Post-landing [open]

[kaemi]

She had yet to find a buddy.

That was the most pressing matter on Essa's mind as she helped set up the necessary items to make tonight's supper. It wouldn't be anything extravagant, but they did need a fire. With the little bit of information she had borrowed from Jerezen earlier, the girl had been able to find a few plants that were edible, but it wasn't much. It wasn't enough. And yet, it would have to be. They had gathered a fair amount of edible fruits, as well, and there were fish aplenty out in the sea. Amid all of her helping out, gathering, and now as she built the fire, Essabellona had been unable to get acquainted with any of the females, as she normally would have done in this situation. It wouldn't been easier if she had already met some of the women, but the ones she had had already paired off.

Curse the sea-sickness that had restricted her usually-social self from being sweet and bubbly! Apparently her frequent vomiting off of the edge of the ship had off-put many of the girls. So, as it was, she would simply continue as she was and then, when the lack-of-buddy became a problem, she would go and find one. That would be a pleasant introduction 'Hi, my name's Essa, will you be my buddy? Great! I have to take a quick trip to the jungle, let's go.' Oh well.

Right now, she was surrounded by quite a few people, so all was well. Many hungry people, in fact. She, herself, had taken a fruit or two, so she was fine in that department, but a few on the expedition probably wouldn't trust the fruit to be safe. Shells, Essabellona may not have, but she had seen read the records, herself, and matched the descriptions. They were safe, thankfully. Still working on making that fire, she looked back at the pile of fruits they had, and then back to the ocean. It had been safer on the ship, despite the perils of dehydration and heat, but she couldn't say she missed it. The girl liked this view much better.

((This is a bit scrambled............))

[Marnark]

The smallish structures that littered the beaches were colorful if nothing else. The tent poles had been constructed on site, hacked from local timbers. Which were sharding hard, at that. But the canvases that were the structures of the tents were the colored, dyed materials brought with them all the way from the north. No, indeed, they were not ship wrecked refugees. The tents were nice. Some of them round with peaked roofs, roomy, airy, certainly nice to work with as temporary shelters. Some of them were the more square or rectangular type, but those tended to have supplies stored in them. Not all of them, but most. Durable creations.

Cemar was a metal smith, not a timbersmith. But he was big enough and strong enough to do the job, if without the skill a timbersmith might have had. So it was that he made short forays into the jungle, never out of sight of the beach, to chop thin poles from the forest and carry them back to shore on his shoulders.

The more he did it, the more he was convinced that it was probably going to be a good idea to move the camp off the beach and into the shelter of the older, larger trees. Not only to keep it from getting so very hot at midday, but also to shelter the rather rickity (compared to stone holds) from the storms that were inevitably going to blow in off the ocean.

In theory, they were supposed to be looking for Riders. But they couldn't do that as a gypsy caravan. They had no wagons and no beasts of burden. They had to have a stationary base, and Cemar wasn't liking where it was at the moment. However; no one was going to listen to what he had to say. Simply because everyone thought he was an addlebrained wherryheaded fool.

Walking onto the beach and dropping yet another pole onto the white sand, he walked over toward where Essa was with the other armload of wood - shorter pieces that would make good firewood. "Here you go." He said, simply, setting them down nearby. She looked like she was working on possibly starting a fire after all. Might as well leave the material where she could use it readily. "What are you going to make with all that?" He asked, eying the heap of wildcrafted foods. Most of it he had no clue what it was, and hoped she wasn't just randomly picking stuff and hoping it wasn't toxic.

[firethorne]

Phaerie could have likely kissed the ground after finally, finally reaching the Southern Continent, but she was far too distracted by the desire for food to be too appreciative of the solid land beneath her feet. She had been on the last boat to land on the shore, and she arrived, Nevarre and Koldyn were already issuing orders. Sighing, the trader had wandered over, listening to their instructions absently while her stormy eyes roved the scenery. As they were all instructed to find a ‘buddy’ for the remainder of the journey, the girl did a double-take, glaring at the two men. Now who the Fall was she supposed to partner with? Unfortunately, Phaerie had not taken well to travelling by sea and had spent most of her time in the belly of the ship clinging to her cot, trying not to puke. She hadn’t exactly been a little social butterfly so far.

