Supply Gathering (Open)

[Claira]

Night was still over the land. Claira dressed in all black was going through a small patch of woods gathering different herbs such as mint, lavender, devils club, and aloe. The Thief was also looking for eatable berries. Her bag was a quarter way full. Looking around for the traps she had made and set the day before. Claira was looking for the fallen tree that she placed it. "I know I put it around here somewhere, but where's the tree at?"

She walked around the small patch of woods until she found it. Walking carefully to it, she could make out the small trap was triggered. Following the string downwards, she saw her victim. It was a decent size rabbit. Taking out her dagger, she began the process of skinning it and cleaning it. Breaking its legs at the joints, Claira was then able to fold the legs up over it. Taking the skin, she laid it fur down over her other supplies. Then placing the fresh meat on it, she made her way out of the woods to make her way back to where Orcleous was. But it was going to take a while to get their. The Thief had her one hand testimony her dagger and the other was on the bag while walking on the road.

[Viola Verran]

Viola glided through the sky at a slow pace. It was night and the cool night breeze felt nice. Anima whinnied at the relaxing pace of the flight. "I hope the others are doing fine after we all went our separate ways," she wondered aloud. She yawned and looked at the stars above. "We should probably land for the night, right Anima?" The pegasus neighed or maybe yawned as it's reply. Hard to tell with pegasi. "Alright, let's head down and make camp."  

The squire and mount flew lower. They passed over a road and noticed a lone traveler. "Someone else seems to enjoy the night also, right anima?" The duo flew down to the road a few feet above it and a few yards away from the stranger. "Nice night, isn't it, fellow traveler," Viola said as she smiled warmly at the stranger.

Sure, maybe it was not the best idea to approach a stranger, but viola was an optimist, and this person did not give off any ill intent to her. Anima was a bit more pragmatic and kept his rider up in the air were she would be safer in the event that this was some bandit or other villainous scoundrel. He stared at Claira as if to keep her back from his master. "Don't worry about Anima. He's just overprotective," Viola said with a giggle. The pegasus gave an indignant huff at the giggle to which viola pet him on the head. She then gave her attention back to the figure on the road before her.

[Claira]

The sounds of flapping from above made Claira stop. Looking up, she expected to see a Wyvern or a nasty winged creature coming to attack her. But the figure landed close to her. Looking over, she saw a Pegasus and it's rider. The Thief never seen a Pegasus up close, only in the skies above did she see them. The young maiden dismounted and began speaking to her.

"Yes it is, a rather calm night." Taking off her hood and scarf, she noticed the Pegasus named Anima getting a bit defensive. Lifting up her hands to show she wasn't a threat, she knelt down and placed her bag before her. Going inside, she brought out a handful of mint and some blue berries. Placing it as far as she could reach, Claira would slide back some to give the horse with wings some room.

"My name is Claira of Sacae. I'm surprised. One doesn't see a lot of Pegasus Knights in Bern. Usually their in Illia. So what brings you here miss? Most be a worrisome for you to fly in the country of Wyverns." Claira would stand up with her bag in her left hand, keeping her right hand open.

[Viola Verran]

Anima stepped cautiously towards the mint and berries. He gave them a sniff. Viola giggled as she watched Anima inspecting the gift. The pegasus eventually ate the offering and returned to his master's side. "Thank you for the treat for Anima. Care for an apple in return?" She pulled an apple out of a saddlebag on the pegasus. The pegasus huffed at one of his apples being taken, but quieted down with a pat on the nose from viola.  

"I am Viola of Etruria. A pleasure to meet you Claira." Viola gave a quick curtsy before standing straight again. "I only recently arrived here in Bern so I haven't ever met a wyvern. I would like to eventually, but maybe not too soon." Anima huffed. He could take some smelly wyvern. He would fly circles around anyone of them.

"Bern is the one country I have not seen much of. I once traveled with a caravan of merchants all over, but we never went to Bern. I think we were going there after we went to Illia, but that was before the ba-...err, never mind about me. " Viola did not want to bring up her own problems to someone she just met. No need to burden strangers with her problems. She stepped a bit closer and realized she was still holding the apple and held it out. "Here you go! Thanks for the berries for Anima," She smiled brightly. "Oh, and why are you traveling?" She looked around almost expecting more people to be with the traveler. " Must be lonely by yourself."

[Claira]

Shaking her head, she raised a hand. Smiling a bit as she could tell from how Anima acted, it was his stash. "No thank you Viola. I got a rabbit in my bag that needs cooking." She noticed how the rider quickly changed topics when she was explaining about going to Bern after Illia. A tragic tale maybe. But the thief didn't press the issue. Watching Viola looking for others. "I prefer to gather supplies at night. Most people are asleep anyways. The air feels nice."

