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[img]https://33.media.tumblr.com/c9b717674422bca186c4902bc58851ca/tumblr_inline_nvvtpnide41rw9e7y_500.gif[/img]
[sub][i]"sweet [color=e7d5e3]dreams[/color] are made of [color=e7d5e3]this[/color]
who am i to... [color=e7d5e3]disagree[/color]"[/i][/sub]

[b][u]Location;[/u][/b] Early 5:00 A.M. Carson City Airport → Arrival at Camp Liberty
[b][u]Interacting With;[/u][/b] N/A, mention of Nessarose[sup][@lovely complex][/sup][/center][hr]

"Ugh," a light scoff grabbed Holden's attention from his spot on the carpet, clutching to a large duffle bag while music pounded in his ears. His mother had deigned to meet him and his father at the airport; their flights corresponded and, with no delays, she arrived at the same time he would be departing. They met near the security check, huddled with coffee in hand and music in ear.

"Any chance you have a razor in there?" she commented, giving his face a once over, "I leave for a client in San Diego for one second and you boys forgo any form of hygiene to look like mottled poodles."

"More like a grizzled bear," he heard his father mumble under his breath, twiddling his thumbs across his iPhone. He didn't take a moment to even look up to respond.

Grasping the carry on in his arms, Holden moved to let the embrace come to him and the curt peck on the temple. His mother frowned, setting her hands on Holden's shoulders while she gave him a once over. "I never understood why you insisted on this, but it's your last year, so make the best of it," she paused to catch his eyes, "understood?"

A nod sufficed and she patted him lightly on the cheek before rolling her small suitcase away, the clack of her heels muffled by the itchy carpet. His father followed suit, a muted wave of his hand - he didn't look up from the phone still clutched in the other. Typical. Holden frowned and took his time unlacing his shoes and dumping what he had to in the provided buckets. The rest, once he got his headphones back and his phone tucked securely in his pocket, went by without much conscious involvement on Holden's part. With everything paid for, he didn't have much to think about aside from the quiet beat pounding in his head and the steady rumble of an airplane that quickly melted away into the purring hum of a bus.

Things didn't change much from there. He threw his bag and suitcase onto the closest possible bed in the cabin, ignored the insistence of new counselors requesting he give them his electronics, and the lack of acknowledgement from the rest of the camp. The sudden hit from reality only came when Holden arrived at his usual designated area, a large oak tree off to the outskirts of the camp - closest to the one of the pink cabins. It took effort, as usual, to grasp his way onto the worn, low branch, but considerably less after having conditioned himself for his spring ballet sessions.

For awhile, reality sunk in for Holden and he let it. Resisting just meant the claws dug in deeper and the sun felt hotter on his skin. All he could do was ride out the inhalation of fresh, pine air and the ever impending doom of potential adulthood that lingered behind every last year's breath. Or maybe that was the Starbucks frappe.

Frappe or no, Holden's mind took a nosedive there. With the only option being a complete shut off, he closed his eyes and leaned against the steady bark, let it ground him, before the beat of the latest song sunk into his every bones. That grounded him further - whether in reality or his own mind, Holden felt too lost to differentiate. His head bobbed to the backdrop of a bass and his lips formed words that came unspoken. Any kind of music took Holden by the hand to guide him away from the stress of the world, his parents, imminent failure, the inevitability of student loan debt, and the always present condescension from other students that weren't liberal arts majors.

Having another person there to calm his mind didn't ever occur to Holden, until the spot on the branch not too far, and sitting a little higher from him, remained empty. The constant chatter of a young girl - he'd be the first to deny that aided in stabilizing his quiet meltdowns. Or the jumping, off-beat rhythm of another person trying to get some kind of response out of him. Though, at this moment, he'd take Nessa's chatter over actively moving - he needed to sit still if any kind catharsis were to be achieved. Maybe he'd text her, though that'd require actively doing something.

Waiting in painful silence it was, then.

[sub]"[color=e7d5e3]everybody's lookin' for something[/color]"[/sub]

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[sub][i]your [color=fcf3b5]smile[/color] is [color=fcf3b5]abrupt[/color] and [color=fcf3b5]everlasting[/color][/i][/sub]

[b][u]Location;[/u][/b] Airplane with his Parents → Arrival at Camp Liberty
[b][u]Interacting With;[/u][/b] N/A
[b](Quick note: anything said in italics is signed and not spoken)[/b][/center][hr]

"I don't agree with this," Daisy started her tirade like every other time Sunny shipped off to God Know's Where, California - who knew a state so famous could have a middle-of-nowhere. On some weird turn of events, both Daisy and Jacob had a flight to LAX where Daisy had a meeting with a prestigious client and Jacob just... wanted to follow. Like every other event, he thinly veiled this fool proof plan with: "[b]There's a Tea Convention in town. Kinda like Comic Con![/b]"

At least it fared better than, "[b]There's a cat collecting convention in town.[/b]" No one hated stray fur more than Daisy Morris; she refused to take him anywhere for a good three months.

