Power level: 14,759
Heavy Weights: Equipped

Weighted Power Level: 3,689

Ana huffed as she pushed her way through the woods with a quiet intensity. This had been her first trek since she had acquired her new training weights. The extra weight had slowed her down much more than she imagined, however. Her movements felt sluggish, and her muscles burned from the, from her perspective, relatively short march. It took considerable more effort than she was accustomed to, to even just push through the underbrush. Of course she could use a trail, even just an animal trail, or she could cut through the woods with careful chops of a ki infused arm, but that would defeat the entire purpose of the exercise, now wouldn't it?? It was one of the many reasons she didn't just fly from city to city in her travels.

Anastasia paused, feeling a tickle of power brush against her senses. Something stronger than the average fighter, much less the average woodland creature. Even more interesting, the power hadn't been there just minutes ago. This meant that whoever it was had enough ki control to suppress their strength, and thus, their aura. Ana cocked her head and adjusted her course towards the energy she felt.


The other reason she didn't just fly everywhere was meeting people like this. Asuka, Kassava, Hammer. All warriors she wouldn't have met if she had just flown from town to town. All very important encounters that broadened her knowledge and showed her the strength that couldn't always be found in the city. Usually if she found some one out of the way like this they were a warrior. Occasionally she had run into hermits, conspiracy theorists, and dooms day preppers. But usually it was warriors. She doubted a hermit or prepper would have the strength that she felt now.

Ana paused, catching the sound of ki charging and blasting. But the strength was negligible. Further sign of the user's control. Shortly afterward she could smell smoke from a fire and cooking meat. Anastasia's stomach growled, letting her know that she hadn't camped and hadn't eaten since she had left from Toraz village. Now would be a good time to rest and eat, if the stranger would allow her to share a meal with them. Hopefully they wouldn't be hostile.


The voice spoke up, male, calm and unchallenging. Good signs. Anastasia crossed the last of the underbrush and stepped into a small and neat campsite where there was a merrily burning fire, and meat cooking on a spit. Near it was a young man and what seemed to be a pile of skin and offal. A hunter then...


"I'm not trying to hide," Anastasia said simply, raising a hand in greeting, "My name is Anastasia. I was traveling through the woods. May I sit by your fire with you?"


A clear introduction that was polite and just as unchallenging as his own tone. Ana took a moment to take in the man in front of her. He held himself well, the quiet confidence of someone capable of defending themselves. He had curious markings under his eyes, which themselves were a startling shade of bright green. He had the tail of a saiyan, which explained his power. However, saiyans didn't have green eyes. Mixed blood then? Interesting.

Word Count: 544

Oran

Power level: 14,759

Heavy Weights: Equipped
Weighted Power Level: 3,689

"Neither am I," she replied when he stated that he wasn't the friendliest of company. Anastasia didn't speak much, and the times she did could often come off as cold or blunt. It'd turned away some people and downright antagonized others... then again it also attracted some weirdos who like teasing her instead. It was a mixed bag of reactions that Anastasia had long since given up trying to figure out.



She moved up to his camp fire and slung her pack on the ground. Anastasia sat gingerly on the log besides Oran but a respectful distance away. The wood creaked at the extra weight provided from her training gear. She had quickly learned to be more careful after she had broken a few chairs when sitting down after having gotten her latest set. It was an unexpected side effect to wearing hundreds of pounds of gear.



"I'm travelling. I left Toraz village and am heading towards East City," Anastasia said, "I'm going there for a match in the fighting pits. I need money."



That was Anastasia's life. Fight a few matches in the pits, earn enough money to live off of. Go traveling and training till her funds ran low. Set up another match. Lather, rinse. repeat. It was a simple, if dangerous, way of living. It provided for her needs, even if she never seemed to put down roots anywhere. Technically one could say that Anastasia was homeless, but she never considered herself as such. As long as she had enough money, she could always find a place to stay. And if not? Tents existed.

"And you?" she gestured towards the fire and the meat cooking on the spit, "Simply hunting, or another reason?"

While waiting for his answer, Ana turned and began rummaging through her pack. She had a few things that she could use to make herself a meal. She had no intention on taking this man's food from him. And if he had the typical saiyan's appetite, then even this gazelle may not be enough to feed him. She swore that Saiyan's didn't have stomachs so much as little ki furnaces that burned the food instantly as calories. How else could one explain the rules of the conservation of mass? Where did it all go???

