who i am

doe eyes lifted upwards beneath the weight of lacquered eyelashes, sizing up the figure before her with a leisurely motive; most were far taller than she - a matter she had simply grown accustomed to - but she seized her opportunities all the same. “there are directions listed on each deck,” she retorted, her tone doused in the venom of a snake. “luckily for you, i’m heading that way.”

cameron was a bit surprised as he turned around to the see the striking woman. “oh, um, right.” he said, giving her a nod. “that would very nice of you, thank you. i’m cameron.” he introduced himself as he motioned for her to lead the way.

“i’m only nineteen – well, turning twenty soon – but does that count?” the brunette shook the others hand, nodding curtly. “it’s calysta. nice to meet you. oh gosh, does that sound so overused. i don’t know what other greeting to say, though.”

“i don’t think it counts,” he replied good humoredly. “it’s alright, i suppose there aren’t any other greetings - perhaps ‘a pleasure to make your aquiantance’.” he suggested. 

“ no worries, my friend, ” elias assured, his tone more casual than ever. for someone so naturally extroverted, the grant to freely roam about the ship —something that was in fact encouraged— while off watch felt like a luxury. perhaps there was no more assurance a passenger could have that all was well than to see someone high-ranking mingling about. his arm dropping back to his side, he shoved his hands into his pockets and offered a warm grin in response to the introduction, all the while leading them through the passageways with ease. “ cameron, ” he repeated for the sake of remembering, intentionally rolling the ‘r’, “ it’s nice to meet you… now, not to criticize your tastes, but i don’t understand how anyone can stand an icebar for long. ”

cameron gave a small laugh at the other man’s words, a simple shrug of his shoulders following. “i guess if you drink enough vodka, it warms you up enough to stand it, right?” he said as he followed the brunette throughout the ship, taking note of how well he knew his way around. “so, what is it exactly that you do as a captain?” he asked for the sake of curiosity. 

“ you’re doing great! ” she whispered quite loudly as he sang his verse. trying hard not to laugh, lita appreciated that the man agreed to this. part of the beauty of being an attractive and clever girl was that it was easier to get people to do fun yet embarrassing shit like this. chiming in with her part, “ caaause i’ve haaad the time of my liiiife, and i owe it all to yoooooou! ” as the music picked up, lita began her dancing, taking her duet partner’s hand only to be interrupted by a sudden fall. well…not really sudden. it was something she’d planned, but to everyone else, it was a surprise. “ oh my god, i’m so sorry! ” her voice colored with embarrassment. attempting to get up, lita slipped and fell again. she was enjoying it, but singing a duet with someone wouldn’t get her info. this would up her chances far more. 

cameron was a bit nervous, he had to admit, but his voice was steady as he sang the song. he wasn’t prepared for the sudden fall that the woman took, dragging him to the ground as well. after she attempted to get up the second time, he frowned a bit and stood up, reaching for her hand. “perhaps you’ve had a bit too much to drink. let’s go get you a glass of water.” he said as he helped her up.

SHE ROSE HER EYES, as if agreeing to what he had said without using words. ❝ y’know what – you make a good point. ❞ the brunette let out a sigh, leaning on her hind leg. ❝ wanna take a look for it and grab a drink? ❞

cameron shrugged. “sure, why not?” he said, motioning for her to lead the way. “so you’re sure you’re old enough to drink?”

holly’s eyebrows rose at the voice, quickly followed by her turning to face the man with an apologetic smile– though her subconscious soon turned that smile into her bitting her bottom lips in embarrassment. “oh just– two thousand sixteen, this year’s been crazy!″ she said with a nervous laugh, “nothing important really, i’m sorry i distracted you from your–” the sentence was interrupted by holly’s failed attempt at leaning to the side and trying to figure out the book’s title, “–book.”

he smiled a bit at her. “2016 certainly has been wild. i’m not so sure i’m ready to go back to america after all the discourse that’s been going on,” he said with a small laugh. “oh, it’s alright. i’ve read 1984 about twenty times, but i still keep coming back to it. could probably recite it by heart.”

