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[color=808080][color=a4ded2][b]#a4ded2[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/NI221YU][color=808080][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url] [color=2e2c2c].....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=54998e][b]#54998e[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/Blt81n8][color=808080][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url] [color=2e2c2c].....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color][color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [b]arena[/b][/color]
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[indent][indent][indent][indent][justify][color=808080]The arena had quieted into something almost peaceful, though the air still hummed with the ghost of exertion. Katryna dragged a hand down her face, fingers pressing into her brow as if she could physically smooth away the exhaustion etched there. Sand clung stubbornly to dried skin, and her muscles trembled in faint aftershocks from the course. She felt hollowed out, scraped thin, like the day had peeled her down to something raw and blinking beneath too-bright lights. Kacper stood a few paces away, slower now, turning in a lazy half-circle as he took stock of the handful of demigods still trudging through the obstacles, their movements heavy and stubborn in the fading heat.

[color=54998e]“Well,”[/color] he drawled at last, the word stretching out lazily as he glanced back at her over one shoulder. [color=54998e]“This was an eventful first day.”[/color]

Katryna snorted, the sound sharp and humorless as she rolled her eyes toward the sky. Eventful first day was certainly one way to describe it, if one were fond of understatement. In her mind she was composing a rather colorful list of grievances, about the gods, the arena, the course, certain campers whose names she had already committed to memory for the sole purpose of disliking them. All she truly wanted was hot water, silence, and the blessed oblivion of sleep that lasted no fewer than seventy-two uninterrupted hours. [color=a4ded2]“Let’s go,”[/color] she muttered, casting one final glare at the ladder that had nearly claimed her dignity a second time in one day. [color=a4ded2]“Looking at this stupid course makes me want to barf.”[/color]

There was a pause as she scanned the arena one last time, her gaze briefly skimming over the stragglers still dragging themselves through sand and rope. Then she turned on her heel and stalked toward the exit without waiting for agreement, shoes grinding into the dirt with tired finality. Kacper chuckled under his breath, falling into step behind her with unhurried ease. His eyes lingered on the remaining runners, a faint pang of reluctant sympathy stirring in his chest as he watched one nearly slip from the log ladder. He shook his head lightly, lips curving into something softer than mockery.

[color=54998e]“Poor bastards,”[/color] he murmured, more to himself than to her, before quickening his pace to close the distance between them. The arena receded behind them, still humming faintly with magic and sweat and pride. The cold hit them like a wall the moment they stepped beyond the arena’s enchanted threshold. Heat fled their skin instantly, replaced by a biting wind that slipped down collars and curled icy fingers along overheated spines. Snow compacted beneath their shoes with a sharp, rhythmic crunch, the sound oddly loud in the quiet stretch between buildings. Their breath spilled out in pale plumes, ghostlike and fleeting, while the sky above hung low and iron-gray, threatening more flurries before night fully claimed the camp.

For a while, they walked in silence. The path to the cabins wound between drifts that glittered faintly in the afternoon light, untouched except for a few staggered tracks from earlier travelers. Kacper shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, shoulders hunched not from the cold but from thought, gaze drifting across the frosted treeline. Then, casually, too casually, he cleared his throat. [color=54998e]“So, Sloane—”[/color]

[color=a4ded2]“We just met her.”[/color] Katryna didn’t break stride as she cut him off, her boots grinding into packed snow with renewed purpose. [color=a4ded2]“I don’t know what you’ve got in your head, but you need to actually get to know the girl. Try being friends or something. And if you steal my first and only friend at this camp, I will hurt you.”[/color] Her voice was tired but sharp, edged with a protectiveness she barely tried to disguise.

Kacper raised both hands at once in surrender, snowflakes catching briefly in his dark hair. For a fleeting second he looked almost sheepish, caught mid-scheme, before smoothing the expression away beneath practiced ease. [color=54998e]“I just wanted to see what you thought of her. I feel like she’d be a good friend.”[/color] The innocence in his tone was laid on far too thick, theatrical enough that Kat let out a sharp breath through her nose in disbelief. [color=a4ded2]“I’m too tired to humor this.”[/color] He snickered softly behind her, undeterred.

A few more minutes passed in companionable quiet as their cabins came into view, smoke curling lazily from one chimney into the frozen air. Kat’s steps slowed slightly, her earlier irritation settling into something more contemplative. [color=a4ded2]“Her brother, though,”[/color] she murmured at last, brow furrowing as memory tugged at her. Kacper shrugged one shoulder, easy and unbothered. [color=54998e]“He seems like a dick, but he can’t be that bad. They’re siblings.”[/color] It was said with the unshakeable certainty of a brother who could not fathom raising a hand, literal or otherwise, against his twin.

Katryna shook her head faintly, steps crunching slower now as they reached her door. She had always been better at noticing the smaller fractures in people, the subtle flinches and silences others overlooked. Sloane had tensed earlier, not like someone startled, but like someone bracing. It hadn’t made sense, but she had seen it. [color=a4ded2]“Maybe.”[/color] That was all she offered, and though Kacper glanced sideways at her with a faint frown, he let it rest.

Warmth enveloped them the instant they stepped inside her cabin. The fire Kacper had started earlier crackled merrily in the hearth, casting golden light across wooden floors and thawing frozen fingers with merciful speed. Kat exhaled deeply, tension loosening as she shrugged off her coat and let it fall carelessly over a chair. She grabbed her bag and dumped its contents unceremoniously across her bed, clothes and trinkets scattering without care.

