#panevent 01

[tejvirani]

Cruise ship: Galley w/ @zaidshair

Screams. Shrill yowls, sad sobs, long wails. The cries in the dark stuck to him, sticky as the saltwater. The worst nightmare Tej had in awhile. Another deep whine came from the... ship? Angled into deep water, the boat rolled slightly. Not on the waves, but as if to turn over in its sleep.

Tej slung his backpack over a shoulder, the one he'd clutched before opening his front door. But how the hell did he end up here? (It couldn't be real, none of it.) The urge to escape a sinking ship spurred him on (when the fuck would he wake up?? what the fuck was on his wrist?). Tej clawed and crawled his way over an incline with waterlogged hands slipping along the floor that had become a wall. Voices shouted from around the corner. The partially capsized boat tilted the galley on its side. Tej knelt down to look through the door at the people below. They bobbed and treaded water to stay afloat in the middle of a rush of rising ocean water and various kitchen items, like pans and pots, splatters of buoyant colorful vegetables.

'Here!' A woman yelled frantic to see Tej, with her hand jutted upwards. 'Help us, please!'

A fever swept through him, one that eradicated old feelings and infected Tej with a new anger that ached terribly. Yet he could not resist to twist directly into those chills of dull pain. "Zaid!" A bark of an unpleasant surprise and bitterness. It had been months since they'd seen each other.

A shock of ice water ran through his chest. Zaid could drown. (Zaid could drown!) A tendon jumped and tensed at the hinge of his jaw. Tej wanted to watch Zaid gasp and sputter. Look on as those large brown eyes filled with terror, and with the memory of someone else who didn't stand a fighting chance in the ocean. Then fall lifeless as an anvil to the bottom of this watery little kitchen-coffin. The woman splashed closer and matched Tej's deeply furrowed brow. 'Hey! Don't just stand there, help us out of here! Give me your hand!'

"I'll help you." Deliberate words, a line drawn. He'd help her, but Zaid was on his own. "There's shelving there," he pointed out, located underwater and against the wall. "Swim to it. You can climb up and reach my hand, I'll pull you up." He held a small handle near the frame of the door to anchor himself first, then leaned over to try and grasp the woman's arm above the wrist.

(Now the racing of his heart, the pounding in his head that this was real. Still a nightmare, but fucking hell, this was real.)

[alexpanganiban]

location: beach triage set call sheet: @elijahbell

"--now, you just make sure you keep your head covered and stay hydrated, okay?" Alex gave the hat he'd placed on the older woman's head a sympathetic pat, which likely would have had more of a heartwarming effect if it wasn't a toque that said "Suck Deez Nuts" on it, but beggars couldn't be choosers and anyhow, who was to say a little offbeat Tarantino style levity would go amiss right now?

"My leg hurts," the old lady croaked, but Alex was pretty much already moving on at that point so he pretended she'd made a joke and laughed merrily and said, "Good one! Oh, Beryl, you kill me," as he took himself out of earshot and headed towards a man he caught sight of walking with purpose along the sand. That seemed like a good person to hitch his wagon to, so Alex approached, taking in the broad, heavy shoulders and the gorgeous hair and the ... everything else that was pretty great too, and waved. "Hey there!" he said. "D'you need any help with anything?

[michelle-rendell]

Unique Wooden Lamp by Panev Roman. Siberian Mountain Cedar https://t.co/omQDfX6vli

Unique Wooden Lamp by Panev Roman. Siberian Mountain Cedar https://t.co/omQDfX6vli

— Michelle Rendell (@michelle_rendel) November 15, 2017

from Twitter https://twitter.com/michelle_rendel November 15, 2017 at 01:46PM via IFTTT

[tejvirani]

Wilderness w/ @alexpanganiban

To think he used to pride himself on his sense of direction. It wasn't a the simple orientation needed after stepping out of a tube station in London. He hadn't gotten turned around in Central Park. Tej arrived at that damned rope bridge he'd already passed by once.

Every path looked like the last and all the trees appeared cut from one pattern. Time to admit he was a bit fucked. Lost. Unsure where to go.

Except the bridge, but it looked as if it hung on by a hair.

Then a recognizable figure. One Tej used to watch as he recovered on the couch from nasty Sunday hangovers. He'd overheard a rumour they were on the island. Lo and behold. "You're that. You had that show." Had, have, huh. A loud snap of the fingers. "We the Survivors, yeah." A beat. "Wait, is this the show?" Tej pointed to the ground, and then over to one of the ever present cameras, the one which could provide a compelling view of anyone who dared to cross the bridge.

His brows drew closer, tight enough to cause a headache if he let it. As soon as it left his mouth, it made no sense. He only wished it did. Wouldn't explain how he got there. "Do you know how to get back?" To the beach. To civilization. Anywhere but the middle of nowhere.

