rakuen | Event: Sunday evening

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Event: Sunday evening

The train finally came to a halt in which seemed to be the middle of no where. There was a small hut, but just like the train station in Rakuen there were no staff. Still the doors opened and out on the platform a woman stood. She looked stern and some might recognise her from the town; her dusky pink hair made her stand out in a crowd.

"Weapons please collect the equipment of your colour from the luggage compartment. One tent per team, one stove, one sleeping bag. If Players require their Weapons to have sleeping bags come and tell me, I have some extra in the store." She spoke in a tone that seemed used to being obeyed; a soldiers tone some might recognise it as.

After the equiptment was collected she set off up the hill expecting everyone to keep up. Astute campers will have noticed Dolorosa, Day, Nanami and Santana in the small crowd and so hopefully realise that escape was nothing but futile.

Of course if they still tried they would find they couldn't get very far, if they went too far in any direction or tried to follow the tracks they would pass out and reappear just a little behind the main group.

The camp site was just over the hill, a valley surrounded by hills, a river running through it. Their guide told them to make camp, Fortitude this side of the river, Conquest the other; there were stepping stones. "All Players are to report to me while Weapons pitch the tents."

She waited until the Players were gathered, "My name is Clara, I am your guide for your trip and I expect you to behave yourselves. As you have guessed we have a slightly separate set up, you have each been provided with a Weapon, in some cases two. There shall still be fights, training fights each morning in your camps and a fight in the evening which shall be interschool. Do your best; for as well as raks winning fights will get you more points."

There were no smiles but a pause for them to take in what she had said so far. "There will also be other activities, from climbing to walking to canoeing. I am sure you will all find something you excel in. Each of your Weapons has been provided with a ring, it cannot be removed until the end of the trip. Touching it with your gloved hand will invoke the penalty, though I trust you all not to abuse that power."

She looked over to the campsite and the activity there and raised her voice so she could be heard by those putting up tents. "All cooking is to be done by the Weapons, points will be given and subtracted for cooking skills, tents will be inspected every day. Weapons require permission to share their Players food, there are Weapon meals provided. If you wish your Weapon to stay in your tent they may but permission must be given." She looked like she couldn't work out why anyone would want that despite the grey skies and drizzle.

"Today you may get to know the camp site, there shall be no fight tonight but there is wood to be collected and if you collect enough we can have a large camp fire. Points shall be awarded for meals, Weapons are to come to me for ingredients."

With that she nodded and walked away, presumably to pitch her own tent. Have fun campers!

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"It's still your leaves then!" He had just gone on earlier about the fluidity of names. "But they really aren't, are they? It's completely different. Just all green!" And there goes his consistency.

After delivering cat (and by some strange coincidence, equipment) to the other side of the river, Yuka had gone to the meeting. She wasn't sure how the tent thing was going to go, but if he couldn't do it on his own they'd figure out some way of working around this silliness.

She methodically, almost ceremoniously removed her glove, folded it up, and stuffed it in a pocket. She wasn't entirely thrilled by the ability to inflict the warning penalty deliberately; she had no intention of doing so by accident. (As it was, they were probably lucky it hadn't been triggered while she was carrying Cheshire.)

She paused for a moment to look at the river before crossing it again. She wondered if there was anyplace good for swimming here...

Moments later she was back at their campsite. "Cheshire, can you cook?" she asked. Some people would think that a ridiculous question, but with a cat youkai one never knew. (And even if Cheshire didn't actually fit that classification, he acted enough like one that she would react to him accordingly.)

"That's all right. I can cook!"

Aria comes running up to them, holding up her hand which now donned a blue ring [She had been examining each campsite, finally getting directions to blue camp]. Without pause, Aria runs right up to Yuka, pauses a second to grab her breath, drops her duffel, and gives Yuka a hug.

"So sorry I'm late. For some reason, I stayed asleep on the train while you were all leaving.

Cheshire put his front paws on his hips, "I am a great cook! " The tent, however, was nit nearly as well made. It looked mostly okay, but as soon as anyone entered it was bound to fall. It took him several times to actually get it up without collapsing.

"All right, you make the food." As she said this, she looked around the campsite and noted the tent. "And I'll see what I can do about making this tent habitable.

