2019-10-10 - Breaking Butts By The Pool

The sun has fallen and while the good folk of Gray Harbor are settling down in bars and going to clubs, or their homes, for their evening routines, the rest of society is just now waking up, scurrying from under cover. The freaks and the ne'er-do-wells coming out to cause mischief and mayhem. People like failed socialite starlet darlings and witch-themed strippers.

The pool itself isn't closed yet, and that means it's the perfect time for a couple of night owls who want to get wet, but dont' want to freeze their asses off in the chilly autumn of the Pacific Ocean, have invaded. It's not like anyone in the trailer park has a pool she can swim in, except that one guy who built a hot tub into his deck and creepily stares at people while submerged up to his neck.

"CANNON TESTICLES!"

The scream immediately precedes a SPLOOSH as Cameron gets a running start of two or three strides, then leaps in, tucking her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her shins. For such a skinny girl, she sure does make a big splash when all those lanky limbs are curled up into a ball. For a long moment there is nothing but bubbles and the vague shape of her body underwater, before she breaks the surface.

Sweeping wet, bedraggled hair away from her face, the stripper grins, blinking water out of her eyes and doing a few overhanded paddles to hold onto the side of the pool and tread water there. Her bikini is a bit on the small side, chocolate-colored two-piece that is strapless on top and manages to cover three-quarters of her rear on the bottom.

The rest of her things reside by a chair, a towel, her phone, keys, the little silver cigarette case that has her weed in it. The rest has been stored in the locker room, secured with a padlock. "Daaaaamn, Aubrey..." After exchanging numbers at the Cabaret, usually a no-no for dancers, but Aubrey had money and was a woman, so she must be okay (right?), she'd also informed her that, shock of shock, her name was not 'Destiny', but was in fact Cameron. "... We need one of these where I live. I don't know where we'd put it. Or maybe I need to move up in society and live in a place like this."

The last bit is said with an almost dreamy smile as she pulls herself up onto the edge of the pool, water cascading down her slender figure as she turns and sits by the edge.

Discovering that the apartment she is squatting in / inherited from a relative had a pool was one of the few great saving graces of Aubrey's not entirely glorious return to her home town. She'd gotten pretty used to some fancy-ass big city living, and she'd imagined every possible living situation in Gray Harbor as somehow shabby or run-down. But, in the irritating way they often do for rich people, everything worked out in the end. Aubrey got her fancy new digs, and her pool, and she takes every advantage of them.

The upside of this for Cameron is that an 'it' girl, real or imagined, needs her squad, and she's happy to shower such luxuries on her newly minted stripper friend. Any enjoyment fostered by a sense of superior benovolence is purely coincidental.

Aubrey doesn't quite have the sense of exuberence about the whole thing, routine as it all is for her, but she can't help but laugh as Cameron rushes ahead to bombard the water. She doesn't dive in, but merely moves to the edge and sits, dangling her toes into the water. She's wearing her own rainbow colored two piece, which isn't particularly conservative either, although her slim physique doesn't precisely threaten to burst out of the outfit either.

"Well, you can come hang out whenever," she offers, in that same blase, no big deal, taking her life's riches for granted way as always. "I spend a ton of time here. The gym's just on the other side of the hall, so I'll come and get a dip after, or just, you know, grab one of the chairs and veg out or something." Yep, she doesn't even always SWIM. The ultimate in taking shit for granted.

"Really? Oh. Thats cool. Thanks." Cameron smiles at the offer to come hang out 'whenever'. Maybe that was a bad move. Poor people are like roaches. Leave a little food out and they never leave! Not that, other than working, the dancer has given many indications that she's poor. Aubrey hasn't seen her car or her house. ...Yet. "That'd be awesome. Maybe we can invite a few friends over and have a party sometime?"

Cameron holds her hands up, her legs swishing back and forth in the water as she gestures. "Around the winter solstice, you're supposed to give thanks to the Water God with a celebration, but, like, waaaaaay too cold for the beach. Are you into festivals at all?"

"I was at Goodbye, Oak Moon a week or so ago. You should totally come next year. My band, well, Madison's band, our band? Anyway, it's called Amulet, right? And we try to play all the big pagan festivals around the state. It's just really great fun, there's bonfires and merch, tarot readings, good place for swapping tomes or getting your hands on some home-made crafts. I can't stand things bought from stores." Because those are expensive as fuck. "I like things to have a story behind them."

"Oh!" She looks up with a grin. "And there's lots of booze and weed, too."

Cameron looks away for a minute, smiling a smile of much mischief to herself before she uses her arms to lift herself up a bit and scootch closer to Aubrey. "Hey." She says by way of greeting, looking at the other woman as their hips touch. She leans a little closer, as if about to share a secret. "Heads up."

Looping her wet, skinny arms around the Addington woman, Cameron dives forward and to the side to try and drag her into the pool with her, doing a death roll like a crocodile. The brunette, for sure, is going in with her suicide dive. The only question is, as she breaks the surface laughing, wiping water and hair from her face, if she managed to bring her benefactor and host with her.

