#duckandash

"I love you." He has to say it again, once he's managed to drag the other back... And picked up Milo. Who wasn't exactly happy about having been left behind but it was a weight off Calvin's shoulders. One arm full of writhing wiener dog, the other comfortably curled around Axel's waist for a point of contact. Holding on to the other with an awareness of just how close they'd come to not walking away from that things attacks... and him from his own.

@duckandash

camp  had  been  a  mess  for  the  past  few  weeks.  there  was  just  so  much  happening  everywhere,  silas  could  barely  (he  couldn't,  really)  keep  up.  between  sethan  dying  under  his  nose,  kieran  leaving,  himself  getting  sent  out  on  missions  -  like  bringing  back  xanthe's  brother  &  harley  leaving  despite....  despite  them..  being  close,  silas  had  whiplash.  he'd  wanted  to  share  his  own  progress  with  those  he  cared  deeply  for,  he  did.  but  there  were  others  he  didn't  necessarily  want  to  pour  his  heart  out  to  -  not  that  anybody  had  that  privilege  in  camp,  no  no.

  but  one  of  them  had  been  axel.  he  ...liked  him.  they  spoke,  they  trained  together  -  that  was  about  as  much  as  was  needed  to  get  on  silas'  good  side.  the  cave  quest  had  been  quite  rough  &  axel's  first  group  mission  if  he  remembered  correctly  &  he'd  meant  to  find  him  after,  but  ...  he  got  dragged  in  all  directions.  another  person  he  cared  for  vanishing  reminded  him  how  fleeting  what  they  had  here  was  &  that  he  had  to  take  the  time  sometimes  ..to  do  something.

  he  did. 

  he  found  him.

  wings  folded  behind  him  -  he  was  trying  to  get  a  better  feel  for  them,  feel  more  confident  in  his  ability  to  just  exist  with  them,  he  found  axel  training  &  approached  him  with  a  little  smile  on  his  face.  "hey,  how  'bout  you  take  a  lil'  break?  brought  lunch,  we  could.  uhhh...  jus'..  sit  somewhere  'n  chat?"

he'd spent the entire morning trying to think of something to give him that would be remotely close to useful, but came up short each time. so he breaks out an old hobby of his, whittling down a piece of wood in the shape of a feather. attaching a small note to it, he goes to leave it at the man's door, when it swings open suddenly.

"oh, uh, sorry." there he is, left holding his gift rather awkwardly. "i was just... gonna leave this here." clearing his throat as he clumsily hands it over.

wow,  this  place  was  truly  something  else.

  lincoln  absolutely  hated  that  there  were  no  women  here.  sure,  there  were  nymphs  but,  something  about  them  had  him  worried  that  they'd  cast  something  evil  against  him  for  his  usual  antics.  so  instead,  he  decided  to  go  for  a  little  nighttime  jog  to  help  clear  his  mind.  he'd  have  to  find  himself  a  gym  or  something  because  he  felt  like  he  wasn't  himself  if  he  didn't  have  a  place  to  lift,  throw,  or  toss  something  heavy  around. 

"Okay so I need to be doing something to help, and I get that you might wanna be alone after all that or that I might just be on a way higher alert than I need to be but. Seriously tell me to get lost i- I jus-"

He'd at least started off strong with trying to make his point. That he wanted to be there to help or just be there but then the words kept getting tumbled over each other in the middle of trying to tug off some form of armour or buckle or something because what he was wearing felt like too much now the battle high was wearing off. But the energy really didn't seem to be going anywhere beyond some anxious buzz in the back of his head and in his hands an-

"Just point me in a direction or something I-"

Why was he nervous?

Almost immediately after agreeing to meet up with Axel for dinner, there had been some voice in the back of his head that just... What if this is a date? It could easily not be. He really wasn't expecting it to be, they were best friends first and foremost and yes there had definitely been a distinct shift in what exactly that dynamic included and then the relief of everything an-

It wasn't like Calvin was opposed to the idea of it, either. He just. If it was just dinner between friends that was perfectly okay too. He wouldn't just... Put that pressure on somebody else of making the assumption. If he happened to dress up a little nicer than normal, shirt and slacks and leaving his armour at home, he reserved the right to say it was just... Nice to not need to feel the need to defend himself.

Orodeíktis stayed at least. That sword was... Never leaving his person if he could help it. And the laurel crown. He'd. Mostly stopped realizing he was putting it on at this point. Brushing off his pants as he walked in to the cafeteria, he wasn't sure if he'd arrived first, but, still.

Calm the fuck down heartrate.

It shouldn't have come to this, really.

The dawning realization of danger going forward, of the risks attached to something like this, and the grander stakes of all the quests they'd been going on. Corruption spreading, deaths, portals to different worlds. It was... There had been a scale of what he knew, and he was rapidly having to expand that.

Which meant he needed to hold on to the things that helped keep that in perspective a lot tighter. That, and go in to this not regretting inaction. Not letting the past weight down what was steadily becoming one of his... favourite things about camp. Some one that was...

He at least had an idea where the other would be prepping before they headed out, and while he knew he should lead off with a greeting or an explanation or something...

Instead he's kissing Axel before he can let his brain work itself out of doing something for himself, before he can convince himself that this was stupid, or too much, or he'd been misreading a situation. Because he'd done that, time and again, and he... Needed to keep pushing for the present and future not holding himself back by the past.