[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 1062 | twc: 1062 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] Light had already sank beyond the horizon, and the skies were left with a colorful blend of deep purple, orange, and gold. Nighttime was approaching, and Qiu'li found himself alone, once more. Perhaps it was by chance, perhaps it was a result of circumstance. Regardless, he wasn't one to complain, and had to make do with what was thrown his way. The fact of the matter is, he wasn't going to be fighting in top condition if he doesn't eat, and Qiu'li intentionally limited the amount of food to bring with him for that exact reason: Relying on artificial goods will dull one's own senses, and living in the city has opened his eyes to that fact. Many people take prepared goods for granted in the market. It's safe, easy, and efficient. Chances are that even most of the students in the Haven cafeteria don't particularly think about where their meals come from, nor who prepared them. Qiu'li didn't resent them for it. It's just a means of adaptation. Even Qiu'li was subject to it many times. However, things were different here. In the wilderness, one had to survive. In order to survive, one had to eat. In order to eat, one had to hunt. Plain and simple. There was no eloquence, nor any kind of overcomplicated steps. Just a single task. As luck would have it, Qiu'li stumbled upon a small clearing that could be used as a makeshift camp. While it was rather unsettling to be alone, it wasn't something that he was not used to: Learning to survive in the harsh lands of Forever Fall under the tutelage of his master was his first challenge, and the last to overcome before his journey to a combat school. Taking what he had learned, Qiu'li set out to set up camp for the night. Ensuring the area was free from any nearby Grimm, the raven-haired man set out in search of supplies for a proper fire. This included digging a sizable hole, collecting stones, breaking down small logs and branches for kindling, as well as searching for dry grass to use as accelerant. By the time the fireplace has been completed, evening had already set in and the sounds of buzzing and chirping insects surrounded the eerie darkness that accompanied the dense forest. Almost immediately, the sounds were drowned out by a small, glowing orange light. Gradually, the light grew brighter and the sounds of the forest was accompanied by the familiar crackling of branches and the inviting warmth of the fire. Satisfied with his work, Qiu'li proceeded onto the next step: Hunting. Given that he would have to be light on his feet during a hunt, the raven-haired man would affix his sling bag high up on a nearby branch. The only things he would bring with him would be his glaive and his spool of heavy-duty wire. Anything else would have been unnecessary for the hunt or at risk of being lost. Noticing tracks in the ground earlier before night had fallen, Qiu'li was ready to begin the hunt. . . . Life is full of unexpected surprises, one of which being that the animal that Qiu'li had tracked earlier for dinner was not at all a deer or a even a buck of any sort. It was a fucking bear. A full, grown-ass sized bear that stood a whole ten feet tall when the raven haired man stumbled across him. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar surroundings that caused this. Perhaps it was the darkening forests that caused his inability to discern a small mammal for a fucking ten foot rug. Fortunately for Qiu'li, a bear was one of the fewer threats that resided in this forest, just below packs of Grimm probably. On the more unfortunate side of things, the dark environment mixed with the initial panic of encountering a bear meant a lot shouting, roaring, and destroyed trees in the process. Eventually, the raven-haired man came out victorious, though the decisive factor was his Semblance as his strength and finesse allowed him to easily overpower the bear to the point of him being able to skewer the damn thing with his glaive, lift it over his head, and repeatedly bash it's stupid fuzzy head into a nearby boulder until it stopped resisting. Returning to the camp with his new haul, Qiu'li was feeling quite satisfied with himself. Though there was going to be some issues. How in the fuck does one cook up a bear? Does he had to bleed it? How does he remove the fur off it's body? Qiu'li was carrying the bear over his shoulder, causing the blood to spew everywhere and on top of the raven-haired man as he made his way back. His Semblance was just on the verge of ending, meaning that it would be a couple minutes in which his skin would still a deep purple, emitting clouds of smoke, and veins visibly showing all over his body supplemented by the bear's blood oozing everywhere. Once again, the raven-haired man would be met with another surprise as he returned to his campsite with company. One was a small, pale, emerald-eyed female and the other was an amber-eyed lad with long, layered hair. Several seconds of staring at two with his signature glare before he recognized them. They were probably his classmates that were launched earlier, but he had difficulty recalling their names. For the time that he would be trying to remember, Qiu'li would remain standing there, shifting his intense gaze between the two strangers as he fruitlessly attempted to recall them. Finally, he snapped out of his daze and realized that standing around would mean less time to figure out how to prepare a bear. Couldn't be that hard, right? Should be similar to cooking a deer. Hopefully. Upon further reflection, Qiu'li realized that this could be an opportunity! Yes!! One that he would try to jump on immediately. There were two people here, both with yellow bands. Indicative of dandelions. With himself as an Orchid, he could use this opportunity to add two new facts to his pocketbook. Lucky him. However, the biggest challenge was yet to come: Actually starting the conversation. Deciding to be the first to say something after their long, wordless exchange, Qiu'li cleared his throat and blinked. "Hungry? I preparing food shortly." Hopefully this was enough incentive. -- Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank D Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F Featherfall I (Leap) | Rank D Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank E Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E Shadow Step I (Stealth) | Rank F Resilience of the Crimson Oaks II (Durability) | Rank E

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[Aegle Verdant]

"S'that a fire?" Aegle asked, squinting through the gloom. Clicking the off her torch for the moment, she peered through the shades and shadows of gathering dusk, and waited.
"I think it is," She said after a moment, looking back to Alexandros, "I can see it when the wind picks up and the branches move. S'gotta be close."
Clicking her light back on, she angled the beam at her companion's feet, "D'ya reckon someone's there?"

A campfire was good for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that it solved a problem which had fast been becoming a priority, ever since the sun started to set. Namely, the fading light, and the question of what they should do when it got dark. Aegle had her flashlight, Alexandros his semblance, and they both had their scrolls in a pinch, but the thought of spending a whole night in the woods with what meager light those three things could provide was not a pleasant one.
"Come on." Aegle said, making her decision, as she started pushing through the trees, "Let's go see who it is!"

Who it was, as it turned out, was nobody. The campsite, for that was most assuredly what it was, was empty, and its fire was the only sign it had ever been inhabited. Aegle stepped into the clearing, tipping her head hither and tither in a plain display of puzzlement.
"Who lights a fire and then just leaves?" She asked, though she wasn't really expecting an answer. Clicking off her torch, she strolled towards the fire for a closer look. Whoever had built it had taken the time to surround the pit in smooth stones, containing the burnt down embers and keeping the flames from overflowing the sides. She peered next to the small stack of wood which had yet to be consigned to the flames, then around the whole of the clearing, lit in the pale orange glow. She didn't notice the pack hanging overhead, but she did see the heavy footsteps which had crashed down the grass and dryfall.
"D'ya think they got chased off?" Aegle asked, glancing back the way she'd come, into the deeper gloom beyond the campfire's light, where she knew Alexandros had been following her. They hadn't heard anything, save the natural sounds of the forest, on their approach. Only the campfire's quiet crackling, the trilling of insects, the rustle of leaves. Nothing to suggest a fight, or someone fleeing from some foe in the night.

With a pensive look, Aegle walked to the wood pile and scooped a few branches into her arms, which she carefully stacked atop the dying fire. After a moment of searching, she seized upon a long stick and used it to stoke the coals, the way she'd seen done on TV, and urged the fresh wood to catch.
"Seems as good a place as any t'spend the night." She proclaimed mildly, slipping off her half-ruined pack and dropping it and herself to the grimy earth, within reach of the fire's warmth.
Aegle sighed quietly, and peered into the flames. She couldn't cross her legs for the brace she wore, so she was sat with one crooked leg flat on the ground and the other upright, bent at the knee, which she used to rest her arms and chin upon. It as as comfortably as she could sit, without any sort of chair.
"What time d'ya reckon it is?" Aegle asked Alexandros, "My mum always said it got dark early in the mountains, but it doesn't seem to get dark any earlier than usual at Haven, not that I've noticed."
She scooped up her stick again and probed the coals from where she sat, "A'course, Haven ain't so much in the mountains as atop of one. Y'reckon that makes a difference?"

