Welcome to Gaia! ::

Walking to and from school with Ainsley was something that Sam had slowly gotten used to. Their first few walks were met with peaceful silence and some awkward chatter. Both children were comfortable with few words, though they did make idle chit-chat. Mostly they made small talk about what was new at school. Sam tried to explain the complicated ideas that surrounded 5th grade science, while Ainsley impressed him with her ever expanding vocabulary. Even though she was younger, Ainsley had a grasp on the English Language that Sam simply did not. Her words were poetic and well chosen. Sam preferred to keep it simple, and occasionally he had to ask Ainsley what a word meant.

Over the few weeks that they had been walking together, Sam had gotten used to her being there. Conversation between them became less forced, though the boy was still comfortable with just walking and listening to whatever Ainsley had to say. Now that school was out for the summer, their walks were something that Sam was beginning to miss. Who knew that Delia Colt’s plan to get her boy to socialize with neighborhood children would actually work!? Sam had in fact, actually become somewhat fond of the McMahon girl. He had become accustomed to her presence throughout the week.

Without school, his days were beginning to become lazy. Most of his time was spent lying on the floor in the den, playing video games and stuffing his face with Cheetos. Here and there he would invite over a friend from his class, but as it turned out a lot of them were unavailable, as their parents had already registered them for various day camps. Delia again had to force her son out into the world. She suggested that he walk over to the McMahon’s house and find out if she would like to come over and play. He would have called, but Sam’s mother said that she had a few calls to make and that fresh air would do him good anyways.

So, off Sam went to try and fetch his playmate. In about half an hour, the pair returned. Sam led Ainsley into the den to find a stack of brochures spread out over the coffee table. Each one had pictures of smiling children, out and about enjoying the sunshine. Some of the brochures were for day camps, for art and sports. Others were for sleep-away camps. Only one was open. CAMP LARKSPUR was printed across the top of each page in bold green letters.

From the den, the children could hear Delia talking on the phone, though who to was a bit of a mystery. “Yes. Yes I agree, it would be nice for the kids to… uh huh. I have a copy of it here. You got one in the mail too, didn’t you? It does look lovely.” Delia chuckled slightly. “Exactly. Get them out of our hairs for a few weeks.”

All the boy could do was look back and forth between Ainsley and the brochures, shrugging. “Maybe?” Sam picked up the brochure for Camp Larkspur, scanning over it quickly. It looked like fun he had to admit. Camping wasn’t an unusual thing for Sam to do in the summer. Usually he went for a few days with his dad, though that was usually on Labor Day weekend, not at the very beginning of the summer. A Sleep-away Summer Camp was entirely new to Sam.

As he turned the brochure over in his hands, Sam caught sight of the deadline for applications. It was that week, and the Camp itself was scheduled to start soon. Sam’s mother had circled the dates. “I guess so? Looks like Mom wants to ship me off.” Sam passed the brochure to Ainsley, pointing at the circled dates as if they were concrete proof.

Sam wasn’t opposed to the idea at all. In all honesty, the boy was glad to have the chance to do something. Not to mention he loved regular camping, so why not a big camp full of other kids, and no parents! He gave Ainsley a light, but sort of sad smile. What about her?

Just then, they two could hear Delia’s voice again. “Hold on. I think I heard the door a minute ago. Sam? Samson, honey?”

“Yeah. It’s me!” He called back.

“Oh good! Yes, they’re both here!” Delia Colt came out of the kitchen; the cordless phone was pressed up to her ear. She brought it down to chest, covering the mouth piece. “Caught me! Well surprise! Looks fun doesn’t it kids?” Sam’s mother was speaking to both her son and his companion. She was met with a bit of confusion from Sam, his head tilted to the side.

Delia held the phone out, offering it to Ainsley. “Ainsley dear, your sister is on the phone. I think you might want to talk to her.” Delia winked.

Sam watched Ainsley on the phone with interest. Why was she smiling like that? Was Bell asking her to come home already? She had only been here for a few minutes! The poor boy was ready to have his hopes of a fun filled afternoon shattered, Ainsley would go home and be happy to be rid of him. The result of the blonde’s conversation was a pleasant surprise. Ainsley was coming to camp!?

Sam lifted up his hand to give a high-five. The kids hands slapped together and then Sam looped an arm around the girl pulling her into a chummy half-hug. Briefly his eyes shot to his mother with a ‘Don’t you Dare’ look, but Delia was already trying to run off to fetch her camera. Sam let go before she could return.

