Axcel: The World.

"Thanks." Tamika nodded in awkkmowledgement before rolling up her sleeves, preparing herself briefly before she skinned and gutted the possum. She wouldn't have had been able to do something like this as recently as several months ago, but her circumstances lately had called for her and the rest of her party to hanker down and rely on survival skills.

When she had finished preparing the skimpy amount of meat, she speared it with a stick and glanced around, holding her gore-covered hands a foot from her.

"This isn't going to feed all of us." She sighed and inclined her head.

Ryder stared at Tamika, his eyes wide.
"W-we...uh, have...food...y'know...this was..uh...yeah..." He slowly shuffled to his bag to get the food.

Rose walked over, having finished setting up the sleeping bags.
"So how's everyone doing?" She asked, trying to take the attention off poor Ryder who was visibly shaken by the skinning of a dead rodent before his eyes.

"Pretty good, Princess!" Maahes eagerly answered, scooting a little closer to Zech while still keeping his eye on her. He thought for more, then laid down on the ground and stared up at the sky above. "Today's been kind of wild, but it's been kind of fun, too! I bet Odris is going to be really excited to hear about the adventure I've been on!"

"Now you tell me." Tamika barely concealed an annoyed expression as she wiggled her fingers, looking around for something to cleanse her hands.

Eugh, there were too many people sitting next to him. One of them was bound to get the idea that he was some kind of cozy blanket. Still, he couldn't help but smile as he stared down at Maahes. The kid really was too innocent. "Sure," Zech said. "Excited."

"To be fair," Ryder started, as he walked over to his bag, "You never asked."
He began rummaging through the contents for a few minutes until he turned around, brandishing some boxes with labels on the side.
"Beans and potatoes for tonight. It's not much, but it's tasty, I swear."

"Aha, glad at least you've enjoyed yourself. Somewhat," Rose spoke, clapping her hands together. Sensing nobody else was going to answer, she continued, "So tell me about this Odris guy. He sounds pretty important to you."

Ryder had somehow brandished a pot from nowhere and was currently heating the food over the fire.

"He is!" Maahes quickly replied from his spot on the ground, a big grin stretching from one ear to the other. Even though Maahes still looked like a man in his twenties or thirties, Lorcan and Juniper both silently decided that there was something absolutely adorable about the scene. "He's my summoner and my teacher! He's really, really cool. He's a scholar, and a diplomat, and he's teaching me how to be both of them. And he's also trying to figure out how I work, so we're always really busy."

A guilty expression flickered across his face. "Which is why I kind of run away a lot," he confessed. "I don't like having to work all the time! I just want to play and maybe do some reading, too. But Odris always tells me that we have more and more things to do, even though he promises we'll get a break at some point."

Zech frowned. That reminded him quite a bit of something he didn't want to think about.

"How long have you been working?" Zech said, after a pause

Lorcan and Juniper also frowned when they heard what Maahes said. Even though Maahes might not have looked the part, he was a child. It was wrong for someone so young to have to be working so hard.

Maahes crossed his arms and pursed his lips together in concentration. After several moments of doing this, he earnestly replied, "I've been working ever since I can remember! Well, not really ever since I can remember. My coordination was all off when Odris first summoned me, so he had to wait until I wasn't too clumsy. I still knock things over now, but it's not as bad as it was then!"

Tamika eyed the boxes as she wiped her hands aggressively in the grass.

"Sure. Sounds... tasty. We just need to er some water. I'll- uh- I'll do that's and wash up."

"There's a geyser up there. Still going."
Ryder squatted down by the fire with a wooden spoon, stirring and sprinkling spices and stuff inside.
"Oh!" Rose exclaimed as if suddenly remembering something, "Do-do you guys have two moons in your worlds?" She seemed genuinely curious, her eyes sparkling with the thought of finding out about a new world.

Maahes shook his head. "Altera doesn't!" he eagerly exclaimed. "We just have one. But Odris told me that he's been to one with three moons before."

Shifting uncomfortably, especially at the thought of Maahes having worked his whole life, Zech moved away. "We have three moons," he mumbled.

Maahes gave an excited gasp.

"Then maybe he went to your world, Zech!" he commented. He subconsciously noticed that Zech had weirdly moved away from him, but he was too excited to care--he easily scooted back over to him and got even closer than he was before. "Do you have a stargate? Have you ever seen a spaceship?"

Lorcan and Juniper looked at each other.

"Minecraftia only has one moon, right?" she hesitantly asked.

He nodded. "Just the one."

"That's what I thought," she said. "It's weird thinking that you're from another world sometimes, Lorcan. You don't really look the part of an alien, no matter what form you're using."

He sighed. "I look the part of a vampire, more than anything else."

This kid didn't seem to have a great sense of personal space (even if it was still better than some adults). Zech tilted his head back. "We have gates and ships," he said. He didn't have a clue what to make of spaceships and stargates, but he was reasonably sure they didn't exist in Fayne. He'd been around the world enough that he'd have heard of them otherwise.