Practicality
Who: Aaron and Nefertiti Where: In the camp What: Building a lean-to When: Afternoon, after the funeral Rating: Probably G
Aaron armed some sweat off of his brow with the sleeve of his t-shirt. He'd used his new hammer and a stone wedge he'd found to split logs into planks the past several hours and now he felt as though he had the makings of a lean-to frame. He chose his spot where the sloped back would mostly face the water (and therefore keep the worst of the wind off of the grasslands out of the hut) and the open front would face the fire pit (thereby absorbing maximum warmth). He paced it out with his boots and then dug a pit for the first two posts, nearly eight feet apart. Given his height, he thought that was a good length. Then he could store pots of his personal possessions at the foot of his bedroll. That is, when the mama cat inside his sleeping bag allowed him to get anywhere near it without hissing and attacking. So far, his blanket was still sitting on the cart it had arrived in. At least he had his pillow, he thought as he hammered the posts in nice and deep.
The first night for Nefertiti had not been easy. However the familiarity of having to wake up every few hours to check on a pregnant animal comforted her and made her feel safe in this alien world. Some facts of life just never changed. The warmth of Lucien next to her had also helped ease the distress gnawing at the back of her mind. Never gonna see Milford again, or her own goat, Bran. Still she reminded herself to remain strong and guarded against any panic attacks. They would just do no good out here.
With the goat comfortable and secured under her and Luc's tree ( and the funeral for someone she had never met avoided ) Nefertiti was looking around for something to keep her hands and her mind busy. When she saw a man working alone on what looked like a lean-to she weighed the pros and cons of offering her assistance. On the good side, she'd have something to do. On the bad side, she'd probably end up with blisters and a solid crick in her neck. Always practical, she found her feet carrying her over to him. Tilting her hat back away from her face she called out, "You need help? I got some good strong arms and I helped build fences more than a few times."
Aaron looked up and had an easy, welcoming smile waiting for this new arrival. He couldn't exactly remember her name - some Egyptian - but she sure didn't sound like she was from anywhere in Africa, despite the mocha coloured skin. "Sure," he called out. "Just building another lean-to. We're going to need a bunch of 'em." He dusted his hands off, still rough with half-healed blisters from pulling the cart on the trek here from the climber forest. Once they were moderately clean, he offered on to her. "Aaron Ackles, formerly of Toronto and the Yukon Territories." He was nothing if not the picture of a strapping blonde, tall lad. Then again, there were a few of his type wandering around the island.
Immediately taking his hand with a grin, Nefertiti gave it a good strong shake, "Nefertiti Hanson, formerly of Detroit and Milford, Michigan. Looks like you are building a lean-to, right? Bet they are down right cozy. Me and Luc and the ungoat crashed under a tree last night. We had warmth with each other alright, but aint nothing beat a roof over your head." Bending her neck, Nefertiti reached back around with her hands and started to tie her dreads together and twist them up to keep them from getting in the way. She knew before long she would look like some African tribe princess with her kinky hair dreadlocked and ratty. Maybe she would have to find some pieces of bone to stick in and complete the look.
He'd heard about the goat, of course. Mostly because there had been a bit of goats milk added to a fish stew earlier today that had been powerfully flavorful and not in a bad way. "Oh, you two are looking after that...hairy goat?" The thing had this divine long coat that was enough to make anyone jealous. "How did it get here, I wonder?" he asked out loud. "It's nice to meet you though, Nefertiti! I can always use some help. I have cord to lash all of these planks together and I'll knock a couple of nails in to it to make it especially sturdy. You guys all slept under a tree last night?" That just didn't seem right.
"Nice to meet you as well! It's a right comfort for people to be friendly when ain't no one from around here. Yeah, we did sleep under a tree. Not much else to do, you know? Can't be sleeping out in the open all wily nily under the stars. Don't know what will come up and make a midnight snack of you. Which part didja want me to help you with? Cords?" Not waiting for an answer, Nefertiti dropped to her knees and reached for the planks, starting by lining them all up side by side so it would be easier to get bunches together.'
"Cords or maybe bundling the dried sweetgrind for thatching?" He gestured to the heap of stalks of grain. There were several other lean-tos with thatched roofs already in place. "It won't take me long at all to get the frame up, not since I found some tools here yesterday. But it really will take a while to get all the thatching bundled." As he talked, he moved to position another plank to stretch between one of the posts and the ground.
Biting her lip Nefertiti considered for a moment which task to do. She stood up again and wandered over to the stalks, looking back at him for some guidance, "Now, I ain't never thatched a roof so do you mind taking a sweet moment and showing me what you mean?"
"Sure," Aaron said amiably as he set his hammer down. He gathered up a thick stack of the dried sweetgrind and then laid out two short lengths of the braided cord. He tied the stack of grain stalks around the middle, one near the top, the other near the bottom. The end result was a neat bundle of the hay-like material. "So this is a bundle of thatching. Then you attach it to the frame of the roof with more cord." He demonstrated tying the bundle he'd made to the frame. "You can either make a stack of bundles and then attach them or attack them as you go along." He pointed to the open triangular sides. "I'm going to use smaller sticks to build little walls for the sides. Just to give a bit more privacy."
"Alright then. I'll get to work on that. " With deft hands Nefertiti got to work gathering roughly even bundles of the dried sweetgrind. " So Aaron, what didja do back on planet Earth? Something like a mountain man in the Yoo-kon?" She didn't bother with binding until after she had the pile sorted out which probably took awhile because though her work was methodical, it definitely wasn't rushed or at a quick pace. Slow and steady wins the race, after all, and Nefertiti tended to apply it to most aspects of life. Another reason why the city wasn't much for her. Everyone always rushing around and ignoring each other like if they didn't get somewhere RIGHT now they would literally just pass out and die. Probably left late, that's why they were rushing. No no no, being early is on time, being on time is late, and being late is simply unacceptable.
