Stranded - The Unforgiving Pacific (Closed)

[thegibe]

OOC: Let the fun (term used loosely for this context ) begin! You may have noticed a few details have changed. Also, for all watchers, and participants, I feel the need to suggest that in some cases, events that don't really make sense logically, but serve well to advance the plot, are acceptable. Also, sorry for the extremely long post, but there was a lot to cover.



Scott Fitzgerald had considered, from the onset, the cruise to be an almost ridiculously excellent assignment. But you may have the faint idea his perspective would soon change.

A graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, Scott had entered the Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant. The option of entering the Navy had of course been open to him, but he felt the need to join the Marines compelling him. They were the elite, after all. As they said in the Academy, "If you want to fight, join the Marines."

After more extensive military training, he then proceeded to be shipped around the world for various tasks, most of them combat missions. He rose relatively quickly through the ranks due to his inert skill and leadership abilities.

That all took place over the last four years. Now 26 years old, Scott had risen through the ranks to a Major. The last three months he had spent in an intense combat zone (details restricted), and was, frankly, exhausted. He'd requested from his superiors a more gentle assignment, and in light of his actions, granted it to him willingly.

That's how he ended on the Pearl Eye. Along with five other Marines, he was there for security purposes. Ever since the Baya had fallen prey to pirates, they had begun placing military personel on such vessels, and Scott was given the grace of doing so.

It wasn't like real work. Indeed, he spent much of his time vacationing like the rest. However, the job was a job, and he had duties.

On this night, March 29 he was on patrol duty. Simply put, this meant he walked around the ship dressed in his uniform with his M16 rifle in his hand, and his "stern look" on his face.

A pleasure cruise, a great assignment.... until the storm.

Scott had never experienced anything like it. It was Nature in all her glory and all her might and all her power. He was humbled, but he was in control of himself. He was a Marine.

After about an hour of Hell, Scott discerned, from some ineffable insight, that the ship was lost. As soon as this thought set in, he sent to work immediately.

Battling his way to the port side, he went straight to the life boat. Damn outdated piece of shit! was his first thought as he saw it.

It was a wooden (probably reinforced, but still wooden) boat, capable of carrying about ten people. A forlorn glance around the ship told him there was no way he could save them all, and the thought pierced his heart like a bullet. Nonetheless, he set to his task with grim determination.

The electricity was down, he'd have to force the crane holding the boat away from the boat manually. Setting his hands to it, he pulled as hard as he could. His muscles strained, and it moved slightly, but not enough.

His eyes flashed about for help. He spotted someone he'd seen earlier among the crew. An engineer, he thought.

"Hey, you!" Scott shouted, gaining the man's attention. He seemed about to rush off again, but Scott held him with his voice. "You want to live? Help me with this God damn boat!"

Together, they managed to swing it out over the water, a task that took about ten minutes. It was about then that ship struck the rocks.

Scott lost his balance, like almost everyone, and fell hard. Recovering himself, he was quickly back up, and looked for his partner in this endeavor. The engineer had managed to stay upright, and Scott was rather impressed beneath his urgency.

As the ship grinded along the reef, the hull vibrated horribly, one of the worst sensations Scott had ever experienced. He began shouting, calling everyone as many people over to him.

There were only a few lucky ones, as almost no one could hear him, the only ones who did happened to be running by. Together with the engineer, and a few more men who'd joined him (including one man, who had obviously been drunk but had sobered up quite quickly in light of things) they swung the small group of people into the lifeboat.

Another girl was running towards them, and in the back of his mind realized she was one of the band members of that band that was on-board. Scott hadn't been interested (being a fan of classic rock himself), but that was by no means no reason to leave her behind.

Just as he was about to call to her, the ships path along the reef ended, and it began to lean off to oceanic side of the reef. The stop caused the girl to lose her balance, and she toppled to the floor, hitting her head quite hard.

Stooping, Scott lifted her easily, and bore her back to the boat. It was obvious there was no more time, and he jumped into the boat, holding her.

