The Phoenix Colony

Derek frowned for the first time since he'd gotten there. She's right, he thought. He wanted her to come over and give him a hug, comfort him but she can't she's leader. She has to be tough.

"You're right." He sighed. "I'll go back and I'll do whatever I can to help you. Just know that I wasn't staying away because I was afraid of Chad. What I'm afraid of is that more people will get hurt because of our disagreements. Like Fox did."

 

Raylene had been wandering around the cave, cleaning up after her cave mates. She folded the blankets and piled the furs. She stacked all the food that was left after the visitors got their share last night. There wasn't much left. They would all have to go gathering soon. She rolled all the larger rocks outside forming an area that would work as a fire pit and started placing logs in the center.

Her head was hurting and she was hungry, but other stuff had to be done. She'd been the one being cared for long enough and felt it was her turn to earn her keep. She hoped that Reva found Derek and Kat, and that they had found food.

 

Chrys reached the cave, and walked directly to the fire, where she plopped down, and ignored what was happening round her.

..I am so sick of guys...My father gets me ripped away from my mother...Cody gets me sent to this godforsaken planet...and then alll hell startss raining on me in the form of a bunch of egotistical men....

 

What was that? Allen distinctly remembered everyone being killed by the monster. He could also remember a ship coming and taking everyone back to earth. What kind of hallucinations were these? Nobody could have memories of the future, especially two different futures.

Unsteadily he stood back up. He forced himself to stop shaking and to calm his breathing. He couldn't afford to lose himself now.

 

Fox was about to fall asleep when Allen told her that Reva wanted to speak with every one. She sits up and leans against the back of the cave. "Next, I'll block it, instead of being a martyr. I really didn't think Chad had that kind of punching power." thinks Fox. After what was probably about five or six minutes, Kat comes into the cave, looking rather upset. Her tail was even swishing, what a cat would do when its mad.

Fox stands up, while holding her ribs, goes over to Kat and sits next to her. "Looks like you've been having a bad morning." says Fox.

 

Chrys is knocked out of her thoughts by Fox. "Oh, I forgot about you for a second." She say, tears coming to her eyes, "How are you feeling?" She says, reaching out for a hug, her default feel better gesture.

 

Before Kat even comes close to giving Fox a hug, Fox's reflexes kick in. She quickly grabs Kats shoulder to stop her.

"Um...Kat, my ribs aren't feeling that good right now, so I'll have to take a rain check on that hug." says Fox, "I guess I'm starting to feel a little better about...about everything that has been happening recently."

 

Shocked at having a hug deflected, Chrys wipes the tears from her eyes, "Well, that's never happened before. It's nice to know you're feeling better. I'm about ready to kill off the men in this tribe." Chrys said, braiding a few of her locks.

 

Please assume you're in/around the cave close enough to hear the next post

((...my tribe, that is))

"You're right." He sighed. "I'll go back and I'll do whatever I can to help you. Just know that I wasn't staying away because I was afraid of Chad. What I'm afraid of is that more people will get hurt because of our disagreements. Like Fox did."

Reva couldn't help a laugh.

"Derek," she said, still grinning at the thought, "if there is anything I'm sure of it is that you aren't afraid of Chad. I doubt he's afraid of you either. But you both are being a bit..." she trailed off looking for the word, 'asinine' probably wouldn't make him happy so she settled for, "...stubborn."

Then she sobered, they were almost back to the cave so she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"So that IS how Fox got hurt? She got in between you two somehow?" Reva raised her eyebrows, "Only you two can prevent other people from getting hurt that way. Bury the hatchet. Beat each other up and get it out of your system. Do whatever you have to do but get it settled."

She stroked her hand along his forearm twice, hoping her words sank in.

Then Reva left him and ran to help Raylene. She was amazed at the woman's industrious work when she had so recently been sick. Thankfully she saw a few others helping.

She stepped into the cave, posted Derek and Raylene to watch but bade them to listen as she waited for the group to assemble and settle.

"I'm sorry," she told a few people, smiling as they came in and sat, "I'm going to bore everyone for several minutes."

((Amuse yourselves getting situated...I have to come up with this speech. First have to do some stuff in RL))

 

Fox begins to scratch Kat behind her ear.

"Don't get too upset. When strong personailities collide, bad things usually happen. I'm probably worse than either one of them considering what I did to Allen. Hey Kat, do you mind if I ask you a personal question? Um...have you ever been in love?" says Fox, as she stares at the fire.

 

Derek reluctanty let Reva go, but sucked it up and put his fishing rod in a corner of the cave. "Nobody touch this without my permission," he warned the tribe.

He went outside and plopped down next to Raylene. "What a great watch. The guy that hasn't slept in two days and the girl that's been sleepin' for two days." He laughed. "How ya' feelin'?"

 

"Better," Raylene replied. "It was pretty stupid of me to go out and get that boar, but I was starving. Thank God I did though. Those guys that showed up last night wouldn't have had anything more than fruit to eat and they might not have been so nice."

She had heard their voices in her head while she slept off the fever. They were mean voices. "Are they really coming back here today? I'm really not sure that they will be nice. I heard them, in here," she pointed to her head, "and they scared me."

 

"I hope they don't," Derek said. "But who knows. Giving them food will probably just make them come back for more when they need it. Hell, it'd be the first time I actually paid taxes in my life if we keep on givin' 'em food." He continued laughing, hiding his actual concern.

