Day 010: First Bath
Summary: In which Cameron fills Morgan in on some recent events, and the boys get clean.
Date: 16 5 2016
Related: None
Cameron Morgan 

From Camp to the Caves
Day 10

Getting ready to leave for the Grounder village the next day, Morgan's in their tent and considering what he intends to take with him. Really, everything he owns, he wears day to day so it's a question of what can be spared from medbay. Or rather, how little can he leave in the camp since healing the Grounders is a priority?

Cameron pokes his head in the tent, and immediately there's a dimpled grin on his face that lights him up. "Morgan." says Cameron a bit breathlessly, "Grab your sword come on. I've got something to show you. You'll love it." He pauses, his expression shifting into being a bit thoughtful, "Plus, we need to talk. Eden, you wouldn't believe what happened."

Morgan looks over at Cam, head cocked slightly to one side. "Hmm? What's up? Problem?" He stands and grabs the sword belt, putting it on as asked. "Should I bring any medical supplies?" Which at this point is basically clean cloth for bandages.

"No problem. And no supplies. It'll take a bit of a hike is all, and no leaving the camp unarmed, just in case." Cameron's not exactly a still guy at the best of times, right now he's almost buzzing with energy, even if its kept bound and controlled. Still, he snags Morgan's hand and tugs him. "So, Jaha called. Jaha, that son of a bitch, had the audacity to call _me_ of all people." He pauses, and adds, "I managed to keep my cool, too. I don't think I called him a murderous shit eating son of a baffoon, not once. Though its always possible I blanked out briefly and did just that, the blood was pounding in my ears the whole time."

Morgan never leaves the tent without his sword so doesn't intend to argue the point. "Jaha?" he blinks as he lets himself be pulled along. "He asked for you? What the hell did he want?"

"I know, right?" Cameron shakes his head, "He asked me if we had agreed to his terms, to 'let' people come down— as if we could stop them— in return for him staying on the Ark in what has to be some kind of ploy, but anyways. He had the *audacity* to express *regret* about mom, as if I'd *forgive* him or feel better if he …" Cameron tenses a little bit at this, shaking his head, his mood darkening and anger boiling just beneath the surface. Yet, there's some uncertainty about him, too.

Morgan reaches out to stop Cam then pulls him in for a hug. "Hey, it's okay." Then he shakes his head and tightens his hold. "No, it's not okay. It'll never be okay. But you're okay. And if you're not, I'm here to help you be. Whatever you need, Cam."

Cameron lets his arms slip around Morgan and tighten there for a time, their bodies pressed close, and the tension drains out of him slowly. He breathes, turning his head to brush a light kiss against Morgan's neck, then pulling back slightly, "Thank you. I'll be okay. But its good to have you with me." He nods his head slightly, "So, yeah. He asked my permission. I said it wasn't mine to give, but that nothing we could do would stop him from doing whatever he wants. But that it we — or many of us, at least — wouldn't stand for being subjugated to the Council again."

"That's pretty much what I said." Course, Cam was there for that but maybe not listening all things considered. "I don't understand him. Why would he offer to stay on the Ark? That's basically suicide. And like you said, we can't stop him from doing anything he wants but he keeps asking for our permission as if it matters."

Cameron shakes his head, looking a little bewildered, his attention back on the path as he tugs at Morgan's hand and gets them walking again. "I don't understand it at all, either. It doesn't make any sense. I can't think of any reason except our potential alliance with the grounders makes us suddenly useful. But then why would he die to get our support?" He wrinkles his nose, perplexed, "But I told him, he said we were expendable, and that we wouldn't be expendable ever again, no matter when or where the Ark comes down. Then he was all, you're not expendable, you're our children. The fuck?" He huffs softly, "But I -do- believe even more now that the pardons are real. I know you don't, Mor, but it just doesn't make sense."

"I thought they might be real. For some of you." Morgan corrects. "After all, petty thieves and political protesters can be tolerated, especially if everyone comes down. Me?" He shrugs. "I'm not going to chance it. Not to mention I still want Kane dead. You're right, thought it doesn't make sense. Except…" He trails off to think.

