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Tweak says, "You be a pie then."

jed_wax (jed_wax) wrote in devils_tower,
@ 2009-01-16 12:58:00

Entry tags:

event: week twelve rr meeting, jed, moe, pan, peri, shepherd

Week twelve - Tuesday mid morning
Who: Jed and all River Runners
When: Week Twelve
Where: Land surrounding Jed's boat
Why: Jed organises a search party and tries to quell panic.

There was no way Jed could lie to himself anymore. At first he figured she'd just wandered off on her own for a few hours and would return, and when hours turned into a full day he figured maybe she needed a big time out, Gypsy was mad at him afterall for practically banishing her best friend. But by the time Tuesday rolled around the panic in his body sank in fully and his nerves were on edge. She was missing and he was partly responsible.

Although he never let people know it there was nobody Jed respected more than Gypsy, and lying to her about him and Silver had ebbed at his concious with each day that passed, there were whispers in the camp that there should be relief felt on Jed's part now she was no longer breathing down his throat. Relief wasn't an emotion he could feel when his whole sytem was abosrbed with panic and dispair. Gypsy had been his saviour, he'd been hers, they'd been friends and lovers for a brief time. Now she was gone and he didn't know where. It was like the twilight zone when he'd barrelled into her boat, everything perfectly in tact as if she'd simply stepped out for some air, no signs of a struggle to signal someone had taken her, no note to say she was leaving. She simply walked out and vanished into thin air. This wasn't a trick anymore, this was fucking weird.

Silver hadn't spoken to him since, he'd heard her sniffling in her sisters room as she asked for a moment to think by herself, and he'd hid the angry tears that brimmed and clouded his eyes. She'd never done something like this before, though he had to try hard to reassure everyone that this wasn't as big a crisis as it actually was. This was made harder by the fact that few people actually respected Jed as a leader and without Gypsy there to scold them he was swimming in a sea filled with what seemed like dozens of doubting faces. For the first time in his life Jed had no plan, no thoughts, nothing coherent, and no guidance. He was completely alone and missed his friend, he missed every part of her and wasn't going to give up until she was looking at him in the face and laughing at him for even bothering the tribe in the first place.

Jed had sent word out to the tribe that there was a metting to be held at his at eleven, outside his boat. He daren't hold it outside Gypsies. He stood on the dock facing the floor feeling it swirl and sway beneath him, making him feel queasy. There was so much to do and so little time to do it in, every second was a second she could be in more danger, there was no way they could afford to waste time anymore. It was time for Jed to stand in and be the man Gypsy always told him he could be. He'd always doubted her.

"As you know Gypsy is gone," he started off slowly but confidently, throwing his voice so it flew over everyone's heads, "We can't afford to stay put any longer, there'll be a search party dispatched and I need volunteers," he frowned, "We need to find her,"

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noneofmyown
2009-01-16 02:17 pm UTC (link)

Shepherd had not even had the joy of meeting their missing leader. That didn't stop him from feeling the unease that had set in around him. He was the outsider still, the new face that had yet to be fully trusted and he wanted to change that. He looked up at the man that had become their only point of guidance and he looked like a house with out supports ready to fall any moment in around itself.

"I'll go." His voice broke the silence that had descended after Jed spoke about the search party. It would take more than him he was certain but it was at least a start. Maybe if the others saw the new comer meant to help they would all jump in along with him.

Tribes were about building a family and it seemed that Gypsy had been the glue for this one. They needed to know they could still depend on each other and her being gone didn't damage things as much as it could. He was certain if they didn't find her she would be missed but their lives couldn't fall apart just because one woman wandered off.

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jed_wax
2009-01-18 08:19 am UTC (link)

Jed scanned the crowd and his throat tightened as silence seemed to engulf the whole lot. He saw people shuffle and look down at the ground, avoiding all eye contact with anybody around them. Fucking cowards. Each and every one of them had hearts of coal and Jed wanted to scream at them, tell them they were fucking selfish and if need be he would order them to go look, how dare they not be flinging themselves at the opportunity.

