[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QhE3Qa8.jpeg[/img] [sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img] [color=c9bef3][b]#c9bef3[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/13iPJhP.jpeg][color=9b9b9b][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url] [color=2e2c2c].....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=9b9b9b][b]blair's cabin[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]........................................................................[/color] [color=5a3e85][b]#5a3e85[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/7P1f3XK9/image.jpg][color=9b9b9b][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url] [color=2e2c2c].....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=9b9b9b][b]blair's cabin[/b][/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img][/sup][/center] [indent][indent][indent][justify][color=808080]Blair’s cabin was warm despite the harsh bite of winter that blew outside her door and the snow that gathered along the windowsills. She had taken the time to start a fire in her small hearth, which consisted of a light switch beside the fireplace, propane, gotta love it. She let Anissa get settled on the couch, fetched some blankets for them both, and even managed to muster enough energy to make them both hot chocolate—a feat not to be taken lightly because she didn’t have a culinary bone in her body. With a mug in each hand, steaming and topped with more mini marshmallows than anyone would deem necessary, Blair made her way across the living room. She handed off one drink to Anissa before settling onto the opposite side of the sofa with her back resting against the armrest and her full attention turned toward her friend. She gave them both a moment to settle and steal a sip or two before attempting to continue their conversation in the arena. [color=c9bef3]"So…"[/color] Her voice was quiet in the empty space, warm and sympathetic like the hot cocoa in their hands. [color=c9bef3]"These… proverbial skeletons in your closet…"[/color] She plucked a marshmallow from her drink and chewed it as she tried to find what exactly she wanted to say or ask. [color=c9bef3]"You don’t think he’d understand?"[/color] Anissa looked down at her mug and at the small mountain of marshmallows piled high enough that they'd begun to melt into each other, creating a white, sugary archipelago across the surface of the hot chocolate. Admittedly, they were a little excessive, but she appreciated that. Blair had probably just kept adding them without counting, the way you did for someone without stopping to calculate the appropriate amount. Anissa wasn't sure anyone had ever done that for her before. [color=#5a3e85]"It's not that. I actually think he might,"[/color] she replied before pausing, turning the mug slowly in her hands and watching the marshmallows drift. [color=#5a3e85]"He already knows some of it. Not everything, but..."[/color] The words caught, briefly, before she pushed through. [color=#5a3e85]"We talked on the way to the party, and I…told him some things."[/color] She told Blair about the letter then, leaving out the pomegranate dream because it was something she couldn't even explain to herself. But she told her about the rest: the fact that her mother had always been in the dark about all this god stuff, the envelope that had arrived without a name, the things it had known about her that it had no business knowing, the way it had opened doors she'd spent years trying to find without success. Lastly, she told her she didn't know her father and had no real framework for her abilities because of it, leaving the implications unsaid—the years of fumbling in the dark while other demigods grew up with warnings and training and some sense of what they were becoming. Not that she imagined her situation was unique. She was under no illusions that the gods were reliably present parents, or that everyone at camp had arrived with a clear map and a head start. But there was a difference, she'd come to understand, between growing up with difficult knowledge and growing up with none at all. But most of all, Anissa explained all this in the way she usually said the hardest things: flatly, with her eyes somewhere else. [color=#5a3e85]"He doesn't know everything. Not what I can actually..."[/color] She stopped, and then started again. [color=#5a3e85]"There's something I can do. Something that's…it's hard to explain without sounding like..."[/color] [i]A crazy person.[/i] The words completed themselves inside her head, where they'd always been safest. She took a breath. Let it out. Watched the steam rise from her mug and disappear into the air. [color=#5a3e85]"I can see things. When people die. How they might die…"[/color] She said it to her hands. Couldn't quite manage Blair's face for that one either. Blair was quiet, listening intently as she slowly sipped on her hot chocolate and slipped her bare feet beneath the shared throw blanket that stretched across the couch between them. She cataloged every piece of information like a framework or puzzle she was tasked with solving, even if Anissa didn’t ask her to. It was obviously [i]insanely[/i] ridiculous that she was sent to camp without even knowing her parent was. Like, who does that? [i]Gods, that’s who.[/i] The mention of her connection to death definitely raised some flags, but she didn’t comment on it, not yet. This conversation was about River and Anissa, not her friend’s magical sperm donor. She clicked her tongue quietly, resting her warm mug against her bent knees while tapping her thumb lightly against the handle. [color=c9bef3]"[i]We’re demigods,[/i]"[/color] Blair replied plainly with a gentleness of someone sharing the obvious, like Anissa needed to be reminded. [color=c9bef3]"I can walk through walls and have this like… internal lie detector."