"There's no reason not to be cautious, but I still think its true. For everyone. It simply makes sense. On the Ark, extra people use resources: here, every person IS a resource. There's no such thing as too many people, not if everyone works." Cameron gives a little shrug as he leads the path along. They're walking northwest instead of northeast, which is the path to the river. "Except..? Do you have any other ideas? Even off the wall ones?"

Morgan puts his arm around Cam's waist as they walk but it's a loose hold in case they need to move apart quickly. "I don't know. I'd never spoken to Jaha before or met him. But you know what kind of rep he has. And you know how the Council works. They make almost all the decisions."

"That's something else we talked about." Cameron has this powerful urge to lean, but leaning gets in the way of walking, so he slips a hand about Morgan's waist in return. "If he does stay upstairs, there will be a new election for Chancellor. But I complained about the fact that the Chancellor is just a tie breaker and the unaccountable Council was the real problem. Jaha said the Chancellor has the power to /dismiss/ the entire Council." Cameron seems… uncertain again, "I suggested that if he were to dismiss the Council and not appoint a new one — then whoever the new, elected Chancellor is would get to. That means all the old guard who is responsible for all the shit that they've done to us would be out, and we could— in theory— pick a Chancellor who would campaign on who he'd put in power. Anyways, I suggested that if he did that, we'd consider it a gesture of good faith. A sign that they are not taking the tyrannical Conucil down to earth… and he said he'd think about it." He seems downright disbelieving about this last.

"But do you think that the people of the Ark wouldn't elect similar people? They're used to how things work now. To suddenly be in a new, strange environment…" Morgan glances over at Cam. "You see how we've reacted to it all. How about two thousand people?"

Cameron shrugs slightly, "Who can say? It would set a precedent. We can't dictate to two thousand who their leadership is, but if the Council is tied to the elected Chancellor, then the Council is accountable to the people. Through one layer of indirection, but that's something we didn't have before. Its one step. From there I'd start agitating for a fully elected Council. I'm not suggesting if they do that then we all immediately walk back and join in the fold, only that it would be a *gesture* I, at least, would appreciate. It would make me reconsider some things. I'm _completely_ opposed to the current Council staying in power." Cameron half-shrugs and adds with a slight smile, "Democracy, itself, is my goal, but neither I nor the 100 can dictate what they elect or we're the tyrants. The 100 can still stand apart as long as we feel it needed."

"I'd be surprised if most of us weren't opposed to it." Morgan notes. "Maybe not Faolan but most. Let's see they do keep their word. And a new Chancellor and Council are put into place. Do you intend to go back to them?"

Cameron shakes his head, "Not at first, maybe not ever. I can't really plan that far ahead. Right now its speculative, its a maybe. But I'd be open to… visiting. And helping them more then I would if Jaha and the current Council are still in power. There are things I want from them: depending on how much tech they are able bring down, I want to do a botanical study of some of these medicinal plants. But until I *know* they aren't running a tyranny like on the Ark, and until I *know* they aren't going to kill you, and until I *know* they aren't being run by a bunch of lying sons of bitches… and even then, it might not be enough for me to be willing to put myself in their power. I like being free."

"I don't want to go back." Of that Morgan sounds very sure. "Even if they wouldn't kill me. They're going to try to hold onto what they had. Their technology, their society, their identity. Being the Ark. It won't last but they're going to put up a fight to keep it. We're on a brand new world and we need to live in the here and now not the was. I want us to be the go between for the Grounders and the Arkers. Our own thing, part of both maybe and neither."

"Yeah, this is where we disagree." Cameron doesn't seem to mind, though. "I do want to keep our sciences, and our technology. I don't believe its inevitable that it will decay into uselessness. Now that we are on the planet, we can start putting our sciences to use, we can start making new stuff again. Industry. Because this isn't a brand new world: this is the world that was once ours. It can be ours again. The fundamentals that underlay the sciences are still the same. But." He shakes his head, "That doesn't mean my goal is to live in Ark City, or whatever they call it." He pauses a moment, and says softer, "Especially if you're not there."

