With Sticks and Stones

[The Atheists Reality]

Mss'Rahk wastes little time in stepping out of the intolerable confines of the shuttle, if only to have dirt meet paw. Before she even speaks a word, she pads about the immediate area of the clearing, seeming even more distant than usual. She's carrying out the first actions of a predator, ensuring that in her eyes at least, she and the rest will be safe. Secure. Unlikely to be torn apart by marauding native monsters, at least within the next few seconds.
For all her dislike of the others, here she is acting as protective of them as she would ever get, as a mother bear would her cubs, whether they asked for it or not, she is already asserting her place in the pecking order by her actions.

The light fog is the most irritating thing to her about this planet, always fighting her efforts to sniff out the dangers of the forest. Still, and for the foreseeable future, she acts as a warden, sentry.
The thought that the others may not have asked for this hasn't even occured to her, and by the focused, predatory stare on her face it likely never will.

[TRIAD Enterprises]

The first thing Herzhak did after stepping down from the shuttle was to fill his lungs near to burst. It had been years since he had tasted air this clean and unspoiled, and he intended to enjoy it for a few moments at least. After holding that first great breath till his vision stung, he let it out explosively and sighed. He caught Tristan's muttered comment, and gave a rumbling chuckle of his own, "You are not the only one Tristan. I have not felt this alive in many moons." The next thing the Tejhiik did was to stretch, extending every joint and limb to their fullest range of motion (which was rather considerable in a couple cases), and sighing with each audible pop or crackling sound. Finally he finished the display with a great, gaping yawn that cleared his throat and lungs of all the accumulated stale air from the ship.

Catching sight of Mss'Rahk and chuckling softly to himself. He could read her body language better than he could the humans, but for now he was content in letting her believe she'd assumed her place in this misadventure. Looking around to the others, "Well, seeing as we were all deprived the option of a morning meal, who's in the mood for fish for our first meal on our new home? Fionn, would you help me? I would like to find some tree limbs straight enough to use as fishing spears, then I'm going down to that river to get us first meal. If anyone else knows how to set up a camp and start a fire, I'd suggest we get to work, unless the rest of you also like your fish raw." And with that, the Tejhiik dropped to a low stands and loped off towards the treeline.

[Schadow]

Fionn had stepped off the shuttle and looked around impassively, taking in the new surroundings without comment, silently considering what could readily be seen around them, mentally comparing it to what they’d been told back on the shuttle. He offered a brief salute of sorts as the shuttle took off, turning his back and not giving it another look as he wandered idly, quietly sidestepping his companions with a simple nod of recognition.

It seemed each had their way of adjusting to the idea of being there, and initially he was content to observe. The other thing he observed was the level of activity from the wildlife. Even with their arrival, things seemed to be what he’d expect to be ‘normal’ for an area abundant with life – noise, nothing sounding alarming, no large crashing sounds, no sudden silences indicating the presence of a large predator. And by large, he meant the big monsters they’d been told to expect, not the walking rug or anyone else in the party.

Herzhak’s request seemed a decent idea, and he wasn’t opposed to doing something other than stand around.

“Fair enough,” he said, following the odd creature’s lead and heading over to the trees. He first looked for sticks that were down, being easier to strip and not requiring either any damage to the trees, or the effort of trying to wrest a branch off.

He went through several, testing their length and flexibility before finding a couple that satisfied him. Neither was perfectly straight, but it seemed that they would serve their purpose well enough. One had a slight twist to it, and the other ended in a fork – twice the chance of making a hit.

Then he turned his attention to the younger saplings and made an examination of the bark, working his thumbnail into this one, then that, until he found what he was looking for. With care, he worked loose a tab and gently pulled down until he had a fairly long strip of sturdy yet flexible bark, still green underneath. He repeated the process several times, looping the strips over one of his forearms, then joined Herzhak to see how his search had gone.

“If we can find the right rock, might be able to make some serviceable enough tools for cutting or stabbing or the like. Figure we could sharpen the sticks, or perhaps even work up some spears, depending. Might have a decent shot down near the water.” Already he was working on stripping the sticks he’d chosen, his rough hands wrenching off unneeded twigs, nails pushing under to peel bits away.

