Adventuring: Best Done in Pairs Who: Nefertiti and Coop ( plus Tripper ) When: Afternoon Where: The camp, then the rocks in the center of the island What: Tripper makes a discovery!
Even with an early morning run and a check-up of Afriti the Ungoat, Nefertiti still felt a familiar itching in her bones. She was just getting awful restless hanging around the camp, even if she had been hard at work constructing lean-tos. Today was a day for exploration then, and hopefully the exploration would bring about something good for the whole group. Hmmmm. But who to take? Aaron was building, Ryan was making, and Luc? Well, she hadn't seen him since last night. The new arrival ( Coop was it? ) had a dog and looked friendly enough, but most importantly looked like she could take care of herself. She stepped out of the lean-to and twisted to the side, sighing when the bones in her spine popped. Today was going to be a good day, she could feel it. Nefertiti lazily headed to the center of the camp, ripping off a small piece of meat left behind and chewing in thought. Her fast metabolism didn't really approve of the meager offering, but it was better than nothing. It was here she waited for the tell-tale sounds of a dog being out and about.
Tripper was not the same dog today as he had been the day before. There was no excited bounding or exclamatory barking. There was very little tail wagging, except for when Coop patted his head. Essentially it had all been fun and games the day before, despite the weather, until the laughing had started. She and Tripper had bunked down under the carts with Adnan, Aaron and Deiliah again. It had been freezing but better since she had Adnan's jacket to borrow. The animals on the other side of the water hadn't kept her up too long but whenever she did crack her eyes open in the night it had been to witness her poor domestic mutt tense with worry. His big brown eyes fastened on the further shore. Whatever had drifted to his big floppy ears had left him with a sense of disquiet that he wasn't shaking off easily.
As a result, Tripper had been demonstrating the origins of his name quite well all morning. Wherever Coop turned, there he was. Behind her knees, underfoot. He'd even brought her right down to the ground more than once. They'd done some chores around the camp and made a few trips back and forth with some of that shale for flagstoning the lean-to floor that Aaron and Adnan were building. The one they said was going to go to Deliah. Coop was happy to help with the carrying. There weren't enough tools to go around so really it was the best help she could provide. She'd found the largest peices of shale that she could spot in the rocky center of the island and carried them back, neatly stacking them to the side as the guys paced out the size of the new lean-to and Irish sat nearby, bundling the thatching.
By the time she broke for lunch and got Tripper a bowl of water, she was about ready to strangle him. Seizing him by the jangly collar she rubbed his head in frustration. "What's with you, dummy?" she asked in frustrated and amused tones. "Yesterday you were having the time of your life!"
Ah-ha! There it was. The jingling of dog tags. Nefertiti stood up and looked around, honing in on the form of Coop and the dog. She took a few determined steps towards them then paused, momentarily losing her confidence. Here she was about to stride up to someone she never met, a world apart from the girl who awkwardly sat in the front of the classroom to avoid the off-chance that someone talked to her. Well dammit she was thirty-three years old not some unsure student, she knew she had a great smile and that was just going to have to do. Now with a rod of steel run through her backbone Nefertiti continued on her path, taking large determined strides as to not lose her momentum. It had never occurred to her that she had gone up to Aaron without a second-thought.
She halted a few feet away, not wanting to invade any personal space that the woman might have. As soon as she stopped she called out, " Y'all doing anything today? I'm just lookin' for someone to go out on the island with me. Been building lots but I'm not much for staying in one place. " Nefertiti shot Coop a big grin and thrust her hands on her hips, letting any fear of rejection slip away from her.
Coop looked up when someone drawled a question in her direction. She looked up from the dog and brushed some of her wild dark hair out of her eyes to regard this new acquaintence. "I was carrying rocks but I could probably take a walk if you don't mind me being slow." She twitched aside the hem of her maxi dress to reveal bare toes. She even wiggled them. "No shoes." She was already feeling the lack of them. She'd stepped on rocks and twigs and stubbed her toes more than once. What she wouldn't give for a nice and solid pair of steel toed boots, even if they were heavy as hell. She jacked a thumb at the dog. "And Tripper will have to come along. He's acting really funny today." The dog was in a total state of passive avoidance. He was sitting on the ground close to Coop's legs and refusing to even look in Nefertiti's direction.
