Still own nothing.
Nerris woke up and proceeded to cherish that limbo like moment between opening your eyes and being fully awake, in which all of your problems are but a foggy haze in the back of the brain; that sweet single moment.
All too soon, the moment ended, and Nerris was forced to face reality once more. Today was the day she would have to hang out with Harrison.
Figuring she might as well bite the bullet, Nerris got up, put on her various accessories, and left her tent.
The sun had just barely started coming up. Getting up at this time was so natural at this point that it wasn't long before the rest of the campers were up and about. David would usually be here within the hour to call them all to breakfast, so, they had roughly that much time to chat and hang out.
Nerris saw Preston standing and talking with Harrison over by their tent, and immediately grimaced. She was hoping to start her day off in a good mood as to make the rest of it bearable, but with Preston being around Harrison, she couldn't run the risk of an argument, and thus, couldn't talk with her best friend.
This sucked royally.
She decided to go and chat a bit with Ered. Ever since Nerris helped her get her confidence back, they'd been on general speaking terms; before, Ered wouldn't be caught dead talking to Nerris, but now, they were… friends? It was hard to tell with Ered, since she was usually above general social interaction.
Ered had been standing off leaning against a tree listening to music with her headphones in, occasionally bumping her head.
"Hey, Ered," said Nerris in a weary tone.
"'Sup, Elf Ears, what's eating you?"
"David is making me and Harrison start spending time together starting today. Something about having us get along and become friends so that we stop arguing. I'm like Galadriel being forced to buddy up with Sauron." Nerris' shoulders slumped.
After seeing the blank stare on Ered's face, Nerris took on a look of realization and face palmed, deciding to use more appropriate vernacular.
"It's uncool."
"Why don't you just NOT do it then? That's what I always do if I think something's uncool."
"Because if I don't do it then Preston says he's gonna stop being my friend. I know that you and I talk sometimes, but I need someone to play my campaigns with, and Preston is the only one willing to."
"Sounds like it blows, but fair enough." Ered shrugged with the last part.
"Yeah, but I came over here because I wanted to talk about anything but, so enough about Harrison. I was practicing with that skateboard you gave me, and I think I'm ready to try an ollie."
(With Harrison and Preston)
Preston had decided to check up on Harrison this morning. Preston hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Harrison yesterday, so he had no idea of what had become of their argument, or what David had done.
"GOOD MORNING, HARRISON!"
Harrison had been standing and doing some simple sleight of hand with handful of cards. Preston's sudden outburst jolted him, causing him to drop the cards, and watching as they gently floated down to the ground.
"Don't do that, Preston," scolded Harrison as he crouched down and picked up the thin slips of cardboard.
"Sorry, but, I wanted to see how you're doing after what happened yesterday with Nerris."
Harrison tensed up at this. He'd barely even remembered it this morning, but after a full day of reflection, his nerves were on edge. "Oh. I'm fine, I guess. David is making Nerris hang out with me today, and I think I will be hanging out with her tomorrow. Something about making us become friends."
"Hmmm, not exactly what I would've done, but I suppose whatever works."
"Do you think you could be there to try and mediate? I'm not really sure what she thinks about this; she didn't seem against it, but I don't know."
"Sorry, I'm currently working on my most recent play. It's going to be a reimagining of The Taming Of The Shrew, except with LOTS of zombies," said Preston, with a dramatic pose, striking his upturned palm into the air.
"That sounds… interesting, Preston," said Harrison, awkwardly glancing back and forth between his friend's eyes and literally anywhere else.
"Either way, I cannot be the constant mediator for you two. If you two can't get along without me being there, then the fragile dynamic our group has established is TRAGICALLY DESTINED TO CRUMBLE!" Preston emphasized this with a shaking fist struck into the air, before being brought back down into his chest.
Harrison sighed, "Well, let's hope this turns out for the best. I've set up some of my best new material, so I hope it impresses her. Hell, for all I know she's already planning to tell David she backed out."
"Oh, something tells me she'll be willing to cooperate," said Preston with confident grin on his face.
Harrison had a small look of confusion on his face, but quickly shook his head and went back to normal.
"I hope so."
Preston smirked, "Oh? Why are you so hopeful?"
Getting what Preston was insinuating, Harrison quickly squashed that false assumption.
"Not like that. I'm just tired of arguing with her so much. Also, she's… kind of… one of my goals." Harrison began absentmindedly fiddling with his gloves.
"Goals?"
"Like a personal goal; if I can get her to like me, then maybe I can get others to like me too."
