A Different Kind of Camping
Who: Sarah and Open
When: Mid-afternoon
Where: Stream in the woods
Sarah took Dan's advice and used the stream in the woods to clean herself up. It was a good ten minute walk, really, but she didn't mind it. It gave her time to think, refocus, and get away from everyone else for a few moments of privacy. And at least she could get the mucky feeling off of her skin before working on the shelters again with the others.
She'd taken the things the scientists had left for her and put them to good use. After making sure no one was around, or peeking about in the woods, she got to stripping her bottoms off. She could at least wash her underwear and take them back to the tent to dry. See? She could resourceful. Pulling her pajama bottoms back on and up quickly, she rolled the material up to her knees and stepped ankled deep in the water. She used the shower gel to wash the cotton before she set them on the grass behind her to dry. She continually reminded herself that this was just like camping. She'd been camping before. Only with indoor facilities. And real showers. And several days worth of clothing. And food. The thought of food, even briefly, reminded her stomach how hungry she was. See, this kind of camping? So completely different. This was trying to survive in the wilderness kind of camping.
But things could be worse. A lot worse. So she kept telling herself that as she stripped off Dan's shirt and set it on the grass. It was hard, but she managed to wash her hair without falling completely into the water. The water was cold, but it still felt wonderful to wash away the soot and sweat. Feeling a bit refreshed was probably all she would need to regain some of her energy. She would definitely have to offer her things to Zania when she got back. She'd been kind enough to share a tent and blanket with her, so Sarah wanted to return the favor, and she had a feeling Zania would appreciate the gesture.
Squeezing the excess water out of the now fresh smelling strands, she used her loosening hair tie to pull it up and away from her face. She washed her face next, the best that she could. It was hard to clean herself up without a washcloth, but she wasn't going to complain at all because she would gladly use her hands than go several days without soap of some kind. And hey, now she'd smell like plumeria rather than smoke and sweat. See? Even if she still thought the scientists were sick, twisted bastards, she could still be grateful for the little things.
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Joy was *not* having a good week. "If you had told me last week, I'd be running around a forest buck naked on Easter Sunday except for a priest's shirt, with blue shit all over myself, I'd punch you right in the mouth," she muttered to herself. The lake had been a bust . If there were fish in there, they knew where to hide. She'd decided to head upstream a little, hoping she'd catch some that were on the way.
What is that smell? She caught the faintest whiff of... something fruity in the air. She followed her nose upstream a bit more, finally stopping when she saw that English chick and- was that soap? And shampoo? Joy tried to contain her excitement. Maybe if she was nice the girl would share. "Hey," she said, trying to get her attention.
Sarah startled in the
Sarah startled in the stream, instantly glancing over her shoulder to see who'd wandered her way. Thankfully it was a woman, but she reached back to grab Dan's shirt and pull it on anyway for the sake of modesty. Which was strange, given she recognized the woman as being one of the two in those stockades that morning. Naked.
"Hi," Sarah greeted with a small smile. At least the girl was sort of clothed. "How are you?" she asked, turning to step up from the stream onto the grass. She'd wanted to help get her out earlier, but the priest and Lina seemed to have taken charge to get it done themselves.
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Joy put her assigned fishing gear down. "Considering the hell I've been through today, I guess I could be worse." She plopped herself down on the bank of the river, putting her feet in and adjusting her borrowed shirt to keep the dirt from getting in her more sensitive areas. "So what pointless duty do they have you on? They had me fishing, but I'm thinking whoever is playing God around here wants to make sure we don't get food either." She absentminedly grabbed some mud and began trying to use it to scrub the ink off her legs. "I'm starting to wonder why the hell I agreed to do this shit. At least in jail I wouldn't be hungry and naked. Worst. Camping trip. Ever."
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.
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Sarah frowned and watched Joy using mud to try and clean herself up. Maybe if she wanted a facial that might work. "Here," Sarah said, picking up the shampoo and shower gel bottles and carrying them over to her. "You might have better luck using these. You'll probably feel better too, washing your hair with actual shampoo and everything." Sarah herself felt ten times better. "I've been trying to get some more shelters up. Uhm, gathering firewood and stuff. Whatever is needed. Was jail your other option?" she asked curiously, offering the bottles to Joy.
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Joy tried not to be too grabby as she took the bottles. If anything would help, this would. "Thanks. I'm Joy, by the way. And to be honest, I'm not quite sure what my other options were. Apparently, in a drunken haze I turned the restaurant I worked at into a drive through." She took some of the shampoo and began working it through her hair. She sighed happily at the smell. "It's a long story, involving my ex and some whore he hooked up with. Basically, some suit told me that if I did this, they'd clear my record and get me my kids back." She scrubbed her scalp thoroughly before dipping her hands into the water to begin rinsing. Her next step would be trying to get that crap off herself. "So what'd they promise you?"
Sarah watched Joy for a
Sarah watched Joy for a moment, sort of shocked. That was certainly quite a story, and one told so casually. Just the fact that the woman had kids, but then again, Sarah knew better than to pre-judge. Obviously Joy was willing to sacrifice a lot to get her children back, so Sarah had to respect that.
"Promise me? Nothing. Well, they promised the experience would change my life." She snorted a bit at that and sat back down on the grass near Joy. "Truth is, they brought me here because I had a history with someone already in house. They thought me being here would add complications to his life, I suppose. But it seems to me it's been a waste of time on their part. Now I'm just kind of stuck."
