rollergirl she's taking chances/just love to see her take them on

[number_unlucky]

I had to say that the first twenty-four hours after I snapped out of it were definitely the worst. I spent most of the day in bed by myself, looking up at my roof, wishing it was actually dropped fiberboard with cracks to count, like every hospital I'd ever been in. It would have made the thinking easier

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[anneotherboleyn]

Anne had seen her name on the list of nominees for this Council, and she had not yet decided what to do about it. It was unlikely that anyone who knew of her or her background would find her fit for the position, as it would always be harlotry she was famous for. What a fat lot any of them knew; how she had worked for the separation from Papism, her ambitions and what she might have done as Queen, had they allowed her to be more than a womb.

Despite her indecision, she dressed in crackling crimson and went to the bookcase, hoping that there would be something to guide her. "The Art of War," she murmured, taking the book in her hands. "Now this is a book."

[number_unlucky]

"It's sort of dry," I said, "but once you get into the style, it makes sense. I had to read part for..." And that was when I looked up at the English woman and saw that she was dressed in dark red and looked really familiar. Dark red fancy medieval Ren Faire clothes. "For school."

[anneotherboleyn]

Turning a bright, crisp smile on her, Anne said, "They'd have been more honest to give us this than five hundred Bibles and catechisms. This is what any woman hoping to survive in court needs." Out of habit, her fingers went to the gleaming B at her throat. Once assured it was there, they dropped again.

"Not that we were allowed school, in the fashion it's done here."

[number_unlucky]

Natalie Portman wasn't British. And wouldn't walk around in this kind of period outfit. She almost looked like a queen, and I suddenly wasn't sure if I should be doing a curtsy or what the protocol was.

"Uh, I can imagine," I admitted. "Well, it's definitely not a bible, and it's definitely good for understanding human motivation, from what I remember, so it'd be good political sense."

[doublefricked]

Elliot was mostly recovered from JD's disappearance. Okay, so she'd been spending a bit more time in the clinic than usual, or just hanging around the Compound feeling sorry for herself, but she wasn't locking herself in closets and crying anymore. She sort of wished she had, seeing as the island had decided to pull another weird weekend, but she'd managed to stay out of it somehow.

Try harder, island, she thought at it. You're going to have to, to get me.

And then the bookshelf started giving her pregnancy and child-rearing books again. She sat across the room, glaring at it.

Touche, island. Touche.

"Be careful," she warned Remy as she passed. "It's in a vengeful mood today." If a bookshelf could be vengeful.

[number_unlucky]

"Hey, Elliot," I said, picking up another book (what the hell, Catch-22? The military was inescapable.). "Clearly, wow. I didn't even kick it or anything, hasn't the island had enough fun with me lately than to bother?"

I paused, cocking my head. "You didn't kick it, did you?"

[doublefricked]

"No, I just thought mean things at it," Elliot said. If everything I thought mean things at could hear me, I'd be in such trouble. Especially with my mom.

She wrinkled her nose. "The island's been having fun with you?" she repeated. The island's idea of fun wasn't very fun, in her experience. "I'm sorry."

[number_unlucky]

"Maybe it can hear you then," I noted, then realized I probably shouldn't have, Elliot seemed like the kind of person who might take it too seriously. "And it's okay, I was just perky and irrepressible except when there was blood. I got through it."

[mayko_tran]

"So I hear you had an interesting few days," says Mayko, running a fingertip along the spines of a few books as she idly browses. It seems to think it's funny to give her wedding planning books today. Then she turns her head and flashes Remy a sympathetic grin.

[number_unlucky]

"That depends on your definition of 'interesting'," I replied, giving Mayko a wry smile as I looked up. "Interesting in the sense of horrifying, maybe? And I didn't even get the half of it, I heard."

[mayko_tran]

"I spent the entire time forcibly preventing my best friend from running off and getting married," says Mayko, "if that makes you feel any better."

[number_unlucky]

I considered this, but wasn't sure if it sounded like more or less of a fun time than being an utter ditz who passed out at the sight of blood. "Did it work?" I asked, curious.

[nightwandering]

I'd been more unavailable than not around lately, and maybe I was even avoiding people in general. Just a little. Between my sister being married, and all of the island madness that seemed to swell around the place, I waited out the storm, so to speak, before I ventured back out again. It wasn't that I was afraid of the storm, but I knew I was lucky to have not been stuck out in it without a raincoat.

Analogies aside, I was itching to do something outdoors, but ended up coming back inside after a few hours of wandering around. My shoulders were dark, my t-shirt was slung over them, and my shorts had decorations that were dead ringers for sea turtles on them. At least they weren't boxers, and turtles were much better than Smurfs. Remy was easily recognizable, just by the way she held herself. It made me smile a little when I saw her. "Anything good?" I asked.

[number_unlucky]

"Hey, Jim," I said, glad I wasn't that version of me, with the hugging and the wibbling and the fixating on people's goddamn arms. Even so, he was pretty built, and boyfriend or not, I could still smile at him. So I did.

"Not so much. Mostly just stuff about wars...not that it's not worth writing about, but I just finished three in a row, I need a break."

[nightwandering]

And I smiled back. Word was she was seeing someone now, a Marine, and I had to wonder what it was about military men that seemed to snatch away certain women I thought were special. It was a thought I filed away again as quick as it surfaced. It explained the war books, though.

"I hope you didn't get caught in all the recent island business." I had a feeling that hoping wasn't good enough.

[number_unlucky]

I set back Slaughterhouse Five, which I had read in high school and hadn't liked, and turned back to brush my hair away from my face.

"Thanks, but unfortunately hope didn't win out this time. I was...chipper?" I shook my head and sighed. "Also I broke down into big sobs on anyone convenient and male. Swooning."

[beentodamascus]

"You're not going to hug me are you?"

Adam touched the top of Remy's head lightly and then leaned on the back of her chair, looking down at what she was reading. Everything was more or less back to normal - Sarah was herself, Coraline wasn't quite as terrifying.

Now he just had to check on the woman who, against most odds, was probably one of his best friends on the island.

"I mean, you can. I just like some warning."

[number_unlucky]

I worked up a squeal before I turned around and bounced in my chair. "ohmigawd Adam, HI." Even so, he'd be able to tell the twinge of the ironic before I dropped the expression.

"Hardly, but you should like women hugging you, Carter. If I were your girlfriend, I'd be concerned about your heterosexuality." I grinned at him, then sighed slowly. "Which is not to say that I haven't had that problem in the last week, so make sure to reassure her."

[beentodamascus]

"Not funny, Hadley," said Adam, though he did wrap one around her shoulders and give her a quick hug from behind. His eyebrows drew together in a frown.

"I'm pretty sure that Sarah knows she's safe in that department."

He dropped down into the chair beside her.

"Trouble with the Marine?"

[number_unlucky]

"Oh, I'm sure," I drawled, leaning back and closing my eyes before rubbing the front of my forehead just above the nose (sinuses frontalis, if you were my anatomy lab partner). "Only trouble in the sense that when I turned perky, he turned gay. As in flamboyant Queer as Island gay."