[Ainulindalion]

Laslaurë was the last to emerge from the shuttle, and let out a soft sigh as she felt the ground covering under her feet. She breathed deeply, filling her lungs with non-recycled air for the first time in too many hours. It smelled slightly strange, but she decided she could get used to it. One could get used to even unpleasant things, after a while, and this was far from unpleasant.

Unlike the massive cat-like predator, she felt no need to patrol the surroundings. The clearing large enough for the shuttle gave them plenty of room to see any approaching threat, but if it made the thing feel better to prowl and skulk, at least it was being sort of useful and out of the way.

As the other predator and the male human departed in search of some sort of fish, the woman who had trained generations of children in surviving on the Hidden Isle considered the remaining close companions - the second male human, another human female, and the horse-person. Resolving to take charge of the situation, she smiled at the two other females. “According to what Matthew said last night, we should be in reasonable proximity to survival significant resources.” A natural smile flitted across her lips. “Like an empty cave – or anywhere that’s better than setting up camp here in the clearing. Hopefully near a good water source. You think you two could find it?” Phrased as a question, it came out as more of a polite instruction, even an order. “Take her,” the Fuinan pointed to the giant cat, “if you want to. Tristan and I will get a fire started up here.”

She turned back to the remaining human male and approached him close enough to invade his personal space, but made eye contact as she did so. “I need you to pull out some of my hair.”

[Gehenna Tartarus]

Tristan had been concentrating on the scenery around him, until Herzhak spoke. Even then he was only partially listening, as his fellow adventurer was addressing Fionn. It was only when one of the two human females started talking that he actually brought himself back into the conversation. His mind had been taking in his surroundings, looking for points of interest.

He was sure he could handle wood gathering and lighting a fire. Normally he would be prepared with matches or some other ignition tool, but in his youth when he first fell in love with wild adventurers and the great outdoors, he had studied the early forms of starting a fire. If he was honest with himself, he was sure Laslaurë would have no difficulty doing so without his help.

As the woman in question turned back to him, he brought his eyes to meet hers. It was not as if he had not taken the opportunity to check out a couple of his companions during the shuttle ride down. “I’ve heard some chat up lines in the past, but that’s got to be up there amongst the strangest,” he said with a huge grin, trying to break the ice. The idea of pulling out the woman’s hair was not a nice thought. Even though it was her suggestion, he did not have to like it. “Are you sure you want to do this?” At that moment, a pair of scissors would have been much appreciated.

[Ainulindalion]

Tristan’s first comment sailed right over her head. Fuinans did not exactly have a correlation to a ‘chat up line’, and even if they did, the vernacular was strange enough that Laslaurë had no point of reference, despite speaking Common decently well for a non-native speaker.

She nodded to the man, not really any more eager than he sounded to pull out her hair. Her long black hair shook around her shoulders at the nod, then she turned around, presenting the man with her back. Down onto her knees was next, her head with its luxuriant black man at the level of his waist. “We’ll need at least thirty, as I’m sure I’ll break some. Make sure to get the full length.” Her body visibly tensed, and from in front of her, it was obvious she had clenched her teeth and jaw. When there was no immediate feel of his fingers on her head, she ground out, “Do it.”

[Gehenna Tartarus]

Not being the ideal way to start their potential friendship, Tristan stepped around Laslaurë until he was directly behind her. Gingerly, he raised his hand and parted her hair, his fingers gripping a strand at the root. For someone who had caught and skinned animals in this time, plucking thirty strands of hair out of the woman standing in front of him was the hardest thing he had done. He regretted not being a hippy so that he could have put himself through the torture.

He gripped the hair and tugged, flinching himself as he felt it come free from her scalp. Reaching his hand over her shoulder he presented her with the first one. “You’d best hold these while I do this. I don’t want to have to repeat this because I dropped them.” He waited for her to retrieve the hair, before he returned to his task. Each time she reacted to the yank, he gritted his teeth. He knew she had suggested it, but he was certainly not happy about what he was doing.

