By the Firelight

The group sits around the fire and talks.

*snap*
'Left!'
There was a sudden movement, the twang of a bowstring, then silence. A figure rose from his perch in a nearby tree and lept down to survey his kill. The arrow had struck the rabbit, the figure's dinner, in the neck, killing it with little suffering. Good, the figure detested needless suffering.
The archer moved through the trees and to his pack, filled full of other dead animals that would be used as dinner. He placed the latest kill inside the pack, removed the arrow, and slung the heavy bag over his back. As he stepped into the light of the campfire, his features became more visible. His hair was slicked back and spikey, colored much like the feathers of a hawk with tips red as rust. The light glinted in his golden eyes, eyes that seemed to see all that happened around him. He noticed another figure by the fire, female this time.
"Took you long enough, Taka. I thought we were gonna starve," the new figure said, the fire glinting on her bared, grinning fangs. "Please tell me you got enough for us all this time. We eat more than you do."
"Of course i did, Tora. We would have had enough last time as well, had you any self restraint."
Taka threw the pack to his compatriot to rummage through; she seemed pleased enough.
Another figure, burly and muscular, moved towards the scene.
"Ahh, Mokuzai. Finally awake? Never seen someone sleep as much as you."
"It was meditation, not sleep, Taka. It helps to free the mind from passed actions."
"I know, Moku, im just messing with you. Now, do you feel like rabbit, squirrel or fox tonight?"
"I will be fine. I gathered some of my own food earlier."
Taka nodded and sat down by the fire. Yet another figure shuffled from the tent and moved towards the fire. This one was also female, with long silver hair and empty blue eyes. Her pale skin looked slightly awkward in the firelight, strangly luminous. She moved as if she was alseep.
"You look lively Tejina. sleep well?"
The figure simply nodded and grabbed some squirrel meat to cook. She seemed to focus on the squirell, and it was immediately and completely cooked, as if by magic.
As the group made to eat their meal, Taka stood to address the other three.
"We should reach Hollowsedge Caves by tommorow night," he began seriously. "But remember, this forest is haunted and dangerous, so we should use every precaution while we-" Tora raised a slender hand into the air, the golden bangles on her wrist jingling agianst each other. "Yes, Tora?"
"Before we find out the cause of our deaths, oh Mighty Ruler, might we finish our meal?" she asked innocently. The innocent tone of her voice was completely ruined by the mischievious grin on her cat-like face.
Silence fell over the group, followed by laughter. Tejina looked almost alive as she chuckled lightly into her hand. Tora flashed her bright smile at Taka agian and let out a wild laugh. She knew just how to bring Taka's fearless leader act down a few notches.
"Arn't I allowed to have even a moment of fearlessness?" Taka sighed as he sat down next to Tora.
Tora shook her mane of orange hair and looked at him with her deep emerald eyes. They seemed to penetrate him and see farther into him than he would've liked. But maybe she just looked at him like that becuase she had known him so long. The firelight reflected upon her tan skin, giving it a warm glow, as it did with Taka.
Tora pulled the freshly killed rabbit from the sack and handed it to Taka. Tossing another peice of wood onto the fire, she finally said,
"Serious doesn't really fit you..."
Though she looked at him when she said it, her eyes gave him the impression that she was a million miles away, back in Temporanna, maybe, with her mom and dad. His theory was confirmed as she looked up at the sky. The two were so much alike that he knew that she, just like himself, was a little homesick. When her eyes, and mind (though really with her and Taka, who could tell where their minds were?), returned back to him, they were full of their usual light and she seemed to be back in reality...or as close as Tora ever got.
"You gonna cook that for me or not?" she asked him playfully. "I'll do it if you really want me to-"
"NO!" Tejina and Moku cried at the same time.
Moku looked at Taka pleading. Tejina just looked horrified. Her other worldly features seemed suddenly hard and realistic. Taka has to admit it creeped him out to see someone so...distant look so close.
"Please," Moku begged. "Please, Taka, don't let Tora cook!"
Tora obtained a completely false look of indignation. She narrowed her eyes in an unconvincing glare at her friends.
"Oh, thank you guys!" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because we all know I burn something when I cook!"
