"This route is by far the longest to the lake, but it pays off." Elizabeth prodded the ground with her walking stick. The terrain was different than that of their base camp— it was a lot more fruitful...literally. She walked over to some trees and bushes, and used her walking stick to knock some apples from the tree, "This," she spoke slowly as she picked up a dark purple, almost black, apple, "is an incredibly rare and stupidly delicious apple. It's called the 'Black Diamond' apple. They're supposedly insanely difficult to grow, primarily because finding the perfect conditions for them is close to impossible. And yet," she paused. Ellie turned the apple in her hand and looked at her surroundings. "Wherever we are is very much a mystery. But if something as good and rare as this can thrive here, then maybe we can too."
☆ﾟ*·ﾟlooking down at the ground, arden wasn't entirely sure if this was really a good idea. there were so many weird bugs out here, and what if there was some kind of bacteria in the mud? she was trying her best to keep up with ellie. see, arden was absolutely interested in this hike to the lake, but she was still stressed about everything else around her. "it's really pretty, but are we sure this is the safest way? what if we sink into this mud?" running after ellie, she looked down at the apple, tilting her had to the side. "that's weirdly beautiful. are they safe to eat?" arden turned around, looking at everything around her. "i know that the fish here are really healthy, so as long as we stay to the water, i'd say i agree with you."
"You know, I don't remember any of it?" she admitted, "Last thing I remember was ordering a caramel macchiato from Starbuck's and buying a bottle of Fantasy for super cheap then I remember waking up like... a day after. Guess it really shows that our brains try to protect us, you know?"
☆ﾟ*·ﾟbiting her lip, arden listened to her talk, nodding along with her. she'd blocked any confusion away, because she was afraid that it would scare her. "your brain is protecting you from any pain, which is good. have you checked yourself for bruises or any cuts or anything?"
☆ﾟ*·ﾟher breath stopped for a moment as she looked up at the tree she'd just scaled to get a coconut. turning to face william, she tried her best to hold back the tears in her eyes. arden high fived him and whimpered softly. "i can't believe i did either! it's so high and i just... oh my goodness. i can't breathe." arden held the coconut in her hands, trying her best not to panic too much.
☆ﾟ*·ﾟblinking, arden tried her best to make a weird face. she knew that wrapping herself in her blanket, and taping it to her body while she walked through the woods looked silly. but in her defense, she wasn't expecting anyone to actually see her. "okay, but there are unidentifiable bugs out here and i don't know what they're going to do. this will protect me."
☆ﾟ*·ﾟarden blinked for a moment, staring at them with complete and utter confusion. "you don't believe in dinosaurs? what do you mean? 'cause we wouldn't know how other animals evolved without dinosaur fossils!" she could go on and on about animals, and probably shouldn't have been allowed to either. "where do animals even come from then if not from dinosaurs?"
ZENDAYA COLEMAN // have you seen ARDEN WELSH around the crash site? we’re trying to make sure they’re still alive after the crash! according to the manifesto SHE is a TWENTY SIX year old CIS WOMAN**. i hear they’re known being a OCEANOGRAPHER. ARDEN is also known to be AFFECTIONATE yet also IMPULSIVE at times. we have a couple questions for ARDEN when we find HER, we heard something about a secret they might have? such as SHES SECRETLY SCARED OF EVERYTHING BUT HATES TO ADMIT IT!
name: arden emma welsh
age: 26
birthday: march 14th
zodiac: pisces
mbti: infp
job: oceanographer
THE PAST:
arden was born to high school sweethearts. her parents absolutely adored her, and from the very beginning, spoiled her. they protected her from absolutely everything, shielding her from all of the horrors in the world. this became a problem very quickly, as arden was then afraid of everything. she expected people to protect her from things, not in an entitled way, but more just in general. throughout elementary school, her parents were actually worried for her, because she'd scream at a bug, or was afraid of heights and wouldn't go on the monkey bars and would cry. arden was a chicken, and she hated it. she didn't want to be afraid of the world, but somehow, she was. there was one thing that she wasn't afraid of, despite how frightening it could be.
she wasn't afraid of the water. whether it was a pool or even the open ocean, arden absolutely adored it. her very first experience with water was a family friend's pool. after having floaties and a life jacket placed on her, her mother didn't think that little arden would vault herself into the pool. but she loved it and hated getting out of the pool. her fascination with the water made her parents curious. that next weekend, they took her to the beach. little arden waited patiently for her floaties and lifejacket to be put on, as she knew she couldn't swim just yet and then bolted to the water. she sat in the sand and let the waves wash over her and just laughed. after begging her mother for swim lessons, the family moved near the beach, just so arden could spend time by the water. it was the only thing she would run towards every single time and very quickly started going deeper so she could see all of the animals. her father taught her how to snorkel and scuba dive once she was older. the animals under the water made her so incredibly excited and that was when she knew that that was all she wanted to do; arden studied as much as she could about animals and wanted to spend the rest of her life with anything aquatic related. but is she scared of land animals and of airplanes and of everything else? yes.
THE PRESENT:
why did she buy the plane ticket you ask? despite her fear of airplanes, arden wanted to see the great barrier reef. she wanted to study all of the animals and aquatic life underneath the water. it was her absolute dream to see the world she'd spent so long learning about. sydney was the beginning. she'd spend time near the water there, then make her way up to the great barrier reef. it would be the trip of a lifetime. when the oxygen masks popped from the top, arden went into a full panic attack. she could barely get her mask on fast enough and tried her best not to completely lose it. grabbing her lifejacket as fast as she could, arden's fear nearly caused her to pass out. but she knew that once she was in the water, even though the plane was crashing, she'd be okay. when they crashed on the island, arden ran to the water and sat in it, trying to calm herself down.
she's still terrified of everything on the island, but she's noticed very quickly that showing everyone how scared she is is a bad idea. therefore, arden hides her panic attacks, and tries to be so brave, but it doesn't always work out in her favor.
SURVIVAL SKILLS:
arden doesn't have very many survival skills outside of the water. she can tell you what fish are good to eat, which ones will taste the best, and which ones are easy to catch. because she considers herself a friend of the water, she likes to think she's good at catching fish as well. so if you need food from the water, she's your girl. she also knows how to make drinkable water from the sea water, but can she even do that on an island? that much she's not sure about.
SOCIAL:
even though she's afraid of so many things, arden is an absolute sweetheart. she adores making friends, being around people and helping out in any way that she can. a lot of this stems from her fear of being alone. arden would much rather be trapped somewhere with people than be by herself. she doesn't much like to make enemies and in the case that she does, the absolute fear of having someone hate her will completely eat at her. honestly, she's just a precious bean, okay? just don't let her get scared, 'cause then we got lots of panic.
