Welcome!

[+December]

BEGINS 07/21.
Everyone is invited to attend. If this thread gets too big and chaotic, you can make adjacent threads; just make sure to include a link with your character's last post in this thread in case anyone else wants to join. :]

***

Everyone gathers around the large, blazing fire. While the counselors try their hardest to keep order, they seem to be good for only handing out more marshmellows to the eager (and not-so-eager) campers. After a short address by a staff member, the campers have been told:

1) Mingle with your fellow campers.

2) Eat marshmellows.

3) Don't get too close to the fire and no playing with the fire.

4) Do not leave the clearing without first speaking with a counselor and notifying them where you are going.

Now everyone has the opportunity to reunite with old friends and make some new buddies. Or enemies. Or whatever.

***

Cole clutched the stick in his hand, his knuckles white. His large eyes darted this way and that as he crept closer to the fire. A marshmellow balanced on the end of the stick and bobbed up and down as he walked carefully and purposefully.

Finally he stood at the edge of the campfire, and after a quick look over both of his shoulders to make sure that they weren't watching, he jabbed the marshmellow on the stick into the middle of the flames. He watched as the fire singed the marshmellow and browned the edges.

[Char]

Maytre sighed, poking her long stick into her marshmallow. So many times she'd done this before... so many times she'd left the campfire, frustrated, when her marshmallow blackened from being in the fire too long. She looked around her, noticing the energy of the Sunrise campers and the reluctance of the Twilights. Campfires had always been enjoyable for her - that is, when she had people to talk to. This year, she had very little friends at the camp. Most people she knew were either just acquaintances or had abandoned Maytre as a friend in previous years.

She pushed her way through a group of ecstatic 12-year-olds and stuck her marshmallow in the fire. After a few short seconds, she took it out, examining the far-from-being-browned ball of some sugary substance. Carefully, she poked it with her finger. It was still cold. Frustrated, she stuck it back into the flames. "I'm an embarrassment to the campfire universe," she muttered.

[+Sica]

Chadwick

Chadwick hesitantly stuck a marshmellow on his stick. He was afraid of the rumor going around about a first year Sunrise camper burning themselves doing this exact thing. He really didn't want to get burned, so he was hesitant about roasting marshmellows. The child carefully and slowly placed his stick into the fire. It was barely even in the fire, but he didn't want to get any closer. Why wasn't Brielle helping to make him feel any better about the rumors?

---

Tiffany

Tiffany grinned as she placed a marshmellow on her stick. She truly loved camping and everything to do with nature. She stuck her stick into the fire, letting it get good and black. She let it catch on fire for a second before blowing it out. Tiffany let the marshmellow cool off for a good minute or two before pulling it off with her teeth. That was when they were the best, in Tiffany's opinion; when they were good and burnt.

[esquecoco]

Julie

Julie took her marshmellow stick glumly and walked over to the fire. She shoved her marshmellow onto the stick, careful not to poke her hand. She tried to keep a straight face as she watched the fire but couldn't help but smile, this was her home. A warm glow and the flames gave her tingles. She stuck her marshmellow into the fire and watched the flames lick and devour [sp?] her marshmellow. She didn't care if it burnt into ashes, she loved the event it made and it gave her joy.. that's all that mattered right?

This year Julie was looking for friends, she had been alone last year but she was hoping she'd make friends first thing, at the camp fire.

Janet
This was Janet's first year and quite frankly she was kind of scared, especially when her brother told her about that sunrise camper who burned himself in the campfire. Janet clutched her stick anyways and wedged the marshmellow on one end. She rushed into the crowd of kids and sat down and looked around to make sure her counselors weren't looking. She shoved the marshmellow into her mouth and chewed it and let the goo fill up her cheeks. Those other kids were dumb, wasting the good taste of a marshmellow, letting it melt over the camp fire.

