SLVR

At first, Sylvia resigned herself to just listening. Lev was opening up, though not necessarily in a "calm" way. It was still better than nothing. As he ranted about her changing him, Sylvia tried to make a counterpoint when he said it. Her brain short-circuited, the new information pausing her in her tracks. He liked her? Like, like-liked her? She wasn't sure how to deal with this. This wasn't supposed to be a thing. How could he want to date her when he had only just begun to befriend her? What had she done to-?

Lev moved past it, exclaiming how he didn't want it to be this way. Biting her tongue, Sylvia focused herself back on the task at hand. She could think on the whole impossibility of it later. Right now, she needed to try and help her friend. Even though the problem stemmed from Lev's crush on her, Sylvia couldn't quite accept it as a real thing. So, she steeled herself and started to try and get Lev to see just what he was doing wrong and how to fix it.

"I'm not just gonna leave it at that, Lev." She stood a bit taller. "You're right. I can't change anything about you. I can't tell you how to feel or what to do or how to think. I can't and I don't want to. Lev, I'd never want to try and-and just magically change your feelings. That'd cross so many lines and mess with who you were as a person. I never want to do that. However, just because I can't change your feelings doesn't mean you can't trust me with them. I can't change them, but I can try to understand them and help you work through them. I'm your partner, Lev! Whatever you're going through, I want to be able to help you with it!" She started to pace once more, fidgeting with her hands as she tried to organize her thoughts and come up with some kind of coherent argument. It wouldn't do either of them any good just getting mad.

Turning towards her partner, Sylvia tried to start once more. "Lev, you don't get to decide what's good for me." Gods, that sounded more confrontational than she had planned. Biting her lip, Sylvia tried to tone herself down a bit as she continued to dig her hole. "Whether it's as a friend or a boyfriend, you don't get to suddenly decide that you're worse than Seymour. Sure, he takes care of me. Sure, he seems perfect, but Lev, I don't want to be taken care of all the time! And you don't do that! Yes, we fight. You tease me. You've said and done some pretty stupid things in the past, but I'm sure I've done just as much. Besides, you're talking about the old Lev!" She ran a hand through her hair, rolling her shoulders as she tried to get all of her aggression and energy out while she spoke. "Sure, you used to be mean and abrasive and super stuck up, but now you actually care! Sure, you get mad sometimes and sure blowing me off for a good month was a huge dick move, but you know what you also did? You freaking found me and helped me when I was a huge mess at the tournament! You let me cry on you! You cheered for me! You let me teach you to build a weapon! You listened to what I have to say! Hell, instead of just ignoring me while we're trapped in here, you're actually talking to me! You care!"

Her breath was coming faster, her heart beating a mile a minute. She paced just a bit harder, her voice impassioned as she spoke. "Look, Lev, we're not even going to talk about Abby and Haku. This is between you and me. I'm telling you right now, as your friend and your partner, that you can't just try and get over something by constantly being angry at it. It'll tear you apart." She paused in her pacing, staring straight at Lev to make sure she got her points across. "Being angry takes up too much energy. If you tried to be angry all the time, you'd crash and burn. You're gonna be stuck with me for 4 years, Lev. That's 4 years of being angry. That's 4 years of constantly getting angrier and angrier and angrier until there's nothing left. If you were truly like you said you are, like the old you, then this wouldn't be a problem in the first place! And I refuse to let you go down a path that's just going to hurt you worse than trying to work this out! So you can try to be angry and go back to being the old you, but I'm telling you that it'll just make everything worse. I'm not going to let you hurt yourself that way. If we have to stay here for the rest of our vacation to work this out, then so be it. But I'm not going to let you think going back to your old self is the better option here, Lev." With that, Sylvia sat back down on Vance's bed, ready for Lev to start fighting, to start screaming. As much as she hated being in this room, she'd tough it out until she and Lev had a good solution to his whole crush. She wasn't going to let her teammate tear himself apart.
 
Lev's eyes bore into Sylvia as she responded, unwavering and unflinching. Of course she had to make this difficult. They could have been out by now if she had just...just done anything else. The ravenette listened to her piece, his expression stormy and dark. It was clear that, regardless if her words were getting through or not, Lev wasn't about to let himself get better. If anything, the mention of Seymour seemed to reignite him for another round.

"I didn't decide anything, Syv!" He began, sweeping some of his hair out of his face in a huff. "It's not debatable! Seymour is leagues better than me! Better than me at knowing what to do in every situation, better than me at being a hunter, better than me at winning people over...Syv, he's just better. Do you think I wasn't watching him when you ran out after the second round? He tried, Sylvia. He tried to get to you! The only con to that kid is that he's so damn nice that he won't shove others around, even if it's to get to you. I'm mean, Syv! I don't care, and that's the only reason the shoulder you got to cry on was mine, not his! What do you think, huh? That I haven't been watching you both? That I haven't been analyzing every speck, every detail possible, just to know how I measured up?" Lev hissed out a breath and let himself stretch for a moment, popping a few stiff joints before locking eyes with his partner yet again. "...I didn't decide what was good for you. That was your choice, and you made it very clear on the ride back to Beacon that you were plenty happy with it."

