Private - Foraging Fun [P]

After some fun times in the Maithe Woodlands whilst meeting some other newbies Rawlin took this opportunity to get something for lunch today as he was getting hungry. Rawlin looked around for anything he could use for fishing and saw a few stray branches on the ground along with some sharp rocks. Rawlin picked up said objects and used the sharp rock to carve off the smaller branches off each stick and sharpen the edges to make some makeshift spears out of the sticks.
Rawlin was spawned near the coast of woods which was perfect since he had already had some gear to help him fish for lunch. Rawlin took his makeshift wooden spears and held one above him as he was watching the fish swim by carefully. "Now!" Rawlin shouted as the fish started to swim away but with a sharp thrust he struck a fish with the wooden spear and then another one making his fish count a total of two caught. Rawlin didn't stop there though as he managed to catch two more which he would save for dinner. "Alright then let's get started!" Rawlin said as he took the fish off of the wooden spear and chopped their heads off with the sharp rock then descaled them as well. Rawlin used the leftover wooden spears to make a campfire by breaking them into pieces and surrounding the wooden sticks with the rest of the rocks he had for a makeshift fire pit. Using the pointed ends of the sticks he planted them near the fire pit and put the fish on the pointed ends. "Now to light this thing up." Rawlin held his hand out palm facing forward toward the fire pit as a spray of flame came from it and ignited the fire pit. "Alright now to wait for this meal to finish cooking." Rawlin said as the smell of cooked meat would soon waft into the surrounding area. Rawlin sat on a large rock he had placed near the fire pit and waited for his meal to finish cooking.

 

It'd been a while since she'd gone to the coast. If she remembered, the last time she was there was when she met the knight that had to save her from a mob? Yea, that sounded right. It was a weird day, so it was easy to remember- that, and she had found her memory in the game was a lot better than in real life. It was an interesting twist, if nothing else.

The other truly interesting twist was having a sense of smell, and finally knowing what it was like for food to make her mouth water. Something was cooking further out of the forest, and as she got to the point where the forest's edge was harder to feel, she noticed what she was smelling. A stranger was cooking fish at a campfire!

Timidly, she pranced over, using her childish legs to feel less embarrassed about nearly skipping in his direction. When she saw the red haired fellow more clearly, she leaned her head on her shoulder and raised a hand, like a child wanting to get a turn- though in this case, it was just a dumb habit she'd picked up in a noisy household.

"Um, can I join you? That looks really tasty...and smells it too." Ah, this smell- she wished she could keep the memory in reality as well. But wait, didn't a lot of people hate the smell of fish? "It's hard to believe there are people who would faint from this scent. It's so tasty."

 

Rawlin could smell how good the fish was but even if his skill at cooking was zero he knew that cooking fish was a simple recipe that anyone could do. This held true as he saw a young girl approach him, obviously smelling the fish he had prepared. "Yeah sure you can! Plenty of rocks around here to use as a chair really." Rawlin said with a smile. "Actually there's enough food here for each of us to have two servings."

Rawlin then noticed he had forgotten something. "Oh be right back! I need to get some water from the lake. It may not be spring water quality but it will still work I imagine." Rawlin had not much to use for a water pouch but he was able to make one by combining the fish skin of all four fish he had caught and some leaves to make a water pouch. With the skin descaled it was easy to drink from the pouch.

Rawlin then approached the lake and filled it up to the brim then brought it back over to the fire pit and held the water pouch over his hand then made a small flame under it but not enough to touch the skin and burn it. By doing this Rawlin was able to make the lake water clean by heating up the water as he then took a drink out of the make shift pouch and stopped with a satisfied smile. "Here you go then. Since it's a game i'm sure you won't get my germs from drinking this."

Rawlin said with a smile as he noticed that the fish were now fully cooked and ready to eat. "Alright time to dig in!" Rawlin said as he took one of the skewered fish and took a huge bite out of it. "Man i'm glad simple things like this aren't hindered by my cooking skill." Rawlin chuckled a bit then swallowed his food down. "Man this is good! Hard to believe I have zero in my cooking skill but I'm sure with this it will raise up more." Rawlin then looked to the girl again as he said that. "So yeah I guess i forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rawlin and you are?" Rawlin asked as he took another bite of his fish.

 

The man was far friendlier than she was, it seemed, because his words had been quite quick to welcome her- and were much more confident, she'd noted as well. With a meek word of thanks, she watched his rushing off. Oh! Water made sense. Taking a seat on one of the stones a bit less close to the campfire itself, she stretched her arms and made sure her inventory was carefully stashed away.

"It really looks great. I wouldn't know your cooking skill at all from it. Better than anything I could make, but I don't have the skill anyway." Not that she had it offline either. She should really work on the pyrophobia while she was at it, shouldn't she? Thought in mind, she shifted slightly closer to the flames.

