"Yeeaahh, try it. I dare you..." Brendon smirked at Ryan, bobbing on the surface of the water with a devious look on his face. He'd much rather have just messed about for an hour and really tired himself out, but he did need to clean his clothes. He hadn't really noticed just how much he'd stank until he sat next to Shiloh; she smelt better than he did, which was quite something. He started peeling his clothes off (which was easier said than done, considering he was soaked), and passed each article over. He disappeared under the water and re-emerged with his underwear and socks, then took the bar of soap. "Cheers." He brought the small block up to his nose and gave it a tentative sniff. Soap, he'd found out once when he was younger, was something that was always different. In his house, anyway. Neither of his parents had been brand loyal, that was for sure. Upon finding the scent was quite pleasant, he started washing himself, starting with his hair.

He laughed at what Ryan said, and couldn't help but agree with him. "I know. But, hey, when you're trying to survive alone, washing your clothes doesn't really come top of the priority list." He just didn't see the point. He was used to his own stink, and it wasn't like there was anybody around him to complain about it. And besides, if it helped hide him from the Avarus, so be it. He gave Shiloh a wary glance, smirk still in place. "Duly noted." He took a deep breath and pinched his nose, then vanished under the water again to rinse his hair. He came back up with a gasp. "Man, even that on it's own feels better..." He ran a hand through his hair and immediately noticed a difference.

"I mean, true, but these are bad!" Ryan fired back with a laugh. Being dirty didn't usually bother him, but that gritty feeling clothes got after being worn and slept in for extended periods always bothered him in a way he couldn't ignore. Hair at least somewhat cleaner than before, he paddled around quite happily to warm up a bit, slowly getting used to the chilly water and not feeling it quite as much. "Yes! That's a nice stick!" he laughed when Shiloh tried to show it off to him, giving her a gentle pat and letting her carry on her way. No doubt the damn thing would be coming back to the tent with them later. She seemed so pleased with her discovery, and he just plain didn't have the heart to take it from her.

He grinned when Brendon surfaced once again, nodding softly. "Right?! When I showed up, I hadn't seen soap in like... God, it had to be at least 6 months, and I swear I just about scrubbed all my skin off!" Actually, he'd stayed in the water, and just kept washing himself until his hands went all pruney and he could no longer feel his feet. There may have also been tears of joy too, but he'd never admit to that part... "The soap's not quite as good as shampoo, but its better than nothing. Plus, its actually, like, stupid easy to make so its not a big deal if you use a bunch of it... I'll show you how to make it if you want." In all honesty, he was just excited to show Brendon everything he'd learned over the last decade. Everything from hunting and foraging for food to all those little things that just made life outside the cities that much more tolerable. He was like a little kid that had just learned something cool, and was beyond eager to show it off to anyone who would give him even a moment of their time.

Brendon made an apologetic face. "I know, I know." He did actually feel a little embarrassed, but, at the end of the day, it simply hadn't been a priority. If he'd know, however, that he would have been meeting Ryan again, he would have at least washed his own underwear. Or just not worn any. That would probably have saved him some grief from the start, to be fair. He was starting to feel more like himself again, washing away weeks of dirt and grime from himself. What he really wanted was a nice, long, hot shower. He figured that sort of thing would be considered an unnecessary luxury during the apocalypse though. He wondered if anybody had managed to get one working again.

"Remember all those movies that came out before this shit took off, about the end of the world and stuff?" He remembered quite a few vividly, even though he'd only seen them once and once only. "Man, they didn't have a clue back then, did they? And why did people always look so well groomed?" There was a certain couple he'd bumped into that sprang to mind; he hadn't shaved his face for months and looked like a bigfoot. She hadn't shaved either...and he could barely tell them apart. "Oh, yeah, that'd be neat! I'm gonna need to develop some skills if I'm gonna be staying here, huh?" He doubted they needed anymore hunters or raiders, and the only other skills he had was terrible comedy.

Ryan thought for a moment, digging through his memories for the hazy ones of those old movies, before laughing softly. "God, I know, right? Guess they didn't realize just how quick hygiene went out the window back then... Least, when shit hits the fan, it does..." Admittedly, even before leaving Los Angeles, he'd never been the best about personal hygiene, but at least he hadn't gone around practically marinating in grime and his own stench like he'd been forced to out in the wastes. "Y'know, I never thought not being able to grow a beard would be a plus either." In all the time he'd spent as a teenager, lamenting to Brendon about his inability to grow anything but the patchiest scruff on his chin, the thought had never crossed his mind. Now? It worked in his favour, as most people seemed to mistake him for nothing more than an innocent, clueless teenager, and there was no doubt in his mind that it'd saved his ass a few times.

"Might be a good idea, yeah. Pretty as you are, ya can't coast on your looks forever, y'know," he teased with an impish little grin. Of course, he wouldn't call Brendon pretty by a long shot, but there were a few choice terms he could've substituted... Not that he had the guts to do it, even the thought now making him just the tiniest bit pink and warm around the ears. "Don't worry, though! Just stick with me, and I'll teach ya some stuff... Dunno how much of it is exactly smart stuff, but y'know!" Yeah, he was well aware of his own tendency to be a bit of a bumbling idiot at times. In fact, these days, he was way more capable of handling a well-intentioned joke about the topic, especially compared to his childhood. Most of that was thanks to Bryce being a huge fan of getting on his case for being a dumbass at times...

"Nah." Brendon shook his head and chuckled. Personal hygiene, shaving; they were some of the first things that went out of the window. It wasn't like anybody was making new razors or anything to shave with, for starters. And soap, as it was, wasn't something you could just pop to the supermarket to grab some more of. Unless you were extremely lucky, of course. There might have been a few places scattered around that had some good stuff left, but Brendon doubted it very much. They would've been picked clean a long time ago. He laughed at Ryan's comment about beards and rubbed at his own scruff. "Yeah...you're not missing much there, lemme tell you." He'd given up on keeping it neat, so he tended to hack at it with his knife whenever it was getting too long. A good scrub probably wouldn't do it any harm, so he lathered up the soap again and did exactly that.

"Oh, well, I could try." He smiled broadly, cocking his head up slightly. "Maybe we can teach each other. Saying that, though, I doubt there's anything I've learned that you don't know already." He knew how to fight, fuck, and flee, but that was something everyone generally knew at some point in their lives. "I don't know anything about living with people anymore, so..." He cupped water in his hands and rinsed off his face and beard, running his fingers through the latter to get rid of some of the tangles.