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[turnthebadinme]

Losing Beat was devastating, losing Chuck another painful reminder of the frequency with which it seemed that Serena could count on her friends vanishing. She'd seen enough people leave in her life, been walked out on without reason or explanation, and no amount of knowing this was the nature of the island made it any easier. Maybe people didn't

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[wizard_alive]

There was a certain level of coping that tended to come from living in this place. Some people ran, some people isolated themselves, some people (Nita included, much to her embarassment) drank. And cried. And a lot of other stuff, which apparently included waking up at one in the afternoon with a pounding head and a dry mouth. Again.

"Eugh," she said as she squinted in the mirror in her room. She looked like hell - god, of course she looked like hell, she hadn't showered in, what, two days? Three? It was the slap of flipflops on concrete - not walking but running that got her attention, and she leaned out into the hall, her eyes widening as she saw Serena's back. "Serena?"

She hadn't seen her since... well, it'd been a week, at least. "Hey, I-" I hopefully don't stink like booze. "What's wrong?" Right now, the pounding headache and feeling that if she turned too fast she'd puke were shoved back into the deal with it later bin, and she ran a hand through her hair, trying to look a little less... hobo.

[turnthebadinme]

At the sound of Nita's voice, Serena turned, instinctively relieved for anyone familiar. Each face she knew was one more person who wasn't gone. The state she found Nita in, though, left something to be desired, and that something generally involved soap, water and a hairbrush.

"I - nothing," she said, "it's probably nothing. Just... have you seen Eric? I can't find him."

[wizard_alive]

From the way that Nita really, really looked like she was going to throw up, it was pretty apparent that she hadn't. Still, though, after about five seconds of will I or won't I test our friendship is new and disgusting ways, she stood up straighter, pulling a hairband off her doorknob as she scuffed on a pair of (what, later, will turn out to be Dairine's and a size too large) skimmers. "I'll help you look," she said as all she can think is please, let him be here. Let him be hiding. It wasn't for herself that she asked - she'd seen what loosing everyone else had done to Serena, and more than that. Beat and Chuck and Meg and-

She wouldn't even let herself think it, not right now, not that there was a stupid hole in a place that Nita didn't even know she had.

It was that this is what she did, and she'd turn this place upside down if it meant that I can't find him didn't turn into- what was it Calvin said? "Off to that great unknown that we pretend is going back home but really have no idea and just use the lie to comfort ourselves."

[turnthebadinme]

"Oh, god, thank you," Serena said, "thank you, thank you." She appreciated the offer more than she could say, so frantic with the the fear of losing someone so vital to her all over again that she was sure she wasn't seeing properly.

Still and all, her devotion to her friends kicked in pretty quickly and she reached out to rest a hand on Nita's arm. She could recognize the tell-tale signs all to well now, having lived through them a few times before herself. "Are you sure, though? You look - are you okay? Do you need to rest? Because I can look myself, I just... I don't know, I don't anymore where he could be..."

[wizard_alive]

"Serena," Nita said, and her voice was flat and level, looking earnestly at Serena even if she was stoutly ignoring the fact that she felt green around the edges. "I'm helping you look." That was the end of that, to her- she was helping her, and there wasn't any do you need to rest.

"Where have you looked?" Is anything of his gone? Is it all gone?

She'd been through this so many times that she knew what to ask - and that sometimes, it was the absolute worst time to ask it. The asking was what would make it final, and Serena didn't need that. Not yet, not while there was still hope.

[turnthebadinme]

Serena recognized that no-nonsense tone, the kind of voice that said she'd better just accept it, and she was grateful for it. It meant she didn't have to refuse help she wanted just to be a good person.

"Um, the rec room," she said, "the kitchen, his room." There was no reason to be so worried, but her panic button had been pressed and she was on overdrive, that innate sense of drama kicking in at the worst possible moment. "He could be anywhere, it's... He's probably just with Cassie or something."

[wizard_alive]

"Okay, so we'll start there. Where's Cassie? Where does she live?" Nita hadn't even met anybody named Cassie, but any sort of trace is the way to go about finding Eric, and any time Nita spends trying to find Eric is time she's not thinking about what she's missing.

[turnthebadinme]

"God, I don't know," she said, biting her lip, "way out in the jungle, I think. If they're together, they're probably on the beach or something." She just needed not to panic before she'd asked around and become sure that there was any reason to do so, but holding back when it came to freaking out had never been Serena's strong point.

[wizard_alive]

"Okay, then. We'll start there. Okay?" This, Nita can do, even if Serena can't handle it. That's what friends do, and she planned to see it through even though - It seemed like people were vanishing faster and faster, lately. She's already moving - heading to the stairs, but waiting to make sure that Serena comes too.

[turnthebadinme]

Serena followed, small quick steps clacking against the concrete as fast as she could go without running again. "Okay," she said. "There has to - it's just somewhere I'm not thinking of, right? He's reading or playing or something, I don't know."

[wizard_alive]

Nita stopped, and opened her mouth, and then closed it.

She's not going to say it. Not yet. She moves again, and all she can say is, "Think, then. Just... run through your mind what a typical day is for him. What does he do?"

She can't say that she knows, but she guesses. And she's not going to ask if Eric's stuff is gone, because that, she's guessing, isn't what this is about. It's about looking, and knowing, and it's not really for Eric, but it's for Serena.

[turnthebadinme]

This would have been so much easier if school were still in session. Serena may not have had Eric's schedule memorized - she forgot her own half the time - but at least she could have guessed he was at the school and she wouldn't have worried at all. Now she had to try and guess. "Well," she said slowly, "he's been learning to cook. So maybe the kitchen? He spends time with his friends, he reads... He's not really an outdoors kind of kid."

[wizard_alive]

"Okay. We can look there." She paused, and then said, quietly, her voice rough. "There, and the beach. Anywhere else?"

She bit her lip. "Serena-" She's not going to stop looking, but she has to ask, otherwise they'd spend days tearing the island apart. "... Is his stuff still there?"

[turnthebadinme]

Though Serena was generally a sweet girl, she possessed an often untapped capability for coldness, and it came right to the fore now as she looked at Nita, passing just as fast. She couldn't simply give up, not so quickly, and the idea that it might be that simple was one she found insulting. Pushing away that flicker of irritation, though it was more comforting than fear, she shook her head.

"Some of it," she said. "I don't know. I don't keep track of what he owns." She hadn't seen anything she knew for certain he had owned before this place, but she hadn't looked hard either, hadn't wanted anything that might be construed as proof.