analiese (anableue) wrote in thefield, @ 2009-06-25 22:37:00 |
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Current mood: | okay |
Entry tags: | adnan, analiese, z - 1st tribe - day 25 |
The Small Things
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.
She happened to spot Adnan over by the fire and she shrugged out of his jacket. She'd been meaning to give it back to him for a couple of days now. She had a sweater, though it was currently still damp from where she'd washed it after its experience as a fish holder earlier. Analiese squinted a little as she approached; the fire was smoking somewhat in the wind, so everyone who was near it wasn't as close to it as they might be otherwise. "Hi," she said once she'd reached him, extending the jacket toward him so she could take the plant stalk out of her mouth.
Adnan had spent the bulk of the day hunting down rocks. Which wasn't something he really ever thought he would have to do, but it hadn't felt wasted. He'd found a few potential stones that would hopefully chip well enough to be fashioned into axes. It was what he was working on as someone approached from the side and spoke. He looked up from the rocks between his knees and gave Analiese a smile. "Evening," he greeted, and reached out to take the jacket out of her hand. He hadn't even missed it, really, except a little at night. But it did more good on someone with less clothes than on him.
"Thanks for lettin' me borrow that," she said after she'd taken the mint brush out of her mouth and tossed it in the general direction of the fire. "I meant to give it back to you sooner." She settled herself on the ground next to him, pulling her knees up to her chest and offering him one of the mint stalks. "Want one? It's kinda like a toothbrush. I'm not sayin' you need it," she added hastily. She figured everyone would be glad to know there was something they could use to keep from having the feeling that fur was growing on their teeth and tongues from not brushing. "What're you doing?" she asked him.
He set the rocks in his hands down and wiped them on his jeans -- not that that did much good -- to take the mint stalk from her. He examined it up close, and sniffed it. "Trying out different types of rock I found, to see what would work best to fashion into axes," he said absently in the meantime. "You're welcome, however. And can borrow it any time you like." He figured she likely needed it more than he did, after all. He put the plant-thing in his mouth and started to move it around with a quizzical look on his face.
"I had to wash my sweater after I put fish in it today," she said, "but usually I can wear that. Thanks, though." Most people wouldn't have offered a piece of their clothing to someone they'd just met; that had been extremely nice of him. Analiese had to smile as she watched his dubious expression as he used the mint brush. "The little spikes kinda clean your teeth, and then when you bite into it, it tastes like mint," she offered, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Axes... I guess to cut down trees?" She was babbling, something she had the tendency to do sometimes, unfortunately.
Adnan reached up to fish the little minty pod-seed thing out of his mouth, and then rubbed it on the front of his teeth in a more concentrated way. He'd been using just a corner of his shirt dipped in water, but he had to admit this tasted better. He grunted at Analiese's question and nodded. "Yes, hopefully. We need better shelters than the lean-tos can offer." He paused then, looking at her. "How did your fishing expedition go?" he asked, mostly because his stomach was protesting not having much put in it today. He bit the mint pod and swished. It was pretty tasty.
Analiese would have to agree with him on that. "I'd love to have a roof, even one as basic as that," she said, nodding toward the lean-to where Jasper and the two small children had been sleeping. "It feels so open just sleepin' out here." At least she had her pillow and comforter; she knew some people didn't even have that. She glanced at him when he asked about the fish. "Good! Me and Helena caught a bunch, and some other people did too. I think there's some leftovers in that pot." It was nestled into the ashes at the very edge of the fire, not more than a yard away from where they were sitting.
Hunger overcame good manners, and Adnan stared at the pot for a second before he got up and went to it. He scooped some of it up with one of the big broad leaves that some people were using for plates and then went back to where Analiese was. "I'm going to need to brush my teeth again," he told her with a little smile. But started to dig in anyway. Then picked the conversation back up. "Yes, I've been tossing the idea of one large communal building around, with smaller dwellings for individuals. Something sturdy in case the weather turns, but privacy as well," he said in between bites.
