Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 17:39:42 GMT -5
"Goddamn it!"
Gwen's head snapped round at the sudden sound, ever vigilant of anything that was unlike the normal jungle ambient noise. It was a voice. And drawing nearer, she saw that the voice belonged to Ana. The officer had no doubt already seen her, so she couldn't retreat. She figured fate was just telling her to stop procrastinating and finally talk to the woman she'd been trying so hard to avoid.
"Ana? What on earth are you doing out here?" she asked.
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 17:47:59 GMT -5
For just one moment, Ana thought she might have escaped notice....
"Ana? What on earth are you doing out here?"
Dammit. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself, attempting to mask the pain that was probably very evident. When she opened them and turned around to face Gwen, it almost looked like she hadn't hurt herself at all. Save for the limp arm hanging by her side, which she cleverly blocked by standing at an angle to her.
"Nothing." She grunted, pleasantly as ever.
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 17:53:16 GMT -5
"Nothing."
"Okay," she said slowly. "Y'know, I wasn't lying about that thing that killed the pilot. It's not exactly wise to be out here on your own wandering aimlessly. But I'm sure you had an aim, of some sort."
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 17:58:27 GMT -5
Ana-Lucia wiped the sweat from her brow and wondered what she'd have to do or say to get Gwen to go away.
"So what's your aim? You run out of luggage to sort?"
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 18:12:41 GMT -5
"So what's your aim? You run out of luggage to sort?"
"Well, it did take some time to clear up the mess you'd made of it. Thanks for that. Did you run out of shelters to barge into?" she asked. "I ran into James this morning. He said you were continuing your run for Miss Congeniality on the island."
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 18:20:53 GMT -5
Ana shook her head at Gwen's little snide comment..
"Yeah, well I heard you'd already won the Anal Retentive crown." A smug grin crossed her face.
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 18:29:29 GMT -5
Gwen gave her a forced smile in return. The verbal sparring could go on for ages, but she had better things to do. She needed to rise above it. Besides, her innate OCD must have been appreciated by at least a few of the survivors, if not present company.
"And in order to defend that title, I'm trying to set up a laundrette," she explained. "I was hoping to find some wiring or cables or something out here. I know you're probably in the midst of interrogations, so I won't keep you. Camp's back that way," she said, shifting the drawing to one hand and jerking a thumb back over her shoulder.
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 18:40:34 GMT -5
"A laundrette." Ana repeated in a monotone. If she hadn't been in so much discomfort, she'd have laughed out loud.
"Well, it's good to see you're putting your time to good use. When you're done with that, I think we could use a good dry cleaning service too. Maybe you can organise a shoe shine service while your at it...." She practically blanked Gwen then, walking past her as if she was heading towards camp. But her eyes were drawn to the drawing in Gwen's hand. She couldn't see it very clearly from this angle, but she could have sworn it was a picture of Jake.
"Where'd you get that?" She asked, suddenly remembering she hadn't been to check on him lately. In fact, she hadn't seen him for ages.
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 18:46:17 GMT -5
"Where'd you get that?"
"Hm? Oh, it's a picture of Jake that Walter drew," she said, when she realized Ana was referring to the drawing. "I figured I'd need some sort of peace offering if I saw him again, after you'd regaled him with tales of my devious deceptiveness. Only problem is I haven't been able to find him, and no one in the camp's seen him since yesterday. And yes, Officer, I showed them the picture."
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 18:53:13 GMT -5
Instinct made Ana attempt to grab the picture with her injured right arm, but at the last second, she awkwardly took it in her left instead. After a few moments of studying it, she handed it back.
"I didn't regale him with anything." She stated for the record. "I haven't seen him since yesterday." Her voice sounded a little worried. "Did you ask Jack if he'd seen him?"
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 19:04:11 GMT -5
She shook her head. "Jack hasn't seen him either. Not that Jake would have been likely to keep his appointments for checking his bandages or getting a refill on his pills," Gwen shrugged. "It's probably nothing. I just...with everything that's happened, I can't help but be a bit concerned."
She furrowed her brow at Ana, just now processing her earlier statement. "You really didn't tell him anything?" she asked. "Not about the plane being off-course, or the pilot being killed, or any of that?"
