An Early Spring's Eve [Completed Major Mission/Open-Thread]

A wicker basket in one hand, green gloves on both, Charlotte was waist deep in the blue undergrowth of Finnek Forrest. This task was difficult for her, not only due to her size but her lack of shoes and feet made the undergrowth dangerous and particularly painful to navigate. The limited space between trees was also proving difficult, especially the further she strayed from the beaten path. The sun was high in the sky but she was incredibly mindful of time, while she could see in the dark her hunger could not withstand such a lengthy incursion. It was the endings of Winter, filtering into Summer, the time the forrest would be near it's most barren.

Charlotte understood why this mission had been made available though, why now of all time she was foraging for wild cures. To practice in the most dire of conditions meant that in a real crisis situation she would be able to perform well, rather than practicing when the conditions were best and panicking that she couldn't find the best of resources. She wasn't sure how seriously these missions were supposed to be taken, if she could simply collect a couple herbs and call it a day, but she wanted to excel. This was for extra credit after all, if she could maximise it then her work would become much easier. She'd even do it without her scroll if it would help.

She was currently knelt over a a herb with ruffled edges, gently lowering her nose to the plant she sniffed. It's scent was... citrus, mint and lemon. She believed it to be lemon balm, or balm mint, a not uncommon crop which had the potential for use in tea as a sleeping aid as well as soothing coldsores. Likely the former aspect would be more useful in the field. She leant down, collecting a couple of growths... she found the plant wasn't in the best of conditions, as made sense due to the weather conditions, but she supposed it would still work. The plant didn't look infected by fungus or otherwise. She placed it in her basket, drawing from it a notepad and pencil to jot down the details, before rising and-

Suddenly she felt a mild stinging pain in her third right leg, a feather shaped leaf with small white bars surrounding the stalk. She knew it from site, it had stung her before; a nettle. It wasn't deadly, wasn't even particularly painful, simply... annoying. The skin would be irritated, blister red though her fur had likely saved her from the majority of the sting; she'd use a salve on it when she returned home. But where there was one nettle there would be another, another and another. Turning to it she carefully used her gloves to rend some stalks, while nettles weren't particularly useful they could be used to make soup and thus aid in clearing sinuses... the food made from them was quite healthy also due to the horrid plant's abundance of nutrients. She sighed, returning her pad to the basket before setting off again in search of more natural cures. There was a specific plant she was looking for, a light brown stem with yellow splotches. Feather shaped leaves, clustered flowers or rather clustered berries. Purple in colouration, nearing black. She continued to wander, front right stepped in time with second left, third right and forth left. Front left stepped in time with second right, third left and forth right. Then right front and it's group would step again. Learning to walk with these eight legs had been difi-

She cringed deeply, feeling something hitch on the third left leg, it was always the back two. She turned and immediately identified the plant; a bramble... were there any blackberries on the stalk. She raised her leg, the plant tugged with it. Sighing she slowly rounded herself, picking up a stick and raising her leg in an attempt to pry the spikes out of his leg. She then gently applied a small aura bandage to the wound, quickly healing before her white string dissipated. Taking a closer look she found, as expected, the berries had either been pilfered by fauna or died over Winter. With a sigh she turned and continued to wander... her stung back leg now uncomfortable to walk on. She heaved a breath and continued to scan the area, it wasn't long before she found the elderberries she was searching for... albeit not in abundance.

She grasped a small handful, placing them in her basket and taking note. They required boiling to reduce their toxicity but elderberries could be used as anti-virals. She would take some of the stalks to, understanding that burning them could help dissuade allergies in a manner similar to burning incense. She didn't want to collect too many of this type, as naturally burning a plant to release it's soothing scent was quite common, but it was worth collecting one. Though a thought had dawned upon her, it was... basic but there was a conventional aspect of medicine she assumed other students would overlook. Scanning the ground it took but a moment to discover her target.

