Maya looks over at Raferty then to Cailin before she looks down at the struggling tent. "RIck, stay still. You were used by a spirit and trying to kill us. We do not yet know for sure if it has left you. Stay where you are until we figure out something to do." She looks over at Pierre as the Dwarf runs up. "We think a spirit of some kind, perhaps the toxic mage, might have tried to work some magic through Rick." She turns to Cailin. "Is such a thing possible, Cailin?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #150

For a moment, Cailin seems absent, checking in the astral that the spirit left. She takes a moment to gather her courage to do so, since, with Rick being in the tent, she will have to go in there too, even if just in passing. She's quite glad however to notice that she spirit did indeed leave... And a lot less when she sees the traces of his actions on all those that piled on Rick.

When she comes back to her body with a groan, it's just in time to hear Maya's question. She sighs, and nods "Yes, easily in fact, a good number of traditions summon spirits able to possess people. I didn't know it was the case for toxic shamans but... Well, here's the proof."

She inhales deeply, then adds "Good news is, the spirit left, so you can let Rick come out." She pauses, closing her eyes. After a couple of seconds, she adds "Bad news however is that it was a Nuclear spirit. And when you piled on it... There's no easy way to say it so... You're all heavily irradiated. That's probably why it appeared so hot. You're in no danger to die in the coming hour but if we don't find something, there will be serious consequences in the coming days. I'm not an expert in radiations so I don't know exactly which ones but..."

Maya signals for the others to leave Rick in the tent a bit longer then turns to Cailin. She manages to keep her voice calm as what her friend has said sinks in. "Radiation. Alright, we need to get anyone that was helping with getting Rick in the tent separated from anyone who was not. Pierre, can you see to that, please? I do not know at what radius we will hurt anyone, so please make it at least back to the last tent. And ask anyone over there if they know anything about radiation sickness. Summer, do you have anything on that 'link of yours that might help? Oh, and please see if you can contact Addie or Aria and let them know what has happened. I do not want to just sit around and wait to die, so what ideas does anyone have?"

Pierre took several seconds to absorb the news about the radiation and think the implications through. Finally he said "Nobody has blisters, right? And you aren't vomiting, at least yet? Those are the signs of really intense radiation exposure. Not saying what you got hit with wasn't bad, just ... the exposure is over, you might have some secondary radiation in your bodies now but it should all fade, the half life of things that decay fast enough to be a short term problem are obviously short."

He pauses to think for another moment, then adds "Radiation intensity from a point source -- and we can treat a single body as a point source once we get a bit of distance -- falls off with the square of the distance. At ten metres it should be down to a hundredth of what you get from being one metre away. I don't know how radioactive any of you might be now, or even me since I came kind of close enough that I might have breathed stuff in, but it can't be all that high. So as a first take I'd say we should get everyone near here at least ten metres from anyone else. And the tent, and Rick, which might have gotten it worse, maybe twenty metres?"

He looked around, then swore softly. "Saint Espri!t -- All spread out like that, there is no way to keep everyone warm, and even trying to keep safe will be a hard. I think that we might all be best off trying to stay awake all night, maybe walking around occasionally to stay warm? The warm is especially an issue for Maya and Raf since they don't have the skin suits. Ah tabernac! Undressing from the clothes could be wise, in case they are holding much radioactivity, but then exposure becomes more of a problem ..."

Eventually he runs down and admits "I know a bit about the physics of radiation, but not a lot about the biological side. I remember my ... someone I know ... had to do something in a contaminated control room one time, and he said to me that afterward he was told to shower, cut off his hair, and vomit up everything in his stomach, just to reduce how much residual radiation he was exposed to. But getting wet, getting bare heads, losing food, those all have risks here too, you know?"

"So Muhammad is still alive, and the orcs are back with everyone else?" Lindsey looks over at Niyaf, "Sounds like it's good we got out when we did! There's no way Rick is going to be able to keep the peace after that..." She then catches Aria's eye, "Do you still think we should go back?"

