#thread.atlantis

[little-baski]

CLOSED STARTER for @tempestaslokni location: THE BEACH timestamp: 11 DAYS AFTER MARIEXPLOSION

Having Enhanced Hearing meant Baskar heard things he either didn’t want to hear, or things he shouldn’t hear. He felt like if he was prone to gossiping, this power would definitely be dangerous for him. Luckily, he was more often trying to refocus whenever he heard things that weren't meant for him: aka everything. Focussing on the sound of fridges, cooking sounds, waves, birds, animals, the wind. Really anything. But language was so hard to tune out. Even if he didn’t mean to do it, he’d refocus on a sentence. As if he was in a bar and he suddenly heard Bahasa Indonesian. Even if he didn’t want to listen in on anyone, it pulled him in. 

And as a result, Baskar usually walked through the area where most people were - with his headphones on - blushing. 

Sometimes however, despite how they didn’t want to, they picked up things that were useful. They picked up plans or suggestions or comments. They picked up talk about Lindi’s future town hall project, and decided they could make food for it. They picked up when people needed things that they were telling the wrong person. They could make themself even more liked by showing up with what people needed, at least if they were able to grant it. 

In this case: they felt like they could grant it. Or at least they could help enough. 

Baskar appeared near the stranger with a smile on their face, not even overthinking what they were going to say to explain why they showed up out of nowhere, and how they’d managed to pick this up from at least two hundred metres away. 

“Hi! I heard you talking earlier about wanting to try and fix communications on the ship!” They said excitedly. “Uhm, I have Enhanced Hearing so uhm…” they blushed again, of course. “I did two years of Electrical Engineering and two years of Robotics,” they said, not sure if that showed enough skill to the other, but hoping it would be enough to be allowed to help. “If you… uhm, if you’re still looking for someone to help.”

[mc-adarsh]

CLOSED STARTER for @tempestaslokni location: THE BEACH timestamp: 2ND DAY

Adarsh had woken up after the horrors of the first day with the quick realisation that he was still in the same shit. A blank page in some kind of experiment. Surrounded by people who mostly did not seem to understand that he was getting increasingly frustrated.

He hadn’t even dreamt. He’d tried to go to sleep with the memories of the day, but he’d woken up empty. 

Groggy and annoyed he had discarded his shoes - they were dirty, smelly, and too hot. And after his first interaction that day, he also had changed out of his tank top and found a replacement in the warehouse from some American basketball team. 

His nose hurt from the first violent interaction of that day, and he hated how it hadn’t gotten rid of the itch he felt. He was still looking for a fight.

While trying to find a way to get rid of that sensation.

If only his heart wanted to listen. He spotted a discarded item on the floor - a book with a drenched cover - and instead of leaving it there, he just barked at the first person. “Hey! Clean up your trash!”

[charlie-s-illusions]

Charlie was not surprised to find a lot of the residents in his dream to be well versed, helpful, and practical. He could ask them things like he’d ask nurses and interns back at the hospital and they’d follow his orders. Not always to the letter, but he was not one to get annoyed about such a fact. 

He was going over notes of people’s powers when his phone made the familiar sound of a message coming in. 

Nothing worked, no internet, no mobile connection to anyone off the island, but its residents were able to contact each other. He could not imagine why this was an important detail, but to him it was. He searched for the wifi signal daily however. There was a certain sadness to the idea that he could not get caught up on his favourite tv series. 

Charles: Preferably pills, but I would not mind the liquid if there is no other option. Both would be great too, but I do not wish to overload your burdens.  Charles: A good question.  Charles: Have you attempted to send pictures over text? If I could have a look I can see what needs restocking and what we have nothing of yet. 

He stood up from behind his desk and went to the supplies, these were closed off against general use. To avoid being out of anything, to avoid anyone hoarding medication or making off with them. He had a list of everything with numbers behind them, which were crossed out and filled in again once anything was used. 

He went down the list to see if there was anything currently running out, but found that instead of anyone on the beach, it might be himself and Akhila that were hoarding. It was hard not to when you had no idea how long you would be on the island for and when you had a person who could heal people.

Status: Closed for @charlie-s-illusions Location: The Odyssey

The doors to the medical wing swung open easily, a cloud of sand and dust kicked up by the disturbance. The place had been visited a couple times before, but they couldn't possibly take everything. This medical wing was stocked with enough supplies to care for hundreds of guests, it'd be some time before this cache ran dry. Lokni scanned the shelves, squinting to read Charlie's neat handwriting in the dim light. Imodium, Ibuprophin, Orifice Spray (Lokni raised an eyebrow at that one), rubbing alcohol packets, syringes, gauze, and suture needles. Seemed like Lokni had his work cut out for him. He began opening up cabinets and spreading out the supplies that he found within. On a shelf off to the side, he found two different things called Imodium, but one was a liquid while the other one was a capsule. Did it matter which he grabbed? Lokni's backpack was already weighed down by some stuff that he had swiped on his way over to the medical wing, he didn't know how much more would physically fit in the bag; an error in his judgement. He flipped open his cellphone, pressing the irritatingly small buttons, opening up the contacts. He used the arrow keys to scroll down until the highlighted bar shone upon 'Charlie,' clear as day. He began the new message: Lokni: hey Charlie, about the Imodium, you want pills or liquid? Lokni: since I'm here is there anything else you'd like me to look for? Lokni: the medical wing has been passed through a few times, but a lot of supplies are still here.

He hit the 'send' button, continuing to search through the bins of supplies on the shelves. Charlie was usually punctual with communication, unlike some folks on the island. Well, to be fair, Lokni wasn't either, but it took him a good amount of time to write out even a basic text. A lot of people had smartphones that seemed to operate pretty well despite the fact that they were on a remote island far from actual civilization.

