boss_fisher (boss_fisher) wrote in thefield, @ 2009-05-08 23:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | arlo, sophie, z - 1st tribe - day 19 |
Welcome Home
Who: Sophie and Arlo
What: Arlo is back and Sophie is glad.
When: Afternoonish Day 19
Where: Around the camp
Rated: PG-13 at least with Arlo
Sophie's hair was slightly damp. She'd taken a bath earlier. She had felt like it washed away some of the negative things that had happened lately. It felt like a decade since she'd been home, but honestly it wasn't more than a hand full of days. Her dad and Matt never would have believed her if she'd told them that she'd now dressed an animal and cooked it. She probably wouldn't have believed herself. She didn't think she was capable of doing it before. She had a different opinion now. Sophie had never thought about what she would do in a situation like the one she was in, but she was thriving better than even she would have given herself credit for. Sure, there were issues. She wasn't getting along with Payne, in fact she was utterly and completely terrified of the girl. There wasn't too much that was that hard on Sophie as of yet, other than dealing with not being home and the butting heads with Payne. Sophie didn't get the other girl. She didn't know why she was such a horrible person to her. Soph hadn't done anything to her.
The small girl had a usual perch now. She was seated near where they generally kept the fire pit. That was her domain, it was where she found herself feeling most comfortable. She hadn't been in the area when Arlo had returned, though. She hadn't caught but a glimpse of him since he'd gotten back. She wanted to know whether or not he was okay. He'd been nice to her when they'd first meet and she had genuinely felt worry when he'd left. She figured that he could probably take care of himself, but still. Sophie would rather see everyone safe than see anyone hurt. She didn't like it when others were in pain or suffering. Arlo seemed like a nice man in a lot of ways too.
With her book open on her lap, Sophie turned the page, wondering if she'd see Arlo soon. She wanted to ask him if he was all right. He'd been nice to her, it was only right to return the favor...
Arlo was pissed off with camp life already. That little fuck Clay had gotten right up his nose, but whatever. At least he was looking clean. His arm and chest were still pretty scab-tastic and his beard was reaching a kind of Hell's Angel level, but the worst of the filth was gone. He was marching back to camp massaging his knuckles and muttering obscenities to himself when he saw that girl, Sophie was it? Sitting by herself next to the fire. Well, at least she wasn't dead. That was something.
Sophie wasn't really reading, though the book was open. She found herself thinking more than anything else. She was paying attention to her surroundings, though. When she heard the muttering it peaked her interest and she couldn't help but look up. The person she saw was none other than Arlo. She smiled to herself and raised her hand, waving at him. She could see that he looked worse for the wear, but it was good to know that he was alive and it didn't seem like he'd been hurt majorly. He wasn't bleeding out if that counted for anything. "Hi." Sophi piped up, standing and moving towards him, the closer she got the better she could see that he was looking much rougher than he had before. She felt bad for him. She had a smaller smile on now, wondering if he was really okay. "Welcome back." She told him, tilting her head. "Are you okay?"
Arlo cricked his neck and looked down at the small girl who was smiling at him. She really was just a girl - how old did she say she was? 18? She looked about 12. It was disconcerting to say the least.
"Hell, I ain't dead yet. Take more'n a few beasties to of me. You settled in with folks 'round here?"
He hoped so. He hoped Helena was doing her fucking job and looking after this kid. There were too many weirdos and trouble makers in camp for his liking - and again he felt a pang of regret for swanning off at the crack of dawn without making sure she was going to be taken care of. But fuck it, kid didn't look like she was starving.
Sophie wasn't much for violence herself, but she had seen the rather large animal that he'd brought back. It was huge, probably something Sophie wouldn't have been able to help lift if she'd tried, but then again she didn't have any upper body strength at all. The crack form his neck sounded painful to Sophie if she were being honest, but he did reassure her that he was okay and that was enough for now. She nodded as she spoke up," More or less, I'm still getting to know some people. Father Alex did kind of help me learn a little bit about dressing an animal before cooking it." She told him with a small lift of her shoulders. She kept looking at the scabs. "You haven't been back very long. Do you need anything?" She asked politely. She'd try to help if she could. She figured he had to be tired, among other things.
Arlo nodded with approval. Father Alex pissed him off slightly, but then again, so did most folks. She could do worse. He also approved that she was cooking, rather than acting like some dumbfuck tough little tomboy and getting too big for her boots. Rather like Payne.
"I don't need nothin' but it's sweet of you to ask. Most folks round here don't know good manners if they came up and punched 'em"
Yeah, the irony was lost on Arlo with that one. Something else was bothering him though. He still had Clay on the mind.