[/color] She shrugged her shoulders. [color=c9bef3]"Granted, knowing when someone is going to die is… [i]rough.[/i] But I don’t see why that should change anything."[/color] [color=#5a3e85]"It's not just the seeing,"[/color] Anissa said, and then sighed a long, slow exhale that seemed to carry something out of her that she'd been holding for too long. [color=#5a3e85]"It's….[i]what[/i] I saw."[/color] She set her mug down carefully on the table in front of the couch, her hands staying there for a moment before she pulled them away. The warmth it had provided already began to fade as she continued. [color=#5a3e85]"I got one of those visions last night."[/color] She paused. [color=#5a3e85]"I saw River in it, and he was underwater. So I dove to try and pull him out, and there was this light over his heart when I got closer. I thought it meant he was alive at first. That it was a good sign."[/color] She didn't look at Blair, her eyes fixed on her hands, on the table, on the mug with its cooling dregs of hot chocolate, and anything but her friend's face. [color=#5a3e85]"It wasn't. It was being pulled out of him. By me."[/color] Anissa finally looked up, meeting Blair's eyes for the first time since she'd started speaking. [color=#5a3e85]"I've never been wrong about these. Not once. But I don't always understand them correctly either."[/color] She held Blair's gaze, letting her see whatever was there without trying to hide it. [color=#5a3e85]"So if you see something in it that I don't…I'd rather know."[/color] Blair sighed, pressing the tip of her tongue against her cheek as the pieces were slowly brought to light one at a time. Premonitions and prophecies, while common within the Greek pantheon, were not something in her wheelhouse. She knew her brother had some control in that area, but she had never been the type to be tempted by knowing her fate or what path her life would lead. Logic, facts, social cues… Those were her proficiencies. Anissa was coming to her for clarity, but she didn’t know how much comfort her words would give. It was like a conversation between a skeptic and a believer; either the shared thoughts would be enlightening or immediately discarded. She slowly set aside her drink on the coffee table, then sat a little upright, pinning her hands between her knees as she tried to find the threads of logic and understanding she could through prophetic dreams. [color=c9bef3]"[i]Well…[/i]"[/color] Blair exhaled softly as her head tilted slightly to the side. [color=c9bef3]"River can’t drown,"[/color] she rectified with a quiet laugh, as if that solved one of the hurdles, even if she knew it wasn’t helpful in the slightest. [color=c9bef3]"I… don’t know."[/color] She shrugged. [color=c9bef3]"We all die eventually. Your vision could come true in an hour or fifty years. It’s hard knowing. But you said it yourself that you don’t always see it correctly."[/color] Her lips pursed as she tried to find some poetic or hidden meaning behind it all. [color=c9bef3]"I don’t see how [i]you[/i] could kill him. Maybe… I don’t know, maybe he dies protecting you? The water and drowning could symbolize Poseidon and his dying beneath the burden of his father?"[/color] Blair lightly tapped her thumb against her leg in silence for a minute or two, trying to find some silver lining or [i]something[/i] that could enlighten her but came up empty-handed. [color=c9bef3]"You know, people believe in that whole ‘seize the day’ thing because life is fleeting. We’re not guaranteed tomorrow. So it’s about making every moment count and matter."[/color] She looked across the space between them on the couch until her gaze lifted to meet Anissa’s, even if she wouldn’t look back. [color=c9bef3]"River [i]will[/i] die. So will I. So will you… I guess you have to decide if knowing him and getting closer to him is worth the pain of losing him. But you can’t let fear dictate your life either."[/color] [color=#5a3e85]"Yea…I guess you have a point."[/color] Blair had given Anissa what she'd hoped for. Yes, they both knew what River was. Knew his nature the way she was beginning to understand her own—which was to say imperfectly and partially. A son of Poseidon didn't drown. Water was his domain, his inheritance in the same way death seemed to be hers. The vision, filtered through that knowledge, looked different. Less inevitable and a little more interpretable. The underwater setting shifted from threat to context, from danger to something closer to home. So, Blair had given Anissa what she'd hoped for. And not. Her friend's logic held everywhere it touched, and yet it still didn't touch the part that mattered the most. River couldn't drown. Fine. Anissa believed that. But the vision hadn't been about drowning exactly. It had been about the light. The silver-blue light over his heart that she'd thought meant life until she understood it was being drawn out, dimming with every beat, turning violet before it disappeared entirely. Her colour. Her power. Her. Blair meant loss in the ordinary sense. The human sense. The sense where loving someone mortal meant accepting their eventual absence, whether you wanted to or not. That wasn't what Anissa was afraid of. It wasn't the when of losing him but the how and the by whom. And maybe…the why. Why would her father send her that letter to come here? The letter had stated that he’d wanted her to be amongst those like herself, and perhaps she had taken that at face value because it was easier than the alternative. That her father had not only known what she was but had known what she might become capable of–and had sent her anyway. [color=#5a3e85]"Thank you,"[/color] she said either way. There was no point in trying to lie when it would just be detected, but she truly was grateful for her friend trying her best. Anissa pulled her knees up to her chest, tucking her feet beneath her on the cushion. [color=#5a3e85]"I guess I'll figure out the rest when I actually talk to him about it."