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Near silence. It was a common thing in the Duval household, especially in the evenings. Nothing but the sound of the pan's soup bubbling and the wooden spoon stirring. Reine, or Val as she preferred to be called, stood there stirring her soup in silence with a solemn face. Not a hint of emotion, seemingly unusual for a girl who spent a lot of her time conversing with others. With a smile on her face, too.

After she had turned the stove off, Val set the soup aside and scrubbed furiously at the remaining chopping boards and such at the sink. The water would come gushing out in gallons, almost disturbing - or rather, in a way saving her from - the house's irritating silence. The entire house was already rid of pesky germs from Val's intense cleaning and dusting session she had finished only about an hour earlier, but no matter how busy she kept herself it seemed that nothing could possibly break this household quietness. It put a small frown on Val's face and an even deeper frown inside whenever she knew there was nobody home, but this particular lonesome day left her face less crestfallen than usual. Debra, one of Val's closer friends, had initiated a get together for the whole group this evening. Just that in mind and the possibility of chewing on some Cheetos when she got there formed a little smile on Val's lips. She always found these types of things fun.

One of the only problems was that Debra lived quite a distance from Val. The girl didn't have a bike either, so the only way to get there was by foot. And the only way to conquer St Stephens’ scorching summer sun was by bringing a trusty bottle of water with her. Of course, Val had prepared in advance before she left the silent household. Such an organised person the girl was.

Unfortunately, she had no time to make any snacks on this occasion. She was pretty sure that with this searing heat, whatever she made would melt through her fingers anyways. Val wasn't going to risk coming home with a messy lunch box again. It happened in the past, and she wasn't willing to repeat it.

As expected of her, Val arrived a bit earlier than the others, of course greeting Debra with a lovely smile. By now she had gotten used to the… state Debra's meeting place was in, especially with all the interactions with the rest of the group keeping her distracted from her surroundings. If there was one thing that distracted Val the most, it would have to be keeping up with her quirky group of friends. It still surprised her how she had been drawn to this weird bunch, but she was by no means unhappy about it. Val was undeniably grateful. Almost nothing else in the world could make her smile more than being around those lot. 

Once more continued to file into the basement, Val greeted them with her usual cheery smiles and hellos. Her smile was truly genuine, now that a majority had made it to this small meeting. But secretly, deep down inside, Val was still waiting for someone to burst in saying that they had Cheetos on them. 

[b]“Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today for a very important reason. Operation: Madcat. It's happening. We start on Monday.”[/b]

The whole plan was like a wave of worries washing over Val. A hike up Kalispel Hill? Unsupervised? For a day and a night? Now, Val had to think deeply about this. Her father would most likely freak out at the idea at first, but probably after a bit of persuasion he would agree. Her mother?

[i][color=FFE4E1][b]Nope. No way. Nooooooo way.[/b][/color][/i]

As much as the idea intrigued her, Val was already starting to predict the outcome - a complete rejection from her mother.

[b]"What about the adults? Convincing even one of 'em is gonna be a camp-licated mission itself, ey?"[/b]

Val snorted. Daniel's terrible puns always got her. As the small boy was sent into a hellish coughing fit, Val patted his back to see if that would do any good.

[color=FFE4E1][b]“Everyone does have some decent points,”[/b][/color] Val chimed in with that infamous British accent of hers. [color=FFE4E1][b]“I doubt that we'll all be allowed to go hiking by ourselves without adult supervision. Felix made a good point though; maybe if someone's older sibling would be willing to keep an eye on us, then some of our parents wouldn't be so against the whole idea. I mean, as much as I would love to go with this plan I think my parents would be a little… worried if myself and a group of fourteen year olds were going out and sleeping for one night in the wildernesses alone."[/b][/color]