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Text was not the same as speech. Looking down at her phone, which she'd been refusing to touch for a few days now since the Twitter Meltdown of 2014, the Maebe baby didn't have the same ring as it did when she said it. Disappointing. Still, she had a purpose for actually inviting the blonde in this time that had everything to do with the time she had not invited her in.

Sitting back she waited for a reply, nibbling idly on a cookie.

This time the door was opened wide with Cami barely even bothering to check who was on the other side before walking away to fetch the cookies. A few had already been set aside for Otto but the rest were hers to do with what she wanted. Luring Maebe up to the room so that they could talk about the thing that was foremost on her mind seemed like the best use of a fairly renewable resource. It was only when she turned back, noting the miles of long, white legs with fuzzy bunny slippers that she paused. Paused and laughed in the best way.

"Cute." Much cuter than the pink fleece shorts and plain tank Cami herself was wearing but, well, the latter didn't have as much to work with in the looks department as her guest. Walking back to where she'd been sprawled out on the couch she placed the cookies on the coffee table and beckoned. "Feel free to get comfy." Had she not found the blonde in bed with her best friend there might have been a bit more to that offer but alas. Camille had a goal and she was sticking to it with the voice of her weapon firm in her mind: get things straight.

Waiting for Maebe to make herself comfortable the redhead didn't even beat around the bush. "I wanted to talk to you about the adorable blond elephant in the room." Realizing there was more than one blonde in this instance she snorted a bit, then specified. "Otto, I mean. You're prettier than that and I'm not the belittling sort of girl."

For a quick second Cami was confused. "Well the cookie's not...oh!" It was impossible. She was far too trusting on a whole and was trying just a little too hard to imitate her mother, to imbue herself with every lesson Vanessa had ever bothered to try and teach her to outwit someone as bright as Maebe. "Not especially a trap. I invited you up for cookies and you'll have cookies one way or another." Her smile was bright, not one hundred percent genuine, but the logic was flawless.

Picking up one of her own, breaking it in half, she nibbled again before continuing. "You don't even really have to talk, just listen. I can't say you lied to me because you didn't, that day you showed up at the door. And really I don't regret a minute of it." The gleam in her eyes was unmistakable. Had Maebe not been entangled with the redhead's best friend there wouldn't have even been this talk. Cookies could have been later. "But I can't help but feel like you had a purpose and I played right into it. Again, not really a problem but..." Now, this was the meat of it.

The chocolate chip treat was set aside as she turned fully to face the blonde. "Otto's not like us and you know it. I'm not going to say a word against it because...oh a lot of reasons." It wasn't her place, she didn't want to, on and on into infinity. "But don't hurt him just to hurt him, alright, Maebe baby?" the nickname flowed off her tongue even as she regarded the teen with sincere intent. There was no threat. There was no if you hurt him then ______ of dire consequence.

Just the simple request. And cookies.

Oh my God. It was hard for Cami to remember sometimes that she was dealing with two people who had a few years' less experience in life than she did. Involvement was there whether either of them wanted to admit it or not. Having heard both Otto's fears and Maebe's reassurances she wondered how in the world this was going to end. He was feeling dirty because he was used to feelings with his sex and found nothing when he reached for it inside her. That was the problem. Yet Maebe was using that emptiness to reassure Otto's best friend? No. That wasn't right.

Scooting closer to Maebe in her earnestness she nodded in agreement. "I know that. You're a hundred percent right that we hurt each other and that's what we do. I just wanted to be sure, to be clear, on your side of things too." Poor Cami. She'd meant to be hard, meant to play a catty game that was a quiet threat she never had to voice, but that was where the hardness was. She wasn't catty. She wasn't hard. And because she could tell there would be hurt, at some point, since they were so very different as people she reached out. Arms hugged the pink-clad temptress close in as warm a hug as she could give before she pulled back and smiled.

"I don't think anyone would ever think you weren't just a little dangerous but...is that really a bad thing?" Had her concern been addressed? No. Not even remotely. But pushing right now would do nothing more than alienate someone Cami didn't want to alienate. It might have pushed Maebe away from Otto, pushed her to do something she wouldn't have normally, and the redhead could not forgive herself that sort of interference. So instead she just kept the information she had, smiling as she picked her cookie back up. "I've always wanted to be a little dangerous. I gave up when I was fourteen."

For just a moment the smile slipped around the edges before it was stapled firmly back, staying a few inches below Cami's eyes. She'd never figured out how to lie with her eyes the way she had with her mouth and it would always be a frustration for her. It helped that she didn't want to lie to Maebe, she simply didn't want to back her into a corner while interrogating her about incredibly specific things that would betray Otto's trust in her. "<********> Twitter." It was succinct and vehement, surprisingly at-odds with the look on her face, another cookie offered to replace the one she'd accidentally crushed. "I can't handle that roiling cesspool but I think he secretly likes it. I'm learning to deal but I'm going to keep championing body positivity. You're not a slut." No one was.

