[Chloe] Basking in the Sun
Oct. 13th, 2006 06:38 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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crossing_lostrpWho: Chloe Sullivan
Where: Camp Crash
When: Day 22, all day
Invited: Open
Status: Complete [Closed]
Dinner the night before had been uncomfortable.
First, Chloe hadn't felt hungry though she'd forced herself to eat, mostly to ease Rose's worries about her. Second, no matter how dangerously close she sat to the fire, she still felt cold. The radiant heat of the fire simply couldn't match the luxurious warmth of the sun and she was all too aware of the cool night air on her back, of the cold sand beneath her. Rose, Kate and Carrie were all willing to fetch more clothing for her, but it didn't help much.
That wasn't all. For the first time since the attack, she'd had the time--and the attention to spare--to grieve for Lex and Weevil. Lex had never been a particularly close friend back home, but he'd appointed himself her protector here on the island. Ironic, then, that she'd suffered her injury trying to save him from the wraith.
And Weevil--under his carefully constructed macho image, he obviously cared very much about Veronica. Given how much time she'd spent with Veronica, she'd spent a lot of time around Weevil too. She'd miss him.
Chloe had wondered if her friendship with Veronica would survive. Veronica was a very clever young woman, bright and curious and relentless in the pursuit of answers--just like Chloe. So they'd gotten along like long-lost sisters.
But.
Despite Veronica's adventurous spirit and the mysteries she'd uncovered in that Peyton Place-like little town she came from, Veronica was very conventional. Sheltered, even--at least from the many weirdnesses that Chloe had long taken for granted. Veronica's introduction to such things had been difficult. The shocks had come thick and fast, culminating in last night's attack by the wraith. Seeing Lex, Weevil and Chloe reduced to corpses--or nearly so--had been the last straw.
Veronica was better today. Silent and shaken, but not in need of a straitjacket. She had hung onto her sanity, but she couldn't bring herself to approach Chloe. Not yet, anyway. It was understandable, Chloe supposed, but it still hurt.
As soon as she could, Chloe had excused herself and shuffled off to her bed. She was moving more stiffly again, her joints feeling stiffer now. A long sleepness night had followed. She couldn't check her watch--dead. She couldn't play with her laptop--dead. She couldn't even read--her flashlight was dead too.
That was then.
This was now.
Chloe had left her shelter at the first hint of sunrise. She shuffled painfully down the beach and oh so slowly spread out a beach towel and lowered herself with great care and patience (and considerable grunting and wheezing) onto it. The breeze off of the ocean was chilly, but she ignored it.
She sat and watched the sky brighten over the sea. The first glint of the rising sun flashed over the water, followed--with remarkable speed, as always--by the blinding whole. Chloe sighed, relaxing as the light spilled over her. The ball of knotted grief and fear and anger in her belly relaxed and dissolved away.
The gritty-eyed feeling of too little sleep evaporated. She felt the chill chased away as sunbeams seeped into her exposed skin. Chloe was abruptly tempted to strip, exposing all her skin to the sun--and to hell with modesty! She resisted, but privately determined to keep that option open for later. She giggled, feeling giddy for a few moments.
She sat basking in the sun for a while as it began its ascent. When it had risen well above the sea, Chloe lay back and stretched out. The thought that she had hours and hours of this ahead of her was simultaneously relaxing and terribly exciting.
Where: Camp Crash
When: Day 22, all day
Invited: Open
Status: Complete [Closed]
Dinner the night before had been uncomfortable.
First, Chloe hadn't felt hungry though she'd forced herself to eat, mostly to ease Rose's worries about her. Second, no matter how dangerously close she sat to the fire, she still felt cold. The radiant heat of the fire simply couldn't match the luxurious warmth of the sun and she was all too aware of the cool night air on her back, of the cold sand beneath her. Rose, Kate and Carrie were all willing to fetch more clothing for her, but it didn't help much.
That wasn't all. For the first time since the attack, she'd had the time--and the attention to spare--to grieve for Lex and Weevil. Lex had never been a particularly close friend back home, but he'd appointed himself her protector here on the island. Ironic, then, that she'd suffered her injury trying to save him from the wraith.