As he counted out each one, he moved to a different part of her head, not wanting to remove a chunk from one place. He had experienced losing chunks of hair in his time, once during a descent down a cliff face, but that was due to his own stupidity. He made odd comments as he continued his task, mostly to distract them both from what he was doing.

[Ainulindalion]

Laslaurë’s jaw tightened even more when the first hair came out, grinding her teeth together. She accepted the hair without comment, though, carefully taking it and laying it across her other hand, ends hanging freely. As each additional hair came out, she made no comment, laying it carefully with the others with an exacting precision that belied the pain she had to be feeling. The Fuinan woman was glad that the man thought to spread the extractions around, though it meant her whole head hurt instead of a small area hurting a great deal.

Her mind focused solely on the task at hand, and her ears thrust the attempts at soothing comments into the background, paying careful attention to their surroundings at all times. Listening became even more important after the sixth hair was extracted and her eyes began to water. On the fifteenth hair, the first tear overflowed and slid down her cheek. The salty drop on her lips prompted her instinctively to lick them, which nearly got her tongue violently removed as the next hair came out and her teeth clicked back together.

With tears streaming down her face, the woman lost count sometime after thirty, as the man pulling her hair our occasionally dropped or broke or otherwise rendered one of the hairs not useful. Laslaurë had no idea how many hairs in total were removed to get her desired thirty, but when she finally had them all, she rose smoothly to her feet again and turned back to the man. “Thank you,” she said, drawing her empty hand across her eyes to wipe away the tears.

The woman took a deep breath to steady herself, then smiled, her eyes once more bright, with only the tracks of tears marking her cheeks to give evidence of her earlier discomfort. “Well, I guess we’ll need some wood and a sharp rock now.”

[TRIAD Enterprises]

Nostrils flared as the Tejhiik scented the air as he loped along, reaching the treeline well before Fionn did. So far he'd caught trace of numerous small animals and avians, but nothing that had the unmistakable tang of a meat-eater. This was good for their survival, as it meant there weren't any predators in the immediate area. Herzhak caught the human's scent before his ears heard the man's footfalls a short ways off. A rough chuckle escaped the predator's lips, then Herzhak got to work himself, moving among the trees and looking for certain patterns in the plantlife.

There, a sapling that grew almost arrow-straight, whose branches didn't start till almost four feet up. Stretching out to full height, he checked the top of the young growth, then dropped back to the ground. A quick gauge of the distance, then a sweeping kick, toeclaws extended. There was a slight jolt of discomfort as the joint absorbed the impact, but the razor-sharp edge of the claw caught and bit through the wood cleanly. A half-grin as Herzhak caught the falling sapling and hefted it, giving a couple mock thrusts through the air to test it's weight and balance.

As Herzhak resumed his search the claws on his fingers worked to strip bark and branch from the sapling's trunk, which measured roughly three-quarters of an inch at the base. Finally he sharpened down the point, frowning slightly at his sap-coated claws and fingertips; he'd need to find some astringent plants to wash the stuff away before he tried to eat, but that could wait. The tejhiik kept looking for a couple minutes, gathering smaller saplings and branches, then giving a low bark of triumph when he found a stand of trees that had tough vines hanging from their branches. After testing their durability by jumping up and hanging from a couple, he cut loose several long lengths and coiled these over his shoulders with another chuckle.

Finally though he scented the air and followed his nose to rejoin Fionn, nodding at the human's finds and smirking slightly at his suggestion. "Ahhhh, those look like they will serve well. More durable tools are a good idea, but for now let me see those." Opening his hand and waggling the fingers to display the sharp, talon-like claws on the end of each fingertip, "Look here, I found vines growing on some of the trees back there. Figured we could make either a basket or at least a fish line to carry the catch home."

[Gehenna Tartarus]

Several times during the process, Tristan had wanted to stop and had paused momentarily before proceeding. He had a feeling, without asking, that Laslaurë would refuse if he had offered and he did not want to make matters worse. Even though he could not see her face, he could tell that she was crying, but he did not say anything. He hated what he was doing, and every time one of the hairs broke, he gave a muttered curse.

“I would say it was pleasure...” But it most certainly was not. As he spoke his hand when to where his breast pocket would be. “Not even able to play at chivalry.” For the first time since removing his clothing, he was actually missing them. Instead he gave the woman before him a smile.