[tejvirani]

Wildly outnumbered by those in the water, there was only so much possible for either of them to do. And only so much Tej could endure at the water's edge. Distance felt like protection, apathy a balm. He'd love to snap his fingers and change the entire scene. Experience a more palatable island, with drinks in a hammock. Reality said that would not be happening any time soon.

When the situation couldn't get more bleak, it seemed to roll over as sure as the waves near the shoreline. All those tossed out of the raft were swept up by a large hand of water and sent back towards the beach.

She ran into the surf and dragged someone out. The reprimand from her was warranted but also a surprise. Which perhaps made the escapee in the wet sand wish they were dead, except for the fact she reminded they were not.

A cold hand grabbed Tej's ankle. Like ice water thrown at his bare chest, he drew in a deep breath. When he stepped out of the zombie-like grip, he saw someone at his feet, alive. Tej quickly pulled them in to drier sand, and then staggered further back.

For a moment, Tej focused on the water further out. Where the rogue wave began, the choppy little peaks tipped in gold sunlight left behind. Similar to the strokes of moonlight on the water in Montauk. Suddenly Tej was lost in a minor detail that had no ability to change the course of the past. A superstitious nudge told him to remember this here.

The shouting shook him out of it. Her eyes locked on Tej and drilled into him. He looked at someone bleeding in the water. The sooner he helped, the quicker he'd get out of there.

"Can you stand?" he asked, when at the person's side. The clung to him heavily, desperately. When they failed to get on their feet, Tej scooped them up. The sooner, the quicker. Easier to carry them himself. "I'll send more people from the medical centre to help, yeah? I'll tell them to hurry it up." Because the impression was she wouldn't budge until every last person was out of the water. Tej gave her one last look and began the march off the injured.

End ~

Selin wondered if whoever was watching was having a good laugh right now. Seeing the (admittedly, foolish) people floundering and struggling out in the water. Now probably wasn't the time to wonder if these things were actually giving a live feed of everything on the beach or if they were simply there for show. Let them think they were being watched when in reality there was nobody keeping tabs on them.

She wasn't very comforted by his curt remarks about the situation. It wasn't the type of reaction she was used to, especially in her state of mind right now. Normally, the options were gentleness and comfort, or the other end of the spectrum where she got scolded and berated for reacting the way she did. Instead, he chose neither and decided to talk strictly facts and logic. Selin wasn't entirely sure if this was any help, purely from the confusion it invoked.

His hand was placed on her shoulder and she wondered if her giving up because of his words brought along the expectation that he should console her. But instead of saying 'there, there' he told her to look at the new development occurring. When she raised her head and moved her hands from her face, she saw, as if the ocean had suddenly taken pity on them, it pushed them gently from the depths to the more shallow water.

When the gentle waves started to push the people towards the shore, Selin's feet carried her forward in their direction. At least she could help pull them up from being face down in the wet and hardened sand. "Hey! Are you guys alright? What's wrong with you!" She chastized, shaking the shoulders of the person she helped up. "That was incredibly reckless and stupid! You're lucky you're not dead!" The person was awkwardly sputtering out their reasoning about needing to get home and not wanting to be stuck here, but her attention was pulled away to a man who had drifted to the shore. Even from there she could see the gash on his leg, his blood intermingling with the water.

She released the first person from her grasp, basically pushing them away so she could focus on the one that was injured. Not only was there a cut on his leg, but it looked like his head was bleeding as well, both most likely sustained from being a little too close to the boat during the chaos. Most people around them seemed to be struggling to get themselves together so Selin turned to the only able-bodied person in the vicinity.

"Get over here and help me out!" She called out, making sure she was making direct eye contact with him as he continued to watch things unfold from a distance. She didn't learn his name yet, so the forceful stare would have to do. "I saw some sort of medical center up the beach but I won't be able to get him there myself!"

[tejvirani]

The Tower w/ @tempestaslokni

Was anyone even on the cruise ship? 

A thought that kept crawling back. From the direct conversations and the bits and pieces overheard, the chat around a ‘feast’ he’d rather not try– so far no one said they were actually on the ship before it wrecked. Like Tej, they were plucked out of the routine of their day or evening, without warning. Left with a gap between a final mundane memory, in some other part of the world (which begged another question) and waking up on a ship they never planned to be on in the first place.

Trudging away from the feast probably wasn’t the brightest idea. But higher ground might offer some answers, more possibilities. 

Or, the chance to confront whoever was responsible for the inconvenience. DO NOT BE AFRAID, those damned speakers blasted. A command in a situation where it seemed there was plenty to fear. 

