Forums » General Roleplay » A Forest Clearing

Danniel watched intently as the tribal cooked. Her mouth was watering at the thought of real, cooked food. Her ears twitched and she watched Nathan come back with two rabbits. She eyed them hungrily and her stomach grumbled.
"I'm willing to eat just about anything right now. I've been living off of canned beans and fruit and granola bars since I found that town."

"Do you know how to set snares?" Nathan asked Danniel. "Sometimes those can help with adding meat to a diet--but it does take some practice and a little bit of time to catch anything."

He skinned the rabbits with an ease that came from practice of having done it dozens of times, before taking out the internal organs and offering them to Bella. The meat he threw into the soup that was being prepared.

"Give it a few minutes and we'll be good to go."

"Not at all," Danniel replied to Nathan. "I have nothing to make one either." The coyote anthro sighed and sat against a tree. "Does anyone know what's in any direction besides south? I'm going some where and I might as well know my options."

After watching for a minute or so, once Nathan departed to find some rabbits Merrion slipped away as well while Blue was focused on preparations and Danniel was fixated on her. Going just far enough away for a chance at privacy, he took off his jacket and gave it a couple shakes before hanging it over a low tree branch. It, at least, was as resistant to water as it was to laser fire. If only the same could be said for most of his other equipment... his bulletproof vest, for instance. It quickly got the same treatment as his jacket.

Removing and wringing out his shirt before tossing it over the branch as well, he frowned. The pants would have to wait until he had more privacy than this. Much more. Retrieving the small toolkit from one of his jacket pockets before taking it off the branch, he moved into some sunlight, sat down and pulled out his laser pistol. Getting it working again was his top priority, since something told him ammo was going to be as hard to come by on this planet as the last couple.

Spreading his jacket out on the ground in front of him for a place to lay pieces and not lose them in the grass, Merion cursed as water spilled out of the gun onto him when he got it open. Giving it a shake, he made a mental note to try and figure out how to make it watertight without it overheating faster as a result. That is if he ever landed somewhere that didn't feel like a place out of a crappy old fantasy novel. For now, he'd just have to take bits out and try to get them dry.

Danniel curiously followed Merrion in to the woods. She hid behind a tree when she saw he was taking off his shirt. When she looked back, he was looking at some disassembled parts of a gun. She gave a quiet thank you that the man hadnt taken his pants off and cautiously approached.
"Do you need any help? My dad used to work with guns, so I'v learned how to take em apart and put em back together," she offered.

Lou kept her head down, mostly, just listening to the others. Snares? The soup was coming nicely, thickening up as she added more loosely cut things, growing frustrated with how little she could cut before the amount threatened to slip off the curve of the rock. She put a few bits of carrots in the her pocket for the horse. She lean forward to look as she stirred in some herbs. She'd bite her lip, poking her spoon at the meat. It looked alright already, but she'd give it another little bit, a cautionary. "All I know is if you follow up the river, I believe it goes northwest, it'll eventually take you to flatter lands with less brush, and you can sometimes see the big metal birds far away. They don't usually come over this part but the smaller orange ones might." She nodded justifiably and leaned back to relax a little, before noticing Blondie's absence and growing a little tense. Keeping her soup steady, she'd turn at the waist to look around.

Merrion had pulled out half the main bits and already spread them over his jacket by the time Danniel arrived, destroying any illusions of privacy he'd managed to build up in his mind. Blowing on the interior and idly wishing for a hair dryer as she offered to help, the mention of guns caught his attention more than anything. Maybe finding ammo here would be possible after all.

"No offense, but I think this might be a little beyond your technical knowledge, kid." He told Danniel. Carefully working out another piece and setting it with the others, he was relieved nothing in it had broken. "Though if you have a handkerchief or something I could borrow, I'd appreciate it."

Nathan remained with Aloutte. It was Bella who couldn't withstand the curiosity and followed after the coyote anthro.

She rustled along in the underbrush, before finding Merrion and Danniel. Pausing to cock her head to the side, she watched the strangers alertly. Their smell was different than she was accustomed to, but the glint of metal on the ground drew her closer.

Lou glanced at the man, and seeing that the girl and the wolf were gone too, she assumed they'd be together, and figured the man wouldn't leave without her and the wolf without him. She'd nod and lean back over the pot for a moment, then back to the man. "I think it's about ready." with this she looked briefly back again.

Nathan nodded and whistled sharply, calling Bella back to his side.

From where Bella was watching the antics of the strangers, she paused and pricked her ears up to the sound of a whistle. Her tail went up, and she frisked suddenly, before grabbing the nearest shiny object and dashing away with it in her mouth.

