Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Chapter 73: Uncharted


The rain is still coming down, but finally starting to clear up, when Jillyan spots land.

"I've got you. C'mon, hang in there," she groans, dragging Julian onto the shore of the tiny deserted isle, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.


"We're okay, Julian, baby, we've made it."

Julian makes a small groan, indicating that he'sat least conscious. When theyhit  the water, saving him was Jillyan's first and only concern. Getting him onto dry land where she could see to his injuries. "You're going to be okay, Julian," she insists, all grim determination. Because she'll be damned if she's going to lose him.


She lays him down the wet sand. At first glance, there nothing but the sand and a few palm trees. And miles and miles of ocean. "Wait here, baby, okay?" she whispers, stroking is hair, "I'm going to see if I can find...anything." Something to cover him from the rain, something to eat, fresh water...other survivors, if that's even possible.


As much as she hated getting back into the water, the shore of the nearby peninsula seemed like the best place to start looking for washed up flotsam from the plane, so Jilly swims across to see what she can find.


Someone had spelled out an SOS with rocks on a small rise by the shore. Other survivors? But that doesn't seem likely. If anyone else made it, they wouldn't have found this island so long ahead of here that they'd have time to be gathering rocks. And the camp, with it's burnt out fire, looks like it's been here for awhile.


And the skeletons...whoever these people were, they were here for longer than awhile.


Whoever they were, they are beyond help, and Jillyan doesn't have time to wonder about them. If she wants to have a better chance of survival than they had, she'll have to find some shelter, some food, fresh water.


She's lucky enough to find some luggage washed up from plane, and she's able to cobble together a lean to from some blankets. There was a bottle of water and some field rations in her backpack, which was enough to get Julian sitting up and talking again, at least. It won't last long, Jilly realizes, but at least it will get them through the first night.


 "Are you okay? Is anything broken?" Jilly asks.

"I don't think so," Julian answers, and Jilly sighs audibly with relief. Even if she knew how to set bones, she didn't find any first aid kits.


"But your face," she says, caressing his cheek, "You're all scratched up..."

"Am I still pretty?" Julian asks, forcing a smile.

"Of course you are," Jilly smiles back at him, genuinely happy. "We're going to be okay," she says. She'd been saying it since they hit the water, but it's only now that she knows it to be true in her heart, with no doubt.


Finally able to relax, at least a little, Jilly leans back into his arms.

"I found another camp. Over there," she says, gesturing at the peninsula behind them.

"Other survivors?" Julian asks.

Jillyan shakes her head. "It was old. And...there's bones. They made an SOS sign with rocks. But no one ever found them. And they didn't make it, I guess. I won't let that happen to us, Julian. I will find a way home. I will," she says, trying to make it true just by speaking it aloud.


"I know you will," Julian whispers.



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I'm tired of the same old same old of WA tombs. But I've found this awesome adventure world called Treasure Island which I've never played before. It has several tombs that I'm looking forward to exploring with Jilly.

13 comments:

  1. The first thing that comes to mind after reading this is the television series Lost; I loved that show. At the first picture I thought, OMG what in the world happened?! or Did I miss something? lol. The skeleton bones....very eerie; I love it. "Am I still pretty?" Oh Julian stahp pfft, you know you will be nothing shy of perfect. Jillyan is a real trooper. Can't wait to see what happens next.

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    1. The whole plane crash idea was very inspired by Lost. I loved that show as well. And I also have to admit some inspiration from Gillgan's Island. I mean, I could even call it Jillyan's Island..ha ha, don't mind my crazy.

      I did just jump straight into this without a lot of explanation, but I figured it work okay. Just the thought of trying to stage an actually airplane crash was too much.

      I did a little decorating at their campsite, building that lean to deal. But I'm not touching the rest of the island and I have never even seen the tombs and don't know where they are. So this should be a lot of fun. I've done the WA adventures so many times, I just don't want to do them again, and this is fresh and new. I can't wait to see what happens next, too.

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  2. This is an exciting change of location! I like how you set up the plane crash--there was a sense of disaster without showing the actual crash. Jillyan is so level-headed. I love her. Julian's really lucky to have her around.


    Julian, shaddup--you will always be pretty.

    I'm really concerned about the plane crash, though. Was it happenstance, or something nefarious?

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    1. Thank you! I was a little worried that starting in the end of a disaster might not work, but I didn't want the drama to be about the crash, but about Jill & Julian finding themselves on this island.

      Jilly is definitely one you'd want around in a disaster, she keeps her cool.

      It was pretty spectacular, though. The Hand of the Watcher came out of the sky and SLAPPED that plane down. Ha ha...well, right now I'm going with happenstance. But since there's no official explanation for the crash, except for the bad weather, I could at some point write in some nefarious plot thing in there, if I need to.

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  3. I love how you've subverted the 'normal' gender roles. Brilliant.

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    1. Thank you! I do a lot of gender role subversion in my writing, though I try to keep it subtle so it's not always apparent that's what I'm doing. Jillyan, though, she's my action hero.
      And I have to say it helps that their autonomous romantic interactions work with my role switching. He leaps into her arms, she dip kisses him.

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  4. I'm so glad to see you're updating again! Between this chapter and the last, I can be happy to see the Brannons again.

    A plane crash sounds horrible, especially if these 2 are the only survivors. Julian really IS lucky to have her around. I'm looking forward to seeing them explore the island, see what they can find, and how they get home. I have this feeling Jilly will be doing the rescuing, rather than waiting around to be rescued.

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  5. "Am I still pretty?" snort. At least one of them has their priorities straight. ;)

    Ooooh. This really looks interesting. I can't wait to see what's on this island and what they'll make of it.

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  6. Haha after that pretty comment of Julian's, I have Johnny Bravo's voice in my head, "I can't deny the world my pretty!" :P

    Jillyan's Island, I love it! haha :D Jillyan is such a fun sim, and I love how she takes care of Julian. It's funny to think of but not all that long ago he was Mr. Ice Man ruling his Landgraab MorcuCorp kingdom with an iron fist. Now he follows Jilly's lead, which just goes to show, in the end, he really is a smart fellow, lol

    I'm looking forward to seeing their adventures! =)

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  7. Very pretty screenshots. Lol Johnny Bravo.

    I hope there are other survivors! Ouch...

    Some people may consider the roles reversed from what's "normal", but in my experience, in a healthy relationship, the roles are constantly swapping. Person A is in need, Person B cares for them. Person B is in need, Person A is there. People are people and no one is perfect and undamaged 100% of the time. But it's always nice to see strong females, and their guys who don't feel emasculated by it. Because we have to fight those stereotypes still, apparently, judging by all the conservative chatter I hear in... uh... other places.

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  8. I wonder how long they'll be stranded. Those skeletons do not bode well. But those skeletons weren't Jilly and Julian, so I guess we'll see how this goes.

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  9. Finally finished reading this story--now to start the Romans. Looking forward to your next post!

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  10. Sorry for the late replies to this, and thanks to everyone who has read and commented. =)

    People who follow my tumblr know, I've been playing the island and have run into problems with tombs being broken (door that are not opened by the corresponding keys, inaccessible objects, inaccessible ladders to the next level) but I'm soldiering on, fixing stuff as I go. I'm taking pics and saving them up, and when I've done everything there is to do, I'll sort it all out and post a chapter. I'm also looking forward to figuring out how they get off the island, I'm hoping I'll find something there that will provide the perfect answer. If not...well, I'll figure something out.

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