( anything can happen if you will it to )

[sunstreaming]

The night is nothing short of blistering. Heat environs the car's two passengers even as the air conditioner whirs on tirelessly. Anabelle can feel each individual bead of sweat inching down her neck and along her spine, the fabric of her dress damp and well on its way to soaked. The bare skin of her arms presses against the old leather seat and a

Comments

[teenagerenegade]

It's taken him this long to leave Ed and now he's just wandering, hands in the pockets of his shorts and he's sort of in a world of his own, ipod in one ear, which is why it takes him a moment to look up at her.

"...Elvis?" He gives her a crooked little smile. "Like, the King Elvis? Good name."

[sunstreaming]

His approach startles her. She doesn't jump, exactly, but her spine and shoulders tense for a few split seconds. Turning, she's prepared to offer a polite smile which instantly turns into a more genuine laugh.

"You just about scared the life outta me!" Giggles tend to serve as transitions between subjects when Anabelle speaks and this conversation is no exception. "Not the King, I'm afraid. Not anything like the King, either."

This will sound odd, she knows, but she has to ask. "You wouldn't happen to 've seen a hearse parked anywhere around here, would you?"

[teenagerenegade]

"Shit, I'm sorry." Charlie manages his most genuine smile, even though it's been a long couple of days and he's got dark shadows under his eyes. "I didn't mean to scare you."

When she asks about the hearse, he frowns.

"Oh, shit. You're new, aren't you? Bet you were somewhere else a minute ago."

[sunstreaming]

In addition to being great for transitions, giggles can sometimes serve as excellent fillers when the conversation is awkward or the speaker is nervous or simply at a loss for words. At this moment, Anabelle is a great example of said giggles in action. "Actually, I was asleep a minute ago. Not new, though. We're just passing through."

A pause, and then, a bit hostile: "And by 'we', I mean 'me', because clearly I've been stranded."

[throw_it_off]

It had been a weird couple of days, all of them spent in bed from the perspective of Nate's body. He'd been through an alien invasion, straight from a comic book, superhero worthy alien invasion, and all he had was a twinge in his shoulder from where he'd slept on it wrong.

Nate guessed he should be thankful to be in one piece, so he was, but it was still fucking weird.

So he was happy to see a familiar face on the beach, one that always brought a smile to his face. "Hey," he called to Serena. "So I had a long couple of days. How 'bout you?"

[sunstreaming]

Anabelle has been walking along the beach barefoot, focusing with great intensity on the imprints her feet leave in the sand. The idea is to keep her mind occupied but it isn't very effective. Her thoughts wander to the island and what she's been told, and how despite the very real firsthand experience, the lengths to which she can stretch her ability to believe are definitely being tested.

The truth is that Anabelle has a had a long couple of hours, but this isn't the response Nate will be getting. Instead, he'll be receiving the following words paired with a very a confused expression. "I'm sorry?"

[throw_it_off]

"You didn't notice I was unconscious for a couple days?" Nate asked. He snaked a hand out of his pocket, pressed over his heart and played hurt, but the smile never really went away.

"I'm hurt, Serena. Seriously. Were you out too?" She had to have been, otherwise she wouldn't have responded like that. ...Right? The beginnings of a small worry started to gnaw at his stomach.

[sunstreaming]

Being recognized by someone she has never met isn't exactly new to Anabelle, although she considers the recent development as unfortunate as her mother thinks it glorious. However, Anabelle is usually singled out as the girl who died on stage at a beauty pageant and came back to life hours later. She has yet to be mistaken for someone else, but her life lately has been a series of very interesting firsts, and this one is far from terrible.

"Well, that oughta explain it," she says, smiling. "My name is Anabelle."

[wutaiheart]

"Yeah, Elvis might be a jerk, but I'm pretty sure you're outta luck," Yuffie said, drawling it out with all the pomp and circumstance that being IN THE KNOW could give a girl. "Welcome to Magical Fucked Up Island, where you'll be one of many confused inhabitants until It sweeps you back home again or I dunno, turns you into a bug or some shit. I'm not real clear on the details here."

[sunstreaming]

Interaction with anyone her age, female or not, has been borderline non-existent in recent memory. At pageants, the girls don't have names but titles, and each and every one is nothing more than the competition. Even backstage, their guards stay up, and half a can of hairspray and a sash serve as reinforcement. Needless to say, it has been a while since Anabelle has spoken to a girl who says what she actually means, and even longer since she's heard one curse. It throws her off, so much so that she nearly forgets her current predicament.

Upon considering the other girl's words, Anabelle frowns. "Island?" They are, after all, in the middle of Texas.

[wutaiheart]

"Yeah, can't you smell the ocean?" For all her postures and attitude, Yuffie was pretty serious about that. "Take a deep breath. The ocean, you can just tell."

She took a step forward, really peering at the other girl now. "Oh, man, you really are fresh off the boat, so to speak."

[sunstreaming]

She can - it's impossible not to - but it only means they finally reached the Gulf, doesn't it? You can't drive to an island, and Anabelle thinks she would have remembered boarding a ship or a plane.

"You mean this isn't Texas at all?" Confusion doesn't work here. Maybe disoriented. Here she is, presented with all the pieces to a seemingly simple puzzle, but she can't seem to fit them into any reasonable pattern.

[filmstarbeauty]

From a distance it might look like Blair Waldorf was having a bit of an angry feet. Sure she was stamping her feet, but anger was absent from it. What it was, was her attempt to keep sand out from under her flipflops to mixed results.

Dressed from the summer, as it perrenially was here, she adjusted her cute sunhat in an effort to keep it from blowing away. "Serena!" she shouted knowing that shouting was reserved for cab drivers and people stuck in traffic, but this was an exception. Best friends were an exception. "Serena, why didn't you tell me, I would have come with instead of wandering down by myself like some vagrant."

[sunstreaming]

This is the second time Anabelle has been mistaken for someone named Serena. At first, she simply doesn't hear- her ears haven't had a lifetime to to adjust and recognize that name the way they do her own. When she finally realizes it's her that's being called, Anabelle turns to face Blair, an apologetic smile on her face.

"Sorry, I'm not her. I must really look like her, though, huh?"

[filmstarbeauty]

Giving the girl a dubious looking over, Blair can see how she made a mistake before. Not that she was about to give herself any credit for confusing her bestie with a stranger.

Wrinkling her nose, she frowned slightly. "You're not that Ilse girl are you?" she asked, in a tone slightly more accusatory than she meant it to. "I mean, yeah you do look a lot like S, except the hair is different."

[sunstreaming]

Ilse? Anabelle frowns, wondering if there's yet another girl on this island who looks like her.

"No," she says, managing another smile. "I'm Anabelle."