Bingo. A simple MRE, Meal Ready to Eat. Not particularly tasty, but it certainly did the treat. Even though Anastasia did not have a tiny energy furnace inside her, she treated food much like if she did. It was a means to an end. Food was fuel. She didn't often eat for the sake of enjoyment. That wasn't to say she couldn't enjoy food, she had quite the soft spot for strawberries, but that she often didn't go out of her way to eat 'good' food.

Anastasia cracked open the MRE and began pouring water from a canteen in the container. Then moved to the fire, but then paused and turned to Oran, wordlessly asking permission if she could use his fire to cook her food. She assumed that he would let her, but then again you know what they said about assuming.

Word count: 525
total Word Count: 1,069


Oran

Power level: 14,759

Heavy Weights: Equipped



Weighted Power Level: 3,689



"Ah," she nodded her head. So he was a fellow traveler and fighter. Just like she guessed. What she hadn't expected was when he mentioned that he has actually fought in the fighting pits as well. Most people that she met away from the cities had never heard of or participated in them. It took a certain kind of person to fight in such a brutal environment, and another kind to get out of it. Sometimes the pits could be a honey trap, drawing you in with the prize fighting, but trapping you with the sleaze, possible blackmail, and/or debt from losses.


She reassessed Oran, tilting her head curiously. The scars on his face took new meaning. A pit fighter going after his eyes perhaps? Fighters seeking to permanently maim their opponents wasn't uncommon. Is that what happened to him? No, she could be reading too into it. But they certainly unique markings, and didn't happen by simple accident.


Ana realized she had been staring at his eyes for a minute and thus turned away. Some people got uncomfortable with prolonged eye contact, and she could forget herself moment. One of the many social niceties that she had needed some practice on at first.


With a grateful nod of a silent 'thank you', Anastasia placed the MRE by the fire in such a way as to allow it to cook properly. It would only take a few minutes. She settled back on her haunches to wait while it did so, eyes watching the fire hiss and spit, The juices from the gazelle dripped occasionally to sizzle in the flames. The outside had crisped slightly, but not burned. Oran obviously knew how to cook over a fire like this. The gazelle was high enough to avoid the fires, but still get the heat needed to cook, and he had rotated it often to evenly cook it. A lot of people just plop their food right in the fires and then are surprised when it is burnt and raw at the same time.


"Hm? Are you sure?" with what she knew about Saiyan's Anastasia had no doubt that Oran could easily eat this entire gazelle by himself. He may even be able to go for seconds, depending on how hungry he was. She didn't fancy taking food from a Saiyan. You were more likely to be maimed from doing that than fighting in the pits. But he HAD offered...

Word Count: 410
Total Word Count: 1,479

Power level: 14,759

Heavy Weights: Equipped
Weighted Power Level: 3,689

Ana lightly raised an eyebrow at Oran when he stated that he wasn't that gluttonous, unless he was really hungry. She couldn't help but have the slightest bit of a smile, "I thought 'really really hungry' was the status quo with saiyans. All the ones I met would just as likely eat my hand as well as their food if I even tried to touch it."



It was an exaggeration, but not by much. When rations were low on the battle front, the saiyans in her corp could be dangerous. They were known to fight others and take their rations from them. This is why there weren't many enlisted. Yes, they were powerful fighters and added much needed strength to an army's foot soldiers. But the cost of feeding them was prohibitive. It was a balancing game.



Anastasia turned back from Oran to the fire. She pulled her MRE away from the heat, it didn't need to cook so much as be warmed, so it was finished in minutes. Anastasia set it beside her and pulled a multitool from her pack. Unfolding it revealed a fork and spoon that were able to be separated and used to eat. Anastasia picked up her food and blew on it lightly.



It was some sort of chunky pasta like meal. There where hefty bits of reconstituted vegetables and meats mixed in with the pasta to add a bit more nutrition to it. The sauce was not terrible, a bit bland, but not horrific. The real challenge of the meal was that texture of the entire thing left a little to be desired. Some pieces were too mushy, others too firm. While Anastasia wasn't picky about her 'fuel', even she recognized that it was bad.



"I think... I will take you up on the offer of the gazelle..." she was going to finish this pasta, because she loathed to waste food, but she also made a mental note to never buy this again. 

