After everything that happened on the day/night of the gloom, Tamyra invites @aureliemarchand and @akbartheolder along to an attempt to get to the South Beach and get some answers. The expedition turns south quickly, though, (pun intended), and Tamyra’s desperation has a price.
The determination to get to the South Beach was just as strong inside Tamyra right now as it usually was to get out of the island. She knew, however, that getting to the South Beach wasn't going to be a joy ride. The water was without a doubt the safest way and after dragging a boat across half the island and recruitment done, Tamyra was leading Aurélie and Emre towards the fishing boat she deemed the best chance for this endeavor.
"I figured somebody could paddle, somebody could use the water to help with speed." There was a reason she asked two other fellow water attuned members. "We could take turns, one resting at all times so we can keep our energy. And then once we arrive to the other shore, we figure out the rest."
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"Wasn't this yours and Frank's boat-tingie - " Emre started to ask, but then shook his head. "Actually never mind, I don't really care." He really shouldn't have agreed to this expedition to begin with, considering all the work that had to be done after all that fog and mess and...the rest of it. But by that same token, he had made promises to Tamyra - and the hope of getting Iyaz off the island was too tempting, wooed as Emre was by Tam's determination.
The fact that Aurélie was a part of this only gave Emre further incentive. It was so good to see everything again clearly, without fog and dark. He eyed Aurélie, trying to gauge her reasons for joining Tamyra on this goose chase.
“Not really sure I'd be much good at using water for speed. Still haven't gotten the hang of all that water...moving." Emre reached for one of the oars. "I'll go with this, yeah. I'm good at brute strength."
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It’s simple: she needs something to do. After weeks of being holed up thanks to head injury followed by days clouded by grief for one of her oldest friends, Aurélie cannot sit still anymore. What’s more, she wants answers. If this is her home, the place she has accepted as her life, she needs to learn the ins and outs of living in it. What she wants, really, is answers: for the fog, for the memories she’d been faced to witness again. For Matthew.
But she’ll take the South Beach for now.
“You mean to tell me that you dragged a fishing boat all this way?” Aurélie has been quiet, mostly, mulling over her stormy feelings and the likely inevitable reactions she’ll receive for taking part of this scheme. But something impressed creeps into her tone now. “It is a sound plan,” she shrugs in response to Tamyra’s orders of operation. “But I do think perhaps some more of the rest should be figured out, hm? Like what you intend to do on the South Beach when we reach it.” If they reach it.
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"Yeah, I did," Tamyra nodded at Aurélie's question. "I had to work off some... frustrations." That fateful day was a lot for her, and despite her hiding away on the jag, she was not at all back to normal or back to alright, and the boat presented the perfect opportunity to not have to think about it, just curse her way here with the boat.
"Alright, so Emre, you'll be on oar duty, we will handle the water moving," Tamyra nodded, ready to get going right away when Aurélie suggested some more planning should be done. "I would love to, Rélie. Trust me, I would be the happiest if we could prepare for everything, but we have no idea what awaits us there, how can we prepare for that? There could be people there, or just a completely empty beach." There had to be a catch, if it was the latter, she was sure of that, but that wasn't really the point now.
"Unless you have something you think we can do? Either of you, really. Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed." Part of the reason she asked for their help was the fact that both of them were comfortable in the water and got things done, but also because they were such different people and had such different way of thinking. Maybe they could think of something she couldn't.
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Emre shook his head at Tamyra's question. "No. Not much in the mood for wowing anyone with my usual brilliance," he stated mildly, glancing between the two women. The both of them so much older than him, on this island for so much longer. One aftereffect of Matthew's demise, was that Emre was humbled. He intimately knew death and the unpredictability thereof - not just in the outside world, but on the island.
But...Matthew.
His murder was a strong reminder of the chaotic nature of death. Age and experience meant as much as it did in the outside world: nothing. Everyone could be killed, even these two ladies here with him. He motioned for them to hop into the boat. He'd push it into the waves and jump in after.
"So long as we all have weapons, yeah." Emre pat his cutlass. "Other than water-magic, since you lot'll be knackered after sailing, and I'm only partially useful in the magic department innit." He smiled wanly at Aurélie. "I miss guns."
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No plan, no prospects, no ideas. Aurélie feels her lips press together, gaze darting back in the direction from whence they’d come. “It is for the best that none of us can drown.” Aurélie simply concludes, trying to ignore her gut feeling to turn back. This is helpful. This could be a boost in morale, which everyone on the island is in dire need of nowadays.
