Stardate: Thank you, and I'm considering more Wolf. Or rather, she's pestering me to put more of her in...lol.
Wolf:P
SoulMama: Yay me, Im smart. No questions yet, Im just trying to get this chapter out.
phantomix: woot, a new fan! Thanks, and if you get your story up, I'll check it out (may not review, i'm horrible at it...)
Quote: There's too much blood in my caffiene system. --Anon.
Chapter 8
I punch the code in tot he number panel next tot he Big Door, happy that it opens on my first attempt. Happy feelings die, however, when I enter the room to find that the only other person here is Wolverine.
"Nice that yer on time."
"Hey," I snap at him, "I don't give ya grief about the down sides of yer powers, so don't give me any bout mine."
His face darkens for a moment but that passes by the time he responds, "Fair 'nuff. And check yer attitude."
I growl under my breath, sure that he heard it. I'm in an irritable mood and he isn't improving it. It wasn't that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, just that I get Insomnia occasionally, added to my roommate--can't remember her name, it started with a D...or maybe an S...--anyway, she was a restless sleeper and if I even started to doze I was jerked awake by her tossing and turning.
The door swooshed open again and Conner and Ana walk in, followed closely by Amber. Joseph arrives before the door has a chance to close. "Come and sit down," we're instructed. "Today, yer gonna see how well ya work as a team." He punches a couple numbers on what looks like a TV remote control and the area around us shimmers. I tanse, ready to jump to my feet and then we're in a forest. Great. Stupid trees. "Built a fire, get some grub," he motions toward a small stream behind him, "make a shelter. Use powers if they work ta yer advantage. Be careful. All 'o this?" he gestures with a wave of his hand, "is real enough."
While I'm processing this new form of training, Wolverine just ups and leaves. "Ya got one hour," We all here coming from everywhere and no where at once.
"All right..." Joseph seems to take the lead, "who knows how to catcha fish?" Silence.
"Hey," Amber smiles and searches the circle, passing me once until her eyes finally lock on me, "Cougar's got claws and stuff," She beams t me and my stomach drops, "Can't you catch a fish?"
I sigh loudly. Lets all pick on the cat freak. "I can try, but the only fishin' I've ever done was with a pole." I shake my head but by then Joseph's already nodded Alright, so much for my say.
"Ok. who can build a fire?" No one raises a hand. I try to speak up, but no one's listening, as usual. "Well, I can built a shelter, all we'll need is the fire."
Amber interrupts his little leader role, "I can lend you a hand with that, or well, a mind I guess."
"Then Ana and I can work on the fire-making, " Conner offers.
The group splits up quickly and I sigh. I don't wanna catch fish. I have a problem with killing bugs. Bad Karma. So I peer into the water. Don't know what I'm expecting, a salmon run or something? The occasional fish I'd caught on the island were in small pools left from the tides. I wade upstream and look for some shallow area. I don't see any fish. "Yea, screw this," I say after about fifteen minutes of getting my pants wet. I head back down stream and notice a small wild rose bush. I study it for a moment before remembering that the rose hips are edible. They taste horrible, but they're supposedly high in nutritional value. So I gather two handfuls, getting poked alot. I search the ground and see some dandilions. Their leaves are edible too. I search some more and come across a patch of a weed that grew readily in our gardents back home. I know that its also safe to eat, a little chewy, but almost flavored like kale. So I gather leaves and find some nuts and find some alfalfa to strip. I carry my salade back to our little camp site in my sweatshirt, getting there in time to hear Joseph complain.
"..and we made the shelter. It can't be that hard to start some stupid fire. Hit some rocks together."
Conner is standing and shaking his head, "Yea, but the shelter was easy, you could use your powers. N o one here has fire powers." He doesn't sound mad. I would be.
"Rocks prolly won't work less you got flint and steel." I didn't expect myself to talk, but I guess I just did.
I recieve a slightly annoyed look from Joseph, but instead he comments, "Where's the fish?"
"Didn't catch one. We're eating salade tonight," I reveal my leaves, which, I might add, I'm rather proud of.
"You didn't catch a fish? How can you NOT?"
He looks so indignant that I have to laugh at him. So I do. "Just cuz I look like I'm half cat doesn't mean I am."
Apparently he doesn't like me laughing at him. "So you picked a bunch of leaves? Great skills."
Resisting the urge to growl, I respond, "I've never hunted before, what do you expect? I told ya I couldn't fish."
Amber tries to stand between us, "Come on guys, we don't have time for this--"
She goes ignored as Joseph shoots back, "Never hunted, huh? You just come here to kill people."
