(no subject)

[everyone_takes]

She wasn't moping.

That was one thing Kate wanted to be totally clear, which was why she was going through Effy's things on the front porch of the hut they'd shared instead of holing up inside. If she'd done that, then she would be moping, but being outside in the sunshine meant she was totally not moping.

On the other hand, she wasn't sure what she was doing exactly.

There had been a note in Effy's room and Kate had followed the instructions, even though she kind of hadn't wanted to. It wasn't that she thought Effy's other friends didn't deserve her stuff, but she was tired. She was tired of going through the shit people left behind and trying to make sure it all got to the right people. And she was tired of inheriting stuff from the people she loved. She'd rather they just stopped disappearing.

Holding up a pair of tights, she turned them over in her hands and then put them in the pile of things to keep. It was the only pile. The idea of giving Effy's things away just didn't sit well with her and she picked up a necklace and twirled it around her finger absently as she continued to pick through things. After a few spins around her finger, the necklace slipped free and Kate lifted her gaze from the pile to watch it sail through the air toward the path.

Where it nearly hit a totally cute guy who dressed an awful lot like her brother.

"Shit, sorry!" Kate called from where she was sitting. "Promise I'm not trying to kill you."

Comments

[thewarbler]

Blaine's not really on his way to any particular place. He's simply walking, enjoying the bright sunshine and salty air that still, even four months after arriving here, he finds so very foreign and unbelievable. So very much not like anything in Ohio.

He walks slowly, with little purpose, hands shoved into the pockets of his khakis (the bottoms of which are rolled up above his ankles, of course) and his mind adrift. A sudden movement out the corner of his eye has him tensing immediately and darting away, heart rate immediately spiking as his defenses rise.

At least until he realizes that the offending object is nothing more dangerous than a wayward necklace and there's a girl only a few feet away already apologizing.

Though his heartbeat is still racing, Blaine relaxes, a genuine smile curving his lips as he crouches to pick up the necklace. "Well, that's good," he says, holding the piece of jewelry delicately as he walks towards the girl on the porch. He hadn't even noticed her until just now. "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been very successful if you had been. Not with this as your weapon anyway."

[everyone_takes]

"Whatever, I'm a total necklace badass," Kate answers with a teasing grin, taking the jewelry from him when he holds it out to her. She doesn't feel like smiling, not even a little, but that's when she knows she has to. That's what she learned in Overland Park. Smile -- or lie or dress up like a princess or rebel like a complete asshole -- through the bullshit.

"But only when I want to be and you dress way too much like my little brother for me to want to hurt you," she adds, looking him up and down. It makes her miss Marshall even more, but she purses her lips instead of dwelling on that. "Seriously, it's too bad he's not here anymore, you guys would've been total wardrobe buddies."

[thewarbler]

Feeling suddenly a little bit self-conscious, Blaine glances down to see what he's wearing, noting his boat shoes and rolled up khakis and simple button-up short-sleeved shirt. It's too warm for a bowtie and he has the top button unsnapped to let in some air against his neck which he lifts a hand to scratch awkwardly.

Head cocking to the side and lips twitching in an unsure smile, Blaine says, "I... think that's a compliment?"

[everyone_takes]

"Totally a compliment," she assures him, waving her hand in an absent way. "He's my little brother, come on." She misses Marshall. It doesn't get any easier either, being here without him, especially not when people continue to disappear, but it's not like she has any control over it and she doesn't want to sit around and sulk about it. Somehow Marshall would find out and eventually, when she saw him again, he'd give her a hard time about it.

"I'm Kate," she adds. "Necklace thrower extraordinaire."

[thewarbler]

It's obvious this girl has a much better relationship with her brother than Blaine has ever had with Cooper. (Though, he must admit it's gotten a little better over the past month or two. A little.) It's also obvious they're much closer in age than he and Cooper and he wonders if that has something to do with it. But he kind of doubts it. Cooper would still be Cooper regardless of age.

"Blaine," he answers quickly, pure habit making him hold out his hand though she hadn't initiated it. "Necklace target, uh... not so extraordinaire. Is this your house?"

Well, house probably wasn't an accurate descriptor, but he figured she knew what he meant.

[everyone_takes]

Kate grins, but she shakes the offered hand, even if shit like that is still super weird for her. But between the fact that she's nineteen -- pretty much the last year left, she figures, that she'll be considered a kid -- and about to join the IPD if everything goes well, she'll have to start shaking hands and stuff like that.

"Yep. Or my hut, I guess. It used to be mine and my brother's, but then he disappeared." And then she shared it with Effy, but now that's done, too. It's pretty shitty, actually, to have so many people disappear from her place. "Now there's just an extra room. I guess I could give it to the dog." Chang's probably in there already, anyway.

[thewarbler]

It's far from the first time Blaine's heard of people disappearing here; just recently Kurt was shaken up by losing a close friend, someone Blaine never really got to know very well though he'd seen the man around from time to time. And, of course, there's Puck. He still can't quite imagine how the people here deal with it over and over again, a part of him already constantly worried that he'll wake up one morning and Kurt will be gone, too.

But he's not focusing on that now and he isn't sure whether Kate wants to be consoled or not. She at least doesn't appear too visibly upset so Blaine only gives a sympathetic grimace before her last comment has him perking up.

"You have a dog?" Blaine's always liked dogs and there definitely seem to be a lot of them running around the place.

