crossing_lostrp | Day 8 - Team Transmitter (tag Tara, Jon, McKay)

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Day 8 - Team Transmitter (tag Tara, Jon, McKay)

The small group gathered early, collecting food to sustain them for lunch, but prepared to scavenge for their own meals after that. Rose was starting off wearing her backpack, and had a Bamboo walking stick. Her hair was pulled up into a pony tail on top her head, keeping it out of the way. The Backpack held two changes of clothing two blankets wand bottled water. The Doctor carried nothing except what was in the pockets f his ever-present leather jacket. Sayid had one of John Locke’s knives tucked into his belt, and one of the sturdy spears from the found crate ‘just in case’.

Sayid had not understood why he had been asked to join them. He knew that between The Doctor and Doctor McKay his own technical knowledge was limited. But the Doctor insisted he’d be invaluable if they were dealing with older equipment and, The Doctor confided, he was obviously one of the ex-military types. He told the Iranian he wanted someone who could handle themselves, and was an adult, with them. Someone he trusted to help protect the group. Although when he said the group he’d turned to look at Rose. Sayid was not certain if The Doctor was mad or not, the things he had heard whispered round the campfire, but he was capable. And the obvious trust was an honor of its own.

McKay, Jon and Tara rounded out the group heading for the Transmitter. Tara had the map. The Doctor had announced he didn’t need it. Rose complained that such a statement was something only those male statements that tended to get people lost, so Tara had been handed the map to keep them on track, should the Doctor’s ‘excellent sense of direction’ fail them.

They had set off keeping to the shade of the treeline. Besides the shade, the ground was harder there, and easier to walk over. They were not traveling fast, in deference to McKay’s still hurting ribs.

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Mara sat quietly; all the chattering and emotions bubbling around her made it hard for her to think. There was an introduction she tried to pay attention to, offering her shy smile to each in turn. When the puppy wandered back to her, she hugged her and buried her nose in its fur and tried to lose herself in puppy-happiness for a little.

"There were two planes," she said quietly. A line appeared in her forehead when two of the men started going on about leaving. Leaving? Wait, these strangers just came out of the jungle and were expecting her and Faith to just walk off with them like that? Into the jungle? With the sun going down?

"I just met you," she said uncomfortably. "I'm not running off into that place with a bunch of strangers on their say-so with night coming. I'm sorry. That's asking way too much."

"'Salright. You two can stay here. Looks like you've been here a few days, one more night won't hurt." The Doctor offered. He really didn't want any more people tromping about his beautiful girl, anyways. Especially strangers. At least he had the measure of the group he was with. "Can make a map and let you head to the camp come morning. Probably safer, anyway."

Meanwhile Rose was giggling at Ash's comments. "Must be you. You attract stragglers. You found the last ones."

McKay looked at Rose with a look that plainly expressed his thoughts. Give me a break. Still, he agreed with the Doctor on this one-- to a point.

"Wait-wait-wait... Giving them a map to the campsite? But-but..." A pile of 'what-if's ran through his mind, a million of reasons why it wasn't a good idea. Of course, it certainly wasn't a good idea to bring them along, either. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. They wouldn't get there until night, and-and-and..."

Wait. That's right. The woods. At night. His shoulders drooped, though that particular action caused a bit more discomfort that he was prepared for, and a hand moved around his chest as he turned his back towards the general group. Ow. "Can... we please just hurry up and go meet our fate in there rather than prolonging it?"

"If they left in the morning they'd get there couple hours before dark. They'd move faster than we did." He didn't need to point out it was McKay who kept them at a more sedate pace, because it really wasn't the man's fault. He did have the remains of some broken ribs, and it couldn't have been easy on him, whining and complaints aside. "And I'm trying to get us moving."

"We've got guards set up. You might not have noticed, but there are less friendly types round 'bout. Stay out of the forest after dark unless you really know the territory. When you get to the camp, don't try to case it first, approach like you did us. Out and open is less likely to set off alarms." The Doctor advised.

