✦ Want a Drink? ✦

[Jenni Deer]

Heard the bear grunt and growl at her. Maemi rolled her eyes and sigh as she hopped onto the bear's back. But when Bjorn spoke to Grym with growls and grunts, aka bearspeak, it seemed that Grym started grumbling as she slid down his back and moved back slightly to avoid getting some honey dripped on her. Maemi reached in and broke off a piece that the bear hasn't yet damaged as she moved out of the way so Grym can get back to devouring the honey. She paused for a moment, staring at the honeycomb as she had to push something behind to the back of her mind. SHe doesn't need to think of how she was vs how she was now. Maemi snapped out of it, shook her head towards Bjorn, "It's fine. Was going to climb over him and reach for one." She shrugged towards him, wondering how to start. "You two woke up in a hell of a time. There are great forces with Gods and Goddesses at play right now. I.. don't know all the details. I do know that innocent people are being slaughtered for a god named Jashin. He requires sacrifice. My goal is to kill every Jashinist there is out there." She pressed her finger against the honeycomb as it soaked around her finger before she licked it off.  

[Valbjorn]

Watching Mae climb onto Grym’s back before sliding off as he backed out of the tree, Bjorn would chuckle a bit, “That would’ve been risky... he goes kind of crazy when it comes to honey...” Bjorn shot Grym another scathing look before the bear dove back into the tree head first and went to town again. Bjorn, still biting off chunks of honeycomb and chewing on them, watched as Mae ate hers, licking it off her fingers. He wasn’t sure why, but that sent parts of his mind to very different places than eating honey, especially combined with her wet clothes and his state of undress. Thinking he should go ahead and put his pants back on since he was finally dry, Bjorn turned and grabbed the black pants off of a nearby tree branch and pulled them back on before turning back to Mae. “Great forces? gods... Jashin?... I might’ve heard the occasional mention of Jashin during my time in the leaf village... but I don’t know anything about it...” he’d hear her mention that tons of innocent people were being slaughtered in the name of this god and let out a low, rumbling growl. “Killing for food is fine, killing because you’re being attacked and need to survive I understand... but you don’t just go along killing innocent people for no good reason.” Bjorn would say in an angry growl, his fangs barred slightly as the muscles in his back, shoulders and arms tensed. “If you want or need help in killing these... Jashinisfs.... then I’ll put my full fighting and hunting ability into helping you... only a truly evil thing would kill another creature with no reason to... those monsters sound like they deserve whatever they get.” A moment later, the large man would throw his head back and let out a loud,bellowing roar, just to get the anger out of his body, after which his shoulders would slump slightly before he went back to eating his chunk of honeycomb.  

[Jenni Deer]

Maemi heard him mentioned that it was risky for him to climb on his back. "Not sure if he even felt me." She said honestly then shrugged. Figured that she can move out of the quickly if it needed to be. He went to get his pants and started to put them on. It seemed that Bjorn did not take the news well and the roar startled her as she sightly moved back as he grumpily went back to eating the honeycomb. It started to register to her what he just said. Her pupils constricted into slits as she growled softly, fangs slightly elongated as some of her hair strands removed themselves from the braid and gave her the appearance of more wild. "No." She lost someone so close and dear to her. She was not going to lose another one. Animals was one thing but Jashin wanted humans and she was not going to offer one up on the plate unintentionally. "I'll hunt them myself." Not realizing that her hand that was holding the honeycomb was crushed and honey dripping between her fingers and onto the ground.  

