out of tent in a pair of black and blue tribal themed square cut swimming briefs, flipflops, solid blue beach towel in one hand, and matching bath towel in the other. His tight and toned body was already glistening with nonexistent oil. Only he could manage to make a perfectly respectable swimsuit look like naughty lingerie as he strode over behind Ian's chair and wrapped his arms around Ian's shoulders and leaning down over him. " Go on and play with the rest of the kids, hon. I'll take care of your mother before I come down and join you." He gave Vaughn a wink.

"Don't worry so, Ian. I just did the math, and the chances of any of us drowning in the lake with so many people nearby when we're all such good swimmers is less than 2%. A statistical improbability, and that's not even computing you being able to throw us life preservers tied to ropes, from the dock, and reeling us in." He kissed Ian on the cheek before standing back up and tossing his thigh length, silky black hair back over his shoulder. "Just make sure you loosen up enough to have fun or you'll have to answer to me." He tossed this over his shoulder as he strode towards the dock. Tsela knew that Ian couldn't help but worry, so he gave Ian an outlet to channel that worry; he'd probably wait til no one was looking, then go and check the state of the life preservers, but that was better than sitting in the lawn chair pulling his own hair out.


"Come on you. Don't think that I'll let you weasel you way out of this."With lightning fast movements, Tsela trapped Vaughn's arm in his own ans was dragging him relentlessly towards the docks. He waved at Avalon, Gavin, and Morrigan as the two approached. "Hope you weren't waiting too long for us." He called out.

 

[Neptune_54]

In years to come, much like the Walmart story, whatever mischief his friends managed to get into would be laughable and memorable experiences of Ian's young adulthood. However, as they had not yet gotten into the unavoidable trouble, it wasn’t yet a cute tale that he could fascinate his increasingly improbable grandchildren with someday. He could imagine himself, old and bent, bright eyed and red-cheeked children huddling around his rocking chair while he told them how he had lost his leg to a group of scheming college kids. Maybe he was being over-dramatic, they had only one gotten him into a life-threatening situation, and Avalon had promised that she’d never prank their way into another. Ever. Again. And, for the most part, he believed her.

But he certainly didn’t trust her.

He wrinkles his nose when Morrigan mentions him making sure they don’t all get themselves killed. Ian thinks that, perhaps this would be better for his health, but when she pecks his cheek, he softens out his expression and doesn’t say so, instead smiling at her and waving her off. She doesn’t seem to even notice him decline, already wrapping her arms around Gavin and Avalon, heading off toward the lake. He watches them recede as Avalon wraps her arm around Morrigan’s shoulder, and suddenly realizes what a mistake he’s made. He’s already wondering if he should go along and prevent the three of them from getting into trouble that very well could result in someone losing a leg, when Vaughn inquires if he should stay with him.

It’s obvious, of course, that he wants to go swim in the lake because after all, why else would they camp at a frigging lake. The offer itself though, is hard to say no to. Ian doesn’t exactly enjoy being alone, but he hardly gets a chance to explain that he has his book when Tsela starts reassuring him with numbers and facts, which Ian completely blows to the side because Tsela knows their friends and the trouble they can get into. He huffs the second cheek his kiss has received that evening and smiles, even though it’s a little strained.

“It’s Avalon, Gavin, Vaughn and Morrigan that we’re talking about. Multiply 2% by the number of times they’ve defied logic and then tell me how you feel… Don’t let anyone take their clothes off. Or drink water. God, don’t let them drink the water, there’s so much freaking bacteria,” He calls after them, finally relaxing. In order of faith, Ian has the most in Tsela when it comes to the wellbeing to the rest of the group. Vaughn, Morrigan and Gavin are all leagues and leagues behind him, with Avalon playing tiny toddler T-Ball. Tsela could, if he agreed with the whole ‘mother’ thing, hypothetically be the father of the group. That is, if Avalon didn’t have the tongue of a snake charmer, and if Ian weren’t the only one (mostly) immune to it. There have been times where even he has fallen victim to her plotting, becoming just as devious and scheming as the rest of them.

But he hopes that Tsela can manage.

--

Truth be told, Avalon hadn’t made the best impression on the group when she first met them. Sans her and Tsela, they had been studying in the courtyard her freshman year when she made a dramatic entrance. She had dropped two boxes of crudely made stage costumes in front of them, and handed them each of the then-strangers a pair of scissors, sat and started chopping at fabric and sewed on sequins without explanation. (The stage manager wouldn’t let the cast replace the shitty costumes, it was a long and complicated story and most of it had been permanently erased from her mind.) Now, she would have thought that they had seen through her immaturity and brilliant pranks, to the intelligent and responsible psychology major underneath. Some of them had, but others, namely two boys, had yet to realize that all her plans were too carefully executed to be dangerous. Maybe she wasn’t as thoughtful about the repercussions of some of her pranks, she had only ended up in jail once, for like, two hours. So.

“It’s like he doesn’t trust us or something. He’s so fussy,” She takes the beer with the hand she doesn’t have wrapped around Morrigan’s shoulder, winking at Gavin. “How hard, theoretically, do you think you’d have to hit Vaughn to make him scream loud enough to have Ian running down there? I mean, just to get him there with us, so that he’s not being a loser the whole time. Seriously, who comes to a lake and doesn’t fucking swim? He’s never mentioned all that ‘hydrophobic’ mess before and personally, I just think he’s being a total baby. I love him, but,” She takes another sip, and purses her lips. “He doesn’t even have to get in. He just wants a break from us.”

She glances over her shoulders and grins at Tsela, wriggling out from other Morrigan’s arm to lean against the dock railing. Avalon isn’t that much of a drinker, and the beer will probably end up abandoned and half empty. She wonders if Ian will fuss at her for that in the morning as well.

