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[lt_blade]

With people, there is always a sign or two that one gives when it's clear that some thing's either not right, or just on their minds. For Sonya, in this case, it was the fact that she was at her hut and not actually doing or anything, except waiting for some breadfruit to finish cooking in its banana leaf wrappings over the fire pit. It was one of those rare moments when she didn't want to think, but she didn't really feel like doing much else.

She should have known, when she didn't see his boat by the docks that morning. She tried to reason with herself that he was only on the other island, but after a few days her senses couldn't be denied any longer.  By that Saturday afternoon, what Sonya had started to deny became a fact-David Webster was no longer on the island. 

Even though they hadn't really talked much lately, Sonya couldn't help but feel something else behind his disappearance. It brought back the memory of after Joe's disappearance, when she and Webster argued over him leaving, and now with him- she felt even more alone than usual. At the time, it was because she was aware of how she had no one, and while she shouldn't have let it affect her, it was her friends vanishing off the island that made her feel how alone she was. It was how it always was, in a way, she would end up by herself. The irony now was that she had someone she loved..more as a friend, someone that could disappear any day now: she could wake up and find his side of the bed gone cold. She knew it was inevitable, but she hated the thought of waiting in fear for something like that.

He wasn't at the hut when she returned from a jog-relatively easy going with her leg still sore, but she expected him to be back any time soon. What she was thinking may have been irrational, but then what on this island was ever rational. She wanted to spend the rest of her time on the island with him, she was aware of this now-even if it took Webster's vanishing to have her come to that realization.  Sonya wasn't sure if Scorpion would agree or not, but the only way she'd know for sure is through him.

Her face was grim as she poked one of the banana leaf casings: still not done.

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Scorpion returned carrying a sack of supplies from the Compound. They both liked to keep a good amount of emergency supplies around the hut, just in case. He had mostly food, but also some items from the cabinet in the laundry room, and some supplies from the kitchen. Magically unlimited supplies were useful.

Ahead of him, he could see Sonya tending the fire pit and cooking. She looked upset. He continued towards her and set the heavy sack down.

"Hello, Sonya."

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

"Afternoon." She looked up, smiling a little even as she felt her pulse quicken, biting back her tongue to keep herself from blurting out her request-she had better self control than that.

Sonya then took a look at the bag. "Damn, I know the hurricane wasn't really expected, but that's enough supplies for a fort not a hut."

Not that she didn't appreciate his forebearence, but that was a bit much.

[get-over-here.livejournal.com]

He shrugged.

"When it's free, why not?"

He sat down near her. It was a tropical island, so he stayed a distance from the flames. He did not need a reminder of home.

"What are you making?"

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

She chuckled a bit. "True enough."

She carefully pulled one of the 'pounches' over to her, handling it a little until she could unwrap it a bit.

"Breadfruit and bananna slices." And some cinnamon, because it would've been a little bland elsewise. "I didn't feel like going to the compound for lunch." She wanted some privacy to think things over. "Want one?"

[get-over-here.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I'll have one."

He waited for her to serve him a piece, and a short while for it to cool off before trying a bite.

"Very good. I like it."

He was still wondering if something was on her mind, but he figured is she wanted to discuss it, she would sooner or later bring it up. If not, they would simply have some time together.

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

She took a bite, wondering how to bring this all up. She didn't know what she was suddenly so tongue tied-people sometimes accused her of speaking all too easily.

"Webster's gone." She didn't feel she had to clarify with 'gone'. "His boat's no longer at the dock, and when he does leave it's never for this long."

Sonya knew all of their time here was limited: but seeing the gun didn't make getting shot hurt any less.

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"Webster was a friend of yours. I'm sorry he's gone."

He moved over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"How do you feel?"

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

She covered his hand with hers.

"I shouldn't be that sorry. Since Joe left, and then Trisha..he's only just started becoming less of a hermit-it's better that he went back home."

She took another bite, answering him only after she finished swallowing. "That's a bit of a loaded question, but I feel.." She tried to put it into words. "Even more alone, I guess. Many of those I could call friends keep leaving, makes me feel a little small."

Why did she have the feeling she was rambling?

[get-over-here.livejournal.com]

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her gently into an embrace with her back pressed up to him.

"You are not alone, Sonya Blade. And you are strong. You can handle anything this island challenges you with. You should be thankful for the fact that you can feel. When you lose that, you lose your humanity."

