The Balfour group was my absolute favorite, even though there were plenty of other groups that very obviously cared for eachother [Malachi’s group for example] because they were the only group who was overly affectionate with each other.
No, not in the sense that they resorted to dog piling as the first choice instead of trying other solutions, in the sense that they had some kind of ritual where if you were leaving camp you would hug the people in your group closest to you. They all genuinely considered eachother found family.
You’re leaving camp to hunt?
Okay, well I’m gonna hug you because I’m near & wish you good luck and remind you that I care about you, call out if you need help we’ll hear
Oh you’re just going out to clear your head?
I’m gonna hug you, alright?
Wdym you’re going on a three day supply run?
Okay stay safe, I’m going to hug the shit out of you before you go or bare minimum pat you on the shoulder
Like it was legit just a rule to hug whoever’s parting with the group because you ‘never know what can happen out there’
like yall are such elementary style cuties wtf
And with such a large group I think they were the only ones to utilize some kind of ‘formation’ for distance travels.
Most traveling groups just walked together (granted of course they did the same on smaller trips) dropping back to talk to each other, letting the kids move around in the group as long as they were within reach, someone can scour out ahead and everyone’s in one spot, if we’re in danger we can always push the kids into the middle of us, right?
Groups that actually did have a set way of travel for emergencies used Line or Wedge formation..
The Balfour group in a way mimicked wolf formation? With the people more at risk of being left behind up front and leading to make sure no one else gets abandoned, then people after those ones to make sure they’re not attacked, or to help them if needed.
Kids and their mothers/set caretakers already in the middle backed by more people who are armed and ready to jump in if needed, Then Norman at the far rear to make sure his family is okay.
With how many people there were in the group—with how many young people they had in the group—honestly I don’t think they would’ve survived as long as they did if they didn’t end up taking that in.