A tower loomed and Tej was getting closer. Yet he felt eyes on him. Thought he heard footsteps. Tej was a city boy but stumbled his way home completely shitfaced more times than he could count. Still alive, somehow.

He came to a stop and saw at a camera aimed down at him. Tej grumbled before shooting the middle finger, and hoped his irritation was captured in 4K.

But he swore he heard something... Tej glanced around. “Anyone there?”

[tejvirani]

Top outside deck of ship W/ @darcyxpalmer

From the vantage point of the upper deck, the ship looked like the skeletal remains of a felled beast in a shallow watering hole. The ribcage now open, exposed. People ran around at the far ends like ants suddenly disturbed and lost from their leader.

What happened? 

Tej navigated what a jogging path around the outer edge of the cruise ship. Huge piles of deck chairs and sun loungers blocked the way in chaotic, tangled piles from the angle the ship had been tossed into, pressed against what was the inner wall. While the outside railing that once prevented fatal tumbles into the sea crescented over his head in the most disorienting way. 

At the far end he could see a serpentine twist of bright orange and sky blue tubes. Large tubes, pieces and parts of the waterslides on deck. Tej heard a chatter at that end, and occasional coupled timed splashes into the ocean. 

“Do you know what’s going on?” She appeared beside him. Maybe crawled out from under one of those stacks of chairs. Maybe she’d even been in one of those before… before what? 

“From what I can tell, people found a way off this fucking–” Ship. The notion this was merely a hungover dream/nightmare had begun to fade. What the fuck was he doing on a cruise ship, why was it here. Confusion still rattled through him. Tej tried to focus less on a boat and more on getting the hell out of there, for now.

Where even was here? He turned to study the stranger next to him. “I couldn’t find a way out down below, so. This might be the best option.” Or only option.

[alexpanganiban]

location: bungalow row costar: @lindiwe-in-camelot

"Yes," Alex said, though he was by himself -- well, physically by himself, by himself in terms of nobody else was standing with him. But in a more accurate way of looking at it, he wasn't ever going to be by himself here, wherever, was he? Not with the regular studding of cameras around the place, providing constant surveillance for an as-yet-unidentified person or persons.

And very likely, there was nobody else who'd come off the Odyssey who understood what it was like living constantly in the camera's eye like Alex Panganiban. So!-- "Yes," he said again, with more conviction, "this will do very nicely for me." The corner bungalow had the best situation, and as Alex forged ahead into it, he realized with a rude shock that somebody else was entering from the other door. "HELLO!" Alex brayed, rushing forward into the little house. "I'm here! This is taken! Occupado!"

[tejvirani]

Figure out the one language, might pinpoint where they were from. Like pulling teeth but finally began to head in the direction of some kind of sense. "Okay," he acknowledged with a short bob of the head.

But then Tej hissed through his teeth amused when they mentioned their appearance. "I think we've all just run a triathlon of terror, yeah?" The disorientation of a cruise ship out to get them. An unplanned swim through water with who knew what the hell was in it. A light unexpected run across a black sand beach.

"I mean, just assumed you went through what every other person here has. Otherwise, don't expect anyone to look like they stepped off the runway." Well. He glanced over to the nearest window and admired his own reflection for a few seconds. Tej looked appropriately and prettily tousled. Not everyone could, hah. "Doubt you looked like that before all this," a swirl of a hand to gesture to the entirety of the situation they'd been thrown into.

It was his turn to shrug. "If you're really fluent in a few languages and using them a lot, I would think you can dream in them too, that there can be overlap. Dunno though. Probably be asking myself how I learned Gujarati to begin with. May trigger something."

Tej squinted. "Mm, yeah. Pretty sure you're not Russian. If you're a spy, you're doing a terrible job," he said, flat and true. Regular old James Bond, this guy. "But yeah. Good luck to you on that."

Adarsh huffed, the steady sound of frustration as he was yet anywhere closer to realising who he had been, where he was from, and why he’d ended up on this island. Too many questions, and too much time passed without answers. He was starting to run out of ideas what to do next. And he was still in the grief state of his memory loss. The anger one, and he’d forgotten the other stages. Not that it mattered, he’d either figure that out later or go straight to acceptance. 

He bit his lower lip and did not seem to realise he hadn’t voiced yet that he was the beach’s resident amnesiac. Too busy with his plan to find foods, clothing, and privacy, and with trying to figure out if this stranger was an asshole or just like him: not interested in playing nice with strangers. “I figure that if I find out what language that is, I’ll be able to at least know where I’m from,” he stated. Then scoffed at the suggestion. “Looking like this?” he asked, pointing at himself, his bare feet, dirty tank top, and especially the messy and dirty hair. “I’d be a very questionable interpreter.” Even if he could speak plenty of languages. 

