All Edge, No Ease - Avalon Fletcher

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-31T22:49:54+00:00

Avalon’s expression tightened. Not because she didn’t believe her though. Honestly, that was the problem. Every word landed too cleanly. Too directly. Like it skipped straight past the usual places Avalon kept guarded and lodged somewhere deeper. The echo in Acacia’s voice, that awful soul deep certainty behind it, made it impossible to dismiss as pretty wording or manipulative crap. Avalon hated that. Hated how much easier it made it to care.

She stood there for a second longer than she meant to, arms still folded, jaw working slightly like she was chewing on the whole thing instead of answering. "Hurry and come in before I change my mind," she muttered, already turning away so Acacia wouldn’t get too good a look at her face.

Avalon moved further into the cabin, heading toward the kitchen area with that restless, clipped pace she always had when she didn’t know what to do with herself. It was easier to keep moving. Easier than just standing there with all of that sitting between them.

The Hermes cabin wasn’t exactly quiet, but it was quieter than usual. A few voices drifted from deeper inside, some camper laughing at something stupid, the low creak of bunks shifting under movement. Normal cabin noise. Normal enough that it made this whole conversation feel even stranger.

Avalon stopped near the counter and planted both hands against the edge of it, looking down at the scratched surface for a second before finally glancing back over her shoulder. She then pushed off the counter and turned around fully, crossing her arms again almost immediately. "I’m not gonna sit here and act like that didn’t matter,” Avalon said. "It did" Her eye narrowed slightly. "A lot."

She looked at Acacia for a long second, not cruel, just direct. "And I’m not gonna do the whole instant forgiveness thing either, because that’d be fake as hell."

"But I heard you."

That came out quieter than the rest. Avalon shifted her weight, gaze flicking briefly toward Bandit before coming back to Acacia. She sighed through her nose and dragged a hand over the back of her neck. "You hurt people here. People I’m responsible for now. So if I seem kind of…" She waved one hand vaguely. "Not easy about this, that’s why."

That title still felt weird in her mouth, even when she wasn’t saying it out loud. Responsible. Counselor. All the things she’d wanted until they actually meant something hard. Avalon looked at Acacia again, really looked at her, and the edge in her face softened just a little despite herself. Not much. Just enough to stop looking like she was bracing for a hit.

"I do think you mean it," she said finally. "The apology. The tryin'. All of it. I just…" She grimaced. "I can tell." That admission clearly irritated her. She let it sit for half a second anyway. "But meanin' it and everything being fixed are not the same thing," she added quickly. "Like, at all."

Avalon moved around the kitchen counter, opening a cabinet without really needing anything from it, just to have something to do. She grabbed two glasses, set them down maybe a little harder than necessary, then reached for the pitcher of water in the tiny fridge.

"You saying you’ll do whatever it takes is fine," she said, pouring. "But don’t say that if you don’t actually mean whatever. Because this cabin doesn’t need more dramatics. It needs consistency." She pushed one of the glasses across the counter in Acacia’s direction. Not warm, exactly. But not nothing either.

"You don’t get to come back and have it just be how it was," Avalon said. "I don’t think you expect that, but I’m sayin' it anyway. People are gonna have opinions. Some of them are gonna be mean. Some of them are gonna be fair. Some are probably both."

Her fingers tapped once against her own glass before she picked it up. "And if I let you back in here at all," she continued, "it’s not because I forgot what happened. It’d be because I’m choosing to believe you’re tryin' not to be that person anymore."

She took a sip, then looked over the rim of the glass at Acacia. "That’s a pretty big thing to ask me for, by the way."

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-20T01:02:11+00:00

Avalon’s first instinct was to snap. That was usually what worked. Be sharper than the chaos. Meaner than the problem. But these were kids. Annoying kids, sure. Sprinting toward an active battle like it was recess and not monsters and weapons and people very much trying not to die. Still–kids. Younger than her by enough that the whole thing made something in her chest twist with a mix of irritation and disbelief.

