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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jun 13, 2008 13:44:57 GMT -5
They'd been on the island for nearly two days now, and the food they'd managed to salvage from the wreckage was running low. A few people had found a sort of fruit grove over in the jungle, but Hurley was well-aware of the effects of too much fruit on one's system. In fact, he was beginning to feel like he was already experiencing it. He was a pretty good-sized dude, and he needed more than a few pretzels and some papaya to sustain him. So it occurred to him, they were living on a beach. A beach, which is right next to the ocean, which is full of fish. Fish is food, protein, the kind of stuff one needed in order to have a real meal. Hurley was no fisherman, but he was willing to try.
He was now headed toward the edge of the beach with a stick in hand. Well, to a passer-by it probably just looked like a stick, but to Hurley it was a carefully crafted fishing spear. He'd borrowed one of Locke's crazy knives to wittle the end of a pole to a sharp point, which would hopefully do the trick and be good enough to catch a fish with. After all, they did this kind of thing on tv all the time. Shows like Survivors, and even the more serious stuff on the Discovery channel always featured people fishing in the ocean with spears. And if they could do it, why not him, right? He padded slowly across the edge of the water as the tide came in. It felt soothing against his feet, a nice contrast from the hot sand. It was relaxing, in a way, to simply feel the water sweep over you feet and the bottom of your legs, carrying the sand away as it left so that your feet seemed to sink a little bit into the ground after each tug of the tide. Still, there was no time to sit and enjoy it now. He had work to do.
"Alright, time to get down to business." Hurley said to himself, his face contorted into a look of pure determination. He began to wade into the shallows. How deep would he need to go? He wasn't that strong of a swimmer, so he didn't plan on actually swimming around underneath the surface, trying to spear things. He figured satnding still and catching the ones that came closer to shore would work well enough, he'd heard of people doing that too. So he began to wade into the water, spear in hand, his face set with determination.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 13, 2008 18:45:47 GMT -5
Emily wandered down the beach. She wasn't too concerned, except for the food thing. She was hoping they wouldn't be there too long. Thus, she was enjoying her extended vacation. A somewhat heavy-set man near the water line, holding a stick that was sharpened at one end. Emily stopped for a moment and watched.
"Alright, time to get down to business," he said to himself as he wadded into the ocean.
She watched curious. Emily didn't know what was so fascinating to her about this, but eventually she spoke up. "Um...what are you doing?" Emily asked loud enough to be heard over the waves, a bit tentatively.
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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jun 13, 2008 21:33:27 GMT -5
"Um...what are you doing?"
"Huh?" Hurley whirled around, a little less than gracefully, to find the source of the voice that had just spoken. As a result, he was completely unbalanced. He swung precariously on one foot for a moment, about to fall face first into the surf, before he realized he was holding a stick in his hand. He ground it into the sand beneath him for the support, caught his balance, and then straightened. Leaning against the make-shift spear, he wiped his forehead and muttered a sigh of relief to himself. Then he looked up to see who the question had come from. It was a girl, who looked to be roughly his age, maybe a little bit younger. She had reddish-brown hair which extended down beyond her shoulders, and seemed to be of an average height. Green eyes peered back at his brown ones. "Oh, uh... hey."
Hurley was painfully aware of how much of an idiot he probably looked like right now. Standing in the middle of the rolling tide, talking to himself, nearly falling over from the simple effort of turning around. He felt on edge--it must be just this island. It was like, bad karma or something, being here. Like the place was weighing down on him or something. Well, all the more reason to get something good happening. Maybe if he could just catch a few fish, it would turn things around. Boost his spirits, make him feel better until the rescue planes showed up. "I'm, uh, fishing." Hurley replied, holding up the spear as proof. "You know, like, in those T.V. shows. They act all tribal, and they make these spears, and..." Something in Hurley's mind told him he might as well stop talking, as he was doing a terrible job of explaining a very simple concept. "I just thought I might try to catch some fish. Protein, ya know?"
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Post by Emily James on Jun 14, 2008 8:28:18 GMT -5
"I'm, uh, fishing. You know, like, in those T.V. shows. They act all tribal and they make these spears, and...I just thought I might try to catch some fish. Protein, ya know?"
Emily smiled. "That's a great idea," she murmured. Somebody was thinking right, at least. She certainly couldn't claim that. "Would you like any help?" Emily inquired. She should help in some way. This seemed like a good enough time. And he seemed friendly enough, even if it appeared he was having an off day.
