A brisk wind blew softly through the tent, Avery turned as a beam of morning light sent slivers of light flashing off his crude silver necklace. A stray sunbeam broke through the top of the tent, falling onto Luna's exposed form. Accented by her pale hair, Avery carefully observed the slight blush of her exposed breasts, tinged by the morning chill. He softly propped himself up on his elbow, listening to Luna's breathing. Luna murmured some inaudible phrase, wrapping herself in a cocoon of blankets. Avery smirked to himself, rolled out of bed, and filled the bowl on the nightstand to wash his face. His face stared back at him, his Grey eyes tired as his twenty years suddenly seemed a bit too young. He gently paced to Luna's side, sweeping the hair off her face, and planting a quick kiss on her forehead. He then proceeded to throw on his clothes, walking out the cloth door into the morning sunlight. The Bandits cheered as Avery walked to them, perched on on carved benches around the crackling fire they waited for their favorite person: Chef Avery. Someone gruffly ruffled Avery's hair, "Avery, fix us some tea will you?" Callum asked, his trademark idiotic grin stretching his egg-like head. "In a minute" Avery answered, placing potatoes in a corner of the fire where he found some ideal coals. He took the bread off the rack, passing it out, hanging the kettle over the fire and dug in his pockets for some mint. "I guess our poor boy didn't get much sleep, I like my rest too much to envy you..." he passed Torri a clay mug of Mint Tea, trying not to smile as she smugly teased him. He speared a golden-brown potato as he seated himself on the bench, laughing at the terrible jokes that she always reserved for him. He greeted Brent and Oliver as they sat down, watching Avery prepare the soup for lunch. "So that's when all my fishin' baits bin going, why can't you ever fix us some meat?" Oliver lamented in his typical drawl. "Never seen you not eat your soup Oliver, besides you can't fish here, we left the last river weeks ago." "Anyway, we had meat yesterday" Avery said replacing the rapidly diminishing potatoes. The giant cat slunk into view, as Thorn affectionately styled Avery's hair with his rough tongue. "Yeah, yeah here you go" the young man said, heaving a cow's leg into the cat's sleepy maw. The creature curled itself around his, producing an amazing surround-sound of sharp teeth on bone. "See look at him, givin' all our food to that cat, the nerve of the man!" Avery shot a smirk at Oliver, trying to escape Luna's affectionate pet; he caught a glimpse of the fabric screen of Luna's tent rustled, and a sleepy Luna walked out. She sat next to Torri, who instantly produced a brush, running it through the older girl's hair. "You really are hopeless Luna, can't ever do your hair in the morning" Torri said, holding her head high as she insulted Luna. "Hmmmm" Luna murmured, as the group waited in tense silence for Torri's typical exploit. Brent laughed, the normally silent man grinning. "See, this works every morning; this daft girl never hears a thing until after her tea..." Torri had just turned to find the mug empty, as Luna cracked her knuckles. "which daft girl, Sweety?" Luna asked, pulling the brunette's short, choppy hair. "Avery, you up for some archery practice?" Oliver asked, dragging his eyes from Torri's punishment. "I never get why you two bother with bows, it's a cowards weapon." Luna said; having done her share of light abuse, as she contently brushed the younger girl's hair. Oliver frowned, "I bet you're terrible at archery Luna, you should stick to brushing your hair." He said, noting the confident smirk she gave in response. "Well, If I can do what your best archer does, Avery needs to cook me something nice." She said, shaking the brush at the two men. "Hang on… What do I have to do with this" Avery interrupted, thinking of the amount of food he made every day. "Well..." Luna said counting on her fingers, "You are the only one who can cook, I suppose your the best archer… And I wouldn't mind having you around." His heart skipped a beat, "Sounds like I need to start practicing If I want any chance of winning." Avery said, as he and Oliver left for the makeshift archery range. Oliver stopped and turned to face the girls. "What do we get If we win the bet? I almost forgot to ask." Torri feigned disappointment, "We almost had that Sucker too… Why do you always make bets with the smart ones, Luna?" Luna raised an eyebrow, "Well, what would you like… Anything within reason works." Avery and Oliver's faces lit up, as a goofy smile appeared on Avery's face. He quickly whispered something to Oliver, who gave a short laugh as Luna hopelessly tried to listen. "Ok, if you lose, you'll need to give Thorn a wash." Avery said, trying to keep a straight face. Torri gasped, "Of course, you know Luna will have a real struggle; we all know Thorn really hates water..." "So we meet at the river one league back, or no deal." Oliver cut in snootily, swinging his hips mockingly as he passed Luna. "Come now Oliver, we must prepare for our crushing defeat." Oliver stated, pompously leering at Torri. The younger girl threw the brush at him, missing the lanky spider-like frame that defined Oliver. "Don't come back!" Torri yelled, as Avery turned and waved, as Oliver pocketed the hairbrush.