And Weevil--under his carefully constructed macho image, he obviously cared very much about Veronica. Given how much time she'd spent with Veronica, she'd spent a lot of time around Weevil too. She'd miss him.
Chloe had wondered if her friendship with Veronica would survive. Veronica was a very clever young woman, bright and curious and relentless in the pursuit of answers--just like Chloe. So they'd gotten along like long-lost sisters.
But.
Despite Veronica's adventurous spirit and the mysteries she'd uncovered in that Peyton Place-like little town she came from, Veronica was very conventional. Sheltered, even--at least from the many weirdnesses that Chloe had long taken for granted. Veronica's introduction to such things had been difficult. The shocks had come thick and fast, culminating in last night's attack by the wraith. Seeing Lex, Weevil and Chloe reduced to corpses--or nearly so--had been the last straw.
Veronica was better today. Silent and shaken, but not in need of a straitjacket. She had hung onto her sanity, but she couldn't bring herself to approach Chloe. Not yet, anyway. It was understandable, Chloe supposed, but it still hurt.
As soon as she could, Chloe had excused herself and shuffled off to her bed. She was moving more stiffly again, her joints feeling stiffer now. A long sleepness night had followed. She couldn't check her watch--dead. She couldn't play with her laptop--dead. She couldn't even read--her flashlight was dead too.
That was then.
This was now.
Chloe had left her shelter at the first hint of sunrise. She shuffled painfully down the beach and oh so slowly spread out a beach towel and lowered herself with great care and patience (and considerable grunting and wheezing) onto it. The breeze off of the ocean was chilly, but she ignored it.
She sat and watched the sky brighten over the sea. The first glint of the rising sun flashed over the water, followed--with remarkable speed, as always--by the blinding whole. Chloe sighed, relaxing as the light spilled over her. The ball of knotted grief and fear and anger in her belly relaxed and dissolved away.
The gritty-eyed feeling of too little sleep evaporated. She felt the chill chased away as sunbeams seeped into her exposed skin. Chloe was abruptly tempted to strip, exposing all her skin to the sun--and to hell with modesty! She resisted, but privately determined to keep that option open for later. She giggled, feeling giddy for a few moments.
She sat basking in the sun for a while as it began its ascent. When it had risen well above the sea, Chloe lay back and stretched out. The thought that she had hours and hours of this ahead of her was simultaneously relaxing and terribly exciting.
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[Culsu] Sparks
Date: 2006-10-14 12:21 am (UTC)Culsu, known to the other survivors as Sue Cullen, looked up from her weaving project. Rose Elder waved at her from the cookfire. Sue waved back, wondering what the woman wanted now. She had proven that she was a believer in idle hands being the devil's workshop, at least where kids--herself and Walt--were concerned. (But I'm already busy,) she thought.
Not that she minded being put to work most of the time. It gave her something to do. She could only pretend an interest in age-appropriate games and play for so long before it became mind-numbingly boring. Not that she wouldn't maintain the pretense if necessary, but if she didn't have to, she wouldn't.
Sue rose and walked over to the fire pit. "Yes, Rose?"
Rose picked up a platter and handed it to Sue. "Be a dear, would you, and take this to Chloe?"
"Yes, ma'am," Sue said, taking the platter. She turned and started away.
"Try to get her to eat," Rose called after her. "Don't just leave it with her."
"I will," Sue said.
Chloe was exactly where Sue expected her to be. Sue wasn't sure she'd even twitched since she stretched out in the sunlight this morning. Early this morning--she'd been already in place when Sue stirred from her shelter shortly after dawn.
"Chloe? Hey, Chloe?" Nothing. Sue set the platter down out of the way and knelt beside Chloe and looked at her. She lay on her back, arms outstretched to her sides, head tilted back, eyes closed. Aside from her hair, which looked as it had before the attack, she was shocking to behold.
She looked old. Loose, wrinkled skin, joints swollen like an arthritic's, and what sure as hell looked like age spots all over her skin. Rumor had that it wasn't really old age, just some unearthly--literally!--bioweapon. Sue doubted that Chloe gave a damn about the technical distinctions.
Sue shook her head. It was tragic, really. She'd had all these centuries and Chloe had been robbed of even her mortal lifetime. Nonetheless, Sue didn't let it bother her too badly--she'd had far too much practice seeing mortals grow old and die around her, even if not usually so suddenly.