"We have thirty minutes or so til sun's down, kiddies, and a mile to go before we sleep."

The debate raced past Faith's head so quickly that she couldn't get a word in edgewise. It was like listening to Queen C and B talk clothes, or G-Man and Red talk demon stuff or some of the girls in D-Block talk dirty sex. First they were invited along and Mara refused, then the big eared British doctor guy said they should head to the camp, the MacAffee guy complained, and -

Faith put her fingers between her lips and let out a shrill wolf whistle. Conversation instantly stopped as all heads turned to her. Fortunately, she was used to being glared at and being the center of attention so the looks didn't phase her one bit. "You mind if me and M get a word in here. Well, M got her word in, but I'd kinda like to maybe put in my two bits?"

"I don't know any of you 'cept Tara, and she's not running scared so I'm gonna guess you're an okay crowd for now. But, we've been here for a week, and you're the first people we've seen that whole time. As much as I get taht you don't know me and M from Jack and Jill, before you send us off to 'camp' I'd kinda like to know what we're walking into.

"And, I don't know, but considering we've been here and haven't seen you, and you've been well, wherever you've been, maybe swapping intel might be a good idea? Never survived a plane crash before, so I'm not real clear on the etiquette, but I'm pretty sure that saying," Faith paused and did a surprisingly good imitation of the Doctor's accent, "Well met, off with you now,' would not make Miss Manners happy."

Actually Faith didn't mind staying on the beach, but she had questions and she wasn't going to get answers sleeping under the stars next to Mara. These were people, actual people who were survivors of another plane crash, and that set off all kinds of alarms that didn't have a damn thing to do with Slayer sense.

"Anybody ever heard of safety in numbers?"

Tara turned to the Doctor and Rose. "Rose, remember when I was telling you about Sunnydale, and the Slayer, how she was an amazing fighter? Well, Faith," she paused and glanced at Faith, and tried to let her know that she wouldn't be the first to bring up her troubled past. From what Giles had said, Faith was becoming a better person all the time. She went on, "She is just like that, she's a Slayer, and we can use another fighter on our team. They should come along, at least until daylight."

See Below...

"It's my rugged good looks, no doubt about it," Ash said. "Drop me on a deserted island in the middle of the damn Pacific and the gals still find me. It's a curse." He struck a noble pose. "But I do my best to bear up."

Rose just shook her head with a grin. "Last bunch you brough home had two blokes in it. You have 'em at you from all sides then, Cap'n Morgan?" She pointed out just what 'noble pose' he'd taken.

Rose was rubbing the cute puppy's belly until she got the one back leg wavbing furiously. "Tickle spot."

She looked up as the capable looking woman started talking back at the Doctor. She laughed outright. "Got you pegged, she does."

She heart Tara's protests, and agreed. This woman was like a superhero... with attitude, evidently. Not bad to have about.

She stood up, to the puppy's consternation. "Truth is, swapping 'intel' is gonna take time. I'm with you on the safety in numbers thing. Especially if you're a... slayer? Tara was just telling us about her own wierdness at lunch." Rose reminded the transmitter team, "Thing is, we have an absolutely safe place we're headed to, and Doctor McKay has some bad ribs from a raid on our camp three nights ago. We have stuff there to fix him up, too. We really don't want to travel through the jungle in the dark. We'll be glad to explain what we can, and trade campfire tales with you if you come with. In the morning you can decide if you want to head for the camp or not. But we can't force you." She looked at Mara, who looked kinda little girl lost.

The Doctor opened his mouth to voice a weak protest but caught the look Rose shot him. Yes, these women were safer with them tonight. He didn't like it, but logic was there.

"They're being honest at least. If Tara can vouch for them, and you both decide to come along, you can. But," he looked to Mara, "if either of you doesn't want to, that's fine as well. You can't leave just one person out here alone though. That'd be really dangerous."

