Colin's posts

Ashley had not had a pleasant night.

He'd had a nightmare about his past. A vivid one. One that involved them coming back for him. Finding him. This caused him to be a little... on edge.

This was evidenced when Reveka lightly grabbed his shoulder.

He let out a yelp, before instinctively coating his hand with a black flame aura, and grabbing the arm of the one that had grabbed him.

"NO!" he yelled, panicked.

"Okay then." Ashley replied.

With that, they sat down, and Ash started to eat.

"....wow!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"This is super good!" he said, as he started to devour the food.

"I'd forgotten just how good properly cooked food is!" he admitted.

"I haven't had anything THIS tasty in a while."

".........mm." Ashley mumbled.

"I guess..." he said.

"It'd be nice if you could taste food, though..." he then went on.

"Hm." he mumbled again.

"Anyway, I guess I should eat." he added, looking at what they had prepared.

Ashley just sighed.

"No... not... really." he said.

"Well... maybe? I don't know." he admitted.

"It's just... sad." he said further.

"Food tastes good." he finished.

Ashley was silent for a moment, before he nodded in return.

"All right." he said.

"That works." he told her.

He then looked at what they had made, and smiled.

"It smells good." he said.

"...what about you?" he suddenly asked her.

"You don't eat?"

Ashley was obviously struggling at first, but she saw that he was a fast learner.

He was picking things up fairly quickly, and she saw the spark of excitement and learning in his eyes.

"Woah..." he said, as the food started to come together.

"This is awesome." he told her.

"I never knew that this was the way to do it. I didn't know you could DO this." he admitted.

"But controlling how hot it gets is hard..." he then said quietly, clearly a bit frustrated at how he was still burning things.

Ashley nodded in response.

"Okay." he replied.

The two of them then made their way to where the venison meat was, and he looked at the cuts that were laid out before him.

"Um..." he mumbled.

"Hm." he muttered under his breath.

"So... I'm guessing I don't just apply fire to it." he said. "Because that's what I've done in the past, and that's what makes it black and crispy." he then commented.

".....um.... the meat." Ashley said.

"Guess I should learn how to do that." he muttered.

"Raw meat is bad." he said further.

"But whenever I try to cook meat, I always burn it." he added dejectedly.

"It becomes crispy and black..."

"Thank you." Ashley said again, looking himself over.

"This is really nice." he told her.

He was then silent for a moment, thinking about something.

"Is there anything else I can do, Miss Ravka?" he asked her.

"Anything that needs to be done? Or... well, maybe help me cook?" he asked further.

"Because I don't know how to do it..." he mumbled.

"...oh, I see." Ashley replied.

"Um... hm." he mumbled.

"Miss Encrae mentioned something like that to me once." he told her.

"...she had a name for it..." he went on.

"Um... empathy!" he then remembered.

"Is that is?" he asked.

Ashley remained completely still as Reveka tended to his injuries, only moving when she said she was done.

"Thank you." he said.

"You're really nice." he told her.

"Why?" he then asked.

"Why are you so nice to me, when you don't know me?"

Ashley looked a bit confused.

"Patched up?" he asked.

"You mean my injuries?" he asked her further.

Reveka just nodded in response, causing him to smile brightly.

"Oh, thank you!" he said.

"Normally, I'm just left to heal on my own." he went on, before pausing.

"Well... unless the injuries are REALLY bad."

Ashley just sighed.

"A cat attacked me." he told her.

"Big cat." he said.

"Guess I made it mad or something, entered its territory, maybe." he reasoned.

"So we had to fight." he told her further.

"I won, though." he then said. "I let it go, though. It might have been a mother, and I didn't want to take away any cub's mother." he finished.

"Oh, and here." he then added, extending his arms.

"Found a really nice patch of them."

For a bit, it was quiet. Ashley hadn't returned.

And it had been a few hours before he returned.

When he did, she saw that he was looking worse for the wear. The clothes were torn some, he had scratches all over him, and he was bleeding. Not badly, but still.

He had mushrooms, though.

An armful of them.