Closed Out In The Cold [Deer Hunt]

[Spirit Frostfawn]

The Wastes Winter 35th, 513 AV Spirit frowned at Shin's odd comment about 'bruising her hands'... then taking away the elk. Was he going to do that work for her? The work she knew how to do, and leave her with the stuff she did not? That sounded a little... stupid. She didn't really like this man, as 'helpful' as he was. Still, she went along with it, a small frown etched into her features. Explanation finished, the man walked away, taking her elk with him. Irritated, the girl scowled, then turned to the pile of supplies. What was there to do? Well... ask for a meal plan, make food. The fire was already being dealt with. She had to set up the tents, too. What order would be the best? Well... after the food, they'd have to eat... and you could eat in the dark, but not set up tents. Tents first? That would work. She sifted through the stack of things until she found two tightly wrapped tents. They were, on closer inspection, wraps of canvas and fur centered around long sticks, bound by rope. It looked complicated to put up. She knew how to set up her own style of tent, but this was really quite alien. However... the hunters would probably know. Glancing around, she looked for someone who looked a little friendlier... not Shin. There seemed to be one over by the fire, though not quite in the main group, puttering around looking useless. He looked almost bored, really. Finding a good picking, she jogged up to him and grabbed his attention. "Excuse me, I'm unfamiliar with this kind of tent... could you show me how to set them up? Not all of them... just one." The man looked up rather startled, then nodded, and giving a wide smile. "They are funny," he admitted, and followed her back to the two bundles. Immediately, he crouched down to unwrap one, leaving the rope on the other side, seemingly for later use. After pulling apart the fabric and sticks, it was obvious that they were attached. "Basically, you want to take these four sticks and put them in the ground. The rope over there will be threaded through these loops at the top... which is the point... and tied to a tree, to keep the whole thing standing up and taut. This extra bit of canvas will be at the bottom, to protect against snow, water... you name it. It's attached to the sides and back with small ties, and the same with the front, if you want to close the flaps. It goes in last. It takes at least two people to set up these... so don't ask me why you were told to do it alone." His grin, however, said he knew perfectly well. Still... it was good to know how the things worked. Spirit nodded in understanding, and, after being directed, grabbed one of the top corners. It was easily identifiable by the pole tips next to each other, as well as the loops in the fabric. Her new hunter friend grabbed the other corner. Together, they pulled it apart until the middle canvas was at its limit. "You just keep holding it up. I'll hammer it in on this side, and you can try yours. It's lucky that the ground here is soft..." He pulled out a small hammer from his belt and angled the bottom tip of one of the sticks towards the ground at an angle. He struck it with the hammer at the top, forcing the pointed end into the snow and earth below. It took quite a few careful taps, but the thing went in several inches. He moved onto the other one, creating an even point. "Catch!" he called, before tossing the hammer unexpectedly. Spirit stretched out one hand to catch it, but let go at the sudden weight with a squeak. It fell in the snow, and she quickly snatched it up. She glanced up with an embarrassed expression, but the man was still smiling. Feeling strange with the two different emotions, she copied his visage. The Frostfawn angled the point of one of her sticks parallel to the other on that side, and tried to keep it steady there... it was remarkably wobbly. She tapped the top awkwardly... but it did nothing. Again and again she tried, eventually feeling more comfortable with the hefty hammer in her hand. Slowly -much slower than the first two- she edged the pole into the ground, where it eventually stood firmly. She repeated the process on the other side. They were left with a reasonably taut tent, though it would fall over if they both let go. The hunter glanced up at the top of the tent, then down at the bottom... and cursed under his breath. "You're supposed to thread the rope first, so it's easier to handle afterwards." Said rope was still on the ground in a neat spiral. He groaned, carefully leaned down to pick up the cord... only to have it snatched up before he could even touch it. One of the Icewatch guards had turned up, and was waving his prize in the younger man's face. "Looking for this? I see you forgot the rope," He proceeded to thread the rope through the loops, much to Spirit's relief. "Thanks,” she muttered happily, smiling at the Icewatch. "My pleasure,” he replied in a pleasant tone, and finished his work. After that, he simply sat aside and watched the scene, leaning against one of the trees. "Right… now we take these ropes and tie them to branches.” The hunter seemed to be back in charge, and slowly moved along the length of his side of the rope until he reached a nice-looking branch. He tied it off, then held his side of the poles gently while she did the same. When they let go… it stayed standing! "And now for the bottom sheet!” he proclaimed, and headed off to grab that. OOCI'm stopping here for a moment, as this is WAY too long already

