Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

"We'll, I'll admit, she's rather cute... maybe she's a catgirl!" Airgetlam guesses the girl might want to be alone for a bit, so she walks out and joins Jian and Sharpe.

Another thought has crept into her mind: Where did the girl get all those injuries from? If she can become that violent, what's the thing that was trying to prey upon her? What if they face more of them? She shivers at the thought. She can fight, but that's not her thing, especially against wild animals... or worse, abominations.

Dr. Atrium shakes his head, "No, I don't think so..."

He watches as she leaves him with the little girl. He looks back at her and watches as she finishes up the bit of bread. He then smiles and holds his hand out stretched for her. "Can you come out little one? I would like to make all your boo-boos go away. Once I do, I can give you more food. Something a bit more filling then some bread. What do you say? Can you come on out for Doc?"

He watches as she looks to his hand and back up to his face. He is still smiling, he hopes the girl will come out. He wants to fix her up, maybe her injures are what is making her so edgy. If he can heal her and show her that at least he is a good person, then he knows there is hope for her. She just has to trust him and give him the chance.

Jian turns around slowly, his face not really having an expression that makes it possible to make out what he is thinking or feeling at the moment. He looks at his blade then once again and back to Sharpe. "Well, I mean... I am not sure. This is an untouched family piece, so changing something on it might damage it's honorous value. On other hand it's really messed up. So I am not certainly sure how to decide on that. On another note though, I doubt that I'll ever be able to actively use it without turning into a scaredy cat. So... No idea...", he sighs and shrugs and sets the blade down on the book.

He looks up to the sky and then to the doc which still sits in front of that sleeping bag. Silently he just looks around, making time go by. His stomach grumbles again, he starts to be unable to ignore that. He rubs some of the herbs into his mouth to temporarily kill that feeling off and then leans back again agains the rock. "Well... I sometimes kind of don't know what to do with myself...", he shrugs once more and looks back up.

The girl doesn't really react to doctor atrium and closes its eyes to rest a little.
In the mean time, nothing worthy of note is happening.

Sharpe sighs, but he guesses that that's fine. He just wants to be able to count on Jian in a fight. Still though, his resolve definitely needs work.

"You know that since you're in the party, you pretty much need to be able to fight. If you can't fight and don't have much else in the way of skills to offer, you become a liability. I don't like liabilities, and I don't like uselessness."

He stands up and looks him in the eye.

"I'll toughen you up. I can't have you becoming a liability. That, and it's a hassle trying to carry people out of a job gone wrong. I don't like people dying under my command."

She walks about and finds a rock to sit on, crossing her legs. She closes her eyes and takes in everything.

"Sharpe's right. Plus you've been nice so far, hate to lose you in combat because you have a panic attack."

She takes in a large breath and expels it. She really hopes Jian can get his game together. If Sharpe can't help him though... maybe she can...

Dr. Atrium sighs when she doesn't come out. He gets up and gives the girl a quick hug through the sleeping bag. He made sure not to hug her to tightly, don't want to scare her again. He then looks out at the three and sighs. He isn't in the social mood. He then gets in his sleeping bag and closes his eyes, waiting for sleep to roll over him.

Jian's not sure how to feel about the words of Sharpe. He never knows if he would just do it to help himself or others. Even then, he also doesn't know what happened to Jian. He pulls up his jacket a bit more as he's starting to feel cold. He rubs some of the herbs into his mouth once more to kill of the feeling of hunger. Maybe he should scavenge the forest to find something edible. He takes another sip from the water bottle and continues reading in the book. Maybe he can gather more info from there, who knows...

He notices how many times Jian has put his herbs in his mouth. It's either a nervous tic or he's hungry. He sighs and looks in his bag. He spies the last piece of boudin that he was saving for later. He frowns and takes it out and pushes the box next to Jian.

"I'm fine, you can have that."

He gets up and decides to ruffle through the boxes left behind at the camp. Maybe someone left a dagger or something. Probably not, assassins making camps usually would leave nothing behind unless it was a trap. He opens some of the boxes and finds nothing anyway. He goes back to sitting with Jian.

Airgetlam watches Sharpe give Jian his meal, and considers that she should have packed something for herself as well.

"Does anyone know what time it is? feels like it's getting late but we might have time..."

She gets up looking for Doc, but finds him sleeping next to the girl. How cute, he would make a good father. Still, she decides to leave them be. She walks back to Sharpe and Jian.

"Looks like we're staying here anyway, Doc's out."

Dr. Atrium over hears what they are saying. "I'm still up. I figured I would go to bed early so I could wake early and get us some food. I would like to stay here for the night, I got a roof over my head and that is rare when traveling. Did you guys need anything?"

He doesn't move when he is talking, just laying down with his eyes shut.

