Flashback Food for Thought

[Anibesa]

72nd Spring, 499AV
"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

“Ani, get off the boat already! We need you.” came the words of a younger man, this one having recently turned 16.

Sighing, Anibesa grabbed her shoes and jumped from the casinor to the waist deep water and checked that the boat was anchored well enough to avoid being swept away by any currents or winds that started up.

“I come, no worry.” she called back in her broken Fratava, wading through the water in her rolled up pants. It wasn’t easy work, and she didn’t understand how the svefra moved so naturally in the water. Her attempts and wading through the water and swimming when she tried were so clumsy and awkward, while the rest of the pod were so graceful and fluid.

As she got to the shore she made her way to the two people waiting for her, Tiamon the older Svefra who Anibesa saw as being the best at almost everything. He was better than her at sailing, he was better at philtering, and she was certain he could survive in the wild without worry for much longer than she ever could. That was why Anibesa had attached herself to him so much. She got on with most of the pod, but Tiamon was the one that she found herself spending all her time with.

The other man waiting was Jiacek, a younger man who had turned sixteen earlier in the season. He’d been sent to help Tiamon and Anibesa after he’d been found to be fairly useless at gathering water.

“We do today what?” she asked, tilting her head as she looked at Tiamon before the man grinned.

“We’re going to try to get some food. Fruits and plants mostly, but if you see an animal that looks like an easy target, we can try to get that!” the older man said in response and Anibesa saw the younger man pull a face and roll his eyes.

“So we head inland more? See what find?” Anibesa asked and Tiamon nodded. Anibesa had managed to start identifying some of the fruits that they could eat, but most plants she couldn’t tell the difference between just yet.

“Yes, we’ll be heading a bit further inland, but don’t get lost. We need to keep our bearings so we can get back here. Got your compass?” the man asked, and Anibesa nodded, reaching into her backpack and retrieving the compass to show Tiamon. “Good. Jiacek, don’t try to impress me. Focus on the task at hand and don’t disappear off. We don’t have long and we don’t want to spend most of that trying to find you again!”

Anibesa heard the young man grumble something and shot him a glare aggressively in response to his disrespect before seeing him roll his eyes again, obviously disinterested by the task at hand.

Sighing, Tiamon turned towards the trees the framed the beach and headed towards them, only briefly looking over his shoulder.
“Come on then you two! Ani, check the direction we’re heading and try to remember it.” the man said and Ani set off following him, holding the compass in front of her and turning it until the arrow matched the North marker, before nodding.

“We go South East.” she said out loud, looking up to see Tiamon nod in response before slipping something into a pouch he wore around his waist.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

“I’ll bet that was a compass. He doesn’t trust you to use yours properly!” she heard Jiacek sneer and she briefly turned to swat his shoulder in response, annoyed at him.

“Shut up! You only with us because no person trust you get water!” she hissed a response, though kept close to Jiacek to make sure he didn’t run off to try and outdo anyone.

“Well you can’t even speak properly! Too dumb for that!” the boy retorted before the sound of a twig snapping caused the two to stop in their tracks.

“Would you two be quiet?” came Tiamon’s voice as he stopped and turned to look at them. “Ani, I know you’re grumpy because it’s daytime. Jiacek, don’t aggravate her!”

Instantly Anibesa turned her head to look at the ground, only briefly looking to Jiacek to see him looking away from Tiamon to avoid eye contact.

“Sorry, not again.” she said calmly before looking back up and continuing on, seeing Tiamon do the same and hearing Jiaceks heavy footsteps in the foliage. “If we loud, bad things hear us. We stay quiet, they no come us.” she said quietly this time, looking back to Jiacek to see the boy nod in response to her words, though he didn’t speak.

They continued to walk, in almost complete silence with just the sound of like footsteps and the occasional stumble from Jiacek as he caught his foot on a mound of dirt or the root of tree. Each time Anibesa stopped to glare at him, before the final time she looked up to see fruits that were slightly oval shaped with pointed ends, some were an orangeish colour, others were green, and a few more seem to have a gradient between the two colours.

“Tiamon!” she whispered shouted, just loud enough to see him stop before she pointed at the fruits growing from the upper half of the tree. “Fruit that eat.” she said, unable to recall the name of the fruits, before seeing Tiamon head towards them.

“Papaya.” Tiamon explained the word she couldn’t recall and reached out a hand to touch the tree. The fruits were just out of reach, and Tiamon sighed slightly before turning to Jiacek. “You are the lightest of us. If I lift you up can you pick the papaya and hand them to Ani?” he asked, and Jiacek nodded, grinning slightly before Tiamon handed him a small knife. “Use this to cut the stems, but be very careful! We don’t want you bleeding.”

“Blood smell bring bad things.” Anibesa said nodding slightly as she recalled Tiamon having told her something similar once, before she pulled off her backpack and carefully placed her compass into it.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

By the time she was ready, Jiacek had already been housted onto Tiamon’s shoulders, sitting on them with a leg around either side of the older mans neck as he reached up and gingerly cut a papaya from the tree. Anibesa saw a slight smirk from him and as he leaned to pass her the papaya she saw his hand open slightly, letting it drop to the floor before Ani could catch it.

