crossing_lostrp | [Amanda] Skipped Time (Day 10): Surf's Up! (open tag)

George was splashing around in the surf with Carlos. Again.

Amanda watched them with ill-concealed jealousy. Rose glanced at her, pausing in her preparation of fish stew for today's lunch. "Why do you do this to yourself, girl?" she asked. "There's lot of attractive men around here."

Amanda didn't bother to answer. She just continued chopping up fruit with more force than was strictly necessary. She looked up again. Carlos was teaching George to body surf. Amanda laughed mirthlessly as George tumbled head over heels and disappeared in a breaker.

They'd gone for a swim every day before lunch for the last three days. It was always the same. They spent all morning together, either playing grab ass while pretending to teach George to fight or disappearing into the jungle. Supposedly they were foraging or setting and checking snares, but Amanda knew they were screwing around out there.

Then they'd come back grinning like idiots, usually with something in hand to justify their disappearance. They'd go swimming (more grab ass), eat lunch, and then they'd disappear again for a siesta. Amanda snorted. ("Siesta" my cute little ass!)

"Why're they out there playing in the ocean while I'm stuck here," Amanda muttered. She was talking to herself, but Rose answered anyhow--apparently she found it impossible not to stick her nose into everyone else's business.

"They've been doing their share since the first day here," Rose said. "Or since Carlos joined us, in his case. If they want to take some time to relax, they've earned it." Her voice hardened. "Your friend Shannon has spent a lot more time relaxing with a lot less justification, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you," Amanda snapped.

"No, I guess you didn't," Rose said with aggravating calm.

Amanda snuck a glance at Rose. She continued to methodically prepare the fish. "I just...don't understand what he sees in Toilet Seat Girl," Amanda said.

Rose paused, knife upraised. She looked at Amanda in surprise. "What?"

Amanda feigned surprise. "Oh, didn't you know? George claims to have been killed by a falling toilet seat. Now she's undead or something and she sees dead people, like that kid in The Sixth Sense. Or so she says. Just goes to show far some people will go for attention, I guess."

Rose blinked and glanced out at George, who was sputtering and wiping her face, hip deep in the surf. Amanda worked hard to control the spiteful smile she felt. She was taking great joy in spreading the story since she'd heard it this morning. Rose shook her head sadly, and Amanda smiled faintly.

"You're a pretty girl, Amanda," Rose said. "But you'd be a lot prettier if your insides matched your outsides."

OOC: I've created an icon for Amanda. Feel free to steal it.

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Mara smiled...and felt something cold come up beside her. She looked up and whispered, "Hi Sally," to empty air. Then she rocked back and forth a little. The ghost had stood by her all night, and then had stayed by the shelter, and now it had drifted over like a sleepwalker again.

"The Doctor scared me at first. But I felt better after having a conversation with his spaceship." Blink. "Um...I...didn't make that up, really." She ducked her head.

"Gotta get used to the Doc anyway because there's a need there, just like I have a need here. Like I have to buck up and go back into the jungle in a few days. Because there's a need /there/. Compassion, I can do. I'm pretty good at it. It sometimes helps me face how scary things are."

She tried to explain the feeling she had for Tommy to him, but it was like translating things from a phrasebook she only had half the pages to. "I was flying with the birds and I lost track of time. I'm not sure how to explain that feeling, but Tommy is not a witch like Tara is a witch. He needs to go...out...kind of like that. But not in the air. In the sea. But I don't...even know if that makes any sense or anything." She was getting a little better at arrow-making; she finished another and set it aside. "You go out and you bring something back."

Tommy pensively listened to the women's comments about water and magic. "I've always been drawn to the sea. Ironic for a three-quarter plains Indian, huh?" He whittled his bow as he thought aloud. "I haven't been doing anything... magical except for practicing shielding. I'm waiting until Tara gets back. There's plenty to do in the meantime just to keep everyone fed." He looked at Mara consideringly. "You're right. I'm not a witch. I'm a medicine man like my grandfather was, except he knew what he was doing." He widened his gaze to include Molly. "You seem to be describing a vision quest. I guess I can try it. I don't know how much of the old Lakota ways are ceremony and tradition versus true spirit magic."

Tommy glanced at the ghostly woman who was now following Mara around. She still creeped him out, but didn't seem to bother the sensitive psychic. The ghost seemed more... alive. "Her name's Sally?" Mara nodded. "Did she tell you? She was nearly catatonic a few days ago. And what did you mean by conversing with the Doctor's ship?"

"There are a lot of ironies in life," Mara said quietly. She didn't know anything about Lakota medicine, so she didn't pitch in on that, saying only, "If they suddenly found that their lands had a coastline, how would they change what they do?"

