#stranded event 7

location: south beach, near the low settlement/jungle time: nightfall, at some point during the swaparoo, time is fake

Lily couldn’t sleep, because she was cold. And she couldn’t walk around the jungle to clear her head, because she would feel everything, and then she would have a headache that made her nauseous. So instead of sleeping or meditating, she was in her treehouse, holding a hollowed-out coconut shell full of dirt, trying to will something to sprout.

She didn’t actually know if earth-attuned needed seeds or not, but she was willing to bet not, because she’d seen some people walk away with flowers blooming in their footprints. Being earth-attuned might be worth it if she could grow flowers on a whim, because then her treehouse would be full of them.

She stared into the dirt, willing something to grow. Hibiscus. Plumeria. Rose. Something.

Nothing happened. She scowled, setting aside the coconut, and in the resulting quiet she heard a noise outside. Footsteps. Well, whoever it was would know she was awake; her old candles were still lit. But the rope bridge was up and the trapdoor latched, so unless the person was a good tree climber she was safe.

She poked her head out the window and looked down. “Who is it? What’s the password?”

Kaz cut through the low ground settlement. He caught sight of Tamrya and waved before adjusting his course to meet up with her. “Haven’t seen you since, uh...” They were testing their attunement. A rollercoaster of a ride that ended on a sour note. The only direction on Meridium was an endless downhill path. Kaz wished he could simply give up sometimes. But too stubborn. 

And he really was on a mission in the moment, but thought to ask. “Are you okay? After everything.” Everything meaning Emre’s ‘trial’, as Tamyra was clearly close to him.

When: Event Times

It happened again. Countless times now. Toni couldn’t blame herself, and she  wouldn’t latter on either. She kept accidentally setting her own damn self on fire. This time it was barely smoking charred remains of a fire the elder attuned hadn’t even noticed before she walked on by and it burst back into life.

“Fuckin’ hell, brimstone, fire, death and tarnation.” Toni smacked at the flames as it ate up her last remaining ‘good shirt’.

landed right into the sand. Again.

She groaned a little, frustration bubbling inside of her (this was attempt number 345, not that she was counting) and still, she felt more alive and more excited than she has been about her attunement since she realized hers was fire.

Madi stepped up to the rock and closed her eyes to try again. This time, she could almost hear the wind sing to her, “i’m here to help you” and instead of jumping, she just simply stepped off... and this time, her feet didn’t hit the sand for one, two, three seconds and suddenly Madi was overflown with excitement and she let out a small squeek as she tried pointlessly to jump (she was already in the air, what was she even thinking), bumped right into somebody and promptly lost her balance and her focus and landed right on her bum, and still she found herself giggling.

“Sorry, sorry, I apologize, I didn’t mean to-- I didn’t see you-- I was just trying to hover. Or glide. Or whatever it is. Remain-- you know, not touch the ground. And it worked!” She was scrambling onto her feet now, grinning. “Just for a few moments, but it worked! Not sure how ot do it again, but for a few moments it worked!”

Lily emerged from the jungle closer to the farm than when she’d left. She’d gone early in the morning with her spear and a basket on her back, and now the sun was past the midpoint in the sky and her hands were stained by the soil she’d dug through.

It had been an interesting experience, digging for tubers while earth-attuned. It’d been easier, for one, and she felt a little more solid when she was bent closer to the ground. Eventually she’d been able to move the ground in shifting pieces, which had made revealing the tubers much easier, though it was still slow going.

Maybe she could get used to this. Maybe. Once she found a pair of shoes that would fit her, now that she actually had need of them.

She didn’t see Tomas on the farm, or Libby, which was not a surprise but still a relief, after all that had happened on the Kimiko trip. Hopefully Libby was off doing other things and Tomas was alone.

Taking a breath, Lily went up to their new house and knocked on the door, stepping back to show off her basket full of sweet potatoes and taro and cassava. She made sure to smile.

“Morning, Tomas! I brought some presents!”

It had been a calm day and was shaping up to be a calm night. Perfect for spearfishing lessons, and swimming, and now that night had fallen, verifying just how haunted it was. Lily smiled as she lit one of the healthier-looking candles, their only source of light besides the moon.

The house groaned and her smile widened just a little bit. She turned toward Ben. Most of the house had been cleared out, stripped even of sheets and curtains, leaving behind furniture too large to carry and the map that was tacked across the wall, peppered with marks. The high tide had come in already, and they had about several hours until low tide started.

Lily was on a mission. She had an armful of her best pots that she’d made with Vince, which were in fact three pots that could hold a smallish-to-medium-sized seedling each. She was working on it.

She found Madi’s house, which in the daylight was much easier to spot than when she’d been helping Madi haul laundry back in the middle of the night. She found Madi outside close by and smiled at the sight of her.

“Hi Madi!” she called out. “Sorry for popping in unannounced. But, guess what! I’m an earth-baby now! And I figured I could help you with your garden like we talked about the other day.” She lifted her armful of pots for emphasis, raising her eyebrows and smiling. “What do you say?”

So. Tamyra said she and Kaz had explored strange tunnels. She and Kaz had gone to the sea stairs. Sounded to Lily like Kaz was the guy to talk to when one wanted more information on some of the goings-ons around the island, so that’s exactly what she intended to do.

She had visited the high ground settlement very rarely, but she did her best to blend in. There were a few concerned glances when she had to ask for directions to his place. Some of the people in the high ground settlement thought he was nosy, or closed-minded, or a hermit. A kind-looking woman named Bev told her that Kaz was trouble. And trust me, darling, you don’t want that kind of trouble.

She didn’t know what Bev had meant by that, but she still followed the directions that were given to her. The climb over the mountains made her calves burn. She hadn’t brought her spear, because she didn’t think that would go over well, but she had some supplies. And of course, the ever-present nausea and cold and faint throbbing behind her eyes that came with the territory of her new attunement.

And eventually she came to a little house at the base of the mountains, which was... surrounded by fires. And there was a man there, so at least the forest wasn’t in danger of catching on fire. She walked right up to him.