Survival Camp - Tent Circle
Set among the trees, a small clearing has been devoted solely to the setup of tents. The trees grow thickly, providing some amount of protection from wandering beasties, but the ground is woefully uneven, as if even the earth conspired to make this place unpleasant.
It's another warm beautiful day, as the sun rises and the candidates are roused from their slumber, likely by an assistant weyrlingmaster's whistle. Someone, is already awake, and from the looks of it has been for quite a few hours. Pyriel is industriously weaving together long vines he must of gathered from the forest at some point. What he's got there in his lap is a half completed hunting net, and beside him two others already completed. "Need….meat…" he grumbles to himself, fingers moving quickly to tuck and pull. There are also a couple of handmade spears, complete with stone heads sharpened to deadly points. "Need….meat…" Apparently the harper has had his fill of snails and fennel, and whatever that was that Pol had tried to kill, er, fed them the other night.
Aqueepoli has also been up for quite some time, though has been missing most of the morning. Finally, the teenager does reappear in a rush of exuberance, as usual. "Guys, guys, guys!" He chants, hands clasped together, holding something in them. The holder has no shirt, his pants sad, tattered remains of what once was. Stained in all the right places and pieces of cloth just hanging off at random. They cover what's important, at the very least. His own body is marred with dirt splotches, another long period has passed since Pol has taken a bath or been forcibly dunked into the river. "I got something, I got something! In my hands here!" Said hands are waved up, over his head, the thing within them shaken with excitement. His face is marred with dirt as well. A dark line has been placed with much care beneath each eye, giving the lad a Rambo look. This shit means business. "See, see? I bet we can eat it, an' it'll taste great, an' I won't keep crappin' myself silly every night cuz' I swear if'n I eat one more random leaf, I'm eatin' a candidate." Hands are opened as they are brought back to his face. Slowly. Sloooowly fingers unlace. And within them? "/FAR-ANTH/!" It's regret and annoyance that spark his tone. "It's a rock. Jus' a rock. Thought… thought it was a lizard or somethin' when I snatched at it." In the dark. In the middle of the forest. "I'm /sooooo/ hungry." Whiiiine. The rock is stared at for a few moments in all it's not-alive greatness. It's bought up, slowly, towards Aqueepoli's mouth, his tongue reaching out to lick it.
Iessrien hasn't been seen since he failed to catch up to Py the last time the two had encountered each other, having made himself scarce and avoided both other candidates and a certain crawler named Stan. He's probably still embarrassed about the whole frying pan incident, really. The day might be warm and beautiful, but Iessrien is looking about as gloomy as it's possibly to look when he finally does emerge from his tent, having missed getting up early to dunk in the river, and crawler-free today. He pointedly avoids looking in Py's direction, even with the other candidate going on about.. meat. There might be a sidelong corner-of-the-eye type stealth-glance for whatever the harper is doing, but Iessrien doesn't ask, merely going over to grab some water from his pack, and running a hand through still-mussed hair. There's some straightening and a blink when Pol rushes in, the holder mumbling an immediate, "What's up, man?" and jerking head in a nod of manly greeting. There /is/ some eyeing of Pol's state, Iess' nose wrinkling just a bit, though the other's hands are at least given some curious attention. But when it is revealed just what Aqueepoli has 'caught', Iessrien can't help it. His sour mood drains with a twitch of lips, and he totally starts laughing at the other boy. "Shit, man, don't eat /that/," Iess rolls his eyes and waves a hand in the direction of the river, "I'd wager if we could rig a hook and line together, I could fish something, like we did with Kiv back home."
The warm day brings Kiley to wake and prepare for the morning before she leaves her tent, notably: there is a crawler upon her shoulder that doesn't seem inclined to leave at any point as he gets free food without even trying from the computer crafter. Stan has easily taken a constant place at Kiley's side since the other day, only being left behind when she is doing something that requires her to focus on her task entirely. Once out, she settles in front of her tent, crossing her leg and holding up her hand for Stan. The crawler easily crawls into her hand and she gingerly begins to stroke the crawler. Her attention drifts to Pol as he returns, brows lifting at his antics and shaking her head when he declares that he thought the rock was a lizard. Stan is shifted to rest protectively closer to her and she frowns. A soft sound of disgust slips out once he actually /licks/ the rock. "Shells." Her head shakes and she pushes herself up from the ground to meander towards the others.