She collected a fallen branch, making sure it was dry and quite thick. She found it difficult but bending it around a tree she managed to break four splints from the wood, primed for straightening out broken bones. It was rudimentary but with her semblance-

She paused again; what if one did not have her semblance? What if there were more patients than she could deal with? She scanned the ground again, collecting some long grass which could be used to tie the sticks to said limbs. What she was dealing with, she now realised, was not good medicine. It was the best medicine available, if they were using good medicine they wouldn't have to use this stuff! She looked to the ground, she quickly found some more nettles and soon she would find... yes! Dock leaves!

Dock leaves were the natural counter to a nettle sting, typically found in the area around nettles themselves! It was a collection of large leaves which grew from the ground. She took a leaf and, with some strain to reach behind herself, gently rubbed it on the site of stinging. Almost immediately she felt much better! Both of her legs were functioning perfectly, this was great! She'd proceed to collect dandelion, to aid with indigestion, and some willow bark which (when soaked and the water drank) could aid with intestinal issues! By the time she finished however she could see the sun beginning to set, the trees now casting long and rather terrifying shadows. She would quickly make for the path, being stung near five times over the course of the journey and arriving in a rather unclean manner. Dirty gloves, green marks on her legs and of course some markings had reached her white shirt. Her hair had begun to slip out of it's bun, but she was much to distracted by hunger to notice. She began to make her way back toward town... at least, she believed this was the way back toward town.

The blue hue of Finnek forest could appear to go on forever in this area of the woods, however a speck of red and black seemed to disrupt the serene area standing out over any of the woodland creatures that might inhabit the area. Soft snoring could be heard from this figure laying on a branch in the middle of the forest.

Rika had largely spent the day exploring the blue hued forest and noting how different it felt to the forest she had grown up in. For one, Forever Fall was red in color, making the blue color all the stranger to the redheaded Faunus. Still a forest was a forest, and she quickly found herself at home despite the oddity. Her exploration had ended with her laying down on a relatively strong tree branch for a moment, which turned into much longer as she ended up falling asleep. The pigtailed girl had always felt comfortable in high places, and her rather rural background left her more than able to fall asleep in the tree.

Her nap was interrupted however when one of the woodland creatures, a squirrel that lived in this forest decided to investigate the strange red and black creature that had invaded its blue home climbing onto the inert redhead to get a closer look at the strange creature. This caused said redhead to wake up, and she was understandably startled to see the furry face over her. The Squirrel ran off, and Rika herself flailed her arms wildly in a futile attempt to regain a semblance of balance before she fully fell off the branch. Yelling to the girl she barely saw below.

“hey lookout!” The pigtailed girl shouted before making impact with the ground in a painful impact. The pigtailed girl had taken similar falls but falling from relatively great height still tended to not be pleasant regardless, and while if she’d been prepared she could have landed properly, preventing any injury whatsoever. However, she’d been taken by surprise and been in no position to fall properly.

The redhead elaborated the experience in one elegant word followed by a groan. “Owie…”

Although he'd normally prefer to go home or maybe just find a safer place to stay for a while, something compelled Jack to seek refuge in the forest instead of just anywhere today. He couldn't quite pin exactly what it was that made the place feel so welcoming and comfortable to him. Maybe it was the lack of people? Or the sounds of nature? Or maybe these were all excuses, and what actually happened was he got lost after feeling adventurous and had to take a nap before continuing his search for civilization? Regardless, Jack found himself sleeping on the ground, blissfully unaware that bugs were beginning to crawl all over him and under his clothes.

This unawareness was only temporary, of course, and Jack suddenly woke up to the feeling of something sharp pinching him on his neck. Startled, he threw himself to his feet, faster than he ever had before, and began to swat at every part of his body. In his bug killing frenzy, he slowly moved towards a rock on the ground, tripping him and sending him crashing into the ground. His panic increased, and he began tearing at his clothes, not realizing all the bugs were already gone. After a while, he finally calmed down, but his shirt was torn practically in half. He mumbled angrily to himself about hating the forest, but was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice yelling out a warning.