She extracted her stick, its tip blazing bright, and used the glowing bulb to trace small patterns until the globe of light flickered out, then she stuck the stick in the fire again. It was hard to say how many times she repeated this process, though half a dozen might be close, before she heard the sound.
It started with sound of a stick breaking underfoot, some distance from the camp. Aegle, who'd been attacked twice that day, immediately perked up from the day dream she'd been enjoying, ears pricked towards the sound. Standing, she squinted into the darkness, through the clear perimeter of light and shadow that lay at the edge of the clearing. Not really sure she'd heard anything at all, Aegle was just about to ask Alexandros, when someone cleared their throat on the edge of the shadows. Then, what Aegle had taken for a tree, or a particularly shaggy bolder, moved into the fire light, much closer than the cracked branch had suggested.
She let out a soft gasp, her heart in her throat. It was tall as an oak and shaggy and strangely proportioned, somewhere between man and beast. A huge brown coat and glints of black claws and, soon, the overpowering odor of blood. She was just about to shout, though what did one shout at a time such as that, when the shape out of the darkness spoke.
"Hungry?" It asked, taking another step into the clearing, "I preparing food shortly."
A man. It was only a man. A man with a...
"S'that a bear?" Aegle gaped, disbelieving, stepping hastily aside to let the big man through, "You've got a freakin' bear on y'back."
She watched him disbelievingly. Not only was it a bear, but he was carrying it. Carrying it on his back. And he was smoking? Aegle watched, baffled, intrigued. She recognized him now, despite the blood and fur that covered him from head to heel. He was the big quiet guy that Carmin was always teasing Eva over. Kee-ew-lee, or something like that.
"Did y'kill it y'self? S'that what y'gonna cook?"

---

words - 989

[Alexandros Skouriá]

An alarm, every two hours.

"Sorry," Alexandros said as he casually slipped the buzzing Scroll from his pocket and hushed its timely tone, "don't mind that."

The apology didn't matter. Not really. In the time it took him to tend to his personal alert, Aegle had continued forward toward the orange glow off in the distance. The two of them had stuck together after what transpired with the boarbatusk not all that long before, to increase the safety of their travels. It was a long day, but it was still far from being over; night had washed over the Haven forest, bringing with it the familiar and loving embrace of dark, but they still had to last until morning. If luck was on the side of all the students, then everybody would have a relaxing and well-deserved rest until sunlight peeped over the horizon, but it was a hope which Alexandros could not cling to in earnest. Someone, somewhere, would probably be putting their life on the line while others were asleep.

With Bloomery burning low and easy, Alex followed behind a few paces from Aegle who lit up the path ahead with a torch. It was becoming harder to see as the last light of the evening slipped away behind the horizon, necessitating a beacon in the black to guide the two students. Where she guided, he lagged behind with an increasingly watchful, almost paranoid, eye. No more surprise pigs, he thought, and I'll be happy. His Aura was only just starting to fully recover, leaving him in no place for a fight; in a strange way it brought him a kind of relief, as the relative silence and peace of their wandering together had suggested that even the Grimm were powering down for the night to come. While he thought about it, Aegle turned off her torch and stood still, prompting the boy to do the same. Alexandros shifted Bloomery from his right hand over to his left, and mentally prepared himself to draw Thrash at a moment's notice.
"S'that a fire?" the young Verdant asked, still looking ahead. "I think it is. I can see it when the wind picks up and the branches move. S'gotta be close."
"Yeah," Alex agreed, standing up on his tip-toes to peek ahead over the shorter one's uneven shoulders, "it looks like it."
"D'ya reckon someone's there?" Her torch was giving the gift of light once more, this time pointed right at his feet, a short distance away. Alex offered an exaggerated shrug in the darkness, and said nothing.
"Come on; let's go see who it is!" Aegle spoke again, making the decision for the both of them and starting off toward the fire they had only just seen. Torch pointed ahead, she led the way, and Rank Eight resumed his watch duty as they walked.

Before long, they had arrived. It was, indeed, a fire, and part of a campsite from the look of it. The flame had been set in a lined hole in the dirt, with more firewood and kindling set aside to feed to the blaze. Unprompted, the girl took up a handful and placed it in amongst the embers and ash, settling down with a spindly branch to prod and stoke away.
"D'ya think they got chased off?"
"I don't think so," he answered. "There's no sign of an attack or anything -- nothing obvious, at least. It's not really quiet enough to be scary, either... I think if there were Grimm nearby, they're probably long dead." Alexandros narrowed his eyes to search through the flame-stained darkness for answers, giving a quick glance to the way they came. Grimm were attracted to negativity in all its forms, and if nothing else a small part of the boy was anxious that the monsters could leap out from the inky shadows without warning; being in the forest again was nostalgic and sad in equal amounts for him, so it was a wonder he hadn't had more encounters with the foul things. Better not to dwell on it, though, he decided with a sigh, lest he become his own ill omen. "It's a good point, though," Alex then said, "about going to all this effort and just leaving. Maybe whoever it was is still around. Still close, I'd say."

On a sudden few long strides, Alexandros caught up with Aegle and dismissed the dim glow of his Semblance while she tended to the flame. It was certainly strange no matter how he looked at it, but stranger things could happen yet. With a slight lean and a roll of one shoulder, Alex placed his duffel bag on the ground and took a knee to begin poking through it. The light of the fire was more than enough to find everything he was searching for. In no time at all, the boy had pulled his converted stove and steel cup and set them aside, before fishing out two teabags and what remained in his water canteen, zipping everything shut again. He had gone to great lengths throughout the day to keep the bottle and its contents as 'sterile' as possible, keeping his mouth from touching it to keep the water inside clean -- and available for others, if they would have wanted it. Reaching behind him, Alex grabbed his own little load of fire-starting fuel and placed what he could in the cavity of the modified ammo box.

"Seems as good a place as any t'spend the night," she said, setting her own supplies down in turn and sitting down as best she could. The two exchanged easy conversation, mostly wondering about the time and about Haven itself. Alexandros lazily held a glowing hand in the tiny free space of his stove and rested his head in the other, watching intently as Aegle painted streaks unto the canvas of nightfall with her smouldering stick. Burning up his Aura just enough to slowly and safely start a fire of his own took a certain degree of concentration, but was nothing short of mind-numbingly boring; the little light show proved entertaining enough to keep the boy from zoning out completely.

Then, in the peace of it all, Aegle suddenly stopped and stood alert, staring out into the black. Alexandros simply turned his attention to the way she faced and once more found himself discerning oily blobs in the distance. Approaching the camp was a large yet indeterminate shape, its features almost entirely masked.

"Hungry? I preparing food shortly."

The hulking silhouette was speaking. Really, truly, speaking to them; it asked a question, and an answer did not come as it rightly should have. Alexandros could only stare in complete and utter bewilderment at the sight unfolding by the fireside. Emerging from the gentle shadows of the forest, a steely stranger came forth with a... dead bear in tow. Even through the darkness of night, young Rank Eight could see, now, in greater detail, the intense stare directed at him and the boxer; part of the man was steeped in blood yet no part of him injured, with almost-black eyes faintly tinged orange from the roaring glow of the flame, and piercing right through the boy in a way not many gazes could. It was clear -- after all, how couldn't it be? -- that this young man was more than capable of handling the ordeal set upon the students of Haven by its faculty, and that he was the sort who would find no difficulty in the kind of task that Alex and the other Dandelions were to be entirely assessed against. He was strong.

"S'that a bear? You've got a freakin' bear on y'back. Did y'kill it y'self? S'that what y'gonna cook?" Aegle's questions all tumbled out with great haste, and they were questions well worth asking. Well worth answering, too.

