Rex

The creator of the camp is none other than the head of Piltover Academy, Hiemerdinger, who takes great pride in his role as camp leader and educator of most of the science lessons. That of which he was working on at the same moment his latest arrival to the camp drove up the dirt path, catching his attention. 

He watched constantly as a woman got out of the driver's side door, making her way to the back, grabbing bags from the trunk while calling out to the young boy who was seemingly slumped in the back seat. At the call, she seemed to get the attention of a staff member, one of the newer hires, if he remembers correctly, Sevika approached with professionalism, taking the bags as the mother retreated to the back seat of the car, attempting to tempt the child to exit the vehicle. After a few moments and a hug, the boy made his way out, holding tightly to his mother's hand as they followed after Sevika who was quickly approaching his office.

In a snap, as Heimerdinger realized he was staring, he tidied the papers on his desk and opened one of the drawers, revealing a slew of filed manila folders, pulling out the one labeled Jayce Talis, the presumingly last camper’s paperwork needing to be filled out. Just as he closed the drawer, the door opened, revealing Sevika, followed by the mother and son.

“Hey Boss, got the new admission,” Sevika stated bluntly, sidestepping for Jayce and his mother to enter the office. “Thank you very much Sevika! If you wouldn’t mind, would you please take Mr.Talis’s thing to where he will be staying while we finish up on the paperwork, jargon? If that is okay with you, Mrs. Talis?” Hiegmerdinger said, ushering the duo in to sit in front of his desk, looking back at Mrs. Talis for permission. “Yes, that will be fine, thank you, and please call me Ximena,” Ximena said to Sevika before turning to Hiemerdinger as the door closed.

Jayce sat nervously, playing with his hands before promptly playing them under his legs, taking in the room. It was relatively small as the walls were lined with an assortment of shelves and pictures, most of it was handmade things from previous campers as well as memorabilia from the camp. The room smelt of sunscreen and dust and an air conditioner roared as it combated the summer heat. As he looked around, his eyes kept glancing back to the bowl of fidgets on the old man's desk. Jayce quickly noticed that Hiemerdinger noticed his eyes darting away from the bowl.“You may play any if you wish, Mr.Talis, that is what they are there for.” Hiemerdinger said, reaching over to the desk, and happily pushing the bowl closer to the boy. 

Jayce quickly grabbed the one on the top of the pile that ended up being a Rubix cube as he grabbed the toy, he quickly glanced down as a shadow from under the desk caught his eye. “So Mr. Talis as your mother fills out the final paperwork why don't we chat about what you'd like to accomplish while you are here,” Heimerdinger said causing Jayce to whip his head up and looking at the counselor before darting his gaze to his mother who only nodded reassuringly as she scribbled on a sizable packet fastened on a clipboard.

“Okay,” Jayce said, adjusting himself to be sitting cross-legged on the chair as he rotated the pieces of the cube. “Amazing, why don't we start with your favorite subject in school,” Heimerdinger asked. “I'm good at gym.” Jayce stated, dully “I'm glad you're good at it, but do you like it?” “Not really, school doesn't really teach the stuff I like” “Then what do you like? What is your favorite thing?” Hiemerdinger asked playfully, causing Jayce's eyes to spark. “Magic! And astronomy and the science behind magic!” Jayce exclaimed, causing his mother to huff in amusement. 

“It's really cool, I have a ton of books at home on all the different types and even from different parts of the world. I even got into these books over the school year, where it's about a school that is all about teaching magic, it was really good!” Jayce rambled. “Ah yes, I believe I’ve read that series-” “Really!” “Yes, we have a few copies here, I've had multiple students do presentations on it before, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. Now I have a personal copy on my shelf back home,” Hiemerdinger recalled as Jayce sat in awe. 

“I guess that leads me up to my usual spiel, here at Camp Academy we strive to teach at each camper's individual pace using their interests in their specific curriculum with their own set goals. Using academics, physical activities, and the arts, we sculpt new ways to learn in and out of the classroom. Summed up, we make it fun to learn.” 

With that Ximena stood, “Well I think that's my cue, you're going to have so much fun here Mijo.” She said Jayce, quickly getting up to hug her. “Do you have to leave?” Jayce whispered, holding tight. “Remember what we talked about, you'll be fine, you'll make so many friends and have so much fun and learn so much then before you know it it'll be time to come home,” Ximena said, kissing the top of his head. 

Jayce slowly loosened his grip before pulling away, rubbing at his eyes. “Promise?” “I promise,” Ximena said reassuringly before ruffling Jayce's hair. “Bye, mijo I'll send so many letters and send snacks I promise.” She said with a wink before making her way out the door. Jayce watched from the window as his mom eventually made it to their car and drove away. 

“Well, Mr. Talis, how bout we get you started with a tour? Viktor, why don't you join us?” Hiemerdinger said, slowly tilting his head to the side to look under his desk. Jaycees face flushed in confusion, quickly he tried to peek over the desk, hoping that the camp counselor was talking to a dog. He slowly circled the desk and saw there was a dog bed but it was in fact not a dog but a boy. 

Before the boy could say a word, Jayce blurted out, “You're not a dog!” 

The other boy looked up from what looked like a boat. “I'm not,” he said. 

“Then why are you sitting in a dog bed?” Jayce asked pointedly, trying to recover from the outburst. “It's comfortable, I guess,” Viktor said, hugging his boat close, clearly uncomfortable from the attention. “Do I have to professor?” He said, quickly shifting his focus to Hiemerdinger.

“Yes, it will be good for you to get out of this stuffy office, come now,” Hiemerdinger said, ushering Viktor to scoot himself out from under the desk. “Is there anything we could get for your boat while we’re out?” he asked, ushering both himself and Jayce, giving Viktor room to get up.