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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jun 22, 2008 23:28:24 GMT -5
Hurley's face practically lit up when the girl told him she though his idea was great. On those rare occassions when the young man managed to come up with a good idea, he was always rather proud of them. Hurley was the type of guy who always wanted to find a way to help out, but had trouble doing so. He wasn't the leader type, and he wasn't particularly intelligent. So when he found an adequate way to contribute to the group, he generally got pretty excited about it, and any praise for the idea only help inflate his good mood.
His grin only grew wider when she offered to help him. "Yeah! That'd be great," Hurley replied with a smile. He motioned for her to wade out into the shallows with him so that they could start fishing. The hardest part was probably going to be standing still for long enough to attract a fish near him and spear it. He wasn't exactly the best at doing so; he tended to figit a food deal, and that sort of behavior was only going to make this more difficult. "I'm Hurley, by the way." He added it as an afterthought, almost forgetting to introduce himself in his eagerness to get started with the fishing. When he'd waded out far enough, to a point where he figured fish would still swim in and yet where he would have ease of motion to jab with the spear, he paused and shifted into a position he thought he could hold for a long time. "We have to remain absolutely still," he cautioned the girl. "So that we don't scare the fish away. I need you to help point them out to me." He stood, gripping the spear tightly in his hands, peering through the ocean water for any approaching fish.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 23, 2008 17:48:58 GMT -5
"Yeah! That'd be great," Hurley replied with a smile.
Emily smiled back. He seemed very friendly. She kicked off her shoes and rolled up the legs of her jeans above her knees before wading out. The water was colder than she had imagined, but she was sort of used to that after living next to the Pacific for her whole life. "I'm Hurley, by the way.
"Emily," she replied. There's another person she had met. This was becoming easier with time. The more people she met, the better. It had been a few days and Emily certainly needed friends more than anything. Especially the kind you could confide and trust in with your secrets.
"We have to remain absolutely still," he cautioned the girl. "So that we don't scare the fish away. I need you to help point them out to me." Emily nodded and stared intently into the shallow ocean. "Have you gone fishing a lot?" she asked softly, still watching the ocean floor for a fish. Emily figured she might not be very good. She was a bit of a city girl. But it was the effort that counted, right?
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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jun 24, 2008 18:24:43 GMT -5
Hurley nodded and smiled as she introduced herself. He was glad that he was making acquaintances, and a few friends on this island. It was hard to be here without your friends and family from home, and it was sure to be a lonely time if you didn't have anyone to talk to and socialize with. Everybody seemed pretty willing to introduce themselves to each other and interract, though, and that was good. Well, everyone except for that one guy he'd met, Sawyer, who seemed like he'd rather just be left alone by everyone than have to talk to the rest of the survivors. Still, all the same, it was nice that he was meeting new people here. He was hoping they'd be rescued sometime soon, but since a few days had passed and there was no sign of a plane or a ship, he was beginning to lose hope.
Have you gone fishing a lot?
Hurley nodded, though he was careful to keep the rest of his body absolutely still, so as not to scare off any fish that might start congregating nearby. "My dad used to take me to the Santa Monica pier when I was younger," he said quietly. His mind thought back to those times before his father had gone away. They'd had a good relationship back then, he and his dad. They spent many days together, having father and son time; whether it was fishing, fixing up the old car, or whatever else they were doing, Hugo had a good time with his father. But then, of course, his dad had left and not said a word to the family for seventeen long years. And when he returned... well, he'd just come back from Hurley's money, and by that time Hurley didn't want a relationship with his father anymore. "But we always had normal fishing polls back then," he added. "What about you? Where are you from?" He added. His brown eyes were still scanning the water for signs of a darting fin.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 25, 2008 9:04:27 GMT -5
"But we always had normal fishing poles back then," he added. "What about you? Where are you from?"
"I'm from LA," Emily answered, looking for signs of movement. "Never really went fishing much...not even my brother or dad did." She brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "We were too goal oriented for lots of free time." Well, Tyler's allowed him more free time than Emily's had. Even Alice had had more free time. Emily had been working so hard for so long that it had became first nature. She continued looking into the water. Emily hoped that a fish would come soon. She would feel horrible if they didn't find any.