--

WC 1310/1310

[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 1166 | twc: 2228 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] With a shift of the shoulder and a lift of his arms, Qiu'li hurled the bear over his shoulder and onto the ground with a ground shuddering 'thud' which caused the fire to jump around quite a bit before settling back into its entrancing dance of flickering in the darkness. With the last of the steam dissipating from his skin, the raven-haired man's skin gradually returned to its regular pigment and his veins receded beneath his skin. His aura was mostly depleted and prolonging it further with the bear on his back would make it pretty problematic for him to hold the bear up would it run out. Once his Semblance had depleted, Qiu'li would need to remove his clothes to prevent getting it too drenched in blood and potentially other fluids. He wore his usual outfit, which consisted of his fur-lined robe top, blood red sash, linen pants, leather boots and light leather armor. After removed the blood from his glaive, the raven-haired man would undo the red sash that was tied around his waist and hang it by the branch where his sling pack had rested. In addition, the raven-haired man would remove his leather spaulder and robe top before squeezing it tightly to let the excessive blood squeeze out, exposing his heavily scarred chest and back. Adjusting his linen pants, Qiu'li would leave the fur-lined robe top hanging to dry off before going to work on the bear. With little experience in skinning bears, the raven-haired man had to rely on his prior experience in handling smaller game. It should follow the same principles... just on a larger scale. Hopefully. The first step was to make sure it was dead--well that much was already finished based on the field day he went through during his head bashing session. Next was to prevent other material that wasn't blood from splashing onto him, which Qiu'li took care of using the heavy duty wire that he brought. In addition, he kept the bear in place using the wire to hold it up, though considering it's weight, small branches wouldn't work and he had to resort to using the tree trunks. Qiu'li moved to the pelvic location, marking the first incision location as Qiu'li got to work immediately. The first cut was tough, since the raven-haired man wasn't used to such thick hide. Most of it was trial and error, but he adapted quickly and ran the blade towards the chest region. "S'that a bear? You've got a freakin' bear on y'back. Did y'kill it y'self? S'that what y'gonna cook?" This one was rather talkative. Moreso than the other boy. Perhaps he was much more reserved just like himself, not that he minded. Qiu'li honestly liked hearing indistinct background chatter sometimes, or at least he's acclimated himself to it. The raven-haired man enjoyed the quiet humming of Master Sattota, but it doesn't quite compare to hearing a group of people talking in the background. Perhaps the idea of humans being social creatures was true, or perhaps it was the years that he's spent with only one other person that Qiu'li hadn't realized that he craved more human interaction. Either way, Qiu'li stopped momentarily to turn his head to the female and nodded. "Yes. I struck the creature hard until it no longer moved." Qiu'li pat a large rock slab beside him. He continued to stare at her with his usual stare as he nodded. There wasn't anybody else around here that would have provided him assistance, and Qiu'li was puzzled over what else he would cook to eat besides the bear. Perhaps she was too hungry to think properly, therefore Qiu'li decided to give her an extra portion size for her. "Yes. However I have small experience in preparing bear. Please forgive for lacking of proper flavor." Turning the body slightly, Qiu'li would reach inside the cavity region and sever the connection from the back to allow the frontal organs to free themselves. Once the contents were removed and disposed of, the raven-haired man could run the knife along the internals of the bear to separate the skin from the meat. Now was the part of sectioning... In a fumbled attempt to look for the shoulders and hips of the bear, Qiu'li made several guessimated cuts and removed large, heavy looking slabs of meat that was just a bit smaller than the size of the male companion's torso. Since he wasn't sure how much the two could eat, Qiu'li decided to give them the same portions that he would normally eat, with the exception of the female. Compared to smaller game, bears had considerably a lot more fat, the raven-haired man noticed. Shaving off the excess fat, he would leave the marbled-looking raw meat resting on three large stone slabs to be prepared for cooking. He didn't carry any kind of seasoning, but luckily the forest was full of vegetation and herbs that served as acceptable substitutes. The three marbled slabs of bear meat glistened against the flickering light as Qiu'li continued preparing the area for cooking. Considering the amount of time that had passed since the creation of his fire and the battle with the fuzzy bear, the raven-haired man decided that sufficient time has passed for the fire to be able to cook the meat thoroughly. Stripping several thick sticks, Qiu'li skewered each of the slabs and secured it tightly using the wire individually before preparing two large Y-shaped branches to place on each side of the fire to allow Qiu'li to spin the meat around the open flame thoroughly. It was crude, rudimentary, and simple. Out here, having access to metal cooking tools would be nice, but such is a luxury that Qiu'li never really sought for. As he prepared the first slab to be cooked, Qiu'li recalled how his first weeks in Haven was such a culture shock. Cabinets that could heat food in mere minutes, chests that were used to preserve food through cooling. The raven-haired man's head swirled after leaving the mess hall. Heh. Qiu'li stared intently at the meat as he turned the spit slowly to allowed the meat to roast thoroughly. The silence was filled with the sound of sizzling fat, the soft crackle of the fire, and the ever-present sound of insects and wildlife that inhabited the forest. Once the first slab was nice and brown, he lifted the heavy slab of meat, inspected it, and removed the wire before he handed the large skewer to the male. As he prepared the larger slab of the two and began to roast it, Qiu'li spoke up. Name is Qiu'li." The raven-haired man said as he continued roasting it. "Having good pleasure to meet you." He said in his low voice while inspecting the meat carefully. It was a larger portion, therefore it took a bit longer to cook, but the man diligently kept an eye on the the color of the meat as he listened to the other two. -- Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank D Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F Featherfall I (Leap) | Rank D Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank E Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E Shadow Step I (Stealth) | Rank F Resilience of the Crimson Oaks II (Durability) | Rank E

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[Aegle Verdant]

Qiu'li, or however you pronounced his name, dropped the ursine corpse onto the floor of the clearing, and Aegle felt its great bulk hit the ground, even standing five strides back from it. That was some serious power the big guy was packing. She took a step closer, as curious of the hunter as his prey, and watched mutely as the big man stripped down to his pants and little else. She was just about to ask why when, wholly without ceremony, Qiu'li dropped down and began sawing his way into the dead animals body, gutting it like some furry, extremely oversized fish. Aegle had never seen an animal get field dressed before, and was quite fascinated. At least until the smell of it hit her nose.
"Ugh, smells awful." She observed, only for Qiu'li to dig out the animals entrails and smell that was even worse. Her sudden queasiness was not at all helped by the look of the spilled organs. Like oily snakes, they slumped in a pile before the animal's corpse, grotesque and obscure in their identities.

Covering her mouth, Aegle retreated to spot not quite so redolent with the stench of blood and ripening internal organs.
"Well, I hope it tastes better than it smells." She said, hovering behind Alexandros and the small stove he'd been attending to when the big man had returned. The big man soon had three huge slabs of meat extracted, and went to work acquiring some means to actually cook it. Far from an outdoors man, it was interesting just to watch Qiu'li work, preparing skewers and arranging the campfire so that he could actually fire the meat without putting the chunks directly in the flames.

As the first slab was dandled over the flames, Aegle's stomach gave a monstrous growl, unperturbed by the stench of entrails that still filled the clearing.
"Gods, but I could almost eat that raw." She muttered, rubbing her mouth with the back of one bandaged hand. She squatted down to her haunches, watching the pair of them with glittering green eyes.
Her disappointment when the big man handed the slab, not to her, but to Alexandros, was plainly palpable. She watched Qiu'li prepare a second, much bigger chunk, and her stomach produced another mournful gurgle.

The big man looked up from his work, "Name is Qiu'li." he said. Which was good, because Aegle was definitely going to say it wrong before hearing him say it first. Having heard it out loud, she wasn't sure she wouldn't still mess it up.
"Having good pleasure to meet you.'
Aegle grinned, quite pleased to be speaking to someone with an accent thicker than her's.
"S'a pleasure t'meet'cha," Aegle paused, thinking carefully, "Qiu'lee."
It was tough, wrapping her tongue around the unfamiliar sounds, but she managed it well enough, she thought.
"My name's Aegle Verdant, and this," She glanced over at Alexandros and his humongous slab of fire roasted meet, "is Alexandros."
She looked back to the big man and grinned her biggest grin, "S'real nice of ya, treatin' us to supper, aye?"