"I want to keep it too. I just don't think most of it will last." Morgan counters. "Not more than a generation. But it's important for us to keep as much knowledge as possible, especially with medicine. My point was that I think the Ark will rely on it to the exclusion of everything else and not learn what they need to. Not till things start to break down beyond repair. At which point, they'll need to turn to us."

Thoughtful, Cameron continues walking along, "At which point, it might be too late. But yeah. They might do that. But part of what I want to do is convince them *not* to. I know Dad will listen to me. He's a senior botanist, his voice will carry some weight with the agrotechs. If we can learn what it takes to farm on the ground, what kind of crops are available here instead of soy-soy-soy, then I can teach Dad and the Ark can have a hybrid food supply. Ark-food and Ground-food. That's one step forward." As they wander through the forest, they come through a patch that's darker as the trees above block much of the light, which has them wandering through a glowing fungal grove. "Pretty, isn't it?"

Morgan looks around then glances up at the sky before grinning. "Yeah, it is. Did you want to have sex here once it's night? That would be interesting. Anyway, I don't think the farmers will have much problem in adapting. I mean, growing food is pretty much the same all over. They'll have to learn to deal with seasons though. So will we."

"I think farming on the ground and hydroponics are gonna take some getting used to. I don't actually know anything about /farming/, real farming. Fertilizer, crop rotations. I read those things all matter but I don't know how." remarks Cameron thoughtfully, and then he has to laughs and turn a wicked grin at Morgan, "Wait until your surprise before you start making offers I might need to take you up on." He slides a hand down and gives Morgan's butt a squeeze, before he gestures more seriously, "Its just up that way. Oh, by the way, I have a gun. Two bullets."

Morgan grins over at Cam. "What's up that way?" he asks then stops dead as his brows go up. "You have a gun? Where'd you find a gun? Do you know how to use a gun? WHere is it?"

Cameron can't help it, he laughs, and cocks a thumb over the way they're going, "I found it. There's some caves up ahead. One was caved in, we dug it out, and there were bodies. Two dead, bullet to the brain in each, and a gun, with two more bullets. Its old, I think, but its not rusted or anything." Cameron is grinning, pleased with himself for his discovery, "I have /no idea/ how to use a gun, except you point it and pull the trigger. I don't intend to /use/ it but I /have/ it. And pointedly, *no one else does*. Its hidden back near the camp."

Morgan looks over to try to see where these caves are. "Huh. Well, that's good. I guess. Never know when it'll come in useful. I don't know how to use one either. Who else knows you have it?"

"Silver, Alison, and Martin. Silver is going to keep it quiet. The others, maybe too." Cameron tugs Morgan along, and they come over a crest, and reveal a stream. Its not a very wide stream, nor very deep, but its full of clear water and lacks obvious giant snakes. The stream meanders over and half of it flows into one of several caves on the other side of the hill. "The far cave.." Cameron gestures, "It has campfires in it. Old, been gone decades, so the Grounders dont use it. The point is, its a *big* domed cave, with lots of room, and a hole in the ceiling so smoke can get out. I call it the refuge. Its… useful. Or it might be a useful place for us. But more importantly.." He grins and points at the stream, "There's no snakes. Hello, Morgan, welcome to bathtime. Surprise."

Morgan stops when he sees the stream then looks over at Cam. As soon as he hears there's no snakes, he starts walking for it. Quickly. "Water. Lots of water. To get clean in. I could kiss you right now but wait till I'm clean and I'll do other things too."

Cameron is a bit smug about this discovery and the impending cleanliness, and gestures to the cave, "There's a *deep*, cool pool in there, which might be… fun. It seems unoccupied, but we should test disturbing it a bit more. We didn't have time to check it out thoroughly before Devin wandered off and the panther attacked." Burying the lede, he is. "But the stream's more then enough for a regular bath. Thank Eden."

Morgan removes the sword belt as he walks and sets it down at the side of the stream before sitting on the grass to tug his boots off. As he does so, he glances in to see how deep it is here. "Should be safe enough with the swords in reach. You going to join me?"

