Welcome to Gaia! ::

True to her word Cami had turned the ringer of her phone high. High enough so that when the thumping beat of Nicki Minaj erupted in the bedroom she almost smacked Maebe in the face to get to the phone. She had been sleeping, fitfully, one leg thrown over the blonde in her bed. Rolling up into one of the blankets she shuffled out to the living room, unwilling to wake the other girl unless Otto asked her to.

Plus, honestly, at this point she was being just a little selfish. He was her best friend and had been gone for over a week. She wanted to talk to him without commentary or without having his attention divided for a few minutes. He could talk to Maebe when they were done having their moment.

"Otto!" Her voice was so bright, so happy, it all but leapt through the phone. "Did you find any bears to keep you company yet? If not, I have a few I can send. They look like humans though."

Phone cradled against her face like it was something precious, especially because of who was on the other end of it, the Sun hunter sprawled on the couch with abandon. "No moose? That's awful. I feel like you've been robbed of an essential Canadian experience. There's also a beaver joke in here somewhere but it might be too late at night to tell it." She yawned on the last word, snagging a pillow and snuggling up to it. Wishing that it wasn't a pillow and was Otto instead.

How had she been? "Maebe's been oddly present which makes me think that you guys have contrived something." She didn't give him time to admit or deny, simply accepted it as truth before she barreled onward. "I've been working with Taym on a pamphlet and it keeps me busy..." She trailed off, not having much else to say. What was her life? Training. Fooling around and cuddling with Maebe. Missing Otto.

The line was quiet for a few seconds before she gave up trying to hide it. "I miss you a lot. I knew we spent a lot of time together but I didn't realize how much until you were gone. I don't want you to feel bad, though, I just want you to know I miss you."

"Busy enough." When wasn't she? Even when she hadn't been a member of Deus Cami hadn't really ever had a quiet day or much down time. Between writing papers, having friends, going to parties, being involved with groups and clubs and her job? Zero down time. Being busy kept her from thinking too much, from being alone, from being afraid. That Otto had gone out of his way to contrive things so she wouldn't be alone made her feel warm inside.

Eyes flicked towards the bedroom door at the mention of Maebe and she let out a softly contented sigh. "Maebe and I have always understood each other and it makes for good company. I'm so busy it gives her the alone time she needs to do whatever it is she does when she's alone," and Cami's tone was baffled as to what you could possibly do when alone but stare at the ceiling, "so she's in a decent mood when I come back." Never mind there was a failsafe way to put her in a good mood if it was needed, which it had been a few times, but that wasn't something she was going to mention.

Mention of falling asleep alone feeling wrong had her utterly conflicted. How could she not be pleased that he missed her? Missing cuddling up to her at night? Yet that meant he was probably not sleeping well and it made her ache around the boundaries of her heart and stomach. There were a lot of things Cami wanted to say but didn't know how and so she could only clutch her phone and feel stupid, feel clumsy, and hate herself for it.

Instead, because he wasn't there to see that she wasn't really smiling, her voice carried as if she was. "It's only a little nice to know you're missed? Gosh Otto, you really know how to make a girl feel special!" Fingers touched the golden heart at her neck as she said that. Cuz, honestly, he really did.

When he wanted to.

Curling up a little tighter into herself at the mention of running away from her sweethearts Cami shook her head. Realizing that would do no good she voiced her negation aloud. "No, I understand. I left the island because I needed to get some different air into my brain. I'm disappointed in myself that I wasn't back in time to say goodbye but it might have been for the best." Touching the heart at her neck again she found a true smile that carried through her voice. "Besides, you left me Maebe and such a beautiful present. I can't possibly be unhappy with you after that." Already she was working on getting him back.

It was going to be good. Whatever it was. There were several ideas that Cami had had but none that had really stuck out yet. Her traditional idea of thank you wasn't really going to work here for a plethora of reasons and she didn't want it to. She wanted something special that was only Otto's.

Poking the pillow as she would have as if it were Otto, the Sun's voice was firm. "So don't you feel bad for doing what you need to do, okay? I love you, Otto. You'll come home and we'll settle in and figure out where to go from there." Belief was in her voice. It had to work out.

Why?

They loved each other. Cami, Otto, and Maebe, the three of them. Things would work out because, damn it, she was going to make them work out. Funny, though, that of all people she was the one dragging her feet. It was worth thinking about another time.

For now she just wanted to enjoy the voice on the other end of the phone. "Did you find anything super interesting? Probably going to find five oases when you hit the Sahara."