Welcome to Gaia! ::

The rats squeaked a bit in her bag as she looked around, she spotted some rocks that looked edible. Not that she was fond of eating rocks but it had to do since there wasn't anything she was used to cooking with here anyway. She picked some up and put them in her pockets, careful to keep them in the left side ones since that was the side with less damage.

Edible Rocks mmmm xD

Draven continued looking. He already had a sand rat, now he just needed two more things, so he kept his eyes peeled as he walked over the sand. He was absentmindedly poking at the sand rat bite when he saw something quite neat. An oasis.

Draven eyed the waters of this little place. He'd never seen an oasis before, and it was rather interesting. After taking it in for a moment, he decided that gathering some of the water would be a good idea...and far easier than catching that rat had been.

So, Draven moved closer to the water, preparing to gather some of the clear, nice stuff. They were cooking...he didn't want mud, right? Well. He never got any of that clean water. As he leaned over, he was suddenly very aware of the fact that some strange creatures, that looked quite grumpy, were headed his way. He'd already been bitten once today, so Draven backed off.

Water could be quite useful, though. He did want some. Maybe...maybe he could take some from the edges of the spring? It seemed like a decent idea, and much safer. So he did. So what if it had a little bit of mud in it? It was still water.

[ 1. Sand Rat
2. Murky Water ]

The ghoul was apprehensive. Her and cooking? Her relationship with her lower limbs was more peaceful than with cooking. If she had known this was what the class she would be signing up for she would have thought twice! It wasn't that she was a disaster in the kitchen, it was that she just didn't enjoy it. She preferred to be the one tasting the dishes, not the one slaving over a stove or Jack forbid fire for the meal.

But she couldn't do anything about it now, could she? She trailed behind the rest of the students, wondering just what she had gotten herself into. When they were told to gather ingredients, Tess' instincts had her going for the clear water. Except her movement seemed to have incited the anger of salamanders. "Oooh fresh meat? Not bad," she decided, deftly picking at the slow moving creatures.

In the end, Tess had to settle for the murky water rather than the clear portion of the spring. Ah well, maybe the water will be... tastier this way. And now that she had her three ingredients, it was time to store them. Oh but the salamanders were still wriggling and trying to bite their way free. Tsk, tsk, when she thought no one was looking, she grabbed one by its tiny neck, and with her thumb firmly on top of the lizard's head, she pressed down until an audible pop of tiny bones. Then she repeated it with the other salamander.

That certainly settled the squirming and with that, she went to store the ingredients until morning. Maybe she had enough time to catch up to a certain dragon boil!

((2x Salamanders
1x Murky water))

They were going to cook here?

Well, JD supposed, if you thought sand was a flavoring agent, this was probably the kitchen for you. And judging by the name of the clan, eating probably wasn't a major factor. Whatever, just because he didn't NEED to eat didn't mean he didn't LIKE TO, and he was sort of hoping he'd get better than standard school cafeteria fare while on their little vacay. His hopes were currently being dashed against some rocks and sand dunes.

Literally.

He jumped with surprise as the pile of rags in the center of the little hollow started speaking. He squinted, staring rather rudely and trying to make out something beneath the layers and layers of fabric. Ugh, this was just awful. On top of living in a CAVE the ladies here didn't leave the house without putting on their entire wardrobe. He wondered how long it took her to get dressed in the morning. Hell, he wondered if she even bothered. Maybe she just wore the clothes until they rotted off. Grody.

And then she addressed him. What had she been saying? Jack, that look of hers was unnerving. Poison, eh?

JD gulped and suddenly vowed to fast for the rest of his stay here.

Whatever, apparently they were expected to like, gather their own food. This concept was a particularly alien one to JD. What did raw food even look like? Did they have little burgers on legs that just ran around here?

It turned out that that was NOT QUITE how the universe worked. The food had legs, sure, but it was connected to a nasty hairy body ending in a wormlike tail... He checked the list to be sure, but yes, Rat was on there. Under edible. He was pretty sure this was a typo, but hefted a rock and brained the nasty looking thing anyway. He scooted it over to the growing pile of ingredients with his boot. There was NO WAY he was picking that up. Then again...Well, compared to "Edible Rocks" and "Very Angry Salamanders", it was probably five star fare.

Ugh.

On her way back, with two ingredients she thought were acceptable, she very nearly lost them both as she tripped over a rock. Using luck, thank you luck, she managed to keep the flowers and water precariously close to her. Though the teetered and tottered in her hand.

She looked down at the assiliant and studied it...It would be okay for her last ingredient wouldn't it? Bending it down, she added it too her pile and headed back to where Dharu waited, setting her ingredients on the small sandy cavern where the horsewoman was before heading back into the caverns. Tired and a little hungry now. Go figure.

Ingredients: Wasteland Flowers x1, Murky Water x1, Edible Rocks x1

As he meandered farther and farther from the class area, rocks still shoved in his pants, he realized something.

He was like, literally dying of thirst.

Seriously, the harsh wind whipping against his face had long since dried his lips to the point where they felt like old parchment. He was probably going to have like, brush burns on his nips from the damn sand backlash. And he hadn't had anything to drink in quite some time. In fact, he really couldn't remember the last time he'd had a chance to eat or drink anything.

Fortunately, his wanderings had brought him near the oasis. Which in turn, presented a very different problem. There was a vast body of water there, perfect and sparkling... And wholly out of reach. The instant he started to slush through the damp sands, intending to reach the shore, a chorus of hisses erupted around him. Apparently even the nicer parts of the island had found ways to secretly suck. A small army of salamanders seemed to be very deeply offended by his intentions and his arrival. Eventually he gave up, and had to gulp down a few handfuls from a puddle. The salamanders in turn settled down to sunbathe.

Bastards.

As an afterthought, JD took off his cape and dipped it in the puddle. He'd like...wring it out into a bowl or something when he got back, he supposed. Blech.

(1x Sand Rat, 1x Edible Rocks)

Holding up the struggling rat with one hand, Jove examined the nearby area. It had to survive somehow, right? If animals were around, there had to be some source of food.

He pawed at the sand the rat had been disappearing to, and noticed, much to his surprise, that the sand wasn't so deep here. There seemed to be a fairly rocky outcropping buried less than a foot under the heavy grains of sand, with cooler crevasses hidden in between slabs of stone and hard-packed dirt. The rat thing must have had a den here!

But food?

Jove crouched down and gave an experimental sniff, ears perking. Something smelled like healthy things... but not plants. He pulled up one of the rocks and sniffed it again. That was it?