The stream is narrow, and in most places it's only ankle deep, but in a few places it is knee deep. He's pulling his shirt off and dropping it to the ground, and he's out of his pants in practically no time, and Cameron is grinning and nodding. "It'll be better when we can clear the cave pool, but this is good enough." He heads over to one of the places its deeper, and carefully sets his sword at the edge of the pool, and dips a foot in. There's a shiver, "Cold. I don't care. Clean, man. It'll be nice to be /clean/ again." And then he's crouching into it, and splashing water up over his body, making it shine.

Once Morgan's boots are off, he stands and finishes stripping. "Yeah, I'll deal with the cold water. Maybe I'll rinse my clothes too. If I knew we were coming here, I'd have brought my shirt for sure." Moving his sword closer to Cam's, he gets in where it's deeper as well. "Damn, it is cold." And then taking a deep breath to steel himself, kneels then flattens himself to submerge himself completely before springing back up and shaking himself. "Gah!"

Cameron is clenching his jaw and shivering, but he's staying down in that water and letting it flow over him, using nails to scrape at skin and clean grime off. "Yeah, totally going to clean my clothes, too. My shirt's a bit ripe. If someone can figure out how to get soap going, that'd be great." That said, he's grinning broadly at Morgan's reaction to the cold water, "M-m-man what we n-need to do is to keep firewood going in one of the caves, so its toasty. Didn't think of that. Cuz warming up again is going to suck a little. But I don't care. /Clean/."

Morgan looks around then climbs out of the stream to pull up handfuls of grass. Stepping back into the water, he offers one to Cam before using his to scrub at himself. "Soap would be wonderful. Maybe the Grounders have something. If I'm going to be making holes in people, I'll need to be as clean as possible."

Cameron's eyes follow Morgan as he gets out, his expression appreciative, and on the return he reaches out to take the grass, Cameron nods quickly and with a quick smile, "Yeah. Infection is as dangerous as a wound, isn't it?" Scrub scrub, Cameron sighs softly. "I didn't get a good look but the captives didn't look all that terribly clean, so I'm worried about that, b-but surely hygiene has to have survived in some way. Its just basic healthy living to be clean."

"More dangerous in a way." Morgan answers. "Even a scratch can get infected. And you can survive a wound but die from the infection. You saw Asher. I wasn't joking about him maybe losing his leg. If the infection had gotten into his blood and started to spread up his leg, we'd have had to cut it off before it got to the rest of him. We don't have any antibiotics to stop it otherwise."

"Without anesthesia, can someone survive having their leg cut off?" wonders Cameron, shivering for reasons thave have nothing at all to do with the cold water he's methodically scrubbing with, "Fucking Jaha. I don't know what to think: how is he able to act semi-reasonable /now/ but he couldn't be bothered to send with us some basic medical rations?"

"Yes." Morgan answers grimly. "It wouldn't have been fun." He pauses in his scrubbing to look at Cam. "He said he didn't have anything to send down. They might be that low themselves. It might not be just the air system that's falling apart. Assuming we can believe him, of course." he concludes and resumes scrubbing.

Cameron wrinkles his nose and shakes his head, "I don't believe it. There's no way the medical supplies are completely exhausted at the same time the air is failing, the same time that food is extra scarce, the same time… etcetera. He *chose* not to provision us. It's the only thing that makes sense to me." He continues scrubbing as well, scooting up out of the water to sit on the edge of the stream and scrub along his legs, shivering as the wind blows against his wet skin.

"Might not be the same time. The air might just be the latest in a long series of failures." Morgan suggests, turning to watch Cam. "I don't know. Tell me something…" he says then bites his lip a moment. "You know how low on food we've been. If someone started stealing it for himself and got caught, and we knew he'd just keep stealing it if we kicked him out of camp, what would you do?"