Jian slowly turns around to see the box next to him. Being unsure of really taking away the last food from Sharpe he hesitates, but then carefully reaches for it with his left arm. He slowly pulls it to himself and opens the box, looking inside. "Uhm.. T-Thank you...", he just mumbles as he's not used to getting things too often. His position changes into sitting. He pulls out two wooden sticks out of his pouch, chopsticks to be precise and then uses them to seperate the boudin into pieces. He then picks up one piece after another and starts digging in. As he eats he just nods in agreement with himself that this actually tastes quite nice and finishes up a few minutes after.

His look goes back to sharpe, just nodding a lot of times as he is chewing. After finishing, he then pushes back the box and bows with the chopsticks between his fingers. Quickly he checks his backpack and finds incense sticks. The last few he had. He took them with himself to use them when times get rough. Maybe in this foreign country his prayers still might be answered and he's blessed with health and... hopefully fortune. He lights up one of them after fiddling around with that match he had in there too, it was his last match too. He then gets up and walks up to a stump which isn't too far away, sticking it into a little hole inside of it. He bows three times and then goes back to his things to lay back on the rock again, covering himself under his Jacket.

Sharpe watches as Jian whole-heartedly enjoys his little gift to him. Nobody can resist boudin blood-sausage filled with dirty rice (an actual way to serve rice, it's not actually dirty). He watches as Jian goes to pray with a stick of incense, and he says nothing, knowing that disturbing such a thing is very disrespectful. As he walks back, it gets a bit darker outside, and he plops down on the rock in accordance with the waning of the sun and the waxing of the moon.

"So it's settled. Then who's taking sentry? Me and Air, since I don't think we're too tired?"

She looks at him while she plays around with her crossbow.

"I dunno about that Sharpe, I could go for a nap. I'll take a shift though if you'd like."

She goes and sits near Jian and wraps her cloak around herself. She turns for a moment.

"You and me are the only ones with ranged, it makes sense. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."

She turns toward Doc.

"You mentioned you were still awake, Doc? You tired or you mind standing watch?"

Dr. Atrium sits back up and looks sat Airgetlam. "If you wish to nap, then nap. I will share first watch with Sharpe, I can stay awake a while longer if it is needed."

He looks over at the girl and sighs. He picks the cat back up and hand it to the little girl. "I know you liked petting my cat, so I thought you would like to sleep with her." He smiles at the girl, then looks at the cat. "I know you didn't much like her petting you earlier, but can you let her tonight? I'm not sure how, but I am sure you can understand me. If you be nice to her, I will go out and get some nice fish for you later on. Be a good kitty."

He walks out and motions her to go inside the hut. "You may go inside and use my sleeping bag. it's better then sleeping on the ground."

"I can stay up, if I need to", he mumbles as he turns around. "But that's up to you if you wanna trust me on that job." His voice is making clear, that he is carefuly about the way he says things. He doesn't want to sound full of himself, because he isn't.

"Regardless on what you decide, I'll work with it. Just don't expect any wonders, because I really am not that kind of person who can just pull that off. It just sounds fair to offer help from my end too."

"That's fine, but it'd be more efficient for two people to be on watch instead of 3, since later on we can have an equal amount of people for another shift."

He looks out towards the woodlands, sighing.

"In any case, I'll likely be up for a while."

Sharpe pulls the breasts of his coat a bit closer and keeps the collar popped. If Doc stays up, he'll at least have him to count on. If Jian stays up, he can maybe at least toughen him up in that span of time.

Airgetlam yawns and she wafts if with her hand. She gets up and goes to make her bedding inside the hut. before she enters, she looks back.

"I guess I'll doze off, you boys can have first shift."

She goes inside and lays down, pulls her cloak tightly around her and putting a satchel against her head as a pillow. As she begins to drift off, she watches the sleeping bag, but there is no movement. The girl must be fast asleep by now.

Maybe she's not so bad afterall. She still hopes she won't find have her face clawed off in a few hours though.

Dr. Atrium watches Airgetlam walk into the hut, he then looks over at Sharpe. "I am going to hit the hay. You should train the boy a bit. It would do good, and not only for battle. Some training should bring his self esteem up too. Good night gentlemen."

He bows to them both and walks back into the hut. He looks over at the sleeping bag and sees that it it is only rising and falling. The girl must be asleep, that is good. He crawls into his sleeping bag and thinks back to when he was Jian age. He was doing research having just left his new home, those were good times. It was a shame that it ended horribly...

He soon slips to the land of dreams.