“That’s excellent! Camping! We can roast marshmallows, and tell ghost stories, and jump in the lake, and go for hikes, and there’ll be lots of kids. Wait… have you ever even been camping, ever?”

Never been camping before! What a tragedy. Sam looked at Ainsley up and down, trying to imagine the well-groomed girl out in the wilderness. All the things he loved about camping she would probably hate. The boy debated whether he should tell her about how when you go camping you don’t have to shower everyday, and that in the peek of summer is when all the creepy crawly bugs are out. Spiders and bees, all over the place. Or that you have to cook everything over a fire. Whether the last point was true or not, Sam wasn’t sure. Some camps had mess halls and with a real kitchen and plumbing… others, well… often there was a distinct lack of plumbing. Sam thought it was better not to mention any of those facts to Ainsley. He didn’t want to scare her off.

“Yeah, of course. But you might need to get used to looking like this.” Sam put his hand on the girl’s head and ruffled up her hair playfully, making it a bit messy. “Not a lot of mirrors in the great outdoors.” He laughed a bit.

Sam looked at the brochure again. He flipped through it and looked at the different activities. “Look! There’s sports and games. That’ll be fun.” He paused looking back to Ainsley. Sports probably weren’t her thing. “But there’s also crafts and people usually sing campfire songs and tell stories at night.”

The boy’s face went blank. Braid?... BRAID!? Sam had never made a braid in his entire life. His hand raised to run a few fingers through his own short dark hair. How was braiding even done? “Uh maybe? I’ve never made a braid before, I’m sure some girls in your cabin could… “

Sam didn’t want to flat out say no, but his face scrunched up at the thought of having to do such a girlie task as braiding someone’s hair. “I think the animals might like you more without braids! You’ll look more like them, all wild.” Sam chuckled slightly; he’d like to see that! A Wild Ainsley! She was perhaps the most domesticated girl he had ever seen, next to his own mother, always so clean and well dressed. Delia Colt never set foot in anything that could remotely be called a forest. Camping was more Sam and his father’s thing.

“Well, the brochure says there’s going to be a water balloon fight! And a scavenger hunt! And baseball! Who knows what else. “ Sam rolled his eyes a bit at the suggestion of singing. Never much of a talker, Sam was even less of a singer. When it was required at school, usually Sam just mouthed the words. “I might have my mouth full of marshmallows. You can sing for me, I’ll roast your marshmallows.”

Who knew that talking about animals was the way to get Ainsley to do something! Watching Ainsley undo her braids made Sam laugh all the more. Until she said the word date.

Sam stopped laughing and fell silent, a light blush rose to his cheeks. It was lucky that his complexion was fairly tan; if he was pale it might have been more noticeable. He knew that Ainsley didn’t mean ‘date’ like a teenager, but still it made the boy a little embarrassed. He shifted his feet awkwardly and pretended to look over the brochure again. Not knowing what to say, Sam simply nodded as he stared intently at pictures of the camp.

The second Ainsley touched him, the boy froze. His soft brown eyes shifted down, locking on to sky blue ones. She was really close. Sam didn’t know what to do. A few seconds passed, but it felt like eternity. Essentially, Sam was a big ball of confusion. Part of him was weary of what Ainsley might do next, part just wanted to leap back and just play a video game with his friend. Yet, still he was a little entranced by the swishing of blonde hair.

Taking a small gulp, Ixion took Ainsley’s hand and pushed it down. Simultaneously he took a step back. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I thought I saw a…” A what? “Spider.”

He had to think quickly, or forever be branded as afraid of spiders. That was lie that Sam didn’t think he would be able to keep up with forever, especially not at camp! “I thought it was big one! Poisonous! A brown recluse or something… but I think it was just a big clump of floating dust. “ Sam laughed it off nervously, his fingers loosely played with his the hair on the back of his head.

“Normal spiders are okay. But you have to watch out for the poisonous kind.” He nodded as if that was a good enough explanation. Ainsley’s reaction about spiders was not what he had expected. It made him smile, that someone who looked so dainty could be so fearless. It was a good trait to have, especially with all the real monsters that were running around the city. Sam wasn’t sure if had to worry about Ainsley more or less…

“You’re not scared of much, huh? Which is good, cause there’s all kinds of insects , mice, and snakes around camp sites.”