As they walked into their hotel room, Olivia gave Iris a glance that told her she would be hearing some shit later. Iris sheepishly smiled. Claire was laid-up in bed and watching television, as concerned with the banalities contained in it as a philosopher might be existentialism. She did not notice Amelie until Amelie sat down beside her and pat her on the shoulder.
Claire's eyes did not move. "Hi."
"Hi, Claire." Amelie looked over to Iris, who was already engaged in conversation with Olivia, and sighed. She reached for the remote and muted the television, thus shifting Claire's attention to her. "Are you feeling alright?"
Claire nodded. "Yeah, I am. I just keep thinking about drinking, b-but I haven't drank at all yet today."
"Well the object is to lower your intake, so I suppose... in a bit, Claire."
"I know, but I just think I'm gonna end up overshooting it again. I'll stop for a few days and then I'll end up with enough of me pent up that I'll just drink and drink until I'm back where I started, and then you won't like me anymore. You shouldn't, but still."
Amelie glanced to the television. "What were you watching?"
"They had Lord of the Rings on. Did you know they filmed it in New Zealand?"
"Oh, New Zealand again."
"What, you don't like it?"
"No, it's just... you talk about New Zealand a lot."
"Well, it just seems like such a nice place. Can I not have something to myself? Some good I can invest my thoughts into?"
"I wasn't saying that."
Claire huffed some. She did not understand Amelie's jovial tone with the above, and indeed was generally not good with this. "When you were gone, I was looking up Jean Batten. She was this, umm... aviator. She made the first solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936." Claire blinked away some tears. "God, it just seems like such a nice place. They have a female Prime Minister and everyone likes her. They were the first country to pass gay marriage, too, you know? They've always been good to us."
"I know, Claire."
"But Jean was a recluse, like me, sorta. And she was the first woman to cross the whole South Atlantic Ocean. They didn't have really good planes back then, too, but she still set a record that would stand for 44 years." Claire was tearing up like she knew Jean personally. "God, it was just so tragic what happened to her, though... She had that d-damn mother of her's. She always rode her too hard, even though her daughter was a legend. But Jean died in 1982 and people didn't even fucking notice it. She died to a dog bite, of everything, and nobody even cared."
Amelie rubbed Claire's shoulder, in actuality hoping she would quiet her crying so Iris & Olivia would not ask why. But this was all typical of dealing with Claire, of course. Did a protege not have an obligation to help a mentor regardless of reciprocity?
"Hey, why were you and Iris out so long, anyway?"
"We were out investigating at the mall."
"Oh, ok. Jeez. I'll never get over Jean Batten, though."