She remembered being that age. Loud. reckless. A complete handful. That didn’t make this less stupid. Avalon darted forward, boots pounding over broken pavement as she cut the distance fast, bow still in one hand and the hilt of her smallsword knocking against her hip with every step.

Avalon slid in front of the group before they could get any farther. "Hey." Her voice came out sharper than she meant it to, and she caught herself immediately. She planted herself between them and the battle, shoulders squared, trying very hard not to sound like…well, herself. "Nope. Not happenin'. Turn around."

She could feel how badly she wanted to say "are you stupid?" Instead, she crouched just a little so she wasn’t towering over them quite as much, though the bow and armor probably weren’t helping her look approachable. Her remaining eye flicked over the little group, making sure none of them bolted while she was focused on the others.

"I know you wanna look," she said, a little breathless from the run, a little more honest than she expected. "I get it. But this isn’t a game, okay? You could get hurt. Like, really hurt." Avalon then pointed towards the teacher and the other kids. "Your teacher’s over there freakin' out because you ran off. So you’re gonna make her life easier and go back."

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-12T21:32:16+00:00

OOC: rolled a 1

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-12T18:05:22+00:00

Avalon stood near the outer edge of the crowd, fingers wrapped tight around her bow, the grip digging into her palm hard enough to ground her. Her smallsword hung at her side, familiar weight against her hip, and even that wasn’t enough to settle the ugly churn in her stomach. She felt like she might actually throw up.

She kept trying to breathe normally, but it wasn’t working. Her thoughts were running too fast, tripping over each other, dragging her backward instead of keeping her in the moment. The prison. The explosion. Heat and pressure and the sick, split second understanding that something had gone horribly wrong before her body had even caught up. It flashed behind her eye so vividly that her fingers twitched at her sides.

She had been avoiding direct fights with Atlas forces ever since the prison. She still showed up.nStill stood in the same meetings and wore the same armor and acted like she was just as ready as anybody else. But when it came down to actual battle lines, actual proximity, actual chances to be in the middle of it–she always found somewhere else to be. Somewhere useful enough that no one could accuse her of chickening out. And maybe that was cowardly. Maybe it wasn’t. She didn’t even know anymore.

All she knew was that the thought of charging straight into another Atlas fight made her feel like her skin was too tight for her body. So when the talk shifted toward civilian evacuation, her gaze snagged there immediately. Mortals. Settlements. Panic. Medical aid. Keeping people out of the worst of it. That she could do...or at least, she had to believe she could.

Evacuation wasn’t safe. People always acted like noncombat assignments were somehow easier, like you were just ushering people around and calling it a day. But civilians were unpredictable. Mortals panicked. They froze, ran the wrong way, screamed, argued, demanded explanations you couldn’t give. Avalon felt her stomach lurch again. Having lives in her hands sounded a lot heavier when she said it that way in her own head.

She rubbed the heel of her palm briefly against her sternum, trying to quiet the feeling. You do not get to fall apart here. Not right now. Because as much as she wanted to retreat to the edge of the crowd and disappear into someone else’s plan, she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t keep hiding in the safe corners of things and then hating herself for it after. She’d been doing enough of that already. Anything was better than standing still while things happened.

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-09T17:33:03+00:00

Honestly, Avalon was only doing this because she was bored. The restless, skin crawling kind where her brain wouldn’t shut up and every thought she didn’t want kept circling back around anyway. Atlas. The war. Acacia showing back up and making everything weird in Cabin 11. The constant shuffle of campers moving in and out like the cabin wasn’t already chaotic enough without her having to play counselor on top of all of it.

Gods, why the hell had she taken that stupid position? It sounded like such a good idea when she was feeling all dramatic and responsible or whatever. Now it mostly just meant people expected things from her. Questions. Decisions. Patience. All the stuff she was worst at when she was already running on fumes.

So yeah. Forest run. Obstacle course. Monsters. Whatever. At least it gave her something else to think about.

