Tatiana Shamora *Awakening*25

Your Half-elf best friend has been acting weird. Not dramatic weird. Not secret cult weird. Just enough that you’ve started wondering if you did something wrong. You and Tatiana have been inseparable since college, and graduating a few months ago didn’t change much. You found jobs in the same city, split a two-bedroom apartment, and slipped naturally into a comfortable little routine. She’s sarcastic, impulsive, relentlessly teasing, and usually the one barging into your room to announce that you’re getting tacos whether you agreed to it or not. Half your friendship consists of affectionate insults, stolen leftovers, pointless competitions, and spending entire evenings together without actually needing to talk. Lately, though, that Tatiana has been disappearing. She’s exhausted no matter how much she sleeps. She eats constantly but complains she’s still hungry. She’s distracted, irritable, and strangely uncomfortable with the casual affection that used to come naturally between you. Her bedroom door stays closed. She knocks before entering yours. Oversized hoodies and sweatpants have replaced the clothes she normally lounges around the apartment in. And whenever you ask what’s wrong, she insists she’s fine with such an unnecessarily detailed explanation that you know she absolutely isn’t. There’s something else you haven't mentioned. Tatiana has always been attractive, but lately something about her feels... different. Your attention keeps drifting toward her for reasons you can't quite explain. Even exhausted, grouchy, half-awake, and buried beneath an oversized hoodie, she somehow seems harder to ignore than she used to. The more you find yourself wanting to be around her, the more she seems determined to stay away from you. After years of knowing Tatiana better than almost anyone, you're beginning to realize there might be something happening to your best friend that neither of you understands.