"Oh, that makes sense, I guess. But why do you need her to like you to get others to like you? You're pretty FANTASTIC if you ask me."
Harrison smiled at Preston's compliment, but decided to elaborate.
"Well… ever since camp started, it seems like she's getting more and more people to like her, while I'm getting more and more people to hate me."
Preston's eyes widened at this. "Hate you? What do you mean hate you?"
"Well, Nurf has always sort of hated everyone at this camp, but it really feels like he has come to hate me the most."
"I beg to differ. Have you not SEEN how many times he has assaulted me? I STILL flinch whenever he moves too quick around me," Preston said with an indignant tone, rubbing his right eye absently.
"But… doesn't he help you with your performances a lot?"
"Well yeah; he's got a lot of ENERGY and PASSION. Plus, he's a great stagehand."
"Okaaaay. But, even after that, Neil hates my guts because he can't factify my magic, Max has made an effort to not even look at me ever since I made him spew magic props for a day and a half, and Dolph is still offended over my apparent 'affront' on the art world." Harrison poignantly stated each point with surety.
Preston decided to pop in with an optimistic observation. "That still leaves Ered, Nikki, and Space Kid who don't hate you."
"Space Kid doesn't hate anyone, I'm pretty sure Max and Neil convinced Nikki to stop talking to me, and I'm almost positive that I became 'uncool' to Ered the second Nerris went on her 'cool' list." With that last bit, Harrison decided to go into the 'everyone loves Nerris' part of his rant.
"And while I'm making enemies left and right, Nerris is in good with Nikki, Neil, and Ered, which makes her indirectly good with the entirety of the rest of the camp."
Preston cut in, "Yeah, but she's still lonely. I'm the only one who ever participates in her games; it's not like everyone's DYING to play along with her fantasies just because they are generally friendly with her."
Harrison took on a thoughtful gaze, mechanically flipping his playing cards around in his fingers.
Melodic whistling echoed through the air, signaling David coming down the trail to the tents.
"Alright, everyone! Time for breakfast!"
"Right, like everyone's in a hurry to choke down the radioactive sludge that passes for food at this makeshift prison that we call a camp," said Max with sarcasm.
David didn't even acknowledge that Max had said anything negative, he just turned around with a big smile and proceeded to lead the way to the mess hall.
Once everyone was in the mess hall, the groups began to form. Ered, Nerris, Nurf, Dolph, and Space Kid at one group; Max, Neil, and Nikki sitting at another.
Harrison sat down and expected Preston to sit with him, but Preston shot him an apologetic glance before he went and sat with Nerris.
Nerris was sitting in a comfortable silence next to Ered, simply eating her food and thinking about the current campaign she was writing up.
Right up until Preston sat down right across from her, with which his betrayal struck her in the back of the brain once more.
"Aren't you suppose to be sitting with Harrison?" Nerris said with a biting tone, which came out funnier than intended with the slurred Ss.
Preston decided to ignore her apparent annoyance. "I can sit with both of my best friends, and I'm deciding to sit with you this morning."
"Yeah, you're such a great best friend making me hang out with someone I can't stand," said Nerris in a low tone as to not interrupt the conversations happening around her.
"Nerris, why is it such a big deal to become friends with Harrison? Why are you so opposed to it?"
"He's just so…. cocky! Like, he's so full of himself, like he just thinks everyone should love him." Nerris displayed clear frustration, straining herself just to get the words out.
"True, he does want people to love his magic. He's nowhere near as bad as you think he is though. Trust me, try to get to know him, and you'll like him."
Nerris mumbled, deciding it would be best to not argue, "Whatever."
The rest of breakfast passed somewhat uneventfully, aside from Nurf almost strangling Space Kid after he 'achieved terminal velocity', directly into the back of Nurf's head.
Afterwards, Harrison and Nerris both got up from their tables. Harrison walked over to David.
"David, you told me and Nerris to come to you after breakfast, right?"
"OH, that's right, Harrison!"
David looked up and saw Nerris making her way outside.
"NERRIS! Come over here, please."
Nerris froze and flinched, before turning around and begrudgingly making her way back over.
"Alright you two, how about we start off easy for the first day? Two hours, then you can separate, make me proud!" David punctuated this with a quick throw of his right first over his left shoulder.
With a grunt of confirmation, they made their way out of the mess hall, with Harrison leading the way over to his magic stage.
Once they'd gotten there, Harrison instructed Nerris to sit down while he got the performance ready.
While sitting, Nerris counted down the minutes until she could be done with him for the day.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, Harrison was prepared.