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

She leaned her head against him, letting out a breath. The embrace pressed a little against the wound in her side, but seemed worth it to be against him like this.

"When Joe left, I saw Webster packing his things on the boat and we had a shouting match." She sighed. With both men gone, it didn't seem to matter about their relationship-well, not to him anyway. She knew he could keep a secret. "They were very close, and Joe leaving just reminded me of how far away I was, from everything and everyone I'd known."

She looked up at him. "Now, you're here, but then it seems like..like I can just wake up one morning and you're suddenly gone. I know it's inevitable, but just because you know a war's coming doesn't mean you're looking any less foreward to it."

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This made sense. The disappearance of her friend would remind her of the possibility that they could part at any time. And, yes, if he left first, he knew it would hurt her terribly. Strength only would ensure she survived, not that she wouldn't be hurt. He let go, moved in front of her, then passed his hand along her cheek.

"If there was anything I could do to keep us here together, I would do it, Sonya. I also fear losing you. I may... lose some of the progress I've made."

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

Sonya wasn't so sure if she feel flattered that she had such control over him, or worried at the thought of what Hanzo was capable of if he reverted-it was possible she felt a little of both.

"We shouldn't get this worked up." She answered, trying to compose herself. "Jane has been here for nearly four years, Coraline's been here for two. I hate the thought of bracing for something when I do have a life to live-maybe it's a form of 'running', but it's better than cowering."

That was the paradox of being a soldier, atleast in her eyes: on the one hand, she did consider herself to have kamikaze tendencies while on missions, but at the sametime, that just made her want to 'live' even more.

[get-over-here.livejournal.com]

He began keeping very close eye contact with her.

"It is very likely that one of us will have to face the loss of the other. That is a fact. It will cause a lot of pain for one of us. But, Sonya, it is worth it, and the one left behind will be able to move on."

"I, for one, do hope that we have many years before this happens."

[realnicetrip.livejournal.com]

Harry had smelled the cooking food while he'd been working in his garden, and had eventually felt compelled to follow his nose up to Sonya's hut to see what was going on.

He found her by her fire pit, not looking in the best of moods, which wasn't a great surprise. As he recalled, her and Webster had been pretty good friends.

"Hey, Sonya," he called, voice a little softer than usual. "What're you making there?"

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

She looked up, both surprised and not to see Harry.

"Hi." Sonya tried to smile back, but she had too much on her mind. "Bread fruit and bananna slices. Was hungry, but I didn't feel like going to the compound." She also mixed in some cinnamon, because otherwise it would've been a little too bland. "You can have one when they're done, had to make several of these at once."

Thankfully, the fruit keeps easily.

[realnicetrip.livejournal.com]

"Jungle food, huh? Sounds like just the thing - nothing like tidying up hurricane damage to build an appetite," Harry said, crouching down next to the pit. There was something soothing about watching a flame. It had a way of entrancing you and making you forget your surroundings - which he knew all too well could sometimes be a liability, but for now was quite welcome.

"So, how's things?" he asked, leaving the conversation open for Sonya to choose whether to reveal what had her so subdued, or for them to gloss it over and choose a more lighthearted subject.

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

She carefully picked up a small pouch and handed it to him. "If it's too hot just set it aside."

"Just finished clearing up after the hurricane." She picked up one for herself, opening it carefully. "Slight roof damage and a tree limb through the window. What about you?"

[realnicetrip.livejournal.com]

"The Officer's Club and the barracks are fine, but the dell's a mess," Harry said, taking the pouch from her. "Just when it was recovering from the monsoon, too... I managed to cover over the flowers before the winds got too bad, but one of the trees fell, and there's still not much left alive. I'll have to get some seeds from the Compound garden to fill in the gaps."

Having never gardened before, it surprised him how well he'd taken to looking after the dell, and how protective of it he'd become. It was soothing, somehow; having something to do with his hands took his mind off other things. He'd reckon Sonya was cooking for similar reasons.

"The weather's been hell lately. And it won't be long until Halloween, either..." He thought back to last year, when he'd been woken by zombies at the door, and shook his head. "I suppose it keeps us on our toes."

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"Kinda like the military, long periods of boredom with short intervals of chaos." She allowed herself a small smile. "SNAFU Island's starting to look more and more like an appropriate name."