[/color] She said it lightly, like it was a small thing. Like she was already halfway there with River. But, to be honest, what little she told him, how could any of it compare to this? At best, he would understand the lack of control she had over her powers, given she’d told him about the letter and her parents. But his death? How in the world was she supposed to bring that up? Anissa picked up her mug to take a sip of her hot chocolate. [color=#5a3e85]"After I figure out what the hell I’m gonna wear, of course."[/color] Blair’s brows furrowed slightly at the sneaking suspicion she was missing pieces or perhaps didn’t interpret everything the way it was intended. She didn’t know. Something felt off, just slightly, like a painting hanging on a wall one degree askew. But she didn’t ask or pry. If Anissa wanted to tell her more, then she would, and if not, that was fine too. One drunken night of friendship wasn’t enough for blind trust. She understood that. All she could do was try to be there and be supportive in whatever ways she knew. Her smile softened as the conversation diverted down a lighter and far more manageable path. She sank back against the armrest, settling a little more comfortably into the cushions and beneath the blanket. Blair’s gaze swept up to the loft that overlooked the common area of her cabin where her bedroom, and closet, lived. She hummed quietly and tilted her head to the side slightly. [color=c9bef3]"You’re welcome to raid my closet,"[/color] she offered with a small lift of her chin up toward her room. [color=c9bef3]"I don’t know what kind of… [i]vibe[/i] you’re going for, but as long as you aren’t trying to look innocent or overtly modest then you might be able to find something."[/color] Anissa looked up at the loft with an expression of mild apprehension. [color=#5a3e85]"Innocent and overtly modest weren't really on the table,"[/color] she said. If she were anything like that, she wouldn't be in this situation with River in the first place. Besides, it had never been her aesthetic. She had always gravitated toward dark colours when she needed to move through the world unnoticed — deep plums, charcoal, dark reds, midnight blacks. Camouflage, essentially, though she would never have called it that. And when she truly dressed for herself, the palette changed to richer colours and details that did something interesting without announcing themselves, like cut-outs and cold shoulders that showed just enough skin. Or like that dress. The thought arrived uninvited, the way most things did lately. The dress in her colour that had been left in her cabin, as though whoever chose it had known exactly what they were doing. Anissa still wasn't sure how she felt about this implication that someone had been watching her closely, but still didn’t feel the need to leave their name. She unfolded herself from the cushions with considerably more grace than she felt, the blanket sliding away, and glanced at Blair. [color=#5a3e85]"Lead the way."[/color] Blair’s smile widened as she lightly patted her legs enthusiastically before pulling the blanket off her lap and swinging her legs over the couch. She went to stand and all of her joints and muscles that had been relishing at the reprieve screamed all at once in protest. Her face scrunched and contorted with every groan as she forced herself to straighten like she had aged eighty years in a matter of hours. [color=c9bef3]"It’s really unfair, Nipple boy should be making it hard for [i]you[/i] to walk… not me,"[/color] she teased with a playful snort and a small wink. Anissa opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. [color=#5a3e85]"I hate you,"[/color] she said, picking up Blair’s abandoned mug and bringing both their mugs to the kitchen without being asked. Begrudgingly, with no small amount of sharp breaths and quiet hisses through clenched teeth, Blair led them to the stairs that curved around the fireplace, connecting to the bedroom above. After a slow ascent, the stairwell opened to the cozy A-frame loft. There was a narrow walkway with doors on either side, one leading to the bathroom and the other to a walk-in closet of the same size. Beyond the hallway rested her bedroom which was fairly modest inside, just big enough for her queen-sized bed and a small end table on either side. Instead of a headboard, her bed was accented by a large window overlooking the snow-dusted forest, framed by soft fairy lights. Anissa followed her, taking everything in without a word. It wasn't what she'd expected. Actually, she wasn't entirely sure what she had expected. Something that was louder and matched the Blair who had dragged her onto an ice rink and made nipple and sex jokes without blushing, maybe. But the room was soft and modest in a way that felt ironic. The fairy lights framing the window, the forest beyond, snow-dusted and still. It all told the story of someone who needed warmth the way most people needed air, even if Blair would probably rather die than frame it that way. Blair didn’t venture further into her room though, stopping in the hall and turning to the right. She slowly opened the door and flipped on the lightswitch revealing a walk-in closet that felt far too luxurious for the cabin it lived within. The walls were lined with drawers, racks, and shelves filled with more clothes than any sane person would own in one lifetime, along with enough shoes to match. It wasn’t the largest closet by any means, but whoever crafted it optimized every inch for maximum utility. She moved through the space, showing how the rotating shoe rack worked, or where one set of slender doors opened to reveal another shelf behind it. Every nook, cranny, and little hidden crevice revealed before she lowered herself onto the poofy ottoman in the center with a quiet [i]oof.