[color=a4ded2]“I’m going to shower,”[/color] she declared, already pulling fresh clothes free before pausing to scratch beneath Opal’s chin as the white cat pranced across the blankets, purring like a tiny engine.

[color=a4ded2]“I’ll meet you at your cabin after. Do you want to take Opal over with you? They can scope out your place together.”[/color] Her smile softened as she watched the cat tilt into her touch. Kacper had already slung his own bag over one shoulder, scooping up Onyx with practiced ease and cradling the black cat like an infant. [color=54998e]“Yeah,”[/color] he cooed in an absurd baby voice, nuzzling his nose lightly against Onyx’s head. [color=54998e]“Sounds good, doesn’t it? Want to go exploring?”[/color] Onyx answered with a pleased meow, tail flicking.

Kat grinned, pressing a quick kiss to Opal’s head. [color=a4ded2]“Go on then. Jump on Kacper.”[/color] The white cat chirped happily, crouched low, wiggled with feline precision, and launched. She flew across the small cabin in a blur of white fur, colliding squarely into Kacper’s chest. He staggered half a step, letting out a soft, dramatic [color=54998e][i]“Oof!”[/i][/color] as he juggled both cats with exaggerated care. Kat’s grin widened at the sight before she disappeared into the bathroom, the sound of running water soon blending with the crackle of the fire and Kacper’s ongoing, ridiculous narration to his feline audience as he left.
[hr]Kacper’s walk to his own cabin was short and brisk, cold air still biting at the tip of his nose as snow packed beneath his shoes. The chill had settled into his muscles now that the arena’s warmth was gone, a reminder that sweat and winter made poor companions. When he stepped inside, though, he paused, because it was bigger than he’d expected. Not ostentatious, but spacious in a way that felt deliberate. He set the cats down gently at the threshold with a soft shoo, watching as Opal and Onyx darted off in opposite directions, tails high and curious.

The living room and kitchen flowed together in warm honeyed wood and darker stained beams overhead, the ceilings pitched high with glossy planks that caught the light beautifully. An AC unit perched above the wide windows, useless for now, but promising mercy come summer. Beneath the mounted television sat a stone hearth, and he crouched without hesitation to build a fire, movements efficient and practiced. Flames licked upward quickly, chasing away the cold that clung stubbornly to his skin. The stainless-steel dishwasher gleamed from the kitchen corner, cabinets pale and clean-lined against butcher-block countertops that looked unused.

He wandered into the bedroom next, socked feet soft against polished wood floors. The bed was large, framed in darker timber, layered in neutral linens and a folded gray throw at the foot. The bathroom connected neatly to the side, and for a brief, confusing second, he frowned— no shower. He retraced his steps with a crease between his brows, stepping back onto the covered porch. There he noticed the large grill first, solid and gleaming, and beyond it [color=54998e][i](Score!)[/i][/color] a hot tub tucked into the corner beneath the roofline.

Further along the porch sat a fenced wooden enclosure he hadn’t clocked before. He doubled back inside and found the connecting door from the bathroom. When he stepped through, he blinked at the tall cedar walls enclosing an outdoor shower. Steam vents lined the perimeter, and as he pressed experimentally at a sleek panel near the entrance, warm air poured outward and the tiled floor beneath his feet radiated heat. [color=54998e]“Damn,”[/color] he muttered, smirking to himself as steam rose lazily into the winter air. [color=54998e]“Nice set up.”[/color]

He left the shower running to warm up the space, and focused instead on unpacking. He dropped his bag onto the bed, but unlike Kat, he didn’t dump it. He unpacked deliberately, almost reverently. Shirts were folded and placed into drawers by color, blacks and charcoals first, then cool grays, then deep greens and navy, lighter tones last. Jeans stacked by wash and thickness. Socks paired, rolled, aligned. Even his toiletries found symmetrical places along the bathroom counter. There was comfort in order, in control, in making something predictable in a world that rarely was.

The cats drifted through his orbit while he worked. Onyx leapt onto the kitchen island, sniffing with regal disdain, while Opal investigated beneath the couch before curling briefly by the hearth. Kacper paused to hang the photographs last. Most were of him and Katryna, thin and hollow-cheeked in the orphanage, standing stiffly in ill-fitting clothes; later, healthier, dressed sharply in tailored clothes after their adoption. There were photos of them in matching Christmas pajamas, grinning too wide beside their adopted father. Hiking trips. Birthday dinners. One of Kat mid-laugh, head thrown back, hair caught in the wind. He set some in simple table frames along the mantel and hung others carefully on waiting nails along the walls, stepping back each time to ensure they were level.

A small swell of pride settled in his chest as the space began to look lived in.

When he opened the refrigerator, he froze. It was stocked perfectly. Organized produce, fresh herbs, marinating meats, dairy placed precisely where he would have put it. His mouth pressed into a thin line. [color=54998e][i]“Fucking Gods,”[/i][/color] he muttered under his breath, refusing to offer even a sliver of gratitude. He grabbed the bowl of ribs, already seasoned and soaking like some divine kiss-ass gesture, and carried them out to the grill, setting it to preheat so they could cook low and steady while he showered.

He stepped back inside and grabbed a clean pair of sweats and a soft, fitted tee, heading for the steam-warmed shower. As he shut the door behind him, he tried not to dwell on the faint curl of anticipation settling low in his chest. Sloane would show up soon. He told himself it was just coffee. Just conversation. Just… nothing.

The small smile that tugged at his lips said otherwise.[/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

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