With his piece said on that part of their argument, Lev felt himself cooling down. Just a touch. Only enough to make his final rebuttal come across as icy and remorseless rather than blistering and furious.

"...and I lived through 18 years of hell. I think I can handle 4 more."
 
This was going nowhere. No matter what Sylvia said, Lev just wasn't. Getting. It. She nearly threw her hands up in the air, about to lay into him once more when he gave his last words. She froze, unable to properly react. He couldn't have... Her heart tore itself apart and blazed. This was too much. Too many things. She was trying so hard to help, and he kept pushing himself away. Tears welled up in her eyes as Sylvia started once more, ready to drag this out until Lev finally got it in his thick skull that she was trying to help him.

"That." She started, slowly getting up once more as she tried not to let her tears show. "Is exactly why you shouldn't have to go through another 4 years of hell. Lev, you've had to go through your whole life with people making it worse. You shouldn't have to ever be in a situation that makes you feel as bad if not worse than you did with your parents. If... If you're absolutely positively unwilling to change anything about how you're dealing with this then we'll talk to Wunderland and assign me to a different team. I don't ever, ever wanna cause you that kind of pain. If being stuck with me for the next four years is gonna be that kind of hell for you, then I'll leave the team. You guys get a new leader, you don't have to be stuck with me, and everything is peachy keen." While Lev's tone was full of ice, Sylvia's was full of a commanding resignation. Her mouth was set in a firm line, but her brows were turned up in concern. Her stance left no room for argument, giving the boy in front of her an option to either take or leave.
 
Lev, for the first time since really knowing Sylvia, found it in himself to back off entirely from the conversation as Sylvia gave her ultimatum. This...wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

"Don't you dare think of doing that!!!" Reyna interrupted any chance Lev might have taken to respond, busting through the door with tears staining her face. Her brows were knotted, her cheeks were splotchy, her voice was hitching, and she looked like she held equal parts of Lev and Sylvia in her expression. "I thought this would help you two! I thought-" Reyna was intent on pressing on, but Lev's eyes shot open at the sight of a crack in the door well before Reyna made a sound. As the doorway widened, he didn't hesitate. It was instinctual. He bolted out of the room as if he had never been there to begin with, making gratuitous use of his semblance to make sure he was out of sight before anyone would care to miss him. Further on in the house, he found the bathroom and opted to settle in until everything just blew over. Meanwhile in the guest room, Reyna's eyes bore down on Sylvia, not worried about Lev in the slightest. She'd get to him later, that much was certain.

"...I thought something would click in that thick head of his if he just talked! If I knew that he would have dragged you down with him, then I would never have dragged you in here. You..." the pinkette paused, stepping forth to place her hands heavily on her leader's shoulders, "...you have to promise me, Sylvia. Promise me that you will not do what you were thinking about doing! It's too much! Too much for us! For him! ...for you. You can't just leave like that! Not just because you think it'll make Lev feel better. If that's the case, then maybe I should leave with you, because it sounds like he's got it out for me too. I mean...at least you know he likes you. I'm pretty sure he flat-out hates my guts now."

Reyna sighed, easing her expression and moving her palms off of Sylvia's shoulders. "...I'm sorry. This...this was all my fault. I just wanted everyone t-to get along, y'know? Here I've dragged Vance into everything, and now you...I shoulda just kept my mouth shut."
 
Sylvia froze as Reyna bust in, watching Lev take the opportunity to hide. Once Lev was out of sight, Sylvia returned her attention to Reyna, frowning as the younger girl. begged her to promise not to go through with her half-baked plan. She fidgeted at how light Reyna had made the reason seem, but waited for her to pause enough to get out a quiet, "I promise." With that, Reyna moved from making sure Sylvia didn't do anything too rash into apologizing for the whole mess. Once she started on this, Sylvia moved in to give the girl a big squeeze. Once she was finished with her hug, Sylvia took her turn to start talking.

"Reyna." She took a deep breath. "We're all at fault here. Lev shouldn't've given me the cold shoulder for so long. I should have tried to talk to him about it earlier. You probably shouldn't have locked us in here. Though, if you hadn't then I'm sure we probably would've just avoided each other for a while." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "So, it's not just your fault, Reyna. If anything, you at least got us to talk to each other. That's better than just leaving us to dance around each other."

With the reassurances out of the way and Lev no longer there for her to try and convince, Sylvia started to process the whole revelation of Lev liking her. "He... Reyna, Lev likes me? Likes... me?" She sounded so confused and almost childish, a far cry from her normal leader persona. "I mean... I just... I never noticed. I mean... how could he like me? I thought he hated me for a while! I mean, we only just barely started becoming friends. What...? I mean, what could someone like about me?" Years of self-doubt culminated as Sylvia tried to come up with some other explanation for all of this. There was no way Lev could truly like Sylvia. It was a miracle that Seymour liked her! How in the world did Lev end up liking her too?
 