Or it could be their demise.
After raking her hand back through her hair, Aurélie sighs and shifts her bag of supplies between shoulders and boards the boat, prompted by Emre’s gesture. She’s quiet, mulling — it’s been a pattern over the last couple of weeks. There’s little that feels worth saying. Still, Aurélie manages a wry smile at Emre’s comment, though it doesn’t reach her eyes, her short nod.
Aurélie sits once they’ve pushed off — being closer to the water has always been best for her — and keeps her gaze on the island as they take to the sea. “We likely should not stray far from shore. Not so close as to run aground, bien sûr, but... for the sake of caution.” If there’s room for that here anymore. She tries to keep that thought at bay, curling her palm to shift the water and set them on a reliable course.
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"My club is already in the boat." Might have not seemed too much, but a directed attack at the lower regions could do more harm than a lot of other weapons. "But I do hope it's not going to come that. I know, I know, it's hopefuly thinking but... we deserve a win, right?" It felt like all they did was lose these day without ever realizing they were even playing. And Matthew's death coming after a day like that one...
Tamyra shook her head and took a seat in the boat herself after Aurélie and while she took to directing the water, Tamyra watched and made sure they weren't running onto any rocks and help the other two navigate. "That sounds like a good plan. It's gonna take longer than straight there, but we want to actually get there." She looked over at Aurélie, "Tell me when you are getting tired and we can switch."
She turned back to the water, one hand in it herself just to feel the waves around them, give her some comfort. She wasn't in the best shape after everything, to say the least, but she doubted any of them were. "Were you guys... there? When they found him?" she asked, still watching the water.
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'We deserve a win' sounded so American to Emre. Tamyra thought 'deserve' factored into things; though maybe she was being sardonic. Like preparing to fail, not hoping to win. Emre just gave her a smoky smile, curling and slow to dissipate.
"Oh, I can still deffo drown," Emre volunteered, not caring about admitting his own weaknesses. He was fascinated, watching Tamyra and Aurélie operatin together. Both very much A-type personalities, although Lielie was more subtle about it. Emre wouldn't annoy them by proclaiming it aloud, but he was a little thrilled to be included in this expedition. "But Tamzy's got me well learned on swimming, innit. Tops instructor, that one."
He winked at Aurélie, but his cheekiness faded when Tamyra asked that question. Matthew. Emre redoubled his efforts with the oars, acting too busy to say anything. Besides, he had the least to say. He only nodded and then after Aurélie spoke, he eventually added, "No one's come forward, no one wants to admit what they did. Either by accident or..." he glanced at Aurélie. "On purpose."
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"I do not know that Meridium cares much for what we deserve." Snappish, perhaps, especially coming from a woman so resolute in staying here. But seeing your age-old friend's bloodied form lying on the sand will do that to anyone. Aurélie lets it rest, looking out at the horizon, away from the island at last.
Emre reminds her, however unintentionally, of his age – or lack thereof. Aurélie can't help her scolding look, though perhaps it should be directed more toward Tamyra, wrangling this young thing into an expedition such as this. "Hm." Aurélie simply says, not greeting the wink with her usual smile, plunging her hand into the water further and feeling the tide respond. They curve around an outcropping of rocks before she responds to the next part. "Yes. Many people were. Esther began to scream, and... people responded, je suppose."
Emre begins theorizing and Aurélie exhales noisily. She's not sure what to make of the theories – like Seamus (for once), she wants answers. But she's also been accompanied by Joaquin, who has been made all the more troubled by the bubbling accusations. "I just hope that Matthew is at peace." She finally offers, then stands suddenly, pointing out, back toward the shore, where there's a flurry of movement. She squints against the sun. "What is that?"
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Esther being the one who found Matthew felt the cruelest twist of fate towards the woman there could be. Part of Tamyra was extremely glad she wasn't there, didn't hear the cries and wasn't there for the chaos that ensued. It was still shocking to find out about it the way she did, but hearing Esther's painful scream... Yeah, she could live without that one haunting her.
"Yeah, hopefully he is at peace," Tamyra echoed Aurélie's words and didn't add that otherwise, they might actually meet him again one day. She absolutely did not want to meet a ghost Matthew, reliving his last memories. Though on the other hands, that might answer the most important question.