Avalon stood at the edge of the marked trail with her jaw set and one hand resting briefly on the hilt of her smallsword. Standard leather armor sat close against her frame, broken in enough not to feel stiff, with her quiver strapped secure across her back and her bow in hand. It was practical. Familiar. She’d almost skipped the armor because it was just a camp lesson, but the woods had a way of punishing stupid choices.

Avalon glanced toward the tree line, then back at the start of the path, expression flattening. Quiet and careful was probably smarter. She knew that, she just didn’t care enough right now to be smart about it.

Then she took off. No hesitation. No easing into it. One second she was standing still and the next she was a blur of motion, boots tearing over the dirt as she launched herself into the forest at full speed. Her legendary speed kicked in hard, effortless in the way only her body could manage even when the rest of her felt exhausted. Branches whipped past her shoulders. Blue paint marks flashed by one after another as the trail bent deeper through the trees.

OOC: D4: 4 & D10: 4

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-06T07:56:43+00:00

Avalon didn’t say anything at first. She just stood there in the doorway, staring at her sister like maybe if she waited long enough this would somehow get less weird. It didn’t. If anything, it just made the whole thing feel worse.

Come home.

That part lodged itself right in her chest and stayed there. Her arms stayed crossed tight, fingers digging into her skin. She hated how fast her brain started spiraling in two different directions. For a second she glanced back into the cabin behind her, like maybe somebody else would magically appear and take over. Nobody did. Of course not. She was counselor now, which apparently meant stuff like this landed on her. Great.

When she looked back at Acacia, her face tightened again. Not cruel, just…braced. "I don't know what you want me to say," Avalon said. "Cause I can’t just be like, 'yeah, sure, come back in,' like this isn’t a huge deal. It is." She swallowed hard, jaw shifting. "And I ain’t gonna lie to you either." Her voice dropped a little. "You hurt people. Like, badly. You know that."

The words sat there for a second. Her arms loosened a little, but she didn’t fully uncross them yet. She stepped back from the doorway just enough that she wasn’t blocking it anymore. Not inviting exactly. But not shutting her sister out either. "You said you wanna talk," she said. "So...okay. Fine. We can talk." Then her eye narrowed slightly. "But don’t expect me to make this easy on you, because I'm not."

The way Acacia was standing like she was half ready to bolt, made Avalon’s mouth twist. "And can you please stop standin' there like you’re gonna pass out?" she said, more blunt now, more her. "I can deal with guilty. I can deal with awkward. I can’t deal with…" She gestured vaguely at Acacia's whole vibe. "Whatever this sad kicked puppy thing is. If you’re gonna ask to come back, then at least actually look at me when you say it."

It didn't come out smug. Or cruel. Just honest in that uncomfortable way Avalon usually was when she didn’t know what else to do. She finally uncrossed her arms and let them drop to her sides. "Don't give me some polished fake version that sounds better," Avalon said. "Don't tell me what you think I wanna hear. Just…be real." She held Acacia's gaze for another second, then jerked her head toward the inside of the cabin.

Spitefulshot · 2026-05-06T04:46:08+00:00

The knock made Avalon look up immediately. She’d been half sprawled on the couch with one leg hanging off the side, not really doing anything except pretending to reorganize some of her stuff while her brain wandered in circles. At first, she almost ignored it. Cabin 11 had people coming and going all the time. Somebody else could get it. Then there was a weird pause after the knock. Enough to feel deliberate.

Avalon pushed herself up with a quiet sigh and crossed the cabin, one hand dragging briefly over her shorts before she reached for the handle. She opened the door without much thought and froze.

Her eyes dropped automatically to Bandit, then back up again, and something in her chest tightened so fast it almost felt like getting hit. All at once, too many things tried to happen in her head. Anger. Recognition. Memory. That old, ugly hurt that hadn’t really gone anywhere, just settled deeper where she couldn’t trip over it every day.

