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

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[Faith] Two Cents (tag everyone)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

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] Resignation (tag Faith, everyone)

[scarred-muse.livejournal.com]

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./

[Tara] Help? (tag Mara, everyone)

[tenebraeli.livejournal.com]

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] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

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] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

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.

OOC Question?

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

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

Re: OOC Question?

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

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

Re: OOC Question?

[lost-mckay.livejournal.com]

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

[Mara] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[scarred-muse.livejournal.com]

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] Move Out? (tag everyone)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

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.)

[McKay] Safe and sound? (tag everyone)

[lost-mckay.livejournal.com]

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?"

[Ash] A Phone Booth? (tag everyone)

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

"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.