[little-baski]

Baskar followed Lokni, while carefully moving through the hallway. They tapped their hands against their construction headphones when the other stepped on the glass, the sound of it really pushing through despite how they were trying to focus on their own and Lokni's heartbeat.

Once inside, they could start their search. And Baskar made sure to put their power to good use. Certainly they'd be able to find anything that was made of electronics, with the currents, the distinct sound. Like their phone, there just was static. But the ship itself had so many sounds that their power was almost useless. They simply moved around spaces and tried to find anything that could be considered an emergency compartment.

They figured it had to be close to the door, easy to grab before leaving, far away from anything that might catch flames.

The ship didn't seem up-to-date, not the newest parts. But that didn't say much, plenty of old ships sailing the seas. Cruise ships were better equipped because they'd be sailing a good amount of people over the seas.

When Lokni called for their attention, Baskar had visibly grown paler. There wasn't anything that made sense sound wise, but it was as if the ship was breathing in and out. As if creatures were roaming every hallway and every room. They just couldn't see them.

Luckily the find distracted them long enough, as they saw the communication system - unfamiliar but clear enough - their eyes widened. They suddenly felt a rush of excitement. "Yes! That's perfect!" they whispered happily, watching it disappear in Lokni's backpack.

They smiled brightly, ghosts momentarily forgotten, just eager to get their hands on the coms and figure them out.

"Of course, yes, of course!" Baskar followed suit, forced on not just by their fear of the empty hallways, but also because the sooner they could study the coms the better. Even if it didn't work, even if they couldn't find the right things. It was a project.

They couldn't get off the ship quickly enough, but they kept following Lokni. Afraid to bump into him and force him to move quicker, this place was far too dangerous to be rushing through.

Back down the ship and on the sand, Baskar's hands eagerly accepted the coms. A huge smile on their face as they looked at the wires and silent mechanical parts. Then Lokni placed a hand on their head and told them good luck, and they smiled more shyly. "I'll do my best!"

end.

They had made it this far already. It would be a waste of time and effort if they threw in the towel now. "If it's that small we should be able to get it with little to no problem," Lokni replied to Baskar's explanation. There was of course the matter as to if it was even still there or not. Lokni didn't know much about cruise ships or nautical navigation for that matter, but he got the sense that if there was an emergency, the crew would have tried to contact some form of aid or rescue. Right? Treading down the long hallway to the ajar door, Lokni shouldered it open, the tinkling of broken glass crunching beneath boots was audible as continued into the bridge. The bridge was as he had encountered it last, discarded papers and dusty machine panels lined the room. The last smidgens of light were disappearing beyond the horizon through the wide, cracked windows, casting the bridge in ominous shadows that seemed to reach down towards their feet. threatening to swallow them up. Now that Lokni took the time to revisit, he noticed a distinct lack of bodies, as if everyone had just been spirited away. No bones, no blood, but even a cursory flip through a discarded notebook revealed logs in distinct handwriting. What had happened to the crew? Had there even been a crew? The mental list of questions was long enough to roll out the door and down to the goddamn beach at this point. Best to save these mental notes for Tej later, like hell Lokni was about to break out his flip phone and struggle to type a text message with the keypad when time was on the line. Scanning the room, Lokni began to open up cabinets, searching high and low for something that looked like a briefcase. To his surprise, however, there was something else that caught his eye. On a shelf just above Lokni's head. there was a machine that looked like a DVD player. Upon closer inspection, Lokni realized that it had a set of what appeared to be walkie-talkies on top of it, as well as an array of knobs and buttons that Lokni instinctually knew that he'd never be able to operate on his own. He was about as tech-savvy as a Boomer in an AT&T store.

"This looks as close to it as we're gonna' get," Lokni sighed, wiping his brow with the back of his hand, still plenty sweaty from the earlier exertion. Not wanting to waste any more time, Lokni picked it up, trying to make sure that he grabbed the corresponding cords and not get them all tangled up. It vaguely brought back memories of taking his cousin's Playstation 2 from their room to plug into the living room television for a game marathon. Then again, the atmosphere had been a lot less tense in that situation, and at the very least he didn't need to worry about forgetting the HDMI cord. With the comms jammed into his backpack, he turned to leave, hoping that Baskar wasn't getting nervous. "We should head back now, every second we stay here things get a little more dangerous," Lokni explained, trying to keep his voice even to not scare Baskar. With that, they headed back the way that they came. Once their feet had returned to the sandy shore, Lokni dug out the comms and handed it to Baskar saying, "I don't know if this even works or not, but I'm not very good with technology. Ther're loads of capable people on the island, but I don't think that I'm one of 'em. With your smarts, I'm sure you'll figure out a way to put this back together even if it's broken." With that, Lokni placed a hand on Baskar's head and ruffled his hair gently, "Good luck, Kid."

[little-baski]

Being boosted up the wall was easy, Lokni seemed far stronger than they were, and with the help of the interlocked arms, they were able to stretch much further than if they'd tried to climb it on their own. They managed to hoist themself up to their belly, and then pull themself over the ledge completely, their dangling legs disappearing. They peeked further down the corridor for a moment, before turning and trying to secure a position that would make it easy to lever Lokni's weight.

There of course was a chance that it would fail, but they didn't want to think about that right now, so they focussed on their own breathing and the sound of muscle working, their hands fused together for a moment as Baskar pulled and Lokni reached.

Raised religious but never one to practice, Baskar almost wanted to reach for the tiny cross that hung from their neck, when some sound down the corridor snapped them to attention. Instead of turning however, they helped Lokni further up, their heart starting to race as their mind conjured up apparitions that weren't there.

"Alright," Baskar whispered, their eyes following where Lokni pointed too, which was also the direction of the sound.

If it was ghosts, they wouldn't be alone.

If it was ghosts, they wouldn't be alone.