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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jun 29, 2008 17:36:33 GMT -5
Hurley listened to Emily's response, and nodded his understanding. Well, actually, it was hard for him to comprehend. He and the rest of his family had never been "goal-oriented", as she had put it. In fact, from what she said, their families seemed like the complete opposite of each other. Hugo's family had always been a more relaxed, let-the-wind-blow-you-where-it-will, sort of bunch. Particularly his father. His dad never really had a steady job, and he just brought in enough income to keep the family afloat. He preferred to spend his days doing more trivial things. Fishing with Hugo, for instance, or fixing up old cars. That is, until he ran away for seventeen years. And as for Hurley himself, well, he was a lot like his father in many ways. He had always been content just to drift along and have a simple life. Days at Mr. Clucks and nights out doing whatever with Johnny, and that was life to him. Simple, calm, and fun. 'course, it all changed when with the money. "Cool. My family was... different," he said simply, for lack of a better term. "We, uh, did more fun stuff than... important stuff.
As he spoke, he returned from his reverie in time to see a fish approaching closer to his stationary body. He tensed up, all of his muscles (invisible thought they might seem) tensing up in preparation. "Look," he breathed, trying to draw Emily's attention to the creature. It was a pretty decent size, too. It'd probably be enough to feed two people a decent dinner, supplemented by whatever fruit or other food they could find. "And... NOW!" He shouted and plunged the spear into the water in the direction of the fish. As he did so, he lost his balance and tipped into the water in the exact path of the spear. His body carved a less than graceful arc through the air and landed in the water. After a moment, he bobbed to the surface, sputtering wildly and spitting out saltwater. He withdrew the spear with hope in his eyes, but was met by disappointment. The fish had, apparently, gotten away. "Crap, crap, dammit!" He yelled, slapping the spear against the water's surface and spraying liquid in all directions.
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Post by Emily James on Jul 5, 2008 15:19:27 GMT -5
"Cool. My family was...different. We, uh, did more fun stuff than...important stuff."
Emily nodded. Her family was just strange in general, so she was used to hearing things like that. "Look," she heard Hurley say, looking in the water. A fish swam around in their sight. It was the first one she had seen this day. "And...NOW!" Hurley slammed the spear into the water, but began to fall. The fish swam away quickly. When Hurley came back up, he looked at the end of the spear. "Crap, crap, dammit!"
"Would you like me to try?" she asked softly, glancing between him and the water, looking for anymore fish that were coming.
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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jul 9, 2008 12:06:25 GMT -5
Hurley shouldn't really have been surprised that he missed the fish completely. After all, he wasn't the most coordinated of people, nor the most spry. Still, he couldn't help but wish he'd nabbed that fish. Waiting for rescue like this wasn't exactly putting him in the best of spirits, and he thought that if he could just get a small victory, such as catching one of the fish, it'd out him in a much better mood and restore some of his cheer. However, it was clear that he wasn't really cut out to be a fisherman. Of course, he wasn't really cut out to be Robinson Cruso either, which was essentially what this all boiled down to.
He knew he probably wasn't going to get the fish on his own, especially not without having practiced beforehand, so when Emily offered to try he nodded. "Knock yourself out," he said, holding the spear out to her. Once it was out of his hands, he squeezed the water out of his long curly hair and then readjusted his position. He still had to stay still, despite his frustration, if either of them had any chance of catching something. Of course, if this failed they could always ask that Korean guy; but there was a possibility that he'd try to make them eat an urchin or something equally disgusting. |
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Post by Emily James on Jul 20, 2008 20:35:19 GMT -5
Emily took the spear and got a firm stance on where she was. She stared into the water, looking for any signs of movement. She wasn't seeing much. "See anything?" she murmured, changing her position a little. Emily knew she wasn't good at this, but it was worth a try. She was such an indoors girl that it was hard for her.
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Post by Hurley Reyes on Jul 28, 2008 14:18:21 GMT -5
"See anything?"
Hurley shook his head, his eyes still scanning the waters around him. This was a lot more tiring than it looked. Who knew standing still could make you feel so drained? Hurley wasn't really that great at keeping his large body from moving, and he was afraid that if he had to hold this position for much longer, he was going to twitch and disturb the peacefullness of the surrounding ocean, scaring away any fish that might be coming towards them. He was also afraid that he and Emily weren't going to succeed in catching anything. They just didn't have the fishing experience with spears to be really be successfull, it seemed. Still, he wasn't going to give up quite yet.
And then he saw it. A glint of something silver in the water near his ankle. It was the light reflecting off the scales of a fish. Hurley took a deep breath and pointed to where he'd seen the brief flash of light. There was a medium sized fish swimming around. "There," he said quietly, those his eyes lit up with new hope. "Right next to me..."
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