To someone who doesn’t know her, Avalon might seem like an absolutely horrible person, doubting her friend and being so determined to make him do what he doesn’t want to. But she tends to have this image of exactly how everything should go, and Ian missing out on swimming in the lake that they all went through so much trouble to get permits to camp next to? He’s not exactly ruining that image, but he certainly seems to be trying. She loves him, that’s why she does it.

“We should play a prank on him, actually,” She grins and avoids Tsela’s gaze for the moment because she knows that he’ll be the hardest to convince, probably. Or the easiest. Always one or the other, never in between, and it’s impossible to tell until she’s actually suggested the plan. “If no one objects? I promise it would cause anyone physical damage or limb-loss.”

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

Morrigan had crept up and jumped them in the midst of conversation, but the group was so tight that it was commonplace and the conversation continued without even skipping a beat. Instead, Gavin instinctively wrapped his arm around her waist. He raised to bottle to his lips as Morrigan took Avalon's place and replied to his "question".

"No offense Morrigan," He mumbled from behind the beer. "but spending my spring break on waking up early is pretty much the definition of shitty." Though his words sounded harsh, his friends had eventually learned that he never meant anything more or anything less than what he said. Perhaps the idea sounded shitty to him, but that didn't mean he didn't want anyone else to get up early to hike or even that he thought Morrigan was poor at picking activities. Honest to a fault perhaps, but Gavin wasn't the type who liked lying. From the hand planted on her hip he shook her jokingly though, like you would a child to scold it.

The bottle had already been taken from Gavin's other hand, and he leaned forward to look past Morrigan at Avalon when she started talking. "I could shove my foot up his ass sideways, that's bound to get a reaction." Frankly, Avalon sometimes sounded sinister in her plans, but that's not exactly something that swayed him. The more stupid or reckless and plan sounds, the more fun it's bound to be. On the other hand, he probably was not going to burst Vaughn's colon just to get Ian in the water. That'd just be rude.

"Fuck does it matter? I can't blame him for wanting a break, the way he is. We're going to hospitalize his poor soul some day." Gavin took another swig. As far as he knew, Ian didn't really like to see him drinking. There had been a period little over a year ago where he ended up with a pretty shitty girlfriend. Since he was a very anything-should-be-tried-once kind of guy, she ended up getting him caught on a couple of drugs that were just too heavy for comfort. He eventually broke up with her for being a total bitch and kicked the habits with the help of these very friends, but he has a feeling that Ian definitely lost a lot of trust in him since.

Once more he looked past the beer and to Avalon, she was suggested another one of her infamous pranks. "Now you're speaking my language. If there's anything I can get behind then it's the thorough maiming of a friend, what's the plan?"

 

[Restful]

Morrigan Paisley Carter​

Almost instantly Gavin shuts down her plan causing her to pout a little. Sticking her tongue out at him as he shakes her lightly, "you are so boring Gavin." She pushes him lightly, a little grin on her face. "I'll just go by myself." Looking over her shoulder about the time Tsela starts dragging Vaughn to the docks she calls out to Ian. "Did you hear that Ian? I'm going to go on a hike by myself in the morning! I promise I'll be safe." After all this time of them being friends you would think it would get old trying to get Ian's panties in a twist, but it never seemed to.

Dancing out of Gavin's arm Morrigan twirls over to the two other boys, now wrapping herself on Tsela's arm. "I'm surprised even you couldn't convince him." Morrigan shakes her head, once again looking in the direction of Ian. She just wished he would loosen up, let himself free for once. She knew how hard it could be to always worry, to always be uptight. She also knew how freeing it could be to let loose and be wild. From the first time Morrigan was aloud outside till she was ten years old she was always free, always wild. Once she was moved far away from her wilderness she had to figure out how to adapt. So she shut down. At that age Morrigan was already beyond what they were learning in fourth grade thanks to her mother, so excelling in school was the best thing for her to focus on, which really didn't make her any friends.

Letting go of Tsela arm she moves once again to the edge of the dock, she was like a hyper puppy and sometimes never stopped moving. Dropping down lightly to her knees Morrigan lays out on her stomach, her hand dipping into the water. It was nice and cool, but not too cold. "I don't know about pranking Ian. " Morrigan twirls her hand in the water, the ripples expanding out. "Maybe we should just have so much fun that he would be jealous and come down and join us." She smiles brightly, looking over her shoulder at her friends. Morrigan may be smart, but sometimes that didn't show.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

It had definitely surprised Vaughn when Tsela dragged him away from Ian, exclaiming loudly and protesting as the Native man dragged him all the way to the water. The redhead tripped and fell into the water the second Tsela let go of him, immediately jumping back up and squealing with how cold it was. "Ts-Tsela! What the hell!" He shivered, holding himself and scowling adorably while his soaked hair fell into his eyes.

Vaughn didn't really want to have a foot shoved up his ass as a prank on someone else, so he was forced to object to Avalon's prank. "Hey! There will not be a foot up my ass today, no thanks. If you want me to scream, all you gotta do is ask, sheesh!" He huffed. "Geez, everyone's picking on me today..." he pouted, wading through the water to hop up onto the dock to sit next to Morrigian. "I like Morrigan's plan, mostly because it doesn't involve me in pain." He said, grinning over his shoulder at the wild, platinum blond girl.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Summarily ignoring Morrigan's advance and Vaughn's indignant cries, Tsela breezed past Gavin and walked right up to Avalon until he filled her field of vision. He gave her his patented smile-not-smile before looking her directly in the eye and speaking. "There will be no pranks of any kind on this trip, young lady. Did you ever stop to think that the only reason Ian cannot loosen up is because he is afraid the moment he does you all will do something stupid and actually get yourselves seriously injured, in big trouble, or worse, killed? Even if there was nothing he could do, you know he would blame himself if anything happened to us. If you really wanted him to chill out, you'd go tell him, right now, that you have no intention of doing a single prank while we're on vacation. Otherwise, leave him be. It's taken a lot of work to get him this far, and you know that."