If it was...

"It uhm... it depends," Baskar whispered still, their voice small. "So... uhm... coms on boats have these uhm... area codes," they tried to explain. "Depending on where in the world you are sailing. But... generally... they can be as small as a walkie-talkie or as big as a server." They recalled the walkie-talkies having been fascinating, with their range. But that was at school, years ago.

They started to make their way towards the bridge as they spoke, hoping to chase away the ghosts. Their skin crawling.

If it was ghosts, they wouldn't be alone.

They repeated their mantra.

"I'm just hoping that they'll have an emergency radio there, it will most likely be in a case, like a suitcase, heavy but not too heavy to cary." Their mind conjured up the different communication devices they'd seen. Sensors and communication devices were important to robotics, information had to be received, but in a way that it would allow for some freedom.

"We're looking for some kind of symbol, like a telephone or an emergency sign. But... it might not be there, if there was ever a crew, they would've probably taken it."

If there had ever been a crew, and if they'd ever made it off of the ship alive.

Lokni watched as Baskar seemed to ponder his question for some time. If Baskar thought that he could do it, why not at least try? "Alright, let's give this a go," Lokni replied, interlocking his hands together, preparing to give Baskar a leg up. He'd done this thousands of times back at the ranch, helping people up on tall horses or climbing up to the hayloft, a second nature motion. Baskar stepped into Lokni's interlocked hands, and with that, Lokni was able to boost Baskar up the wall. A couple moments of scrambling and shuffling passed before Baskar was reaching down to give Lokni an arm up. Taking a deep breath, Lokni grasped their hand firmly as Baskar began to tug him up, Lokni's boots scuffing against the metal wall where the ladder had once been. By the grace of the Creator, Lokni managed to get high enough to grip the edge of the wall with his free hand, releasing Baskar's grip and with all his strength just barely managing to pull himself up and over the edge. Rolling over onto his back, Lokni took a couple seconds to breathe, filling his lungs with delicious, fresh air. Still gasping for air on his back, Lokni pointed in the direction of the door that led to the bridge. "It's just over there" he panted, "just let me catch my breath." After a couple moments, Lokni got to his feet, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "So what does this COMMs thing look like again?" Lokni asked, genuinely curious about what they were looking for.

[little-baski]

Baskar noticed they were too wired up to tell Lokni that they were just making conversation, or trying to. It seemed to do the other well to explain how his power wouldn't help in this situation. And it was also a good thing to know that they could become reliant on Baskar's Enhanced Hearing, which might be a challenge, but they figured they were much better in a crisis than they were in general. So perhaps their flight or fight would result in fight and they'd easily guide themself and Lokni to the exit!

"Yes of course!" Baskar said, trying to put as much confidence in their voice as possible.

Which faltered a little bit when they came upon their first obstacle and Lokni asked a question that Baskar didn't really have a solid answer for. Lifting. The last job they'd had was bartending, and they were forced to lift a lot of crates of beer, but they were sure a crate wasn't as heavy as a person. The last labour intensive job they'd had that could've resulted in any bulk at all was working for a mover four years back. A job that had only lasted four months, and their jumpiness made it that they'd not been given a whole lot of heavy stuff.

"I --- uhm. I don't lift but I think maybe we weigh about the same? So I can use my body weight against yours to lift you up?"

They listened - and tried to focus - but nothing potentially dangerous seemed to be coming down from up ahead. Just the usual sounds of this ship, its creaking, venting, breathing.

"There's nothing up there," they informed Lokni as well. No ghosts, probably. No danger, hopefully. They stood at the ready to be boosted up, trusting Lokni's plan more than anything they could come up with.

Lokni had to hand it to Baskar, he was impressed that he decided to ascend the ladder after his prolonged hesitation. Then again, anyone who was facing something that frightened them would balk at first. He had trained a couple of horses like that; ones that could stay calm with a curious coyote trailing behind their hocks, but at the same time bolt the second that they glimpsed a plastic bag. Everyone had their own fears. Not wanting to waste any more time or daylight, Lokni clambered up the ladder after Baskar. Upon reaching the slanted deck, Lokni sighed. It had been a while since he had been here- since he first had run into Miss Palmer. Although that wasn't necessarily a bad experience, he wasn't keen to be back aboard this maze of machinery. "My power's not going to be any use against ghosts- if that's what we're up against. To be honest, I don't think it'll be much help against anything indoors. If anything we're going to need to rely on those ears of yours to find the safest way up to the bridge of the ship," he admitted, hoping that Baskar was just pulling his leg or something. Lokni doubted that a light rain was going to keep any ghosts at bay. So far the only thing he could really control was a trickle of rain, nothing special. As far as he knew, it was just luck, and every time he got a little down in the dumps it started to drizzle. Nodding in agreement, Lokni began to make his way along the outside of the ship. Before long they came to the same collapsed tunnel where Lokni had given Miss Palmer a leg up. Maybe Baskar would be able to pull him up if he boosted him up first. "You lift at all?" Lokni asked prospectively as he studied Baskar. Baskar was lean, but he could have a sleeper build. Many of Lokni's fellow ranchhands were similar, skinny from nicotine but with the strength and resilience of a pine tree in the wind. "I can give you a boost up, that's one of the quickest ways to the bridge, but I'm not light, so I'll need your help to pull me up," Lokni explained, hoping that his time on the island hadn't added to his waistline. Not that he hadn't been lazing around or anything, if anything it made more sense for him to have shed a couple pounds. If they were going to be encountering ghosts potentially, Lokni thought it'd be best to get in and out as quickly as possible. There were more threats than just spirits on this ship, and Lokni wasn't exactly keen on hanging around to meet them.

[little-baski]

Baskar looked grateful, they hadn't spoken their uncertainty regarding Zaid, but Lokni had caught it, and then attempted to make them feel better. They nodded, they'd make sure to strike up a conversation with Zaid at some point.