Hey, Aubrey appreciates the mooch lifestyle. No shame there. "I forget what the guest rules are exactly," is her answer on the topic of using the pool for a bigger party. But 'I forget' is a bit difference from 'I really actually care that much.' So while throwing huge parties sounds like the sort of thing that will get them all kicked out and her access card revoked, that kind of action-and-consequence thinking is not precisely her style. "The guy who owns the place seems kinda... I don't know, a little bit of a stiff? But like, he's kind of cute too? It's probably no big deal." Maybe she trusts that if things really go wrong, she can always sweet-talk her way out of it. It's always (usually) worked before!

None of this is a big deal, in the larger sense of things.

"Oh you're Madison's friend? She told me about the band, and that sounds pretty cool, but I don't, uh, really know any of that... uh whatever stuff she's- you're? Into." It's not really a surprising admission from such a stereotypical spoiled rich kid. Preppy and pagan don't exactly mix.

However, there's an upshot: "Some of Mad's stuff was pretty good."

This evaluation of the whole lifestyle definitely lines up with that afterthought that Cameron tacks on about the /real/ upshot of these festivals. Even the most basic of white girl can pretend to be a free spirited hippy for your occasional Burning Man-esque drug fueled festival weekend. It's practically a requirement.

Aubrey's still smirking about this particular topic as Cameron gets closer, and... yeah, she is totally fooled by the sexy stripper secret sharing gambit. "Mmm?" she murmurs, leaning nearer. "Wha- heywaitaminute!" SPLOOOSH

In goes the Addington, flailing a little as she's pulled into the water. Still, for all the lazy attitude she's actually a good swimmer, and recovers from the crocodillian assault a few moments later, emerging from the water just in front of her attacker. "That was tooootally unfair," she complains, though the attempt at the typical, spoiled pout breaks into a giggly grin fast enough, as she splashes a bit of water back in the other girl's face.

Addingtons and sweet-talking their way out of things go hand in hand. So Cameron isn't really concerned about pool rules. It probably says 'no rough play' on a sign nearby somewhere, but... well, here we are. Rules made by normies are meant to be broken and savaged by pillaging pagans!

As the other woman pops back up and declares her to be a horrid, cheat, the stripper merely shakes her head, and then quickly turns away when water is splashed at her. Cue splash fight! Cam sends a wave back, and the water turns to a roiling turmoil as the pair laugh and see who gives in first.

It's the willowy Wiccan, who surges forward to wrap her arms and legs and around Aubrey, pulling herself in close, too close to splash! "I don't play fair." She confirms with a soft laugh. "And in my defense, fairness is for pussies."

The brunette disconnects her arms, legs still trapping her newfound friend/mean girl overlord as she stretches for a hand on the concrete side of the pool. Her height and limb length allows her to just reach it, pulling them both towards the edge.

"Madison would say we have a relationship that can't be defined by conventional words... I just say she's my girlfriend. Because it conveys in one nice little package that I care a lot about her, and that we're totally having sex. Sometimes labels can be useful." Her long legs unravel from around the Addington as she treads water, half-floating, half hanging onto the edge of the pool.

"Alison, the girl from the club? Redhead? She's a friend, and our total groupie. That might become something more, but I'm not sure. I feel like if things are meant to happen, the universe will make them happen. And trying to force it will only kill what might have been beautiful."

A moment of silence after that bit of off-brand poetry, and then, "You totally have to come to a festival with me. Come on! It'd be soooooo much fun. There's killer music and it's basically like an outdoor rave. I can tell from you're aura that you would synch really well with the Wiccan lifestyle. Mostly the parties, but also the lifestyle."

There is some evident frustration on Aubrey's face when she is denied any easy 'revenge,' for her dunking, but ultimately, getting pounced by the stripper isn't so bad, either. She rather casually loops her arms over Cameron's shoulders and laces her fingers behind her neck, savoring the closeness a moment and then... kind of making herself a lazy lump that the other woman has to drag with her as she heads back for the edge. Perhaps this is some sort of strange revenge, making her do all the work now that she's pulled Aubrey into the water!

The explaination of her 'nonconventional' relationship with Madison earns a little eyeroll, presumably more for the choice of language by the absent party. "Yeah she seems like the sort of girl who has to be a little different about everything. Well that's cool. I thought maybe you and that other woman at the club might've been-" But there is an explanation handy for this as well. Cameron has thought of everything! And both facts lead to a curious sort of admission from the Addington:

"I've never dated another woman." Pause. "Like, don't get me wrong, I've hooked up with a bunch of 'em, like what else do you do in college? But that was always like, casual roomie-fuckbuddie whatever kinda shit." Maybe it's the preppy side that has constrained that oh-so holy institution of 'dating and fucking a lot before marriage' to the menfolk? Basically she fails as either a paragon of conservative virtue OR modern liberation.

"But that's cool. You two seem like you'd fit," she confirms for a second time, just so there's no doubt of her 'cool with whatever' status. "Its pretty awesome you have groupies. And kinda hot." As Madison discovered, even being in an unknown niche pagan group doesn't diminish a certain natural fawning reaction Aubrey has for musicians. That one is just in the rules somewhere, that being in a band is awesome.

