Welcome to Gaia! ::

15 minutes ago Peyton had dragged herself out from between warm blankets. She'd made the bed, pulled on a pair of shorts to go with the oversized t-shirt she'd worn to sleep in, then crossed the room to crack the door open. Long hair was left down, by she pulled a brush through it to tame wild curls. Presentable, but only just. If she looked tired and out of sorts it was because she was. Sleep being hard to come by at the moment, and that was part of the problem.

She had reclaimed a spot on the bed, propped up against a mound of pillows, and was looking at something on her phone when America pushed the door open. The smile was returned instantly, a little less bright than her usual, but it was clear she was glad to see the taller girl.

Eating ice cream til they puked didn't sound like a bad idea. "Sounds like a plan." Pale eyes dipped to the bags. "There's room in my freezer, so it doesn't melt before we get to it."

While America dug around for spoons, Peyton abandoned her phone on the bedside table and sat up a little straighter, legs folding. The pint was taken gratefully, and she opened it without bothering to look at the label. There was precious few flavored of ice cream she didn't like, and what little pickiness she held over food was lacking at the moment. So she loaded her spoon and took a bite.

Then nearly spit it back out at the red head's question. "No." Not lately, in any case, and Peyton would have argued over the use of the word 'sexy'.

For just a moment she stared at her friend, not quite glowering, but the pouty look faded into all out vulnerability. "I think Moah might be avoiding me. He's been acting funny, taking extra work, sleeping in his own room." Which explained Peyton's sleepless state.

No argument there.

Peyton sighed and shook her head, poking at her ice cream with her spoon. "No, nothing. Just all if a sudden distance. I don't understand."

The prediction was met with a dubious expression. "Maybe.." It wasn't impossible, but it just seemed so unlikely and out of character for the Life hunter.

America's imitations of Taym should have been funny, but they weren't. Peyton snorted, and Her own expression darkened into something bordering on bitterness. "Taym never really knows what he wants, and if he by some miracle figures it out he doesn't think he deserves to have it." This was certainly not need to America.

"Noah's never done that though, or this." She paused to take a bit of moose tracks. "He didn't have trouble telling me he loved me."

Comparing Taym to Noah was like comparing apples to oranges. They were both fruits, but the similarities didn't go far beyond that, at least not in Peyton's experiences with either of them. Admittedly, she had never dated, but their relationship prior to Noah and America's inclusion into their lives had been complicated.

Drawing in a heavy breath, Peyton's gaze dropped to her ice cream again, and she'd lean forward enough to prop her chin into the upturned palm of her left hand, elbow on her knee. "I have no idea. This is all kind of new for me."

Corner him. It seemed so...aggressive, though it was the most direct means of getting to the bottom of things. The only problem was Peyton wasn't exactly sure she wanted to. What if it wasn't nothing? What if it was exactly what she was fretting over? Delaying wouldn't exactly prevent anything from happening, but...

She let it go, for now. Though that was at least partially due to America's rather direct question. It had the Sun blinking, startled, and a sudden rush of rosy color flooded her cheeks. "Good," she squeaked out, then coughed and very pointedly took a bite of moose tracks purely to stall. "Um." And here she paused, wanting to share something that had been nagging her for a while, and unable to articulate herself properly.

This wasn't something she'd ever felt comfortable mentioning to Noah. He was so gentle, so sweet, it wasn't a burden she'd wanted to lay on his shoulders. Their sex life was good, she certainly enjoyed herself, being with him, but she was starting to realize that the thrill and the rush she got from a good fight wasn't just adrenaline. She liked inflicting pain, that much she had embraced. But she liked pain herself as well, and that was something that could still make her squirm if she thought on it too heavily.

She licked her spoon, pale eyes rising up to rest on soft hazel. "Do you ever like things a little rougher?"

For as steadily locked as Peyton's eyes were on the contents of her ice cream carton on would have thought it held the secrets of life. She kept her gave down, dug a peanut butter cup out of the vanilla and chocolate swirls, and then chased it around the walls of the carton as she thougt. On the one hand it came as a relief, but Peyton didn't think America got off on inflicting pain outside of the bedroom.

But they could definitely agree on the owls and woes of their rapid healing. The Sun made a face, distant for a moment as if she were recline something, then she nodded and finally scooped up the peanut butter cup to eat it. "Yeah." She remembered the bruises left on her arm from where Jack had bit her during a spar. She remembered playing her fingers over the marks to recall the pain, and mourning that pain when it'd healed.

She took another bite.