" I don't mind one penny bit! If we go slow then we can enjoy the surroundings and keep a look out for any salvage. Tripper may even be of use! " Noting the dog's stress, Nefertiti walked carefully forward and crouched down when she was just a few inches away. She reached out her fingertips to the dog's nose and tilted her head. " I can only imagine he's scared right out of his mind. Confused and muddled to what the hell is going on. " Nefertiti looked up to Coop, her expression much more gentle than the grin there previously. " But dogs are right adaptable creatures, even if it takes a little time. They can't survive any other way. " She wiped her hands on already grubby jeans as she stood and held one of them out to the other woman, " I'm Nefertiti, and it's a pleasure to meet you...? "
[p Nefertiti? Coop managed not to blink at the colourful name. Then again, if any one out of their number could pass for one of the old queens of northeastern Africa, it was the woman in front of her. Even if she was dressed more like a cowgirl at the moment. Still, she took Nefertiti's offered hand and shook. "I'm Coop," she said with a smile. She rubbed between Tripper's ears to encourage him to stop pretending like the other woman wasn't there and go make friends. "And this charming fellow is Tripper," she chuckled as the large brown hound finally gave up the ghost and sniffed Nefertiti before licking her fingers in one long swipe. She even managed to get a couple of switches of his tail.
A grin quickly spread across Nefertiti's face as Tripper relaxed. " Well then! Seems he's getting right accustomed! " Looking down at her shoes for a moment, then to Coop's bare feet, then back to her shoes ( okay, there were steel-toed cowboy boots ), she sighed and gave Coop a defeated smile, " Well Coop, I hate for you to be walkin' across sharp rocks with nothing so though it may seem a little nasty, I can offer up to you my long thick socks. Blisters come and go, besides, my feet are so calloused I can barely feel a thang anyway. We can always wash them too. I heard about some soap pods? " Nefertiti glanced around for a good rock to use to pull her boots off, already decided to give Coop her socks even if she protested
Muted alarm and uncertainty crossed Coop's face at the offer of Nefertiti's socks, the socks she'd been living in for the past several days. "Um," she said as her stomach turned a bit at the thought. "That's very nice of you but I think I'll pass." She glanced down at Tripper to see that the dog was looking back up at her expectantly. "I guess we should just see how far I can make it." She didn't know what it was, but something about Nefertiti's casual good cheer was making her uneasy. Somehow it seemed like a tone of conversation that was perfectly in place at a park back in the world they knew. Met at the local market or something. Here, though? Just days after arriving in this strange, empty world? Why was Nefertiti so capable of grinning? As much as Coop wanted to grin back, there was a growing suspicion in the back of her mind.
Nefertiti stopped looking around and briefly frowned. Well alright, if she wanted to suffer the consequences of bare feet because the socks were a bit sweaty, then that was her choice.She knew if SHE was walking around barefoot she would want anything to protect her, no matter the cost. Surviving came first, prissiness last. " I guess so. No daylight waste, so let's start moving. " First tilting her head to indicate the direction Nefertiti started to walk in a brisk manner, not wanting to waste any effort. The lazy grin was gone, replaced with a mask of determination. In her head, work had just begun.
Coop took in the brisk walk and saw that any promises of going slow had gone in one ear and out the other. Perhaps a bit of revenge for not taking the woman up on her offer? Coop had no idea, but she wasn't about to fail to rise to the challenge. The dog looked to her for any indication of what he ought to be doing and Coop nodded after Nefertiti. "Well we said she'd go, right?" she whispered to him before setting out after the bold adventurer. Tripper, as always, was right behind her.
Once they were out of the camp's sight Nefertiti's pace slowed to the easy walk she had mentioned earlier. Here was unfamiliar territory and terrain and it would not do to just blunder about. With Coop's bare feet in mind she did try to avoid sharp rocks but sometimes it was just inevitable. " So Coop, what didja do back on Earth? Right lucky your dog came along. My parents have a pitbull named Sugar Bear, and his name is certainly fitting. Sweetest damn thing on Earth. We saved him from a fighting ring. " Though her voice sounded carefree Nefertiti herself was quite tense and nervous. It was taking all of her courage not to flee back to the safety of the camp.
Coop, who was definitely used to forging into unknown places, kept her eyes peeled on the ground and an ear cocked for the dog. Once they were around the bend in the shoreline away from camp he perked up a bit. She wondered if it was the miasma of all of the scared and uncertain people that was getting him antsy. After all, dogs were so likely to react to vibes. "I was a long haul truck driver," she said. "Intercontinental, actually. I'd pull loads all the way down to Central America." She patted Tripper as he checked in with her before lopping off to explore the shoreline. "Yeah, I'm really lucky he came. He wouldn't have lasted more than a few hours in the truck by himself." Dog fights were horrible things and she'd seen them im person down at the bottom of Mexico. "He's lucky he got saved. Most of those dogs are perfectly fine house pets. Just their experiences that makes them mean."