They braced themself for disappointment, for disbelief. It was a quick move, their shoulders pulling slightly inward, eyes downcast. It wouldn't be anything new either. They were so used to not being believed. And so few that they told. Though of course, back then, it had only been their father that they saw. Now there was so much more, so many voices and noises. They bit their lip and nodded.

Lokni was right, however, and Baskar felt the weight of proving that they could do this, that the ship was just a small obstacle. They wanted to show that they could be helpful, that they had the skills to do a lot for this group of people. Fix things, maybe cook things, using their knowledge of machines, even if it was lacking in some areas. They stared back up the ship. They already heard noises, could already hear the creaking, the vents. If it was an old ship, there wouldn't be this many, if it was on, electrical currents running through the machinery, there would likely be even more noise.

And Baskar couldn't help trying to place every single sound they heard, while their mind imagined ghosts and creatures roaming the hallways, dragging their bodies behind them, filling in the scraping sounds, the thumbs, and the screeches.

They didn't think Lokni was rude, and the care expressed for them was more than they got regularly. Most importantly, it didn't sound like Lokni did not believe them. If anything, he warned them against going because of the ghosts.

It made them feel a little braver. Hopefully brave enough. They blinked, then found they were not so brave after all. "I'll uhm... I'll go up the ladder, and... and if there are no ghosts to welcome me, I'll go further," they suggested, as they touched the bottom of the ladder. "I really want to help." They tried to shut out the sounds, but it was hard, so they focussed on the straining of the rope. Before they knew it, they were up on the deck of the ship. An assortment of noises coming at them from every direction, forcing their eyebrows deep over their face.

"What's--- what's your power?" they asked, as they studied the deck of the ship to locate the quickest way to the bridge. Going along the outside of the ship would help to not get turned around. They pointed Lokni towards the side of the ship and the stairs. "Bridge first?" they asked.

Lokni listened intently as Baskar listed a bunch of recipes, and unsurprisingly most of them were ones that Lokni had never heard of before. It was embarrassing to realize just how narrow his own scope of other cultures was. Everyone on the island had come from wildly different backgrounds, but even then, Lokni felt that he was at a disadvantage when it came to being educated and cultured. Seeing Baskar's unsure expression, Lokni quickly added, "Zaid's a nice guy, he helped me out a lot when I first got here." "Hearing ghosts?" Lokni thought out loud, his words leaving his lips before he had a chance to catch them. In all honesty, it didn't surprise Lokni. His own people had myriads of stories about spirits and supernatural forces. The only difference between here and there is that Lokni didn't know if they'd have a way to deal with them. Although he had searched high and low, he had deduced that sage wasn't native to this island. At this point, Lokni felt that the whole island was a sort of manmade hell. They were all just ants in an artificial habitat, and their captors were the tyrants wielding giant magnifying glasses, focusing the heat on whoever was interesting at that time. Maybe the ship was part of Baskar's personally tailored hell. If Lokni was being honest with himself, Baskar's words unnerved him, but if they could get their hands on a device that would enable them to communicate with the outside world, that could mean the difference between being stuck here or maybe finding a means of getting home. Everyone would benefit from this. So this was no time to balk like a young colt encountering a snake in his path for the first time. "I don't mean to be rude, kid, but even if there are ghosts, we need to find a way to get into contact with the outside world. 'Might be our only ticket home." As time passed and Lokni could see Baskar growing more flighty, the sentiment that he would be more of a liability than assistance began to grow. Lokni didn't know if he would be able to help Baskar keep his head in the face of supernatural phenomena. After all, Lokni was no medicine man.

"Listen I know that you mean well and want to face your fears, but I don't know if the ship is the best place for that..." Lokni trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Eventually, he swallowed his doubts, "I'm heading on up. You can come if you want but I don't think it's a wise idea, if what you're saying is true." Lokni didn't take any joy in laying it all out in this way, but he feared that Baskar would get injured- or worse. It didn't sit well with Lokni's conscience. To Lokni, Baskar looked like a bright-eyed greenhorn, full of good intentions, but blind to the weight of the situation that they were potentially walking into.

[little-baski]

Baskar translated ‘ranchhand’ as cowboy instantly, because they did know that America had a lot of cows. So they nodded along intently, impressed by ‘just blue collar work’. Having had a good collection of jobs since they turned eighteen, they thought any work that helped out a community or society was important. More important than most desk jobs. 

Food talk was always good talk. The times that Baskar got to enjoy food from home when living in the UK were few, Indonesian restaurants weren’t as vibrant as Indian restaurants were, and while there were some similarities, their only way to get in touch with food from their youth was through making it themself - and paying a lot of import costs to get the right spices. “Oh yes! I have many favourites,” they said happily. “I can make most of them as well, a lot of Malay and Indo food, though I’m not too good at the sweet stuff, but there’s nasi goreng, sata ayam, rendang, uhm… gado gado, sayur lodeh, pisang goreng. Oh, and spekkoek, but that’s like… layered cake, and so much work, so I never made it.” Zaid sort of scared them, he was a big chef, someone who had real weight to throw around, an expertise. “If I can find the ingredients, I’ll suggest some to him,” they said. Or they’d make it themself and hope Zaid would never find out and go Gordon-Ramsey on them. 

Baskar swallowed, so much for acting braver than they were. They gritted their teeth together, a sound that was much louder in their head than it should be. Growing up Baskar had learned that adults usually didn’t want to hear the bad things. When they’d told their grandparents about their father haunting them, they’d send him to a child psychologist, who determined that he was just ‘looking for attention’. Not that any official diagnosis made his grandparents change their ways. It didn’t matter to them that some things couldn’t be explained away, that Baskar showing up at football practice without a bike and nobody had seen him walking there could possibly mean that someone had dropped him off. 

