OOC: Sorry for late reply, been very busy with work @Patch
I nod my head; “Yea I suppose so. At the worst of times I’ve eaten things I never thought I’d eat…”
Thinking back to those times makes me gag a little; “Never again.”
I look at Slade as he’s working on making and placing the traps.
I have to admit, Slade looks real tasty, sweat gleaming on his skin in the sunlight… “Tasty…”
I realize I said that out loud and quickly follow it up;
“I hope we can find some tasty fruits, the forest looks promising.” I say as I nod towards the forest, hoping he didn’t catch on.
“We’re stuffed on this island, what good does any of it do?” I yell at Amber. At least back before we had The Mall and a city I knew like the back of my hand. This island is new uncharted territory and it terrifies me.
Besides I don’t need Amber to blame me, I already blame myself. Siva and I grew distant the moment Mega mentioned Taisan I was off chasing ghosts and where did it get me?
Back to this stupid island. " I need a walk," I explain, half heartedly. “If your serious about making camp in the building we found I’ll meet you there.”
“Easier for when we can get them out Danni… And we are getting them out” I paused for a moment “I’ll rephrase, I will get them out. I’ve been trapped before, not in the same way but trapped none the less and I wont let them suffer” I said and looked towards them, I knew she wasn’t happy with the situation and I don’t blame her… Besides why would she help them, they aren’t important to her.
“What if there was a fight in one of the cages? We can then swap them with some of the other prisoners?” I suggested as I looked back at her “If we get caught I will take the blame Danni, I will say I lied to you or whatever and I’ll deal with the consequences”
Watching Dannii and Zandra talking, trying to hear what they are talking about, I catch odd words, 'Fight, cages, swopping and Trouble" I wonder what they are talking about, seeing Zandra had me wondering if this was reality space and a test, I am still struggling to work out whats real or whats not… I watch Zandra, so many questions fill my head, glad she was alive, I look at Patsy and smile…
“You ok?” I ask
Sitting with my back against the cage so Patsy had the chance to hug into me if she wanted to… Wondering how many other Mall Rats were caged like animals, if Zandra and Dannii are alive and ok maybe Bray and the others were ok too…
I’m more than a little taken aback when Lex yells at me, this wasn’t the Lex who’d been back in the city with us; he was acting more like the Lex I’d first met all those years ago and if I was honest I didn’t like the current personality swap he seemed to be having. “Well I’m sorry Lex.” I say somehow finding the strength from deep within me and summoning it forward. Releasing his arm and stepping back I’m certain my legs aren’t going to keep me upright, certain I’m going to crumble to my knees, but if he was going to act this way then what more could I do?
“When you decide to stop being selfish, stop thinking this is only about YOU, perhaps you will realise that you really should have talked to us. Included us in this.” I snarl. “Hell perhaps you will even start to understand that I am NOT your enemy, you and I…we’ve come a long way, you think this is easy for me? Think this isn’t a terrifying situation to be in?” I ask shaking my head. “Maybe when you come down off your high horse, you will see that you really shouldn’t yell at someone who was actually understanding of the fact you’d kept something like this to yourself.”
Looking at him I shake my head once more “I was serious, although maybe if your temper is going to remain this way, you should keep your distance for a little while. The Tribe doesn’t need your negativity, we’ve all lost something Lex, all of us…so get your head out of the clouds.” I say before turning and walking away from him, I could feel myself trembling, could feel my knees buckling slightly as I walked away and back towards where the others were - this was so much to process, so much to take in and having him yell at me and make this about him, well it was typical Lex behaviour, except at the same time it wasn’t, not the Lex of recent months; not the Lex who’d helped back in the city - he’d helped with so much and now he was choosing to act selfish when we all needed him, I was beyond dissapointed.
Ram tells me I can trust him… but can I? Can I really? Then again… he’s alone here with us, no computers no nothing… besides… who would believe him if he turned on me…
Here goes nothing… ‘You know that before you conquered our city, there were others… The Chosen…’ I say, stroking my child’s hair… ‘Well… I was their Supreme Mother… and this island… that building… it was their safe haven…’
Flashes of memories enter my mind, being taken here after Bray couldn’t save me, because of Lex…
Hardly ever seeing anything but the insides of that room, where they took me so they could turn me over to the dark side.
‘I don’t know how to tell the others, the reminder of what I did then could end in me and Brady getting kicked out to fend for ourselves. but we can not stay here… not unless…’
I take a deep breath and swallow ‘Not unless you can confirm a rumor I heard in the city, before I was saved from the Chosen. Some of the spoke of the True Bringers of Power and Chaos arriving to the island… and that they came from the sky…
Who else had resources to come in from the skies… but you?!’
I smile as Jack starts musing out loud, it’s not really something I’ve ever minded. He’s never been the coolest kid in the mall but that really doesn’t bother me. He’s got more important qualities and I love him for them.
