The suggestion of the bonfire went a remarkable way toward putting her at her ease. It was a potential imposition she would not have considered if alone - though logic told her few beachgoing partiers ever minded a bit more company than they had anticipated - but with someone else at her side it seemed not half a bad idea. So she followed him, squinting into the distance as she sought some detail in their silhouettes. For her efforts she earned only the vague and troubling impression of shapes within the tongues of flame, moving like living things as the revelers shifted before it. Quickly Karin looked away, seeking the strange comfort of the sea. Its inexorable waves brought her solace of a sort, but at the same time made her heart race; she could never have explained it, though she had tried often enough.
Her teeth worried at her lip, the idle gesture ceasing when Dominic spoke again. She looked over to him, grateful for the tangible solidness, the realness of him beside her. She smiled softly, blinking as she thought back on her move, counting the months since her arrival. "Oh," she breathed, as if surprised by the answer that came. "About a year, actually." Chuckling quietly, she shook her head. "Time flies."
She looked down to her feet, watching their soft shuffling pass through the sand. It distracted her for a moment from the feeling of eyes upon her, from the sensation of short hairs rising on the back of her neck. It was here, or soon would be - whatever it was, of course - but she could not give in yet. She swallowed hard and forged ahead. "I'm sorry I haven't met you yet," she said. "I like to be better about that. I'm a nurse, though, so if I get stuck on an odd shift it's all I can do to just see my sister."