(Untitled)

[liliesfromluce]

There's been a certain point that Luce has to admit that maybe, just maybe, there is no return for her. That maybe her one-way ticket to this place is going to be permanent and maybe she's here for some sort of karmic punishment because of Rachel or maybe she just needs the beach vacation

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[groovytechchick]

Claudia's nose wrinkled and she glanced quickly behind her to see if perhaps Luce was talking to someone else. Not seeing anyone, she shrugged and dropped her towel and sandals on the sand beside Luce. "Ya know, if I thought you were serious, I might have to whack you upside the head with one of those..."

[liliesfromluce]

"Not a fan of weddings?" Luce surmises as she shifts and leans forward to grasp at the next arrangement of flowers and her clippers, starting to cut angled marks at the stems of the flowers. "They're quite beautiful, I think."

[groovytechchick]

"Oh, I like weddings," Claudia informed Luce as she leaned over, straightening her towel out. "I just think the idea of me getting married is like... Wow, and laughable at the same time."

She plopped down on her towel, stretching her legs out. "Who are those for?"

[liliesfromluce]

"No one, really," Luce admits, letting the bouquet fall back and forth as she considers it thoughtfully. "I was going to bring them to the market tomorrow morning and see if I couldn't drum up business. Not that there's an increase of weddings around here."

[lastof_five]

"Dear God, I hope not," Helen said, laughing a little as she stepped around to face Luce. "I think being married to me would be incredibly...frustrating on many, many levels. Best to leave that to the professionals."

She gave her a quick little smile, smoothing down the front of her sundress. "Faring well, Luce?"

[liliesfromluce]

"Bored, occasionally, but bored is better than distressed, isn't it?" she points out, trying to feel optimistic as best as she can. "Hello, Helen," she greets. "You look lovely. Mark the loveliness with some flowers?" she offers, holding out the bouquet.

[lastof_five]

Helen took the flowers and lifted them to her nose, inhaling lightly.

"They're beautiful, as usual. I'll take them back with me and we can spruce up the hut. It's dreadfully lonely looking now."

[liliesfromluce]

"Any recent changes to make it so?" Luce asks, trying to keep casual, even though there's always the chance (the very bad chance) that 'lonely looking huts' is code for something bad. And while she wants to hear about it, she doesn't want to pour salt into a wound.

[itellthetaleof]

Gabrielle had seen Luce down the beach with her flowers and was coming to meet her. When she heard what Luce said, Gabrielle paused as images of her short marriage to Purdicus ran through her mind's eye, from being children together in Potidaea to Callisto cutting him down in front of her. She tried to hide the anguished look on her face before Luce could turn around but she knew she wasn't going to be successful.

"I tried that already," she finally said past the lump in her throat, "Didn't work out too well."

[liliesfromluce]

Luce furrows her brow and looks at Gabrielle, not sure she should be asking or prying, but it's a topic that she doesn't simply want to let go. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, soft and gentle, hoping not to prod and pry too much.

[itellthetaleof]

She turned her head away slightly, looking over at the sea as she leaned on her ever present staff with both hands. "There's not much to tell." Which should have been a sign to anyone who knew her. "We were childhood friends. He forgave me when I left him to try and find a new life with Xena and still wanted to marry me. We were married less then a week when one of Xena's enemies killed him to get to her." She could still hear Callisto's mad laughter as she closed her eyes, both from the memory and realizing how long it had been since she'd even thought of Purdicus.

[liliesfromluce]

"Less than a week?" she echoes with something like terrible sympathy for Gabrielle. She barely even knew what to say, honestly, because that was just the sort of thing that she didn't know how to cope with. "Oh, Gabrielle," she exhales. "I'm so sorry."

[justsookie]

Sookie hardly even catches the warning before she sees the movement across her line of vision, reaching out instinctively and catching the bouquet fully in her hands. To say that it doesn't affect her at all would be a blatant lie; just looking down at the flowers makes her heart skip a little, because it's just one piece of the greater puzzle that Sookie's always wanted for herself. Wanted to get married. Wanted to have kids. All of it, really, and she glances up with a wry little grin on her face mostly because she doesn't expect any of it, but it's nice to play pretend. Even as much as she loves Mitchell now, Sookie's not sure whether or not she can ever expect him to propose, because he doesn't quite seem like the type.

Which is okay. She'd rather have him around without a ring than to give him up in pursuit of one.

But what surprises her most is the face she catches a glimpse of when she looks up, the hair color different, the expression even more so. Still a familiar face, all the same.

"Oh my stars," she exclaims. "Sarah?"

[liliesfromluce]

"What?" Luce asks, her eyes wide and she blinks with something like stunned surprise at the name that doesn't belong to her. "Sorry, no," she cheerfully replies, a broad grin on her lips. "It's a pretty name, but I can't say it belongs to me." She gives the stems a good snip and ties the bow tightly, peering over her shoulder. "I'm Luce."

[justsookie]

Approaching a little bit and tucking her hair behind an ear, Sookie still holds the bouquet in hand as she tries to get a better look at Luce. She's got slightly lighter hair. Completely different expressions. So unless Sarah's secretly got multiple personality disorder and decided to get her hair dyed, Sookie supposes that the two of them must be different after all, even if the thought still throws her stomach for a loop.

"Wow, you look... almost exactly like a friend of mine," Sookie marvels, before smiling at last, clutching the bouquet more tightly. "It's nice to meet you, Luce. I'm Sookie Stackhouse." Blinking, she then holds the bouquet out.

"I think this is yours?"

[liliesfromluce]

Luce waves it away with a bright grin. "Yours, now!" she says, continuing on with the flowers. "I'm doing a whole bunch of them, I hardly think I'll miss one little bouquet from the pile," she hums as she continues at them. "Would your friend be the woman who wanders about scowling everywhere? I always wonder if that's what my face will look like if I keep frowning."

[once_invisible]

"So long as I don't catch it, I'm in the clear, aren't I?" came a slightly surprised voice. "It's a lovely bouquet, though. I'd hate to think of it just falling onto the sand. As such, fair warning to you that I won't be much inclined to catch it if you do throw it."

[liliesfromluce]

Luce turns and grins broadly when she sees Rodney, pleased and delighted and clutching the bouquet to her barely-clad chest. "Oh, well, in that case..." she mocks lightly, but still regarding him sunnily. "Not a fan of marriage, are you?"

[once_invisible]

"'Aven't met any girl willing to tolerate me for more than a few minutes at a time, yet," he says, flashing her a quick grin. "Might change my mind if I do, but as it is now, I'm happy single. Although, if I may say so, you do look lovely."

[liliesfromluce]

"Well, I'm glad for the loveliness," she replies, only blushing slightly. It's not that she's truly self-conscious, but once in a while when a man gives her attention, she feels slightly worried that she's leading them on. "Are you bored? You can help me tie bows."