The smile faded. She wasn't used to faking humor for long, and she figured it was on their minds already. "Suppose you saw that Webster's gone."

She tried to remind herself that he was better off at home, but that didn't remedy the fact that her circle of friends was growing shorter.

Movement near the trees caught her attention, and she turned to see Max emerging through the trees. He usually went for Sonya during her morning run, but she wasn't there so he followed her scent to the hut-she usually had something there to eat. The scent of the man with her was 'sort of' new, but he had food.

"Max!" Sonya called out as the wolf tried to get at the breadfruit. "No.."

The wolf only looked at her with what she could swear was part pleading and part 'why not'.

She huffed. "Harry, this is Max. He used to be with Cameron Mitchell, not he sometimes hovers over between here and New Atlantis. Max..this is Harry and that's his lunch."

[realnicetrip.livejournal.com]

Even here, it wasn't every day a massive wolf came and stuck its nose in your food. Harry jumped back when he saw it, holding the bundle away from himself (though perfectly aware that the wolf could easily jump up, take it, and bite off his whole goddamn with it, if it felt like it), and then settled down when Sonya called it to heel.

He looked at her, then back at the wolf, which was now sitting there as docile as any dog.

"You have a pet wolf now," he said. Not a question, just a statement of ridiculous yet undeniable fact. "That's... well, it's different."

He unwrapped the leaves, tore off a bit of the breadfruit and threw it to land at the wolf's paws.

"There ya go, boy."

[lt-blade.livejournal.com]

Sonya tried to bring herself to laugh, but she didn't really feel like it.

"He's not a pet, just comes by when I'm on my morning run." She watched as he caught the bread fruit in the air. "Or when he thinks he can get an easy meal."

Max found his attention between the two of them. The man gave him food, but he was more familiar with the woman. Maybe the man would give him more food?

"Like now."

She tossed her fruit to the direwolf, who caught it and started tearing the rest of the leaves away.

"Webster's gone." Sonya wasn't fond of repeating herself, but she wanted to know if Harry knew as well.

[realnicetrip.livejournal.com]

The wolf seemed happily distracted now, which allowed Harry to focus on other things. When Sonya mentioned Webster, he nodded, and allowed himself a small sigh.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "It's probably for the best. He wasn't very happy here, not since Liebgott left. Well. He wasn't all that happy even when Liebgott was here, but he at least had a bit of life in him." Harry had probably been a bit hard on him at times, but he couldn't help it. Webster's personality just rubbed him up all the wrong way.

"So now it's just me and Lip. I keep wondering which of us is gonna go next."

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Sonya wasn't that surprised when he told her that Webster wasn't that happy even with Joe around. She wasn't all that aware of it but figured if anyone knew, it'd be Harry.

"That's what I keep telling myself in situations like this, that it's for the best. But it's starting to become a cliche right about now." Because as much as she could tell herself that, it didn't help.

Max seemed to understand that she needed a willing ear and walked over to her, his tail wagging even as he sat down next to her. Without really thinking, she scratched him besides his ear.

"You have a bigger reason to go home next, but on that note, it's another friend leaving-and I don't have that many left here."

Sure she had Scorpion, and a number of good acquaintances, but it wasn't the same.

[realnicetrip.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, you and me both. I'm gonna have to make an effort to talk to more people," Harry said. He'd adapted, but there was no denying he missed Easy, and Dick and Nix in particular. After seeing them every day for three years, having them gone and unreachable was a bit jarring.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter how much I want to go home or how good the reasons are, the island'll only kick me off when it feels like it. Knowing the island, it'll probably pick Lip before me, 'cause he actually has somebody he loves here." He shrugged, and picked at his serving of breadfruit. "Y'know, if you ever get fed up with living in that hut, there's plenty of space at the Officers' Club. You're an officer after all, that entitles you." He chuckled. "Though on second thoughts I can see why you'd rather not share your space with a couple of noisy, untidy men. Or one noisy, untidy man and Lipton."

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"You and me both." Sonya said, in spite of herself: she wasn't the best with talking with people.

She gave her fruit to Max. "Thanks, but Hanzo-Scorpion-and I've been living together for awhile, otherwise I'd probably accept the offer-so long as no one would me to clean up after them." She was an officer after all, not their mother.