Nefertiti grinned at the mention of Coop's profession, " A long haul truck driver? That sounds right exciting! Especially intercontinental, I would of loved to see different countries. " When dog fighting was brought back up her grin faded, " Aint that the truth. When you are born and raised to fight and just kill kill kill it's hard to break away from that. I officially worked at the clinic in the ASPCA and it was a big bust, a puppy mill. A lot of the pit bulls had to be put down. " She frowned at the memory. The wounds on those animals had been the worst she had ever seen, both mental and physical. A subject change was definitely in order. With a faint smile she asked, " How did you come upon Tripper? "
"Oh, he's a pound mutt. I got him when he was about four months old. The last of his litter to be adopted out. The ladies at the shelter said they found them on the stoop in a box in winter." She shook her head. "Even people who think they're doing the right thing can lower themselves to amazing cruelty. He was alright though," she said with fondness for his mutt. "It was during a three month layover in Toronto. I was working at a logistics hub, slinging skids. We were crammed into the tiniest bachelor apartment ever. Every time I turned around in there I tripped over him. Hence his name." It was easy to talk about her dog. He was easily her best friend.
Next time Tripper came back to check in Nefertiti gave him a fond pat on the head. " Now he does sound like something right special! I just havta agree on the cruelty bit. I think a lot of it is just ignorance. You think it would be common sense that a dog would freeze outside in winter, just like a person would. " She paused and gave Coop a defeated smile, " But a lot people back home seemed to be missing that little thing called common sense. " Nefertiti stopped and peered at the horizon. There was a defined little speck. After pointing out said speck to Coop she started to head in the direction of it.
Nodding grimmly she carried on with Nefertiti, careful to watch the ground for painful objects. "So what did you do back home?" she asked. She couldn't really guess from looking at the woman. It could have been anything, to be sure. "Did you leave a lot of family?" Something about Nefertiti said a busy home with lots of folks. Coop could relate to that, or at least, she'd been able to when she was younger. Lately, her entire family had been far flung. It was sad, not seeing her brothers or mother very often but when they did get together it was awesome, to say the least.
"I was a horse trainer! Planning on starting a stud farm, actually. Officially I was a vet tech, but that was just a way to make money, you know? " Nefertiti had brightened immediately when asked her profession. Her excitement became shadowed with sorrow when asked about her family back home. " Oh, yeah. Two sisters, a brother, ma 'n pa, aunts 'n uncles and then of course people who aint related to us all but they were still considered to be blood. My sister, Ebony, was pregnant, and my brother was 'bout to graduate medical school. " Tilting her head to glance over at Coop, she asked " You? The family part I mean. "
Coop, also, had brightened at the idea of a horse trainer. "Have you gone to check out the grazers much? It'd be cool is we could ride them and teach them to pull things." Her smile didn't dim when asked about her family. Her father had been the only homebody in the bunch and he'd gone on to the Great Final Home when she was still a kid. It wasn't too unusual for her to not see them for long stretches. "My mom's a potter and as hippy as they come," she chuckled just thinking of her rather vintage Boho appearance. "She's always traveled a lot with art shows and learning native techniques from remote tribes and cultures all over the world. I have three brothers, two older and one younger. Shale and Forrest, the older ones, are nuts. They own an adventure travel company based in New Zealand now. So they take people base jumper and deep sea diving with great white sharks and all sorts of crazy things," she couldn't help but smile fondly. Of course, she did those things with her brothers when she could afford the vacation time. She always had the best times with them. "Rye, the youngest, is attending Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. I guess you could say he's the most tied down out of all of us but once he gets his Forestry degree he's hoping to be all over Canada working with the government on it's preservation projects." She could babble about her siblings all day long and it really distracted her from the walk.