“Oops.” was all the boy said and Anibesa glared at him, bending down to find that the papaya had broken into pieces as it hit the ground, and she stood up to glare at him more, seeing the boy become slightly more sheepish than she had ever seen him. “I’ll be more careful.” he said hurriedly before looking back up and starting cutting the mangos.

A few more times he dropped them though Anibesa doubted that these would be on purpose, and she rolled her eyes before Tiamon crouched down and put the boy down.

“You’re too clumsy for this. You two switch jobs!” he said and Anibesa sighed, handing Jiacek her backpack and clumsily climbing onto Tiamon’s shoulders. Her balance wasn’t as good as Jiaceks, but Tiamon seemed to be able to tell what was happening and move his position to keep her on his shoulders as she shakily reach up to grab a papaya, feeling for the stem and them holding her hand out to Jiacek for the knife.

Once the boy gave it to her she tentatively held it against the saw and started moving it back and forth until it was weakened enough for her to pull the papaya away from the tree. Carefully she twisted the fruit as she pulled, then handed it to Jiacek, trying not to move too much and shaking slightly as she felt herself slip just as Jiacek grabbed the papaya.

She managed to correct her balance, and sat up straight on Tiamon’s shoulders, reaching for a second papaya. She continued the process a few times and they had about ten papaya’s before she fell.

She had been handing Jiacek the last papaya when she’d started to slip, but this time neither her nor Tiamon could adjust their positioning before she fell backwards, landing on the ground with a thud and her legs having brought Tiamon most of the way with her, the older man no kneeling on the ground having managed to save himself from the worst of the fall.

For a few moments Anibesa was gasping for air, the force of her back on the ground knocking the wind from her lungs. She’d felt Jiacek grab her hand and pull her to her feet but she couldn’t stand up straight and bent over, hands on her knees as she wheezed her air. Someones hands were holding her shoulders to stop her falling forwards and she heard Tiamons voice.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

“Don’t worry, you’re just winded.” she heard him say. “Be more careful in the future. You moved too much and I couldn’t help you. If you’d landed badly you could have broken your neck and died!” the man said and Anibesa nodded, feeling her breathing get easier as she managed to straighten up fully. She noticed her eyes were cloudy with tears and she wiped them away quickly before Jiacek could make fun of her though soon she saw that he was the one who had been holding her shoulders to stop her falling.

“You okay?” he asked, and Anibesa nodded before she felt something crawling on her hand.

She looked down to see and ant and hurriedly she shook it, cringing inwardly at the feeling of the small insect before she heard Tiamon laugh, before he pointed at the ground towards the papayas that had been broken while Jiacek had been trying to cut them down. The fruits were swarming with ants and Anibesa felt herself shudder.

“The papaya’s are sweet, and that sweetness attracted the ants!” he exclaimed, before bending down to pick one of them up, holding it up to Anibesa and Jiacek. “See these ants. You can eat them if you’re desperately in need of food.” he explained and Anibesa shuddered again before looking away, a feeling of disgust radiating throughout her, though she did look carefully at the ant.

It was a light golden brown colour and small with long antenna and smaller pincers coming from it’s head. The sight of it wasn’t pleasant to Anibesa and then she saw Tiamon pull it away. She watched in disgust as the older man placed it into his mouth and chewed on it a few times before swallowing.

He then picked up another and handed it to Jiacek who did the same and then to Anibesa. For a few moments she looked between him and the ant in disgust before sighing and resigning herself to the task at hand, taking the ant gingerly and placing it into her mouth, biting down quickly. To her surprise the taste wasn’t bad, but she couldn’t shake the fact that she was eating an ant, and hurriedly she swallowed, cringing as she felt the now dead and chewed up ant move down her throat.

“A lot of insects can be eaten, but you should avoid some. The ones that are brightly coloured are usually poisonous. Anything that stings or bites is bad too, so avoid those!” Tiamon said and the idea of eating more insects sent another shudder through her spine.

“Why insect? They disgusting!” she exclaimed and heard Jiacek laugh at her remark before Tiamon looked at her.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

“When you’re starving in the rainforests or jungles, you will willingly eat anything to stop yourself from starving.” Tiamon said before continuing on. “Any hairy insects are usually not good to eat too, and anything like spiders or ticks that can carry disease can make you sick too.” he said. “And I doubt you’d want to, but don’t eat anything with a strong smell. That goes for a lot of plants too!”

Anibesa nodded as she listened to him carefully. Though she was with the pod now, she knew that she might outlive a lot of them and have to move on at some point, and the idea of becoming stuck somewhere alone without any source of food wasn’t one she was fond of, nor thought she’d ever be fond of.

“How Papaya we have?” she asked and then saw Jiacek pick up the backpack and count a few things, before putting the backpack back down and holding up ten fingers.