The engineer showed them how to lower the boat, and they began to do so with all speed. However, a grim fact soon dawned on the Major. As the ship tipped to the side, the angle and distance that the lifeboat was from the dying vessel was getting smaller and smaller. Soon enough, they would lean against the ship as it continued to roll. This would cause the lifeboat to tip, and they would all most certainly drown.

He acted immediately. "Hold on, hold on to anything!" He shouted, and aimed his rifle at the chord keeping the boat to the crane.

The first shot missed. It was, after all, raining in sheets and he couldn't be blamed. The second shot hit it, and almost broke it, but not enough. The third severed the chord, causing the lifeboat to drop the remaining distance.

Amazingly, the boat didn't take on too much water, and no one fell out.

After a brief search they uncovered the oars, and the men proceeded to row towards what the once-drunk had discovered to be an island.

The trip took about half an hour - an absolute horrifying half hour for all of them. The ship was out of sight now, and the screams were silenced.

Finally, the boat beached the shore. Jumping out, Scott assisted them in pulling it further out of the water, before getting back inside.

"Everyone get under those trees up there!" He shouted. Perhaps there would be less rain there.

Stooping, he again lifted the unconscious girl into his arms, and carried her to where the rest were congregating.

Some assignment.

 

[Steiner]

James Duggan

OOC: Welcome to the thread everyone.

What a night. He'd been catching a spell of air above decks when it had happened - the storm that had been threatening all week actually hit them, and it had shaken them like a rag doll.

He'd been about to return to his duty station when the leader of the onboard security force had grabbed him and ordered him to help out with the lifeboat - and something about the way that the man had seemed so certain of himself amidst the general chaos had convinced James to follow his orders.

The whole ghastly process of abandoning ship had taken about an hour, he supposed, although once stricken the liner had taken about 15 minutes to sink. Only the Marine's prescience had caused them to survive, all other boats had been dragged down in various states of being launched. With their boat full of people, they'd resolutely paddled through the storm-tossed water - James would remember the screams coming from ebhind him forever.

 

[Cordae]

Julie

Julie sat with her arms around herself shivering against another young girl. Water splashed into the life boat from all angles, blurring her vision and soaking her skin while lightning curled across the sky. The splintered bench she was huddled on was the least of her worries as she watched the men who had ushered her onto the boat struggle to gain a sufficent control over the oars.

When the vessel finally hit land on a small island, Julie stumbled across the sand and under the shelter of a tree. Hugging the tree tightly, Julie closed her eyes and her mind flashed to her friends who she thought most certainly must have died. As far as she knew, her life boat was the only to have made if safely away from the ship, and they most certainly were not aboard. Her tears were masked easily by the stinging rain and she let them fall freely.

The wind howled through her hair, knotting it tightly. Leaning her head against the tree's trunk Julie prayed. For her friends, for herself, and for the storm to have seperated them to die.

 

[Steiner]

James Duggan

It seemed that running up a wet sandy beach was harder than it looked, at least everybody looked as tired as he felt once they congregated under the tree.

James looked out, hoping beyond hope to see some flares or the running lights of a rescue helicopter, or the low shape of a ship - but the night was too foul for that and all he could see were clouds, waves and some stormtossed debris.

People were huddled into small knots, some clinging together for warmth or support, others just trying to fit into the small space under the trees. Hopefully the fury of the storm would abate shortly - unless this was a proper hurricane (or was it Typhoon?) which could go on for days yet.

Fighting the damp cardboard out of his shirt pocket, he opened the carton of cigarettes and hid in the lee of a large trunk whilst he tried to get his zippo working. Sure enough the thing fired and James slumped to the ground, sucking fiercely onto the glowing cigarette and letting the calm of the familiar action wash over him.

 

[Vikingstone]

Reggie

Scrambling madly out of the heaving life boat into hip deep water, Reggie grabbed ahold of an oarlock. The lad in the uniform seemed to have his wits about him and was screaming something over the din of the howling wind. Ah, yes run the fucker up onto the beach! Good thinking, man! Reg dimly realized that there still were people in the cursed thing and they needed land and shelter quickly.