She didn't have time to dwell on it, though (probably for the better), because suddenly Aurélie was up and pointing towards the shore next to them and Tamyra whipped her head there. She couldn't see the movement anymore, but there was a set of rocks there now. "Those weren't there before," she said with a sinking feeling in her stomach. "I know we said that we need to keep close to the shorelines but maybe we should get a little further out. Just to make sure one doesn't suddenly appear right in front of us."
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Aurélie's clipped answer spoke volumes about her feelings at the moment. Terse, still grieving in her own way about the First. Tamyra seemed a bit more distant to it all - bothered, but without Aurélie's quiet acidity. Anything Emre said at this point would feel inauthentic. He simply didn't have enough time spent with the Golden Trio, as either woman did.
"Think they'll find out?" Emre asked, still treading along the path of 'whodunit'. He didn't need closure personally, but he had a cool curiousity. Was solving the mystery a priority? Would there be any formal investigation? If the killer was identified, would there be any recourse? Questions that would only frustrate others, so he kept his thoughts to himself.
He twisted, to try and spot what the women noticed. "What? What're we looking at?" he asked. "Them rocks - what - earth magic?"
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Emre is steadfast in his course, hypothetical inquiries that she, yet again, has no answers to. "I know that Seamus wants answers." Aurélie responds plainly, for once understanding the point of view of the man she's so often gone nose to nose with. "Will he find answers? That is not for me to say. Esther... I do not know how much she cares for such a thing. I have not asked." There's a pointed hint in that last part: you should refrain from asking as well.
Luckily, curiosity tucks her grief aside and Aurélie cranes her neck, putting her hand on her brow to block the sun. She's quiet for another moment, contemplative, then providing: "I do wonder about what Tomas' wife said. Of the jungle, and its changes. I have seen such things myself in there. But I wonder... does it ever seep out? The tendency for change?" And then, catching herself in the theories, she shrugs and sits back down. "Or perhaps you are right and it is just the work of the earth attuned."
Back to work. "Further out, then." Aurélie murmurs, nodding to Emre to guide the oars as she does the same for the tides. It takes some focus, enough for her to close her eyes. They remain closed as she poses a question: "Did you mention this to anyone besides the two of us, Tamyra? This... plan?" Without a plan. But she won't bother with that. It's something to do, at least.
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Tamyra remained silent while Aurélie gave her assessment of the situation. She didn't talk to either of the two, so she couldn't tell how either of them were handling it, but she hoped that maybe whatever they'd find on the South Beach would be enough of a distraction from they felt right now. Or at least for Esther, she didn't really feel either way about Seamus.
All of which the appearing rocks made Tamyra forget about. A cold, worried chill ran down her spine as she stared at the rocks that weren't there for a few moments and then she was scouting the jungle on the shoreline and looking back to where they left off, but nothing. There was nobody visible she could see. "I've seen the jungle change once, not so long ago," Tamyra said thinking back to when she tried to help Frank not so long ago, "but I don't think anyone's ever really seen it happen outside of the jungle."
This time Tamyra herself helped with the water, wanting to get a good distance between their boat and those rocks. "No, I didn't tell anyone. And I didn't see anyone on the shorelines," not that that would mean anything, not if they were good. "You don't think anyone would actually-- try to stop us, do you?" Then again, nobody thought Matthew could die and here they were, so everything was out of the window now.
"Not that the island shifting around us is that much be..." A huge wave rocked their boat and Tamyra could have sworn something shifted, something grew under the water near them. "This is going to be a bumpy ride." They were far enough out now that Tamyra wasn't sure anyone else was and if the island was going to fight back... well, fuck the island, they would get to the South Beach either way. "I think we should try to speed up, too. The less time we spend on the water, the better."
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How could someone who loved Matthew, not care? But Emre focused on rowing. "Like a bloody regatta, should've brought Yaz along," he muttered, pausing to drain a bottle of water.
"I've seen the jungle move too. During the jinn - erm, the ghosts." Emre mentioned. "And fog happened. So why wouldn't the whole island start shifting all sorts to fuc--" he was cut off when the boat jolted, the hull creaking ominously when the wave slapped it.
Emre twisted, gripping the side on the starboard stern. "Hold onto me," Emre instructed Aurélie, as Tamyra took over water-magic. He folded over and peered at the hull, running a hand on the surface to check its integrity. As he did so, his hand smacked hard against an underwater rock and Emre fell back into the boat, cussing.
"Fucking hell - " his little finger's nail was half-torn off. Emre sucked the blood off. "No - don't speed up, Tamz, no - big rocks'm right under us!" he called out to Tamyra urgently, where she was positioned at the bow like a ship's figurehead.