And that idea stuck around. Whenever their father returned to make their life more difficult, Baskar didn’t tell people anymore. They wouldn’t believe him anyway. 

But the island was supposed to be different. Their father couldn’t follow them here, and the ghosts they heard had to be harmless. Maybe a side-effect of their superpower. They might be suspicious of trusting people, but they were also eager to please. Lying to Lokni about this when he was clearly also suspicious of them made them much more anxious than just telling the truth. “I think I can hear ghosts and I’m certain the ship is filled with them,” they blurted out. “It’s why I… am afraid of going up there… but I also want to help.” They swallowed. “It’s easier to overcome fears for others than when you have to do it for yourself.”

"Up in Oregon I was just a ranchhand, nothin' too fancy, just blue collar work," Lokni explained, they could go into detail about occupations after they got their little supply run completed. Time was ticking, and Lokni wasn't keen on being somewhere that he didn't have a good feel for when he couldn't see properly. The ship was a metal labyrinth of cabins, hallways, and 'staff-only' areas that could easily get the both of them turned around. Lokni knew that his broken compass would be useless here. Not that it had been useful anywhere else, but still, there was a part of him that hoped it would come in handy in the future. Maybe it was simply a method to measure whether or not he had gone completely crazy. As Baskar recalled their home and food culture, Lokni listened quietly, letting Baskar reflect and enjoy those memories. When he started talking about the food, Lokni couldn't help but ask, "what kinds of food do you think are staples over there? You got a favorite?" Lokni had a limited experience with food, not really adventuring outside of instant meals or his own mother's home-cooking, but with so many people gathered around the world on this little island, Lokni could feel his horizons expanding little by little. "Maybe you could get Zaid to recreate some of those dishes, he owns two restaurants after all. Anything he makes is like an out-of-body experience," Lokni explained, already having to swallow thickly. Zaid's food was top-tier. Much better than Hamburger Helper, and that was saying something. Sensing Baskar's hesitation, Lokni took a long pause before saying, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know? If you're so set on it, we can try again tomorrow when it's safer and we have more time. We're not exactly on a schedule here on this island- at least none that aren't of our own making. How would you like to go about this?" It wasn't like Lokni was an experienced ship delver, and that was more of a reason for him to make sure that Baskar would be able to keep his cool in a difficult situation. Deep down, Lokni feared that he might not be able to keep the both of them alive if shit hit the fan. He'd already hurt Darcy, he didn't want a repeat of a similar situation. Hearing Baskar's resolve once more, Lokni nodded, clutching his chin in thought. "Yeah, noises can be unnerving n' all, but is there something more that you haven't told me yet?" Lokni asked, rather directly. It wasn't that he was trying to be rude, but it felt like Baskar wasn't telling Lokni the full story. If there was something that Lokni didn't know, he'd prefer to know before potentially putting his life into Baskar's hands.

[little-baski]

Baskar nodded as if they knew where Oregon and California were. Well, maybe they knew a little of California, they knew it was at the beach, because of Katy Perry. Rural parts did excite them, with what they knew of the vastness of the United States, there was probably so much nature, so much untouched wilderness. “What do you do in the rural parts? Farming?” Farming was cool, Baskar had tried it a few times, mostly because they liked the idea of setting up some kind of system with an automatic watering system. They moved around for it too much to ever work out. 

They beamed when asked about Jakarta, even if they hadn’t been back in over a decade, it was the one place they’d called home with a joyous feeling. Memories of childhood, of its busy streets and quiet suburbs, of going into the wilderness or to the busy waterfront. “Jakarta is huge,” they said. “But it feels compact, I lived in the suburbs, but it was super easy to get to the centre, the public transport is great. And the food.” Baskar sighed. “The food is the best, there is food everywhere. And so many different cultures so there is different food everywhere.” They spend years missing everything about it, but most of all their family.

Miss Akhila. Baskar hadn’t called anyone miss or nyonya in a long time. His grandparents being Dutch - in Great Britain - they’d never conformed to being formal. But they liked hearing it now. Lokni telling them there were more British people felt so sweet, like he was attempting to give them some connections. “A lot of British people,” they commented with a grin. 

No emergency lights. They swallowed. “Uhm, yes, I haven’t been on the ship before,” they admitted. Then started to fear that maybe they’d made a mistake. They’d been so great at avoiding the ship, for good reason. Like they avoided sleeping in a bungalow because it was too noisy. They figured that if they were helping someone else, they could get over this fear. It was irrational anyway, right? There was no way the fact that they thought there would be ghosts meant there would be ghosts. All the other noises on the ship, they would just have to try and focus on Lokni alone. They could do this. Right? They could do this? 

They felt odd when Lokni returned to the sand, like they’d failed. And now the other was willing to take a chance on them, and Baskar tried not to doom-think their way into baulking. But it was always easier to do things for other people, to disregard their own fears and pull through because someone else asked them. They could be brave. But they also had to be honest about the difficulties, right? 

They swallowed. “Sorry,” they said. “I can do that, I’m just… I’m a bit jumpy because of the sounds.” Which was part of the truth, but this was no time to bring up the possibility of ghosts and the fact that Baskar thought they could hear them. They held their hands against the construction headphones. “I know this place is going to have a lot of sounds. The creaking, the mechanics, and everything else.” They paused. “But— but I can do it!”