The boat safely run aground, Reggie crawled farther up onto the beach and resisted the urge to vomit all over it. He knew any moisture in his body might be badly needed in the hours and perhaps days to come. This little spot on the horizon had been barely distinguishable through the driving rain and he still had no clear idea of how big it was or even what the deuce it looked like now that he was standing on the blasted thing.

The gent in the uniform was yelling again...oh yes, yes into the trees right. Right. Reggie stood on his shaky legs but was almost upended by a gust that caused the rain to hit him like a hand full of pebbles.

"Jesus CHRIST, can you let up for just a moment here please, can't you see I'm on HOLIDAY!!!!" Reggie screamed into the wind with a touch of insanity in his voice. His physical situation was most disconcerting. He'd gone from being quite sloshed and mumbling obsceneties into the ear of a rather plastic looking divorcee from Texas to leaping into the raging sea. Consequently, his adrenal gland had squeezed about 50,000 cc's of it's nectar into his bloodstream making Reggie one hell of a wide awake and excited drunk.

Scrambling into the dubious shelter of the treeline he quickly noted that the one he was hunkering behind was, in fact, a cocoanut palm. Well, they wouldn't immediately starve. He moved to where the others cowered from the storms' fury and inadvertently sat down in a puddle. Shite.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Messalina Bishop

Messalina Bishop never had night terrors, but now knew the eventuality of it -- what had just happened would remain indelibly etched in her mind for years to come. Just the memory of the metal screech, like a giant's fingernails on a chalkboard, as the hull scraped bottom and reverberated throughout the ship was enough to send shivers up her spine. When the Pearl Eye began to list, she'd lost her footing, but thank heavens not her wits.

Grabbing her backpack, Messa slid it over her shoulders after putting on her boots and leaving them untied. If the lifeboat went down, she knew she could slide it off to keep from drowning and lose the boots, too. If it didn't... well that was all to the good.

Relieved that they had made it to land, Messalina climbed shakily from the lifeboat and strode on rubber legs toward the stand of trees the Marine had directed them toward. She saw it before she smelled it... someone was smoking! Ignoring the fact that she'd quit two months ago, Messa walked over to the man who was standing against a tree.

"Gods that looks good. Mind if I have a drag?"

 

[caela]

Stacy Jacobs

Without thinking Stacy began running a mental as well as physical inventory to check over herself for any wounds that could prove detrimental when she finally rolled out of the life boat and onto the sand. Nothing broken, a few shallow cuts but nothing serious and a muscle strain as well. Overall she was in good shape and hoped the same could be said of the other survivors.

She'd given herself a cruise as a graduation present before she was supposed to start working at the local hospital as a surgical technician. She'd figured she'd deserved the break between busting her ass in school and going to bust her ass at, what she considered, her 'real' job. Apparently fate was a bitch with an evil sense of humor because now she was stuck on an island and from what she could tell was the only one with much in the way of a medical background.

She'd watched everyone make for the treeline as the Naval officer had ordered but when she was in her tech. mode she didn't take instruction well from anyone that didn't have a string of initials before their name and the simple fact was she was already soaked so what was a little rain? Finally certain she was in good shape she made her own way to the treeline and the others and knelt down next to the unconcious woman. Opening the woman's eyelids gently she growled softly realizing she didn't have anything to use as a light until she saw the guy and woman smoking a little but away.

"Can I borrow your lighter?"

 

[Steiner]

James Duggan

Shivering in the lee of an all too flimsy tree, James turned as people started recovering enough to address him. He was, as far as he could make out, the only member of the ships crew left, and he wasn't sure whether people would blame him for the disaster but it seemed everyone was focused on practicalities - he supposed that anyone prone to hysteria was probably on the reef bed by now.