As Dana continues, Lindsey can't help but smile on the inside as she describes the dysfunction of the reformed main camp. The thought that Rick might try to come after them is a bit sobering, but then she reasons that he probably has bigger problems to deal with now than trying to track them down, especially with a day's head start. Seeing that Dana's description of Rick the boogeyman has effected some of the other girls, she comments, "We should be fine here tonight, sounds like he's busy at the camp. We'll get moving in the morning and the farther we get from them, the less likely he is to care about us anymore, so I don't think we have to worry about him."

Dana's exhibition of power doesn't sit well with Lindsey as some of the other girls look on her with expressions bordering on awe as she shapes the earth and molds wind barriers with a thought. "Speaking of getting out of here soon; what are your plans? We're going to continue on our way tomorrow, did you want to come with us or are you going to go back to Maya?"

Dana said "I am sorry to put you at unease, tomorrow I am going to fetch Addie. She is sleeping alone in the wilderness tonight, my spirit will try to get the predators away from her, but whatever it was to make her run off I hope we find her alive and well. I'd been happy to stay with you, but I do not know if you share that emotion, I will not force Nora to live with me.

So I guess I will return to Maya where I was accepted for what I am.

If I am still welcome there with so many newcomers each with their own values and beliefs.

If they get creepy then I guess... I am probably the Apex predator around here anyhow. " she laughed embarrassed uncertain how sincere was that offer.

Aria interrupts Dana and Lindsey. "Problems back at the camp. Summer just called me. Seems Rick might have been possessed by some sort of radiation spirit. Maya, Raf, and several others are probably burned from the radiation for being so close to him. Things are bad back there. Summer is asking if anyone here knows anything about radiation sickness and if we know where Addie is?"

Maya listens to Pierre and immediate slips the fur she is wearing over her head and tosses it near the tent. Some of the gathered kids gasp and it is hard to tell if it is from seeing Maya naked or from the full view of the massive scaring on her torso. "Alright, no time to be shy now. If the clothes are contaminated, we need to get rid of them. And let Rick up. I may disagree with his leadership style, but I cannot just let him die in a contaminated tent. So, Cailin, can you summon a spirit that can create water like rain to wash us off?"

She looks at the new girl, who seems pretty lost and translates what she has said into passable Sperethiel.

Maya takes her knife out and lifts it up. "I can be first at the barber. Pierre, I think it better for the time being that the infected people stay together for warmth, unless you are sure that we need to be separated? And can you please see to getting the rest of these people back to safety? Ask Sim if he knows anything that can help. Maybe he can put some of his added warmth into a fire near us without getting too close himself?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #151

"Water? Uh..." She seems to hesitate for a moment, then sigh "I can try. But I may not be able to... And if I fall..." She shrugs, then starts her summon. After a moment, she seems surprised, but quite a bit relieved "That went better than expected... Ok, where do you want your shower?"


Summon Water [3] (Summon, defence, drain): 8d6t5 3 3d6t5 0 13d6t5 3
Spirit has weather control as optional power, should be enough for a good localized shower in addition to its nature itself.

Maya smiles at Cailin. "Very good, Cailin, thanks. OK, all of you, shuck the clothes. We might be able to save the special stuff, but for now it is get naked time." She lifts some of her long locks and slices them from her head with the knife, watching them drop from her head with a profound sadness. She had always been fond of her long hair and has considered it her only really nice physical attribute. As she continues to remove her hair, she looks around at the others. "Once we have the clothes and hair off, we will get the shower and do our best to clean ourselves."

She spies Sim on the edge of the area that is considered "safe". "Hey, Sim, thanks for coming over. We are going to be getting quite wet here in a few minutes. Can you try to have one of your special fires going for when we are done? It is going to get pretty chilly after the water."

Sim nods and sets a couple of the others to gathering wood for a good fire to help keep the wet people from freezing.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #152

Cheeks burning, Cailin turns away. After a moment, she says "Don't worry about the hair, I can make them grow in a few seconds. Well not today and maybe not tomorrow but it's nothing difficult."

