lt_blade | (no subject)

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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Harry watched the wolf dash off again, feeling (despite Sonya's reassurances) slightly relieved that it had gone, and nodded understandingly as Sonya listed her grievances. Much as he sometimes felt lonely, it was probably for the best in the long run that he couldn't have relationships here; there literally wasn't any way for them to end well.

He never knew what to say about things like that, though, so he was glad for the change of subject.

"I know, it doesn't feel that long since my last birthday here," he said, nodding. "Jesus Christ, I'm gonna be 28. That's only two years off thirty."

"You suddenly feeling old?" It was a little bit of a surprise for her: Harry always seemed like someone who never really felt 'old', experienced and seasoned yes, but never someone who thought they couldn't do something because of age.

"You have anything planned, or is it just going to be a quiet number?" Harry was one of the few people she could attend a party for without thinking up an unterior reason.

Harry laughed, realising how he must sound.

"Heck no," he said. "Getting physically older doesn't mean I have to grow up, does it? Nah, it was just making me realise how long I've been here, that's all. And you bet I'm having a goddamn party." You couldn't have a birthday without a party. He didn't understand people who wanted to keep it quiet; even if you didn't like getting old, that was just all the more reason to get drunk.

"I think I might have a themed party this year. Haven't thought up a theme yet, mind you, but there's still some time left for that."

His laugh was contagious-or maybe the need to feel some sort of mirth was so strong she just fell right in.

"Never stopped you before, growing older I mean." She still remembered the first time they officially met, and with him high tailing it up a tree just because he could.

"You could go for a retro style theme-if you're the sort who's big on trends." She thought back to what he said at the roller skating party. "And hey, it's your party, you could go with what you'd consider 'retro.'

"I like that!" Harry said. "Now that does make me feel old, people having nostalgic parties for decades I haven't even lived through yet. Of course, choosing a decade might be hard - the forties aren't long enough ago for me to feel nostalgic about them, and the thirties weren't exactly fun for anyone."

He thought about it, stroking his chin in thought. "The twenties? Jazz and cocktails and movie stars, and all that other flashy stuff that I wasn't old enough to enjoy at the time?" Not to mention that small-town Pennsylvania had hardly been at the centre of the Jazz Age; he'd absorbed most of his impressions of the times from weekends spent at movie matinees. "That could be fun. What d'you reckon? Not too long ago for everybody else to have completely forgotten about it?"

"There was a jazz theme some months ago at the catscratch club that did pretty well, so there's a good chance a 20s is a go. And hell, at the Officer's club, the setting fits even more, not to mention twenty's fashion is a lot easier on the eyes than the seventies."

Sonya should know, she's lived through that time-and the 80s, but during that period it was mostly military issued clothing: dull yes, but relatively safe.

"Then it's sorted," Harry said. A lot of people he'd have liked to have invited weren't here any more, but he still had plenty of friends on the island, and was happy to welcome strangers if they got into the spirit of things with everyone else.

"And you don't need to tell me about the seventies fashion. Sometimes me and Zell go and watch that television up in the rec centre - some of the shows are good fun, but my god, everybody in that decade needs a goddamn haircut." Going by the way the island's other citizens looked, civilisation would indeed advance past that strange phase of strangely-shaped pants and beards from everyone, but it was going to be an odd ten years.

Sonya wasn't so sure if she should laugh or just stare.

"Okay, what you just said there-would've been exactly what my father said during that decade." Translation: you really just showed your age there, buddy.

"It was a rough time-the end of vietnam, watergate, inflation. People were fed up with the government and long hair was a way of rebelling against the status quo."

Hey, Sonya may've not been a follower to trends, but that didn't mean she didn't understand them either.

She paused. "Actually it's a little ironic. The same people I remember with the long hair and going to protests, they grew up and became yuppies-that is business people just concerned with becoming wealthy."