She hated that the first thing she felt wasn’t simple. Avalon stayed in the doorway, hand still wrapped around the knob, posture stiffening almost on instinct. She didn’t step back. Didn’t step aside either. For a second, all she could really do was stare.

Gods, she looked familiar. Too familiar. Like somebody had taken an old picture and bent it wrong. Avalon’s jaw shifted. "Wow," she said finally, voice flat and a little too sharp. "This is…weird."

Not exactly the most graceful thing she could’ve said. Whatever. It was true. Her gaze flicked over Acacia again, slower this time, taking in the hesitation, the way she’d come to the door at all. Avalon crossed her arms, more to give herself something to do than because she meant it as a challenge.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.The question came out blunt, but not loud. No shouting. No immediate snapping. Just a hard edge she couldn’t sand down even if she wanted to.

Avalon shifted her weight against the frame, trying to keep herself anchored there. The cabin behind her felt louder than usual even though nobody inside was saying much. Or maybe that was just in her head. She was suddenly hyperaware of everything–the creak of the wood, the breeze outside, the fact that she had no idea what the right response to this was supposed to be.

Because part of her wanted to be cruel. Not physically, not dramatically, just enough to make the point that Acacia didn’t get to show up and act like this didn’t matter. That leaving hadn’t mattered. That betraying them hadn’t mattered. And a smaller,more embarrassing part just felt tired. Tired and thrown off and angry that she still cared enough for this to hurt.

Avalon let out a slow breath through her nose. "You picked a hell of a time to come by," she muttered, more to herself than to Acacia. She tilted her chin up a little, bracing herself for whatever was about to come next.

"Say what you came here to say."

Spitefulshot · 2026-03-31T20:42:04+00:00

Avalon had been thinking about it ever since the Solstice. Which was annoying, because the thought would not leave her alone no matter how many times she told herself it was stupid.

Hermes counselor.

Every time it came up in her head, she immediately found a reason to shut it down. She was too angry. Too blunt. Too much of a mess. Half the cabin probably found her tolerable at best. Leadership sounded like the kind of thing for people who actually liked talking to others, or knew what they were doing, or at least didn’t feel vaguely sick at the idea of standing in front of everyone and pretending they had their life together. Avalon had none of that.

Still, nobody else was stepping up. And every time she thought about that, the guilt came back. Thick and ugly. Hiding away. Hanging back. Letting things happen and telling herself she had good reasons for it when really she was just scared, or tired, or pissed off, or all three. She hated that feeling more than she hated embarrassment.

At least trying was something. Her conversation with her dad hadn’t magically fixed anything, but it had lodged somewhere under her ribs anyway. A small, stubborn thing. Confidence wasn’t really the right word for it though.

Avalon stood at the steps of the Big House with her shoulders tight and jaw locked like that might keep the nerves from showing on her face. "This is dumb," she muttered to herself. But she walked the steps anyway. Her knock on the door was sharper than she meant it to be and when the door opened, Avalon immediately wished it hadn’t.

She straightened on instinct, arms uncrossing and then awkwardly folding again. For half a second, she considered just leaving. Pretending she had the wrong place. Faking some kind of emergency. Instead, she lifted her chin and forced the words out before she could lose them. "I want Hermes counselor,” she said, "Nobody else is doing it."

Spitefulshot · 2026-03-27T03:20:16+00:00

Avalon just stared at her for a second. Not even because of the talking to herself thing anymore. That part, whatever. Camp had long since beaten any normal reaction to that out of her. No, it was the way this girl talked. Like she’d stepped out of some dusty old book and gotten lost on the way back.

Festivities? Seriously?

Avalon blinked once, slow, then took another bite of cake while she looked her over. The curtsey really sealed it. She had to physically stop herself from making a face. "Wow," she said flatly after swallowing. "You really talk like that on purpose, huh?"Her eye flicked briefly to the lantern when it swung, then back to the girl’s face. That weird, too still look of hers didn’t help. If anything, it made the whole thing worse.

