It was weird to think about it, but Chloe had been living in Seattle for a year. It didn't feel like a year, but it sure had been. Max had graduated back in June, they'd moved up to Seattle, and then they'd just kind of been in Max's parents' house ever since. It had been a pretty relaxing year, just doing part-time work and chilling out together, but in just a couple months they'd be leaving for a new adventure in Portland!

That would be a four-year adventure, at least. Assuming Max stayed in school and graduated on time at Reed, anyway, which seemed pretty likely. The brunette wasn't a star student or anything, but she was smart and competent enough to handle her gen-eds and electives, and her artistic talent and creativity were what were going to be important to actually completing her major. After that it was up in the air, but maybe they'd put down roots. Or maybe Chloe would start college in Portland, too, and that would keep them there for at least another couple years.

The thought of going to college herself felt surreal to Chloe. When she was younger, she'd planned on going to college, no question, and Mom and Dad had encouraged her, even if they did try and keep expectations reasonable. She'd go someplace good but affordable, and relatively close to home. That had been the plan, anyway. Then Dad died and Chloe slammed her fist down on her future's self-destruct button, and the rest was history. She had a GED now, but her path to and through higher education, if that was ultimately what she wanted, was a lot rockier now than it had been at thirteen.

She'd missed the boat on college for that fall, she was pretty sure, so there was nothing to do but focus on more immediate issues, like finding a job and an apartment and all that good stuff. They didn't have any real savings to speak of, but Ryan and Vanessa had said they'd cover all the move-in expenses, which was a big relief. As for working, it wouldn't be super exciting, but Chloe figured she could probably work at a Target down in Portland as well as she'd been working at the one in Seattle. It'd be a slightly different layout or whatever, but at a certain point stocking shelves was stocking shelves. If nothing else, it would pay the bills until she found something more up her alley.

The move was going to be exciting, and Chloe would have happy memories of Seattle, but it honestly didn't feel like all that big a deal to her. She'd been primed to get the hell out of Arcadia Bay for years, and now she'd been in Seattle for just a year, and living with Max's parents at that. It had been nice, but it had never gotten to the point of feeling like she lived there. Sure, she was comfortable in the Caulfield house, but it still just felt like a really long visit.

Max, on the other hand, was moving away from her home. She'd been living there for years, not counting the months she'd spent at Blackwell, and she'd gone through a lot of formative experiences in that house and that city. So far as Chloe could tell, Max was plenty excited about Reed and Portland, but there did seem to be an undercurrent of unease, too. That was probably why they'd been going out on the town more since Max committed to Reed, Chloe figured. Up until then Seattle had just been Seattle, but now it was taking on nostalgia for Max. Well, and for Chloe, too, if she was being honest. It might not be home home, but it had been where she'd lived for a pretty great year of her life.

"The waterfront is weird," Chloe remarked as they walked. In the morning they'd gone to the Olympic Sculpture Park, and then from there on a walk around Myrtle Edwards Park. Now they were heading south towards downtown, just holding hands and strolling along the sound.

"How so?" Max asked, glancing out over the water.

"It goes from barren to hotels and cruises to barren again," Chloe explained, "And then it's just, like, blocks of kitschy tourist crap, then industrial for miles."

"I mean, Arcadia Bay has the boardwalk out there on the ocean," the brunette pointed out, "Being right on the water is a pretty big deal for Seattle, it's not surprising we've done stuff with it."

"I guess," Chloe conceded, "But I think of Arcadia Bay as, like, kitschy at best. Seattle has so much stuff going for it, but then it still has a bunch of shops selling mass-produced tourist crap." Max snorted.

"Gee, snob much?" she teased, leaning over to nudge Chloe's shoulder with her head, "One year in the big city, and you think you're too good for tourist crap!"

"Am I wrong, though?" Chloe pressed, chuckling, "Like, there's a bunch of shops that are all selling the exact. Same. Postcards. And also sportsball stuff. Sportsball stuff for days."