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“Nom de Dieu,” Aurélie hisses through her teeth as the boat lurches over a wave, sending her moving with it. It’s something physical, at least. Less theorizing, more doing, which has always been more her speed.
So she nods diligently at Emre’s command, standing, planting her heels, and serving as an anchor. Or as much of one as she can be, considering Emre jerks suddenly back, sending them both tumbling.
Tamyra is talking about going full speed ahead, Emre is cussing, and Aurélie is blinking, feeling her gut tie in tighter knots at the realization that she’s hit her head. After blinking once, twice, she realizes: she’s still whole.
Back onto her feet, then. No more games. “Toward the horizon!” She barks then, holding her palms out but not sticking them in the water, hoping to avoid a bloody fate for her fingers whilst still changing the tides. “I did not realize the terrain, and if we are to avoid the rocks, deeper water—“ A horrible scraping noise cuts her off.
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Emre's warning came just when Tamyra's hand hit a rock as well and she snatched her hand out of the water immediately, looking around and deeper into the water. They were in clear water not so long ago, and yet now they had rocks all around them, which had to be the island. There was no way it was somebody else doing it.
Well, fuck the island.
Aurélie was much better at controlling the water - she could do it without actually having to reach into it, but the best she could do without actually being in contact with it was forming recognizable shapes, which was not helpful in this situation at all, so Tamyra carefully lowered her hand again, only to the surface of the water this time so she could help Aurélie as much as she could.
A scraping voice stopped Aurélie and Tamyra snapped her head towards the other side of the boat where it was coming from. "Hold on for a moment, I can push us away and then we can continue," Tamyra shifted to the other side of the boat, but before she could reach the edge of the boat, there was another lurch and then another followed right after, this time they were bigger, and this time she couldn't actually keep her balance even though she tried grabbing for the side of the boat, and instead she was falling face first into the water --and the rock.
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"Alright Lielie?" Emre asked, given the dazed look on her face - but it only lasted a second before she was up again, hands outstretched Water-magic, powerful and strong. Emre bit back his own suggestion: pull to a halt, bob towards the shore rather than further out to sea. If the boat was compromised then they should scuttle it, strengthen the hull before setting off again.
"Alright Tamz?" Emre said when she pulled her hand back. Emre stared to the shore, scanning the land. It all looked new - but of course it would, from this perspective. The jungle gave way to dense mangroves, trees pluming out of the water's edge, rocks sloping in between and out into the water in bumps and swells. And beyond that...Emre squinted. What was that ...?
The boat rocked again, and Emre turned just in time to see Tamyra toppling over the portside edge.
"TAMZ!!" Emre yelled and leapt for her. He only managed to grasp her calves, but she slipped out like a fish, water pulling her overboard. Emre grabbed an oar, stretching it out towards her. "Grab it!!" The water around her swirled with red - her blood. Emre grabbed for Tamyra, though it felt like the boat was falling apart under his feet.
"Liels we've got to land. I got her - I got Tam." Barely. He wasn't even sure if she was conscious, her face covered in blood.
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If this day has proven anything, it's that they aren't sailors. Or perhaps even more so that the island does not intend for them to be. Aurélie has always stymied her superstitions in regards to Meridium. Though others theorize, she has simply tried to take things as they come in regard to the island.
But such things are not easy when the jungle transforms before your eyes. When ghosts greet you, taunt you, nearly drown you. When fog transforms your world. And now, when the island transforms itself, in front of their very eyes. Or maybe she just wasn't fast enough, didn't pay enough attention – whatever the cause, there is suddenly a dark form of rocks beneath them that Aurélie is sure she hadn't glimpsed earlier. But before she can do anything to address it, Tamyra is striding forward. Taking initiative, which Aurélie can't help but feel a flash of pride toward. That is until it goes south.
She's scrambling forward, hold on the tide lost as Emre tries to get a hold of Tamyra. "D'accord. Okay. You have her?" She wants – needs to hear it again, before she can focus on anything else. "Good. Good. Water, Emre, use water – it will clean it but also begin to heal, tu sais? Water to her face, gently." She's commanding, chopped and short, trying despite her instincts to keep her focus on the water. To guide them to a shuddering halt upon a sandbank – it may be temporary, once the tides come in, but it's something. "Ici, here, let me help."