[/i] [color=c9bef3]"Go crazy,"[/color] she mused with a pleased smile and a small wave toward everything on display. Anissa's fingers moved along the nearest rack with the attention of someone who knew what they were touching. Growing up in her mother's boutique had seen to that. Her mother's hands had been the first teachers, guiding her fingers across weaves and seams, teaching her to read quality the way other children learned to read books. She paused at a cream silk blouse, fingertips registering how it settled against her palm in a way that marked it as genuine silk. Her mother would have known exactly who made this and when, too, and whether the cut had been adjusted from the original pattern. She would have run her thumb along the seam allowances and made a small sound of approval or disappointment, depending on what she found. Anissa found herself making the same sound now, a soft hum of approval she hadn't realized she'd inherited. She moved on to the next rack containing shoes, her fingers trailing lightly over the rows of leather and fabric. [color=#5a3e85]"You have more shoes than a small country,"[/color] she said, not looking up. Which wasn’t to say she was completely ignorant. In fact, Anissa knew this world well enough to navigate it thanks to her mother's boutique, which had put her in proximity to luxury her whole life. Still, the few genuinely expensive things she owned she could count on one hand. A pair of earrings her mother had set aside after a client returned them, their stones catching light in a way that made her feel like someone else when she wore them. A silk scarf acquired the same way, folded carefully in a drawer back in Vancouver, too precious to travel with. Things that had found their way to her rather than been purchased outright. She wore them sparingly and well, the way you understand that some things are meant to be saved for occasions that never quite arrive. She recognized a pair of boots on the rack and paused, fingers brushing the leather. They were good boots, the kind that would last years if cared for properly. They looked new, too, which meant either Blair had barely worn them or she'd replaced them recently, and Anissa couldn't decide which said more about Blair. [color=#5a3e85]"Was this just…here when you got to camp by chance?"[/color] She glanced over her shoulder at her friend. [color=#5a3e85]"Like, in your closet? Already in your size?"[/color] Again, Anissa found herself struck by how little she knew of any of this. [color=c9bef3]"I believe there is a shoe for every occasion,"[/color] Blair mused with a pleased smile as her gaze followed Anissa’s attention, curious to see what would draw her attention. She slowly crossed her legs beneath her with a quiet groan as her muscles ached and protested from the movement. Her closet was deceptively spacious and every inch of it was filled with clothing, so in an attempt to get a little more comfortable, she leaned back against her vanity, letting the edge of the small table support some of her weight. Her head cocked to the side, lips pursing slightly as she pondered Anissa’s question for a second. [color=c9bef3]"No, I don’t think there was anything here when I moved in."[/color] Blair’s gaze scanned the racks of clothes and shoes for anything that stood out as new that she didn’t specifically remember packing, but nothing stood out. [color=c9bef3]"I packed an [i]obscene[/i] number of suitcases and made my brother carry most of them,"[/color] she mused with a guilty laugh and a small shrug. [color=c9bef3]"I think I’m too particular for the Gods to get my fashion right… Unless it was Aphrodite or something, but she has her own children to worry about."[/color] [color=#5a3e85]"That makes sense,"[/color] Anissa replied, though the words felt insufficient. Deep down, she knew she had more questions, but Blair had already given more of herself today than Anissa had any right to ask for. Best to move on. Her fingers moved through the rack with more purpose now, pausing here and there, passing over the things that were too Blair and not enough her. Then she stopped. She pulled the hanger free — a red miniskirt, fitted— and held it up. Turned it once. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly before she could stop it. [color=#5a3e85]"Legs in the shoes,"[/color] she murmured, mostly to herself. Of course, this offered way more legs than her thigh-highs had and was sure to make River flustered in the way she couldn’t help but enjoy. Anissa placed the skirt back where she found it. Then stood there for a second. Then took it back out. Then put it back. All the while, she was aware, distantly, of Blair watching her from the ottoman. [color=#5a3e85]"It's [i]a lot[/i],"[/color] she said, by way of explanation. Which was not an explanation at all, and they both knew it. Nonetheless, she turned back to the rack and resumed looking, her fingers moving with slightly less purpose than before. The skirt stayed where she'd put it. She was not thinking about it. Blair watched with a bemused sort of curiosity as clothing was pulled in and out of the closet like Anissa’s thoughts made tangible, uncertain and unable to make a single solid decision. Her brows rose as she watched the red mini skirt going back and forth. It was a good skirt and definitely made her ass look spectacular whenever she wore it. She couldn’t help but chuckle softly at the indecision and the explanation that followed it. [color=c9bef3]"Unfortunately subtlety isn’t really my strong suit. ‘A lot’ is all I really know how to do,"[/color] Blair mused with a small shrug. Her wardrobe was great, if the goal was temptation or seduction, but otherwise, she didn’t know if she’d have anything… [i]helpful.[/i] [color=#5a3e85]"Hmm, well, I'm not trying to seduce anyone,"[/color] Anissa replied to the rack rather than to Blair. [color=#5a3e85]"I just want to look like myself. Whatever that means right now."