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Gilga
Dana tells Rick "Now this is no way to behave, you can have a big feast tonight and provide us with or with an equal of what it would cost you to feed everyone with nutrition bars. Remember the plan you described relays on the goodwill of me and Caillin, so there is not much of an 'awakened army' without us. Now be a gentleman and close the details with Caillin. Do not alienate one of your best combatants, for I would not easily be replaced. " To herself she thinks, "why does it have to be so difficult."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #65

Cailin shrugs, clearly depressed "Doesn't matter Dana, they made their position quite clear. And the most depressing thing is, like I said earlier, now we only have two choices: be like them and they'll present us as the enemy, or be exploited for nothing."

She shakes her head "It's pretty well done on their part actually, in either case, they win. Of course, it's quite disgusting, but does it matter?" she glances at each of the five members of this tribunal, utter contempt perfectly clear in her eyes "Naive of me to expect a thread of ethics here I suppose. I'll try to learn this lesson then." She sighs, and turns around, starting the climb down.
Beta
Addie steps in front of Cailin, blocking her departure but standing downhill so their heads are closer to being level. She starts talking at Cailin quickly but quietly –others probably can hear, but but all she really cares about right now is that Cailin not only hears, but listens.

“Hold up there. Maya playing the martyr and leaving empty handed without even trying to negotiate or discuss the situation I can kind of understand – she not comfortable around people, and doesn’t have much exposure to people actually working things out. Dana, sure, she’s trained in fighting with her body and is impatient with words, I get that she doesn’t have the patience to talk things out.”

“But you? I expect better of you.” Addie shakes her head in disappointment, trying to channel all the maternal guilt-trips she’s received in her life.

“You are charming -- even now, frustrated as I am with you, I want to give you a hug and cheer you up. You are obviously well educated, and you are probably smarter than me. BUT you are acting like a child when you need to act like an adult. It is a lot to ask, when people older than you aren’t being asked to meet that same standard, but I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t believe you could do it.” She gives a soft chuckle and admits “Heck, I’m even willing to help coach you in how to do negotiate this, I think it is that important.”

Serious again, Addie waves a hand toward Dana, and off in the direction she thinks the other camp lies. “Your group -- effectively your family right now -- need more from you. They need you to fight for them, just as hard as Dana would fight a physical danger. You have surplus meat right now – so far we aren’t valuing it as highly as irreplaceable tools, so you aren’t going to easily get what you came here hoping for. That doesn’t mean that it is impossible you leave here with tools, it just means that now you start fighting for it.”

Addie sits down cross-legged, putting her head well below Cailin’s. “You can walk away if you want -- and I’m sure there is some way that you can spin my wanting to negotiate with you into a tale of what a horrible person I am.” She holds her hands out, palms up. “Or you can make use of that silver tongue and clever mind, and maybe we can work something out that helps everyone in the end.”
Raiderj
"Wait... Dana has no clothes?" Vincent said aloud. Then he caught himself and cleared his throat. "Uh... Um... Thats a problem... We should do something..."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #66

Cailin shakes her head. "The problem is not that you feel the meat isn't worth the tools. To be honest, I understand this position. But when we came, it wasn't to trade for tools. It would have been nice, but even I am not that naive. We wanted to trade for the clothes. Useless clothes for useless meat, seemed like a fair trade eh? Now the clothes are gone and you even accuse us of stealing them. So we had to try for something else."

She shrugs "No, the problem is that to negotiate, both parties have to be willing, and you're not. You give nothing, you don't even try to meet us halfway, to leave the door open. I suppose I could have settled for a couple of canteens. However, what you're trying to do, is expect us to help and give nothing. Not even asking for our help which would at least have been a better start. But going as far as thinking it's a given. Am I supposed to roll over, be a good little girl and shut up? I certainly don't fight, I don't want to, and I don't even know the first thing of how to fight."

Scowling she adds "I won't spin anything. And find disturbing you wouldn't even think I would. What would you teach me? How to do whatever you want while forcing the other party to help out of guilt? It's pretty effective, that's for sure. But I don't want to be that person."
Gilga
Dana sighs and says "Caillin, Rick is there leader he has no authority over us. The way Lindsey is speaking - I am not going to fight with them and so shouldn't you. Hunting a mage is a hard job - but looking over your own shoulder while doing so is even harder. I'd rather hunt the mage without their help rather than go with people that accuse me of theft that I did not do. I would never allow that you fight, I'll fight like a lioness so that nothing happens to you."
adamu
Rafferty was glad to see Vincent out of his funk, though all this nudity and fixation thereon was growing tiresome. Still, they were boys of that age. He certainly didn't mind seeing the girls nude, but since that sort of thing didn't fit his plans, it was more of a distraction than a pleasure.

Someday he would meet a woman he could love as much as his father loved his mother, and when he did, he was going to be able to say that not only would he always love her, but that he he had always loved her - and been loyal to her - simply on the faith that, somewhere, she existed.

Still, he couldn't blame Vincent for perking up at the thought of Dana naked - like the others, she was a lovely woman.

"Sorry, old boy, she's got a fancy new high-tech body suit now. But stick around, my friend, and I'm sure she'll be naked again sometime - comes with the shapechange thing, and she's not horribly bothered about it."

All of that, however, was now a minor concern at best. Not only was there (maybe) a toxic shaman about, but the other camp wanted to cooperate. And Maya had apparently determined that if she went to the other camp, they all had to.

