Purple wings, aqua springs [Descendants: Uma x Mal]

devil's roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

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UMA

"Fuck."

Uma saw stars, her hands shooting down instinctively to her foot, where the blooming pain was making its way from throughout her left side.

"You alright, Uma?"

Gil was at her side in an instant, his amber eyes wide, his hand gripping at the exposed dark skin of her shoulder, checking Uma over for any damage. As unnecessary as that level of anxiety was, Uma smiled through the pain at Gil's worry, he was so pure without realisation, and Uma often found herself wondering what she'd done in her previous life to deserve such an innocent soul as her best friend in this one. (Uma was a strong believer in past lives, not to the point where it was all spiritual and shit, but she thought the idea of reincarnation was cool. Her and Gil were convinced she had been something majestic, like a dolphin or a Great White shark. Chad, another counsellor at the camp, laughs when they bring it up and says she's full of it, and that she probably would have been something ugly and clumsy, like an octopus and a squid. Usually, that's when Uma tells him where to put it.)

"I'm good," she breathes through clenched teeth, wiggling her left foot, slowly bringing back the feeling in her limbs.

"I think that was the last kayak, anyway," Gil rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Thanks again, Shrimps, for helping me do this. I can't believe I didn't check the schedule."

"What did I say about calling me that-" pain forgotten, Uma grabs Gil into a chokehold, cackling and mussing up his blonde curls into golden waves.

Despite the fact he's got a good three inches on her height-wise, Uma was strong, her body lean from years of manual work around the camp, as well as teaching water sports to the campers every year. Aqua Springs was her Mom's summer camp, just off the coast of Pennsylvania, and it was her home – she couldn't ever remember a time without this place in her life. It was her space, her comfort zone. She spent her infant years running around as a camper with the younger groups, until Ursula appointed her as a camp counsellor once she'd left school. It was a pretty sweet gig, and Uma knew she had it lucky to spend summers at a place like this, and she'd never wanted to leave her Mom to run this place on her own. Uma had become like a second-in-command when things got stressful.

It was times like this, though, when she couldn't help but question her decision of agreeing to stay this summer. Every year before the campers get here, the counsellors usually all pitch in to carry out any essential repairs, maintenance, and general tasks to regenerate the camp. Usually, they start a couple weeks before everyone gets here; that way it was all done in time, with little to no stress. Their routine was like a well-oiled machine, it had certain timeframes, and it worked smoothly, efficiently. This year however, it was a slightly different story, and as unofficial directing assistant, compliments of being the owner's daughter, Uma had been stuck fixing it. Gil was a saint, an angel, but efficiency was not his strong suit. Usually, the first week of camp was dedicated to getting the campers comfortable and settled in, with tours, hikes, and activities that eased them into the outdoors lifestyle. It was only after the campers had their confidence and wits about them did the programme venture out into more intense activities, but this year they'd had some renovations over the winter, which meant that this order had been slightly switched up.

Gil hadn't read the schedule, the schedule that Uma had sent out only about thirty million emails for and hadn't realised that kayaking had been moved to the first week of camp. Not a big deal, except the fact that the kayaks were stored in the cabins up in the mountains over the winter to prevent decay, and that was where they sat, or were sat, until Uma was stuck helping Gil hoist them down at four in the morning. It was now six. She loved Gil but Uma swore she could've killed him when she realised last night, sat by the main camp bonfire with the rest of the counsellors after the last minute preparations, that there was a distinctly empty dock and a noticeable lack of kayaks. She wasn't usually one to judge, everyone has their shit going on – but when she remembers that she shouldn't even be awake yet, does she have to stop herself from feeling that tiniest bit pissed. She'd sworn a lot last night. She should be greeting families, giving out baked goods and welcome packs, not lifting fifty-pound kayak boats into the back of a truck at the top of a mountain, only to be rewarded by one dropping on her foot and almost paralysing her.