i've talked about this before but to me once teams start getting vaulted in s24, the vault has the vibe of a living museum - a place you go to experience what it was "like" to be somewhere, but it's very obvious that everything's a replica and the place hasn't actually been lived in. like the garden's there (and depending on who you ask, a decent chunk of boston) but none of the plants are actually growing, and the piles of freshly dug earth have dust slowly gathering on them

although it was bittersweet to be leaving after so long, i think campos wanted to quit for a while. batting was just not as fun as pitching, and she was impatient to get back to singing. plus, trying to squeeze in rehearsals and gigs around daily games meant she had even less free time post-reverb than before. when she got heard she was being shadowed, she cancelled her plans and took a couple days off to celebrate. after the third day she cracked, called her manager and arranged a world concert tour, setting off just before the start of season 19.

on tour, campos' schedule is as hectic as ever. she shows up at the pocket to put in her minimum stagehand hours and say hi to everyone (nobody ever knows when to expect her - if kath does, they're sworn to secrecy). campos visit days are always an event and usually end with a team game/pizza night.

campos and kath video call, like, a ton. it's definitely an adjustment going from living together and playing together every day, but they make it work (when you got yanked from an alternate universe together, a different country doesn't seem that far away). kath optimises campos's travel times and sends her excited graphs of her audience numbers going up. campos buys kath geometrically interesting souvenirs and travels to see them when she has time between gigs.

honestly, that season of leverage where sophie's off travelling and everyone's calling her in random glamorous locations? that's campos now. pothos calls to complain about batting. walton calls to chat about each others' days and update her on his bird sanctuary. lowe leaves completely blank voicemails at weird hours of the morning (campos thought they just didn't understand time zones, but the calls are too consistently at 2-5 am wherever she is).

(campos does not have a leaving party. i don't know what she has against partying, but the sim has spoken and i must obey. she finds another way to say goodbye that's more her speed.)

"So, uh, do I just start picking up instruments?"

"I guess? Agan used to take care of instrument selection, so none of us remember how we chose ours."

"The bolter will let you know if you do anything wrong. Won't you, bolter?"

Doot

"See, it likes you already!"

-

"Sounding good! Is there anything else you wanna try?"

"Here, take this one - I think it's an oboe."

"Wow, it's dusty. There's a label on it, too - who's L Kane?"

"Hell if I know. All the instruments here are second hand. Go on, give it a blow!"

Doot

"Uh, bolter?"

"I'm guessing that's not a good sign."

"You guessed right. Bolter, is there a problem with that oboe?"

Doot doot. Doot-doot-doot-

"Okay, we hear you. That one's taken. Edric, why don't you try - is this an erhu?"

-

"I'd say that was a success."

"Yeah, I don't know what you guys did before, but the jam session was fun."

"None of us know what we did before. The bolter didn't seem to mind, though, so we can't've done too bad."

"Hey, about the bolter... What was up with that instrument it didn't want me to take?"

"The oboe? I dunno - it was nothing special, looked like some high schooler abandoned it. Anyone remember the bolter acting like that before?"

"I mean... The only times I went to the instrument storage I was with Agan."

"Me too."

"Yep. Agan."

"Well, I guess it's a mystery, then. Remind me to google L Kane later. And speaking of reminding - has anyone told Edric about the instrument fee?"