He let out a sigh, as he looked at her tear stained face. “I’ll get started. You should probably keep those somewhere safe.” Neither of them wanted to go through that again anytime soon. He pointed off to an interesting spot not too far away. “I’ll start over there.” With one last smile, he turned and strolled nakedly over to a small bunch of trees, being careful where he stood. A huge splinter through his foot would not be very helpful.

[Schadow]

If Fionn was impressed by Herzhak's display, he didn't show it. Though he did make a notation in the back of his mind that should something unfortunate happen to the predatory creature, those claws of his would certainly come in handy. Waste not, want not.

He handed over his sticks with a nod - if Herzhak wanted to sharpen them up, that was fine by him.

"I'd recommend the line for now. Time enough for weaving and knotting after we've found some shelter and got some food in our bellies," he replied. "Once yer set, lead on. I'm anxious to see how our makeshifts manage, and what sort of fishies we might be finding."

[Arthropoda Ingens]

Schadow; Triad

Diara found the whole experience to be as familiar as it was unsettling. Given her occupation, it was only natural for her to occasionally be dropped into a prevously unknown - first hand, anyway - environment. Just the whole issue of not having her tent, her radio, her camera or, indeed, her clothing with her was a little... Unusual.

Still, she found that she could cope surprisingly well, probably because she was hardly alone in this.

She listened to Laslaurë's suggestions, and nodded. "We flew over a river when we were heading here, it shouldn't be more than a few hundred metres to the east. We should definitely go in a group of at least three, though - it's one of the most likely spots for predators to look for prey. I think we'll go with Herzhak and Fionn, since they'll go there already. And I think it's best if Mss'Rahk stays with you, since we'd already have Herzhak with us."

With that, she turned, and walked towards the human and the Tejhiik - not without taking a look around. It was a strange place, though not in any particularly obvous way. There was a notable absensce of grass - the ground was covered in small shrubs, ferns, the likes, which made walking rather more of a pain than it'd be over meadows. On the bright side, they were small - the ground they grew on certainly wasn't ideal to support plant growth, and every now and then, she'd see a rock or two, stone pebbles, and so on.

Finally, she arrived at where Herzhak and Fionn were already at work with creating the necessary utensils for fishing. Diaria, Basilia in tow. "Ah... While you're catching some fish, we thought we may as well come along and look for a decent resting place closer to the water - half a kilometre to walk just to drink a little is a bit much, all things considered, and using solely the morning dew wouldn't really suffice, I think."

Gehenna

Avoiding sharp splinters and stones was surprisingly tricky in the clearing the group was on (On the bright side, at least it was hard to sneak up on them), owing to its flora as much as to the ground itself. Stones of questionable usefulness but definite lack of comfort were all too easy to find and step upon, and the same happened to be true of thorny plants.

As Tristan arrived at the handful of trees, suddenly there was a hissing noise in the undergrowth, and something green... Brownish could be seen running, suddenly leaping out of the undergrowth, away from Tristan, and into the forest, while releasing a series of high-pitched barks.

[TRIAD Enterprises]

He caught Diaria and Basilia's scents well before they came into sight, looking up from working on the last improvised spear and nodding to Diaria's suggestion, "A good idea. A location closer to the local water source will make it easier to find prey later. I'm going to wait on hunting for now, until we know where we'll be staying for the time being. If we can find a place with fewer rocks the ground would be more comfortable for your feet and to sleep... Wait." It was faint, likely on the other side of the clearing, but the Tejhiik heard the cries of whatever animal Tristan had startled. They didn't sound like threat-calls though, more likely some smaller creature fleeing in panic.

Shaking his head finally, Herzhak finished the point on the spear he was working on, then hefted it experimentally before nodding to Fionn and handing it back, "That should work well for the time being. Come. Let's get moving and make the most of the morning." Hefting his own spear the Tejhiik turned and started stalking through the vegitation, scenting the air every other step, very much a predator in unfamiliar territory.

