* The river, such as it is, is fairly slow moving, and not particularly deep, about waist high for a significant distance out. It's also bloody cold. * Chiaki kneels by the bank, carefully sets down her bow and arrows, and sets to work washing out her bloody handkerchief. * Tiffany slowly goes over her pack and overshirt. Finding a small tear on it's embroidery, she waves her hands over it and the damage disappears. * Emmet stands as far away as he can, his ears straining to hear anything out of the ordinary from either the river or the camp. The thought that he could be rather naughty doesn't even cross his mind. Poor lad. * Chiaki sees this as she glances over. "Wow, that's a neat trick. How'd you do that?" It's a little something my mentor taught me. A simple bit of magic, really. Do you have any tears that need fixing? * Chiaki inspects her clothing, which is a little dusty and bloody, but otherwise intact. "I think I'm okay for now. Thank you, though." ...magic, huh? This place really is weird. * Tiffany reaches over for the clothing Chiaki is cleaning. "I have a few other tricks too." Another wave of her hand and the blood disappears. * Chiaki look down, surprised at the sudden cleanliness of her clothing. Her eyes widen. "That's incredible." She laughs. "I wish I could do that at home instead of laundry." I guess that could be useful, if I can still do this in the other world. Then again, I won't have to do laundry if we go back. * Chiaki nods. "Do you miss home?" * Tiffany stops very suddenly at this mention of home and has to take a visible effort to resteel herself. "Sometimes." What about you? You've only been here a few days from what I've heard, but where's "home" for you? * Chiaki nods, thoughtful. "I haven't been here long, and everything here is still strange to me...but sometimes I wonder if..." She stops, deciding that anything she says further might upset Tiffany. * Tiffany splashes some cold water on her face. "If what?" * Chiaki instead takes advantage of the pause to quickly disrobe, set her clothing neatly on a rock, and step into the water. She shudders at the cold, but she bears with it and and tries to bathe quickly. Well...if we can even go back at all. * Tiffany tosses Chiaki a sizeable hunk of soap. "That's not really an option, as far as I'm concerned. Magic is a great thing, but I... I have to go back. I can't live here forever." * Chiaki catches the soap. "Thanks!" * Tiffany also disrobes and gets cleaned up. "So you didn't enter Sophie and my conversation earlier. What did you do for fun?" * Chiaki scrubs hastily, trying not to shiver. "I was in the school archery club. And I went out with friends after school for karaoke and shopping." I kind of miss them already. My family and friends back home... * Emmet shifts his grip on the axe, sighing when he realizes that residual spots of blood have left his skin unaceptably sticky. With a worried glance in the direction of the camp, he sneaks wide and downstream of where the girls went to the river to rinse his arms off. * Chiaki gets out of the water when she's done, wrings out her hair and dries off as best as she can, then replaces her clothing. She shivers from the air on her still-damp skin. * Tiffany nodds and tries to bathe quickly, letting herself shiver. "It's hard to get used to. But you "focus on the goal" as my instructors used to say." * Emmet scrubs his hands and arms as quickly and thoroughly as he can, and creeps back to his original position before he's missed. * Chiaki sits on the rock where her clothes had been, and she reshoulders her bow and quiver. "Hmm...do you know why we were sent here?" * Tiffany finishes bathing and steps out, drying herself by spell before redressing. * Chiaki hands the chunk of soap back to Tiffany. I'm not entirely sure. I do know that we've been referred to as having our own chapters in a Neverending Story of sorts. I guess we have to just try to do what we can and the way out will follow. ...Neverending Story? You're right...this place does seem like somewhere out of a story book. * Tiffany puts away the rest of the soap. "Beginning to run low on soap. I'll have to pick some up at the next town we come to." * Chiaki nods. "Thanks for letting me borrow it." * Chiaki calls out into the darkness. "Emmet? Are you still there?" It's no problem. So you haven't had time to get any real training yet, have you? Thats how all of us got our adventuring skills. * Emmet cups a hand to the side of his mouth and calls quietly back. "Yeah, I'm here." * Chiaki returns her attention to Tiffany and shakes her head. "I've been practicing archery since I was little, but if you mean...well, I've never shot at anything living." She pauses. "Even hunting was a little...difficult for me at first." * Chiaki starts walking in Emmet's direction. "And...if I had to shoot at...people--" She shakes her head. "I don't know if I could." Well, I'll leave the hunting and killing to you, or the boys. I'm better at talking to things. * Chiaki seems to almost flinch at the word killing, but she nods. "I'd rather talk than fight, too. I hope it won't have to come to killing." What will come to killing? Hi, Emmet. Agreed. Oh, and Emmet, thanks for protecting us while we cleaned up. * Chiaki smiles a little. "Yes, thanks, Emmet." * Emmet nods. "My pleasure." He turns to lead the girls back toward camp. "All clean?" * Chiaki nods. "Yeah, just a little cold." She's still shivering a little. Let's double-time it, then. That should warm you up a bit, and we'll get back to the fire faster. * Chiaki nods. "Good idea." She jogs along, following Emmet toward camp. * Emmet quickens his pace appropriately. * Tiffany follows, stumbling through the relative darkness. * After several minutes of walking, you realize... there's no warm, welcoming glow of fire in the distance. * Chiaki stops in her tracks. "Where 's the fire? (Gah.) * Chiaki looks around warily. Uhm... it should be up ahead. If its out... Maybe they already went to bed...? We haven't been gone that long, have we? * Tiffany shakes her head, denoting that she was only wishfully thinking aloud. * Emmet readies his axe and lowers his voice. "Maybe. Just to be safe, keep it to a whisper. Come on." * Emmet lowers his profile a bit and slinks ahead. * Chiaki nods and keeps walking, but she unslings the bow from her back and puts an arrow to the string. * There's a flash of flying metal and then a strangled cry as someone takes said metal in a sensitive spot and falls heavily to the ground. * Tiffany draws a throwing dart and readies it, waiting for Emmet and Chikai. * Chiaki jumps instinctively and gasps. * Emmet frowns. "Not good," he whispers, mostly to himself. * The firelight reappears.