The second star to the right

[mypartnerintime]

Who: Max, OPEN, and Chloe
Where: All over Neverland
When: Up to about halfway through the event
Rating: Idk PG-13?
Summary: Max explores the island, intent on finding Chloe- and actually succeeds.
The Story:

[A. She woke up on the beach | OPEN]

This is too much like another vision.

Max wakes up on the beach, cheek pressed against the wet sand, warm water lapping at her shoes. Adrenaline fills her the moment her eyes flutter open, and very quickly she's on her feet, wiping sand from her face. She still has her bag: camera, device, Oregon phone, journal, some snacks, pepper spray... good enough. This is another event, of course. They'd all been expecting one.

A nearby forest looms over her and she stares at it with trepidation, biting her lip. All of her reasoning tells her she can't stay on the beach. She needs to find other people, or water and food, or shelter. But the trees seem so dark, the spaces between them like black veils hiding unknown and unknowable things...

She tries to use the device multiple times but Chloe never responds. She's not even sure the calls are connecting on Chloe's end. Her gaze switches back and forth between the forest and the sea, which seems to stretch on forever into a dark and starless horizon. There's only one place to go.

She makes her way toward the forest, clutching nervously at her Oregon phone, the built-in flashlight shining meekly into the foliage. Finally, with one last deep breath, she calls out loudly.

"Hello?"

And determined, she pushes past the border and into the woods, flashlight swinging left and right as she warily scans her surroundings. She has to find her best friend, after all.


[B. Don't you forget about me | CLOSED to Chloe]

It's been days. She's met people here and there, and she's taken to regularly checking the network, too. But none of those strange kids ever seem to reply to anyone- and she's pretty sure by now that Chloe's in the same sort of state.

But after all this time, Max still feels no closer to finding her best friend- her girlfriend. And who knows what sort of terrible things might be happening...

But at some point, her flashlight crosses over a break in the trees, and she spots a girl. She quickly covers the light, crouching down to hide herself, hands shaking slightly. It looked like Chloe- that brownish blonde hair, so reminiscent of their childhood days.

Could Max have possibly found her, by sheer luck and tenacity? And is Chloe still safe?

Max closes her eyes for a moment and begs herself to be brave. Then she calls out in the dark, a low whisper in the otherwise quiet woods.

"Chloe?"

[Will match any format!]

Comments

[mypartnerintime]

One moment Max is worrying about her supplies and how exactly she's going to get more food, and the next moment some sort of crazy child is leaping out of the bushes screaming like a banshee.

She yelps and stumbles backwards, tripping on her own feet (it couldn't even be a damn root or something, of course she trips over herself), falling painfully on her rear. Instinctively she hugs her bag closer to her side to protect the camera inside, while at the same time trying to scramble to her feet while still backing away.

"Shit-!" She glares at him, both angry and scared out of her wits. "What the fuck was that for?"

[chocolatepudding]

She scrambles and falls and, if Dustin hadn't been so apt to take her stuff, he probably would have made some sort of sarcastic remark. Ten point landing goes to Caulfield.

Now, though, he's got his spear and his knife and he wants that light, because light is useful around here. The girl's a complete sucker, anyway. Even scared, she certainly isn't intimidating in the least.

"Gimmie," he nods to the phone, "and maybe I won't kill you."

[mypartnerintime]

She glances down at the phone in her hand, then glares at him, carefully coming to her feet while backing away.

"Put down the spear," she challenges in turn, "and maybe I actually will give it to you."

Except that she won't. The light is too useful for this mission of hers. But she has to think of some way to get away from him, and currently nothing is coming to mind.

[chocolatepudding]

He has a knife. He doesn't want to give up his spear, but he likes having the idea of a flashlight so much--something to combat the darkness and, maybe, the nightmares--that he has to acquiesce somehow. He has to compromise.

It's not like he isn't completely unarmed, right? He can still get out if things get rough.
"Fine. But if you try anything, I can still kick your ass."

And, slowly, the spear is lowered.

"Now gimmie."

[mypartnerintime]

...And now she has no idea what to do. She has a total of one idea and it's a pretty dumb one.

As he lowers the spear she turns off the phone-light. Keeps her eyes dead-center on him, trying not to look scared. And, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she takes out her Wonderland device and trades it for the Oregon phone in her hand.

This is probably some stupid teenage sentimentality, but she'd rather keep her Oregon phone than the device that lets her connect to every other Wonderland resident.

She pretends that the device is her phone and quickly shows it to Dustin- hopefully the thick darkness will prevent him from realizing that she's holding a different thing, now. "You want it?" Then, acting quickly, she tosses it a good distance away into the bushes. "Go and get it!"

[chocolatepudding]

He doesn't notice--partially because he's distracted by the way she moves her hand, not because he's an idiot--and because he figures the girl only has one of the strange devices.

That's exactly why he shouts as loud as he can as Max throws it, and even as he runs off, he can still shoot a remark back at the girl.

"I hope you fall in a dreamshade bush for that!"

And with that, he's gone.

[mypartnerintime]

Max is very tempted to shout back something amazingly witty and scathing in response, but (a) she can't think of anything witty right now, and (b) she's too busy running blindly in the other direction.

See you after the event, Dustin.