Welcome to Gaia! ::

"A Candle is always hungry, but comes with its own food..." Tiki said, trailing off. There were occaisions when overreaching metaphors didn't apply, but in this particular case he hadn't noticed in time.

:: Suddenly realizing that this young lady need not be left outside overnight, he began fiddling with the tent she had brought, trying to set it up correctly. ::

:: Tiki continues to struggle with the tent more and more ferverantly until it reaches a low-key frenzy, and suddenly he has it perfectly constructed. Except that it is inside out. He squints at the tent and tackles it again, trying to set the darn thing up. ::

:: Tiki really could use help, but was too proud to admit it, or was at least making a show of being too proud to admit it. He finally erected the tent, strining it up to a dead limb he found on the ground to replace the pole which was too short. He took a few moments to catch his breath and calm down. ::

"Thank you, kind lady, but no, your place of sleep for the evening has been secured," Tiki said with a slight bow.

:: Tiki had already eaten but was curious to know how the stew tasted... he took a sip. It WAS hot, it almost singed his tongue, but quite good. He ate the rest of it quickly and with a sort of intrigued interest, as though trying to learn which bits tasted like what... ::

"Thank you very much, but you keep it for youreself. As Tiki said, "A candle is always hungry, but comes with it's own food", see... I brought some fruit!" *Produces three of the fruit he had found earlier, while tracking down Tiki and Avariel* "If you guys want any, you can have some. Thery're kinda big. (About 1.5 times the size of a grapefruit)"
*Trent had noticed a slight jinggling coming from Tiki's direction, so he looked over and saw a necklace around Tiki's neck, and thought..."Ooooo, Tiki's got a giiiiiirlfriend! blaugh ", but decided not to tease him.*

:: Seeing that Avariel was offended, Tiki quickly seized the bowl Trent had refused and quaffed it. It was good stuff, but that wasn't why he had done so. Ha dropped the bowl by Trent's lap. ::

"I'm sorry, that was soooo good, Miss!" Tiki called, mimicking Trent's voice somewhat poorly, hoping Avariel wouldn't notice the difference if she had only heard Candle's voice twice.

"But... I... I just..." for the first time in his life, Tiki had nothing to say. He looked at Trent for a good, hard second and liberated the necklace from his neck. He didn't care particularly if he was killed now. Before Candle could stop him, he ha bounded off into the woods. No more humanity. He was sick of social interaction... all he ever did was screw things up for people.

*Knowing that what he had just done had been the biggest screw up in his life, since he had awoke, not a month ago. He didn't know what to do. He sat and stared at the now-empty bowl, knowing that tiki had just sacrificed so much for his and her sake.* (Talking to himself) " I didn't mean to offend anyone. I meant to do the opposite. I didn't want to intrude on their food so I was... It doesn't matter now. It's done. All I, we, can hope for now is things to work out on their own... without me. cry "
*Trent stands up, lays the three fruits on the ground, and slowly walks away.*