InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't be a twat"

Leah Allen (leahallen) wrote in nomadspast,
@ 2013-03-02 11:33:00

Entry tags:

bridget, vesper

Who: Bridget and open to any Cano.
What: Returning to camp after a morning's forage.
When: Summer 2014
Where: Cano territory, their summer campsite.

Bridget emerged from the treeline into the clearing where her tribe had set up camp with a spring in her step. The birds were singing, the trees shifting in the light breeze and the sun was shining. It was a perfect summer's day and she'd had a good morning picking berries a little further up the mountain. If her man had been around she'd probably have dragged him off for a little midday roll in the hay, but he and some of the others were off on a hunting expedition toward Mt. Hood and wouldn't be back for a few days.

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ofvesper
2013-03-02 06:40 pm UTC (link)

A young woman clad in capri pants and a button up sleeveless shirt sat by the treeline on one of the old stumps, legs criss-crossed. Her lips were pressed together as she dealt with a thread and yarn needle as she pieced what seemed to be leather sleeves to a shape that looked ... coatish in appearance.

Ava wasn't so well known to the Cano -- her father Thomas who was now known as 'Bear' to the Cano was a bit more famous and apart of the group that left to hunt. Bear and Betty were well known and well liked among the Cano. To top it off they were locals, though they didn't always camp with the Cano. They had their own home hidden in the wilderness. Ava was more of a rumor or ghost to the Cano, though the locals assured Bridget she was a good Catholic girl. She'd never bring trouble.

When Ava heard foot steps, she looked up from her sewing to study Bridget. Then she smiled warmly before waving, "Afternoon. What did you find today?"

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leahallen
2013-03-02 11:05 pm UTC (link)

Bridget's summer work clothes from before the pulse were mostly rags at this point and she'd long ago switched to homespun and leather for work out in the woods. It held up better than denim and it fit better with the semi-nomadic image the Cano projected.

Being something of a local herself, Bridget knew of the Janeczkos but not very well. Being assured of the devout nature of their daughter didn't matter much to her other than it meant she wasn't likely to cause trouble, she was more concerned with whether Ava could pull her own weight. Bridget's philosophy was that if you were an able bodied adult and not heavily pregnant or caring for small children then you had better be contributing to the common good somehow if you wanted to stay with the tribe.

So far Ava was holding up to her end of the deal. Bridget smiled back "The blackberry patch up the mountain was nice and ripe." She held up a bucket full of the small fruits. "Fortunately the bears hadn't gotten to it yet."

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ofvesper
2013-03-03 02:44 am UTC (link)

Ava would let her work speak for herself, though she had her own opinions. She suckd her teeth as needle broke through the leather and her arm yanked back, tightening up the thread. It was a lining for a coat for her father. Early last winter, right before that fight during the End of the World Party, Ava and her father bagged a bear together. Enough meat to last the rest of winter after the meat had been smoked and salted. The fur would be made into a coat for her father since he was the main hunter.

She turned her head in the direction where Bridget had come from and tilted her head before nodding. "Planning to cook it for preserves or have them dry in the sun then? Though I hope the bears stick around until mid fall at the least. They're usually pretty dolice this time of the year though. For a bear."

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leahallen
2013-03-03 03:13 am UTC (link)

Ava's work was excellent, certainly better than Bridget could do herself. She had enough on her plate running the tribe for her to devote herself to any other task, continuing to build a solid culture and traditions for the future and making sure they had enough supplies come winter for there to be a future was a full time job.

"This batch will get dried I think." Bridget nodded and set the bucket down to squat beside the other woman. "How's that coat coming along? It looks like you're doing good with it." She'd never imagined she'd be wearing fur in wintertime but these days fur was a lot easier to come by than clothes packed with thinsulate and other pre-pulse conveniences.

