Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alex smiled. "Well. Dats due ta my Southern Upbringin.We used to go fishin all the time out in the Gulf o Mexico. In fact, I'm headed down that way in a little while. Winters way to cold fer me up in these parts." Okay, so maybe he had been laying the southern accent on a little thick before, but he still really didn't know this guy, so he had used the accent and typical stereotype of Southern Folk as a sort of shield. Now that they were actually talking, he was adopting a more normal manner of speech, though there was still some Southern Inflection in his speech, it wasn't quite the backwoods redneck slang he had been using earlier. He knew some people who actually did speak like that, that was how he had managed to pull it off. But he was from a city, and was more used to city southern, which wasn't quite as full of bad grammer and mispronunciations as it's true country counterpart.

Flipping the fish, he turned back to his companion. "Say, ya wouldn't happen to be interested in comin down south with me would ya? I could use a trail buddy out on the old Appalachian." The foot trail, which extended from Georgia to Maine, wasn't all that well known, except to hiking enthusiasts, but if they didn't want to run into police roadblocks, it was probably the only way through. Major cities like New York had pretty much given up, but smaller towns were still trying to cling to some sense of normalcy, and the police were closing off roads to prevent gangs of looters from ransacking the small towns. The Appalachian Trail, though, should have escaped their notice. At least, he was hoping so.

Alex grinned, glad he had found a trail buddy. When going out in the Wilderness, it was always a good idea to have a partner, someone who could go get help if you fell and broke your leg. Traveling alone was a risky prospect, whic was why he had waited so long before he would even attempt it. He had been planning to take his bike, which, like almost everything else he "owned" was actually stolen post blackout. But unless his new friend also had a bike stuffed away, a mountain bike capable of riding down a rough mountain trail, they would have to actually hike the whole way down. He would have to find a way to ask, without revealing that he had such an asset.

"Well, then, what say we set out at first light tomorrow mornin," he suggested. "The train used ta cross the trail on the way here to the city, and it was a popular jumpin off point for people who'd had enough. So we can jus follow the track till we come upon a station in da middle o nowhere. That'll be da trail, and then its south ta Georgia, or maybe even Florida. I could hit Panama Beach again. There's a lot worse cities one could wind up stuck in." He didn't mention New York specifically, but it was clear this city was one of those worse cities he was talking about. "Oh, an the fish is ready." He handed one of the fish to his new travel buddy, and took one for himself. He would save the third one for tomorrow. Once the fish was cooked, it should last a day r two, but not much longer than that. It was probably best to have it for brunch tomorrow, after they were out of the city.

(Great, I'll join once i get back from spending a few days at my friends house 3nodding )

”It’s nice to officially make your acquaintance, Alex.” It was definitely nice to have a name to use since he would be travelling over a long distance with the guy. It would have been really awkward trying to remain strangers during that length of time. At the very least, he would think of Alex as a partner. Maybe they could even become friends? That seemed like wishful thinking with the state of things as they were; most people had realized long ago that they couldn’t afford to have friends. It was every person for themselves; no one could afford to feel any attachments to people who were not utterly essential to them. But David didn’t like to fully give in to that mindset. After all, he had met genuinely caring people, even after the power went out. That old couple could have saved themselves the bourbon and left him bleeding out on the street, after all. He had done what he could to repay them, but they hadn’t done it to have him in their debt. It just hadn’t occurred to them that they could, or maybe even should, put themselves first over the welfare of a stranger. He thought of those two as friends, so it wasn’t impossible to meet any. It was just very unlikely. And Alex would be utterly essential to his survival through unfamiliar places; he just hoped he could be half as useful to the older man in return.

David fished out a small pocket knife from his backpack to cut into the fish with; it was a bit dull and wasn’t much use as a weapon, but it had a few small tools that came in handy, from time to time. As he scooped a bite of his fish to eat, David watched Alex curiously. The man had said his fish needed salt, then proceeded to pull out a cup and head for the dock. That… was unexpected. And maybe a little crazy, David thought. It was true that, under ideal circumstances, the fish could have used some seasoning, but not if bay water was the only option. Besides, David was sure he already had so much salt in his system that his organs were pickled; he had been eating out of cans for so long now. Well, at least Alex was cooking the fish again… it would really suck for his travel buddy to fall horrifically ill before they could even get started.