"Like that dumbfuck Clay. You shouldn't bother with people like that."
Sophie tried to do things like what she did at home. She wanted to keep doing things that she was comfortable with. If she stuck on that route she figured she could stand to live there. She'd rather be home, but she wasn't so stupid that she thought that was an option at the moment. Sophi wasn't going to pretend that she was tough, she wasn't. She wasn't tough and she wasn't the kind that wanted to go out and hunt. She could cook, she could sew, and she could do things of that sort, but she honestly didn't want to expand beyond that and even if that was bratty she wanted to stay that way. She didn't want to change who she was. She nodded when he said he didn't need anything, and felt a little useless, but she'd tried. "I think people just kind of forget them when it's a situation like this, I guess." Sophi said. She didn't know. When Arlo spoke of Clay she blinked. "Clay isn't as bad as some of the others. He's the one that found me. And he helped me figure out how to get a fire started and showed me where things were. Helped me cook an eleboar by getting the sticks for the spit too. I don't mind him too much." Sophie said honestly.
There were two things that caught Arlo's attention about what Sophie said. The first was that she was already hanging around with Clay. WHich was bad. The second was the phrase 'some of the others' which meant that people had been giving her a hard time. Which was very not cool.
"Listen, Clay's a deliquent. He beat on Payne, which ain't right, and he's got a smart mouth which you don't, and I like it that way. A nice girl liek you oughtta stay bein' nice. And what d'ya mean some of the others? That Angelica been fuckin' you around? Ignore her, she's a brat."
Sophie liked Arlo. He was a pretty nice guy and he honestly seemed like he was a good man. He might have been a little bit gruff, but he treated Sophie well enough. He was carrying on a conversation with her, which was the most important thing to her. It was hard for her to get people to talk to her at times so far. Clay wasn't talkative, Payne was more interested in intimidating her and being mean, and others she just hadn't gotten the chance to get to know yet. Sophie listened when Arlo told her to, though. What she heard wasn't anything know already. She looked down at her fet and then back up at him. "I saw Clay and Payne they were fighting one another. Payne stabbed him with a crude needle that she was using to tattoo him or something." Sophie admitted and nodded. "But if that's your honest opinion you don't have bad judge in character." She told him, and that was honestly how she thought of it. She was glad that he thought she was a nice girl, and was smiling lightly, until he asked about the others, then she frowned. "Angelica is the woman with red hair, right? She hasn't done anything to me. I've just.....there was another person that doesn't like me, I think I'll be okay if I stay away from them." Sophie said with a nod. She didn't want to cause problems and she didn't want to be a tattletail.
He didn't care if Payne had pulled an uzi on him, she was a skinny street rat and she was a girl. In his opinion? There were no valid excuses for giving her a black eye. But he didn't really want to think about it. Fuck, he'd been back in camp for all of 12 hours and already he was getting tnagled up in these pissy pathetic dramas. Didn't anyone know how to act right?
"Damn straight I don't have a bad judge in character. I got a girl back home and if she was dating someone like that Clay? We'd have to have fuckin' words."
Actually, if she was dating anyone they'd have to have fucking words. But Laurel was another sore subject. He wanted to know who was giving Sophie problems.
"Anyway. You doubtless don't give a damn 'bout my home life. Tell me who don't like you - you shouldn't let folks bother you if you ain't done nothin' to deserve it, darlin'"
Sophie honestly wasn't the sort that had worried about forms of violence before. Her dad had never so much as spanked her, and her boyfriend was in football, but he'd never dare hit her. Heck, Matt didn't even fight with other boys all that often, honestly. She hadn't been exposed to violence in many forms, other than on stage or in movies or on tv. Sophie felt bad for talking with Arlo about this sort of drama at the moment. He hadn't been back long enough. He shouldn't be worried about this right now. He should have taken a nap or something more relaxing. Sophie grinned at his comment, though. "How old is your daughter?" She asked curiously. Sophie liked people. She was a hostess back home and she was used to different sorts of smalltalk. "Actually I don't mind, but if you'd rather not talk about it..." She trailed off and blinked at his insistance that she tell him. "Well, Payne doesn't like me." She said honestly and shrugged. "I don't know why she doesn't like me, I don't know that I did anything to her, but I figure if I leave her alon and steer clear I'll be okay." She smiled at him, hoping that was the end of the conversation regarding that.
Arlo grunted softly. Payne was another fucking troublemaker. She was probably just trying to be cock of the walk, but Sophie was obviously a smart kid.