Curious, he began making his way towards the sound, unsure of exactly what it was he would find. Soon, he received his answer, and he had no idea what to do with the information he had come up with from said answer. He saw a familiar face, a girl he bought ice cream for a while ago and... a spider woman. "I... I don't, uh... Wow. What? What's this scene I'm lookin' at here?" He made his way towards the familiar girl, keeping an eye on the spider bodied stranger. "I'm not really sure how to respond to this situation."

Charlotte was initially shocked by the arrival of the red-headed girl, glancing around herself only to learn where she came from upon her landing. She heaved a small gasp, clasping her hands and stilling herself. By the time her eyes reopened there was a man with a chicken mask standing next to the poor lass. Now... this raised a red flag immediately in Charlotte's mind. Charlotte knew of many White-Fang members on Bellmuse, but she had never encountered a chicken mask... yet alone one made of rubber rather than the traditional plastic or metal. His voice seemed sincere, seemingly positioning himself to defend the girl but... was this a trick? He had no obvious faunus trait... but maybe he had horns, or some other feature which could be obscured by the mask. But... what if he had an injury...

Charlotte neatened herself, performing a curtsey; "Good evening, my name is Charlotte Monochrome. Medical student at Syne Academy. Please do the service of removing that mask as we continue, I am unsure of your intent with it but wearing it so casually is quite disrespectful and casts an untrustworthy shadow over your person. I apologise if this comes off as rude, but as you should well know; animal masks have been a source of tension between the Faunus and Humans. If you are injured in some way I promise you I will not look upon you, should you require it I could form a less... dangerous mask form my semblance. For now let's not dwell upon it. We may have an injury in our presence."

And with that Charlotte would lower herself further, extending a hand to the girl. White aura began to glow; "Do you require medical assistance? You're dressed not unlike a hunter, you may be fine, but I have to check these things. Brain damage is serious."

Rika looked up from where she had landed. Already her mind had been taking stock of her current situation. Two arms, check. Two legs, check. Pain? Ugh check. The pigtailed girl’s head hurt from the impact, and there was a slight pain in her left leg as well. Though that’d go away after a few hours with some minor use of her semblance to speed it up.

The people around her however made the young redhaired faunus wonder if she hadn’t hit her head a bit too hard, except for the fact she recognized the more outlandish of the two…kinda. She supposed it could have been a different man in a chicken mask, but somehow that seemed unlikely. There was also the girl, or at least she was mostly a girl, from the waste down her body seemed to be that of a spider, it was a bit unnerving, but Rika wasn’t exactly squeamish and so didn’t let herself get antsy about such a thing.

After all she’d seen some other faunus around the campus, though never as extreme a trait as this girl apparently had. The redhead managed to catch spider-girl’s name as Charlotte, though she didn’t really get the issue of Jack’s mask.

“Aint too bad I think, head hurts, an’ I think I banged up my leg a little…” She paused to inspect the limb before nodding, having confirmed her own suspicion. “Don’t look broken or nothing….” It was only after this comment she caught the mention of brain injury. “Why’s everyone gotta go thinkin’ I’m stupid or something!” She exclaimed, offended by the statement and pouting in an immature manner.

For a moment, Jack would ignore Charlotte, as her mentioning of his mask right away and the apparent disrespect behind it offended him, even if that wasn't the intent. It's not like he wore the masks for fun. Alright, maybe a little, but he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. Instead of answering her right away, he'd hold out a hand to Rika. "Alright, girl I bought ice cream for one time, let's get you back on your feet. I'm sure you're tough enough to walk off a bit of a fall, aren't ya?"