As for moving camp, some relayed discussions concluded that, yes, they could get some spirit pack mules, but it came with a reminder that such resources were as finite as anything else, and possibly a resource more important to marshall at this particular juncture than some meat and pelts. They decided to carry what they needed short term, and secrete what they couldn't carry in the coolness of the cave. Further radio negotiations secured an assurance that their daily needs would be met at the large camp as long as they were working together on the hunt.

Then they began the hike to the other camp. Raf's bow was still very much a work in progress, but it didn't weigh much, and he brought it and his arrows along, not wanting to waste any chances to keep working.

The hike was uneventful, and soon the four of them were in sight of the hill the others were camped on.
Aria
Rick rounded on Lindsey "you should be happy i intend to lead this...after all, you'll be going too! I meant it when I said all our awakened need to be in on this! We will take as many as I can think we can spare... I've seen a toxic once before and I'm not stupid, this is going to be hard and dangerous, but Princess there is living in a dream world if she thinks a toxic, once it has found us, is going to just watch our merry antics! So, suck it up and go and talk nice with Maya...with Addie I'm sure you can persuade her, she's not stupid just stubborn. We have no choice but to act! If it takes some fragging tools to get them to play along give them what the hell they want, nothing is worth more than us living through this fucked up situation...do I make myself clear?"
irn0rchid
"What are you two smoking? You came *here* looking to trade apparently. We welcomed you and offered to help with this apparent toxic shaman issue that your group has. We have no details on it and only going on the word from your camp, we were willing to assist. Are you thankful? No! You put poor Maya up on the cross like she was thrown out of here when she walked out willingly, as did the rest of you. Because Rick wasn't willing to just give you the clothing that we might have a use for, that makes us bad people? You all decided to strike out on your own, abandoning the rest of us. We have to worry about feeding and protecting thirty plus kids; you have what, five? And how many are mages or have survival experience? But you guys manage to kill some animals, way more than you can actually eat, and it's suddenly our responsibility to give you good value for the meat? One could argue that by killing more animals than you could use, *you* were acting in bad faith by preventing us from doing so. You asked 'Is the choice of leader really that critical that we end up in an endless series of power-plays?', ask little Miss Maya. She apparently thinks it is, and you joined her. When you came up here, we were willing to deal with you fairly, despite all that, and yet here we are, the high and mighty on one side and the rest of us evil, self-interested people on the other, trying to do what's best for all the kids down there. But that's okay, do what you girls apparently do best, pout and run away when you don't get your way."

Turning to Rick, "Let them go. Let's just pack up and get going like I've been saying. This supposed 'toxic' mage hasn't bothered us, and if we keep going, what reason would he have to chase us? He's Maya's camp's problem and they obviously don't want any help with it."

While she's ranting, there is some turmoil down in the camp and it resolves into a cluster of girls heading towards the hill, but still a good ways out.
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #67

When Lindsey speaks, Cailin turns her head to look at her. Gradually, she looks like she has just seen Lindsey sprout horns or something, disbelief clear on her face. She shakes her head, and looks again at Addie.

"See, if I wanted to spin anything, I'd ask her. She seems really good at it."
irn0rchid
Lindsey raises her eyebrows, "Oh? Really? What did I say that wasn't true? You weren't even here for the start of this! I guess Maya is telling the story differently then? Not surprising..."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #68

Cailin scowls "How many times will I have to say I agreed that Maya leaving this camp could have been handled better? Do you even listen to what I say?"

"As for your lies..." she shrugs "You don't need to lie to spin something, that's the beauty of it. You just have to tell some truths in certain ways, that's all. But I don't think you have anything to learn from anyone on this topic. As for all the inconsistencies you just said, it doesn't matter, I won't even try to point each and everyone of them. I'm not here for this. And since you obviously want us to leave, why are you still talking to us? Don't worry, you succeeded, we will leave you to whatever it is you're doing. In fact, I'm not sure why I'm still here at all."

She looks at Addie, eyebrow cocked. Completely ignoring Lindsey from now on.
irn0rchid
"Ah, right, 'You're wrong, but I'm going to huff off instead of explaining why,' got it. Why am I not surprised?" Turning her back on the two girls, Lindsey walks a bit away in order to get a closer look at the girls climbing the hill. The group looks to be lead by an angry looking Gem, although that's not unusual, and a fairly disheveled looking Niyaf. They're still too far away to hear what they're talking about though.
Gilga
Dana follows Lindsey and tell her"Lindsey, I find it very difficult to listen to you. Your words keep raising my antagonism. Now I know I come from a different culture, and I am not a native English speaker so I try not to judge. I did not attend the pissing contest between Rick and Maya, I care very little for politics. I followed Maya because I saw a bunch of kids leaving camp with nothing but the flats they were wearing, not even canteen or nutrition bars.

I thought to myself, these people needed my help more and so I followed them. Guess what? I was right, we encountered huge lions, and there is no way they could have handled them without armor and without weapons. Now we scored a large doze of meat and come to share it with you, somehow Caillin is alienated, as well. You see I take no sides, I also invest a lot of my time in this camp. I teach people how to fight, I am an esteemed martial artist.

Look I want you to have this meat, you have like 30 people, and it is great for moral. Especially if we are going to fight together - I also do not want Caillin going back bitter and empty handed. Why wouldn't you settle on some canteens and nutrition bars? Sometimes being so 'right' is unwise - if you get what I am saying. "


Seeing the girls approaching Dana grows silent, and take a large step forward: "What is the matter?" She ask "Is everything okay?"
Mercy
While Summer and Vincent work on gathering the food stores, Maya and Raf go out to the pile of wood that has been gathered and find two long branches that they can tie the pelts to. They place the meat in the pelts and pair up to carry the meat. Raf and Summer are of a size as are Vincent and Maya, so they pair off to carry the branches, supporting them on their shoulders. Thus encumbered, the four begin the trek up to the larger camp. The trip is uneventful for the most part, and the four make good time until they arrive at the cliff face. Here, they four put their heads together and decided that the pelts would be tied off as much as possible and removed from the poles, which were used to help the team climb the cliff as they traded off who was carrying the pelts with the meat.

