Chapter Text
It was a particularly loud snap of a branch that disturbed Trucy Wright’s nap, the bus driving straight over it.
She rubbed her tired eyes and poked her head out the window and let the breeze fly over her face, the slight bite to it waking her up properly. Her music blaring directly into her ears in an attempt to drown out the screams and shouts of the children around her; it barely worked, the occasion couple of words clear enough for her to hear even over the dangerously loud sounds. Her leg started to bounce with excitement and her fingers drummed along to the rhythm of her music as she caught her first glimpse of where she was to spend her next three weeks.
Pulling her head back in, the bus slowed to a stop and all the kids hurriedly undoing their seatbelts and rushing off the bus as quickly as possible, Trucy included. Above the entrance to the camp was a sign that read: Fey and Co. Summer Camp, and in Trucy’s opinion it was far too professional sounding to be any fun at all. A part of her was excited to be spending an entire three weeks away from her dad, but another part was sad to be spending an entire three weeks away from her dad. The bus shook with the flood of children running off and when Trucy’s feet made contact with the ground she took a deep breath of fresh air that she undoubtedly needed, considering how hot and stuffy the vehicle had been the ride there. Placing her red magician’s hat on her head Trucy felt ready to face whatever the camp had to offer her.
The gravel crunched beneath her feet as she made her way over to the slowly growing pile of bags where she had spotted her own, pushing and shoving past countless children who were running in every direction and talking to every other person they saw. It’d be a lie if she said she didn’t feel the slightest bit out of place, but that didn’t matter to her. Oh no, if anything it would only mean she would have even more chances to make new friends! As she hurried along her way she heard a loud voice of a woman over top of the chatter of kids.
“Welcome everyone to the Fey and Co. Summer Camp! I’m Mia Fey, your camp director, and this is my sister and assistant, Maya Fey! Don’t be embarrassed to come and ask either of us for help, okay?”
Just as Trucy got over to the pile where her bag sat atop, a councillor chucked what seemed like a hundred different bags right on top of hers. Okay, maybe it was 8 or 9 bags, but it felt like a hundred and she could barely get a grip on the strap of her bag.
“Okay, I can do this!” She grinned, holding on to it as tightly as she could and pulling with all the force in her tiny body, face going bright red with the effort she was putting in. “Okay, no I can’t…” But Trucy Wright was not one to give up in the slightest. Just as she was ready to give it another pull she heard a little voice clear their throat from next to her. A girl with light brown hair and very fancy oriental clothing stood there biting the nail of her thumb.
“Would you like some help…?” The girl asked after looking side to side awkwardly. Trucy nodded enthusiastically and smiled, though a part of her wondered whether or not such a tiny person could help her out. Ready to voice her thought Trucy opened her mouth but as she did the girl called out the name Maya incredibly loudly. Trucy did not expect such a loud voice from such a timid looking girl at all, but she knew looks could be deceiving (especially those times when her Daddy would leave his beard to grow out and he’d wear those awful grey sweat pants with the elastic waist and the stained shirt he still had from college). A woman, Maya, Trucy assumed, ran over quick as a bullet and immediately asked what was wrong. The girl, Pearl, asked the woman for help in getting Trucy’s bag out of the pile.
“Leave it to me!” Maya broke out into the biggest smile and grabbed on to the blue and white bag that Trucy told her too, pulling it out in one fluid motion. She made it look so easy!
“Wow, you’re from California? Have you been to Hollywood?!”
“Not personally, but I do live in Los Angeles!” Trucy said excited to show off to these new people and hopefully befriend them.
“You hear that Pearls? This one might know some famous people, I suggest you stick with her!” Maya laughed and wandered off after giving Pearl a pat on the head and a wave to the both of them. Pearl held out her hand and introduced herself, Trucy doing the same and shaking it. The first day not even over yet and she’d made a new friend, who, coincidentally, was also sharing a cabin with her! Fate had been kind to Trucy already!
The two new friends wandered off to their cabin together as a fancy looking limo pulled up in the driveway. Trucy wondered who could be in such an expensive car but quickly found her attention turned back to Pearl who was showing her the way with a familiarity to the place.
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As the limo pulled to a stop, a boy no older than 10 peered out the window in awe. The car door was swung open and a man stepped out, scratching at his chin. “Huh, I guess we’re here already!”
A pair of red trousered legs exited, with a red waistcoated boy following after. He fiddled with a bracelet that rested around his right wrist, looking around with wide eyes to the sights that surrounded him. It wasn’t particularly amazing compared to England, but it was quaint just as his Papa had said it would be. “Fey and Co. Summer Camp… Sounds like one of Papa’s law firms, are you sure this is really a summer camp Mister Gumshoe?” The young boy asked the man who was opening the trunk of the limo. The man shrugged and took out the boy’s suitcase, pulling up the handle and rolling it over the rocky pavement to give to the child.
“I dunno, Apollo. It has the name and everything up there y’know.”
Apollo hummed and took note of the large sign that towered over the entrance. It certainly did say it was the place he was supposed to be. He sighed. It was picturesque enough that he could see himself having a good time there, especially if it meant being away from his auntie over the holidays for even just a little while. He nodded and smiled.
“Now, y’see Miles wanted me to go over this silly list,” Gumshoe produced a piece of lined paper with fancy cursive writing on it and waved it through the air. “But! He’s not here so how about we forget it and just throw it away, eh?”
“Gumshoe, please go over it! Papa wanted me to.” Apollo managed to get out before his guardian chucked the paper away with the wind. He had gone over it himself almost a dozen times internally, but he wanted to go over it with Gumshoe too, just in case. One could never be too sure after all.