"Chloe?" Sue said again, a little louder. Chloe sighed and parted her lips and shivered a little. Sue felt one eyebrow rise. She'd known her share of sun worshippers, but--yes, Chloe's nipples were erect. It was obvious even through the bikini top. Either Chloe was having a hell of a dream or she was getting more pleasure out of lying in the sun than Sue ever had.
Shaking her head, Sue considered leaving her alone for a moment. But if she didn't at least try, Rose would come down here and try to feed Chloe.
Sue called to Chloe again, louder still. She reached out to shake Chloe's shoulder--and gasped at a painful electric shock. Drawing her hand back, Sue stared at Chloe with surprise and no little alarm.
A spark had arced between them when she put her hand on Chloe's shoulder. A tiny part of her Quickening had jumped between them. Sue stood up abruptly and stared at Chloe, feeling like Roy Scheider in Jaws getting his first look at the shark.
Now that she was paying attention, she could feel the faintest of tugs on her Quickening, like an exhaust fan sucking the smoke from a room. Not enough to have any real effect on her. Unless she got too close.
She backed away, suddenly wary of Chloe. She had seen artist's renderings of binary objects in space, of black holes and stars circling one another. Drawings of streamers of fusing hydrogen spiraling into the insatiable void of the black hole, the very essence of the stars being consumed by their companions.
Sue turned and walked away. She didn't run. Not quite.
Re: [Culsu] Sparks
Date: 2006-10-14 12:41 am (UTC)Re: [Culsu] Sparks
Date: 2006-10-15 01:56 pm (UTC)[Carrie] Beso del Sol
Date: 2006-10-14 06:19 pm (UTC)While she went about her morning chores, gathering fruit, cleaning fish and inventorying the supplies that Faith and George brought from the bunker up north, Carrie kept casting glances in the direction of Chloe. The woman – and as the day wound on, it grew easier to think of Chloe as a woman more than twice her age and not her peer – didn't even budge when Sue took her food. Evidently nearly comatose-skin-cancer-inviting-sunbathing was more than a ten-year-old girl could understand or comprehend because Sue left after a few failed attempts to get Chloe to eat.
"Could be worse," Sawyer observed as he claimed a bottle of water and followed Carrie's gaze down the beach. "She could weigh about five hundred pounds and have warts. I've seen it. Almost enough to make a man go celibate."
Carrie looked up with a scowl and immediately regretted it. She was only playing into Sawyer's hands and it made her feel like she'd lost a battle. Still once she made eye contact with the man, she had to say her piece. "You're a pig, Sawyer. Don't you have any sympathy at all? ¡Perdida todo!." In her frustration, her native tongue slipped through and Carrie heaved a sigh. "Sala, Sawyer. Just go away."
"Let me let you in on a little secret, J. Lo," Sawyer slowly twisted the cap off of the bottle of water. "Little Miss Methuselah over there ain't the only one who's lost everything. We're all pretty much stuck here, and we ain't got much either."
"You still have your looks."
"Glad you noticed," Sawyer took a long drink of the bottle, then lifting it in a salute turned and walked away from her.
Carrie glared at his back, wondering why it hadn't been him instead of Chloe who got rapidly age. She promptly felt guilty. Not for the thought, but for not feeling guilty for the thought.
Grabbing a bottle of water and a handful of fruit, Carrie headed off to Chloe's sunbathing spot. It was well on past lunch and the woman needed to eat, and rehydrate, and probably – despite her protest – a fresh application of sunscreen.
Reaching Chloe's side, Carrie pulled up short and blinked in surprise. Chloe was younger.
(No, no. That's just not possible,) Carrie corrected the thought immediately. This place may have been home to weirdness, but she was imagining things about Chloe. Mas optimismo as her abuela would say. It was the sunlight and the softness of Chloe's face, the pure joy the woman got from bathing in the sun that made her appear younger. Up close and personal it was clear that Chloe was just as old as Carrie's abuela.
