InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You're with me, leather!"

Antoni, First year TEACUP. (pobrebarco) wrote in steamengines,
@ 2009-12-22 18:05:00

Who: Antoni Ruiz and Jacinta Oliveira (aka Spanish and Portuguese names are long!)
What: Attempting to survive on an island is harder than it looks.
Where: Dr. Moreau's island.
When: Backdated to the first night the first years were dropped off there.
Warnings: VIOLENCE. BLOOD. HORROR. ZOMBIES! No, not really. But that would have been cool!

ANTONI: When he hesitantly agreed to become a student at TEACUP, Antoni admittedly wasn't sure what he had signed himself up for. He figured it would mostly consist of what his earlier school years had been like: tests, homework, stealing supplies so he could have homework to turn in, hiding at lunch to avoid the bullies. It wasn't until the moment he arrived there, clutching his pathetically small-ish bag that he realized he was about to become monumentally overwhelmed. The first month had been the hardest, but he eased into routines. Eventually.

But this Survival Test on an island made him sorely tempted to ditch everything and hike back home. If he had been paired up with anyone he knew, it might have not been so bad. Not that Jacinta was terrible. She was nice and pretty, but with his issues, the chance of her not thinking he was either a mute or just strange by the end of this two week venture were slim to none. If nothing, it was par for the course. Antoni was used to disappointing people in this manner.

Having arrived at the island, then what was designated their 'home base,' the two of them laid out their items they were alotted, Antoni revealing his tool kit he smuggled (it was tied to his leg underneath his pants as they would only be able to take from him when they could pry it from his cold dead fingers). Satisfied the two probably wouldn't die in the next hour or so, he nervously smiled at Jacinta. He really did wish he had a pad of paper and a writing utensil so he didn't have to subjugate her to his stuttering but alas, they both would suffer.

"I sup-ppose we should l-look for th-the others, d-do you agr-gree?"

JACINTA: While she had eagerly signed up for TEACUP and had arrived with her proverbial bells on, this little field trip certainly wasn't what Jacinta had in mind when her training was concerned. Actually, she really wasn't sure exactly what she had in mind leaving her family and moving all the way to England, but this certainly wasn't it. The island of Dr. Moreau certainly didn't seem like the type of place to take a much of underage newly adults, but then again what did Jacinta know? She was only a first year TEACUP student shoved on said island.

By the time the boat ride was down and they were officially on the island, she was about ready to join Antoni in ditching anything and returning home. Or in her case, returning to the carnival. She supposed it would be all right though. Perhaps. Maybe. At least her partner seemed nice enough! Didn't talk much though... That was OK though! She would talk more than enough for the two of them and it started when Antoni gave his suggestion.

"Perhaps! If only so we can spy on them," she answered with a huge smile, her voice an off mix of both English and Portuguese accents. "Or maybe not? They might try to trick us and we could lose on the first day. Or they might try to take our light. Or your tool kit!" Then they would really be up the creek without a paddle!

ANTONI: He usually did his best in attempting to avoid drawing attention to himself, but that would do him no good here. Antoni would have to talk if the two of them wanted to survive this nightmare. Chewing on the side of his lower lip, he listened to her speculations and nodded. In best case scenario, they would probably get talked into joining another team's side. Worst case? Taken by force. He shook the flashlight. It was heavy enough, should someone be stupid enough to attempt to harm either of them.

"N-no one will t-take my k-it," he affirmed, re-strapping the item to his leg. He handed Jacinta the flashlight, figuring it was better for her to hold onto. "We c-an l-look around?" he suggested. It was a good idea, he thought, to determine how safe their location was from the other (dios mio) nine teams. "Wuh-whichever y-ou decide." Maybe she had a better idea.

JACINTA: Why would you want to do that, Antoni? Attention was a good thing! When in doubt, Jacinta would take all the attention from you and divert it to herself, so it all worked out in the end. Clearly, he could be the brains and she could be the beauty of this operation. And she would rather not be taken at all so they could win the competition. That would be so amazing to right home about and prove that she wasn't just some twisty-turny girl.

Taking the flashlight, she pulled it to her chest and griped it so tightly that her fingers started to ache. It really was a useful item and she would indeed take advantage of its heaviness if someone tried to steal it. "I think we should look around! We could find some place where we could be safe and hide. And we will need a place to sleep!" Hmm. She hadn't exactly thought about the whole sleeping arrangement thing here, but she supposed they would cross that bridge later. "We need a secret home base, yes?" Yes.