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 19:12:14 GMT -5
"As if you'd believe anything I say anyway." A spasm of pain ran through her shoulder muscle and she involuntarily winced, gritting her teeth to deal with it. Time to go, before it got any worse. She turned away from Gwen and began to walk off, only now letting her left hand grip the offending muscle.
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 19:24:17 GMT -5
She was about to apologize for the whole Arzt incident when Ana decided to continue with her defiant disregard. "Fine," she huffed. "When you do finally get your own shelter, remind me to ask Dr. Arzt for a housewarming present. Something of the bitey variety."
When she saw Ana wince and grab her arm, she knew something must be wrong for the woman to show any sign of pain. "All that self-righteous punching finally catch up with you?"
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 19:29:15 GMT -5
"Bite me!" Ana called over her shoulder, momentarily wavering as she walked on. The heat must have been getting to her. At least that's what she told herself.
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 19:32:27 GMT -5
"Oh, for goodness' sake. You're clearly in pain, Ana; let me go and get Jack," she insisted.
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 19:43:46 GMT -5
"No! I'm fine." She said quickly, spinning round on the spot. "Jack's got other people to look after." It was an excuse so that she didn't have to look him in the eye.
Now Gwen had seen her hurt, there was no point in pretending otherwise. So Ana slumped herself down against the trunk of the nearest tree and caught her breath. God, she needed a drink right now. Then it suddenly dawned on her that she still had the minature bottle of tequila that Jack had given her a couple of days ago. Amazingly, when she reached into her pocket for it, she found it was still intact, even after all her tussles since. She unscrewed the cap with her teeth and spat the lid out to one side. Without so much as a pause, she downed the shot in one. The empty bottle was tossed aside and Ana leant her head back against the tree as if defeated.
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 19:57:54 GMT -5
"Yeah, you seem just peachy," she observed. Looking on astonished as Ana downed a bottle of alcohol and finally fell silent and still, Gwen resolved to swallow her pride. Insults and condescension could wait till the woman was in fighting shape again.
"There are traps," she blurted out, hating to give Ana yet more ammunition but they did have a common cause for once. "Out in the jungle, there are traps. Jasmine and Sarah tripped one when they were headed back to the cockpit. I don't know how many there are, or who put them there, and I swore to them that I wouldn't say anything. But now...Jake could be caught in one of them. Alone and in need of help."
She kneeled down beside Ana, careful to stay just out of reach of her good arm. "I know we don't agree on...well, anything, really. But this is one thing we can agree on. We both kinda' like the big lug and we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him. I mean, who else is foolish enough to try to keep the peace between us?" she added, with a slight smile.
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 20:12:31 GMT -5
"There are traps,"
"What?" Ana looked at Gwen strangely, as if she'd just said the most random thing ever.
"Out in the jungle, there are traps. Jasmine and Sarah tripped one when they were headed back to the cockpit. I don't know how many there are, or who put them there, and I swore to them that I wouldn't say anything. But now...Jake could be caught in one of them. Alone and in need of help."
"You're just full of secrets aren't you." Ana grumbled. Who the hell would put traps in the jungle? Locke maybe? Ethan? Could there be other inhabitants here? These were all good questions, but ones that would have to wait to be answered. Right now, Ana's only thought was to go looking for Jake. He'd already been quite severely injured, caught in a trap somewhere, he might be in serious trouble.
"I know we don't agree on...well, anything, really. But this is one thing we can agree on. We both kinda' like the big lug and we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him. I mean, who else is foolish enough to try to keep the peace between us?"
It was clear she wouldn't be much help to jake unless she could fix her arm. And that meant only one thing. Ana put her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes again. It was almost as if she was summoning up some deeply hidden strength. Which was probably the case because what she was about to say would hurt her far more than any physical injury she could get.
"I need your help."
|
|
Gwen Havers
Help Translate Rousseau's Maps
Ready to Fallplg%%Gwen, Shannon, Etana%%
Posts: 2,010
|
Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 2, 2007 20:15:10 GMT -5
"I need your help."
Gwen blinked in surprise. "Um...I think maybe you drank that tequila too fast. And also suffered a head injury somewhere along the way..."
|
|
|
Post by ana on Jun 2, 2007 20:21:31 GMT -5
The weary look turned slightly more determind. Angry almost, that Gwen wasn't focused on what needed to be done.
"I'm serious! You want to find Jake? So do I, so grab my arm!" She indicated the limp limb that was causing her grief.
|
|