xsylcuenco

[xsylcuenco]

"It's not bad," Sylvia agreed with a nod, looking around their surroundings in assessment of their current lodging for the weekend with a smile. It was perfect for this type of getaway. "Glue does exist! I have not given it a try, that scares me much more than the tape, for some reason. It's still adhesive. But that's the price you pay for fashion!" Sylvia considered herself lucky, she had options with wardrobe that could bypass needing that sort of support in general. That wasn't a guarantee for others. She counted her blessing anytime suffering was not needed. "I will be ready!" she grinned when Darrius said he would text her upon needing aid removing the bandaid.

"Thank you very much," he pressed his hand to his chest, as though taking her words to heart, before finding himself laughing, "I feel like this place is beautiful enough that you can pretty easily forget about a little ouch that happens." It wasn't often that he got to do this sort of camping at this sort of site, either. In a luxurious-seeming cabin. "I can't even imagine," he cringed, shaking his head, "I saw that there was a product someone was working on that worked like that sort of tape, but was glue? Safe for clothing, obviously. Which is pretty neat." As she offered the body oil, he grinned, nodding his head, "you'll know to come running with it if you get a text from me about band-aid emergencies."

[xsylcuenco]

"I love you so so much, but I also know you better than that," she laughed. After all, she had known Elise her entire life. A sudden change in personality would actually be a bit concerning. "Food safety and all of that?" she asked when Elise mentioned she complimented her nails, saying she would do the same having a different occupation. Sylvia paused when Elise pressed on just which view she was enjoying, laughter following. "Both? Why not both?"

"Maybe I've turned over a new leaf, have you thought about that?" Elise put her hands on her hips, but it wasn't even convincing to herself. "Hey, those nails are a work of art, I get it. I'd have nice nails if I didn't work in a kitchen, so I get it." Elise would sometimes do a short french manicure or something for an event. "Oh, the view or the view?"

[xsylcuenco]

"I'm sorry if it hurts!" Sylvia apologized in advanced, before proceeding to attempt to remove the splinter from Zarah's hand. It took a few tries, but eventually, she got it. Grasping the splinter with tweezers, she pulled it out of Zarah's hand, holding it up with a grin of pride-filled success. "There you go!"

It wasn’t horrible. It definitely wasn’t pleasant though. It was honestly one of those mysteries of the universe that she’d never be able to figure out. Why were hands so delicate? “I’d appreciate it,” she told her. She was pretty sure it would go easier if it was someone else. It was harder to hold everything and do it to one’s self. She trusted that the Sylvie could get it done too. “I don’t think I want to have to deal with until we’re back home.”

[xsylcuenco]

"See, that would be the smart idea," her eyes widened for emphasis, shaking her head at the thought of just some of her friends who were competing. "Just try to be nice, pitch in, something, if you're going to sit here," she handed some band-aids his way.

Chandler couldn't tell how much she was joking versus how much she meant her reply, but he laughed regardless. The fact was, those close to him knew how useful he could be. But he had a habit of keeping people at arms length. His icy exterior was melting the longer he called Merrock home, but it hadn't melted enough for him to advertise people could rely on him. Besides, it felt like in such a small town, people would ask him for help and that could get inconvenient.

Chandler did not know about Sylvia's battles with addiction, and was unaware that he had struck a nerve. But he did know about his own struggles with alcohol. Quite the opposite of Sylvia, he felt desensitized to it all. If anything, stories like the one he had just shared felt more like a cautionary tale that his own alcoholism wasn't 'that bad' because he didn't day drink or mix alcohol and work.

"Yeah, being 'pretty fucking clumsy' is one reason I'm not doing the course myself. That and a very rational fear of heights. But fine. If that many people get hurt, I guess I can be seen as useful just this once."

[xsylcuenco]

"Did you not bring any flats, sneakers, for this trip? What size shoe do you wear? Maybe I, or someone else, can lend you a pair." Sylvia had been in that place before, always having been one for massive heels at her height. She knew exactly what Minnie was feeling. However, Sylvia had learned her lesson years ago with having flats or sneakers at close reach, especially on trips such a as this. She laughed watching Minnie kick off her heels, smiling over at her. "Here. Let me spray some lidocaine to see if that helps for now."

"Oh, my gosh. That totally slipped my mind. No, I really think that's the culprit. I'll exchange them out for flats when we head back home and see if it gets me less freaking sore in the office." Now that she was thinking about it, there were plenty of instances where even walking from one end of Bardales to the other made a soreness happen. It alleviated when she got off her feet. It had become one of those pains you just become used to, or think it par for the course, but Sylvia put it into a method of understanding that Minnie believed. "And sneakers, absolutely. Ugh. My mum used to say, the things we sacrifice to look good, and I'm like, for sure, but does it have to hurt this bad? The answer is no." And then with punctuation, she kicked off the heels into her bare feet. Scandalous. "I'm free," she declared.

[xsylcuenco]

I'm waiting for beach days to lay out tanning, but my whole collection of dresses is out at this point! So are all my booty shorts and bikinis. I am ready! Oh! I know! It always goes by so fast. I love any excuse for a theme, so you know my outfits always are my favorite part. But I had a great time at the party, great time shopping, eating my way through all of the themed foods being sold. It was fun! Like always!