[Jia]

Estelle grinned as she poked her stick through the marshmallow. She had done this before only twice, both with her family during Spring vacation. Estelle knew she was horrible at toasting the marshmallow. She loved laughing at herself when she did it wrong, though. When on that occasion she did it correctly, Estelle loved eating the warm goodness. Estelle watched the underside of the marshmallow turn brown and rotated it.

Waiting, Estelle looked up and saw someone eat the marshmallow without even putting it over the fire. She recognized her as the other girl in her cabin and tilted her head curiously. Estelle glanced back at the marshmallow, seeing the side she was roasting a gold brown and rotated it again. She turned back toward the girl. "Aren't you supposed to put it over the fire before you eat it?" Estelle asked.

[esquecoco]

Janet

Janet quickly finished her marshmellow and with a huge gulp swallowed it and noticed a girl looking at her and replied to her, "Nah, why waste a good marshmellow when you could just eat it?" Janet looked around then chuckled at all of those kids burning their marshmellows, how foolish of them to think they could get the perfect marshmellow when the perfect marshmellow was already done before they out it on the stick.

Janet then studied the girl's face and her marshmellow, she soon noticed that it was the girl from her cabin, she hadn't learned he name yet so why not ask," Hi I'm Janet, Jane for short, what's your name?" she bit her lip nervously, would this be her first friend at camp, hopefully so, or would it be an enemy?

[Jenya]

Oh it’s campfire time! Keira had been looking forward to it since the first second she stepped into the camp site. It would be a good way to meet friends and of course, eat as many marshmallows as she could. A mischievous grin came up to her face while she was placing one of her marshmallows on the end of her stick slowly and then she put the other into her mouth. She smiled contently as she was gulping it down. So she did take a few more at a time, but that wasn’t a big problem, right? They had many packages of it and the aim of the campfire was to have fun. Back to the other marshmallow, lovely, and now she just needed to hold it over the fire and wait patiently. It was her first marshmallow in this year’s camp and she wanted to make it perfect. Keira didn’t want to burn it so she held her stick quite far from the fire, which made the marshmallow slower to get heated and turn to golden brown.

In the whole process, her mind was solely on the marshmallow that she pretty much ignored the other. Searching through the crowd, the girl tried to search some similar faces. She thought she recognised some, but after a whole year, Keira wasn’t that sure if those people were what she thought they were. Moreover, she didn’t have time to walk over to them in this important moment.

[Jia]

Estelle rotated her marshmallow for the last time. She turned back to Janet, and said, "Oh, I don't know." She smiled cheerfully. "We never get to roast marshmallows like this at home, so this is a rare treat." She took her marshmallow out of the fire and let it cool before talking to Janet again. "But I guess it's your opinion." Estelle bit into her marshmallow. It felt so nice and warm in her mouth, and that was Estelle's favorite part about roasting it. Back home, marshmallows were cold and... well, they were different. They weren't horrible, but Estelle liked them roasted better.

"Nice to meet you, Jane," said Estelle brightly. "I'm Estelle." She noticed Janet biting her lip, but didn't say anything about it. After all, what could she say about it? "You're in the same cabin as I am, aren't you?" she asked. Of course, Estelle already knew the answer, but it didn't hurt to be completely sure about it. Estelle felt a little reassured, talking to Janet. At least she was talking to someone - her friend, Estelle hoped. She was worried she'd have to keep her mouth shut all camp, and that was difficult, especially for Estelle.

[Pandex]

Campfires, one thing a camp absolutely needed. With a smile placed on her lips, Amethyst moved her way over towards the dancing flames. Both external and internal lights made her eyes sparkle, her gaze watching the eager sunrise campers as they made their way to the fire to cook their marshmellows. Her own memories of gathering around the campfire were fond, her counselors had been the kindest people she had ever met at the time.

Still smiling, she walked through the crowd of children, her own stick held out over her head so she wouldn't injure anyone. As soon as she made it to the edge of the crowd she started to scout out a place, her eyes catching sight of Cole. The guy looked terrified, not of the fire but of the crowd. Her brows wrinkled. After a moment, she started towards him, her pace slow so that he would see her coming and wouldn't surprise him. Once she was in hearing distance she spoke, trying to sound as nice as possible, "Hey there. I'm Amethyst." Her smile didn't falter as she spoke, "Can I join you?"