"Thanks, Sylvia." Reyna smiled, giving her leader a squeeze back. "I'm sure things'll work out eventually. Lev might just need some time. And...and you know you can call me Rain, if ya want. I think you're the only one who hasn't." The pinkette gave her friend a smile, stepping back to assess the situation she had shoved everyone in. She didn't have long to think it over though, as Sylvia quickly moved on to a different, and arguably more pressing, topic. Reyna's smile puckered, and her eyes narrowed as she thought of a way to break the facts down for Sylvia in an easy-to-process manner. The pinkette simply sighed and shook her head once she realized even she didn't get the entire gist of it.

"Yeah...yeah, he does. I mean, it's not your fault that you didn't know. Lev...he...y-y'know, he just..." Reyna gnawed on her thumb as she tried to find the words for her ravenette teammate. "...he really doesn't make it easy to figure this stuff out." she shrugged her shoulders in defeat. Lev was still too much of an enigma for her.

Instead, she'd focus on Sylvia, who made a comment that re-ruffled Reyna's brow. The pinkette, in response, gave her a rap on the forehead with her knuckles. "Um, hello? We all like you?" she began, giving her leader an exasperated look. "Listen, I don't know what you think is wrong, but if you think I enjoy looking like a pink and frilly gnome, you've got another thing coming. You? You look cute, you're fun to hang around, you're a friendly girl...there's plenty of things to like! So don't go acting all modest because you've got two guys after you." Reyna planted her fists on her hips, giving Sylvia one last look-over before taking her hand and pulling her out of the room.

"C'mon, this is the first day of our break, and I'm not going to let anyone's mistake mess it up. Let's ask your parents if they know any good camping spots!"
 
Sylvia bit her lip as Reyna started to argue back, soothing a few of her doubts though she still couldn't quite believe that she had two guys-two guys-who were interested in her. The change of pace felt great as Sylvia quickly nodded. "Sure. I'm sure they'll give us somewhere with some really cool sights to check out." With that, the silverette tried to put her fight with Lev out of her mind. She just needed to give him some space and maybe everything would go back to at least a semblance of normality.

It didn't take long for the Slaters to give them at least a good dozen or so spots to choose from. After going through them all, SLVR had a destination near enough to a waterfall and river that they could easily walk over and go swimming. With their destination in mind and a list of supplies from Sylvia's parents, SLVR went to sleep with a bright day ahead of them.

The next morning, Vance practically bounced to their camping spot as he excitedly babbled about making a tent and fishing and going swimming and all the fun things they could do. He rambled on about how he went camping as a child and how he could teach his teammates all about the different skills he had learned. While he spoke, he occasionally glanced back at Lev and Reyna. He hadn't heard exactly what the fight was about, but he knew Reyna would fill him in and discuss a game plan with him. Sylvia smiled and listened carefully to her excitable teammate, giving Lev some space but not so much avoiding him. She was excited about the little camping trip as well. This would be a good non-lethal activity for the team to bond over. Plus, she got to visit some of her favorite falls. Overall, the trip was looking to be a positive experience.
 
While the pace changed quickly for Sylvia, Reyna still had some business to take care of. After discussing activities with the Slaters, the pinkette dashed back into the house just in time to catch Lev working his way out of the bathroom and back into the guest room. Reyna practically took him by the ear as she began to lay into him as she had with Sylvia, more frustrated with his behavior than sad about his admittances.

"Lev, you obnoxious prick, listen here!" She growled, yanking his head down so she had a clear look into his conflicted gaze. "I said I was all for you, y'know, so first of all, you didn't have to go and throw me under the rug when all I was trying to do was help! I told Vance because I thought you trusted him! You guys were getting along fine from what I saw. I didn't know half the stuff that was going on in your thick head at the time- and can we just agree that you never make yourself clear, like, ever?! You need to talk to us, Lev! Talk. To. Us!"

But he refused. He looked into Reyna's eyes with an expression that held doubt, as if he thought he had been misunderstood. His mouth remained in a neutral position for a while, searching through the pinkette's frustration in him for some kind of answer. It was a moment longer before he finally came out and asked, "...She's not leaving, right?"

"Wha...Lev, wh-what?" Reyna's eyes opened wider, and she shoved him back in exasperation. "What!? You! You drove her to even think that! Why are you-"

"Is she going to leave or not?" Lev repeated again, still seeming to be wrapping his head around everything that happened between him and Sylvia. Reyna had to un-tense herself and take a few breaths before seeing where Lev was coming from.

"...I don't think so...but damnit Lev, all you had to say was that you liked her! Was it really that hard?" The pinkette's voice dawned a shred of pity for her raven haired teammate, and her expression softened as she saw the fire in him begin to flicker and die.