Another interesting day comes to a slow end as most of the tired group goes to rest. What is visible of the peaceful night sky, through the trees and mountains, is riddled with glistering stars. The weak moon sheds its light into the forest enough to give a very faint view of general outlines and the occasional tree. The cool ocean air has been replaced with a warmer and comforting atmosphere. Embers dance in the charred campfire, almost as if telling their own story, and the forest is calm and peaceful.

Airgetlam and Doctor Atrium, as well as the curious child they picked up on the way, are asleep inside the makeshift hut, resting to build up energy for the next day. Everyone knows they are close to the castle, though the calm atmosphere helps subside the tenseness and worry of what may lie ahead. Sharpe and Jian have a little talk and go over some basics in control and combat during their shift, and are then replaced by the Doctor and Airgetlam, for the second shift.

The night goes by peacefully with no occurances and the group rests surprisingly well for sleeping inside a forest all night. As morning begins and Jian and Sharpe wake up from resting, they find Airgetlam, Atrium and the girl sitting infront of the fireplace enjoying a nice, self-caught, breakfast. A deer has been caught, prepared and roasted over the fire. Most of it had been stripped and put into small containers so that they may be brought while traveling and the rest is still warm and ready to serve. Not the most optimal breakfast but a good meal regardless. The strange little girl is sitting with her back against a treestump, leaning against doctor atrium and nibbling on a bit of meat. While she hasn't shown any intentions of being social during the whole night, she didn't shy away from the doctor upon waking up, but instead seems to feel a bit more comforterable with him and airgetlam.

---

Flashback to Jian and Sharpe's shift in Sidequest 1.
Recollection of Doctor Atrium's dream that night in Sidequest 2.

Sharpe awakens to the smell of cooked venison, and wanders about looking for the source. A well-prepared deer roasts on a spit, and steaks and fillets are stacked in containers for future consumption.

"Good, some food. Not as luxurious as what we had yesterday but definitely not unwelcome."

He sits next to Airgetlam and takes a steak, holding it with a bit of clothe as he chews at it, trying to avoid the fatty parts.

"So you all get a good night sleep? Nothing bad come out to feast upon our flesh under the cover of night?"

He takes another bite out of his steak, ripping off the meat with some force that some grease gets on his face. Better than dust at least.

"I'll say one thing, Jian should be adequately capable of covering our asses from here on out."

He recalls the events of last night rather vividly. Indeed, Jian should be a bit more confident in his capabilities.

Airgetlam pats Sharpe's back as he sits down next to her, and notices Jian walking about and she waves him over. As he sits down she gives him a slice of venison meat and a carrot.

"One bolt and it was down, surprising even to me, I thought it would take more shots to the body to kill it. Doc did some stuff to it afterward to make it more suitable to eating." She puts her armos on her hims and smiles at Sharpe.

"Proud of my handiwork?"

She looks back at the girl and smiles a little more. Maybe at some point she'll let her get closer.

Dr. Atrium watches as the two come out of the hut and joins them for breakfast. He himself has already eaten his fill of the deer and is rubbing the little girls back smiling. He is happy to see that she is at lest trusting him to be so close. He takes some of the meat and tosses it over to the cat. "That is for you. Thanks for letting the girl snuggle with you. been thinking about a name for you. How about Mitsuki?"

He watches the cat take the meat and starts to eat it. He then looks at the others. "So, What is the plan for today? We have to be close to this castle. Do you want to run in the moment we find it or do you want to look all around it and think of a plan? We still haven't found my brother that is said to be camping out around here. I want to look for my brother at arms but if you guys want to find the castle first, I will not complain."

Jian walks out rubbing his eyes, then stretching. He smells the meat, but he doesn't really care for that at first. Instead he walks a bit next to the fire into a bit more open area. The people can see him from there but are not too far away to bother with what he's going to do. As he streches once more he then takes a deep breath in, then fluidly moving in a beautiful manner, making slow and seemingly surreal gestures. One could think it is a bit based on Tai-Chi, just worked out in a different, and maybe unique manner. As he keeps following the ritual, he is soon waved over to the fire. He goes there and then sits down, being handed meat and a carrot. He nods in appreciation and takes a bite. The meat tastes quite nice and the texture is alright. Not as good as when cooked over a proper stove-top or such, but it has it's own charme due to being grilled over an open-fire. He takes some spices out of his pouch and sprinkles them over the meat, then biting in again. He once again nods, finding it is was a good idea to do so. He look at the girl, just studying her appearance a bit as he now finally has the chance to. After a few minutes he then stops, staring isn't that kind of thing one should be doing.

Sharpe looks over to Doc with a bit more serious tone.

"I was thinking that we'd go scope out the castle first and maybe find your comrade in the interim. Once that was done we'd make the plans based on what we found. I'd also like a quick peak inside the castle just to see what the fighting space is like."

He stops letting that settle in with Doc and the rest, and takes a swig of water from flask he had.