[Zeke in in his shelter ofter a long, dark night and is still on the floor on top of a mat without any covering whatsoever.] -07:04 May 09
[Ava is sleeping. Which is good, because it took her quite awhile to fall asleep!] -07:09 May 09
Ava: Camping out in the wilderness and sleeping on things less than a nice fluffy mattress wasn’t a problem for Ava. But getting to sleep when it was pitch black, while you could -swear- you felt the tree swaying in the wind and strange predator-like noises outside? Not so much. Nor did it help that she couldn’t turn off her brain and was spending way too much time pondering the life and fate of a lost naked human in a jungle full of zoots. Now she was good and out, throwing an arm over her face to block out the creeping sunlight and mumbling about needing a few more hours of sleep. -07:14 May 09
Zeke: Bur she wouldn’t be allowed to sleep as Zeke was stirring and on a bed of sand and flat stones a fire was being coaxed into life. There was a bowl of herbs and another of water that was being set in a frame above the flames and as soon the a herbs were added to the water thier amoma filled the shelter, also just after sunrise a zoot visited with a paste that was set next to the fire as zeke yawned. Today was a big day and the star was still sleeping. -07:21 May 09
Ava: The sounds she could ignore, but the smell she couldn’t. Her eyes were still closed when her mouth twisted up in that thoughtful pondering way, trying to decipher what scents were in the mix besides that nice burn of fire. Finally her curiosity got the better of her and she leaned to take a peek. Wearily sitting up to run her fingers through her hair and peer at him a bit confused, but definitely interested. "…is it a good idea to burn stuff when you’re in a big giant tree?" -07:25 May 09
Zeke: He looked at her then at the fire and shrugged. "Never burned tree yet." the lifted the bowl from the fire and placed it in front og her, it would help wake her up and give her the energy she needed, the paste was also put in fron of her to eat then Zeke was standing a stretching to het a bag of sand to poar over the fire to extinquish it. "Eat, drink, ceremony soon. Whole village almost ready. Cannot know hoe long it will take." -07:33 May 09
Ava: "Sounds ominous." Ava didn’t know what to expect with the whole ceremony thing, and almost wished she had a little time to know whether or not it’d be a good idea… But she never had a problem jumping in head first before, she wouldn’t stop now. She dipped a finger in the paste and eyed it dubiously before sticking in her mouth for a taste. "Am I going to get any hints about it, or is it pretty normal to have no idea what you’re doing?" -07:39 May 09
Zeke: He looked at her. "You know too much." he sat back down and stretched out his legs. "Before ceremony I hunt and bathe, you can come." he rubbed his shoulder easing a little stiffness and sighed. "Once ceremony begins we cannot talk until over." -07:45 May 09
Zeke: He looked at her. "You know too much." he sat back down and stretched out his legs. "Before ceremony I hunt and bathe, you can come." he rubbed his shoulder easing a little stiffness and sighed. "Once ceremony begins we cannot talk until over." -07:45 May 09
Ava: Ava gave him an incredulous look before she laughed. "I know too much, huh! That’s kinda funny since I don’t know much at all." she was still grinning when she took a sip of the liquid… and cough! Okay, that wasn’t so good. Blech. Ava swallowed it down as quickly as she could anyway. "I guess splashing around last night was not much of a real bath… What are we going to hunt today?" -07:50 May 09
Zeke: "What the predator not already killed." he said before standing and moving over to the door to pull open the flap covering it and looking over the villagethat was in full swing he was waiting for Ava to finishe eating and gaging how long it would be until the right time to be back. -07:55 May 09
Ava: "Things that are too small for a killdozing predator to notice, gotcha." Ava wanted to see this damn predator. …or didn’t want to see. Her curiosity about it was pretty strong, but at the same time to buildup of expectation and terror about it was creating quite a monster in her head. Ava ate as quickly as possible, seeing as there was a full agenda for the day. And when she was done, she was tugging on her boots and snatching up her bag to follow after him. -07:58 May 09