As he heated the water, she felt a shock in her system. Okay, this might be a little too quickly to get over a long-term fear that wasn't from death. Laughing timidly, she smiled. "I see. Pyromancy and cooking go well together, huh? I could help make salad by growing some veggies with my naturamancy, but I don't think that's all that helpful in the long run."

With another word of thanks, she took a sip from the water pouch, careful not to burn her tongue. "I wouldn't worry about it even offline. I usually don't share with people I don't trust, though. But you already had some, so it's clearly safe anyway, right?"

With a nervous laugh, her grin was soon more sincere despite the timidity pattern. "Sorry, I probably should've said who I was before even asking to join you. My bad. Thanks for reminding me! But Rawlin, huh? That's a pretty neat name. You can call me Harveste." With a small bite of fish, she felt herself warming up even faster than from the fire. "Delicious! My props to the chef!"

 

The girl Harveste was nice about his cooking which he just learned most of from his father on how to survive in the wilderness and such like fishing for example. "Oh good to meet you Harveste. I learned most of what I know from my dad actually since we are almost always by the lake in reality he had taught me the basics of surviving on my own. I didn't expect to use that knowledge in a video game." Rawlin laughed as he had at the moment finished his first fish then moved to the second one. "But yeah the water is perfectly safe now that I killed off most of the bacteria in the water with the heat from my pyromancy." Rawlin said as he patted his belly after finishing his second helping. "Though I imagine since it's a game their wouldn't be any kind of bacteria or germs in it, can't be too careful though right?" Rawlin said as he chuckled. "If you can grow veggies I bet you can also grow herbs right? That would make the fish taste a lot better I bet, like some rosemary or something!" Rawlin said as he then took another drink from the pouch clearly full of energy now.

 

As the man complimented her own opted skills, she decided to give in to the curiosity. In her hand, she was able to materialize an herb- unfortunately, it wasn't rosemary. Though she'd gotten better with her magic, certain plants were harder to conjure for her- partially due to lacking actual knowledge of them.

"I think I got thyme instead but...It does go well with fish. It's a mild herb in general, actually, to me. Maybe the game picked up my usual preferences." Laughing timidly, she took a small sprig of the herb and took a bite from it with the fish, offering some to the man in question. "I see, so you live by a lake. I live in a suburb, but I used to visit a lake to fish when I was young. I'm not very good at it or at cooking in general, but...I bet your fish would be equally delicious both places."

Smiling, she took another bite. "If you can do this when your level is low, I wonder what you'll be able to cook when you're a pro?"

 

As Harveste offered a conjured thyme for him Rawlin took a bite out of the fish with some of the herb sprinkled on it. "Yep that's much better than before." Rawlin said as he finished his second helping of fish now completely stuffed. Rawlin rubbed his cheek as he wondered too what he would be able to cook as a pro. "Well I always wanted to try making fancy stuff like stew, curry and even stir fry. But I imagine as a pro I'd be able to make a ton of different things." Rawlin smiled as she complimented his cooking again. "I would think that being able to cook meat over a fire would count as a simple recipe for starting off with, but yeah thanks I appreciate the compliment." Rawlin smiled then held his belly feeling the after effects of eating to much. "I think I might need to walk this food off would you care to join me for a stroll around the lake?" Rawlin asked as he got up and used the water pouch to put out the fire of the fire pit with the remaining water in the pouch.

 

She nibbled at her food to not eat too quickly, a habit she had also just because of her small jaw. Like a rabbit, she took tiny bites and chewed on them quickly, the herb and fish being slowly returned to nothingness the longer she took. With a soft sigh of relief, she stretched her arms as she finished off her meal in a final, tiny bite. "It really is tasty, but I think the fish alone was already quite nice. It helps you got a good catch, though, doesn't it?"

With a smile, she kept her eyes on the strange chef. His interest seemed quite varied, yet specific. "It's good to have ideas of what you want to cook, but even being able to make something simple like this is better than others can do, you know? Have more pride in what you can do, so that you'll just keep feeling better the more you improve." If she thought about it, that was a pretty positive way of thinking, wasn't it? In a way, she was quite proud just for saying it.

"A walk is good after a good meal, just don't go too fast or you'll get sick. That said... I should really learn to exercise more."

 

Harveste was very kind and helpful when it came to knowing how to cheer someone up. "You have a very good point there Harveste. I guess I didn't really think about it that much when I was cooking it." Rawlin said as he smiled then stood up and began his stroll around the lake. "So is that an extra skill of yours? Because if cheering people up is a skill i'd say you already mastered it." Rawlin chuckled as he made it obvious that it was a joke. "But yeah I liked cooking ever since I was a kid. It was something I could do that helped my dad when he and his workers were tired after making boats." Rawlin said as he walked along the shore of the lake then looked back to Harveste with a smile. "Though it was often something simple like frozen fruit juice bars or lemonade. But i'm sure it brought smiles to their faces like you just did to mine." Rawlin said complimenting her.