Smiling some more she continued. "I left my traveling partner behind so I could gather some herbs, berries and some meat." Thinking for a moment, Claira looked at Viola and asked. "Are you hungry? I can start up a fire and cook up the rabbit if you'd like."

[Viola Verran]

Viola placed the apple in Anima's mouth. "Alright." After speaking of her compatriot, so she is traveling with someone, "It's good to be traveling with someone else isn't it?" Viola remembered traveling with the merchants. She shook her head briskly.

"Are you hungry? I can start up a fire and cook up the rabbit if you'd like." Claira asked.

"Awe, no, I'm fi-" Viola could feel her stomach rumble in protest. She could feel her cheeks heat up, "Well, I guess I can't argue with my stomach, heh heh. I have some potatoes I got from a nice farmer's wife yesterday for letting her kids pet Anima. I wouldn't want to just eat up your supplies without offering up some of my own for the meal." She picked out 2 whole potatoes from another pouch on the saddle. Anima just ate his apple. He was not much for potatoes. "So, how should we cook the rabbit and potatoes?"

A gust of wind blew through the air. Viola clutched her cloak as the gale passed. Anima stepped into the path of the wind effectively shielding both his master and Claira from the chilling breeze. "Thanks, Anima." The pegasus just finished up the rest of the apple in its mouth and neighed in contentment.

Viola's stomach growled again and she turned her attention back to Claira. "So how about that dinner? I'm famished!" She laughed a bit at her hunger. She really had not realized she was this hungry. She had been flying for a while.

[Claira]

The Pegasus moved himself to block the wind for his rider and for Claira. Smiling at the horse, she gently patted the horses head and stroke it's mane. Hearing Viola saying she was hungry, Claira put her bag down and went back into the woods. Inside, she began to gather broken branches making a pile. Looking around, she began to pull out patches of dead grass that was dry. Putting it in her pockets, she then needed leaves.

Gathering the dead leaves and breaking it up, she also put it in her pockets mixing it up. Grabbing the wood, it had taken her a bit to get all the fire materials for the fire. Walking out with the branches under her arms. The Thief walked over to Viola and Anima. Dropping the wood down, she would then pull out her dagger. Sitting down, she grabbed one of the branches and began to cut chunks of wood shavings. Pulling out of her pocket the mix of dry grass and leaves, she set the bundle on the ground.

Getting back up, Claira went back to her bag and brought it over to the site of where she was going to make the fire. Reaching into one of the smaller pockets, she brought out a hunk of quartz. Using her dagger, she struck the blade a few times across the quartz. Sparks shot off each time, then a small amount of smoke started to come off it. Leaning closer, she'd slowly blow onto it. After a short while, flames rose from it.

Taking the chunks of wood shavings and placed them into the fire. The fire grew and she set some of the broken branches on to the flames. The fire was now ready. With the fire ready, Claira began to think of she she had forgotten.

"Silly me! I forgotten the sticks for the rabbit and the potatoes. I'm sorry..."

[Viola Verran]

Viola watched as Claira busied herself with preparing a small campfire for the meat and potatoes. She was not sure what to do to help. Claira seemed to be just about done before Viola could find something to help with. She watched as the fire grew to a strong blaze. "Wow, you did all that so quickly," Viola mused.

"Silly me! I forgotten the sticks for the rabbit and the potatoes. I'm sorry..." Claira said.

"Oh, I'll go get some," Viola volunteered. Now she could do something to help with the meal. She did not like having someone else do all the work if she would get some of the benefits. She thought it would be unfair if she did not do her fair share of the work. "Come on Anima, you can help too," she told her flying companion as she headed into the woods. Anima retorted with a snort but followed his master obediently.

Viola picked up a few twigs from the ground. They did not look like they would be strong enough for the weight of the potato so she placed a few of them on Anima's saddle and kept looking. She felt a gentle breeze draft through the trees and stopped to let the wind blow trough her hair. It felt nice. She heard a thump and noticed a branch had fallen to the ground. It must have already been weakened by weather for it to fall from a breeze. Viola walked over to it and used her lance to break it into two roughly equal parts. "Hmm, these should work."

Viola made haste back to the camp with Anima and the 2 branches. She walked over to Claira with the two crudely broken down branches.,"Will these help?" She stuck them in the ground by the fire.