True to course, Daisy saw right through this lie. However, she'd already started on one rant and wouldn't let up until she got the last say in. Due to the ever loud rumbling of a plane during take off, Sunny withheld putting his aids in and relied solely on the fact that his mother had excellent diction.

"Bunny, you never breathe twenty things that sends our kid ten trials weigh the lump phone," Jacob, knowing the routine, never once took his eyes off the Sky Mall magazine in his hands. He muddled his words, making it harder to actually know what came out of his mouth. Sunny squinted his eyes, trying to catch his father's attention by leaning forward. His mother paused, watching his movement closely with a furrow in her brows.

After a moment, Jacob caught on, gave a roll of his eyes skyward and signed, "[i]I said: honey, you never agree to anything that sends our kid ten miles away from home.[/i]"

"[i][color=fcf3b5]You suck at talking correctly. Sometimes I imagine you have a lisp, so I can tell people I have a normal dad,[/color][/i]" Sunny replied with an equally passive-aggressive roll of his eyes.

Turning to his wife, Jacob frowned. "He gets this from you."

"I'm just worried about him—"

"That's not a logical reply to what I just said."

"—there's a lot that could go wrong out there—"

"Okay, you're just steamrolling over me now. That's cool, Daisy."

"—it's in the middle of nowhere, Jacob. What are they gonna do if something bad happens to Sunny just because he can't hear as well as the other kids. Or his hearing aids broke. I'm not going to sit here in LA, leaning back in a cushy business class chair, sipping a goddamn martini—will you stop reading my lips?" Daisy cut herself off to snap at her son, making a show of propping his face on the back of a chair to watch his mother's mouth move. When he made no sign of leaning back, she took Jacob's magazine, rolled it up and smacked him clear on the head before unfolding it to cover her mouth while she continued speaking, "What I'm trying to say is that I worked my ass off to get to where I am in life, but I'm not willing to risk that for my son's safety."

"We go over this every time, Daisy," Jacob sighed, taking his magazine back to flip through the needless items. Sunny gave a swift nod to reinforce his father's statement, whatever it was. He signed the last part. His father cast a side glare in his direction. "Contrary to popular belief, they have working phones and officials trained for emergencies. If anything happens, they'll get help and call us immediately. There are quite a lot of kids that go to Liberty, enough to warrant special services to the disabled campers," he finished with a curt gesture toward Sunny.

"[i][color=fcf3b5]Hey, if I die in the wilderness, at least you can file a lawsuit and probably win out on a few hundred thousand.[/color][/i]"

Daisy made absolutely no move to respond, only smoldered her glare into her son's smiling face as they began their decent into Los Angeles.

To give her room to breathe, Jacob shoved Sunny into their rental car and made for the somewhat long drive toward Camp Liberty. It mostly came off as uneventful, with mostly small talk and Sunny eventually dying to the world in his slumber. Once they arrived, they gathered everything in Sunny's possession and Jacob embraced his son in a tight squeeze before grasping him at arm's length. He let go to sign while he talked, a bright smile on his face, "You know this talk. Don't do drugs. Don't drink. Don't party too hard. Make lots of friends and if you get a boyfriend, use condoms—"

"[color=fcf3b5]Jesus.[/color]"

"—for both oral and anal sex—"

"[color=fcf3b5]Mary and Joseph.[/color]" He didn't realize his father would go that far.

"—and don't forget to call your mother at least once a week. I'm only in LA for a few days, so she'll likely be tearing her hair out over meetings. She'll need the reassurance that her son isn't getting eaten by crocodiles."

"[color=fcf3b5]I'm not even going to acknowledge the geographical and biological mistake. Bye dad. Tell mom she's great. Love you both. Bye. Bye. Nope. Bye,[/color]" Sunny continued on, grabbing everything in his possession and making his way far, far away from his father whilst the man continued signing sex ed nonsense. If his parents were happy (moderately happy; Jacob carried most of the weight there), then there wasn't much to worry about. Friends or no friends, this would be a year to remember. At least, that's exactly what Sunny hoped to achieve. Of course, being the sunshine he personifies, even if things fell short, he'd still consider it worthy memories and call it his best year. Hopefully. There was no losing that spark, but even Sunny knew that things sometimes got bad and sometimes got even worse. He'd try his best.

Maybe take that a step further, if at all possible.