---

words - 514

[Alexandros Skouriá]

Alexandros continued to stare in disbelief. No other emotion or expression seemed appropriate for that which was happening by the fireside, meaning the natural and immediate response of shocked nothingness was all he could offer. Aegle was handling the conversation for the both of them, it seemed, which left the boy as much internal quiet-time as he wanted to try and take it in. It was definitely a bear, alright -- and it was definitely dead as all hell. He fully believed that this man had 'struck the creature hard until it no longer moved' as he had so eloquently described, and found a kind of twisted joy in imagining just how the scene would have played out. Kicking a boarbatusk in the side of the head was absolutely nothing when compared to felling an enormous creature with one's own hands, as Alex desperately and silently hoped would be the case. Maybe I'll ask him about it later, he thought with a mental note.

The filthy stranger stood over the body of the beast, removing and adjusting articles of clothing to strain all the blood out. In no time at all he was standing shirtless, still slightly stained in sickening sanguine shades, almost sinister amongst the cinders streaking in the sky. It was a good thing that he was on their side, Alexandros decided. Stringing it up, and with all his required tools in hand, their chef for the night began his work on the body of the bear; with gusto and with confidence, he butchered his kill and discarded all which would not be cooked. The boy found himself retching from the smell of it, ever so slightly, and noticed Aegle doing much the same. He had heard stories of animals being dressed and served in the field from his father's exploits during the war, but never considered quite how visceral the whole affair really was. With very substantial cuts prepared, he began cooking their dinner over the open flame, one enormous steak at a time.

During the silence that ensued, the boy set his steel cup atop the now comfortably burning stove, and emptied the remaining supply of water from his canteen in. The tiny fire building inside the converted container was only going to be small, and would take some time to fully bring the water to a boil, but some residual heat from his Semblance would speed things up.

"That's incredible," Alexandros said after a while, looking first to the dark-haired stranger and the hooded girl behind him. After it had been fully prepared, Alex accepted the giant skewer of cooked bear from the man and turned it over before his eyes several times, very closely looking it over. He hadn't ever eaten bear, of course assuming that most hadn't, and thus really had no clue as to what he thought he was looking for; it was automatic, maybe stemming from doubt or the sheer confusion of the whole situation. It looked cooked, he thought, so it was probably safe to eat... Well, one more quick inspection couldn't hurt.

"Name is Qiu'li. Having good pleasure to meet you."

As Aegle introduced the two of them, Alexandros pulled his still-hot hand out of the little stove -- it was about time to do that, anyway -- and waved at the stranger. "Hello, Qiu'li," he said, smiling. "It's nice to meet you." The glow vanished into the night breeze and took his heat with it. With both hands, Alex took better stock of the roasted slab and took a bite.

"S'real nice of ya, treatin' us to supper, aye?" the girl said, half-framing her gratitude as a question.
"Yes, thank you; I'll be preparing some tea," Alex quickly chimed in, "and you're more than welcome to have some. A nice hot drink by the fire won't go astray."

--

WC 640/1950

[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 586 | twc: 2814 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] So far so good. The cooking meat was coming along nicely. Qiu'li blinked in confusion as he watched the two repulse in visible discomfort to him skinning and harvesting the meat from the animal. Then his gaze fell on the entrails as the thought clicked to him. Ah, it must smell horrible to people that aren't used to field dressing animals. Having lived in Forever Fall for so long, Qiu'li had grown accustomed to seeing animals getting prepared when he lived in the village, and performing the preparations himself when he lived with Master Sattota. Qiu'li didn't particularly respond to their reactions to the smell of internal organs, though he did made sure to move it into a farther location once he was finished to avoid ruining their mealtime with the background scent of dead bear. "You becoming used to smell when the forests is your home for many years of your life." Qiu'li commented as his eyes turned to gaze at the two briefly before continuing. Forever Fall is my home, where one eat to survive, and hunt to eat. No worry. Much better scent when I have completed the cooking." The raven-haired man said as he was finishing up the one known as Aegle's share. He didn't have much experience in cooking bear per se, but thankfully it didn't take much to adapt what he learned from cooking smaller game. If anything, it just took a lot more time to cook thoroughly and a lot more dripping fat. The excess fat also appeared to help immensely in the cooking process, and once more the area was filled with the scent of cooked meat and sizzling fat. At the very least, the one whose name is Alexandros appeared to be enjoying it by the looks of him going at it the slab of meat. Once Aegle's share was finished, Qiu'li would pick up the noticeably larger share of meat to Aegle with both hands before setting it down in front of her. The sounds of her stomach grumbling probably meant that his guess was correct and the poor thing was too hungry to think properly. Well, one couldn't fight on an empty stomach. Thankfully the two of them made it here, and the meal would mean that they will have the energy to complete their tasks. Speaking of... "How is progression of your tasks?" Qiu'li asked as he prepared the last slab for himself, which was roughly the size of Alexandros'. Qiu'li was incredibly nervous when it came to idle chatter. He didn't do well when it came to one-on-one interviews, and usually freeze up when he's under direct confrontation despite the permanently etched glare on his face. Thankfully, when he was distracted by a task or an assignment, the stress gets relieved a bit since there's something that he can focus on rather than stare at the other person. Suddenly, Eva's face popped in his mind when he recalled his more recent experiences. Huh.. He wondered why. Come to think of, Qiu'li had noticed her staring at him from a distance ever since their training session. Was it something that he did? Did he unintentionally offend her in some way? Perhaps there was something wrong with his face- it was most likely the cause, considering his face is usually what causes most of his issues. Back on topic, the cooking and sharing of a meal helped served as a mediator for the raven-haired man as he tried his best to get to know them. -- Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank D Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F Featherfall I (Leap) | Rank D Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank E Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E Shadow Step I (Stealth) | Rank F Resilience of the Crimson Oaks II (Durability) | Rank E

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[Aegle Verdant]

"You becoming used to smell when the forests is your home for many years of your life." Said the big man as he tended to the flames and the second, even bigger slab of meat he was cooking over them. Clearly, he had noted the slightly green expressions both she and Alexandros had proffered as he dressed the bear. There was something very primordial about the way he did it, like early man before the discovery of Dust, when there'd only been fire to ward off the evils in the night. From his simple way of speaking, it was not an unsuitable comparison in more than one respect. Aegle wished she could have better enjoyed it, but the meat, dripping sizzling fat into the flames, commanded most of her attention.
"Forever Fall is my home, where one eat to survive, and hunt to eat. No worry. Much better scent when I have completed the cooking."
He was right there. Aegle soon forgot the ripe stench of the bears entrails, as it was supplanted by the rich and greasy odor of its roasting meat. Her stomach gave another pitiable gurgle, and she thought for a moment that she might throw herself at the fire and the big man, and take the huge piece of meat for her own.

Fortunately, Qiu'li anticipated her. Raising the steak from the flames, he gave the charred exterior a cursory inspection, then handed the whole of it over to Aegle. She was shocked, to say the least. The portion was larger even than Alexandros', and she had been sure it was meant for the big man himself. Smelling the steaming flesh though, her nose suddenly full with the scent of blood and meat and boiling fat, she decided not to question it, and tore in with a will, using her hands and her teeth to gnash a mouthful from the whole.

It tasted nothing like a steak, that had to be said. Tough and sour and too gamy by half, though it might as well have been spun sugar for how eager she was to bite into it. The juices ran down her chin, grease and fat and even some blood, as her teeth sank greedily into the half-charred flesh. She even sacrificed a bit of aura to keep it from burning the inside of her mouth, she was that desperate for a the food. After a few eager mouthfuls, she barely noticed the sourness anymore, though the gamy flavor was near fit to raise her gorge, had she not been so desperately hungry. There was none of the reservation which Alexandros had shown his own slab, only ravenous gnashing that lasted a good minute or more, until Aegle was once again able to think half straight.

