On the run (For salio)

[elementsofchaos]

Back in Ohio again. He's not in Cincinnati this time, maybe an hour or two east, but it's far enough from his previous stopping point in Michigan that he feels as close to safe as he ever does. The further from the Thermopolis compound he gets, the more he can breathe, though he never dares to hope for a full deep breath. He parks on a suburban street near a small brownstone apartment building, sliding open the Grotto's side door to enjoy a little night air. If he smoked, he probably would've lit up, but as it is he simply sits on the floorboards and hangs his legs out the open door. Maybe he should take off his sneakers, feel the grass between his toes for a bit. But no, he always has to be ready to leave at a moment's notice when he's in civilization. There's no telling who could be an agent of his family, willing or unwitting.

Jovan heaves a sigh, turning his attention up to the sky. It's cloudy, he wishes he could see the stars. There's a heaviness to the air, something ominous, but it doesn't feel like a storm. Hard to tell if it's all in his head, but he stills himself and his breathing to listen.

There are sirens in the distance.

Comments

[elementsofchaos]

With a nod, Jovan goes to pull on socks and sneakers. The ones he got for Sal sit right next to his shoes by the sliding side door. While Sal puts those on, Jovan gathers up a couple of mesh drawstring bags and a flat slab of plastic that pops open into a storage bin. Into one corner of the bin he sets a lidded plastic container.

"Here, take one of the bags. We'll use them to carry things like tubers or bulky food. The more fragile stuff we find goes in this bin, berries in the smaller container. Watch your step out there, could be uneven terrain and you don't want to trip."

Once they're equipped, Jovan leads Sal into the woods. He doesn't hurry, moving slowly and looking down at the ground around his feet often. A few times he stops and crouches down, brushing away fallen leaves and studying the dirt. Finally he grins when one of his searches reveals some trumpet-like, dark mushrooms. "Awesome. These are usually hard to find but they're worth it." He gestures for Sal to watch how he plucks them carefully out of the soil. "Black chanterelles, also known as trumpet of the dead."

He doesn't have to tell Sal that searching for these things is a lot easier when you can simply sense them. Looking in empty spots just makes the deception more convincing.

[salio]

Sal follows Sebastian's lead, sliding into his borrowed socks and not-borrowed shoes. "Tubers, right," he says to himself, holding his bag like it's a completely foreign object. He looks between the different containers and thinks, wow, this guy really has this whole thing figured out.

"Whoa...that's metal as Hell." He eyes the mushrooms. "I've never heard of those before--or seen them, even."

Fruits and berries and fishing are all impressive enough, but he has to ask, "You really, really know your stuff. How long have you been traveling like this?"

[elementsofchaos]

“You’d think they were poisonous with a name like that, but they’re not. Actually, they’re one of the few wild mushrooms that doesn’t have a toxic look-alike.” He plucks several more, carefully laying them in the bin, and is shifting the leaf litter back over the exposed dirt when Sal asks that question. For a second he freezes, then finishes his task and stands with a sigh.

“Since maybe six months after my nineteenth birthday. So a little over two years, I guess. I learned a lot about natural stuff before I left my family’s place, though. I was foraging on our land before I was into double digit age.”

It was one of the few things he enjoyed about the compound, one of the only times he liked being around his dad. At least until the man inevitably started talking about his destiny.

“Designed the Grotto’s interior myself with some help from the guy who built it for me. One night I loaded up, took off, and never looked back. I just… needed to be me, and I couldn’t do that in my parents’ house.”

[salio]

That's all pretty rough--and Sal's not going to go around comparing traumas. He lost his mom at an early age, of course, but even with the alcoholic hiccup in his mourning period, his father had always been loving and supporting--and meeting Lisa only made for an even happier family life. Sal's beyond grateful for having had that. He can't imagine how it must feel, being so unhappy in your home life you feel the need to run away. That you're happier, for being free.

"I'm glad you're getting the chance to find yourself," he says as he follows in Sebastian's footsteps, keeping an eye on their surroundings to try and learn as efficiently as possible. He may be completely out of his depth, but at least he's a good student. "The Grotto, huh? Sick name, I like it."

[elementsofchaos]

“Not so much finding myself as being allowed to be who I am, rather than what’s expected of me. I didn’t want to live the life my parents wanted for me. They wouldn’t listen to how I felt, so I left. They have resources and influence, which means I have to be careful about drawing attention to myself, otherwise I’ll end up right back there.”

It doesn’t matter that he’s not a minor. His family’s power supersedes the law in many ways, and if he’s caught there’s no escape. This is way more than he’s ever told anyone about his past, but considering what Sal told him, Jovan feels the other man has earned some trust.