"It was." Lev responded almost instantaneously, his lips pressed firmly in a frown. When he didn't continue, Reyna huffed in frustration.

"Alright, you don't need to do any more talking today, but tomorrow we're going camping, and you're gonna spill the beans to Vance and I because clearly you're just gonna make excuses around Sylvia...I screwed up this time, but I told you, Lev! I told you I'd help you through this! You have to believe me, or else you're just gonna end up running us all off." At that, Lev only let his head hang low. Reyna took that as a queue to head back down to everyone else, leaving the ravenette off with a, "Remember to pack for tomorrow."

-

The next day came like a wave of mostly positive energy. Reyna was back on her feet, smile and all, Vance was bubbly and at ease, Sylvia seemed to be doing better, and Lev...well, the key word was "mostly." The resident ravenette was still stormy in the midst of his sunnier teammates. Reyna let Vance distract Sylvia as they walked, giving her some time to give Lev a good kick in the pants...literally.

"H-Hey, what-"

"Shut up, you!" The pinkette hissed before he could get out the rest of his exclamation. "You need to buck up a bit and try to enjoy this a little. I mean, we haven't done anything as a team since the Vytal Tournament...heck, maybe since before then! SAGE and SPHR kinda hounded us until break, so just think of this as relaxing time. Relaxing, Lev, not moping. Did you bring a book? Cards? Anything fun? I told you we were camping for a reason, and it wasn't so you could come along and not do anything."

Lev simply walked along, listening to what Reyna had to say with a sigh. Somewhere in him, her pep-talk was doing some work, but it certainly wasn't visible at a glance, so the pinkette kept going until they finally reached the campsite. Once everyone was settled in some fashion, Reyna pulled Vance aside and whispered a quick plan into his ear.

"Hey, I'm gonna meet up in your guys' tent tonight so we can go over Lev-junk. Make sure he sticks around instead of running off like usual...even if you gotta force 'im." Her eyes darted around to make sure neither of the at-odds teammates were listening in, then gave Vance a quick squeeze to disguise her motives before moving to hoist up her and Sylvia's tent like a pro.

Meanwhile, Lev was holding a few ropes and pegs with his brows tightly knit, completely distracted from his moping over the simple fact that he had absolutely no idea on how to set things up for the campsite. After simply staring at the items for a while, he finally looked up, expression tinted with frustration.

"Vance! Teach me how to do this stuff!"
 
The campsite was a nice little place. Lots of flat land and even an outdoor grill and picnic bench made it a popular spot for campers willing to go this far out into the woods. A fire pit sat in the middle of the clearing, leftover wood from the last batch of campers still sitting nearby. Vance practically beamed at the sight. Fire pits meant campfires. Campfires meant roasting marshmallows. Roasting marshmallows meant s'mores. If everything else went wrong on this trip, then at least Vance would have this one thing. He was about to blissfully continue to recount some more camping stories when Reyna pulled him aside. Realizing the seriousness and discreetness required, the boy continued to smile while squeezing his partner back to let her know he understood. Corner Lev. Talk to him. Possibly keep him in a headlock if he tries to escape. It all sounded quite reasonable. He watched Reyna work with Sylvia to efficiently set up their tent when Lev broke his concentration.

Turning to his and Lev's tent, he smiled at the idea that he would actually teach Lev something. So, ever optimistic, Vance bounded over. "All righty! Let's start by setting everything out!" Surprisingly, the energetic wolf boy was a patient teacher. He pointed out each part before showing Lev the exact steps on how to set up a tent, from connecting the poles to staking it into the ground. It felt nice, just showing Lev the ropes and watching him start to get it. By the time they finished, Reyna and Sylvia had all of their things already set up in the tent and ready for whatever misadventures this whole camping trip would bring.

Vance smiled at his and Lev's handiwork before grabbing their bags. "I used to camp all the time back when I was a little kid. One of the first things I learned how to do was pitch a tent. It seemed so tricky and frustrating, but once I got it done I was so proud of myself! Then the tent fell on me in the middle of the night. I hadn't really done everything how I was supposed to, but I still had fun doing it! Our tent won't fall on us in the middle of the night though." Looking over at his fellow teammate, Vance paused for a moment before asking, "Are you doing okay, Lev? I heard yelling yesterday. I don't really know what you and Sylvia were arguing about, but I do know that I'm going to try and help both of you the best I can!" He grinned, his ears perked up and his eyes determined.
 
Lev forced himself to smile sheepishly at Vance's enthusiasm at setting up the tent. Reyna wasn't wrong when she said he ought to be enjoying the break, and though he was still hovering over yesterday's talk with Sylvia, Lev knew he had to find a way from losing himself in it, and losing everyone else in the process. Sylvia's suggested course of action brought him just close enough to reality for that sake alone. So he allowed himself to be distracted by his wolfish teammate, and enjoyed picking up a new skill in the process.