[Gehenna Tartarus]

Having struggled over the rough ground, Tristan was momentarily relieved to find a spot that was not sharp or prickly, just before his attention was grabbed by the sounds that erupting through the mostly quiet air. Survival instincts shot into action, as he watched something dash through the undergrowth, running in the opposite direction to where he stood. For a moment, he remained still, just in case the animal was not running from him.

His eyes flicked around the ground, looking for any sudden signs of movement. His ears focused on the area just in front of him. He once more felt a little conscious of the fact that he was naked, and not just of his clothing. A weapon of any kind would have been damn comforting at that time. He cautiously took a step forward, gritting his teeth as a rock decided to attempt to pierce the skin of his foot as he stood on it. He managed to stop the oath that was about to burst from his lips.

Extending the focus of his hearing, he took another step back, until his feet once more touch softer ground. He looked around upon the ground for some broken branch or large stick that he could use to as a club, in case whatever had run off or anything else for that matter, decided to take an interest in him.

[Schadow]

“Aye, good thinking, that,” Fionn replied to Diaria, quirking a brow at the pair. He accepted his pair of impromptu spears with a nod of thanks, gently looping, then tying off the bark into a more manageable package for later use.

Carrying one at the ready, he used the other as a staff of sorts to help him pick his way through the underbrush as they walked in the direction of the water they’d seen from the shuttle.

“Likely want to keep a sharp eye out for things we can use along the way,” he said. “And though we don’t yet have bits to load up with the goodies as yet, mark the location of edibles or what not, eh? Sure we’ve got folks searchin’ as we speak, but nothin’ keeps us from doublin’ up for mutual benefit.”

[Ainulindalion]

As Tristan moved off into the underbrush, Laslaurë settled herself down with her back against a tree-like plant, using it to support herself for a moment while she waited for the pain radiating down from the top of her head to clear up some. She would need as much concentration as possible to neatly weave the hairs together into something capable of supporting the strain of being used in a bow, even to just start a fire.

She carefully laid the hairs on her thigh as she sat cross legged, and began to even up one of the ends. It was a simple, quick process of making sure each was aligned, and carefully holding the entirety of them up so she could knot the opposite, uneven end took little time as well. The weaving process was what would take the most time.

As the Fuinan woman set the combined hairs back on her leg to begin the process, her head came up at the sounds coming from the forest – some sort of aggrieved creature. “Tristan?” she called out, calmly. While it would hardly do for someone to be injured this quickly after arrival, there was also no reason to panic until he replied in a manner necessitating panic.

[Gehenna Tartarus]

It took a moment for Tristan to realise that the next sound he had heard was the voice of Laslaurë calling his name. His eyes remained focused on the undergrowth ahead, making sure that there was nothing else lurking ahead, ready to attack him because it had missed its other prey. Secure in the knowledge that he was far enough away that he could drawer his attention from the greenery for a moment, he turned and looked over to where he had left his companion.

“I’m fine,” he answered, even though he was sure he had cut his feet to shreds. “I seem to have startled something.” Hoping that was enough to allow Laslaurë to return for focus on her string, he once more gritted his teeth and continued his search for sticks for protection and the fire that they needed to get started before nightfall, if half the party were not going to catch a chill in their naked condition.

[The Atheists Reality]

Slinking..stalking..observing. Mss'Rahk is doing all of these things, and more. Especially so when she takes notice of a creature darting about just out of her sight, and instinctively falls back on her predatory senses, her kind's ancient hunting instinct. And so she slinks about, sneaking in an environment of which she is yet unsure of the necessity thereof. Stalking as yet unseen prey, and observing the others, observing the forest as it cracks under her paws. Here she is content, here she exists in her element and seems all the more beast like for it.
As Tristan searches, he would no doubt become aware of a large, predatory form moving through the forest nearby, just out of sight-or so this form is attempting. She is watching, observing. Though she keeps her distance, and leaves when he does take notice of her visibly, the intent is clear. She is keeping aware of the activities of the other group members, and judging their skills, their capability, or lack thereof..

