I have a possible drivers test tomorrow and writing helps me relax so here goes nothing hope you all enjoy lol
"And that's the main places of the camp!" Lili gave me a proud smile as we took the first few steps into the heart of the camp. "Have any questions from your favorite personal camp guide?" I couldn't help but smile right along with her as we started making our way toward one of the cabins.
"Not at the moment, no." I adjusted my bag a little on my shoulder as we continued walking down the main little path together. "Thank you for pointing everything out for me though."
"Eh, it's no biggy." She just gave a small shrug as she slipped her hands away into her jacket. "Rather that than you getting lost in my forest home away from home."
"You're a usual here then?" I gave her a curious look as she neared the cabin she had pointed out as the boy's sleeping spot.
"Been coming here since I was old enough." She just shrugged it off as if it was nothing. "My dad always explained it as 'train your abilities and make friends and something something something wants me to be social'."
"And how's that going for him?" She gave me a wicked smile that was matched with a mischievous look in her eyes.
"Let's just say I raise some hell from time to time." I swallowed hard for a moment as my mind simply went silent for a moment.
This girl is something, huh?
"Guess I'll have to see first hand, huh?" I tried to laugh it off a little as Lili just smiled proudly for a moment.
"You bet your ass, Raz."
"Stop saying such mean things to me!" I snapped my attention toward the yelling voice as I saw there was a shorter boy not too far from us. The most unique thing about him was the little tinfoil hat he was wearing as he cupped his ears with both of his hands. "Mean squirrels! Mean squirrels!"
"That's Dogen." Lili seemed to pick up on my curiosity as she leaned over to speak to me in a whisper. "Dogen Boole. He's a Zoolepathy specialist but also is probably a bit dangerous."
"Wait a moment," I gave Lili a wide-eyed look as I started to get even more curious than before. "Boole? As in related to Compton Boole?"
"Yep!" She nodded for a moment as she gave Dogen a once over from a distance. "Just as crazy too. Seems to run in the family. Though his craziness comes from the fact that he argues with squirrels and has a habit of blowing people's minds."
"With his abilities to speak with them?"
"Oh no, I mean literally blow people's minds."
"Wait what-?" Before I could question her further, Lili turned her attention over toward the smaller boy once more as she started to wave him over.
"Yo Dogen! Come over and meet the new kid!" Dogen seemed to snap out of his now silent argument with the squirrels before recognizing that he was being called over. He slowly made his way over to us as he gave Lili a meek little nod.
"Hi, Lili. Hello, new camper." The kid looked as if he was present in our conversation, but also absent-minded as he spoke as if it was toward no one in particular. "Don't mind me. The squirrels are spreading rumors again and it's on my mind."
"Well, Razputin here isn't one for spreading squirrel rumors." Lili smiled at me as she placed her left hand on my shoulder. "Right, Raz?" I nodded along with her words as I got the idea that she wanted me to roll with what she had to say.
"That's right. I'll see them in hell before I listen to them." I saw Lili give an amused look out of the corner of my eye as Dogen gave me a pleased look.
"So you'll be a friend to Dogen. That's nice. I need more of those." I nodded as I gave him a kind smile.
"You haven't given me a reason to not be."
"Just be sure to not listen to the squirrels." He turned his head a little to glare at the little creatures that didn't stay too far away from us. "Whatever they try to tell you, they're lying." Dogen put a lot of emphasis on the word as he glared at the small animals.
"I'll take your word over it." I gave him a simple nod as Lili seemed to be pleased by our interaction.
"Glad to see you two are getting along." She gave a smile before slipping her hands away into her jacket once more. "After all, I can't show you the inside of the boy's cabin." Lili gave Dogen her attention for a moment as she nodded her head toward me. "Can you show Raz the cabin and where he can sleep? I gotta get some stuff together before Basic Braining anyway."
"Basic Braining?" I gave her a curious look and she just smirked in return.
"You'll see soon enough." She smiled wickedly once more before turning her head toward Dogen. "Right, Dogen?"
"I don't like Basic Braining." The boy seemed to have paled at the thought as his brown eyes glossed over. "Oleander's brain is scary." I looked between Lili and Dogen for a moment as I tried my best to understand what the hell they were talking about, but neither seemed to answer my silent question. "But the cabin is nice and safe. You can bunk with me. I'll let you even pick if you want top or bottom."