On the heels of all of THAT, maybe the festival shit is kind of a small deal, although Aubrey does make a little face when she's suddenly getting aura-read. "Uhuh. I dunno about all the all-natural deal, like some of Madison's stuff... was kinda creepy looking?" Girl likes her products, thank you very much. And her designer club drugs, for that matter. "But the parties sound cool. I've been to a few music festivals that were a little like that, I guess. It's cool how laid back everyone is."

"We all like to be different on the fringes." Cameron says with a soft smile, glancing away as she lifts an arm up to rest an elbow and forearm on dry land. "A friend of mine told me that we just want to be seen. I think that's true. Being unique is how Mads makes sure she's seen. Would people really ever notice her if she were ordinary? Would you have noticed me if I wasn't a stripper who showed you a helluva time, just walking around town in my Farmer Jake overalls and a sweater on laundry day?"

"Everyone wants to be extraordinary. To stand out."

The brunette nods her head at the explanation given about the Addington's dating life. "Most women haven't, I think." A little laugh as she swirls around some water with a hand. "I'm pansexual. I'm attracted to minds and souls more than bodies. I mean, don't get me wrong. A bangin' body is, y'know, hot. But I think different people share things in different ways with each other. ...And monogamy is unnatural. Even animals don't do it." A beat. "Except for penguins."

A hand lifts up out of the water to swipe her hair straight back, slicking it to her skull, the part still in the water spreading out like brown, lazy seaweed around her. "Don't close your mind to new experiences, babe! Life is short, you're only young once, other trite cliches. Be willing to try anything once! Even if it's odd or scary-looking."

"And just between you and me, a lot of people only go to the festival for the drugs and the orgies. They're total posers."

Marion strolls into the pool area, wearing a single-piece swimsuit that extends partway down their thighs. A faded tie-dyed towel is draped over their shoulder. "Mark?" they call out. Marion shakes their head and sighs. Then they catch sight of Cameron and Aubrey. "Oh. Hello. The, uh... Addington. Aubrey, right? And the witch. Have either of you seen Mark? He said he was going to meet me here..."

That would all be a little deep for Aubrey except... yeah she kinda gets it. And has a lifetime of acting up to prove it. The latter might not be a fact she's totally internalized or anything, but still, the desire to stand out a bit, she can relate. "Yeah, I guess that's true," she admits. "Mad's cool. But I was kinda a dick to her when we met and, like, she was pretty chill about things anyway. I def wanna go see you guys play sometime. We can round up all your little groupies afterward and go totally wreck the town, haha."

She and Cameron are floating in the pool, rather up close and face to face, though it's nothing... inappropriate for public. Aubrey adjusts to rest her shoulders back on the tiled lip, legs kicking lazily beneath the surface. As for the proper duration of human relationships? Well: "Yeah for sure, I... usually get bored, after a bit, I guess? I know it sounds kinda awful, but it's true. It's exciting when you start, but then, like, it gets possessive and clingy and boring and blah. Well, with the guys I've dated, anyway."

"But I'll try most anything once," she boasts in the face of whatever possible new life experiences. "Haha, I'd totally be one of the posers, though. Am I still invited?" The last is said teasingly, but her thoughts are interrupted by a voice behind, and she twists around to look back up at Marion. Recognition is met with a sort of deadpan, bland-toned reply: "You're the hob- er the veteran dude's friend, I remember. Uh... Who's Mark?" She is rather new to the building herself, after all.

The sudden introduction of another voice has Cameron turning from where she floats in the water, by the edge of the pool, brown eyes landing on Marion. She frowns. "Oh, it's you. The one who said we were stealing stuff and didn't want to help. I don't know Mark, sorry. It's just us here."

Cam turns to grin at Aubrey, resting a wrist across her shoulder. "Won't take long to gather up all our groupies. There's... one. So far! Mads, though, she's... she's from another time and place. She has a beautiful soul if you can look past her mouth and deal with what's on the inside."

Cameron uses Aubrey's new position against the side of the pool to slide against, and in front of her, bypassing her with a teasing smirk as they brush gainst each other, before she softly kicks off the wall and pedals herself backwards, out into the water.

"It's normal to get bored when you're not really connected with someone. And yes, you are a total, total poser. But if you keep an open mind and heart, you'll always be able to discover new worlds, Aub!" Kicking her legs, Cameron leans back and propels herself towards the opposite side of the pool, her ears momentarily covered by water and unable to hear, until she stops short and props back upright.

Juuuuust shy of smashing her cranium against the opposing edge.

Marion shrugs. "Mark. He invited me here. I'm sure he'll show up eventually. And I recall that you did in fact take multiple objects from the store. That's between you and the owner, though. Doesn't particularly bother me." The towel goes onto an unoccupied seat, and Marion dives gracefully into the deep end. When they surface, they wipe the hair from their face. "God, that's so much warmer than the ocean."