[Gehenna Tartarus]

Tristan turned back to his task, but could not shake the undeniable feeling that he was being watched, which was a feeling he had felt a few times since embarking on the adventure he found himself in. A lot of people ignored the strange sensation, putting it down to being uncomfortable in their surroundings, but over the years, the young lord had grown accustomed to paying attention to the feeling, knowing that it had helped him over the years in his other endeavours. He would not say that it had saved his life, but it certainly helped.

He had not seen the form until it was retreating. And even though it was not one of the dangers that he had been warned about aboard the ship, it was one that he had mentally added to the list following the meeting before the group had retired. Tristan was not against individuals that were different to him, but there was something about some of those who were part of the group that would take a while longer before they gained his trust.

As he watched the figure move away, he felt himself growing slightly more relaxed in himself. There was definitely something about Mss’Rahk that Tristan was having difficulty accepting as a fellow survivor. In his head, he still had images of her eating them all before too long. He shook the thoughts away and returned his attention to the task of gathering wood, wondering silently if he was reading more into the furry woman’s presence in the woods than there really was.

[Morningstar Coalition]

Alright, hope noone minds me jumping ahead in the scene.

The water splashed around Herzhak as the spear pierced the river's surface. His initial thrust barely scored the side of one of the large fish as the animal suddenly flicked to one side, but he quickly drew back, corrected his aim, and thrust again. This time the spear's point stabbed right through the middle of the fish, and the Tejhiik quickly drew back the spear and sunk his claws into the head of the struggling thing, killing it instantly.

"Another one!" Twisting the spear and sending the fish sailing over to the two females on shore. This made a total of twelve that he had caught together, and it had only taken a few hours after they'd reached the river. Combined with the fish Fionn had caught, they had almost two dozen fish. It was now mid-day and soon they'd have plenty of meat to feed everyone. Herzhak wanted to try and catch at least another half dozen to make sure there was enough for he and Mss'Rahk to get their fill of the meat. They'd both need it if they were to try and take down larger prey in the near future.

Pausing a moment, Herzhak bent over to scoop some water into his maw, savoring the clean flavour before swallowing. He was enjoying his first day on this world. Glancing up to shore again, the predator called out to the human, "Any troubles stringing the fish up?" Earlier he'd caught wind of Diaria and Basilia's scents, but they'd still been gone for about half an hour. "Let's get these ready to move, then we'll see if the others have found a good campsite."

[Schadow]

They’d done surprisingly well, all things considered. At least Fionn thought so. Focusing on their prey, the patience, strength and skill involved in skewering what passed for fish here had been satisfying on several levels. It hadn’t been too difficult to rig a line for the fish, running it through their mouths and out through one of their gills, then tying the line between a couple trees. Not knowing what other predators might be in the water made him leery of leaving them in there as he might back home, and he kept an eye out for any opportunistic beasties that might have caught scent of them in the meantime.

“Nah, s’good on this end,” he replied to Herzhak. “Though I’m thinking we might want to clean ‘em back wherever we’re camping. There’s bits might be useful for things other than eatin’ after all, and no doubt we’ll be needin’ yer claws for some ‘o that in any case. Which I’m reminded – no expert on the matter, but what think you on the ground roundabouts? Silt I’m seeing, rock in plenty, but some clay-like stuff wouldn’t be amiss. Eventually going to want a means to store an’ carry water an’ the like, not to mention its handiness in cooking.”

Bones of decent size could be used for needles, hooks, and other such things no doubt. Depending on the size of the spines, there might be uses there too. And if he recalled, there might be usefulness for the guts and such – sealant, glue, with a bit of cooking and patience and experimenting. Eventually there’d be hide and sinew and such to be worked with. With the training he’d had, he was already envisioning ways to utilize what was about, and looking at the fish, trying to work out the best way to cook them up.

[Ainulindalion]

Laslaurë smiled at Tristan’s response, and settled back down to her weaving. The large cat-like person had vanished into the undergrowth at roughly the same time as the young lord, and Laslaurë had roughly kept track of her position… she would admit that the creature was more than capable of stalking successfully… though once the Fuinan figured out that the thing was stalking Tristan, tracking her became easier. Despite the fact that the hunter kept losing the massive creature, recovering the track was much quicker…

At least until they vanished deep enough into the undergrowth that the hunting instructor could no longer hear or see them.

