YL078T | Voice | Night 009

[doomcame]

[Taissa has woken up in a new place much farther than ever before. It's too warm, even for night. The tropical trees growing just inland of the beach only confirm that this is considerably south of New Jersey. Her clothes are soaked through and she doesn't remember being in the water. Was there a shipwreck? There must be other boats nearby. The coast guard, or somebody, should be out there.

She picks up the only thing outside of herself that she has found on the sand so far. It looks like some sort of emergency radio. She listens to only a snippet of a message before calling out herself, but it sounds enough like military jargon to give her hope of timely rescue. She attempts to sound calm through her shock and confusion. Loud and clear.]

Hello? Who am I speaking to? This is Senator Taissa Turner. I seem to be lost and in need of assistance.

[Also in need of a quick transceiver tutorial, clearly.]

Comments

[doomcame]

Like an American Senator. Newly elected to the state of New Jersey. [Meaning that she hasn't been sworn in yet. Usually she wouldn't broadcast who she is after an episode of lost time, but washing up on a beach has her thinking she's finally in over her head. A title drop might get her out of here quicker. Besides, if there really was an accident that brought her here, she still has time to spin this as a head injury. If she hasn't already had a head injury.]

[desperate_times_right]

[Ugh, why did she say anything? Lose your gun, fall in a river, wake up somewhere that's almost definitely not Malaysia with no idea where your partner is and a bunch of guys trying to kill you, and immediately take responsibility for the life of an American politician (she figures this woman is legit because if you were pretending to be an American politician you would pick a cooler state). Way to go, Chloe.]

Are you on the beach or further inland? Do you know how to tell direction by the moon?

[doomcame]

Just that it moves from east to west. [It had been their luck in her past experience to have not only a compass, but other markers to use.] I'm at the beach. Where are you?

[desperate_times_right]

I was on a beach, facing north, near a big old plane cockpit half buried in the sand, but I've been tracking some trail markers someone left. In the jungle, southwest of my original position.

I can make my way back to the beach if you can tell which direction you're facing.

[doomcame]

A plane...? [There's something in the way she says the word that betrays how tense she's become at the mention. Her mind races at the possible implications of potentially having survived a second plane crash in her lifetime.]

I'll need time. [She says, more curtly than she means to, so she takes a breath before adding.] Just a little bit, to moongaze.

[It wouldn't take long, the moon moves relatively fast, about the length of its diameter in an hour. With little else to do but look look up at the sky, she can manage it in less. The only problem is that it feels uncomfortably close to sitting on her hands.]

What do the trail markers look like?

[Better to pass the time in conversation than be left to her thoughts. Also, if they're certain weird-ass symbols, she's out.]

[desperate_times_right]

It was old. Full of sand.

[She's pretty sure they weren't both just in a plane crash they forgot about, even though that would be a convenient answer to most questions]

Just little stacks, like someone was travelling quickly but wanted to be able to find their way back. Led to a little makeshift camp partway in, but then I lost the trail.

I'm Chloe, by the way. I'm on contract with the Malaysian government right now, but not in a way that’s gonna be helpful. Lost my phone anyway.

[doomcame]

[One usually doesn't expect something that gives no answers to be comforting, but the info on the plane is just that. And the markers sound helpful, if nothing else.]

I'm sure it'd be wonderful to meet you under literally any other circumstance, Chloe. Are we somewhere in Malaysia right now? [She's going to hit a record in lost time if that's the case.]

[desperate_times_right]

That's where I was last time I knew what was going on. But - long story - I fell in a river and woke up on the beach here. I don't think they'd leave a passenger plane lying there like that if trucks and stuff could get to it.

We can't be that far though - I'm hardly hurt at all and there's tons of people here apparently.

[doomcame]

How many people are we talking about?

[desperate_times_right]

There's 26 contacts on this thing. Maybe eight to ten playing out their personal drama on here all day.

[doomcame]

Do I even want to know what that entails?

[desperate_times_right]

Dunno, really. I was listening earlier because I was hoping to find my... [she pauses maybe a little too long, trying to remember if New Jersey is a regular state or a weird state] my partner, but it was just a bunch of people arguing about furries and alien ghosts or something.

[doomcame]

[Furries and alien ghosts. She doesn't even know how to respond to that. Who has she ended up with here? Moving on, quickly.]

What's your partner like? In case I run into them before you. Were they also working for the Malaysian government?

[desperate_times_right]

Yeah, we were meant to be diving a shipwreck in the South China Sea soon.

She's short, but like, in that range where women angrily insist their height is 'average' so if you see her don't tell her I said that. Light brown skin, curly hair tied in the most severe ponytail you've ever seen. Name’s Nadine.

[doomcame]

[Something to actually make her smile during this nightmare.] We've all dated a woman like that.

Hopefully we'll get you back to her and recovering sunken treasure... or whatever the hell you were doing... soon. How long do you remember being here?

[desperate_times_right]

[It makes Chloe smile too, and she's sort of glad no one’s around to see it. Reputation to maintain and all that]

Been in Malaysia for about a week, woke up on the beach here at sunrise yesterday.

[doomcame]

[Taissa hopes she hasn't been here for longer than she remembers, but there's not much chance of confirmation until she meets more people to try and figure out the how. She highly doubts she floated her way down a river.]

The jungle inland looks like it's north-west from my beach. Should I try to meet you somewhere?

TO994M; text

[cactusy]

State senator, not US senator?

[doomcame]

Correct.

[Listen. She's just trying to get the attention of a rescue team here.]

[cactusy]

Kind of low profile for a kidnapping. No offense. Any enemies in high places?

[doomcame]

None taken. [A little offense taken. She's worked hard to get to this point in her career, thank you.]

My former opponent doesn't have the power to pull off a kidnapping. I hadn't actually thought of it as a possibility until now, actually.

[cactusy]

What possibilities have you been considering?

[doomcame]

Some sort of accident. Plane crash, shipwreck.

[cactusy]

With a side of amnesia?

[doomcame]

Plenty of opportunities for physical and emotional trauma. [For those without regular memory lapses, of course.]