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ofvesper
2013-03-03 04:04 am UTC (link)

She appreciated what Bridget was doing and for the most part Ava believed her family agreed that Bridget had best intentions in mind and doing the job well. It was just her family had this lack of 'trust' with the fixed mind they would go at it alone that they found hard to break, even for Bridget. But the past year or so the Janeczkos had done so.

"Excellent. I sort of miss dried fruit, specially dried craberries. I think I'm missing those more than I miss coffee or chocolate." She let out a wistful sigh, she had been introduced to them in Sunday school years ago. "Mom's working on the outer shell -- the fur itself. I don't have my sister's artistic talent but it's the inside of the coat so I think we'll be safe." Ava still had a good hunting coat and Betty had made her daughter a set of hunting leathers for this coming fall. Her old good wool coat had been given last winter to a Lawu woman.

But no one needed to know that. It was just too fancy out here to use.

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leahallen
2013-03-03 04:24 am UTC (link)

"Dried fruit can pack a lot of energy and it weighs less than preserves." Bridget nodded. She missed a lot of things about the old world too, but talking about them wasn't going to bring them back so she preferred to concentrate on the possible. That didn't mean she would begrudge Ava the right to complain, everyone had their own idiosyncrasies and as long as they didn't interfere with tribe morale Bridget took a live and let live philosophy.

She reached into the bucket and removed a handful of berries. "They still taste better fresh though, hold out your hand."

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ofvesper
2013-03-03 04:17 pm UTC (link)

"I know, but it doesn't taste nearly as good smeared over bread... which is getting rare. Stop using logic on me, you know you'll just win." The smile is warm and playful. It was humor that kept her family sane and focused on what needed to be done as they chuckled. A simple thing to reduce stress. If anything Ava would have thought that would boost morale and she'd quickly stop if someone asked her to. Bound to duty.

But the smile grows and turns delighted as she opens up her palm. "Please, thank you!"

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leahallen
2013-03-03 10:12 pm UTC (link)

"You're welcome," Bridget grinned at her as she dropped the berries into Ava's open palm. She took care of her people and the other woman's hard work ought to be rewarded with more than just a 'good job!' and a bowl of stew.

"It's not all that rare, we just have to do a lot more work to get it now." She shook her head, amused. "I can't help using logic anymore than you can't help praying." While Bridget didn't have any use for Christianity these days she wasn't going to stomp on someone else's faith. Hopefully Ava would come to her senses one of these days.

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ofvesper
2013-03-04 01:35 am UTC (link)

The berries crunched sweetly in her mouth, though Ava could recall Olivia finding berries better than she ever could. She was the one shooting at animals with her gun and quietly trying to adjust to the bow. Not a thing like Hawkeye at the time, but she's fairly sure she'll be able to do a clean kill now with an animal.

"Mostly through trading, though. Have you thought about making a forest garden? Or should say gardens. Just patches of various roots vegtables here and there for each family?"

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leahallen
2013-03-06 12:41 am UTC (link)

Bridget eyed her and put a free hand on Ava's forehead. "Are you feeling all right? We've got plots out there. Nothing huge but you have to start somewhere." They'd just started working plots of ground this summer, the summer before things were still chaotic and the Cano were just getting formed, there hadn't been the time or manpower to devote to it.

Next year she hoped to do even better, maybe even try and plant some small plots of corn and wheat.

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	ofvesper 2013-03-06 02:38 am UTC (link)
	"I know, but I feel the effort of maintaining crops so close to the forest isn't worth the payoff. What we're growing is just tasty to the deer and they're clever about those fences we have." Ava answered with a simple shrug of shoulders, "So we really wouldn't have to waste so much energy with root vegetables." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	leahallen 2013-03-10 07:20 pm UTC (link)
	"It's certainly something to consider." Bridget wasn't prepared to abandon the idea of growing more than root crops just yet. She wanted the tribe to be as self sufficient as she could possibly make them, being dependent on others would only lead to trouble. (Reply to this) (Parent)