Meanwhile, her hands were busy, carefully weaving the hairs together unconsciously, wrapping each around and through the others, fingers flickering with the ease of long practice, a braided string slowly appearing along the length of her thigh. A few of the hairs broke, unable to deal with the strain she demanded of them, but her hair was reasonably healthy to begin with, and most survived. It took about an hour or so to generate a string a little over a foot in length, which was probably longer than she could reasonably expect from her hair, but it would do. The woman gently tugged on either end after tying the open one off, and reached the conclusion that it would hold…

For now. They would need something stronger relatively quickly.

[Gehenna Tartarus]

Gathering the wood had been a relatively easy task and had only taken Tristan five or six trips before he felt that he had managed to get a good supply. He would have been quicker in the task, but there was a part of him that kept expecting Mss’Rahk to reappear and he had kept his guard up more against her than he had against anything that might have been lurking in the undergrowth. He would have to give himself a good talking to once he had time to sit and reflect, as the one thing he did not need was to have the thoughts that he did about a fellow adventurer.

Dropping the last armful of logs onto the pile, he walked over to where Laslaurë was finishing off her weaving. He gave the woman a smile, as he wiped his brow with his hand. Having spent the last hour working naked, the young lord had almost managed to forget that he was without clothing. He had to grin at the thought of what his aunt would be saying if she could see him now.

“Finished, I see,” he stated the obvious, but it was a way of acknowledging his presence. He turned away from her and looked towards his pile of logs, feeling it would be rude to have certain parts of his body dangled in front of her eyes. “When you are ready, we can have a go at lighting the fire.” He was more than confident that she would have it lit without his help, but he wanted to feel like he was doing something.

[Arthropoda Ingens]

Watery Group

It was early autumn, the heat of the summer wasn't long gone, and the river looked appropriately - although it flowed fast enough for the water to be relatively clear, and for the the riverbed to consist almost as much of stones as it did of sand, it was hardly an idyllic mountain river.

The embankment was steep, though the water level was - appropriate for the season - rather low, and large stretches of sand and pebbles of varying sizes rose between it and the actual river, on which 'Birds' (Well, they flew and had feathers... And teeth) picked up their small prey, not particularly disturbed by the strange, bipedal creatures fishing - although a few of them, featuring varying shades of blueish feathers, did periodically try to steal a few fish from Fionn.

The fish themselves were, for the most part, pretty unremarkable (If tasty-looking), though this didn't apply to all of them - as Herzhak learned when after yet another exquisitely-aimed spearing, the spear just cracked and bounced off of a largish, blackish fish that, having been hit in such a fashion, proceeded to swim quickly towards the deeper middle of the river, then changed its mind, turned around, suddenly accelerating and ramming Herzhak's legs with its armoured skull, just in time for the returning Diaria and and Basilia to watch the ensuring splash festival.

Diaria - unaware of what'd caused the splashing - giggled at the sight. "Is the water temperate yet?"

Firey Group

The shrubs and trees came alive with the early morning. Insect-like creatures began buzzing around and crawling up the legs of anything they could find, and animals whose nature one could only guess at began to fill the forest with their alien noises, some high, some deep, some long, some short, allowing one to guess the size and probably sex of the creatures that were making themselves known in this fashion.

Nothing seemed to justify a higher than usual degree of alertness. As far as these things went, the forest appeared to be peaceful, though its wild cocktail of pheromones was probably less than pleasant - if potentially informative - for the likes of Mss'Rahk.

[Ainulindalion]

With an easy gracefulness, Laslaurë unfolded her legs, carefully holding her string of woven hair in one hand, and rose to her feet, balancing without touching the ground with her fingers, with the economy of movement of one well trained in such motions and experiences. “We’ll need a good, hard straight stick, one that’s rather bendy, and a softer, larger branch, as well as a good rock with a flat edge.” She took a few steps towards the pile Tristan had built up, running her eyes over the options critically as best she could from this distance. “We’ll also need a clear spot on the ground. And maybe some rocks to hem it in with.”

The Fuinan woman turned to her companion and grinned. “It would hardly do to burn down the forest on our first day.”