Maya nods in Cailin's direction. "See, there is a lot of good uses for magic." She chops off the last of her hair and has the others stand in line so she can get to work on them. Soon enough, there is a small but growing knot of naked and mostly hairless people standing around her, shivering a bit in the cold. Maya directs them to go stand at the limit of where they can feel the heat from the fire Sim is working his own special magic on. She takes a moment to look about and smiles. Even though things are dire, there is not a lot of hand wringing and the others are pretty much listening to her, which surprises her more than anything else. She reasons that it is the circumstances of the situation and the fact that they do not really have a good alternative to listening. She notes that Rick has emerged from his temporary captivity and has still not said much of anything. He is still dressed, though, something she will have to deal with.

Being naked is not new to Maya, but seems to be for a number of the others. People are using their arms and hands to try to cover themselves as they stand around and try to get warm from Sim's fire. She smiles; the shyness will wear away after a while. She walks in all her scarred glory over to where Raf is standing, who is also still clothed. She leans in to him and says, "You are my prince, Raferty. I will never forget that you jumped in front of me to save me from Rick. SO, just in case I do not get the chance later......" Before he can react, Maya leans in and kisses him on the lips. "Now, climb out of those flats and let's get your hair off."

[Nim - 4th day - Main Camp] #12

I back slowly away from the group and take my spear trying to figure out what is going on as people are being made to strip and cut off their hair.

Maya sees the new elven girl back away and turns to her. Her Sperethiel is not perfect, but she knows enough to be understood. "You must come here. The man in the tent was possessed by a radiation spirit and anyone who was helping is not sick. You must remove your clothes and have your hair cut off, then Cailin here will use her magic to give us all a shower. This will help, trust me. If you do not do this, you could end up really sick and dying. Please?" She holds out a hand to the girl.

Most of the girls gasp and they all turn to look at Aria. Assorted cries of "Radiation?" and "Burns?" fill the air. Finally a hush falls over the group as Nora looks at Lindsay and almost whispers, "Spirits?" Lindsey frowns and replies, "I didn't have anything to do with this! You've seen the spirits I can call. You've stood right next to one with no harm. I don't know anything about radiation spirits... I didn't even know that was a thing." Turning back to Aria, "Are they even sure that's what it was? What was it trying to do? Regardless, not much we can do about it now..."

Dana apologised and said "I have to go there, either to see if I can help or say my goodbyes if they are dying... Maya and Raff are my friends." To Lindsey she said "It appears that the toxic mage is very much real, once we fetch Addie I will pay him a visit and stop him from continuing to poison us."

With that Dana walked into the night, once she was far enough she undressed and allowed the cold to wash her young and well groomed body, with a different upbringing Dana could be a professional athlete. Dana folded her body glove and then buried it with her magic, marking the place so that she can return to it. Then Dana turned herself into a grey owl and made the trip toward the main camp. She landed out of sight of the main camp and then sneaked in to where she placed her flats, hoping not to cause a scene by walking naked in a camp filled with strangers. Wearing her flats, Dana approach the tent where she sees a bunch of naked terrified kids hugging each other to keep warm.

"What happened here?" She asked.

Matter or life or death, it didn't matter, Raf was not taking off his clothes after that.

He had understood the need to decontaminate, and would have thought little of it. It was medically necessary. But then...

In a calmer state, he would have reassured himself it was some sort of big sister thing, but to his testosterone-ridden 12-year-old brain, still hopped up on the adrenaline of nearly dying and then restraining a toxic spirit, being kissed on the mouth by an older and fully naked girl made it completely impossible to just strip off on command. The context had been changed completely.

For better or worse, though, the new girl panicked. Understandably. But it distracted Maya enough that Raf had been able remove himself to the far side of the cluster of naked kids. There, he had taken off his flats, used his own knife to hack off his own hair, and then started in helping with the other kids.

But the time half of them were shorn and all were shivering, Dana showed up. Raf breathed a huge sigh of relief.