Mara started to pull in on herself more and more as everyone started talking at once about what she should do. As if she had no say in the matter whatsoever.

/They're only thinking of wherever they are going and their own convenience. What a bunch of pushy, inconsiderate people./

And almost nothing that came out of the shiny one's mouth made any sense at all. He sounded insane, and he wasn't human, and she wasn't sure that was the most trustworthy of combinations. He was really starting to make her uncomfortable and nervous.

"I don't want to go into the jungle at night no matter how good an idea anyone I just met thinks it is for me," she said quietly, with her eyes down. "The ones in the woods want me. It isn't fair to ask me to make it easy for them because you're hot for another fighter.

"And we're not going someplace safe. There is no safe. But I'll go pack anyway, since I don't have a choice. Unless of course you all think it's an inconvenient wait for us to get to bring our belongings." Her tone wasn't angry, or even hurt. It was resigned.

She got up, dusted off her knees, and walked back towards the tent with the puppy trailing after her. She was scared to death of the jungle at night and the things that whispered inside of it. But she couldn't expect anyone to give a damn about that.

Slayer? McKay was now firmly with the Doctor on this one, though, once again, he just wanted to go and get it over with, which he repeated.

"No, we really don't want to travel through the jungle at night, and as we are losing day, it is beginning to look as if /all/ our travel will be in the dark, thank you. Now, can we just get started?" A touch of irritation mixed with petulance had crept into his tones. He was tired, achy, and until they got to the transmitter, useless. He's not military, never was, never wanted to be. And should he survive this, he still didn't want to be.

A studied glance was given the new women. Truth be told, he really didn't want to be told what one was. He was conversant with the English language, and if the definition held true? He certainly didn't want to know. There were just some things that he believed ignorance was bliss, and the chances were good that this was one of them.

You know, if Mara were the snarky type, she'd toss over her shoulder, "Thank you for proving my point...."

Faith looked after Mara as she walked away, then gave Doc - (What kind of name is The Doctor anyway?) - a quick look as he seemed to be the one everyone looked to as leader. (Weird choice, dude's got worse people skills than Angel.)

"Hang a sec," Faith said simply, then jogged off after Mara. It didn't take much to catch up with the other woman and get her attention. "Mara, I know you're scared of the jungle, and it's not safe in there, you're right. But it might not be safe out here either. But I know Tara, not that well, but I know her type and the sorts she hangs out with, and they might be weird, but they're safe."

(Ok, safe is kinda relative at this point.) Faith thought back to the odd behavior of The Doctor guy, yes she had heard the Capitals on his name, and the wary stance of the Middle Eastern guy. (Damn, wish I'd caught his name.)

"They're not rapists, murderers, vampires, demons, or evil lawyer types," Faith ticked off the list in her head, pretty certain that she would recognize every type from the list she'd given. "And, they're just as wary of us as we are of them.

"I know you don't want to do this, but you gotta ... have faith," Faith smirked as she said the last, "I got your back, right? Don't worry 'bout packing away the camp, just grab a few things. These are the first people we've seen in days, I don't think we have to worry 'bout vandals."

Leaving Mara's side, Faith returned to Tara's group. "M's not big on trusting random strangers."

"A wise decision, certainly," Hot Middle Eastern said. "Are you 'big' on trusting random strangers, Faith?"

"I'm not 'big' on trusting anyone," Faith felt a salacious grin slide over her face as her attention shifted to the man. Old habits died hard, and her body shifted into a far too relaxed hip and shoulder rolling gait that accentuated every curve. She let her eyes rake openly over his body, from his head to his feet and then back up again, "You may be pretty enough to get a girl wet with a glance, but if Tara wasn't with you guys, I'd be sleeping on the beach tonight with one eye open."