Whether or not Rika accepted the help or not, Jack would respond to Charlotte afterwards. "And uh, that's a no-go on the mask, Charlotte. For today, this is my face, and I strongly urge you not to ever tell me to take it off, alright? Just, you know, for both our sake." There was a hint of hostility in his voice, but it wasn't really something he could've controlled at the time. In that moment, he felt sincerely tense. Like this person might try to make him remove his mask. So far, in all the time he's been here, nobody that's seemed interesting or important in any way has asked him to remove the mask, and he was sort of hoping that nobody would. "Oh, I almost forgot! I'm Jack. And this is Richard." After saying the second name, he would point at his face.

Jack turned his attention back to the ice cream girl after Charlotte offered medical attention, laughing after the mention of brain damage was misunderstood. "Come on, she didn't mean to call you dumb! I haven't even known her that long, but you can tell by how she talked to you that she's just concerned right? Not gonna lie though, your reaction was pretty funny."

"I meant no offence by it, as I said brain damage is a serious issue. I have no reason to think of you as stupid, I am glad you can stand safely. Are you in any serious pain? Can you move your neck?" Charlotte was being as gentle as possible with the girl, as she rose noting her faunus tail. It was the kind of trait that could not only be hidden but was generally though of as normal and acceptable, but she was faunus none the less and thus (had Charlotte's not already been in such a state) her more caring instincts intensified. Her clear faunus trait meant she was likely at no risk from the man, not to mention they appeared to know of each other, but trust was still spread thin. His response hadn't convinced her.

She turned to him from the corner of her eyes; "I do hope that was not a threat, because I must say; you are either insensitive or highly oblivious. Do you not know of the White Fang, how they wear the masks of animals and, on occasion, commit atrocities? Kill those who will get in their way, do you not understand that by wearing such a mask not only will you put many alike myself on edge but you will potentially cast suspicion on faunus in the area; lead police to believe there has been an increase in White Fang activity." Charlotte sighed, running a hand through her hair and finding it unkempt. She briefly let it down before quickly refastening it in it's typical bun manner; "As I stated before, I am offering to provide an alternate or bandage your mask in order to prevent such offence. It wouldn't last forever, you'd be able to wash it off, but it should problems for whatever your current outing is."

She would turn back the the girl, making sure her head was on straight.

Rika accepted the Jack’s help, getting up after with little real trouble. She blinked at his comment before remembering she’d never given him her name. “heh, actually my name’s Rika.” She said. The redhead turned her attention back to the spider girl. Her offense at the previous comment clearing up after the girl’s explanation, and assuming she probably knew about these things being a med student. The pigtailed girl turned her head either way, verifying that she could move her neck without trouble. “Yeah…head kinda hurts, my leg’s actin a bit funny….” The redhead tested the leg a bit before continuing. “Don’t think it’s nothin’ serious though.”

She stuck her tongue out at Jack when he commented that her reaction to the brain damage comment was funny before the other two academy students returned to their argument. She was a bit confused about these White Fang people, not sure how a group could exist…Or what Faunus had to do with them…. something involving animal masks as well?

“Wait…. who are these White Fang people? An’ what do they got to do with Faunus?”

Jack turned his head downwards, placing a hand on his head while he thought things over, frustration beginning to get the better of him. He was about to tell Charlotte to shove off, and that he wasn't even familiar with who the White Fang was anyway, but an idea came to him. He zipped up his jacket and pulled his arms inside, making the sleeves go limp. Next, he pulled his jacket upwards until it completely covered up his head before some ripping sounds could be heard, followed by some frustrated grumbles before he let his jacket fall back down to where it was, revealing his new mask, a ripped up shirt tied around his head a few times, concealing all but his right eye. He unzipped his jacket again, satisfied with the results at his attempt to make his own temporary mask.

He placed the mask in his jacket before talking to Charlotte again. "God, I hate having to do this. Sorry about being pretty hesitant to take this off, it's just that I wanted to wear something that would completely conceal my head, you know? Plus, I wasn't sure if the mask you were going to make would work for me anyways, but, don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the offer." Needless to say, he was a bit worried about how much of him was being revealed right now, even if it was just one eye. Thing is, green eyes aren't as common as brown eyes were, so these two now know a somewhat notable detail about him.

