[debut] you'll never settle any of your score

[makeafairfight]

"I just had a phone chat with my daughter. She told me that she and her friends are already talking about the race, which they’ve just seen via their computers. A new website called Facebook. Do you have this in America?"

Comments

[honestlyrubbish]

Although there's a part of Hermione that doesn't feel quite right, leaving Rapture behind to come back to solid ground, she knows full well that there isn't a reason for her to stay down in the underwater city for prolonged periods of time. Unlike most of the others who are searching through the rusted, bloody halls, she has relatively little training in self-defense, and in spite of hearing some wonderful things about the tonics to be found down there, she doesn't trust them. Not for a second. After getting an initial sweep of the area, Hermione decides that she's probably had enough for the moment, coming up to settle her nerves before she decides whether or not she wants to head down a second time.

The sun's a welcome sight.

But as she wanders about the Compound, feeling more distracted than ever before as she heads from the offices towards the rec room, piles of papers clutched in her arms- because that's the only real constant right now, her Council work- before she turns around and sees a new face, her own breaking into a soft

[makeafairfight]

There's something unsettlingly familiar about the girl, like he's seen her somewhere before years ago. That doesn't strike Cameron as quite as important as her words, though, if only because they're more unsettling still and make even less sense. He can trouble to place her face later. Now his head cocks to the side as he looks at her, this diminutive brunette whose accent seems the only tie between where he is now and where he was thirty seconds ago.

"After you first arrived?" he echoes slowly. For weeks, she says, and that makes even less sense still. He catches himself thinking of the glass he left on the desk, its contents untouched. If he's hallucinating now, then it's just a good old-fashioned public breakdown, the idea of which is mortifying enough to send a slight flush to touch his neck. "Arrived where exactly? If you don't mind me asking." She looks busy, and while he'd argue that his being lost takes precedence over paperwork, he isn't going to hold her back if she's got somewhere she needs to be.

[honestlyrubbish]

Hermione blinks for a couple of seconds, surprised by the fact that there's been an arrival that actually took place inside the Compound. She knows that it's happened before, but she's been so accustomed to spotting people out in the jungle, or in rarer cases hearing about them arrive in the water, that finding someone who's quite literally lost inside the Compound itself takes her by surprise. Feeling a bit sheepish, Hermione quickly tucks her flyaway hair behind an ear and tries for a better grip on her papers, resting them on a hip.

"I didn't mean that... quite so literally, sorry," she stammers, offering an apologetic stammer. "You've just arrived, haven't you? Well, it's going to sound a bit mad, but you're currently on an island. The residents here have named it Tabula Rasa, the blank slate, because no one's quite figured out how we're transported here or how to leave, and people seem to arrive from different times and worlds as well."

[makeafairfight]

There's so much in what she says that Cameron can't make sense of it. Oh, he follows what she says readily enough, but the words don't seem to process. On one hand, he doesn't understand how what she says can possibly be true, when it sounds like magic or science fiction, all this talk of just being transported, of traveling between times and worlds. On the other, he is most certainly no longer at the awards ceremony, there's no sign of his brother or Div and no other feasible explanation for his presence here. The simplest answer is that what she says is the truth, not some teenage girl's notion of a practical joke.

"Here," he says, stepping closer and holding out his hands to her, "let me help you with those." At least that's familiar. She's got far too much on her hands, undoubtedly being delayed in the midst of something important; the least he can do is offer a hand or two. If nothing else, it buys him a moment to try to put his thoughts into words. "You're telling me I literally turned around and appeared on an island. That I

[honestlyrubbish]

Hermione's always had a habit of trying to handle too much at once, and for a second she's struck with embarrassment at having been caught in the act yet again. Not wanting to be impolite, she smiles, a sheepish laugh caught on her lips before she nods lightly and finds a spot to easily divide the pile, handing over about half of the folders- inventories of food consumption and farming take up a great deal of the workload Council members have, if not even most of it. Whether or not there's a functional economy on the island, one thing's for sure, and that's the fact that making sure that people eat well and healthily is no small feat, even with the Compound pantry replenishing a certain amount of staple goods

[makeafairfight]

There's something so utterly calm and certain in her demeanor that Cameron finds himself just nodding as he follows along. It still seems like nonsense, but he can't entirely argue with fact and he is here, no matter how crazy it may seem. At the very least, young though she is, she also seems to have answers - at least some of them. Careful not to crease or damage her papers, he considers this new information. At least she isn't trying to pass it off as magic in the strictest sense, simply as a kind of shorthand for not knowing.

