(warmup writing piece that i gave up on in honor of the very short lived ice trauma club :( lasted 1 session :( trauma over :( )
"Hello everyone! And welcome to the first official ice trauma club meeting!" Vireo tries to put his hands up in the air, but they immediately smack into the hard stone ceiling, maybe standing on the bench wasn't the best choice for this.
Karma claps and cheers anyways, trying to make up for the complete lack of energy in the nearly empty room.
She's sitting cross legged on the only other sit-able surface in the room, the bed that they had stolen from the Nemesis Cabin, which took way too long to drag down to the mineshaft, so Karma always sits on there instead of the bench so that all of the effort it took to bring it down there isn't for nothing.
Vireo prefers the bench (Which is totally sturdy. Xe is absolutely not concerned for xer safety with every creak and tilt that it makes when he stands on it.), which he built himself.
He quickly jumps off of it, only to very carefully sit back down on it, resting most of his weight on his feet against the ground.
"So." Vireo says, after a few seconds of silence.
"So." Karma echos.
"What do we even do?"
"Talk about our ice traumas?"
Vireo thinks that he's already said as much as they wanted to say on it.
Nobody needs to hear about the time star spent in some foggy place between where he was and where he was supposed to be. The fog and static in the mind feeling like it was turning to ice in his mind and making everything harder, making it hard to move, to cry, to ask for help.
About the passing moments where they felt like they were going to die.
About the passing moments where they were okay with that.
Nope! That's its own problem. Xe's already been the indirect cause of way too much trauma among the campers. So much, honestly, that he's sort of shocked that they still like him. Which, realistically, is probably a stupid thing to think, considering they literally ventured deeper into a mysterious ice cave to save him, for some reason.
Maybe they just did that to get brownie points with the gods for doing a holy deed, or something. Or maybe Vireo should just stop being so critical of himself and everyone's opinions. It blames the other campers for giving them their weird self-deprecating personalities.
They look over at Karma, who seems just as hesitant about the idea, even though she was the one to say it in the first place.
He can't blame her though, what else would you expect a club with that title to do?
"Maybe not." Karma says.
"Maybe not." Vireo agrees.
Karma sighs, falling backwards on the bed and staring at the too-low cave ceiling. "You know this whole trauma thing's fun when you're building a room for it and forming a club. Not as fun when you actually have to talk about your trauma."
Vireo hums in agreement, pushing back a little on the bench, ignoring the creak of protest that it responds with. Maybe having to rebuild it for the five-millionth time could be a more engaging topic for the meeting.
But, y'know. They have to talk about it at some point. And neither of them actually have the money for professional therapy.
Vireo sighs. "Would it be cringe if I said thank you?"
"Maybe, for what?"
There's a few things honestly, and they don't know which one would accomplish the most. Maybe he should've thought this out before talking.
"I guess for being here. I mean, not that I thought you would leave me but... yeah."
He kind of wants to recoil at how weak xer voice sounded, but that would ruin whatever message their trying to get across (Cause even they don't know, at this point.)
Karma nods, before pausing, pushing herself back up into a sitting position, and nodding again. Like Vireo couldn't see it the first time. She swings her legs over the side of the bed and starts swinging them back and forth as she talks.
"Oh, then same. Glad that I can trauma bond with someone who's normal- and not still in middle school."
Vireo laughs at that, so does Karma.
"You're welcome." He says.
"You too." She replies.