"Anyway, I'm not with the psychos you mentioned. I onl-... I don't go out attacking people." Jack turned his head to face Rika again. "Oh, and it's good to know your name now, ice cream girl."

Charlotte blinked, strange thinks were afoot in Finnek Forrest. A faunus with now knowledge of the White Fang on her left... a man insistent on wearing a mask on her right. Where to begin? She thought for a moment before turning to the red-headed faunus; "Are you perhaps local? I am aware the White Fang has little presence here but... to think you'd go your entire life without hearing of them is quite bizarre. Do you not watch the news, or even hear of new in passing? Well, I suppose I shouldn't dance around it. The White Fang is a faunus rights group, once peaceful, but after faunus human relations refused to progress adequately they turned to more violent means. They were animal masks, more specifically those of Grimm, to conceal their identity as well as intimidate. Thus going around in an animal mask can certainly raise tensions."

Charlotte would then turn back to the man; "I offered to bandage over your mask... I could just have bandaged over your head if you would rather? You didn't have to go to such an extreme but regardless I thank you. If you are disfigured in some way do realise though... in my presence most is normal, no matter what you have I can assure you I've seen worse and it's likely not as bizarre as the in-depth nature of my body."

The redhead nodded at the explanation, though she didn’t really get it. What was this faunus right stuff about? The pigtailed faunus had been raised by a human, and if didn’t understand what Charlotte meant about Faunus-human relations. Still she didn’t want to look stupid, and figured it probably wasn’t too important. Rika more than understood that these White Fang guys were obviously jerks running around in Grimm masks, and apparently attacked people.

“er…not really, came here from Forever Fall, never spent much time ‘round other people.” The pigtailed girl answered. She frowned, realizing for seemingly the first time her upbringing had been odd to say the least before mentally shrugging off the realization. Besides it was the old man’s fault anyways.

“Ol’ man don’t like dealin’ with other people, don’t really get much news from the city out there either, unless it’s important.”

She thought about Charlotte’s problem with the mask, looking at the mask, and Jack intently for a minute. “Still don’t see the problem with the mask, unless ya seen a Chicken Grimm recently….” Another thought popped into her head, and she immediately verbalized it. “’sides we’re in the middle of the woods, ain’t nobody gonna say nothin’ about it.”

Jack shrugged and raised his hands in slightly.  "Eh.  Shirt already had holes in it, so why not?"  He did his best to not focus on the topic of the White Fang.  By the sound of it, the topic seemed to be a pretty negative one, and he wasn't really in the mood to think about anything that would bring him down right now.  Today, he wanted to just meet some people and have a nice time in general, and talking about a bunch of crazed people attacking others over something as simple as being a faunus or human didn't seem like the right way to go about having a nice time.

"Oh, and I'm not disfigured, don't worry.  I just sort of...  Well, I have my reasons for hiding my face, and I think that's the most I should really say.  Besides, I don't think it's fair to compare your body to a disfigured face."  Now that he thought about it, he didn't actually think about Charlotte's unusual appearance very much, and it was probably something he should've taken notice of sooner.  Realizing this, Jack walked a bit closer to her, observing the unique sight before him.  "I guess I can get why some people would be a bit uncomfortable, but I've never been afraid of spiders.  Besides, I think you look pretty cool, if I'm being honest."

After this, he turned to Rika, relating to what she said moments ago.  "Yeah, my pa wasn't too social either, but my main reason for not getting any news was just a lack of interest.  Didn't care about much outside of school or family issues."  He then waved his right hand lazily at her in a reassuring  fashion.  "It's fine, really.  Like I said, my shirt was already ruined."

