Most days, Charlie ends up wandering. He spends a lot of time with Edmund but, sometimes, he just wants to be on his own for a little while. Sometimes, Honour tags along but, today, he's allo alone. He sees her near to the cliff and pauses, just watching her for a moment. She looks like something from a story.
"Are you okay?" he says, finally, not loudly, but his voice pitched to carry.
The voice makes Claire start, her heart thumping strongly against her chest and blood suddenly pumping in her ears with the shock, eyes wide as she turns to find a young man just watching her. There's no reason to suspect that there's anything to it other than that, a boy coming across a girl at the edge of a cliff, worried for her sake. Normal girls, after all, don't survive leaps off cliffs or into licking flames. That ends up being the reason why she steps back from the edge with an easy smile, like she's just a girl with a touch too much of curiosity, no harm done, no foul.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she reassures him quickly, a little too much so for it to be natural. "I was just enjoying the view, and I guess lost track of how close I was to the edge, whoo." Raising both brows, Claire hunches both shoulders, feigning embarrassment.
He finds himself relaxing where he didn't realise he was tense. He lets out a long breath; suddenly, he wishes that Honour was here - there's something really reassuring about the wolf.
"I was on the roof of the compound when I showed up," he says, giving her a crooked smile. "I nearly fell off."
Claire never really thought about the Compound as a place to leap from- it's true that the height is probably enough to do life-threatening damage, if she takes it from the right angle and with enough acceleration going down, but there are just so many people always milling about that building that it seems dangerous. It'd expose her. Maybe also importantly, it might traumatize some people as well, those who aren't prepared to deal with a teenage girl able to mend herself by snapping bones back in place.
What she can feel, however, is frustration at the island's antics and a brief gratitude, however little she knows this young man, for the fact that he kept his balance.
"Wow, that's... I can't even imagine," Claire replies, wincing slightly. "I thought getting stuck in the middle of the pouring rain was bad enough, but at least I didn't come across any drop-offs. This island really seems to like playing around with people, doesn't it?"
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"Are you okay?" he says, finally, not loudly, but his voice pitched to carry.
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"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she reassures him quickly, a little too much so for it to be natural. "I was just enjoying the view, and I guess lost track of how close I was to the edge, whoo." Raising both brows, Claire hunches both shoulders, feigning embarrassment.
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"I was on the roof of the compound when I showed up," he says, giving her a crooked smile. "I nearly fell off."
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What she can feel, however, is frustration at the island's antics and a brief gratitude, however little she knows this young man, for the fact that he kept his balance.
"Wow, that's... I can't even imagine," Claire replies, wincing slightly. "I thought getting stuck in the middle of the pouring rain was bad enough, but at least I didn't come across any drop-offs. This island really seems to like playing around with people, doesn't it?"
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