The voice broke Jed from his anger daze and he scanned the crowd for the voice landing on a guy much about his age, long dark hair and deep eyes. He was new Jed knew that much, a friend of Peri's so he'd heard, friend being a very soft term for what he probably actually was. But Jed didn't care about that now, and he smiled nodding, "Thankyou," he tried not to sound too relieved but couldn't help it, "You can assemble a team and take them to the Twin Feathers first I know Gypsy-" he stopped his hair blowing in his face as the wind sailed past "-I know she went down there a few times,"

He scanned the crowd, "Has anyone found Pan?" he dared to ask but when he hadn't seen him common sense told him that he'd probably not heard yet and even if Jed disliked him at the moment, he deserved to know.

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noneofmyown
2009-01-19 07:04 pm UTC (link)

Shepherd was a bleeding heart. It was a fact he liked to hide but at times it shown through without any help and no matter how he tried to cover it up. He couldn't let Gypsy be out there potentially hurt and not do something about it.

A large hand rose to push back through his mop of dark hair pushing it away from his bright blue eyes. The gesture moving his hair in a way that made it a good deal easier to see the grey that was becoming very easy to see at his temples.

This wasn't going to be an easy task. Everyone here seemed like a group of people bound together by their want to not be attatched. He had drifted though Sundance enough through the past to know the River Runners were composed of people that had moved around a lot never knowing a true home. He could sympathise being an Air Force brat as he was. People without a home tended to trust less and be far more independent than most. When people were independent they tended not to think of others all that much.

"I think I might be able to convince a few people to help, if not I know the area well enough to get to the Twin Feathers. As far as Pan, I haven't had the pleasure. You want me to look for him as well while I am out and about?"

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panriver
2009-01-17 10:33 pm UTC (link)

Pan had stayed away from the river and the Trading Post for as long as he could. For food he’d done all of the trading that he could at the Outskirts. As a result he hadn’t gained back any of the weight he’d lost over the winter and he was looking more gaunt than ever. Not to mention he hadn’t felt much like eating lately. A horrible depression had dampened his normal care-free and happy existence. Several times a day he thought of leaving Sundance, he’d even packed his bags and started out on the highway. The farthest he’d gotten away was a mile before he turned back, convincing himself that he’d simply forgotten something at the Outskirts (though once he was there he stayed again).

The first night he’d spent at the Outskirts he’d met a really nice drifter boy to whom he’d given a false name to. He stayed with the boy for a few more nights but refused to leave with the drifter when he said he had to leave Sundance and head north. North likely meant Canada and Pan had contemplated the odds of finding his tramping companions he’d lived with there when he was younger and first left home after high school to live on the road. Still, he hadn’t been ready to leave Sundance and so he’d kissed the boy goodbye.

It was almost a week after the incident with Jed when Pan decided to take a look at his old tribe. He snuck along the outskirts of the trading post and moved among the trees along the river bank. The boats were mostly deserted from what Pan could tell and he hadn’t seen any of his tribemates at the Outskirts so he wondered what could possibly be going on. As he got closer to the main dock he heard Jed’s familiar voice and hum of other voices. The tribe was all gathered together and Jed was calling them to order. He hid his body behind a tree that was well enough away from everyone so that he was hidden but so that he could still hear what was going on. Gypsy was missing? Had he heard that right? He scanned the crowd for her, and she was nowhere to be seen.

He was appalled by the silence that followed Jed’s request for volunteers. He felt his throat tighten. What could this mean, how could Gypsy go missing? When he heard an unfamiliar voice finally volunteer he moved behind another tree and stood on his tiptoes to see who it was. He didn’t recognize the boy. He scowled. It wasn’t like the River Runners to easily allow someone to join their tribe so who the hell was this guy? Had they already replaced Pan? His jaw clenched. If Gypsy was truly missing then he would find her. Of course his main motivation for wanting to find her was to make sure that she was all right. He’d considered her his best friend and he couldn’t imagine her being gone just like that. God, he hoped that she was all right.

