Gathering Supplies

"Oh, uh, my name is..." Ryuterra wasn't certain how to respond. To be honest with himself, he didn't actually remember his name. Because of this, he took upon himself the name inscribed within his ring. Because his "name" came from the ring, it was his most prized possession. It was all the identity he had. He was always cautious. If he lost that ring, he would lose himself. He had to keep his ring safe, whatever the cost...
"I am Ryuterra. So, what was it, Chase, right? I'll try to remember." Ryuterra only planned on remembering the name for as long as it was useful to him. As Chase had said something about food, Ryuterra realized how hungry he was. But he had no money, as he found it more or less worthless. And these people were still strangers. He couldn't ask for food. Nonetheless, he needed some way to find something to eat.
"Clothes, food, and a way to cross the ocean? I'm not sure who we would need to talk to in order to get those kinds of things." Ryuterra didn't want to get lost in this new place, but he didn't want to put too much trust in the people he had only just recently met. Regardless, he followed the small group of people, hoping he wasn't causing them too much trouble.

Ryuterra found it interesting that he wasn't the only one that didn't happen to have money with him as he entered a new village. But he had been intrigued by Chase's comment.
"Fishing? How do you plan to do that? And how many fish are you going to need to catch in order to get all the food and other supplies you need?"
Ryuterra was curious to see how Chase planned to catch any fish. Almost as an afterthought, Ryuterra quietly asked "Can I come watch? Help with anything if you need it?"

Ryuterra waited on the shore, but watched earnestly as Chase began to fish. Ryuterra thought, "How can he look so relaxed in the water? It looks so... Wet." Ryuterra didn't really enjoy swimming much, and had never spent much time near the water. However, he noticed something interesting. It almost seemed like the water was helping Chase to swim. "No, that's impossible... Water provides resistance. But still... Why does it look like it hasn't gotten into his eyes yet? And how can he fish without using bait?"
Ryuterra had occasionally heard people talk of "fishing," but he had never actually seen it before, which is why he was interested in watching. But Chase seemed to do it in a manner different than most people. Instead of using a boat, he just swam, and Ryuterra noticed that there was nothing on his hook. Of all the conversation he had overheard about fishing, people always mentioned bait. From what he had heard, Ryuterra thought that different kinds of bait could attract different kinds of fish, but he hadn't heard of anyone fishing without bait.
"No boat, no bait... How does he do it?"
Ryuterra decided he might ask Chase about it later, but now didn't seem like the right time. After observing for a bit, Ryuterra decided it looked like Chase knew what he was doing and didn't need any help, but Ryuterra still shouted out, "Is there anything you want me to do to help?"

"Something to carry the fish in?" Ryuterra repeated, mostly to himself. He was slightly amazed at how quickly Chase was able to catch fish. From what he had previously overheard in conversations, fishing was usually a slow process requiring some patience. However, that was not the moment's concern. "What would I use to carry fish??"
Ryuterra had no idea what he was looking for. There were many things that could be used to carry fish, but the question was, what could he find that was nearby? Looking around, Ryuterra didn't really see anything that was immediately useful. "Umm..." Ryuterra wasn't sure what to do, as Chase had already caught several fish and would likely continue to catch many more.
Not sure what to do, Ryuterra kneeled down and began to dig in the sand. "What are you doing??" he asked himself, and in response to the thought, he argued, "Well, I don't know what else to do, and I don't want to look useless."
"You're digging in the sand. How is that going to help you find something to carry the fish in?"
"I don't know... It seemed like a good idea when I started doing it."
"Regardless, you probably look like an idiot."
"I don't care. It's better than doing nothing. And who knows? Maybe I'll find something."
Despite arguing with himself, Ryterra continued digging in the sand. He didn't have anything to dig with other than his hands, but that didn't stop his determination. He dug as quickly as he could.