"I'm from the west coast. Been out there most of my life. Spent fifteen years in California before moving to Oregon. Nothing fancy though, always lived in rural parts," Lokni answered, checking that his belt was secure. "What's Jakarta like?" he asked, curious about another place that he hadn't heard much of before. Baskar admitted that they may have been lying down, a revelation which put Lokni a little more at ease. Still, it didn't answer the question of why Baskar had arrived on the shore and not the ship. What was the missing variable? Up to this point, Lokni had grown accustomed to not being able to make heads or tails of anything, but even if he could get a little grip on what was going on here, it would help make him a little more at ease. "Oh, you mean Miss Akhila," Lokni hummed with approval. Akhila was very skilled and had helped him out more than just a couple times. "There's also a couple more you'll probably meet in due time." There were loads of people on the island, by Lokni's standards anyway. Though they had slowed in arrival, every now and then a new face would appear. Halting his ascension, Lokni froze, giving Baskar a confused look. He thought that Baskar would have known that. "The ship doesn't have any emergency lights, that's why I asked you if you had anything that could be used as a light source. Once we run out of daylight, that's it. Is this your first time going into the ship?" The eerie memories began to eek their way back into Lokni's mind as he remembered awakening in the dark, unable to see anything but the dimmest of light filtering from a sole staircase that led to the next dreary floor of the ship. It hadn't even been nighttime, on the contrary, it had been broad daylight. There was not a doubt in Lokni's mind that the darker the ship was, the more dangerous it would also become. Especially, for someone who wasn't familiar with its layout. Seeing Baskar's wide-eyed expression, and the slight shift in demeanor, Lokni returned to the sand. Despite his best efforts, Lokni was growing more perplexed. This person had shown up out of the blue, asked to help, seemed ready to go, and now at the edge of all things they were hesitating? Measuring his words carefully he said, "the ship isn't somethin' to be taken lightly, it's a dangerous structure, and if the tide comes back in, it's gonna be even more dangerous. I need you to be able to stay calm and act quickly in case things go south. Can you do that?"' It wasn't his intention to be so direct, but for both of their safety's sake, he needed to know. What did Baskar really want or expect from him?

[little-baski]

Baskar shook their head. “Just my cellphone as well,” they admitted. “Do the not have emergency lights on the ship? Or did they take out the radiator already.” Maybe too difficult questions to be asking right now. But Baskar wasn’t sure if the warehouse had any lights. They’d become reliant on their hearing by now, and whenever they secluded themself from the little bungalow village at night, they decided they’d rather not see what was around them. But it might be easier if they did on the ship. Though if the coms were where they figured they would be: it would be on the bridge, they might not need light if they worked fast. “I’m sure we can find like… uhm, some light there, if not, we’ll return another day? If it’s stationary, I could check if I need any tools,” they suggested.

For a moment they frowned. “Uhm… I don’t remember,” they admitted. Had they been laying down? Sitting? Were they standing when they found another person walking down the beach. If they’d jumped up, they must’ve done it quickly. It would make sense. Baskar would not put it past them that they had. “I might’ve been laying down.” 

They were glad Lokni shared things too, the way to the ship wasn’t far, and probably finding the bridge wasn’t going to be difficult either, but this kept their mind at ease and their ears busy. “Oh, where in America?” they asked. Not that they knew enough about the country to know which part would be where, but it gave them something to ask. They’d always thought that the United States were as big as Indonesia, because they’d always been told that that country was close in population count, but when they’d learned about population density, it had grown so big that it was hard to imagine. 

“I’ve only travelled in the UK,” they admitted. “In Indonesia I mostly stayed in Jakarta, though my family once took me to Bali, it was super busy.” They tried to recall if they’d heard anyone who might’ve been from back home. They’d picked up on enough accents, but they couldn’t really say if those were from the ghosts or from actual people. “A few yes,” they said, “I met the doctor.” They didn’t know if she was a doctor, but she had been in the medi-centre. 

Baskar swallowed as they walked around the ship and Lokni located a ladder. They were really going to do this. They took a deep breath, the ship suddenly looking even more haunting and scary than it had from a distance. It was huge. He didn’t know how many rooms it would have, how many people once roamed those hallways. He stopped short of climbing up after Lokni, wide eyes staring at the monstrous thing, while without wishing to his ears were already scanning the whole area, and finding so many different sounds it was almost like suddenly everything was too much, too loud, too chaotic. 

"Well, let's take a look and see what we find," Lokni suggested. Not knowing the exact size of the communication coms wasn't optimal, but they would have to work with what they got. As long as it was carriable, that's what really mattered. "If it's built into the ship, we may be camping out for a bit, do you have anything that produces light? I have my cellphone, but I doubt it'll give us enough light to get anything done." Lokni thought back to whatelse he might have. He did have some flint and steel that he had picked up from the warehouse, as well as some kindling that he had brought along. He'd just have to be careful to not get it wet. Listening to Baskar's explanation about the battery, Lokni nodded in understanding. "Teleported?" Lokni asked, raising an eyebrow, "so you were up and walking when it all happened? You didn't wake up on the ground or nothin?'" Nothing really made sense, but Lokni was growing accustomed to that. Though, it didn't remedy his mounting frustration. Were they ever gonna' get answers about anything? "It's nice to meet you." Lokni offered, "I'm from America." He didn't want to interrupt Baskar's recounting of their home. Either it mattered to them a lot or they had a sort of nervous energy that was causing them to be so open. Lokni could relate in a way, he often times got flustered when working with someone for the first time. But even as they spoke, Lokni could pick up the hint of fear that lingered in their eyes faintly. Were they scared of him? No, they couldn't be, otherwise why would they have sought him out? Maybe they had reason to be scared. For all he knew, there were still many threats and dangers on the island. "I've not traveled much, work's always tied me down, so I don't know a lot about the U.K. However, I do know that there are quite a few people on this island that are from there. Have you met any of them yet?" Lokni asked, curious to see how many people Baskar had acquainted themselves with. Following the direction that Baskar pointed, they made their way up the beach. It was low tide still, so they were able to carefully meander their way over the moist sand. Lokni silently prayed that the tide would hold off for a bit. He didn't want the communication coms to get wet on their return journey. Leading the way around the ship, Lokni walked up to the ladder that hung off of the side of the ship. He began to climb up, looking back once to see if Baskar was following.