“Yeah, it’s my secret hideaway, the one place I feel kinda safe. Not even sure when I started calling it that, it just popped into my head one day.” They continue moving through the woods until Jovan senses and hears moving water. Once they find the stream, they follow it a short distance to a small lake ringed with patches of cattails. “Score. Just found nature’s supermarket. Did you know pretty much every part of a cattail is useful or edible?”

[salio]

Sal nods along to Sebastian's story, respectful of what he's been told. They don't know each other well enough for him to push for more details--and besides, Sebastian didn't push him for details, either, when he explained what he did. Sal just chose what he was willing to explain.

"Whoa," he murmurs to himself as they reach the stream. It's so peaceful...the sounds, the smell, the sight...even if he has no idea what a cattail is. Sal's pretty sure she's not talking about a literal cat's tail and means a plant, but can't stop himself from the obvious joke.

"I didn't! Guess I'll have to tell Gizmo it's for the greater good."

[elementsofchaos]

The unexpected joke startles a quiet laugh from Jovan, the first real laugh Sal has heard from him. It’s a pleasant sound, and the grin it brings reaches his eyes. “I’d eat my own arm before I did anything to the cat. He’s precious and must be protected.”

Still chuckling, Jovan sets down his stuff and pulls off his sneakers and socks. Rolling his pant legs above his knees, he wades into the water toward the cattail plants. “This time of year, we’re mostly going after the roots.” He finds a few shorter, younger plants and plunges his hands into the mud, pulling up thick rhizomes one after another. He swishes them in the water to get most of the muck off before tossing them onto the shore.

“One thing about foraging, you can’t be squeamish about getting dirty. Mud, soil, sand, algae… it all washes off. Can you peel the dark skin off those roots before putting them in the bag? They’re harder to peel once they dry out. There’s a small pocket knife in my bag if you need it to strip off all the little rootlets.” He yanks up another long root, then wades a bit further to another aquatic plant with broad, arrowhead shaped leaves. “And wapato too. We got really lucky on this trip.”

[salio]

Just as he's been, Sal follows Sebastian's instructions, settling into a spot as he finds the pocket knife and gets to work on the root stripping. "That's definitely not something you have to worry about."

He's seen way too much blood and guts at this point in his life to sweat a bit of natural grime. He'll take mud over a freezer full of human meat any day.

Glancing up from his task, Sal gives Sebastian a look. "Okay, are you just making these names up as you go? There's no way wapato is a real thing."

[elementsofchaos]

“I think it’s from a Native American language. The most common name is arrowhead, but I’ve heard it called katniss or duck potato, along with a bunch of other names.” Working the mud around the plants with his feet, small tubers start to float to the surface of the water around him. He gathers them up and tosses them onto the grass, until there’s a pile the size of a large serving bowl. “These and the cattail roots have a lot of healthy starches and proteins.”

Jovan wades out of the water, making sure his feet are clean before sitting down on a patch of grass to let them dry. While he waits, he joins Sal in peeling cattail roots and bagging them. “I’m definitely going to introduce you to wild foods slowly. The bulk of your diet the next few weeks will be things like pasta, rice, and beans, stuff you’d be used to. I don’t want to shock your stomach.”

[salio]

"I like duck potato," he decides with a resolute nod, careful with the pocket knife when he needs it so he doesn't end up slicing into his fingers. When Sebastian joins him, of course the task starts to go by faster--he's obviously much more practiced in the task.

"You're sure I'm not slowing you down?"

[elementsofchaos]

Jovan pauses, glancing over at Sal. “Honestly? A little. It’s okay, though. If it wasn’t, I would’ve dropped you off somewhere and wished you good luck. But people have helped me, so now I’m just paying it forward.”

He finishes peeling the root and puts it in the bag, then shoves his feet back into his socks and sneakers. Once all the roots are peeled, he gathers up the wapato and drops it into the other bag. “Time for pawpaw hunting. You’ll be able to pick these, just look for ones with dark spots that come off the branches really easily. That’s how you know they’re ripe. I’ll let you know when I see a tree.”

Sure enough, a ten minute walk leads them into a grove with a few small trees heavy with fat, oblong green fruits. Many are on the ground in varying stages of ripe or overripe. “You can take them off the ground as long as they’re not too mushy or split open. They go in the bin with the trumpets.”

[salio]

There's no reason to feel badly or embarrassed and he knows it--like Sebastian said, he's here to help. He wants to help, and he knows that Sal has no idea what he's doing. So, he tries his best not to feel guilty as he does his best impression of a duckling, following in the taller man's every footstep.

