Camp Wildheart

A+ for effort?

Keefe

Keefe watched Sophie carefully as she led the introductions. Then, she held up the schedule.

"Okay, everybody. We have a few more things to do, then we can get to the fun parts. First, the schedule will always be posted on this tree," Sophie explained. "Next, we need to come up with activities for the Xplore hours here." She tapped the clipboard. "We will have anywhere from one hour to five to do choice activities. Almost every activity has a corresponding badge. Does anybody have any suggestions?"

Keefe heard some really great suggestions, from horseback riding to baking to his personal favorites, parkour and truth or dare. He wondered to himself how Sophie was so good at this counselor thing. Sophie clapped, dragging Keefe's thoughts back to her.

"Now that we have suggestions to submit, let's get on to the more fun parts! We get to make our own shelters in this glade. We're going to split up. 

The boys will build their shelter over there, and us girls are going to start our shelter in that corner. 

Anything you build is okay, as long as you don't use other people's stuff, trash, toxic sludge, or anything else unsafe, because I really don't want to fill out a bunch of paperwork today. LET'S GO!"

Keefe walked towards the spot underneath the trees he had cleared. A blur passed by him, and Percy hung one of the tarps over several branches to create a waterproof roof. Keefe smiled to himself, then began dragging a large branch over to create one of the walls of their shelter. When he got to the shelter, one of the boys (Frank? Yeah, it was Frank.) had laid a few tarps on the ground so the dew wouldn't collect under their shelter.

Percy

Percy knew he was not very good at building things, unlike Annabeth. He dragged another branch over to the slowly growing wall.

Counselor Keefe appeared dragging a huge branch, curved and covered in pine needles. Percy and Jason hurried to help him drag the branch towards the fort, propping it up against two trees to make a great wall.

Percy looked over his shoulder at the girl's camp. Sadie and Alex were putting sticks into the mud, then weaving branches through the sticks to make large wall sections. Sadie waved at him, then ducked back through the gate. In the back, he saw branches being placed carefully into strange shapes.

Wondering what was going on, he turned back to their structure. Picking up some smaller branches, he used them to fill in parts.

"If we drag this log over, we'll have a bench and a part of the wall!" Magnus called to them. Percy walked over and helped him roll it towards the area.

Smiling to himself, Percy ran over to the picnic tables, where he had seen a small chunk of a branch. It was fun, running around and trying to find pieces for the fort, making sure it wouldn't collapse.

Alex

Alex picked up another armful of sticks. The plans were simple. Annabeth and Sophie had outlined it clearly. Woven walls and a door panel. Domed stick roof with a tarp to pin up in case of rain. Branches used as insulation. On the other side, the boys were approaching it like a pillow fort. She found herself smirking slightly.

The other girl who was working with her, Sadie said suddenly, "The boys don't look like they have a plan... They're probably going to beg us for help, knowing my brother."

Alex laughed. "Nah. They'll be fine. If all else fails, they can just use a few sticks and a tarp. Tents are fairly easy to make."

Falling into silence again, Alex walked over to the pile of bendy branches and picked a few up. She pulled them carefully through the spaces between the twigs, creating a woven wall. Hazel walked up to the double, carrying one end of a branch almost covered with pine needles. The other end swung around, revealing Piper. 

They carefully laid it in between the woven mats. Hopefully, that would keep the structure cool during the day and warm at night. Annabeth had explained the science behind it, but Alex had forgotten almost immediately. 

She was really glad that Sophie hadn't tried to micromanage their construction. Alex rather liked the other girl, who seemed to be the kind of person who looks cute but is fiercely loyal to her friends.

Alex didn't think that she would be much use in a fight at first, but seeing Sophie climbing the trees to weave the branches was beginning to change her mind... most of all, Alex was glad that she got one of the cool counselors.

Carter

Carter wiped his forehead and stood. Sophie had called for them to stop building. He was pretty proud of their construction, but the pride was washed over by disbelief when he saw the girl's structure. Standing in front of it, looking rather smug were the builders. Sadie's smirk was infuriating.

Keefe just laughed though, then said, "That's Foster. Always has to look better than everyone else!"

Sophie blushed, swatting Keefe. "Ok," she said, turning to face the group at large. "It's time for another one of those boring but necessary parts. Luckily, it's a handy booklet so I don't have to give a lecture." She handed out booklets on Campsite Safety and Rules. Most of it was stuff Carter knew already though.

Once everybody had finished, Sophie continued, "Now that we're done with that boring part, we get to make our own grove rules. If you hate when people do that armpit fart thing, there can be a rule against it." They began spitballing ideas for rules and writing them down. When they were done, each person signed the piece of paper.

"YAY! We're finally done with the legal obligations! Now," she continued, smiling slightly "We can come up with our skits. Every campfire, you can sign up for skits or songs as a grove. There're badges for acting, singing and campfire participation. Does anybody have any ideas?"

So. You can kind of see why I put that title now?

Also, I'm sorry if that part offended you, and I know that it could have easily been the boys with the super organized fort, but that part was meant to be comedic and I KNEW that Annabeth would have taken charge with the girls, so *shrugs*

Galaxy will see you in the... 

NEXT CHAPTER *does jazz hands while standing on one foot, hops around a bit to try to regain balance, falls over and twelve runaway dogs jump on me and lick my face off*