Word Count: 331
Total Word Count:1,810

Power level: 14,759

Heavy Weights: Equipped



Weighted Power Level: 3,689

"So only half as likely to eat my hand then," Anastasia said dryly, but once again there was a small mischievousness in her eyes to show that she was only teasing, and meant no real ire in it. Her teasing ways have often gone unnoticed in the past and has resulted in offense. But she had a feeling that this guy would catch her meaning. She wasn't sure why, but she felt at ease with him.

"I've had worse," Anastasia replied when he asked about the state of her MRE. She stirred up the last of the pasta muck and finished it off with a grimace. Afterwards she pulled out a black back from a side pocket in her pack. It was her garbage bag. She refused to leave litter during her travels, and made sure to pack away the empty MRE bag. Later when she reached town she would properly dispose of the garbage. She had plans to eventually get a small capsule home to make her travels even more efficient. But that was a low priority since she was more than comfortable 'roughing it'.

"There was a time when our supply route was cut off. We were out of rations and needed to hunt for game, much like you here, " Ana gestured at the gazelle," but the choicest bits of meat and muscle were taken, by the saiyans coincidentally, leaving the dregs to the lower cadets," Anastasia raised her eyebrows at Oran, "Offal can be awful, if you are forced to grill it and can't clean it first..."

 ...it was an absolutely atrocious joke.

 But to Anastasia it was funny because it was true. The intestines of the herbivorous dinosaurs that her corp had managed to bring down had been more than a little... barnyard-y. But between that and starvation, many cadets had chosen to "eat shit" as it were. Anastasia had made it a point to never have to be caught in that situation again. She since had learned many ways of preparing organ meat that was more palatable. Collapsible containers that you could boil water in are your best friends. Making a stew masked the worst of it. Especially if you tossed in the discarded bones.

Anastasia noted the discarded organ meats that Oran had set aside. Here was a way to thank her host for the food. By providing more.

Anastasia took the plate from Oran with a nod of gratitude, then a second nod over at the pile of scraps, "Thank you... are you going to use those at all? I could make a stew with it... if your saiyan appetite would like some extra food."

Anastasia pulled something else from a separate pocket of her pack. It was a small round tin case. She popped it open and tilted it for Oran to see. Some basic spices were inside. Salt, pepper, and various premade spice blends that a friend of Anastasia's had given her. They were labeled things like meat barbecue, organ stew, grilled vegetables, flat bread, and such. Anastasia wasn't a horrible cook, but she wasn't a creative one. The premade blends made things simple and straight forward for her. Just the way she preferred it.

Word Count: 537
Total Word Count: 2,347

Power level: 14,759

Heavy Weights: Equipped


Weighted Power Level: 3,689


And the joke fell unsurprisingly flat. Ker-plop. This wasn't unexpected. Ana's friend had often told her 'Anastasia, stick to what you're good at. And comedy? You're definitely NOT good at that.' She mentally shook her head, dismissing Akira's voice. Back to the present. The good news is it didn't look like the absolutely terrible joke hadn't sent Oran running for the hills. Even better, it looks like it didn't even sully his first impression of her either. How kind of him.



Whatever harm she may have done to his opinion of her with her piss poor attempts at humor must have been repaired when she offered to make the stew. At least if his smile was anything to go by. Anastasia had a feeling that they were more alike than one might expect, and if that were so, then a smile from Oran might be as rare and as valuable as one from herself.



Anastasia nodded back at Oran, "Let me finish this, and I'll get started then."



She didn't want to leave the meat he had given her to cool, it seemed rude. So she ate at the tender slices of game carefully so as not to burn her mouth. They were cooked to perfection, the meat tender and juicy. It was obvious once again that Oran knew his way around a camp fire and had needed to provide for himself often. Anastasia did give the slices of meat a few dashes of salt and pepper, then set her spice tin down between herself and Oran to give him ease of access to it, should he also like to flavor his food.



Anastasia polished off the plate, and set it down by the log before standing up and pulling a collapsible container from her pack. She hefted it up and then nodded at Oran, "Give me a minute, I'll be right back."



