Closed Literally Me

@Nicholas McCowan

The lake was nicest in the early morning, right before the sun peeked over the hills, and the land grew warm. Evening was just as swell. Not as superb as morning time visits, but it sufficed well enough. Residual heat kept the grounds warm as the sun dipped into the horizon, as if being swallowed by the lake it illuminated. Happy and unhappy campers alike, could be found sparsely littering the banks. Many were heading back to their assigned cabins, though a small handful opted to loiter a bit longer and soak up the remaining rays of the sun.

Xailah Alptraum was one of those few loiterers, reclining in the shade of a exceptionally leafy tree. Judging by her attire- a little black swimsuit, wide-brimmed sunhat, and pair of sleek shades- one could perhaps deduce she was sunbathing, or some similar activity, despite her preference for heavily shaded spots. Yes, she "sunbathed", though the pallor of her skin would never show for it; she never basked for the effect, just for the feeling. It was a splendid sensation: warming the joints every now and then. It was understandable why cats favored warm spots of filtered sun; in fact, it was from watching Schrödinger where she eased into the idea. If there was anyone who knew about relaxation in it's greatest forms, it was him.

This was nice. Anywhere outside of the unicorn cabin was nice, but this conditional state of lethargy was exceptionally nice. Even if Xailah had a preference for keeping busy most of the time.

She was determined to remain in this state for as long as the evening would allow. That was until a distraction was introduced into the equation- Glint! Gleam! Shine! As the sun continued to melt, a ray of cool gold struck the surface of something just right. A blinding twinkle peered over the ledge of Xailah's eye covering, making her squint. If there was one thing that would always get her attention, it was something shiny.

She brought her sunglasses above her face, as she sat up, resting them on her hat. The confusion that followed was perceptible, as she found nothing of immediate interest that could have produced such a brilliant shine. But then her eyes fell on a student running along the lakes fringe. Her narrowed gaze hardened with focus, tracing out the remnants of a vaguely familiar- no, definitely familiar- face. Her head cocked, and her jaw hung slightly slack. Damn her remarkable facial recognition.

While friendly faces weren't typically (okay, they never were) a cause for shock, she couldn't help but maintain a frozen gaze upon Nicholas McCowan. Nicholas "Mop" McCowan, ex-broom racing captain, and resident grump. Only he was much less moppy than usual- he had no hair. He was hairless. Shaved clean like a perfect little egg. He had ascended from mop to Mr. Clean himself, like some weird corporate caterpillar. It was a... unexpected reveal, to say the absolute least.

Naturally, this rare specimen had to be investigated further. Xailah rose from her shady patch of grass without missing a second beat, running to catch up with the boy. "Nicholas?" His name curled into an undeniable question. She jogged alongside him, keeping pace. Her denial was palpable as she stared him down with an incredulous squint, desperately trying to determine if this was, in fact, the very same Nicholas she knew, or if the boy was some uncanny hairless twin that had been kept a secret for years. Some small, silly part of her was hoping for the latter. "McCowan?"

Nicholas had been focused on his run, his thoughts dancing somewhere between lost and distracted. He was vaguely aware of other people by the lake, those enjoying nature’s blessings, but he deliberately avoided looking at them all too long. That would invite them to talk to him, and for the moment, all he wanted to do was run. There were no people as he ran, no need to explain himself to anyone. Just the pounding of feet against the grass, his body’s natural metronome. Of course, it would seem that others did not have the same thoughts.

For it was Xailah Alptraum who he found falling in beside him. He’d never expected to see her jogging, nor had he ever expected to see her in a swimsuit. For some reason that idea of her out in any sort of clothing that showed skin never quite figured as logical in his brain, and even less so, was the fact that she had evidently been out and sunbathing. Given her alabaster skin, he had no idea that she sunbathed either. For a moment, he wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him, but after a few moments of confusion, he was satisfied that it was in fact his former teammate beside him.

Just as shocked as he was to see her, evidently she was shocked to see him. He wasn’t quite sure as to why, surely she knew that he jogged on occasion. Still, her incredulity, caused him to stop, briefly clutching at his knees for air.

“The one and the same,” He panted, before regaining his composure.

