[Bronze Wood] Over The River (Caesarion)

by **Aoren** on April 26th, 2014, 9:44 pm

Aoren knelt down removing his pack from his back and setting his shortbow on the ground. He made a clicking noise with his tongue gesturing to Isikai. The pup rolled around in the sparse grass chasing a fly that buzzed across his nose before Aoren managed to get his attention.

“Come here, boy. Come here.” Isikai clambered up from the dirt and raced over to Aoren. The Drykas pet him playing with him for a few moments before he took Caesarion’s advice. When he managed to get the pup to calm down just a little he lifted Isikai’s paws looking them over for a few moments. Though Isikai wiggled and squirmed in his grip Aoren soothed him with a few pets on the head. Each paw was in-tact as far as he could tell though Isikai whined and tried to pull away. After a few more moments of carefully scanning the pup to make sure he was okay, Aoren released him. Isikai padded away shaking out his fur. The Drykas man chuckled shaking his head. “Thank you for the advice.”

“I didn’t quite know what to do when I saw you in that tent down in the bazaar. That’s me being honest. I wasn’t unhappy to see you. I just wasn’t…I wasn’t prepared to see you.” He shrugged his shoulders grabbing his pack and propping it up against the trunk of a tree. Aoren then opened his pack taking out a tightly rolled tarp made of water treated material. He stared at it for a moment. It was time to figure out how to pitch a tent. He had only ever briefly been exposed to camping out in the wilderness. He sighed setting the tent roll down for a moment.

“I’m not all that great. So, here’s a secret, I’m not that good at pitching tents.” He glanced over his shoulder as he unfastened the tent poles from the side of his pack. He set them down on the ground next to the tent roll then closed his pack. Turning to face Caesarion he gave him a half-hearted smile. “Trust me when I say this little camping trip is as much for me as it is for you. So, do you want to help me get this thing situated? You help with mine and I will help with yours?”

Whether Caesarion agreed to it or not the truth of the matter was that neither of them was going to get shelter for the night without each other’s help. Aoren reached over untying the ties keeping the tent folded together. He slowly unwove them then unfurled the tent. He paid close attention to the lines of the folds so that when the time came to pack up camp and set out he would need to remember. When he’d unfurled the tent completely it looked like little more than a dilapidated triangular mass of material that was somewhat aspiring to be a rectangle. Aoren looked back at Caesarion.

“I know we’re supposed to start by pitching the front of the tent. Beyond that…umm…” He gave a light laugh shrugging his shoulders. “Any thoughts?”

by **Caesarion** on April 27th, 2014, 6:10 pm

His eyes trained downward as Aoren checked up on Isikai. Somehow it felt a little weird to watch someone practice your advice in front of your eyes. So, he kind of just thought about other things as all that went on. He looked at the trees surrounding him, the grass and the mud. He felt some of the cold air passing by him, and he sighed. This was a really nice place, but he couldn't shake the feeling of danger, as if it were at his door step. He had never really been so exposed. He was always behind the walls of a city, or behind a trained guard. Now that he was older and more grown, he was going to be the one to wield the blade and defend the innocent. He was going to be the one to fight off bandits, kill or be killed. Such a strange turn of events.

When his little check-up was finished, the Drykas spoke to him. It was probably the most emotive thing he'd said so far, too. He started by saying he was at a loss in the beginning, and went on to say that he actually didn't mind seeing Caesarion. That was a surprise. Honestly, whether this sounded cruel or not, Caesarion was convinced this whole time that he was just an unfortunate thing that Aoren decided to stomach. In truth, he was possibly only here because both of them sort of wanted a resolution to their past, hoping that perhaps things could end off on a better note. But what he wanted from all this, and what he felt, was different than what Aoren wanted and Aoren felt. He had no clue what he was doing to the other. It was... something of a relief to hear that at least his plain visage didn't make Aoren "unhappy". "Hah, you weren't prepared to see me?" He remarked. "At least you had a few moments to breathe it in. I literally got turned around by you in the wide open and had to try and react normally." And he probably gave off some weird sub-worldly image with how he was just staring emptily at a dog. And then he went on to ignore Aoren for half a dozen seconds before even looking up at him...