Miss Beautiful Soul walks in and she is all black and white. Her one-piece swimsuit, hair and enormous sunglasses are black as night, and the skin is pale as chalk. The sarong is a mix of the two, as is her backpack, even if it has around fourty knickknacks hanging from it, from Alf Tazos to a suspiciously authentic army medal.

"Holy. Moholy. Who is the owner of this house, and where to I get in line to suck h-"

And then she notices Aubrey, and Marion. Snapping her phone shut, Madison grins. "HEY! I know you guys! World Famous Aubrey, and Suspiciously Understanding Person From The Store! WHAT. IS. UP!?" She reaches for the very edge of the pool and extends a hand so Marion will high five it.

Madison might miss Marion's hand several times, if her high-five is even entertained, but she is nothing if not a persistant woman. She gets it right eventually.

Standing up, she approaches the other two, "Look at you, living large! Man, this is -pimp- money, like... basically Escobar, but in Gray Harbor. Aubrey, you hiding that sweet settlement money from your buddy? Come on. You can tell me. Which producer do you got dirt on? Can I see the vid? Lemme see the vid. I crave for celebrity drama. PLEASE!"

Her imagined origin for Aubrey's supposed money has Madison on her knees, hands clasped together, praying for the celeb's mercy, so she will be allowed to peek into the real life of the rich and famous.

"Haha, what were you stealing?" Aubrey wonders, looking between Marion and her pool-buddy. But she's not judging! You don't get to judge people on that kind of stuff when you've done a perp walk on TMZ! Also she has to ration out her judgmental juice for looking down on poor people* (*who are not also hot strippers). At least before the shameful admission that the list of groupies is shorter than imagined. Now Cameron (or, ok, maybe just the band) is judged as: "Laaaame. And you call me the poser."

Still, Aubrey is positive! "Don't worry babe, we'll work on that. I am kind of a big deal around here so, like, if we start partying together it will probably hype you guys up a bit too." Uhuh. Still, maybe there's some truth to it. She might be a disaster of a wannabe Kardashian successor, but Gray Harbor is a pretty low key place by comparison. Muderghosts aside.

As Cameron swims away, she retains her lazy place on the pool edge a while, resting her shoulders at the edge and letting her lower body rise and start to float in front of her. She tilts her head back some, looking at Marion upside down, only to lose track momentarily during the dive. "Well yeah, no shit. That's why we're here. I love the beach but the weather up here is kind of ass for it and-"

Oh, there's Madison! She looks over at Cameron, assuming the 'poor' has already begun leading her cockroach-esque invasion. "I told you," she replies with a touch of a haughty smile, very much enjoying the chance to recover some of her dignity from the other night, and turn the tables some. "Nah, nothing like that. But my family had an apartment here." Just a spare luxury place no one was using. No big deal. "Anyway, I met your girlfriend the other night and invited her over to hang. You're. Welcome."

"O-M-G!" Cameron spells the letters out with a roll of her big brown eyes, looking to Aubrey. "I just took those things for a spell! I'm not a thief. There's a perfectly rational explanation for all of it. And we're gonna put them back! We don't need them anymore." And she'll just have to convince Madison to put back her totally-not-for-a-spell pilfered edition of the book she stole. That Cam will deny Maddie ever stole until her dying breath.

Because she's a good damned girlfriend.

Madison happens a second later, Miss Beautiful Soul entering the pool area having gotten the impromptu invite. Said invite might have been a sticky-note left back at the trailer reading: 'Off to swim at the pool! Address is XXXXXX. Luv, Cameron <3' The goth's antics earn her a small, tight-lipped smile that shows no teeth from the Wiccan, rolling her eyes dramatically as she pushes off of the other wall of the pool.

Cameron doesn't do an overhanded swim, instead she quietly lets Aubrey gain Madison's attention while she frog-swims closer. Every closer, her mouth below the surface of the water, only her eyes and nose about it. Totally not crocodiling up as she gently inches closer... closer... clooooooser. Has Maddie put the bag down yet? Time... to...

"STRIKE!"

The stripper surges from the water like an alligator, seizing her prey in her skinny arms and trying to drag the goth into the water (sans her bag, because she's not an asshole). She rolls, similar to what she did to Aubrey, to push Maddie further under, before disengaging and swimming away, coming up for air next to the Addington heiress. With a big grin, Cam blinks water away and holds up a hand to high-five her new rich party buddy.

"Ha! Nailed it. I'm getting good at this."

Marion attempts to high five, but suddenly the goth girl is being attacked. They take the opportunity to swim laps.

"UUUUUh... Thanks, I guess! Yeah, Cam knows a lot of people, she is friendly like that, but this is the first time I really ever go to see the bennies of it! And I will say, whatever, fuck it, I could do with more pool parties in my life. Momma gotta get her tan on, if you know what I am saying!" Where that tan goes when Madison is so ghostly she almost pings on Glimmering peoples' radars remains to be seen.