ANTONI: He would like to be neither the brains nor the brawn, nor beauty. He'd just like to be the unknown that faded into the background. As quickly as possible of course. One must always be efficient in their attempts at obscurity.

Nodding again in agreement, he stammered though not with nervousness, "Y-yes, thu-that is a good id-dea." Standing next to her, he wordlessly pointed at a random direction away from their home base then began walking toward it, being sure to keep Jacinta close. Splitting up and not relying on his partner was not an option, not when there was only the two of them against eighteen on a strange island none of them were familiar with. They walked for about ten minutes before a strange noise occured in nearby, almost as if it was above them. "D-do you huh-hear th-that?" he whispered, extremely nervous now.

JACINTA: Sadly, you probably couldn't go around being unknown or in the background at TEACUP, Antoni. You were part of a select group of individuals, so going unnoticed was near impossible. But it wasn't so bad! After all, there was the opportunity to showcase amazing talents and all the good stuff. That was much better than obscurity.

The random directions seemed like a good enough way for Jacinta, so she gleefully started walking with the flashlight still clutched to her chest. Every so often, she would make some comment about the trip, TEACUP or the island setting, but mostly she kept her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. In fact, she was so lost in looking at her surroundings that at first, she didn't hear the the noise. "Hmmm?" she asked as she looked back at Antoni, hearing the noise a moment later. Was it a snapping sound. Looking to her left, she scooted closer to her partner. There it was again! "Maybe it is just a rabbit?"

ANTONI: Maybe...nah, nope. He'd prefer anything that kept him from getting into trouble. Even this supposed challenge and exercise was something he considered a large deal of trouble.

Damn, he definitely heard...whatever it was. But from where, he couldn't tell, not quite yet. If only he could unbundle his nerves just for one moment and try to laugh off his fear. As his father tried to teach him, being a man meant being the strong courageous one, protecting any and all around himself. This would work if he didn't have the timidity of a field mouse and was currently clutching onto Jacinta for their dear lives. The snapping noise occurred again, first somewhere to the left then directly above, forcing him to look up.

Oh...crap.

"W-WATCH OUT!" he cried, barely pushing her out of the way before the cagelike device landed and snapped up around him. If that wasn't enough, Antoni could feel the air whoosh out of his lungs as the cage rose high up on the tree nearby. Great, just great. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Mierda he swore silently under his breath, thankful his mother couldn't hear him.

JACINTA: So did Jacinta! Though staying out of trouble on this island was probably Damn Near Impossible.

After hearing the second snap, there wasn't enough time to be scared as Antoni was yelling and she was suddenly pushed out of the way. It was unexpected, so she lost her balance and fell to the side, her arm, shoulder and part of her hair landing in a small muddy puddle. However, there was no time to fuss over that since out of the corner of her eye, she could see her partner suddenly rising in the air in a cage. Horrible monsters she had expected, but not something as simple as a hidden trap. It seemed almost like cheating.

Rolling onto her knees, Jacinta jumped to her feet and looked up at the cage. She ignored everything she had been holding as she ran over to the base of the tree, looking for a way up it. "Antoni! Are you hurt?" Before he could answer, she was already grabbing hold of a low branch.

ANTONI: This was exactly NOT how he wanted to go through this trip/survivor training/whatever. Antoni was certain this was the work of the professor and older students which served to make him just a little more irritable at the situation. It meant they could expect more incidents like this all over the island. Why was looking around a good idea again?

Hearing Jacinta's concerned words, he shook his head before realizing she probably couldn't see him that well in the dark. "I am-m f-f-fine," he called out below in reassurance before looking to see what was holding the cage up. Unfortunately even with his tools, there was no way he could cut the rope, nor did he have any means of slicing through the bars. "D-don't th-think I cu-can get d-down," he continued, cursing his fear for amplifying his stutter.

JACINTA: It was a good idea because of all the benefits that TEACUP could give you! Or at least that was what Jacinta would try and tell herself during her days on this island. Give her a few days and part of her will start to wish she was back in the carnival, twisting and contorting for an audience. Or at least back at TEACUP where she could get proper food and a proper bath.

"That is fine. I will find a way up!" Even as athletic and limber as she was, it was a bit difficult with the placement of the branches. She tried to hurry as best as she could since hanging above the ground in a cage was almost never a good thing, but it took her at least five or ten minutes before she reached the branch from which the cage was hanging.

ANTONI: "I-I'll wait huh-here th-then," he replied, waiting and partially watching as Jacinta climbed up. Snatching a moment to take a closer look at the cage itself. It was well built, sturdy enough to hold his entire weight, with a lock on a bottom that seemed sturdy enough to ensure anyone caged in wasn't getting out. Cmon, you can get out of this, he chastised himself. It was a metal contraption, surely it wasn't anything out of his realm of understanding.