The whole thing was just really awkward. When he went home, he mentally slapped himself for how he acted there, especially in the first few seconds. One thing Caesarion had going for himself was a constant desire to get better, and sometimes that meant furiously hating himself for really simple things. Anyway, the subject changed as he was spending his time whining about yesterday. Tents, right. He didn't know how to pitch a tent either. The only thing he knew how to do with tents was sleep in them. "Rhaenon did mine, last time I camped. If you want, we can go to Ravok right now and ask him," he rolled his eyes. There was literally not a single thought in his mind as to how they would go about this. He wasn't quite the technological innovator.

"Um, is there some sort of book that came with it?" He asked, and stared blankly at the aspiring structure. Maybe that was a stupid question -- Aoren would probably have read the damn thing, knowing him. So, knowing that, he shoved the thought aside. The tent was sort of acceptable by his standards, but it did quite obviously need some manhandling. "You said you need to pitch the front first, right? Do you... know how to do that? Are you asking me if I know how to? I'm confused." This was going to be a disaster.

by **Aoren** on May 13th, 2014, 5:43 am

“This is going to be interesting.” Aoren chuckled. He unrolled a bit more of the tent so that it was situated directly beneath a tree. Sighing he stared at the expanse of canvas before him scratching his head. The only way he was going to get a grasp on how to pitch the tent was just by diving right into it. He pat Isikai on the head, scratching him behind the ears for a moment before tackling the job at hand.

It was probably the greatest, most frustrating struggle of Aoren’s young life. The tent simply refused to cooperate with him. As he attempted to pitch one side, the other would fall over. When he dug the tent pole into the ground it fell forward. When he drove one spike into the dirt, another popped up from the ground on the opposite side. At one point in time he pitched the tent entirely wrong with several support ropes overlapping in places they weren’t supposed to. By the time Aoren had successfully gotten the tent up and properly in place he was sweating, he was irritated, and was certain he’d been at the project for the better part of over two whole bells.

Aoren plopped down on the ground glaring at the bane of his existence. He had never faced a challenge so utterly baffling but he was glad that it was over. The whole ordeal must have been terribly amusing to Caesarion. He looked over at the Ravokian man giving him a weary smile.

“Well, that was…not fun. That was not fun at all if I’m going to be completely honest.” Aoren hadn’t asked for Caesarion’s help the whole time and would have refused any offers. He wanted to accomplish the activity on his own. It was a mark of his pride that he wanted to be able to at least set up a campsite on his own. He knew that there would come a time when help would certainly be more convenient than just going about the tasks by himself, this had been one of those moments however when he just needed to see that he could do it. He looked up into the sky. Syna was most definitely lower. They were approaching the early evening from what he could tell though he did not know the exact hour.

“Well, at least it won’t be as difficult pitching it the second time around. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how to fold it all back together so that it fits into my pack again.” He chuckled. Despite his annoyance at the pitching of his tent, Aoren was in a slightly better mood than before. More appropriately, he was a bit more relaxed. It did him good to get away from the walls of Syliras now and then. He hadn’t done it often enough but he was thankful for the fresh air, the breeze wafting through the trees and the feel of the ground beneath him. Isikai suddenly pounced on Aoren’s leg rubbing his head against his calf. The Drykas man smiled reaching down to pick up the pup holding him above his head as he lay flat on the ground.

“What are you doing? Do you really think you can attack my leg and just get away with it?” The pup gave a bark as he wiggled in Aoren’s grasp. The Drykas man laughed bringing Isikai to his chest ruffling the fur on his hair playfully before releasing the pup to go run around a bit more. He shook his head wondering exactly where Isikai got all of his energy. With a deep breath he hopped to his feet turning to Caesarion.

“Alright, well, let’s get your tent ready then we can work on getting a fire pit made.” Aoren had virtually no experience when it came to roughing it out in the wilderness but he knew for certain that without a campfire they would be in for a very unpleasant night.

by **Radiant** on May 25th, 2014, 2:58 pm

Aoren :

Caesarion :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+3 XP
Socialization	+3 XP
Rhetoric	+2 XP
Animal Husbandry	+2 XP
Leadership	+1 XP
Wilderness Survival	+2 XP
Philosophy	+1 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+4 XP
Socialization	+3 XP
Rhetoric	+3 XP
Storytelling	+3 XP
Wilderness Survival	+1 XP
Philosophy	+1 XP
Teaching	+2 XP

Completed [Bronze Wood] Over The River (Caesarion)