Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, and she's gone.

[with_diamonds]

There was a time, Lucy recalled, back in New Hampshire, when her class of small, uniformed children had been told to raise their hands if anyone they knew had been in a war - those ten-some years after World War II, there'd been a share of hands, mostly kids with uncles or more distant relations who'd gone to fight. Then, along with the standard

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[purplensparkly]

Trance wasn't entirely sure why she went into the rec room. She was headed to the kitchen to make some food. So she wasn't sure why she took the detour until she saw the girl sitting on the couch, knees to her chest, clearly upset about something.

"Are you okay?" she asked kindly, walking over to the couch.

[with_diamonds]

Lucy was distracted enough not to notice anyone walking over, and so she straightened quickly at the sound of a voice, running her hands back through her hair. "Yeah," she said quickly, her lips curving in a slight, routine smile. "I'm fine, just...thinking, I guess." That was all there was to it, really, even if it all seemed so much more complicated.

[purplensparkly]

"Halloween or something else?" Trance usually found that a direct question like that usually got an answer before the person giving it realized they'd even said something.

[with_diamonds]

"It's Veterans Day," Lucy said bluntly. It was a calendar holiday, after all, not any sort of secret, and saying that much wasn't elaborating on the subject. "Halloween, too, I guess, but from what I've heard, mine was better than most people's." A breakup, especially one so long in the making, was hardly death or a serious injury, and she'd gotten Max - alive - just a few days later.

[listentomystory]

He wanted to read, weird as that was, but he did. He walked to the rec room to read and possibly listen to some music, distract himself from the craziness of the lasting effects of Halloween, and from everything else. And hell, maybe Max was in there...where else would he be?

But when he walked into the compound, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his mood dropped from "okay" to "life sucks."

"Christ. Of course. Of course you're here, Lucy. Things just couldn't get better could they?"

[with_diamonds]

Lucy heard the voice, familiar as it was, before she registered that anyone was there, and her back stiffened slightly as she looked up a Jude, a terse frown set on her face. "Of course not," she muttered quietly, folding her arms across her chest half in self-defense. "Did you want anything? Aside from, you know, the insult you obviously can't go without."

God, she was tired of this.

[listentomystory]

Jude rubbed his face and made his way over to the chair next to her. He leaned his head back and lay his hands in his lap, his eyes closed. There was a brief pause before Jude tilted his head to look at her, his eyes soft but sad. "Sorry. It hasn't exactly been the best of ---" he was going to say days, maybe weeks, but instead he said "months." He laughed kind of desperately. "Did you see Max?"

[with_diamonds]

"I know the feeling," Lucy agreed with a faint laugh, both dry and the least bit sympathetic. Her arms relaxed, one hand was fisting gently around the fabric of her tank top, over the dog tag she still wore; it was a habit she'd picked up in Max's death, one she couldn't break even now that he was here. "He came to see me, yeah," she said, exhaling, and managed a real smile at that. "Said you showed him where I lived."

[boom_king]

Bret wasn't haven an alright time on the island. Sure, he had a place to stay and Jemaine was there, but his guitar wasn't and this was definitely in no way like New York. It had taken long enough to get used to the differences between New Zealand and America, and now he was suddenly expected to learn this place too. It was all a bit much for him.

He wandered into the compound, pondering yet again how one would make a guitar on the island (he missed playing, too) when he noticed he wasn't alone. She looked like how he was feeling.

"Are you alright?" he asked, sounding just a little nervous. It was entirely possible she didn't want to be bothered.

[with_diamonds]

Lucy had hardly noticed anyone coming in, let alone approaching her, and so she sat up quickly at the sound of a voice, rubbing at her eyes like she'd been half-asleep. "Yeah," she exhaled after a pause, one hand just slightly out in front of her, and she managed a warm, small smile at the man in front of her. "Fine, I'm fine, just...thinking, I guess."

Leaning back again, she looked briefly over the man in front of her, one she hadn't yet seen around, and tilted her head to the side. "You?"

[boom_king]

He sat himself down on another couch nearby.

"Weirded out about this place, still," he admitted. That was an understatement, actually, because the fact he was in a weird place surrounded by a jungle still wasn't making any sense to him. "But not bad, I guess."

[with_diamonds]

"You new?" The question felt awkward to ask, with as new as she still felt, but it was refreshing, almost, to have something to talk about other than her past and her brother. Repositioning her legs beside her, she smiled - not a huge one, but friendly nonetheless. "I'm Lucy. Lucy Carrigan."