"And there's no way back where I came from," he says, repeating what she said before. "Can you at least tell me why I'm here?"

[honestlyrubbish]

This might be one of the most calm arrivals that Hermione's witnessed to date, especially coming from someone who doesn't seem to have an extensive knowledge of magic or the way that it functions. Perhaps the man's simply shell-shocked, or perhaps this is simply a matter of personality, calmly turning over every possible stone and asking every pertinent question before later descending into panic. For his sake (and, at least on some level, her own), Hermione hopes that she can provide enough insight to keep that from happening, but each question lingers in her stomach like a weight- they're the right ones to ask, but also the most difficult to answer

[makeafairfight]

Cameron hands her papers back to her, taking the offered pamphlet with a quick glance at it. There will be time to examine it in full later, but just the sight of it makes him strangely nervous. It's not that he's given to anxiety, although a situation like this calls for it if any does, but that more than anything else sends him the message that this is happening (well, but then, he wouldn't put it past his imagination to be this organized either). She's prepared for this. This must happen all the time, and she's ready for it, and this suggests a level of, of stability and permanence he can't wrap his mind wholly around yet.

"Like God," he says, a bit stunned by the idea, "or a - something like that." He shakes his head, like that slight motion might bring him clarity, his brow lifting slightly as he looks back to her. He wants to ask Why me? She probably doesn't know that answer any better than she knew the other, though. Probably everyone wonders that. "This is crazy. So everyone just... settles in for the time being? Are there a

[honestlyrubbish]

"Not quite like God," Hermione replies, rubbing her forehead and the creases there, displaying an unwillingness to think of this as anything nearing the work of a divine hand. Not especially religious, Hermione still thinks that if there really is a 'god' worthy of worship, that he shouldn't be tugging everyone around left and right like this. "More along the lines of a puppeteer. Crazy things happen here, even beyond all of us arriving in the first place. People vanish from one end of the island and show up on the other in an instant. People are sometimes forced to tell the truth for a weekend. It's mad."

Rubbing her hand along her arm for a moment, Hermione presses her lips tightly together. "But the community itself is wonderful. People settle as best they can, and everyone's very cooperative. All... two hundred and fifty of us, more or less."

[makeafairfight]

It's meant to be reassuring, Cameron's certain, but no mention of how nice the people are or the community or whatever can erase the notion of being further jerked around like a puppet. Already everything feels too much out of his control, has since before he turned around and wound up here, and he doesn't know what to do with the frustration welling up again. It wouldn't be fair to take out on this girl, who's been so kind and helpful. At least this one, showing up here, isn't his fault in any way. The guide in his hand, though, just makes him feel that much more lost.

"Settle how?" he asks. "How does one go about..." He doesn't want to say it again; the idea of settling, even in this obviously intended to be positive light, doesn't sit easy with him. "- finding a place here?"

[honestlyrubbish]

For a few moments, Hermione pauses, merely watching the young man with an almost resigned look. Of course, one can't discount the fact that Hermione's had a better time of it on the island in the past few months than she did back home for the past year- but peace that isn't fully earned never settles well in her stomach. Although his world is undoubtedly different than her own, Hermione imagines that this young understands, something in his eyes looking almost fearful, and certainly at least reticent. Although she does her best to make the lives of her fellow citizens easier, most days, there's nothing she wants more than to at least be able to offer that exit. The door out, and back to lives that most people seemed to appreciate more than the island's

[makeafairfight]

Cameron almost laughs, eyes widening, though there would have been no mirth in it had he actually done so. "Like in the books," he says, though he hasn't had much time lately to read for pleasure (and that, he thinks, is why she looks familiar: she bears a striking resemblance to the girl in the films, just older, prettier, which must be a coincidence or else she's using an alias and it's a private joke). It's a better detail to focus on than what she's said, though he knows sooner or later he'll have to face it. Nothing sounds particularly temporary about a period between two and six years; he doesn't have that kind of time to waste, and he can't -

He can do this alone. He can. He just doesn't want to

[honestlyrubbish]

As it isn't the first time that Hermione's heard someone allude to the books, the statement doesn't quite manage to throw her off completely, although her hands tighten for a moment and the slightest hint of color seems to drain from her cheeks. Every repetition is only a reinforcement of what she's starting to learn is probably the case- that Muggles know of Harry, that they know of her and Ron, and most likely many others from their world. But beyond that, there's a chance that these books paint them in some other manner, too. As fictional