[Valbjorn]

When he noticed Mae’s eyes constrict and teeth bare as she growled at him before declaring that she would hunt the Jashinists herself, Bjorn’s fangs would protrude slightly as well as he let out a low, rumbling growl, his thick beard and wild mane of hair splayed out around his head, “you talk about them going around slaughtering people... and you claim you want to go after them alone? You’re strong for your small size, and really fast... but don’t be stupid, Mae....let me help you... my armor is incredibly hard to cut through, and even under that my skin is thick and tough... If I was any kind of easy prey, I’d have been dead a long time ago... likely before you were born, I’d guess at this point.” He’d growl again before taking a slow breath, calming himself down. “Why even want to protect me from them? You just met us yesterday, and the first thing we did was fight... if anything, as harsh as it sounds to most people, I’d probably be the best back up for you in hunting those monsters in human skin... you barely know me, there’s no long history or emotional attachment between us, and with me helping you, we also have Grym helping us track if we can ever get a scent on one of them.” Bjorn would sigh slightly, looking down at her when he noticed that she had crushed her honeycomb, “And damn... what a waste of good honey...” he’d say with a quiet laugh as he held his hand under the dripping honey from hers, catching some of the drops on what was left of his chunk of honeycomb as well as on his hand, which was just generally coated in honey at this point.  

[Jenni Deer]

Maemi shook her head as she released the honeycomb which would land on Bjorn's hand if he so much wanted it. "Absolutely not." She hissed, her growls rumbled in her throat. "I agreed to tell you what's going on and you help me with hunting but hunting Jashinist was not part of what we discussed." She gasped softly, realizing that she wasn't breathing right as she tried to calm herself. Her eyelids closed for a moment as she got up and took few steps away from them. Her pupils are still constricted, watched Bjorn every single movement, however big and small. It seemed that they were both focused on the honey too much that they may let this argument end in her favor.  

[Valbjorn]

Bjorn caught the honeycomb she dropped and watched as she stepped back from him and Grym, noticing that she was still arguing the hunting thing, Bjorn would growl back at her again as he stepped forwards towards her, “I appreciate you filling me in on what’s going on in the world, I’ll gladly help you improve your hunting , but at the same time, I don’t want to see you go running into a fight you might not be able to win without back up...and you can’t really stop me either.. even if you run off to hunt down some jashinist in the middle of the night from our camp, Grym and I have your scent. We can track you, so we can still show up and help whether you want us to or not.” Bjorn would growl again before letting out a quiet huff and licking a bit of honey off his hand. Calming down slightly, “these Jashinists took someone from you, didn’t they? Someone important to you...?” Bjorn would look at Mae with a soft frown forming within the bushy beard of his. “You don’t have to tell me right now, but think about this.... are you insisting on hunting down the Jashinists yourself to protect me from them? Because you want your revenge all to yourself?.... or because you secretly don’t want to survive the attempt and would then, hopefully, get to see whoever they took from you again...?” Bjorn would take another bite of his honeycomb, licking a little excess honey off his finger as he did, chewing slightly as he looked at Mae, his icy eyes boring into her dark green ones.  

[Jenni Deer]

Maemi gritted her teeth as he brought up that they could just go find her by falling her trail. She knew there were ways to erase her scent and make them lose her trail but the scent will linger and they could find her in other areas if they happened to be in the same area. Then he brought up if they took someone from her. Her heart stopped for a moment as a tear betrayed her and left a trail on her cheeks. She wiped it away as she looked at him angrily. "You have no idea what they are capable of. Your steel alone may not be enough.This isn't about my crusade for revenge." Her voice was firm, strong, and angry. "I'm sure many others lost someone important to them.." She growled, "And hell no. I"m going to survive it all, just kill every one of his worshippers to weaken him. I am not afraid of death but I don't jump into it as well. Again. I am not going to throw you in the fray."  