"Chloe," Carrie called quietly. "I bought you some water and fruit. And I thought that maybe a little –" Carrie stopped and blinked. This time she wasn't imagining things. After all the time Chloe had been in the sun, her fair, tender old skin hadn't turned the slightest bit pink. No pinkness, no redness . . . and no bronze. It was as though Chloe was simply absorbing the sun.
(Now who's spent too much time in the sun?) Carrie chastised herself.
Still, as she leaned down and shook Chloe gently by the shoulder, feeling only warm skin where the skin should have been baking, she couldn't push back the thought of, (What did those things really do to you, Chloe?)
[Chloe] It's full of stars!
Date: 2006-10-16 03:40 am (UTC)She'd been lying in the sunlight for many hours now. She could track the movement of the sun by the direction from which the light shone through her eyelids. Chloe had been distantly aware of Sue's visit but too focused on the sun to respond to the girl's attempts to rouse her. The feel of the sunlight raining down on her skin, seeping into her flesh, was too powerful to ignore. It felt too good.
It felt really good. Chloe had had sex that didn't feel this good. She knew something strange was happening to her. She wasn't stupid, or oblivious to the sudden changes in her behavior. Her newfound addiction to sunbathing had to mean something. She just didn't know what.
It wasn't just about the pleasure, though the pleasure was reason enough to indulge herself. She didn't just crave the feel of the sunlight on her skin. She needed it in some way she couldn't yet identify. The sunlight rained down on her skin, seeping into her flesh and pooling somewhere within her, filling reservoirs she'd never known she had—that, perhaps, she'd never had before.
Chloe could feel it happening. She still hungered for the feel of the sun on her skin, but the hunger wasn't all-consuming any longer. It wasn't insatiable after all. It had diminished. There was an endpoint, a moment in time when she'd have had enough.
Which is why she was able to respond to Carrie.
Chloe turned her head away from the sun and opened her eyes. “Thanks,” she rasped, her voice rusty with disuse. Chloe cleared her throat. “Thanks,” she said again, “but I'm really not hungry. Or thirsty.” She cleared her throat again. “Well, maybe a little thirsty.”
“You're not the slightest bit pink,” Carrie said, handing Chloe a bottle of water. “You've been out her for hours now. You should be red as a lobster by now.”
Chloe took a drink and realized she was a little thirsty after all. She drained the bottle in short order. When she handed it back to Carrie, she saw Carrie watching her with a carefully neutral expression. “What is it?” Chloe asked.
“What's happening to you, Chloe?” Carrie asked softly.
“I...don't know,” Chloe admitted. “But I think....” she trailed off, wondering about it.
“But you think what?”
Chloe looked at Carrie with hope in her eyes for the first time since the wraith attack. “Something wonderful.”
[Culsu] Keeping Watch
Date: 2006-10-16 06:13 am (UTC)The (now) old woman had resumed her sunbathing after a brief conversation with Carrie. Culsu rubbed her hand thoughtfully, remembering the unexpected electric snap of her Quickening reacting to Chloe's skin.
(What the hell is happening with her?) Was it a normal consequence of having your life force sucked out of you by the Wraith? Would the others have had the same kind of effect on her if they'd lived? That was a frightening thought.
"She's not going to hurt you again."
Culsu started and turned to see Walt standing nearby. He was trying unsuccessfully to get the stick away from Vincent, who was taking the opportunity to play tug-of-war. "What?"
"It's only temporary," Walt said in his matter of fact manner. "She's getting ready," Walt said, as if it should be obvious. "She has to replace what the wraiths stole."
Vincent surrendered the stick.
"Do you know what you're talking about?" Culsu asked. Walt's oracular announcements generally weren't as cryptic as River's, but he could still be maddeningly indirect.
"Of course!" Walt said, looking annoyed, if not offended.
"That's all right, then," Sue said.
"Cat's eyes," Walt said, and threw the stick. Vincent took off in a spray of loose white sand.
"What?" Chloe's eyes were green, but they hardly qualified as cat's eyes.
"When she has cat's eyes, she'll be safe."
"'Okay, then. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.'"
"My name's not Egon," Walt said. Culsu rolled her eyes. And just like that Walt was just another kid again. She didn't bother trying to pump him for more hints. The window of opportunity had passed for now.
Vincent raced up to them with the stick.
OOC:
Date: 2006-10-17 01:16 am (UTC)