(Untitled)

[callofkaren]

Karen didn't often partake in the alcohol she'd become so good at making over the past couple of years, but after the last couple of months, she was sorely thinking about it. There were too many names to think of, too much pain waiting only for a thought to catch her off guard

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[segaboybrodie]

Brodie plopped down on the stool next to Karen uninvited. He'd been spending a good part of his time on this hut thing, and ever since he'd talked to that one kid who didn't know what the fuck the PLAYBOY MANSION was, he'd been trying to figure out how best to incorporate a grotto into what was already going to be a BAD ASS hut.

The Fortress of Brodie. It was a working name, but it kind of had a ring to it.

"What's your opinion on heart shaped beds?" He asked.

[callofkaren]

"They should only belong in tacky honeymoon suites," Karen replied without skipping a beat. She glanced over at Brodie, long enough to let a wave relief pass over her, then the mild confusion that almost always accompanied a conversation with him surfaced. "Why?"

[segaboybrodie]

"...shit. I thought chicks liked that stuff." Brodie said, visibly let down. There went THAT idea. Though maybe he'd ask Zoe about it anyway, on the off chance that she'd be all for it.

"I'm moving out the compound. Me and my comic collection have outgrown it."

[callofkaren]

"Maybe some girls do, I don't know. I just think they're tacky."

Brodie's news, at last, was something new and positive to focus on. "Yeah? Well, congratulations, I guess. Where are you gonna move?"

[formerfratboy]

Nick had gotten used to the notion of constantly checking on others, here on the island. Whenever the rest of his team had disappeared, one after another, it was all he could do to keep from permanently attaching himself to Karen to make sure they were both still there.

So he understood -- hated the fact that this was what the island reduced them to, but understood nonetheless, and even worked time into his day to subtly check in with Karen, just so she wouldn't have to find him.

"So, what's a guy got to do to buy a pretty girl a drink around here?" he said as he slid onto the stool next to her at the Hub.

[callofkaren]

"Come up with a form of currency, first of all," Karen said, working up a smile for Nick. Regardless of how she felt about life at the moment, at least she still had him. That much was still good.

[formerfratboy]

"I heard that seaweed is going to be the next big thing," he said, leaning in to press a quick kiss to her temple before sliding back down onto his stool.

"How're you doing?" he asked. "Lack of seaweed dollars aside."

[callofkaren]

"Crappy," she replied honestly, and it wasn't much of a change from the last two weeks. Her body swayed toward Nick without her really meaning to, seeking comfort.

[nerdinacape]

Sliding onto the stool next to Karen, Grigg pointed to the glass in front of her. It wasn't unusual in the Hub, quite the contrary but he had the feeling that he was missing something. Namely what it was that was being celebrated which sent him into a tailspin as he tried to figure out if it was her birthday or something.

"Hey. Don't you know you're not supposed to drink alone?" he asked smiling slightly. "Dangerous path and all that."

[callofkaren]

Karen turned a little to face Grigg, grateful for the company. She held a hand up to show her still full glass. "I haven't started drinking yet, and you're here now, so I'm not drinking alone. Right?"

[nerdinacape]

"Right," Grigg said signaling for a glass to match Karen. If she was going to drink, then he was going to match her. It wouldn't be right to sit around sober while she drank.

"So what are we drinking to?"

[callofkaren]

"Lost friends," Karen said, holding her drink up when Grigg got his. There were a lot of things she could drink to, but she chose the more obvious, most painful ones. "Lost parents. This sucky island."

[anewwaive]

Gideon was no stranger to drinking his problems away. It might not be the fucking best way of dealing with shit, but at this point, he really had nothing to lose. What he wasn't used to was finding Karen there, but whatever, he definitely didn't fucking mind the company and didn't even consider if she might.

Sitting down on the stool next to her, he took a look at her drink. "What did you get?"

[callofkaren]

Karen looked down into her drink, considering the deep red liquid. "Vodka cranberry. Want some?"

She held the glass up innocently, as though she weren't fully aware it was very much a woman's drink and Gideon probably wouldn't touch it.

[anewwaive]

He made a face at the drink. Shit, even if he didn't have an aversion to that kind of drink, the fact it was cranberry made it worse.

"I don't know how you can drink that shit," he said, pausing to order his own drink. It was decidedly less girly. "I'm pretty sure I've told you that before, though."

[callofkaren]

"You've definitely told me that before," she said, shaking her head with a chuckle. "It's tasty, and I bet if you took five seconds to stop being so macho, you'd realize how awesome it is."