He shrugged. “I guess the other one, most people dream in their mother tongue, right? Think in their mother tongue… But I don't know for sure, I don’t know what languages I know. I didn’t know I knew Gujarati until you brought it up.” He sighed. “Maybe I’m a Russian spy,” he added with a laugh. Then tried to taste Russian… but he couldn’t come up with anything other than ‘film Russian’. 

[alexpanganiban]

location: crap pile costar: @darcyxpalmer

"This is pretty amazing, if you have the kind of mind that sees promise in trash." Alex settled his hands on his hips, surveying the small mound of things that some people had already either salvaged from the ship, or decided that they didn't want to lug around with them anymore. Alex himself had retained his Panganex (of course) travelling duffel that he'd been toting just before he found himself on the cruise ship and had no intention of giving up any of the items inside, but rooting through other people's stuff? Sounded like a kick.

He looked over at the woman who'd introduced herself as Darcy, sussing her out. She seemed like a decent sort, a little ... watchful? Alex couldn't tell yet if that was due to caution, or paranoia, or gathering intel, or what, but he wasn't an actor/host/performer for nothing. Darcy would see exactly what he wanted her to, and not much beyond that. He bent down to scoop up a hand towel that was still folded in the shape of a peacock, the way that the staff of The Odyssey had apparently left them on the beds, trying not to shake his wrist with its strange bracelet in annoyance. "Cute. We should preserve this exactly the way it is. For posterity."

[tejvirani]

For a time, they sat relatively silent. Already in a precarious position the individual peril they literally jumped into could've ended them both with a terminal quickness. Granted, at least he understood what the risk was for. Tej reckoned anxiety swam through his ribs, jitters like skittish schools of fish. He was still too emotionally tranquilized to feel them yet. He looked to her hands to see if they were shaking.

Outwardly at least, she was calm as a mountain. A grounded presence, especially after a few hours of being in the middle of the leaden panic on the cruise ship.

I thought you might have a satphone. With a pipedream of a follow up. "No." His head shook once. "Sorry." Now, that incredible leap she took made absolute sense. Too smart of a question, it made far too much sense to balk at.

In fact, in the moment he didn't have the heart to say she'd put herself in jeopardy to save a little girl's stuffed animal. Tej had never been the best at being forthcoming with strangers, at least not in such serious predicaments. A cold sensation parted his lips-- he wanted to tell her. But she graciously spared them both the opportunity. It's enough. Enough for now.

"Wouldn't there be something like it on the ship?" A beacon, like a black box recorder on a plane. Or were the obstacles around them too vaguely defined, nothing tethered to any real existence anymore? Otherwise, how to explain a large group waking on a 'trip' that most had no memory of. Dead, alive, in some weird limbo? The question became less where they were and more what were they?

If he realized this, certainly she did too. One of them needed to say it out loud.

It was his turn to contemplate the wide open ocean in front of them. "There's cameras everywhere. Someone already knows where we are. Don't need a phone for that."

Tej didn't realize how cold he felt until she touched him, whether from the dip in the water or simply from circumstances of the day. He looked over his shoulder. "Pain?" His shirt ripped open in several places before the mission to save his rucksack, the shreds left back the beach.

"No. Don't feel anything." Not a damn thing at all. "It's alright. Might want to take a look at yourself though." He traced without directly touching a crescent shaped scrape near her temple. And then he reached to the gash on his shoulder blade as if to stubbornly prove his own unprofessional diagnosis, with fingertips pulled away colored red.

Again, he looked over his shoulder, but this time at her. Eyes with a courteous intensity and as distantly wiped out as he felt. "Thanks." Not at all what Tej wanted. As the slow moving realization that they might be there a while approached, he didn't want to be beholden to anyone.

But no way in hell could he have caught up to the backpack. That was all her. Tej pulled away to stand up and swing the saturated bag over his uninjured shoulder. His own life preserver, in a way. And impossible to explain to a complete stranger. "If I find anything useful..." About as nondescript as it got. And unfinished. Maybe he injured more than a shoulder but the pause made sense.

She needn’t have looked up to know he’d snatched the bag back, as tempting as it would’ve been to withhold it, pry it open for herself. The tension had leeched out of her. Some sober cresting realisation that the bag possessed importance to him, and him alone. Akhila’s gaze cast over him, he was soaked through to the skin, but it was those dark eyes that haunted her. They felt akin to the stares she’d infrequently meet coming out of the emergency OR. The sobering nature and tightness wrung through his shoulder suggested no prying.

Akhila worried her bottom lip, her gaze moved past him and onwards to the ocean. The rapid decision had come down to hope, but that felt cliche to admit. Akhila had never hinged anything on, hope, she wanted the facts splayed out underneath her palm to be wielded as she deigned. “I don’t know.” She eventually said, after letting the ocean speak for them both.

