Tay Bannarasee

Background

• Getting to Camp

  He grew up with mother in Bangkok, Thailand and (mostly) in Denver in Colorado. His mother, Hathai, was a woman who would see through the mist and was very open to the ideas of the spirit realm and holds spirits on a high pedestal. This is what drew Hypnos to her. After two years, Hathai gave birth to Tay, her only child and son. Tay was born June 22nd and has the same birthday as his mother which centered as a concrete structure for their relationship. Tay grew up as a very happy and loving boy toward Hathai. He shared his father's pale yellow eyes but had her ethnicity and dark black hair. "Like oil." Hathai remembered saying to herself. His thick-rimmed rectangular glasses were a nod to her signiture lime green loop glasses. Tay was also very smart she had noticed. He picked up an interest in flowers and the night sky. She remembered her young son wondering around with a make-shift astronaut helmet yelling "Moon! Moon!", his favorite English word. Hypnos eventually was able to convince Hathai to take a 3 year old Tay to America for "better safety" which Hathai quickly accepted. Moving to America, Tay knew very little English and was quick to know he was, well, different. His mother home schooled Tay knowing his problem with English would be a problem and didn't seem to mind taking the time from running her spirit house store to teach her brilliant son. Unfortunately, on Hathai and Tay's birthday, and Tay's 7th Birthday, they went to the Rocky Mountain National Park for the celebration. Hathai was setting up as Tay started to wonder off to admire what was around him. Rocks, flowers, he picked them up one by one to see what they were in an attempt to identify them. Hathai would smile at her son as he would mumble the words quietly. She looked down as she reached for something in a box as Tay wandered toward the edge of some trees. There was sharp cry from Tay as Hathai looked up in horror of recognizing her son's agonizing screams. He was gone. Hathai quickly looked around while frantically calling the Tay's name in order to find him. No response. Hathai feared for the worse. Where was her son?

  
  
  
  Tay was surrounded by girls as they carried him in their arms. He sob miserably. "Who are you?" he screamed but they wouldn't answer. They were talking in some weird language that he had heard his mother speak many times before. How did they not understand him? They all murmured something and glanced back at him. He saw silver. Lots of silver. He thought it was his young, 7 year old imagination or his ADHD but it was true. These girls were older than him, that's for sure! But they all had a moon-like glow to him as they were outlined in silver. Who are they? Why had they taken him? He sniffled. His mom...How was his mother? He blinked unhappily as some of the girl's voices were thrown around. He didn't understand! What were they saying? One stuck out to him. A girl with dark black hair. He could catch the words of "Camp", "Take", and "Now what?" but that was pretty much it as the rest sounded so fragmented he didn't really bother listening much. He started dozing off. His eyes gently blinking as the jolting around of the running maidens made him tried. He tried to stay up, he tried to learn more. Alas, Tay had fallen asleep.
  
  
  Tay arrived to "Camp" two days later. People circled around him. It remaindered him of his time with the girls during his travel. He closed his eyes from the crowd to submerge in the memory.
  It was a scary experience but the girls seemed nice. Some threw him a cold shoulder as if he was the plague but other seemed to warm up to him. They would sit next to him, play with him. They understood he was child. Two seemed especially protective. He turned his heard toward one of the girls who seemed much other than him. In her teens he would have guessed. He could tell she spoke differently than everybody as some people looked confused at even her words. She had long, dark hair in a pony tail with it framed by a silver tiara...thing. She wore a silver jacket and dark pants. "Zoe" is what he guessed their name was as he heard that most around her. He turned toward the other girl. She looked much younger than the first. He thought about it. She had silvery-yellow eyes like the stars, like his eyes. light brown hair and a mysterious white stag that was always near her. He felt drawn to the girl because of her eyes and her name: "Artemis". He remembers at one point her playing with him before he stopped and walked up close to her. "Different." he murmured to the girl in a thick Thai accent while pointing to her eyes. "Different." He murmured again before pointing to his own eyes. The auburn-haired girl frowned from what he recognized as despair.
  He reopened his eyes to wild gasps of the bystanders that started to whisper around him. What was this 'Camp'? He couldn't explain it much as people stared at him when he first arrived. They all said something. He couldn't piece together the words as they were all jumbled. Some said the word "Eyes". His least favorite English word. Eyes. His eyes? It made his young mind self-conscious. He gripped on the similar-eyed girl's sleeve. He ducked behind her which she side stepped to put him back into full view. Someone pushed between them. A large man in a weird printed shirt. He was big and burly with a drink in his hands that was as silver as the jackets of the girls around him. Another man followed behind the heavier one in a wheelchair. They seemed to converse with the star-eyed girl and "Zoe". They suddenly all looked down at Tay he shrunk in his shirt. The two males said something before waving to him. The one in the printed shirt looked less enthusiastic while the horse-man was genuinely greeting him. He was pushed forward by his similar-eyed friend into the- er- legs of the the horse. They said something but he could only make out "Welcome". Tay smiled. Finally. He was genuinely accepted for once.