Welcome to Gaia! ::

Garret heard her words of assurance, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he should've known, should've done something. He faced the ocean and crossed his arms, frowning sullenly. After a short moment, he sighed, deciding that it was a waste of time to worry about things he couldn't change. There were still things that he could change that were more deserving of his attention. Like she said, he had been gone before the metal contraption had even touched the water. Nevertheless, he felt the guilt of the pilot's death would hang on his mind for a while yet.

Remembering Heidi was still there, he swiveled around to face her and the fire again. Embarrassed yet again, he ducked his head and shook his hair over his eyes. Gesturing to the bubbling pot, age muttered, "Perhaps we should eat. The stew should be done." Garret shuffled back to it, eyes stuck resolutely on his feet. He plopped back down in the sand and ladled hot stew into bombs for them both. "Where had you been going in your, um, plane?" He desperately need a change of topic.

Garret stirred his stew and took a few bites. It really was a pity she hadn't made it to her father. Being separated from family like this couldn't be easy, but she seemed to be taking it in stride. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be somehow completely cut off from his tribe. They were all a big family on the island, and though he'd chosen to build his home a bit far from everyone else, he certainly didn't wish to lose touch with them entirely.

He coughed a bit, swallowing his bite of stew wrong, when she asked her question. "You want to learn to hunt?" He didn't really know how to teach anyone anything; he'd never had to before! Also, if she couldn't change form to an animal that had more natural hunting abilities, how could she possibly succeed? "I can try to teach you I guess, but I'm not sure how successful I'll be. If you really want to, we can try tomorrow." I guess if I just teach her what I watch out for and do while I'm in a predator body, it could work. He gathered up there bowls and set them to the side.

Garret tapped his finger on his chin. He hadn't really thought about what to do with the rest of the day. On a normal day, he would spend the morning gathering and hunting food, repairing anything of his that needed fixing, and maybe spending his afternoon running around in different forms. He might've gone with a friend from the village for a run or swim. Today however, nothing needed fixing and he didn't want to leave Heidi alone.

Suddenly, the perfect idea struck him. "We can go take some food to my aunt. She's old and I sometimes bring her fruits and meat in exchange for bread and cakes. There's plenty of stew left over and we can gather fruit for her on the way. And she lives apart from the rest of our people, so you won't have to run into anyone else." His Aunt Marnia lived in a spacious hut Garret had helped her build years ago, at the southwest edge of the jungle. It wasn't a far walk. The older woman was quite blind and spent most of her time gathering herbs for medicine by smell and touch.