A rather practically dressed woman came around the tree as if she was looking for something, spotted the glowing coal he was sheilding with his palm and moved close enough to talk to him. With the avid hunger of the recovering addict she asked for a drag. Grateful for such a mundane human contact, he leaned in against her so that he could shield the lit end as he passed it to her, the sheer ordinariness of the act reassuring him, as if he was stood at the bar back on board the Pearl rather than shipwrecked on an unknown island with a bunch of strangers.

"Here you go, help yourself!" he said, with his trademarked lop-sided grin.

As the woman took her first drag another voice, this one with more urgency to it, requested his lighter. The woman was knelt next to the one casualty, and the way she was working on the girl as if she was filling out routine paperwork, rather than floundering to remember basic first aid skills barely remembered and never put into practice, made him sure she was trained in what she was doing. At first he made to toss the lighter to her, but then common sense asked him what he'd do if it bounced into a puddle or rolled under a tree root, so he crossed the short distance to hand it to the woman instead.

 

[Pywakit]

Amanda Richards

Everything seemed strange. Amanda felt like she was somehow disconnected from herself... she'd felt this way once before, when that creepy guy at the nightclub had convinced her to try some shrooms, but it was different too. She almost felt outside of herself. She watched herself, peering over the railing of the ship, feeling the night rain beating down on her and not caring. She held her violin case in one hand; she'd thought she'd come up on the bow and play, but it was too wet and rainy so she hadn't bothered opening the case. They'd played one set earlier for a fairly large crowd, and it had been exciting and all, but the whole time she'd kept catching herself watching her friend Sienna sing. She was so beautiful when she sang. Amanda had been fighting with her growing obsession with the lead singer of their band "Wet Monkey Love" for some months now, and frankly she was sick of it. So here she was, leaning over the railing watching the inky waters below, trying to get the courage to head back to the suite of rooms and see if Sienna was still awake. To see what she thought about inter-band flings, as it were. She ran her tongue stud over the inside ridge of her teeth as she did when she was nervous, twisting one of her earrings idly between a finger and thumb at the same time, as she did when she was really nervous.

If she continued to hide her feelings, she was afraid she'd snap. But if she spoke to Sienna, and she freaked out, well, that'd be even worse. Or would it?

The rain continued to beat down on her. She felt so cold. Why wasn't she going back inside? She didn't have to talk to Sienna; she was probably asleep now anyway! Christ, she was wet. This rain was unbelievable.

Suddenly, pain shot through her body, and the whole world seemed to lurch. One moment, she was standing, and the next, she was lying down. Firey pain shot down from her head along her back. She couldn't see. Her ears were ringing, and although she was freezing her face felt strangely warm. She could still feel the rain, and suddenly her eyes snapped open. She froze for a moment as she focused on the flame flickering before her, on the woman who was holding the flame in her hand, and on the strange dark shapes that seemed to writhe and twist above her. Were they palm fronds? That didn't make any sense!

Amanda gasped, as she tried to sit up, terror taking hold in her gut. She realized she was still clutching her violin case, but that it looked like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

 

[CollegeCutie]

Stephanie

Stephanie sat huddled on the ground with her back against a palm tree, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. She was completely soaked head to toe from the rain, and couldn't stop shivering. Part of which might have been from the shock of what had just happened to her. She felt numb, the realization of it all hadn't hit her yet. This can't be real. she thought to herself. Things like this happened to other people, not her.

Somehow in all the commotion that broke out once the ship hit the reef she had gotten seperated from her family. She had been running up and down the deck looking for them when she saw a man in uniform yelling at people trying to get them into a lifeboat. Stephanie hurried towards him and let him and another man help her into the boat. She told herself that her family was probably getting on another lifeboat right now too. They would find one another later, but at the moment she had to concentrate on surviving.

That was what she kept telling herself as she sat shivering in the wet sand. They weren't dead. Just because she hadn't seen any other lifeboats in the water with them didn't mean they were dead. It was dark and the rain from the storm made it difficult to see just about anything. They were probably just down the beach a ways huddling under a palm tree like she was. Things would be better in the morning.

