In segments of twenty to thirty minutes you are brought into the lead Park Ranger's office alone. A wooded room decked out in posters claiming positive attitudes and cats that are hanging for their lives with the taglines of "Hang in There Baby" scrawled across them. On a pitiful office desk a cheap plastic name tag reads Oliver Hanes. You know that he probably went and got that made himself at the local office depot, but you don't care. You glance to the family portrait on his desk, his wife and two sons and a daughter smile back at you almost creepily before your attention is grabbed by Oliver's voice repeating himself, "Did you get all of that?" Admittedly between the drab lecture of rules and the blasting of the air conditioner hook up you didn't hear much of anything, but you nod anyways. Oliver smiles, a similar toothy grin that his family in the picture in front of you share. "Perfect. Here's your radio, and I'll lead you to your tower." he states. Putting his hands on his desk and hoisting himself up. He hands you a large radio that has a piece of tape over some of the knobs indicated with different letters.

"I'm really happy that a lot of young teens came out to help this year. It gives me hope in our future of the forest. You can communicate with one another through the radio. Each watchtower is indicated with a letter, and that corresponds with the radio station. Station A will a group channel between all of the towers. If you need me at the front desk where we came from, you can call the number you called to apply with. Do NOT use the phone for anything else though. I don't want you calling your friends all summer. It's for emergencies only."

Reaching your designated tower you go up the flight of steps and reach the box. It is surrounded by glass and you can see deep into the forest, the lakes, canyons, and other features the park had to offer. It's breathtakingly beautiful. He shows you where the fridge and microwave are, a small boombox, a box of supplies such as a first aid kit, batteries, and a pack of 10 batteries. Oliver than proceeds to show you your cot(s), the place where you'll or perhaps you and another person will be sleeping the rest of your summer. It's not ideal but it's better than the floor. As you get a good feel of the place, commenting as you please. He points out the porta potty outside that has a small outdoor shower attached.

Before leaving Oliver hands you a pair of binoculars. Before letting go he meets eyes with you, speaking once more "There are a few rule books under the cot if you see anything suspicious or dangerous and don't know what to do. Don't venture out at night, and don't venture without your radio." he releases his grip and smiles. Before descending the steps and disappearing back to what you would assume is the front desk to bring in the next ranger. Plopping down on the bed, your brought bags at your feet. The reality quickly setting in of what you signed yourself up for.

Welcome to the easiest summer of your life.

---

---

Tricia's mother had insisted driving her up to the job. Though she was happy the girl had taken an immediate action when she told her she had needed a job for the summer, she thought maybe the girl would pick the McDonalds down the road from the trailer park not spending months at a time away from home. Kimberly was going to miss her little firecracker, even if it meant her not getting in trouble for a few months. As their red jeep came to a stop in front of the building Oliver had described, Kimberly threw her arms around her daughter and planted kisses all along her rounded cheeks. Tricia's bright green eyes closed, "Aww come on mom, I will be back before you know it." she said it, as her mother began to tear up. Tricia rolled her eyes as she hopped from the passenger seat and walked around to the trunk.

Her beat up high tops kicked the dirt under her feet. Tricia wore very comfortable clothing, a purple half top underneath a pair of short overalls. Her one strap hung off her, against her side where her skin was slightly showing. It was terribly hot, her light brown curls pulled up into a high pony tail, complete with a purple scrunchie. Grabbing her backpack and a medium sized suitcase she placed the bag on her back and began pulling the suitcase up to the door. She gave a final wave to her mother before walking in and being greeted by Oliver.

Tricia wasn't paying attention to anything that Oliver had to say. Her mind traveling to the bag of weed she had bought just before the trip from a guy a few trailers from hers. She was wanting to sit out in the sun, smoke, listen to music and get paid all summer. The perfect plan. Getting slightly startled by Oliver, she nodded her head. "Sounds cool man." she said, standing up with him as they took the trail down towards her watch tower.