Four very tired and sore people finally crest the lip of the cliff and collapse on the ground. As they catch their breath, Maya makes the rounds to congratulate everyone and check on their feet, also noting the bruises that all had picked up during the arduous climb. She looks over the edge and whistles, "Alright, there needs to be a better way to do that. We should put our heads together and try to figure it out. In any case, this was a great team effort and would have been impossible without everyone pitching in. Thank you all."

After resting a bit, the four reassembled the poles and pelts and continued on to the camp, arriving before it got dark.
Beta
When Lindsey starts lecturing their visitors, then Cailin takes the bait, Addie slumps. "Maybe I can't blame Maya for just walking away, and avoiding all of this," she thinks, "but I don't have the survival skills to make it on my own for long so it I don't even have that option."

She straightens back up, and looks back and forth at the two other girls, as they become distracted by the approaching delegation. Before this next distraction hits, she quickly interjects "We have a lot that we can work out, we can work together to both be stronger, but only if we negotiate with each other, not throw accusations at each other. Please could we avoid the blaming or telling each other how wrong we are? I really don't think we have the luxury of not working together in the long run, unless we are willing to see a lot of deaths."

With a sigh she adds "But I guess we postpone this discussion until we fine out what Gem, Niyef, and the others are up here about." Mentally she adds "Which is probably good, because I'm this close to giving in to tearing a strip off each of you."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #69

Cailin opens her mouth, intent to reply. Then, she pauses for a second, and apparently changes her mind since she closes her mouth, not saying a word. By her attitude though, it is clearly visible that she's not expecting anything positive coming out of all this.
irn0rchid
As Gem and the others crest the hill, it's apparent that something has happened to Niyaf and a couple of the girls are trying to comfort her as they walk while Gem is leading the pack, irate. She stalks over to Rick, plants her feet and spits out, "Your chummer Muhammad raped Niyaf this morning on patrol. What are you going to do about it?!" Hearing it stated so bluntly, Niyaf breaks down into tears again as the other girls console her. Shouting from below draws everyone's attention as Muhammad comes running up the hill, yelling that he didn't do anything. Between Niyaf sobbing, Gem demanding action, and Muhammad protesting his innocence, no one can really make anything out until Rick bellows, "Everyone shut the frag up!" Everyone is shocked into silence and he turns to Niyaf, "What happened?"

Through her sobs, the story comes clear. Niyaf and Muhammad had been on patrol this morning after Addie set up the pairs, and she was trying to pay attention to the patrol but Muhammad wouldn't stop hitting on her. Eventually, he apparently got tired of waiting, grabbed her, and tried to kiss her. She tried to push away but he held on and they fell, with her hitting her head on a rock and him landing on top of her. She doesn't remember much of the next part, but eventually she realized he was done and was able to tell him to leave her alone. He left and she was eventually able to get up and return to camp.

Rick glares at Muhammad, "So?" Muhammad stammers, "Naw man, it wasn't like that! I mean, it was, I was hitting on her, but I thought I was getting through! I went to kiss her and she pulled me down and was moaning and was in to it! We did our thing and then she told me to leave her alone, so I figured she wanted some time to clean up or some drek, so I left her. Then some kids in camp told me what she was saying so I came running up here!"

Rick looks over at Sim who grimaces, "Yeah, they're both telling the truth." Lindsey chimes in, "There's no way I'm leaving the girls alone in this camp now to go after some mystery mage, especially if *he's* still here!"

Gilga
Dana feels embarrassed, the one guy that actually seemed to give her some attention. The handsome muscular trog seemed to be after one thing and did not seem to care much for her at all. Lindsey was right, Dana looks at Lindsey and softly say "Thank you for the heads up"
She faces Muhammad, angrily as he tells his story. How could he takes advantage of Nyaf like that. Dana's hair and face both reddens and her body is alert, it almost springs out of itself toward the orc. In fact, Dana is trying her best to restrain her self and her struggle is evident. "You are an embarrassment to your kind." she says, as she restrains from punching the man and possibly killing him.

Trying to relax, she faces Nyaf and say "Poor thing, let me look at your head... I can do something with that nasty scar of you." Nyaf looks at Dana, nodding - but obviously she is not that concerned with her her hair. Not yet anyhow. Dana gently examine Nyaf's hair, and chants a few Hebrew words. The healing spell works apparently, and the bruises and scratches close up. Physically Nyaf is as good as new. There is very little Dana can do about her mental state, though.

She tells Lindsey "Perhaps the girls should stay with us? This is the second time in just a few days."
Mercy
Maya and the others reach the camp to find it astir with some recent happening. Rumors are flying about, but the gist of them seems to be that one of the boys has raped, or tied to rape, one of the girls. Others are saying that the rape never happened and that the girl is causing trouble. Smart enough to realize that the truth might be somewhere between the two stories, Maya urges her companions to continue walking to where Rick is holing court. She shakes her head and actually feels sorry for both of the people in the story and, surprisingly enough, for Rick, who will have to deal with this issue. And all of this on top of the toxic mage.

