(Untitled)

[afanoflaundry]

Penny let out an aggravated sigh as she let her book fall into her lap, then stared up at the now very familiar ceiling. It had been a week since she'd been released from the clinic, but the only real difference had been that instead of lying in bed there, she'd been lying in one in her new room. She found it was an unwelcome change from the

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[lucked]

Only months ago, the pained movement wouldn't have been familiar at all to Claire's eyes. Whenever she tried to call her mind back to how things were years ago, when she was nothing more than the foolish little girl with dreams of making it onto the school's cheerleading squad, it astonished Claire to see how well things had gone for her. Never much of a bump or scrape that lingered, even when she was training for the first time. Never an injury that stayed long enough to keep her out of a game.

Some people had thought it talent, and even Claire herself had fallen under that naive impression in her first weeks. She knew better now.

But there was something about the woman which appealed nonetheless, something in her smile that was soft and kind, if sad, and it drew Claire around like a moth to a flame. She knew what pain was like, literally and figuratively. And if there was any way for her to help wipe it away, well.

She would.

"Let me guess," she smiled. "New to the area?"

[afanoflaundry]

"Yeah, I've only been here two weeks," Penny replied with a smile. She wondered to herself if there was something about her that made it obvious, or if it was simply that in a place like this newcomers stuck out, like with a small town. "I'm Penny," she added, gingerly holding out her arm to shake. "How're you?"

[lucked]

There was something about Penny's face that Claire couldn't help but think was familiar, even if she couldn't quite pin it down. Like she'd seen it before, maybe from the corner of her eye. Either way, no name immediately came to mind until Penny introduced herself, and so Claire's expression only softened, glad that the woman seemed relatively at peace with the island already after so short a time.

"Claire," she beamed, taking the other woman's hand to shake. "Been here over a year, myself, and... I guess I'm doing okay, same old, mostly. Sometimes things get way too exciting around here, but it's been nice the past couple of weeks, so I guess the island decided to give you a break. Not everyone gets so lucky."

[afanoflaundry]

Penny looked at Claire with a concerned frown, and began twisting her ring around her finger absent-mindedly as a way to give her hands something to do. "What do you mean?" she asked, her forehead furrowing slightly. "What happens?"

[lucked]

Her gaze flickered down to the shine of light against Penny's ring, and her chest grew tight at the thought of Penny missing so suddenly torn away from all semblance of friends and family (for if there was someone who knew her well on the island, Claire thought to herself, surely that friend would have told Penny all that she needed to know, given the woman's personality, rather than leaving it up to strangers to explain). It was hard to remember, sometimes, the way that she'd felt upon arriving on the island. All of it was so distant, months and months ago, the sharp pain already having dulled into something different, empty, hollow

[afanoflaundry]

Penny just stared with wide eyes for a minute, trying to digest all of that. How was it even possible, to do things like that? But then, how was it possible to rip someone out of their everyday life and bring them to an island? It all was impossible, but here she was.

Remembering that Claire had asked her something, she shook her head slightly. "No. I mean, yes, someone did, but I had surgery right after I showed up here, so I was on painkillers. I thought I imagined it or something." She took and sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You said no one really gets hurt?"

[lucked]

Feeling a twinge of guilt, even though Claire knew that Penny had to head the breakdown sooner or later, Claire's nose wrinkled as she ran her fingers through her hair, letting strands loose as she tried to pull together a satisfactory explanation. Even though she knew that it probably didn't exist. It didn't seem to matter what kind of world people came from; the one thing all of them shared was the fact that they simply didn't know how to process the idea of an island none of them could escape. An island that pulled people from disparate realities, each one as unique as the last.

"Unless we're all imagining things and sharing dreams... then no, you heard right," Claire replied, lips quirking apologetically. "But yeah, for all the chaos that goes on here, it doesn't seem like the island's ever really intent on doing lasting harm to people. I mean, we still have diseases and some less-than-savory people around, but on the whole, it's pretty safe."

[afanoflaundry]

"Well, that's something," she admitted with a sigh. She still wasn't thrilled about the idea of this place, and was trying really, really hard not to freak out on Claire, but she also realized that it could be a lot worse.

She ran a hand through her hair and forced a smile. Moping never solved anything, after all. "So, what is there to do around here?"

[lucked]

The smile from Claire was similarly hesitant, if not for the same reasons. Not quite forced, it took up a tone that was more resigned, having grown accustomed to chaos already, and the way that the world could turn everything around on its side if given fair opportunity. There were still good things to be found, of course, and that was what kept her pushing day after day, only able to hope that everyone else could maintain that hope as well.

"Well... we have a bookshelf that completely restocks itself when no one's watching. Same with the clothes box, so you'll never run out of interesting stuff from either, I guess. And the bookshelf offers up films and stuff for the projector in the Compound, too. But honestly, it's kind of limited to that. Plus nature geeking. If you're a huge fan of nature, you'll get a kick out of this place. There are even natural hot springs in the caves," Claire prattled on, nose wrinkling as she tried to think of more.

[afanoflaundry]

"I've really been using the bookshelf, it's what's pretty much saved me these last two weeks." And there really were a lot of interesting things in it, but after a while, sitting in your room with a book got old. "I can't wait to look around more, this place is beautiful."