Out of breath and sweaty the path towards Eucalyptus was more exercise Tricia had gotten in probably her entire lifetime. When she looked at the step she muttered, "Shiiiiit man." and Oliver looked to her puzzled. She gave a weak smile as she struggled up the steps, Oliver quick in front of her. She wondered why he didn't even ask to help her with her stuff, but part of her didn't really care either way. She just wanted to sit down after all this damn movement.

Oliver's words of warning and instruction went into Tricia's overly pierced ear and out the other one. She nodded, wide eyed as Oliver continued to pointing out stuff. She set her suitcase down in a lump on the floor, not really caring what happened to the contents. Her backpack she was more careful about placing it gently on her cot, not wanting to break her pipe or reveal any of the contents she had inside. Though she assumed most people didn't care about that stuff, she knew it probably wasn't the best idea to tell the man that she had promised to watch for forest fires- that she was going to be lighting up as soon as he left.

Taking the binoculars to her chest she was off put by the aggressiveness Oliver was showing. He was definitely a business guy, though he smiled like he at least knew how to have a good time every once in awhile. Tricia thought back to the photo on his desk, his family seemed happy enough too. As soon as Oliver departed, Tricia undid her shoes and settled in on the cot, dropping the binoculars to the ground. She pulled her feet under her as she sat cross legged in the bed. Opening her backpack she pulled out her weed, pipe, the lighter from her pocket and got to work as quickly as possible. Taking a big inhale she reached over and turned on the boombox, some west side hip hop erupted from it as she began coughing her lungs out. It was no wonder she had such a problem climbing the steps.

She continued taking hits, as she got herself a snack and cold coke from the fridge. She switched between the activities. This wasn't too different from home, granted this was a bigger space than her own bedroom at home. She looked to the hand radio, switching it on to A curiously. "Is there anybody out there?" she questioned, as she shoved a handful of chips into her mouth. She waited patiently to see if anyone would respond. The sun bright and hot behind her.

Quinten had insisted on taking one of the family's 3 cars so that they would not have to worry about picking him up when the summer ended, but reluctantly he sat in the passenger seat as the eldest, his sister Jennifer, drove him. It was a rather quiet drive, with neither deciding to try and have a conversation after Quinten's awkward departure. As he stared out the window, he vividly recalled his parents reactions... or rather, a lack thereof. "Alright, I'll see you guys at the end of summer." He told them, to which he was met with silence. Having rolled his eyes now at the situation, he supposed it would be best if he was away from home. At least the silence was something that was supposed to happen in the forest, seeing as he would practically be alone. When they finally arrived and Quinten opened the trunk to get his bag and backpack, his sister couldn't help but reassure him. "You know, they really do love us, even if they don't show it all the time." She said, though he could detect her lack of confidence in that. "I'm pretty sure they don't show it at all, but I'll take your word for it." He told her, to which she simply chuckled and scratched the top of his head playfully, proceeding to hug him before getting back into the car and driving away.

Turning to face the lodge, Quinten was wearing hiking boots, along with tan shorts and a simple green T-Shirt. Clutching his camo backpack in one hand, his other on his suitcase, he soon entered the Park Ranger’s Office. Though, he was slightly ashamed that he was not paying attention to what Oliver was saying, lost in his own thoughts and believing it would be rude to start paying attention in the middle of his explanations. So when he was asked if he got all of it, it snapped Quinten back into reality to where he gave a simple nod and hastily replied “Yeah, yeah I got it.”

The trail to his watchtower wasn’t that bad in his mind, somewhat glad that if he needed to hurry along it in a jog or run it would remind him of cross country back at school. While he never really liked long distance, he supposed he could be thankful now that his tower seemed pretty far. Though, he could do without crossing the creek every time, at least glad that they had a foot bridge so that he wouldn’t have to get wet. But when he noticed the stairs that lead up to the tower where he’d be staying, he couldn’t help but let out a disappointed sigh along with an “Awww…”. Sure, he wasn’t in bad shape by any means, but it still meant lugging his luggage up along with a backpack what would feel like uphill now.