The water was occasionally lapping up high enough on the rocks to touch her toes. Akhila narrowed her gaze, why, felt like it was opening them both out to a torrent of other questions. Why here. Why all of them. Why were their memories all a void? Apparently save for one––but she wasn’t entirely sure she could take the word of a celebrity. Pretty did not mean, factual.

“I thought you might have a satphone.” Akhila told him bluntly, her gaze returning to him. There was a faint sensation of familiarity, Akhila loathed the ambiguity of it. Not being able to immediately pinpoint him down, but perhaps he was just another pretty famous face she’d seen in passing. Her gaze cantered down, passing over him, but he bore no obvious signs he’d ever been on her table. Another dreaded mystery, but she could compartmentalise this one.

She swallowed, then pulled herself away from the water’s edge to catch what was left of the sun. “You don’t, do you?” It would be convenient, but a touch unlikely. Akhila had eased up, feeling oddly at peace being soaked through to the skin in-front of a stranger. His difference, however mild, was another comfort. The frank lingering silence made for a welcome break, even if it was marred by the muzak. “It’s fine,” she cut. 

“If it’s important, that’s enough.” Akhila said with some finality, as if reassuring herself that she hadn’t committed an act of foolishness for nothing. For the first time, Akhila sagged and found herself in dire need of an old terrible habit she’d curbed for Hannah’s sake. How is it a licensed medical practitioner will willingly smoke?

 “I’m––” Akhila in her slow shell-shocked observations, belatedly spied a point of collision. Stream of red from the back of his scapula. She shifted, and leant forwards in order to gently place fingers to his shoulder, steadying. “Any pain?” It would need cleaning, for which Akhila could offer nothing but salt.

[tejvirani]

Tej lingered on the beach for a sign of rescue. A ship steadily growing as it sailed further from the horizon and closer to the beach. A plane in promising passes and loops overhead. A sign of life that searched for their lives, and with the realization it wasn't a dream. But not yet aware of the cosmic joke: the stay on the island was indefinite.

Tej sat on a large boulder furthest from the water to sort supplies gathered. A figure approached but paid no mind to him as they sifted through a bag and asked a question to no one. He answered anyway. "Dunno. Got a crystal ball in that bag? Have better luck asking that than one of these." A hang motioned towards the mechanical click of a camera which looked between them.

He paused, chin tipped up. "So what do you have in that bag?"

Location: Obsidian Beach Characters: Nina and Tej @tejvirani

Maybe she acted hastily and ran off towards this part of the island. She knew she didn't want to head into the hub; whatever feast was there seemed questionable. She was already in a space where she wasn't sure was even safe. Everything looked too good to be true. With the newfound knowledge that motion cameras were watching them, she did her best to be quick and agile.

Whatever had drawn her to the black sand followed the riptide of the ocean. It mirrored her emotions, as the force of the waters clashed against the rocks. She figured she could capture this scenery before night took over. She carried her bag with her, searching for her drawing pad. She probably looked a mess, and it wasn't like she knew who these people are. "How long are we going to be here for?" she spoke to herself aloud. She thought she was alone.

[alexpanganiban]

"You are ... absolutely right!" Alex shot twin finger guns at the patrician-sounding woman, adding pew pew noises out of habit, though he didn't linger on that. It wasn't the time, with all of the confused people milling around them desperate for somebody to take them in hand and show them what to do. "And now that we've eliminated the danger of people trying to find and use lifeboats that're already a lost cause, we can move on to a more viable method of getting off the ship!"

Alex edged gradually in front of the other people, to take up most of the tall woman's attention. "Alex Panganiban," he rattled off, and then turned to the other people, announcing to them with the rat-a-tat nonthreatening authority he'd polished to perfection on We The Survivors, "You heard it! Over to port side and we can start scouting more avenues for disembarking safely!" People started moving, even the crying chick, and Alex turned back to the woman in satisfaction. "You've got a good natural eye for this," he commended her. "Are you some kind of leadership position? In your work? You run a hospital or a restaurant chain or a mid-range jewelry store?"

Location: The Odyssey, main deck @alexpanganiban

Reluctantly, Akhila found herself on the main deck of the ship, alongside a fair few others. It was a cacophony of noise as everyone attempted to make their voice heard, over the droll benign music. Akhila clicked her tongue persevering as a young lad did the rounds in their rag-tag group. He seemed to be forming no rational plan to get them off. “I think you’ll find the lifeboats are gone.” Akhila interrupted. Even if it was a natural line of thinking, it wouldn’t help them, they were too late now the ship had listed.