As she went about properly erecting the tent, Aria kept a close eye on the cat, whom she has yet to introduce herself to, making sure what 'it' made was edible. [Without lifting the cat's tail, it was a tad difficult to determine gender.]

Yuka smiled and hugged Aria back. "I'm glad to see you. I thought I'd heard your name at the assembly, but then..." She shrugged. She'd really enjoyed the time she'd spent with the other girl during the previous round, so she was happy to find they'd be together again in this one.

She was about to go inside the tent and put her bag down when she heard Aria mention "making the tent habitable". Yuka turned and looked at her. "There's something wrong with the tent?" She'd seen tents, but mostly just stayed out in the open when she wasn't inside a proper house of some sort. She couldn't really tell the difference.

"Well then, while you do that I'll go get you a sleeping bag, okay?" Yuka said before setting off to do just that. Before she got too far away, she turned back and called out, "Try making something spicy!"

Cheshire probably wouldn't realize that this was a strange request, coming from Yuka, but Aria certainly would. Now wasn't a good time to try and explain her reasons though, so she hoped Aria would just accept it for now.

Edited 2012-09-15 05:12 (UTC)

Cheshire walked of, on his hind legs as usual. He had to ask for all the right ingredients, but with the number of times he watched the cook make things like this, he was sure it would all be fine. He had quite a few rather odd ingredients. He got coconut milk, a bunch of spices, what appeared to be a tongue, slices of some pink fish, peppers, onions, chocolate, and that was only what was on top of the pile.

Spicy? Was Yuka feeling all right? Well, if that's what she wanted... It wasn't Aria's place to say anything about it. Thinking that, she realized Yuka never gave her any rights. She had better make sure to stay in line until Yuka comes to realize this.

Aria got to work pitching the tent properly after its foul construction came tumbling down on her the moment she touched it. Never trust a cat to do.... to do something a cat wouldn't normally do!

As Cheshire [to whom she still hadn't introduced herself. All she knew was there was a cat as one of Yuka's Weapons along with herself] prepared dinner, Aria looked forward to a feast. As she assembled the tent, she thought of Lisa's cooking and if she'd ever taste anything like it again.

Edited (grammatical errors) 2012-09-17 21:07 (UTC)

Yuka hadn't forgotten! She's just had other things that seemed more immediate to do. But since her plans rely on Aria and Cheshire having rights, she's not likely to forget it...

She'd spent a little extra time looking around, so by the time she got back, Aria had already gotten the tent fixed. It didn't really look any different to her, but she trusted Aria. So she stowed the sleeping bag she'd picked up inside the tent and (at some point where she wouldn't be in the way) heated some water for tea. Dinner looked... rather alarming. But that was how she felt about any unfamiliar food, so that didn't really tell her anything.

After offering Aria and Cheshire tea if they wanted it, she took her own cup and sat down on a nearby rock. Now seemed like a good time to catch up on things. "Let me see... You can, of course, eat whatever you wish." She didn't say anything about sharing with her; the literal interpretation of that would be undesirable. "And you can use the tent if you want - although Cheshire, if you try to sleep on my head, something bad might happen."

She tapped the side of her cup thoughtfully with one finger, trying to think of if there was anything else... "Oh! And be careful when I'm wearing my glove. If it touches your ring, it will invoke the warning penalty."

Cheshire grinned wider at the offer of tea, taking some gratefully. He was rather confident that his meal would be appreciated, as long as they didn't mind spice. It wasn't overwhelmingly spicy, but there was no doubt it had a kick- and Cheshire had made enough for all three of them with a side of rice.

He also seemed more than happy to serve it out, though it was hard to tell the way he was always smiling.

He seemed intrigued by the warning directed at him alone, "Something baaad." Curiosity did kill the cat, after all.

Aria perked up at the offer to have some of Yuka's tea. She grabbed a bowl of whatever Cheshire had made for dinner (having now been given permission to do so), sat next to Yuka on the ground and took in the aroma of the dish. It didn't smell bad - it actually smelled quite intriguing with a hint of heat. Knowing Yuka would be gauging her reaction, Aria deliberately did not look at Yuka as she took her first bite.

