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There was a little basket in Peyton's hand as she climbed the stairs to the second floor. Soon, she told herself, soon she would have her own room up here. She could feel it in her bones. For now, she was paying Camille a visit. There had been talk of pedicures and girl talk, and one thing or another kept delaying these plans. Finally it seemed things had calmed down enough for them to actually get together.

Stopping outside Otto's room, now Cami's as well, she rapped on the door, three quick knocks. "Lemme in Ladyface, I got nail polish."

In the interest of not not wanting to repeat the same story over and over Peyton had tried to cover up the bruises and burn as best as she could. Cover up helped to mask the discoloration along the side of her jaw, and she'd pulled a hoodie on over her usual cami. It hid the burn completely, and helped to hide the necklace of dark bruises around her slender throat. None of this was done out of a desire to protect Jack, she had just gotten tired of explaining. If Cami noticed she'd of course fill the other Sun in, but if not, that was just fine.

The door opened, and instead of a smiling face standing on the other side, she got a retreating backside before Cami threw herself back down on the couch and waved. This drew a snort from the smaller girl, and she shook her head as she walked in, nudging the door closed behind her.

"I did indeed say nail polish, and there will be so much girl talk. I hope Otto isn't here, it might make him gag." Glossed lips stretched in a grin.

A had listed, touching the healing bruises that still stood out against tanned skin. She grimaced, shaking her head as she sank down on the couch beside the other girl. "I don't need to, no. But I will say be cautious of Jack." If she wanted details she could ask, but if not she was perfectly happy just letting it go. "He's a violent, unhinged a*****e."

A nod followed Cami's answer of where Otto was, but her attention was down on the little bottles of various colored polish. She was looking through them, trying to decide on a color. There were a lot of pinks, but there also seemed to be every other color under the sun. After a moment of hunting she extracted a bright green blue to hold up near Cami's cheek, checking the contrast against that lovely dark skin and pretty eyes. "Something bright." The bottle was set to one side, and a second lifted up, this time bright yellow.

"So how have you been?"

"Yes," she cringed at the thought. "It's a very good thing." She'd dated Jacked, or at least had memory of dating Jack in an alternate reality, and it had been a roller coaster train wreck of epic proportions. That memory was enough to have teh blonde shaking her head, but she had more recent events to look back on that had ended quite violently. Whatever residual feelings that had carried over from New Years were now nothing more than a seething pit of rage and hate.

It was actually a relief to sit back quietly and let someone else talk. She put the teal bottle away and rolled the yellow between her hands as she listened, an easy smile on pale pink lips.

She'd know about Otto and Maebe being a thing, and she'd known that Cami now lived with Otto. It hadn't been terribly hard to jump to the conclusion that there were things happening between the two girls based on twitter conversations, and honestly, when Cami had moved she'd thought her Sun buddy and her cousin were maybe dating. Really, so long as they were all happy, she was happy for them.

Wide eyes flicked up from the nail polish at the mention of the tower. "I heard about the fun I missed while you guys were all gone. Usually I'd be pretty upset at having missed it, but not this time. It was a good thing I was here." The yellow looked amazing with Cami's dark skin as she began carefully applying it to the other girl's nails. "I am proud of you, you're a great Sun and a great friend. And I'm also very grateful to you for finding your way into Otto's life."

Her lips did purse though at one part of Cami's news. "I can't say I'm thrilled that the horse b***h tried to off you though. I guess you can start with that story, then we can move onto glory and happiness."

"Regardless, I'm glad you're all happy together." She didn't have the whole story on their interesting arrangement, but she knew enough to know that Otto was actually happy. The girls? They were an obvious read, but Otto didn't wear his emotions as freely.

As Cami got into the story of what had happened on the tower Peyton's eyes widened, and she replaced the little brush in the bottle of polish so she wouldn't blindly paint the poor girl's fingertips. "Jesus."

Missions were dangerous, Peyton knew that, maybe better than most, but she'd never before been in the position of having missed the big bad. It was unusual, hearing all these things second hand, and somehow that seemed to chill her far worse than witnessing them. Maybe it was the helplessness of knowing she hadn't been there to help take care of everyone. As if being there, she could some how prevent awful things from happening. Or maybe it was fearing for her own life. She didn't know, but the thought of Cami having narrowly avoided death was not a nice one.

Features pinched, she gave a small shake of her head and resumed her nail painting. "I'm just really grateful you all came back safe."

"It's funny, isn't it?" Peyton had finished with the color and was applying a top coat now. "How even in the midst of awful things there are still silver linings." She remembered the Tear, sense of liberation. Wonderland, and the teapot weddings, the flashes of memory, and the promises of bright futures. Maybe they weren't real, but she wanted to believe them, so badly.

But there were always more awful than good. That was how it worked.

The cap was screwed back tightly on the top coat and she set it aside, folding her hands in her lap after. "It won't be the last time something huge and frightening happens, but we're strong, all of us. That's why we're here, because we can handle anything they can throw at us." Glossed lips curled up in a smile, and she reached out a hand to give Cami's knee a gentle pat.

Then the admission, and Lavender eyes went a little wide. "You and Maebe? But I thought she was with Otto, did they break up?"