“It’s O.k.,” I assure him with a smile. “You’re only saying what I’m thinking,”
We head into the trees, far enough away though that we don’t hear the commotion of the others returning from the building behind us, or Amber and Lex’s argument. It’s nice, being hand in had and quietly exploring like this. Sure we could be heading right into danger but I’ve never really been one to play it safe.
I smile at Ellie as she leads the way “I hope there’s no technos still roaming around!” I say warily. I can see what I think is possibly the back of the building where Trudy and crew are. “I wonder if the others found anything of use in there yet.” I can’t help to start to get excited about all the new prospects this island could bring us. “Maybe you’ll be able to grow us some food here.” I tease Ellie
My brows rise in genuine surprise when she mentions the Chosen. Not what I’d been expecting her to say but, then again, this is much easier to deal with than if she’d found clear evidence of Techno presence. I’d like to assess the situation a little better myself before anything comes out about that. It does also confirm our location to me – Not that I ever really doubted my own assumptions.
“Aha… Yeah, I remember the Chosen… Bunch of religious crazies, real keen on good ol’ Zooty?” Maybe a little too keen, in some cases. Yeesh. They were fun for a while, though. Gave us some very interesting results in our Paradise trials. Fascinating, really, how quickly a lot of them managed to ditch the Zoot spiel when the going got tough…
I frown and fold my arms. “So… You’re worried this island could still have a little infestation problem… and you want to know if your buddy Ram and his big bad Technos might’ve been so considerate as to have already taken care of it for you…” I regard her thoughtfully for a moment, scratching at my chin. “And, uh, what makes you so sure I’m going to be cooperative in releasing this information? What’s in it for me?”
I gaze at her dead seriously for a moment, letting my words sink in. Then I snort and burst out laughing. “Relax! I’m just messing with you!” I grin lopsidedly. “Honey, against our weapons? They never stood a chance… So, just chill out, alright? You’ve got nothing to worry your pretty little head over…”Not just yet.
Great Job Lex. Really great. “I’m not…” I don’t know what to say to Amber. “Forget it. Island resort vacation. This is real great. Going to pull the whole tribe together.” I say sarcastically. “And we won. We defeated the bad guy of the month. Everything is fine in toy town.” I fake a smile. “I’m walking back to the others.” I say calmly and start my walk.
Amber loses Bray she mopes for weeks chewing off everyone’s head, Brady gets stolen Trudy goes off the deep end. But not me. I want to be left alone and not think about what I’ve lost and suddenly I’m the selfish one. My rucksack is wear I left it. Content by sitting on the beach, like I wanted. I pick it up and swing it on to my shoulders. It’s not filled with much, but for now it’s all I have and I want to keep it close.
Jack voiced his concerns and I shrugged a little. “I think both Ram and Jay would be a lot more worried about being here if that were the case.” I reply. They may not have been so up to date on recent events within the tribe but there would have been patrols and stuff already if this place was still a full on techno base. They both knew that we’ll enough.
"Well I guess we’ll see when we get back," I reply. “I mean it would depend on the soil and all sorts of things but I could give it a go…” I respond immediately. Ive never had the greenest of thumbs but if I’m the best option we’ve got I’ll have to suck it up. “if nothing else roses are pretty hardy…” I tease back knowing full well we couldn’t survive on a rose garden.
I just scoff quietly when I hear Lex’s retort, I wasn’t in the mood for his comments, wasn’t even sure how I was holding myself together - how was I going to act ‘normal’ now? Right now I really could use Lex in my corner, but of course that wasn’t going to happen. As I head back towards the others I try to focus my thoughts; right now wasn’t the time to think about Bray or any of our other friends, right now was the time to take action and get off the beach, perhaps if I told myself that it would actually happen, my heart and brain didn’t seem to be cooperating though.
I pause mid stride as I near the others, watching Salene and the others - this was something that didn’t just effect me, was it really worth saying anything though? Giving people hope now felt like a cruel thing to do, we had no idea where were were and as much as I wanted to question Ram, I knew right now wasn’t a good time to do so.
Taking a moment to glance around I’m pleased to see the boat has been pulled around and is more hidden than it had been before we’d gone to explore, getting on the boat back in the city had seemed like such a crazy option; it had been the only one we’d really had though. I wanted to try and steer everyone towards the building we’d found, at the same time - I just wanted to turn and walk away, there were so many conflicting emotions in my mind, I couldn’t be selfish though - this wasn’t about me. Now as I scanned the beach I knew we needed to wait for everyone to return, standing around was the last thing I wanted to do though. Moving I head towards the boat, I knew leaving some stuff on board for now would probably be smart, but I also wanted to check that was ok, I didn’t want to just assume it to be.
The camp was clean and everything was packed. i stand up and glance arround, watching Amber going to the boat. Where the hell are all the others?
" Come on, let’s check on the rest" i look at Ruby and the kids. With anod ruby stands up and i hand her one of the lightest bags. " Lottie, can you take Bray jr plase " i watch the young girl which nod.
