Episode 9 (Serena Season 1)

I manage to sleep without being interrupted by any pissed-off birds,

although there's a small pang of disappointment when I wake up alone.

Serena and I didn't even do anything,

but the presence of her resting next to me made me feel a lot more secure.

A grumble in my stomach interrupts that wandering thought and I head down for breakfast,

trying to figure out which can I want to crack open this morning.

Clyde: "Morning', !"

(...Uh oh.)

MC: "How's it going, Clyde?"

Clyde: "I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

Clyde: "Serena keeps giving me the eye, though."

Serena: "You'll thank me for that later."

I steal the empty seat next to Serena and start digging in, watching Clyde out of the corner of my vision.

Logan has scooted his chair over to give Clyde a wide berth,

but Arthur and TK seem to mostly be tuning him out.

MC: "Not sun exposure, then?"

Serena: "I have no idea."

Serena: "It's not like I can test for anything properly here."

Serena: "He could have prion disease for all I know."

MC: "Pri-what?"

Serena: "It was a joke."

Serena: "Never mind."

Clyde: "When your bellies are full, I've got something to run by all of you."

Clyde: "It's genius."

Logan: "Uh..."

Clyde: "I spent years in the Navy, aye? And all that expertise is gonna get us out of here."

Clyde: "Because I'm building a boat."

Serena: "Excuse me?"

Clyde: "A boat, Serena!"

Clyde: "A proper ship, considering our first one broke like a toy the first time it went in rough water."

Logan grimaces,

and I can only imagine that's a hard ding to his pride after he helped design that special engine.

(It's not like he wanted us to crash here.)

(But I think Clyde's completely lost his filter.)

Clyde: "People have been building ships for ten thousand years."

Clyde: "We don't need something fancy to get us off this island."

TK: "We still need tools or something, right?"

TK: "It's not like we can float on a tree back to civilization."

Clyde: "Don't worry about it, TK."

Clyde: "I'll take care of everything."

Clyde pats TK's shoulder hard enough to jostle the cup of water in his hands,

and Serena grabs Clyde by the shoulder, making him look at her.

Serena: "Don't be ridiculous."

Clyde: "Aw, come on."

Clyde: "You know I can do it."

Serena: "What I know is that you're not acting like yourself."

Serena: "Have you had any other symptoms? Anything strange happen?"

Clyde: "Besides the bear?"

Serena: "Yes, Clyde."

Serena: "Besides the bear."

He starts explaining his plan in full detail, complete with wild hand gestures,

and I can see Serena's patience starting to wear thin.

Logan's foot nudges mine under the table and I look his way, confused.

Leaning across the table and further away from Clyde, he whispers in my ear.

Logan: "He's pretty sick, huh?"

MC: "I guess so."

MC: "But what kind of thing would make him act so strange?"

Logan: "It's got to be something with the animals, right? They're going bonkers too."

Logan: "Maybe he got bit and the doc didn't notice."

MC: "I'm pretty sure she'd notice a bite."

MC: "And he doesn't look scratched up like Arthur was."

MC: "Shouldn't he have started acting odd before Clyde if it was that?"

Logan: "Who knows? Maybe they're about to start foaming at the mouth."

MC: "I think Serena said we probably wouldn't get exposed to rabies..."

(But he's right about one thing.)

(Clyde didn't start behaving like this until we ran into all the animals being super aggressive.)

Clyde: "Then I'll prove it!"

Clyde stands up from his seat, making the chair screech against the floor with all his gusto.

Clyde: "I'm building this boat and we're going home."

Arthur: "...Unlikely as it is to work, it does seem counterintuitive not to try."

TK: "Yeah, I mean."

TK: "If we work together, maybe we'll pull something off."

(If even TK is being optimistic, there's no harm in trying.)

MC: "Serena, what do you think?"

Serena: "I guess we're off to build a boat."

Serena: "Palm fronds? Really?"

There's a huge pile of them stacked in front of her, all gathered by Clyde's enthusiastic hands.

He sits down right in front of her, looking prouder than ever.

When he picks up two fronds and starts braiding them together, Serena sighs.

Clyde: "Just weave them all the way down, nice and tight."

Clyde: "I'd start chopping down trees, but without an axe, there's not really much point, aye?"

Logan: "Is that' going to be structurally sound? There's six of us."

Logan: "It might skip on the water by itself, but..."

Serena: "Just humor him, Logan."

Serena: "This will get done a lot faster if we're all working on it."

If nothing else, it's something to do, so Serena and I sit down next to Clyde and start weaving.

It's tricky to keep all the ends from slipping,

but I manage to find a rhythm after watching him work for a few minutes.

Clyde: "That's the spirit! Come on, Logan, look alive."

Logan: "..."

Logan: "I'm working on it."

Logan: "These aren't the kind of materials I'm used to."

Serena's knee bumps lightly against mine and I bite my lip,

realizing our thighs are nearly brushing together.

It's close enough to feel the warmth of her skin,

and I do the next three braids backwards before realizing that I've gotten mixed up.

MC: "Oops."

Arthur: "Are you alright, ?"

MC: "Fine. Totally fine."

I keep hoping that she'll look at me,

that the weight of my gaze will break her laser-sharp focus on the work in front of her,

fingers working through every loop with ease.

(I think I'd already figured out she's good with her hands.)

(Nice to have more proof, though.)

MC: "Have a lot of experience with braiding, Serena?"

Serena: "This is a lot easier than stitches."

A. Maybe you could teach me sometime?

B. Do you think this will work?

C. At least you didn't have to give me those.

---

A. Maybe you could teach me sometime?

MC: "Maybe you could teach me sometime."

Serena: "How to do stitches?"

MC: "If you had an assistant, you wouldn't have to do all the doctoring yourself, right?".

