* A WETTER VERSION OF THE SKY,, ethan

&&the sea is just a wetter version of

Nell acted as if she were totally shocked at Ethan. Her food didn’t sit abandoned for long, of course, but when she was talking to her friend she was able to tear herself away from it for a few moments. ”Oh man, then I’m bringing you flowers. Or better yet, a trophy.” Yes, she was joking, but she also knew there were stores around that did sell trophies and that you could engrave things on the base. Before, what she was staying would have remained a joke, but she had her father’s money to spend, and she would spend it on whatever she damn well pleased. Nell’s smiled brightened. ”I’d really love to see you perform. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you on stage before.” She was very interested in her friends and their own interests, and she knew that acting and singing made Ethan happy. Nell wanted to see that. She also wanted to disconnect the stage from her own family, full of musicians like her aunt. The woman was a performer, and clearly a very good actress—she could lie to an entire country, and even the people who hated her backed her up. All for the sake of bringing Nell down. ”Sounds awesome. I’ve got a few connections myself.” She spoke in a posh voice as if very proud of this fact. Those connections—especially in the music industry—were the Sinclairs. And she’d really rather rely on Ethan’s. Still, this was just her mask, pretending as if this would be able to happen. As if she could go to Summerstage and watch a show.

She laughed when he spoke of vomit. ”I should start wearing surgical masks and rubber gloves to parties it seems.” She did have rubber gloves from her strange idea during the war. She thought that they might be able to prevent the Thunder students from attacking her. They only prevented damage to her arms, however, and she remembered the day that she scrapped the idea as the day she’d met Freya. ”I have a theory,” Nell starting, speaking gravely and leaning in close as she gestured with her hands. ”That if you get up on a table and start singing a well-known song, others around you will join in. And then it would be like a flash mob.” She say back and nodded, the expression like a silent version of: “what do you think about that?” One never knew, after all. Until they tried of course. Nell was almost tempted to do it at a bar since people could be drunk enough to join in no matter what. Of course, she couldn’t do it at Blackjack. She’d be fired and that was something she certainly did not want.

For some reason, his words twisted her gut. You never know what’ll happen, good or bad. Nell would rather just stop talking about the future all together, so she didn’t reply to that, only kept up her very friendly smile. Always smiling, she was, and most of the time it was real. Right now, it was for Ethan’s benefit so she could cover up the panic in her stomach. And she was okay talking about his future and all his oppurtunities. Ethan was talented, he was a funny guy, and he had a lot going for him. It’s why she had so much faith in everyone—she saw the good in them, their talents. And their faults didn’t really matter. ”Can’t blame you. The real world is scary.” She’d been cruelly thrust into it, after all. Or did she push herself into it by hopping the border and getting an apartment and a job and for the first time in her life living without her mother’s overbearing presence? In any case, she was still a new soul, naïve and trying to figure out what to do. And she only had so much time left. Her future was a ticking timebomb. Even though she internally bristled with the question, she had an easy smile on her face. ”There is just so much I’d like to do. Help people, mostly, so something in human services. Or, since I really want to grow a garden, I thought I could be like a witch doctor. Growing my own herbs and everything.” She remembered telling Josh this a long time ago, back before they were even friends. Time had changed.