Flashback Ground Things Are Terrible

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Stretching northward along the coastline of the Suvan Sea, the Cobalt Mountains are the home of the Bronze Wood, numerous ruins, and creatures both strange and fantastical.

Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 9th, 2016, 7:57 pm

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25 of Spring - 515 AV - Heading from Main Gates into the Forest


Intarus was quite frankly not certain the events of the night before had actually happened, but on the off chance that they had, and that there were mizas to be made, he was in fact up and at the gates by five bells, if rather the worse for the wear. Still, he was used to functioning with a hangover, it's not like it was new to him. But the weird Kelvic had in fact shown up, and in clothes. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed about that, though as they passed through the gates and under the gazes of the knights he decided it was definitely relief.

She was definitely an odd one. It was a good thing her clothes were neutral colours, because he got the extremely strong impression that otherwise she would probably clash. He couldn't say what it was precisely, possibly that they just sat funny. Where most women would get clothes cut to their bodies, and would make sure they were pulled into position just so.. You got the distinct feeling that this one would be just as happy with a sack with holes in it.

"Okay, right, first lesson."

Instantly her dark eyes were on him, almost unsettlingly intense. Most people never really gave anyone their full attention. 'Chra seemed to. Though to be fair the instinctual part of her brain was still watching everything, it just so happened that those rare times she paid attention, she really paid attention.

"Assumin' y'get a good start, make sure y'orient yerself proper like before y'start."

"What's a good start? When you've had breakfast and stuff?"

Breakfast, and food in general was never overly far from 'Chras mind. She wasn't as food motivated as some, but she was opportunistic to say the least. If someone was giving away rolls, she'd at the least put one in a pocket for later or something.

"What? No! I mean, yes. You should have breakfast, breakfast is important, but no. I mean like a good start bein' you know where you're starting from."

Fiachra thought about this for a moment, brow wrinkling.

"How wouldn't you know that?"

"Well like, if someone whacked you over the head and dumped y'in the middle of nowhere, that'd be a bad start."

"Oh. Yes. That seems pretty bad."
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Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 9th, 2016, 10:25 pm

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25 of Spring - 515 AV - Heading from Main Gates into the Forest


"Right, so what would you use to orient yerself?"

"Cities over there."

'Chra offered, pointing over her shoulder. It was at this point that what he was dealing with began to sink in for Intarus. He almost visibly mentally slowed down and took several steps back.

"Right, and we can still hear it a bit, plus we just left so you know pretty much exactly where it is. But imagine yer walkin' for days. Don't know when know why, some says it's on account of Aquiras bein' in the state he's in, but you tell someone to walk a straight line in a forest, if they don't have the ken of it, they'll wind up walkin' in a circle every time."

"A circle?"


'Chra asked, incredulous.

"Don't they notice they're seeing the same thing over and over? And can't they tell they're leaning to one side?"

He blinked at this, the leaning bit in particular, unconsciously he leaned slightly to one side as he tried to figure out what she meant. Maybe if you were taking a sharp turn quickly.. Oh. Or flying.

"It's a big circle, a really big one sometimes. So there's no leaning, they think they're walking straight. Plus can you tell trees and ground well enough to tell that you're not seeing the same things you saw hours ago?"


"Maybe they just have crooked legs. One shorter than the other."

It was clear she was hung up on the circle thing. In an effort to move on, Intarus grasped onto this explanation.

"Yes. Everyone has one leg a little bit shorter than the other. Back to orienting yourself. Pretend we've walked for hours, you can't see or hear the city. How would you make sure you walked in a straight line, and that it was the right direction?"
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Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 9th, 2016, 11:13 pm

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25 of Spring - 515 AV - Heading from Main Gates into the Forest


"I would just know."

Even if one had existed, Fiachra had certainly never taken a class on how birds orient themselves, on how even the most domesticated, sedentary hens had magnetite deposits in their beaks, eardrums and eyes that helped keep them oriented properly. Of course this was less of a thing when she was human. Even as a Raven it wasn't like she could give you latitude and longitude, she didn't even know those words let alone what they meant, she just knew where she was in relation to where she had been. Not years ago, it wasn't magic forever tracking, but a straight line was instinctual.

"Look, no. You wouldn't know."

He was clearly getting frustrated, which upset 'Chra a little bit. She was good at what he wanted her to be able to do, he should be pleased, but he was not. She cast around for how she knew other than just the bone deep knowing.

"I could.. look at the sky?"

"What in the sky?"

"The... sun? Or the stars."

