The Ranch

Returning (1)

"Aloe Vera?" Major Jax eyes the plant in Tih's purple-stained hands. He forces his right arm to grab a leaf, rubbing it on the opposite arm.

The clear interior of the plant soothes the stinging sensation of his left arm, but is agitating his right by moving it around. "Hey kid, do me a favor and help me out here, don't just stare."

If an outsider stumbled apron the scene, they would see a child rubbing a plant on a tomato. "Free child labor?", they probably wouldn't wonder. Almost everyone on the island has a job, the majority of islanders being underage.

Fortunately for the gruff tomato, it's already nearing dark. Even if someone stumbled in the area, unless they had night vision, they wouldn't be able to see anything. The cloudy sky blocks the moonlight at irregular intervals, making it hard for Instructor Major to adjust his eyes.

Tih, on the other hand, has years of moving around at night under his belt, and easily continues to apply aloe Vera onto the tomato.

Basically blind, Major Jax's other senses are heightening. He can clearly feel the stinging feeling of the areas un-aloe vera-d. Attempting to distract himself from the pain, he tries to talk to the reticent Tih. "...So how do you like the island? Foods definitely top quality... What job you thinking of getting?"

Communication is unsuccessful as Tih retains his silence, but continues to diligently apply the healing plant.

Major Jax eventually quits, resulting in him talking to himself. He first talks about random things, moving on to complain about the stickler-for-the-rules Maddox and naggy Scott.

In a short moment of moonlight, the Major happens to look into Tih's still blue eyes that always give off an eerie feeling. He looks Tih in the eyes," Hey kid, do you wonder why you were brought to this island? The people that are invited to come here...are all abnormal in one way or another. Some are even a little sick in the head. Some don't know why they continue to struggle on this island, day after day, with no ending in sight, only the looming face of death... Tell me, what are you living for. What's making you continue to move forward. Do you have a goal? Something you want to achieve? Or are we listlessly bidding our time until our eventual death. Why do I keep living, even without a purpose. The fear of death? Survival instinct? Or the fact that the sweet release of death would let me run away from all my regrets..." Clouds had already covered the moon once again. Major Jax goes into a daze of dark thoughts.

Using his night vision, Tih watches as the man becomes distracted. He uses this chance to once again poke the man's sunburnt face.

Major Jax sucks in a cold breath.  Before he can let out a verse of curses, the soothing plant is rubbed over his face. The scruff on his chin scratches the plant. He holds his words back in frustration, not wanting the slippery plant to slide in his mouth or eyes. One person obediently closed his eyes, while the other rubs the aloe vera across the man's face, finishing off the last part of sunburnt skin.

Tih throws away the used plant, pulls some berries out of his pocket, and munches on them. As time passes, Tih finds more and more uses for these "pockets" in clothing.

Major Jax can hear the sound of crunching, but the cloudy sky blocks his vision. His stomach grumbles in timely response. The pitiful timing of his trial caused him to miss his lunch. "Kid, you wanna share whatever you got there?" He says, not actually expecting to receive anything. Major Jax has lived on the island long enough to know it survival of the fittest. Where would someone have the extra resources to freely give out like it's nothing.

A couple seconds go by without anything happening and he turns his attention to see if his body is in good enough condition to move, when he suddenly feels something smooth on his lips. He opens his mouth and a blackberry falls in. He chews and swallows, the sweetness encases the inside of his mouth. He trie to thank the boy, but another berry is pushed into his mouth.

Although slightly annoyed by the babying feeding method, he decides to hold back his rude comments, enjoying the sweet taste of the blackberries.

In the darkness, Tih feeds one berry into the Major's mouth, then one berry into his own. The two munch on berries for an hour before the Major's pain subsides enough to move around.

Finally able-bodied, he starts looking for a way out. "Its time to get beck to the dormitories." Although he's not sure which direction they're in, he should be able to navigate using the stars...and it's cloudy. Well, Moss grows facing north, so as long...he can't see anything.

Pondering what his next step should be, he feels a tug on his sleeve. Following the pull, he's led quite a distance. Traversing over the pitch black ground, Major Jax occasionally trips over a root or rock. Steadying himself multiple times through out the journey, he continues to blindly follow Tih.

Tih, who's already explored the entire area, expertly navigates through the mountains, dragging the stumbling man that's twice his height. After using his well-adapted eyes for an hour, the two are met with a faint glow in the distance. Looking below, they can see lights from the colosseum at the edge of the horizon. A little while later, they make it to the bottom of the mountain.

Tired, Major Jax suggest," Let's go back to the dormitories and get some rest, we should be able to get a couple hours in. Plus, tomorrow's the Newbie Tournament."