 

The man's words led her to laughing. "Quite the smooth talker aren't you, Rawlin? But I don't think they'd involve personality things for masteries, though that would be a fairly interesting thing." She followed him with care, small stature making her strides need to be quite more numerous just to keep up with him However, it was surprisingly not too hard to her. Normally, she'd be well tired already.

"Though actually, I guess to some degree, knowing what masteries people chose can tell you a lot about them, huh? Like...You chose pyromancy and cooking combined, showing a strategic edge and urge to be able to make food on the go. You wouldn't worry about being able to cook wherever you are unless you plan to cook regularly. Though, you did say you enjoy it, but it would seem more obvious from that if I tried to pay attention to why you might choose, right?"

With a grin up at the man, she stretched her arms a bit more as she walked- they always had a habit of cramping if she didn't move them regularly, she'd found. "I wonder what my choices say about me. Rogue, naturamancy and magic tools...Nope, nothing really comes to mind for me. What do you think?"

 

Rawlin laughed along with Harveste as they took the stroll along the lake. "Yeah pretty much. I chose that stuff because I always liked fire magic type things and I noticed that it would vastly improve my cooking skill if i added fire magic to it." Rawlin chuckled as he heard about her skill set. "A rogue with magic and naturamancy? Maybe you sneak around conjuring veggies to the good boys and girls? In a way that would be like Santa Claus." Rawlin laughed as he said it. "Though I imagine most younger kids don't like veggies all that much so It was a nice thought at least." Rawlin said as he smiled.
Rawlin enjoyed this walk and talk it made him happy to make friends earlier on in the game.

 

"It depends a lot on the kid and the veggies involved, I think," Harveste mused. She took great care in mulling it over, though not necessarily keeping in mind the concept of holidays as she did so. That actually seemed to just go over her head, her curiosity at it's peak. "I know when I was little, I really liked certain veggies. And I mean, a great deal of children like things like mashed potatoes. Potatoes are still vegetables, even if they're starchier than what we more classically think about. But for me, I even liked broccoli as a child. Sure, the texture was weird, but it was fun to imagine eating a whole tree, you know?"

Realizing just how much she'd just blabbed about kids and healthy snacks, the girl found herself a bit red like a beet. Her laughter returned, more timid than before, her words quickly ending. "But that's enough rambling about that. If we're going to keep talking about kids and veggies, I'd rather hear what you actually liked as a kid rather than myself."

 

Rawlin nodded as he remembered he did have a few veggies he liked as a kid. "Very good point there Harveste. I actually liked a few kinds of veggies as a child, one of my favorites being buttered steamed carrots and corn on the cob." Rawlin nodded at the girl and noticed she had a bit of red on her cheeks as she then laughed timidly about it. Rawlin chuckled as he looked back to her and smiled. "Yeah I was a bit of a strange kid. I always wanted to help my parents with their jobs and not just lay about doing nothing like I do so nowadays. More work less play was me back then." Rawlin took a breath as he noticed he went off topic. "Though what would we call you if you did play that role I suggested? Maybe like the Harvest Queen or something?" Rawlin said as he chuckled again as he then wondered what kind of role he would have. "What kind of role do you think I would have?" he asked in curiosity.

 

The Harvest Queen? That made her laugh, for sure. Giggling like a little nut, she grabbed for the man's hand so that she wouldn't get lost- particularly because she'd managed to trip on a rock that was buried under some of the dirt near the lake, and was adamant not to fall in.

Smiling to him timidly, she tried to think of his roll. "If I'm the Santa of veggies, then aren't you the Santa of fish? Though...I think you could be a kappa, too...Is there such thing as a pyromancing kappa?"

The thought was hurting her skull. What WOULD his role be? To her, that felt fitting. Kappas loved water and cucumbers, and carrots could surely have a similar shape. But that said they were very different. "Your role should simply be you. I can't think of something better than that."

 

He made sure to keep a firm hold on her hand when she tripped over making sure she did not fall. "Whoa that was close!" He held her back up to adjust herself back to a proper standing position. Rawlin kept a hold on her hand just in case but would let go once he felt like she was safe. "A Kappa huh? Well I don't really like cucumbers but I like the idea." Rawlin said forgetting that he was still holding her hand feeling the warm feeling of her hand in his, though that would not last long as he let go once she was closer to the shore and not too close to the edge of the lake."Santa of fish huh? Though I like the Kappa idea I wondered what my role would be even if it is just a fun thought." Rawlin felt comfortable around Harveste and was having a nice time talking to her but then noticed the sun starting to set over the lake they were walking next to. "Very good point there Harveste. I suppose it doesn't really matter but I am enjoying this walk with you, it is fun getting to know you." Rawlin then sat down in the grass near the short as he began to watch the sunset. "Would you like to watch the sunset with me? We can log out after then meet up some other time for something else if you want." Rawlin said thinking of not calling it a date. She was cute and interesting sure but despite whatever he felt he was glad he met her.