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Joy was about to start soaping herself off when she stopped at what the girl had said. "You knew someone else here too? I thought I was the only one. That it was just some freaky coincidence that my sister was already here." She resumed scrubbing, starting with her forehead. "And I know what you mean about being stuck- my baby sister's probably the last person I wanted to see here. I don't know whose life is supposed to be made miserable by me being here, mine or hers." She had no idea why she was being so open with this girl. There was just something... trustworthy about her. She stopped scrubbing her forehead and looked at the girl. She pointed to where the word "LEECH" had been scrawled on her forehead. "Still there?"
"Your sister is here?" Sarah
"Your sister is here?" Sarah asked, a bit more than surprised. It seems the scientists bribed Joy into joining. Sarah's life was pretty tame. No car crashes, no custody squabbles. They had nothing to bribe or blackmail her with. And she still bit. Still, Joy's words reminded Sarah of her own thoughts days ago when she saw Dan. She hadn't been sure if the scientists had brought her there to mess with his life, or her own. Frowning, Sarah looked at Joy and nodded. "It's still there. It doesn't look like it's fading either."
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"Motherfuck," Joy groaned. "I was afraid of that. Looks like they did a helluva job on us. It ain't a tattoo, I don't think." She felt of it. "Nope. But it's hardcore, whatever it is." Joy sighed and kept scrubbing herself, doing her legs first. She still didn't feel properly clean from having pissed herself earlier. "But, yeah, Janie? The freaky little emo kid with the glasses? We're sisters, believe it or not." She stopped scrubbing to rinse. It felt so good to be getting clean. "So whose life are you here to ruin?"
She continued to frown,
She continued to frown, knowing she hadn't met Janie yet. She remembered a young woman with glasses, but she didn't look like a freak. Obviously the two women were not close. "I would hope that if were a tattoo, you would have felt it," Sarah said with a wry smile. "But I'm not here to ruin anyone's life. I mean, Danny and I...we have a history, but I'm not sure what the point was of bringing me here. We've both...moved on. I think. So...I don't know. I think they were hoping for more stupid high school drama, or something. But I don't have that in me." Unless they just wanted to make her feel like the jilted ex-lover. Which she kind of did. And that was embarrassing. Maybe that was the whole point?
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Joy thought for a moment about taking off her shirt in front of Sarah, then decided that, since she'd already been naked to the world, one more person seeing her wouldn't hurt. She just was enjoying being clean. "I dunno. It's just frustrating, especially now that they've put us out here in the elements. And having to deal with all that again... grrrrr! I just wanted her to stay out of my life." She started vigorously washing her upper body, noting that they'd actually avoided writing over her "actual" tattoos, at least the rose on her arm. "Thanks for the soap, by the way," she smiled. "You wouldn't happen to have any cigarettes over there, would you?"
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"You're welcome." Sarah didn't mind Joy taking off the shirt, but she made it a point to look elsewhere. "If you wanted her to stay out of your life, maybe she felt the same way, which is why you're here. They want to see how you'll handle it. If you want to give them the middle finger, just ignore each other and don't give them anything entertaining to watch." Though how they were watching, Sarah didn't know. All she knew, by the gifts left, was that they were. "And no, I don't smoke. I used too, in university, but only those clove cigarettes. Sorry, all I've got to offer is soap."
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Joy laughed as she scrubbed under her arms. "Trust me. She definitely wanted me out of her life. So much so that she took the money and ran." She knew that she should just leave Janie alone, but she couldn't. That little nutjob had caused too much trouble to let go that easy. Then she had a thought. "You think they're still watching us now? The scientists, I mean? I mean, I could see them having a camera in the chapel or the boathouse or whatever, but out here? In the middle of nowhere?" She looked around for cameras, but didn't see any. "If you're watching, you pervs, suck on these!" She turned away from Sarah and began jiggling her breasts at- well, nothing really, but it made her feel good at least. She turned just her head back to Sarah. "Those boys want a good show, we should give them one, right?"
Sarah's eyes widened a bit
Sarah's eyes widened a bit at Joy and she bit her bottom lip hard. Oh. God. For a second she wished Dan was there with her. He would have died. But...nope, just her to bear witness to the crazy that seemed to be Joy. "Uhm. I don't know. Personally I hope they're not watching." Maybe Sarah was a bit more modest. "I assume though, that they're watching at least where the camp has been set up. It's kind of disturbing to think that they'd be able to watch you no matter where you go." And she shuddered a bit, hoping they hadn't watch her bathing because...gross.
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"Welp, that'll give them some beach towel material if they can," Joy said, picking up Bob's shirt off the ground and shaking the dust off it. It still stank like whoa, but at least she was clean. Well, sort of. She looked up at her hair and tried to arrange it to cover her forehead. That'd have to do for that at least. "Well, I guess I should get back to looking like I know what I'm doing. Thanks again for the bath." She tossed the cleaning supplies back to Sarah. "You haven't seen any fish swimming by you, have you?" She hadn't noticed any, but she never had been the most observant of people.
"Sure, no problem," Sarah
"Sure, no problem," Sarah replied, picking up the bottles that Joy had given back. She was...different. That was for sure. "Fish? No, but I haven't really been looking for fish." She stood and brushed her pajamas off with her free hand. "Are you on fishing duty, then?"
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Joy brushed a bit more of the dirt off the shirt. "Something like that. But there don't seem to be many biting. Assuming I'm doing it right." She smiled, a bit defeated. "I thought I might catch some swimming down to the lake from here, but I guess not. I probably should head back down there, make sure people can see that I'm actually working!" The last part was shouted to the trees. "Well, good luck with whatever they told you to do." She'd seemed nice enough. One more person to keep off her shit list at least.
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Sarah arched an eyebrow curiously, wondering if Joy had planned to snag the fish with her teeth, or what. Because the last time Sarah checked, fish were damn slippery without a hook and bait. "Thanks...nice to meet you, Joy." She was definitely a strange one, but seemed...decent enough, Sarah supposed.