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Post by boo radley on Nov 23, 2009 0:10:19 GMT
Jack shrugged as Ana gave him a questioning look when Lola gave directions. He didn't mind, he just wanted this over with. Jeannette still looked somewhat concerned. "Anna's gone," said Jeannette. "Because we didn't do a good enough job of keeping her away." She sighed. "Of course, she didn't trust me from the start, so when I told her to stay away from Markus..."
Jack awkwardly patted her on the back. "It's okay, she never really liked you." Jeannette laughed.
"You, Captain Sparrow, are terrible."
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Post by alldrenched on Nov 23, 2009 9:50:08 GMT
Lola smirked a bit at Jack's joke then looked up at the sun, they had about five hours before sunset. Lola wrapped one arm around her side, holding it with a bit of a grimace, though the pressure helped.
She took a step over the palm tree root barrier that seemed to divide the wild jungle from the beach, starting their journey.
She covered her eyes with her hands to block the glare of the sun and she peered into the jungle. It was dark, the trees strangled out much of the sunshine, and it was dense with life, vines that curled and giant tropical flowers. Lola felt her claustrophobia grow; odd that she could be on a boat meant for one with three other people and not feel this, but as soon as she stepped foot on shore she felt suffocated. The stillness, the branches weaving into a canopy overhead, all of this made her want to run, run back to the shore, to see the horizon that you lost inland.
Joey took out one of his best blades, one he picked up in Asia Minor several years before. The locals swore by it when they needed to traverse the local jungles, it was crafted perfectly for cutting down the plants in their path, and killing any snakes you might encounter.
Joey started clearing a narrow path for them.
(I am really sleep deprived so I hope this is sensical.....)
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Post by boo radley on Nov 24, 2009 5:12:17 GMT
Jeannette raised her hands to just have a wind blow everything away, but on second thought, put her hands back down. She would much rather she didn't have to burn her energy down again. Meanwhile, Jack led the troupe on cautiously, his eyes taking in every detail. He stopped. "Look," he said. He touched the ground. It was muddy. "On dry land like this?" He paused. "There's a swamp in this island. Let's get ourselves a boat." But they didn't have to, because Jeannette pointed further.
"No, look," she said. "There's... I can't see too well, but there's a small dock over there, and a rowboat tied to." She squinted. "That would be odd if someone wasn't expecting us."
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Post by alldrenched on Nov 24, 2009 6:54:32 GMT
Lola nodded, though this foreign feeling, this fear, was building in her. She looked to Jeannette staring into her eyes deeply for a moment, trying to read her, read what she felt and was thinking. Then Lola glanced around, putting her hand on the hilt of her sword. The comforting feeling of the elaborately detailed butt of her sword cleared the fear that seemed to rest at the bottom of her throat.
Joey felt for a moment like someone was watching them, but peering around the dimly lit forest he didn't even see the leaves rustle from wind. It was in fact oddly still, but they were inland, the breezes that came off the sea didn't reach in here he assumed.
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Post by boo radley on Nov 27, 2009 2:40:29 GMT
Jeannette rolled her eyes at the scared group; if they were meant to die (though she honestly doubted it), they'd die, and that'd be the end of that. She kept walking. Jack looked around. "Well what're we standing here for? Might as well get this over with..." he walked forward, following Jeannette to the boat.
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Post by alldrenched on Nov 30, 2009 5:41:28 GMT
Joey climbed in, helping Ana and Lola. He looked about, and found only one ore and took it, and thus sat at the center of the boat.
Lola squinted into the darkness around them as Joey started to row slowly.
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Post by boo radley on Dec 1, 2009 1:29:32 GMT
It was an eerie sort of thing around them, even Ana was quiet. Jeannette was calm, not at all afraid, and Jack's eyes constantly shifted around the swamp. "There, ahead," pointed Jeannette.
Jack looked closely; there was a candlelight flickering ominously ahead. "You're right." He cocked his pistol, causing Ana to jump, but only barely. "Just in case."
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Post by alldrenched on Dec 1, 2009 2:35:57 GMT
Lola looked down, in the murky water log like alligators lurked, and the light ahead was getting brighter. As they reached the source of the light Lola had an overwhelming instinct.
"Duck," she said calmly to the group as she did so.
Overhead a spray of arrows flew out of the still darkness around them.
Lola didn't shoot into the darkness at the assailants, this seemed...ceremonial. The arrows might have hit them yes, but they wouldn't have killed.
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Post by boo radley on Dec 3, 2009 4:02:59 GMT
"Wh..." Ana looked. She was interested in these people who lived here, not truly afraid of any of them. At last the boat stopped at another deck; above was the teetering floating house with the candles.
"She is in there," said Jeannette quietly.
"Who's in there? A woman? Ha!" Jack laughed. Both Jeannette and Ana looked at him sharply. "What?"
"Careful what you say around her," said Jeannette. "Her temper could cause the worst of storms."
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Post by alldrenched on Dec 3, 2009 7:16:42 GMT
Lola had snapped a glare at Jack along with Ana and Jeannette, but her mind wasn't in it, she was thinking, a woman, a woman who could cause storms.
Lola had heard stories, bed time tales her sister and brother told her about people who could do that. A Poseidon like god, a pagan beast that could change shapes. She thought also about the maps Jack had that laid out fairy story lands as though they were real and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
She was far less superstitious than most sailors, and pirates particularly, but she believed in some supernatural things. Had she not made it rain for those island heathens, had she not seen great shadus and shaman in the dark corners of Africa bring back the dead to do their work, mindlessly bringing water from wells far across the desert, and had she not seen the priestess of Isis have their coin purses filled as if by the goddess herself?
But this was different, she felt this man had sailed her right into a dream world, a world where her bed time stories were surrounding her, hunting her.
She knelled and threw a line around the dock post, securing the rowboat.
Joey's mind was less filled with daydreams however. He was relieved, he knew if she did have this power she would have surely killed them already. And if this was all a coincidence, the storm stranding them here, then whoever was in the nearby building was surely mortal enough to die by his sword.
This comforted him; he didn't like witchcraft, he had a natural fear as many Scots and Irishmen did. He had been warned as a child not to stray far into the forest at night for fear of the bewitching fairies, the little gnomes and dwarfs that might capture a young boy for their supper, and evil spirits which bad midwifes might be commanding.
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