 

[thegibe]

Scott

For about the past forty-five minutes, the adrenaline had been coursing through Scott's veins, turning him into a veritable unstoppable machine, whose sole purpose was to save their lives. Now that the main aspect of that purpose was complete - getting them off the ship - the injection was starting to wear off, and he felt the same sense of dread and horror that was affecting many of the others.

How many others had made it? Scott was a realist, and wasn't about to lie to himself. No other boats were being dropped on the side they were when the left. He felt almost certain they were the only survivors.

His glance came back to the present, looking over the ragtag group that had made it. Two smoking - he couldn't blame them - the one girl seemed to be coming back, he'd left her with the girl who seemed to know her way around first aid. They all seemed to be fine, more or less, so he looked back to Amanda.

Being a Major, he knew something about first aid, even if it was elementary. He'd seen people torn apart by shrapnel, so her condition did not seem to serious to him, but he still knew that there should he something he could do.

What about cover? Is there anything they possibly could do? The boat, he thought, an idea springing into his mind.

He didn't want to disturb the others... the two smoking were probably doing the best they could to hold themselves together, and he didn't want to cause anyone to enter traumatic shock, so he wouldn't order them if he could.

Taking a few deep breaths to get himself moving again, as the temporary relapse was threatening to absorb all his energy, he ran back out to the boat. He put his hands on the rope in the front, and heaved, pulling the heavy boat up the beach, towards where they were congregated.

Suddenly, he felt the load go easier, and glanced to see who was helping. The driving rain prevented him from recognizing them, so he merely grunted a thanks.

Together, they heaved the boat into the treeline. "Help me turn it over," he shouted, "and lets prop the nose against a tree!"

This task took about five minutes all told, but after there was a small bit of shelter underneith it, and he'd tied off the rope higher on the tree, ensuring it wouldn't collapse back down on them

First priority was the casualty, he knew, and he approached their mock-medic. "Can we move her? Let's get her under that!"

 

[Devious101]

It still had not hit J.D as to what had happened with the boat. It was just so unbelievable! One minute he was enjoying himself on a ship for a holiday, the next he was scrambling for his life, desperate to find a lifeboat. Turning away from the shoreline, he headed in towards the trees, along the way looking at his limbs and other body areas to check for injuries. Nothing but a few scratches, nothing too serious. His hands moving up to check his head and quickly he winced in pain. The top right part of his head - there seemed to be a rather nasty cut.

JD knew he should ask someone to look at it, but right now all he wanted to do was find a place to sit. Passing the other passengers that had survived, it suddenly reminded him of his other friends that were on the boat. His stomach dropped and his heart stopped beating momentarily....they had to have survived, atleast gotten on another lifeboat.

He then wanted to vomit at the thought of them dead. Quickly swallowing, he considered asking for a cigarette from the people to his left, but thought against it. He had never smoked in his life and whilst now was a very good time to do so, he just couldnt. Looking up then to see one of the girls sitting by herself near the trees, taking a deep breath he approached her, as he was getting closer he could she her shivering, it had to be a combination of the cold and shock.

"hey....is it ok if I sit with you"

 

[Pywakit]

Amanda

It was chaos. Amanda looked around, wondering what was going on. The cruise ship was gone, and here she was sitting on a soaking beach. One woman was trying to examine her head, a few others were huddled under a tree, and two more were dragging what looked like a lifeboat up the beach toward her.

A lifeboat?

Suddenly, it all came rushing back. The lurching of the ship, the terrible rending and terring sound of the hull, losing her footing.

"What the fuck happened? Where the hell are we?" she cried out, but her words seemed to be stolen away by the wind of the storm. The men propped the boat up near a tree, and one of them asked the woman who was examining her if they could move her. Amanda cursed again.