 

[Neptune_54]

About a year and a half ago, when they had all been a complete group for long enough to be stupidly invested in each other’s lives, the question of spring break had popped up. Their plans had all been declared lame (guess by who) and an operation followed to find something to do for spring break that didn’t seem as boring. The first break had been too close for them to get it all together, and this time, the lake had been the undisputable winner. Indigo Lake was more of a pond than a lake, with only two docks, one a floating platform in the middle anchored to the floor of the body of water. It was murky at best, muddy at worst, and with all the alligator and snake booklets that had been recommended to him when Ian started (after realizing that Avalon wasn’t giving up) planning for the trip. Looking now over the bonfire to the silhouettes of his friends, Vaughn and Tsela still heading for the dock, Ian actually wishes he could stop thinking and just join them. It’s not that he doesn’t want to have fun, or that he doesn’t want to drink the beer that Gavin offered earlier, or do anything a little risky sometimes. He physically can’t, his brain has been wired his who life to take care of himself, and once his mom. Now, he had four (and sometimes five, you never knew with Tsela) other college kids to take care of. He knew that, technically, they should all be responsible for themselves. But, after spending his whole life without a father, and a mother who he saw almost nothing of… Ian didn’t want anyone else to have to be responsible for themselves.

So, he settles back into his chair and listens to Morrigan call something out, only catching a few words of it. He turns a page in his book and drops his head to resume reading while he responds. “Like hell you will!”

Ian turns his full attention back to the book.

~*~

When Tsela doesn’t stop his rapid approach, Avalon holds her ground, putting on hand on her hip. Most people would be intimidated by his size and the body behavior that could easily be mistaken for aggression, but it’s easier to understand someone when you know them. And, Avalon is an expert at understanding people, even if Tsela is a bit hard to figure out. When she talks, she makes sure the whole group can hear her without taking a step away from him.

“But, Dad, Ian wants to have fun, and that’s the problem. He thinks he’s not allowed to. And it’s not so much a prank as it is a joke, with 0% death-or-injury risk involved. No foot up an ass, no wet wood for him to slip on,” She turns her attention to Tsela and softens a bit, dropping her hand off her hip and leaning forward like she’s going to hug him, but only grabs the beer can she abandoned from the railing behind him. Avalon taps it against his nose and grins, “And it’s only to get him down here. Seriously, I think we can all agree that he’d rather be with us than up there reading a book he’s read, what, ten times? And I promise that after this I’ll tell him that I’m done for the week. He can even have my notebooks.”

Since the seventh grade, Avalon had been keeping a track of all her pranks, big and small, and their success or failure. She took them everywhere with her, and knew that one day, those notebooks would be her undoing, if anyone like the police found them because some of that stuff did look like murder. There were three of them next to her pillow in the tent that she shared with Morrigan, one from middle school, one from high school, and the most recent and on-going from college. When her last boyfriend had found them, he had accused her of being insane, dumped her immediately, and ran off with their goldfish. Avalon had been okay with that, anyone who didn’t understand the notebooks didn’t understand her, and she shouldn’t have been wasting her time with them. That was the conclusion she had come to after a ridiculous number of ice-cream bowls, and crying throughout the entirety of the group’s weekly movie night. (She had blamed the crying on the movie, it was Ian’s turn to choose and the alien documentary was so convincing that if she had paid attention, she probably would have been thoroughly sure of their existence.)

“And, anyways, Gavin agrees with me. It’ll be fine, someone just screams like their hurt, and one of us runs to go get him. He comes down, sees that everyone is okay, relaxes but stays down here because he’s exhausted from all that worrying he does. It’ll be good for him.”

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

"What, all by yourself? Might be worth coming then." Gavin said, and stuck his tongue out at her as she twirled out from between himself and Avalon, over to Tsela and Vaughn instead. He extended his beer into Avalon's and bellowed "Kampaii!" before downing his own and heading up on the beach to fetch another. "Guys if I'm drinking alone again then I promise you I will make a scene so it'll be really awkward for you. Like the shit I read in your diaries, those of you that have 'em." The satisfying pop of the cap followed, and he walked down on the dock with the 5th or 6th bottle on his lips.

"But I'm kinda on the fence about messing with Ian, I'm sure he's already worried about us catching herpes from fire ants or something. If Tsela couldn't get him down, we probably can't and- Tsela, god damn it, what did I say about personal space." Though he knew nobody in the group cared about Tsela's behaviour, himself included, he had made a habit of the off-hand comments reminding him about the strange things that would creep other people out.

Wandering up alongside Morrigan and Vaughn, he promptly sat down on the edge of the dock and threw an arm around Vaughn. "Don't take it so personally bro, don't forget that we're currently devicing a plan for making Ian face his hydrophobia. Or that you douches made fun of the fact that I got lost yesterday, despite my absolutely flawless sense of direction." He made a jokingly arrogant tone on that last part, but even though he lacked the arrogance to say that sincerely he knew that he seldom ever lost track of where he was. Perhaps that's why he felt just a little unnerved by this vacation.