Pyriel is drawn from his mantra with the arrival of Aqueepoli. Golden eyes lift upwards, vine poised between his teeth in mid-yank of the half finished net, giving the tallest of the holder boys a once over. Gaze drops to Pol's 'find' and a brow arches ever so slowly as the fingers unlace. A stare, and a blink for the - rock. "Thath ah rock, duth." the harper lisps with the vine still in his mouth, soon removing it and going back to his weaving of the net, pulling a knot as tight as possible before tucking, knotting and pulling hard once again. As for Iessrien? Completely and utterly ignored, even as he starts chatting with his fellow holder. Nope. That net had his full attention, with all the twisting and pulling etcetera. Though he does crinkle his nose at mention of fish, yanking suddenly more violently, before his weaving picks up with purpose. "Meat.." he scowls. Yank, pull, knot, yank. All the while the young green vines are creaking and moaning at the treatment they are receiving. "Could always eat Stan, Pol." he comments idly as Kiley passes by with the same crawly that the woman had rescued from an untimely frying pan incident.
Aqueepoli retracts his tongue and makes a face. "S'not /tha'/ bad." He even goes in to lick it again, leaving a slobbery wet trail along the smooth surface of the nondescript rock. "I wonder…" His mouth is opened up wide (surly he'd make some man very happy someday) and the rock barely fits between his teeth. Said teeth move down to grind uncomfortably against the rock, which only causes Pol to wince from both the feeling of the motion but the sound as well. Rock is spit into hand, and then THROWN back into the forest where it was found. "Guys. You can't eat rocks." It's sadness now that litters his gaze. Sadness at not being able to eat rocks. WTF, Pern? WTF. A look goes to Pyriel, only nodding with agreement that it was, indeed, a rock. And very much so not edible. If that wasn't apparent yet. Damnit. "Fish would be sweet, dude." Lusty thoughts are brought forth, thinking of fish. "Oh man, maaaaan." Groaning, his mouth salivating. "Fish in my mouth. I… I wouldn't even need 'em cooked. Jus'… jus' put it in my mouth an'…" Drooool. The teenager is hungry. Desperate for something that isn't a freaking berry. Eyes light up at Pyriel's suggestion, zeroing in on Kiley, and what's more, on Stan. Stan the Lizard. Stan the Soon-To-Be-In-Aqueepoli's-Belly. "Kiley. I need your crawler. Now. I… I won't /eat/ him." HE'S LYING! "Jus'… I… wanna… pet him… with my tongue." Eyes narrow. Shift back and forth. Nothing but sweet innocence and love here.
"No /shit/, man," Iess rolls his eyes at his holder friend, giving Aqueepoli a long, dubious look at that whole rock.. eating ..attempt there. And then just quickly shaking his head, "Think the lack of food is making you lose it." He's so totally NOT looking at Pol's mouth right now. Instead, Iessrien uncaps the waterskin and tilts it back to sip, stowing the container back in his bag as he continues to ignore the harper over there as well. Iess might be regretting mentioning fish right then, too. "Uh.." yeah, he's so not replying to any of that. Any violent net-pulling Py is doing is still ignored, totally and completely, even if blue eyes do slide in the harper's dirrection for the briefest of seconds. But it's Pol's attention to the crawler which has the holder boy shifting to consider Kiley and her new ..pet. Iess might be ignoring Pyriel, but Kiley, who's he's been sheepishly avoiding since the frying pan incident as well, is at least given a slight nod of acknowlegement, and Stan is given a brief, low-lidded look of appraisal. Hmmm.
Kiley eyes Pyriel as she passes and he comments about eating her crawler, "no one is eating Stan." This if a firm statement, thus why the lizard is still with her so that no one can eat him when she isn't looking. The harper is given a stern eye before she turns attention back to Pol and his rock, and in which goes straight into his mouth. She stares blankly at the boy for a long moment as if trying to determine if he was serious or not. "Right, no… You cannot eat rocks and I really do question your intelligence." His drooling over fish is met with a sigh and a roll of her eyes, "Landers made fishing poles the other day. Perhaps ask him if you can have some material to make one of your own?" Stan is shifted to where Pol cannot reach him, frowning at him as he asks for him. "You are not getting Stan. Don't even consider it. Poor little Stan." She shakes her head and then casts a look to Iessrien as his nod draws her attention. A smile is given and she nods in response. "How are you?"