“Ten, not too bad, but we probably need more to last us until we’re next at shore. We’ll get fish and other things we can get from the sea, but it’s not fun to be stuck eating the same stuff.” Tiamon explained, before pulling out his compass and checking the direction. He started to walk, and Anibesa hurriedly took her backpack back from Jiacek and followed him, Jiacek walking alongside her.

As they walked, Anibesa kept looking around, her eyes glancing either side of her as she looked for anything that stood out, either as something that looked like it might be edible, or that might be a sign of danger.

Soon she saw something, a pretty reddish flower growing out of the ground. It was attractive and bright, it’s petals arranged in a star shaped pattern and it’s green leaves taking on the same sort of shape.

“Tiamon, what this?” she asked and Tiamon stopped and turned around, walking to her before he looked at the plant.

“I think that is what a pineapple grows from! I haven’t seen one in a while, but if I remember rightly a pineapple will grow from it one day.” Tiamon explained. “Until then, it might be best to avoid. I don’t know whether the petals or leaves are edible so it’s not worth risking it. Not now at least.” he said and Anibesa wondered if there was a way to test the plants.

“Tiamon, how do you work out what’s safe to eat and what isn’t?” she heard Jiacek ask before she could.

Anibesa saw Tiamon smile at the question before thinking for a few moments.

“It’s a long process really, you need to have a lot of whatever you want to test nearby you. And you want to make sure that they don’t have any immediate bad signs. Ani, do you remember any of those?” he asked and Anibesa thought for a moment.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

“Bad coloured sap. White cloudy, or bad colour.” Anibesa said with uncertainty as she waited for Tiamons response. When she saw the man nod, she continued on. “Smell like… like…” Anibesa stopped as she tried to think of the Fratava word before she switched to common. “Almond!” she said in the common tongue, only to see a look of confusion on Jiacek’s face, and quickly she returned to using Fratava. “Sorry, I not word know.”

“Almond.” Tiamon translated and Anibesa nodded, glad to know that she was thinking of the right thing. “Especially from the leaves and wood.” he explained to Jiacek, before turning back to Anibesa. “Any others you remember Ani?”

Anibesa thought carefully for a few moments. She knew that she knew them, but she couldn’t quite recall them, and cautiously she gave a calm “No, sorry.”

Tiamon nodded and began to speak again. “Anything with seeds inside its pods can be bad. If you taste it and it’s bitter or soapy, that’s another thing to avoid. Spines, hairs, and thorns can be a good warning sign, as can anything with a leaf pattern like… this!” Tiamon said, glancing over before he gestured towards a plant with three leaves, one pointing forwards, and two others branching off from the base of that and pointing opposite directions.

Anibesa nodded carefully, and looked around for a different plant, picking a leaf from it and checking it. No sap seemed to come from it, and if there was sap it must have been clear. The plant it came from didn’t have any seed pods, and it didn’t have any thorns. The leaves seemed to grow without caring for the whereabouts of other leaves. Sighing slightly, she sniffed the leaf to see if there was any almond sent, but there was none, instead there was a sort of sweetness.

“This would be test?” she asked and Tiamon came over, checking the leaf over and the plant it came from before nodding.

“That’s good. So first you’d see if it is poisonous to touch. For that you’d crush it and hold it on your hand for 15 chimes. 8 bells later you can be sure that it isn’t poisonous to touch.” he said calmly and almost instantly Anibesa dropped the leaf, instantly checking her hands.

“If it is it won’t be anything too bad. Just itching and rashes really.” Tiamon chuckled slightly at Anibesa before he started walking. “Come on then you two, it’s about time we head back. We didn’t get much but there were others foraging too, and some others were hunting.”

“What hunting?” Anibesa asked, and Tiamon sighed, obviously getting tired of questions.

“Like fishing but for things that aren’t in the water. We find the animals and we kill them.” he explained and Anibesa nodded, before following him, making sure that Jiacek was following too, glad to see that the boy hadn’t tried to disappear off for anything.

[Okara]

Grades and Awards Anibesa Experience Observation 5 Land Navigation 1 Socialization 1 Wilderness Survival 5 Foraging 2 Botany 1 Lores Land Navigation: Using a Compass to Mark Direction Wilderness Survival: Move Quietly to Avoid Alerting Predators Foraging: Papaya, Appearance and Harvesting Wilderness Survival: Ants are Edible Wilderness Survival: Avoid Brightly Colored Insects, They May be Poisonous Wilderness Survival: Avoid Strongly Smelling Plants Botany: Flowering Stage of a Pineapple Plant Wilderness Survival: Signs of Poisonous Plants Wilderness Survival: How to Test if a Plant is Poisonous to Touch Notes This was a fun WS training thread and I enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed Anibesa’s exchanges with Jiacek, it added a lot of humor and personality to the thread. Please let me know if I missed any specific lores you were looking for, Tiamon gave lots of advice and I tried to get it all. Please edit your post in your grade request to reflect that it has been graded. PM me with any questions.