"Well, there's plenty of toothbrushes now," Analiese said philosophically. Maybe it could make up for the fact that they hadn't had any before; she couldn't imagine being in the shoes of those people who'd gone three weeks or so without being able to brush their teeth. Several days had been bad enough. She nodded at his idea, liking it a lot. "I'd feel a lot safer if there was a buildin'," she said. "It'd be nice to have a table to eat at, too." Like a mess hall or communal dining room. Anything. Analiese wasn't enamored of roughing it.
He grunted an agreement, as that had been along his line of thinking as well. He was fond of the idea of a communal house. Any place for people to gather together was a good thing, in his mind. He ate a bit more fish and then set the pot aside, wiping his fingers on his jeans. He didn't want to stuff himself, he knew his stomach had to get used to eating steadily again. His diet on the road was flaky at best, very sparse at worst. "We will build you a large sturdy building and a table. And perhaps a basin strictly for teeth-brushing," he said expansively, giving her a smile. He felt good about things.
Analiese beamed at him. All the men she'd met here so far were so nice. She was sure that some of them had to be jerks, but she hadn't had any contact with that type yet. "Indoor plumbing would be nice too," she suggested, though she had no idea how they could accomplish that. She might as well ask for a bidet, something she'd only seen in the movies before. "I know, I know," she added, though he hadn't said anything disparaging. "But I was never even a Girl Scout! This is hard to get used to."
Adnan laughed a bit. Indoor plumbing, now that would be a challenge. Probably much more of one than this girl had any concept of. He didn't hold it against her, however. It was kind of endearing. "You'll adapt, I'm sure," he told her with an amused smile. He settled forward on his knees again to start chipping away at the rock. He'd found a good area that had plenty of it across the river, and planned to go back the next day and hopefully find chunks big enough to work axes out of. "What was your home like?" he asked, glancing up at Analiese again.
Analiese didn't have much of a choice but to adapt. Didn't mean she had to like it, though. At least he wasn't rolling his eyes at her like her brothers tended to do. She watched him work on his axeblade, idly twirling one of the mint brushes between her fingers. "Nice," she said with a sigh. "In the mountains, away from town but not a far drive to get to anything, really. Crowded. I have a big family and we all live in one house." Lived. Well, they still did and she didn't. That was so strange to think about.
He made a humming sort of sound and nodded. Hearing things like that didn't quite make him miss home, but they did color things with that faint bittersweetness. Before they'd all been taken from him, he'd known the joy of living with your entire family. He knew he should count himself lucky, and he did. He just missed it, was all. "How big?" he asked of Analiese then, glancing up once more. He liked listening to other people speak of their families. It was living vicariously a little, but there wasn't any harm. And maybe she would like to remember them while she was here.
"Three brothers and a sister, all younger," she told him. "Two parents. That's a lot for one house." She'd often been irritated with her living situation, had even entertained thoughts of moving in with Luke before they'd broken up... even though she would have never heard the last of it from her parents and grandparents until the end of time. Probably a good thing she'd never gotten around to it. She actually didn't want to think about them too much, because the homesickness was really beginning to hit. "What about you?" she asked. "You were travelin', but do you have family somewhere?"
Adnan stopped chipping away to look up and give her a gentle little smile. "Not anymore, no," he told her, and settled back on his knees a bit. "I did, at one time, two sisters, my parents ... plenty of cousins. But they're all dead now. Ten years ago, give or take. It was the reason I fled Iraq." He nodded a bit. His tone wasn't self-pitying or seeming to seek sympathy, with only a tinge of wistfulness to it. He'd dealt with it, long ago. He'd had to in order to survive. She'd asked, and he never liked to beat around the bush about it. He gave her a reassuring smile.
