Out in the Thick of Things

[Zen]

A cup of black coffee in one hand and a bagel in another, Vashanti was ready for anything that day. Or at least that's what she thought. Unfortunately for her, today was her university's trip to the Sierra Nevadas, and while everyone else seemed to enjoy the idea of skiing and spending time in the wilderness, Vashanti wished to be back home. Why would anyone spend time in the cold? Wouldn't they want to be at home next to a cozy fireplace with their families?

No of course not.

The only reason Vashanti went in the first place was because of her boyfriend, newly turned ex. She deduced that the man only thought with his penis, not with his head. Now he was lodging with his new fuck buddy, leaving Vashanti stranded in a log cabin full of girls she didn't know. This day was suppose to be somewhat nice, even if Vashanti hated the cold, and the snow, and the skiing and the outdoors... Fuck she hated everything about this trip.

Currently, everyone was off hiking before the snow came down. About three quarters of her class came along and all of them were divided up into groups. Vashanti's group consisted of her ex of course, some of the girls she would bunker down with later this evening, and several other strangers. Everyone had a pack that carried all of their food, a small fire starter kit, and other necessities. Shortly after being assigned groups, everyone was shooed off with a map in hand.

 

[Silas]

Remy didn't mind the wilderness. He's far from experienced, but he did enjoy going on these types of school trips. He began to stretch his shoulders as he took in the cool fresh air. The cold was something he was going to have to get accustomed with.

After reading the map a bit, he folded it back up and stuffed it into his pocket. He began to scan through the group and he quickly realized there was maybe one person he knew well enough to call an acquaintance, and for the rest, he only vaguely knew half of them.

He wanted to grumble about how his friends ended up not coming along, but then decided not to. He was here to have fun, it's not often he got to be unsupervised out in the mountains. A smile crossed his face as he spoke out. "So... what're we doing first, then?"

 

[Zen]

Vashanti was oddly surprised at the new voice speaking to her. She turned around and scanned this stranger, recognizing his face but wasn't able to place him in any of her classes. Holding up the hand that held her coffee, she pointed at him and asked, "I know you but, I can't remember your name."

Perhaps she should have felt somewhat ashamed about forgetting his name. But then again Vashanti wasn't really one to socialize, despite pursuing a business degree. Yes she was forced to interact with people, but when it came down to an actual choice, she would rather be on her own. Well since she didn't know his name, perhaps he didn't know hers either.

"Oh I'm Vashanti by the way." She consulted her map briefly. "I uh... I guess skiing could be the first thing we do?"

 

[Silas]

Remy was a bit surprised as one of the members actually turned to look at him. He smirked a bit. "It's not polite to point, you know." He fished out his own map from his pocket. "I'm Remy. An engineering major." As he began to unfold, he thought to himself what classes they might've shared at some point. "I think we went to the same English class?"

After looking at his map for a moment, he quickly folded it back up. "Nice to meetcha, Vashanti." He stuffed the map haphazardly back into his pocket and nodded. "Awesome. I love skiing. Have you ever been?"

 

[Zen]

Vashanti nodded as her memory came flooding back. That's right, they were learning Shakespeare together. God the number of times she almost fell asleep in that damn class.

"Uh... I've actually never went skiing before in my life. I hate the outdoors." She took a sip of her coffee, knowing she had done a great deal of sulking about the trip already. Time to suck it up. "But I'll give it a try. Maybe it'll be fun."

A voice in her head thought otherwise, but Vashanti wasn't about to voice such doubts.

"The map says that we take the skii lift to the slope. And apparently -" She turned her map to the side, as if that was going to help her read it better. "I think that's where we get our equipment."

She too stuffed the paper into her overstuffed pockets. Damn these marshmallow like coats. "Lets get going then."

 

[Silas]

He found it amusing enough. "You hate the outdoors?" He raised a quizzical brow. "I think you're on the wrong trip." He snorted, zipping up his coat. "It's fun, I promise. I mean, it probably will be." He shelved his concerns about her possibly cramping up. Skiing is weird in what muscles it ends up using. Or his concern about her learning to ski.

"Alllright! Off we go, then." After a bit of trekking and a few more glances at the map, he found himself at the equipment rental place. There's something about how places like these smell, I mean everything's as clean as it can be but you can still somehow smell that it's been used.

After renting the appropriate ski boot size and a pair of skis for the boots to click in, he changed into the uncomfortable and terribly stiff ski boots. As fun as it might be to ski, the boots are really hard to get used to. With his skis at his side and a pair of poles, he found himself seeking out Vashanti, curious about how things were going for her.

"Did you get your crap?" He said, falling roughly into a seat near her. His skis clanked against each other as they leaned into his shoulder. "The boots are the best part. I'm sure you'll love them." He grinned, tapping his two solid plastic boots against each other. They clacked in a way only plastic could.

 

[Zen]

Vashanti shook her head vehemently. "No I absolutely hate the outdoors. I even exercise in the gym."

The snow made for difficult trekking. It got in her shoes, clung to her pants, and above all else, it made her cold. Hell her coffee was now too cold to drink. She tossed it into the trash can next to the rental place, along with her bagel. Her breakfast was gonna end up on the snow somewhere via vomiting. When the man handed her ski equipment, Vashanti sneezed.

"God, these stink," she exclaimed, waving her hand back and forth to better disperse the odor.

The woman was not looking forward to sliding her feet into these disgusting contraptions. But she did anyways, and nearly fell over from lack of balance. On the way to the ski lift, Vashanti fell down twice, once on her back and another onto her front. When Remy joined her, she was already grumpy.

"Yeah I got them, and fell." She dusted off the snow on her pants. "Whoever thought it'd be fun to slide down a mountain of snow with a stick attached to your feet?"

