The Field

Who: Cross and Rowan
When: morning
Where: at the spring
Status: in progress

Breakfast had been the oddest meal Cross could recall since he'd arrived here about a month ago. People had been either blushy and quiet or almost giddy and babbling to break the air of nervous unease that had surrounded the circle. He felt fortunate that he hadn't slept with anyone besides Helena, and there was nothing wrong with that as far as he was concerned. They might not speak of it in concrete terms, but they were in a relationship. Thus, as much sex as they felt capable of should be perfectly acceptable.

He headed off to the spring with his water bottle, pleased that he felt much more normal today. Most of the pollen seemed to have blown away during the night, and the air was cooler. It was very pleasant, he thought as he ambled along, rounding the curve on the path that would take him to the spring and lookout tower.

( TBC )

Who: Thorne, Ryan and Rowan
Where: Somewhere near camp
When: Evening?
What: Post coital cuddling and chatting
Rating: R for nudity?
Warnings: Threesome

( And threesomes occur )

Who: Helena and Rowan, the sexiest ladies of the land
Where: Helena's house
When: Morning
Rating: Probably G

Between stupid dogs spilling her hard-won flour, and having had to find somewhere to store it where it wasn't going to turn to goo from rain or dew or whatever, Rowan had discovered that she was really bloody proud of herself. She'd made flour. Or a rough version thereof. It wasn't perfect but she'd done the best she could, and it was definitely better than just chewing on ripe grain. And Rowan knew the perfect person who could use the first sample.

Of course, finding Helena was another matter completely. Rowan was starting to wonder if she'd gone off with Cross for some Cross-lovin' good times.

( but without the green alien sex )

Who: Rowan and Sophie
What: Chattering and Being Creative
Where: The island village!
When: Late morning, but before the crazy dog things attack
Rating: PG, tops

( Women's work? )

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

( Requiéscat in pace )

Who: Rowan and Thorne
Where: Around the island
What: Talking and Gathering and Finding Things
Rating: PG 13 for kissing and talk of sex
To Be Continued

( Pink scum, cauldrons and radios oh my )

Who: Ryan and Rowan
When: extremely early morning
Where: their bedroll

( sleeping time is now )

Who: Rowan and Helena
What: Friend-time!
When: Early morning
Where: The Beach

( Presents! Boys! )

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 )

Who: Kenneth and anyone/everyone leaving on the 20th
When: Mid morning
Where: Heading east
What: Taking a break


There was no way to keep up the grueling pace all day, at least not for most. Kenneth made sure to call plenty of halts, at least as many as he possibly could, but they still weren't making the speed they'd need to get to the safe camp. Fortunately, he'd sort of planned on that, his worst case scenario. If they didn't make it, he'd circle the carts, build a fire and people would just have to stay awake. The Laughers were smart, he hoped if he took down enough of them, they'd just back off. Did Laughers have a concept for unacceptable losses?

Kenneth didn't know, but he did know that would burn through his ammunition, something he'd already decided was worth it to protect those coming with him. He looked around and squinted up at the sun. Sacrificing a blanket, he tore strips of it with his knife then handed them to the closest person. "Soak these with some water and get people to put them on the back of their necks and heads. It might help."

Who: Aaron and Rowan
Where: Where the yarnballs live
When: Mid-morning
What: Gathering of things and information
Rating: Disney-esque

Rowan was gathering. Not food, unfortunately, because there wasn't much around, well, anywhere, but there were yarn balls aplenty, and they needed to be gathered because eventually someone was, literally, going to wear out the seat of their pants. And when that day came, she wanted to at least have thread for it. Thank God that Helena had shown her where they were before she went off and disappeared and didn't come back. But she had a leaf basket, and she hand her hands, and she was gathering yarn balls - as many as she could, though she was careful to leave two or three on each plant, so that they could propagate.

Aaron was still lost in a bit of a daze. He'd climbed the tree and found a spot to hang his hammock. The tree was thick with them, once he'd gotten up there. It was more than a little bit amazing. Once his sleeping bag was swinging securely and his pillow, jacket and hoodie were stuffed into the middle of it, he'd climbed back down to see if there was anyone else around here who could shed some additional light on their situation. He'd wandered further and further afield of the camp, talking to people who's names and places of origin went out of his head as fast as they told him.

Eventually though, he wandered right into a quiet clearing populated by one person and a sea of fluffy blue and yellow. It took his breath away, mostly because most colours registered as dull brown to Aaron Ackles. He'd been partially colourblind since birth and didn't see red or green. It was one of the reasons why, then living in civilization, he lived in Toronto where driving and traffic lights weren't such a big deal. In the midst of all of this colourful fluff was a lady with dark hair and a tank top which barely stretched over her protruding belly. "Um...Rowan?" Ok, so that name came back to him, maybe others would too.

( No Matter How Much You Wish You Were Somewhere Else )

Who: Quinn and Open
What: Disecting fallen pesks for food.
Where: Beside the campfire
When: Morning time.
Rating: G?

Maybe it had been a rather grisly experiment but Quinn was pissed off at life enough to take apart the dead pesks left by the fire. He had the borrowed pocket knife out and the bucket, a flat rock set across his lap and a scowl on his face. When no one was around to blather on or bug him, he was attempting to channel his high school biology teacher and the lab where they had disected frogs. These guys were about the same size as those big old amphibians, just arranged a little bit differently. As he sheered tiny bits of meat off he dropped them in the bucket and figured he could make some sort of soup. Pesk soup. It was best not to think about it too closely.

Like always, he'd slept miserably and the shadows under his eyes had long replaced the bruising. Even though his injuries were getting better and better each day, there was a black mood creeping in. Prolonged lack of sleep was making him feel run down and today was absolutely no different. The weird behaviour of the pesks got on his nerves. The fact that no one else was looking to salvage the meat from the little squirrel-sized animals also pissed him off. In short, he was brooding.