As they hoist Tamyra onto solid ground, Aurélie can't help but think how sick she is of having blood on her hands. "Tamyra? Tamyra. Can you hear me?" All the while, she's cupping her palm – not to scoop up the water and deposit it herself, but to conjure small waves, depositing them upon her friend. Gentle. Healing, she hopes.
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It was strange, the first few moments the pain didn't even register for her. Tamyra hit the water and there were the rocks under her somehow. She was dizzy and her sight was blurry and there was something... was that red floating around her? How was anything floating around her? Something was wrong, something was wrong, something was wrong--
And then finally the pain hit and it somehow snapped her out of her haze just enough so that she understood that she was in trouble. In trouble and in excrutiating pain on her face. And there was shouting around her, though she couldn't distinguish the voices around her. She wasn't sure if she intentionally grabbed onto the oar or if it was by accident, but she certainly wasn't aware of it happening, just that somebody was hoisting out of the water and there had to be something wrong with her face because it kept burning, burning, burning.
She was aware of the energy around her, even recognized Emre as he was trying to help her, and then after who knows how long, Aurélie appeared in front of her blurry vision as well, both of them scooping water onto her face and that's when she realized that she got hurt on her face. On her face. Weirdly she wasn't panicking until then, but she certainly started panicking now.
"I can-- I can hear you, yeah," she croaked belatedly at the question. "I can fix this. I can-- I can fix it, and then we can go on," she added, her mom's voice ringing in her ears as she told Tamyra that she couldn't fix it anymore. She could, though, she could. She just needed to focus. Which somehow in the mids of all the pain, she managed to pull herself together enough to focus on the source of the pain and the blood. If she could just focus and fix this, use the moving on the blood to fix her injury, they could continue on.
Instead of helping, however, all she managed to do was cause the blood to flow faster and make everything even worse.
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Tamyra's face was sheeted with red - dark and juicy like a ripe jeweled fruit. If the situation wasn't so alarming and dire, Emre might've even admired the sight of her, in a perverse, ghoulish way. She was stunning, even now. Aurélie managed to scuttle the boat, and just in time. As Emre lifted Tamyra out, the poor hull seemed to sigh behind him. Emre didn't look back; he carefully got Tamyra onto the sand, and let Aurélie take over.
Lielie knew what to do, she knew how to look after Tamyra. Emre turned his attention back to the boat, dragging it to shore it better, so it wouldn't get carried off in pieces by the rough tide. He could see the ocean rocks well from this vantage point - or maybe the rocks had grown out of the water, like warning spikes. Daring them to return. See what happened if they tried to do something the island did not want them to do.
Emre then inspected the boat itself. Part of the bottom on the starboard had been scraped of, splintered and close to shattering under one more buffet; the portside still held, but the ropes were shredded. Emre realized then: Aurélie hadn't just been parting the sea and changing the currents, she prevented water from breaching the hull as well. Magnificent and multi-purpose...but only enough to get them back to shore. There was no way they could return to sea in this vessel.
He grabbed what supplies he could from the boat, and returned to the two women. Tamyra's injury washed and clean but...the healing? Emre made eye contact with Aurélie, a silent communication: This won't heal properly.
"We're going to have to walk back north. Boat's done. And ocean won't have us, yeah. It's made its stance pretty fucking clear."
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"No one is asking you to fix anything – arrête ça, Tamyra, stop that!" Aurélie orders as the younger woman insists that she has the solutions. "You can fix it by staying still–" She's barking with less care than she usually manages, but this isn't the time for grace. Especially not when the blood begins pouring all the faster thanks to Tamyra's conjuring.
After giving a firm smack of Tamyra's hand to ward it away (again, not so graceful, but necessary), Aurélie tries to get a handle on things. "Do not make a scene of this," she commands, arguably unnecessarily, toward Emre before peeling her shirt off and using it to keep pressure on the wound on Tamyra's face. Tugging her bra strap up on her shoulder leaves a smear of blood behind on Aurélie's tanned skin, and she swallows hard. The glance she shares with Emre then holds one easily interpreted meaning: This won't heal properly.
So after taking a shuddering breath to redeem her typical level of maternal care, Aurélie maintains the pressure on Tamyra's wound and murmurs with gentleness: "There will be no going on. I will not. Emre will not." She doesn't even glance at him to confirm. He'll agree, if asked. Since it came from her. "You should not. It is over, mon amie. I am sorry, but it is done. We must get you home." And perhaps Tamyra will even refute that, the notion that Meridium is home, but Aurélie has no time for such technicalities.