"I can walk! I can walk, damnit! What the hell's going..." but as she tried to stagger to her feet, her head swam and she crumpled. She felt her violin case slip in her hands and she clutched at it in terror as she crumpled back onto the sand. The case felt solid, real under her fingers. She knew on some level that she'd somehow just survived a shipwreck, and if that were the case, then her violin might be the only thing she had left. She sure as hell wasn't going to let it go. Her vision blurred again, and she felt her stomach clench with a wave of nausea.

She tried to speak again, to ask what had happened one more time, but this time, all that emerged from her lips was a single sob.

 

[caela]

Stacy felt bad for the girl as she suddenly woke up lost and with no sense of where she was. She watched her stumble to her feet only to fall back to the sand with a soft sob. Moving in close she draped an arm around the girls shoulder and held her gently.

"Shhh, the boat sank hun. You and the people you see around you survived. We're on an island...somewhere. Now I need you to relax and let me examine you quickly, you had a nasty fall and knock to your head and unless someone else here is medical personnel I'll probably be doing most of the doctoring."

Keeping her voice gentle she shifted so that she was facing the girl and pulled up the lighter the guy had handed her. She'd have to catch his name so she could thank him later. Gently she lifted the girls eyelid and murmured, "Hold still please, I know a lighter is not what you're used to a doctor using to check your pupils but well, I don't have a penlight." Flicking on the lighter she watched as the girls eyes dilated normally and then tenderly checked the back of her head for any bumps or cuts.

"Well it's going to hurt like hell for awhile but you'll be alright. You need to rest though so let the guys help you over to the trees where you can sit down and try to get over the shock of it all. Maybe later you can play some for the rest of us and help soothe everybody."

Stacy smiled warmly and motioned for a couple of guys to help the girl.

 

[Steiner]

James Duggan

Handing the cigarette back to his partner-in-poisoning, James moved to help as their medic looked for assistance. Sliding his arm around the seated casualties back and kneeling at the casualties level (as he'd been trained to do in the First Aid class that all ships personnel were required to take) he tried to smile reassuringly at the wide eyed woman, who was clutching at a box of some type.

"Come on, let's get you out of this weather shall we?"

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Messalina

Glad for the normalcy of taking the last drag off the cigarette, Messalina dropped it, listening to the hiss as it was extinguished and slid her backpack off her shoulders. They had moved the injured girl under the shelter provided by the lifeboat and it was time for her to stop her snivelling and get thinking.

Joining the others, she rummaged through her things. "These will help, I think," Messa said as she handed a small flashlight to the woman who had been using a lighter without much success in the downpour. The next thing was a first aid kit.

It may have seemed strange to the others for Messalina to have such things, but in her line of work, and considering where she was headed at the end of this oh, so marvelous and relaxing -- NOT -- cruise, it wasn't unusual at all. In fact, she thought, there were probably a few more things in her pack that would come in handy sooner or later.

Messalina reached in one more time, and going by feel rather than sight, was gratified as her fingers closed around an economically rolled piece of plastic. "A poncho," she said, handing this to the Marine. "Not huge, but big enough to do something with."

Knowing there would be time enough for introductions later, Messalina eased herself onto her haunches and wrapped her arms around her body, trying to stay out of the way as much as possible. Though they were far from shielded from the wrath of the storm, it still felt good not to feel the rain beating a direct path through her skull to her brain.

 

[Pywakit]

Amanda

Amanda's eyes grew wide as she sat, frozen in place. "The ship... sank..." she muttered, trying to wrap her head around the event. She felt numb all over. She didn't resist as they led her over to the improvised shelter of the boat, but once there she drew her knees up to her chest and clutched her violin to herself. She looked at the rest of them, one at a time. She didn't know any of them, but most of them looked as scared and disoriented as she felt, and strangely, that was comforting.

She sighed again. Her head was still swimming, and she closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing, on the sound of the wind and the rain, trying to keep herself from throwing up from the shock of it all.

