(Untitled)

[quileutejacob]

Jacob had mostly worked with engines before coming to the island, hands all greased up from some half-running motorcycle or old carburetor. There weren't a lot of vehicles on the island though, not really, and while he had a motorcycle he tinkered with occasionally, he knew deep down he'd never get enough gas to actually be able to ride it even if

Comments

[lucked]

Claire remembered pretty well, the fact that Jacob had mentioned wanting to start up classes for the brave and daring. Perhaps he hadn't worded it as such, but if there was one thing Claire knew about Jacob, it was that he was in tune with the earth, that he understood it to the point where all of its cliffs, its edges, and so much more, just became a part of his own experience. And while she knew, coming from the cookie-cutter Texan life that she did, even with everything that had happened to her in the past few months she couldn't even begin to compete with Jacob's understanding of himself as part of that greater whole, still she couldn't help wondering what it'd be like to feel that rush.

She leaned against the wall shortly after he'd pinned up his notice, tilting her head.

"So, what's the kiddie version of cliff diving?" she asked jokingly.

[quileutejacob]

"Trampoline," Jacob said quickly, grinning at Claire. He was glad to see she was doing better but it still hadn't seemed that long ago that she was in the clinic. It was hard to shake that image from his mind, a friend that injured, and he wondered now if he should have been so reckless back home. Bella must have been a nervous wreck.

"When you get medically cleared for jumping off things for the fun of it, I'm happy to teach you the real thing. It's...a rush. It's absolutely the best feeling in the world, at least to me."

[lucked]

"Trampoline," Claire repeated with a skeptical raise of her brow, closing her eyes just long enough to try and compare jumping on the trampoline to diving off a cliff. In all honesty, the two seemed as different as night and day, but then again, cliff diving was one of those things that didn't seem to have much gradation. What difference was there between leaping from fifty feet up and two hundred? "Well, since I've been jumping on trampolines since I was a kid, I guess that means I've got a leg up on the beginners."

Shrugging a shoulder, Claire nodded. "But yes, cross my heart, I won't start jumping off of cliffs until I'm ready. Which is admittedly not yet."

[quileutejacob]

"Good," Jacob said, tone a little warmer and lower. "I was really worried about you. I didn't really want to show it since I figured there were plenty of people hovering around you and freaking you out but I was, underneath. I wanted to be sure you'd be okay. You don't think that's weird or anything, do you?"

It hadn't been out of anything other than friendship and maybe it was a little because Claire was kind of like Bella like that, doing something reckless. He didn't know Claire's motivations or need to know them, no, but it was generally accepted that most people didn't fall or jump off roofs on a regular basis. There might be something deeper there, but Jacob didn't want to pry.

[lucked]

She'd heard the same spiel, more or less, from a number of people by that point. Not that it bothered her. There were certain messages that she knew deserved to be impressed upon time and time again, just to make sure they were driven home, and after the stunt that she pulled on the Compound roof, she couldn't blame others for being worried. Jacob was one of the friends, too, that she hadn't told her secret to yet. He had all the reason in the world to distance himself from her, to spare all of them the grief, but that he was there at all and was trying to best mold himself to her comfort, it meant more than Claire could express, even as her smile faded away and she played with a hanging thread on her shirt

[quileutejacob]

"Everyone has problems," Jacob said, giving her a smile. "Even as happy as I seem most of the time, I've got issues as much as anyone else. I had a friend like you back home, though, that used to try and get an adrenaline rush so she could forget her problems. I don't think there's any problems with it as long as you do it healthily? If that even makes sense?"

Jacob wasn't a psychiatrist but he thought the advice was sound, in some way at least.

[lucked]

"Well hey, if you ever want to talk about your own issues, know that Claire the Shrink is totally available for talks. Even if I'm obviously not a professional, I do like being able to listen to my friend's problems and, you know, offer advice when I can. Funnel to the proper resources if I can," Claire replied in turn, her grin light and friendly. "Still have no idea what I'd expect from you in terms of issues, but you're right. We've all got them, and we all learn how to live with them, correct them when we can. No one's perfect, though, and that's what makes us all interesting."

Ruffing the hair at the back of her head, Claire bobbed her head left and right. "But yeah, I understand. We all need ways to get away from our problems at times, just as long as it isn't totally screwing up our health in the process. And as long as we don't run away too much."

[quileutejacob]

"Escaping for a little while should be okay, just not running away," Jacob said, thinking about how he felt just before he came here. Bella had run off to Italy to save Edward and Jacob had simply wanted to run, run as far as he could. He wanted to feel the hard snowpack of Canada beneath his paws and breathe in crisp, cold air.

"I used to want to run away, you know. Be free? I guess I got what I asked for, considering I wound up here."

[lucked]

"Tell me about it," Claire sighed, running her fingers through her hair and ruffling it, the strands tangling and made a mess by static. "There were so many times in the last year I had at home where I just wanted to run away from everything. I kind of got sense knocked into me by the end, but it took a while getting there, realizing that whatever amount of trouble I gave my family or that they gave me, it wasn't worth distancing myself from them to get away from that."

Her lips quirked wryly. "So of course, right after I learn that lesson, the world separates me from my family anyway. God, do I wish I could take it back now."

[quileutejacob]

"Me too," Jacob admitted, more than a little regretful that he'd been such an ass to Bella. Would he have done it differently, knowing he wouldn't see her again? He didn't know.

"I miss my dad and my friends. I have friends here, sure, and Shari's probably a better sister than either of mine, but she's not...tribe. It's hard to explain."

[lucked]

"Well, I mean, the thing is that you can never replace friends, right? Even if the people who you meet here end up being totally amazing and like no one you've ever seen before, that doesn't mean that you can't still miss the people you had back at home," Claire remarked, resting her chin on the back of her hand contemplatively. She'd thought about the matter multiple times over the months, but still, every passing second made her look at the situation differently. The events of every passing day. The number of times she ran into people she loved. "So... sure, I have friends here who are probably better at being a brother to me than Lyle was back home- and really, Lyle was a pretty apathetic brother, sometimes it was just like having another awkward lump on the couch- but that doesn't mean I can't miss him still, too. And I do. I even miss all the annoying habits he had."