The Field

Who: Analiese and Ryan
When: mid-day
Where: near the campfire

( where'd you get this? )

Who: Helena and Analiese
When: Mid Morning,
What: Talking it out
Where: On the beach, talking it out.
Rating: PG most likely!

Helena felt languid from the moment she'd woken up. She'd spared a few minty kisses for her honey before they had gone their separate ways after breakfast. She was in no hurry to get anywhere or do anything and so, after taking the State of the Union with her two fellow council members, both of whom looked tense and unhappy to her, she'd peeled away from camp. Not far, though. She'd taken her freshly filled water bottle and eased herself down into the sand directly in front of camp on the beach. The breeze was lovely and even the occasional sprinkle of rain was welcome. Helena felt like she'd need to stay visible and in one place today. While a couple of people seemed to be in the same rubbery state of bliss that she was, most were hunched and avoiding the eyes of everyone around them. She had a sense that some people would need a confidant today and so she planned to relax and make herself available.

Analiese felt unwell both physically and mentally today. She wasn't sure if it was the cold water in the spring or being out in the hot sun for quite a while the day before, but she'd awakened shivery and slightly achy. She'd actually skipped breakfast in favor of staying in her bedroll, not really feeling like talking to anyone... plus she could avoid seeing Aaron that way. He probably didn't want to see her any more than she wanted to see him, she thought. She certainly wasn't blaming him for anything, because she'd been equally as enthusiastic about what they'd done. It was just awkward. Finally she got up, crept off into the brush to take care of personal needs and then wandered back to camp and down toward the beach, her cardigan sweater wrapped tightly around herself.

She spotted Helena sitting near the water's edge and plodded over to join her; Helena was one of the few people here that she'd be willing to talk to right now. "Mornin'," she said, easing herself down into a seated position on the sand.

( My Day's Called Regret )

Who: Aaron and Analiese
Where: At the spring
When: Late afternoon
What: Looking for some relief
Rating: NC-17 for sex in the spring.

( This Just Isn't Normal )

Who: Bazzer & Analiese
When: Day 29, afternoon
What: checking on Analiese, who knows?
Where: camp

( I get by with a little help from my friends )

Who: Analiese and Coop
When: Early in the morning
Where: In the camp
What: Discussing all of the fascinating things about pesks.
Rating: G, I expect.

Mornings were never Coop's favourite thing. Not by a long shot. She was slow to wake and it usually took a healthy quantity of coffee to get her feeling anything like human. Being cold and sleeping on the wet ground hadn't improved matters and when Tripper had finally forced her out from underneath the cart that they had shared with Adnan, she'd blearily stumbled after him into the nearby bushes. He was so used to being on a leash in public, the poor guy hadn't been able to sneak away to tend his own business without his usual look out.

Somehow, Coop had managed to not get them lost and had returned to the center of the camp where she procured a big handful of dried grazer strips. They were salty but savory and tasted heavily of smoke. It took some coaxing but she managed to get the finicky dog to eat the jerky, all the while Tripper looked at her with one guilty eye. He knew darn well he wasn't supposed to eat people food but sadly his hunter instincts were atrophied by a lifetime of domestication.

( getting acquainted )

Who: Adnan and Analiese
When: evening
Where: near the campfire
What: returning a jacket and conversation

Analiese had just returned from the spring, where she'd gotten a cool, fresh drink of water and a handful of the mint brush plants Delilah had read to her about from the notebook she'd found. It was indeed in Russian, and an examination of the first few pages had given up this find. It might not be much, she thought as she chewed on the rough, bristly head of the one she had in her mouth and savored its minty taste, but somehow having a fresh mouth made this wretched day a tiny bit better. She'd spent the walk back using the plant to clean between her teeth the way the notebook had described-- that was what the Russians who'd been here had used them for-- and now she was using its mouthwash effect. She'd been handing them out to everyone she passed and telling them briefly what it was and how she'd found out about it. They grew in shady patches everywhere, and there were a bunch of them around the rock edges of the spring.

( Read more... )

Who: Analiese and Helena
When: not long after the funeral
Where: a short distance from camp, at the water's edge
What: fishing... sort of
Rating: G

Analiese kept expecting it to rain. The sky was dark and the air breezy, and there was a tension in the air that would seem to indicate a coming storm. She was just glad it hadn't poured down rain on Quinn's poor, naked body in its hole in the ground during the service. That was a sight she wished she could forget, though she wasn't having much luck pushing it from her mind as she walked along the edge of the shore headed away from camp. She'd been leaking around the eyes ever since the funeral; it was more because she was scared than anything. She couldn't say it was because of Quinn, because as sorry for him as she'd felt, she'd barely known him.

