Backdated to August 1st

[first_pink_lady]

By golly, she was nineteen.  Nineteen and on a tropical hunk of rock in the middle of the ocean.  Then again, it wasn't all that grim- nIneteen wasn't that landmark of an age, anyway, and the island wasn't so bad when she wasn't playing fetus-babysitter or stuck in a month-long monsoon.

If she'd been home, they would have graduated by now - most

Comments

[patriotqueen]

Guy came from inside the Compound and - seeing a kindred spirit - sat down beside Betty. "Hullo, my fellow outkast, paria of this island," he said, with a charming smile.

He hadn't been kicked out of the Compound as such (people on this island were far too annoyingly kind for that), but he had been kindly requested to take his smoking outside. It was, in his opinion, a ridiculous demand.

[first_pink_lady]

"They sure do have a complex 'bout lighting up around here, don't they?" Rizzo said, with enough irritation lining her voice to indicate her own thoughts on the matter. Sure, she'd been thoroughly informed by various docs around here that she'd meet a horrible and untimely death if she continued to smoke like it was going out of style, but she'd never really caught on to listening to authority figures with concern about her welfare.

[patriotqueen]

"Somewhere in the future people will suddenly become thoroughly boring about all indulgences," Guy complained. "I fail to see why they feel the need to bring their obsession to the island." He took the cigarette from his chest pocket. "Light?"

[first_pink_lady]

"They're a pretty boring bunch all 'round, magic and fictionality aside." Rizzo agreed, twirling her cigarette in her fingers, but she supposed it was partly nostalgia that had her missing a good rumble, shimmying down drain pipes and scandalizing freshmen in the ladies' room. Christ, that was full of shit, aspects of her life back home had been fun, even if she had other freedoms around here she didn't back then. "Thanks," She smiled, leaning over with her smoke for a light.

[patriotqueen]

Oh, there was magic and there were liberties, but it was nothing compared to home.

"I had a friend here some time ago, who used pages of the American Journal of Respiratory Medicine to smoke his fags," Guy smiled fondly.

[first_pink_lady]

Rizzo snickered, loving the irony of it. It was really hard to take such risks seriously when everyone had smoked back home. Docs, fuzz, judges, the whole kitnkaboodle. Well, almost everyone.

"Got a goodie-two-shoes to have her first smoke by tellin' her it wouldn't kill her." She said, almost thoughtfully, but the almost mystified smile on her face kept her from looking too guilty. "Guess I turned out a liar. But maybe she never took to it, coughing an gagging up a storm like that." She paused, her smile widening a bit in memory. Sandra Dee, lousy with virginity and all that.

[patriotqueen]

"It is a simple fact of life that something will kill us. Might as well be something enjoyable," Guy decided, taking a deep, deep drag.

[first_pink_lady]

"No kiddin'." Living the fast life would have probably got her there sooner rather than later, she'd always sorta known that, but all bets were off with this whole island thing putting her life in limbo. "What else there to do around here worth doing? I've only been here a few months, and I'm bored stiff."

[patriotqueen]

"I've been here four years, ducky, and I've never stopped being bored," Guy assured with a wry smile. "Manage and put up, yes, but it's like staying up for the Long Vac; you make due with whoever's around."

[first_pink_lady]

"Christ, don't make it sound like school, that was enough of a drag the first time." She exhaled her smoke slowly, non too impressed with a four-year vetren of this place saying it didn't get any better. "I may make do and put up with the best of 'em, but at least back home I could play hooky or make a break for it down a drain pipe."