She surveyed those that were too late for the easy way out. Akhila felt a pang of pity for an older gentleman who appeared close to her father's age, but thus far convivial. Then there was a young woman who hadn't stopped crying. It'd been forty minutes, or so Akhila assumed based off the regular intervals of announcements. “I recommend those that are capable explore possible avenues for getting off. Starting on the port side.” She turned her attention back to the noisy kid. “Then we return here.”

[tejvirani]

Zaid fell back on a favored rant against Americans. Couldn't argue that one much and Tej never felt compelled to either. Uncertain times were recalled, so distant yet not at all. Tej jabbed with a remark to wound Zaid's pride. The chef meticulously sliced and diced up a memory and added a large dollop of pure fiction.

He hissed between his teeth. "I had a job, Zaid." Said slow, every syllable rounded out of his mouth indignant, buffered with a slow blink mid sentence. He did have a job. Sometimes. Freelancing, which Zaid didn't seem to comprehend the idea of. Not to mention, most of what he bought was for... his lips pressed tight, a stop gap to keep a leak of heated emotion. He needed to regroup.

"Ah, what was that review for Chutney's opening." Brown eyes turned up to a slanted ceiling, as if he needed time to remember the specific details. "You know the one. Star chef disappoints. Or something."

A pause was all for show. For the build up. For the suspense. Tej leveled his gaze again on Zaid. "Bland flavor profiles." A beat. "Soggy Aloo Samosa." Brows folded heavily to mimic a kind of innocent concern. "That critic, he was a Brit, wasn't he?" Not even a bloody entitled American. Hah.

Zaid easily turned into a fuming Hamlet who created Shakespearian worthy excuses for why a food critic was wrong. On many occasions. Perhaps Tej exaggerated a particularly harsh and undeserved review too. Food and fucking-- two things Tej could never complain about with Zaid. What he could complain about was how Zaid knew how to get under his skin. The absolute prick did it then too.

Tej hated that he couldn't leave the dumb ass to drown. Loathed how for a few seconds, a rushed kiss took him all the way back to better times. Galled he only knew what the hell sous vide was because of Zaid. He dodged the packaged fish and then grabbed it up to launch back at that beautiful face.

Then, none of the barking between them mattered. As he was swept under water and pushed along, nothing mattered. Too dark to see. The only sounds were a nauseating gurgling of water in a twisting drain that tumbled him and the muffled screams around. Until everyone flooded out into the wide dining hall.

One hand held a table leg to keep from sliding along on the river that ran through the room, and into who knew what. The back of his other hand rubbed at an eye, and then pushed back soaked hair. Just in time to hear the hoarse call of his name over the hollow spill of ocean water through the room.

He turned his head in the direction Zaid pointed. There was a door. He'd have to slide carefully over, use a few other tables as foot and hand holds to get there. Zaid shot a finger at a door on his side of the room too.

"Don't." They used to work so well together. With shit like this, when it mattered. At least when things were good. "Go! Just go." Petty. Tej wanted to keep the upper hand of a rescue as the last time they'd see each other. A few days time, a week at the latest. People were already searching for them! They'd never have to see each other again.

And it wasn't worth Zaid getting hurt either. He began his climb to the exit. Once the door was pushed open, sunlight from the deck almost blinded, a spotlight on Tej he didn't ask for. He shouted out to Zaid. "New York. That was you. Your idea. Not mine!" He left his friends, he left an artist collective he actually felt a part of.

Left what could've been, even. To stay in London would've prevented the tragic ending that followed, Tej convinced himself.

He shouted across the room to compete with the water, the cries for help. Tej would not allow Zaid the satisfaction to think otherwise. Just a rubber stamp on the ending.

"What! What. No one appreciated the work I put in there! Bloody entitled Americans," Zaid spit, temporarily comforted by the bitter memories (this memory at least, wherein Zaid thought he came out looking the noble martyr) to allay his current panic. "Making takeway boxes for essential workers even when Chutney was still bogged in red tape." He zoned in on Tej, his favourite verbal punching bag. "And if I recall correctly, you were right at my side, praising me for doing 'the right thing'. Now I know what you were really thinking, yeah? Keep the old cobbler deluded, whilst you went online shopping with my dosh."

He said it, because he wanted more. He wanted to hear Tej with his retorts and verbal slices. He wanted Tej to just talk to him instead of that numb silence when Tej decided (for the both of them, no less) that arguing was useless. It was only useless when Zaid decided it was! And now, Zaid realized how much he'd missed it, missed hearing Tej insult and deride him as easily as Tej slung paint and trash on canvas.

Besides, yelling and being yelled at by Tej was easier than the other memories that circled the rushing ocean water with them.

Zaid ignored everyone else in the galley. He couldn't give a fuck about them; and in survivor situations, wasn't it every man for himself? For himself, and Tej. The only two that mattered for Zaid, right now.