He stepoed into the firelight where she could pick him out from the group and called out to her. He knew that for her nudity was merely a functional state. "Rick was possessed by a nuclear toxic. We managed to restrain, which seems to have driven the spirit off. But in the process we all seem to have been irradiated. You mustn't come too close."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #153

Still turned away, Cailin peeks into the Astral, looking at the auras of the irradiated people. After maybe thirty seconds, she says "Don't worry too much, you're not in that much danger. You'll probably get sick - which means it could be smart to prepare to that - but you won't be dead anytime soon." in a much lower voice, for herself, she adds "I think..."

For a couple of seconds, she seems to chat with someone else, someone she's the only one to see. Apparently, she was offered something nice, but she didn't like much the time it would take, but that it's better than anything else.

Speaking louder to be heard by everyone, she says "I may be able to take care of your radiations tomorrow. The day after at the later I think. So please just stay calm, make sure you don't get a cold, and you'll be fine."

All the while, she was turned away from the naked group, her cheeks still red.

Dana said "So, you Maya and Rick and all these people have touched that spirit? This seems bad, the toxic is getting aggressive toward us." with a display of power Dana has created wind barriers and perhaps some modesty barriers around the naked children. She went to fetch the other tiger pelt and order some children to give them the bag of the tent so that they are comfortable. She also created a small pool for them to drink from once it rained and looking at the sky it seemed likely to rain again.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #154

Cailin seems surprised to see Dana "Oh, you're back already?" Not waiting for an answer, she shakes her head "I didn't touch anything. Well, not physically anyway, so I'm fine. Mostly."

Dana embraced Caillin and whispered "I am so glad that you are safe." after some long moment she said "I found Addie, she is alone in the wilderness and my spirit is watching her hopefully it is enough to keep predators out of the way. I planned to stay the night with Lindsey and her girls as with the spirit protecting Lindsey I cannot take my body glove with me when I change... but then 'THAT' happened and well... I could not think straight I just wanted to be here. Even if there is nothing I can do about it. How bad is it? " The young adult seems upset, and she is showing that side of her for the first time.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #155

Cailin sighs "I don't really know. I'm not a medic nor a physicist so..." She shakes her head "As far as I can see, it's not too bad. It could have gone much worse anyway. I think I should have a way to heal everyone tomorrow but I'm not sure yet."

She pauses for a minute, then adds "The main problem however is that if it happened once, it can happen again. I think it would be smart that all of us have a spirit with us at all times. At least to warn us in advance. This time, we got lucky but next time... There's no telling what the toxic shaman can do..."

Dana said "Well I am reflexively aware of magic and spirits in my vicinity, so unless I am sleeping I should have some heads up if there is a spirit around. Though even that is not enough, as I am incapable of doing anything about a spirit in the astral as my third eye is still closed. These things evolve slowly for me as I channel magic in a different manner than others and there are few that can instruct me. I am also just starting with spirits when I got here, my knowledge of summoning is very rudimentary - I basically use a spirit to carry my clothes when I change shape and in these conditions, even minor spirits are difficult."

She then asked "So your Goddess friend is going to help us?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #156

Cailin shrugs "If you're not in the astral, the only way those spirits can hurt you is by possessing you or someone else or hit you. Which happened to Rick and Maya respectively. At least I never heard of someone able to summon possession spirit at one point, and materialising ones at another. Once they are possessing someone though..."

She squirms a little, unsure how to respond to the question. In the end, she prefers to not talk about the "friend" part "I'll try to learn a spell that heals radiations yes. Spirits don't often agree to much, but cleaning radiations or toxic wastes is one of those things... Which is a good thing, since usually I have to beg for weeks before she agrees to teach me anything."

At that point, she coughs and lower her head, the tip of her ears taking the same colour as her cheeks.

Dana said "It is facinating that you can speak to her, I need to physically push myself and fight well to gain more insight. I am sorry to embaress you in front of her. " she sighed and said "I hope that you can study the spell quickly. You are their best hope.We will need to retaliate this attack though, achieve some balance of power or kill that mage. " she added.