"That didn't seem as tough as I thought it'd be...man, Viv would love this kind of thing. She was always more outdoorsy than me, but our parents were never keen on letting us out of the house...well, they were never keen on letting me out. Vivian just never left without me." Lev scoffed, as if the memories of his family life were nothing but fictional tales, but before he could press on to other matters, Vance caught him by surprise.

"...I really...I don't think it's a good time to talk about it, Vance." The ravenette grew sulky again, struggling to pick his head up to look Vance in the eyes, but only for a moment. Lev quickly tried to catch himself, clearing his throat and giving the wolf boy a sort of half-smile to compensate for the unconfident answer. "A-Anyways, I'm glad to hear our tent is stable. I think I'm gonna go check out the water, so...yeah." And with that, Lev was gone, leaving Vance to tend to what he would in the hopes that he wouldn't follow along, at least for a little while.

-

Reyna enlisted Sylvia's help for bits and pieces of the camp work, but, as Reyna often did, she had just about everything handled herself. After the tent was set, she wiped a bit of sweat from her brow and stepped next to Sylvia with a grin. "I camped a lot, if you couldn't tell." She was about to go into specifics when she caught sight of Lev headed down to the water. Her eyes shifted between him and the silverette at her side. Back, and forth. Back. Forth. Reyna gnawed roughly on her lip, clenched her hands into fists, bounced around in place, dug her toe into the ground, and did just about anything else to resist pushing Sylvia into another circumstance that would just result in something worse than what they started with.

That said, the pinkette couldn't help herself. It was ridiculous, knowing there was such a major divide in their team. Especially knowing that it was between the two that had arguably the best chemistry out of SLVR as a whole, so she thought. Sighing, Reyna buckled and gave Sylvia a nudge.

"Hey, go...go tell Lev something about this place." The smaller girl quickly tried to justify herself before Sylvia could react with a flat-out no. "I-I'm not going to shove you over there! I just...Yeah, it'd be a good idea to give him some space, but I think that, before you do that for who-knows-how-long, you should...I dunno, change the subject? Just a bit? Just so you guys aren't dwelling on it as much because it was 'the last thing we talked about' sort of thing." With the suggestion in the air, the pinkette could only wait to hear what Sylvia might decide. It was torture enough to think that yesterday even happened to begin with, so Reyna stood with hope that the two heads of the team would share the same sentiment enough to do something about it.
 
When Lev shut down, Vance bit his lip and cursed himself for ever bringing up the fight. They were doing so well! Lev looked like he was having fun! Then he just went off to check out the water. Sighing, Vance looked over at Reyna a bit defeated. So much for possibly cheering Lev up and making it a bit easier for Lev to forgive Vance later. He'd just have to hope Lev didn't take his methods of making sure the raven haired boy didn't escape the tent too badly.

Making the tent with Reyna was a lot easier than Sylvia expected. She didn't even have to do most of the work as her teammate noted how often she camped. The silverette smiled, tossing back a sarcastic, "Gee, I never would have guessed!" She was ready to hear what else the pinkettte had to say when she noticed Reyna looking between her leader and something else. Turning to see what she was looking at, Sylvia frowned as she watched Lev walk toward the nearest falls. She was going to leave him to it when Reyna started her plea. Sylvia bit her lip. She had been planning on making sure Lev had his space on this trip. Going over to him to talk about the falls seemed like a horrible idea when Reyna started her rush of justifications.

"Rain..." The silverette started, gnawing on her lip as she tried to figure out what to do. For a few moments, Sylvia just stared at where Lev had went. Afterwards she looked back at Reyna and sighed, her whole body slumping in defeat. "... all right. I'll be back." With that, Sylvia headed out to the small lake where the water pooled before flowing further into the river.

Hearing the waterfall and seeing its resulting lake immediately set Sylvia a little less on edge. She only glanced to see where Lev was before moving closer. She settled a good distance away from him, close enough that they could hear each other over the faint roar of the falls yet far enough that Lev didn't feel cornered by her presence. As soon as she reached her spot, Sylvia flumped onto the ground, adjusting herself so she was lying on her back with one hand dipping into the water, similar to how most would dip their feet in. For a few moments, Sylvia just laid there and let the water flow past her fingers. The sounds of nature filled their silence, leaving Sylvia with a heavy contentment in her chest.

Closing her eyes, she started, "A lot of people say this place has its own Aura." It seemed random, jarring in the middle of the silence, but the silverette didn't stop. "It's because Grimm don't come to this part of the woods. They tend to avoid it for whatever reason, so people think that the falls have its own purifying Aura that scare the Grimm away." Opening her eyes, Sylvia looked over at the top of the falls. "I used to come here with my family when I was a kid. We'd swim and fish and even go hiking up to the top of the falls. One time, when I was like 5 years old, I got the bright idea to jump off the falls with my little brother. Zak was too small to really understand what I was doing. My parents nearly had a heart attack when they saw me jumping off with Zak on my back. Luckily, my mom was close enough that she managed to grab us before we actually jumped off. Got the scolding of the lifetime, but it was worth it when they took us back a few years later and jumped down the falls with us. Zak absolutely adored it here. He would constantly beg for us to go to the falls so he could go swimming. I remember him just darting through the water like a fish, just having a blast and splashing me with water when he had the chance. It was his favorite part of the forest. Because Grimm never come here, it was safe for me and Zak to explore. Sometimes after a long day of exploring we would just put our feet in the water and watch the falls for a good hour or two. I can't really do that anymore." She lifted a leg, as if offering it as an explanation. Another silence rolled over the two, Sylvia staring at the falls before finally uttering, "I miss him."
 
