NoV: Well, sorry it took so long to get this up. School, particularly biology, is eating me alive!!
Bisho: (pretending to gnaw on NoV's arm) Beware, for I am SCHOOL!!!
NoV: -.-0 Bisho, don't try to be funny.....it's sad.
Xelloss: Children scare me.
NoV: And you don't try to be all paranoid! That's Zel's shtick!
Zel: One time.....at band camp....
NoV: (sigh) Nahga needs to be here for group therapy.....
Nahga: Did someone say BOOBS??
NoV: -.-0 Let's check in with all of our happy campers....
Quote of the chapter:
NoV: (sing-song) You slept in a bed! You slept in a bed!
Lina stared through the hole in the floor where the bed had fallen. The little girl wailed, "Now what am I going to sleep on?? Or wear?? My clothes were in that bag, y'know!"
Lina looked at her unhappy group of little girls. "Who's hungry?"
Amelia was trying to give the little girl CPR, but it didn't seem to be working! She frantically looked around her for anything that might help, but saw only trees and.....more trees.
"She's having an asthma attack," one studious little girl with thick-rimmed glasses observed. "She may also be having an allergic reaction to all the pollen around us."
"Could you have possibly said so sooner?" Amelia murmured under her breath. To the gasping girl beneath her, she said, "Little girl? Do you have an inhaler??"
The blue-faced girl nodded weakly and pointed to her abandoned backpack.
Amelia tore through the front pocket until she found the inhaler. The little girl breathed into it until she could manage to breathe normally again.
Amelia plopped onto her backside, breathing her own sigh of relief. "You know what?" she asked the group of hurting, tired girls around her. "Forget the cabin. Let's just go have lunch."
Over half of the girls were overjoyed.
Xelloss would have rather let the foul-smelling little boys rot than take them back to the mess hall, but visions of Lina's Headlock of Doom very quickly changed his mind.
"Okay!" he exclaimed, putting on a "Buddy-buddy Counselor" façade. "First one to the cafeteria gets as much ice cream as they can eat!!"
Xelloss and Phibby sweatdropped as all the children (sans Val, of course) stumbled over themselves to get out of the cabin. Three of the boys had already begun to brawl, and one was crying that his leg was broken.
Phibby patted Xelloss on the shoulder patronizingly. "Way to go, Mr. Responsible Counselor."
After every single little girl had gotten a chance to use the restroom, Filia clapped her hands together and said, "Let's head on down to the mess hall, where I can see my little Val, and everyone can have a great big helping of macaroni....and whatever else they're fixing today! Okay?"
"I hate macaroni," "When are we gonna go swimming??", and "Teacher, read me a story!!" were the various replies.
Filia sighed. "Come on, we'll go swimming after lunch!"
"You can't do that!! We'll all get a cramp and die!!"
"Mr. Counselor!" a little boy wailed to Gourry. "When are we gonna eat??"
Gourry's ears perked at the word "eat." He deserted his rubbing two sticks together to make fire demonstration, and ran toward the door. "Right now, guys! ....but me first!!" He raced out the door and toward the infamous mess hall.
The little boys ran after him. "No fair!!!!!"
Gaav swore. His group of campers had turned on him and pelted him with wet toilet paper, toothpaste, and Vaseline. Now he just seemed to reek of hygiene and wetness. With one flash of movement, Gaav removed his orange trenchcoat and shook it free of sanitary products.
All the little boys stopped their plots to overthrow their beloved counselor and stared at what lie underneath that trenchcoat.....
Without realizing the boys' fascination, Gaav returned his overcoat to its normal position and buttoned it up. "Now listen up!!" he yelled, furiously. "If something like this happens again, I will not hesitate to kill you all!! Are we clear?"
They all nodded. "Y-yes sir!!"
Gaav, thinking that he had finally gotten through to them, said, "Good. Now, let's go down to the kitchen so I won't have to hear you whining with hunger in the middle of the night."
"Okay!" the boys squeaked, nervously.
Zelgadis panted, arriving at the mess hall before anyone else. He stared wide-eyed at the cabin he had quickly departed from. "Those kids...." he fretted. "What were they?"
Xelloss phased in beside him. "Hello, Zelgadis. Enjoying yourself?"
Zel was leaning against the side of the mess hall, huffing. "They were....evil clones...."
Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "Oh....kay?"
Xelloss' group came tumbling up to the cafeteria, two in the lead.
"I got here first!" one yelled.
"No way! I did!!" the other cried, pushing the first out of the way.
Xelloss giggled. "No. I got here first, so I get all the ice cream I want!"
"Actually," a voice said behind him. Phibby stood behind Xelloss. "I got here first. So, I win."
Xelloss sweatdropped. "No fair....."
Gourry led his group of boys into the midst of Xelloss and Phibby's ice cream debate. "Now, don't lose your partner!" Gourry exclaimed. The boys were all holding hands. "The buddy system is best! GASP. Food!!!" Gourry abandoned his campers and ran into the mess hall where the smell of macaroni was wafting.
Lina's group was right behind him. "OH NO YOU DON'T!!!"
Gaav proudly strode up next, a perfect neat line of boys behind him, walking meekly. "I was born to do this," he announced.
Filia brought her group into the kitchen next. "Now, be polite, everyone, and later I'll teach you all how to crochet! ....and swim!"
Amelia was carrying three of the twenty little girls. One had gotten her foot caught in a hole, another had been bitten by a raccoon, and the other was dying of heatstroke.
She set the three down inside the cafeteria, and leaned against the wall herself. "Oi.....what a day....."
NoV: I swear, the story picks up in the next chapter!
Nahga: Now, Amelia, when did your traumas begin exactly?
Amelia: (sniffle) Wh-when.....you left us.....Miss Gracia....
Nahga: (twitch) So, tell me more about your father....
Amelia: You mean our father?
NoV: Nahga has a degree in psychology. O.o Anyway, join us nexties!!