It felt like forever until he reached the box, sweating and tired as he opened the door and quickly put down his stuff nearby. He listened intently this time as Oliver pointed out the various things he’d need to know were where. As it looked like Oliver was leaving, he gave Quinten some binoculars, telling him there were rule books under his cot if something may happen, along with how he shouldn’t be out at night and without his radio. It gave Quinten mild suspicion, but he assumed it must be the wildlife that may go active at night and be aggressive. Guess that meant no late night bathroom runs, but at least he was more of an early bird than a night owl and didn’t feel he’d need to worry.

Waiting until Oliver was out of sight, Quinten started to ponder what he should do next. He pulled out of his backpack his sketchbook, along with several pencils, each with varying degrees of eraser left, and started to picture all the possibilities of what he could do. It was certainly bigger than he expected, and it would probably be more comfortable than his own home too. No one to yell at him, just a beautiful scenery waiting to be put onto paper, and several rule books just dying to be read. He made sure to make a mental note to read them soon, just so that he’d be prepared if something did go wrong. Though, that thought shifted when he wondered if he could use the binoculars to maybe spot something to sketch instead.

So he was a bit startled when the radio suddenly began to work, hearing the voice of a girl who he assumed was of similar age broadcasting from it. She asked a simple question, if anyone was out here, and so he decided he would at least make first contact.

“Oh hey. My name’s Quinten, what about you?” He tried to start off on a good foot with this stranger, seeing as they, they being the other teenagers, would most likely be the only other people he’d be able to talk to this entire summer. So, he was hoping he’d make a good first impression on all of them, but deep down he felt like he would screw it up somehow. Maybe introducing himself right off the bat wasn’t the best idea, but it was too late now.

Trisha... Adam... Megan... Ethan... Penny...

8... 8... 10... 14... 16...

These were the siblings of Vanessa Chambers, listed from youngest to eldest. As always. Vanessa liked listing things this way. Smallest to biggest, least to most, few to many, lowest to highest.

"Nessa, I made you something."

Trisha, one of the eight year old twins, shyly held out a large paper heart with the words "We will miss you Nessa" sloppily scrawled on the front with several stickers. Vanessa instantly recognized some of them as her sister's most prized (because they were "big and shiny"). Behind her, Vanessa's other siblings were crowded around the television watching Animaniacs. It was a typical Saturday morning, unlike any other.

"Ah, thanks, Trish," Vanessa said, admiring the heart for a brief moment before handing it back, "But you know I can't take it with me, right? I already have too many things to carry as it is."

Perhaps most eight year olds would have been completely heartbroken over such a rejection, but Trish was somewhat used to her sister's over-the-top practicality. She pursed her lips and nodded, looking a little irritated if anything. "Are you staying in a water tower?" Adam asked, leaning over the back of the couch with a mouthful of chips.

"No, I'm not staying in a water tower. People don't stay in water towers."

"The Anamaniacs do," he grumbled.

With her bag already slung over her shoulder, she briskly walked up to the boy and snatched the bag of chips out of his hands, rolling up the top and tossing them onto the kitchen table. She lightly pinched the boy's ear and leaned down close, "If you eat chips on the couch while I'm gone, I'll find the crumbs, you know."

The boy's eyes widened and he swallowed. His bottom lip stuck out and he made a goofy whimpering sound. "Ok, sis...."

"Will you leave already?" Penny yawned irritably, strewn across the armchair with a game boy in hand. Vanessa rolled her eyes, gave everyone one final goodbye hug, and left. Her father had slept in that morning and she didn't want to disturb him. He probably wouldn't even notice she was gone until tonight-- when dinner didn't magically appear on the table.

