(Untitled)

[wishesandsmoke]

It was a relief to be free of the Compound and back home, even if the cut in her leg left Eden hobbling around. She shouldn't have been putting much weight on it and she tried not to, but she couldn't bear just to sit still all day. It would heal just fine whether or not she was on her feet, as long as she was careful

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[lucked]

Mad wasn't precisely the right word, and yet it was the closest Claire could find when it came to describing how she felt with Eden having been outside during the onset of the storm, coming back riddled with injuries and probably keen on bouncing back to her feet as soon as she could. It was funny, Claire couldn't help but think, that so many people without the ability to regenerate in the way that Claire could, still ended up caring less about keeping themselves protected in full than a girl with the invincible gene did. It was illogical. More importantly, it hurtStill, Claire did her best to keep an impassive expression on her face. There was no point making Eden feel guilty about what had happened, after all, as she snuck in and watched Eden hobble on her way to the bookshelf like she'd just managed to trip over a tree branch and would be back to full health before anyone knew it. Ever if it was true, Claire still couldn't help but feel her stomach turn at the sight

[wishesandsmoke]

It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, Eden figured, setting everything down before she leaned against the shelf. Leaving the weight off one leg only made the other hurt, so neither was in especially good shape, but she was, in all other ways, pretty much undamaged and Origami had come through just fine. Every survival was something to be appreciated, celebrated, but not reason to rest on one's laurels.

"Hey," she said warmly. "Good, great, can you hand me those books over there? I've started piling things up, but carrying them is... I don't know, I might need to replace some of them, too." Mostly they weren't too bad off, though, and she didn't know if she could even find replacements.

[lucked]

The request was one which wouldn't take much thought, and so Claire nodded quickly and wandered in the general direction Eden had nodded toward, seeing a few books strewn around that were easily gathered and carried in her arms. "Yeah, sure," she murmured quietly as she got there, voice quiet for some inexplicable reason, almost as though she was trying to hide from someone. Something. Or just trying to mask all sentiment altogether. As though not talking about it made it less real.

"Or you could just get Grigg to carry them for you. I hear that's supposed to be one of the perks of having a boyfriend," Claire replied, jokingly, as she handed the books over carefully, one by one to give her hands more to occupy themselves with.

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden laughed, setting the books neatly in place. "It can be," she said, "though it's not exactly in the top five. He'll be dropping by later, I'm sure. Fair play and all that."

She'd fussed over him to no end, scolding and sighing by turn, when he'd needed stitches for his head after the explosion at the junkyard. It was really only a matter of time, she had no doubt, before he turned up to return the favor, although her injury had been farther out of her control than his had been from his. She hadn't asked for a hurricane, after all, and he'd foolishly gone off to witness the word of someone who was clearly, if not a mad man, then, from his words, a little bit unhinged. And then he had turned out to be mad.

[lucked]

With Eden mentioning the injury before Claire had even dared to, the blonde suddenly felt like the topic had been opened for discussion, a fact that had her lips parting as she considered what to say. The fact was, however, that there wasn’t much to be said. None of them could control the weather- even if there were people on the island who were once capable of it, they definitely weren’t anymore. And without a meteorologist to check the weather for them, how could Eden have known? Reasoning through a matter before speaking, a skill that Claire had not mastered in full but that she managed to work at times, had her irritation fading away and leaving behind only traces of fear and disappointment.

“So how are you feeling, really?” she asked, starting to help Eden sort through the books, hoping that they were arranged alphabetically. “As soon as the weather got bad, everyone in the Compound was scrambling for me to stay inside because I’m a kid and everything, but I guess you were already out there when the storm started?”

[wishesandsmoke]

"No, it was my own fault," sighed Eden. "I was here, but when it started picking up, Gideon and I figured we'd be better off in the Compound." She waved a hand, shifting her weight to her injured foot just for a moment to take the strain off. "Honestly, if I'd just been looking where I was going, I'd've been fine." It wouldn't have been an issue, of course, tripping and injuring herself, if the debris hadn't been there from the storm, but if she'd only been paying more attention, she figured she would have seen it and it wouldn't have mattered. Bennet would have been disappointed in her, she thought.

[lucked]

There was a temptation to just smile and shake it off. To ignore what had happened. After all, Eden wasn't hurt to any extent that would leave lasting damage, and the desire for things to return to normal was still so strong. But after weeks had gone by with Eden giving Claire no reason to doubt the woman, and every reason instead to come to rely on the brunette's presence, she could only inhale slowly, knowing that she couldn't just let a matter slide by if Eden herself even admitted that she'd made a mistake. Maybe it was her father's influence, wanting to examine wrongs and avoid them in the future. Claire wasn't nearly as good at it, continued to follow down the path of high school life and society hierarchies even though she knew that they were nothing but trouble. But that didn't meant she wouldn't try

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden arched an eyebrow, giving Claire a slight smile. "It was a storm," she said. She'd been talking to Gideon, juggling a cat who was currently sleeping in a patch of sunlight like nothing had ever happened and avoiding branches; the whole thing had been distracting. Still, Claire had some semblance of a point and she saw no reason to pick a fight over what was just concern. "I'm sorry I worried you. I'll be more careful next time there's a freak accident of nature."