"You know, I was thinking, Aubrey, maybe you should be one of our dancers? We have none right now, and we could really use someone with the expertise, and after that video with The Boyzz I was just like 'Wow. Just wow. I need her in my music video too'. We pay less, but we are not rapey oran-"

"PEOPLE!" And she is in the water, black flipflops flying into the pool as Madison is dragged in. There is, finally, silence, a world without Madison's ramblings, a world where there is no background noise of eternal, jumbled nonsense.

The thing is that the silence lasts a little too long, and soon Madison is surging out the water, coughing, "Y-You psycho!" It is clear she cannot swim, her pale arms flaying around as the woman doggie-swims to the edge of the pool, clinging to it. She coughs.

"S-Saw my life flash before my eyes. cough cough I-it was so clear! cough All the things left unsaid... my wasted fandom on Star Wars... cough Fuck this water is good. I could sleep in here. But I won't. Because I would die. Cameron would drown me!"

She glares at the stripper.

"Oh please," Aubrey answers, with an over-done roll of her eyes. "'I was just borrowing them,' is like the oldest excuse in the book. Right up there with 'I forgot to take those off' when you wear something out of the changing rooms, and 'if you don't report this I'll give you a handjob.'" Um. Those are maybe not exactly on the same level. REGARDLESS, somewhere in here there's a line about not conning a con, and she remains unconvinced by Cameron's protests. Plus everyone knows you can't trust strippers!

Eventually, the moral lectures are set aside, unknowingly to Madison because Cameron is setting up her Attack Run. But she can distract Madison instead! Erm, 'talk business with her,' yeah. That's it. "Mm, yeah, I wouldn't mind I guess? I like putting myself out there on a lot of different platforms, you know? And you guys probably reach a kind of different audience." This is some instagram / youtube fame bullshit speak, probably. But hey. With them, she'd do it for drugs and makeouts.

"Because yeah, those dudes were the worst. That was the last job I was doing for Cheryl and-" Here it goes. "HAH! HAHAHA!" Yep, she doesn't take this gracefully, she goes full out L-O-L on Madison's dunking. It's way funnier when you're watching.

"Oh man, you should have seen your face!" she calls over, whilst happily high-fiving Cameron in celebration of her victory once she reappears. "You are a regular creature from the Black Lagoon." Then, more sympathetically (or at least, pretending), she offers Madison: "It's OK, she got me earlier. Your girl plays rough."

Slinging an arm around Aubrey's shoulder, Cameron looks far, far too proud of herself. The grin that stretches from ear to ear is so wide on her full lips that it doesn't look like it should fit within the borders of her face. She laughs right along with the socialite heiress, nodding happily at her comparison to monstrous sea creatures. And then she stares expectantly where bubbles are still coming up from.

The silence of Madison drowning lasts... a little too long. Just when she's starting to worry that the goth is not going to be surfacing again, she does her own crocodile routine and bursts forth from the depths. But her pray happens to be 'dry land' and not a person. It makes Cameron laugh, though she tilts her brows at a contrite angle as she does.

"Awwwww, baby! I'm sorry. I forgot how bad you are at this! Mmm." The dark-haired dancer doesn't doggie-paddle, she overhand swims like a grown-up, closer to where the goth clings to life-giving concrete. Her hands slide onto Madison's shoulders, leaning on her just a bit to press her lips against the spot right behind her ear and give a little kiss. "Forgive me?"

The stripper slides past Madison, pulling herself out of the wetness with a lot of noise, splashing and dripping water everywhere as she rolls her hips to the side until her ass is on the concrete and her legs are in the pool. She runs a hand absently through the goth's hair as she looks at Aubrey.

"That would be super cool, though, Aub! You dancing. I mean, you've seen me dance, I haven't gotten to see you dance yet. And just imagine the backgrounds of those hot pics! Outdoor bonfires and light shows, plus you'd be up on a stage. Doesn't matter where, that's gotta count for some followers, right?"

"Forgive you!? My body is all broken like I was hurled into concrete, Cam! Fuck. Is this hard water? What is the pH levels of this? Fuck. My eyes are burning! I see you two celebrating! I mean, the blurry shapes of you two celebrating! I don't think my eyes are all right! Do we have an eye doctor in the house?!"

Madison is talking like she is about to Better Call Saul her way into a few hundred dollars, from the amount of bullshit that spills forth from her lips, but more importantly, and this is important, is what dawns on her once Cameron touches her.

"Oh my fuck. My hair."

That is so serious it is whispered, not shouted for the whole world to see. She quickly disappears in to the water again, risking drowning just so she can adjust her dark as pitch mane under water. When she comes out, Madison is mostly the same, but with one difference: her bangs are back, and they cover her entire forehead.

She coughs.

"Yeah, for sure, like, we are pretty big, and we could help you jumpstart your career again. I mean, I tried getting in contact with some of your friends before but I was hit with the 'restraining order' bullshit excuse. You being in the videos would show them, and give you a lot of clicks!"

Madison turns around, back to the edge fo the pool, sly smirk on her face, "We are kind of a big deal*."

Marion backstrokes lazily across the pool. "I've never heard of you," they say in passing. "Well, I've heard of the Addingtons, obviously." They turn and begin swimming in the opposite direction, but then stop and begin to tread water easily. "Wait," Marion says to Aubrey. "Weren't you on Buzzfeed once? Something about Instagram."