Aaron chuckled. "Sort of but mostly I was just a science student. Environmental sciences, actually," he clarified. "I was just about to defend my doctorate." Eight years of hard work that, at first when he'd realized he was never going to go home, he'd thought he'd wasted. Now, though, he realized he hadn't wasted them at all. He didn't need a piece of paper to tell him that he understood how the world worked. What the effects of rising human populations, deforestation and pollution were. He could set the seeds of foresight into this new civilization. He could help make preservation one of the new commandments. Respect was the new law. It was...heavy, but glorious. "What about you, what did you do?" he asked as he battered a nail into place with his hammer
"Your doctorate? Really? I would not of guessed you for a day over twenty-two, though I guess I don't know if you could have it by then. Me? I got my two-year vet tech degree than ran straight out of the education system back to the farm and got to work on training horses and taking care of them. Never was much for office politics, you see. " Nope, she wasn't at all. Most of the social status shit and intrigue that came with the concrete jungle went right over her head, and she was quite fine with that. She paused for a moment and reconsidered what he had said. Tilting her head back to look at him she asked, " Defend it? What for? You offend your teacher and have to draw pistols at dawn for it's honor? "
Aaron laughed a deep and heartfelt laugh at all of that. "Try thirty two," he told her. Off by a full ten years. He'd spent most of the first five years after high school wandering the world both in the company of his hippy girlfriend and alone after they broke up. Then it was back to school for him ever since. "The city's ok in small doses. I was born in Toronto but my folks moved out of the city when they retired. They have an island and a cottage in an area called Gananoque 1000 Islands," he explained. "They live there with my brother Tim." He shrugged his broad shoulders, his grubby t-shirt pulling tight over them for a moment. "And everyone has to defend their doctorate, it's how it's done. Well, it's really defending your doctoral thesis, your right to call yourself a doctor. You have to present all of your research and conclusions to the Committee of Doctors at your institution. Toronto's pretty tough but my field of science is sort of like...a pet program at my school. Toronto loooooves environmentalists."
Nefertiti's mouth dropped for a moment and then she had herself a good chuckle, " Thirty two? Just a smidge younger than myself. Yeah, I guess it is but people seem to get stir-crazy when they are locked up in all that smog and sidewalk. An island sounds right beautiful though, wish I knew ya then to visit. " Looking around at the purple-tinged grass and white sun she sighed and frowned for a moment, " I guess we got an island all to ourselves now. At least I know you won't try mucking it up with factories or oil-drillin'. My parents always had a heart for activism, and the environment was right there on their list after racial pride. The height of their careers was in the 60's and they've been in Detroit their whole lives. " She stood up for a moment and stretched her arms above her head, a smile finding it's way back to her face, " Love environmentalists, hm? I suppose they aint so bad. "
He shrugged and smiled. "You'd have to be from Canada to understand it, I guess. We've got so much undeveloped land but even so it's all being ruined from polluters across the ocean." He shook his head sadly. "Sucks to be out of the fight. I'm never gonna see Kyoto being ratified. Never gonna see if our government manages to bully yours into getting on board with it." He heaved a big sigh. "Never gonna see the oil barons eat their works or the auto industry finally do away with all of their gasoline powered cars. It's a shame, but," he made a gesture encompassing all of the vast horizon, the stretch of lake and the rippling sweetgrind on the other side rolling on forever. "Amazing to see an untouched world. Amazing," he shook his head in awe.
"Big national politics like the oil barons and the industry I'm not much for. All I need to be content is some land, healthy animals, and a sweet love." Nefertiti gave him a big smile when he mentioned the land around them "Aint it just though? I never seen something so pure and natural. Not even the farm on Milford was this clean and untouched. Perhaps it is the only reason I'm glad to be here. Well of course, and some new friends along the way." With the sweetgrind all laid out she got to work on the tougher part of binding it, taking a break now and again to crack her fingers.
Aaron chuckled, nodding in agreement with her sentiments. "I had a hard time believing it at first. I haven't been here all that long now. About a week, I guess." He talked as they worked, finding it easy to fall into conversation with Nefertiti. "I was in shock for days and then, trying to be reasonable, I resisted the idea of abduction, my aliens or any Earth government. I don't think I was under enough stress to have this bad of a mental breakdown though." He paused in his wall making to glance over at the other side of the camp where two other lean-tos were being erected. "I don't think I'm creative enough to dream up all of these people though, with their diverse personalities and interests." He was curious what her take on this situation was and he tipped that curiosity toward her in his expression.
She caught the question in his eyes and thought on it for a few moments, looking up at him before speaking, " Well Aaron, I'm not quite sure about what is going on here, not one bit at all. Abductions, break-downs, dreams, or even some complicated surreality just seems like an excuse or a justification. No, I'd like think we are here for a purpose but I guess that is just the optimist in me. I'm over-due for my tears and screaming, I know it, but practically a tantrum just won't do when everyone needs everyone else to survive. And I've always been the practical sort. " With a strong nod to emphasize her last point Nefertiti turned her head back down to focus on the task at hand.
Aaron shrugged and nodded at her explanation. He tended to lean toward practicality as well and he was noticing that it was a common theme among the group. He set his own mind back to his work, content to build something that they all needed. There were murmurs of building a more secure structure. Some sort of meeting hall or something, a place they could all retreat to if needs be until everyone had secure homes. Not a bad idea. For now though, it was lean-tos and he was fine with that too.