“ really?! ” the excitement in her voice reached an all-time high. part of what made lita a good spy was her ability to truly get into character. at times, it could also be a liability, but usually, it was an advantage. with a bounce in her step, lita grabbed the other microphone and nodded towards the dj. “ you know how to dance though, right? ” she asked her partner as the song began. whether or not this was a question she expected him to answer was another thing, as his part was up first.

cameron gave her a look. “i certainly have never danced to music like this,” he admitted. he knew the song, of course, but he was still a bit nervous as he began to sing the very first verse, looking from the crowd to the brunette nervously.

“ so it seems, ” elias agreed, a grin gradually appearing across his features when he failed to repress a single chuckle. in actuality, the other male was nearly crossing into crew-sanctioned territory, his destination clear across the ship. recognizing it to be an honest and innocent mistake, eli merely found the confusion endearing. “ come— ” he insisted with a hand on the passenger’s shoulder, his tone nothing less than pleasant, “ i’ll show you there, before you can get yourself in trouble. ”

cameron looked up at the man and gave him a sheepish smile. “clearly, i shouldn’t try to find my own way anywhere.” he said, hoping that he wasn’t going to get into too much trouble. as the man offered to show him the way, he nodded and let him direct him. “thank you. i’m cameron, by the way.” 

 the  ring  she  kept  on  her  finger  wasn’t  a  necessity  simply  because  her  engagement  had  been  called  of  NEARLY  a  year  ago  but  having  the  diamond  remain  on  her  finger  gave  her  a sense  of  security.  even  if  it  reminded  her  of  THE  WRONGS  she  committed,  she  knew  in  her  heart  that  the  man  who  put  that  ring  there  was  special  to  her.  she  came  her  to  forget  him  but  with  only  a  FEW  DAYS  on  this  gorgeous  boat,  mavis  missed  him  even  more.  she  debated  to  call  him,  or  maybe  give  him  the  honor  of  a  handwritten  letter;  give  it  a  GENTLE  spray  of  the  perfume  she  always  wore  on  valentine’s  day.  it  deeply  contrasted  against  his  own  scent,  his  was  deep  and  warm  —-  while  her’s,  well  —  she  hoped  it  OOZED  compassion  and  love  rather  than  the  lust  she  blinded  other  men  with.

 as  she  approached  the  tea  room  she  noticed  that  EVERY  single  chair  in  the  room  had  been  occupied.  frustrated  and  plainly  annoyed  she  approached  the  waiter  with  her  hands  on  her  hips.  her  rose  tinted  lips  POUTED  as  she  began  to  explain  she  had  made  reservations  prior  to  this  engagement.  all  that  she  was  greeted  with  was  the  young  waiter’s  smirk  followed  by,  ‘  weren’t  you  the  one  who  broke  up  with  that  nfl  player  ?? ‘  she  tucked  her  left  hand  behind  her  clutch  before  she  gave  the  young  waiter  a  look  —  it  was  a deep,  cold —-  MENACING  look.  she  was  a  woman,  after  all;  she  had  that  power.  ❝  trust  me  when  i  say  a  word  with  your  boss  isn’t  THE  WORST  thing  i’m  capable  of.  ❞

cameron had been enjoying himself on the ship so far even though it was a bit stressful to not be able to have a lot of space to go. he had gotten up to go to breakfast in the tea room, planning on spending his day leisurely, thankful that he had made a reservation the night before. he was standing behind a red headed woman at the hostess stand, minding his own business until he heard her all but threaten the waiter. “um, i don’t really think that’s necessary - i’m sure they’ll have a table clear for you in a few minutes,” he said as calmly as possible. 

her second day on board of the swiss noel and her second day of working as a lifeguard was over. it’d been a pretty relaxing day since most of her job was to look after those by the pool and promote the swimming classes that would officially start tomorrow morning. it was all good, if she was being honest; however she couldn’t bring herself to leave the pool’s side and rest for a little while in her room. she didn’t know why. she didn’t really want to know either. all holly knew was that her phone was providing her with quite some entertainment involving the news of blac chyna and rob kardashian’s drama over the weekend. “what has the world come to” she shook her head as she laid back on one the seats.

cameron had been trying to get some work done in his room, but the wifi had failed him one times too many and it was beginning to stress him out. so, he decided to finally start enjoying himself on the ship and quickly changed before making his way to the pool. he had a novel in his hand and he was prepared to spend the entire day laying there. he was wrapped up in the book a few minutes later, but he was broken out as he heard the girl a few seats away from him speak. “what was that?” 