"Hmmm, have you decided on a guy you like yet?" Torri asked, placing her head on Luna's lap. "I'm so jealous, you have an amazing body and could have any man you liked." Torri added, using it as an excuse to prod Luna's curves. "You like Oliver right?" Luna said, cutting to the chase and making the other girl blush. Torri started to protest, her short hair covering her green eyes. Luna quickly interrupted Torri's protests: "Just tell him how you feel, he really is a nice guy, even if he acts nasty most of the time." Torri just nodded as Luna felt an urge to hug her friend, she decided to squeeze the girl's breasts instead. "See, you feel lovely and look just as good!" Luna exclaimed, giving the delayed hug and forcing Torri to smile. Luna looked up as the sun reached the highest point in the sky, blocked out as Thorn slunk into view. A scroll of crude paper had been tied to the cat, a little bow of rough leather held he parchment in place. Luna plucked the message from Thorn, letting Torri stroke the cat as she read the letter. Luna grinned at the 'Dearest Commander' and, what seemed to be a formal polite challenge written in Avery's cursive. The smile grew as as she read the closing line: 'Get that nice ass of yours over here', written in what seemed to Oliver's attempt at writing. "What does it say?" Torri asked, craning her neck to get a good view of the letter. "It says to kindly bring my bum to archery practice and, to decide the fate of Thorn's bathing." She commented swinging herself and Torri onto Thorn, earning a growl from the cat at the word "bathing". They arrived, at what looked to be the only grove in the endless plain. The broad grasslands spanning beneath the highland-grove, the woods colored by straw targets which peppered the forest shade. Luna noticed the a small target 30 meters from where Avery was standing, each arrow finding it's mark as he silently let out his breath and, released the arrow. "Doesn't look to hard!" Luna announced, as she quickly reached where Avery was standing, taking away his bow. The arrow slipped out of her hand, missing Avery's soft toed boots by a few millimeters. She felt embarrassed, as he bend over and handed her the razor broad-head; smiling gently as he showed her how to nock the arrow to the string. Luna ignored Oliver, who laughed even harder as her next shot impaled the tree above the target. She felt Avery respectfully correct her stance, turning her left hip toward the target. Luna felt a flush of heat run through her, as she noticed how gently he guided her with his muscular frame. She felt oddly protected and safe as Oliver and Torri's bickering became inaudible. "Thunk!" The arrow had hit the target, causing Oliver to turn in surprise. "Sounds like I need to start baking." Avery said feigning disappointment, as he ran his hand through his long hair. Luna discreetly trailed her fingers down his collarbone, gaining back her confidence as she made him blush. "Oyy, I haven't even shot yet!" "Don't you worry Avery, that cat will get washed if It's the last thing I do." Oliver proclaimed, stomping his way over to the target. He rapidly took his stance, shot three arrows in quick succession and clustered the target's bullseye. "Poor Thorn." Torri said, shaking her head in amazement.