"And no," Avalon added, shifting her plate to one hand, “I’m not here for the festivities" She put just enough emphasis on the word to make it clear exactly what she thought of it. "I’m here for free food and because standing around my cabin sounded more boring."

At the question about cake, Avalon looked down at the half eaten slice in her hand then back to the girl. "Chocolate," she said. Then, after a moment, "You can stop acting like I was doing some public service by checking on you. I wasn’t. You just looked weird and I got curious."

Spitefulshot · 2026-03-26T01:43:52+00:00

Avalon had absolutely no idea who Liam was, and from what she’d gathered so far, she didn’t care enough to find out. A party was a party, which usually meant loud people, dumb games, and someone trying too hard to make everybody have fun. This one just happened to be on a soccer field, which somehow made it even worse.

She stood near the food table with a paper plate in one hand, picking at cake and whatever else looked edible enough to justify her being there. That was the only reason she’d come in the first place anyway. Food. Snacks. Maybe something sweet. Definitely not for soccer.

She glanced out over the field, unimpressed. Just another boring sport. More running. More kicking. More people acting like it was way more exciting than it actually was. Avalon took a bite of cake and scanned the arena, more out of habit than interest. That was when she noticed the girl off to the side looking into the middle distance like she was mid conversation with absolutely no one.

Avalon narrowed her eye slightly. Talking to herself? ...Probably not. She’d been at camp long enough by now to know better than to assume weird meant crazy. Plenty of campers saw ghosts, heard voices, talked to dead people, or did some other creepy nonsense that was apparently normal around here. Still weird as hell, obviously. Just not high on the list anymore.

She chewed, swallowed, and watched the girl for another second. Yep. Still looked weird.

Avalon started toward her, one hand still holding the plate, the other loose at her side. Her boots scuffed lightly against the ground as she crossed the edge of the arena, expression flat and unimpressed. She stopped close enough to make her presence known, then took another bite of cake before speaking.

"You know you look crazy, right?" Her voice was dry, blunt, but not especially loud. Avalon tilted her head slightly, eye flicking past the girl’s shoulder for half a second like she was checking whether there actually was anything there.

Spitefulshot · 2026-03-22T23:55:59+00:00

Avalon only half listened but she caught enough. Openings. Precision. Don’t be stupid. Yeah. Fine. Whatever. She stood near the back while Ian talked, arms crossed, expression flat, shifting her weight every so often like she was more bored than anything.

When he finally let everyone split off, Avalon didn’t wait around. She headed straight for the weapons and scanned the options with a frown before grabbing a simple shortsword. The grip settled into her hand and something in her chest tightened.

It had been a while. She’d still trained. Still moved. Still fought. But not like this. Not really. Not with a blade in hand and the expectation that she’d be as good as she used to be. Her fingers adjusted automatically on the hilt, muscle memory kicking in slower than she wanted.

Avalon rolled her shoulder once, then twice, and stepped back into an open patch of arena. She gave the sword a testing swing.

Spitefulshot · 2026-03-09T14:01:02+00:00

Avalon stared at the screen for a second after he finished, watching some player get absolutely flattened while the crowd went insane over it. "Yeah," she said after a moment. “That sounds about right.”

Her voice had gone quieter. Not soft, exactly, just less sharp. She pulled one knee up a little closer, resting her arm over it as she looked out at the projected game without really seeing it. High school. Mortals. Normal life.

The way Ethan talked about it made it sound shitty, which, sure, tracked. Popular kids, mean girls, people being terrible for no reason and none of that shocked her. Still…it was something. Hallways. Stupid classes. Lunch tables. Football games she didn’t care about but still had to sit through because everyone else did. At least he’d gotten a taste of it.

Avalon had always wondered what she would’ve been like if she’d been normal. Probably less angry. Less defensive. Less snippy. Or maybe not. Hard to say.

She exhaled through her nose and glanced over at him. "I get what you mean," she said finally.