"Well, I have a large sock that I found. Not sure why I brought it sincevit doesn't fit, but it might work," Danniel reached into her bag and pulled out the sock and handed it to Merrion.
"I hope that works," she said as the whistle sounded. Bella came sprinting out from behind them, grabbed a piece of the gun and ran back towards the others.
"That's not yours! Heel! Come back!" Danniel bolted after the wolf and tried to jump on her just when they got to the clearing; she missed and hit the ground hard enough that it knocked the wind out of her. After a few seconds of wheezing, she stood up and the smell of soup wafted towards her.
"That smells delicious," she muttered, her mouth watering.

Raising an eyebrow at the sock, he shrugged and started carefully trying to dry out the interior of the gun with it. Might have been an odd choice, but it was dryer than anything he had on hand. "Thanks."

The whistle went ignored since he was too focused on the task at had. The wolf grabbing a component of his gun, on the other hand, got an instant reaction. "Hey! That's not food!" He yelled, turning and grabbing at the thieving canine but missing by an inch. Cursing as Danniel hurried after Bella, he hesitated before setting the open pistol and sock onto his jacket, getting up to go after the animal as well.

By the time he caught up with Danniel, she was just pushing herself off the ground. He thought to ask if she was okay, but hearing her comment it was a safe bet she wasn't hurt and the thought of food had overtaken everything else on her mind. Coming to a stop by her, Merrion decided to go with idea three since just chasing and taking pot shots at the wolf would each be problematic.

"Nathan! Would you control your klepto-canine and get that piece away from her before she swallows it?!" He shouted, not having any idea if Nathan even knew where Bella was or what she'd done, but felt he'd have the best luck when it came to catching her.

Lou turned towards the yelling party calmly, listening to what each person had to say. She eyed the soup before looking to the wolf, then to the man who brought her and back. Her head bowed and few calm words came from her: "Bella, may I have that please?" Well, it usually worked with the horse if he'd have picked up some litter in his grazing, anyway. A hand was half outstretched towards her, but she figured Bella would probably take it to the man anyways (or nobody, for that matter.)

Nathan looked up as the cacophony came closer and frowned at the "klepto-canine". "Bella, whatcha got?"

The wolf trotted happily towards him, tail waving like a banner as she ignored Aloutte's hand and dropped the object into Nathan's lap.

He picked it up, surprised it wasn't covered in wolf slobber. "Thank you, Bella." Louder her directed his next question to Merrion, holding up the unfamiliar metal object. "What is it? And yes, soup is ready."

Lou smiled regardless, hand moving to balance her stick. A good pup I see. She leaned forward to look closer at the object, shaped strangely and made of material she saw only rarely, or at least seemed similar. She looked to the blonde man, then to the anthro-canine, and slowly placed the pot to the ground to look into it. Realizing she didn't have more than one bowl she frowned and turned her attention back to the shiny object.

Danniel saw the tribals bowl issue and reached into her bag, pulling out two wooden bowls.
"I'm sorry I don't have any more. There wasn't too much worth taking from that town," Danniel handed a bowl to each of the men. "I can eat last," she offered.

Nathan grinned and shook his head. "Keep one for yourself. I've got my supplies with me." He rummaged through his pack to produce a bowl and a ladle. He began to dish out the soup into the bowls, careful to make sure everyone got equal portions.

The soup smelled wonderful. "Thank you," Danniel said gratefully. The coyote anthro eyed the soup hungrily, but still waited for everyone to get theirs.
"For the sake of conversation, where is everyone from?"

Lou stared at the ladle intently, intrigued. Strange people always brought lovely, strange things. Her head bowed to the anthro's question. "Here," Lou would grunt, one hand gesturing in a wild circle. Probably obvious, but she figured to answer. She took her own crooked bowl in her hands, comparing it to the others. She watched the coyote with interest, for she ate not when hungry. She'd glance to the boys for their replies.

"It's from one of my weapons." Merrion told Nathan as he approached and snagged the piece away from him. Examining the bit carefully, it seemed to be intact. That was a relief, but didn't stop him from shooting the wolf an irritated look when he went to pocket it only to be reminded that half his clothes and laser pistol were elsewhere and unattended.

He considered going to retrieve them, but the smell of the soup and fact he hadn't eaten in nearly a day plus however long his transport to this planet took made him think he could spare the time. As far away as they said the non-deserted towns were, it was a safe bet nobody else was around to take his things. Except maybe other thieving mutts. The thought caused Bella to get another dirty look.

Taking a bowl of soup and glancing at Danniel when she asked where everyone was from, he normally would have just said the name then let people wonder where it was. When irritable, like now, he had a habit of trying to be frustrating. So, after Big Blue stated how much of a local she was, he spoke up in a tone that made it hard to tell if he was being serious, joking or sarcastic. "A galaxy far, far away."