Knowing this place, after all, that wouldn't be long. She was paying for her mistake now, though, and if there was anyone on this island who knew better than to take her own life for granted, it was her.

[lucked]

There was very little in life more frustrating than having something to say and being unsure how to go about saying it. Perhaps it would have been more accurate if Claire told Eden that she was worried, that she didn’t want to have to lose the bought time they had on the island, that she would easily have put herself in place of any of her friends and family, taken their pain and their injury, because she was the one who was equipped to deal with that. Growing more impatient with both the situation and herself by the moment, Claire pursed her lips and looked around for Mr. Muggles, suddenly nowhere to be found

[wishesandsmoke]

"He wasn't with you?" Eden asked, wide-eyed. "I had the cat, I figured he'd followed you to the Compound." It was a welcome distraction, which fact, in turn, made her feel guilty. The dog could have been anywhere for all she knew; this was no time to be relieved she wasn't going to get scolded by a teenage girl. "He has to be here somewhere, though."

She couldn't bring herself to be all that worried. To her, he seemed virtually indestructible. Sooner or later, he would turn up without a hair out of place.

[lucked]

Claire willed herself not to blow the situation out of proportion. Even as she pinched her nose briefly to try and keep everything surprised, there was a temptation to throw it all to the wind and blame it on hormones. Crying made her feel so weak, and somehow it was doubly worse whenever in front of Eden, like she somehow had to keep her spine straight in front of family so that they knew she could handle herself. That she didn't need handlers, or people assigned to her, that when she received comfort she hoped it would simply be because people thought it a nice gesture, rather than something done out of responsibility or a sense of Claire's weaknesses. Eden was fine. Mr. Muggles was probably fine, too

[wishesandsmoke]

"No, of course not," Eden said, shaking her head as she reached out to rub Claire's arm, trying as best she could to be reassuring. He was just a pet for her, but she knew he'd been a part of Claire's home life for a long time and she wanted to keep things as normal as possible for the girl. "He's cute if you don't know him. Someone's sure to be keeping an eye on him. Or he's taken up residence in the kitchen. Either way, we'll find him. You wanna go look?" She tapped a hand against a book, pushing away from the shelf as she spoke to hunt for her shoes.

[lucked]

Claire nodded immediately; somehow, the image that kept on popping into her head was how much Sandra would have worried if she was on the island, and having that worry on her shoulders made it feel, inexplicably, like her mother was closer. "Are- are you sure that you can go look, though? I mean, your leg..."

Looking down at Eden's injured limb with a helpless expression, Claire's brows furrowed as she bit her lower lip. God, if Lyle had given Claire any sort of lip at all, the blonde would have lost her patience long ago, and maybe that was what she needed to remember. That she couldn't expect others to be patient with her.

"I'm sorry that I got all... huffy at you," she managed, voice quiet.

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden shook her head, waving it off with a quick flick of her wrist. "It's okay, Claire," she said. She was still limping a bit as she headed off to find the stick she'd found out in debris to use as a walking stick. The sooner she could stop using it, she figured, the better. It only seemed to make her more tired still, but there wasn't much to be done but to try and rest the injured leg as much as possible. She couldn't, though, fault Claire for her concern.

"You're just worried," she added, "I get it. I'd be twice as bad if it were you, believe me. Now come on, my leg'll be fine, but that dog's about to eat someone out of house and home."

[lucked]

"Okay," Claire agreed with a soft nod, still closely watching the way that Eden limped around. Even weeks after, it was hard to shake the knowledge that Eden had passed at Sylar's hand already, and coupled with the knowledge that any of them could disappear from the island without warning, every last second was bought time. After a pause, she rushed forward to help Eden stand straight, eyebrows pulled together.

"Actually, I can... probably look for Mr. Muggles on my own. I mean. Not that I don't want you to come along or anything, but you need rest for your leg. You've already been walking up and around the hut a lot."

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden was tempted to lie, to say that she needed to exercise it to heal it, but it was one Claire would have seen through easily and, anyway, not worth it. She just shook her head and smiled. "I'm the one who's supposed to be taking care of you," she murmured, rueful. "If that's what you prefer, but Claire, I promise, I'm fine." She stopped just shy of saying she'd had worse. Neither of them needed to be thinking about that now.