[everyone_takes]

"Oh, my god. Okay, this dog..." She trails off and shakes her head, then begins to collect the clothes she had in piles. They're still Effy's things -- or maybe they're considered her things now, she doesn't know -- and she doesn't want that stupid dog to start eating it all like he used to do with Jeff's stuff.

"So my friend Jeff got this dog for Christmas or whatever the fuck it is reason that the island gives us shit once a year," she explains, putting things back into boxes and bags. "And he came pre-named, too, so it's not like Jeff gave him a racist name on purpose. I think he's like, named after one of Jeff's teachers or something. But then Jeff disappeared and the dog sort of... followed me home."

Pushing open the front door with her hand, all she has to do is whistle once and Chang comes running for the door, his little fluffy tail wagging.

[thewarbler]

Growing increasingly curious, Blaine watches as Kate gathers up a pile of clothes and takes the implicit invitation to follow her into the small house, listening intently to her explanation before letting out a quick, surprised laugh as an exceptionally fluffy dog comes barreling around the corner, practically wiggling with excitement.

"Oh, he's adorable," Blaine says, immediately crouching down to pet the little guy, his hands nearly disappearing in the abundance of fur. "Aren't you, Chang? Aren't you just the cutest thing." Smiling up at Kate again, he adds, "I actually knew a couple people back in Ohio named Chang. Mike and Tina. Or, well. Tina's actually Tina Cohen-Chang, but close enough. They were dating." He pauses for a second then, lips twisting into a thoughtful grimace as something a little bittersweet twists in his belly. "Still are, I hope. They're really great together."

[everyone_takes]

He's probably not looking to hear her totally cynical view on things as of late, so Kate decides to keep her mouth shut on what she figures are the chances of that really great couple he knows back home. Even if they don't break up, someone will probably just take off. It's pretty much how things go.

"He is adorable," she agrees. "But he's also insane. I think there's something wrong with him." It's clear by her voice that she loves him anyway, if only because he reminds her of Jeff. "I used to bug the guy who owned him and call him my Island Father. It freaked him out so much, it was fucking hilarious."

[thewarbler]

Somehow, he doesn't doubt the mental state of the dog and he only laughs again as it wiggles happily under his hands. But his smile dims some as Kate talks about the pup's former owner, his head cocking to the side.

"People leave here kind of often, don't they?" he says. "Hasn't any one ever figured out why?"

[everyone_takes]

"I guess not," Kate answers, thinking about it for a bit. It seems like the kind of thing everyone on the island would know about if they had an answer to it. Unless, of course, this place is a giant conspiracy theory and while she's usually not prone to weird shit like that -- it's really more Gene's area of expertise, fucking weirdo that he was -- she can't quite convince herself it's not true.

"I mean, I haven't exactly asked around," she says. "But given all the people who promise to find some way to escape during elections and shit like that, you'd think we'd have heard about it if they actually succeeded, right?"

[thewarbler]

It does seem like something that would be more common knowledge if the word were out, but it still seems strange to Blaine how casually the people here seem to simply accept it. A part of him wonders if maybe people don't actually disappear, if there's something much more sinister behind the disappearances, or if there's maybe some kind of encampment on the other side of the island that nobody knows about.

Whatever the case, it definitely makes him uneasy.

Disentangling his hands from Chang's fur, Blaine rises to his feet again, brow furrowed. "People try to escape during the election?" he asks, confused. "Why would they want to do that?"

[everyone_takes]

"No, I mean they make promises during their speeches," Kate says, laughing. "Like any other politician, right? They find something everyone seems to want and then promise they'll find some way to get it done and no one ever does. Obviously." And she's not even sure they actually all promise that, but she knows at least one person has or maybe even two. It's been a long time since she's actually bothered to attend the speeches, which is something she'll never admit to Hermione.

"It's creepy, though. This whole thing reminds me of that TV show about the island," she says. "A couple of those guys were actually here or still are or I don't know. They're probably responsible for it."

[thewarbler]

"You mean Lost?" Blaine asks, slipping his hands into his pockets. It's the only TV show he can think of right off hand that involves an island. Though he doesn't remember watching too much of it past the first season or two.

He has recognized a few people from it here, too. Which is still really unnerving when he lets himself really think about it for awhile.

Brow furrowed, Blaine cocks his head. "Do you think that's really it? That we're just stuck in some TV show?"

[everyone_takes]

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure I'm the worst conspiracy theorist like, ever." That had really been more Gene's thing, anyway, and Kate was sure that anything Gene had been into was something she wanted nothing to do with now.

Except maybe some of his inventions.

"I like a grand total of zero theories about this place," she admitted. "Mostly because I'm too fucking lazy to give a shit. I'm here, you're here, other people are here, that's that. And then people leave, so pretty much like life was back home except at least here I have an ocean view whenever I want."

[thewarbler]

There's something about the way she talks that makes Blaine smile. She's unafraid with her words and her demeanor. Not unlike Santana, though in a far friendlier manner.

But it makes him wonder, too. Just a little.

Still smiling, he cocks his head. "So you don't question it? At all? You don't think it's weird that we're here with, like... Harry Potter and Iron Man and all these people with famous faces?"

[everyone_takes]

So it's a shitty day, what with having to go through Effy's things, but Kate finally smiles at that, a small but genuine smile. "I think it's totally weird. But given that Harry Potter is pretty much the best boyfriend I've ever had, I'm not in a place to question it either."

It wasn't like she'd read the books back home. Kids books about wizards hadn't exactly been on Kate's top ten list of things she wanted to read and the movie had been on the 'watch while stoned only' list, so that barely counted. Still, she knows how weird it is for most people.