Firmly gripping the wheel of her well polished (and well dented) 88' Ford Escort, her mind went over her list of supplies over and over again. She had purposely packed more than she could carry on the off chance she would be able to drive her car directly to her watchtower.

Upon arriving, it immediately became clear that driving her car any further than the office wasn't going to be an option. She found this deeply troubling. She'd brought eight 36 x 36 wood boards to paint. She could easily bring the 12 x 12s, but that was going to really cut down her estimated profit for this summer. She mentally sighed, thinking how she would have to rework the numbers later today as her eyes rested on a picture of her boss' family.

"Did you get all of that?"

Utterly mortified to realize she'd missed everything her boss had just said, she nodded and smiled without missing a beat, "Yessir."

The hike through the forest might have been a little more pleasant if Vanessa hadn't been carrying so much, but it was necessary if she was going to make it anywhere near her Summer Savings goal. Although the trees and underbrush were abuzz with life, Vanessa found herself looking up more than down. The forest was thick. She couldn't see the clouds very well... which meant she wouldn't be able to see the stars. Before she got a chance to feel too disappointed, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips as they came into view of Watchtower Garden Snake. She noted the massive windows and the way it towered defiantly above the trees.

She adored the practical simplicity of the tower and her room. The best part was probably that she didn't have to share it with anyone. During the hike up, she had learned that some of the other employees weren't as fortunate. Not that having a roommate would be the end of the world, but it would definitely be a distraction, as people always were.

Upon being handed the binoculars, Nessa only nodded. She didn't feel particularly threatened by Mr. Hanes' warning at all. Of course, he only said that for liability reasons. She'd read the contract they'd had her sign. As long as she followed the rules, she'd be fine. Speaking of rules....

No. She was getting ahead of herself. It was time to unpack and get situated. Then she would need to eat lunch. After approximately (or possibly, exactly) two and a half hours, she picked up the rule book. Just before she was about to open it, however, the staticky "KSH!" of her radio heralded the voice of a girl who sounded about Vanessa's age.

"Is there anybody out there?"

What? Was there an emergency already? As she began to stand up out of her chair, another voice answered the girl-- this time belonging to a boy.

“Oh hey. My name’s Quinten, what about you?”

Introductions. She sank back into her chair and picked up the rule book. She didn't want to waste her time with something like that. But she had to admit, it would be useful for everyone to at least know someone existed at Watchtower Garden Snake. Nonetheless, she didn't want to introduce herself more than once, so she pulled the rule book up to her face and idly thumbed through the pages as she listened to the conversation play out. Two down, three to go-- she was going to wait until she was sure everyone was listening. Then she would briefly introduce herself and then she could get back to reading the rule book.

---

---

This was going to be the last trip to the market before the whole summer job began. Tori stepped through the doorway with a sandwich in her hand, suddenly greeted by a gust of wind from the air conditioner. Ahh, how much she loved East Asian markets. They were the only ones that sold silkworms. She adjusted the straps of the backpack she was wearing. She had had barely enough money to buy herself a sturdy bag. Although jobs at graveyards were boring, they paid a lot. She was kind of glad that she got fired, though, as it led her to the job she was taking up now. She had never really connected with nature before. She had always stayed inside all day working away at the projects and tests that her school required her to do. This was going to be great.

After picking up a shopping basket, Tori turned around the corner to find the aisle with the cans of silkworms. Locating the cans, she studied each one carefully. These would have to last her the whole summer. Tori basically dumped the entire row of the cans into the basket. “Perfect.” She rushed towards the cashier, not wanting to be late for her job. “Samanweonibnida,” the woman said.

“What? Oh, sorry, I don’t speak Korean,” Tori replied.

“It is forty dollars.”

Tori handed her the cash and impatiently waited for the woman to be done. As soon as the woman handed her the receipt, Tori ran out of the market, towards the bus stop. The bus ride was going to take her approximately 2 hours, and she was going to have to walk for half an hour after that.