First: Aubrey's laughter apparently precludes any actual concern about the newest victim actually drowning, let alone her eyecare. Hopefully, she just doesn't buy that it's all that bad, and she's not some sort of sociopathic monster! Everything works out, though, even if the bit with the hair is weird. Here, Madison gets a pass, if only because Aubrey's not really sure what to make of it. It's a rare moment of restraint in the face of an opportunity to make fun of a friend's fashion misadventures!

She paddles after the others, not to join in comforting Madison, but just to haul herself out of the pool with the rest of them. "You know, Mads, if you don't swim, it's cool to just hang around poolside," she points out, rising and walking a short ways to grab a towel up from where it rests on one of the chairs. "I spend more time just sitting around down here than I do in the water. It's just relaxing." And maybe a sort of status thing, sitting around in swimwear NEXT to water? Rich people are weird.

When the topic turns back to dancing, she brightens. "Oh, I've got some moves!" Cameron is guaranteed. "Not just club shit. I did cheer in school." Of course she did, it's kind of a preppy mean girl prerequisite. "So yeah, I'd totally do a video for you. As long as I don't have to, I don't know, dress up super weird or something." She really has no clue 'Wiccan' band videos look like!

"Oh, I'm in the news a lot," she also readily informs Marion, optimistically sticking to the present tense. She does not specify details, and not EVERY story was scandalous. There was a point where she had some promise and genuine buzz!

Madison vanishes underwater again, and Cameron didn't even dunk her! Instead, her hand just kind of hovers where the goth's head was, pursing her lips and giving a little nod as she looks towards Aubrey. Just waiting. Waaaaaait for it. Gotta wait. ...The goth surfaces again, this time with her bangs intact. Right into the hand waiting for her.

Cam resumes the petting of the goth's hair, running her fingers through the wet strands. She even brushes the black bangs back, leaning over and forward. Her lips press against the exposed skin just above Maddie's brows, puckering up into a kiss placed gently there. She cups the guitarist's cheek while offering a whisper into her ear. "I like your forehead."

Cam glances towards the backstroking Marion, giving the swimmer a thousand-yard stare for a moment. "Uh, thanks for the intentionally-rude and contradictory comment? No offense, but you seriously don't look like someone who would have heard of us." The dancer looks back down at Madison, rubbing a hand over her upper back. "We're a VERY big deal, baby. Don't listen to anyone else."

Cameron rolls to the side, clambering to her feet, unfurling her legs as she sashays towards the chair next to her towel and belongings. Her hips sway with every step, but not nearly as much as they do when she is at the Cabaret. She swats Aubrey on the hip as she passes the other woman, before slinging herself into one of the chairs, wet and dripping, stretching out as she does so.

It doesn't matter if there's no beach here, it's nice to stretch out near the water! Rich people have it RIGHT!

"We don't dress weird. Maybe a little punk." Her eyes gander over the Addington, grinning as she reaches, flattens her hair and pulls it to the side so she won't lay on it. "Knew it. Pegged you for a cheerleader! I... was a skater punk. Really takes all kinds, huh? Mads was... still Mads back then."

Marion turns lazily into a front crawl, until they reach the side of the pool. "Well, yes. I've spent the past several years in Seattle. Gray Harbor doesn't feature in the news at all, unless its about the possibility of the sawmill closing." They don't sound spiteful--just matter-of-fact. "But it takes a lot for information to get out of here, I think. Maybe you'd be very famous if you lived somewhere else."

"Oh yeah. I know I could just hang poolside, but I kind of got dragged into the pool against my will! I am just going to say it now, I felt betrayed and I don't know if I can ever get that innocence back. I might just be a different person at pool parties after this!" Madison frowns, but she looks even less credible frowning.

It is just kinda cute and childish.

That frown vanishes into a wide-eyed, 'Et tu, Brutus' sort of look when Cameron brushes away her bangs to kiss her forehead. Madison displays the alacrity of a cat on crack, spinning on her axis and just shaking her head violently until her bangs are back.

She laughs, nervously. "HA! Ha. Ha. Yeah! Foreheads are sexy! Did you know that ancient Australians considered the forehead an erogenous zone?! Like, I think we should all think about that! Cultural exchange! And shit." She drowns again, but this time she does it -just- to drown and wait under the water until this era has concluded and the Yama Kings sit upon the Emerald Throne.

When she is back, Madison is getting out of the water, pacing weirdly, but soon enough she sits on a chair close to Aubrey and Cameron in a lotus position, her towel now a turbant on her head that covers everything from her brows and up.

"Cam was super sexy for a skater punk. Like, you would do anything to climb on this ride! Believe you me!" The way Madison talks and gesticulates about this subject matter, it makes it seem like things will get specific and very uncomfortable in less than a few seconds flat. That is her hidden Glimmer power.