”That’s pretty resourceful. Probably a little risky too, though.” Not that Alex didn’t seem to know that; otherwise he wouldn’t have made sure to cook the fish again for much longer before risking another bite. David was already close to half done with eating his portion. Honestly, he might have finished it more quickly had he not had to navigate tiny fish bones. Salt or no salt, it tasted great to him. David knew that was because any such rare treat had the benefit of his appreciating it more; fish had never tasted so good when it was readily available.

”Sounds like a good idea.” David replied, though he admittedly let his thoughts drift to how nice it used to be to visit the beach just for fun. He never used to think about how he could gather salt from the water. David used to love swimming, but there wasn’t any time in life for a frivolous activity like that; not any more. Every waking moment was spent just trying to survive another day without power. David finished eating his fish before giving a satisfied sigh; it felt good to have such a full belly. ”Hey, should we meet up here again, tomorrow? Or would it be easier if we slept in the same place? Then we could get moving as soon as we woke up.” Of course David didn’t know where Alex was staying and he didn’t ask. The guy seemed a little secretive and David couldn’t blame him; it was the safest way to interact with strangers. The only difference between them was that David didn’t really have any secrets to keep.

”A boat? Really?” David repeated with some surprise. He should have expected that possibility, he realized after a moment of thought. If the guy was fishing for his dinner, then it stood to reason that he might have a boat. And using such a craft might make things a lot easier on them and quicker, as well. Alex had a good point. But he had another good point as well; the weather could really bite them in the rear if they were on a boat. The boat could flip right over and drown them both. But was that really so much more likely than freezing or starving to death under similar conditions on land? Alex mentioned that it might be safer on land, but he also acknowledged that the added time would mean having to keep a tighter control on their food supply. It really was a quandary and there were risks, either way. The real question was what risks were they willing to take?

David grinned when Alex came to a conclusion on his own. Truth be told, he had made the same decision himself. He didn’t know if he had the same reasons, but he wanted to take his chances on the water. “I don’t think I get seasick. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a boat, but it’s never given me problems. I definitely think by boat is the best way to go, too. I mean, it’s like you said, we can really shave some time off of our travel. Maybe we can even beat the worst of the weather instead of being stuck on a trail somewhere in the dead of Winter. It’s worth a shot.” David had almost forgotten what optimism even felt like and he had to remind himself to temper his expectations. Nothing ever went as smoothly as planned. Still… it was nice to have a plan, at least. It was more than he had earlier in the day.

David very nearly cracked a joke at the way Alex had worded his question, but thought better of it in the nick of time. Somehow he had a feeling that it was one of those jokes that would be a lot funnier in his head than it would be if he said it aloud. Besides, he had an answer already as he had actually given it a little thought before Alex had even asked. ”I think I’m better off staying close; then we don’t have to worry about me travelling back here to meet up with you in the morning. I don’t own much that I don’t keep on me. And nothing that I think would really be useful on a boat.” There was nothing he couldn’t replace, really. David had certainly learned not to place too much sentimental value on anything he owned; he couldn’t eat sentiment so he didn’t need to be carrying it around with him.

David found himself watching Alex more than he really meant to. He didn’t want to make the man uncomfortable, he didn’t mean to stare, but he did think that he could learn a lot from the man. He wouldn’t have even thought to carry around plastic bags, but they did come in handy for wrapping the fish. He would have never thought to keep a boat or go fishing! It was a wonder that he had survived this long, really. He had managed to skate by living on what others were willing to spare in exchange for services, but that couldn’t last forever. And he was honestly surprised that more people had not done the same, if only for an easy way to stay fed and relatively healthy without a lot of work.

”So… is there anything else we should do before we take off tomorrow? You seem to really know what you’re doing, way more so than I do, so I’ll follow your lead.” David was not the man with the plan, but he could take directions well enough. He would definitely take direction when he knew that it could very literally be the difference between life and death. It may not have been much of a life any more, but David wasn’t willing to give it up just yet.