"Alright." I tried my best to shake off the nerves that the idea of Basic Braining had given me as I looked over toward Lili once more. "Want to meet up before going to whatever this braining thing is? I still don't quite know where I'm going."
"Sure thing." She nodded her head in the direction of the cabin not far from the one we were standing by before she continued speaking. "I'll be right over there anyway. Just gotta make sure I have some stuff put away before the other girls decide to fuck with it."
"Sounds good." I gave her a nod as a small smile graced my lips. "Thanks again for showing me about."
"No problem." She shrugged once more before turning on her heel to take her leave. "Just don't go off and go wandering into the woods, alright? I won't be able to help you find your way back from there." I couldn't help but smile wider as I called out after her retreating figure.
"No promises, Zanotto!" After a moment of silence between Dogen and me, the smaller boy spoke softly as it was obvious he was unsure if Lili could hear him from the distance between us just yet.
"It's rare for Lili to like people." He tilted his head a little before looking up toward me. "You should consider yourself lucky."
"Yeah?" I tilted my head a little, just like him, as he just nodded in reply. "Good to know."
"She's a nice person as long as you don't mess with her." He seemed to aimlessly talk for a moment as he made his way into the cabin with me following close behind him. "Nice person. Unlike the squirrels."
Is this who she meant by scattered-brained? It makes sense, honestly.
I shrugged it off as I entered the cabin and followed the smaller boy over toward our now shared bunk bed.
At least he didn't grab me by the collar. It's an improvement already.
After a little while of putting things in their new temporary homes in the cabin, I made my way out of it to hear the overhead speakers kick in.
"Alrighty, maggots! Get yourselves ready for your Basic Braining training! You know what to do. MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT!" I cringed a bit at the raspiness in the voice as it left a little bit of ringing in my ears.
"Who in the fuck?"
"That's Oleander for ya." I nearly jumped out of my skin as Lili's voice wasn't too far away from me. I spun on my heels to see that she had kept to her word about meeting up, and was leaning against the far part of the cabin's main wall. "I feel like he's stuck in like, Vietnam training or some shit." She shrugged a little as she pushed herself away from the wall to walk over toward me. "Just roll with it though. He treats everything like an army drill and it won't change."
"Crazy BootCamp Man, got it." Lili let out a snicker that brought a smile instantly to my face. "I didn't know there was a third counselor though. I heard it was just Agent Vodello and Agent Nein that ran this place. At least from what I read in the comics." I reached up and scratched the back of my neck awkwardly as I felt as if I let out how cliche of a nerd I was.
"Eh, don't believe all that's shown in True Psychic Tales. Ironically," She gave me a witty grin as she pulled me along in a general direction to follow her. "They're not all true."
"Really?"
"Yeah some of them were twisted just the slightest. At least from what dad says." She shrugged about it as we started walking side by side toward wherever she was leading me. "It's why I don't take all of it to heart, ya know? Even then, I was raised around the myths themselves so it's a little nulled out to me."
"I bet even Superman would look dull if they were like, your everyday acquaintance." I rubbed my chin with my right hand a little as I let the idea sink in. "Makes sense."
"You like your comics, huh?" Lili gave me a teasing smile that made me blush a little as I jumped to defend myself.
"I see them more as visual novels but nonetheless."
"You literally said comics like two seconds ago."
"That was a miscommunication."
"Miscommunication my ass." I blushed deeper as I tried my best to not let the joyful laugh Lili gave mess with me any further.
Yep, definitely bringing some fire to my life already.
"Anyway," I tried my best to not act too flustered as I went to change the topic. "What exactly is Basic Braining?"
"Basically like checking to see if you know the basic shit. Like how to move about someone's mental plain and to see if you can handle the beings that come about within it. Simple shit."
"Then why did Dogen look as if he was having war flashbacks when you brought it up?" I gave her a curious look as she rolled her eyes about it.
"Cause he's failed it for the last five years he's been here. Seriously don't know how his sister is an intern at the Motherlobe but his ass can't handle Basic Braining."
"There's an intern program?" My eyes lit up as I thought of all the different agents I would love to shadow in my future.