"Okay, fair," Max sighed, "But the waterfront also has some amazing, unique kitschy tourist traps! Miner's Landing is, like, weaponized kitsch, and none of that feels mass-produced."

"And Ye Olde Curiosity Shop is one of a kind!" she went on, "At least in the twenty first century. I think there were a lot more of that sort of sideshow 'marvel at these fantastical wonders!' places back in, like, the twenties."

"'Weaponized kitsch' is a good way to describe some of it, yeah," Chloe agreed, "Now I'm imagining at D-Day or something, just floating folksy carved wooden prospector statues at the Nazis, and them running away in panic."

"Well, darn!" Max fake grumbled, "If only we'd known it was that easy back in World War II!"

"'Oh no, zey have deployed ze little vooden men!'" Chloe cried in her best terrible German accent, "'Run avay! Ze statues of vague likenesses of old singers are floating toward ze beach! It vill all be over for us!'"

"This is a very talkative panicked Nazi," Max observed through her giggles.

"'Zeir is alvays enough time to be descriptive und precise, my dear fraulein,'" Chloe explained, "Okay, I'm done with that now. It was gonna start getting weird."

"Yeah, I'm not sure where you could've gone from there," Max agreed. They came to a stop past the aquarium, veering off from Alaskan Way to stand in the park between piers.

"Back to Berlin, probably," Chloe replied, "Just a mad dash back to Germany to get away from those terrifying kitschy statues." She nodded towards Miner's Landing. "Or maybe further. What's the furthest place on earth from Seattle?" Max pondered for a moment.

"South Africa, maybe?" she suggested, "I guess Antarctica, but that's not really a place you can go. Like, I think you need permits or something. Or maybe it's just hard to get anyone to take you unless you're doing, I dunno, penguin science?"

"I would do the hell out of some penguin science," Chloe declared, chuckling at the thought, "I could publish a paper: 'Penguins: Actually just normal birds, but very fancy?'"

"Pretty sure there's more to penguins than that," Max noted, letting go of Chloe's hand to put an arm around her waist and settle in a bit closer now that they weren't walking.

"We won't know until I do all the research," Chloe insisted, putting her own arm around Max's shoulders, "I'll get right on that." They meandered towards a bench and settled down to relax and look out over the water for a couple minutes.

"Don't hurry too much," Max replied, "I want you to stick around to live in Portland with me and stuff. Because I love you, and I'd miss you if you were in Antarctica."

"I mean, I'd take you with me to Antarctica," Chloe assured, "You could take artsy pictures of…" She tried to think of what was in Antarctica besides penguins. "Seals?"

"The South Pole might be a little too cold for me," Max sighed, "I get chilly in the winter, and Seattle winters aren't exactly brutal…" It was all hypothetical, of course. Even if she did go on to college and graduate school, Chloe was almost certain she'd never be going to Antarctica. But playing with weird hypotheticals was her and Max's thing at this point. Or one of their things, anyway. A game of teasing and banter and building on the bit. If she did ever go to Antarctica, Chloe knew she'd have to bring Max with her, because she sure as hell wasn't about to give any of this up.

"The cold will just give us an excuse to snuggle," Chloe stated, giving Max a squeeze to illustrate the point, "We'd pack some snuggies and flannel sheets, and we'd be all set."

"Oh, well, in that case," the shorter girl laughed, leaning over to rest her head on Chloe's shoulder, "I'm in. Let's go right away!"

"Can't," Chloe pointed out, "You've gotta go to college. You sent in the deposit and everything!"

"Well, I appreciate you putting your penguin science dreams on hold to support me," Max teased, nuzzling against Chloe a bit, "You give me four years in Portland, and then I'll give you four years in Antarctica." Four years in Portland. With Max. One year living with Max had been great, and now Chloe was getting ready to set out on four more. Then another four, but probably not actually in Antarctica. Then another four years, then eight, then twelve, then sixteen, and on and on and hopefully on. However many years it took to fill a lifetime with Max. Chloe was pretty sure she could handle that.