Pyriel just happened to glance up at Aqueepoli when he was opening his mouth as wide as possible in an attempt to stick the rock inside. Eyes widen, till gold floats completely on white, and he's quickly refocused on his little project there. "What has been seen, can not be unseen…" he shudders before giving his net one last tug before about a dozen knots are tied in one after the other, and then back in on itself, and then that is also knotted. Finishing the net. Pyriel stand then, stepping a foot on one end and yanking hard with the other. The net doesn't snap or break, it just groans against the abuse. Seemingly satisfied, the harper tosses the net into the pile with the other two, and strips off his tank top. It's tossed into his tent. Py wasn't looking so boyish anymore. In the months of high activity as a candidate he had lost any trace of baby fat, and now was completely lean and certainly sporting a nicely defined six pack for his trouble. "Ya'll can be eatin' crawlers and raw fish, I'm gunna get me some red meat." he proclaims, picking up his three spears and nets, one in each hand, after of course reintroducing a bright red bandana to his head, pirate style, to keep the hair out of his face and eyes. Also sweat. With that, the blond boy with his low slung cargo shorts belted tightly and his shit-kickers strapped up to mid-shin, makes for the forest.
A pitiful stare is given to Kiley. "C'mooooooooon! I… I'll bite down at the back of his head an' just sever the head from the rest of the body an' he won't feel a thing." Cause he'll be dead! And being eaten. By Aqueepoli. He huffs, pity transforming into resentment. "Fine! Don't feed me your crawler, be tha' way!" Glare. "I'll jus' resort to eatin' another candidate. Plenty of meat on 'em. Who do ya all think deserves to be eaten the most, guys? Cuz I'll need ya all to distract tha' person, move 'em away from the weyrlingmasters, while I bash their head in with a rock." Huh. His rock would've come in handy at this point. A glance is sent in the direction he sent it flying. Sorrow. "I'm not loosin' it! /You're/ loosin' it! You're /face/ is loosin' it!" Okay. Maybe he is loosing it. Aqueepoli flomps on down, his rear end meeting an upturned log that is now a seat. Head goes into his hands, there may or may not be sobs coming from the lad as well. Just ignore those, it's just heavy breathing. Yeeeeah. "I jus' wanna eat SOOO BAAAAD. Something. Something REAL. Something COOKED. Something BLEEDING." But still cooked. Movement caught between the gaps in his fingers has Pol's head coming back up. Eyes catch onto Pyriel. Interest peeks. Butt is removed from the log and soon, the holder is bouncing from foot to foot, as excited as a puppy and twice as hyper. "Meat? Red meat? Red bleedin' meat tha' I can shove my face into an' nom nom nom…!" He mimics eating a steak with his bare hands. Mouth all open and making loud, obnoxious chewing noises. "I wanna help! Can I help, Py? Can I? Can I have one of those sharpy-dealies?" Rapid gesturing at the spears. "I have /amazing/ aim, lemme tell ya. Truly. C'moooon. Lemme have one! Lemme help! PLEASE?!" Desperation, it is Pol.
Iessrien tenses slightly at mention of another candidate making fishing poles, but doesn't comment on it, instead lifting his shoulders in a slight shrug and kneeling down to rummage in his pack again. He does return Kiley's smile, though, shrugging again and probably deciding better than to insist about the crawler, given the girl's protectiveness of the creature. "Alright, better than I was yesterday," is muttered as he stands again, having pulled out a length of string, certainly not jumping at random things landing on his head today, anyway, "You?" A brow is arched ever so slightly, before Iess has to ask, "..What would you have done if it had been a tunnelsnake or something like that?" Well, it /could/ have been. Cough. Still not looking at Py. Nope. The suggestion of hunting earns a twist of his lips, Iess already moving to Pol with a hand raised, either a gesture of calm or intent to whap the other holder upside the head, to knock some sense into him. He gets to neither, as Aqueepoli is suddenly heading off after the harper. There's a tight-jawed second where Iess shoves hands into his pockets and considers, but it lasts only a second before he's heading back to his pack to rummage. Alas, cranky Iess is still cranky.
Kiley tilts a look towards Pyriel, blinking as he works on the net and her attention is drawn to the other ones already finished. Her brrows lift in question and she turns another look towards him. "What are you hunting?" And then he's picking up his nets, and spears and taking off towards the forest. Her gaze follows him until Pol is whining at her, her nose wrinkling at him. "No." Plain and simple, eyes roll and she shakes her head at the boy. "You're not eating one of the other candidates." Plain and simple rejection for all ideas so far. And he goes on after Py, the woman blinks a few times and considers the two with a slight tilt of her head. Silence lingers until Iessrien draws her attention again and she smiles warmly, "that's good. I'm glad you're doing better." A tilt of her head and she hms, "I'm great." As for the next question, brows lift and she murmurs, "you would've been bit if it was a tunnelsnake, but if it was anything else I may have screamed." Whether this means to cheer up the other, though, is kept to herself as Iessrien withdraws to rummage through his pack. Moments of consideration and then she's moving to her own tent to safely hide Stan in his place.