Charlotte blinked at Rika; "I don't know... I'd say terrorist attacks are pretty important? Like, on the scale of a new shop is opening in town to a meteor it's tending toward meteor. As for chicken Grimm, you do say that as though the general populous study Grimm in great detail; most probably know the basics, Beowulf, Ursa, Deathstalker, Nevermore but face them with something like a Lancer they wouldn't be able to tell if it's real or someone's fake idea of a Grimm. They have their nine to five, not got time to do vast amounts of Grimm research. The idea that there's some giant, deadly, chicken out there probably isn't too farfetched to them."

Charlotte shrugged to Jack; "Well I suppose you made your choice already when you put the shirt over your head, I thank you for the compliment. Most people tend to react one of those two ways, fear or excitement. Some though try to hide their fear behind said excitement or attempt to act nonchalant, it's not uncommon; I've gotten pretty good at seeing through such guises."

Deep in her gut she couldn't help but feel the pangs of hunger begin to set in... but she didn't want to break polite conversation.

The spider-girl’s statement regarding was surprising to Rika, she got Charlotte’s point but…. She didn’t really see why that news would matter on Siegfried’s homestead. “Don’t think that woulda been important out there, lived pretty far in the woods.” She stated though thinking on it, and a vague warning her guardian had given her to tell him if she saw anyone in the forest made her wonder. “Guess the Ol’ man mighta got a heads-up ‘bout’em but it don’t really matter much out there ya know?”

She did wonder at the Grimm. The idea of a giant chicken grimm was a bit funny to Rika, but she couldn’t deny that Charlotte had a point. She’d seen some weird Grimm growing up in the woods, and stories Siegfried told her only gave her even more of a reference to draw on. “Guess your right ‘bout the Grimm though….”

The subject of Charlotte’s body came into the forefront causing Rika to scrunch up her face, wondering why people would fear someone like her. Sure, her legs were a bit weird, but she didn’t seem that terrifying. Before she could verbalize anything, her stomach growled loudly. Rika gave the other two people an embarrassed look. She hadn’t realized before that she was hungry. Since she’d been running around the forest most of the day, as well as skipping lunch.

While Charlotte spoke to Rika, Jack was beginning to lose focus as he started to look around the forest, realizing he still had no idea where he was. Well, he knew sort of where he was, he just had no idea where to go to get back to his bed. He was brought back to the conversation when someone talked to him again, but he missed the first part of what she said. "Not gonna lie, the thought of dealing with it enough to get good at recognizing it kind of bums me out." Jack's shoulders dropped a bit to emphasize this. He already gets weird looks thanks to his mask, but it's probably not as unusual to others as a spider body would be, so she probably has it a lot worse.

Jack's sadness was forgotten almost immediately when Rika started talking again, giving him something else to think about. He chuckled quietly after hearing her stomach growl before he remembered that he didn't even have breakfast or anything yet either. "Oh god, I don't think I've eaten either. Haven't even had breakfast! Do you guys know how to get back to town? 'Cause I know I don't." As Jack asked this, he put a hand on his stomach while he contemplated how much he was going to eat when he had the chance to do so.

Charlotte tried not to blink when the girl claimed she grew up in a forrest. She was surrounded by weirdos, a perpetually masked man and... did this girl mean she'd been within this very forrest for years? What was Forever Fall? As far as Charlotte was aware there were only two forests on Bellmuse and neither of them went by that name. It was fortunate that the other two were hungry but... simultaneously with her? She couldn't help but feel wary, but refused to let it show. At the masked man's comment she shrugged gently; "If humans themselves partook in more activism then I likely wouldn't have to and we wouldn't be having this mask conversation. That's all there really is to it, I've got to adapt to survive."

Smiling gently she pointed ahead; "I believe this path should bring us back to Bellmuse' heart. I don't think it's that late, there should be some vendors active... at the very least a convenience store. I would offer what's in my basket but well, in it's current state it's certainly not food. Might even do you some bad to ingest... no, we must make for the city. If you two are so hungry, would you care to accompany me at least to the forrest's edge?" Should they find these terms agreeable she would take point, likely giving the pair a very clear view of how she walked. It was slow, but precise and clearly practiced; as the front right leg stepped forward as would the second left, third right and fourth left. As the front left stepped the second right, third left and fourth right would to. Learning to walk with two legs was tough but these steps were perfectly timed and positioned relative to each other.