I plan on spending as much of my free time as I can outside, since... how do you not take advantage of beautiful weather like this?! Did you end up finding the perfect sundress for the weather? I hope so! Pride was great! I did so much shopping, ate all the sweet treats, went to the party, but it was over too fast. Did you have fun?

[xsylcuenco]

"Well, I hope your boo-boo heals up soon and doesn't cause any more trouble for you this weekend," she grinned. It could have absolutely been a whole lot worse. Sylvia could only laugh at Darrius's reaction to hearing about boob tape. "At least there is boob tape, because it's that or literal duct tape." She always enjoyed further traumatizing the men in her life with stories of the lengths one would go to for fashion and beauty. "I have shower body oil, if you want to try to see if that helps with the bandaid removal process though," she laughed.

"Right? Not a big disaster, so not a big deal," Darrius said happily. It could have been worse, he could have tripped and fallen and ended up actually, really hurting himself, but thankfully that hadn't happened, and he felt mostly human… or probably would in a few days. Once all the soreness melted away. "Oof," Darrius winced as she mentioned the boob tape, pressing a hand to his chest as though he could feel the kind of pain that anyone who dealt with that must have felt. Not even close. "You would think, it's 2025, by now… someone would have figured this out."

[xsylcuenco]

"Cartoons!" Sylvia shook her head with a shrug, as if it should have been obvious. Taking that as Vince's selection, she handed him the bandaid. "Yeah! I'm on vacation!" Sylvia grinned in response to Vince stating that she was making a statement, very proud of herself. "I can see you dong an Iron Man. You might not be twenty, but that sort of thing is.. well, your thing. You can pull it off!" Personally, to Sylvia it sounded insane but she understood that Iron Mans were a huge thing for the athletic types. She had faith in Vince's capabilities. "You're welcome!" she called out in a sing-song voice, teasing. "Umm.. Just my usual. Busy season at work. How about you? How have you been?"

"Dinosaurs, huh? Cartoon or realistic?" Vince asked with a slightly teasing grin. "Thanks," he said, taking one of them. "Yeah, that makes sense," he chuckled and nodded. "Well, you've got to make a statement, Syl. There you go," he laughed. “I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time. I mean, maybe one day I could do Iron Man but I’m also not a spritely twenty-year old anymore,” he shrugged. “You are a saint,” he said, picking up his water bottle and taking the packet, pouring it into his bottle. “So tell me, what’s new with you? What’ve you been up to?”

[xsylcuenco]

"You wouldn't say.." her eyes narrowed as she semi-joked back. She hadn't exactly known Chandler to make himself useful, and thought he joked, there was some truth to it. "Yeah, well, I know better," Sylvia shrugged dismissively of Chandler's story about the nurse who showed up to work drunk. While she herself had her struggled with addiction, Sylvia was proud of how far she had come with opening her own salon and all it came with. Feelings around that stirred up at Chandler's story, her face twisting at it. "No, I don't think the obstacle course was made by Jigsaw. But I do happen to know some pretty fucking clumsy people choosing to do this thing. Making you useful."

"Useful is not the vibe I generally go for." Chandler joked. It wasn't exactly true, but he didn't advertise that part of his personality. As she suggested first aid and alcohol didn't mix, he shrugged. "My mom worked with a nurse who got fired after coming into the hospital drunk, but she's probably not the best person to model your choices after." As she suggested using the vodka for peoples' injuries, he pulled a face. "Do you think this obstacle course was made by Jigsaw? If enough people get hurt that you go through that wound spray, we've got bigger issues to worry about. But sure, if this turns into a horror movie, I'll sacrifice my vodka to the cause."

[xsylcuenco]

"No thank you," Sylvia aggressively shook her head, not fond of the thought of smelling like wet dog. "Especially if we're having to fight for bathrooms." Sylvia was happy being comfortable and unbothered, having opted out of the course. Maybe at home she was more into these sorts of down and dirty activities, but this environment was much less her speed, and she was working on convincing herself of this as her vacation. At Naomi's ask concerning aspirin, Sylvia pulled out a few individual packaged capsules to hand to her. "Here!"

“That’s why they invented showers and wonderful smelling hygiene products so you don’t smell like wet dog.” The accommodations may have less than stellar but she didn’t think of this so much as a vacation. As much as she loved those she knew, a vacation almost meant a solo one or even an adventure with her boyfriend. “No judgment for missing out this time but next time, I’m dragging you down with me.” It wasn’t bad at all when she thought about it. “Kinda but also challenging yourself to do what you think you might not have been able to do.” It wasn’t self doubt at all, but some people wouldn’t consider it fun getting dirty. “Now about that asprin.”

[xsylcuenco]

Thursday is supposed to be pretty hot out! I am actually so happy. Sun dress season! Yeah, I felt like I had to make myself useful, somehow! Luckily, blood isn't something I'm bad with. So, all the more reason to jump in and help. How did you enjoy Pride?