Instead, she removes the now stained shirt from Tamyra's wound and blesses it once more with the water. "This is no place to heal. Come, now. It is time to go home." And then she nods to Emre, indicating that he should get under one of Tamyra's shoulders. They'll get her back there. One way or another.
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If Tamyra was in better shape, she would have argued back with Aurélie, but her attempts to "fix it" only drained her of her energy and made her feel even woozier in the head. Everything was red and hurt and spinning. And yet she still tried, still had to try. "Pl--please, no, I can rest. And then we can con-- we can go." There was absolutely no way that could have happened, though, not like this, no matter how much Tamyra was trying to fight it.
She didn't realize what Emre was doing in scouting out the area and assessing the boat, or Aurélie using her shirt to put pressure on her wound, she just felt the press of something on her face and then she heard Aurélie's refusal again to go on. The woman's last words, one specific word exactly - home -, was what really set her off, though. It was all jumbled up in her head at that point, but she could understand that one word crystal clear and she could feel her tears burning as they started rolling down her cheek.
"I want to go home." Not the same home as Aurélie talked about, not at all. In her mind she could see her own house that was most likely not even hers anymore, and her parents and the streets of Los Angeles as she remembered and not here, not here, not here. This was supposed to work. Figure out the secrets of the island, then use it to get out. She was supposed to fix it all, she was supposed to get home.
She attempted to fight the two hoisting her up, but it was a pointless effort that took a lot more effort out of her than what actually showed outside for the other two. "Don't let-- p-- see me like this. Please."
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It was disappointing. Not personally, not for himself, but Tamyra's convictions were addictively strong. For a few blessed moments while they were on the boat, all working together, Emre actually bought into the Yank 'we deserve a win' mantra. Like some sort of karmic tally, made off-balance by losing Matthew. They - Tamyra - deserved a reward for all her determination.
Now look what happened. It wouldn't be so sad, if she hadn't been so fucking determined. A heroine, the star of an epic journey-adventure film. Oscar-worthy performance, this. Her efforts punished.
She pleaded for home, like the girl in Oz, in that old film. "Water first," Emre said, unloading bottles from the supplies he toted. He gave one to Aurélie, and carefully tried to feed some to Tamyra. He drank as well. Then Emre did as Aurélie said (she was very right, in how loyal he'd become to her) and helped Tamyra up to standing.
"Alright, Lielie?" he asked her, as they began to carry Tamyra up the shore, northbound once more. He knew she was eyeing all the supplies he carried like a small camel, and he said, "Don't even think of it. Out of the three of us right now, I'm the strongest and youngest, yeah? Trust."
Tam pleaded something, and Emre frowned and looked at Aurélie as they slowly walked. "Don't let what see her like what? What's she on about? Tam, what you mean then?"
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The water helps. Not just the water she lightly pours into Tamyra, but the sort that Emre hands to her, making Aurélie let out a steadying exhale. "Thank you." She murmurs, nodding at the instruction without inhibition, allowing Emre to tend to Tamyra for a moment as she gets her bearings together.
And then they get Tamyra up, on her feet. "Yes, that is right," Aurélie consoles. "Home. We will get your home now." Of course it doesn't add up, to Aurélie. Meridium is home – and besides, how could Tamyra possibly be still fawning over her days of celebrity at a time like this?
How little she knows.
But there's no time for fussing, though Aurélie contemplates it, realizing how much Emre is carrying. They've spent too much time together, she realizes almost bitterly as Emre reads her thoughts like an open book. "Well, if you need a rest, let me know." She murmurs, pressing the t-shirt to Tamyra's wound again instead of taking on the baggage.
Tamyra is murmuring something, pleading, and Aurélie wants to admonish her for her ego. But it may be more than that. A fear of a display of vulnerability rather than just vanity. So Aurélie turns to Emre. "She wishes not to be seen by... the population. In general, I think. Emre, your home – it is among the trees, is it not? Perhaps it will offer more concealed ground than the farm..." She doesn't know, of course, of those particular toils of the fog. And with another glance at Tamyra, it hardly matters, anyway. "No, no, ignore me. We have to get her to care. No matter who may see."
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Tamyra didn't realize just how much she needed the water until Emre slowly started to feed it to her. But even swallowing was hard and her face was burning up from the pain from everywhere, really. It felt like everything hurt and it took so much energy to keep everything straight, to focus long enough to be able to even swallow those few sips of water that Emre gave her. "Thank-- you."