[/color] The problem was that she wasn't entirely sure which self she meant. There was the version of her that had taken off her gloves on the ice without overthinking it and that had leaned in at midnight without permission or apology. That version of herself felt easy and almost unfamiliar, like a room she hadn't known existed in a house she'd lived in her whole life. And then there was the other one. The one who wore gloves for a reason. Anissa wasn't sure an outfit could bridge the distance between those two people, but she had to wear something. She couldn’t very well go naked. [color=#5a3e85]"I'm looking for something that says..."[/color] Anissa trailed off, her hand stilling on a hanger. [color=#5a3e85]"I don't know what I want it to say."[/color] Or it was more like she wanted the clothes to speak for her, to do the work of communication, so she didn't have to. She wanted to walk into whatever room River was in later and have her outfit say [i]I'm fine, this is fine, nothing has changed[/i] while also saying [i]I've been thinking about you[/i] and [i]I'm still afraid[/i] and [i]please don't look at me any differently after this [/i]. She wanted too many things at once, and none of them fit into a single outfit. Blair pursed her lips, scanning the racks of clothes before looking back toward Anissa. [color=c9bef3]"[i]Well…[/i]"[/color] She inhaled slowly and ran her hands along her thighs. [color=c9bef3]"If you’re wanting to forget everything and just stay friends, I’d suggest jeans and an oversized sweater… comfy, unassuming, and too casual for a post [i]almost[/i] sex conversation. If you’re [i]wanting[/i] to have sex, then the sky is the limit: short skirts, obvious lingerie… or no lingerie at all."[/color] Her grin grew a little devious as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. That would have likely been her route a day ago, but with this whole… [i]whatever[/i] she was doing, she would probably overthink it as much as Anissa was. [color=c9bef3]"If it’s somewhere in the middle?"[/color] Her head rocked back and forth as she weighed the options and squinted her eyes at the wide range of clothing. [color=c9bef3]"I don’t know… Maybe a [i]mix?[/i] Somewhere between practical or cozy and sexy? Like… thigh high stockings, a short skirt, and a cardigan over a bustier?"[/color] Blair shrugged her shoulders a little lost for a solution or answers. [color=c9bef3]"Usually I was on one end of the spectrum or the other… fucking or [i]‘friends.’[/i] I never really got far into the relationship or legitimate feelings sort of thing."[/color] Her hands alternated between left and right as they softly patted her legs. [color=c9bef3]"So maybe you [i]shouldn’t[/i] take my advice,"[/color] she mused with a quiet, self-deprecating laugh. [color=#5a3e85]"Well, you just described my New Year's outfit. Roughly."[/color] Anissa admitted after. She turned back to the rack, her fingers finding the cardigan section immediately as though the garments had been waiting for her to acknowledge them the entire time. [color=c9bef3]"[i]Well[/i]... That was boots and a dress, so not [i]entirely[/i] the same,"[/color] Blair mused with a quiet chuckle. [color=c9bef3]"I don’t know,"[/color] she added with a soft sigh and a pensive glance that swept across her closet. [color=c9bef3]"Hard to say what I’d wear in your situation… pleather mini skirt and a tight turtleneck that made my tits look great?"[/color] Her smirk curled playfully as she shrugged her shoulders innocently. [color=#5a3e85]"Of course you would,"[/color] Anissa said, without heat. Then, with Blair’s previous comment, she thought about her room with the fairy lights and the forest beyond the window. Maybe Blair's advice wasn't the problem. Maybe she just hadn't found the person yet who made the somewhere-in-the-middle worth figuring out. The person who made her want to stand in someone else's closet for twenty minutes, trying to communicate six contradictory things through a single outfit. [color=#5a3e85]"I think you're better at this than you're giving yourself credit for,"[/color] Anissa said quietly, still facing the rack. The words were meant for Blair, but they landed somewhere closer to her own chest as well. [color=#5a3e85]"You just haven't had the right reason to use it yet, like say, hmm…"[/color] She pulled a cream cardigan free. Held it up. Considered it. She glanced over her shoulder at Blair with a small, teasing smile. [color=#5a3e85]"Cowboy Ken?"[/color] And before Blair could protest, [color=#5a3e85]"I know, I know. I’m just fucking with you."[/color] Blair’s lips parted to argue, but luckily Anissa’s words quickly followed before she could scoff, huff, or make whatever incredulous sound that would have fallen from her lips. She shook her head softly while running her fingers back through her hair, feeling the gross of sand and sweat that clung to her scalp. [color=c9bef3][i]Gods, I need a shower.[/i][/color] She leaned back slightly, propping one elbow against her vanity while letting her attention drift to the various makeup scattered about it. [color=c9bef3]"I’ll make you a deal [i]if[/i] the moment comes where a man makes me overthink my outfit for the better part of the afternoon and daydream about holding his hand… You’ll be the first to know."[/color] Her fingers swept across the table top, scooping up a shade of lipstick that lived in the perfect balance of rouge and burgundy. [color=c9bef3]"[i]Here.[/i]"[/color] She looked over the golden tube once before tossing it across the small room towards her. [color=c9bef3]"It’s the perfect shade of ‘kiss me.’"