○ avior reunites with arin and destiny. a secret is uncovered and a bond is strengthened. ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ the last thing avior expected to see on this miserable first day was his best friend sitting next to the girl who liked him, the both of them smiling and laughing like they had been friends for ages. how very peculiar. last he checked, arin and destiny weren't exactly friendly with one another. this was a delicate situation, then. could he trust that they genuinely did like each other? what else could be going on? he had to approach this with the utmost caution. he liked destiny fine, and he cared deeply about arin, and he wanted them to get along with each other. arin spotted him before destiny did, and avior saw the exact moment aer face lit up before ae leapt up and waved him over enthusiastically. "hi!" ae exclaimed, pulling him into a tight hug before quickly releasing him and gripping him by the shoulders, mouthing "you okay?". avior hardly had time to nod before destiny was tackling him from behind. "i missed you so much i missed you so much i missed you so much!!" she squealed. well. this was a little bit overwhelming. destiny appeared in front of him then, wayward bits of blonde hair escaping her high ponytail, hazel eyes sparkling. "i missed you guys too," avior said, "how were your summers?" "good," arin said, at the same time destiny exploded into a flurry of words and waving hands, speaking so quickly avior could only catch snatches of what she said. "...and then when my friend and me went to sit down this boy made eye contact with me and i swear to god, he literally winked at me! he winked at me! like we were in some kind of rom-com!" she paused for air then, and avior seized the opportunity to interject. "that's such an interesting story," he said. "i, for one, had a stupendously boring and uneventful summer, and i'd love to make up for that right this instant. destiny, do you like weaponry?" ⋘◦⋙ destiny did, in fact, like weaponry, and so avior led her and arin to the tall fence blocking off the open field with the weapons hanging on that massive rack along one side. the fence hummed dangerously as they approached, but arin remembered how to shut it off, and so the three of them entered the forbidden weapons area. destiny was instantly enamored with the vast array of weaponry, and she immediately set out to find the largest, sharpest axe on the wall. "you just won her over," arin said at his side, "but most *sane* people would have just bought flowers," "that's no fun," avior said, watching destiny lift an axe nearly as tall as she was. "this? this is fun," ⋘◦⋙ the three of them mucked about in the weapons field for quite a while, and they had a splendid time, but all too soon destiny had to abandon them, leaving avior and arin to put the swords, bows, axes, and daggers back in their respective places. it was dull work, and the time crawled by slowly, so avior was not surprised when arin heaved a great sigh, dropped an armful of tiny sheathes for tiny knives on the ground, and turned to him. "how was your summer, truly?" ae asked. "now that it's just us," "it was okay," avior shrugged. "you know. ordinary," a bit lonely, too, though he would never mention that to arin. "okay," arin said. "i know we made that blacklist, but, like, if you ever wanna change it up..." ae trailed off. avior raised an eyebrow. "got it. thanks," he said, turning away. he was about to hang a delicate silver bow on its hook when arin blurted out, "do you know how to read?" the bow slipped from his fingers. what? "yes, of course i know how to read," he said irritably, doing his best to act as though arin was suggesting something preposterous. could he read? ha! who couldn't? but when he turned back to face aer and saw aer honest, open face, something inside him crumbled. he had had quite enough of telling lies today. "no," he admitted, staring down at his shoes. how embarrassing. this was perhaps the most humiliating moment of his life. he had always prided himself on his carefully crafted mirage of intellect, and now arin would laugh and call him stupid and that would be it, marcus would not fear him anymore, bradley would probably pity him, and perhaps worst of all, destiny would lose all respect she had previously held for him. but all arin said was, "okay," "that's it? 'okay'?" avior was dimly aware of the fact that his voice sounded higher than normal. "isn't there anything else you're going to say?" "no?" arin sounded bewildered. "i mean, uh, not unless you want me to?" "i don't want you to say anything! i don't want you to *know* anything! goddammit, why'd you have to go and figure that out on your own!?" avior began hitting himself in the forehead with the heel of his hand repeatedly. "stupid, stupid, stupid!" he said between hits. he was not certain who he was calling stupid: arin or himself.
"hey, stop that." a hand closed around his wrist. "i don't care whether or not you can read," arin said. "i really don't. and it doesn't have to be some huge secret, either. nobody is going to hold it against you." "you don't know that. some people do," avior said coldly. "some people really like to make it their own personal problem," "i'm not one of those people." now arin sounded hurt. whatever. he didn't care. ae didn't have to go nosing around in affairs that didn't concern aer. this camp was filled with stickybeaks! sickening! "you didn't have to make it your business," avior snapped. "you didn't have to say anything about it at all!" "okay, well..." arin shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. "now that i know, maybe you should consider telling ms. buckley about it? maybe then she'd be easier on you?" avior had had quite enough of this. "that's ridiculous. i'll never tell her anything. she can rot in hell," arin shook aer head. "how do you plan to get by in her class, then? how did you manage last year and earlier this year?" "i didn't," avior said, which was very true. he hadn't gotten by at all. he would probably be held back this year. "i failed." best to just tell the truth. arin was impossible to lie to; he always felt bad about it. "oh, avi," arin sighed, "next time, just ask for help," "no," avior said. he could be very stubborn when he wanted to, and he always wanted to be stubborn. it was among his many default states of being. "i have four younger siblings. i won't be taking 'no' for an answer today, and you're not going to be able to change that," *that* was a surprising thing for arin to say. avior did not think he had ever seen aer so certain about something. "how about 'maybe'?" avior offered. he could probably meet aer halfway. "i can work with that. c'mere." arin held aer arms out and pulled avior into another hug. when did ae decide that ae liked hugging people so much? there was something unique about being hugged by arin, though. ae was nearly a full head taller than him now, and as a result could rest aer chin on the top of his head quite comfortably. aer skin practically radiated warmth, something entirely foreign to avior, who was as cold-blooded as a person could be. bradley in particular made frequent remarks about his "corpse's hands", which avior thought was taking it a bit far. he would bet anything that his hands were colder than that. but being hugged was all right, he decided. arin was a good person to be hugged by. ⋘◦⋙ / august 14, 2131 - destiny coffey / Destiny Coffey had a mission to accomplish. And this would be no small feat. She was completely and utterly infatuated with the one and only Avior Viator, and today was the day she would make that absolutely clear. It was scary. She had no idea how he felt about her, but this was a risk she was willing to take. And after all, he had taken her to that empty field with the weapons, and who did something so obviously romantic without any romantic intention behind it? "Hi!" she said sweetly. "Okay, so I really, really like you, Avior, like, a whole lot. And I was hoping that maybe you like me too? And if you do, do you want to be, like, a couple?" Her proposition was met with silence. After all, bathroom mirrors weren't exactly able to talk. She sighed and let her chin drop to her chest. That was a pathetic confession of love, nothing but silly babbling. Maybe she wasn't ready for this yet. Maybe she would wait until tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or whenever her heart stopped leaping in her chest every time she so much as THOUGHT about him! Yes, that was a good idea. She would wait. That would give her time to think of the perfect thing to say and the perfect day to say it and the perfect outfit to wear while saying it, and everything would be wonderful. Amazing. Perfect.
