(Untitled)

[missingthekeep]

It takes Sean a little more than a week and a little more than an afternoon spent knocking back drinks before he finally gets back to work on building a fence for the dog. He'd been making decent progress before the hurricane had seen fit to undo it all, but with everything else that's been dogging him lately, he just hasn't been able to work up

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[getemtiger]

The sight of building wasn't anything unfamiliar to Mary Jane, her own hut having been under reconstruction for the few days since Peter had been let out of the clinic. It wasn't what she was expecting to see, though, when she came walking by Meredith's, intending to see if she was around. Given the state of everything else, she'd been pretty preoccupied, simultaneously trying to look on the bright side of things while waiting for the other shoe to drop. The effort it took to hold herself together, to even stay on her feet, was draining. She had to try, though, for herself and for everyone around her - present company included, though she never had gotten to know Sean all that well.

"Hey, Sean," she said, summoning up a small smile as she lifted one hand in a wave. "Meredith's not around, is she? I was just gonna stop by and say hi."

[missingthekeep]

"Nae right now, no," Sean says, answering her wave with a nod of his own and straightening up, shielding his eyes from the sun (which, admittedly, isn't all that bright). "She's..." he starts before trailing off, finally realizing that he's not quite sure where Meredith is right now. Some caretaker he is. "She's somewhere else."

[getemtiger]

Mary Jane considered, briefly, asking him to tell Meredith that she'd stopped by, but changed her mind, just shrugging instead. She had half-expected as much, anyway, having a good idea of how much Meredith didn't want to be stuck inside. "Using the time to get some building done, huh?" she asked, gesturing to the cut pieces of wood with a tilt of her chin. "How's the fence coming?"

[missingthekeep]

Sean's not much in the mood to chat, Meredith's best friend or not, but he's pretty sure that brushing Mary Jane off right now would only hurt him more in the long run. It's just the way things work out for him. "It's comin'," he mumbles with a non-committal shrug. Some of the cuts are a little shaky, but overall, he's doing alright. "Figgered I had ta get back at it sooner or later, right?"

[getemtiger]

"Yeah," Mary Jane said, exhaling as she nodded, a knowing expression on her face. "It's all there is to do, after something like that. Rebuild." There was probably some metaphor to be found in the idea, what she, at least, knew full well that it extended beyond fences and huts to lives, too. Things had been in such a shambles that it was all there was to be done, picking up the pieces and trying to reassemble what they could.

[missingthekeep]

"Words o' wisdom," Sean says with a sigh, and even he's not sure if he's being sarcastic or not. "Would that everythin' were so easy to jus' rebuild." Not that this is particularly easy at the moment, but, well... he knows what he means.

[getemtiger]

"Yeah, you can say that again," Mary Jane murmured, hardly realizing she had spoken until the words had already left her mouth. It was more honest than she was accustomed to being, even without saying much, and she bit down on her lip to keep from doing something ridiculous like blushing over it. On one hand, the fact that this was her best friend's boyfriend probably meant that she ought to have been a little more relaxed around him. On the other, he still wasn't someone she knew all that well, and letting her guard down was a dangerous thing to do. She settled for not saying much of anything at all, staying as vague as she had been already. "It's... been a hell of a month."

[missingthekeep]

Sean surprises himself by actually laughing at that, rubbing at the back of his neck with one hand as he does so. It's not even an entirely malicious laugh, there's just something about hearing someone else complain about things that strikes him in that moment as hilarious.

"Ye c'n say that again, lass."

[getemtiger]

With a slight laugh of her own, Mary Jane ducked her head, made a little self-conscious by her own admittance. This time, at least, there were no secrets to be kept in what had happened to them; disappearances were commonplace, news of the yacht party widespread, destroyed huts the same story all around the island. The way she and Peter had both reacted to it, that was a detail that didn't need to be shared, but it wasn't part of the bigger picture, but rather because of it. She no longer felt frustrated, but simply exhausted.

"So it's not just us, huh?" she asked, referring, of course, to herself and Peter, not the two of them here. Meredith had said as much, but she wouldn't have felt right saying so. "Every time things aren't supposed to be able to get worse, they still do."

[missingthekeep]

"Story o' me life, that. Be a mite self-centered t'think 'twas jus' happenin' t'oneself, wouldn't it?" Sean asks wryly, leaning back against the sawhorse and chalking up any unsteadiness on his part to the terrain. He's not self-aware enough to be talking about himself, but he's also not condemning Mary Jane, either. It's all just idle talk, as far as he's concerned.

[getemtiger]

"Yeah," Mary Jane agreed, voice growing momentarily distant again. She knew that, of course, and wouldn't have taken it for an accusation. She was going through a lot, Peter was going through worse, Meredith and Sean had whatever was going on, and that was just in terms of the immediate. There wasn't anyone else she was keeping up with well enough to know who else might have been affected; that Tony was dying was no longer anything she cared about, save to hope that it happened quickly. "Especially around here. It just throws one thing after another at you. No sense in giving anyone a break, right?"

[missingthekeep]

"Aye, aye, it's rough all over," Sean concurs, staring at the ground for a few long moments. If only that knowledge made any of easier to take. "Ye'll have ta fergive me if I've nae got a lot o' sympathy to spare at the moment."

[getemtiger]

"My husband had a hole in his chest," Mary Jane pointed out flatly, head tilting to the side. "I can forgive you for not having sympathy when I'm not too big on it right now, either." She softened, though, after only a moment, not wanting to come across too cold despite the fact that they were probably both entitled. She meant what followed, anyway. "For what it's worth, I do hope things get better for you soon."