[/color] [color=#5a3e85]"Deal,"[/color] Anissa said, glancing back at Blair with something approaching a real smile. She caught the tube she threw, her fingers closing around it on instinct before she uncapped it to glance at its shade. Blair was right. It was exactly that. She capped it again and set it on the vanity’s edge. Her eyes went back to the rack. The cardigan was still over her arm, and the red skirt was still where she'd left it. She moved to it and pulled it back out because her mother would have seen it immediately, too: the way the cream and the red worked against each other, each doing something the other couldn't. She'd learned that early, watching Adrianna lay combinations out on the boutique counter before committing, always finding the detail that made everything cohere. The contrast that wasn't competing but completing. The boots were the easiest decision she'd made all afternoon, though. They were black, knee-highs that seemed to carry the same energy as New Year's Eve but with more legs to them and without the emphasis the thigh-highs had given somehow. She held the full picture in her mind for a moment: the red skirt, the cream cardigan, the boots, the lipstick. Checked it against the six contradictory things she needed it to say. Close enough. [color=#5a3e85]"Thank you for all of this,"[/color] Anissa said then, genuinely meaning it. While it wasn’t exactly the greatest sacrifice here, it surely was one given the heavy morning Blair had experienced. It was doubtless that all she probably wanted to do was get out of her used clothes and take a nap or something. [color=#5a3e85]"You can go shower if you want. I'm not going anywhere with your clothes without you here."[/color] Anissa sniffed, feigning disgust, her nose wrinkling. [color=#5a3e85]"You smell like obstacle course, anyway."[/color] Blair waved off the gratitude lazily, with a warm smile. [color=c9bef3]"It’s no problem. I have more clothes than I know what to do with, some of it should see the light of day,"[/color] she mused as her gaze drifted along the collection of clothing Anissa had started gathering. She honestly couldn’t even remember if she had ever worn the skirt or boots. Knowing her she likely bought them with her father’s credit card at an exorbitant price one day when he pissed her off. Half of her wardrobe could fall under that category. Her jaw dropped dramatically, offended at the suggestion of a shower, but more specifically the insinuation that she smelled. Blair’s brows knitted together as she raised her arm slowly and dipped her head to check. One sniff was enough to make her grimace. Then she quickly scooped a decorative silk throw pillow off the ground beside the ottoman and tossed it across the closet, smacking Anissa square in the back with a pathetic squish before falling to the ground. [color=c9bef3]"And I’m sure you smell like roses,"[/color] she teased in response while mockingly tilting her head back and forth. Anissa felt the faint impact of the pillow against her back and listened to it slide pathetically to the floor. [color=#5a3e85]"Oh, I wouldn’t know,"[/color] she said, to the rack before turning to face Blair with a smirk. [color=#5a3e85]"It’s never really come up."[/color] She nodded toward the bathroom. [color=#5a3e85]"Now, go."[/color] Blair snorted a weak, half-assed laugh at how the pillow did little to nothing to elicit a response. [color=c9bef3]"Once I disappear into that bathroom,"[/color] she began, pointing in the general direction of where her large clawfoot bathtub was calling her name, [color=c9bef3]"you won’t be seeing me for the rest of the day."[/color] She shrugged with the sort of guilt that she didn’t try to hide, but wore proudly. She then started counting on her fingers while propping her elbow against the tabletop of her vanity. [color=c9bef3]"It's scalding hot water, far more bubbles than necessary, and then I’m dying in bed for twelve hours… [i]minimum.[/i]"[/color] A smile that was part exhaustion and part pure Blair mischievousness curled at the edges of her lips as her head lulled to the side. [color=c9bef3]"Sorry, cupcake. You’re stuck dealing with my stinky ass."[/color] [color=#5a3e85]"Peyeww, no. I'm—"[/color] Anissa stopped mid-protest, her words snagging on an unwelcome realization. She looked down at the clothes in her arms. The cream cardigan. The red skirt. Both of them were chosen. Both of them were [i]perfect[/i]. And neither of them was going anywhere near her body while she still felt like the walking, sweating aftermath of an obstacle course she hadn't even had to run twice. Her nose wrinkled. [color=#5a3e85]"...what about my apparently stinky ass, then???"[/color] Blair’s brows rose slightly, followed by a laugh of quiet disbelief. [color=c9bef3]"Well, I’m not going to scrub your back,"[/color] she mused. She had seen it several times before, the way that boys turned logic into bumbling mush and confusion. Even the simplest solutions became a mountain where the clear path seemed to be hidden beneath a dense mental fog of how to look, how to act, or what to say. Anissa’s face showed the confusion plain as day as the new hurdle of body odor became her only concern and every simple solution slipped away just as quickly. She inhaled a deep breath that turned sharp as she pushed off the ottoman, forcing her weak and sore muscles to heed her commands and lift her to her feet. After taking a step towards Anissa, she rested her hand gently upon her shoulder, being sure not to taint or soil the selected clothing with her own stink in the process. [color=c9bef3]"I recommend a hot shower or bath of your own… [i]to clear your head,[/i]"[/color] she clarified with a small squeeze. [color=c9bef3]"Perfume on your wrists, neck, hair… and cleavage."[/color] She nodded toward her friend’s chest with the hint of a mischievous smile. Her hand slowly lifted from Anissa’s shoulder and motioned toward the bathroom opposite the door. [color=c9bef3]"You’re welcome to use mine if you want help or… just a second set of eyes telling you that you look pretty. But you don’t have to worry about leaving me alone either."