Ana then took to the skies as easily as the average person might take a leisurely stroll. It was merely a simple loop back towards the river where she was able to scoop the container about three-quarters full of water, and then come back to Oran's campsite. The entire trip only took a few minutes, and soon Anastasia was hunkered by Oran's fire again. She let the water boil up, to clean it from any impurities that might make them ill. While it did that, she went about sorting and cleaning out the organ meat while waiting.



She was so focused on the task she didn't realize there was a lack of conversation coming up between them. Anastasia didn't feel the need to chatter to fill the void of conversation like some people. For her just having a task was enough. In fact, in some ways, it was preferable. Sometimes trying to come up with a topic of discussion could leave her floundering. At least she had a job to occupy her.

Anastasia didn't seem the least bit squeamish to have her hands inside a pile of organs. She just went about the task with a simple pragmatism. She looked up at Oran and nodded her head, "If you'd like, you could strip the meat off the bones, and we could throw the bones in the pot for extra flavor in the broth. "


Why was she getting carried away with making an entire meal with this person she hadn't even known half an hour ago? This was more effort than Anastasia usually put into an interaction. Most people usually pulled her along to their beat. Zerori, Asuka, Kassava. Left to her own devices Anastasia would have walked away from the engagements. But here she was not only engaging with Oran, but also making food for them both to continue the dinner and the encounter.

Word Count: 628
Total Word Count: 2,975

Power level: 14,759

Heavy Weights: Equipped



Weighted Power Level: 3,689

By the time Ana finished cleaning up the organ meat and separating what was usable from what wasn't, she felt the water had been boiled to a suitably purified state, and she took some of the bones that Oran had cleaned. She paused politely before doing so, but it was more a formality than anything, since he had already consented to her making the meal. She tossed the bones in, she wanted to give them a little bit of time to render before she threw in the organ meat that would cook much faster than the bones would render into broth. It wouldn't do to over cook the organ meat, the texture was something unpleasant.



She was glad that Oran wasn't chattering away looking for a need for conversation. He seemed content in working at a task, much like her, which was refreshing. All her new acquaintances seemed to be quite the chatterboxes. Meeting some one like her was nice. This made Anastasia a little more comfortable to just work with out feeling a need to come up with things to talk about. With the stew on the way to cooking, she looked down at her sullied hands, her nose crinkling just ever so slightly. She wasn't bothered by the task its self, but the grime clinging afterwards was a different matter. She stood up and flicked her hands lightly, shaking off some of the excessive goo.



"Give me moment," Anastasia murmured before leaving the clearing and following the path back to the river. She was in no rush and didn't feel like flying this time. She had time to kill before the bones finished rendering and it was time to put the organ meat in to boil as well. It was easy enough to pick her way back to the river following the mental map she had in her mind. She was generally pretty good at avoiding getting lost.



Anastasia stepped up to the river and knelt, dunking her hands in the chill water. A shiver tingled along her hands, up her arms, straight to the crown of her head, and back down her spine. The cold was a not unpleasant shock. Definitely too much for her to go swimming in, but not too unpleasant to wash her hands in. Once the organ goo was thoroughly rinsed off, and dried her hands on her pant legs and stood up.



Her ki senses only gave her the faint ping of warning before something breached the water of the river, dousing her in the chilly water, and launched at her. She just barely managed to dive out of the way before whatever attacked her crashed through the shallow gravel she'd been kneeling in. Anastasia rolled to a kneeling position, and turned to face her attacker.

She only caught glimpse of the dark back of something slithering back into the deeper parts of the river. The colors seemed to shift to match the shadows of the water it submersed it's self in. Gray, murky brown, dull blue, all were mottled along the shifting scales causing it to camouflaged completely in the swells of the broad river. That wasn't the only thing it seemed capable of camouflaging as Anastasia could feel the sudden spike of power snuff out just as quickly. Interesting. Another beast that could conceal it's power level?

Anastasia took to the skies to stay out of the reach of whatever that had attacked it. It had ambushed her before, so she wouldn't let it do that again. She also wanted to get a better look at the thing, and thought she might have more luck catching a glance at it from above. It may have camouflaging capabilities, but it wasn't invisible and it could only be so effecti-

A get spray of water launched through the air at her condensed into a laser like stream. It gashed across Anastasia's flight path, clipping her side and sending her spiraling off to the side, and crashing into the brush on the opposite end of the river from Oran and the campsite.

Word Count: 680
Total Word Count: 3,655