At that moment, Jayce noticed the crutch that had been tucked up against the floor and the desk. As Viktor pulled it from under the desk, Jayce could see it was made of metal and had a multitude of stickers that were all in different stages of wear, and as he stared, he took in that the crutch looked worn with hints of rust on the bottom, and the handle was peeling. He watched as Viktor pulled himself up, slipped his arm into the forearm cuff and continued after Hiemerdinger through the door.

Jayce quickly realized he was being left behind and jogged to catch up. They continued through the building, passing by a few offices, then to a rec room, then making their way outside. Hiemerdinger had been speaking the whole time, explaining different rooms and the activities that occur, but Jayce couldn't take his eyes off the other boy. Every once in a while Viktor would glance back and Jayce would quickly look away, but his gauze just kept getting stuck.

It wasn't till they made it to a giant log building that Jayce was finally able to look away, compared to the blissful silence of the last building, this one was loud with voices and music, so loud they could hear it from outside. “And this is the Mess hall. It was built almost 120 years ago, it will be where most indoor activities will be held,” Hiemerdinger said, opening the screen door. 

Opening the door felt like a tidal wave as all the noise flooded out, making Jayce's grip tighten on the Rubix cube he just realized he had taken with him from Hiemerding's office by accident. As they stepped in and the door closed behind them, the girl from earlier, Sevika, approached them. “Got everything put away, the air conditioner is still being shoddy. Could you look at it quickly? She asked Hiemerdinger. “Why yes of course it shouldn't take too long, I'll be right back then back to the tour!” He answered, turning to the boys before darting off.

The two boys stood there in an uncomfortable silence, taking in the room of other kids playing. Jayce twisted the Rubik's cube and his gaze ended up back on Viktor and he realized that Viktor was much more tense. Maybe he's hot. He is wearing a hoodie, Jayce thought to himself, looking at the sweat on the other's brow. Viktor quickly snapped his head looking at him with a frown.

“Why are you staring?” Viktor asked to move his body to face Jayce.

This caused Jyce to flounder, not really knowing what to say, cause he didn't really know why he was staring. Maybe it was because the boy was so mysterious, he just had so many questions like why was he under the professor's desk or why was he wearing jeans and a hoodie in 80-degree weather, or why he used a crutch and why only one and- Oh shoot he's doing it again.

Jayce quickly pushed all the thoughts from his head, realizing that the other boy started to sink into his hoodie, becoming anxious about being ignored. “Sorry I didn't mean to stare, sometimes my brain gets super messy,” Jayce said, using his hand to demonstrate the chaos. “And sometimes I just blurt out stuff even though I don't mean to like about the dog bed and I sound mean but I'm not trying to be and I know you're not a dog and I'm really sorry.”

“It's okay,” Viktor said, looking through his bangs and smiling softly. “My head gets messy too,” he said looking down, grasping his crutch tighter. 

“Ah sorry to keep you waiting boys, why don't we finish the tour then Jayce you can take some time to get settled.” Hiemerdinger interjected. Both boys nodded before following after the counselor once more, wandering into each room and then to a few more buildings, then finally to the sleeping cabins. There were five cabins, four were for the camp staff and one big one for all the campers. When they entered the big one, Jayce immediately saw his stuff lying on top of one of the many bunk beds that lined the walls.

“Well, this is it, the end of our tour. If you have any questions, feel free to ask whenever, lunch will be at noon sharp, so meet back in the mess hall,” Hiemerdinger exclaimed, patting Jayce in the back. “Come now, Viktor, let's let the boy unpack,” he said to the other boy, ushering him towards the door. 

“Wait!” Jayce exclaimed, “Um, can Viktor stay to help me unpack?” He asked hesitantly. Hiemerdinger looked at the ceiling before shrugging his shoulders, “I don't see why not, just be back before noon, no dilly-dallying.” he said wagging his finger before taking his leave.

The two boys stand there for a moment before Jayce beelines towards his bed, Viktor silently following after sitting on the bed across from Jayce, pulling a book from under his pillow. “Woah there’s a goodie bag!” Jayce acclaimed. It was a tote bag with the camp’s logo on it, inside were a few shirts, a compass, a whistle, and a small baggie with a little wood bead inside. “Cool, did you get this stuff too?” He said, turning to Viktor and showing off the items. 

“Um, yeah, everyone gets stuff,” Viktor said curtly. “Sweet, um, what’s it all for?” Jayce asked, unfolding the shirts and looking at them in full. “Well, they want us to wear the shirts when we go on field trips or whenever we want, and decorate them however we want. The compass and whistle are for emergencies and the bead is for when we make bracelets. We get one each summer, we stay, I think they got the idea from a book series or something.” Viktor explained waving his book around.  

“Woah so you must have been here for a while,” Jayce said, grabbing Viktor’s wrist and inspecting the four beads entwined neatly with string, his gaze then shifted to the second bracelet on the boy’s wrist. “What’s this one for?” Jayce asked before thinking, causing them both to blush as they separated. “You ask a lot of questions,” Viktor stated 

Jayce flopped back onto his bed with a huff. “I know I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I just have so many that they are just piling up and I don’t know when or how to ask them right, I’m just gonna explode!” He exclaimed with his arms in the air. 

There’s a pause before Viktor speaks up, “If it would help, I can try to answer some of your questions,” “Really!” Jayce said, popping up. “Yeah, ask away,” Viktor said, laying back on his bed where they ended up talking till it was time for lunch. Jayce realized he put nothing away and promptly shoved it all under his bed before they both raced off to the dining hall.

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