[esquecoco]

Janet

Janet was confused with all the questions. She knodded at them all because they were all right, she was right. "Nice to meet you... Estelle?" She gave a little chuckle. Hey, she had made a friend, well atleast she thought she had, she had to double check and make sure, "So we are friends right, or no?"

Janet thought it would be nice to make a friend today, she needed someone to pal around with, maybe Estelle could be it. Janet was planning on taking another marshmellow. She got up and said " Be right back." She dashed for the marshmellows before they were gone, she snatched up two huge, fluffy marshmellows and rushed back to her spot before it was taken by some odd, germy kid. She tossed Estelle a marshmellow and shurugged, maybe she would try a roasted marshmellow, maybe thats why she was here, was to do that.
"I'm going to try to roast marshmellow, you tell me when to turn it and take it out and stuff, if I burn it.. I blame you!" she said with a serious face, then let out a laugh.

Julie

Julie took her stick out of the fire and stared at the molten marshmellow covering her stick. She poked it and drew her finger back, it was hot. She gave it a second to cool and then ate the goo that was left of her old marshmellow. She sat and zoned out into the fire and made a story in her mind of it. The fire wa sa hunter and the log was prey. As the fire licked the logs it was devouring the prey, and the embers were spit from their tounges.

Julie was enchanted by the story until someone tossed more logs into the fire and made her mess up and lose her enchanting train of thought. Stupid kids, don't know how to enjoy a campfire. Maybe she would write about it when she got back to the cabin, ya that's what she would do. Where she couldn't be disturbed with her trusty book light and pencil and her luck pad of paper, handy for any stories she might need to write.

[vanity]

Dom didn't have a marshmallow. His had burnt up and then turned into a bubbly, black toxic-waste-looking mass and had melted and dripped into the fire. Now he was poking the ashes nearest him with the end of his stick, watching the sparks flare up whenever he disrupted a stick that was embedded deeper in the fire.

This was so boring. He could roast marshmallows on the fire at home. Which was much bigger than this fire, by the way, and had much more marble surrounding it, too. Also, if he was at home, he would be properly warm. Unlike here, where his back was freezing and his front was scorching. And then, when he was done, he'd be able to go back to his nice, warm, king-size bed, in his nice, warm private room. All he had to look forward to here - assuming anyone looked forward to anything here - was a pokey little bunk in a room he had to share with five other people! He really hoped the person in the bunk above him had proper bladder control.

The girls adjacent him were chattering inanely. Women were so stupid. Obviously thought they'd been sent here to make BFFs! rather than because their parents wanted to get rid of their irritating twittering. He stared at the fire and hoped this torture would be over soon.

---

Lauren wasn't sure about the campfire. She loved camp. It was great fun and everything. But there were some things that still worried her. Like how much pollution was released into the atmosphere as a result of their fires. And how many animals were killed to make those marshmallows everyone was enjoying. Even Lauren had been astonished about that when she'd first become vegetarian.

Her worries didn't stop her getting a spot nice and close, though. So long as the fire was there, Lauren was happy to benefit from the heat. She wasn't impressed when someone dumped a whole heap of logs on top with no thought for what they were doing.

"Hey!" she squealed, scooting back from the fire. "Be careful!"

[Jia]

"Of course," Estelle replied happily to Janet's question. She could see as much that she wanted a friend as much as she did. She watched Jane move over to the marshmallows, wondering what she had in mind. That was answered quickly enough. Estelle caught the marshmallow. Her reflexes weren't good, but her eye was quick. Estelle grinned as Janet held one in her own hand.

