(Untitled)

[wishesandsmoke]

She wasn't alone. Eden knew that. She had Gideon and Grigg, and while that might not have seemed like much to some people, it was a lot more than she could say for life before the island. She didn't mind it, not really. It had taken a while, but she'd figured, somewhere along the way, that if this was all she got, then she was just going to enjoy

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[anewwaive]

The date yesterday hadn't been lost on him. Or it hadn't been at first, until he fucking drank the rest of his alcohol. It was a bad idea and he knew it, though he mostly felt bad he had none left for the next time he needed it. It took him a while to shake off the hangover he had in the morning, but he was finally alright enough to get up and do things. While it had been tempting to just keep staying in his hut, being fucking cramped in there was about as bad as being outside.

So he pushed himself. Got up, headed to the Compound to be as put together as he could make himself be. He ate something light so he didn't end up feeling like he was going to puke. Then he took a walk, because he had no interest in sticking around a place filled with people.

What he didn't expect was to see Eden just sitting around outside. He slowed down as he approached, watching her look all fucking frustrated and talking to herself.

"You fucking picking fights with your pencil?" he asked when he was finally close enough, eyebrow raised up.

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden could have gone to see him, she knew, but there were times when Gideon needed to be alone, same as her. They were, no matter how social she could be, solitary people and there were times when company just couldn't cut it. For her, at least, by herself was sometimes the only way to pull through.

That and, maybe, it had just been selfish, just simple hurt and fear, nothing more or less complex.

"It ran away," she said. "It started it."

[anewwaive]

"Didn't know that shit could do that on it's own," he smirked, not waiting to be invited to sit down. He doubted she'd mind him sticking around. "What are you even doing out here?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"Sketching," Eden said, showing him her notebook, though there was nothing of worth in it yet - a few haphazard doodles of plants and trees, nothing concrete. "I have drawing tomorrow afternoon."

[badblood_rising]

Headed to the Compound, Sam noticed a familiar figure sitting by herself and, despite what looked like some kind of writing or drawing pad, decided to change course to say hello. It was a small thing, but still an effort to be more friendly. Getting to where he was had been a series of small, stupid steps; getting back to where he had been needed some small steps too.

He bent down to grab her pencil just as Eden did, catching it before her by chance and quicker fingers. "Hey," Sam greeted, holding the item out for her to take. "...You okay?"

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden took the pencil and offered him a smile, though a halfhearted one. That was something in itself, the lack of an attempt to cover up. "Thanks. Yeah," she said. "Just... a really bad artist." It was more than that, of course, but she hardly knew Sam, and surely not well enough to burden him with her problems like that. They hardly amounted to real trouble anyway, when she knew she was lucky just to be here. "I have class tomorrow, so. Trying anyway."

[badblood_rising]

"Well, that's the point of class, isn't it? To get better." He tried to sound comforting, even if she didn't want to admit to something being wrong. He could just feel it, frustration maybe only being one part of the puzzle.

"You can't be that bad," he added. "Can I see?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"I'm bad enough," Eden said, but she offered him the sketchpad and a crooked smile. "I know, I'll get better - if I keep at it and stop chasing off my pencils." Maybe it wouldn't mean much in the long run, but it was a nice thought in the meanwhile, a new skill to try for, something earned. As it was, she knew she wasn't horrible, but she doubted it would ever amount to more than a hobby.

[gonewiththereap]

"And just what are we pulling it together for?" Daisy wonders as she tosses an apple from hand to hand and considers biting down into it, prospect of worms and all. "And just what kind of pulling together is needed?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"The kind where I actually finish my homework," Eden says dryly. "Nothing I sketch looks even remotely like what I'm sketching. I knew I wasn't an artist, but this is kind of ridiculous." Her hurts, her fears, get bottled back inside. She's always been good at that. It's how she survived for so long.

[gonewiththereap]

Daisy settles down beside Eden and arranges her shawl as she pulls it casually across her shoulders so she won't burn or -- worse -- freckle. "Mm, and this is why I don't even bother to take classes," she observes. "The homework. You make a point of waking up, looking pretty, and then you have to come home and do more work?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"But how else am I ever to be an accomplished lady?" Eden asks, sweetly deadpan with an accompanying flutter of her lashes. "You might be right, but it's better than having nothing to do - and if nothing else, the yoga has to be good for me." Even if it's early in the morning and there's a loud-mouth kid in it now who doesn't really go very well with being zen or whatever.

[nerdinacape]

Every so often Grigg found himself falling back into old habits. These habits weren't bad, just fallen by the wayside with the advent of adulthood and islandlife.

A collection of battered copies of pulp science fiction that met its pinnacle in the 1950s when space was something foreign and even stranger than it was now are under his arm. Coming to stand next to Eden on the edge of the orchard, it occurred to him that he probably shouldn't disturb her. Her outburst told him that it was probably okay.

"I could go find some twine, if you think it will help," he offered with a smile.

[wishesandsmoke]

"Somehow I doubt you tying me up's gonna help me get any work done," Eden said, looking up with a too-sweet smile of her own. If anything, she thought, that would assure she accomplished absolutely nothing, although saying things like this generally had the pleasant side effect of getting him to blush. "Especially out here in the open like this."

[nerdinacape]

As gentlemanly as Grigg was most of the time, he could not have the places that his mind went with certain types of provocation. Opening his mind to suggest exactly what he was thinking, he promptly shut it once more. Some things were just better left said at later times.

Shrugging his shoulders sheepishly, he nodded his head. "Probably not, but I was only suggesting things to hold you together."

[wishesandsmoke]

"Get down here," Eden urged, reaching a hand up to him, her smile softening. "I'll be fine. But sit with me for a little bit?" Maybe, surely, having him with her would help her feel less alone.