<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/WWwpV9U.jpg?1)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Delaney Clarke (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=308599.msg15011810#msg15011810)<br/><strong>Age:</strong>27<br/><strong>Sexuality:</strong>Pansexual<br/><strong>Hometown:</strong>Mina, Nevada<br/><strong>Date/Time:</strong>3 July, 2019 | Night<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Diary Room then shower<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>Bikini  (https://i.pinimg.com/564x/98/7f/04/987f04b1a9588d62ee52e7e52dac6582.jpg)<br/><strong>Coupled with:</strong>No one #SingleAF<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Mark | Closed<br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>Delaney’s heart was still slowing its panicked rhythm when she heard it thundering in her ears again. They were both exhausted and raw. The veil between thoughts and words was thinner when a person was exhausted, and Mark’s admission was unexpected, maybe even by him.<br/><br/>He had said she didn’t owe him an apology, but that simply didn’t feel true. Delaney, builder of walls. She’d recognized the barrier immediately. Acknowledged that it was her way of coping with the madness of this place and life in general and that it was profoundly unfair.<br/><br/>Yet, she had been sorry to see him go. Hadn’t stopped him.<br/><br/>But here he was, laying every last card on the table. In a word, she was stunned.<br/><br/>Her eyes moved slowly, tiredly over his expressions and followed the way he pointed to emphasize his declarations... and at the end of it he took his leave without giving her an opportunity to reply. Not that she would have known what to say anyway.<br/><br/>For the second time in as many hours Delaney watched him leave, her mind reeling from his impact. She could still smell the warm Majorca night clinging to his skin as he left her standing there in the doorway, looking after him in a dazed silence.<br/><br/>As she took her seat for her diary reveal, her thoughts were still unsettled. She hadn’t had time yet to process what he’d said, let alone decide how she felt about it. Instead she turned to the one thing she was sure of.<br/><br/><strong><em>“So...Logan.” </em></strong><br/><br/>It all started with, Logan, didn’t it?<br/><br/><strong><em>“He’s the first person I connected with here, right out of the gate. He kissed me at breakfast and it took me a while to recover from it…I mean, look at the guy. He has an artsy vibe... but he’s fit, he’s sweet...definitely not my usual type. A wonderful change of pace, though. Unfortunately, he’s also into Rhonda.” </em></strong><br/><br/>She paused briefly and shifted some in the seat.<br/><br/><strong><em>“He means well…” </em></strong><br/><br/>There was another pause and the slight readjustment of her bathing suit more out of a need to fill the uncertain silence than anything.<br/><br/><strong><em>“But I’m still not convinced he knows what the fuck he wants...Or maybe he just wants it all.” </em></strong><br/><br/>She sighed.<br/><br/><strong><em>“Who knows...maybe that’s what we all want.”</em></strong><br/><br/>She glanced passively at the door.<br/><br/><strong><em>“But Mark…”</em></strong>she paused briefly,<strong><em> “He came out of left field…” </em></strong><br/><br/>A slow, puckish smile formed on Delaney’s lips.<br/><br/><strong><em>“No...he’s Canadian. He came at me like a blind side hip check from the blue line. I guess I need to learn how to stick handle with my head up…”</em></strong><br/><br/>She laughed at her own joke for a moment, but it trailed off and her smile faded.<br/><br/><strong><em>“God...that guy. He’s just...I don’t even know. He acted like a complete tool at the competition, but then so did Logan. Things got heated over Mark kissing Rhonda and just spiraled way out of control...I don’t think it’s who either of them are. It was just a shit show of staggering proportions.” <br/></em><br/><em>“But I’ll give the man this...he knows how to issue an apology and doesn’t do anything by half measures. I asked him to bring treats and he actually did, then despite the fact that I stonewalled him...because I’m a bit of an ass, apparently... he handled it all with grace. Which, given the competition was a surprising turn of events.”</em></strong><br/><br/>She felt warmth and amusement begin to tug at her smile and gradually her demeanor brightened.<br/><br/><strong><em>“Not nearly as surprising as what he said in the hallway, though.” </em></strong><br/><br/>There was a short but thoughtful pause and she smiled wider. The sort of smile you could hear and feel even if you couldn’t see it.<br/><br/><strong><em>“Say what you will about Mark’s rocky start in the villa or my initial connection with Logan... I need someone in my life that will put their ass on the line for me in the same way I will for them.”<br/></em></strong><br/><hr/><br/>Delaney left the diary room with a renewed sense of purpose. Working through things out loud had brought her perspective on Logan and Mark into sharper focus, where she stood with each of them felt less muddled by the first blush of attraction. Her mind felt clearer and her heart lighter as she moved quietly down the hall and into the bathroom.<br/><br/>The muffled sound of water served as a steady backdrop to an otherwise silent villa. Outside an open window she could vaguely hear the sound of Elsa singing in Swedish, though it fell away quickly as she neared the shower then passed through the doorway.<br/><br/>Her eyes fell upon him before he took note of her and, mindful not to startle him, she cleared her throat before moving into the shower proper. It was a large space with sizable sectioned stalls, privacy limited to the merits of panels of half frosted glass.  Very little was left to the imagination, and even less still as she slipped into the stall he occupied and placed herself between the stream of hot water and where he sat.<br/><br/>Joining him in the shower was a bold move, but she was propelled by confidence that would have rivaled any smoke jumper prepared to leap. In one smooth motion she took his face in her hands.<br/><br/>When he looked up, as he inevitably would, she lowered her lips to his and kissed him slowly and deeply for a long while without any of the constraints of politics or uncertainty.<br/><br/>Water streamed over her back and shoulders, stopped in large part from reaching him in his seated position, but misted past her in occasional droplets or small rivulets that ran down her arms. They existed together in a brief moment that lived outside the eager press of camera crews or the weight of audience opinion.<br/><br/><strong><em>“Mark,” </em></strong>she murmured against his lips as the kiss finally broke,<strong><em>“I’m all in.”</em></strong><br/><br/>