---

Serena arches her brow, but I can't tell if she's amused or irritated.

I'll call that a wash.

She falls quiet agian, pointedly returning her attention back to the braiding, and I try to do the same.

But we're sitting in a nice little oasis of shade,

and it's the easiest thing in the world to let my mind wander.

(Maybe I should have tried to kiss her.)

(Would that have worked?)

TK: "Guys, this is really nice."

Logan: "Huh?"

TK: "We're actually getting to spend time together instead of just being strangers."

TK: "I didn't have a lot of friends at work or... anybody to ever do this kind of thing with."

I know it's rude to stare,

but all of us -- except for Clyde, humming under his breath -- look at TK as he smiles a little to himself.

TK: "Maybe I should just open up."

TK: "I don't have to keep giving everyone a hard time."

TK: "Like you, Arthur."

TK: "I wasn't trusting you because--"

Arthur: "TK, it's... fine."

Arthur: "Don't worry about it."

TK: "But I was worse to ."

TK: "It's easy to blame her so I don't have to think about myself."

(Okay, so he's definitely sick.)

(TK is the living opposite of mushy.)

MC: "TK, are you feeling okay?"

TK: "I'm great."

TK: "Everything's so much better now."

(Goddamn it.)

Logan: "Aww, bro."

Logan: "That's sweet."

Serena:"..."

Mumbling another curse under my breath, I lean over to whisper in Serena's ear.

MC: "So he's going loopy like Clyde, right?"

Serena nods and stands up, abandoning her braided fronds in Clyde's lap.

He doesn't seem to mind, flashing a grin her way before going back to his massive stack.

Serena: "Logan, Arthur."

Serena: "Keep an eye on these two, please."

Serena: "I'm going to go look for something to help their... condition before it keeps getting worse."

Arthur: "Of course."

Arthur: "We'll make sure they don't wander off."

MC: "I can help! You shouldn't go by yourself, Serena."

Serena: "True."

Serena: "Let's go."

Surprised by her lack of protest,

I stumble to my feet to follow Serena back into the jungle, not wanting to lose sight of her.

Serena's pace is relentless,

tromping through the jungle fast enough that I have to quicken my steps to keep up with her.

She doesn't seem to mind the company, even if she's mostly talking under her own breath.

Serena: "Lowered inhibitions, lack of impulse control, although tha tmight be limited to the individual..."

Serena: "Or it could be purely psychological."

Serena: "But that wouldn't explain the spread from Clyde to TK."

MC: "Are you saying they've got cabin fever?"

Serena: "We'd have to be locked up somewhere inside for that to happen."

Serena: "What I'm saying is that I don't know."

Serena: "I have a pile of symptoms that could be explained by a dozen different things."

Serena: "And without any lab tests, all I can do is treat the various possibilities."

MC: "So where are we going?"

Serena: "Back to the lake."

Serena: "Clyde told me he saw fish in there."

MC: "We need fish?"

Serena: "We need iron."

Serena: "All the physical activity we've been doing out here, with the stress and the sun..."

Serena: "Iron deficiency usually causes more irritation than overblown emotion,"

Serena: "but it's worth checking off the list."

(Damn, she's amazing.)

(I thought Clyde being sick would put her on tilt a little, but Serena's focused as ever.)

MC: "Any thoughts on how to catch the fish?"

MC: "You seemed pretty handy with a stick when that capybara attacked."

MC: "Maybe we could sharpen one up."

Serena: "After all our weaving, a net might be in order."

Serena: "Although if I ever end up with a spear, that capybara is out of luck."

Serena: "It won't know what's coming."

I giggle, picturing Serena fending off a pack of capybaras with a stick,

and the wry smile she casts my way is enough to make my heart start thumping a bit too hard in my chest.

(Then again, if I'm short of breath, I'm sure she can figure out a way to fix that.)

Serena: "You really think I'm funny, don't you?"

MC: "Yeah, I do."

MC: "Is that a bad thing?"

Serena: "It's... novel."

A. So you find me interesting.

B. What kind of novel?

C. The feeling's mutual.

---

C. The feeling's mutual.

MC: "The feeling's mutual."

MC: "I think you're pretty... novel too."

Serena: "Is that so?"

MC: "I'll say it a few more times if that'll make you believe me."

---

All my wit is for nothing when I trip over a thick root,

nerves sending my stomach right up to my throat as I scramble not to fall.

Something stops me inches from the ground,

and I register the warm strength against my back as Serena's arms, our faces just a breath apart.

MC: "Oh."

MC: "Damn, you're fast."

Serena: "And you're clumsy."

There's no malice in Serena's words though, eyes glinting with amusement,

and there's no way to hide the blush spreading across my face.

I want to tilt my head, praying that she'll take it as an invitation for a kiss,

but a flutter in my stomach makes me freeze up.

(Just a little closer. Please.)

A. Thank her.

B. Get tongue tied.

---

B. Get tongue tied.

MC: "I, um, guess I am pretty clumsy. Ha ha..."

MC: "Thanks for catching me."

(So much for being smooth.)

<p style="text-align:center;">---

Serena: "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

MC: "N-no."

Her pleased little hum turns my face another shade redder,

but the second I see Serena draw in a breath, a flock of birds burst out of the trees above us.

We stagger apart, their screeching growing louder before they all take flight,

zipping in the directino we came from.

Serena: "Ugh!"

MC: "Serena, that's the same type of bird that attacked my window."

Serena: "Now I can see why you were so alarmed."

Serena: "They're huge."

MC: "And heading in the direction of the guys, I think."

Serena: "Goddamn it."

Serena: "Of course."

Serena: "Let's go make sure they aren't going to be pecked to death."

(I wish she was kidding, but that one really didn't sound like a joke.)