Propping her elbow on the back of the couch she curled her chin into it, listening to Maebe, each of them trying to convince the other that they were both okay. Maebe didn't want to hurt Otto, Cami didn't want Otto hurt, but there was something missing in the blonde's argument. Complicated was, at the very least, becoming an understatement for what was going on. "I'm sorry I'm being a poor friend, Maebe. I believe you, I really do." And it might be a mistake. Kidana thought it was a mistake.

The but was, perhaps, not what either of them expected. "But I think you're going to end up surprising each other. You're too different for something to not end up changing in at least one of you. My hope is that it's not unduly painful for either of you." Of course her priority was Otto. He was her best friend but wishing pain on another? No. Maebe hadn't earned that.

Cami wanted it to be a friendly booty call with cookies but, alas, she wasn't a poacher. Had made this fact as clear as she'd known how when Maebe had first pulled the darker-skinned woman into her lap not all that long ago. It was worse now because despite the fact that Maebe didn't seem to be aware of it, Cami knew that Otto's heart tried to be engaged with any partner he'd have. So as much as Maebe was trying to have a point it was getting dulled on the fact that it didn't seem to be happening. God, this was complicated. Way too complicated for anything Cami had been involved in since...oh God.

Since she was their age.

Four years sometimes seemed like forty and suddenly she was tired. It wasn't that she thought they were hopeless but she was remembering why she usually let these things take their course with her passive eyes. Active eyes were impossible and she knew better. Flopping onto her back on the couch she let out a frustrated sound and it was all self-directed. "I should totally not get involved in this. I'm abysmal at it. I care about both of you and that's all that matters." Palms pressed into her eyes as she continued to lay back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Sorry I dragged you up here, Maebe baby. I was trying to be all big sisterly and I'm an only child." She laughed a bit, softly. "Always nice to see you though, you're lovely company." Which was a nice way of saying 'you're pretty to look at and I appreciate the view'.

The accusation had the redhead sitting up faster than a whip, foot hitting the floor with a loud thud. "What the hell? I can get being irritated at me for dragging you up here to give you a holy lecture instead of just asking you up here to hang out like I should. I'm irritated at myself for being a s**t. But I didn't lie to you. I don't care about you on the same level I care for Otto because you don't care for me like that either. But I'd be sad if you were hurt. I like seeing you smile. That's care." Fingers dug into the back of the couch because this was what she hated. Every damn time someone suggested that she didn't care. That she was fake.

It dredged up memories. Damon. 'You don't know what you're saying, Cam. You don't even know what love is, you're a fun-time girl. That's what's so great about you. Don't ruin it, baby.' Vanessa, her own mother. 'Honestly Camille, you can't get so attached to people. They leave you. They don't care about you. So smile and let go. No one likes sentimentality.' It made her voice come out harsher than she would have ever intended. "You don't have to agree, you don't have to like it, you just have to deal with it. Like everyone else." Cami wasn't even looking at Maebe. Wasn't looking at anything. Her gaze had turned inward for that whole exchange before snapping back to the lovely, angry woman in her living room.

"I'm sorry I ******** up and made you mad. Lemme know if I can make it up to you sometime." The offer wasn't lascivious, wasn't sarcastic, it was genuine. Cami had done something wrong and had to make amends. Had to balance the scale of feelings as best she could. Keeping Maebe from leaving wasn't something she could do because that was taking away the blonde's choice but she didn't want her to go. She just didn't know how to make her stay so that they could work out the problem she'd caused.

Tired. So tired.

So observant. Everyone could see it couldn't they? A sweet, soft sadness stole over Cami as a lovely woman knelt next to her, touched her lightly, and saw the easy truth of the Sun trainee. She was a child and that didn't bother her on most days. Afraid of the dark, afraid to be alone, afraid to hurt anyone because they might turn around and hurt her in return. Giving everyone more agency than perhaps they wanted or needed because it was easier than finding the strength to hold them back. A part of her knew she should have been taking a stand, firm. Don't do x or I will y. Simple and straightforward. Easier said than done.

Reaching out herself Cami again snagged a lock of blonde hair, curling her fingers around it, toying idly. "I know. I'm not complicated, Maebe baby, and you just saw straight to the heart of me without even trying. I don't know why I always think it's a secret that I'm a big baby. Childish, I suppose, the real word. Because it's easy and God if I don't love easy things. Hugs. Sex. Smiling all the ******** time." The last one easy only because it was practiced. Her hand fell away because she wasn't entirely sure that Maebe wasn't going to just walk away now.

"I believe that if I want something enough I can make it happen. I want to care. I want to know you, or as much as you want to let me know. I don't push too hard because that's not easy is it? Keep it simple. Give and take. Give some more. Give too much..." She trailed off and shook her head slightly. "I'm rambling again. But I realize what you want me to realize, I do. I just refuse to accept it and it works okay for me." Okay. Not great. Not wonderful. Just okay.