"Like, be real guys, I'd never heard of you either." Aubrey will echo Marion, in a rare change of 'sides.' She definitely gave Madison the business about that fact when they first met! "But being a band no one has heard of is still actually cool, y'know? Playing gigs, releasing songs, all of that shit. And if you eventually get popular, all your original fans get to act all superior about how they liked you before you were a thing." Aubrey is happy to lecture on the ridiculous rules of pop-culture popularity.

Cameron gets a little flick-glance of her brown eyes for that opportunistic bottom-swat, wiggling her hips in response, before she too settles on one of the poolside beach chairs.

"OK cool. I mean I've had to wear /all kinds/ of stuff, for whatever shows and videos and shoots?" A lot of it fairly skimpy, as that last ill-advised music video seemed to prove. "I just, like, have a kind of image I like to uphold. But a little uh," she waves vaguely at Madison, to indicate... the darker side of fashion? "A little of that kinda thing is fine? I can make most looks work."

When the topic is turned back to Cameron and her conspicuous sexiness, she confides. "Oh I have -some- idea. I met your gal at work." Boobs. She's seen her boobs, in action, is what she's saying. "Girl puts on a hell of a show. I am amazed she even gave me her number after I went all creepy customer on her!"

Marion hefts themselves up and out of the pool and walks to their towel. "Nice lotus," they remark offhandledly to Madison. "You practice yoga? That's a rather different discipline than whatever Wiccans do. Where do you both work when you aren't practicing spells?"

Oddly enough, Marion doesn't seem sarcastic about the spells part. They're talking about magic as if it were groceries.

"HEY! We are famous, okay?! We are just very... niche!" Madison sounds defensive -as hell- as she looks at both Marion and Aubrey with those wide puppy eyes that have no facts to back them up. The despair of some artist that really wants to make it reflected in her bright, bright orbs!

HAVE A HEART!

"Oh, I have never seen Cam strip! And Cam for -sure- wasn't stripping in school, I am almost one hundred percent sure! She just had this fucking cool and mysterious vibe that kinda slayed you with a stare? Like... don't come near me baby because my heart is unavailable, unless you are the girl to make me feel again? Baby, I'll hurt you, not because I want to, but because I wnat to hurt myself, so if you are patient, we can be together, forever, but not right now. Right now there is too much pain, so I need to share it."

At some point in that spiel, Madison kind of zones out, those eyes getting that thousand yard stare on them, as she simply staaares at nothing, only awakened by Marion's commment. "OH! The girls in the shuffle dancing class all do yoga, so I figured why not! I'm limber so whatevs. I really like it. It is always so funny when a guy shows up in class and leaves all broken! EL OH EL, they never return!"

Madison cackles, and then she finally answers, "I'm a self-employed band manager, guitarrist, I do magic tricks at kids parties, I sell drugs, and I used to flip burgers, but that didn't pan out. They didn't appreciate my creativity and the grease was not good on my hair. Also the boss was a perv."

"What, really?" comes Aubrey's surprised reaction to the fact that Madison has never enjoyed Cameron's talents professionally. And now she is curious. "Do you not like mixing business and pleasure? Or just the, uh, vibe of those kinda places? I can see that, like, this was the first time I ever went when it wasn't some thing going along with some guys to prove how 'cool' I was. They were having a theme party and it sounded cool!"

The more, uh, poetic dissertation on Cameron's MYSTERIOUS HEART just provokes a dumb nod of agreement. Woosh.

"I just thought she was sexy up there." Aubrey is a simple person! "And I was, I don't know, in a move to do something crazy and I'd never actually /given/ a stripper money before. Like, the whole up-close way anyhow."

"I'm glad she was cool about me gushing at her."

What may be really strange is that yoga is the thing that brings them together. Because even the most basic of white bitches have utterly appropriated that particular eastern art. It's like a second religion in LA.

"Where do you all go? I thought Kelly's was the only gym around here, but it's been a while. The building has an exercise room," and she nods over across to the hall they'd have arrived through. "But I just use it for the bikes and stuff."

"I practice hatha yoga by myself," Marion says. "I haven't ever really done the western styles. I learned from the monasteries in Seattle when I picked up Buddhism again. It would be interesting to see how other people practice, though." They pause. "Also, it helped with breaking," they admit. "So you're a musician, with all of the associated cultural practices," Marion says to Madison.

They consider a moment. "And you're a socialite." This goes to Aubrey.

"For reals! I just feel the whole undressing for money is kind of not my thing! Also, her co-workers look at me funny!" Doesn't everyone look at Madison funny? "I just give her that space, where she can be Cam the Stripper, and she explores that facet of her! While I stay home and eat icecream and explore being broke and addicted to trash food!"

She isn't complaining by the look of things.

"Cam loves the attention and I am sure she loved you gushing at her. More people -should- gush at her. She is very gushable!" Madison smiles and eyes Marion.

"Oh, man, like, I have no idea about styles. I do what the people teach me, and it works for flexibility, you know? But hey, if you wanna practice, I am all for it. I do it in the woods with my peoples, very relaxing!" As she is told she is a musician, Madison does a 'hold up' sign with her hands, "Don't label me, man! I am unlabellable!"

she sighs and leans down, finally, on her chair to languish under the sun, "Aubrey, you should join in too. We do all sorts of nature shit. Very holistic!" Which is a buzzword for celebrities, Madison is pretty sure of it!