Mara just looked at Faith. "Who says they'll even let us come back for our things? They don't seem to care much what we want or need, they just want us moving now." Her voice was still flat and resigned. "And I am getting a change of clothes, something to sleep on, and my art supplies. I am not sleeping on the ground because they--" she looked pointedly at Rodney, who blinked at her and fidgeted slighty, "--like telling total strangers what to do and think it's too much of a wait to let us get our stuff. I'm already agreeing to risk my life at the say-so of a bunch of people I met ten minutes ago because you know and trust one of them, and want to be with them. If you want me to pretend to be happy about it, I'm sorry, Faith. But you're asking too much." She gave a sad smile at the last. Never once had she raised her voice above its usual gentle tone.

She turned around when Faith left her and kept right on walking to the tent, looking pressured, scared and generally unhappy. She disappeared behind the dune, grabbed her bag and started throwing things into it, shaking the whole time. /I don't want to follow strangers who clearly don't give a damn about my needs because there's one of Faith's friends and a pretty man with them. But I can't survive out here alone. I'm scared. I'm really scared. And I'm scared even more because we'll be depending on people who act like *this*, and let some irrational, rude, arrogant...something...lead them./ She put her hand over her chest again, feeling insubstantial wounds burn and sting against her heart. /Is every supernatural being in the world like that? Because the last two have left a really bad impression./

She was getting agitated, and that was bad. She heard a nightingale call off in the forest, and had to spend a minute hugging Orrie and absorbing her simple happy-puppy emotions again before finishing up her packing. Fortunately, the sound did not repeat itself.

Back in the group, Sayid, who was keenly aware of Faith and all her contradictions--brash American looking halfway like a woman of his country, small and doe-eyed but as in-charge as a ten-year veteran. and...well, yes, /that/--swallowed and looked a bit rattled and embarrassed by her blatant scrutiny. He didn't even /try/ to answer her salacious compliment; he didn't have the words for it. Instead--after making sure his tongue would not run away from him, the laconic Iraqui said, "I...I fear your friend has no such guarantors of our goodwill. Her race to prepare appears to be simply an accommodation of your needs." He glanced over to the dune, and wondered how it was Mara knew that the Others wanted her.

Mara reappeared from behind the dune perhaps five minutes later, lugging along her bag, a change of clothes for Faith and their two bedrolls. She wasn't very strong, clearly, and though she moved as fast as she could it was a clumsy, awkward lurch through the sand. /If those inconsiderate jerks start yelling that I'm still taking too long, I'm staying here./

As much as Tara wanted Faith to come with them, she began to feel that it was selfish of her as the other woman obviously felt pressured into following the group. Perhaps it was her fault, for speaking up in favor of them joining their group.

Tara hadn't packed much, just a daypack with a change of clothing and some food and water, with a blanket for sleeping rolled and tied underneath. She came over to... Mara, was it?... and offered her hand.

"Um, Hi, I'm Tara Maclay, and I'm sorry if we ran roughshod over what you wanted. It's not the best way to meet people." She reached to take one of the bags, asking, "Can I help? I'm not overloaded as it is?"

Faith smirked. Middle Eastern had peeked. He tried not to, but he did. "Maybe so, but the fact that you haven't tried to drag us off, slit our throats and rape us, yet, all good signs." (Plus, Slayer sense, not going nuts, so that's all kinds of good.)

"Wh-wh-what makes you think that we won't?" McAfee demanded.

Faith looked him up and down with a bemused smile, "'Cause at least in your case, I could kick your ass without even thinking about breaking a sweat." She smiled, quite lecherously actually and winked, "Don't think about it too hard, there professor, you might start to like the idea of gettin' up close and personal."

(That and I know that Tara's got the mojo. Helping Red bring B back from the dead wasn't small potatoes.) She couldn't explain that to this group of people, maybe Mara when the woman wasn't pissed - and rightly so - at Faith. She was adjusting still; Faith was used to looking after Faith and flying on pure instinct alone. Looking after other people? Not so much?