"Sally is a nickname. From Nightmare Before Christmas. I didn't know what to call her. She doesn't talk. We've only gotten her to react some so far, but it's fast progress considering. And she's...still catatonic. Just a little less so."

She shrugged a little when the Tardis was brought up. "His ship has a soul. She's actually really nice, although for somebody with no shields it was like being sat on by an elephant who thought it was a lap dog."

"If they suddenly found that their lands had a coastline, how would they change what they do?" Mara asked rhetorically.

Tommy gave her a small, considering smile. (That's it. That's what I need to do.) "Thank you, Mara. I'll think about that." He already had some ideas, but wasn't ready to act on them yet.

Mara's analogy made Tommy chuckle. "If the Doctor ever arranges tours of the 'Tardis,' I'm signing up." Then he added seriously, "I think you really need shields here. That doesn't mean they have to be up all of the time, but they're there if you need them. I can teach you what Tara and the Doctor have taught me now, if you want."

"Um. Y-you're welcome." /Not sure what I said, but ok./

"The Tardis is nice. And she's lonely." So was the Doctor, for that matter, once you got past the ten-block-long parade of cheerful pomposity he surrounded himself with. "We should ask if we can come visit now and again if we're here a while. I think she'd like you."

Mara frowned thoughtfully again at the idea of learning a few pointers now. "I'm...not normal...and may not be able to apply what you teach me the same way..." /Ami said my shields are shredded. But I can at least get the basic ideas of how to do this in my head now, so I can use them when I am more healed./ "But sure, let's talk about it while we work."

Charlie and Harry had vanished into the infirmary. Harry had landed a few pathetic blows, and then Charlie had gotten his Irish up and pounded him one good and hard in the face before succumbing to a vomiting fit. /Poor Charlie,/ Mara thought in spite of herself. /I hope he lives long enough for people to see what he's like without the monkey./

"I don't know what it would be like to have shields up all the time. Do you think I'd become a mean person if I couldn't feel other people's feelings?"

"Normal is a relative term, anyway. I mean, we're on an island with an alien time traveler, his human girlfriend even if they won't admit it and his space ship. Several psychics, a witch and a medicine man. We have dinosaurs and smoke monsters and the Morlochs. Who knows what else?" Molly didn't know how much this woman's Sight showed her. But she wasn't volunterering anything about herself.

"The Normal people are the ones having the hardest time coping, overall. Let's hear it for the freaks!" Molly grinned. "I'd kinda like to meet that ship, as well. I've never seen a living ship before. Okay, untill this island I never met a real not-from-earth alien, either."

"No, I um...mean that I'm not a normal psychic. I had someone look at me and tell me my shields are...damaged?"

Still, Molly's words made her smile. "It's nice to not feel alone. I was...I'd never met anyone else who was anything but ordinary before I came here."

/Well, except Faith, but I won't just babble on about her./

"Are the normal people here mean to the others?" she asked quietly.

Molly was beginning to answer when a look of panic crossed Mara's face and she stood.

(OOC: Mara is reacting to this:
http://community.livejournal.com/crossing_lostrp/66715.html )

Tommy laughed from Molly's "Let's hear it for the freaks!" He hoped that she didn't consider herself a freak. The half-elf was the picture of grace.

Mara had wondered aloud if she'd be a mean person if she was shielded from others' emotions. Although he'd just met the sensitive young woman, Tommy couldn't imagine Mara being mean, even in self-defense. "From what Tara and the Doctor have said, being shielded isn't an all-or-nothing thing. You've met Tara. She'd usually shielded to some degree to keep from being overwhelmed, and she's a sweetheart. Think of it as armor that you can reinforce or take off at will."

Suddenly Mara's eyes widened with panic. (Not again!) Tommy thought, worried. She stared in the direction of the infirmary, staring to get to her feet. Tommy laid one hand on her shoulder, hoping that the contact would ground her rather than further freak her out. "Mara, what is it?" He followed her line of sight and answered his own question. Quentin sprinted out of the infirmary like a man possessed. Tommy watched, dumbfounded.

OOC: Let's continue this over here (http://community.livejournal.com/crossing_lostrp/66715.html).

[Amanda] Skipped Time (Day 10): Surf's Up! (open tag)

[Mara] Children of the waters (tag Tommy, Molly, open)

[Tommy] Children of the waters (tag Mara, Molly, open)

[Mara] Children of the waters (tag Tommy, Molly, open)

[Tommy] Children of the waters (tag Mara, Molly, open)

[Mara] Children of the waters (tag Tommy, Molly, open)

[Molly] Children of the waters (tag Tommy, Mara, open)

[Mara] Children of the waters (tag Tommy, Mara, open)

[Tommy] Speaking of freaks... (tag Molly, Mara, open)