[Ablation]

As we talked about in chat, feel free to keep going with this until you get your chores done. Then I will jump in for the night time stories/songs and other not so fun things ;p

[Spirit Frostfawn]

The Wastes Winter 35th, 513 AV Spirit was able to do this next step alone, while the Icewatch and the hunter pitched in to start off with the second tent… being remarkably helpful. She had to spread out the floor sheet until it was as flat as possible, make sure there was no rocks or pinecones underneath it, and tie it to the actual frame. She did the middle step first, scanning the area for anything that would be uncomfortable to sleep on. The pine needles seemed quite soft, so she left those, but there were one or two pinecones that had to be picked up and moved out. There were no rocks, however… though such things were uncommon in this landscape. The sheet was large and awkward to spread, but she managed to smooth it out to reach each corner easily. At regular intervals along the edges and corners were strings, which, when it was set down, matched up to similar ties along the bottom of the tent. She started with the corners as had been recommended, so the flooring was actually spread as far as it could be. They were simple knots, something everyone knew… Her knowledge of such things was limited, but she know that basic thing, and how to tie a horse’s lead to a pole or ring…. Which was slightly different. It was monotonous, but went by rather quickly. Adjust the sheet, tie the two strings together, move on. In total there were fourteen ties, one at each corner, two on each shorter side, and three on the longer ones. When she prepared to leave… the Frostfawn stopped. There was no exit. She’d been so caught up in all this tying that she’d tied the flaps down too, and locked herself in. Feeling embarrassed she blushed, glad there was no one in here with her to notice. She quickly undid her own knots and slipped out, stretching her back after being hunched over so long. The two men had just finished the second tent’s frame, and… it was her turn to go in and tie down the sheet… so she repeated the whole process over again, feeling even more stiff than before. When she came out, she had another question on her mind… for the next step of the process. She quickly found one of the two men –the Icewatch guard- and asked. “Er… is there a kind of meal plan? Apparently I’m in charge of cooking… anything specific for the first night?” To her surprise, he nodded. “Smart thinking, and that’s just it. The first day is always fresh meat… as it only lasts that long. This stuff has been pre-cooked too, so you just need to heat it up. It’s so inexperienced chefs don’t have to worry about undercooking the meat and making everyone sick.” He grinned wryly at his own joke, and Spirit reflected the expression. “Tonight I believe it was sausages…” he was sifting through the pile of supplies now, and passed over a large bag of sausages… easily enough to feed everyone plus some. “And rice,”he finally finished, passing a much smaller bag of the grains. It wasn’t a normal staple in Avanthal’s diet, but it was incredibly useful when packing light… small amounts could make a huge collection of food. “The sausages just need heating. The rice will need boiling in water until it’s squishy, like rice normally is.” Instructions done, he left her with the packages and headed off to the fire. Knowing that was where she was supposed to go to, the Vet followed after, arms full. The sausages were quite easy. Someone supplied a long metal pan and stuck it onto the fire, letting her simply leave the meat to heat. People would come, see if a sausage was warm… then just pick it up and eat it. No organization needed… and no one seemed to feel like waiting for the rice to be done. The fire also had an easy set-up, with a simple grate above it allowing them to stick pots and pans on top. How they actually carried all this, she wasn’t quite sure… the pot for the rice had probably been a pain too. Maybe they stuffed other things inside it? Like tents, or clothes, or just food. She filled the pot with snow, then, using Morwen’s gift, changed it into water to be boiled. “You’ll want to let it start boiling, then leave it for five chimes, so it gets clean. Technically you can eat normal snow in a pinch, but this is safer… there just might be something in the snow.”She wasn’t quite sure who said it, but filed it in her memory for future use. It took the large quantity of water a while to start boiling, so she was left with plenty of time to investigate things, and talk to people. Syna was already starting to dip below the horizon, casting deep shadows from the trees. OOCSince the rice will take a while, I can leave it here, and you can start what you want?

[Ablation]

Everyone seemed perfectly pleased and began unpacking the essentials into the tents Spirit had set up. They would establish a more permanent camp further afield, for now only the necessities were needed. Many folded cloaks while two Kelvics shifted into their bear form as the cold air began to slide across their arms and making a comfortable place for their bond mates to rest against.