He wanted to start looking allready but he stood his ground a little longer to see what everyone had to say.

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peri
2009-01-19 10:53 pm UTC (link)

Peri honestly hadn't been listening as Jed had spoken, she knew what he was saying so truthfully she had been tuning him out. It hurt to hear the words leave anyone else's mouth. There wasn't really much she didn't know about what was going on. Since Gypsy, her best friend Gypsy, had left her and everyone else, Peri had been looking for her. No one knew that except for Shepard, but even he didn't likely known the extent of her searches. There were a few places she knew Gypsy had gone before, and she had gone there hoping to find her. The truth was though that in the pit of Peri's stomach she felt that Gypsy was gone and she wasn't coming back, with Silver still with them it meant that she was dead.

Gypsy was no where near helpless and if someone had found her, which they would have... she would have sent word. Peri was a pessimist though and in her mind she thought that if another tribe found Gypsy dead they would never know, because who would want to tell any tribe that they had found their leader dead. The blame and suspicion would start inevitably and in this day, no one needed any more heat on them than necessary.

Oddly enough what brought her into the conversation was the man beside her. Her lodger... or whatever she was going to call him. She hadn't decided yet. Him telling everyone there that he was going to help find Gypsy warmed her heart, a feat that was almost impossible. She had tried to get rid of him not four hour ago, but he had clung on like a son of a bitch and she had realized that he was going to stay.... and that she wanted him to.

Her hand slid across his thigh in a quiet manner, a silent thank you from her as her face hardened as she decided to speak. It wasn't often that Peri's voice was heard in tribe meetings, but she wasn't about to sit in the wings on this one. Her first order of business was to get everyone's mind off of the man beside her and onto what mattered.

"First off for those of you that don't know already, the man who just spoke is Shepard and he will be staying with us. You can all keep your comments to yourselves for the time being as I am in no mood to deal with you lot." She knew that although her tribe mates loved her as she did then, the fact that everyone would know in the next few seconds that she had taken on a lover would set everyone's tongues wagging.

Since she wasn't even ready to call him her lodger, she wasn't ready to have a little session with the girls anytime soon. It was odd to think how happy this would have made Gypsy though considering she was always telling Peri to slow down.

"I've search along the river banks already as best I can all the way from here to the Winter Camp, but the lake still needs to be checked.... Until Gypsy returns I will be viewing Jed as our leader and I hope you will all do the same. He had always been Gypsy's right hand and now more than ever we need him." It wasn't something that had been asked for from Peri, but she didn't speak much and when she did she made every word count. Jed was strong and she didn't think anyone else could keep the tribe together, other than Gypsy herself of course.

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noneofmyown
2009-01-19 11:57 pm UTC (link)

If Peri wanted them to stop staring at him as if he had four heads and had just said he was from Mars...that might not have been the way to go about it. All the same he quirked a smile at her and covered her hand with his own when her hand found its way onto his thigh.

Their...fight? He guessed it was a fight he felt as if he had been fighting, fighting her in him leaving. He wasn't ready for Peri to be done with him and if she wanted him gone she would have to do better than push him away the way she had been trying. There had been no indication she wanted him gone other than the fact she didn't want attatchment but he was on the fast track to being attatched and he would be damned if he was doing it alone. He was going to drag her with him every step of the way.

He paid attention waiting for someone else to make comment or say anything really.

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jed_wax
2009-01-22 12:38 pm UTC (link)

Pride had no place in this situation but surprise flickered across his face as Peri claime alliance with him, sought to him for guidance and help. Placed him in a position where he would be relied upon, where people would really need him to lead them. He was a leader now and he had to start about stepping up and becoming the thing he'd always known he had to be but actually quite feared.

