Ashes to Ashes

[Jeran Korak]

Gavin felt almost relieved when Elyasi turned her back to him and set off down the street. He was aware that his gaze had lingered on her a little longer than was polite, and didn't blame her initiative. Still, her smile at the end had been nice. Gavin wondered if she still brushed her teeth; he did every morning, using a toothbrush dipped in boiled water and occasionally with a dab of soap. Scrubbing one's mouth with soap was as unpleasant as it sounded, but it was a small price to pay in order to stave off the searing agony that came with gum disease and tooth decay. Besides, soap was positively a refreshing thing to have in one's mouth compared to some of the 'edibles' that made up a survivor's diet.

'Actually, toothpaste sounds like an excellent thing to keep my eye open for.' Gavin thought as he began to follow Elyasi. His stride was at least twice as long as hers, so keeping up was a trivial matter. He let her set the pace, though. A common mistake was to set the best pace one could when pursuing an objective, but in this world of uncertain caloric intake it was much better to husband one's energies and walk at a more sustainable speed. It was just like trying to get the most mileage out of a single tank of petrol.

"So, about this stash," Gavin began once they were away from the embassy and setting good time across the deserted city. "Anywhere you'd like to put it? I'm not sure where you camp, but I'm over in Hyde Park. Somewhere an equal distance between there and where you live seems like a good option to me."

It was a risk to reveal where he lived. But Gavin felt he owed Elyasi something, and if the worst came to the worst and she was up to no good, it just meant a brief relocation to another area. It wasn't as if London had any shortage of empty real estate at the moment.

 

[Elyasi]

Now feeling quite a bit more comfortable to be just moving, the young woman began humming a song to herself as she would usually do when she was walking down these eerily silent streets. There wasn't anything but materials that kept her from keeping her teeth clean this past week, since she had to throw out her last toothbrush after it was displaying signs of severely frayed ends, which would only cause her mouth to get infected by bacteria if she continued using the the same toothbrush to keep her teeth clean. Of course, she kept it down to the last day, trying to keep it sanitized with a only a little bit of hydrogen peroxide as it was the last form of antiseptic she had. Even though she had been desperately searching for anything to keep herself more clean, her searches usually came up fruitless.

'Hopefully this time, I'll be able to find something useful with someone else looking for these items too.' Silently thinking to herself, she waited for him to continue the conversation. Feeling a bit thirsty, she swung around her pack and pulled out a water bottle.

When Gavin had revealed his location, Elyasi swallowed down her water harshly, trying to not choke on it or waste it in any way while being caught in the surprise that he had a stash that was somewhat close to hers and they hadn't noticed each other at all until now. For a moment, she stayed silent with intensely shy and wide eyes, not knowing whether or not to reveal the location of her own camp, but it was hard not to feel like she owed him her location as well. "Well, I guess that makes things a lot easier for the both of us...since I camp over in Regent's Park, actually." The words sort of stammered out of her mouth nervously as she turned her attention back to the direction of the street that they were heading down.

 

[Jeran Korak]

A very small voice deep in the recesses of Gavin's mind went 'bingo' when it heard Elyasi stutter out the location of her camp. It was that little power-hungry part of him that perpetually sought the advantage, and was simultaneously the most useful and most dangerous asset a trader could hope to possess. Gavin didn't like to think of himself as a conniving person, but it was simply a part of his innermost nature to take pleasure (however small and forcefully suppressed) in getting others to reveal their secrets. He had a thirst for knowledge of all sorts, but knowledge subtly coaxed from the lips of those not normally inclined to share it was the best thirst-quencher of all.

"Regent's Park, eh?" He said in as mild a tone as he could manage. "Funny you ought to be camping there, as I've thought about doing the same in the past. I only set up shop in Hyde because my first scouting trip to Regent's ended up with me being chased out by angry deer... it wasn't quite the best introduction to a location that I've ever had."

Gavin found himself blushing a tiny bit as he related the incident. People tended to envision deer as cute, shy creatures that fled from humans as readily as mice. What they didn't realise was that the average deer also weighed around three hundred pounds and was quite capable of kicking a human to death with the right provocation - such when defending their fawn. With no more hunting going on, deer were rapidly increasing in both numbers and belligerence, making them a significant threat to the lone survivor just trying to go about his business.

"So anyway..." Gavin resumed awkwardly after a few moments had passed. "Maybe where we met up would be a good place for a mutual stash? Nobody will be doing a serious search of those ruins, so they might be a good place to store stuff."