But, Gavin being Gavin, he learned to complete shut out that little voice in the back of his mind that told him something was off. Instead, he just gulped down another half of the bottle. Somewhat contradicting his earlier words, his grip around Vaugn suddenly tightened and he placed his drink on the dock. Using his superior weight and strength he started slipping into the water, pulling a no-doubt struggling Vaughn shortly behind him. He only stopped free-falling when they were already a bit under the surface, then kicked his way back up and hit the air laughing. Giving everyone else a good sprinkle of water he threw his hair around then started putting it back with a hair tie.

"On the other hand, Tsela, Avalon's making a good argument. I mean, we can't let him always hold himself back like that. He's gonna sit and wait out his entire life if it goes on." He swam backwards and looked up to the sky, then dove back and under the surface. A couple seconds passed before he showed up at the edge of the dock, leaned on his elbows. "Right, maybe I'm not the best guy to take advice from, but everyone would prosper if he just lived a little." His gaze wandered from Tsela to Avalon, then down to Morrigan who he'd given just a bit of a better wash than everyone else because of her proximity, then up to Avalon again. "So what's your idea? Just be nice, y'know."

 

[Restful]

Morrigan Paisley Carter​

Rolling over slightly to gaze at Gavin for a second completely emotionless Morrigan eventually breaks out in to a large grin. "I knew you would come around some time. I bet you I could beat you up the mountain." Rolling back over to her stomach Morrigan plays with the water a little more, loving to listen to the other bicker behind her. Each time someone else said something Morrigan's heart would sore more and more, she truly loved these people. No matter what each of their faults were Morrigan could say one-hundred percent she would die for any and all of them.


Feeling Vaughn's presence next to her, Morrigan rolls to her side, a stupid little goofy grin on her face. "I like my plan too, only because it's mine." Looking over her shoulder once again at Gavin she rolls her eyes at his remark playfully. "As if you could ever make a scene any of us would find awkward." The words were hardly out of her mouth before Gavin sat next to Vaughn and her. The edge of the dock was getting a little crowded, but that wasn't going to make Morrigan move. Hell she was sure they could fit Avalon, Tsela and Ian all on it too.


Morrigan didn't mind the water as Gaven covered her in it, in fact in made her want to jump in herself. What she didn't want to do though is go in without them. This was their trip and she wanted to experience things like this with them. "Alright, I'm in. What are we going to do to get Ian down here? We could always have the boys just carry him forcefully, but that wouldn't be much of a prank." Morrigan shrugs her shoulders not too sure, she wasn't the mastermind here, that would be Avalon.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

Aaaaaaand Gavin's arm was around him. This particular scenario didn't bode well for Vaughn; he could feel it in his bones. Usually, he and Gavin were great friends with enough contrast as well as similarities to keep them together, though occasionally Gavin enjoyed torturing the poor kid. Right now, however, it felt like the latter rather than the former. "I-I mean... I want Ian to have fun as much as all of you, but at the same time... What if we go overboard? Hydrophobia can be really serious and it would break my heart to see him cry." He said with sad doe eyes.

Then suddenly, his true fears came true, Gavin's arm tightening around his shoulders ominously. "G-Gavin...?" He stuttered, watching him put the bottle down. Sinking. At this point, Vaughn was starting to panic. Was he going to die of alcohol poisoning and drag the redhead with him? "Gavin?!" He cried, and they were underwater. He struggled and pushed against him, and after a moment, he was free. He swam to the surface and gasped, glaring sharply at the other boy. "Dude! I could'a died!" He hissed, coughing.

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Tsela looked Avalon up and down with a dangerously dark look in his eye. He was a bit mad because he wanted to protect what little sanity Ian had left, but he also felt himself tipping towards the other side. Tsela's mind was a bit like watching an amateur trapeze artist; most of the time he balanced along that thin line that mimicked sanity, but every so often, he tipped to far to either side and fell. Luckily, he had his family and friends to be his safety net. Tsela sighed as he felt himself tipping without falling. His eyes brightened as he shifted into a Cheshire Cat like grin.

"Alrighty, Avalon. Let's play your little game. Just be ready to hand over those notebooks. Also, if Ian ends up in tears, I'll hold you personally responsible for the fall out. You know how I feel about taking responsibility for your actions. Remember the Christmas party with Leom McBright?" Tsela laughed outright before springing from the dock and swan diving flawlessly into the lake leaving barely a ripple.

"Come on then. Didn't we come here to swim and have fun? The water feels amazing." He said once he resurfaced crooking a finger enticingly. The grin on his face, and the way his hair floated in the water, made him look like a deceptively murderous naiad. It was classic Tsela to look irresistible and dangerous all at once. "Come on now. Don't leave me all alone. Gavin, Morrigan, Vaughn? Don't you wanna play?" He moaned out each name breathly. To further compound the issue, he began humming seductively which carried far because it was passing through water, which was a better conductor of sound than air, as was his intention.

 

[Neptune_54]

The sounds of splashing and shouts of joy carried up from the bank, pulling Ian from his chair. He took two steps towards the lake before remembering that his book was still in his hand, and there was no way he was taking his signed addition of The Windup Girl anywhere near his destruction-prone friends plus a body of water. He returns in to the bigger tent that he shares with the other three boys, grabbing a small key chain-sized flashlight, with a bright red sticker on the side declaring it WATER PROOF. He slips it into his shorts pocket, and picks up a bottle of water from the cooler on the way out. Ian does this all robotically, because he knows that if he starts to think about what he’s doing, he’ll decide not to. Just acknowledging that makes him pivot ninety degrees when he’s halfway to the docks, instead making a B-Line for the public restrooms nestled on the hill that rises a bit away from the campsite the group set up at. It’s a small, squat brick building with one side for Ladies, the other for Men, both lit equally as dimly inside.

