The door was closed, her feelings splayed out before her. Seven thousand of them, culminating in a warm feeling in her chest, festering and remaining there. She leaned against the door, a small breath she didn't know she'd been holding released. Her eyes closed in deep meditation. A moment to breathe air instead of feelings, expectations, thoughts, calculations, formulas, predictions, emotions. Sun broke through curtains that were rarely opened. Dust danced in the air, clear signs of a recent move into the house. It still wasn't perfect, but it was hers.

A light buzz in her mind broke the silence. It wasn't a voice or even a noise, just a sort of fuzzy aura in her peripheral. Right. Junpei.

It would be question after question with him. Ami decided to make a cup of tea first. There were questions she knew the monkeyfish would ask that Ami wasn't even sure she could answer herself. Tea. Tea was good.

Hands grasped around her second cup, Ami finally entered her room after staring into the nothingness for a time. Centered- at least as much as she could be, Ami set her tea down next to her bed, and reached for the magical hair clip.

< WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY >

She let him have his little moment. A lot of blubbering, a lot of squeaks as he railed her for not bringing him a long and how dare she forget him on this momentous occasion. Ami sat there with a blank expression on her face, sipping her tea lightly as a perturbed teenage boy rattled on and on.

"Is there any chance I get a say in this conversation, or would you like to continue prattling on about a subject you know nothing- rather, you don't have a right- to know anything about?" The tea moved back to the nightstand. She was in the comfort of her own home, so talking out loud was game. Her hands moved to unbutton the sheer dress she'd worn out to the beach. In retrospect, she should've worn something longer and opaque, but that couldn't be changed now.

< Did something bad happen? Why are you in a bad mood? >

"Nothing went wrong," she said softly, getting the last button and undoing the dress altogether. A shiver went down her spine as the draft caught her. Had it always been so cold on this island?

< So something GOOD happened. >

"I'm not sure."

< WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? >

"It means I'm not sure."

< Ughhh Ami it's not cool to be miss dark and mysterious- could you just not for once? Please? Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaase? C'mon it's not even that hard you have two choices. Good or bad. That's it. C'mon. >

A tiny smirk crossed her face as she recognized poor Junpei pulling at straws for anything at all. It was fun to see him frustrated for once when it was so often flipped the other way. The bikini came off and she switched it for her normal undergarments. "Hmmm two options isn't very forgiving, Jumpy."

< Junpei. >

"I suppose it was ... good. He was very kind, and even brought champagne. He tried to get me into the ocean though." Her nose wrinkled at the memory, but with a fond sort of disdain. Had it been different circumstances, she might have jumped in with him.

It was too late. The memory of the date came to mind, leaving Junpei to see all. < The ocean? He likes the ocean? Dude!! >

She smirked as she moved to her makeshift closet, which was a mess at the moment considering she was still in the process of unpacking everything. Something pink sounded nice. "I'm sorry, should I set you two up on a date?" That would've been a sight. A man on a date with a hair clip. The thought bounced in her mind that someone on this island might have been crazy enough to fall in love with their weapon. "Perhaps you two should even take the next step- get hitched and have two beautiful bouncing children."

< Dude yeah. >

Her look of amusement fell completely flat. That dumbass.

< I'm kidding, I'm kidding! What did you guys talk about? > Ami opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by an amendment. < Wait! If it's about books, just skip over all that. It's boring. >

She clamped her mouth shut as she selected a white lace skirt and a light blue top. "Mmmm I don't know. Music, childhood, pre-island- It was a lot to take in and I don't particularly want to recite it at the moment, Jumpy."

< Junpei. So are you guys like a thing? >

That was what bothered her. "I ... that's such a juvenile way to refer to it." It felt surreal. Almost like she was cheating. Adam had always been the name she'd answered to relationship questions, but now ... it was Lex. She was someone's girlfriend. She had a boyfriend. Could you even call their relationship as such? "I'm not sure Junpei. Neither of us made it particularly clear ... I don't think we wanted to? I don't know." Cardigan, then movement to the mirror. Her hair didn't need too much changing- it would stay in its bun since it was too sea-salt infested to do much else with, but she had to at least bobby pin a few things down and move other pieces of hair into place. The windy shoreline hadn't been too kind, even with hairspray. "He agreed to date me. Does that suffice as an answer?"

< And you're okay with it? Like are you going to be okay? >

"I can't answer that either. Next question."

< Don't skirt it. >

She sighed, picking up another hair clip. "It's the one thing I can't tell you, Junpei. I don't want to think about if its going to be okay because it probably won't be and I don't want to think about it. Let me take this at my own pace. If you don't, I know it won't work." That was the conclusion she'd come up with whilst boiling her water for tea. She didn't want to be romantic or ... in love with Lex quite yet. It was too sudden, too brash. She just wanted to love Lex. That was her resolve.

< But you want it to. >

"Want it to what?"

< To work. You want it to work. >

"... Yes."