[Claira]

Claira had the fire raging when Viola finally came back. Taking them, she examined them and nodded. Pulling the rabbit from her bag, she slid it onto one of them. "Good find Viola. Would you do the honors and do the potatoes while I take care of the rabbit?" Lowering it slightly over the fire, the sound of the meat began to sizzle. Signs that the fire was starting to do its job. Another breeze swept through the area. The Thief would keep an eye on viola as she began to do her way of cooking. "So Viola, what do you plan on next for tomorrow?" Claira asked. Smelling the air, the scent of the cooking rabbit filled the air. Her stomach growled a bit. Turning it slowly every once and a while, she was enjoying the night. Pulling the rabbit back to her, she took out another dagger and cut down the middle. Claira looked at the meat, needs a bit longer to cook.

After Viola would tell her said of what she was going to do, Claira would say with a smile. "For me, gather a bit extra herbs and berries then meet back up with my...traveling partner. He's at a village long Been forgotten of time. I had to get out of there...place was starting to give me the creeps. Always quiet. No signs of human life. Just...a ghost town really. Just counting my lucky blessings that we leave that pit of a village tomorrow afternoon." Feeling a bit embarrassed, she pulled the rabbit out and it was fully done. Taking out the fur, she laid it down on the grass then pushed the rabbit onto the skin part. Cutting a leg off, the thief would hand it over to Viola. "I'm sorry, when I'm nervous I sometimes just talk.But, what's your goals for life my dear?" Cutting off another leg, Claira would take a bite from hers listening to the very young Pegasus rider as she spoke.

[Viola Verran]

Viola nodded picked up a few of the potatoes and put them on the second stick. Without a pot and water to boil the potatoes first, they would not get very soft, but they would be edible and with a few herbs and spices she pulled from Anima's saddle, hopefully, somewhat tasty. she examined a red paste ian glass jar. "Hmm, this strawberry glaze is almost rotten, better use it up. Oh yeah, plans...." Viola said sheepishly almost not hearing the question in the first place. "Sorry, when I start cooking i space out and tend to focus only on cooking. Anyways, I guess I plan on heading to Ilia for a bit to look for some people." She turned the potatoes around in the fire and sprinkled some ground salt and blackish peper over them followed by a red powder. "Oh, uhm sorry, I'm not use to cooking for others so I forgot to ask if you liked spicy foods. The powder I just put on is kind of spicy. I didn't put a lot on so it's not much spice, but sorry. This strawberry jam would taste good with it and cut the spice a bit also."

When Clair took off the rabbit, Viola poked at the potatoes with a small twig. They were as done as they would get without burning so she took them off the fire. She placed them on the skin of the rabbit also. She placed the strawberry jam next to the meal and took the leg from Claira. "Are you two merchants or maybe mercenaries? Or dare you just travelers? S-sorry for prying if you don't want to say," Viola blushed at becoming to interested in things that perhaps her dining companion might not want to speak about.

She took a bite of the rabbit, "Mmm, it's really good!" She took a taste of her potatoes with some of the jam, "Hmm, they could have use da bit long on the fire maybe..." She was a little disappointed, she usually pulled things off too soon. She worried a bit too much about burning and ruining food.

"Hmm, goals for life?" Viola thought a moment. "I don't really know. I only recently started traveling and it was kind of unplanned because of the bandits that attacked my caravan..." Viola reddened even more because she had not meant to say anything about bandits. "Ack, uhm s-sorry, I hope I didn't ruin the meal with bandit talk and stuff..."

[Claira]

Before Claira could answer, Viola made the warning that they weren't don't. Smiling a bit, she grabbed her dagger and broke the middle of the ribs of the rabbit. Taking the jam, she covered the inside of the rabbit. She took the potatoes and placed them inside of the rabbit. Grabbing the stick from earlier, she slid it inside again. The Thief stood up and held the stick over the very top of the flames. "Spices I don't mind. It be good on the rabbit...but as for my companion. We aren't merchants. He's been protecting me from slavers that I've escaped from over ten years ago...but, We do things for each other. A few days ago, we were in Lucia looking for a sword he had lost. The village the sword was at was over ran by bonewalkers. We almost died saving each other. But we are still alive." A smile came across her face. The jam inside began to moistion the potatoes. But the bad part, the rabbit's back was now burnt. Taking it away, she set it down on the skin again.

"Try the potatoes now. You've just learned my old family trick when I was still with my family before the slavers came for us children. As for the bandits, it didn't spoil anything. We all got a past we fear to talk about. Its up to you if you want to talk about an event you survived from Viola. Not my place to judge my dear." Taking her dagger and stabbed one of the potatoes and placed it in front of Viola. Then took out the other potatoes and took a bite from it. "Mmmm...that was a good idea." Taking more berries and mint, she set it before Anima. Looking up, Claira looked up at the stars above. "Illia is beautiful, but very cold. Make sure you wear some heavy clothing. Can only imagine how it looks or even feels up above there." Then pointed up at the sky. Her eyes would start to connect the stars. Bringing up the potatoe she took another bite from it. "Beautiful Night in Bern."