She ended up waiting for the bus for about 30 minutes. While she was waiting, Tori carefully counted the cans. “Twenty…I hope that’s enough.” She took a bite out of her sandwich. In all that hurry, she had forgotten to eat the precious meal she had managed to get in her hands. Quickly stuffing the sandwich in her mouth, she reached for a can of silkworms. Immediately, she stopped herself. She was going to have to save these cans for when she got there. After all, she ate more when she got nervous.

She slept for most of the ride there. She was extremely tired, as she hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. She was way too excited for this job. She would be able to talk to more people!

Tori jolted awake as soon as she heard the driver announce that they have arrived at Camp Kanarock. She rushed off the bus with her backpack. She didn’t have a duffel bag or anything, for she didn’t have a lot of belongings to bring with her. Just a few pairs of clothes and toiletries. Nothing fancy. Tori started to walk, taking in the views around her.

---

As Oliver was explaining the rules, Tori looked over at the desk. There were many rocks and stones scattered everywhere. This was going to be her place. When Oliver made sure she knew everything, she stuttered, “Uhm, uhh…yeah, sure…”The way up to the watchtower was interesting. Tori tripped definitely more than once. That was probably because she was wearing old running shoes, but she didn’t have any other shoes. She was just going to have to get used to it.

Tori listened intently while Oliver explained everything.

“Hey, um, I have a que-,“ Tori said, reaching out to Oliver as he turned around to leave the watchtower. It seemed as though he didn’t hear because he closed the door on his way out. Disappointed, Tori looked around the room. She had heard that she was sharing the room with another person, but since she was nowhere to be seen, Tori guessed that she wasn’t here yet.

Tori walked over to her desk. She carefully took out her rocks and laid them out on the corners, making sure to place one in her pocket. She also pulled out various pieces of string used to make bracelets. She had made a pink chevron bracelet for her ‘roomie’. “I hope she likes it…” After putting down her planner and her stickers, she placed her bag on the side of the desk, making sure to put it somewhere she won’t trip over.

When Tori looked out the window, she saw a great body of water. She looked down at her map. That body of water was the Jonesy Lake. “Jonesy… JoNEHsy? Joooooooonsey..”

She heard a sound coming from her walkie-talkie. She couldn’t hear anything the person said, but she did catch the part with chips crunching. She barely heard the male introduce himself, as she was already talking into the device. “Hey! I’m Tori! I hear you have chips… Where did you get them? I LOOOOOVEEE chips… Especially the vinegar kind. What kind of chips do you have right now?”

Thursday. It was one hot day in sunny California, though maybe that was a bit of a sign of things to come. At least, that's what Felix hoped for. Things seemed like they were set up to be the start of a nice, relaxed summer. The trip to the camp from the last place he had been staying was short, especially since he was living out of his car. As he pulled up to the camp to park, an audible groan came from him as he saw his parent's vehicle parked there. How had they heard he was going to be here? Parking his old, red 1986 Jeep Cherokee, the teen nearly slammed the door shut.

The heat never seemed to bother the upper class adults, or at least they never showed it. The middle aged man and woman left the their comfortable car, walking swiftly to their rebellious son.

"Felix Anderson Westbrook! How dare you work for such a... Dirty place. Your father and I were right in our-" Dolores, Felix's mother started to shout at the teen, only to be quieted by her husband.

Anthony Westbrook lowered his hand that he used to interrupt his wife, keeping a distasteful look from his expression. "Dolores, that is no way to greet our son. As upset as we are with him, there is no reason to push him further." Dolores kept her mouth shut, nodding as she cast a discreet glare to their disappointment.

"Really? You two are still on about me being a disgrace to the family?" Felix sighed hands rubbing his temples. There went the good feeling about the start to things now, thanks to these two. "I thought you would have understood by now... I don't care about the family name, I don't! I'm here to get a start on what I want to do, on who I want to be. I'm not here for attention from you two so I can get dragged back home and have all your high strung tendencies forced on me with threat of punishment daily."