The four of them get some attention as they walk through the camp, with a number of people looking at the poles and pelts the four of them are carrying. Maya nods to a number of people she knows, or is at least familiar with. The looks she gets run the gamut from overtly hostile to accepting and practically every emotion in between. As she approaches the hill where the leaders of the camp are gathered, she wonders what her reception will be and how she will approach it. She stops just shy of the hill and has the poles and pelt put down before turning to the others. "I do not know what they will say to us, but we need to make a point of working together for the greater good where this mage is concerned. I would welcome whatever show of support you can give me up there so please feel free to come with me if you like."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #70

Cailin listens quietly to both sides, not saying anything. She's clearly not pleased, but not really judging either Niyaf or Muhammad. While she feels Muhammad is in the wrong here, obviously, he doesn't think he is. The most important problem in the whole situation, which led to this. She's just waiting for Rick to decide. Either way, no matter what decision he makes, it will have bad consequences.

When Dana makes her proposition, Cailin shakes her head "Too late to leave now. We won't have time to reach Maya."
Mercy
The others are apparently discussing the incident between the boy and girl as Maya walks up to them, apparently relatively unnoticed. Not wanting to intrude on what is really the business of the larger camp, she stands to the side and observes what is happening.
adamu
Walking back into the big camp with his companions, Raf was ill at ease. Just as when he'd left, there was a sense of tension and drama here. This did not seem like a happy group - well, they were a bunch of youth torn from their homes and families and plopped into an alien wilderness, so happy may not have been on the table - but more, there was some sort of internal tension, a lot of mutual distrust. At least as far as his tender senses could discern.

Back at the small camp, too, there was a bit more emotional display than he was comfortable with, but at least there was no simmering resentment to it. Was this the effect of the toxic, somehow? Or had some other seed of disconent been sown? His study of organizational behavior would have suggested a strong possibility of at least a brief initial 'honeymoon' period in such a peremptorily formed group, given mixed gender, similar age, and shared trials, with dissension coming later as resources became scarce and imagined hurts festered. This camp seemed to have skipped that phase entirely.

He wasn't thrilled about Maya's desire to stay here in this forsaken place, but he was increasingly certain he'd chosen his camp well.

Hopefully they'd be out of here soon.
Beta
Addie can't hide her dismay as the stories come out from Nixed and Muhammad. But when it is done she turns to Rick and simply says "This is why we created the rules council, right? I suggest getting the camp under control before everyone is in a state. Perhaps Lindsey and Sim can keep these two separate from the everyone else and each other, to head off problems until we are ready to deal with this properly __ their magic should keep everyone safe" she gives a hard glance to Lindsey as she mentions the magic.

She finishes up "and perhaps Simon and I can go find out who they talked to, when, if anyone else saw or heard anything -- make sure we aren't missing any of the story."
irn0rchid
When Dana suggests the girls be moved to the smaller camp, Lindsey says, "Thanks for taking care of her wounds, but after what happened to Grok I'm not sure your camp would be any better. She would have been fine here had she not been sent out into the woods alone with him..."

In response to Addie's suggestions, "Why do they need to be separated? What's Niyaf going to do? It's not like we have any guns out here... Sim confirmed she's telling the truth, so what more do you want? He obviously did it; the only thing left is to decide what we're going to do about it." Motioning to Gem, "Niyaf doesn't need to be here for that. Can you take her and the rest of the girls back to the tent and let anyone who asks know we're dealing with it?" She looks at the three boys on the tribunal, "We *are* going to deal with it, right?"
Beta
QUOTE (irn0rchid @ Aug 15 2016, 09:02 PM) *
In response to Addie's suggestions, "Why do they need to be separated? What's Niyaf going to do? It's not like we have any guns out here... Sim confirmed she's telling the truth, so what more do you want? He obviously did it; the only thing left is to decide what we're going to do about it." Motioning to Gem, "Niyaf doesn't need to be here for that. Can you take her and the rest of the girls back to the tent and let anyone who asks know we're dealing with it?" She looks at the three boys on the tribunal, "We *are* going to deal with it, right?"


"We need to keep her seperated from the camp for a bit, to keep it from becoming a drekstorm of accusations and recriminations, and to find out who else saw something, or should have if they were doing their job -- before everyone can 'fix' their stories."

"As for why ..." suddenly the colour drains from Addie's face, leaving it ghostly where it isn't sunburned. She whispers "I set them up for patrol? Oh frag, I did. I didn't mean that, why would they, but I didn't ...." She trails off, staring out into space, then convulses as she barely holds back the bile that had shot up her throat. Stress hadn't caused that reaction in her since her stomach got fixed, and the burn of acid and remembered pain wind themselves with her current burning horror into a mighty rope of guilt that ties up her mind.

She composes herself, but looks deflated, as she admits in a flat voice "I can't be part of the questioning. Sim should talk to people, he can tell truth sometimes. And ... Lindsey to question the boys, Simon the girls -- including me, I sent Niyaf off. They should have been in sight of other guards, who should have reacted if they lay down. You all need to find out who should have had them in sight, and why they didn't notice anything. This goes farther than just Mohamed, there are others who are guilty of letting the camp down. We agreed on rules for these things, we should make sure that everyone at fault is punished."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #71

Still silent, Cailin looks at the proceedings. To anyone looking at her, it is obvious that there are times when Lindsey or Addie speak where she doesn't agree, or is on the verge to say something, but never does so. Looking around, she notices Maya with surprise - and quite a bit of dismay - and rubs her forehead, depressed.
Beta
Sitting up on the hill, watching others move around the camp doing the questioning that she should be doing, at first Addie burns with anger at the unfairness of it all. In a moment of fatigue she gave one careless instruction, and it turned in the worst possible way.