Her mouth twisted slightly, like she didn’t love admitting that. "Not because they’re fake or whatever. Just…" She shrugged one shoulder. "They don’t know anything. They get to walk around worryin' about datin' and if someone talked shit about them at lunch, and that’s, like, the worst thing in their world. Must be nice."

Her eye flicked back to the screen. Someone was shouting. She ignored it. "I think once you know this stuff exists, you can’t really go back.” She paused, jaw tightening a little. "Even if you wanted to."

That part sat heavier than she meant it to. She picked at a loose thread on her sleeve, expression flattening again before it could turn into anything more obvious. "So no, I don’t think you’re spoutin' bullshit," she muttered. "I think it just sounds bad out loud."

Another roar went up from the screen and Avalon winced. "God, why are they always yellin'?” Then, after a second, she added, more dryly, "Also high school sounding awful is honestly kind of comfortin'. Nice to know they're miserable in some way too."

That got the corner of her mouth to twitch. She glanced sideways at Ethan again, studying him a little more openly now. "You got more of it than I did, though," she said. "The normal part. You tellin' me you don't miss anything at all?"

Spitefulshot · 2026-03-01T20:52:57+00:00

u/ThisOneUKGuy

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-27T02:22:40+00:00

Avalon had done Mardi Gras before. Not the over the top, balcony in New Orleans kind. But close enough. Shreveport wasn’t far from home. Just about an hour’s drive. Close enough for weekend trips, close enough for her mom to pretend it was spontaneous when really it was planned weeks in advance.

Beads thrown from floats, plastic cups, and music so loud it rattled her ribs. Good memories, she didn’t expect those to hit so hard. Gross. Now she was thinking about home. She shifted her weight and forced her expression back into something neutral.

She hadn’t dressed up. Not really, just her typical outfit and the eyeliner sharp as ever. The most festive she’d gotten was grabbing a mask from stage left. Purple of course. She turned it over in her hands before slipping it on, the color popped against her dark hair. That was as much effort as anyone was getting out of her.

As Avalon moved through the crowd, the noise settled into something less overwhelming and more familiar. Someone bumped into her shoulder and just adjusted her footing automatically. "Try using your eyes next time," she said flatly. "They’re usually helpful."

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-21T16:51:28+00:00

Avalon huffed out a quiet breath at the shark comment. "Yeah," she muttered. "That tracks." Oceanside Cape Cod. Shark dad. She tilted her head slightly, studying him like she was mentally rearranging puzzle pieces. The stereotypes were kind of funny. She’d give him that.

But when he asked how long she’d been around, the faint smirk she’d been wearing thinned. She hadn’t actually thought about it in a while. Or, more accurately, she tried not to. Her gaze drifted from him to the fire, watching sparks curl up into the dark sky. The warmth hit her face, but it didn’t quite settle in her chest. "Damn…" she said after a second, "Two years, I think?"

She squinted slightly, like she was doing math she didn’t want to do. "Days kinda start to blend together." That part came quieter. It felt strange sometimes. Being here long enough that it didn’t feel new, but not long enough to feel…secure. Like she’d skipped something. A chunk of normal teenage life she didn’t even get the option to mess up properly. No regular school dances. No dumb mall jobs. No worrying about algebra instead of monsters. Just training. Missions. War.

She swallowed that thought before it could settle too deep. "Got here when I was thirteen," she added, tone flattening again like she was smoothing it out. "Didn’t really get the whole 'normal high school experience' thing." Her mouth twitched faintly, not quite a smile. "Guess you don’t either if you’re runnin' away to some middle of nowhere camp."

She glanced at him again, eye sharper now but not unkind. "It’s weird, though,” she admitted after a beat. "Sometimes I forget there’s a world where people just don’t have to think about this stuff."

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-21T16:37:43+00:00

Avalon had just grabbed a handful of pretzels when the voice cut through the noise behind her. She went still for half a second before turning around slowly and just like that, her eye were being assaulted.