She was in and out, not really understanding what Emre and Aurélie were talking about while they were discussing who carried their resources and bags, she only understoof Aurélie pressing some kind of cloth against her face again, hissing as the pain stroke through her all over again. She wanted it to stop, she needed it to stop. If the pain could stop, she could convince them to turn around.
(Tamyra was so far gone at that point, she couldn't even fully grasp the seriousness of the situation, everything just jumbled together for her and she wished once, just once, things would go better, as planned on this hellhole of a place.)
She was eternally grateful that Aurélie understood what she meant, that she didn't want people to see her like this. (Both because of her vanity, but also because she had too much pride to let others see her in such a vulnerable situation.) "Yeah, other-- don't let others see me," she mumbled and tried to remember where Emre had his home set up. She wasn't sure if she's ever been to it, probably not. "No, no-- where are you-- taking me?"
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"Yes, Mademoiselle," Emre replied, just shy of being cheeky to Aurélie. Considering the severity of their situation as Emre gauged it. All they had was a direction to go in: north. But other than that, Emre had no idea where they were, how far south they'd sailed. How bloody long was this bloody island, how far and wide did it go.
How did it reshape itself, was perhaps the better question.
So who knew what terrain they'd encounter on their way back 'home', as Aurélie kept calling it. "We might have to make camp, depending on how long it takes. And Tamzy's not looking too hot," Emre spoke over Tamyra's head, but ducked to get Tamyra's attention too. "Alright luv? Not gonna pass out, are we?"
Don't let others see her. Emre wasn't sure they could accomplish that, but at least they had a while before they encountered anyone. "We're taking you to your dressing room trailer, luv. Great bit of acting in the last shoot, but you took a bit of a tumble. Should've let the stunt double handle it. Allow that, yeah? We'll get it next time."
Emre looked over at Aurélie, giving her a nose-wrinkle. Let Tamyra have this, he figured.
________
It's a brilliant idea. One that will soothe Tamyra, anyway, as she's still fussing over where she's being taken. As if it matters, when the only thing that matters is that she gets to safety. But she persists, and so Aurélie looks to Emre with a flicker of admiration at his inventive persuasion.
The sort she quickly realizes she can't quite follow suit in. Hard to be acquainted with film lingo when you've only ever seen one. "Ah, yes, the... shooting will continue later. No need worry." She gives a grimacing look toward Emre, sure she bungled the language, but that's not a concern.
Not as Tamyra keeps bleeding and as a rustling sound catches Aurélie's eye. Her head snaps to the side, following the sound and catching a sight: a practical tunnel, right through the trees. So long that Aurélie must squint to see the end of it, and even then, she struggles... yet there seems to be light.
As if the island itself is making the path away from the South Beach far easier to trek than the one toward it.
With a dubious look toward Emre, but knowing they don't have much time to spare, Aurélie turns toward it. "Shall we?"
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Emre's plan worked perfectly. As soon as he started talking about dressing room and acting and shooting, Tamyra's brain immediately jumped to the conclusion that she must be home. Must be working on a movie and everything else at the back of her mind was nothing more than a loud noise of a bad nightmare. Nothing real. None of it actually happening. Just the movie and the accident.
Her body sagged, some of the tension leaving her body. She felt like she could breathe again which made no sense to her, somebody would have to explain to her what kind of accident she had, but she felt lighter and that was good, right? That meant that her injury wasn't as bad as the pain felt.
"Did you-- did they get some good shots at least?" she asked, needing to make sure not all of the work (both hers and the rest of the crew's) was to waste. "We can continue in-- in a couple of hours. I just-- I need to sleep. I feel so tired." She was mumbling, barely audible already. "Tired and-- thirsty. Any of you have-- water?" She wasn't even sure who were helping her to her trailer. In her dream it was two people from the island, but that was just her imagination, so it must have been two crew members, right? She'd ask about it when she felt better.
________
It wouldn't be good, when Tamyra's haze cleared, and she made sense of what he'd done to trick her. But then Aurélie piled on the fibbing too, and Emre was wretchedly grateful to have her cosigning the fantasy. He still smarted inside, for hurting Madi, for fucking up Frank, tangled in lies. But if Aurélie joined in, then it was the right option to take, right?
Tamyra would be devastated afterwards, he was sure of it. But she'd be more devastated at Aurélie her old friend, than Emre the stupid newb. And Aurélie liked burdening herself with the responsibilities of others, so....right.