“Xailah Alptraum?” Nicholas asked in turn, taking the opportunity to look at her outfit. It wasn’t quite as surprising as he’d first assumed. She was still in black, and she was still wearing shades and a rather large hat.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you out and about in the sun,” He stated simply, oblivious to the peculiarities of his own appearance.

@Nicholas McCowan

He was really quite the spectacle.

Not in a curious or awe-inspiring way, more like in a... zoo animal sort of way; awful as that would be to admit. So, Xailah wouldn't. She slowed her jog as Nicholas did, methodically falling right into the shadow of his footsteps. When he eventually came to a stop, she followed suit, pausing right next to him and waited patiently for the boy to take in a few breaths of air. Now that she was closer, she could get a better look at what he had done to himself.

Had he done it to himself? she wondered, taking in Nicholas' head in all it's hairless glory. Perhaps he was the victim of a cruel prank executed by a sadistic cabinmate? He did have hair at the start of camp, didn't he? Xailah suddenly couldn't recall, making her brows pull together with a stark crease.

Her confusion remained when Nicholas straightened with an answer she both expected and half-wished not to hear. Are you certain? she wanted to ask, but swallowed her tongue. A simple "Oh," was managed instead, testing her restraint. "Well you looked... different, at a distance, so I couldn't be sure." Different was certainly a light way to explain it. Had she been a more needlessly judgmental individual, she might have called him unusual, in the moment.

Concerning appearances, she was just as oblivious as he was when it came to her own. Swimsuits weren't nearly as surprising as a boy with hair one day and none the next, in her mind anyway. "The one and only," the lioness tossed back playfully. "A little bit of sunlight every now and then could do everybody a bit of good. It's good to warm the bones and keep the limbs lithe." She said, prompting a long, satisfying stretch. Xailah extended her arms out in front of her- her right first, followed by the left- and rolled her shoulders, working out any tight spots in her muscles and shaking away stiff joints.

There was also the matter of The Cabin. Anywhere was better than inside that place; a few minutes of sun exposure was a small price to pay in exchange for freedom from the multicolored prison. She'd eagerly take some dry heat over the eyestrain. "I also had the misfortune of being placed in the Unicorn Cabin it's-" she pushed her sunglasses further up her nose to block a stray beam of sinking sunlight from striking her eyes, "-well, you would understand if you saw it. I must cherish these small freedoms when they arise," she said with a crooked grimace, gesturing to the grandeur of the great outdoors with an open, gloved palm.

As much as she tried to keep her gaze away from Nicholas' head, she kept catching herself staring; yet, she couldn't bring herself to comment on the change for a reason evidently lost on her. "Do you mind if I jog with you for a little while?" Instead she found herself looking for an excuse to keep him around for a little longer to really get a feel for this "new" Nicholas.

The comment about his different appearance didn’t strike much of a chord, even if Nicholas could quite easily piece together what she meant. His head. He had grown his hair out for a number of years, only to unceremoniously shave it back to nothing on a whim. It stood to reason that those whom he had spent time with would be shocked at the sudden change. But if some google scold dye their hair to blonde to red to strawberry and back, why could he not cut off the locks? It was not a particularly well-thought out decision, but he was finding that he enjoyed the lack of a need to properly care for his hair or to wipe loose strands out of his eyes when exercising.

Running his hand through his near-bald head, the jogger nodded, “Yeah, sun is good. Good for brains and what not. Blood flowing and all that jazz, I don’t know. Just gives me something to focus on, y’know? Nothing much to it in the way of big thinking.”

But he nodded in comradery over Xailah’s assigned cabins, “No idea how they get the ideas for these cabins, truth be told. Sometimes they’re fine, sometimes they’re rainbow vomit. S’pose it’s a way to prank the visiting French and what not.”

His eyes turning back to the horizon, he nodded absentmindedly, “Yeah you can join, not sure if I’ll be much in the way of conversation partner, but.”

Heavy footsteps took-off, focus rather singular, thoughts focused only on the path ahead. He didn’t much consider the need to think on anything other than the footfalls before him. One step, and another, brain focused on the metronome. He would only speak upon coming to another stop, the jog coming to an end.

“Still racing?” A simple question, but one coloured with something approaching regret.