Reflection by the fire [Pvt / Invite only]

Night time. It was peaceful, to say the least. The fire softly crackled, a hooded shadow sitting close by the glow of said campfire, holding a stick above it with several strips of meat tied to it. A cleaver stuck in a small, bloodstained log. Rabbit's hide hanging to dry on a branch overlooking the fire. The skin would be smoked and usable to create a new waterskin, his old one was getting worse for wear.

Azul sat there, hunched over, just blankly staring into the fire. Lost in thought. His legs crossed, his fingers laced together. Though both his ears were raised, trying to catch any noise of a predator closing in. Twitching back and forth ever so slightly. At least it was a dry night, an open fire was in order. And he could properly prepare hsi meal without having his shelter smell of charred wood, ashes and smoke. He pulled up the stick slightly and grabbed a small pouch of rice, opening it and throwing it in a small pot of boiling water. Rice and charred rabbit meat. For the umpteenth day already.

He snorted softly and sat back, slowly stretching his arms and cracking a yawn. Twisting his neck slightly for it to let out the audible pops of his spine. Rolling his shoulders before looking back at the fire. He brought up both his hands and softly slapped both his cheeks, before shaking his head.

It was nighttime in Finnek Forest. Cynthia had been out in the forest tracking down some wild boar. She had received information from some of the locals that the wild boar was quite tasty. This information piqued Cynthia’s interest so she spent her Saturday tracking down her prey. It was quite tough since Cynthia was horrifically bad when it comes to her skills in stealth. After a few hours of the boars giving her the run around, Cynthia managed to catch one with one of her improvised explosive traps. Luckily for her, the boar was far enough from the blast that the concussive wave was enough to kill it without damaging the exterior.

After bagging her kill, Cynthia then turned around and headed for home. However, it had gotten dark already, so she began searching for a clearing where she can step up a fire or something.

After walking around for a while, Cynthia saw the signature outline of a camp and a flickering of a campfire. This was odd since Cynthia didn’t expect for someone to be camping out there. So, she spent some time watching the camp to see if it was inhabited. She didn’t want a repeat of what happened in her dorm room. After about am hour of watching, she caught sight of a male who was busy at the campfire.

“Hmm… I wonder if he would mind me joining him for the night.”Cynthia thought quietly as she approached the camp of the male she saw earlier. As she approached the camp, she saw a small wooden sign near the camp. Instead of continuing onto the camp, she knocked on the piece of wood with the back of her fist in order to get the male attention.

The cracking of twigs made his ears twitch. And the knocking on the signpost followed immediately after. He rose to his feet, spinning around and immediately kicking some dirt on the logs, causing the fire to sputter and die out. He jumped up and grabbed a branch, immediately pulling himself up, his hand moving inside his cloak to grasp at a small vial of dust. And he just watched, silent for a moment, before his ears flattened against the fabric of his hood. "Who are you?" He requested. "And what do you want from me?" He questioned after, before swallowing softly. "I don't want any trouble." His voice was cold, though the fear was audible. Though it wasn't really the fear of another person.

It was more the fear of one person in particular. As if he was speaking to someone he knew to be his killer. Girl or no girl. Age didn't matter either. Race was what he had to estimate a guess to. If she was Faunus, she'd know exactly where he was, due to improved night vision. However, a human was less to be feared. After all, the white fang wouldn't send a human to clean up their mess, now would they?

Cynthia didn’t see or hear much initially as she knocked on the signpost. A few seconds later, she heard the sounds of somebody rustling around in the camp and the sound of the fire dying out. A few moments later, Cynthia heard a voice call out loudly to her. From what Cynthia could tell, it was coming from inside the camp. Soon after, she was bombarded by questions. Among them were “Who are you?” and “What do you want with me?”. She could tell by the tone of the person’s voice that she had caught off guard. After taking a few moments to think of the situation, Cynthia then spoke in a calm fashion.

“My name is Cynthia Testarossa Schwarzchild and I am a student at Syne Academy. I was out hunting a boar that was causing trouble for the people of the city. It has gotten dark and I saw your camp. I am just asking if I could stay there for the night.” Cynthia explained calmly

A fellow student. A moment of silence from Azul, loosening his grip around the vial of dust. "Are you faunus?" He questioned again. While he didn't see any stereotypical traits like his own ears on Cynthia, there were far more disguisable traits a faunus could have. And he didn't really care whether he came across as a racist or not. He was Faunus himself after all. It just lessened the chance of this Cynthia being said assassin from the white fang.