Now that she wasn't dying of hunger, Aegle took a moment to observe their erstwhile host, while at the same time continuing to tear and rip at the slab of bear meat with her teeth. Qiu'li was far from the tallest boy in their class, that honor went to Asterion by a fairly wide margin, but he cut an imposing figure all the same. Not especially bulky, not without his semblance, he cut a sturdy, athletic figure just barely this side of brawny. Aegle, having never had much cause to interact with the terse mountain-man before this night, had always matched Qiu'li to hardness in her mind. His muscles were lean and well define across his arms and bare chest, while his rock-slab of a face seemed always to have some manner of scowl chipped into it. His eyes peered out across the campfire, two stony chips of sparkling jet beneath his furrowed mantle of a brow, staring hard enough at the task before him that he might have cut diamond in the glancing.
Eva had a fondness for him, she'd learned at the sleepover, and it was not hard to guess why. He certainly looked impressive, even if his conversation ran only the scant gamut from silent to barely intelligible, and he was plainly capable if their well dressed campsite and supper of roasted bear was any indication.

Qiu'li's gaze shifted suddenly, and Aegle thought for a moment that he might have caught her staring.
"How is progression of your tasks?" he asked in his heavily accented version of the common tongue, allaying her concerns.
Aegle chewed and swallowed, lowering her slab of bear, and heaved a small shrug.
"Just about done I think." She was speaking for herself, having not yet asked how Alexandros' own tally was progressing. She indicated the yellow headband she wore and put on her biggest grin, like the prospect of killing grimm couldn't have pleased her any more.
"Got most've mine done early. Was lucky; Had a lot of help, y'know?"
That seemed a good place to stop; The less said about Nik and the sort of company he'd proven, the better, and she wasn't about to mention anything to do with the boarbatusk she and Alexandros had fought. If he wanted to broach that subject, he was welcome to it, but she would just as soon not.
"How 'bout you? No one ever told me what the orchids were s'posed t'be doin' out here, while us Dandelions and the Roses were busy murderin' monsters."
Aegle, having marked Qiu'li's own ribbon while he was disrobing, punctuated the question by tearing off another mouthful of meat, a task she accomplished with some difficulty. Her jaw was already getting tired with chewing the tough, muscly bear flesh, though she would not soon be running out of space to swallow down the meat. She had hollow legs when it came to protein, even the gamy and sour sort.

---

words - 953

[Alexandros Skouriá]

With dinner in hand, the boy's mind had something far more worthwhile to focus on than the stench of innards. Qiu'li had a point, it seemed, that the act of cooking would mask the scent of death lingering off in the distance. Alex wondered for a moment about his history, about Forever Fall and the life one would live there. Growing up in Mistral had given a sort of sheltered upbringing, one free of the constant threats of heartbreak and destruction that the kingdom's smaller fringe territories and villages had to endure every day; to think that all manner of monsters, Grimm and people alike, were always going to be out there in the world just made it all the more poignant. Alexandros was still a very mild-mannered and optimistic young man, who had gone through life without a great deal of sadness.

Not completely without it, of course. Sadness was the reason he could fight. Sadness was the reason he was at Haven. He buried it deep inside his core and kept it all the way down for as long as he could, but it had started to show itself in his time at the academy.

He shook his head and took another bite. Bear probably wasn't going to be one of his favourites, but it was here and it was cooked and it tasted like food, so he had no right to complain -- far more filling than tiny tins of salmon could ever hope to be. His giant skewer was tough and chewy simultaneously, dripping with greasy fat as he tore away chunks of meat. For a free meal, Alex definitely could have had much worse than this. With a quick glance down to his stove, he saw the beginnings of boiling bubbles rising up to the surface of the water in the cup, then turned and looked right at the larger fire still roaring away. It was warm and soothing, and would help him recover his strength after that very painful encounter with the boarbatusk.

"How is progression of your tasks?" Qiu'li asked the two of them, setting up another giant portion to cook over the open flame. There was a certain uncertainty -- an all-too-familiar degree of nervous energy -- presenting itself on his words, and Alexandros noticed it very plainly. Where the brawler was articulate and unassuming, the other seemed to be terse and direct; Qiu'li spoke with an accent, and the way he structured his thoughts aloud suggested a lack of exposure to language. It made Alex think further, about Forever Fall, and it kept him quiet as Aegle spoke of her success throughout the evaluation. Not wanting to seem rude for not answering, the boy offered a quick glance up to Qiu'li and gave a thumbs-up with a smile; his day hadn't been perfect, but had gone much smoother than expected for his first encounter with the creatures of Grimm.

"How 'bout you?" Aegle asked as Alexandros was lost in his thoughts. "No one ever told me what the orchids were s'posed t'be doin' out here, while us Dandelions and the Roses were busy murderin' monsters."
"They need information, I think," Alexandros said suddenly, before Qiu'li had a chance to explain for himself, "about us. I worked with that Argent guy earlier, and that's all he wanted me to offer as thanks." The boy had been staring long into the heart of the fire as he spoke, but turned to look right at his new companion when he found himself speaking again. "That's it, right? You want us to talk about ourselves?"

--

WC 600/2550

[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 721 | twc: 3535 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] The way he saw Aegle ferociously devour his cooked creation brought a somewhat touched emotion inside Qiu'li. In a way, it reminded him of a distant memory in the past when he acted in the same way in Master Sattota's presence. He hadn't eaten for days due to his inability to overcome his fear of the wild, and the monk had drilled into his head that in order to pursue the answer to his question, he would have to live. Eat to live, hunt to eat. Qiu'li stared at Aegle eat for a few more seconds before returning to his original task of ensuring the remaining bear meat was well-prepared. Once it was finished, the raven-haired man served himself and turned his attention to the other two, letting the warm fire illuminate their facial features for him to study while they spoke. Qiu'li stared at the bubbling kettle and recalled that Alexandros have offered him tea. His gaze went back up to Alexandros as he nodded. Seems like Aegle's question was answered before the raven-haired man could say anything, though it wasn't like he minded. Amidst his response, Qiu'li would also ask for a cup of tea if it was not too much trouble. Tea reminded him of Master Sattota, as he usually enjoyed brewing it early in the morning. "Correct. The task I was assigning to involves learning something about my classmates. In addition, it appears that I am having to complete the exercise with one other person." His eyes went back down to his meal and he performed his routine eating ritual. Lifting his hands up, Qiu'li clapped them together and lowered his head. The raven-haired man closed his eyes and began to speak in his native language that was commonly used by the people of Luoya village. A simple prayer that thanked the bear for giving it's body to nourish himself and his newfound companions, thanked the spirits for watching over him in his time to hunt, and thanked the spirits of the forest for providing him what he needed to prepare the meal. Qiu'li wasn't exactly what one considered a religious person, but growing up under Master Sattota's tutelage has taught him something powerful: Gratitude and respect. Once he finished, Qiu'li would look back up and took a bite of the food that was provided to them. A familiar flavor, one that he had tasted in the distant past. It's slightly different, as one might have expected from what he ate then, though food was food, and Qiu'li was grateful for it. The moment would continue in passing with relative silence, save for the chewing between the three and the crackling of the campfire nearby. He nodded in response to Aegle's confirmation that she was doing pretty well as well as Alexandro's indication of a thumbs up. Oh! That usually meant that things were 'okay', supposedly. He nodded in affirmation. "I am not expecting you both to join me as a companion for my final task, but if it is not of much trouble, I would have gratitude if I could learn about yourselves." Qiu'li said in response to Alexandros. The fact of the matter is that he wasn't sure if he was asking for too much or not out of this. Perhaps they had additional plans before they had encountered his camp. Perhaps he would be intruding on them if he asked to join them. Qiu'li was bad at guessing what people were thinking most of the time, and he didn't want to be the one to make situations more awkward than they already were. His stare alone already did that enough. His gaze briefly shifted to the notebook that was in his sling backpack up in the tree, though to get up now in order to record pieces of information would be considered rude, or at least that's what Shadecloak's textbooks said. In addition, Master Sattota always placed emphasis on the importance of treating meal times as a sacred time. Qiu'li wouldn't dare try to ruin the spirit of it, and remained put. He would simply recall the information anyways and put it down after the meal was over. For the time being, Qiu'li would simply stare at the two of them, awaiting what kind of information that they were willing to share with him. -- Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank D Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F Featherfall I (Leap) | Rank D Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank E Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E Shadow Step I (Stealth) | Rank F Resilience of the Crimson Oaks II (Durability) | Rank E