Maya notices Dana several minutes after she arrives, but she is in a conversation with Cailin and May does not want to interrupt. Eventually, all of the kids are naked and shorn and she moves them into a close area with some rocks to stand on instead of dirt. Calling to the others, she says, "Welcome back, Dana, Do not get too close just now. Thank you for the wind barrier as that will help prevent us from freezing. Alright, Cailin, we are ready for the shower, and Sim, please be ready with the fire and some extra heat to help us dry off. I think we are ready."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #157

Cailin seems hesitant "But we have to prepare before we try. Look at what one of his spirit did." She shakes her head, but before she can continue, Maya calls her. Still not turning, she yells "Sure. But I'll warn you, it probably won't be warm..." After that, she asks her spirit to start a shower on Maya's location.

Even prepared for it, the kids all begin yelling as the icy water pours down on them. Maya tries to keep everyone under the water for as long as possible, but several kids run from the downpour to dry off near the fire. She is quite used to bathing in cold streams and lakes and calls out encouraging words to those in the water, encouraging them to remain as long as they can stand it. As the number of kids dwindles, Maya find herself face to face with Raferty. Her eyes roam unabashedly over his body then she smiles at him before turning profile on to him to talk to another person.

Dana waves at Maya and then watches her naked and heavy scarred body, and Ricks, she did not expect to see that much of him so soon. She answers Caillin "Yes, we'll need to be prepared, right now it seem that the radiation is going to be too much to handle, but perhaps if you learn that spell we can expose ourselves to radiation and heal the damage after the battle. I mean it does not kill right away, there will be plenty of time to fight. We'll need strong willed people that are hard to posses."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #158

"Maybe but..." She looks at Rick "Do you think there are many more 'willed' than him?"

[Nim - 4th day - Main Camp] #13

I squint a moment at Maya and scowl but bring my knife up to start shaving my head. I look at Cailin and can tell she is sick

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #159

It takes a moment for Cailin to understand she's the one the question is asked to. When she does, she sighs "Pollution allergy I'm afraid, so... Depends of the place..." She lowers her head, and adds a bit depressed "If we have to stay around here for too long, it will get worse though..."

"I do not know... is there anything that can help one to resist possession? I mean if they posses me... I may be very dangerous."

Day 4, After dark, The Group

Rick’s body is lean and muscled, without the heavy musculature of most orcs. Scars cover him…different from Maya’s, white streaks from blade wounds, and a nasty pucker over his right shoulder that can only be a poorly healed bullet wound… and blisters are rapidly forming around his eyes and the sides of his mouth… he stalks off up the hill away from the others and then heaves into the undergrowth…even in the dim light cast by Sim’s fire it is clear that the bile is russet or black…

“Oh frag!” the resignation in his voice is clear… “They are all yours Maya, look after them girl!” and before anyone can think to intervene he circles his arm above his head like some demented rodeo or someone whipping up a crowd…a faint silver line catches a glimpse of firelight and then bits of Rick slump in a variety of directions…the look on his face is almost peaceful…

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #160

Something in Rick's voice made Cailin turn around. Just in time to see the result of his last action. She looked at it for a couple of seconds before it all came crashing down on her. Before an elf, able to see quite well in the dark, she didn't even have the luxury of being able to not see all the details.

The only person hurt she had had to see, in all of her twelve years, had been Maya after the fire incident. And even that had been after Dana's healing. Needless to say, she never had seen a corpse, not even speaking about someone dying in front of her eyes.

She fell on the ground, vomiting what little she had in her stomach at this time of day. Suddenly cold, colder than she had ever been before, and light-headed, on the verge of passing out.

Maya has seen the effects of a monowhip before, but has never seen a suicide by one and she is shocked by what she has seen Rick do. She has no time to wonder at it as her friend collapses to the ground and is sick. She calls out to a couple of the people at the edge of the zone to get Cailin farther away. Three boys tentatively move forward and grab up the girl, carrying her farther away from the knot of radiated people. Rick's last words hang in the air, heavy with passing the responsibility of leadership. She looks around at the others still in the area, fastening on the Hebrew girl. "Right, Dana, I think Rick must be armed with some sort of monowhip. Can you please secure it so no one else can use it?"