Felix and his father bickered for what seemed to be some time, until Felix grabbed his duffel bag and his guitar case. He was blatantly ignoring his parents as they tried to coerce him into going home with them. The rebellious teen tried his best not to slam the door to the camp office behind him after he was led in, looking to Oliver, a bit embarrassed as he must have heard all the arguing.

It seemed like his new boss didn't seem to mind though, as he got right to explaining everything once Felix had sat down. Between his parent's failed attempt to force him back into a 'proper' life and the decorations around the office, the teen was far too distracted to catch any of the lecture. Blinking, Felix looked back to Oliver from the man's desk. "Oh... Uh, yeah. I-I got it."

Felix kept in mind what he did catch from his boss, nodding as he looked at the radio. At least it wasn't that bad. Not horribly overbearing rules, a pretty relaxed feel, seemed better than he had initially thought. He snapped from his thoughts, almost not noticing that Oliver had started to lead him off to his tower. He caught up quickly, glad to be wearing light clothing and some tough boots for the walk.

Once in his tower, after having looked at what he had to work with, he nodded, looking to his boss. "Huh, not bad. Think I could get used to this." He turned to Oliver, presented with the binoculars, going to take them. He paused as the man didn't let go, adding onto the rules. It was a tad odd how he got a smile right after being so very serious for a moment. Staring at the binoculars, he waited as Oliver left.

The heavy duffel bag plopped from the floor as Felix slipped it from his shoulder. That held his essentials: clothing, toiletries, notebooks with writing tools. He had a stash of picks in one of the pockets too, if he ever ran out of them on his person. The guitar case on the other hand, he set lightly on the bed, opening it to see his prized possession. Taking it out and setting the case aside, Felix sat himself on his bed, legs hanging off the side, his radio plopped down beside him. Starting to strum a couple cords, the teen nearly missed the chatter on the radio.

Sounded like some of the other rangers were already here and just getting to introductions. Sounded like a nice bunch, so far. He was tempted to introduce himself, but he still was a bit on edge thanks to the 'welcoming party' when he got to camp. Keeping tabs on the radio, Felix continued to play, nothing coherent, more of a random assortment of notes in no good order.

Kyle was sitting in the passenger seat of the car as his mom drove. He had the window down and his head almost out of it, almost like a dog. He heard his mom talking, he wasn't really listening though. There had been many conversations in his family about this job ever since he had decided to take it about a month ago. Kyle had been told repeatedly how he didn't need to take this job, he could get one closer to home. Ever since they had come in to a substantial amount of money his parents had not wanted him or his sister to work bad jobs. He sighed, "Mom, we've been over this, I think this job'll be good for me." He moved his head away from the window and faced his mother, "I'll be outdoors, you're always saying I'm spending too much time playing my games and watching my shows. Plus it's safe, do you really think they'd let a bunch of teenagers be out here it it wasn't safe?" He saw his mother process this for a minute before opening her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her, "No mom, no buts, we're almost there. Plus, if I were to leave now what kind of person would I be? It wouldn't be very respectful or responsible, you guys raised me better than that." That was the end of the discussion, Kyle was glad he wouldn't have to have it again.

They arrived at the main office shortly after they finished talking. Kyle grabbed his things from the back, hugged his mom goodbye, and went inside. Without the wind from the moving car blowing in his face Kyle realized how hot it was today. The AC in the office was doing its best, but he was still too hot for his liking, especially since he wasn't doing anything. Oliver finished up his opening speech which Kyle had heard almost none of, not wanting to be rude though when he noticed Oliver had finished he replied with a somewhat shaky, "uh, yes, ya, I got it." Then there was the long walk to his watchtower for the summer, which was the furthest one from the office Oliver had informed him. Kyle was happy he had packed on the essentials, clothes, toiletries, acoustic guitar, and some "natural herbs" along with his favourite pipe to smoke them. They got to the tower and Kyle asked for a minute before going up the stairs, "hoo, just need a sec before all those stairs, real hot today, y'know?"