Oh wow, if I could get someone like Agent Nein as a mentor, that would be amazing! I wouldn't pass up Agent Vodello, though. Oh! Maybe if one of the Psychic Seven heard about me, they might be willing to let me shadow them.
"There is. But sometimes it's literal trash, though. Like someone had to shadow the mailman of all people." I grew disappointed at the thought as I visibly lost interest.
"Yep no I would refuse." Lili shrugged as she seemed to agree.
"I wouldn't blame ya. Though all agents go through it. Gotta get through that to be a Junior Agent and all."
"Well, I hope my future goal is not stalled out on being stuck as a mailman." Lili laughed wholeheartedly at that as she gave my shoulder a hard slug that hit hard enough for it to sting but not enough for me to complain. It was at that moment, as we made our way up a spiral little ramp toward the little main area of a wooden tower, that I realized a kid was glaring at me from not too far behind Lili and me. "What's his problem?" Lili looked over her shoulder toward who I was talking about to see that a kid in a sailor's hat and pieces of the standard Whisper Rock camper uniform was glaring at me directly and sighed.
"Elton. Don't let him get to you. He thinks I'll be his girlfriend one day which I highly doubt."
"You wouldn't wanna go on a date with Moby Dick over there?" I turned to give Lili a smirk, but she just rolled her eyes at me with a smirk of her own.
"Only in his wildest dreams."
"So I don't need to worry about another person threatening my physical safety?" I chucked a little about the idea, but Lili seemed to take the note seriously.
"Trust me, if another person puts their hands on you, they gotta go through me." She gave me a serious look that made a chill roll down my spine. It was obvious by the pure determination in her eyes that within the last few hours of knowing me and showing me around that she seemed to care quite a lot for me as a friend. Something I felt rather happy about, honestly.
"Let's hope I don't need any saving, ya?" I smiled at her as I tried to let her know that I was purely joking. "Wouldn't want my first time at camp being a rescue mission for myself, you know?" Lili cracked a smile at that as the serious demeanor she had seemed to soften by the second back into her laid-back and fierce aura once more.
"I'll have to be the Superman to your Louis Lane then, huh?" I blushed a little at her comment and I ended up letting out a witty comment of my own.
"My nerdy comics are relevant, huh? Guess I'm not the only nerdy one here." I smirked a little as I tried my best to play down the burning feeling in my cheeks.
"Hey! Superman is a basic hero! Isn't like I made Ant-Man or Green Lantern reference."
"You just showcased that you know more than you lead on." My smirk only grew as it was obvious my comebacks were messing with her just enough to fluster her a little.
"Maybe I will let them harm you just a little to make up for this."
"Aw, what about being my Superman here?"
"You lost that with calling me a nerd."
"I only said I wasn't the only nerdy one. Not that you're a nerd." I just chuckled as Lili crossed her arms over her chest as we entered a small room at the top of the little tower.
"Shush." I smiled nonetheless as I followed her to a little bench seat that was in front of one of the open windows of the room, and joined her as she sat down with a small huff.
Well, I can at least say I have some colorful company to share my time with.
I chuckled a little at the thought as Lili crossed her legs so she could bring them up into the seat with her.
"Anyway, Basic Braining is basic stuff and I hope you step on a thought lego." I nearly burst out laughing at her remark as a man in military-like attire put himself in the middle of the room as the last few kids entered the room after us.
"Alrighty, soldiers! Today you begin your basic training for this year's stay at Whispering Rock! You must pass today's course to continue with the lessons you can learn here during your stay this summer. If you do not pass, you will stay and repeat the lesson till you do. Do I make myself clear?" I gave who I figured was Agent Oleander a determined nod as he took everyone else's silence as a 'yes sir'. He pulled a small little rectangle from his pocket and I instantly recognized what the device was from my training with my family. It was a camouflage-colored psy-portal he then raised it over his head and placed it on his forehead.
"Then enter if you dare." I felt a wide smile take over my lips as I pulled down the goggles resting on my forehead down and over my eyes.
Oh, I dare alright.
I closed my eyes as the entering of someone's mind through a psy-portal was second nature to me at this stage of my personal training.
I bet this will be a breeze.