[little-baski]

Baskar tried to keep their facial expression in check, because as soon as the idea of a hunt for the coms-system broke through, their imagination ran wild. And now that they had the construction headphones, they’d be fine to look through the ship. Better than they’d been without. Finally something they could do that included the skills they’d picked up at school. The prospects were running rampant in their brain. “Oh, it would depend, I don’t know what kind of coms this ship has, how old it is and all that. Could be the size of a suitcase, could be like a shoe-box, but it could also be static and built into the ship, and in that case we’ll have to fix it onboard,” they explained, rattling off the different systems they’d seen in a class on maritime communication. Anything that was big and transported a large number of passengers had to follow safety concerns. “We could also be lucky and they have a backup coms for when the ship gets stranded or sinks. It’s usually in a suitcase already, and would have its own battery!” 

He nodded, though he didn’t understand the significance of appearing in a different place from everyone else, he’d also been zapped to the island later than everyone else it seemed - at least the ones he’d met - so he didn’t question it as much as thinking his timing had significance. “Nope, not wet, and I didn’t really wake up, more like… I blinked and then I was in this place. Like I was teleported here.” A real fear for most of their life whenever their father appeared, that he’d touch them and they would be transported to some other place, some place darker. But so far the island was warm, welcoming, and had plenty of food. This couldn’t be the place he feared. 

Aside from the ghosts of course. 

They feared for a moment the other would pass up the help and instead focus on what he’d already been doing, but then the conversation flipped and before they knew it, they were pointed in the direction of the ship. They almost skipped after the other. “Yes, perfect!” they said, giddiness hard to keep from their voice. 

“Oh, I’m Baskar, by the way,” they said, as the two of them walked towards the haunted ship. “But friends call me Baski.” They had only so far managed to convince one other person on the island to call them Baski. But they were certain more would follow, they just needed to make friends. “I’m from the UK, which… you know, the accent is pretty rough, but people don’t always recognise it as any type of British accent. I grew up in Jakarta and in Bristol, very different worlds, but this place is not that much different from what I was used to in Jakarta. We lived on the outskirts of the city, at the waterfront, and there were beaches. I used to spend a lot of time in the wilderness,” they rambled, not just to fill the silence, but also because the hoped to focus on their own voice and the other’s, and not be pulled into the act of listening for the voices of ghosts on the ship. 

Baskar's suggestions about figuring out the ship's manufacturing and other information was an intriguing prospect to Lokni. "That sounds like a great idea. To be honest, I don't have the first clue as to what to look for. Is this something that can be taken to shore? How big is it?" Lokni asked, hands in his pockets, one of them fidgeting with Chenoa's hoofpick. Logistics were an important thing to consider, as potentially Lokni and Baskar would be extracting this from the ship. He needed to know if he needed to look for another backpack, dollie, or some other means of carrying the coms system safely off of the ship, depending on its size. "You woke up on the beach? That is- strange." Lokni replied, truly perplexed. Up until this point, everyone had woken up on the ship. He had as well, in the depths of the hull in a pitch-black room. He still wasn't quite sure where it was that he had awoken. This new piece of information gave him more questions than answers. It felt like they had been intentionally placed in different areas. For one person to randomly end up on shore was... unlike the other patterns that Lokni had been trying to pick up on. "When you woke up, were your clothes wet? Like you had washed up on shore? Or did it feel, I don't know- more intentional than that?" Lokni asked, wracking his brain for answers. Lokni also wondered if Baskar had shown up with those construction-grade headphones, or if they had found them somewhere. However, the sun was sinking, and if they were gonna' get in and out of the ship before nightfall Lokni knew that they had to get a move on. He could ask all the questions in the world later. The ship was creepy enough as it was without the darkness of night blighting its halls. Relaxing when Baskar gave him reason to think that there was something in it for him, Lokni released a low sigh. "I appreciate the help, but a lot of folks need help around here, probably a lot more than me, to be honest," Lokni replied, trying not to sound apprehensive or prideful. While not well-versed in medicine or other academically based skills, he was quite adept in survival. "That being said, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Let's just stick together and try to get in and out of there pretty quick. I know a way up the side of the ship that I've used a couple times and reinforced. It should be the safest way up, to my knowledge anyway. Anyway, it's this way." Lokni said as he began to walk down the shore towards the looming wreckage of the cruise ship.

[mc-adarsh]

Adarsh was momentarily caught off guard by the question, too heated from frustration to notice any other garbage that was specifically garbage like the book. Too busy with trying to figure out why his brain was such a mess that he didn’t much care for the logics around his thoughts. But still caught off guard by the question because yes, it was true, it didn’t make much sense. 

He took a few steps closer, until he was barely a hair away from the other. He wasn’t the type to size people up, he didn’t much care for which person he picked to fight with. He hadn’t given the other more than a second look. 

He should be backing off, just let the book lay there, just let the other continue his work, just walk off and punch a tree. 

Instead he remained too close. “What is your fucking problem?”