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[Aegle Verdant]

Aegle wasn't sure she much cared for Alexandros' explanation of what the Orchids were after in this trial. It wasn't just the fact that they'd been tasked with killing five grimm, and the effort had been a trying one for her and Alexandros both, and that it seemed incongruous that one of the other groups had merely been required to find and speak to their classmates. It seemed pointless to think that detail unfair for, as Aegle knew quite well, life was generally quite unfair, but it did seem a strange objective to give those who were, nominally at least, learning to become fighters. Then again, eyes shifting to the bear, Aegle supposed Qiu'li wouldn't have had much trouble if his ribbon had been yellow. His terse manner and stony scowl would make his own objective a different sort of challenging, but no less of a challenge for all that. Just as she was a terrible fighter, he was a terrible talker. In that way, there did seem at least some logic behind the objective.

What bothered her far more however, was the prospect of talking about herself in any great detail. She could hardly refuse, not after the big man had shared his meat and his fire with them, but there could scarcely have been a thing which Aegle wanted less than to tell a stranger about her life.

"Correct," Agreed the big man, after a pause, confirming that Alexandros had not been mistaken in his description on the Orchid's objective, "The task I was assigning to involves learning something about my classmates."
Aegle sighed, her hope that Alexandros had been mistaken dashed before they'd even had the chance to properly flourish.
"In addition," Qiu'li continued, his flinty expression unchanging, "It appears that I am having to complete the exercise with one other person."

Aegle blinked. That was a devilish requirement, and no mistake, though quite subtly done. Dandelions could not complete their objective in groups greater than two, which disincentivized them from seeking more than one partner, where as Roses were required to help at least two people complete their objectives, and were therefore disincentivized from remaining in with a single group. This arrangement forced the Dandelions to show initiative and stick with the first person they met, while it encouraged the Roses to help multiple other students. There was very little space in the arrangement for the Orchids however. They might happen across a lone dandelion if they were lucky, but were just as likely to find a dandelion in a group, a group where they would be unwelcome due to the limitation in size. There most likely option, therefore, would be to try to group up with a Rose, but that posed its own difficulties. The Roses were Roses specifically because they didn't play nice with others and, if all the Orchids were as socially stunted as Qiu'li, that would pose a significant hurdle to them. Except the Roses were encouraged to group up with Orchids, at least after they had helped at least one other person, and thereby fulfill the Orchid's secondary objective. This meant that Roses and Orchids who did not complete their tasks early would inevitably be funneled towards one another. The Orchid could require payment in information for allowing the Rose to accompany them, and the two of them could fulfill their secondary objectives, or they could refuse and the two of them could fail together.
'More of Shadecloaks manipulations,' Aegle wondered, 'Or is this Van Sange's work?'
The counselor was devilishly clever, and she did not need to imagine very hard to picture him contriving this arrangement. It seemed especially cunning, the more she thought about it. Roses and Orchids who did not complete their objectives early would be the most obstructive and the most passive respectively, and therefore would pose one another the most significant of challenges if they were forced to cooperate. A last ditch, all or nothing gambit, to avoid failure, where both parties were forced to deal with people they might have otherwise avoided. The fact that nobody had been told the Orchid's objectives also required them to show the most initiative, to actually seek out Roses on their own accord.

Brilliant, truly it was.

"I am not expecting you both to join me as a companion for my final task, but if it is not of much trouble, I would have gratitude if I could learn about yourselves."
Qiu'li's words called Aegle out of her thoughts and back to the present. Chewing still on her mouthful of bear, a pang of guilt ached through her. She did not want to deny him, but she wanted to talk about herself even less.
"I don't mind accompanying you to the end of the trial." She said, which was a painfully non-committal answer with regards to what the big man had actually asked for, but she could not manage any better. She didn't want to talk about herself. She didn't want either of them, Qiu'li or Alexandros, to know anymore about her than was skin deep. Gods knew she hated that much of herself enough, without showing them both the rotted out foundations which lay beneath.
'Smile,' She thought, hearing the word in Aaron's voice, 'Pretend to be brave.'
Aegle grimaced, and put down her bear, appetite suddenly all dried up. Then, with a will, she worked a smile into its place.
"Well, what d'ya wanna know?" She looked between Alexandros and Qiu'li. Might as well ask both of them, seeing as both of them would be hearing the answers. Besides, if she was given two different questions, she could always answer the one she liked the most, or else hated the least.

---

words - 958
total - 3,414

[Alexandros Skouriá]

Alexandros found himself enjoying the quiet by the open fire, and the simple peace it represented. Truthfully they were still in the thick of danger, but it was relaxing after a long day just to pretend that all was right in the world. It was, after all, incredibly likely that Grimm of all sorts were still nearby; the distance was unknowable, of course, but it didn't need to be known for the fear of monsters lingering just far enough away to go unseen was nothing short of haunting. But here, with good company and good food, that fear did not -- and could not possibly -- matter.

"I am not expecting you both to join me as a companion for my final task, but if it is not of much trouble, I would have gratitude if I could learn about yourselves."
"We wouldn't be able to, even if we wanted to," Alex said with just a hint of annoyance. "Dandelion team isn't permitted to do things in groups greater than two; battles with Grimm, any sort of prolonged travel, none of it counts if it's three or more people. In fact, we probably shouldn't even be together like this right now. That's what they told us, anyway."
"I don't mind accompanying you to the end of the trial," Aegle offered after his very brief rant, with a kind of uncertainty following the words as they came out. It was a deflection away from what was really about to be unfolding by the fireside, an acceptance of the terms without holding any respect for them; Alexandros noticed it immediately, for even after only a few short encounters with the girl, and a long walk as the afternoon became the evening, it was more than fair that she would have reservations about opening up to what were, ultimately, complete strangers. Classmates at the academy, certainly, but anything more than that? Not quite. It was an uncomfortable and anxious prospect no matter how one looked at it, one which required a soul to be laid bare for the world to see, and to understand, and perhaps even to judge. It had been hard enough to think of something to say to Argent earlier in the day, but something about the circumstances made the boy think that both the others deserved to hear something far more substantial when his own time to talk would come.

It fell quiet again, for a scant few drawn-out seconds.

"Well, what d'ya wanna know?" The question did not come easily from the tiny boxer, but its sudden appearance somehow felt natural considering the moment at hand. Aegle didn't want to talk, but by seizing the initiative it could be over and done with early; that she had asked not only Qiu'li but Alex himself for something to be asked spoke volumes of the immense hesitance which was really hiding underneath it all. She didn't want to talk, that much was obvious, but it was better to go crashing through the thing head-on. Perhaps it would have been more awkward for silence to fall around the three of them, or perhaps it was simply just another showing of the strange bravado she possessed -- a kind of confidence without confidence.
Alexandros scratched away at his temple, then under his chin, trying to think of a suitable question to offer up as the burly Orchid surely did some thinking of his own. Quietly -- though it was most definitely noticeable -- he umm'd and ahh'd as no worthwhile thought manifested in his mind, searching for a question worth asking to a girl who wanted, more than anything, not to answer.

"You said you had family in Atlas, right?" he eventually asked. "Maybe you could talk about them, or before you came here. To Mistral."