Sun was easy, stars again was something that was hard for Fiachra to explain. No one had ever sat her down and pointed out specific stars, given them names, explained their movements. Again, it wasn't an exact science. She probably couldn't use them to get from one city to another, but to go north, or south, or east or west? That she could do. She could even kind of do it in human form, though nowhere near as instinctually. Probably had to do with the different angle of vision.

"Right! Good! What else could y'look at? We're in a bit of a clearin', so look around and pick somethin' you could use to orient yourself f'r a long walk."

This was stupid. What she would do is to go Raven and fly up and look. A birds eye view was far superior to anything on the ground, but it would probably be bad to say that. Rude. And oh that nagging Kelvic need said you had to get along with humans, had to behave properly, had to fit in and please. Swallowing mounting frustration and annoyance, Fiachra looked around.
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Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 9th, 2016, 11:36 pm

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25 of Spring - 515 AV - Forest


There were lots of trees, but even the farthest away tall ones she could pick out would soon be passed if you were walking. Well. Not very soon, walking was slow and inefficient, but soon enough that she didn't think that was the answer. She might follow rivers if she were flying, but you couldn't spot them from the ground until you were basically getting your feet wet. She continued to look around. She vaguely remembered someone saying something about moss only growing on one side of tree, but looking around it seemed as if no one had told the moss that.

"The.. the mountains?"

She offered hesitantly.

"Yes! Good! With a big range you might have to pick a specific peak and keep aiming for that, but yes, you walk for a mountain you'll head basically true in that direction. No circles."

She perked up slightly at the praise.

"Right, what else do you need to survive in the wilds?"

"A big stick?"

Humans weren't very good in the escaping category, so if there was a threat they needed to defend themselves. You probably wouldn't just find a sword lying about, but you could get a stick and hit things with it. She was fairly proud of this line of thought, since she herself generally didn't bother with physical confrontation. The occasional spat with another bird who got too pushy, but that was about it.

It didn't seem to be the answer he was looking for however, based on the long slow look he gave her, as though trying to figure out whether she was actually that stupid or if she was messing with him.

"No. You do not need a great big stick."

"You could use it to hit things. Or as a crutch if you hurt yourself. Or you could burn it. Or if you had more than one you could make a little.. you know, like an upside down nest. Like a bower bird, but on the ground."
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Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 10th, 2016, 12:27 am

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25 of Spring - 515 AV - Forest


"Yes, a stick could be useful."

He allowed, though his face said he was not pleased, and perhaps understandably so. If it wasn't clear that she really was trying he might have gotten annoyed and ended the lesson already.

"But it's not the most importa- look it's water okay? You need water. You can survive much longer without food than without water. Dehydration is one of your biggest enemies out in the wild."

"So find a river!"

She brightened at this, before frowning. Finding water as a Raven was easy. Fly up, spot body of water, fly to body of water, done.

"I don't know how to do that on the ground."

"Well, headin' downhill can be a a good plan, flipside, if you go to mountains you'll almost always find streams runnin' down them and the water tends to be quite pure. Always listen for the sound of runnin' water. If you find clear animal paths, it usually leads to either water or a den. If you see a low spot of land that's dark or has a lot of green plants you can dig and will usually find water fairly quickly though that's harder without proper tools. Some food will help keep you hydrated, fruits and vegetables. A few non-traditionally food; leaves, stems or roots have moisture as well. In winter snow and ice are good, but melt 'em first."

"Animal paths could be dangerous though right? Because it could be a predator or a monster. Plus even if it's like.. a deer trail, predators could be using it for hunting."

"Right, and that's one reason why unless you absolutely have to I don't suggest using animal trails to move around."

It was hard being a human on the ground. Everything was difficult and terrible and basically you were just going to die in like an hour. No wonder most of them never went anywhere.
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Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 10th, 2016, 9:43 pm

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"An' with stayin' hydrated through what y'eat, y'still have t'mind you don't poison yerself or nothin'. If y'were foraging, what sorts of things would you look for?"

Oh! This was a good question! She knew these answers!

"Bugs! And berries. And mice. And carrion, and grains. And pine nuts! And eggs, and squirrel caches. They get so mad."

She chuckled at this thought. More than one squirrel had had their stockpiling efforts thrown off by a lazy Raven watching and then taking advantage of their hard work.

"I.. Right. I guess. Sure. Bugs and berries, mind their not poisonous. If you didn't know how would you tell?"

"Eat one and see what happens?"