Lev found himself on the lake's edge, huddled up with his knees to his chin. His hair blanketed over his back and shoulders, making him look like a shroud more than anything else. Reaching down, he let his fingers play with the water's currents absentmindedly. While it felt nice, it wasn't doing anything to distract him as he had hoped.

Why'd Vance have to bring it up... Lev didn't want to give the silverette any more thought. Knowing that he couldn't take the entirety of yesterday out of existence made him nauseous. Little by little, his screw-ups were catching up with him. That, mixed with his own assumptions about himself and others, were turning Lev's Autumn break into an experience on-par with the hospital stay; the less he could remember about it, the better. Comparing the events prompted the ravenette to dig into his pockets, tugging out a small vial of the medicine his father provided. The muddy-looking liquid sat stagnant in its container, but the sight of it alone managed to drag large, heavy tears from Lev. All of his father's words came back in a flood, and no manner of shaking his head did Lev any good to get rid of the sound. Before the haunting torment of Ethan's voice could drill further into the ravenette, he gnawed off the cap to the vial and downed the contents in one gulp. Lev was ready to chuck the empty container into the water in frustration, but Sylvia's presence froze him in place. As she settled in, Lev hid the vial back in his pocket. The last thing he wanted was for his team to bring up his family, so he remained seated, waiting to hear Sylvia bring up their conversation from yesterday. He was sure she would. It wasn't like Sylvia to let things go, so obviously...

But she didn't bring it up. Lev's heart was pumping hard and fast, adrenalin prepared and argument-ready. He had mentally geared up for another back and forth, though he was sure he wouldn't have the fortitude to do it for long, and, more than anything, he was ready to run again. What Lev wasn't ready for was the realization and recollection that Sylvia was a multifaceted person with plenty more on her mind than the problems that he had been giving her for the past month. That alone dragged a few more tears out of him, burning his face and making his jaw sore. He had to look away at her final utterance, shame digging itself deep into his chest, and guilt dropping into his stomach like lead.

"You..." Lev began, pulling his legs even closer to his body, hoping that he could squeeze out the assault of feelings he was dealing with, "...you don't have to do this. Just go and...I dunno, talk to Reyna or Vance or something... I'm not..." Not worth the effort, Lev wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come, so he left the decision to the silverette while he focused on keeping tears at bay.
 
Sylvia looked over at Lev as he started to speak, urging her to go talk to their other teammates. She didn't respond right away, looking up at the sky. The falls thrummed by them, filling the silence as Sylvia folded one leg over the other. She let the water rush by her hand as she spoke, "You're right, I don't have to." The silence droned on once again, Sylvia bouncing her leg and twisting her hand through the water. She closed her eyes, her whole body relaxed. "But I want to." She left it at that, just laying in silence with Lev for a good while.
 
Lev's heart sank when Sylvia agreed; no, she didn't have to waste her time on him. It was the confirmation the ravenette thought he was expecting, but the reality of it hit much harder. Regardless, he was ready to accept it, head cupped in his hands to hide the red rising to his face, when she finished her sentence.

"...What...do you mean?" Lev couldn't help the question that slipped out. His head left his palms, and he made careful eye-contact with the silverette to his side. The relief was slow to set in, but it eventually did, and the ravenette found it in himself to stretch out a bit, releasing his knees from his body with a sigh. Lev wasn't even sure where to begin. Sylvia had left her previous topic at such a somber tone, so how was he supposed to follow up? Shaking his head of his slip-of-the-tongue question, Lev tried again.

"Y-Your brother must've been a pretty sweet kid." He chose his words slowly and carefully, his voice hesitant, as if he were treading on eggshells to even mention her brother. "I don't have too many stories of Viv and I. She was the reckless one, but I always took the heat for her...at least, I thought I was. It felt like I was. I'm not sure if whether or not I wanted to made a difference now, but at least I looked like a good sibling." Lev huffed out what was supposed to be a chuckle, but it fell short and simply became an anxious breath. He let the anxiousness rest and fade throughout his chest before speaking again, this time with more assurance.

"Syv, I appreciate the attempt to bridge the gap or whatever, but...it's really not necessary. You can go back to the others." Lev did his best not to assume her response as he spoke. Whatever she was trying to do, it was making the lump of guilt in him grow. If she'd just stop talking to him, it would stop growing, and he could go about his day while ignoring the feeling like always. At least, that's what Lev hoped.
 