--

WC 634/3184

[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 632 | twc: 4167 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] Qiu'li blinked. He didn't expect that kind of response from Aegle, to say the least. The raven-haired man chewed slowly as he thought about what to ask, or rather, he stewed a bit on what kind of response that was. Perhaps she was unsure about what to share about herself, or maybe she was trying to think of what to share exactly, but Qiu'li felt a certain kind of tension in the long, drawn out silence between the three of them. The raven-haired man could understand. He was less than willing to talk about his life in Luoya village, and if his kind of story existed, what's to say that others had experienced similar circumstances. Qiu'li knew that the lifestyle of Forever Fall was harsh, but that's not to say that there's harsher circumstances beyond his own home. Mystral was big, full of many things that he has yet to experience, and many more stories to learn about. Qiu'li recalled a distant memory. It was the day before his departure from the familiar, crimson dusted forests in which Qiu'li had finished preparing his few possessions: His weapons Longtou and Panlong, several days worth of food, a canteen of water, herbs, bandage rolls, and several smooth black stones that were from the mountains. The cool, morning mist had began to settle before the raven-haired man started to head out before he was stopped by an elderly man. He wore a worn pair of robes and carried a set of large prayer beads that dangled from his left hand. Sattota, his mentor, had thought long and hard about letting Qiu'li go out and explore the lands beyond his home of Forever Fall. Like a parent hesitant to release their children from their homes, Sattota reflected heavily up until the raven-haired man's decision to leave his home to seek the answer to his question. As Qiu'li began to depart towards the nearest town beyond the comforts of Forever Fall, Qiu'li turned back briefly and met the eyes of his master before focusing on his mouth as soundless words formed from his lips. He was too far away to be able to hear him properly, but before the raven-haired man could fully turn and ask him what he said, the old man had disappeared from sight under a gust of crimson colored leaves.   -- "Well, what d'ya wanna know?" Qiu'li blinked briefly as his mind returned to the present. Qiu'li took another bite and then shifted his eyes to Alexandros. Looks like he had thrown out a suggestion before he could say anything else in response to Aegle's question. Not that he minded, but he wasn't particularly interested in that kind of question, or rather there was another question that he was more interested in. Family was a weird concept for him, as the one whom he considered his Father was estranged and he had no siblings. As the distant memory faded away back into the back of his mind, Qiu'li recalled one of his main goals. Qiu'li would nod and let Aegle answer however she liked out of courtesy, paying full attention to her with his usual stare, but he wouldn't say anything after Alexandros suggestion nor bring up any questions for himself. Once she finished with her answer, however, Qiu'li would close his eyes and take another bite of his meal, chewing slowly and allowing the silence to fill the area once more save for the conversations of the forest before speaking up, staring at the two of them. "What is true strength, to you?" He would ask the both of them. Right, his journey was to seek the answer to that question, the main reason why he left his home and ended up in this Academy. If he could figure out the answer, maybe...  -- Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank D Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F Featherfall I (Leap) | Rank D Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank E Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E Shadow Step I (Stealth) | Rank F Resilience of the Crimson Oaks II (Durability) | Rank E

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[Aegle Verdant]

Aegle's question received two answers, which was fair given that she'd asked it of two different people.
From Alexandros, "You said you had family in Atlas, right? Maybe you could talk about them, or before you came here. To Mistral."
While the big man wanted simply to know, "What is true strength, to you?"

Two very different questions, but it didn't take long to decide which she'd sooner answer. Her eyes flicked to Qiu'li, still watching her stonily over the campfire, the hard planes of his face boldly illuminated in the light of the flickering flames. She wondered that he should ask such a question of her, one so subjective and philosophic, where someone else would have asked a question much like Alexandros', objective, informative, and easily quantified. Could Aegle's thoughts on strength really qualify as a 'secret' worthy of passing the trial over? Alexandros' question was the safer one, at least for Qiu'li's purposes, because she did not think anyone in Haven knew the name of her home village and, while she'd certainly talked about her brothers with Erytheia and Carmim, she had not discussed her family as a whole with anyone at the Academy. Then again, simply because it was a safe question for Qiu'li's purposes did not make it one Aegle was in any hurry to answer; She did not want to tell either of them much of anything about what her life had been like before coming to Mistral.

"True strength, aye?" Aegle grinned, and ran greasy fingers back across the stubble on her scalp, "Dinnae reckon I know much 'bout strength, true or otherwise, but I can tell y'what I think if that's what y'want."
She knew plenty of strong people. Her brother Aaron was strong; Perhaps not as physically powerful as Qiu'li, but he was generally reckoned as one of the best fighters in his unit, and had been reckoned the best fighter in his whole class during his time at the Academy. Carmim was also strong, but in a very different way. Determined and feisty, the redhead had served as an inspiration to Aegle in the short time she'd known her. Was either sort of strength any 'truer' than the other?
"I guess, by y'askin' what it is to me in particular, you're suggestin' there ain't really any one sort of 'True Strength', yeah?" Arching up an eyebrow, Aegle put on her most impish grin, "So what y'really askin' is what is the sort of strength I aspire towards, y'know?"
Put in that sense, it was almost as dangerous a question to answer as what her life had been like before Mistral. That made Aegle giggle. Her own capacity to turn anything into a bad decision never ceased to amaze her. She looked between Qiu'li and Alexandros again, and wondered just how honest she wanted to be with the two of them.

'When you're scared...' Aaron's voice said in her head. Aegle took the plunge.
"I won't ever be strong like you," She said, pointing her chin at Qiu'li, "I can try and try till the day I die and, at the end of it, I'll still be small and weak." Her eyes slid over to Alexandros, "And I can't ever be strong like you neither. The same way I was born to be weak, I weren't born with some semblance what could make up for it."
She spread out her hands, as if to say 'there it is'.
Then, heaving a crooked shrug, Aegle grinned at them both, "I dinnae reckon there's any harm in bein' strong in those ways though, but I gotta look somewhere else, y'know?"
"So, what is true strength to me? S'gotta be a strength I can actually get, yeah? S'lot of ways I could be stronger too." Aegle raised one trembling hand and counted them off on her fingers.
"Could be braver. Could be smarter or cleverer. Could be better trained. Could be tougher... But y'askin' after true strength, not just bein' stronger. Well, s'like askin' what I need t'make all those other strengths come together. What strength do I gotta have, that'll help all the others?"
Aegle looked at the four fingers she'd counted off. Four shivering digits at the end of a trembling hand. Slowly, she curled all four into a fist.
"S'all 'why', innit? S'why I'll do stuff that scares me, why I'll work hard t'get smarter, why I'll train until I can't hardly walk, why I'll fight till I drop. A purpose. Meanin'. S'a reason for doin' it all to begin with. Cause even if I can't be braver, smarter, tougher... Even if I can't train any harder..."
Aegle relaxed her fist, then raised her eyes, "At least I had a purpose for doin' it, at least there was some meanin' behind it, a reason to have tried t'do it all. I reckon that if y'can find a meanin' worth it, that's true strength."

Then, after a long moment, she lowered her eyes again, until her face was once again shrouded in the shadows of her hood.
"S'findin' that meanin' that's the tough part though. The world ain't exactly handin' out purposes. If y'lookin' t'know mine," she shrugged, "I ain't got one. S'not really much of a secret neither, I reckon."
'Sixteen and five...'

Abruptly, Aegle added, "Was born in Devon's Quarry; S'little minin' town in the highlands, don't reckon many people'll know that. I lived there till a little after I turned eleven, then my parents moved us to Atlas City. My brothers were already in the Academy by then, so it made sense to get a bit closer, so they wouldn't be so far from home. At least, that was the 'reason' my parents gave me..."
Aegle trailed off. That was about how long it had taken for her nerve to falter. She tried to work up the resolve to continue, but it was fleeting. Instead, she tried to come at it from a different direction instead.
"Solitas is a big place, y'know? Huge, even, and Atlas is right in the middle. S'plenty of families what don't move all the way across the continent just cause they've got some sons or daughters enrolled in the Academy. S'expensive, livin' in Atlas..."
Again, she trailed off. She wasn't as warm to this topic as she had been the last one, and made no real effort to hide it. She was scared to tell them anymore than she had, but she'd learned a long time ago how to deal with being scared...
"Afterwards, they told me a different 'reason', that they'd moved to be nearer the hospital. Devon's only has this little clinic, and it didn't have what I needed..."