There are two shower stalls, with mold covering both drains, creeping slowly towards the wall. The shower head on the left one is still slowly dripping every handful of seconds, and Ian tries to turn it off, but can’t manage to move the dial anymore to the right. He sighs and resigns himself to witnessing the water be wasted, because he didn’t come in here to use the bathroom, but rather to calm his nerves. Ian realizes that he wants something to go wrong, setting the bottle of water on the edge of the sink while he reevaluates his life choices. Ian knows that he has a problem. He’s too controlling, too bossy, and he doesn’t understand how his friends deal with his constant nagging, how they haven’t all kicked him to the curve yet. He wants to feel needed, to feel like without him the someone wouldn’t have made it this far in life. Of course, logically, he knows that they’re all adults who hadn’t even known Ian until they somehow wound up forming an odd study group, Avalon entering their life by chance, and Tsela by what some might consider stalking on Ian’s part. He knows that he’s just being dramatic and that his mood swings have got to chill.

Either way, he decides that it’s best that he leaves the lake to his friends, returning to the bonfire to steal a few smores while he waits for them to get bored.

~*~

Two things that Avalon has always been certain of: A.) The longer her hair, the closer she is to playing Rapunzel in the upcoming live-action movie. (It hadn’t been announced, but she could feel it.) And, B.), If she tried hard enough, she could convince anyone to do anything. Her father once said she could have sold house insurance to the homeless, and that she had a future in politics or, maybe law. Avalon had, of course, disappointed him by entering college with an undecided major, and then completely ruining all his hopes for her when she began pursuing psychology. As she watched Tsela and the others resign themselves to the dark side, a grin formed on her lips as she once again worked her magic. She dived in while Tsela sung, splashing them all with a good amount of water.

“Vaughn, he’ll be fine. He knows how to swim, after all.”

She splashes him, and then crawls back up onto the dock, beckoning them closer. Avalon doesn’t regret handing over her notebooks in return for being allowed to pull a fast one over on Ian, she knows that this is important in the long run. The chance to teach him to have fun is something she just can’t give up. So, Avalon taps her finger against her chin while she pretends to consider a plan. “Okay. So, since he’s always assuming we’re going to get ourselves hurt, let’s work with that,” She pauses like she hadn’t already thought this whole thing out, pointing at Gavin. “Ian won’t believe it if it’s me, and he’ll only get mad at Tsela if he leaves us to our own devices, even if it’s just for a few seconds. Morrigan, no offense, but Ian probably won’t believe you either. So, Gavin… In a few minutes, after you all join me back on our lovely dock, Vaughn’s gonna scream. You don’t have to hit him or anything, I have faith in his acting abilities. But, timing is important here. You have to be quick, but not so fast that Ian thinks we’re up to something. Anyways. You run up there, because he’ll probably think we’re just goofing around. Make sure you stay on the other side of the fire so that he can’t see your facial expression. Damn, I wish I could do it, I can cry on command... But, he knows I can,” She sighs, reaching for the beer that she once again abandoned in favor of the water.

“So, you run and go get him. Talk as fast as you can, make sure you sound absolutely hysterical, make sure he’s freaking out, too, because that’s vital. Tell him that Vaughn stepped on a nail, and we need him immediately. Don’t let him go get his phone, or anything else. Improvise if you have to, but get him down here, and then…”

“Tsela, push him in,” She finishes, rocking back on her heels. “He’ll be mad, but I’ll take the blame. No one gets hurt, and he knocks the whole ‘no-fun-allowed’ thing off so that the rest of the week isn’t miserable. And, I promise… I won’t do anything else the rest of the week. Nothing at all, not even anything small.”

She draws a cross over her heart and tilts her head endearingly at each of her friends. “I promise.”

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

"I could start crying, now that'd be really fuckin' awkward. For me, at least." Gavin retorted to Morrigan's statement, then hoisted himself up out of the water until he held his balance entirely on the palms of his hands. Water poured onto the docks from him, then he pushed off into the water again. "And come on, you wanna bet on that? Because if I make it up the mountain first then you owe me a kiss." Gavin laughed, and then did another backwards dive into the water just to appear next to Vaughn this time. "Don't worry about it, I swim just fine and I'd never let you get hurt." The smile he gave Vaughn was less mocking this time around, more friendly. As much as he liked to tease people, and as much as Vaughn was an easy target, he wanted to make sure that these people knew that he cared a lot more for them than his own insincere pranks and plays.

Gavin spun in the water and put his elbows against the edge of the dock, so that he was in-between Morrigan and Vaughn. A giggle escaped him when Tsela named Leom, but he quickly stiffled it. They uh, they didn't talk about that anymore. That was right before he felt the docks behind him shift in weight, and witnessed a Tsela floating through the air and landing elegantly in the water. Completely emotionlessly at first, Gavin leaned his face onto his hand. Then he started chuckling uncontrollably.

See, Tsela was such a special case. He looked like a big bulky indian, not exactly handsome or pretty, but he was no doubt the exact type some women looked for. And uh, that was completely irrelevant since the man was about as straight as a fork in the road. But you know, this bigass forester type of guy, and then he moves like a ballerina and sings with the voice of a fucking soprano, not mention has this long glorious god damn hair. It was completely absurd to Gavin. It's like seeing a dog meow. Or a bear tweet. Or maybe a rhino squeak. How are you supposed to react? Gavin had just taken to laughing it off every time.