As Lev spoke, she listened. It was nice, getting to hear a bit more about Lev's home life with his sister, even if it might bring up bad memories or horrible feelings. It let her learn more about her partner. Though, with his current attitude she was determined not to leave his side just yet. Besides, she was comfortable laying next to the water and feeling its brisk currents rushing past her fingers. She took a moment to try and decide how she was going to respond. They had all the time in the world, she could afford to take some time and soak up the warmth of the sun while she contemplated her next words.

"I mean I want to talk to you." Not a helpful answer, but Sylvia refused to leave a question unanswered. She ignored Lev's last little command and continued on. "You know, Viv really reminds me of Zak. They're both so energetic and optimistic and just believe so much in their older siblings... Even if sometimes that gets them in trouble. I think... I think Zak would probably hate her though, just because he'd have a rival as most hyperactive. He'd probably grow to like her though. When she called me her sister... It hurt a lot. It just brought back too many memories I wasn't ready for. I appreciate it though, even if I don't really think I deserve it. Honestly, I wish I could introduce you all to Zak. You all would've loved him. He was such a sweet kid..."

Sylvia was surprised she hadn't started crying yet. Most of the time, when she started talking about her brother she broke down before she could get too far into specifics. Yet, with Lev she felt... she felt safe. He wasn't going to push her farther than she could go-even if he was trying to push her away from him. That was fine. He was feeling weird and abandoned since she was dating another guy. She'd just have to keep hanging out with him to try and ease him either out of the crush or into their friendship once again.

"You know, the guest room actually used to be Zak's." So she would keep talking to him. Until he told her he couldn't take it anymore, she'd stay with him. "There used to be a window in that room, but me and Zak tried to jump out of it so my parents had it boarded up. They nearly got rid of my window too unless I promised we wouldn't try to sneak out that way ever again. Needless to say, Zak and I tried to jump off a lot of things. So that's why that room doesn't really have a window." Even with the distance, it was surprisingly easy to talk to her partner once she got into it. It almost felt as if they were back in their dorm, Sylvia slaving away while Lev watched over her shoulder just chatting to each other about whatever crossed their minds. She hadn't realized how much she missed it until now.
 
Why wasn't he running? Sylvia kept running her mouth, and his chest just continued to hurt more and more, so why wasn't he running away? They were in a totally open environment. He could use his semblance to find his privacy on the other side of the river if he wanted, so why wasn't he just doing it instead of trying to imply that he wanted Sylvia to leave him alone? The ball of guilt in him began to surface in his throat with every word the silverette spoke. It felt so normal coming from her, but to Lev, especially with everything he had said only a day before, the normalcy just wouldn't come. It was painful to hear her lay her troubles, her past, her cares, her worries...all on him, as if she were comfortable. It was painful to be uncomfortable with her comfort.

I got what I wanted...but it hurts so bad... Lev realized, looking over at his partner as she chatted. He realized it was instinctual to blame her for his pain now, it was nauseating when she leaned on him for conversation, and it was mortifying to see the friendship they had in the later months of the semester begin to shimmer forth again. I got exactly what I wanted... Lev thought again, biting the insides of his cheeks in frustration. ...but I don't want it anymore.

After one last look at Sylvia, Lev stood up and stretched out. Then he took a few steps away from the shore, removed his coat, ran a hand through his hair a few times, and took a running leap into the river. He spent a few seconds submerged before the chill took the rest of his breath away, then he rose, found Sylvia, and submerged himself again, swimming against the current with his semblance. A short time later, he picked himself back up to the shore and plopped down at Sylvia's side, much closer than he had been before. He didn't even bother looking at her once he got comfortable.

"...If-f y-you're gonna t-t-treat me l-like a w-w-wet-t blank-k-ket, at least l-l-let me get into the m-mood first-t-t." He joked, feeling a smile tear at the corners of his mouth despite the case of shivers he was going through.
 
Sylvia hadn't expected any response. Honestly, she was ready to just keep talking until Lev left. The splash made her open her eyes and sit up, concerned as she saw Lev pop up from the water, only to continue swimming. She watched in confusion as he settled next to her, obviously cold from the sudden swim before giving that stupid one liner. She couldn't hold it in, busting out laughing as she looked over at her sopping teammate. For the first time in a long while, Sylvia felt completely normal around Lev. Sure, they still had some serious issues to get through, but for now they were having some fun.

"Oh... Oh my gods, Lev! You absolute drama queen!" She choked out in between laughs. "You-I can't believe you just-gods, Lev!" It was hard to get out a coherent sentence, her laughter filling the air. It took a few minutes for her to stop laughing and to actually catch her breath. Once she did, she turned fully to Lev and gave a smile. "I'm glad you're still as sassy as ever. Come on, we should probably get you dried off before you catch pneumonia or something. Honestly, you just had to be that little bit of extra." She slowly stood up, cracking her back and stretching out. After she had properly stood up, she turned to Lev to offer a hand up. "Hey..." She hesitated before smiling brightly. "Thanks for listening. I missed just talking with you."
 
