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Oh. My. God. Camille could almost see the achievement flashing over her head, hearing the Xbox sound in her brain as Otto flashed her an excited grin. Not just the smile she'd been hoping to get out of him but a full-blown grin. Everything was suddenly perfect and she all but bounced back towards the entrance, legs eating up distance as much as she could. The line hadn't been long but at this moment any line was too much line.

Twice wasn't enough. Nor was three times. However by turn four she could feel her knees starting to wobble from the incessant ups and downs of the roller coaster, head swimming in desperate need to put something in it. "Okay, I think I totally overdid it." Giggles burbled up and were swallowed. "Did you wanna go back to the hotel and eat? Swim a bit? Something? We can finish up tomorrow!" He would be spared the princesses.

For now.

Keeping a Light On

For the most part that was exactly what they did. Cami floated into one or two shops on her way out to pick up souvenirs. A Stitch pillow pet for Peyton, a fantastic stylized tee with Anna and Elsa on it for Shu. Mimsy's present would have to wait until they went to Fantasyland and Jasper still eluded her somewhat. Food was delicious, if a little overpriced, though she insisted on buying the ice cream they toted back to the hotel room after their swim.

Sprawled on the bed they turned on the bad free movie, cracking jokes at it and otherwise having a great time cementing the fact that they were now Super Best Friends and nothing was going to stop it. It wasn't until they were tucked into their separate beds, preparing to sleep, that she hesitated. "Uhm, this is gonna sound kinda weird and I'm sorry..." Starting off it actually didn't sound very much like the girl Otto would have been used to. There was no enthusiasm, none of her spirit, certainly no smiles or laughter.

Was she afraid?

"Do you mind if I leave the lamp on? I like sleeping with a light shining on me." So that nothing could leap out of the dark to grab her. The light would always drive them back and away. Shadows couldn't stand in the light.

Otto's answer was a little bit surprising but it reminded Cami of what Peyton had said. A lot of people in Deus were uncomfortable with the dark and no one was going to make her feel like less of a person for being afraid of it. Hugging her pillow for a moment in how grateful she was, how comfortable it made her feel in general, she smiled. "Really? That's....I know it sounds silly to say that's nice but it's nice to know I'm not the only one." Maybe he wasn't afraid. Maybe he just left the light on because he got up a lot in the middle of the night.

Still, she wasn't the only one who slept with a lamp full-glare as often as possible. "It's part of why I'm so grateful Mimsy let me move upstairs into her empty room to sleep. Not really many outlets down in the basement for something like a lamp." Or windows for natural light. Or if you needed to escape in a hurry.

Snuggling down into her pillow she let out a contented little sound, voice drowsy as she started to slip sideways into sleep. "Thanks so much for this, Otto. You're one of the best people I've ever met."

It's a Small Wonderland After All

If he'd been brave enough to ask, Cami could have told Otto exactly why she thought he was the best. Taking her to Disney World was part of it but not just because he was spending oodles of dollars on her. It was because he recognized that she would have loved to go and was willing to be dragged around creation with her. Because he tried to be nice to princesses since it made her smile. That he would read Twitter with her to keep them both from going crazy with rage. And he didn't eat her ice cream when she left it in his freezer. That was pretty important.

Unfortunately for the redhead there was no escaping her nightmares of fire, her skin exploding into creatures, being forced to wander the desert with her skin stripped off and leaking critters from holes burned into her flesh. She was one of them now and would be killed on sight. She had to hide...

But she always woke up. Waking up to the light, the cheery Disney decor, it helped banish the nightmares and the second time she fell asleep it was blessedly without a dream. Showers were had, clothes were thrown on, Mickey-shaped waffles were consumed for breakfast. Today was the Day of the Princess. Not to mention various shopping endeavors and maybe, maybe braving Space Mountain.

Yet the pair of them found their feet stilling outside of a sign proclaiming they were now entering Wonderland. "Oh. Oh dear." Cami couldn't stifle her giggles but they were a little on the edge of hysterics. "Do you think it's the same?"

Oh he had to go and say that. And she was going to take him seriously, wasn't she? Dramatically hands went up to cover her face as she moaned into her hands. "Noooo, nooo you had to say that didn't you? You can't tease me like that, Otto Graves!" Letting her hands fall it was clear that she wasn't entirely serious in all her dramatic agony but there was still a bit there because Cami was trying very hard to be thoughtful.

"I have zero desire to ever do anything involving Alice, Wonderland, any of that ever again." Her experience, she knew, hadn't been as bad as others' had. It had still been miserable, however, and the less she had to think about it the better. "The teacup ride isn't all that great anyway." But Princesses, well, they weren't that far from the enclave where the girls would troop out at pre-arranged hours every day to meet visitors to their magical land.

Giving him a sidelong glance she nipped at her lip a bit in light embarrassment. "You wouldn't mind a carousel ride, would you?"

Fruity? Probably. She had to admit that it really had been a bit of a long-shot thought to get him on a pretty unicorn so that there could be a million and one pictures sent back to Shu for the Chinese girl's endless enjoyment. However that didn't mean that she had to resist and instead handed one of her two disposable cameras to the blond. "Fair enough! I guess we won't be going to get manicures at the Princess boutique but you have to take pictures for me ok?" Wheeling she called back over her shoulder. "Three minutes! It'll be fast!"

And she was! True to her word Cami had climbed aboard the most pastel trainwreck of a pony she could find, sidesaddle since she was a lady and this was Disney World, posing every time she saw Otto. It was ridiculous. It was fun! Laughing she came back, took the camera back, then linked her arm lightly through his. "C'mon. Princess time. If Ariel's not there I might have a breakdown. Be prepared." A real breakdown akin to the one she'd had after being burned alive, not just mere tears.

Ariel was everything.

But there was a process to this. She and Otto had to take pictures with each and every Princess present. Cinderella, Aurora, Tiana, Merida, the Arendelle twins, and last but never least...Ariel. For the first six the blond Sun hunter had been all but shoved at each and every one, Cami begging the princesses to help her get Prince Otto to smile. Yet when the former mermaid princess came into view it was almost in the opposite direction he was pushed.

Now her blue eyes were bright and alive, chatting with the songstress, getting a big hug, cajoling her dear friend to take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Hero worship, it seemed, could still exist at twenty-two.

Blessedly for Otto's state of mind and Cami's anxiety at returning to Deus without a present for her sister, the Princess Gauntlet had had a very concrete ending: drinks. It occurred to the redhead that she had no honest idea how old Otto was, if he could legally drink, but didn't really give a damn. He could have been seventeen (though she was pretty sure he was older than that) and she would have pushed the margarita into his hands. It was in a big plastic cup that was decorated with Disney characters and she snickered. "Souvenir margaritas. I think this place realizes how crazy kids are sometimes." Clinking the plastic against his she looked back at Wonderland.

She had to go in.

"Wait here for me? I have to get a present for someone." And needed the alcohol to fortify. Furtively she stole at the edges of the crowd, pointedly not trying to look at anything that could evoke memories of the nightmares of strange darkness. Kidana was wrapped soothingly around her poor psyche, asking questions about princesses until the Wonderland-themed tea set she knew Mimsy would adore was purchased and packaged.

A second margarita, for the both of them, came with Camille's return to the table she'd left Otto at. "Okay, we have one last task. Get sloshed before hopping the portal home. Think you're up for it?"