" Sounds like a busy bunch! All y'all seem to have the itchin' to travel. Like I sai- " Quickly grabbing Coop's arm Nefertiti roughly pulled her back, stumbling back herself with the effort. Right in Coop's path had been a deep hole, probably a burrow entrance or something like that. Last thing they needed was a twisted or a broken ankle, or worse, something coming out of that hole and biting the intruding, bare foot. She clenched her teeth in futile anger at what might of been but that quickly gave way to a sigh and a relieved expression. Family was distractin' alright, she didn't fault Coop for that. Nefertiti rubbed her hand over her heart, trying to assuage the phantom ache. Even though she already knew the answer she asked, " You alright? "
Unsure about exactly what had spooked the woman at first, Coop's heart lept up into her throat and cut off the yelp that had threatened to escape her. She'd seen the hole, of course she had. She'd had her eyes on the ground nearly the whole walk to be sure she didn't put her feet down on any sharp rocks or the like. Nefertiti's alarmist reaction spooked her though and she felt a peculiar jelly-like feeling in her stomach. Like maybe she'd almost done something deadly and wrong by shifting her weight to step over the hole in the ground. "Yeah," she said, sounding slightly out of breath. "Fine."
Nefertiti sighed again and gave Coop a remorseful frown, " Sorry if I overreacted. Been here not too long, you know? Leaving the safety of the camp puts me right on edge. Just don't know enough about this place to feel safe in it. " She turned to continue walking, deciding to keep up the chatter to keep down any residue fear. " As for the grazers? Naw, nobody has taken me to 'em yet. I reckon if you think they're just like horses I could probably give breaking them ago. Would have to look into making a halter, at the very least. " Patting her rear for emphasis, she continued " Skinny asses would just have to suffer bareback. "
Coop smiled. "I've seen them. They're all over the spring at night. They all seem to show up there and shove each other around, trying to get close enough to drink out of that natural stone trough up there." She carefully skirted some broken rock on the path. "They really do look like some crossbred between cows, horses and giraffes. They're so much taller than a normal horse, you know? I think even the really tall guys like Cross or Aaron or Adnan," the faintest ghost of a smile twitched the corners of her mouth upward, "would need to step up on something to mount up on one."
She nodded quickly, her mind already starting to work out how to go about this. Coop said they were real friendly, right? Humans probably hadn't even showed themselves to be a natural predator then. Points on the good side. Tall, hm, minor problem. Just get a chunk of wood or something like that. Had she seen someone with vines? Would have to ask around for something that could be shaped. Hopefully something soft for the bit, the grazer's mouths were probably delicate. Belatedly she smiled at Coop, briefly breaking her train of thought, " Thanks for the info. Will most certainly definitely look into these things, probably poke one of the people who has been here the longest to tell me more. They sound like they are quite a sight! I can only imagine the relief a mount or a pack animal would bring to the tribe. "
"Yeah," Coop said. "I hear there are lots of resources back at the forest that they used to live in. Long walk from here, but maybe a ride wouldn't be so bad." After all, these creatures had longer strides than horses. She wondered if that meant they could run faster? Then again, an elephant had a longer stride than a horse but they were bulkier. Not faster. "Um, best place to see them is at the spring at sundown. Just follow the path out of camp. It's pretty easy to find." She herself had already explored there. She supposed Nefertiti hadn't really strayed far since she'd arrived.
" I'll definitely try to get there tonight or tomorrow night. " Nefertiti peered at their destination as they got closer, quietly amazed with how large it was in reality. Mentally she chided herself for THAT, of course it was large, they saw it from miles away! She wondered what might be living there. It was the only big source of shade for a long while, and she would be surprised if something hadn't claimed it as home. Curiously she asked Coop, " Whattaya think is in there? "
Coop tilted her head slightly as she contemplated the strange pile of stones. "Well, Adnan mentioned that these rock piles are all over the grasslands. Or at least, that they've been seen here and there. At almost all of them, there is a clear running spring. If there's no spring, or maybe even if there is, maybe there's monkeys? I hear there are tiny rock-dwelling monkeys on the island." She was kind of curious about them. Everyone loved monkeys, after all. "But Kenneth says they are nocturnal, so maybe we won't see any."
As they neared, Nefertiti desperately tried to make out the tiny moving shapes. Monkeys? These looked like something moving on two long skinny legs. At least she hoped they were legs. " Huh. These are not moving like monkeys. Maybe it's something new? And a spring would be just lovely, no matter what's there. " She tipped back her hat and glared at the strange sun, her arms feeling crispier by the second, her throat drier than old bones. Nefertiti glanced at Tripper and noticed his tongue hanging out, and she could only imagine the stress on Coop's feet. " If it's something peaceful or friendly, we'll take a break there, most definitely. "
Coop nodded, she'd definitely been feeling the burn of thirst the past few minutes. She wiped at the dampness along her hairline with the back on her hand and gathered up her long skirt to get a move on. "Guess we should get a little closer and see if it's safe." There was no real way to see if anything was all that safe here though, was there? "I kind of wish I had a leash for Tripper though." Lord knew what she'd do if he chased after something that breathed fire or spat acid or something. She shuddered despite the heat. A few yards closer brought sounds that were easily distinguished as avian. "Are they birds?" she asked even as Tripper froze, his whole body quivering in sudden excitement. She reached forward and seized his collar even as he was about to propel himself into the midst of the bevvy of blue bodies scattered around a rock pile almost as tall as their own camp spring. "No!" she said in a horse whisper to the dog.