Of course, that sharding holder’s son, Koldyn, had strolled about the ship like nothing was amiss, infuriatingly steady and at ease with the rocking motions of their boat. Naturally, Phaerie had tried on numerous occasions to make amends with the boy, but he would have none of that. Finally, the trader had just given up, even her open and amiable attitude unable to keep up in the face of his acute dislike for her. Well, if he wanted to act like a spoiled little rich boy, let him, it was nothing to Phae.

Pulled from her musings as her stomach gave a loud, demanding growl, the girl scowled, feeling her brow furrow. Being as sick as she had been on the ship, she had not been able to keep much food down, and now that she was finally on land once more her body wanted nourishment. Wandering slowly down the beach, Phaerie tried to find a friendly face to approach. Even though food was certainly on her priority list, finding a buddy was number one. It had to be a girl, though, so that narrowed her candidates down quite a bit. The trader slowed as she saw one of the holder’s daughters working on a fire, various plants and other assorted foraged fruits at her side.

Well, well! This would do nicely. Not only was she a girl, she was also preparing to cook, and that sealed it in Phae’s book. Her stomach gave an enthusiastic rumble as if to agree, and the trader quickly jogged over to her. Nearing the girl and the smith, Phaerie grinned, brushing past the tall man quietly. “Hopefully, she’s going to make something edible.” The girl laughed, kneeling beside Essa. “Hello, I’m Phaerie, what’s your name? Do you need some help cooking? Oh, and do you have a buddy yet?” Grinning, the trader girl felt happier than she had in a long time. Sure, she was hungry, in a strange land, and had no idea if she would ever see home again, but there was food and a chance to make a new friend, and Faranth knew that was better than nothing.

[kaemi]

There was a bit of difficulty with the fire, but nothing she couldn't manage. It was definitely a good thing that she had learned how to build a fire before she had come back home. Although a little rusty, Essabellona was still able to whip up a fire nice. When a guy walked up, setting down a load of firewood, she smiled and thanked him, reaching over to move two of the pieces already, building the small kindling. “The fruit? One of the boys here has a roll of records on the plants and other vegetation of the South. All these fruits here are edible, promise- do you want to try some?” Essa motioned for him to just take one if he so desired, one eye focused on the girl that had come up.

“My name's Essabellona, Essa,” she said, grinning at Phaerie, although her words were directed at the guy, as well. “I'm thinking of stealing a few of those fish over there,” her head bobbed over towards the fish that were hanging nearby, as yet untouched, “and then seasoning it a bit with the fruits. I don't know... we'll see.” She would ask first, of course, but you know. “And no, I do not. Do you have a buddy?” The question had an eager edge to it. That would solve... well, not all of her problems, but a great deal of them. “If not, I'd be eternally grateful if you'd be mine!”

She looked back up at the guy for a moment. “What's your name?” the girl asked curiously. Her smile was wide, now that maybe she had a buddy, and she was going to eat soon... Essa was excited, now more than ever, to be on land, off that sharding ship, and communicating with people. Even if they were talking about fruit and buddies; she didn't think she'd ever talked about buddies before, actually. There was a first time for everything!!

[Marnark]

Cemar looked over as another girl came rushing into the area as if there wasn't a whole beach to walk on. Had to crowd where he was standing. He didn't get that. What was that all about, anyway? Not that he particularly cared ... hey, he was agreeable to girls getting in his space! Unfortunately, so far, they didn't tend to stay very long ... bummer ...

However, the both of them went right into rattling away at each other. Cemar blinked once, and just listened, already keying in to that he'd been more or less excluded from the whole thing. Girls. Can't live with em, can't live without em. Nurr.

Cemar came back to reality when something was said in his general direction, unfortunately by then he'd missed what was said. "What?" He asked, blankly. Of course, this was liable to be perceived as typical male zoning out when female was talking. Nevermind it wasn't ... exactly ... the case.

Oh, they were apparently introducing themselves. That part, he had caught. One was Essa, one was Phaerie. "Cemar." He supplied. If they didn't know who he was by now, he wasn't going to enlighten them. Especially not given how irate everyone had been about his bucket retrieving expedition. It was better to remain anonymous, then.

Something about the fish over yonder had been said, too. So Cemar went over there, lifted one off of the stick it was hanging from, and carried it back. "Too bad we don't have any rubbing herbs." He remarked, wryly, hooking a finger into the bottomside of the fish's head and running the fingers of the other hand into the gutted cavity of the thing. Finding that it was indeed clean, and no remains of entrails were in the belly, he offered the whole thing to Essa to do with as she liked. "It's cleaned. Careful, it's slippery." And spined. Those fins were dangerous, but he assumed she knew that.