Yes! It's just really, really satisfactory to look at your closet and see all of the clothes that you want to wear that season laid out and ready to go. You don't have to sort through all of the stuff that you don't want. Not too much longer now. There are some nice, warm days in the forecast this week, too, which is exciting! I saw that you were bandaging some people up -- good for you, we needed a nurse out there! And I would have just been too squeamish. It's felt nice to get back to a routine again, but I'm excited for Pride this weekend!

[xsylcuenco]

"As long as you can laugh at it!" That made Sylvia smile. Those moments made for great stories, though it wasn't always a immediate laugh. She was happy hearing that this particular moment was already a laughable one. "Always here to help," Sylvia giggled when Darrius called her a peach. "Unfortunately, I do not have any tricks for bandaid removals. That's just.. adhesive. Maybe wetting it, Vaseline, baby oil, something like that? I've used that to help remove boob tape, which hurts like a bitch."

"To me, it's hilarious," he said with a grin, "the kind of story that you tell for generations to come, you know?" All about how his partner had been catcalling him and he was so unserious about the idea of anyone possibly wanting to catcall him that he stopped in his tracks and the tire wall took him out. "You're a peach," he smiled, more sincerely, and watched as she applied the band-aid, nodding his head. "Looks good as new to me! I do have to ask, when it's time to take this band-aid off, do you have a magical way of making it not feel like my skin is going to rip off with it?" No, the answer was going to be no, no one knew how that worked.

[xsylcuenco]

"We both know you won't. But. At least you have that option," she shrugged with a single shoulder. "I didn't even bother taking off the claws," she held her hands up to show off her nails, making a point that she had zero desire to partake in the obstacle course. "Oh, I'm enjoying that! From here. Comfortably. Enjoying the view, or whatever," Sylvia's smile grew to a grin as she chuckled.

"Fair enough, I can afford to take some time off to just give people glares from the back office," Elise teased. Not that she'd ever allow herself to do that. There was some appeal to time off, but she didn't personally experience it. "It is fun to see other people get muddy and dirty and gross and sweaty, though."

[xsylcuenco]

"You do know who my dog is named after, right?" she asked with a laugh. If not, he had to have put two and two together now. "I can see that," Sylvia nodded in understanding when Nicky explained that running the course was a good mental break for the moment. She certainly understood that. "I can see that. I'm just not in that space right now sooo. Sidelines and playing nurse for me this time around."

"See, I knew there was a reason I liked you." He smiled, twisting his damp hair back from his forehead. He was never a fan of those soulless remakes. Or of trying to catch lightening in a bottle twice. "Usually, I'd agree with you. But there's something to be said about getting out there. Helps clear the mind - well, for the moment at least."

[xsylcuenco]

PRIDE WEEKEND 🩷💜 💙

[xsylcuenco]

"I'm not an expert, but just from wearing heels myself, based on the type of heel it causes muscle tension in your calves and if you overwork your muscles like that, that's probably where the pain comes from." At least that was Sylvia's understanding of how that worked. "Yeah, we can try a foam roller to see if it helps to loosen those muscles so they aren't so tight. Hopefully that eases your pain some. But I do suggest keeping sneakers on at least the rest of the weekend," she glanced at Minnie's choice in footwear, then back at her with a smile. "I'm here to help where I can!"

"Oh, gosh. That feels super obvious now that I said it aloud." Minnie was practically raised with the expectation to wear heels all of the time. Stepping out of them and into more comfortable footwear was really weird to think about. What if she only walked on her tiptoes from now on? However, she was willing to give most things a shot once. "Alright, deal. After this, we'll try the rolling? Yeah, like with those foam things, right? And see if that gets rid of it. Ugh, this is legit the longest I've not worn heels. It was always expected." It acted as another reminder that she was not back in New York. Granted, she continued to be grateful for that, but it was still hilariously jarring. She waved her hands. "It'd be a literal armchair diagnosis if so," indicating the lawn chairs into which they had both sunk.

[xsylcuenco]

"I have space theme ones, mermaid scales, camo, different florals, and dinosaurs," she shuffled through her bag, pulling out the options that she had left in a smaller size, ready for whatever Vince chose. "I use it often, my hands and legs go through it at work so it's just part of my arsenal," she explained. "I didn't even get my claws taken off," she held up her hands to show off her nails, "so I wasn't going to do all that. This is super up your alley, though. That makes sense." Sylvia was much happier cheering her friends on who enjoyed this type of athletic event a lot more than she did. "I do!" she nodded when Vince asked about electrolytes. She searched her bag for a moment, pulling out an electrolyte packet. "Here you go," she tossed it his way.

“Really?” Vince grinned. He looked at his elbow. “Something small, I guess?” He looked back at her. “You really are prepared then,” he nodded and hummed. “Oh yeah, I used that stuff all the time when I was still playing,” he said. “It helped a lot with the muscle cramps after practice. I don’t know how it worked but it did,” he said. “Well, as long as you’re enjoying yourself! I’ve been wanting to do something like this, other than just running a marathon, which is fair. But this has a zipline so I think that kind of wins,” Vince chuckled. He took a sip of his water from his bottle. “Got electrolytes there too?”