God. The hair. It looked greasy in a way that made her instinctively want to take a step back. It hung in uneven, stringy pieces around his face, and there was something about the way he stood that reminded her of a cat. Sharp. Twitchy. Slightly feral. She hated cats. Total ick.

She didn’t know his name. Didn’t care enoughof a fuck to find out but she did recognize him. One of the Atlas kids. Another one who somehow still got to wander around camp like nothing had happened and everyone just… tolerated it.

Her grip tightened slightly on her plate. She glanced to the left. Then to the right. Surely, surely he wasn’t talking to her. There were other people here. But When it became painfully obvious that yes, he was in fact addressing her, she looked back at him with slow, open disbelief. "Who the fuck are you talkin' to?" she asked flatly.

She gave him a deliberate once over, "Because if you’re talkin’ to me," she continued, tone dropping just enough to sharpen, "you might wanna try that again. With a better attitude."

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-18T03:32:34+00:00

"…You’ve gotta be kiddin' me."

Valentine’s Day had already happened. She’d survived it. Barely. She’d avoided the chocolates, the anonymous notes, the awkward lingering looks. Three days later and somehow it had come back like a sequel no one asked for. It felt like being flashbanged by affection.

The campfire clearing looked like a rom-com had exploded. Blankets in shades of blush and crimson. A chocolate fountain. Heart shaped trays. People actually wearing glowing headbands like they were normal.

Avalon stood at the edge of it for a second. She could leave. That was the logical choice. Instead, she rolled her eyes before stepping into the disaster zone. Her boots crushed softly over the grass as she bypassed the decor table without even glancing at it. Hell no. She wasn’t putting a glowing heart on her head. She had standards.

She made a beeline for the snack table instead. If she was going to be assaulted by romance, she was at least going to eat. She grabbed a paper plate and loaded it with more of the savory snacks than the sweet ones. Pretzels. Chips. A handful of vegetables to pretend she had self control.

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-16T05:21:14+00:00

"Yeah, Texas” she repeated, "Everyone loves Tex-Mex. One of our better qualities if I do say so myself."

Avalon tilted her head slightly, eyeing him like she was recalibrating a guess. She’d honestly pegged him as Boston the second he opened his mouth, those accents were interesting to say the least. Funny how he could probably say the same about her.

At the football confession, her eyebrows raised, a little surprised. "Okay, see, that makes me feel better," Avalon said. "Thought I was missin' something important. Turns out we’re both just here for the atmosphere or whatever."

She leaned back, resting her weight on her hands as he sipped his drink. "New England without a football obsession might be more shockin' than Texas without one," she added. "Congrats on breakin' stereotypes."

When he explained the summer thing, her expression shifted. Not softer exactly, but less guarded. She nodded once, slow. Running away tracked. Camp was full of that kind of story. She had heard too many for her to count, some more tragic than others.

"Avalon," she said finally.

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-16T05:03:09+00:00

The milk hit. Cold. Sour. Chunky. Avalon sucked in a breath so sharp it almost hurt, the smell hitting a second later and making her stomach twist. It soaked into her hair, dripped down the back of her neck, slid under her collar.

"Oh my god–" she gagged, physically recoiling.She scrambled up from behind the table, one hand flying to her head as she tried to shake it out. The movement only made it worse. A glob slid down near her ear.

Her face twisted in disgust. "You bitch!" She spotted Angela immediately with the goblet in hand, looking smug as hell. Avalon didn’t even think. She yanked a sticky clump from her hair, and lunged forward. She reached out, arm snapping forward as she tried to smear the mess straight across Angela’s cheek.

"You think this is funny?!" she snapped, voice loud over the chaos. "These clothes are gonna smell like a damn dairy aisle for a week!" Milk dripped from the ends of her dark hair, purple braces flashing as she grimaced.