"Oh, I get that. I've seen some places that were, uh, like super skeevy. But it didn't seem so bad. Like, some of the dancers had really fancy routines and I wasn't afraid to touch anything?" High marks, as strip clubs go! "I was talking to the owner too, and they even have amateur nights!" ... Guess what Aubrey is now considering!

"Its cool you give her space, and don't get jealous or anything tho. Very cool." And personal icecream time cannot be underestimated!

"Yeah I guess you could say so?" she answers Marion. "Though I've done some modeling, acting, all of that stuff." All the things socialites and other famous for being famous / rich types try to do to turn themselves into actual celebrities.

The yoga thing certainly goes over her head. "Oh, yeah, so you're... like seriously, actually into it. I just do it cause it's good at keeping you, yeah, like flexible, slim, toned, all that stuff. Like pilates!" Of course. Her basic exercise routines aside, the others and their very... specific ways of working out unfortunately shoot down any idea of taking classes together. "Um. Exercising in the woods? With like bugs and shit? Yeah, no thanks." She may agree to partake of their heathen frolicks, but the full lifestyle seems a bridge too far!

"I'm not really a man," Marion says casually to Madison, as they start drying their hair. "So you're very into magic and spells and things. That seems unusually common around here." They glance at Aubrey. "Bugs are everywhere," they remark.

"Yeah, I mean, like, I am going to go there -someday- but if everywhere she goes Cam gets her loud retardo roomie, she is not going to get things that are hers, and she is new here. I am a known commodity. Don't worry, I am chill with her job. I think it is great she found something she is really passionate about!"

Madison undoes her turbant, adjusts her bangs, and goes on. "Hey, you are confusing me for some bug and shit loving survivalist weirdo. That is more Cam than me. We practice yoga in clean and cool places, sight see, hike, et cetera. We just embrace the natural side of working out. Sometimes a gym gets stiffling and smelly!"

She snaps her fingers at Aubrey, "And it makes for MAD Instagram pictures. Like, minimal clothing, sunsets in the backgroudn, a few sponsors, and you would be -golden-!"

The goth then eyes Marion, and nods, "Oh, I just call everyone 'man', 'dude', 'buddy', 'yo' or 'champ'. Not meaning to assume anything! You do you, yo!" She thumbs up at Marion and smiles and nods. "People in Gray Harbor have wizened up, that is true. There is only so much the brain can take of 'oh, mysterious bear attack' before they realize we are in a Hogwarts situation here!"

"Aw. You two are adorable," Aubrey decides, after healing all this very healthy-sounding interpersonal stuff. "Relationship goals." Did she just say a hashtag? At least she didn't actually SAY hashtag.

"And sure, bugs are everywhere and gyms get hot and stanky sometimes. But also there are way more bugs outside AND air conditioning exists." At first, she seems pretty adamant in her rejection of these naturalist ideals, non-psycho survivalist or otherwise. However, Madison does a decent job painting a mental picture, especilally with the very picturesque (and like-bait) sunset imagery. "Mm. I guess it kinda depends? I can see it alright on a nice day. But like, exercise is a routine, and routine plus 'going out into the middle of nowhere' seems like a lot of work." It doesn't compete with the convenience of her pool adjacent private gym, that is to say!

There is a VERY brief raising of her eyebrows at whatever, erm, linguistic negotiation, and she does not take part. It is like the veteran bit. Dodging PR landmines is a socialite's #1 priority! "Mm. I think I might head up soon," she finally declares, shifting from the seat. "But like, you can hang a while if you want, Mads. And like I was telling Cameron, if you ever want to come and hang here, just hit me up. It's cool having some pool buddies." Which also leads to a not even completely mean: "Sorry Mark didn't show," to Marion. "Dick move, Mark."

"Look. You need to learn to appreciate all the things. Even if it rains, you can slap some filters on, fake some laughs, and make people jealous you are out with your frens living life at its fullest! That is like, what Instagram is all about! Faking a perfect life until you make other people live vicariously through you! Do you need an Instagram coordinator? Because I am kinda good at that!"

Madison nods super sagely, before she stands, "Dude! You are saying I have irrestricted access to your house and pool? Damn, that is awesome! You are the -best-, Aubs!"

Madison runs towards the socialite, but like some braindead girl who never had parental guidance, she does so on wet flipflops by the edge of the pool. Result? She slams her pale ass on the ground, and immediately she is hugging her behind and screaming like she just got drive by'd.

It is all a huge scene.

Probably.

It was kind of a rough fall, though.

---

A few minutes later, Madison limps into a hospital, carried by her friends, yelling bloody murder. "I WAS AT A POOL PARTY AND BROKE MY ASS! PLEASE HELP! OOOOW!!! PLEASE SAVE MY BUTT! LITERALLY!"

It is not a real party if it doesn't end in the hospital. That is the Holloway Motto!