Zeke: "killdozing…" a work he didn’t get, but ava was ready and so it was time to go. He headed towards the platform they had jumped from previously, it was after all the fastest way down and Ava had done it once before so there shouldn’t be a problem. He didn’t even slow down when he snatched up a bundle of spears and slung them on his back and started jogging aling the bridge to the platform. -08:14 May 09
Ava: Oh gods of planets everywhere, he was moving too damned fast on these surely dangerous death trap bridges! "Wait, wait, wait wait…! I’d like to get through here without plummeting to my doom!" Ava refused to rush. Rushing meant bad footing and bad footing meant tripping. She had no pretenses about assuming herself graceful. -08:21 May 09
Zeke: He stopped and turned. "Maybe no shoes you can go faster." he said holding out his hand to her in the middle of the bridge. "No worry, I hold on, not let go." he smiled slightly without realizing and waited for her to catch up. -08:28 May 09
Ava: "We’ve had this sensitive skin convo before." The moment she reached him she grabbed a hold of his hand. At least if she fell he’d set her up right again. It was the jump that was gonna suck. "Do we really have to do the jumping thing again? There’s no other way down? It’s just… I don’t exactly have a lot of fears, but we seem to be tapping on to all of them here!" -08:31 May 09
Zeke: He paused and then looked at her. Zoot not afraid, Zeke not afraid…" he continued walking to the platfor. "If you want,, you have have baby way down." he reached the platform and pulled a rope towards Ava. "Hold on and jump." it would deposit her on the bank, and was the usual meathod of getting down while carrying a baby. -08:41 May 09
Ava: Somehow her pride was a little bit hurt just because it was called the baby way down. She knew perfectly well it wasn’t any sort of comment about her, but it bit a little. Zoots not afraid, Zeke not afraid… Ava really shouldn’t be afraid either. Regardless of whether or not it was a totally legit fear! "Nononono, that’s okay. I did it once, I can do it again, right? Right. The you holding on and not letting go offer is still on the table, though?" -08:46 May 09
Zeke: "Tabe?" he looked down at thier joined hands and raised them to look at them curiously. "Zoot no use tables, eat on floor, in circle, sometimes mat if wood is new and splinters." he looked at her curiously. "You want table in shelter?" he would have to wee about getting metal for nails… zoots didn’t normally have them. -09:24 May 09
Ava: "I – No. It’s an expression." It was easy to forget he wouldn’t understand turn of phrases like that. It made her grin and almost laugh again. "I don’t need a table, I can adjust. I just meant I’d like to hold your hand still when we make this crazy stupid jump cause I’m a paranoid idiot and it’d make me feel better." -09:31 May 09
Zeke: Well that was… fast and confusing. But he did understand that she said she couldn’t make the jump alone, so letting go of her hand he picled her up bridal style and stepped over to the edge of the pflatform and then simply stepped off carrying her down with him and landing with a splash. It seemed like the easiest, quickest, and safest solution when they didn’t have all the time he’d like to get food. -09:44 May 09
Ava: "Wait – gaaaah!" Ava was expecting a little prep time! Which left her squealing and clinging on to his neck all the way down until there was that cold hit of water. Even then she didn’t let go, not even when they were bobbing back to the surface and she was giving him a started scowl. "A warning would have nice!" -09:49 May 09
[(Timeout) Zeke doesn’t post enough.] -10:18 May 09
[Zeke enters.] -10:30 May 09
Zeke: "You knew we would." he said wading to the bank and then setting her down and shaking his wet hair out as best he could. The he drew a spear from the bundle on his back and looked around ears pricked for movement. "Ever hunted?" he asked. -10:31 May 09
Ava: "Knowing and being prepaired are two different things." Man, he was pretty strong hauling her around like that. Once on her feet she rang out her own hair. Going naked was seeming like a better idea if they were gonna keep jumping in to ponds. "Nope, never hunted before… at least not for food. Normally I’m just hunting to study creatures in their habitats and trying to do it without them noticing me and getting scared. It’s pretty much the same thing though, right?" -10:35 May 09
Zeke: "Bzzzt." he explaimed telling her to keep quiet as he tossed the spear upwards, caught it in a grip that one might use for a paper airplane, then with his arm trazeling in an arc he sent it sailing through the air through the trees and disappearing. Then he was dashing off after it another spear already coming into than and there was a shrill squeal. -10:42 May 09