"Yes," Tejina said simply, biting into her squirell, her look far off and distant. "You nearly burnt down our camp the last time you tried." She turned her haunting gaze to Taka. "Please, Taka. For our sake...."
Taka sighed sarcastically and took the animal from his long-time friend. He looked again into her eyes as if to say 'You owe me... again' and stuck the creature on an arrow to roast over the fire.
Noticably exausted from the day's excitement, Taka leaned back against a tree and looked up to the sky. Mokuzai and Tejina also returned to the tents to continue their sleep, or in Moku's case, meditation. Tora though looked longinly at her dinner. She was rather hungry. She looked at her friend against the tree. He seemed lonely, sitting there, thinking.
Maybe I should knock the leader down another notch, she thought to herself.
She inched her way over to him and sat nearby. Before she could say anything to break him from his reverie though, he leaned forward to check the dinner. Satisfied, he pulled it off and handed it to his companion.
"God, that took forEVER!" She shouted and attacked the thing, tearing at it with her fangs.
Taka chucked slightly at his friend, thinking of a passed memory.
"The hell are YOU laughing at, birdie?" She jibed at him, smirking.
"Oh, just your bloodlust. You know, it's already dead. You dont have to kill it again."
"Well, what if I WANT to? Who knows if your arrow even did the trick or not? Ehh?"
Taka stood up, taking the bait.
"I do, it did, and you're crazy."
Tora, ever ready for a fight, stood as well.
"Feh. You think you're all high and mighty. Who the hell made YOU leader?"
"As if you could do better. You'd lead us off a cliff. Which way was North again?"
Tora looked around her, trying to remember the tricks Taka had taught her to find the cardinal directions. "Uhh... Uhh... Sh-SHUT UP, Bird face!"
"At least I have a little self-restraint, Cat, or should i say pig?"
"You bloated, pompous, hot-headed b*****d!"
The two friends-turned enemies glared violently at eachother and sat down heavily, still glaring. It seemed to last for ages untill the two friends burst into laughter and fell over eachother. Taka recovered first, tears in his eyes, and helped his friend calm down a bit.
"I almost thought you were serious. Our games might end up violent one of these days."
Sobering up, she retorted, "Who says I wasn't serious, bird-face?" She burst into a fit of giggling again, taking all the malice from her.
The both of them sat there smiling at eachother, remembering their childhood, for a while before Tora's yawn broke the mood. It was getting late, and they would have to get moving early in the morning. He pointed his out to his tempermental comapanion.
Tora groaned at the mention of an early rise. Morning was not among her favorite times of day.
Afternoon?
Sure, that’s when all the best hunting was anyway…not that she hunted. She made Taka do it.
Twilight?
The perfect time of day in her opinion. The stars were almost out, but not quite, and everyone in the group was awake and in fairly cheery mood. Or just about as cheery as they ever got, at least.
Even the evening was fine, though a bit cold for her liking, it was still livable if she was around the fire with her friends.
But morning?
Tora could find nothing good to say about the early hours of the day. It was cold, often wet (oh, how she hated wet) and everyone was grumpy. No one wanted to talk with her, to play with her or have anything to do with her. It made her feel better when the sun was beating high above their heads and everyone was starting to chipper up.
"Do we HAVE to get up in the morning?" she asked Taka with pleading emerald eyes. "I hate the morning and-"
"We don’t HAVE to," Taka said, lying down on his bedroll. "But of course, Tejina and Moku would leave us behind and then we would have to-" he stopped himself and let a smug grin spread across his face. "I would have to spend all day tracking them."
Tora opened and closed her mouth in a silent rage.
"You are such a JERK!" she cried as she hit him over the head with her pack. Taka merely grinned and said,
"I love you too, Tora."
He sat up and opened his arms. Tora grinned and practically tackled him to the ground. He patted her red head and smiled.
"There," he said. "Now get some sleep."
Tora only grunted, but agreed that she probably needed it. And she didn’t want to be the least bit tired if they were reaching Hollowedge Caves tomorrow. It was supposed to be the most haunted town in all of Neravia and she wanted to be able to see and hear everything.
So, as much as she wanted to stay awake and talk, she curled into a ball next to Taka’s bedroll. She took a last look at the stars and let her mind wander once more to Temporanna, God knows how many miles away from where she lay, and closed her eyes.

Reviews

[Kintaro]

Still fun to read again, Tora.