[Viola Verran]

Viola watched at Claira slathered jam on the potatoes and placed them in the rabbit meat. She wondered why she had not thought of that. The jam sizzled as it heated almost to a boil. It smelt amazing until a slight burnt odor came from the bottom of the rabbit meat. "That's a neat trick, but it's a shame about the Rabbit. It was perfectly cooked and now it had to be over cooked because of the potatoes." Viola looked a bit disappointed. She took a bite of some of the rabbit wrapped jam potatoes and her smile returned. "it's still really good. It doesn't even taste overdone nor is it tough!"

"So, you were a slave?" Viola thought for a moment before continuing. "Why do people enslave others? Just for money? It's so cruel and yet... It's worse than bandits raiding people." She looked up at Claira, "Uhm, so you are on the run from slavers, but will you ever be able to be free of them? Is there anything I can do to help you?" Viola doubted that she could do anything, but she could not just not ask if there was something that maybe she could do.

Anima had been munching on an apple when Claira placed berries and mint leaves in front of him. He neighed a thank you and bent down to eat his desert. He then walked over to Viola sensing her sadness and draped a wing over her.

"Th-thanks Anima" Viola said as she looked up at the night sky. "It is a beautiful night."

[Claira]

"Be free of them? No...unless I take the fight into the lions den. They branded each every one of with symbols of animals. Each animal played their different role for the one called Father. Some called him the Man of Greed. Those that did had a choice. Either your tongue or your life. I can still hear the screams...but back then, I guess I was a bit special since they only branded me with the Raven, their symbol for an assassin. A fat guard at night would take his knife and slice from my wrist to my shoulder. The night I killed him, I unlocked my cell door and the other children from my village. We ran in different directions to make sure we all didn't get caught. I stumbled upon an old woman who took me under her wing. Healed me, then taught me her trade of how to survive alone in a city while on the run...haven't seen her in years. Then I started to hear rumors of the children I saved...killed on sight or they were dragged back to The Man of Greed. I'm the last one they haven't caught yet. Never staying in one location for to long."

Taking another bite off her rabbits leg, her eyes went from the stars to the young maiden. A smile came across the thiefs face as she was asked if the Pegasus rider could help. "I thank you for your kindness, much like my traveling companion, kindness is rarely given to me. Most turn away or even lead the slavers to where I'm staying at. But sadly, I don't think you'd be able to help Viola. I wouldn't want to hear that they captured you for aiding me. Having someone to talk to is good enough for me young rider." Taking another bite, Claira would look at the flames thinking about the plans her and Orcleous was making to cripple those sick monsters. A slight sigh came out as she placed her meat down. Looking at Anima, she would then say. "Your Pegasus reminds me of a horse my father had. His name was Mithrail. A big tough horse. If you were sad, he could sense it. He'd walk up to you and rub his head against you. If that didn't make you feel better, he would then lay down next to you with his head on your lap. I miss my home land..."

[Viola Verran]

Viola ate her rabbit and potatoes as she listened to Claira. An assassin? She must be pretty strong then. Taken as children? Viola wondered how such people could exist, but she knew a similar tale, but by far not as severe. Sure she was alone, but she was not being chased by slavers. She was not even completely alone as long as she had Anima.

Anima straightened up at the mention of Mithrail the strong horse. He liked being compared to a strong horse. He continued rubbing Viola's back with one of his wings as he bent down to pick up a few berries that had rolled into some spilled jam. He Whinnied in delight.

Viola could not help but let out a giggle at Anima's antics. "I hope you can be free one day." She then made a realization. "oh, uhm, you probably have to get back tour friend now? He might be worried about where you are."

As Viola spoke a lone burly man was walking down the road. He had a large axe on his back and looked like he had not shaved in weeks if ever, and he smelled as if he did not know what a bath was. "Ugh, what a pain. we lost over half of what we stole from that caravan. Stupid Bernese Bandits," the mad mumbled. He then looked up and saw the two girls and the pegasus. "Well, I'll be. A green haired pegasus rider. I remember you, wench. you won't be getting away this time." The man drew his axe and stepped towards the two.

"Y-you know me," Viola started to ask, but realization hit her. "Y-You're part of the bandits who attacked my family!" She reached for her lance and clambered up on Anima. 'He has an Axe, and I have a lance. So, I'm at a disadvantage.' She thought to herself.

Anima looked ready for a fight despite his master's hesitance.