The conversation regarding activism was lost on the redhead, though she did get that Charlotte was talking about how people reacted to her. She didn’t really get why completely, though she supposed the other faunus WAS a bit weird with the whole spider leg thing. She mostly just brushed the topic aside, as it probably didn’t matter anyways, preferring to focus on more cheerful things anyways.
The cat faunus didn’t really think anything of the fact that the three of them all happened to be hungry, not paying the coincidence much mind as she listened to Charlotte. While she remembered exactly which way the academy was, food was the priority. “Sure, aint got nothin’ better to do.” The pigtailed girl agreed.

When Charlotte began walking, she did notice the abnormality of the whole thing. “That’s kinda weird ta watch.” She commented, her mind the observation being verbalized without any real thought. There was no malice in her words of course, however one could easily see how the words may have been misinterpreted. Rika however didn’t think about that, merely following along while still looking around the forest, showing that the wonder at the strange location still had not quite worn off on the faunus despite her day of exploration.

She got a glimpse of the spider faunus’ basket, as well as recalling her words regarding its contents. “herbs? Don’t they got stuff like that in the city already?” she asked.

Jack sighed in relief as Charlotte seemed to know how to get back out of the woods, and the thought of getting something to eat was definitely a welcome one. "Yeah, gettin' something to eat sounds like a good plan." He followed behind Charlotte as she led the way out of the forest, and as he did so, he couldn't help but take notice of her odd spider body again. Jack didn't really feel like pointing it out, but it was a bit strange to look at. Normally, his thoughts would be something along the lines of "who am I to judge," but he couldn't help but feel like something wasn't quite right. Of course, he wouldn't say anything about it. Wouldn't really be fair. This is why he flinched a bit when Rika mentioned it without a hint of subtlety.

He felt a need to assist here. "Probably just because we've never seen anyone like her before." There. If there was any offense taken, that would help out a bit, right? Charlotte's been a polite person to have a conversation with. It'd really suck to accidentally offend her now, wouldn't it? "What do you guys feel like eating, by the by? I could go for anything right about now. Even seafood... Nevermind. Most things, but not that." Jack shuddered for a moment at the thought of seafood and the last time he attempted to eat it, and the scar it left him.

"And now you understand better." Charlotte sighed to them, continuing to follow the path. "If one can keep their eyes on my upper body, they may be fine, but if I'm moving things become much more difficult. This, outside them inherently not being constructed for me, is why I cannot walk freely down the street." Charlotte tried not to think on these words, spoke by a faunus with a much more... typical trait when compared to her own. It was a prejudice she was less familiar with, but familiar with none the less. She'd endure it, she was a child who was clearly yet to endure such hardships. One unfortunate day and she'd surely understand.

"Oh, I don't particularly mind as long as the portions are large and cheap. Perhaps something with noodles or rice, those dishes usually filling enough without being too expensive. Portions typically aren't made to my requirements you see, a larger body means more heat generation and more movement and more calories get burned." She tried her hardest not to question the man's bizarre shuddering at the mention of fish, turning to quickly answer the faunus girl. "They likely do so, but once in the field you must learn to forage to survive. As a medical major my foraging for cures would prove vital, sick hunters will radiate more negative emotions and the worry would spread among the group. Fear when confronting grimm is a plague alike no other, I must learn to treat others with the best of my ability. If they are at their best then they should have nothing to fear."

“I didn’t mean nothin’ by it, just aint somethin’ ya see every day!” The pigtailed faunus exclaimed defensively. She hadn’t meant to insult the girl, but apparently, she did somehow. She nodded when the spider girl suggested something with larger portions, as the pigtailed girl herself was a rather big eater herself despite her petite size. Though she didn’t understand much of the science mumbo-jumbo that Charlotte used to explain her own large appetite.