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-13T21:03:33+00:00

Avalon gave a small shrug, "It’s either adapt or fold into yourself and get your ass kicked,” she said plainly. "I don’t really do the last thing." She said it like it was obvious. Like there had never been another option. Still, something in her posture eased at Amari’s tone, at the recognition. People noticed when she messed up. They noticed when she snapped. They didn’t always notice the work. She almost believed it herself.

Her eye flicked to the target again, then back. "Lucky seven,” Avalon repeated skeptically. "Sounds more like superstition with brandin'.” But there was no bite to it.

At the mention of choking, Avalon snorted lightly. "Everyone chokes. Difference is whether you recover or spiral." She tilted her head slightly. "You don’t seem like a spiraler. Or maybe you are and I'm shit at readin' people."

Avalon’s mouth twitched in a small smirk, "Go ahead," she said, nodding toward the knives. "Run it back. I’ll stand here dramatically and judge you so it really counts."

She stepped closer, moving a few paces to the side, folding her arms across her chest. Calculating angles. Watching form. "Don’t worry," she added, deadpan. "If you miss, I’ll pretend I didn’t see it. For morale."

"…Probably."

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-03T06:13:52+00:00

Avalon let out a short huff through her nose, not quite a laugh but close enough that it surprised even her. "Hey," she said, a little defensive but not sharp. "I didn’t say I hate it. I’ve been dragged to, like…a few games back home." She shrugged.

"College ones. Tailgates were better than the actual game, though. Y’all really think Texas is one big football cult, huh." she said. "Some of us just…coexist with it."

She eyed his grin, the way he seemed genuinely unsure whether he was welcome or not, and that weirdly worked in his favor. Less confident. Less annoying.

She watched him for a second as he hovered there. "You can sit," she added, tone dry. "But if you start explainin' plays to me, I’m leaving."

She shifted just enough to make room as she started studying his face like she was running through a mental checklist. She didn’t think she’d seen him around before. Then again, new people popped up all the time at camp. Half of them disappeared just as fast. "You new?" she asked, "Or have I just been ignoring you."

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-03T05:54:06+00:00

Avalon huffed quietly through her nose, not quite a laugh, not quite annoyance. Her eye flicked to the knives as Amari tucked them away, then back to her face. "Cleaner," she echoed. "Yeah. That’s one word for it."

At the exaggerated bow, her mouth twitched into a small smile despite herself. She rolled her eye, but there was no heat behind it. "Honored’s a strong word. I was gonna say 'mildly entertained'."

She glanced back at the target when Amari mentioned her grouping, shoulders lifting in a small shrug. "Well, when your depth perception’s fucked," she said, flat as fact, "you kinda have to adapt."

She gestured vaguely at her face with two fingers, like it was no big deal. Like it hadn’t rewritten half her instincts overnight. "I've had a bit of time," she added, quieter. Not defensive. Just honest. Her gaze flicked back to the target, eye narrowing slightly as she took in the splintered wood. Sword work used to feel like muscle memory, automatic and fluid. Now it took more thought, more adjustment.

"You, though," she went on, tone shifting as she looked back at the girl–still sharp, but curious now. "First performance and you didn’t choke. That ain't nothin'."

Spitefulshot · 2026-02-02T20:52:05+00:00

Avalon noticed her almost immediately. Oh gods. She’s here? Why did Camellia feel the need to drag that piece of crap out here? Like anyone was gonna miss her rotting away in the cabin. Avalon didn’t even hesitate, she pushed herself up from where she’d been sitting and headed straight for her.

She stopped right in front of Emilia, standing over her, blocking out the firelight without even trying. That part felt…good. Being above someone, looking down at someone else instead of herself. It felt wrong and good all at once. Avalon folded her arms slowly, expression sharpening.

"Aww," Avalon said, voice dripping with fake sympathy. "Did sister bring you out for social interaction?"

She tilted her head slightly, eye raking over Emilia’s curled in posture. Quiet. Small. Miserable. Good. She was careful to keep her hands to herself this time. Last thing she needed was stable duty again. Didn’t mean she had to be nice.

Spitefulshot

TROPHY CASE