Rising Shards

"What the hell are they doing over there?" I muttered.

Pippi was in another date, a shy girlie like her and the two were making small talk, so I could afford to look away for a second. Because on the other side of the camping space, Evy and Mahina were...doing yoga?

Evy kept looking at me as she bent over. Did Mahina convince her to do this? Very cute to picture Evy getting convinced, especially if Mahina had her do that for me. I most definitely enjoyed the view, and added "yoga time alone with Evy" to my to do list when we were home.

Mahina was doing her yoga at a different angle than Evy, maybe trying to woo any suitors their way. Mahina was incredibly cool, but this whole thing had a precious dorkiness to it.

"Dang it," I said when Evy stopped when she saw me waving slightly at her. I could've watched longer if I didn't more overtly acknowledge it. Evy blushed and shuffled to her feet, waving back at me. I blew her a kiss, and she caught it. She looked around before blowing one back at me.

Suffice to say, I was busy giggling to myself and throwing more kisses at Evy than paying attention to Pippi's date. I think I earned one mini-date in this where my wingman duties were a bit distant. Luckily it wasn't one that required me to be super focused, either.

"That one was pretty good!" Pippi said, holding up a sheet of paper with a phone number on it.

There wasn't much else of note for the rest of the first round. One of the hosts got on a mic and told us that we'd be gathering at the center for a big event.

From the ones I'd attended, the big event usually meant an eating and mingle time without as much of a "OK talk to the next person" element to it. Though one of them had a murder mystery play thing added to the meal which was fun.

"So, what was that about?" I asked smugly when our groups reunited.

"I, well," Evy scratched the back of her head, her face turning almost the same shade as her hair. "Y'know, showing off the goods and whatnot."

Mahina smacked Evy's back. "See? What did I tell you? Look at your girl, she is swooning."

"I most certainly am," I said. "How'd things go on your end?"

"Pretty decently, but nothing to write home about," Mahina said. "But I will not quit yet! How about you two?"

"Pippi had quite the interesting encounter with Miss Cor—" I started.

"Stella, let me explain!" Pippi said. "I want to be the one to explain this!"

Pippi did her best to explain why Alix Corinani was enticing as a "fail woman." Mahina nodded along, but Evy had spent enough time around Corinani to be a bit less immediately into the idea.

"Well, as long as she stops asking to be our third," Evy said.

"I think I could sway her to stop that," Pippi said.

"Hm, so she's still on the mind the most then?" I said.

"You're the one who brought her up!" Pippi said. "I'll just say...out of the dates so far, she did stand out. For good and bad reasons. In a fun way."

"Uh huh," Stella said. "Did anyone hear what the big event is yet?"

"Mat ball!" Mahina said.

I groaned.

"Just kidding, I have no idea," Mahina said.

As we all headed towards a giant tent set up for the "big event," I wondered if Pippi would run into Alix again.

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