Aegle was quiet for a long time after that. Her head bowed even further, hidden behind her hood, behind her armor. Eventually, she laughed quietly.
"I believed 'em, y'know? Aye, and why not? Why would they lie t'me 'bout their purposes? If they said that was the reason we moved, why wouldn't it be?" A pregnant pause, as Aegle bolstered her courage. Inside herself, she stoked up all the defiance and resolve she could find, determined to say it all, no matter how much she didn't want to.
"Thing is, it didn't have to be the hospital in Atlas. There's one in Callumdell. I know, cause that's where they took me the first time, cause it wasn't more n' an hour away."

"I reckon they did it for my brothers, y'know, and for me of course. They wanted me t'be able t'see 'em as much as possible, and wanted 'em t'be able t'see me. So it had t'be Atlas..."
Glancing at Alexandros, Aegle worked a brittle smile into place, "Reckon y'can guess why, aye? Why they wanted us t'be able t'see each other as often as possible?"

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[Alexandros Skouriá]

A great big question from a great big man.

Carefully setting two teabags into the impromptu kettle, Alex listened keenly to all which Aegle had to say. Rather unsurprisingly, given the nature of the alternative question posed to the two of them, she had chosen to answer Qiu'li first. It was the sort of thing that people could spend an entire lifetime trying to unwrap and understand, and certainly many in history had done exactly that; 'true strength' was an elusive thing, and those who searched for it would stop for nothing in their pursuit. He wondered while listening, if only for a moment, about what Qiu'li himself would consider true strength; Alexandros already knew that he was a physically fit and strong person -- killing a bear was a testament to that -- which suggested a great degree of control and understanding over the limits of his body, which then suggested meditation and countless hours and days and weeks of study. The brawler was similar, in a way, but the two students were nothing short of worlds apart in skill.
And then there was Aegle. She spoke of not knowing strength in any of its forms, but Alex silently disagreed. After all, before coming across the campsite, they had been fighting alongside one another against a boarbatusk; if she wasn't strong, she wouldn't have survived the messy encounter, and she certainly wouldn't have survived her dancing around it while he was crumpled on the ground with his face in the dirt. But, she did survive, and that was a strength all its own. She had saved him just as he had saved her.
I'm doing it again, he caught himself thinking rather guiltily, telling myself that she's wrong about her own limits.

Aegle spoke further, addressing the question posed by Alexandros about her life before Mistral. As she acutely pointed out with her closing thoughts, the boy was unbelievably aware of why she and her family had moved across the continent. It was an awareness he had not earned, instead brought about by poor actions on his behalf, yet it was firmly in his mind and would likely remain there for as long as the two knew one another.

Now, it was his turn.

"Whatever 'true strength' is," Alexandros started with a dwindling smile, "I don't have it. Maybe it's courage or resolve or something, or power and the knowledge of how to use it -- but it doesn't matter, because I just don't have it. Not really, anyway. All I've got is hope."
Alex gave a quick glance down to the water boiling and bubbling away atop the transformed ammo box, sliding closed venting and oxygenating ports to let the tiny fire inside almost-sustain itself and eventually burn out. The water was perfectly hot now, infusing with the flavours and fragrance of tea. Then, as quiet settled around them, Alexandros grew hesitant; it was one thing to simply dismiss the question that was asked with an honest admission he did not know, but it would be unbelievably rude to simply say nothing further. He took a moment to think, gave a quick 'sorry' to his companions, then delicately pulled Thrash from the holster at his side. The action was a familiar one, but distinctly different in the calm of the camp. It was clear, even through the ever-darkening gloom of night and the raging glow of the fire, that a high degree of reverence was on display. He cradled the revolver in both hands, before gently tracing a finger across the frame and down the length of the barrel; then, with a soft grip around the business-end, the Skouriá boy released its latch and separated the fore and aft halves of the gun around its pivoting point. Rising up from the cylinder, the extractor lifted the four unspent shots and sent them tumbling into the boy's lap. It was a scary thing, he thought for a moment, to be walking around armed with a loaded and lethal weapon, but it was a necessity. He had been battling Grimm throughout the day, but by the fireside he did not need to concern himself with the evil. He was safe. Even if only for a moment, he could set aside the persona of a prospective huntsman and instead simply be himself. It was a welcome change of pace after the hours that had led him here, and the boy embraced it with gratitude.

"My father fought in the war. Ten years, right from the start. Survived all the way until the end. Threw himself into it young -- a lot of guys did, he always told me -- to do something with his life. You know, 'see the world, meet new people, serve a good cause,' that sort of thing. I think he was only sixteen, maybe younger; he never did give me an exact age." Alexandros let the words come out slowly and deliberately, glancing back and forth between Aegle and Qiu'li, and occasionally even the tea, as he spoke. It wasn't exactly a secret that he was the son of a soldier -- he had told Carmim that Thrash was from the Skouriá patriarch's time in the war, and plenty more would have been able to piece it together after little more than a good look at the firearm -- but he still felt it worth mentioning.
"When I found out that I had a Semblance, after he died," Alex continued, "I wanted to do something with it. I wanted to help people who couldn't help themselves, or do what little I could to make the world better. That's what it felt like, at least. Before then all I wanted was to be a historian, or a poet, or something like that; something where I could remember all the people that gave everything for us. Those soldiers, all those sons and daughters of Mistral, they're the strong ones."

Alexandros directed his attention to Aegle, and looked long into her eyes in the same way he had done during their first meeting in the training facilities. It was a look of intensity and of focus, showing her everything there was to show. "That's why I couldn't do it," he explained, the tone of his voice rich with penance. "For the last three years, I've been telling myself that all of it was so I could try and help others. I don't want to use Bloomery to hurt anyone, only the monsters that took my father away. Pretty soon, well, I don't think that I'll have much of a choice... but, until then -- until something really forces my hand -- I don't want to compromise on that. It's the one thing that kept me going, and I'm not ready to cross that line. Not yet. I shouldn't have dragged you into it."
It was an awkward apology. She deserved better from him, but to open up about his own fears of failure and incompetence, and of death, which had been the driving force behind his actions and pursuit of power, was a kind of anxiety he cared not to feel. Alexandros took another bite of bear, then shook his head, looking back over to Qiu'li.

If the oncoming speech would not meet Qiu'li's standards, then the earlier comment about what the boy wanted to do with his life would surely work as unique personal information. Alex had only ever told his mother and, unsurprisingly, father this desire to remember the service of soldiers in the great war, and kept it locked away with much of the rest of him after that terrible day in the Autumn.

"Not everybody can do the things that we do. Before today, I'd never seen a Grimm with my own eyes, and now that I have... I wouldn't wish this kind of thing on anybody. Not everybody can be a Huntsman, or a Huntress, but somebody has to be. Being here, at Haven, or any of the academies, could be a sign of a kind of 'true' strength, right? So, I don't know; maybe just being here is enough. Maybe it's obvious somehow, but if it is, I can't tell. To me, 'true strength' is meaningless, because I don't know how to find it -- even if I knew what to look for, or what to aspire to, I wouldn't know how to understand it. I can't tell you what it is because I don't have it, and I don't think I ever will. But, I know that I can at least try to look for it; so, even if I don't know what it is that I'd be searching for, maybe one day I will know. That chance is worth taking, wouldn't you say?"

He snapped Thrash shut, having not said a thing more, then scooped up the loose munitions with his left hand. Slowly, and almost shakily, the boy turned himself around where he sat to rummage through his supplies and deposit the shots with the others. Old revolver still held in his right hand, Alex rubbed away at his eyes with his free thumb and turned back toward the fire. He looked over the gun in its fullest worn-out brilliance again, then once more found himself cradling it in two hands.

"I know it's selfish," Alexandros quietly said, not looking at anyone or anything in particular, "but I can't do this on my own."

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WC 1573/4757