[/color] Blair shrugged her shoulders as her expression softened and warmed in acceptance knowing that her evening was destined to be far less exciting. No one was waiting with bated breath to talk to her. Anissa rolled her eyes. [color=#5a3e85]"My cleavage?"[/color] she repeated flatly. [color=#5a3e85]"Blair, what exactly do you think is gonna happen?"[/color] Then she paused, her brain, helpfully and entirely without permission, supplying an image. [color=#5a3e85]"Nope,"[/color] she said immediately, the word a door slamming on a room she had no intention of entering. [color=#5a3e85]"Don’t answer that. We’re moving on."[/color] She turned toward the bathroom with great purpose, the clothes still in her arms, only stopping at the bathroom’s entrance to glance back at Blair. [color=#5a3e85]"Don't go anywhere. I like being called pretty."[/color] [color=c9bef3]"It’s [i]my[/i] cabin… Where would I go?"[/color] Blair mused, exhaustion creeping in at the edges of her words as she stepped out of the closet. As she wandered into her bedroom, she muffled a quiet sigh as her gaze found her clock resting on the nightstand beside her bed. Shower, hair, makeup, the proper amount of [i]more[/i] reassurances, followed by her own bath… Blair would be lucky if she actually ended up in bed by a regular bedtime at that rate. [color=c9bef3]"I’m not lending you underwear,"[/color] she called out toward the bathroom as she lowered herself into a white fluffy butterfly chair nestled in the corner. Her bed was far more enticing, but Blair also knew if she let herself sit there, she’d likely be sound asleep by the time Anissa finished. Gods did she want to sleep, but bubble bath first. She promised herself that, and even told Colton that was what she was going to do. She owed it to herself after tackling the course twice. [color=c9bef3]"And you better not steal all the hot water,"[/color] she added as her head lulled back against one of the wings of the chair. [color=#5a3e85]"I wasn't going to,"[/color] Anissa called back, which covered both the underwear and the hot water and was technically only true about one of them. She stood there for a moment, clothes still in her arms, and considered her options. First, she could put her own underwear back on, but she immediately dismissed this because she had run an obstacle course in them. There was a line between functional and feral, and crossing it would require her to ignore every lesson her mother had ever imparted about self-respect. So no. Absolutely not. Second, she could go without it, she supposed. Anissa looked at the red mini skirt in her arms and dismissed that idea even faster. That left really only one option. One slightly inconvenient, mildly annoying, eminently survivable option. [color=#5a3e85]"I'll need to stop at my cabin first,"[/color] she called through the door. Blair shrugged, although the motion went unnoticed when the girls were in different rooms. Perhaps she was getting irritable in her exhaustion and [i]stinkiness[/i], but she was having a difficult time understanding why someone would choose showering at another person’s place when they had to go home anyway. The logic wasn’t logicing for her, but she didn’t question it and chalked it up to Anissa being overly anxious or paranoid or something along those lines about the whole River thing. It was the only reason that made any sense. With nothing but time to waste, Blair sank further into her chair, bringing her knees up to her chest while resting her feet on the edge of the seat. Her head slowly lulled back as her gaze drifted up toward the ceiling. She started by counting slats of wood but only made it about halfway down the A framed wall when her eyes got heavy and her thoughts started drifting. At first she thought about training and having to run the course a second time when she was already the literal [i]worst[/i] performer… As if barfing in front of the entirety of camp wasn’t bad enough. But then a southern twang and a face far too handsome than it had any right to be crept back in around the edges. She couldn’t begin to imagine how much worse it all would have been if Colton didn’t help her. Knowing her luck she could have still been in the arena, struggling up the final ladder. She sighed softly, pinning her hands between her knees. While he had explained it rather simply that he saw she needed help and that was enough, Blair still didn’t quite understand, no matter how much she dwelled on it. Either way, she needed to repay him [i]somehow.[/i] But in her experiences that usually revolved around sexual favors… which she explicitly said she [i]wasn’t[/i] doing. Plus that’d probably give the poor cowboy a heart attack if she even tried. But there had to be some way… somehow that she could pay him back. She just had to figure out how. If nothing else, she had at least fifteen minutes of sitting around and trying not to fall asleep to try and think of a solution. Anissa set the clothes down on the edge of the counter and leaned her back against the bathroom door. The tap was running. She could hear the soft, steady sound of water filling the tub, which she had turned on with every intention of getting into it. That had been the plan. Bathe quickly so she didn’t keep Blair waiting, get dressed, stop at her cabin, and go to River's. Simple. It was the kind of plan that made sense when you were standing in someone else's closet holding a cardigan and a tube of lipstick in the perfect shade of [i]kiss me[/i]. But, alone with her thoughts, it made considerably less sense now. She looked at the clothes on the counter. The thing was, she would look good in them. That wasn't the issue and had never been the issue. It was simply that showing up looking like that said something: I'm comfortable here, and yes, let's absolutely revisit the part where we kissed at midnight, and please don't talk about anything serious or complicated or involving the word death. It said all of that before she opened her mouth, and she hadn't decided yet if any of it was true. Or maybe it was all true, and maybe that was the problem. Because she had never—and she meant [i]never[/i], not like when people said never when they actually meant rarely—wanted something she knew she could actually have. Although…hadn’t Blair said it, too? That she couldn’t let fear dictate her life? Well. Anissa was distantly aware that she was standing in a bathroom, letting fear dictate her bath. And yet the tap kept running, the water rising in the tub, steam curling toward the ceiling. [color=#5a3e85][i]Just get in the damn tub,[/i][/color] she told herself. [color=#5a3e85][i]Wash your hair quickly. Put on the skirt. Knock on his door after grabbing your stupid underwear so you don’t accidentally fucking flash him.