"I mean yes, but in a more careful manner than just that. For a plan you can rub it on your skin first and wait a half hour or so to see if there is a reaction. Then maybe you chew one up and hold it in your mouth and see if anything happens. Then maybe you eat a bit and see if anythin' funny happens."


"Funny like what?"

"Like you die or your throat closes up or you get the runs till y'ain't got no insides."

"That doesn't sound funny at all."

"Well that's why y'don't go eatin' everythin' y'find. And people don't eat carrion. That's sure t'sicken you. Plus whatever killed it t'start with usually don't like it."

"Oh."

That had sounded like disapproval. She liked carrion. She'd even played the Raven game of leading wolves to prey once or twice. This too came naturally. For centuries Ravens had been working with other predators whether those predators were aware of the partnership or not. Since it came naturally to Ravens, and 'Chra was as much a Raven as she was a woman, it came naturally to her too. Well, she just wouldn't when people were about, and wouldn't talk about it.
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Ground Things Are Terrible

Postby Fiachra on March 10th, 2016, 10:46 pm

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25 of Spring - 515 AV - Forest


"Good y'know about pine nuts at least. Didjoo know you can eat most of the rest of th'tree?"

"No? Eat a tree?"

What did he think she was, a woodpecker? She wrinkled her nose slightly at that thought.

"Well a fair few folks know if y'boil the needles y'get a nice tea what'll keep you pretty healthy, especially in the winter. You can just eat 'em too, though it's not as nice and you might not like the extra uh.. roughage later. In spring the pollen from the lil pine cones can be used as flour or to thicken stews or soups. You can eat the bark too."

"What? No! Yech. Really?"

The idea of eating tree bark definitely did not appeal, but she was utterly fascinated by this idea.

"Yep. Not bad either. Not the rough outer bit though."

"But that's the bark."

"Nah, look, come here right."

Taking out a knife, Intarus scratched out a thin rectangle on a nearby pine tree. Scratching deeper, he eventually peeled it off.

"Right, so the dark brown, rough outside bit, that's no good. But it's bark all the way until you hit proper wood, and the closer it is too the wood, the better it tastes. You can eat it raw, but it takes forever to eat a bit and yer jaw'll hurt long before your belly is full, though if it's that or nothin' it'll keep you going. It's best if you can shred it and fry it, in some kinda oil or fat, add flavourin' and it's a good treat. If you need to store it, you can fry a slab on a flat rock over a fire and then pound it into flour once it's dried and kinda golden brown."

"Well if it's a good treat how come more people don't eat it?"

Intarus shrugged.

"Most folks don't know, and even if they did they wouldn't believe. It's for th'best really. Woods is too dangerous to have everyone out here harvesting bark. Besides, you take too much and the tree dies."

"You can kill a tree just taking bark off it?"

"Yep, unless you'll die otherwise, never strip all the way around a tree. Take a little from a few trees instead."
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Postby Fiachra on March 10th, 2016, 11:43 pm

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Time - Date - Location


"Next most important trick is fire-making. You know how to start a fire?"

"With a flint and steel?"

"That's good, but I reckon if you're gallivantin' about without yer britches on you probably don't have your flint and steel on you either. Do you?"

"No."

Was she supposed to have brought it? He hadn't said, he'd just said to wear clothes and she'd done that. If he wanted something else he should have said.

"Right, well, the most efficient way to start a fire when you have nothin' is the bow and drill. Heard of it?"

"No."

"Right. Y'need to make sure you're using dry wood. If it's green, you might as well just forget it and save your strength. You need a top.. I dunno, a weight I guess. The spindle, that's the piece of wood what you're going to be spinning, gets topped by the top-weight. I like to have a stone, if you can find one with a convenient kind of indent for the spindle to rest in, otherwise you're almost better using another piece of wood 'cause you can shape it. Ideally whatever wood you use as a top-weight is harder than th'other wood you're using. At the least, you can use green wood for that because the sap actually acts as a like.. a smoother. Lets things move more easily."

He scratched his nose absently before continuing.

"Then you make your bow. Bigger is better, ideally you want it as long as your arm, with some flex, you're going to pull it back into a bow shape after all. What will mostly limit your size is what you have available to be the string. If you absolutely need to and don't have anything better, you can braid some of that inner stringy bark into a cord and use that."

"Next and last bit you need is the fireboard. Flat-ish barkless piece of dry wood, needs like, a v-shaped notch in it and a dent next to that where your spindle will sit. Under the notch is where your tinder is going to sit."