I also handed Sammy a few bags and then we made our way to the boat. Hopefully the others are arround and decided to come to the boat soon,
I nod my head as Ryan asks if im okay. Maybe he sees it as well? Maybe Danni wont help, cause she’s still mad with me? I wonder. I sit down next to Ryan and lean into his arms, probably to old to be doing so now, but i dont care. “Do you think we will get out of here?” I ask, biting on my lower lip for a few seconds before i add. “will we get to be together with Kc again?, together together, not like in cages”
I smirk at May, understanding what she means. I too had eaten things I’d never thought I’d eat. “Never say never. You do what you can to survive.”
I finish fixing a rock in place when I thought I heard May say something, but she’s sort of drowned out by what’s going on down the beach. There’s quite a lot going on by the looks of it. “Maybe there is something edible hiding in there…” I half-respond as I stare back at where the others are.
“I hope all this work isn’t going to waste, looks like we’re leaving?” I turn my attention back to May.
Patsy cuddles into me as I watch Zandra and Dannii talking… Wish I could break free and escape taking Patsy with me but thats impossible, I don’t know how brain washed Zandra has been and Dannii doesn’t look in the mood to help… I wrap my arms around Patsy, she is probably far too old for this but I don’t care she has been tbrough far too much in her life she needs to know someone still cares…
“So you’ve gone from rescuing one to rescuing all of them. What’s your plan, walk them out the front gate?” I reply shaking my head. I had no idea why Zandra wanted to help the Mall Rats and I wasn’t going to question her choice of people but if she thought we could just open the cage and set them free she was crazy.
Listening I nod slightly, that had been my thought process as well, if we had to move them because of ‘bad behaviour’. “The consequences? If we get caught it won’t just be a cage, it will be seen as treason… are you really willing to deal with that for these… these people?” I ask her. I had no idea why the Mall Rats were important to her, but I’d picked up that they were the ones she was trying to save, “and what about everyone else? Are you just going to leave them locked up or are you planning a full mutiny?” Ok I sounded slightly sarcastic that time but the more I thought about her plan the more unrealistic it all seemed.
Attempting to focus my thoughts as I walk to the boat, I really wasn’t sure what to do with the information I’d been given - what could I do? We were on some unknown Island, chances of us ever seeing the city again were slim; we didn’t even know if it was safe to ever return, so even though my heart was telling me to stop and think about what Lex had said, the logical side of me understood that there was little we could do - I just felt so torn, did I tell the others or keep it to myself so they didn’t have to feel the emotions I currently was trying to wrap my head around; keeping something like this to myself just felt so unbelievably wrong, at the same time so did giving everyone hope. What if our friends and loved ones really were still alive? Stumbling slightly onto the boat I reach out in time before I hit the deck “Pull yourself together Amber.” I mutter under my breath, grateful nobody is around to see me in my current state.
Scanning the boat I sigh when I realise it really is empty, not even Zak appears to be here and if I was completely honest he’d been the person I’d hoped hadn’t left the boat, but after weeks stuck cooped up I was certain even he was grateful to be back on land, I really shouldn’t be surprised he wasn’t here. Regaining my composure I move over to pick up my coat and scan to make sure we had everything we were going to need, food and water were something we needed to find, they definitely needed to be a priority, first though it was a case of hoping nobody had ventured too far away so we could actually move away from such a wide open space and get somewhere out of sight, the abandoned building seemed perfect, even if it had spooked Trudy for reasons I was uncertain of. The truth was though, there was a great deal of uncertainty right now, it was why we needed to all know where to return to and hopefully set up a base of sorts.
I pause as I notice the pile of clothes, setting my coat back down I move over to investigate further, my eyebrow quirking ever so slightly as I realise they are Zak’s clothes, that meant he couldn’t be far away after all; well unless he was wandering around half naked. I shake that thought away as quickly as it enters my mind. Walking towards the back of the boat my eyes scan the water and it doesn’t take long for me to notice Zak a little distance away in the water, clearing my throat slightly in a means to announce my presence I divert my gaze so I’m not fully invading his private moment - I understood we’d pretty much taken over his space the last few weeks, I wasn’t even sure I’d said thank you, I was sure all of us had, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to make certain. “I just wanted to say thank you. You really pulled through for us and I’m sure you’re ready to have your boat back to yourself.” I comment as my eyes scan the water. “We found an abandoned building just up the beach, you’re welcome to join us while we figure out what to do next, however I understand if you’d rather stay here.” No he wasn’t a Mallrat, he’d helped us though at a time of need and now we all just needed to pull together, none of us knew him, not really, but I knew enough to know his heart was in the right place and for that reason alone I wanted to make certain he knew he was welcome to join us if he chose to do so.
I turn my head as I hear KC (@Katsy ) speaking. I sigh. oh i hope that we will get out of here soon. I close my eyes before i take a deep breath. I wanna tell Danni that I am sorry. Looking at Ryan I push myself up. “I need to tell Danni im sorry” i say in a whisper