radicalize | (no subject)

Lucy was still in a daze as she left Jude's hut. No matter what strange things the island did, never would she have expected to see what she'd just seen; even thinking about it more, she couldn't make any sense of it. It would be easier to talk about, though, once this whole thing with telling the truth had passed.

Until then, even with Max at Jude's, just about the last place she wanted to be was their hut. It could only get more awkward, and after nearly a month, she figured, maybe it was time to give him some space. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about her getting in the way of whatever it was they thought they were doing.

She'd never felt like she needed to take Gert up on her offer of a place to stay, but almost without realizing it, the 'Treehouse of Awesome,' as Gert had said it was called, was where she wound up. It wasn't yet late enough that she thought she'd be disturbing anything, but still, she was hesitant, and rather than let herself in by the ladder, she rocked back on her heels and tilted her head up. "Hey, Gert?" she called, trying to force a bright tone, though she was fairly unsuccessful in it. "It's Lucy."

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Gert looked up from her book - one of those nauseatingly saccharine Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books since the shelf had been PMSing something hardcore the last time she'd made her rounds - at the sound of Lucy's voice. Glad for the distraction, she threw the book onto one of their slightly-slanting tables and made for the door.

Looking down, she said, "What's up?"

Lucy forced a laugh, arms out to her sides in a wide shrug. "The new trick of the island's is making people be honest," she explained, "myself among them, so anything you ask, you're probably going to get a straighter answer than you want." That was as weird as anything else going on, after all, and from what she'd gathered, the cause of everything else. "And long story short, I...was kind of hoping maybe I could stay here for a little while?"

Raising an eyebrow, Gert gestured to the ladder. Okay, so the Liar Liar thing was sort of weird but it beat the apocalypse any day.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Why?"

Chase had been getting some big, glossy palm fronds off of what had to be the biggest damn coconut tree on the island to do some roof repair or reinforcement (he said reinforcement, Gert, he was pretty sure, thought of it as repair, but it wasn't his fault he was tall enough to rupture the stupid thing when he was jumping up and down to test the floor's stability), and squinted as he got closer.

"Hey," he called out, and lifted a hand. If he'd known they were gonna have company, he conceivably wouldn't have bee rocking out his Tom Hanks in Castaway look, although seriously, he thought the t-shirt wrapped around the head thing was pretty cool. Almost Rambo cool.

Lucy was about to start climbing the ladder, teeth pressed hard against her lower lip so she wouldn't have to explain what she'd just walked in on from the ground, but the sight of someone -- she could only assume Chase -- approaching was enough to distract her for a moment, and she smiled, though somewhat tersely.

It would figure, of course, that she'd finally meet Gert's boyfriend when she was only able to tell the truth and after just finding her brother and ex-boyfriend in bed together. On the plus side, at least she'd be able to ask if he was okay with her temporarily moving in.

"Hi," she replied, already appearing apologetic. "You're Chase?" She'd still have to answer Gert's question, but, she figured, she could hold it back for a few seconds.

Gert pressed her hand to her head when Chase popped into view. Of all the things he could've been wearing, it had to be that. He looked like some reject from Survivor.

"The one and only," she said, shaking her head ruefully. For all that she loved him sometimes she found his wardrobe choices more than a little questionable. Case in point: that one. "Lucy meet Chase, Chase meet Lucy."

"Hey," Chase said brightly, "nice t'meet you, finally. How's it goin'?" He easily slung the collected flora to the sand and dragged his forearm across his jaw to get rid of some of the manly sweat beads he'd got going on. Then he pulled the t-shirt off his head and wiped down in general.

"It's pretty terrible, actually," Lucy replied before she could even think about what she was saying, though she was still smiling, and she winced. "I don't know if you've heard, but there's a bunch of people who, apparently, can say nothing but the truth, so...sorry. You know, about that." She sighed as she shook her head. "It's nice to meet you finally, too, though, really."

"...uh," Chase said, glancing between Lucy and up, to where Gert was, and back again. "Hey, no big deal." Oh, good, it wasn't catching.

"You know, you'd think it'd take like a day and a half to get to know everyone who lives on this island, but I swear there's like, always someone new around who I totally don't recognize. Except all the DC guys, and comics so aren't even remotely my thing."

"Especially DC guys who want to make Dino Spray," Gert added, planting a hand on her hip as she leaned against the doorway. "Are you guys going to come up already?"

"Yes," Lucy sighed, with a short nod, instantly beginning to ascendthe ladder. It didn't take long for her to reach the top, and once across from Gert, she folded her arms across her chest. "So, um, I just walked in on my brother and my ex-boyfriend. In bed."

Chase stopped short from climbing up the rope ladder he'd ....made... kind of... to go with the real on, and stared at Lucy, jaw dropping a little.

"...Holy shit," he said furtively, "color me awkward."

Gert didn't fare much better. Actually, she was pretty much looking like a goldfish.

"That's...uh...wow. Are...you okay?"

Lucy ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. "I...don't even know," she replied, lips curving in a slight frown. "Probably not. But, yeah, I really don't think I can stay in the hut right now, if you guys don't mind me crashing here."

"I don't think anyone could expect you to be able to stay in that hut right now," Chase said, still looking severely perturbed.

"By all means, mi casa su casa. Wait. Babe?" he said, looking up, "what's Espanol for 'our'?"

"Uh...nuestro, I think?" she said after a second. "But no, of course we don't mind. You're more than welcome to stay here as long as things are about ten kinds of awkward back at your house."