[Valbjorn]

Bjorn would notice her teeth gritting as a tear or two slipped from her eyes when he asked about her losing someone. The big man’s face would soften as she went into her angry, frustrated rant. His voice was surprisingly soft when he spoke, though the usual rumbling growl rolled underneath it, “You’re right, my steel might not be enough, when we step into combat, whether it’s hunting some kind of large game, or a human enemy, we never know for sure if our strength, or our defenses will be enough to get us the outcome we want.... but that doesn’t stop a hunter, or a warrior, from trying if the goal is important to them. If you say my steel might not be enough, what about you? You have no armor far as I’ve seen.... no weapons.. you’re strong and fast... that’s about it. Armor or weapons I can probably help you with, if you’d like....” his voice would harden slightly, though still was rather soft, especially for the large bear man, “And remember this... you wouldn’t be throwing me into the fray... I’d be choosing to step into it beside you.... even if I’ve never fought one of these jashinists, I’ve been in several battles over the years, and even more confrontations with aggressive and powerful animals when I was growing up in the wilds. I know at least what the worst case scenario is in any fight. And I choose to accept that risk.”  

[Jenni Deer]

Maemi bitterly shook her head, the tightness of her throat was warning her she was going to start crying. No. She refused to cry. "I'm really good with ninjutsu." She explained, wanted to point out that it wasn't all about taijutsu or armors for that matter. His voice was softening and it was frustrating her. Not because he was being kind and sincere, but she wanted anger to avoid meeting the sorrows that buried deep in her heart. A sob escaped from her lips as she brought her clean hand up to her eyes, her thumb and fingers pressed lightly against her eyelids, her eyes were burning. Betraying her. Her body started to tremble. Her body was betraying her. She doesn't cry in front of other people. Or show weakness. "I n-need time alone," croaked Maemi as she turned away from them and headed deep into the forest to have some privacy.  

[Valbjorn]

Bjorn would watch Mae sadly as she fought to hold back tears, her body starting to shake as she held back the sobs. When she said she needed time alone and ran off into the forest, Bjorn grumbled to Grym, who was still engrossed in the honey tree that he was gonna go make sure she was ok. Before slowly making his way through the trees. His trained ears could hear her footsteps and muffled sobs from quite a ways off in the otherwise quiet of the valley they were in. After he had gone about 200 yards, he’d find her wrapped up in a wooden cocoon, like what she had slept in the night before in the cave. Sitting down on a nearby Boulder, Bjorn would watch the cocoon closely for a few minutes before speaking in a low voice, “You don’t have to hide, Mae.... it’s ok... You can just let the pain out...we’ve all had our weak moments, we all have pain in our pasts... I’m right here if you need me... making sure nothing can get to you in that cocoon of yours...” Bjorn would stay there on the rock and listen to the forest around them and wait to see if Mae would say anything, or come out of her hiding spot.  

[Jenni Deer]

Her face was buried in her hands as she already used sution earlier to remove the honey from her hands. "For ******** sake, what part of I needed some time alone, did you not understand," snarled Maemi towards the direction where the voice was coming from. She was sitting on the ground and leaned up against the cocoon as she was trying to control the grief that had hit her so hard. Her arms slid around her torso as she bent over more, her face buried into her legs easily with how flexible she was. She was trying to comfort herself so the pain can go away for a moment but all it did was make things a bit worse. Her eyes still burnt as she can barely breathe out of her nose now, having it been covered by runny snot. She missed him so much. She missed the lives they had. It was so simple and nothing random. To her, it was everything she dreamed of and only to have it taken away. The one person who made her smile, laugh, and be so comfortable with was gone. Forever. With an angry yell, she punched the ground by her, and two massive Senju trees sprouted suddenly and erupted up to the forest's canopy's height.

Several minutes passed as her forehead rested on her kneecaps. She was getting tired and weary so the tears had stopped at the moment. Her arms wrapped around her leg as her eyelids remained close. She could stay in this cocoon forever but she had a job to do. With a deep sigh, she rubbed her face for a moment before the branches that helped her create the cacoon had retreated back to the ground but the two massive senju trees remained there. With a clear of her throat, she stood up, "We should probably check on Grym."  