Estelle giggled, and her expression changed to a solemn one: "I swear that I shall take the blame for any burnt marshmallow in your hands." She smiled again, then stuck the marshmallow at the end of her stick. "It's not that hard. You just wait till the side that's facing the fire is brownish, then you turn it to another white side and do the same thing." Estelle made it sound easy, but she thought that her perfectly warm and toasty first marshmallow was a fluke. It was worth a shot.

[esquecoco]

Janet watched the bottom side of the marshmellow crisp up and become brown, but she held it just a little longer. Then as she saw a little bit of a black bubble onthe top of her marshmellow she quickly threw the stick into a turn and lost it in the fire, how tragic. "Gosh dangit! That's why I hate roasting marshmellows, I can never get it right!" Janer exclaimed and she tried to looke serious but couldn't help but release a evilish giggle. "Now, I will try again, observe." Janet sat and stared into the fire for a second or two, to draw Estelle in, and then she snatched up her marshmellow and stick and pulled the marshmellow off. She hung it above the fire and waited for it to turn even the slightist brown. Nothing.

"The stupid fire doesn't even reach my marshmellow." she mummbled under her breath. Janet Opened her mouth and tried to catch a spark, her dad was a fire tamer person, and she enjoyed trying a few tricks herself. Hanet let her hair hang just inches above the fire and then she sat back down next to Estelle. It seemed like her face was almost glowing with the joy of making a friend, and Janet's wanted to do that too.

[Noelle]

Holding a marshmellow out to the fire for the first time of camp was routine to Marisa by now - after all, this was her third time doing it. She would've liked to be able to say that she had the art of marshmellow toasting down to a science, that she knew just when to pull the fluff out of the fire so that it came out perfect. Unfortunately, her last marshmellow had crumbled into black dust, and this one was not far from goop. Better than the last, Marisa mused as she popped it into her mouth. It burned her tounge. "Ow." She did enjoy campfires. They provided her with entertainment. But burning your tongue on a disgusting marshmellow was not a particularly endearing experience. Marisa scowled at the fire, who was clearly the one to blame for her misery. Since the only two 'people' involved were her and the fire. And she wasn't going to put the blame on herself, was she?

Marisa hadn't given much thought as to where to sit, and found herself without any one she knew near her. Actually, the people sitting next to her weren't even 'next to her'. They were pretty far away. Well this was boring. Where was the party? The fun? Her friends? It was true that part of camp was to MAKE friends. And Marisa was usually very good at this. But the people kind of sort of next to her didn't look very friendly. So she remained by herself, searching about for someone she knew or someone who looked like they would be fun to talk to. There was no one in the immediate vicinity, but Marisa figured if she found someone she could always get up and move. Get up she did, glancing about. There had to be someone interesting in this mob.

[Jia]

Estelle

Giggling, Estelle said: "Be more patient. If you burn it, then ... well, you burn it." Like any other person, Estelle would get disappointed if she burned it, but she found making mistakes another reason to try again. Perfection is unattainable, but who could blame a girl for trying? She smiled encouragingly and watched as Janet tried again. Estelle hung her own marshmallow above the flames as well.

"Come on, don't be afraid to put it a bit nearer," Estelle encouraged. She quickly glanced back at her marshmallow and rotated it before it could burn, but she grimaced as Estelle saw flames on her marshmallow. She sighed. Estelle's eyes widened when she saw Janet try to do the fire-tamer thing and felt impressed. "That's cool, where did you learn to do that?"

Thomas

Thomas ran a hand through his red hair and bit the inside of his cheek. This is so boring, he thought tiredly. He did this all the time, and the only reason he didn't want to roast his marshmallow A.S.A.P. was because he knew he was horrible at roasting marshmallows. Thomas was not very patient, and roasting marshmallows required a lot of that.

So what if he was horrible at it? There was nothing else to do, Thomas figured as he stuck a marshmallow on the end of his stick. He jabbed it above the fire and watched it, bored. He rotated it a bit too quickly and didn't give the marshmallow time to roast. He ate a hardly-roasted marshmallow and felt satisfied. Thomas never liked half-burnt marshmallows anyway.