Who: Thorn and Ro
Where: Up!
When: During the day
What: A medical discovery!
Rating: E for Everyone

Rowan didn't feel like being quite on the ground at the moment. Not for any particular reason, but because while she'd explored a lot on the ground she'd suddenly realized she hadn't explored a lot of the up. So this is what she planned on doing. And she did it, too! Well, she gathered up her shirt and twisted it into a knot at her side, leaving her very pregnant belly bare and started climbing - now that she was getting a semi-regular source of protein, she was feeling much healthier and stronger. And a lot like a monkey, what with scrambling up the tree.

( Electric Green Slime )

TBC

Who: OPEN to anyone in camp!
When: Day 15, afternoon through sundown
Where: in camp
What: Dressing, cooking and eating of eleboar piglet. Also, there's a live eleboar piglet that needs to be confined in a cage or something. :D
Rating: TBD
Notes: Here's a shot at a group thread. Please feel free to comment, pick a threading buddy or two, and make sub-threads conversations with whomever you please! Thanks everybody!

( Let's eat! )

Who: Helena and Rowan
Where: The stream
What: Talking about the night before and their prospects.
When: Early morning
Rating: Family Friendly

( This Is Why We Have To Go )

Who: Thorne and Rowan
Where: Rowan and Helena's hammock? That okay with you?
When: Just after the meeting and onwards.



Rowan was upset. Really upset. And she knew she was being unreasonable in her emotional state but she couldn't really help it. She didn't want to leave, she didn't know why Bazzer was upset, she didn't know why he got so snappy during the meeting, she missed home and she was generally just an unhappy camper. So when Helena went elsewhere for the night Ro crawled into the hammock by herself and curled up in a ball, missing her company and warmth.

Thorne had known that Rowan was upset and wasn't sure how much was hormonal and how much was something else, but he also knew that he himself wasn't exactly thrilled and Bazzer's obvious anger and upset had left him hurt as well. He had been honest and truthful and open and what more did Bazzer want from him? It wasn't like he was going to change, but it seemed like Bazzer was totally expecting Thorne to make himself miserable and resentful just to please Bazzer's outdated notion of what was proper.

( And Cuddlebunnies )

Who: Everyone
Where: Around the campfire
What: Catching Up and Discussing The Future
When: Sunset
Rating: G to PG, depending on how the language goes.

Helena returned to her log by the fire and settled down next to the pouch of yarnballs, taking them up once again. She worked at pulling them apart as people began to drift back in to the camp, pausing to breath in the smoking grazer meat and pop boiled pesk eggs into their mouths. Some of them chewed strands of sweetgrind or braided fieldgrass as they chattered and caught up. Once everyone had arrived, she stood up and cleared her throat. "I just wanted to say a few things before we pack up for the night," she said over the din.

"Firstly, welcome back Thorne, Cross, Alex, Kenneth and Jasper. We're really glad to have you back and it's nice to see that you found a few things on your adventure. The grazer hide and meat is especially welcome." She flashed a smile around at the more tanned and sunburned faces in the circle.

"Secondly, I want to pass on a bit of bad news before you hear it from others. We lost four women while you were gone." She cleared her throat, clearly upset by this happening and with good reason. No one had voted Helena as the leader of the group, it had just happened. She still felt responsible and she should, if she were actually the leader. "There's been no sign of Annie, Lauren, Nancy and Jeri."

"Lastly," and here her gaze lingered on Bazzer. He looked...not like himself. She wondered what was eating the younger man. Still, she moved on. "Bazzer and I were discussing the tribe's prospects the other day and I said I would bring up an option to the whole of the group when we were all together again." She clasped her hands infront of herself and tried to organize her pro opinion in order to deliver it well. "Plenty of small tribal societies living without large advancements in technology, much like we are, survived for generations as nomadic peoples." She felt more than heard a hum move around the circle. "I believe that becoming nomadic might be a good answer for us. We're stripping the food supply here nearly bare. We don't know how the weather might change here over the next few months as well. Also, how can we know if there is no city in this world if we don't forge farther out than we can do in a day's run? I think it is safer for the group as a whole if we travel together, look out for each other and move forward rather than wait around here for something to happen." That said, she waited for the questions and opinions of the others. "What do you think?"

Who: Bazzer & Rowan
When: Day 12, later afternoon
Where: the river
What: Bathing...some very minor foreplay. Barely.
Complete: yes
Rating: PG-13

( Two can be as bad as one. It's the loneliest number since the number one... )

Who: Rowan and Helena
Where: In the forest
When: Afternoon
What: Washery
Rating: XXX! Nah, kidding. Maybe PG because of nakedness


Rowan picked yet another little green-winged leech from her skin with a sigh. Little bastards were all over the damn place, sometimes in yellow, sometimes in white, sometimes faintly other colors. All in all, if she ever got home, she was never looking at a moth or butterfly the same way again. She flicked it over into the grass and continued her way to the stream. There, without any real regard for the idea that maybe it wasn't the best idea to strip down nude in front of everyone, she stripped down nude in front of everyone and started rinsing out her clothes. It may have been muddy and damp everywhere, but her pajama pants and tanktop were filthy and stained with mud, sweat, and purply-green grass. At least this way they'd get partially clean.

Helena came around the tree and paused as she saw Rowan squatted in the nude, swishing her clothes through the stream. The mother-to-be was a little sunburned here and there and sporting a few of the slowly trickling bites from those awful moths that were flitting around today. She had a few of those herself. "Ro, what on earth are you doing? You're going to give Bazzer a heart attack."

( Bubbles! )