[firethorne]

(Hadn't meant she walked on him. Just that she walked past him. I suppose 'brushed past' was a bad choice of wording.)

Grinning in delight at the other girl, Phaerie nodded as she replied, secretly thinking that her new friend had quite the name. "It's nice to meet you, Essa." The trader's eyes cut to the side as the man also introduced himself as Cemar, that name striking a chord within her for some reason. Then, suddenly, her stormy-blue gaze widened as she remembered he was the one that jumped overboard. Oh well. Hey, that was his business, and the girl wasn't about to start digging around in his brain to see why. "And it's nice to meet you too, Cemar." Phae nodded in friendly manner, though he didn't seem to like her too much.

Her attention was drawn back to the holder girl when she spoke again, sounding almost excited to be buddies with the trader. A huge grin slipped across Phaerie's lips, and the girl shook her head enthusiastically. "No, I do not. I would also be very grateful if you would be mine!" Smiling happily at her new friend, Phae leaned over and began running her eyes over the pile of fruits. "I would be happy to help you with dinner, Essa. I'm no trained cook, but I am a trader, and I've prepared meals for my caravan many nights." Smiling, glad to actually be of some use, Phaerie waited for the holder to delegate some jobs for her. She would be happy to do them. After all, she was a trader, and traders weren't afraid of some honest work.

Glancing up as Cemar arrived with the fish, the girl silently agreed. Herbs would have been a nice addition to the flavor, but they had to work with what they had. Eyes widening, Phaerie briefly considered telling the holder girl to watch the sharp fins, but at the same time she did not wish to insult the other by pointing out something she already knew. In the end, the trader did as Cemar, silently waiting for Essa to take the fish and give her a job to do. It would be nice to make herself useful and actually do something helpful again. Stormy eyes raising to the man standing above her, Phae decided to try to make small talk with the seemingly-quiet guy and her new buddy. "So, Cemar, Essa, what crafts were you in? Or are you holders?" She was pretty certain Essa spoke like a lady holder.

[kaemi]

((Warning: even with excessive youtube and google searching, my knowledge on fish is rudimentary at best. I can catch them, and gut them, but I can't cook them. So this is what I have. If I messed something up... sorry!! ))

Cemar. Committing the name to memory, Essa nodded and smiled over at him. She had thought that she had, at least, seen most of the expedition members, but apparently she had been more secluded that she had previously thought. But that didn't matter now- they would have weeks in the jungles to become very well acquainted with everyone. Even with that vaguely depressing thought (weeks in the jungle with nothing to do but avoid strange plants and animals, and get to know all of the other people around), it was impossible to not become excited. Just a few moments ago, she had been thinking on the fact that she didn't have a buddy with worry. “Oh, that'd be fantastic!” she told Phaerie cheerily. Now, she had a buddy, as well as a fish to cook.

Taking the offered meat, the girl avoided the spiny fins with a deftness that came with practice. She wasn't particularly skilled with cooking fish, or handling them, but she had learned some of the basics. Or... one of the basics. Essa had learned from assorted Kitchens, but they had all had the same technique. Taking out a knife from her belongings, she nodded towards Phaerie. “Alright, do you know how to prepare the fish? If not, you can watch. If you do, then you can grab another fish and do the same. You too, if you want, Cemar. We wouldn't need but one or two for just ourselves, but I'm betting that a few of the others are going to be hungry. Oh, and if you know other ways, then I'd be appreciative if you taught me- I only know this way.”

The way she had been taught was simple: make cuts on both sides of the fish directly below the gills, slide the knife into the side and bring it back to the tail fin, close to the backbone. Flip it over, repeat. Then you made a deeper cut, not just through the skin, but getting under the meat, and carry it out much the same way on both sides of the fish, making sure to avoid the bones. Once both sides were done, you took the meat off with a simple cut, again along the bone. Take the skin off, cut the excess fat off, and viola! Essa began the process, answering as she cut. “My father's a cotholder, with my brother groomed to take over. I was going to work with him, when the time came.”

So Phaerie was a trader, and Cemar was a... well, he would tell them in a moment. Essabellona grinned up at her two newest companions when she finished the first side, proud at her work. Yes, it was a little sloppy, and she had missed a bit of the meat, but not much. Not too bad, when she had tried it without supervision from an experienced cook only a handful of times. Bending over quickly, she brandished a lightweight pan- not the most refined piece of metal, but it would do.