"Ah, dude I dunno," Pyriel says as he stops after a couple steps, intercepted by the bouncing, pleading Aqueepoli. He watches for a few seconds and his face twists into half a scowl. "Ya'd probably end up forkin' me in the back of the head or somethin'." A dubious look is given SouthShore holder, and then he hands the taller boy not a spear, but the nets. "Carry these if ya want to come along. I ain't gunna be going slow so ya better keep up, or else I'll leave ya behind." Dead. Serious. Then to Kiley golden eyes wander, chin lifting upwards. "Wherry, or anythin' that we catch I ain't picky no more. If I gutta eat, it's gunna be meat." A sage nod for this, and he turns his back on the encampment, sparing not a word for Iessrien, or even looking at him. Really, it's like he doesn't exist. So half nakedly he saunters off to go hunting with Aqueepoli. If they return, is yet to be seen.
"Bah!" That's all Aqueepoli has to say to Kiley, as both his plans are rejected by the girl. "You dun own me! I'm gonna do what I want!" Snap snap of the fingers. "If'n I wanna eat another candidate, I'll eat another candidate. No girl is gonna tell me what to do." Grumble grumble, Pol kicks at the dirt, muttering all the while under his breath. At least until he's told he doesn't get to have a spear, but at least gets to hold the net. It's something. "Sweeeet! I'm gonna toss this over a feline and then cut out its eyes an' eat the crap out of it!" Not really the crap crap, but… yeah. He's running after Pyriel at this point, or skipping like a girl, y'know. Whatever. The holder does stop and shot a look over at Iessrien, eyebrows rising up. "Ya comin' with, dude? Cuz… he has spears. An. I have a net. An' we're going to mess up some animal's WORLD. It'll be sweet." Pol watches at his fellow holder turns towards his pack. "Pfffft, fine dude, you bleed outta your lady parts, I'm baggin' me some /meat/!" That stated, the candidate frolicks off to catch up to Pyriel.
Iessrien is totally glaring at the contents of his backpack, jaw tightened slightly, though he doesn't rummage too roughly, carefully searching for.. something. As for the likelihood of Kiley screaming? "I'd have gone after it without the fucking frying pan, if you had," is muttered under his breath, though he doesn't bother looking in Py's direction. At all. Pol's question about going with them has Iess muttering a, "Nah, going to see if I can find some fish-" after his friend, head snapping up suddenly at that last remark. Pondwater-blue eyes narrow dangerously at the other holder, Iess' voice dropping a few degrees, "The /fuck/ did you just say?" Oh, it's on. He doesn't wait for an answer, shoving himself to his feet and whirling around, stalking towards Pol with a look that could probably curdle cream. /That/ look.
Kiley comes from her tent without a Stan on her shoulder, but her hair is also now tied back by a ribbon so to keep hair out of her face. Her gaze flickers back over towards Pyriel and gives a nod, "good luck, then. I hope you catch a few things." A smile is given and she considers Aqueepoli as he is now holding the nets and then a frown takes hold of her features as he speaks. She tsks softly, shaking her head and rolling her eyes and no longer indulging the boy with a verbal response. Instead, she sits in front of her tent, waiting for the boys to leave before she takes off from the looks of it. Stan must be protected! Her gaze flickers over to Iessrien for the other boy's words to him and winces as he reacts. No attempt to interrupt the impending fight is made, she merely watches and is completely unable to turn away.
No, Pyriel is not going to arm Aqueepoli. The blond eyes his willing helper dubiously, brows knit and lift. "Whatever floats ya boat, dude." he says with a non-committal shrug, though he does pause long enough to check the boy for some reason, around his mid-section mostly. He breathes a sigh of relief. For Kiley, he nods. "Thanks." said simply, and then he's turning back towards the woods again and takes several more steps in that direction. However, a few seconds later there is a wince and halting of footsteps as Aqueepoli drops that particular line to Iessrien, and the harper reaches out and grabs the nets from the tallest of the holders, frowning at him deeply. "Yer on yer own, Pol." he says with a measure of irritation, and then he just flings the woven vines over his shoulder, and continues on into the woods. Yep, he's totally letting Pol lay in the cot he just made for himself. No help from him. At all. Bye bye. Toodleloo.