Dana approached Rick and then signaled Maya to toss her the knife. It was not elegant, but with the knife she took off Rick's cyberhand. The whip was somewhere in there, she knew and did not want any mechanical genius to revive the whip and become a dictator like Rick.
She pocketed the bloody hand, and said half to herself "pathetic... all the guys I like turn out to be weaklings. " Dana looked at the fallen warrior with scorn, and buried the naked dead body unceremoniously with the shape earth spell. According to Dana's faith, suicider do not deserve a formal burial. She carefully tossed the knife back to Maya and then approached Caillin "I am sorry you had to see it, he was a real jerk to suicide like that infront of so many children. "

Pierre, night of day 4, possession aftermath

Pierre had been busy, trying to move the probably-not-contaminated away from the certainly-contaminated, while also trying to get someone to gather up the shorn hair before it blew all over the place -- none of which was easy given his stature and general lack of experience at bossing people around.

Then his eyes were pulled to Rick as he walked up the hill. There was just something about the way he walked that grabbed the dwarf's attention. He was far enough up into the shadow's that Pierre's eyes shifted to see him as heat patterns -- patterns that did not look quite right. Rick made strange arm motions, then Pierre was confused for a moment until one piece flew clear of the blood spray enough to make the whole sad, gory, event unmistakable.

"Saint-sacrament de câlice de crisse!" He might have sworn more, but he had to turn away while he held down his gorge. He hadn't really known Rick, hadn't necessarily liked the guy, but to to seize fate so forcefully by the horns ...

He muttered to himself in the sort of joual that his teachers had tried to beat out of them, but some things just didn’t express themselves properly in school french or even in English despite all its flexibility. "Tab-er-nac! Que t’as eu des big balls jusqu'au fin, chummer – salue." Pierre even touched his forehead in a sketch of a military salute. "Eh, ben, c’est probablement ‘à bientôt’, et que c’est toi le chanceux mon mec. La restes d’nous, n’sommes bien dans la marde, osti."

It was the way of things, that the true drek drove out the not-too-bad, every fragging time. Pierre just wasn’t yet jaded enough to take the latest proof of this law without having to wipe his eyes a few times.

Eventually her pulled himself back together, and began shepherding a second group back towards the old camp. There was not nearly enough space in the damaged tent and the lean-to for everyone to lie down, but maybe they could take turns sleeping, or sleep sitting up, or something? He hoped Dot could help organize them; people were more apt to listen to a troll than a dwarf.

As they walked he played a rousing mental match of “What the drek will happen next?” Rampaging rabid raccoons? A landslide? The Ghost of Christmas Past? It would turn out that most of the kids were Toronto Maple Leafs fans?

Then as they approached the camp, a rain drop hit his cheek.

Rain, yah, that would do.

Raf was sitting alone at the base of a tree about a hundred meters from the rest of the camp.

It was pretty dark, especially with the rainclouds overhead - he knew that even at this short distance he'd never find the camp again without the distant fire to guide him.

And he was cold. What little warmth his flats and his own hair had provided were now gone, he was still dripping wet, and now it was starting to rain.

He knew he had to get back to the fire. And he knew there were people at the camp that needed him - kids even worse off than he was.

But when Rick had destroyed himself, he had gone lightheaded, nearly fainted. It had been like a last straw to his psyche. He had to get his head straight before he could be of any help to himself or anyone else. So he had taken advantage of the confusion to slip away.

So he sat and shivered, his bow and quiver by his side. His knife was tucked into the quiver, since he had nowhere else to put it. Fortunately, he'd left the bow on the ground when he'd gone to protect Maya - Maya, she was acting unsettlingly strange - so he was fairly sure it hadn't been too close to Rick.

Of all the things - radiation poisoning. He'd studied the specs on his implants carefully, but was nonetheless unsure how much his platelets or toxin extractor would help him with this. He felt nauseous, and had no idea how much of that was physical and how much psychological.

