Maeve let Junior plow ahead, saying little and being sure to smile adoringly whenever he looked her way. Two could play this game, she thought, eyeing the makeshift shelter he had constructed. To be fair, it was a decent structure, and he knew his way around a machete, but then again, she had only relinquished the machete because she knew she had a better weapon up her sleeve.

In short, her opinion of Gladstone had not changed since she first set eyes on his bleached-duds clad backside.

She would deal with him later. For now, work needed to be done, and if Gladstone was going to keep busy cutting up bamboo, she would focus her efforts elsewhere. Ainsley's pebble, somehow, crystalized her plan, and she grinned at the redhead.

"You know it," she said. "While a bamboo floor would probably be best, one machete only goes so far. Perhaps us ladies could start building some mats? We have enough fronds around to tie mats. Although someone should probably run for more water."

"You hear that, Jeff? You could actually be useful! Why don't you go gather some water babe?"

Jeffery had himself a good laugh, "I oughta break your other leg."

"Seriously though, take someone with you. Its getting dark out there, nobody should be walking around alone. Faye, would you like to go along with Jeff? He needs someone to look after him."

Ainsley turned to Maeve, "mind passing me a pile of them fronds?"

"Sure thing," Maeve replied, smiling at Ainsley. "Kaelin, Grace! You can help prep these, too."

She directed them to pull the fronds around camp near Ainsley and Angie, going a few feet under the canopy herself to gather more. Once they had settled a good pile within reach of everyone, she settled beside Ainsley.

"I see you've done this before. Spent much time in the tropics before?"

"Once or twice, on a few different planets. I'm a bit of an explorer myself, but I honestly was looking forward to a nice relaxing cruise. Figures the one time I dont go looking for trouble it finds me." Ainsley replied as she began to braid the fronds into an intricate mesh.

"What about you? You seem to know you way around a bad situation."

Grace was glad to do as Maeve had instructed, and helped collect the pile of fronds. Her outdoor experience was limited to 'car camping' - sleeping in a tent in a campground, their car nearby should anyone need anything, and she could see sleeping on the fronds would be better than on the bare ground.

She sat down with a few fronds in hand, but didn't know exactly how to do what was expected. She watched Ainsley go to work on her fronds and tried to imitate her, but with limited success.

She looked up to her friend. "Kaelin, could you show me how to do this?"

Maeve's face grew dark for a moment.

"War tends to give you a pretty good idea about survival," she said quietly. "And if you didn't learn it from that, a dead planet tends to do pretty well."

Kaelin's head jerked up.

"But you said it wasn't--" she started.

"It's not livable for little girls," Maeve replied. "and it shouldn't be for anyone for a long time."

Kaelin bowed her head and focused on her work, and Grace's question came as a welcome distraction.

"It takes a few tries to get it down, but it works pretty easily after that," she said, leaning over Grace's coconut leaf. "You'll want to put the end of the leaf on your left side, and then fold over the little fronds from up here to down here, and lace them through here and...and...well, do that and I'll show you the next part, it's hard to put it in words."

The two girls clustered together on the same leaf, Kaelin walking Grace through the steps, her own leaf abandoned for the moment.

((OOC: Gazer, if you are interested, here is a written article about braiding styles, and here is a video, although it is a half-frond weave))

Ainsley took a moment and paused what she was doing in order to contemplate the correct response to this sudden, dark revelation. For the umpteenth time she was reminded of the privilege of her upbringing. How selfish she felt, for seeking out danger and excitement all those years when people are literally losing their home planets to war and terror.

"I'm sorry, that must have been awful. How do you deal with something like that?

Faye nodded to Ainsley's suggestion. "Good idea. It's getting to dark for anyone to go out alone." Faye quickly grabbed the bowl they'd been using, as well as a couple of other suitable containers, and walked back to Jeff.

She gestured the way forward and explained as she walked, "It's a pretty straight-forward path, basically just follow the beach for a while and then there's a stream." She glanced back at the group and added. "I was hoping to move the camp down there, but since we're not exactly mobile at the moment, I think we'll have to be content with making a barrel or something...." 'In the morning.'

Maeve shrugged.

"How do you not? If you don't, all you've got left to do is die. So you adapt, you learn, and you play for keeps."

