Nothing was scheduled for us the first day. Caleb and Cameron wanted to play around with their siblings, but they were also very aggressive to humans. It was very hard as they had conflicting priorities. One was menacing all of the humans in sight without revealing themselves to the broader public. The other was have a happy fun time out and about. I was able to help reel them in a bit. We hung out in the park near the hotel. They were able to run around and play. Kids sometimes got into fights with others. Technically, that was a sign of poor upbringing, but I did not give a shit what others would have to say. I did interfere when they looked like they were going to bully a group of younger kids. That was off limits. Caleb and Cameron still gave them dirty looks from the opposite side of the playground. They had fun playing on the monkey bars and the rings. They got to do some gymnastics there and it was cool. When it was time to head back to the hotel, one of the kids splashed Cameron with a cup of water. "Take that!" the kid said. Even though it would do nothing, that was an insult.
It basically meant that you were not even human in their eyes. And they wanted to hurt you. He was dripping with water and stunned. I quickly scooped Cameron up and said "Let's go everyone. It's time to go back to the hotel now." They followed after me. Cameron was fuming in my arms. He knew better than to try to escape. We got to the hotel and I dried him off when we went up to my room. "Why did you stop me?" he asked. I looked at him. "It's not a fair contest. He's a human kid. You'd kill him if you hit him in anger. Without fail." I explained. He looked off to the side. "He'd deserve it though." he mumbled. I shook my head. "I was keeping hands-off, but you were being a bully. Antagonizing humans will make them dislike you." I said to him. He looked at me as though he had never thought of that before. "What should I do?" he asked me. "Stop being so aggressive. That's the first thing. No one is saying to befriend every human. You can just leave them alone. Most people will leave you alone if you do." I told him. He furrowed his brows at me. "Treat them like you want Corey treated."
That was the basics, but I finished lecturing him and let him go off once he was totally dry. He looked at me for a moment before side stepping closer. He then allowed himself to grow taller so he could pat me on the head. That was how Cameron wanted Corey to be treated it seemed. I smiled and said "Thank you Cameron." He then blustered and said "Don't get used to it. You're not that nice to me!" Cameron then ran off to find his siblings. The AEP units were all like little children when it came to their emotional intelligence. I just sighed and waited for the next day. That would be when the competition would begin for our competitors. Half of the groups had already gone and their scores were already posted. If we wanted to move on, we had to be in the top 8. I noticed that there were already several perfect scores on the boards. I wondered who made them. It was certainly helpful. When we got our perfect scores, it won't be seen as impossible or unheard of. We were only allowed to do the events that we qualified for. That meant the team competitions and the series of individual events.
