(Untitled)

[bennet_beauty]

It was only fitting, Jane believed, that she would hold this party upon such an eventful day. Five years ago, she had arrived upon the island and her whole life had changed. She was no longer the young girl that she had once been and was no longer trapped in the confines of a time when her options were greatly limited. Though the date coincided,

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[lucked]

There's something incredibly sobering about the description, of knowing what actually happened between Eden and the mysterious guy. Because Claire knows, after all, that it's not merely the fact that Eden didn't return to New York in time that ended up creating a barrier- it's the fact that Eden passed away altogether. And not for the first time, Claire feels a very deep hatred towards the Company. Not towards its employees, nor even towards the goal that they originally had in mind, but instead the way that they went about achieving that goal. The things that they did, the people that they were willing to throw in the way, all of it is simply unforgivable, in Claire's mind. But there's little to be done about it, here. If she wants to make a difference, she'll have to go back, and... Claire's not sure whether or not that would be worth all the loss that would come with it. She's not even sure if it's possible for her, for this version of her who lives on the island, to go back. Sometimes she feels like they've just all branched off.

Living in an alternate universe, and more in control of their lives than they've ever been before.

"Well, maybe he'll... come here at some point," Claire suggests offhandedly, her tone soft, not wanting to say too much. "But, hmm. Well, I mean, all of these things- I'd pretty much veto anyone for you who isn't all of these things. I'm not going to let you be that girl who falls for the bad boy, because as far as I've seen, that never works. So... how do you feel about geeks? Nerds? Or do you like the smooth, romantic and gentlemanly type?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"I don't think I've ever met that type," Eden says wryly. "I'm sure he'd be fun for a while, but you know... at the end of the day, what matters is finding someone you can just be comfortable with. Someone who maybe makes you laugh." It feels like too serious a topic for the evening, if she dwells too long on these things, but maybe that's just because doing so reminds her of what she's missing. Even those things aren't enough, she wants to say, because she's been with guys who made her think and guys who made her smile and guys she could just sit with and be quiet and not feel she had to say a word, and still she hasn't quite found what she's been looking for. What it is, she's not sure how to say, but Grigg was as close as she's ever come to that spark. It seems more and more likely she'll never really find it. "Grigg was pretty nerdy. Brodie, too, although in a very different way."

[lucked]

Although turning her thoughts back on herself is the last thing that Claire wanted to do, she can't help doing so as soon as Eden starts listing off the signs of attraction, the things that truly ought matter in a relationship. While she'd be hard-pressed to call what's going on between herself and Chris just that, when neither of them seems to have acknowledged it at all. At least not in public. But she shakes herself of the thought (especially when Peeta crosses her mind again, making her heart ache in her chest), smiling faintly instead. If she's feeling lost now, if she's feeling loss now, she can't imagine how Eden must be feeling. (She's so much stronger.)

"I'm just thinking about what dad said to me once, that he totally wanted me to date a nerd, and that it was the best choice mom made. I bet he'd want the same for you," she smiled, eyes downcast.

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden slings an arm around her shoulder, drawing the blonde close so she can press a kiss to her hair. "I think he'd mostly just want us to be happy," she says, then laughs. "And safe. And careful. And chaste until we're fifty." It's too late for her, and she knows Bennet, for all that he cared about her, never intended to protect her the same way he did with Claire. He tried, she knows that. She hopes he's forgiven her, back in their own world and time.

"There's a lot to be said for them," she adds, grinning. "You know, they're... the thing about nerds is that they're passionate about something. It's a good trait in a person."