Though she was eerily calm. And from what he could see, roughly the same age. While it didn't surprise him that people his age were recruited, same went for him after all, it did tell him that the chances of someone that would end his life prematurely was not her.

With a soft hop, he landed to the ground again, moving back to the fire. Slowly trying to get it alight again. "If you so with to spend the night," he glanced up at the skies, then back at Cyntha. "Though I have no shelter for you. And I promise you it'll be cold out. Even with the fire." As the fire started again, he moved over to rearrange the pot on the fire again. "Have you eaten yet?"

A few moments later, Cynthia heard the young man in the camp ask her if she was a faunus. This question caught Cynthia off guard for a bit. However, Cynthia could pick up a hint of tension in the young man's voice. However, Cynthia expected this since she did surprise him somewhat by appearing suddenly at his camp.

"I am not a faunus. I am a pure blooded human. I am not here to hurt you." Cynthia replied calmly and reassuringly to the young man's question about her race. After a few moments, Cynthia saw a shadow of a young man hop up as he began to relight the fire which has nearly died out. Soon after, the young man invited her in. However, he warned her that he had no extra shelter for her and that is will be cold out. Cynthia didn't mind that since she was used to very cold weather. Cynthia had been trained in near-arctic combat. Finally, he asked if she had eaten yet.

"I haven't eaten yet. However, I do have a boar with me that. If you don't mind, I'll be glad to cook it and share it with you." Cynthia replied to the young man's final question before walking closer to the young man's camp.

I'm not here to hurt you. Sounds familiar. Azul shook the thoughts off, deciding to rather focus on the boiling pot of rice. Glancing at the half roasted strips of rabbit meat and sighing. Deciding to drop them in the pot as well. Adding some herbs and mushrooms he picked earlier. He glanced back at Cynthia, an eyebrow arching behind a large strand of hair. "Do you decide to skin, gut and fillet that thing now? It's too late. You wouldn't see what you were doing and end up poisoning the meat by slicing into the bladder or liver, for example." He let out a soft sigh, adjusting his position by the fire from a kneeled position to a seated one.

Fox ears twitching as the soft boiling of water reached his ears. Good, he gave it another few minutes to properly boil the rice. "Besides, I have my own meal settled, thank you very much." He'd much rather eat what he snared and caught himself, with what he brought himself. He'd hate to end up poisoned, face down in a ditch. His ears seemed to twitch as Cynthia approached, his body language settling on wary, borderline paranoid. Shuffling around moving to put the fire between himself and Cynthia. An effect of this being that she still didn't have a clear sight of his face. Just shadow and contortions. Let's also not forget the large braid that stuck out from underneath the hood.

"Don't worry. I know how to gut and clean an animal." Cynthia replied confidently as she walked into the camp and sat down in front of Azul for a bit. From his body language, Cynthia could tell that he was being paranoid as hell. In particular, Azul was trying to obscure his face from her view which told told Cynthia that he was in fear of someone or something.

"Your body language tells me that you are afraid of someone and you are running away from them. Am I correct?" Cynthia asked calmly as she got up and walked over to a secluded part of the camp where she began gutting and cleaning the boar she had caught earlier. Cynthia made sure to be extremely careful around the internal organs of the boar. After cleaning the boar and slicing the meat into many clean portions, Cynthia then walked into the forest for a bit to bury the innards away from the camp. After completing this, she returned to the fire and began broiling the meat by hanging it from sticks on the edge of the fire.

"I trust you do," Azul answered with a sigh. "I don't trust you're able to in the dark." He glanced up at Cynthia, his pose shrinking as he focussed back on the flames, letting out a soft huff. Poking a stick in and sporadically checking on the rice. Deciding they were well enough, he took the pot off and took out a small sift, putting it ontop of the pot, pouring out the boiling water to the side, while keeping the rice, spices and mushrooms, aswell as the rabbit in. It wasn't nescessarily a feast, but it'd to in a pinch.

Using his index and middle finger, as well as a thumb, he started to eat. He glanced back at Cynthia, who was now busy with the boar. Another reason he didn't want her to gut and skin her creature in the camp was to keep the stench of blood away. It drew in predators. "Why else do you think I'm sitting here, not having a dorm?" He let out a bitter chuckle, shaking his head. Ears flattening against his skull. "Much rather not talk about it, though." There was nothing to gain from not admitting it after all.