Then again, the ships and whatnot he worked on weren't swinging high up in the air. Or putting him in perilous danger.

When he saw her close to eye level, Antoni spoke, "Th-there's a lock," pointing to said area, "bu-but I d-don't know wh-what to d-do."

JACINTA: Thank goodness she could twist her body in some weird ways or else she would have never been able to climb all the way up it. Once on the branch that the cage was attached to, she swung her legs over one side and started to lean back. It was only a matter of seconds before she was hanging upside down, able to see Antoni just barely. Hello there, partner! Jacinta even waved.

"A lock? That should be no problem!" she answered before reaching back and pulling a hair pin out of her neat bun. "I am used to picking locks from the show. Just give me a moment."

Without waiting for an answer, she swung herself back up and started to carefully crawl her way as close as she could get to the lock. Now would be a good time not to look down. However, when she got as close as she could to the lock, Jacinta found that her hair pin was just a hair short. "I cannot reach it. My hair pin is too short." Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down.

ANTONI: Perfecto, he thought sarcastically. After waving to her he was selfishly hoping the nightmare would be over. But, alas, that would be too easy.

The little gears turning in his head, he was forced to reconcile with the idea this was going to end in some sort of pain. "C-can you cuh-climb over h-here? Oh-or m-maybe I c-can hit it," he responded, lifting his pant leg and pulling out his hammer.

JACINTA: It should have been easy. After all, it was a silly place to put a lock! Or something. Why couldn't the lock have been on the top so she could have reached it? "I can try to climb over there." Moving very carefully, she grabbed hold of the actual cage, doing her best not to shake it too much. Ugh. They should have played up the possible death more in their sales pitch for TEACUP. "Will hitting it be enough?"

ANTONI: Trying to stay balanced, he replaced his hammer then reached over and grasped one of Jacinta's arms, ensuring she wouldn't fall and go squish. "I c-can help y-you over th-there," he squeaked. If she could pick the lock, that had a better chance of working than him just bashing at it and hoping it worked. The solution, then would be for Jacinta to pick the lock while Antoni held onto her. Worrying about which way the cage would open was a bridge they were going to have to cross later.

JACINTA: "Thank you," she mumbled at his kind gesture. Not going squish was always a good idea! At least she would go squish trying to help someone? That was better than running away from one of those weird snake things. "I think that might work? I just need a little bit more to reach it." Then Antoni would be out and they would be on their way, hopefully to a place that was a bit safer than this.

ANTONI: Nodding, he helped her move their way across the bars, alternating hands between the bars until they reached their destination. "I-'ll h-huhold onto you," he said, hoping she didn't need both hands for the lock. His other hand was gripping tightly to one of the bars, traitorously showing how scared he really was.

JACINTA: Though she didn't say it out loud, Jacinta was so very thankful that Antoni was holding onto her tightly. Sure, she had been in scary situations before, but those were things she trained for over many years. It was different. She knew the outcome of them and knew what to do if something wrong. She had no idea what to do in case of emergency here. Perhaps it was just best not to think about it. So with a simple nod, she leaned over as close as she could get to the lock, stuck the screwdriver inside and started twisting away in hopes of hitting the just right spot.

After a few moments, there was a click. "I think I got it," she whispered as she looked at Antoni. Care to see if it works?

ANTONI: Moving Jacinta to the other side of the cage, Antoni hesitantly kicked at the 'door.' Much to his (and probably her!) relief, it swung out away from them. Nervously, he shifted his way out of his temporary prison, finding himself next to Jacinta on the outside Don't look down, no mire abajo, no mire abajo, he muttered in his head, praying she knew how to get back down.

JACINTA: "That was lucky, yes? If we can handle that, I think we can handle anything on this island!" she said with a smile at their job well done. Now that wasn't so bad! She was then quiet for a moment and she reminded herself not to look down either. "Come this way. I will show you how to get back on the branch." With all their carefulness, it would probably take longer than opening the actual cage. Oh well.

ANTONI: He gave her a weak watery grin, a pathetic attempt at reassuring her when really, it was Antoni who needed convincing about their safety. Trying his hardest not to scream girlishly, he followed Jacinta to the branches of the more stable tree that had been holding him up this whole time. "N-not so b-bad," he responded. Tonight they would get the hell out of the tree and then hide in their base, praying everything would go well, but knowing tonight was only a taste of what the next two weeks would bring. With any luck, they'd survive with all parts intact.

Ish.