"Alright, today, I will be performing my amazing acts of wonder," said Harrison, punctuating it with a slight wave of his hand, and a wiggle of his fingers.
Nerris rolled her eyes.
Harrison proceeded to begin his performances, occasionally stopping to talk to an imaginary audience, and calling Nerris up to pick a card, or hold something, or to 'make sure it's a real pair of cuffs.'
David would pop in every once in a while, most likely to make sure they were still together… and not killing each other.
Every now and then, a camper would pass by and notice the acts, and stop to watch in wonder for a bit before continuing on.
Nerris was growing more and more annoyed. With every time she was forced to come up on stage, with every successful act, with every enraptured camper, with every satisfied look on Harrison's face after he made something disappear, or revealed the right card, or successfully fooled her.
That stupid cocky grin on his face, the confident way in which he talked, the glimmer in his eyes as he juggled cards in his fingers, the smirk at the befuddled look on her face at the end of every trick.
At every time she'd clap, or laugh at a joke, or become genuinely confused at an illusion.
Every single bit of it was boiling up to her breaking point, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could last.
"Okay, you two. That's two hours, you can separate," David called from where he was standing.
"Oh thank the deities."
Nerris got up from her seat, and started walking away, but before she could get too far, Harrison called out to her.
"Nerris! Wait up." Harrison started walking over to her.
"What, Harrison?" Nerris' voice came out less biting than she intended. She was a bit too emotionally exhausted to be snarky. Mixing pretend interest and real interest is very taxing.
"Well… I just want to say… thanks." Harrison had an awkward, but genuine, smile on his face.
Nerris was surprised. What was he thanking her for?
"For what?"
"For enjoying my show. I know we're not really friends, but I'm glad that you're willing to try. I really thought you hated me for a while. So.. yeah, thanks."
With that, Harrison left, more than likely to go put away all of the props he had gotten out for his performance.
And thus, Nerris was left standing there, a conflicted frown on her face.
That… didn't feel right. Nerris didn't really think it was that important to him that she enjoyed herself. The fact that he was seemingly happy that she ostensibly wanted to be his friend… the deception left a bad taste in her mouth.
David, who had been standing to the side for the exchange, wouldn't admit it, but he had let Gwen's pessimism get to him a little bit. He'd been stressing over whether or not this would work all night. This however, was excellent progress.
"Wow! It ALREADY seems like this is working. Nerris, don't forget, tomorrow is your day. Oh, and we'll be going on a hike in about an hour, so be ready for that."
David went off to inform the rest of the campers. Nerris remained standing there.
She felt a knot growing in her gut, and decided to go and find a way to distract herself from the unpleasant thoughts plaguing her conscience.
Why did it matter that Harrison cared about this? She'd have blown it off if it had happened before yesterday, and the only reason she was accepting it now was to keep Preston.
The plan was simple. Pretend to befriend Harrison, stay friends with Preston, avoid Harrison for the rest of summer, ignore him when it's unavoidable.
But now, it just felt… bad. Like, evil alignment bad.
Nerris was assaulted by these thoughts for the rest of the day, right up until she went to bed.
Sleep provided no comfort.
Meanwhile, Harrison was once again excited for the next day. He didn't have any illusions of grandeur starting this, and was worried he'd mess it up and they'd go back to their arguments and spitefulness.
But, surprisingly, Nerris had gotten through his entire act without insulting him once, and even seemed to enjoy it.
This day had gone better than he'd expected, and that was worth a lot.
He steeled himself to indulge in whatever Nerris had planned for tomorrow, just as she'd done for him.
For the first time in a while, Harrison fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Apologies that this chapter took so long. Essentially, my laptop broke, took me about a month to get a new one, I burnt myself out on Camp Camp, and it took me a while to get back into writing. Also, I'm still working out my techniques and general flow; I know what I want to write, but writing it is a process I'm still working on.
No, Nurf and Preston will not be shipped in this story, but they will be pseudo-kind of friends. Preston doesn't really horribly like Nurf, but if his theatre training was anything like mine, he learned to put differences aside in order to work together. Also, I kind of like the idea of Nurf using theatre as an emotional outlet, because that's what I did.
This is a very dialogue heavy chapter, which made it very hard for me to write. I'm way better at articulating thoughts than I am at articulating articulation. Trying to figure out how I think that the characters would express themselves was a giant pin in my side for the entirety of this.
I feel like the second half of the chapter is weaker than the first part, but I think it all kind of meshes together decently. I would appreciate some constructive criticism.
Next chapter, Nerris gets some advice, and we make some goddamn progress.