He was free, and he wasn't thinking anything when he pressed a kiss on Tej. Or - he was thinking, and it was just...Tej. It should be romantic - being saved, thanking his saviour with a kiss, the man he loved, but been estranged for months - but Tej shoved him back, crashing reality (as always. That was what Tej was good at, forcing everyone to see ugly, morbid reality behind the illusion of life) and Zaid looked perplexed. A sous-vide salmon floated by and Zaid snatched it out of the water and threw it at Tej's head.

But urgency took a hold of both of them, as the ship (or whatever they were in) groaned loud and horrid, the whirlpool grabbing more suction, more equipment. "Fuck - fuck! Tej! Tej!" Zaid only knew two words; the rest of his mind sheeted white with panic. Nothing helped. His limbs got heavy, head went underwater, and Zaid was spinning in the dark. No sign of Tej, and the only instinct Zaid had, was to curl into himself, protect himself from any of the heavy or sharp equipment swirling with him.

It wouldn't last long. He'd drown, hopefully Tej would too. Then it'd all be over--

-- only it wasn't Fucking hell! Zaid pitched out of a door, rolling down a floor that seemed even more dangerously slanted than the galley. He was only stopped by a counter, which he slammed into with an 'OOF' and felt the wind knocked out of him for a second.

Then silence, save for the drip and caustic echoes of water. Zaid slowly unfurled, and blearily looked around. He could see to his left side was an exit - and possibly what looked like sunlight outside. He could get to it if he carefully crawled along the corner of the counter.

But he heard noise - a heavy, sharp exhale - from the far, far side of the great dining hall. It was easy to recognize that long lean form, stretched out as Tej held on to the bolted dining table. Wet and bedraggled, so tragic in his handsomeness. So handsome in his tragedy? 'If you were ugly, no one would give a fuck,' Zaid had told Tej, once.

Tej was far away. To reach him would be risky on this slanted floor; one slip and Zaid would crash down, break bones, not so lucky twice. "Tej," Zaid croaked, then tried again. "Tej!" He pointed to Tej's right. "There - a door, an - an exit. Maybe it'll take you to the deck. Outside? I'll..." Zaid could exit on his own side. Or, he could try to make it to where Tej was. Zaid pointed to his own left.

"I could go out on this side but...I'll come over to you. I'll come over to you, just give me a moment!"

[tejvirani]

A cruise ship, a bracelet, cameras all around. The idea of the island as a string of bizarre dreams and twisted nightmares wore off fast. So far, the only person's sanity Tej questioned was his own. He considered a break with reality. Gone through enough stressful life events recently to warrant such a thing, had he not?

The stranger seemed to handle it better than some. A coolness paired with Tej's numbness. Intact enough to ask way too many questions. "I woke up in a gym." On the floor, with a Peloton on its side mere inches from his head. "Mm. Finally made it to a spot to jump over board." Did you run into anyone else? Unfortuntely, was what he wanted to say, and even as he understood what Lokni asked, Tej veered off course. "Well, there's a lot of people down there, hm?"

A bare shake of his head. Tej didn't need all the details Lokni wanted from him. Unconcerned with how they left the ship, the only important thing being they were there. "Any idea what's happening? The cameras, the food, all that."

A different Tej, the one who was about to leave New York and move back to London Tej, thought of many things he'd like to do to the cameras specifically, aside from flipping them off.

Safety certainly had a chill to it. Symbiosis-- Tej felt certain it was a competing restaurant to Zaid's. "Why have an antennae no one can reach," more a murmur to himself. Maybe Lokni simply overlooked the entrance of the structure. Maybe they were right, and the antennae sat on its own without any means or reason for access. "Guess when we're ready for the attention, we can take out it out then." Tej's aim wasn't too terrible.

The shake of his head barely noticeable, the tight jump of a tendon at his jaw likely more so. What was it all about? "Dunno yet." Somehow with art, broken parts, unruly pieces, cast off junk, those things talked to him. Assembled themselves into something beautiful or at least half way interesting. Currently, not much clicked on the island.

"Don't like all the readymade shit. The bungalows." Those small buildings said they were all in for a long stay. "The feast, the warehouse. We're all being kept, but so far I don't know why. Open to theories though."

A deal. Seemed unnecessary to Tej in the moment, but he also had no plans to give a stranger an itemized list of what he'd already grabbed. Tej blinked slow and drawled. "Found a small tool kit. You?"

And then Tej began to walk towards the tower. "I want to see this for myself. Sure you tried everything to get in?"