"Mmmmm! The texture is fantastic! The flavors aren't monotone - they have a nice delicate harmony and - ." The heat of the dish hit her then, and she took a deep breath, a small shimmer of moisture beginning to shine on her upper lip and brow. Aria quickly took a gulp of tea.

"It's been a while since I've had something spicy, but I like it. It's not overly spicy. It doesn't consume the flavor of the dish. I just wasn't ready for it, even though it's what was asked for. I love it!"

With that, Aria began to dig into her meal again, with gusto, as though she hadn't eaten in days. She had a new respect for the cat who can cook. Who would've known it was possible?

Yuka smiled. "Well, I can't be sure -what- I might come up with when half asleep. But I think I could probably pick you up, throw you in the river, and get back in my sleeping bag without fully waking up. And then, when you got back, you'd come in the tent and get Aria and I wet, and we'd all be very unhappy. So please don't."

(Yuka wasn't going to examine too closely the idea of Aria sleeping on her head.)

Yuka looked at the meal. It didn't look particularly threatening, but from what Aria said...

She wasn't looking forward to this part. But it was like any student of magic except Marisa learned - if you wanted to get the correct result from a ritual, you had to follow all the steps. She carefully took a small bite...

And froze. For a moment it almost looked like her eyebrows were standing up on end.

Then she threw the spoon down so hard that it sunk several inches into the ground, ran for the river, and stuck her head in.

A couple minutes later, when Yuka could feel her mouth again, she stood up and wrung out her hair. Her expression as she came back to camp was strangely pleased. "Thank you, Cheshire. That was perfect."

Cheshire was not going to sleep on her head, no, but it was tempting still.

He seemed to be watching carefully for Yuka's reaction as Yuka ate, but then completely non-pulsed when she ran off. If anything, he looked proud. Was that supposed to be odd? Because Cheshire didn't seem phased at all. He just smiled up at her proudly, "You're welcome!"

She asked for something spicy, after all.

"Do we have more tea?

Aria just stared as Yuka ran off after her first bite. She knew the flavor of it would be too much for her, so why did Yuka request something spicy?

When Yuka came back from the river (evidence of her escapade dripping from her hair), Aria looked at her a bit askance, Cheshire confused Aria too much right now, so she didn't bother to speak her questions now.

"Shall I clean up dinner, assuming everyone has had their fill?"

Clara was doing her rounds and had seen Yuka run away from the blue teams tent but continued her rounds, by the time she got to their tent Yuka had returned. "How are things going?"

"Everything's just fine. But I do have a request..." Yuka smiled. "You mentioned there were meals for Weapons. May I have one of those? I'm afraid I still can't handle spicy foods..."

Clara's eyes narrowed as she looked at the two Weapons. "And did you not think to ask your Player what kind of food she could eat before you cooked?"

"Oh no, it's quite the contrary. This was what I requested." Yuka shrugged. "It was something of an experiment..."

And that wasn't even actually a lie...

"An experiment?" Clara raised an eyebrow, "And you thought a camping trip where supplies were limited was the place for an experiment?"

"What other time could I have done it? It was, after all, the rules you set out that inspired it."

"Truly? How did I inspire this experiment?"

Clara looked around the camp, really those brought to the city used to be more obedient than this.

"You said 'Weapons require permission to share their Players food'. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the Player requested food which, while good, the player can't eat?" Aria's presence had simplified that part a great deal - it would have ruined Yuka's plan if the meal had been inedible to everyone.

"Of course, it would have been fine if I had been able to eat it - thanks to Aria, my tolerance has improved quite a bit. But I really would also like to try those Weapon meals. I've become rather fond of the porridge they have in the cafeteria..."

Clara's eyes narrowed more, "I have half the mind to give you a Weapon meal and take the food away, letting your Weapons go hungry. But I hate waste."

Yuka was firmly on her list of people to watch though, "Go and get your food and don't pull a trick like this again or you will all go hungry."

Yuka gave Clara another big smile. "I think Aria would be happier if I asked for food we could eat together anyway."

Unsaid, but strongly implied, was that if Aria *wasn't* here, Yuka would do this for every single meal! Just like in a children's novel! Or at least until she got bored.

Aria... Clara was going to assume that was the Weapon that was not a cat and nodded. "I am sure you would not want to disappoint her." Or make her go hungry.

Event: Sunday evening

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