Aqueepoli gets totally man handled, or not, as he gets checked over to ensure he has no weapons. "I lost my belt knife in the forest." He admits with a sad look on his face. "It was like… my third one since I came to Xanadu. I think someone is stealin' 'em from me, to be honest. Jus' takin' 'em, like when I'm sleepin'. Those bastards." Pol snarls, anger directed at the mysterious entity (read: himself) who keeps yoinking his knives. "Though there's a chance tha' actually, /actually/, Stan the Crawler took my last one, so, y'know, it's only fair tha' I get to eat him cuz he stole my shit." A meaningful stare is sent at Kiley. Not giving up on eating her pet. Nope. When his manhandling is over, Aqueepoli falls in step behind… or rather. He would've. If his net wasn't taken from him by Pyriel and left to deal with a pissed off, PMSing Iessriel. "Oh, c'mon, dude. Help a bro out! He'll kick my ass if I let him get close!" Gets shouted to the harper as he walks off. A fist shake in the crafter's direction makes Pol feel reasonably better. At least until he turns and sees the other holder heading towards him. "Noooooo! Dude. I was /joking/! For really!" Screeching like a girl, the candidate books it back towards the other candidates, in particular Kiley, and uses the woman as a shield. "SAVE ME! IT HURTS WHEN HE PUNCHES!"
Iess has probably very badly wanted to punch /someone/ for the past few days. It's only Pol's bad luck that he happened to be the one to set the Breakwater holder off, so to speak. Those pondwater eyes narrow right down to slits, and despite Pol's attempt to hide behind the sitting Kiley, he totally stalks over, hands curling into fists. He may or may not have noticed Pyriel leaving; right now, there's a lot of repressed anger surfacing at his best friend there. Iessrien doesn't slow, doesn't even /look/ at Kiley apart from the briefest flick downward from pondwater blue, gaze zeroing in on the panicking Pol while one hand comes up to grab the other boy by the arm (since apparently the guy is shirtless too) and hauls him sideways against a tree, grip like iron. A fist comes up, and then SLAMS a fist into the trunk.. right beside Aquee's head. "Next time, it'll be your /face/," Iessrien's expression shifting into a scowl before he shoves Pol back against the rough wood, turns on his heel, and stalks off into the woods, in the opposite direction Pyriel went.
Kiley nods a farewell to the departing Pyriel as he takes off and abandons Pol to his fate, there is the briefest of smiles for his thanks but it is fleeting and entirely brief as her gaze is drawn back towards Aqueepoli. Brows lift and she sighs, "you're stupid. That is completely illogical, he is smaller than your belt knife, how could he take it." A blank look is sent towards the boy. And then he's running behind her, despite the fact that she is sitting and he isn't. "No. I think you earned it with what you said. It was rude and hurtful." No tolerance for any sort of teasing, she folds her arms over her chest and waits right there as Iessrien approaches. She doesn't even move a muscle until Iessrien hauls the other away and a wince is given. Her head tilts away and she acts as if she does not see the whole incident going on over there.
There's nothing like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or in this instance, a tree and Iessrien's fist. Aqueepoli, despite his attempts to flee like a wuss and use a woman as a shield, still ends up with a fist hurdling towards his face… only to have said fist hit the tree next too his. The breath that he had been holding in is exhaled with relief, even after he gets shoved into the tree. Though with his lack of a shirt, that was a bit more painful than anything else. "Oooow, dude! It was a /joke/!" He calls off after towards the retreating holder. Pol spends a few fitful moments turning in a circle over and over again, his head contorted oddly as he tries to see the damage dome to his back. It'd be humorous if it wasn't so pitiful. Kiley's words wash over him and Aqueepoli can only roll his eyes towards the sky. "I didn't earn nothin'. All these other guys need to chill out an' have a beer an' stop flippin' out at the smallest remark." Pffft. As if he should talk.
Iess totally comes back like a minute later, having cooled off and looking only a little worse for wear, and rubbing that tree-punching hand with a grimace on his face. The knuckles are totally bruised, and there's dried blood from scraping against the tree's rough bark. Apparently, he just needed a second or something. He hasn't been idling wandering the woods, however. No, he'd gone to grab some long, straight branches, and moving to the other candidates, he totally drops them in front of Pol and Kiley. "Can tie knives to one end, fish that way. See how good your aim really is," that second bit said with a head-jerk and sidelong look towards Aqueepoli.
Kiley points a look towards Aqueepoli again, frowning. "You still teased him. Joking or not." She doesn't say anymore than that, looking to Iessrien as he drops the stick sin front of them. "Ahh. I'm not good at that. I think I'll just do berries and such today." She smiles in thanks and inclines her head before tucking back into her tent-like thing. She'll guard her crawler until they are gone before she comes back out again.