That is, until Avalon revealed her plan. In preparation Gavin got up on the dock, grabbed his beer, and leaned against the railing. Taking a sip, he said "You know, not to be a dick, but I ain't you Avalon. So let's say he got a nail stuck in his foot right? Do you think I'd be hysterical? Hell no, man. Worst case scenario I could probably get a helicopter up here and he'd end up being fine in a week or so. It'd suck right, but no reason to act out because of it. Ian would see through that shit, he's smart. I'm thinking I just go up there and..." His words trailed off when he spotted Ian heading for the restrooms. "Dude those restrooms are gross..." He remarked under his breath, then continued "... I just go up there and tell him that Vaughn got caught on a nail or someshit, we can't move him, we're going to need his help to get him loose without tearing skin and giving him a proper injury. How about that?"

Believe it or not, but every so often Gavin's parents would give a half-hearted attempt at talking to him. All he ever did on these occasions were lying, lying, and then maybe a little lying. At this point, he knew both how to make bullshit sound authentic and how to make it relevant. Ian would probably just ask him why they didn't Vaughn with them up to the campfire then. "Of course, that means you gotta pretend you're stuck on a nail, and the rest of you are going to have to pretend to be helping. But I mean, it's not like you guys don't have experience in lying from all the years we've spent together."

 

[Restful]

Morrigan Paisley Carter​

Chuckling softly, Morrigan rolls her eyes. "I highly doubt you would cry Gavin." She pushes him slightly with her hand while he is just hanging there next to her. At his next comment a soft blush rises to her cheeks, grateful that the night hides it. "What do I get if I win? It has to be something good, because you know I will win." She grins at him as he pushes away from the dock again.


Closing her eyes Morrigan sways her head side to side softly as Tsela hums to them all, trying to entice them. It doesn't take much longer for Morrigan to join her friends in the water. Moving to a crouching position her eyes scan the space around her, making sure none of her friends were going to get hurt by her. Taking a deep breath Morrigan launches herself off the dock, frog style before diving into the water. She looked ridiculous but she didn't care, these were her friends and she didn't need to impress them. Kicking her strong legs behind her Morrigan tries to swim as far as she can to the bottom, all the way until her lungs are burning and bubbles are escaping her nose. Flipping around under water she kicks herself back to the surface, it takes her a few moments, the girl really running out of breath at this point in time. When a brush of fear caresses her heart her head finally breaches the surface, causing her to look slightly like a mermaid as she gasps in a lungful of air. Water drips down her face, hair braid laying loosely on her head.


Being beckoned by Avalon back to the dock, Morrigan swims over to them, still trying to catch her breath. Bringing herself next to Avalon, Morrigan leans her head on the hard wood surface of the dock, watching her friend talk. She didn't take it personal when Avalon mentioned that Ian probably wouldn't believe her, it was true Morrigan wasn't that great of a liar. She never really had a reason to lie. Her mother was a very understanding woman, her dad was hardly around, and her brother didn't exactly care. So unlike other kids her age Morrigan was a very truthful person, sometimes too truthful and without realizing it she could hurt others.


"I think Gavin's right. Ian knows us too well to fall for a small prank like that." Morrigan muses softly, tapping her fingers lightly against the dock unable to get Tsela's song out of her head. It wasn't that she wanted to pull a bigger prank over on Ian, but they had to think of something none of them would be able to see through.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

Vaughn watched as the attractive native man dove into the water flawlessly and sang to them, blushing lightly and leaning on the dock to listen. He'd always liked Tsela's voice, and he had to admit, he was very pretty, so he couldn't help but admire him as he sang.

The chipper college student smiled at his friends, feeling a little worried for Ian, but at the same time, he cared about him enough to want to help him let his hair down and have fun. Besides, he'd always wanted to see Ian in a bathing suit, soaking wet.

As he thought about that mental image, he came up with an idea. "Well, since he wouldn't believe anyone else being hysterical... Why doesn't someone else scream while I go and get him all worked up? He'd believe me if I freaked out. I freak out all the time." He chuckled softly. "I mean, I've never cried on cue before, but I've never tried to, either."

 

[Prrrgadilly]

Suddenly growing bored with his song, Tsela ended his singing with a nice arpeggio as he swam back to the dock. He brushed his hair back over his shoulder before lifting himself easily out of the water. As he sat down on the end of the dock and turned to face the rest of the group, Tsela sat Indian style and carefully collected his ridiculously long hair over his left shoulder and let it coil in his lap. He wanted to avoid any potentially unfortunate snags on the edge of the dock or in crevices if he had to stand up quickly. Of course, long since used to his thigh length silken tresses, Tsela did all this subconsciously. He wrung out his hair as he prepared his response.

"I hope you guys come up with something good. I refuse to be part of the planning process though I like Vaughn's idea the best. If anybody should scream, it should be Morrigan. She's truthful to a fault, so Ian'd believe she actually needs assistance." Completely ignoring his statement about not being apart of the planning process, he added his two cents. At this point, everyone was used to his contradictory nature when he switched trains from pseudo-sanity to either of his crazy states and vice-versa. "I would do the scream, but you all know that I never get hysterical for anything, at least not while I'm still on the tightrope." He said offhandedly knowing they'd get his reference to the way he'd described his mental state to his most trusted friends ans family. "I guess this wouldn't be a vacation without one good prank, to set it off." Smiled up at the night sky as the clouds blew away, allowing the full moon to shine down on them. Tsela was practically glowing in the moonlight.

As he looked up at the moon, a blue moon to boot, he frowned. "There's a circle around the moon; means trouble. Good thing this is gonna be the only prank this week." He stopped looking at the moon long enough to give Avalon the look, then gazed back up at the stars. "Beauty surrounds this trouble though. It's more of a challenge to overcome than an insurmountable obstruction. I see adventure in the stars." His voice gained a distant quality as he spoke. In his eyes, equations and complex diagrams started filling up the spaces in between the stars. Tsela fell silent as he felt himself being pulled into the equations, and lost among the diagrams; dangerously lost.