Gradually she came to admit that it could be even worse, one or both of them could be dead. Not to say that the damage done today mightn't lead to death or deaths, but there was at least still hope that could be avoided. Not that any of her hopes had born much fruit in this place.

A little longer and she admits that the instruction to pair Niyaf up with an orc had been not just fatigue, but a bit of petty nastiness -- that she hadn't appreciated the other girls racism, so had taken some pleasure in pairing her with an orc.

In turn, that leads her to accept a bitter truth -- she'd thought she was better than the other girl. In fact, she'd thought she was better than most of the people in camp. She'd heard those lectures often enough, about how many laws were broken, how many trusts broken, because people began to think that they were better than others.

And that finally lets her break through to the realization of what she needs to do. When she sees that Maya and Raf and the rest of the small camp people have arrived, she can't help but feel the irony of the situation -- she'd been looking forward to telling Maya off for putting her own ego above the welfare of others, and here she was, in the middle of reaping the results of doing exactly that.

After that she found she was at peace -- just a bit impatient that all of this wasted most of a day, time which could have been used to DO stuff. Sometimes it seemed like most people looked for excuses to avoid doing anything useful .... no, there she was, putting her own attitude above that of others again. She fills her time with stretching and some slow and controlled sets of drills. If this worked out, maybe she'd get that chance to spar with Dana again?

And finally Sim came to tell her and Muhamed to come down to the main camp, that Rick wanted everyone to hear and see that they had done their best to do this properly. Addie wasn't sure that this was the best way of doing it, but he hadn't asked her opinion. Quite rightly, all things considered. She'd rather not have done all of this so publicly -- well at least it would give people something to talk about.

"Shut up everyone" yells Simon, "You all know what this is about. Rick wants everyone to hear the full story, instead of trading rumours. But keep the noise down or you can go dig a new latrine trench until this is done, understand?"

Show time.
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #71

Up the hill, Cailin takes advantage of the "Tribunal" leaving to let Maya know of the exact situation and most importantly, of the complete lack of progress regarding any negotiation. Notably because the clothes were "stolen" in the previous night. She leaves aside the apparent reluctance of some members of the "Tribunal" to negotiate in good faith. Or the fact that Rick seems to let it slide. But... Well... She never had to lie convincingly, and it shows...

She adds that in the current situation, she's extremely reticent to stay in this camp she sees as a huge trap. In addition, while not completely opposed to an expedition for this toxic she's certainly not eager at all to participate for multiple reasons: almost nothing is known, no one in this camp trusts them - especially Dana and herself - and finally, she is herself completely defenceless. She's not yet afraid, but very clearly anxious: staying here, with these people, feels like short term suicide to her. Or worse. And she'd prefer taking her chances alone than risk what happened to Niyaf.
Mercy
Maya is standing near the edge of the leadership group of the larger camp, watching the dynamic of the conversation. She still feels that it is not her place to butt in as she gave up almost all of that right when she left. From the discussion, she feels that Rick is going to have a hard time with this decision, as it seems very much to be a lose-lose issue. Her eyes focus on the girl.....Lindsey. She seems to be a trouble maker and quite quick to put a word in here and there to incite some sort of action without really seeming to be the one doing the inciting. She becomes aware of Cailin's eyes on her and she nods for the other girl to join her and tries to get Addie's eye as well, but then Simonputs out the word that Rick wants to talk to the camp as a whole.

Maya shakes her head as Raf makes to move off and she gathers her group together by motioning to them with a hand. "In my opinion, this is not our affair, yet. We left and should have no real part in the discussion of what happens here, unless invited to either observe or stand off. Right now we have not been invited to participate and should wait here. It is too bad that they lost the clothes as they could have been useful, but we are not lost without them and they are the weaker for keeping them from us. I hope that Rick will take the meat as a gift, then, because it may spoil by the time we could get it back to our camp. I am also thinking that we may want to invite Rick and the camp to our location. The caves might be easier to defend while someone goes out to search for the mage. However, the decision is not mine and we are not a dictatorship, so I am asking for opinions. Thoughts?"
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #72

Cailin nods "I don't mind helping them. They can't be all bad so they can have the meat. We wouldn't do anything with it anyway. And the only gifts Rick has a problem with are those he has to make, not those he receives so..." she seems a bit sad when she adds "Something from his past I suppose..."

She sighs, and continues "I wouldn't mind having them get the caves but only if we find others for ourselves. Preferably some they don't know about... I don't know what Lindsey's game is, but I don't trust her at all, and she has a big influence on all the other girls. Plus what happened with Niyaf, what they did to Dot, how they look at Dana and myself..." she shakes her head "At best, it would be really uncomfortable. At worst..." she shivers. After a second, she adds "Too much to overcome. At least in a short time."
Mercy
Maya nods. "Alright. One tentative vote yes. And I understand your concerns, Cailin. However, I think that we are going in the wrong direction if we preclude people from joining us because of personality issues. I have some issues with Lindsey as well, but do not have enough exposure with her to make an educated decision about her overall value to the camp. Is it not better to accept all of these people and show by example why we are better when we are different? If we do not show people that, we will always be the different ones, won't we? What do the rest of you think?"
Gilga
Dana observes the situation, the victim is isolated and the offender roams free. It is not greys for Dana it is black and white and had she failed controlling her anger that pathetic excuse of a man could have never done that again. Then again, she is not the one that should handle it - it was after all not her problem. She looks with sympathy at Lindsey that tries to urge the council to do some 'justice' rather than more politics and explaining.