Once Kyle had caught his breath they went up to his new home for the summer, Oliver gave one last speech with a warning then headed on his way. "Why would I leave without my radio?" Kyle wondered aloud as he noticed 2 cots, apparently he'd be sharing for the summer, which was fine as long as the guy was cool. He also noticed that right near his tower was a cave of some kind, he made a mental note that he'd have to go explore it at some point. Kyle grabbed a water from the fridge and took out his guitar to retune it, he found if he ever traveled it would get ever so slightly out of tune which was a bit of a pain. Once it sounded how he liked it he heard some voices on the radio, introducing themselves and whatnot. He picked up his own radio and figured he should get in on the conversation, "Hey there, this is Kyle from watchtower Cactus."

Gulping, she was sure as hell surprised that someone had surprised so quickly, let alone a boy. She started to respond, "Hey I-" before a blast of energy came from the radio in the form of another person. This time a girl. Tricia couldn't help but smile at her energy. She could tell this girl was going to be fun. "Oh my God." Tricia said with a laugh. "Hey, i'm Tricia. I got these chips from the box next to the fridge. Um, that's what I chose, cause they are my favorite too! They sure are good Tori. Mmmmmm mmm mmm." she teased the girl, taking another hit from her pipe, coughing again waiting for response. Tricia thought of herself as humorous. In hindsight she should have said something to Quinten but she figured that she had all summer to say something to him.

Another boy introduced himself, and Tricia nodded. She was trying to remember how many towers there were. She recalled that there were six in total, but she wondered how many people there were in each. She was thankful she had watchtower Eucalyptus to herself. That meant no one to tell her what to do, and no one that she had to tell what to do either. Eating some more of her chips she continued to wait for more people to speak. Crumpling up her empty bag of chips she tossed it towards the trash can, missing it completely. After, she took out one of her notebooks from her backpack, and looked at the map that was given to her earlier by Oliver. Writing down each of the tower names, she started to match things. Kyle was in Cactus. She was in Eucalyptus. Tori and Quinten hadn't mentioned their locations yet, but assumed that they would soon.

Meanwhile..

A house in the midst of the forest is lively with argument. The voices aren't distinct enough to be known but various tones can be heard inside. A loud bang could be heard, and then the small cry of a young child. The small house is now eerily quiet, the shades closed tight. The back door opens and a young man can be seen dragging out a large garbage bag. He then places it into a dumpster on the edge of one of the park grounds next to Five Mile Creek. The flies are swarming to it in no time. Visitors don't pay too much attention to it, throwing their own garbage on top of it as they go about their day.

The conversation continued, drifting towards the subject of chips as two other kids introduced themselves-- Tori and Kyle. With each new voice, Nessa felt tempted to join in the conversation. Even with her strict summer schedule, she had more free time than she knew what to do with. That was why she'd brought so many books and labeled several gaps in her planner as "Something Productive". While she didn't exactly feel like talking about chips was productive, she had read somewhere that you should start networking before you need it. College was fast approaching and maybe one of them had parents in high places... or would one day be in high places themselves.

She caught herself before she delved too deep into the realm of possibilities. "Forget your agenda. Remember-- people, not positions," she muttered to herself under her breath. She'd always felt like speaking out loud helped refocus her mind-- though she suddenly felt a little silly for speaking so quietly. She was alone out here after all.

Alone... forget your agenda... it would be nice to have friends... for a change.

She snatched up the radio as she considered making a joke about the fact that all the food here was junk food. That would be funny... right?

"He-" she started, but was suddenly cut off by a distant bang. She took her finger off the button and stared out the window where several disturbed birds had just jumped from some place among the trees. She looked down at the binoculars on the desk, ignoring any voices that might be coming through the radio. She picked them up and leaned close to the glass window. It was probably just someone hunting... was hunting allowed out here? She couldn't remember.