 

[CollegeCutie]

Stephanie

"hey....is it ok if I sit with you"

Stephanie looked up upon hearing the voice and saw a boy who appeared to be a bit older than herself, though it was hard to tell for sure with all of the rain clouding her vision. She nodded her head and he took a seat next to her in the sand. She was happy to discover that his body somewhat shielded her from the wind and her shivering eased slightly.

They sat in silence for a while as they watched the ordeal with the unconcious girl play itself out, then moved to sit under the overturned boat with the others. It was then that she noticed a small trickle of blood flowing from the top right part of his head. The rain must have been washing the blood away before, or maybe she just hadn't seen it.

"You should have her look at that," she said nodding her head towards Stacy, "I think she's a doctor or something."

 

[Vikingstone]

Reggie

Reg lay in the sand with the rain pounding on his body. It wasn't like it was ice cold or anything but it was damned uncomfortable and if he could get under the shelter of the flipped boat he would. But the effort of moving the bastard just about exploded his lungs and he was doing a little recovery, face down in the sand.

Reg looked into the boat and was relieved to see everyone had scuttled beneath...without him having to help any more. He crawled underneath the end closest to the tree crotch they'd wedged it into and found himself next to a rather handsome woman with some sort of rucksack. She was handing out a few useful items from within, flashlight, a large plastic poncho, first aid kit. Reggie peeked over her shoulder and saw the swell of a pair of impressive breasts, as well as a wealth of things that would come in very handy indeed, should their situation actually be as dire as he thought it might. He was also curious as to why this Girl Scout had come so prepared.

Plenty of time to get answers later. First things first...Reg reached into the voluminous side pocket of his safari shorts and was VERY relieved to find his trusty hip flask. More than a flask really, it was a flat, curved quart bottle that came with the shorts, ostensibly a water container. Reg had changed it to a bourbon container long ago and a stiff pull off the blasted thing was just what was called for. It burned down his throat mightily making him feel nice all over.

He noticed his charming wreck-mate had wrapped herself up rather tightly next to him. Surely, the only chivalrous thing to do was to offer her a snort. Reg tapped her lightly on the shoulder and proffered his booze.

"Hello, I'm Reggie, would you care for a blast?" he raised his voice above the still snarling wind.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Messalina

"A blast?" Messalina asked, not noticing the extended flask at first and declining when she did, albeit reluctantly. It was, she realized, an attempt at finding order in their disorder. "Messalina. Messalina Bishop."

When she held out her hand, Reggie misunderstood and handed her the flask, which made her chuckle. To his credit, he smiled sheepishly and switched hands after capping the bottle and shook hers. Truth, it actually felt good to touch someone after what had happened; another anchor to reality, and she was almost sorry when he let it go.

Messa hadn't made his acquaintance on board the Pearl, but she had seen him as she had seen most of the people huddled together under the makeshift shelter. His accent made him a Brit, though he could very well be from one of the "colonies". Funny how it took a crisis sometimes to get people talking.

She didn't want to talk about obvious things. The storm, for instance or even the wreck and how lucky they were to have escaped. She didn't want to talk about what they would do next, either. There was time enough for that when the sun came up in a couple more hours. Right now, Messalina Bishop wanted to talk about trivial things. Things that were unimportant in the face of their situation. Something she hadn't done for ages.

"I'm from the U.S.," she offered lamely, hoping that Reggie would pick up the conversation from here. "East coast. New Jersey, actually. You?" Mentally crossing her parts, Messalina hoped he'd talk. And talk. And talk some more. She needed to hear a voice that wasn't screaming or crying or shouting. Normal. She needed normal... even if she wasn't sure what that exactly meant now. If she ever did.

 

[Steiner]

James Duggan

Crouching on the dirt beneath the boat, rain hammering on the inverted hull above his head, he watched the girl he'd half led and half carried as she squeezed the violin case almost to breaking point.

Despite the limited supply, and despite having had one 120 minutes ago, he quickly lit up another cigarette. The habitual hand movements were reassuing, but not as much as the cheery yellow flame of the lighter, nor the smoke as it sank into his lungs and calmed his nerves.