( catching dinner )

Who: Alex & OPEN
When: Day 25, morning
What: Graveside funeral for Quinn
Where: at the newly created cemetery

( Requiéscat in pace )

Who: Aaron and Analiese
When: early morning
Where: wandering
What: getting acquainted and finding things
Rating: most likely PG

( too convenient? )

Who: Analiese and Adnan
When: morning
Where: near the rock waterfall, then camp
What: discovering a newcomer
Rating: PG

Analiese was mostly in a daze as she wandered over in the direction of the rock pool and waterfall near which she and Bazzer had swam the previous day. That had probably been a mistake, she'd realized as soon as she'd awakened bundled up in her sweater and her blankets still absolutely freezing. Her feet still hurt, sore from the long walk to get to this camp from the sweetgrind fields, and she was sniffly and her eyes kept watering. She had the bad feeling that she was getting sick. While she was cold, she still had an irresistible craving for cold, fresh water, and the little pool where the grazers drank was the best place she'd found to get that.

She rounded the stand of brush and the rock that surrounded the pool, pausing to peer at her reflection in its surface. She'd never imagined looking this horrible. Her hair was an unmanageable mess that she'd finally French-braided and tied with a tough piece of vine as soon as she'd gotten up, and of course she didn't have any makeup; her skin looked pale and blotchy. Well, nobody else had makeup either, she reminded herself, and something like that was the least of her worries. She drank deeply from her cupped hands and then turned around, uttering a little squeak when she saw a man lying on the purple grass a yard or so away.

( what the bloody hell...? )

Who: Analiese and Bazzer
When: late morning
Where: near the spring and rock waterfall on the far side of the island

The experience was still like a surreal sort of dream to Analiese. She'd walked all day in her socked feet, trailing near the end of the group of twelve or fifteen people who were making their way to an island camp, then once darkness had come, they'd had to swim across a lake while pushing their belongings on hollowed-out wooden things that floated. Somebody had said they were tree branches, but Analiese couldn't imagine a tree branch ever looking like that. She'd been so footsore and exhausted by then that she hadn't spared it much thought. There'd been a huge fire and other people, and she'd spread out her comforter and pillow right along with them, slipping off out of sight to take off her wet pajamas and put on Luke's huge sweater, which hit mid-thigh on her and would be good enough to sleep in.

She'd wondered if she'd awaken in her bed at home, but she hadn't. Analiese had found herself still on the island, still wrapped in her comforter with her blonde hair a mess, still surrounded by strangers. She'd rolled up her bedding and placed it off to the side where people seemed to be putting their bedrolls once they'd gotten up, and she'd ventured off to put her still damp camisole and leggings back on. She couldn't just wear a low-necked cardigan sweater around all day; that was even more indecent than the pajamas.

( oh, my god, he's taking his clothes off! )

It was closer to dusk than Kenneth liked when the shore of the lake came into view, but the sight and burgeoning darkness sped the feet of the travelers as their destination appeared. So far there was no sound of laughers behind them, which Kenneth was thankful for.

At the beach, it was organized chaos, but the planning that had been done en route was invaluable as they got the heavier things out of the carts. Kenneth was pleased to see they did in fact float, better even than he'd thought. In groups of two and three people, one stronger swimmer to one or two weaker, they held onto the makeshift rafts and made their way slowly across the fifty or so yards that separated them from the mainland.

Kenneth watched nervously, but some of that disappeared as he made out the form of Helena on the opposite shore. She was alive.

By the time the last raft made it across, which left only the heavier clay pots full of resin, collected food, medicine and Bazzer's skins, the laughers were hot on their trail. On Kenneth's orders, the pots were moved into the shallows and he stood guard over them as their strongest swimmers made a second trip across, this time manhandling the heavy clay pots in groups of two, with longer lengths of braided grass they had thanks to Rowan, tied around them to form a sort of sling like carrier. They took the medicines first, then the resin and skins. Food was easier to replace.

Sooner than he wanted, Kenneth saw the glowing eyes of the laughers. He took one shot then grabbed one of the remaining pots and dove into the water with the laughters splashing in the shallows along the bank. He was surprised to see Aaron, Alex and Thorne make a final dash for the remaining pots and swore softly as he saw the laughers lunge forward.

In a blink, he realized that the four of them had gotten away. They'd sacrificed some of the food they'd gathered, but Kenneth would take that. Given the other possibilities? He'd totally take that.

Who: Analiese, Thorne and Rowan
Where: within several yards of the temporary camp in the grasslands
When: morning
What: ...we're not in the Smokies anymore, Toto
Rating: PG?

( she'd never been out of her home state, and now she was... somewhere else )