"Umm... Wait, what's that?" Ryuterra was gazing down the shore a small distance off. He saw something that looked like a tangled mess of black. Walking closer to it, he guessed it might be a net, left behind because it it was tangled beyond usefulness. Ryuterra dragged it away from the edge of the water and towards the small hole he had dug. Making his best attempt to spread it out, he looked at the tangled mess of a net.
"If I can use this, it might save us some money, plus I won't have to get lost trying to find people in town that want dead fish." Ryuterra wasn't the best at interacting with people, but was glad he had found the tangled net, because that saved him the trouble of going to town and coming back. Besides, it would probably take a comparable amout of time to untangle the net he found as it would to go back to town and find someone to buy a net or basket from.
After taking a deep breath, Ryuterra began to work on untangling the net, spreading it out on the sand as he made progress.

Ryuterra had been so busy with the net that he hadn't realized how many fish Chase had actually caught. Chase's question hung in the air, and for a moment Ryuterra just stood in amazement. Not only was he able to catch that many fish that quickly, but he carried them too. It looked heavy, but it didn't look like he was having much trouble with the load. Again, Ryuterra wondered at Chase's skill. From all he had overheard, fishing was a slow process. If someone caught even a couple fish in an hour, it was considered a "good catch." But then Ryuterra realized Chase had been walking towards the town, and he ran to catch up with him.
"What makes you so good at fishing?" Ryuterra asked as he got closer to Chase. Ryuterra couldn't keep himself from asking, and he knew that something made Chase different from most fishers. As they walked closer towards the town, Ryuterra awaited a response.

"Waterbending?" Ryuterra hadn't heard of such a thing. Based on Chase's tone towards it, Waterbending seemed to be something that wasn't too out-of-the-ordinary. But with all the limited interactions that Ryuterra had with people, he had never heard of such a thing. "Pardon my asking... But what is Waterbending?"
Ryuterra wouldn't have asked, but he couldn't imagine what it was. Being able to control the water? It sounded like a special skill that would take years to learn.
Ryuterra had just followed as Chase began selling the fish to various people. When asked about the Fire Nation, Ryuterra responded, "Fire Nation? Umm... Sure." Ryuterra had a terrible sense of direction, and wasn't sure if he had heard of such a place. It seemed like almost as foreign a concept as Waterbending. Ryuterra was glad to travel along with Chase if it meant he might be able to learn more about this "Waterbending" that Chase had mentioned.

"Well... To be honest, I haven't heard of a lot of things. I don't talk to lots of people." Ryuterra stated. He vaguely remembered something in conversation about "Earthbending," but he never really overheard anything about what it was...
Ryuterra asked, "Anything you want to do with the water? That sounds like quite an impressive skill. Did it take a long time to learn it?"
In response to Chase's other question, Ryuterra quickly said, "Of course I've heard of the Fire Nation. I've just... Never been there. And I don't really know where it is." Ryuterra hoped he didn't sound too uncertain. Ryuterra had lived most of his life alone, and didn't interact with people much, and didn't bother to pay attention to stories of distant lands or concepts of strange abilities. The only real concerns he had was where his next meal could come from, whether he found it in nature or from some generous stranger. But based on Chase's reaction, Ryuterra began to feel almost as though he had lived his entire life in a cave.

"Five years? Sounds like dedication." Five years seemed like a long time to learn a single skill. However, Ryuterra thought about his own life. "Let's see... I'm close to 18 now. That means... Almost Fourteen years that I've spent with the main focus of survival? If survival is a skill, I guess I've spent a lot longer learning that than how long it took Chase to learn his 'Waterbending' skills."
Fourteen years Ryuterra had spent simply trying to survive.
Fourteen years, mostly alone.
Giving it some thought, Ryuterra realized how different his current situation was. In all the time he had been on his own, Ryuterra didn't spend much time interacting with people. But even more, he didn't make friends. Why then had Ryuterra already spent as much time with Chase as he had?
"When I first saw him, my only concern was finding a town. But then I asked if I could watch him fish. And now what? I've agreed to go to some place called the 'Fire Nation.' Why? This man is still more or less a stranger, and already I've agreed to come with him to some unknown place that I've never been?"
At that moment, Chase had said something, causing Ryuterra to come out of his thoughts. He wasn't sure what Chase had said, but Chase looked disappointed. Was it something about the people he had been traveling with when Ryuterra first found him? Now that he thought about it, Ryuterra hadn't seen the other people since before Chase had wandered off to catch some fish.
"Maybe they already went to look for a boat?" Ryuterra asked, trying to sound reassuring. Ryuterra suddenly worried that Chase might try to blame him for losing people that were probably Chase's "friends." Did Ryuterra have anything to do with it? He couldn't decide, but he was still following Chase, wondering what needed to be done next to make further preparations for the journey to the Fire Nation.