[Valbjorn]

Bjorn would sit quietly and listen to Mae cry, hearing her snarl at him through the roots as he waited calmly. After a while he heard a rumble under the ground as a pair of large trees burst up, quickly matching the highest of the canopy. Raising an eyebrow, Bjorn would make a mental note of that for later, just in case. When she finally came out of the cocoon and said they should go check on Grym, Bjorn shrugged softly and shook his head, “Grym is fine... worst case scenario the bees came back to their hive and found him eating it, if so he knows to jump in the stream and wait.” Bjorn would chuckle slightly, remembering the scene he had found when he first went to find Grym and the honey tree earlier. He’d then calm down and look at Mae, “I’m sorry for your loss... I know there’s nothing I can do to completely erase the pain, or bring whoever it was back... but I’m here if you ever want to talk..... or just need someone to watch over you while you vent.... you aren’t alone here in the wilderness....” Bjorn would slide off the Boulder he had been sitting on and walk over to stand in front of Mae, setting a hand on her shoulder, if she would let him, “I’ve got your back, from here on...remember that.”  

[Jenni Deer]

Maemi heard Bjorn remark that Grym was fine as she sighed. He didn't get the hint that she didn't want to talk about it did he? He was learning human behaviors alright. Maemi didn't get the joke nor had the stillness of her mental mind to get the image in her brain of how amusing that would be. Instead of waiting for him, she made her way back to the steam. Not wanting to hear what he had to say as she growled under her breath for him to back off. He stepped in front of her as she hissed under her breath, warned him not to continue on with this conversation. His hand rested on her shoulder as she shrugged it off again and took a step back. Let him say what he wanted to say, in one ear and out the other, "Fine. Let's go." She attempted to walk around him and made her way over to the stream.  

[Valbjorn]

Bjorn would give her a confused look as she shrugged off his hand and mostly growled or snarled at him. Watching her as she walked past him back towards Grym and the honey tree, Bjorn would find himself watching her hips shift back and forth as she moved. He had never really spent this much time around human females, so wasnt used to holding himself back from at least looking, even if it was far from subtle. After a few seconds he snapped himself out of it and followed her back to where his brother was.

Back at the tree, Grym had been going to town this whole time when he failed to notice the buzzing returning as the bees came back to their hive at last. Feeling the first couple stings around his a** and shoulders, the large bear would quickly back himself out of the tree and start turning around quickly as he tried to swat at the bees again. Luckily for him his hide was tough so the stings didn’t hurt that much, but it was annoying. Just as Mae, and a few seconds later Bjorn came out of the trees near the hive, they would see Grym running towards the stream growling to himself as he dove in head first and splayed out to fully submerge himself. Only the tip of his nose stuck up out of the water so he could breathe. Bjorn couldn’t help but chuckle at his brother’s antics as he walked over to the edge of the stream, “Glad you remembered that this time, brother.” He’d say in bearspeak. Once the bees retreated, Grym poked his head back out of the water and looked at Bjorn and over ag Mae. “She looks upset... did you mate with her already?” Grym would say, teasing Bjorn in their language, causing the large man to growl at him and punch the larger bear in the shoulder. “No you giant fur ball.... you were too focused on the honey earlier, you missed our argument.... I’ll explain later...”Bjorn would then turn back to Mae and watch her behavior, see what she does .  

[Jenni Deer]

Maemi saw Grym making a beeline towards the stream with the sounds of angry buzzing bees could be heard as she shook her head softly. Made her way over to a rock that rested at the end of the stream, she sat down, decided that she had her fill with honey for the time being. Grym and Bjorn were talking to each other as Maemi didn't pay it any mind, considering she doesn't understand what they were saying. There seemed to be a pregnant pause as she glanced towards them with her tired green hues and rose her eyebrow once she took note that they both were looking at her. "So, we had our fill of honey for the day?" She questioned them, wondering what they were going to do next since they were massively distracted by honey. The plan was to get some salmon but they were distracted by the call of the buzzing bees so to speak. She looked around at the ground for a moment before finding a specific rock and started to file her sharp nails, figured she should keep them in shape.