The trees are a good distraction. "They're, like, the eggplants of the sky! I've never seen these things before."

He'll probably have to take some off the ground, because when Sal sees one above him that looks ripe, he quickly discovers he's much too short to grab it, failing his arm above him as he stands up on his toes.

[elementsofchaos]

Again, Sal's antics draw a soft laugh from Jovan. It amazes him that someone with so much trauma still has a sense of humor. "Okay, Mr. Overachiever. Try lifting some of those droopy lower branches near the ground. You'll see ones you can actually reach underneath. Remember, if they don't practically fall off when you wiggle them gently, they're not ready."

In the meantime, Jovan starts searching through the fallen ones for those that haven't split or started to spoil. He stacks them carefully in the bin, not wanting them to bruise.

[salio]

"...oh."

In all honesty, the shorty didn't even notice the lower ones down. He's thankful, as he often is, that his prosthetic keeps his flush of embarrassment hidden. It's one of the only real perks of wearing it, outside of keeping people from grimacing when they look at him.

"That would be the smart choice, huh?" Chuckling abashedly, Sal once again follows Jovan's instructions, finding the fruits that are in much more reachable places and checking them for ripeness. Between the two of the, it probably won't take all that lo ng to get a basket full.

[elementsofchaos]

It's definitely a lot easier with two people, even given Sal's inexperience. Though it remains to be seen how much the other man eats, Jovan is willing to bet Sal's needs won't be much of a drain. He hefts the heavier baskets, leaving the lighter bags for his guest to carry.

"Fishing is usually good at this time of day. We'll take this stuff back to the van and finish processing it later. I think you'll have fun with learning to fish."

They set off back the way they came, surrounded by the sounds of nature. Birds call in the distance, the wind shakes the leaves. The honking of a flock of geese flying overhead is almost startlingly loud. "This is so much nicer than being in a city. I like being out here without crowds around me. I can think more clearly. Maybe you'll feel the same way, and you'll find some peace."

[salio]

"Maybe," Sal agrees. "I just need to get out of my own head long enough to appreciate the silence."

Right now, he craved the hustle and bustle of city life. Not because he missed it, but because the atmosphere, he's sure, would be more distracting than the anxiety-inducing reality he's already immersed in.

"But man, I never realized how much you could get done in a single day."

[elementsofchaos]

"It's partially practice, partially necessity. Days get shorter, foraging's more sparse. I try to preserve what I can, but sometimes I have to work under the table and buy cheap dry goods to supplement my diet. That's usually when I spend more time in civilization."

Once back at the van, they set everything in the little area at the side door. Closing that, Jovan opens a narrow external panel, revealing a couple of fishing rods, a small tacklebox, and a plastic takeout container. He opens the container and glances inside, nodding. "Good, still some left. You'll use these, easier to replace if a line breaks or something. And trust me, once you get into the groove of fishing, you'll forget your own head for a while."

Gear in hand, they return to the spot where the cattails and arrowheads grow, a section of the water shadowed by aquatic plants and overhanging trees. "Hope you're not squeamish over worms," Jovan teases lightly, taking one out of the plastic container. "Watch how I bait the hook, you're gonna do it after this, okay?"

[salio]

"I'm not squeamish," Sal assures. If he ever doubted it before, some of the things he's seen...

But he doesn't want to think about that. Sal's glad to follow and watch, nodding along as he takes in Jovan's example before picking up a worm himself to place onto the hook. It's not the cleanest job, but it'll do.

"You made it look way easier."

So squishy.

[elementsofchaos]

"Years of practice, from the time I was a kid."

Jovan stands facing the water, showing Sal how to hold the rod. He unspools a bit of line, holds the trigger button, and sweeps the rod over his shoulder before snapping it forward, releasing the button as the rod reaches the proper angle. The line launches smoothly, the hook quietly plopping into the shaded water near the aquatic foliage.

"It's gonna take a bit of practice, but don't worry. You'll get the hang of it, and then it'll become muscle memory. Your first fish makes all the trouble of learning worth it, even if it's too small to keep, because it shows you're doing it right."

[salio]

Sal watches carefully, wondering if this is something his dad would like doing--and he carefully buries the thought, not wanting to think about his father. It was too soon. Fish, focus on fish. Just like before, he attempts to follow along with Jovan's example...and just like before, he doesn't do an amazing job. He doesn't hit the release at the right time, and the line falls short of the water.

"Er--do I just reel back in and try again?"

Jovan really did make it look so easy.