Twig's had just approached the pile of drift wood with another armful, when Junior asked her about dental floss. She was so surprised by the request she couldn't think of an answer. Twig's had asked Pittersticks to accompany her. When he complained about being asked to do manual labor, she told him it was because she felt safer with him. He was flattered at the idea of being a protector. She only felt safer because she could keep an eye on him. Pittersticks was rarely at a lost for words. "I'll go get you some," he said. Twig's mechanically moved over to the wood pile and deposited the wood on the pile. She was deep in thought. Junior was an enigma. Sometimes he was the most arrogant annoying person ever. Who thought about dental hygiene at a time like this? Yet, he had a kind side. He'd noticed her eating by herself a few times and had joined her. He made a better shelter than she ever could have. Yet, now he was sitting by the fire organizing sea shells. How could he be enjoying this? Did he know something they didn't? And what was Pittersticks up to being helpful?

Pittersticks finally located some dental floss and bounded back to Junior. Here you go Mr. Gladstone, sir. He settled himself next to Jr. This is quite a romantic spot isn't it? Not waiting for a reply he went on. "A handsome man like yourself ought to have a woman or two by your side. Now I know that Twig's is merely tolerable and not handsome but she is likely one of the only females here who is not completely furious with you.

Twig's snapped back to reality and turned bright red. "Pittersticks," she yelled and started to lunge at him. Either she tripped over something or she lost her balance due to weakness from hunger and exhaustion, but she ended up flat on her face in the sand. Maybe the sand would swallow her up. It was bad enough when Pittersticks had written, "“She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt [one]." on her cabin door, but that was done in secret and she didn't even know if Mr. Gladestone had actually seen that, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." written on his door. But now there could be no doubt that Pittersticks was trying to recreate Pride and Prejudice. That stupid squirrel must have read her journal.

Pittersticks bolted away laughing and ran right into a pile of fronds near where work on the mats was in full swing.

Mel laid down after assisting Mr. Gladstone with the shelter. It had been a long day, with many emotional ups and downs, and she was exhausted. When Twigs snapped at Pittersticks and the squirrel ran in front of her nose, Mel leaped to her feet, animal instincts coming to the fore.

"WOOOOOF!" The bark exploded out of nowhere, and Mel lunged after Pittersticks.

Fronds went flying as dog and squirrel raced through.

Normally, a set of rather scalding words would have escaped Maeve's lips, but she merely laughed and pulled her feet out of Mel's way before she pounded past.

"I have been lax on keeping my promises, and I think now is the time to fulfill one," she said quietly, tracking Pittersticks movements with her hands. By nature, squirrels are rather erratic in their movements, but Maeve was a good mark, and, after a few moments, she flexed her palms, bringing Pittersticks to a sudden stop as he formed into an ice cube.

"Maeve!" Kaelin exclaimed. "Ooh, good shot."

"Thanks, small one," Maeve smiled. Kaelin's smile disappeared.

One moment, there was a warm, fluffy creature enticingly close in front of Mel, the next she was having flashbacks to the Christmas party as she encountered an immovable object and went up and over, paws over tail, and splat on the sand. There'd been snow, and slippery floors, and dashing creatures at Christmas.

Slowly, dazed, Mel pulled her legs back under her and looked around.

What just happened? Where was that pesky squirrel? How was there ice? Were those green things for decking the halls?

Ainsley raised an eyebrow, it seemed as if every member of their group possessed a hidden talent or three. The tactical portion of her brain noted that if it came down to a fight, she and Jeff would be vastly outgunned. Personally, she wouldn't want to end up on Maeve's badside anyhow. Besides, she seemed nice enough.

"That's one heck of an arm cannon that you've got there."

"Well, I guess it does stand out a bit more when everyone else doesn't have their own," Maeve admitted. "But it really just comes down to lots of practice in the end."

Kaelin walked over and inspected the Pitter-Cube.

"Cool," she said, looking over it and grinning at Mel, then frowned. "Poor thing's gonna feel bad when he defrosts. I wonder how long that will take?"

Maeve shrugged and turned back to Ainsley.

"So what about you? I'm curious as to your exploring experiences. Visiting multiple worlds isn't the easiest, I've found."