"So, now you have all the pieces, you wrap the spindle in the bowstring, put the spindle in the fireboard dent, the top-weight on top of it, hold the top-weight in one hand, the bow in the other and start sawing. If you need to you can use your knees or feet to keep the fireboard steady. Then basically you just keep sawing till you get an ember. Once you do, you blow gently and hope t'hell she catches or your back to sawin'."

It had sounded kind of fun to start with, but now it was sounding like a lot of work. Better to just be a raven and have your feathers keep you warm.
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Postby Fiachra on March 11th, 2016, 12:02 am

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"So now you have an ember, y'probably think you just pile some sticks together, maybe have a nice decorative little rock border and that's that right?"

To be honest she'd not really thought about it. Her home had a little fireplace that went largely unused. Fire wasn't a thing she often worried about. Still, he clearly expected an answer.

"Yes?"

"Wrong! Y'can, but it's not nearly as efficient. Fire pit, that's the way to go, and there's a trick to it, a secret, that I have the knowin' of."

This was more interesting. 'Chra perked up again slightly. Secrets and tricks were always worth learning about.

"What is it?"

"It's more work, and sometimes not worth doin' if you're on rocky ground or on sand or the like, but if you have good ground, y'do it."

"Do what?"

"Dig a hole. That's where you're going to make your fire. Now, that's not the biggest part of the secret. Lots of folks will do that so the light's not as obvious to predators, two-legged or four, or if it's uncommon windy and you're havin' trouble keepin' your fire lit or are worried about forest fires."

"What's the biggest part?"

'Chra was about ready to go out of her mind with the need to know this secret, and Intarus was enjoying drawing out the process. He'd taught a fair few people some of his wood-craft, but theyw ere rarely as interested in something like how to make a fire.

"A tunnel. You dig a tunnel, about the length of your forearm away from the fire down to the fire. It makes it burn hotter and more efficiently. Better for cooking food, warming yourself or anything else you need to do."

This was filed away carefully. 'Chra still didn't see herself needing to make fires without the proper tools, or really just in general, since for her, being in the woods generally meant being Raven. Still, if it was a secret she was going to remember it.
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Postby Fiachra on March 11th, 2016, 12:36 am

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"Then of course there's what you can use the sap for."

This was going on forever. Why were there so many ground things? Human wood-stuff was terrible. Raven was literally, fly to where you're going, you'll be able to see it because you're in the air and you know the way because you're a functioning bird and you just do. Need to sleep? Perch in a tree. Cold or raining? Feathers. Hungry? Eat basically anything, and you have a small stomach so it fills fairly quickly. Everything could kill or make humans sick. It was literally the worst.

'Chras admittedly short and fickle attention span was basically shot.

"Same as it heals the tree, it can help heal you if you're ever wounded. Keeps wounds from going bad. Can help hold wounds closed it's so sticky. You can use it to help waterproof things, though you want to keep thema way from fire then since fire loves it. Which also means it's useful if you have damp tinder."

"How many more things are trees good for?"

Hopefully not very many.

"Oh almost everything!"

Ugh.

"And you're going to teach me all the things for five miza?"

It was a toss-up on whether that was actual cleverness or just lucky wording on 'Chras part. You could almost see Intarus doing a double-take and calculating how long this could be dragged out for and how much he could make.

"Well now, I don't reckon I can teach it all in one day, and I can't spend all day out here. I got a lot to do you know. I was almost a knight."

"Right well, I reckon show me some moving ground stuff and then probably you'll have more important things to do."

"I s'pect you're likely right."

The more important thing was likely a pint. Didn't matter. If he showed her something neat and then turned her free she'd be happy enough.

"Right, follow me, we're going to work on movin' quietly, and usin' cover, and I'll point out some tracks and useful plants and such to ya."

His plan was to take them on a loop back to the city gates. It was only nearing noon, so he'd still have much of the day and all of the evening to squander. Er. Use in a productive and healthy fashion that is.

What followed was about an hour of correction, by the end of which 'Chra only stepped on about half the sticks in any given area rather than all of them. While Kelvic grace worked in her favour, the long and short of it was that Ravens didn't have to worry about sticks breaking when they were stepped on and didn't really have that many true predators. Still, the whole using cover bit amused her, particularly when Intarus informed her about the practice of tying branches and the like to your head to break up your silhouette or using dirt on skin to do the same.

She found rabbit tracks and then promptly lost them again, and before she knew it they were back at the gates. She wanted to go Raven and stretch her wings immediately, but since she was wearing clothes she'd have to go home and change their, unless she wanted to lose another set of clothing. It was tempting for a moment, but instead she set off at a trot through the streets,heading unerringly for home.
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