(Mind if I join you? If you don't want me too, just ignore this post and tell me. Also, do you know, is the Avatar Player active?)


Tyren walked into Chin Village, a complete outsider. Three days had passed since he journeyed from Omashu, three days of traveling and dodging Earth Kingdom soldiers. He stopped at a stand and tried to buy food, but the owner refused to sell. "Get out of the way for decent people who have money, beggar." the seller said scathingly. Tyren felt his anger rise up, and wanted to send a rock through the man's head, but refrained, and walked away, consenting to snarling under his breath. He looked at his tattered money pouch and his heart sank. Two Earth Kingdom coins. Barely enough to buy some bread.

Tyren shuffled along, keeping his head down, trying not to make eye contact with Earth Kingdom troops, though it seemed news of him had not reached this village yet. Doing this was hazardous in the market, and he soon neared two people, walking and talking and carrying fish. Without noticing, Tyren bumped hard into the shorter of them, and, being at least five inches bigger, probably knocked him down.

((I think you are good to join. As for the other question, maybe ask Liao? I wouldn't know, sorry about that.))

Just as Ryuterra had been wondering what they needed to do next, he suddenly found himself on the ground. He was startled by this, as he was unable to determine what had hit him with enough force to knock him down. Ryuterra asked, "What just happened?" At that moment, he found himself looking up into the face of a tall stranger.
"Umm... Chase, do you know this man?" Ryuterra was fairly certain that this wasn't one of the people Chase was looking for, but he wasn't sure if Chase happened to know him. Perhaps it was just another stranger. Uncertain, Ryuterra began to stand up and turned towards Chase, hoping for some help with the situation.

Tyren leapt into combat position quickly, raising his hands, then realized he had knocked down a short stranger. Thinking he might have already drawn attention to himself, he pulled his hood over his face and tried to walk on, stepping around the fallen stranger, without saying a word.

Tyren felt fear build up inside him. 7 years in prison had been horrible, he didn't want to spend more time. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know if he was actually in trouble with the Earth Kingdom. But his paranoia about prison was too strong for common sense to come into the picture. Spinning around, keeping his head low but standing as tall as he could, Tyren opened his mouth. Many things he could say came to mind, but he decided to take a civil approach. "Sorry." he muttered gruffly "Didn't see you."

Ryuterra tried to analyze what had just happened. It seemed that this man had bumped into Ryuterra with enough force to knock him down. As Ryuterra was getting up, the man looked as though he was ready to fight, although he was holding no weapon. Ryuterra decided that either this man was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, or he had a skill similar in nature to Chase's "Waterbending."
As Ryuterra stood up, he saw that the stranger had turned back. As Ryuterra wasn't quick to anger, he didn't want to cause any trouble. He quickly glanced down towards his left hand to make sure his silver ring was still there. Being slightly relieved as he saw that it was, Ryuterra turned towards Chase. Speaking more to Chase than directly addressing the stranger, Ryuterra said, "As long as you still have your money and your fish, I don't think that there is a problem, right? So then, what was it we were trying to do here?"

Tyren heard the word "Fish", and his stomach rumbled. He was starving. He had traveled from Omashu to here, living on bread, water, plants and a few small animals that he could catch with his bending. There was great variety, but not much can be said for the quantity or quality. He now saw the fish, and thought of fresh fish, cooked over a fire, filleted. His mouth watered as these thoughts came to mind. "Wait," he said, nearly forgetting to keep his head down "How much would you sell those for?" He had already asserted that almost no one here would sell him any food.