Snack Attack

Sarr'ina looks at him aghast, "But Luca, this is how it has always been. There is no other way to survive, during winter we would be lucky for everyone to be safe! I am trying my best to show you the way but you act like you have never been in nature before, you walk like a baby deer and treat things like they do not matter or do not effect you... Maybe father was right? Maybe you can not be taught..." she says sadly, sitting on a nearby fallen tree

Luca just stands there, looking at her. He felt a small amount of shame for how he had treated Sarr'ina but he felt like he was going to explode, he'd been in this foreign place for a week and still had no idea where he was or how he'd get home. He clutches his mothers necklace and silently wishes he could go home, he wasn't built for this kind of thing... He wasn't big and strong like the men of the Sua'jiki, he wasn't innovative enough to create advanced technology, he wasn't even all that smart. The only thing he ever had going for him was his looks and cunning, both were rendered useless when there was nothing to gain from utilising either.

He glances at Sarr'ina and thinks over what he needs to do, trying to learn from her is difficult to say the least, he can chalk it up to her never having taught before but he reckoned there were more suitable people in the tribe capable of it, the only problem he had was her father was the leader and had her personally responsible for him. He didn't know if this meant he couldn't ask to learn from someone else or not, or even if someone else would accept him. Then again, if he loses Sarr'ina's support he'd likely be forced to be everyone's whipping boy at best or eaten at worst, he didn't know all the tribes customs which made it difficult for him to carefully navigate through them.

He looks at his "Teacher" and composes himself before trying to negotiate his way into a more stable position.

"Sarr'ina, I want to learn. But the way you teach is incredibly difficult to understand, I do not know how to survive out here on my own, I know nothing so I need you to tell me the basics of everything. I'll need every fruit, animal, plant and material explained to me because I know nothing." he says self deprecatingly.

She looks up at him with moistened eyes and nods, "I promise I will be the best mentor, at the end there will be nothing you do not know Lu!"

He's about to pick up all the edible berries from the floor when he hears her call him Lu, he looks back at her and gives her a strange look, "Lu?"

She twiddles her fingers and replies, "Yes, you said to "stop calling you that"... Is Lu not fine?"

Luca gives a small smile at her and nods, "It is, as long as I can call you Ina." He's hugged tightly by her suddenly for some reason. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?" he quickly tries to clarify what he'd done.

She lets go and twirls, "No! It is just that "Ina" is what mother used to call me" she says with a sad smile, "It, makes me feel... happy."

"Well, I'm glad, Ina." he says, presenting her with a handful of blue and black berries, all of which she stuffs into the hide bag in which she was using to store them.

They continue collecting berries until they have a couple hide bags filled to the brim with them, it'd taken a couple hours but it felt pretty good to see the result of their labour. They don't go straight home however, instead Sarr'ina takes him towards a rocky region and starts searching around various points looking for something. She explains to him that he'll need to find a large hard rock that fits comfortably in his hand and a "Chipper rock", he has no idea what that means but when he gets her to describe it it sounds like flint, though he's obviously not an expert on it.

They walk around and he finds a couple smaller rocks that he thinks are flint but goes to throw them away as he thinks they are too small, only to have Sarr'ina walk by and pick them back up.

"Ina, what are you going to use those for?" he asks.

She looks in her hand and sees the small rocks of flint and makes a "Ah" sounds before pulling an arrow from her quiver and showing it to him. Luca takes the arrow and examines it, seeing that the head of it is made from what looks like jagged stone, he'd thought they'd just sharpen wood for arrows but apparently they are more sophisticated than he would be. He nods to her in understanding that they smaller stones were perfect for arrows and continues looking for rocks he could use to create tools that'd be the base of everything he does thus far, hopefully he wouldn't bugger the materials he gathers up.

Eventually he finds a smooth rock that he thinks is called granite or something similar? He isn't sure and is just using the name his kitchen top counter was made from to sound relatively knowledgeable, not that Sarr'ina would know what granite is... He gathers a good amount of flint and even a relatively large piece that would be perfect for him to practise the techniques he saw the tribesman using.

He's about to call for Sarr'ina that he'd found everything he needs when he sees a long white and black snake slither up behind her, just beside her foot. He freezes and barely manages to utter out "Ina! S-snake!", hearing this Sarr'ina doesn't move but darts her head around quickly before finally locating the snake. She jumps backwards while retrieving a large rock she'd found and throwing it at the snake which reels back and tries to bite her.

Luca can't move as he'd heard of how many venomous snakes existed in the world, there weren't many in England but if this was Australia or somewhere in Asia? One bite could definitely cause a painful death, something that he happened to be completely opposed to. When he sees the snake try to bite Sarr'ina however he throws one of his rocks at it, causing it's attention to focus on him as it starts slithering towards him.

Sarr'ina doesn't back away and let it attack Luca peacefully, instead she jumps forward as it's head is turned and unleashes a brutal strike from above with a large rock. She strikes true and crushes it's skull with a *Splat!*, causing Luca to sigh in relief as he's no longer being pursued.

"Do not worry Lu, it was not deadly." she says while removing the rock and inspecting the it's patterns.

"Are there many deadly snakes around here?" he asks hesitantly.

She thinks for a moment before nodding, "Yes but they usually run rather than fight." she says while picking up the snake carcass and tying it to her quiver facing down, in order for the blood to slowly drain out without staining her "clothes". She gives him a smile, "Thank you for worrying about me." she says.

Luca nods "I have found all I need from here." he says, she checks what he has and nods as it all looks to be good and workable.

The duo leave after making sure they'd got everything, coming back because they forgot something wouldn't be productive at all. As they walk back Luca spots some mushrooms that looks suspiciously like the ones he'd "Eaten to death" before. He taps Sarr'ina on the shoulder and points at them, "Are those Mushrooms edible?"

She takes a glance and shakes her head, "Most of our knowledge of Mushrooms were lost when my mother died, but those are very, very bad. Deadly bad." she says with a hard look.

"Wait, you don't know which mushrooms are safe and which aren't?" he asks confused.

She nods sadly, "We cannot test them without potentially killing something or someone, mother used to know a lot about them but she became one with nature before passing on her knowledge... She did teach me most of our traditions and rights before she left though, if she hadn't no one would be able to take her place." she says quietly.

"Are there any animals around here that we can't eat?" he asks.

She nods, "Some frogs, toads and other reptiles are poisonous to us, we know at least this much."

"Why not catch some of these inedible ones and feed them some mushrooms to test them? Since it wouldn't be a waste of food and would potentially be productive."

At hearing this Sarr'ina nods, "Yes... There is a lot of them but we had never found a use for them, apart from now. That is a wonderful idea Lu, I will talk with father about trying this." she says happily.