Triple Point

Chapter 8: Clearing the Air

Content Warning (see in-line comments for details)

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Camilla had a gash in her left side, courtesy of the piece of roofing she used in the stands to block the fireball attacks. A piece of it had blown off, slicing Camilla like a hot knife. The heat had somewhat cauterized the wound, but squeezing through the hole they made earlier and their subsequent constant movement agitated the injury and caused it to bleed again.

Camilla insisted it wasn't too deep, and she only needed to rest for a bit so the bleeding could slow, but Elsie was more than a little worried about infections. There wasn't much moisture Camilla could wick from the air, but they rinsed out the wound with whatever she could gather. Then, from Camilla's jacket-turned-vest, Elsie tore off the bottom hem to serve as a makeshift bandage and tied it around Camilla's waist.

Since Elsie had a feeling that Camilla would insist that she had spent enough time resting and that they should get moving again, Elsie sat herself down against the opposite wall without leaving it up to discussion. For a moment, Camilla looked like she was about to argue, but she thankfully decided against it and grudgingly slumped against the wall.

"See?" Elsie said, strangely chipper at the grumpy look in Camilla's eyes. The expression probably extended to a frown under her mask, but Elsie didn't care. "That wasn't so tough, was it? Not everyone's out to get you, you know. Good people do exist."

Camilla narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess: you're one of them?"

"I mean, it would sound conceited of me to agree with you, but I can say with confidence that I'm not a complete asshole."

Camilla scoffed, sounding almost like a laugh, and turned her head to stare down the path ahead of them.

The two of them sat in silence for a while on opposite sides of the narrow path, their bodies facing each other but their eyes avoiding contact. Exhaustion was catching up to Elsie after her long day, and her long night before that hadn't helped either. She couldn't imagine how Camilla felt though, since she probably had several long days in a row. So, of course, for the sole purpose of keeping them both awake, and definitely not because it was getting awkward, Elsie decided to break the lengthening silence.

"I don't get you," Elsie said with an exhausted sigh.

She didn't expect Camilla to respond, but she gave her a beat to do so just in case. When Camilla didn't take it, Elsie continued.

"You act like you try to get everyone to like you all the time, but you get pissed off and break character when you think they're trying to use you. Why not just act like your normal angry self and save everyone's time? People only think they can take advantage of you if you seem like a pushover, so why even let them think that in the first place?"

For a moment, Camilla seemed content with ignoring Elsie. But something must have changed her mind when she looked at Elsie, her eyes narrowed. "You used to try to please everyone. Why was that?"

Elsie was hoping that Camilla wouldn't use that against her, but it still counted as a win that she even responded in the first place.

"Okay, maybe," she admitted. "But that's different. That was like... a version of the truth. Alright, and I guess I needed to be non-controversial to get jobs. But you... I get that sometimes it's easier to change how you act to blend in with different scenarios. But does it ever warrant needing to constantly act like someone else? There were so many times when it was just the two of us. Why couldn't you just be honest with me from the beginning, instead of having me get to know a complete lie?"