"Yeah. You don't let Payne bother you. She's a brat, too. She's a big fuckin' smart mouth but when it comes to it she's just a dumbfuck streetkid, so don't worry yourself about her brawlin'"
Moving back over to the firepit Arlo sat down with a slight grimace - none of his muscles were particularly fond of him right now - and patted the ground next to him where Sophie had been before he came by.
"My daughter's 14. I'm going to get us all home - or die tryin'. I ain't gonna leave my little girl."
He pulled his flick-knife out of his boot as he spoke, and began looking around for a stick to whittle. He'd lost his bow and arrows during a rather colourful incident with a sand worm and he was keen to get making another set.
Sophie didn't want to cause problems. She had wanted to try to get along with everyone. Sophie didn't do well when people didn't like her. It irked her. She couldn't stand the idea that she wasn't liked. She hated the fact that someone wanted to be mean or wouldn't try to like her. Of course, it didn't seem like Payne liked very many people. She didn't try to be nice. The small girl just didn't get it. "I'm trying not to. She's kind of scary at times, though." Sophie admitted with a shrug. Sophie probably wasn't very hard to scare because of the sheer fact that she didn't have it in her to get violent or fight with others very often. She didn't have much of a backbone.
Sophie followed after Arlo, frowning with concern as he winced before sitting down next to him. Her book lay close, but definitely forgotten for the moment. She smiled at how he talked about his daughter. It was obvious that he cared about her, he wanted to get back to her and that was probably one of the sweetest things that she'd ever heard come from any father. "That's sweet." Sophie said with a smile, watching him curiously. She picked up her book and ran her fingers over the spine. "I don't think my dad will notice I'm gone until he doesn't get dinner or new groceries for a few nights, he's kind of busy most of the time. Matt, my boyfriend, will probably notice I'm gone first." She admitted. She wondered if Matt would just think she was busy or what. She missed them both already.
Arlo frowned as he finally found a long enough stick to get to work on making pointy. He hated hearing stuff like that. Men ought to take care of their families. Your kids came first - and your wife, if she wasn't a no good whore who ran off with the first big shiny car that came by - but the kids were the main thing. You put something on this earth it was your responsibility to take care of it. He didn't verbalize this, however. He didn't like discussing Laurel for this very reason - he felt like he'd abandoned her. Every second he wasn't trying to get home was a second of betrayal.
"And this boyfriend. What's he do? Good kid? Study hard?"
Yeah. It was easier to talk about Sophie.
Sophie loved her life. She felt like she was blessed. She had a great dad as far as she was concerned, he was just busy a lot now, but she was technically an adult. She'd always taken care of the cooking and a good portion of the household responsibilities, though. She and her dad had figured out that she could do that pretty early, but her mom had been dead for some time. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would to talk about home. She missed it, of course, but she had a great home life and it helped her spirits. She knew that Matt would worry before her dad would, but Matt worried about her a lot. Sophie blushed a little at Arlo's question. "Matt is in college, he's on a football scholarship and he wants to go into coaching. He's got pretty good grades. We've been dating since...since I was fifteen I think." Sophie said, grinning at the memory. She began to toy with the ring on her left hand, her promise ring. She definitely missed home.
It made Arlo angry, that a nice normal girl like this had been ripped away from her family and her life. It made him want to hunt down the folks responsible and kick their asses even more than usual - and usual was a lot. He dug the blade of his knife hard into the soft purplish wood of the stick he'd found, and began his fury-whittling. It was good to keep your hands busy, Arlo always figured. He began to lose himself in the task slightly, letting Sophie's words buzz in his ears.
"You don't let me keep you from your book, I ain't interesting, and carving arrows ain't something you oughtta be interesting yourself in anyhow." he grumbled at her, his brow furrowed with concentration. God forbid she became like the rest of them - keen to get their fingers bloodied and interrupting what oughtta be done by men, who were hard wired for that kind of thing.
Sophie didn't like the fact that anyone had been pulled away from their life. She felt bad for Arlo's daughter, though. He seemed like he was a good dad. She was sure that he probably missed his daughter too. She was watching him and his whittling, and honestly it wasn't something that she was interested in. She wasn't good with knives unless she was peeling or doing something of that nature with it. It felt nice to just ramble for a while, though. She hadn't had the chance to do that in a while. "Oh....yeah, it's okay, you weren't keeping me." She forced a smile and opened the book back where it had been before, figuring that he was probably tired of talking. She knew that there were times that she wanted to just be left alone. She got quiet, her eyes moving over the words on the page, though she was pretty aware of the older guy sitting next to her, wondering if he shouldn't be resting since he'd been gone for so long and he seemed kind of sore.