All of them were dead? Analiese wasn't quite sure what to say to that. The reason he left Iraq. Okay, that made concepts that were abstract to her leap vividly to life, like war and senseless violence. "I'm sorry," she murmured, trying to smile back at him but not entirely succeeding. How terrible. How would anyone be able to live with that? Much, she suspected, like they'd learned to live with suddenly being here. Because they had no choice in the matter.
"Don't be," he said, though he was aware that there wasn't much choice for a response on the other end. He knew that he would say the same thing in the face of a revelation like that. "It was a long time ago, and they lived full while they were here." He was quiet for a beat, then focused in on her again. "What did you do, before ... all this?" he asked, making a vague gesture around. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and that was old enough for an occupation. It was a different subject, at least.
It was the question she always hated, but somehow it didn't seem so bad right now when this man had just told her his entire family was dead; that made her little matter of a lack of true career pretty insignificant. "I worked in the garden center at Lowe's... it's a home improvement store. It was nice bein' out with all the plants, I guess." She knew there were much worse jobs she could've had. Working drive thru at a fast food place would have been one of them.
Adnan nodded, not looking like he thought that was a lame job at all. Quite the contrary, if anybody knew that work was work, and it was all worthwhile, it was him. "Yes, I've been in a couple of them," he told her with a smile. "Do you enjoy plants, or was it just something to pay the bills?" Not that he was going to judge, he was just curious. He himself had a black thumb, he killed pretty much any plant that had the bad luck to cross his path.
"A little of both," Analiese said without really having to think about it. "It was nice to arrange the displays out there, work with all that green stuff. I was always gettin' dirty, but that was okay because we had indoor plumbing, unlike here." She smiled and shrugged. "You were travelin' around... did you take jobs sometimes?" she asked. She guessed he would have to, that or steal things, and he really didn't seem like the type for that. He seemed straightforward just from the little she'd seen of him thus far.
"Oh yes," he said, nodding again. "Construction, very often. You would be surprised how many men who do that kind of work don't have any solid home. But it taught me quite a lot about building, so hopefully it will come in handy here." He started rearranging the stones in front of him. He started a Viable pile and a Reject pile. It didn't take too long to sort them out. "Maybe you can give us tips on working with green stuff here," he offered, glancing up at Analiese with a little smile. "Even without indoor plumbing."
"Most of it's not really green," she pointed out, "but I could always try." She still hadn't settled on anything she could take charge of or do to be helpful-- beyond handing out toothbrush plants today-- but maybe she would. Lightning illuminated the sky overhead, and Analiese flinched a little. She thought they were probably in for it at sometime during the night, but there was no real help for it. There weren't enough lean-tos for everyone, and those who were outside of one would have to duck for cover elsewhere, she supposed.
That was true, and Adnan chuckled a bit. Before the lightning flash, anyway. He looked up at the sky with one dark eye squinted. It was going to storm, most likely. He hoped it wouldn't be too bad. Not that he had any idea what to expect from a storm in this place, but none of them needed a bad one. "Hope that hits before dark," he murmured, then looked at Analiese again. If it got bad, he could sleep under one of the carts, he supposed. "Roofs can't come too soon," he added with a grim little smile.
"Yeah, I know," she said, trying not to look nervous. It was fine when the weather was good. Then, it didn't really bother her to sleep outside. But when storms were on the horizon, that just reminded her of how vulnerable they really were out here. With a sigh, she hauled herself up from her seated position. "Guess I'm gonna go hand the rest of these out," she said. Once she'd done that, she supposed she'd get ready for bed. Nothing else to do out here once darkness fell.
"All right," he said, looking up at her and offering a smile. Really, there wasn't much else he could do for her at the moment, but he was glad she'd come over to chat. His mouth felt fresher, at least, and that was always a plus. "See you around," he told her, and didn't even really catch the irony there. It wasn't like they could do anything but see each other around, after all.
"'Night, Adnan," she said, giving him a little wave with her free hand and then turning with her handful of mint brush to see who else might want one. Really, it was the small things that made all the difference in a situation like this, she thought.