Sittting up a little straighter, Lokni took a slow panning look around the beach, his gaze settling onto the wrecked ship, before trailing back to the debris and whatnot that had washed up on shore. The shore was littered with a myriad of objects ranging from discarded metal to garbage. Is he blind? Lokni thought to himself, genuinely confused, a little concerned even. "So, you tell me to do something you're perfectly able to do, and now you need my eyes to look for you too?" Lokni asked, finally looking at the person before him, "If you're not gonna' clean up, then why are you asking about trash cans? I was under the impression that it wasn't your concern." Lokni didn't understand the hostility, nor the unreasonableness. There were plenty of garbage cans at the hub. Maybe he hadn't made it that far. With that attitude, he wasn't gonna' make it far anywhere. Lokni thought to himself. Regardless of what this guy's intentions were, Lokni felt his irritation sparking within his gut. The man before him was average height and looked to have more of a runner's build than someone who did manual labor like Lokni had. This stranger was in shape, but if it was a fight he was looking for, Lokni wondered if he could take a hit. Not that Lokni had had many fights in his life, some scraps in his youth, but nothing serious. For what Lokni lacked in dexterity he could make up for in stamina and raw power, especially now that he was fully grown. Lokni also knew that he was very capable of taking hits, from folk much larger than this newcomer anyway.

[little-baski]

Baskar’s smile remained bright. Coms system didn’t seem like much of a hassle, if everything was correctly connected and well labelled. He probably wouldn’t know the basis of it, but he’d taken apart plenty of devices for school projects - and after as well. His Robotics probably wouldn’t be of any help, but Electrical Engineering was all about this. Tele-com afterall had been an important part of his first year. He wondered if the cruise ship still had running engines, or if it had a system he could take to shore. It might be easier since the ship was tilted. 

“I can probably find that out,” he said. “If I can get it all working, or maybe I can even figure out where the ship is from, like… uhm, manufacturing. When the last message was send. I don’t know if there are any computers on the island… I’m pretty new here,” they admitted. New, young, eager to please, friendly, probably in over their head. But even if it was a failed assignment, they wanted to try and help. And they imagined even if they only managed to answer one of the questions, they could probably get a whole lot of people on their side. They were almost jumping at the opportunity. The possibilities. 

Though they worried too. What if the ship was even more haunted than the island? 

Baskar wasn’t new to suspicion, it didn’t phase them, it just made them more aware of how big their smile was and how that could come across, they toned it down a little. “I really want to see the cruise ship,” they said. “And to be useful in some way,” they added. “So I guess that’s what’s in it for me.” They paused. “I woke up on the beach, unlike, as I’ve learned, almost everyone else,” they admitted. 

Lokni had been hauling in a bunch of kelp to cut up and prepare for food storage. More than half was going to Zaid, after all, Lokni couldn't have eaten that much on his own even if he tried. Not having to worry about Zaid sharing or not, Lokni knew that this haul was in good hands. There were so many mouths to feed on the island as it was, and even more newcomers were pouring in. Lokni often worried about whether this was sustainable or not. Lokni was so engrossed in his work, however, that he hadn't noticed the newcomer's approach. At the sound of their voice, Lokni halted his systematic cutting of the kelp, leveling his gaze at the new stranger. They were lean with dark brown hair and eyes, as well as sporting a construction-grade pair of headphones. It had been a while since Lonki had seen one of those. The last time he had was when his boss was laying the foundation for some new stables. Ironic how his boss's business had been doing so well, and yet both Lokni and his mother were receiving lower than legal minimum wage for their work. But that was neither here nor there in this current situation. Halting his current work and depositing the cut strips of kelp into the basket that he had woven back at his own camp, Lokni nodded in greeting. It was rare for him to be approached with a smile, so that felt a little strange. That, and the fact that this person was claiming that they had been listening to a private conversation that Lokni had had from over a mile away. He had made a camp far out from the bungalows for a reason. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to judge before he spoke to someone. "I'd like to try and fix the coms system, if possible, I don't really know. I'm not good with technology, to be honest." Lokni replied. This stranger had mentioned education in Electrical Engineering and Robotics, and to Lokni, all of those words sounded reasonably applicable. "Yeah, I guess you could say that I was looking for help. I just really want to know how far we are from the nearest country, and if getting off of this island is even possible," he replied, sheathing his hunting knife that he had been using to cut the kelp. Even so, this new person's smile led Lokni to be reasonably suspicious. As one who had been taught to examine an objectively beautiful horse for problematic conformation, he took this person into account. "Are you looking for something in return?" Lokni asked, voice even, testing the waters in a sense, even so, his senses were drawn taut like a bowstring.

[mc-adarsh]

Technically, at least so he thought, calm should have a good effect on rage. Someone who spoke to him without a similar attitude should be able to call him down, right? Was that too much to hope for? Because instead of accepting he was overreacting, he just felt the irritation bubble and rise, like water reaching its boiling point.

He scoffed loudly. “Why would I clean up another’s trash?” he growled in response. “Do you see any trash bins around here?” 

He still thought the book was the other’s possession, a false conclusion but not one that had been denied so far. 

Mending nets was tedious work, Lokni gathered quite quickly. It wasn't as simple as tying knots into the severed threads, it was a matter of assessing the damage and figuring out what type of knot was best for the job at hand. If they were going to be here for a while they needed to keep their equipment in top condition, otherwise the luxuries of the island might quickly fall into disrepair. That being said, Lokni was determined to pull his weight. The rock that he was seated on was cool beneath him, jutting out of the sand like the front of a ship in the wake of waves. Despite his struggle to repair the nets, he was persistent, tying and then testing the weight of his thumb braced against the knots to see if they would hold. In a sense, this was calming, compared to the events of that morning. He was infinitely grateful to Akhila. If it weren't for her, he would be in much worse straights. Lokni was calm, amicable even, when a stranger sauntered up and started yelling at him. Lokni didn't look up from his work, having much better things to do than take shit from some stranger, "if you have the energy to run your mouth, I bet you have the energy to pick it up yourself." It wasn't his 'trash,' and it wasn't as if he had thrown it there. For all he knew it could have been anyone, even this yapper in front of him. In Lokni's line of work, he learned to keep his mouth shut and get to work. One of Big Jim's pet lines had been "the loudest ones always do the least," in regards to the greener ranch hands. This guy was no ranch hand, Lokni gathered that much, but the sentiment seemed to ring true.