Morphogenetic Fear

[Laurels]

Bryony thanked Alba and took the clothes. Alba let her walk away from the water so she could get dressed. Alba looked out to the sea and sighed. Alba had never seen the ocean before. Her family never really had the money for family vacations. Most vacations were to visit family around Arizona, but never to anything grand like the Pacific Ocean. Now that she thought of it, this was also her first time leaving the country. Alba always thought her first time out of the country would be for a golf competition or a study abroad program in college. It was quite strange to think about how she was experiencing so much because of the kidnapping. It wasn't the best way for her to experience these things, but she found it interesting and hoped these thoughts would be of some comfort in her time here.

Alba felt the ocean breeze blow her hair in the wind. She briefly closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the salty sea. Bryony then said she was dressed. Alba opened her eyes and turned around.

"Great," Alba said.

Alba walked over to Bryony. She then looked up and down the sides of the beach.

"I guess we should move somewhere else," she told Bryony. "So, pick a direction and walk?"

Alba shrugged. She was really fine with whatever Bryony wanted, so she wanted her new friend to have some say if she had any opinions.

[Pippi]

Hmm. Maybe it would have been a good idea to have taken at least a glance at the map before closing her bag. She hadn't really given it a second thought until now; she'd just wanted to get her stuff packed and ready to go. It wasn't exactly easy to go anywhere, however, when you didn't know where anything was.

Did that really matter too much, though? Maybe it would be to their benefit if they didn't have a location to aim for set in stone. For a start, whilst she didn't want to run around like a headless chicken, Bryony had a gut feeling that getting too attached to plans would only end in disaster. The longer this whole situation lasted, the more things would fall apart, and the easier it would be for your tightly wound strategy to unravel and scatter to the winds.

Maybe, too, if they spent a lot of time just wandering, walking the island until they tired themselves out, they would avoid the majority of unsavoury folks. They would go straight to any notable landmarks, right?

But then again, it would be a lot harder to actually meet any of her friends again, if they were intentionally avoiding anywhere that even looked like it would have groups in for as long as possible, and just wandering the island's plains and fields.

Ugh. All this was doing was giving Bryony a headache. Maybe it would be for the best to put this all to one side for now and contemplate it when they had found somewhere to settle in.

"That, um, sounds fine to me," Bryony said, nodding. She picked her bag up, now thankful she hadn't been given anything particular heavy as a weapon, and slung it onto her back, just as a particularly strong sea breeze hit them, snaking its way through every small gap in Bryony's clothing. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering, and looked pleadingly at Alba.

"But, um, could we possibly try and find somewhere warm to go to?"

Somehow, a smile had crept onto her face as she spoke. Bryony tried to maintain it as she started walking. Smiles were going to be few and far between over the next few days. She needed to make the most of them whilst she could.

((Bryony Adams continued in The Gadfly Cometh))

[Laurels]

Alba smiled at Bryony as Bryony suggested they go somewhere warm.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me too," Alba said. "I woke up outside, so I haven't seen any buildings yet. But I'm sure there's something nearby."

Alba walked with Bryony as they headed off the shoreline. Alba sighed in relief. This had been a weird start to her day, but hopefully things would turn around soon. Maybe Bryony had some tough friends who would help them out, or maybe they'd find a shelter to stay for the whole game. Maybe they'd find a way to get help to the island and save their peers. There had to be people looking for them, so maybe there was a way to draw them closer to the island.

All these thoughts fluttered around in Alba's head as they walked. The day was young, so there was always time to turn things around.

((Alba Reyes continued in The Gadfly Cometh))