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[itwas_perfect]

She was drifting.

Perfection was an unattainable goal. There was nothing for her to strive for. No career. No featured role. No performances. Without those things, that perfect moment of letting go seemed... futile. What was the point of losing oneself if there was nothing to find on the other side of it

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[pointzerothree]

Eduardo doesn't usually come here alone. He'll be with Olive, usually, or meeting Mark for beers, or something like that. Tonight, though, he's come in on his own, intending solely to get a drink, a plan that changes when he spots Nina at the bar. Heading in her direction, he slides onto the seat next to hers, ordering a drink for himself before he angles in her direction, hand at the back of his neck and one corner of his mouth hitched up in a crooked smile. "I didn't know you smoked."

[itwas_perfect]

"I don't," she admitted with a smile that was two things at once. She exhaled a stream of smoke over her shoulder, away from his face, and added, "Not usually. Maybe I'm thinking of picking up the habit."

[pointzerothree]

"You know, they say those things'll kill you," Eduardo says, tone light, conversational, as close to joking as it can be while saying something true. The way he sees it, there are far worse habits to pick up, and he doubts she'd be going from nothing to a pack a day or whatever the equivalent is, anyway. Besides, there's always something refreshing about seeing her smile like that. "But don't let that stop you."

[itwas_perfect]

"I'm glad you're so worried for my health," she teased, knocking her ash into the little clay ashtray sitting on the table.

"Are you meeting someone?" she asked, casting a glance around the room.

[pointzerothree]

"Not tonight, no," Eduardo says with a slight shake of his head, still smiling faintly over at her. He's not entirely sure what his usual company is doing right now, but he doesn't mind that too much. It's not like he hasn't drank alone before, and anyway, he isn't alone now. "I just thought I'd come in for a drink. Better than just sitting around my hut, you know?"

[itwas_perfect]

"I don't usually come out this way," she said, taking another drag from her cigarette, though the act of it still felt a little awkward, a little foreign to her.

"It's really nice."

[pointzerothree]

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Eduardo agrees, a little thoughtful, watching as she smokes her cigarette. He's always thought so, anyway, but then, it's more the kind of place he liked to frequent back home than a straight-up bar. "I guess I come here... kind of often. There are only so many places to go, you know?"

[itwas_perfect]

"I know," she agreed with a soft breath of laughter, "I think I like it, though. It makes things simple."

She missed the chaos of New York, but she'd always existed in a tiny corner of it, riding the subway from her mother's apartment to the studio and back again. She hardly ever went out.

[pointzerothree]

"It suits this place," Eduardo says, though he's decided as much on the spot, glancing around the room as if to double-check that his assessment is a good one. For his part, he's too accustomed to being around cities to enjoy this as much as he'd like to, but it has its charm; were the island to be built up into a metropolis, it just wouldn't fit. It doesn't need more than it has. "I do sometimes wish there were something - fancier, though, for lack of a better word. The kind of place you'd dress up and go out to." In a button-down shirt and nice pants, he really has no need to be talking about dressing up, but he doesn't care, either.