 

Chrys sat there, looking away from the person scratching her ear, "First, I'm going to say that you ask oddball questions at the weirdest times. But, me? In love? The only two people I ever saw in love are now dead, and they have only themselves to blame. I thought I was in love with a guy named Cody, but...he definitly had no feelings for me...So no..love has never been on my horizons. Why do you ask?"

 

"I ask, because I want to know what love feels like. You see, before last night, I just considered Brit to be a subordinate. But, last night, when she told me that she loved me and kissed my everything just felt right. It was like time froze. Don't laugh, but that was actually my very first kiss. I just want to know if what I felt was love or not." says Fox.

 

Chrys whipped her head to look Fox in the eye, "That's what it is, you've...been different since whatever happened. And, I don't know why, but you...you're giving off something you weren't before, but I can't place it." Chrys twiddled with a lock, looking away again, "I've never been kissed in my whole life, so I'm not all that surprised."

 

Reva asked for quiet and waited while the noise in the cave died down. She saw Allen sitting a bit away from the others and felt bad for not checking on his injuries and talking to him before now. She saw Chad, his condition more pronounced than ever, still looking unhappy. Chrys sat not far from Fox, their conversation arrested for the moment. Reva’s eyes took in the mishmash of people who made up the tribe and she was suddenly scared witless.

Oh yeah, she remembered that she hated public speaking.

Reva concentrated on keeping her feet under control – they wanted to carry her out of the cave at top speed – and getting her voice to work. She knew she had gone white so that her freckles seemed to hover over her skin.

Nevertheless she found the courage to start.

“I know that the leadership of the tribe is tough to agree on.” She began, twisting her hands together, “and I’m as surprised as you are that I’m here. I wanted to let you know…I have been thinking,”She floundered. Dammit, it had sounded so good in her head! But the eyes…so many eyes unnerved her. She stuck her hands into her jacket pockets to hide the shaking.

Her right hand touched a piece of paper. It crackled against her fingers. A letter from a man who was afraid but took a chance. She grasped the paper and straightened, her eyes steady. Now the words flowed out of her with confidence.

“Hardly a week ago,” she said, “most of us were hung up like sides of beef in a wrecked ship. Well, that is what we were. Cattle to be herded to the mines to work as slaves.”

Releasing the paper in her pocket she took her hands out and pulled up her left jacket sleeve displaying the bruise she had been ashamed of, now wearing it as a symbol.

“THIS is what our world thought of us.” She raked them with her green gaze, “And some of us deserved it. But the fact is that is our past. We’ve been given a chance at a future here. We have freedom and it’s up to us to decide what to do with it.

“We’ve created a place to live, it’s temporary but it’s a start. You’ve elected a leader in a somewhat half-assed way but that’s temporary, too. The fact is, we’re moving forward.

“I’ll serve as leader for the next two weeks,” Reva said, “unless you decide to vote someone else in today. At the end of two weeks you can vote again. At that time I think we should have the leader serve for a longer but still finite time.

“Other positions of leadership will be decided by merit. If you turn out to be the best hunter in the group, you will be a leader in hunting…but that includes teaching others. Decisions about crime and punishment will have to come before the leader of the tribe for the time being because the leader should assume that responsibility. We’re small in number; let’s keep it simple.

“As for the dangers on this planet…” Reva paused.

“There are a lot of them and I think we can only face them together.”

“At the moment we have a group of men coming to meet with us. Don’t trust them or allow them into the cave. Don’t reveal each other’s gifts to them or mention your own unless they’re evident.

“They may seek to harm us or they may be necessary to help us rid ourselves of the invisible Beast.”

Reva’s hand went to the jacket pocket, seeking Ben’s note again, comforted at its presence.

“All right, I promised to bore you only a short time. Who has questions? We can discuss this.”

((sorry for the longish post))

 

Fox raises her hand and speaks up. "We need a plan incase those other guys decide they want to take what we have by force. So, what should we do if they start trouble?"

 

Raylene pokes her head in through the door. "Do we have any of those exploding horns left? We can throw them in the fire for a distraction if it's needed. And we don't want them to know we have weapons. They might try to take them."

 

"I don't want to step on toes, but I think those things would serve better purpose as projectile explosives. I think we could figure out away to accomplish that."

 

"That's going to be a difficult thing to know until we know just how they are going to start trouble. The count that someone gave me was ten men plus the leader.

My answer to that is that everyone remains wary. Our best fighters should have freedom of movement. Watch each other's backs, leave your issues with each other out of it and be flexible.

We'll talk about some specific plans in a few minutes. Please be thinking, Fox, of how they might come at us so that you can help advise.

other questions?"

 

"Yeah, what if we, well, we know that there is another tribe of allies for sure because some of us have tribed with them. WHat if we sent out scouts to find said tribe?"

 

"That's a really good point, Kat, and we should do it soon. Even if all we do is keep the tribes in touch and trade with each other that will help. Okay, organizing scouting parties for other tribes is also something to do today. Defenses first, though.

Next?"

Reva didn't want to move on to planning details of anything till she knew if someone had problems with her plan for leadership. Or...her leadership, period.

 

"Reva, I can try to focus on their thoughts. It might be difficult, but I've been practising by blocking out one voice to hear another. We need to work out a signal if I hear anything fishy."

 

Reva came around fast to look at Raylene.

"You seriously think you can? That is what I could have hoped for but I was afraid to ask. Maybe three signals and concentrate on the leader's thoughts. One signal for if he's lying, one signal for if he intends harm, and one for if he is uncertain of himself. Any of those could be useful.

"While I'm thinking about it," Reva addressed the group again, "This is one of the main reasons I said do NOT tell those outside the tribe about each others gifts. You could endanger someone or hurt the tribe."