[/i][/color] Her feet didn’t move at first. Instead, Anissa stared at the ceiling for a long moment, counting the small imperfections she hadn’t thought would be there before she eventually pushed off the door, crossed to the tub, and turned the tap off. The sudden silence was violent, the absence of running water louder than its presence had been. [color=#5a3e85]"Okay,"[/color] she sighed. Then she picked up the clothes and opened the bathroom door. Blair was in the butterfly chair, somewhere between awake and not, eyes at half mast. [color=#5a3e85]"I didn't shower,"[/color] Anissa said. The words came out confessional and stripped of the irony she usually wrapped around her small surrenders. [color=#5a3e85]"Sorry."[/color] She held up a hand before Blair could respond. [color=#5a3e85]"I'll go back to my cabin and get dressed there. I think I was being stupid before anyway. I have more perfectly good makeup products of my own that I’d packed."[/color] She said it like that was the reason. Like it had always been the reason. Anissa cleared her throat, already moving toward the way they’d come in as she spoke without giving Blair the chance to object or ask follow-up questions. [color=#5a3e85]"I filled the tub though, so you know…you're welcome."[/color] It took Blair considerably more effort to lift her head from the back of the chair and open her eyes to stare across the room toward her retreating friend. Her brows tugged downward in a confused expression that she wasn’t given a chance to voice as Anissa kept filling the silence and stepping away before her own mind could catch up. [color=c9bef3]"[i]Oooook…[/i]"[/color] was all that she managed, dragging the word out to an exaggerated length that voiced all of her questions without actually saying them. She just sort of… sat there, in a dazed bewilderment, watching and listening to Anissa retreating down the stairs and toward the exit while trying to find her own strength to rise to her feet again. Blair blinked once, then twice, before bracing her hands against the side of the chair and forcing herself to stand with a sharp breath. Her bare feet scuffed along the floor as she trudged toward the bathroom. As her hand curled around the doorknob, she leaned to the side, peeking over the balcony railing down toward Anissa. [color=c9bef3]"You should take a shot before you leave. Might make you less… [i]spazzy,[/i]"[/color] she offered with a tired chuckle. [color=c9bef3]"Cabinet next to the fridge,"[/color] she added with a lazy gesture toward the kitchen before disappearing into the bathroom. Anissa paused at the bottom of the stairs, the borrowed clothes draped over one arm and the boots swinging from her fingers like the pendulums of indecision. She tilted her head toward the cabinet beside the fridge, and for approximately two seconds, she considered the merits of an evening spent sober and, therefore, fully present to her own anxiety. The two seconds elapsed. She hung the clothes on the railing with care, placed the boots on the floor with a decisive thunk, and crossed to the kitchen. The cabinet yielded on the second try, her fingers brushing past a bottle of something amber and a smaller one of something cloudy before settling on a colourless glass. Vodka. Expensive, probably, given Blair’s tastes, but that wasn't the point. She found a glass and poured herself two fingers without looking too closely at the measure. Then she stood at Blair's counter, the laminate cool under her palms, and took the shot. It burned on the way down, a clarifying fire that briefly eclipsed everything from the vision to the napkin. Anissa set the glass down with a soft click after, exhaling once through parted lips, and felt something in her chest loosen sufficiently enough to remind her that her body was still capable of simple, physical responses. [color=#5a3e85]"Thanks,"[/color] she said, to the empty kitchen and to the closed bathroom door upstairs, behind which Blair was probably already submerged in the bath Anissa had started and abandoned. And perhaps also to the universe in general for any small mercies it was willing to send her way. She stood there for one more heartbeat, letting the last of the vodka settle, then gathered her things: the red skirt draped over her forearm, the cream cardigan folded atop it, the boots tucked under her arm. Then she let herself out, the door clicking shut behind her with a sound that felt like the end of one conversation and the beginning of another. [b]End of Part 2[/b][/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent] [center][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img] [color=808080][b]interactions[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] none[color=2e2c2c]...............[/color] [b]mentions[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] colton, river[color=2e2c2c]...............[/color] [b]collabs[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] [@Mjolnir][/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img][/sup][/center]