Up ahead, Vashanti could see several of their classmates all grouped together and ready to tackle on the first slope. She could only swallow in horror and fear. As the lift was pulling up to the top, she could make out the outline of someone she didn't want to run into. Her ex.

"Oh god." She pulled up the collar of her jacket and turned her face to the side. "That's my ex. Make sure he can't see me."

 

[Silas]

"Yeah." He laughed, finding humor in his prediction being proven true. "It sucks to walk in, but trust me. You'll be happy to have them once we start skiing." He locked his boots into the pair of skis, a loud click sound confirming it was secured. He propelled himself carefully forward, using his poles to give him ease in moving.

He boarded the ski lift with her, his feet dangling as he began to gaze around at the trees. They stood, heavy with snow on branches. Occasionally, you'd hear a small cracking sound as the branches deposited the snow back to its rightful place on the ground. Ski lift's always had this quietness that Remy enjoyed. All you could hear was the sound of the lift carrying you upwards and people talking.

What's why when Vashanti talked, he was surprised. He looked over to her, no longer lost in thought. "Ah... your ex?" He peered ahead, not really sure which person could possibly be it. "Just stay behind me, I guess." He muttered as he prepared to get off of the ski lift. He glided off of the small exit ramp and stood a bit away, looking back towards Vashanti. Some others from their group already went on their way. "So much for staying together." He shrugged.

"So, why don't you want him to see you?" He scratched at his neck, not really wanting to get deeply involved in Vashanti's personal life.

 

[Zen]

"Well he and I were suppose to be on this trip together," she replied, struggling to get off the lift. Vashanti wasn't as graceful about it as Remy. Her legs nearly gave way until she righted herself. "But I guess his penis decided to do the talking and now he has a new fuck buddy." Her voice was bitter, she knew this. But who could blame her? They were planning this for a while now.

Looking ahead, Vashanti could see their assigned group getting ready to ski down a slope. She didn't quite care that the other group was already on their way to having fun. It was just... Seeing her ex again and - Vashanti winced hard - The man was with his new toy. They were standing right there, in front of her. And the new toy was hot. Not to say that Vashanti was into women, because she wasn't. But she was gorgeous, almost model material. She felt her eyes burn and Vashanti turned away from the new couple. She needed to get off of this slope. They were on the highest point, the only way for them to go was down.

Casually she turned to face Remy. "So, are we gonna follow them?"

 

[Silas]

"Ah, yes. The penis seems to like taking over." He chuckled, finding her ability to ski a bit more amusing. He noticed her gaze shift towards the couple in question. They seemed to be very deeply distracted by one another, almost as if the world around them didn't exist. The girl was attractive enough, but not really enough to catch his eye. He shrugged his shoulders and decided he didn't want to get involved. It seemed a bit messy.

"Them?" He said, finally breaking his eyes away from her ex. "Oh." He said, spotting the last of his group as they slid down the steep hill. "Sure. Let's try to catch up." He kinda questioned her ability to ski, but thankfully it wasn't like their group went down a black diamond. "Just take it slow." He smiled. "No big race." He then shuffled his way over to the path they had taken and then he was off, first a bit too fast. He slowed, not wanting to leave her behind.

 

[Zen]

Deep breaths... Take deep breaths.

Peering over the edge of the slope made Vashanti sick to her stomach. Heights she could do, but when it came to sliding down a snowy slope with sticks attached to your feet, she wasn't so sure. The woman almost turned away and told Remy she couldn't do it, but then she heard her ex's laugh, and his fuck buddy's giggle.

A surge of anger and bravery (or perhaps stupidity) overcame her and Vashanti pushed off with her ski poles. The second she moved, she heard someone yell. Apparently the officials from the resort realized that she was a beginner and tried to stop her. However the shock made Vashanti titter on the edge, and instead of righting herself, the woman slid down the slope at breakneck speeds. Soon she came upon a turn, which she nearly made. The second turn was her downfall...

"AHHHHHH!!!"

Her body rammed through the plastic orange fence, tearing off the poles that held them in place. Her body flew off the cliff, catching air. And then... She felt herself fall right into some very sharp pine trees. Her body broke several branches, thudding against the stronger and heavier ones until she slammed hard onto the ground.

 

[Silas]

Shit.
That was the first thing that came to mind when Remy heard a scream. He quickly skidded to a halt, his eyes searching the hill for his newly found friend. She wasn't anywhere to be seen, and amongst all the other tracks made by other skiers and snowboarders laid one that lead off course. To a ripped plastic orange fence. He quickly made his way over as he hastily searched for her. "Vashanti!" He shouted, adrenaline starting to pump through his body.

He grit his teeth as he prepared himself to go down to find her. He kicked his skis off, deciding that trying to get to her would be a bit difficult with those in the way. Unlike the nicely covered ski hills, there were a lot of rocks amongst the bits of snow that covered a path next to the cliff side. He kept his poles with him, they worked nicely when it came to steadying himself on the path that obviously hasn't seen many visitors. And for good reason. In parts, it was hard enough to walk on without plummeting to his death.

On slightly stable ground, he let out another shout. "Vashanti! Vashanti, where are you?!"

 

[Zen]

Through the silence of the forest, Remy would be able to make out a very low, agonizing groan...

Vashanti, littered with pine needles and twigs lay sprawled over. Both of her skiis were broken, splintered apart from her fall. Her hair too was a hot mess, although nothing could compare it to her face; it looked like a cat had used it as their personal scratching post. Luckily nothing was broken, but a bruised rib made for a very disgruntled college student.

Coughing hard, Vashanti managed to call out, "I'm - I'm right here!"

She waved feebly, hoping he'd be able to find her.