He appreciated the way Shepard had offered to help, the guy was new and not very well known but his loyalty would not be forgotten, nor would the way he stod so close to Peri and te=he way she touched his thigh. Could it be that even after the Wolf scenario and using him as rebound, that she had met someone who would last the springtime? Perhaps longer? A seperate issue but one he'd be relying on Silver or Moe to inform him of...normally it would have been Gypsy but- well she wasn't around anymore. Jed shook his head.

He looked at Peri and smiled, "Thank you Peri," his cheeks flushing "Really," he cleared his throat.

"The River will be checked though I'm not putting it at the top of the list," Carelessness could not be an explanation for this, fear would suffice. though he didn't doubt bones were down there surely she'd have been seen had she been floating down the river. But then again would Jed even want to see her body float up? Would he want to swim down into those waters and see her face staring at him. He shuddered. No was the answer to that question. "I want a search for Pan too, Moe says she'll go look but I want Shepard there as well, I don't need him hearing this from another person," he knew there was healing to do between the two and even though he may not have liked Pan too much he knew Gypsy loved him and he wasnt in the tribe for nothing it seemed. She would want him here and that was simple to him, loyalty to that girl was seeping out of him, something not everyone had seen of him. They were so busy warring with eachother that people forgot they had sworn to be faithful and never backstabbing...though he supposed he'd already done that, unintentionally of course but he began to think that perhaps dating Silver behind her back was just as bad as getting Pan kicked out, if not worse because the whole thing was related.

"Check with the Mountain Lions," he scratched the back of his neck, "though maybe I should do that," he bit his lip

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moonshine_moe
2009-01-21 02:26 am UTC (link)

It was never a good thing when the River Runners called a meeting. Maybe, once upon a time, it had been. But after the craptastic winter they'd just weatherd, Moe had started viewing tribe meetings as a way to deliver bad news without having to say it more than once. First, their food had frozen. And now Gypsy was missing. This was all just fanfuckingtastic. She found herself a spot on the edge of the crowd, and wondered just how long this was going to take. Her distiller had started making an ominous rattle again, and she was determined to figure out the cause before it coughed and died again. It was easier to fix things, now that she could trade again, but she didn't want to it to come to new parts again so soon.

Of course, Jed called for volunteers. Some guy next to Peri offered to lead the charge. Well, more power to him, whoever he was. If Peri had't tossed him in to the river, then he must be doing something right. Moe snorted back a laugh when the other woman commented on...Shepard. She sounded kind of pissed, which just amused Moe even more. Keeping her comments to herself wouldn't be a problem. At least, not at that exact moment. She'd find someone to gossip it over with later, when Peri wasn't close enough to hear and possibly throw something.

Despite the fact that she wasn't exactly the most upstanding member of the tribe, she felt like she needed to back up Peri's show of support. Almost everyone here knew her, and respected her ability to hand out mind altering substances, so it wasn't like it would be totally pointless. "I 'gree with Peri. 'Til we get Gypsy back, he's the one I'll be lookin' to." She glared at everyone close to her, daring them to say anything against her decleration. As usual, the mood of her moonshine distiller directly echoed her own temperment. "An' I'll ask about, next time I'm in town. See if anyone's seen Pan. He may've headed that way."

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panriver
2009-02-09 11:37 pm UTC (link)

Had he not been so stricken by the news of Gypsy’s disappearance he would have almost been touched by the fact that Jed wanted people to search for him, and that people wanted to search for him. He turned his back on his tribe and leaned against the tree. He could still hear what they were saying. He closed his eyes. If Gypsy really was gone then he had no chance of returning to the tribe. Of course he’d agree to never return to Sundance as long as he knew she was still alive and doing okay.

He turned around again to take another look at his tribe, or rather, his former tribe. He thought that perhaps he should make himself known, save them some time and leg-work in the search for him but he didn’t. Instead he turned his back on them slipped back along the river to begin his own search for Gypsy.

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