"Oh it were great, man. Really dramatic shot. No film wasted," Emre said, ignorant of the advent of digital film himself. "We'll just get the medic on you and you'll be right as rain, my luv. Director's still raving to the crew innit. That's what a good actor is, he said. That's Tamyra Williams. "
Pausing to fetch more water, Emre looked up at Aurélie's sharp intake of breath - the tunnel cutting through the trees, inviting them down a lit path, practically. Emre stared, fascinated, as he looked at Aurélie, then down the rocky stretch of beach.
"If we get swallowed up by the jungle, at least I'll be with you. And Tamzy. Pretty peng, that," Emre assessed, humour grim and deadpan. He fed Tamyra more water. "I'll be a bloody legend. Right. Off we go then."
In through the curved trees, Emre had never seen a straighter path. It was nerve-wracking how...accommodating the jungle was. "This island....have you always known that it thinks, Lielie?"
________
"What is the phrase?" Aurélie frowns, still looking at their path, its glimmering and golden light. "In English. Something foolish... do not look a gift horse in the... eye?" She shakes her head. Linguistics aren't the priority. "Whatever it may be: I think that is what we are experiencing now. So let us not waste time. Allons-y."
The path is straight and narrow and hard to waver from. All the harder to turn back. Aurélie realizes that as she looks over her shoulder at another rustling, a shift in the shadows. The leaves are closing behind them. Slowly, but markedly. There will be no more heading south for them. The island has made its decision.
"No." She answers plainly, frowning all the more now. "At least not so... evidently." Not liking how it feels, especially as she contemplates her own time trapped in a cave or thinks about the poor castaways and their inescapable years in the jungle, Aurélie sighs. "Meridium helps only when and where it wants to, I suppose."
Is she imagining, or is her comment responded to by a lilting breeze? No time for that. Not as they trek on, the path growing shorter and shorter as it closes behind them – and leads them directly to the farm, at the foot of the hill her house sits upon. "I cannot believe..." She murmurs, glancing back at the jungle only for a second. But the path is gone. There is no sign of it at all. And no time to waste.
"To your trailer, then, Ms. Williams." She says curtly, nodding her chin in the direction of her house. "There are some supplies there," she murmurs to Emre. "Left over from... well. And less eyes, I think."
It's only when they've gotten Tamyra to a final resting place upon the cot in Aurélie's house that she voices the nagging feeling: "Why is it always the two of us left to face these island mysteries, Emre?" A contemplation – frivolous, perhaps, so she adds on: "Could you get your brother? To tend to Tamyra."
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Allons-y was such an Aurélie thing to say, but Aurélie only existed in her nightmares, did she not? Tamyra met her on the island but the island wasn't real, she was shooting. It was just a long, never ending nightmare that the head injury conjured up, right? It was all very muffled and confusing and she wasn't even sure if she heard it or if her brain made up the voice and Aurélie herself at this point.
She was in and out by that point, slowly slipping away while she was trying to hold on. Somebody told her to keep awake, she was sure of it, but was it in her head or was it one of the crew members? And why did it take this long to get to her trailers? It didn't really make sense but her head was also not really making connections too well at this point and maybe it would all clear out if the pain would just fucking stop. She needed the pain to stop.
She heard Aurélie tell her something about her trailer so they must have been close, and she intended to keep awake for that, but she used too much energy at that point, and she slipped into the quiet darkness of unconsciousness before Aurélie and Emre could reach Aurélie's hut with her.
________
"In the arse," Emre supplied helpfully, tone bland. If only so one day, he could hear Aurélie say 'do not look a gift horse in ze arse', and no other reason. He took his entertainment on the island where he could.
Carrying Tamyra along with Aurélie now that poor Tam had become docile, wasn't so difficult. In part because the island, it seemed, made it easy for them. Where Aurélie looked behind where they'd tread, Emre carried forward. He didn't want to see the way the jungle closed up behind him. It was enough to suspect, and see Lielie's reaction in his periphery.
They got up to Aurélie's beautiful little hut, and Tamyra was put to rest in the cot, like a swooning princess. "There we are, luv," he said softly, but by now, Tamyra had passed out. He glanced at Aurélie, and replied: "Maybe the island knows we do a good team". A subtle reminder that their threads were slowly but surely becoming intertwined. Tangled, even. Exactly what Emre hoped for.
With a nod, Emre hopped out of the hut, leaving the two women in the cool shelter as he went in search of his brother.