Through the lens she saw a house. People didn't usually hunt near houses... right? Upon seeing several other people walking about, she concluded that it definitely wasn't somebody hunting. If anyone fired a gun over there with so many people around, they might risk hitting... someone....

She watched uncomfortably as a man dragged an irregularly shaped bag of trash from the house to the dumpster. She furrowed her brow. Yeah, right. As if she'd witness a murder her first day on the job. She pensively tapped the binoculars in her hand with her fingernail for a moment before picking up the radio.

A little unnerved, she rubbed the palm of her hand against her forehead as she spoke, "Hey... Sorry about that. This is Vanessa Chambers-- from Garden Snake. Do any of you guys remember if they allow hunting out here?"

Quinten was glad that the conversation was going on smoothly without him, allowing him to take a small sigh of relief that he didn't sound desperate, or rather, that they didn't pay his introduction any real mind. He turned the page of the sketchbook in front of him, grabbing his regular writing pencil so that he could write down the names and watchtowers associated with said names. The first was Tori, though he didn't get the name of her watchtower as she didn't say it. Or... maybe she did, and he just didn't catch it with the entire 'hey, there are chips!' sorta thing she did. If he was to be honest, it caught him off guard a little by her sudden response to the sound of chips. Didn't Oliver tell them where everything was, or had she not payed attention to that like he didn't when he was in Oliver's office? He supposed that was a question for later. Though, her energy did help him visualize Tori a bit more, making him somewhat curious as to her appearance.

The next on the scene was someone Quinten felt he could probably get behind, at least with how straightforward his answer was. As he wrote down Kyle's name and watchtower, his brain began to formulate some sort of image solely based off the sound of his voice. Though, he decided he probably wouldn't sketch the tiny image he saw right now either. He didn't want to be disappointed if his sketches were way off from the originals, though he supposed he wouldn't really see them anyway...

Then the original voice came back on, the one who sparked this conversation in the first place. The way she spoke, her inflections and the like, gave him yet another thing to sketch over the summer. She seemed... playful, if that made sense to himself. He felt like there was something he was missing with how she spoke, but he simply threw that thought aside, instead realizing that her little chip teasing made his own stomach growl. The hike up to his tower must have made him more hungry and out of energy than he realized... Regardless, he'd grab a bag in a little bit, instead returning his attention in anticipation towards the radio for another reply.

But as soon as a new voice started to come through the radio, Quinten heard a faint bang, making him stop for a second and question what had just happened. It sounded fairly far away, so much so that he wondered if he had even heard something in the first place. Maybe a tree fell or something... And with a quick scope around in the direction of where he believed it to come from only showed trees. Maybe, he thought, one of them fell... Like that one saying about if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, does it make a sound. Except he heard it, so obviously it did.

The radio came to life once again, this time with the same voice that was just on a second ago before the noise. Her name was Vanessa Chambers, at watchtower Garden Snake. She asked about something regarding hunting... Which Quinten found rather interesting. What did hunting have to do with anything... For a split second, he considered how the noise could have been a gun shot, but he couldn't be sure because it was barely audible by the time it got to his watchtower. Maybe she had heard it more clearly than he did, but because he didn't have all the details, he did his best to shrug it off. Not like anymore of his ideas made sense, as he had reasoned it was just a falling tree at first just to get it off his mind.

However, a lightbulb did go off in his head with how he could find out about hunting. If he remembered correctly, and he probably did see as he was going to read them tonight, there were rule books under the cots.
" Vanessa, it's Quinten from Watchtower Frog. Oliver mentioned several rule books, I'll check to see if there's anything on hunting in them." He told her, taking a little bit to grab the books before placing them back on his desk. Flipping towards the table of contents, and then to the selected page, it didn't take him long to find something.
" The rule book says it's allowed."