Then Maya came, and Dana greets her warmly and then said "We did not have much luck in trading, too many other matters on their plate as you see, but I am going to deliver the meat anyhow. Taking it here, means that we are not going to jerky it like the other one. Why did you come here? Me and Caillin were about to leave back to camp.". Then, seeing that Caillin and Maya were entering another 'politics' conversation Dana walks with the meat toward the bonfire. Dana encounters Dot alone there, trying to cook, while the rest of the kids have gone to hear the outcome of what felt like a public trail. Dana greets Dot and then said:"I brought some food, I hunted it myself, but you already know that - help me prepare it - so at least dinner would be nice" Dana said, and set to work on the meat with Dot. The two used a long metal stick to impale the meat - that stick came from the tents but nobody was sure what it was exactly.
adamu
Raf watched Dana leave with the gift-meat before the discussion was finished. "Well, looks like the decision's been made." He shrugged. "She killed it. And I agree that trading is a fail, so however much it will weaken us in any future negotiations, we might as well give it away. Perhaps the goodwiil could count for something, though I am doubting that more with each minute I spend here. There is a foul mood - the way one feels in the home of a dysfunctional family. And Maya, in principle I agree we should welcome all. But we would do well do identify what elements are poisoning the spirit of community here and isolate them, lest the same disease spread to our group, rendering us useless in the aid of anyone."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #73

Cailin nods "I agree with Raf' that we should welcome all. But..." she sighs "I don't think many would take any offer in this direction. You didn't see the looks Dana and I got when we arrived here. You'd think we were bogeymen..." she shakes her head, disgusted "I don't want to have to be careful not to step on any toes just being myself. It doesn't really bother Dana apparently, she seems more used to it... But I'm not." she shrugs, uncomfortably.

After a couple of seconds, she adds "But more importantly, what we have works because we're so few. Add too many people, it will blow up. Especially if the people you add have problems with us. Because you're a woman, because we're not orcs, or for whatever reason you can think of." shaking her head, she continues "Wouldn't we be more useful just staying like we are, scouting around, like a...a...a Task Force? It could be nice to have a camp to come back too from time to time, but do we really want to manage the group as a whole? And there's no way Rick will give up the leadership anyway." she shrugs "To be honest, I'd rather hunt this Toxic Shaman, if it really exists, than stay in this camp..."
Mercy
Maya listens to both Raf and Cailin and looks at Summer, who says, "I guess I am with these two. We are doing good on our own, but a few more would not hurt. But Cailin is right; we need to be careful who we let in, I think."

Maya nods. "Alright, we have a consensus, I guess. Too bad Dana did not stick around to discuss the issue, but maybe we can talk to her later and get her ideas on it. I just think that we need to be careful about deciding who we keep out as that can lead to being just as bad as it is here. There is no perfect society, and one built on being selective is probably not going to last. But that is my opinion. At this point, we are almost like guests here and should behave like guests. I will say categorically that I am glad the you, Cailin, and Dana are with us. I have no problem with magic in itself. I have seen much good done by village shamans and certainly respect Dana's abilities. And your own ability to shape our tools and generally make life easier for us is a godsend. We are indeed fortunate to have both of you here."

Summer and Raferty both chime in to agree with that.
Beta
Rick steps forward and says “We set up a rules group for a reason, so that when someone frags up the punishment isn’t coming from me, so nobody can say someone got off light because they are my chummer. I’m not big on the long speeches, but I told the guys what the punishment for forcing yourself on someone would be.”

Muhamed interrupts with a strained chuckle and “You aren’t serious! It wasn’t like that.”

Rick tells him to shut the frag up, then says “Addie is the one who suggested this plan, I’ll let her explain it.”

“Coward!” thinks Addie, but without any real heat. She doesn’t feel ready to face the whole group, she’d have rather this had been kept quietly off to the side. Maybe Rick is right, maybe not, but she just doesn’t feel up to orating to the whole camp.

But she’s an Addison, and it needs to be done, so she’ll do it as best as she can manage, however inadequate that may be. Thankfully she still has her talking points in her link.

She gets up and does her best to assume a proper public speaking stance. No doubt she looks pale, but then again this isn’t a happy occasion.

"We don’t have a big group here, and we don’t have prisons, psychologists, detectives, or any of that. But we do need rules, and we need consequences for breaking those rules, and we need to enforce those consequences or the rules aren’t really rules. If you don’t want any rules, you should go off on your own.” She can’t help but glance at the small camp group at this point.

“I break offenses into three categories. One: hurting the group for your own gain – be it hording food, not helping with the work, sleeping while on watch, hiding information, whatever. Two: hurting another person, by attacking them or by negligence. And three: sexual assaults, which are different than just physical injury.” She let’s that last point hang for a moment before she moves on.

“As for punishments, we can’t really imprison anyone, and hurting someone in a way that just makes it so that we have to take care of them is just stupid, and hurting them and not taking care of them is basically just killing them in a cruel way. So punishment should [i]be/i] a punishment, but just beating someone up isn’t real helpful. Again I’ve got three categories.”

As she goes she counts the categories out on her fingers. “First: We can take away access to group resources, like going on half rations for a while or having to sleep outside. I think this type would make sense for when people hurt the group, like if someone hordes food they get put on half-rations, if they are careless with gear they sleep outside that night, and so on. Unless it is something really bad, then maybe it is the ultimate: deny them the group, by exiling them.”

