A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my year seven class, who never got to go on camp -_- We were not amoosed.
~Stitches – 11 years, 7 months~
So, tomorrow morning, Stitches leaves for camp in the Death City forest.
She's sharing a tent with Mina, which is reassuring. I gave her some insect spray, but I told her not to tell Stein because he doesn't let me use insect spray anymore.
It probably has something to do with that spider I killed with half a can of spray before Stitches was born.
Stein's worried about her going. I've told Stitches it's just because he loves her very much, and doesn't want to see her get hurt.
On the plus side, Stein and I have the whole laboratory to ourselves this weekend.
I'm not going to lie; I'm upset about Stitches going. But I'm also not going to lie about the fact that I'm extremely excited that Stein and I have a weekend to ourselves.
It's been a while.
…Did I just write that?
Marie x
"Come on, Stitches." Mina said. Stitches sighed as she ran towards Mina, her backpack weighing her down.
"When are we going to be at the campsite?" Stitches asked, trying to stay away from direct afternoon sunlight.
"We'll be there in a minute. What are you doing?" Mina asked, looking at Stitches who was currently hiding behind her.
"I don't want to get sunburnt." Stitches whispered. Mina sighed and pushed her friend in front of her.
"Come on, Stitches! Get out, enjoy life! The sun, the fresh air…" Mina began.
"The bugs, the snakes, the spiders, the airborne germs…" Stitches said. Mina crossed her arms.
"Stitches, look. We're here now. You'll be fine." Mina said. The girls stood in their class group while their teacher, Mr Carter, the weapons specialist, stood out the front of the group.
"Alright, class! In your pairs, I need you to set up your tents. You've got half an hour, go!" Mr Carter said.
Mr Carter scared most of the students at Stitches' grade school. He was a tall, well-built man, with light brown hair. He was only about thirty, but he was still rather intimidating. He always referred to everyone by their last names, which, for one, annoyed Stitches.
Thanks to him, everyone knew that she was the daughter of the strongest meister ever to graduate from Shibusen who may or may not be subject to bouts of madness from time to time.
Mina and Stitches walked over to a spot near a tree. Mina dumped the contents of the tent bag on the ground and stood before it, triumphantly.
"Well. That's a good start." Stitches mumbled, sarcastically. Mina poked her tongue out at Stitches.
"Are there any instructions?" Mina asked, looking through the pipes and cloth tent pieces for something.
"I'm not sure." Stitches asked, scratching her head.
"Well, let's try this." Mina said, picking up two poles and clicking them together. Stitches nodded. She picked up another set of poles and snapped them together.
Unfortunately, 15 minutes later, the girls were in a worse off position that they started with.
"Stitches… I think you need to ask Mr Carter for help." Mina said.
"Me? Why me?" Stitches asked.
"Because you're the most talented weapon in the class, and he's the weapons specialist. So go." Mina said, shoving Stitches in front of their teacher.
"Mina!" Stitches exclaimed. Mr Carter turned around to face Stitches.
"Stein. What do you want?" Mr Carter asked. Stitches gasped slightly.
"Wedon'tknowhowtoputupourtent." Stitches squeaked, pushing her glasses up over the bridge of her nose. Mr Carter sighed. Stitches recoiled in wait. Mr Carter simply ruffled her hair.
"You can just ask. Stein, you're eleven years old. I don't expect you to be able to put up a tent by yourself. Come on, I'll help you." Mr Carter said, turning Stitches around and walking over to the poles and canvas that was supposed to be a tent.
The girls eventually got the tent up, and after a fine meal of instant noodles, they got into their tent. They talked for a while, before Mina could keep her eyes open no longer. As Mina fell asleep, along with all of the students bar Stitches, the silver-haired weapon heard some chattering.
"… I'm fine, Clara, really. What about you? I've left you at home and you're due any day. How is my little daughter in there, anyway? Yeah? I know. I miss you too." the voice said. Stitches gently unzipped the tent and peeked through the gap. Mr Carter was sitting on one of the log benches, his mobile phone pressed to his ear.
"Okay." he said, before pausing. A wide smile than broke out across his face, an expression Stitches had never seen on her teacher's face before.
"Hey there, buddy. Shouldn't you be in bed?" Mr Carter asked. He then laughed in response to the answer, causing Stitches to gasp. She froze when she saw Mr Carter acknowledge her presence.