She nodded in response to Coop's question, " Definitely avian, by the sound and the look of it... well, I reckon if they were mean they woulda noticed us by now. Aggressive animals are usually always watching and spoiling for a fight. " With that said, Nefertiti walked up to the strange birds with the utmost confidence and let out a sigh of relief when the creatures started to curiously head towards her. The sigh turned into a childish giggle when they started to inspect her jeans by pecking at the fabric and experimentally rubbing their heads against it. She tossed a grin over her shoulder at Coop and gestured for her to come along, now that she was sure they weren't going to attack. Nefertiti hoped the faint rushing she heard was water. Today would end up to be a great day if it was! Though after a moment's thought she supposed that finding these strange long-legged birds would make the day amazing just by itself.
Coop hung back a little, unwilling to trust the strange animals so completely as well as in order to control her dog who wanted to wade in to their midst with much less delicacy. "Um...uh..." She tightened her hold on his collar as he nearly knocked her off of her feet. "Don't they look....sort of ugly?" She'd never argue that their beautiful blue shades weren't gorgeous but the birds sported notably knobby knees and broad flat heads with curious long hooked beaks. They regarded the two of them with enormous eyes practically planted at the sides of their head. She turned her dark eyes upward to see if any of the creatures were flying overhead but the entire local population seemed to be on the ground in the immediate area. She nodded at the rock pile. "There is a little trickle, yeah. Not as big as our spring though." And no stone basin to catch the water. The base of the rocks was a boggy mess full of bird feces and mud.
" Yeah, I guess I can see how they might seem ugly. But to me, they are just damn interesting! Well... " Nefertiti looked over and grinned at Coop, " You do the honors of naming them. " She perched on a rock despite the horrible stinking mess with the stupidest grin on her face. If anything she loved to learn and discover and damn if this place wasn't just perfect for that pleasure. A whole new world to name and study and understand and protect. It was a challenge, sure, but she was up to it! No way she would let anyone ruin this place like they had Earth with their concrete and smog. It was irrational to blame her ancestors for not knowing the effects of their causes but she just couldn't help it.
Tripper was getting harder and harder to hold on to but she kept her grip on him. "Well," she said. "I guess...they kind of look like ostriches. But they also...see how they stand on one leg there? That's kind of like flamingos, right? And their feathers are really bright." It was strange to see such rich and true blues. "Maybe we should call them fostriches?" She shrugged, blushing at her terrible naming skills.
Nefertiti patted Coop on the back as reassurance, saying " It's good! I like it. Simple, sure, but it gives people an idea of what exactly what we saw! " She stood up and wiped her hands on jeans that were quickly passing the "dirty" stage and entering "absolutely grimy". Nefertiti could tolerate a lot of disgusting things, but she hated being disgusting herself. A bath and a clothes wash was definitely in order. " We could probably take some eggs back to camp for a meal if you want. Not all of them, obviously, don't wanna deplete the source but some. " The bird's plumage was quite lovely and she eyed the feathers in a coveting manner. Oh how lovely they would look in her hair. Or in anyone's hair. They would bring the dusk sky to be a frame for someone's face!
Nodding, Coop edged toward a nearby nest. Two of the fostriches tilted their brightly coloured heads but she didn't hint so much as a bit of mistrust. She gathered up her long skirt and bent to pluck one egg of the four nestled into the mounded nest on the ground. Depositing it in the hamper made from her dress, she moved on to the next nest. When she had a solid two dozen on hand, she turned to Nefertiti and nodded back the way they had come. "We should probably get back with these." Her eye was caught by a bright cobalt tail feather stuck in the mud near Nefertiti's foot. "Maybe bring that feather back to show people?" The colour certainly was stunning.
She murmured " Sounds good. " before bending down to pick up the stunning feather and carefully grasp it between her fingers. The way it shimmered in the light when she held it up to the sun was just beautiful. The morning hadn't been a waste at all, but damned if she was tired. Looking to Coop and smiling she said, " Alright. Let's begin the trek back home. You can tell me all the neat stories about truck driving and it will seem like we were back in no time! "