“Second, we can give them extra, or extra-unpleasant, work to do. Like having to dig a bathroom pit which is a lot of work, then having to fill back in which is gross. Or getting double chores, or having to do something more dangerous. To me this seems best suited to those who hurt someone else, as it is both a punishment and maybe it takes up enough of their energy that they don’t have time for causing trouble.”

“For sexual assault, I don’t want to risk it being a game, where maybe somebody decides that the punishment isn’t so bad, it would be worth it, you know? And if the punishment isn’t bad enough, it will divide the group, I'm positive of that. But we aren’t a real court, I don’t think we should be killing people, and if we exile someone like that, then that person might be lurking nearby, and they might just die, so it is like killing them while making things more dangerous for the rest of us. We could just hurt someone – but most things that hurt a lot, and for a long time, have a high chance of breaking bones or causing infection, and we are back to having killed someone or loading the group with a disabled body.”

She takes a moment again, letting that problem sink in, before she offers the solution that she’d got the rules council to agree to. “So how do we punish it? It occurred to me that we might have one way of treating an infection – to cauterize it with something really hot.
So that got me thinking, what if we just jumped directly to that – brand them? Clean off one of the tools really well, heat it up hot as we can, then … mark them?”

By the limited reaction, she can tell that word of that planned rule and punishment had circulated around the camp. In hindsight they should have laid things out like this earlier, but too late to change it now.

Well, limited reaction from the main camp. She can’t bring herself to look at the small camp group just then.

She finishes up “Sim, Simon, and Lindsey have been asking questions today, you all know that. Muhamed is accused of sexual assault, and we’ll deal with that. But that the opportunity was there, that may mean that others were not meeting their responsibilities, so things don’t end with him.”
Gilga
As they worked Dana asked Dot, "Why aren't you on the trail with everyone?"
Dot sighed "The girls at the campfire needed someone left behind to make sure the food does not go bad... May said that since sexual assualt is not relevant for me, I should say..."

Dana asked "So you just accepted that kind of treatment?"

Dot nodded "They can be so cruel with words. I did not want to make a fuss"

Dana replied "It is good that you stayed... I was not sure how to impel the tiger without you, you are very strong."

Dot nodded and said "You are pretty strong yourself... for an elf."

Dana sighed and said "I always wanted to be one of the stronger meta-types."

Dot laughed "I'd rather be an elf... " Then she thought about it and added "Well ... not really - on theory at least. "
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #74

Cailin nods, with a small sigh. "As they say, we shall see..." Looking towards the camp, she notices Klarissa, coming to them. With a movement of her chin, she signals her to the others. "Look who's coming..."

A few seconds later, Klarissa arrives at the top of the hill. With a grunt, she says "Frag, are you camping here or will you come down at some point?" She looks at Maya "Rick wants you to see how we resolve all of this."
Beta
Simon speaks first, clearly uncomfortable with this sort of presentation. All the same he gets the facts out clearly enough "Gem says Addie asked her to wake up Niyaf, send her to the orcs to be one of the human partners. She went too since she was supposed to take up guard duty, but there were enough boys awake that both girls got moved, Gem to middle of the night, Niyaf to pre-dawn -- but Muhamed did take Niyaf out to show her where they'd be keeping watch. Gem woke Niyaf up when her watch was done, and didn't see her again until this morning."

Most of the other girls didn't know much useful. The ones watching around the fire in the pre-dawn weren't trying to look all the way out in the dark. Nora remembers seeing Niyaf heading out with Muhamed around when everyone was swapping over. Aria was late getting off mid-night watch -- she was on with Leslie, and their replacements were late, but she was towards with Addie and Miguel went out beyond the fire light. She says she couldn't see Addie and Miguel in the dark, but Leslie said he could."

"That is all that I found out really, none of them were on watch where they could have seen Niyaf and Muhamed. That was "

Rick asked "And do they think Niyaf would have messed around with anyone?"

Simon shook his head, then added in words "Not really, at least she didn't talk about it, but they all say she's pretty polite, but private -- hard to know for sure. But, uh, she seemed nervous around the orcs, they don't think she'd ever have gone off with one if she wasn't ordered to do so."

Addie gritted her teeth -- she could have added more without even having talked to the girls today, and she's sure she could have gotten more out of them -- but she had a conflict and couldn't be involved in this part of things.
Raiderj
"Maya... I think... I could lead a party where I saw the Toxic last... He had me hunt food and reagents for him... Its blurry but I might be able to recognize landmarks." Vexboy said quietly to just her.
Mercy
Maya looks over at Vincent and squeezes his hand. "Thank you, Vincent. We can tell Rick that when he is finished with this discussion about what happened today. We have been asked to go listen and I think we should. After all, this is social justice and a good case for seeing how this camp will handle such things." She looks around at Raferty, Summer, and Cailin and nods at them. "I am going down. Whether or not you four do is up to you, but I think I may need the support at some point. I am not sure how popular I am here."

Maya stands and goes down the hill, arriving in time to hear some of what is being said. She is troubled by the discussion of branding as a punishment, but so far has not been invited to speak and keeps her tongue for the time being.
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp, up the hill] #75

Cailin grumbles "I'll have to get down from here at some point anyway, so..."