Inwardly I wince. I knew my little revelation would come back to bite. My voice comes out harshly when I reply, "Better get yer ears checked, that's the second time you've heard wrong." He frowns but I continue, "One: I just said I was SENT here to kill. Didn't say I was gonna. Two: Wolverine said to get 'food'. Not 'fish'."
Conner joins Amber, facing Joseph, "She's got a point, you know. She did her best, no use giving her crap about it."
"Fine," the other boy spits, like the very word has a nasty taste to it. I figgure he's one of those people who never likes to be proved wrong and most likely didn't like who did the proving.
"UGG!" Ana grunts with frustration and throws a stick down into the stream, "I give up!"
I realize that through the conversation she'd kept working on the fire.
"Oh, honey," Amber sits next to the Mexican girl with a smile,"don't worry about it."
"Anyone see Cast Away?" I ask, getting odd looks. Hey, at least they can see me. "He started a fire one it?" I make it a question but still recieve blank look. "Well, I missed that part too, but I've read about making drill fires. "I decide its for the best not to mention Black Stone and exile Island.
"Now! Now you tell us you can make a fire!" good ole Joe throws up his hands and goes back to the impressive shelter. Bully for him.
"I don't 'know' now, its just an eduated guess. How much time we got left?" I turn from my bickering to...well, anyone else.
Ana sighs loudly, "twenty minutes."
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, "K," I start, "We need some dry, shredded grass, dry pine needles, the inner bark of a tree and some sticks and twigs." Everything is fetched quick enough while I find a drilling stick and a flat piece of bark. Like an annoying flashback, I go over the steps to making my fire. Deciding to act ignorant, I give semi-vague instructions. When I demonstrate the drilling technique, I hardly notice my claws cutting into my palms. I was used to it.
Amber wasn't. "Oh, my gosh, look at your hands, here," she takes the stick away from me.
"They're fine," I quickly wipe them off on my jeans, really, very little blood, as I'd only just started. I hide my scarred palms from her quick eyes. They don't need to know that part of my life. No one does, as far as I'm concerned. Course, if I ever get a private moment with Wolf, I'd probably blab about it for a week.
Evertually, though, we all team up, sort of, and get the bloody fire going. Its hardly going for a minute before Wolverine practically appears among us. "Time's Up." Everyone jumps, including me; Ana gives a little yelp of surprise and Conner curses under his breath. "You picked a good spot for camp, high ground," he walks around the shelter and in it, "good shelter." He looks through the small stack of wood piled down wind of the fire. I'd already gone through and discarded any green wood. "How'd you start it?" Conner holds up the drill that we hadn't burned yet and explains the the procedure. Our mentor nods. "Good. I'll teach ya another way ta do it with a single person. Food?"
I hand him the big bowl-which Joseph made out of vines-filled with my gatherings.
He smirks at it, "What's this?"
"Food." I say back plainly.
He picks up a dandilion leaf, "What? Vegetarian?"
I actually scoff, "Hardly. But the fish outsmarted me." The last part catches him off guard. Good. It's hard to get under the skin of someone who ridicules herself. Some call it low self esteem, I call it battle techniques.
"How sure are ya that these are even edible?" he's watching me a little too closely and I realize that I'd been unnoticed until I handed him the bowl. He doesn't trust me. The idia almost made me laugh. Almost.
I take the bowl from his hands and hold up a dandilion leafe, "Tastes pretty good, better with ranch dressing, of course. The root can be baked and ground then brewed like coffee, supposedly tasting similar." I hold up a rose hip, "nasty as heck but chocked full of vitimins and nutrients. Its an emergency food cuz it doesn't have to be cooked and stays on the plant all winter long." The alfalfa was held up next, "very bland, making it an emergency food. Good for tea if its mixed with mint. The flowers can be fried. Good for the heart." I hold up the weed last, "Strong taste like kale or spinach. The seeds can be gathered and ground into a flour that supposedly makes good pancakes." I put the bowl down, surprised at myself for remembering all of that.
"Whoa," Amber says with her New York accent (though I'm not sure which one, exactly). "I'm convinced."
The man stares at me, not hostile, which was a first, but more like he's gauging the truth to my words. "Good 'nuff. Team's got an A." He looks away, "Computer, End Program 5172-E." Our surroundings dissolve and I tense. I'm dissapointed, tho, when the trees are reduced to unfriendly metal walls. "Go ta lunch," We're dismissed.
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Too long? Too short? Sorry, its the best I can do, I've been typing these after midnight all weekend. Hope ya like it. Happy Easter!