And at this point, staying on the beach really was no different from going with these people. If they'd manage to scare up a Tara doppleganger (Yeah, reading the dictionary was a fun pasttime), and they were dangerous to Faith and Mara, they knew the women were on the beach now. Safety was six of one, half dozen of another and better to keep an eye on your potential enemy than have him coming at you when your guard's down.

When Mara walked up and Tara introduced herself, offering to help carry stuff, the fish out water feeling came back with a vengeance.

"It's good, Sabrina," Faith told Tara with - she hoped - a friendly smile. "I can manage a full load." Faith gently took the bedrolls, Mara's bag and change of clothes from the waif girl without even battting an eye. (Geesh, you'd think we were going on a vacation from our vacation.) When Mara looked ready to protest, Faith merely swung everything easily into comfortable carrying positions and bounced a bit to remind Mara that she could take the extra weight far more easily than Mara - or possibly anyone else in the group could.

In the interests of maintaining a peace, she handed back the bag that she knew had Mara's art supplies in it. "If it gets too heavy, gimme a holler, 'right?"

"Thanks for hanging for us, Doc," Faith said to The Doctor. "Whither you go, we shall follow."

Rose looked back at Ash and Jon, "they'll cover the rear, and we stay in the middle with McKay, we should be alright."

Rose was a bit shocked and a tad envious of the blatant and forthright American woman. At least she'd keep everyone on their toes.

She called ahead to the Doctor. "Do you think she has enough oomph to let us get to the shower and maybe bedrooms?"

THe Doctor cocked his head to the side, sensing the TARDIS, feeling out her power supplies.

"If we do that we'll be back at square one when we leave, almost total drain. It'll add another week to her fueling time." He advised.

"Six months you said. One more week isn't gonna matter and I think we all would love a hot shower. Not like we're likely to be back this way anytime soon." Rose replied quickly enough.

"I'll open vents for outside atmosphere. If she gives us access to medical and bedrooms, she won't be able to run contained life support. She's already doin that certain areas of the ship and for Charlie."

Rose nodded. She then looked at Faith then Mara. "Hope showers and beds might make up for draggin ya off. We're kinda on a mission to try and get rescued. Lots of people back at camp are hopin' we'll return with good news."

The Doctor led the way in, leading them under the canopy of leaves and picking through the brush. There were small signs that they had been this way before to any competent tracker. Unfortunately he wasn't one. He just knew where his ship was.

The slowly waning sunlight was even more diffuse among the trees, and he was listening carefully for any whispers. The group he was leading were making too much noise to hear movement through the forest other than their own.

It took a good half hour, keeping things at McKay's pace until the group came across her.

To The Doctor and Rose, she was a beautiful sight.

The faded and worn blue Police Box stood surrounded by trees, and had evidently crushed a bush of some kind.

Best yet, there was still about ten minutes of twilight left.

"I'll have you know, it isn't just anyone I invite inside." He announced as he pushed his key into the lock, turning it with an audible click.

Who's covering the rear? Faith and Mara? Ash and Jon?

As andd Jon, putting the girls and McKay in the middle. :)

McKay always is in the middle. It's the first place he moves. Let others protect the scientist. :)

Mara backed up when people started offering her help; Faith took her bags and she didn't know what to say. She finally sighed. To Tara, she said simply, "If not wanting to risk being ravaged until I want to die again counts as a simple desire, then yes, you people are running roughshod over what I want. It doesn't matter. I'm already moving, right?" Not bitter, not accusatory. Just...tired.

She trailed along with them as they walked, like a grey-clad ghost, feet chafing in the walking boots she'd dug up. Orrie wiggled in her arms and the bag bumped against her back. She was white-faced and trembling; her senses didn't show anything but the sun was going down fast. She kept her face down, and didn't look at anyone.

When they came to the police-call-box-that-wasn't, she stared at it and backed up a pace warily.