“You’re way too good for that guy… Okay, so vitamins?” Gumshoe shaking his head as he sighed, retrieving a pen from his coat pocket to get ready to tick off the items as he went down the list. After hearing the first word he knew without a doubt it was utterly ridiculous to be going over it and the kid had to have something wrong with him to want to willingly go over it. Even worse, the kid’s father has to have something wrong with him to write such a list. Not that Gumshoe would ever say that out loud and get fired or something.
“Check.” Apollo answered with pride.
“Minerals?”
“Check.”
“List of daily intake of fruits and vegetables?”
“Check and check.” Apollo answered immediately, Gumshoe grimacing as he read it aloud. Apollo rolled his eyes at this and waved his hand dismissively as he continued to say, “that’s check for fruit, check for vegetables. Continue.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He cleared his throat and quickfire listed the rest of the list, refusing to spend much longer on the absurd list. “Okay, so, sun block, lip balm, insect repellent, stationary, portable chess set – when are you gonna have time for that?! Uh, photos of your dad, your aunt, and of course, the very handsome and extremely modest Detective Gumshoe!” He ran a hand through his hair and stood there proud of himself.
“Got every last bit of it!” The boy responded, smirking at how well prepared he was.
“Before I forget! I got you this – maybe you’ll find someone as good as you at poker over here! He pulled a pack of brand new cards out of one of his many pockets and handed it over to the young boy, making sure the design on the front was visible. “Steel Samurai ones, special edition, had to hunt these down with the help of my lovely girlfriend!” Apollo rolled his eyes at the mention of Gumshoe’s girlfriend. Whenever he’d mention her he’d get all giggly and he’d blush like crazy with that goofy smile of his. Maggey was sweet and the two of them deserved each other after all the time they had spent dancing around the topic, but it was so silly to Apollo. That and it made him feel a sad feeling as he would remember how Papa no longer had anyone to share his life with… But he couldn’t think of that when he was supposed to be happy and ready to spend the first three weeks of his summer holiday at camp.
“I don’t think anyone will, but we’ll see.” Apollo grabbed the back of card enthusiastically, tucking it away in his trouser pocket, as the other ruffled his hair. “And thanks for bringing me, Gumshoe.” The boy weakly slapped the man’s large hand from his head. His Papa had already made him leave his hair gel at home, so he couldn’t comb it back with his two little horns like he liked it to be; he certainly didn’t need Gumshoe messing it up anymore.
Gumshoe stood up with a booming laugh, turning back to get into the car but spinning on his heel and dropping to his knees to catch Apollo the strongest hug he could. Apollo hugged back as well as he could with his limiter movement. “Remember I’m ready to take a day off of work to come and get you whenever – just call me yeah?” He released Apollo who had squeaked out an okay and got into the car waving fiercely out the window.
“I’ll be fine! See you in three weeks!” Apollo shouted as the limo began to pull away, waving his arms and putting his Chords of Steel to good use.
“Miss ya already, kiddo!” Gumshoe smiled, waving at him until the car was completely out of sight. Apollo smiled to himself and began to fiddle with his bracelet once again, before he took his suitcase by the handle and dragged it along the ground ready to start his first experience of summer camp. He hoped for the best, that he’d have a lot to talk about with his Papa to fill the silence of doing paperwork when he got home.
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After finding their cabins, changing into their camp uniforms, and goofing around as children do, the bell for lunch rang through the entire camp and ordered everyone to attend the first meal of their stay at Fey and Co. Summer Camp. Just over a hundred kids all crammed into the cafeteria eager to be fed. Fun.
The idea itself didn’t seem all that appealing to little miss Trucy Wright, she was well prepared to sit and relax in her cabin with Pearl and her other cabin mates, three girls by the names Jinxie, Bonny, and Betty. Trucy had hit it off with all of them easily, surprised at the fact that all of them, except Jinxie, were an entire year older than she was. It was funny to listen to Jinxie talk about curses and demons, and Pearl was quiet but unafraid to speak her mind, and the twins had Trucy’s attention instantly causing her to ramble on about they could help with her magic shows and be her assistants. Her chattering would have lasted forever if not for the bell for lunch. She immediately made her way over to the buffet table to pile up almost everything she can on her plate until it’s almost overflowing with the amount balanced on it.
Meanwhile Apollo, at the other end of the line, picked out a goodly portion of food. A healthy amount, just as his Papa had brought him up. He knew his limits and what not to eat and so avoided them at all costs. Although… Those pancakes did look particularly fluffy and there wasn’t anyone to reprimand him for taking one or two more… And so, he stacked up a couple more pancakes onto his plate, drizzling them with a little bit more raspberry sauce then perhaps was needed. After all, he could just conveniently leave that out of his letter to his Papa.
Right before the middle of the table where the two lines merged, one Mia Fey squeezed her way into the middle and blocked both Apollo and Trucy from the bowl of mango in the centre of the table. “I’m sorry children, but I had to get some of this mango. My sister is practically begging me to get her a bit. Would you like any?” She held a spoonful of mango up to Trucy, the little girl’s eyes going wide and then her entire face scrunching up at the sight of them.
“No can do, I’m allergic.” She leant away and rushed off with her plate to join her newly found friends at the table they’d managed to secure for the four of them.
“Oh well that’s too bad. What about you? Mango?” The owner turned to Apollo with the spoon of mango, his face scrunching up in the exact same way as he moved his plate far away from the spoon of offending fruit.
“Sorry, I can’t. I’m allergic unfortunately.” Apollo answered quickly turning and wandering off through the sea of children to find himself a place to sit. Maybe with that boy from his cabin earlier. Clay, he believed his name was.
“Of course, you’re aller-” Mia stopped her sentence short and looked to the empty spot on her left and then over to the empty stop on her right. She put the mango on her own plate as a little extra could never hurt. She was sure she’d just asked that child if-
“Mia! Where are those mangos? I’m hungryyyy!”