#creaturesofchaos

Naomi stood outside Ace's cabin,toying with the idea of going in. She'd told Ace she would come and she didn't want him to think she'd lied. Not to mention after all the work his sister did, it might have been rude. The other woman practically spent two hours helping Nox figure out what to wear and helping her with her make up. The rest of the time Naomi had just paced anxiously in her cabin. With a deep breath, she pushed open the door, the sound of music hitting her. A few people looked her way, others stared, and other stared....differently. A look she wasn't accustomed to being directed at her. She caught a glipse of her reflection, and suddenly she understood why.

Avery was a miracle maker.

Naomi had been able to talk her out of putting her in a dress, but the shorts she had replaced them with had hardly done any difference in length. She wore her own fishnets underneath as instructed, but kept her arms over her exposed middrift. The black crop top adorned with stars and moons was Naomi's but she hardly ever wore it outside her own cabin due to the fact it had quite the plunge. Something Avery had also insisted on. She felt exposed, but....oddly empowered.  She took a deep breath, searching the crowd for Ace when she was suddenly stopped by someone. She recognized him as one of the guys from the Eros cabin. 'Hey beautiful. You got a name?" he asked. Naomi was like a deer in headlights, not used to being complimented let alone directly. His eyes glowed pink and Naomi felt her body start to tingle as the odd feeling washed over her.

"Oh it's Naomi?" she responded, the breathy way her voice spoke shocking her. She knew this wasn't the way she normally acted with boys.

"I'm Amias." he retorted, grabbing her hand. "Let's dance." .

Naomi didn't really want to dance. But she felt compelled too. "I'm looking for my friend." she told the boy.

"Then find them later. But first dance with me." he said to her, pulling her towards the dance floor. She again, felt like she had to do just that. So she followed him onto the floor.

Richard and Zatanna's relationship had always been a.. complicated one. Not complicated in the way her relationship with John Constantine was.  Their chemistry was undeniable, always gravitating them towards one another. But more like, they could never quite get the timing right. So aside from a summer teenage romance, a few random dinners and hot steamy nights as adults...it had never gone much farther. Still, their friendship remained intact and she knew him well. Especially when there was something bothering him. Zatanna walked up behind Dick, running a hand through his hair.  "you know, too much brooding can give you frown lines." she teased him, before leaning on the desk to face him. “what’s wrong? And don’t say nothing. I know when you have something on your mind.”

Nox spotted Ace training, lurking in the shadows as she normally did. Truth was, he had always intrigued her. There was a darkness to him that called to her natural instinct. Now and then she could see it, peeking out from beneath his walls. He never saw her before so she assumed the same would happen this time. Most people ignored her, weather it was out of fear or just genuinely not noticing her. She felt Ebony materialize beside her. "The boooooy againnnnn?" he spoke eerily. "I want to know what I did to make him so angry.." she said softly. They had been getting along so well....and then suddenly he was like everyone else. "But I'm scared." she sighed. "would you like me to as-" Ebony started but Naomi shook her head. "No no..it's fine I'll just.....say nothing.”  As usual. "Let's go before he notices us."

“ nobody told me anything.” Nox frowned when she realized that was probably on purpose. She should have been used to being left out by now. She did to herself, and frequently told herself it’s how she liked it. But still, it hurt. “Sorry for bothering you. I’ll just get out of here.”

 Ever since that night at the Bonfire, Ace and Naomi had seen each other almost everyday. They weren’t really long, after all they barely crossed paths before. Their schedules completely different. Most days Naomi didn’t even get out of bed until nearly noon. Later if she could get away with it. Ace however, rose with the sun. He told her once it was his favorite time to train. Not to mention, she’d been sort of hiding out from his friends and sister. Whenever he was with them, they’d lock eyes but she’d shake her head and disappear. She wasn’t ready to face them again. Not yet. But there were times that were just for them   — small glances across the court, short conversations in passing, soft touches as their hands brushed against each other when they happened to be going in similar directions — times. Each little moment adding to the ever growing anticipation in her gut. The one that made her flush as she remembered how it felt to be pinned up against a tree as his lips and hands explored her body. It was driving her insane. He was driving her insane. But thank the gods that ended today.

The day they had decided they both would have time for Ace to be able to continue to train her one on one. She knew they wouldn’t be as close as they were in her cabin. Not out in the open where anyone could see. But it wasn’t about that. That was for private moments. This was about the way his eyebrow rose when she gave him a snarky remark. Or the way when she crossed the line he’d get so close he’d override every one of her sense. The way he was patient with her when she couldn’t get something right. This was about just getting more than a rushed ten minute conversation before they had to go to their next duty. She hadn’t slept, too worried about oversleeping and her body was hating her for it. The sun was rising, usually signaling her time to finally lay her head down. Instead the cool morning air was gracing her skin as waited at the training grounds for him. It was quiet most of the camp still asleep, but not silent. Not the way it was at night. She closed her eyes and could just barely hear the sounds of the forest around them coming back to life. It was...different. But a nice different. There were a lot of those happening lately. The sound of footsteps interrupted her peace but she didn’t move, keeping her eyes closed as she listened. Waited.

Koa spotted Ace walking across the camp and made his way towards him. He'd practically disappeared after his tiff with Jasper and Koa was worried that he gone off to plot the other's murder. It was difficult being friends with both of them at times, but at the end of the Koa would pick Ace over Jasper any day. That didn't mean he was willing to let him commit a crime though. "i thought you were dead. or planning death." he said when he finally caught up to his friend. "I stopped by your cabin after the bonfire but Avery said you weren't there. Were you with that wei-" he stopped himself from calling her the weird girl. Force of habit. "Were you with her?" he asked again curiously, a smirk on his face. “did you...?” he trailed off, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively. 

Avery wasn't a nervous person, quite the opposite. But that all faded away when Ace was upset with her. She'd spent her whole life trying to protect her brother that sometimes that protectiveness over shadowed her use of common sense. Naomi was a sweet girl, so it seemed anyway. Even if she had her reservations she shouldn't have called her out in front of everyone. It was hours after the bonfire had ended and Ace still hadn't returned. She decided to stay up and was on the verge of going to find him when she finally heard footsteps out side.

She went to the window, a sigh of relief as she saw ace approaching with...some kind of monster. She formed a spear in her hand and was prepared to head for the door when the creature patted his head and turned back towards the forest. That would be a question for another day however.  The door opened and she got rid of her spear. "Ace..." she said his name warily. She knew her brother would never physically hurt her. But she knew he was angry with her and that was worse. He was the one person in the world she could ever depend on....and she had let him down. That thought alone was enough to make her want to die. "How's Naomi?" she asked him.

It had been over a month since the attack on the school. Valentina had remained mostly clean with the help of Emrys. She had done...and said lots of things that she had regret around that time. Most of all to rocket. She went to his new dorm, knocking on the door. She waited thinking he may not have been home. but tha was before seeing a shadow move underneath. "Rocket? It's Valentina.....can we talk?" she called out through the door, hoping it was him and not Thorn. She didn't want to have to explain anything to anyone else. "Please Rock...if that's you I really really need to speak with you.