Faith didn’t talk for the entire walk. She wasn’t comfortable with Jon and Ash bringing up the rear, especially when she had no doubt that if anything came out of the jungle seeking to attack that she would be faster, stronger and more able to take it on than both of them combined. She didn’t argue, however, or complain. Faith merely slipped back into Slayer mode, watchful and wary of everything around them, including their new traveling companions. She moved in careful, purposeful strides, subconsciously aware of every movement of everyone around them. She became warrior and protector, her playful and teasing seductiveness washed away by the need to be ready and alert.

She caught Tara’s gaze once and gave the girl a half-smile. The look that accompanied it was no-nonense-we’ll-talk-when-it’s-safe and it must have been a look Tara had seen often enough to recognize because she nodded and looked away from the Slayer, keeping her attention focused on moving.

Easily, she tuned out the prattle between The Doctor and Rose while still managing to listen to it. Words like “life support” and “power” and “energy” made Faith wonder if she hadn’t taken a step a little bit to the left of her normal weirdness and added aliens and spaceships into the mix. (No big surprise there if that’s so; aliens might actually be a nice change from vampires and the gals in the lockup.)

When they stopped in front of one of those police box things that she’d seen in some old television drama that she’d paused briefly on when channel surfing (courtesy of one Richard Wilkins, former human and mayor of Sunnydale), she stopped and quirked an eyebrow. “Well now, if that ain’t the shit.”

Faith considered what Rose had said about showers and bedrooms and asked curiously, “Let me guess, it’s bigger on the outside than it is on the inside? Some sort of dimensional pocket or doorway or something?”

The idea did not surprise her. But hell, she’d shared one off weird ass dreams with B, and got the lowdown on some pretty weird shit from Angel. Dimensional doorway in the middle of a tropical island? Not so suprising. (Stranger than Sunnydale. Huh. Who’dathunk.)

The walk through the jungle, positioned as McKay was in the middle of the group, was difficult. The terrain was rougher. More dodging of branches, more stepping through overgrown tracts of flora. More than once, he had to stop to try to regain his breath. His legs were aching, he was still carrying his laptop, something he refused to hand off to anyone else, including Jon or the Doctor. Under the best of times, he's not /that/ bad moving through woods. He's done it before. But now?

After the longest half hour of his life... or perhaps, not, that bit in the back of a jumper facing certain death was a long 38 minutes come to think of it, the leads broke through.

A police public call box? Rodney was expecting something a little different; something that would look more, well, space worthy. Granted, the puddlejumpers weren't anything to look at, but still. They looked like a space ship. That?

"That? That's it?"

"This is your time machine?" Ash demanded. "This!?"

How disappointing. He'd half expected some kind of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon-style rocketship with sweeping fins and glossy metallic finish. Not this blue wooden box. If not for all the bizarre shit they'd already encountered on this island, Ash might have wondered if The Doctor was simply a lunatic.

But they had run into all that weirdness. So...this unassuming blue police phone box was a time- and spaceship. Ash shook his head. He hoped the interior was more impressive than the exterior.

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Day 8 - Team Transmitter (tag Tara, Jon, McKay)

[Mara] Skepticism (everone :))

[Doctor] Skepticism (everone :))

[McKay] Skepticism (everone :))

[Doctor] Skepticism (everone :))

[Faith] Whoa. Time Out. (open tag)

[Tara] Two-cents (open tag)

Re: [Tara] Two-cents (open tag)

[Ash] Skepticism (everone)

[Rose/Doctor] Skepticism/Two Cents (everone)

Re: [Rose/Doctor] Skepticism/Two Cents (everone)

[McKay] Skepticism/Two Cents (everone)

Re: [McKay] Skepticism/Two Cents (everone)

[Faith] Two Cents (tag everyone)

[Mara] Resignation (tag Faith, everyone)

[Tara] Help? (tag Mara, everyone)

[Faith] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[Rose] Move Out? (tag everyone)

OOC Question?

Re: OOC Question?

Re: OOC Question?

[Mara] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[Faith] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[McKay] Safe and sound? (tag everyone)

[Ash] A Phone Booth? (tag everyone)