Ava: "What, what?" Already?! Was he like, superhuman man-zoot of the forest? How did he even know something was out there! They’d been on the ground less than two seconds! Ava hopped after him, a little more wary about trying not to run in to things. "… I though hunting required hours of tracking and looking!" -10:46 May 09
Zeke: "Sometimes lucky." he said lifting his spear and with a pale green furry creature the size of a rabbit on the end then he pulled it off and examined his kill, thne he held it out for Ava to take and have a look at. "Can make you a bag from this." he said. "Color good for you." -10:58 May 09
Ava: "Is this a weird time to mention I always feel really bad about dead animals?" Green fur… that was such an unusual pigment! Despite being hesitant to handle something dead, she couldn’t resist giving a poke to test the texture of the fur. "Do zoots hunt and make things from what they hunt, or did you learn it from Icarus? Your bag looked pretty similar to stuff we use all the time." -11:01 May 09
Zeke: He tilted his head, "Zoots hung and gather, but not have spears until Icarus. Mostly take fresh kills from predator." he then looked at his bag. "Copy design from bag on Icarus, made myself. Zoot use bags from Icarus until all break. Good for carrying, baby bed, many things." -11:15 May 09
Ava: "Icarus crashing here is a big moment for their history… you’re going to be known forever as the manzoot who changed the world. I’m glad it’s been good changes." Ava knew plenty enough about history to know that outside civiliations blowing in tended to crush small underdeveloped ones. She got lost in thought for a moment, tapping her chin and pondering how she could avoid that happening with the zoots… "Um, anyway, yes.. you’ve been a blessing to them. Especially with the predator and whatever scared them out here with it." -11:25 May 09
Zeke: He placed the kill in his bag and started walking deeper into the trees. "Zoot dying." he said. "Mother told me, before many hundreds. Now few. We cannot kill other zoot but other village try to kill us. They zoot but kill others. They desperate, zoot had choice. Defend and kill zoot, or leave. They come here where food scarse, no foor for everyone. Every mother have fewer children so more food for everyone. Now just enough." -11:33 May 09
Ava: Zoot on zoot violence, that wasn’t what she was excpecting. Ava was dumbfounded for a moment before she quickly caught up with him. "So there is another tribe out there somewhere? Why would they turn on your tribe? Because of food there too?" She imagined even with Zeke’s help it had to be hard to get enough food when the predator was out killing everthing edible. And she was still trying to place timeline of history. "How long ago was that. Before they found you?" -11:39 May 09
Zeke: He shrugged. "Cannot say how long. Thier homes burned, then have no food, nowhere to go. They ask for help, not enugh help available. They take. Do not know if they still there. All who go look never come home. Many days travel away, predator always around. O offer to go but tribe needs me." -11:47 May 09
Ava: "Unanswered questions are like the bane of my existance…" she mumbled. That was strange and curious. The zoots did need him, though. …but she could find out! The trick would be directions and having a team to go with her. That was going to be a little difficult to accomplish. "…I am getting too far ahead of myself. There is so much to explore and if you let me get carried away, I am likely to kidnap you on some weird adventure somewhere and you’ll never get food back to your zoots. We hunt for more?" -11:51 May 09
Zeke: He nodded and then started looking up at the trees. "You wish help zoots, help zoots get food, learn skill and care for zoot. Zoots innocent. Never mean harm. Humans mean harm. I can mean harm. Zoot never think of harm. Mother tell me if humans like other zoot village, zoot leave, all zoot. I protect from pradator and zoot find new home." -11:59 May 09
Ava: Ava stuffed her hands in her pockets, glancing up at the treeline too just to see if maybe she’d spot something that might be an edible animal. …she wasn’t so sure how he could see those green furred critters when -everything- was green. "I wish I could promise that they’ll not be like those other zoots. I could promise I’m not, and the Commander’s not, and lots of people on the ship would never cause any harm. But I don’t trust Erickson, no matter what my father says. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way. I’ll do my best to make sure the zoots will be okay, though." -12:04 May 10