 

[Neptune_54]

He honestly, to God, hated chocolate. Unless it was a milkshake or a s’more, chocolate was just gross to him. When his teachers used to hand it out to good kids, Ian had never understood why it was considered a reward. He, the ever-well-behaved child, always politely declined the miniature Hersey’s bar. It might have been due to the fact that his mother hadn’t let him have any as a child, but Ian had long since preferred healthier treats, like apples and oranges. Okay, maybe his friends had a point when they said he was like a middle-aged suburban mom. Either way, as he finished off a s’more, he guiltily grabbed a bright green apple (sour ones were his favorite) from the ice chest, cursing himself for leaving the water bottle in the bathroom. He didn’t feel like trekking back down to retrieve it.

Ian might have been mistaken, but at one point he thought he’d heard Tsela singing. Either way, he was glad that the others seemed to be behaving themselves. There had been no loud arguing, no one screaming and nothing that sounded like attempted murder, not yet, anyways. He scrunched his nose up and took a bit of the apple, waiting. The smoke from the fire was making his eyes water, and he debated putting it out, but they’d probably want to dry off next to it. He hopes that even though they’re the only ones at the lake, no one decides to strip to speed up the process. He truly never knew with his group of misfits and oddballs.

~*~

“See, this is why we’re all friends. You’re all getting almost as good as me,” She grins after everyone is done offering their commentary. Normally, Avalon would have jumped straight into something like this. After all, the idea was for Ian not to think, but just to do, and she hadn’t put much planning into it. “But, he’s more likely to come running if there’s blood involved. You’re right, though. It should be Morrigan who screams. If not a nail, maybe a snake? Wasn’t he reading a guide book about snakes? God, he’s such a girl. He collects bugs and he’s scared of snakes.”

Avalon leans her cheek against Gavin’s calf, frowning at them. She knows that Tsela is going to make her stick to her word, and that this will be her only prank all week. Therefore, it has to be a bit better than just some fuss. Ian is tightly wired tonight, so it shouldn’t take much to get him to snap, but listening to them all shoot holes in her not-so-carefully thought out mini-prank, she knows that expect better from her.

When she was a little, friendless and too-chubby elementary kid, Avalon had played a game with herself when she pretended to become small enough to crawl inside people’s minds. (Logic be damned, because most of the time it was her own mind she was exploring.) She would wonder around, searching for something useful, or sometimes straight out hunting for it. There were imaginary drawers to be opened, files to be flipped through, pantries to be shuffled around. Even now, after overcoming all her awkwardness that came with being a weird child, she still imagined herself actively looking through her brain when she needed to think of something. She opened her eyes (when had she closed them) and stood up, walking about halfway down the dock, where part of the railing was snapped in two. With a little bit of wiggling, both ends came loose, leaving about a space of five feet where the top support rail was missing. Technically, since it was already broken and serving as a safety hazard, she doesn’t see how any harm could be done. She even sets the nails out of the way, taking the broken pieces of wood back up to her friends.

“Break these, hard and fast. We’ll say Morrigan fell through the dock and got stuck under it, have her hide in the water. Obviously, he’ll know that we’re dicking with him as soon as he gets close enough to see that there’s no hole. We’ll push him off that end,” She gestures to the left side of the wooden structure, where the dock goes out a few feet without any guard rails, made specially for people to dive off of, so that they wouldn’t break the wooden beams climbing over them. (Oops!)

“And that way, Morrigan is in the water, so that if he throws a hissy fit, she can save him. But I doubt he’ll throw a hissy fit. I promise, he’s not going to be a little bitch. He loves me, I’m brilliant.”

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

</Gavin Baudelaire/>​

"Wow, that was surprisingly insightful and a little sad." He admitted to Morrigan's first comment, then quickly whipped his head towards her at the second. He ought to have been prepared for this, because without skipping a beat he replied "Dinner, whatever you want, wherever you want. I'd even do it myself if you're feeling suicidal." A small smirk played on his lip as he looked at her, but it was far less malicious and full of trickery than it usually was. On the other hand, he didn't linger, but soon looked back to everyone plotting the prank.

Nobody opposed that Morrigan should be the screamer, and Gavin nodded in agreement. "Vaughn should totally go up there, I think Ian trusts me, but I act insensitively. Makes me seem insincere." Avalon came to lean on his chin, and when Gavin looked down at her Tsela unabashedly contradicted himself and joined the plotting. With all this involvement, the blame was slowly shifted from Avalon. It was relieving, at least to Gavin, because he didn't want Ian to hit the breaking point with her midway through their vacation.

Sometimes he wondered if it was ever going to happen. The big divide, the cold unyielding end. Call him a pessimist, but he couldn't see anything lasting forever. These people were the most integral part of his life, and he had them to thank for so many improvements. There just wasn't anything worth the time to care about before them, so he didn't do himself any favors. Sentimentality welled up in his chest to the beat of his memories, all the broken knuckles and bottles, promises to his own teary eyes in a mirror early in the AM, but waking up to his fighting spirit ebbing out into the modern apathy. Still though, caring like that wasn't his thing. It made him uncomfortable, and so he shut it out again.

"Of course." He said as he snapped back to reality, "Naturally, when our dear friend has fallen through the docks we go the long way to fetch our hydrophobic friend. You know, instead of the more than capable swimmers who are already on the dock." Gavin popped up on the railing again and looked at Avalon's hands, and the shitty wood in them. "Fuck me right, but I gotta say you're overthinking this. Just pick something we'd actually need his help with, and a reason he has to actually come to the water and not us to him. He likes bugs, tell him there's a rare one here. He knows first aid, say someone needs help. Gee I could just go up there and sling him over my shoulder probably, he's not very big."

