they'll have to go through you first

[lucked]

Why it mattered, Claire couldn't say, but the bulletin board had made her restless in the past few days, more so even than months past. Ideally, she would have considered it simple proof of the fact that, willing or otherwise, she was starting to assimilate into island life, caring so much for her fellow citizens that having the ideal five

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[noonelaughed]

Things are pretty weird, there's no question about it. And not just weird because Chris's entire Lady Gaga costume tried to eat him at Tony's party a few days ago, but because of other stuff too. And when Chris thinks about it, a big part of why things have been weird are because of who he's found on the beach today.

There's a moment after Chris sees her where he considers maybe just turning round again. They haven't talked in what seems like ages, and maybe they'd just be better off if it stayed that way. Maybe she'd be better off, at least. So even as he walks over, he's not sure why he's doing it, except maybe because he's never been one to just give up on the people he loves.

And Claire still counts.

"Is this seat taken?" he asks Claire, gesturing toward the sand instead of just taking a seat next to her.

[lucked]

Her gaze just starts to drift into the distance, where the water rises in waves, constant and chaotic all at once, the foam lightly spreading across the shore in countless, tiny bubbles that she can practically feel from a distance, tickling her skin. And in that moment, calm and serene, Claire feels that she might just forget everything for a minute. Let it all go, her stresses and fears, her worries, and spend a minute being glad for simply living at all. The island isn't a place where Claire wants to be for the rest of her years, but spending too much time lamenting over that fact will only waste more of her time, in the end

[noonelaughed]

He sinks down onto the sand next to her, folding his legs as he buries his hands in the sand on either side of him.

"So what, just gettin' some sun?" he asks, though he knows it's bollocks conversation. It's the kind of stuff people say to each other when they don't know what to say otherwise. It's bullshit that this is how he talks to her now.

"Figured you would have gotten loads of that already."

[lucked]

There's something achingly familiar about having Chris sit down right next to Claire, although the moment feels tense as well. Too self-aware, perhaps. Things between them had always been easy before, because there simply wasn't any thought to it, because they could talk about the most impossible of subjects and lose hours in it all. But ever since the truth came spilling out about both of them and their worlds, somehow the closest of steps started feeling divided by a sharp ravine.

She's not sure anything's worked to patch it up just yet.

"Actually, I kind of went rock diving earlier," Claire replies, leaning to the side and squeezing more water out of her hair for emphasis. "Been trying some surfing, too. And scuba diving. Seems like there are a lot of people who've been on the island longer, and they really know... how to make the most of it. I guess I figured that I can't really afford to waste time."