Lev's smile grew to its familiar length once Sylvia started laughing. It brought back a familiar pang of longing, sure, but the ravenette smiled anyways. Much as he might have liked Sylvia, he needed a real friend more. It just took some time to remember that the silverette had been the best one of those he'd ever had.

He had to simply shake his head at Sylvia's comments as he shivered, doing his best to pick himself up, what with the water weighing his clothes down. That's not even mentioning his hair, which had been soaked completely through, and was now matted unevenly to his shoulders, face, and back. After a struggle, the ravenette accepted his partner's hand. At her comment, he took a long, shivering breath, and gave his best smirk.

"N-Not like y-you were p-p-planing on g-giving me a ch-choice..." Lev knew that wasn't the case, but teased at it anyways, if only to pacify the frustration he still wanted to feel.

It took the combined efforts of the team to dry Lev off, for more than one reason too. Reyna had to hold him in place with her semblance while she insisted Sylvia take a comb to his hair. Meanwhile Vance was in charge of toweling the ravenette down as much as possible before they stuffed him into a tent to change into dryer clothes. All the while, Lev was trying to weasel out of the team activity that had become taking care of his shivering mass. Dealing with the comb hurt, especially with how tangled the river left his hair, the towels they had brought along were abrasive and old, and Reyna, through it all, was certainly not afraid to strong-arm him when she had to. It was like bathing a cat that very clearly didn't want to be bathed.

At the end of it all, SLVR settled themselves around a freshly prepared fire with sticks and snacks in hand. Lev was still grumpy about the drying fiasco, but otherwise, it seemed like it was turning out to be a peaceful night.

"So...What th' hell's a s'more?" Lev turned to Vance, casually popping an un-toasted marshmallow into his mouth after the question was out.
 
Sylvia had to laugh as Lev teased her. This was good. Things were back to normal. Sure, in the back of her mind she was still thinking of their fight and Lev's confession, but for now they were friends again and that was all Sylvia wanted. As they got back to camp, Sylvia took to her duty of untangling Lev's hair seriously, chiding him for not even bothering to put it up before he decided to be a total dramatic loon. Vance happily took to his job of drying his teammate off, happy that he was getting into the spirit of camping, even if he was supposed to wait until they had their swimsuits on to go swimming.

Once the night had settled, Vance had just set up most of the s'mores making ingredients when Lev committed the worst of worst acts. Vance stared at Lev, his mouth hanging open and his hand over his chest. Horror painted his face as he realized just how truly uncultured Lev was. "You... you don't know what a s'more is?!" He asked incredulously. First, he didn't know how to build a tent, then he went swimming without a swimsuit, and now he didn't know what a s'more was?! And he just ate a marshmallow uncooked?! Lev was a heathen! A true and utter heathen! Moving like lightening, Vance got to work rectifying this horrible situation as he explained exactly what a s'more was and how Lev had just desecrated camping by eating a marshmallow by itself without even roasting it. Sylvia couldn't help but chuckle at how serious Vance was, animatedly explaining exactly how to cook the perfect marshmallow and the proper ratio of graham cracker to chocolate to marshmallow to get the perfect s'more. All in all, it was an adorable sight to see.
 
It was another struggle, this time just between the boys, but it didn't take long before Vance had Lev won over to the side of the s'more. Not only did it taste good, but the hassle of making it, and dealing with Vance's incessant commentary about the whole thing, was just another way for him to accept the friends he had. Of course at the same time, it was a reminder. Lev took small bites of the few s'mores he made, doing his best to choke down thoughts of the family life he used to have. It might have just been because of the melted marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate in his mouth, but Lev was silent for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Reyna took the stage to tell some of her favorite ghost stories. Banshees, zombies, haunted dolls...the pinkette might have been short in stature and cute in appearance, but she knew how to rattle bones in more ways than one. For the first time, she had Lev's complete attention without having to physically force it. It was a night to remember.

Of course, for Reyna, Vance, and an unsuspecting Lev, the night was still young.

Lev watched Vance dig himself into a sleepable spot in the tent, and was about to follow suit, but opted not to. The ravenette had always been more of a night owl, and with such a pleasant campground to relax in, he wanted to take full advantage of it while he could.

"Hey, Vance..." Lev began, unzipping the entrance to their tent, "I'm gonna go for a bit of a hike. I'll be back in about an hour, I think."

Meanwhile, Reyna sat in her little corner of blankets and pillows, eyeing Sylvia curiously. "...Hey, it looked like things went well with Lev. Fill me in?" Much as the pinkette wanted to simply go and beat answers out of Lev, she couldn't turn down the one-on-one opportunity with Sylvia. It felt like forever since they were able to just chat, girl to girl, so Reyna sat at attention, eager to hear what her silver haired friend had to say.
 
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