Cameron hesitates in his scrubbing, turning a pensive look over at Morgan, and shaking his head slowly, "Fuck, I don't know." is his immediate answer, but his expression shows he's thinking about it more deeply, "I suppose I'd gather some basic provisions— enough for a couple meals, a knife,… And send them away, and tell them if they're seen again then I'll kill him." He purses his lips, "He's endangering everyone and we can't afford that."

"Yeah, we can't afford that." Morgan repeats quietly, not sounding at all happy about it. "I've been thinking about that question since we got down here and some people didn't give a shit about the group. I don't even like most of those idiots in camp but I know we need them all. So long as they're doing their share."

Shivering, Cam pulls himself out of the water, scooting back to sit in the grass and wipe water off his body as best he can. "Although its hard to feed everyone, here on the ground, every person is an asset we can't afford to lose. That's part of why I'm trying to get a unity movement going with the 100, because though I know we'll lose some people to the Ark when it comes down, I want to keep as many of us together as possible." He wrinkles his nose a bit, "And if someone is /actively/ harming the group, if they are not only perhaps not doing their share, but taking from us… We can't /tolerate/ that. We'll die if we let that go."

"I think so too. I bet Grey thinks so too." Morgan says then drops his gaze and goes back to scrubbing extra hard at his stomach. "I bet the Council thinks so too. And I /hate/ that. Are we no different than them?"

Cameron freezes, the implication having not occurred to him. He quite clearly does NOT like this line of thought. With a bit of uncertainty he says, "The difference is we can be better, if we come together and decide to be. If we choose our leaders and if our leaders are accountable to us. We aren't that now… because right now we're pure anarchy. 92 voices and 92 ideas of what to do and 92 opinions. Chaos. Upstairs, what's different is its seven voices that the people only choose one of— and that the goons enforce the rule of with violence, and if the people disagree with what the Council does, no matter if the Council believes its doing whats in our best interests or not, the people can't change things."

Morgan doesn't look convinced. "I just… I don't know." He lets the grass in his hand drop into the water and the start floating away. "It's just since I've been worrying about what's best for all of us, things don't seem so clear any more. Not that I wouldn't kill Kane if I could." He was the one Morgan was going after when he got caught.

"Democracy might not be perfect, someone might choose bad, but at least they have a choice." Cameron sounds so confident about that, "Beyond that, I don't know if I have any good answers, Mor. We have to do the best we can do, and we'll make mistakes, but no one can really ask more of us then that."

Morgan lightly probes at the bandage on his chest then a little harder and swings his arm around a little. "Help me get this off? I'll let it breath a bit till we get back. It's not the making mistakes part that bothers me. It's wondering if they asked the same questions we are."

Coming over, Cameron crouches and proceeds to help take the bandage off, "The clean water might be good for it, maybe?" he wonders, though he really hasn't any idea. He does nod a bit then, though, "Well, that's why we have to ask them questions. They likely will see us as just kids to start with, but I plan on making them think about the important things, if I have to talk to every single Arker individually."

"It depends on what's in the water. Could be parasites." Morgan carefully peels the bandage off once the cloth hold it in place is removed. Since it's soaked, it's easily done. The arrow hole is obviously healing and partially closed up starting from the inside out. It's going to scar. "Whatever's in those plants they use, they've got antiseptic properties. No sign of infection. Not in Quinn either and hers was worse."

Cameron tilts his head slightly, his fingers touching just outside where the wound is, his eyes hardening a little bit: even if its all healing up, he is not happy about there being an extra hole in his boyfriend. "If there's parasites in the water, I imagine we're doomed. Fuck, Morgan." He laughs ruefully and shakes his head, "There has to be at least one thing going for us on this planet, and Eden preserve us, I'm going to trust the water. I have to or I might go nuts." That said, he nods slightly, "Did you find Evie to show her the leaves I collected?"

Morgan takes Cam's hand and lifts it to his mouth to kiss. "Trust this water, maybe. Not all water." He has to think about the question. "No, I didn't find her then got distracted by something. Next time I saw her, she was telling us how the three freed the Grounders and took off. But we can get that info from them now."