So he sat there trying to get his head together but all he could think about was how he was going to hypothermia to the radiation poisoning. Which thought made him realize that it came down to two choices - sit there and wait to die, or else get up and just keep moving.

When he caught himself leaning towards the former choice, he rephrased the dichotomy. He could sit there and wait to die, or he could do what Rick had chosen not to - go and use whatever was left of himself to help others.

He forced himself to his feet and started making his way back toward the fire.

With the whip secure Dana had the terrifying notification, she was irradiated too. She cannot go back to Lindsey, not like that. Dana buried the whip, and then joined the naked children, taking her flats off without any form of shame. Afterall, she was a physical adept and her body was her masterpiece. She looked for Maya and then hugged her warmly embracing the girl close to her bosom. "I acted recklessly, I am probably irradiated myself as Rick looked really sick." She shrugged.

Maya looks around at those standing or sitting where they can get warmth from the fire and sees several that might be on the verge of breaking morale completely. She walks among them, working hard to convince the others that all of the news is not bad. "Hey, Cailin has said that she should be able to cure us within a few days. We can last that long. In the meantime, all of us need everyone else. We can pull through this as a team when someone going solo would fail. Have heart." She will repeat this several times and in several languages. She notes that Raferty has gone off on his own somewhere and calls out for him. "Raferty! Please come back. We need to work together. I need your help.....we all need your help."

She is pleased when her friend shows up in the camp and walks over to him. "Thank goodness you are back. Some of the people here are having a hard time adjusting and they need to see that we are united and working together to help them. And helping each other. I rely on your strength and your courage."

Even in physically, emotionally, and mentally traumatized, the nudity of Maya, Dana, and the small number of other girls was distracting to Raf. He was annoyed, and wished it wasn't so, but apparently there were parts of his pubescing brain that acted on their own.

Well, he was a human, not an animal, and the physical was to be strictly controlled.

Focusing on Maya's face, he ignored her effusive praise and got down to business. "First problem is the sickness, but until Cailin gets organized there is nothing more we can do. But the next concern is hypothermia - we have no extra clothing or anything like it, and the tent is hopeless of course. Even with the fire, we'll have to do the penguin thing until morning. I'll get the genders separated. Dana, can you get us some improvised lean-tos or something?"

Dana looks at Raff and greet him with a small 'hi' waves happily as she feels awkward to embrace a naked boy. She said "I can do walls, perhaps places to cuddle/sleep and if we really are desperate I can even do roof, but for that I have to remain awake to sustain the spell and for a complete day I fear I'll doze off and the spell will be broken covering us with dirt. What exactly did you have in mind?"

Maya looks at Dana and smiles. "Perhaps walls will be enough for now. If you build the shelters with three walls and an opening towards the fire, we can separate the men from the women and allow the heat to radiate into the cubicles. I would think we do not want to risk the roofs collapsing, so let's avoid putting them up. It will not be optimum and certainly not be comfortable, but I think it will give us the best chance we have right now. What do you think?"

Dana makes a short silent prayer, then she draws lines in the sand and instruct everyone to get away from the lines. her plan is of two rooms with a central fireplace. She adds "We can have a fire spirit deliver the fire for us, or just levitate it in here. I have an affinity to electricity and so can ignite fire quickly if we need." Thinking about it for some time she erase the lines and then draws a circle, with a central fireplace. She draws shorter walls in each side and and say "I'll make the floor abit tilted toward the pool so that if it rains the entire construction will collect rain for us.

She then slowly erect the plan, one wall at a time and make sure that nobody is alarmed. Once the walls are erected she does the floors, and even create some rest places that roughly resemble beds were a bunch of people can sleep cuddled. Finally Dana looks at the mudd and say "Perhaps we can apply the mud as improvised clothing. I think that once it dries up by the fire, it will preserve heat and make nudity less awkward, like body paints."