"Apparently" he said as if to himself "smoking can be hazardous to your health..."

With that he took another drag, shaking his head and laughing softly.

 

[Vikingstone]

Reggie

"Ah yes, New Jersey, I spent a week there one day!" Reggie gave Messalina a gentle bump as he teased her. She had just the tiniest edge of hysteria creeping into her voice and Reg thought it best to keep things light. "And if we're giving full names then you may address me as Sir Reginald R.H. Trowbridge, O. B. E., and I consider myself a citizen of the world!" Reggie exclaimed pompously, his raised voice bringing a few stares from his soaked and ragged fellows. He leaned in to Messalina to finish his pronouncement, "But my life of ignominy began in a nondescript hamlet west of London." Reg smiled warmly at Messalina, trying to fire up the charm even though he looked as if someone had just pulled him out an industrial clothes washer.

The good news was the clothes washer was beginning to abate. He had detected a significant lessening of the storms fury in the past few minutes and the sound on the hull of the overturned lifeboat had downgraded from thousands of small arms rounds to, well, just a hard rain.

Rubbing shoulders with Messalina again, Reg said, "I say, my Empress, I believe Neptune is taking pity on us. Have you been burning some offerings when I wasn't looking?"

 

[Cordae]

Julie

As she collected her thoughts, Julie watched her wreckmates. Some were sitting and talking, smoking, and some were attending to the injured girl. "Fuck!" she thought, "I wish I wasn't so useless." Her background in early childhood education would be inconsequential. "I'll be the first one eaten."

Grumbling, Julie stood up and began to head inward. The dense foliage of the island whipped at her body. Squinting through the rain and wind, she explored slowly, her arms wrapped tightly about herself. A hill rose up to meet her feet and she climbed, slipping on the wet grass until she found a small cave. With barely enough room to stand, a quick scan told Julie the cave was dry, and had room to fit all of the survivors inside comfortably.

Quickly walking back to shore, Julie smiled to herself "Maybe I won't be the first one eaten after all."

Her eyes fell on the group at the overturned life boat and she waved, hoping to catch someones attention.

 

[Maid of Marvels]

Messalina

"Aye, Claudius," Messalina responded with a genuine smile and nodded sagely. "I had a few drags off a new product called a cigarette made from tobacco. Quite rare. In fact, it won't hit our neck of the woods for a millennium or two. Give or take, though I think mostly give. Test marketing, don't you know."

When she tugged at her bedraggled ponytail to tighten the scrunchy holding most of it in place, Messa noticed one of the others step outside the shelter. Privy run, Messa figured, though she kept her eye on the general direction the girl had taken.

"So, Sir Reginald R. H. Trowbridge, O.B.E., what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

Before he could answer, Messa saw that the girl had returned. Only she wasn't coming back under the shelter. She was standing there waving her arms and trying to draw someone's attention. Well, she had it. Hers, anyway.

Nudging Reggie's arm, Messa gestured in her direction and spoke softly. "Go see what's up, will you? Please?"

 

[Devious101]

"You should have her look at that," she said nodding her head towards Stacy, "I think she's a doctor or something."

Glancing up a little too quickly, his vision blurred and then spun. It had to have been from that cut on his head, must have lost a little bit of blood in the process of getting out of the ship. Closing his eyes for a moment to stop the spinning sensation - JD replied.

"I'll be fine - just need some rest or something. Plus it looks like everyone has their own things to worry about"

Looking out across the beach were the survivors were now assembling.They just had to survive the night, get a boat made or something and then find their way home. Trying to warm up by rubbing his arms, but that did not really work. But sitting next to the woman did help slightly. Despite the circumstances, he smiled and offered his hand to her.

"The name's JD...and you are?"

Before she could reply, JD noticed someone waving to the rest of the group. She must have found shelter or food. Either one would have been great right about now. They all needed to get out of the cold. Rising to his feet, he offered a hand to help her up

"You look damned cold - we should head up there to the cave"