"Alright, bud. I'll see you when I get back, okay? Give the phone back to Mama." Mr Carter said. Stitches found she could not look away, Mr Carter continuing to glance back at her every so often.
"Alright, Clara, I've got to go. I love you too. And baby. Alright. Bye, babe." he said, closing the phone and walking over to Stitches' tent. He knelt down, his eyebrow raised.
"Stein?" he asked. Stitches' eyes widened.
"Uh, I… I didn't mean to listen to your conversation, sir, I just… I've never been away from my family before, and I-" Stitches was cut off when Mr Carter smiled.
"Neither have I, Stein." Mr Carter admitted. Stitches raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" Stitches asked. Mr Carter nodded.
"I've not been away from my wife since our little boy was born, no. So, it's been nearly four years. And I should really be there, because she's pregnant. But, she insisted I come. So, here we are." Mr Carter elaborated. Stitches looked at her teacher quizzically, causing him to laugh in response.
"Yes, someone married me and wanted to have kids with me. I know, it's weird." Mr Carter smiled. Stitches shook her head.
"I don't think so. My parents made me come too. I… I haven't been away from them… ever." Stitches said, shyly. Mr Carter gave a small, reassuring smile.
"You'll be fine, Stein. If your parents have taught you anything, it's resilience." Mr Carter said.
"Thanks." Stitches gave a shy smile.
"Alright, I'd better get some rest. You'd better do the same, Stein." Mr Carter said. Stitches nodded and zipped her tent back up. She slid back into her sleeping bag and gave a small smile.
"Maybe Mr Carter isn't so scary after all," Stitches thought.
Halfway through the night, Stitches awoke once more. She heard the bucket the class had put the fire out with knock over. She bolted up and rocked Mina awake.
"Mina… Mina!" she said, in a whisper.
"Go away. Sleepy times." she grunted.
"I think there's a creature outside!" Stitches said, drawing what was, of course, the most logical conclusion. Not someone going to the bathroom, not leaves brushing against the tent; no. A creature.
"A creature?" Mina yelled at the top of her lungs. Lanterns in all the tents began to turn on, and yells began to ring out form most of them. All of the students bundled out of their tents, some screaming, others praying, others calling for their mothers. Eventually, Mr Carter awoke.
"What on Earth is going on, here?" he yelled. Just then, a group of nearly thirty voices yelled out.
"The creature!" they yelled.
"Look! The bucket… it's moving!" a student yelled.
"The creature is in there!" a girl squealed. Mr Carter sighed. He picked up the bucket and overturned it before the 'creature' could escape. He looked in the bucket and smirked slightly, making sure he didn't let the students see.
"Behold your creature." he said, cupping a tiny, baby hedgehog in his hands. The group all gasped and 'aww'ed.
"Alright, I'm going to go and release the 'creature.' You all get back to bed, quick smart." Mr Carter said. And, as with any of Mr Carter's instructions, they followed them swiftly and completely.
The morning after, Mr Carter made all of the pairs of students connect with another pair of students to work with.
"Alright, West, Stein? You go with Martin and Cameron." Mr Carter said. The girls nodded and awkwardly made their way over to the two boys. Mina knew who Joseph Martin was.
"Hey, Mina." Joseph smirked, his black hair pushed back. Mina smiled slightly.
"Hey, Joseph." she replied. While those two talked, Stitches turned to the boy she knew only as 'Cameron.' He looked shy, like she was. And, they were by themselves, so Stitches wasn't quite as apprehensive as she usually would be.
"W-What's your name?" she asked, her nervous stutter making an unwanted show.
"I'm T-Thomas." he stuttered back.
"Hi, Thomas. I'm Stitches Stein." she replied, smiling slightly. The boy's wide, green eyes peered through his blonde tresses.
"Hi, Stitches." he said back, nervously. She wasn't sure if it was just because she was a girl or if he was just like this, but he seemed painfully shy.
A bit like her, really.
"Alright! In your new groups, I want one person from each of the pairs to partner up with someone from the other pair." Mr Carter said. Mina looked over at Stitches.
"You go with Joseph. I'll stay with Thomas." Stitches said. Mina nodded and turned back to Joseph.
"You're gonna stay with me?" Thomas asked. Stitches giggled slightly.
"Yeah. You seem cool." Stitches smiled. Thomas bolted his head up.