Tej squinted at Lokni as if he was... well a lunatic or something. Honestly, that might be the "variable" that Miss Palmer was so adamant about; everyone on this island was a lunatic. Hell, that made more sense to Lokni than anything else at this point. “Woke up on the ship, woke up with this.” Tej showed Lokni a bracelet that was similar to the one Lokni had had on his wrist earlier, although Lokni had pocketed his earlier, not wanting it to get snagged on anything. Strangely enough, he couldn't bring himself to be rid of it. The hue of the crystal was different though. What were they anyway? Some sort of tracker? "Yeah, I came to in the dark pretty low in the ship, what about you? How did you get out of there? Did you run into anyone else?" Lokni replied, searching for any congruencies between their experiences. After Lokni had explained that he wanted to try to find a way in, Tej gave him another odd look. He had been getting a lot of those, Tej being the expressive type. Not a bad thing, if anything Lokni kind of envied people that could make faces like that out loud so easily. Lokni couldn't get a read on the guy, maybe Tej was struggling too, and they were at some sort of strange, standoffish impasse. But at that moment there they were, Tej looking at Lokni like he was dumber than goose shit on a pump handle. "“What’s that mean, finding a way into the tower?” Tej surveyed the eyesore of a tower prospectively, “The hell is that on top?” "That's what I was saying. I reckoned that you might be here for the same reason- I doubt you meandered your way out here just to give the finger to some cameras." Or maybe this guy was just that full of contention. Lokni felt like he might just be kicking the wasps' nest at this point. The tower loomed before them, an ugly grey thing sticking out of the tops of the trees like a tick on a deer. It looked downright unnatural. More pressing to Lokni, however, it looked impossible to climb. "Whatever's on top of there, it's probably the main source of broadcasts and communication. If we took that out, the cameras would be down across the island, as well as that infernal speaker I reckon... But at the same time, might not be such a great idea, as much as I don't like being watched all the time, it might be a safety measure as well. We might need it as a kind of screwed-up symbiosis." Lokni liked that word, "symbiosis-" picked it up from the movie "Venom." "What're all of your thoughts on this- this place- and what's afoot in general?" Tej had asked Lokni about what he had on his person, which at that point, wasn't much, but he didn't want to appear threatening to begin with, so honesty was important. That being said, Lokni wasn't about to show all of his cards just yet. "I'll show you what I've got, if you'll show me what you've got, deal?"

[tejvirani]

Half survivalist, part showman. Perhaps the key to their success? Despite the unfamiliar surroundings, Alex hit their mark effortlessly for the cameras. Then spoke to an invisible audience. Tej's eyes scanned around almost expecting to catch a glimpse of a producer stepping out the overgrowth, a director following after to yell cut!

Alex Panganiban. "Yeah, I used to watch the show. I'm Tej." His head bobbed once. "So what is with the cameras then, if it's not for a show?"

Because it was difficult to let go of the notion that this-- everything around them --was anything but a set. And a set up to something. Especially with Alex's obviously remark, seemed specifically directional. But Tej only commented on the last part, with a smile that lasted as long as a flickering spark. Was celebrity survivor flirting or high? Either way, Tej went along with it, if it meant he could get some answers. "Same. I prefer forward too."

Tej rested a hand on the ropes that held up the bridge, one that also felt cinematically wobbly when a hesitant foot stepped on the first twisted branch that formed a plank. Tej looked down, down, down to a wide ravine under the bridge, carved out of stone and earth ,and filled with deep teal water.

"You can probably tell how long it's been here, yeah?" How many times had he watched Alex make their own rope bridge, among other things. While in worse shape, all their energy spent just to find the smallest bite of energy. To get more for the next miserable day in the heat/snow/wherever they were filming from. He looked to Alex for guidance (who else would he look at?) "What do you think-- is it safe? What's the best way to cross, besides quick." No hesitation at all, he imagined. But he wasn't the expert.

"Is this the show, he asks?" Alex lifted his hands in a shrugging gesture, turning it into a look around us! gesture as he did a slow half-spin in each direction, twisting at the hips before coming back to smile at the extraordinarily cute guy who'd materialized out of nowhere. Which, honestly, would be a mark in the favour of this being the show, but no. Alex would've known.

"No," he said, "I would've known."

But the cute guy was asking questions anyhow, and Alex supposed that made sense. He was as close as it came to a natural authority figure in this place, and though that caused a few little belly-worms of anxiety, all in all, it could work to his advantage, right? In fact, considering cute guy was looking to him for answers, that seemed to be the case already.

"I'm Alex," he said, a polite formality to prompt an intro from the other side of the equation, then frowned thoughtfully and folded his arms, stroking his chin as he thought. "The bridge," Alex decided, injecting confidence into his voice and the course of action. "Obviously we're meant to be able to reach that tower, and the bridge is the way there, so maybe it's not the way back, but I've always been partial to the way forward, y'know what I mean?"