While Maya is troubled by the branding proposition, Cailin is quite obviously disgusted by it even if she doesn't say anything either.
Mercy
Maya turns to her companions and the expression on her face is enough to let them know that she is not in favor of the punishment being discussed. She shakes her head but still stays silent for now, turning back to listen to the discussion.
Raiderj
"Hey. I don't have still have a full understanding of whats going on yet but I know its not in me to abandon people." Vincent said following her.
Beta
Sim summarizes what he and Lindsey had found out from the boys. His voice is somewhat quiet, so Addie has to strain a bit to hear him. “Muhamed has been talking up about how all the girls like him, and speculating about possibilities to ‘get it on’ with someone, all the guys agree about that.

He shuffles a bit, shoots a glance at Rick, but finally carries on “Uh, there was some confusion last night when the guards were being increased once the first guards were already set. Trying to work out the pairings of people with better night vision with partners who didn’t, who would be on when and where, that sort of stuff. A bunch of the guys remember him stepping forward and saying he’d take Niyaf as a partner, saying something like “I can take on trouble by myself, I’m fine with a girl as a partner.” "

She didn’t want to go on first guard shift though, so they agreed to pre-dawn watch. Leslie says he remembers Muhamed saying they should go take a look at their guard spot first, and Abraham remembers them walking away from the group, he, uh, 'had been checking out her ass' but when he saw how close they were walking, he wondered if they were a couple and he'd missed his shot.


After, he came back to the tent to sleep. He maybe said something about ‘how fine Niyaf is.’ By then the guys not on watch were back to sleep, and weren’t sure if that was last night or another time. They were telling the truth about not being sure—I checked.

There was a bit of a stir at this reference to how he could apparently tell if someone was lying or not, and Addie missed his next few words, but then Simon spoke “Their guard spot was just beyond that rock that sticks up, over there” he pointed along the valley a ways. It is tall enough that if you stand just past it you are in its shadow from the fire in the camp. So your eyes adapt better, and if anyone was approaching camp, with the fire in front of them, it would be hard to see you. Of course you can’t be seen from camp, but the inner ring of guards has a pair behind the girl’s tent, where they have an angle to see the outer pair. On pre-dawn watch that was Pierre and Abraham.

Sim took back over “Lindsey questioned Pierre and Abraham pretty hard about what they heard and saw, and I checked for truth. Abraham couldn’t see Niyaf and Muhamed in the darkness, but he heard their voices a bit, a few times. Pierre could see their body heat well enough, but tried to look other places most of the time. At some point, neither one is quite sure when a while into the watch, Pierre saw that Muhamed and Niyaf were lying down – he couldn’t see much of them because of a dip in the ground, but he could tell they were there on the ground, together, and moving around some. Pierre didn’t say anything for a little bit because he suspected they were having sex, then he whispered this to Abraham, who told him that he thought those two were a couple, and they should leave them alone.

The sky was starting to brighten about then, so when Muhamed came in early saying that Niyaf wanted to be alone for a bit, they didn’t think it was a big deal, since she should be able to see well enough. They were a little troubled that Muhamed didn’t seem to be taking guard duty seriously, but didn’t want to piss off an older, bigger, boy who seemed well liked, so they didn’t say anything.

He quickly sat down, without even indicating he was done. Addie couldn’t help but think that she should coach him on public speaking – but then she saw the expression on Rick’s face, and couldn’t blame him much for quickly ceding the floor.
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp] #76

Sitting with the rest of the "small camp" group, Cailin observes the proceedings. With a sigh, she says "In some of the novels I read...or...used to read I suppose... there were some trials. It's much more fun to read than to see... Here it's just depressing..."
Raiderj
"So this Muhamad guy decided to force himself?" Vincent asked. "Sheesh. What a creep."
Imladir
[Cailin, Main Camp] #77

Cailin shakes her head "It's more complicated than that, he thought she wanted it too."
Gilga
The preparations for an epic 'successful hunt' feast were proceeding quickly and Dot seemed to be very hard working. When all the food was roasting, Dana said "Now watch, I hope people would like this trick." The earth begun to reshape itself, creating crude earth flat tables with improvised stools around them. Nothing too complex, yet even with magic it took an effort to create a large, nice looking, dining area. Perhaps it was not the most practical of gifts, but the way that camp seemed to be doing, they needed something to be happy about. Some vegetables and unlimited roasted meat could cheer some people up. If some of the 'words' people would say something inspiring - perhaps the atmosphere at the camp would change.

One thing was certain, the meat Dana has risked her life to obtain would not go wasted, the feast in memorial of Grok - would be memorable. As briefly as he was with them, he was a brave man that has left an impression. Satisfied with the results of the spell Dana wrote, "In memory of Grok" on each of the tables. "You concil are very difficult to handle, our girl Caillin could not do it. She has the charisma but does not have the willpower to handle the atmosphere in this camp."

"She is just a little girl. " Said Dot "Gifted one, but yes she should adopt to the new reality" Satisfied the two girl have set the tables, there were not enough plates so Dana created a built earth plate, in the middle of each table, in that plate on top of broad leaves, a smoking hot meat and some vegetables were set for the campers. "Lets hope they appriciate your effort" Said Dot.
Dana sighed "Lets hope for, Grok died without any of his loved ones knowing, I hope we can rise up to the occasion and respect him."

"That was a nice trick with the earth..." said Dot. Dana laughed "The most 'useless' spell I have learned, I learned it so that I can help the scientists with gardening."
"gardening ?" asked Dot. "Yes, long story short I grew up in that science place, they were researching all kind of plants, fruits vegetables... it was a beautiful fenced garden." "I've never seen such a natural environment before in my life... the only wildlife I encountered were rats." said Dot.
"Well there is a first for everything, said Dana. Lets hope they can appriciate the gesture she said exausted."


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