The pigtailed girl just gave a confused expression at the explanation, and if that were not obvious her next statement certainly made her confusion apparent. “Er…don’t got a clue ‘bout none’a that stuff but ya mean that ‘cause you’re bigger ya eat more right?”

At the explanation of the medical herbs Rika got a bit more excited, reminded once more of events at home. “Yeah, kinda what we had to do back home, only doctor that lived nearby was miles away, and the ol’ man was stubborn ‘bout avoidin’ people for some reason, never liked dealin’ with people much he said.” The pigtailed girl gave an annoyed look at this, as she’d always tried to get an answer as to why from her guardian, only to get distracted or given a non-answer such as Siegfried telling her he would tell her when she was older.

While the three of them walked, Jack pretended he wasn't listening too intently to what the two of them were discussing. Thing is, he didn't really have a lot of interesting things to say to either of them, and his life story wasn't really something he could tell without admitting to some pretty... unsavory things. He was happy to hear that Charlotte wasn't too offended by Rika's previous statement, and it made him feel a bit more comfortable about talking a bit more. Again, he didn't have a lot of interesting things to say, but he could at least add a few things to what was already said, right?

"I'm terrible with medicine, foraging... anything that could help someone live longer or feel better. I mean, I can pull glass out of my hands and stitch myself up just fine, I think. But if you guys have a fever or some sort of disease, coming to me would be the biggest mistake of your lives." Jack chuckled a bit as he said this as to make sure the others knew that he was just making a joke. There have been times where he'd say something a little negative about himself and it just made the conversation awkward. "Oh, and a noodle place sounds great actually. I've been eating the same food over and over for months, so I think a change'll be nice."

Charlotte was beginning to totally believe Rika's claim that she was raised in the woods, she lacked both manners and a basic understanding of bodies. Honestly, she'd encountered children who understood this predicament more thoroughly, this kid was exacerbating some of Charlotte's prejudices; the ones relating more to those with what she'd call "Human legs." It was an incredibly wide spread group and thus Charlotte would rarely if ever mention such issues but; those with two legs, whom the building blocks of this society had been lain for, typically they didn't understand the strife of one with eight or even four. It was as though it were their burden to bear, not an issue of the society, it didn't help that they failed to educate themselves on such rare faunus traits. "No, it means far more than that. The size also means digestion can take longer, so telling when I am hungry can also be difficult. It usually ends in a rather extreme manner. It means a lot of things are more difficult, not just portioning. It can also effect my tolerances, speaking of the medical herbs."

She turned her attention to the masked man; "Well, that's why it's my job to forage and treat. Having to do a full medical degree and a combat degree at the same time seems like it'd be far too much trouble. Best to keep to one major, perhaps take on a minor, but much more would be unwise. You could probably pick up this or that on herbal... I know of a couple good manuals, pocket sized of course, could be of some use to you if you're really in a bind." Charlotte nodded to the man, the sounds of cars and city life radiating not far from the group.

The redheaded faunus blinked, that sounded annoying, not knowing when you were hungry could probably be a problem, the fact herbs didn’t work as well as would be preferable was also a problem. She knew how hard those could be to use properly normally from experience, with the required doses changing for even normal physical differences. She somehow doubted that randomness would make things better.

The pigtailed girl did agree on what the girl was saying regarding majors, and medical herbs. She knew a little out of necessity largely, but the pigtailed girl couldn’t possibly call herself an expert on them. Still knowing basic first aid and the basics regarding medical herbs was better than nothing, and the pigtailed girl didn’t really think she’d need all that much more knowledge about herbs and stuff anyway.

“Sounds like a pain, don’t think I could deal with that.” The pigtailed girl couldn’t really imagine having eight legs. It was a weird thought, and she could guess there would be problems she didn’t think about. “Can ya at least walk on walls’n stuff? Don’t spiders do that?” She asked curiously, that would certainly be interesting at least.