 

[Restful]

Morrigan Paisley Carter ​

She liked the idea of dinner with Gavin, and the longer she thought of it the more she was determined to win. Morrigan loved food, and it always tasted better when someone else cooked it or bought it for her. It didn't take her till a little bit after this thought to realize that it would just be the two of them. She never really hung out with just one of her friends solo, other than Avalon. That was different though, in some way that she wasn't sure of.

Just her and Gavin, alone. It was like a date, though the only dates Morrigan had always ended with sex. That thought alone made Morrigan almost feel like throwing herself over the docks ledge and actually needing someone to rescue her, but she doesn't. It wasn't like it was an actual date, just her and Gavin having something to eat. No big deal. "Alright, if I win you make me dinner. And I will win." She finishes this with a wink at him, still playful even with her inner stress about the matter.

Too busy stressing about the possible dinner with Gavin, Morrigan practically misses the new plans everyone is making. Trying to recall what she heard, but didn't listen to was hard, but she eventually got it.

"Tsela and Vaughn are right. It should be Vaughn who goes and gets Ian." Still with her head laying on the dock, and her legs kicking beneath her to keep her afloat she begins to contemplate the holes Gavin shot into the new plan. Avalon was smart, the crack of wood would make Ian more likely to believe everything, but logically someone else would save her.

"I guess we could always say that I fell through the dock and smacked my head and we need Ian to come look at it since you guys don't want to move me in case something was wrong." Morrigan shrugs, once again she wasn't good at planning these things out. She tended to actually be pretty bad about it.

 

[InMyWorldTheSkyIsRed]

Vaughn sighed heavily and pulled himself out of the water, standing on the dock instead and dripping lake water all over the old wood. "No, that's not something Ian would be able to help with. He wouldn't know how to deal with head trauma so he'd call a paramedic. He does, however, know how to deal with snake poison after reading all those stupid pamphlets." He grinned.

"So here's how it'll go down. I tell him Morrigan fell into the water, hence the wood cracking, and disturbed a water snake that bit her. I tell him we don't know if it's venomous or not so he's even more panicky with uncertainty. Then I lure him back to the dock and someone else pushes him in once he's by the part of the railing that's broken." He explained, smirking triumphantly.

He really wanted to see Ian cut loose and have some fun, mostly because he loved him like family, but also because he was curious as hell. "How does that sound everyone?"

 

[Neptune_54]

She narrows her eyes, the hand not holding the wood on her hips. Brain-exploring Avalon slams a drawer shut as real-life Avalon comically sizes Gavin up. “Look,” She starts, turning to face the lake, “The whole hook in this is that Ian won’t think. He wants a reason to run down here, I can almost feel his eyes on us. He wants us to need him. All he needs is a push. Literally and figuratively. We’ve just got to give him a reason, so I think we’ll go with Vaughn’s idea. So, Morrigan, on the count of three, I’ll break the wood. Give in about half a minute, and then scream like something bit you. A snake, perhaps,” Avalon actually winks at her taking the wood in both hands, ready to break it over her knee.

“One,” She doesn’t see Ian heading towards the dock, already facing the lake.

“Two,” And, of course, she’s so excited that she doesn’t heard him approach, arms crossed over his chest with a deadly expression on his face.

Before she gets to three, he clears his throat. Startled, Avalon whips around, wood unbroken in her hand. She moves so fast that although the piece of wood narrowly misses Vaughn and Morrigan, it slams directly into Ian’s cheek, hand enough that the wood cracks. Or, maybe, that was his jaw. Hopefully the wood. All the blood drains from her face, and this might be hilarious if she hadn’t just clocked him with the railing. Avalon drops the wood and covers her mouth with her hands, mind spinning as to how she can pass the blame off to someone else because yeah, she’d take the heat for the prank, but this hadn’t been part of the operation. She watches as Ian takes a step back, putting space between him, so quickly that she doesn’t get a chance to tell him that there’s not anywhere for him to step- He falls, twisting as he does, off the clear side of the dock. The splash drenches Avalon and the rest of them, and she holds her breath, waiting for him to come up sputtering.

~*~

When the noise from the dock is suddenly nonexistent, Ian gets this feeling in his gut that they’re up to something, and he needs to stop them, because much like pets and young children… When his friends are quiet, it means they’re getting into trouble. He rises from his chair yet again with a sigh, promising himself that he won’t turn back this time. When he reaches the start of the dock, he listens as Gavin, Avalon, Vaughn and Morrigan all bicker, narrowing his eyes as he listens to their plans. Tsela seems to be zoned out, which, while disappointing, isn’t unusual. Ian regrets, now, not coming to supervise in the first place. He waits, hiding in the shadows while Avalon solidifies her plans.

When she starts counting, he makes his way up the dock, hoping that she doesn’t turn around. If there’s one thing that Ian has found to be truly priceless, it’s the face his friends make when they’ve been caught in the act. He makes his presence known to the others, pressing a finger over his lips to keep them silent, less they give him away to Avalon. Ian lets her count, bring the wood up like she’s going to make a show of breaking it.

“Uhm,” He starts, not letting her get to three. Before he can question what she’s up to, she spins on her heel, eyes owl-like. Her arm swings with her, and Ian doesn’t get a chance to process what’s happening when the wood slams into his jaw, pain radiating violently up into his skull. He’s so startled that he takes a step back, onto a dock that isn’t there. When had he gotten that close to the edge? Ian turns, trying to catch himself, but instead going face first into the dark lake, a gasp dragging bacteria-filled water into his nose and lungs.