"Cool? I-I'm not cool, trust me." he said. Stitches raised an eyebrow, but brushed it off.
"Come on. Let's go." Stitches said, walking off.
"H-Hey! Wait up!" Thomas yelled, running after her. He caught up to her and she smiled.
"So, you going to Shibusen in a couple of years?" Stitches asked. Thomas nodded.
"Yeah. I'm a meister." Thomas murmured. Stitches smiled.
"My papa's a meister. But you probably know that… Why are you in the advanced class?" Stitches asked.
"Oh, me? W-Well, I can't be affected by madness. I think. But I hope I won't need to use my ability much. W-What about you?" Thomas asked. Stitches smiled and raised her arm. In a flash of blue light, her arm transformed into a hammer.
"Whoa, that's cool. Not many people are hammers. In fact, I've never heard of anyone being a hammer, other than Marie Mjolnir, of course. She's a Deathscythe." Thomas said, matter-of-factly. Thomas loved to learn, to research. He loved facts, they kept him sane. Stitches smiled and nodded.
"I know. She's kind of my mother." she said. Thomas was taken aback.
"Whoa! Your mother's a Deathscythe! Now that's cool." Thomas said. Stitches blushed slightly.
"It's nice not to have someone who backs away when they know about my parents." she said, quietly.
"I like hearing about your parents. I… I don't have parents. Well, I mean, I obviously had parents, but… it's a long story." Thomas sighed, slightly.
"Oh… okay." Stitches said.
"Yeah." Thomas looked down. Stitches pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"Anyway, my mama will be happy that you think she's my most interesting parent. Usually, people see my last name and just reckon I'm going to go mad or dissect them." Stitches said. Thomas smiled.
"I don't think you're going to go mad. Or dissect me." Thomas smiled, his white teeth bared. His blonde hair fell in straight strands across his face. His green eyes peeked out of his fringe and she gave a nervous smile back.
She wasn't reluctant because she didn't think he was nice, no; it was more the fact that she didn't know how to react to someone who didn't see her as a threat. The last time that had happened was when she was five with Mina.
"Uh… um… thanks." she smiled, trying to look away. Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"If you don't want to be my partner, it's okay. Most people don't anyway. I'm used to it." Thomas said, slightly too happily. Stitches turned around to see a smile on his face.
Nobody should be so used to rejection that they were comforted by it. Stitches shook her head.
"No. I want to be partners with you. It's okay." Stitches said, throwing her arms around the blonde boy. Thomas didn't know what to do, so he just wrapped his arms around her as well.
It took Stitches a little while to realise that she was hugging a boy. However, she didn't really care. She felt a need to take care of Thomas, to make sure he was safe. She wasn't sure why, she just did.
She was sure of one thing though.
If boy germs were real, then she was going to get so sick.
A/N: Stitches is going to get sick. Because, as we all know, boy germs are real.
Just a little thing, partners for this activity have no effect on who Stitches is going to choose as her meister.
Okay, so, seeing as we're close to beginning the third story, which is going to have several OC's in it, I've decided that I'm going to fill you in a bit more about our four main OC's – Stitches, Mina, Thomas and Joseph. I've decided to do that through a series of four first-person bios – and we're going to start with Thomas.
M-Me? Oh, why me? Are you sure you don't want to… no, you're sure you want to start with me. O-Okay then…
Hi, then. I'm Thomas. Thomas Cameron.
I'm eleven, but I turn twelve soon. My birthday is the 12th of November, which is pretty cool, I guess. Uh… well, my hair is blonde – really light blonde, and my eyes are dark green. My teacher says that they're like emeralds, so that's something. Um, well, my parents… I don't know who my parents are. I'm adopted, and Ms Martha is like my mama. She's really, really nice and I love her very much.
My best friend is Joseph Martin. He's a year older than I am, so he's nearly a teenager. He calls me Tom, which kinda annoys me sometimes, but he tells me that girls like that name for some reason. Apparently. Something about Norse gods. I don't know. But, anyway, we're going to Shibusen hopefully, and he's a weapon and I'm a meister. He's cool, and for a while he was my only friend. But, I went on camp and I met Mina and Stitches. They're very nice too, especially Stitches… but her dad scares me a little bit.
Don't tell her I said that.
Okay, I have to go now. Thanks for listening to me… random stranger,
Thomas.