The night began relatively quietly with several conversations competing with each other from different sides of the fireplace. They had a larger group than many hunting trips so they appeared to seem relatively comfortable letting their guard down.

"Thanks for the food miss..." Someone murmured at Spirits elbow tugging her sleeve gently. It was a young boy of ten with teased black hair and a large grin full of sausage on his face. Giggling he smushed another into his mouth, leaving it so full he could hardly close it. Several steps away from Spirit she could catch sight of his bare bottom jiggling as he spun in a circle hoping from toe to toe as if the ground were cold. Slowly he shifted into a bundling white bear cub and promptly fell on his butt. Mischievous brown eyes gazed up at Spirit, a bear mouth easily engulfing the rest of the sausage. Yawning, the bear cub trundled over to the edge of the fire and flopped unceremoniously onto his side.

Raising his head slightly to glance over his shoulder at Spirit waiting for her to follow. The apprentice Icewatch bears loved going on longer hunts like this. They were always pampered by the hunters, unlike the Icewatch members who often scowled at their unprincipled behaviour.

The day was relatively clear, though this could only be seen by the twinkling stars that danced between the pines limbs. Howls had started to sound in the distance as Spring brought out many of the less active animals. Through the howling creatures and the whistling wind Hannas voice rose. Like all Vantha she had a voice that carried through the noisiest of din, even the unpracticed storytellers seemed to have that knack.

"When the world was first born, and the land rose from the waves the Vantha were created. The land was an eternal winter and Morwen its ruler. The entire land could see the Northern Lights and they were the beautiful queens home." She began eyes burning with the colour granted to them by their goddess.

"This pathway became the stairs from which the Vantha descended onto her land from her loins. We are, each and every one of us created from her fingers, arms, and legs." She murmured running her fingers over each body part.

"Slowly Lhex and the other gods began to claim their own realms and Morwens territory dwindled, as did the Vantha, until we came here. We live apart from all, for it is all that have stolen what is rightfully are. Morwen will return to us next season, when the watchtowers change colour. Returning from her yearly gift, where she grants the rest of the world what they once had eternal. Our Morwen is a great and loving goddess. But we must remind ourselves, not to be bitter about what was taken from us, ever god has a right to their own domain and Morwen keeps us protected and treasured in this Northern realm. Given our eyes to remind us from whence we were born."

She wasn't a great teller, but the classic tale entranced the listeners. It had many flavours and spices depending on the teller but was a good beginning to a night that quickly became rowdy. Only when the moon was at its climax and Leth could gaze down at them from the small circular gap in the pines above them that people began to retire slowly.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

The Wastes Winter 35th, 513 AV Spirit was surprised by the appearance of a young boy complimenting her food, on multiple levels. She hadn't expected anyone so young on the trip... as it was all trained adults, other than her and that Mev...something, wasn't it? Apparently she was wrong, however. It was dangerous, however, so why risk the life of someone so small? The second part was the fact that he was completely naked. She glanced down, then forcefully back up, shoving a smile on her face whilst thanking the child. Wasn't he cold? Even with Morwen's gift, Vantha still felt the chill except when bundled up. You could still get pneumonia, or frostbite, or... well, there was a long list. All this was explained when, in the middle of nibbling on a sausage, the child turned into a bear and sat down in an adorable manner. Spirit smiled at her own stupidity. Kelvics always wandered around like this, as she had experience with... with both Kaden and Mino. And it made more sense to bring along a young bear, than a little Vantha child... though it was still a little risky. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so she didn't complain. Then came the stories, all of them sitting comfortably around the fire and staring at the sky. Though you could still see it perfectly in the city, there was a certain other beauty, when in the middle of nowhere. There were the sounds of nature, of wolves and wind creating an ambiance unlike any other. All that was accented by the beautiful and varying tones of the Vantha, chatting quietly, and laughing loudly. Someone began talking loudly then, a voice that pierced through the babble and brought silence to the group. One of the women in the group started a story, one they all knew by heart. It wasn't the most wonderful version, but it was a soothing one, something that brought all the Vantha back to their roots. It was... peaceful. Spirit listened patiently as the tale went on, giving it all of her attention. It wasn't an incredibly long one, but she didn't mind, any story was a good one to her. It ended, and began an evening of talk and babble that went on well into the night. She herself was an early sleeper, and left to retire to one of the tents before most of it got started. It had been an exhausting day, but a good one... and she was ready for another one.