"Well, I know not to trust stagnant water." Cameron murmurs, moving his thumb to brush against Morgan's lips after his hand is kissed, "True, we can bring them with us and ask them directly. I hadn't thought of that." He hesitates, then adds, "Though I'm not sure if its best if we go and /ask/ them about medicine, when we're trying to be ourselves useful as an opening gambit to allow the summit."

"We need to know as much as we can, I think. We can't play games with medical things. If we can cute them, that should say more than enough about what we can offer medically." Morgan says. Dipping the cloths in the water, he carefully washes around the wound and dabs at it. "They've obviously lost the ability to perform surgery. Which isn't terribly surprising." he adds with a sigh. Stones and sticks and plants.

Cam is suddenly reminded /he/ meant to clean his clothes; the air has somewhat dried his skin, so he's all hanging out naked and not even remembering he is naked. But then he goes and grabs his shirt, dunks it in, and begins roughly rubbing it together, cleaning as well as can be done without soap. "Its a question of timing." remarks Cam, "We're at a sensitive point. They want us to help cure them to prove we have something they want just to *open* the possibility of a summit, it doesn't guarantee a peace /at/ the summit. If, instead of going and just curing, we instead trade information for information, it might not seem like we've paid the proper due to get the right to open the summit. I don't know these people well enough to judge if they'd consider teaching us something as valuable."

"No, Cam." Morgan says, glancing over at Cameron. "They want us to cure them to keep their friends from dying after we infected them. There's no proof we did, of course, but it makes sense." Reminded he too wanted to wash his clothes, he grabs his pants and puts them in the water. "There's a lot of things we can play political games with but I think medical ones should be off the table."

"Its neither political nor a game. Before we ask them for favors we should do them a favor, because he flat out said that was how we get a summit." counters Cameron, lifting his shirt out and twisting it until his shirt has most the water squeezed out of it, then dunking it in for round two.

"Which we'll be doing by healing them." Morgan points out. "Meanwhile, while I'm doing that, you, the botanist, can ask about plants." He looks from his pants and over at Cam. "I have an idea."

"Maybe. I might be able to strike up a conversation with their herbalist." Cameron looks uncertain, but he does look like he's considering it, at least. TWisting his shirt out again, he lays it out beside him and goes for his pants, dunking them in next. "Well…" He suddenly grins, dimples showing, "…don't leave me hanging here. Anymore then I already am. What's the idea you've got then?"

"Well, we're about as clean as we're going to get. And I'm freezing. Why don't we go into the cave and warm each other up while our clothes dry?" Morgan suggests. "Get all sweaty and needing to clean off again."

Cameron laughs softly, pulling his pants out, laying them out, and pushing up off the ground and grabbing his sword in one hand, and offering his hand up to Morgan with the other, "Sounds like a great idea. You know, you've got a great head on your shoulders. Besides, the cave needs christening. I /told/ them that bathing was the motivation for killing the cat, because goddamn it, being filthy was getting in my way of blowjobs. Must fix that."

Morgan grins and takes Cam's hand. Once he's on the bank, he spreads his clothes out in the sun and takes his sword as well. "Well, glad that's been taken care of then. I think we can manage a few other things as well." Taking Cam's hand, he starts heading toward the cave but pauses to look around. "Actually… Let's take everything with us. Just in case."

The look that Cameron gives Morgan is downright hungry, "Anything. You know that." And then Cam pauses, and glances around himself, "You know a part of me would really, really like to walk buck ass naked carrying just our swords back into camp and be all nonchalant and give people what? looks, because it'd be funny, but fuck it took me two and a half days to /get/ that shirt, and there's not a lot of extras to trade for left. So. .. yeah. Just in case."

"And boots. Boots are worth their weight in air." Morgan agrees. Releasing Cam's hand, he gathers up his stuff before moving toward the cave.

"Man, I don't even want to think about that walk back without boots. I'd say fuck it and declare this our home and abandon the rest of them before I walked through all /that/ in bare feet." Cameron shakes his head, bends and gathers up all his things, then pads in that silent way he has of walking without really bothering the grass itself, after Morgan.