RUBY GLANCED AROUND her room. after unpacking, she decided to talk a walk around the ship. she let out a sigh.❝ there better be a bar on this cruise. ❞

“why wouldn’t there be a bar? i think we’re paying enough for there to be one,” cameron said to the girl that was passing by. 

the sun’s rays blared through the minuscule circular window of their cabin. night one on the waves, complete. stirring from their sleep, eli arose from their resting position and whinged as soon as they could, “who knew such a small fucking window could create such a spread of light? JESUS!” rubbing their eyes, they twisted to the side and attempted to get out of the bed. it wasn’t that comfy anyway so they didn’t find it much of a challenge. midway through brushing their teeth, there was a knock on the door. “ughhhh,” they groaned, quickly slipping on a dressing gown and tying it roughly, “hold on, i’m coming.” once they were decent, they unlocked the door with their unique electronic key and saw a figure standing there. “firstly, why are you here are this time in the morning and secondly, yes?” 

cameron knew it was a little strange to just go down the hallway and knock on every door, but he was a bit desperate to find the person he was looking for. once a person opened the door, he gave them a bit of a sheepish smile. “sorry, um, i’m looking for someone but clearly you’re not that person, so...sorry, go back to sleep.” 

“ but you wouldn’t be ruining it, you’d be helping it! besides, i can’t imagine your voice is that bad, at least no worse than mine! listen– ” lita cleared her throat like everyone does before they sing and went through a short series of scales that were horribly slurred, “ la, la, la, laaaa, la, la, laaaaaa! ” taking a bow, she grinned at the man, “ see! and who cares if you can’t sing? it’s more entertaining to be bad anyways. no one likes to watch a decent karaoke singer on a cruise ship. they’re all here for the messes, and i have a feeling we’d make a beautiful one! so whaddya say, huh? will you be the patrick swayze to my jennifer grey? ”

cameron’s eyes widened as she began singing again. okay, so her voice was rather awful, but that didn’t make him feel any better. she did look so excited, though, and it kind of hurt him to say no. “okay, okay. just this one song, though,” he said. he was sure a video of this would end up on the internet, which would be a little bad for his campaign if he decided to run for senator in the next year, but he still stood up and grabbed a microphone. 

“unfortunately i’m not very good in directions, so would you mind if i lead you the way there?”

“of course, that would be very nice of you - although i’m not too sure you’re old enough to be able to properly enjoy a bar,” he said, holding out a hand to the younger girl. “i’m cameron scott.” 

what better way to see who people truly are than to pretend being drunk? lita found this to be an effective way of gaining information. people felt safe when conversing with her when they thought she was drunk. there’s something about the possibility of her not remembering what they say that made them feel more comfortable. so tonight, lita was at the karaoke bar to see what she could find. 

“ oh my god, i love this song! dirty dancing is the best, i swear. ” she sloppily pointed to (i’ve had) the time of my life in the song catalogue. “ ah, i forgot it’s a duet! ” turning to the person beside her, “ will you sing it with me? ”

cameron hadn’t really known that the bar he had stepped into was a karaoke bar whenever he had gotten there, but he had to admit that enjoying people making idiots of themselves while he was sipping on a glass of scotch wasn’t the worst way to spend a night. it was rather entertaining, honestly. he looked up when he heard the woman speak, his eyes widening as he realized she meant him. “oh, um, i don’t think so. i don’t want to ruin your duet with my awful voice,” he said with a smile.