Extremely eager to feel less exposed, Raf piped up, "Not sure how well dried mud will work for clothes, but I'd love to be your first guinea pig."

Again, he did his best to keep his eyes up on Dana's face.

Dana felt a bit awkward with Raff, but it was not his fault for being in a nudity show. Her color changing hair was her tell sign and it 'blushed' into deep red. The fact that it was cold and her nipples were hard, did not help much to make her feel more comfortable. Though, there was something else to that feeling... 'being desired' perhaps. If Grok was still alive, or if Muhammad was not such a rapist jerk, and if Rick was not a suicidal loser, perhaps she'd offer herself to one of them. Sexual purity seemed like a bad choice when they'll be lucky just to survive, and Dana did not want her only sexual encounter to be as traumatic as the time she killed her mentor. An older guy that should not have touched her in the first place, but did so anyhow.

"I will study on Celtic gods if Caillin pulls it off." she promises herself.

Looking at Raff she said with a naughty smile, "Well, entire floor is muddy so... I don't know roll in it or something." She said and then turned her back to him making him feel less awkward, though she was not sure if her buttocks were less enticing to the young teen. She kneeled to the ground and started applying mud to her body.

Rolling in the mud? Well, what did he think, that she was going to rub it all over him herself? He sat down, and it was deeper than he'd thought. Just sitting had taken care of his legs and haunches. With as much dignity as possible, he rubbed it all over the tops of his legs and then his abdomen and arms, lying flat only long enough to cover his back. Then he stood up.

There was no mirror. The most sensitive parts of his anatomy still felt vulnerable. And no part of his pre-teen form was truly concealed. But he did feel much less - on display. As Dana had suggested, it was like those students that would cavort at Glastonbury in body paints. And, surprisingly, he felt a bit warmer.

Whether a film would stay on after drying or whether it would all just fall off he did not know, but for the moment it was a tiny step up.

Maya is acutely aware of how the group nudity is affecting the others and it is, of course, more noticeable with the boys. Some of the lads are looking at the girls with curiosity and others are doing everything to look away, while some of the girls are still trying to use their arms and hands to cover themselves. Surprisingly, she is a bit......saddened by Raf's clear attempt to avoid looking at her even though he seems to have no problem looking at Dana. Shaking her head, she reasons that it is normal for the young man to gravitate to the prettier girl.

Maya is glad when Dana mentions using the mud to help cover the people up and helps organize a controlled mud-roll as Dana sets the walls up and Sim keeps the fire going.

Dana thought, "perhaps it will be good for hunting, merging with the earth and masking distinctive body odors." She looked at the girls rolling around with a smile reluctant to join them until eventually she said "What the heck, I'll never finish like that" and joined the group roll. It felt good, like they were part of a little caveman tribe.

Now covered in mud the young lady started exercising, she worked what she could without a professional gym, she did push ups, sit ups and other techniques that she picked up over the years at the gym. "Strong body, with a strong mind", surprisingly others started imitating her and the physical exercise provided them with some warmth. Some of the guys were also staring but they did not seem to be all that into physical exercise. "That is not very nice of them", thought Dana but did not let it bother her.

One by one, the other girls quit exhausted going to cuddle with one another looking for a warm spot. Dana continued, and prolonged her natural stamina by carefully timing her breathings and making sure that each of them was effective and provided enough oxygen.
"If I am going to be sick, I may miss out on my exercise schedule." she thought but she did not feel sick. She felt like any girl naked and lost in the wilderness and covered in mud should feel. A bit awkward, too aware of the sexual way people are looking at her and cold.

Finally Dana was exhausted and performed stretchings to keep her muscles in good shape, ready and able for anything she might need to do. Magic had a tendency to make other people lazy, but Dana had a system to avoid it. She paid for every spell with blood and sweat. That night she cast many many spells, so her training was long. Muscles needed to be maintained and radiation poisoning was no excuse. Finally, the young elf was exhausted, and her well shaped body needed some rest, but before that she asked Maya "Maya, do you know how to fight unarmed? I could not get a decent training session since we got here. "