-Lilita-

"You got it!" The girl saluted with a pep that rubbed off on those who heard her. Lilita hurried across the sand as fast as she could without getting sand in her shoes, then looked around the outside of the shipwreck. It was horrible looking at the entirety of the ship, the thing was just a big pile of wood and iron now. Most of what was salvageable would most likely either be at the dry spots inside, or scattered about outside if they happened to be tossed out by thrashing.

The girl sifted through driftwood and broken ship until she came across a small crate. One not so big like the others, but just small enough for the girl's tiny frame to actually carry this one. She wasn't one to know, but when she hefted it up and shook it around, there was no noise within, which meant it was either empty or had something that wasn't very hard...in fact, the girl mentally chastised herself for shaking such a thing. If there were unbroken breakables, she would have just finished the job. "So dumb!" Lilita said out loud, shaking her head and slowly walking along to catch up with those heading inland. She silently hoped that there was something inside, as she increasingly began to worry she found an empty crate, and should have just struggled with one of the scavenged big ones. Lilita looked over at the Fox girl that was some distance away from her, and wondered who she was waving at. Looking further, there was a man walking along toward them, looking rather scruff and gruff. While he wasn't her focus now, Lilita made a mental note to check him later to see if he was in need of any good vibes.

"Uh, sorry. I think I'm actually gonna take a break for a bit." She said with a sighed. "I'm not exactly good with...that sort of thing." She admitted somewhat hesitantly. "I think I might go see if any of my equipment survived. It was all glass so I don't think much would have." She started walking off towards the wreck of the ship, glad that most people seemed to be done with the wreck for now. Less people to deal with, and she really didn't want to deal with people right now. "Uh, thanks for the help with that by the way." She said. "Not exactly a fighter so, being alone out here's kinda...well, a bad idea."

With that said, she made her way towards the wreck.

Or would have, if she hadn't noticed the Kitsune from earlier conversing with someone she was sort of acquainted with. She cringed, definitely not wanting to deal with that annoyance right now. Out of everyone who survived, he had to be one of them to do so. Just what the hell! If there were any gods out there, she wished them all a cruel, fiery demise. She was liable to legitimately kill him if he even so much as thought about snarking at her.

...still, she might as well make sure he wasn't going to cause trouble.

"Gabriel, that's enough shouting." She said as she walked up. "So can it, or I'll use you as a guinea pig." And that wasn't just an idle threat, either.

---

Gabriel was waving his hands around for a while before one of the other survivors saw him and waved back. "Hey Mister! We're getting ready to set up a camp! Come join us!" The girl waved and shouted back at Gabriel. "Well, at least they are friendly and have not gone crazy because of the shipwreck..."

Gabriel walked a little faster towards the group until he reached them. That was when he realized the girl that shouted at him had perky cat-like ears protruding from her head! "Oh, lookie here. A beast-folk of Ayabukuro. I've traveled through the vast grasslands of your homeland many times and even met some of your folk. Strange to see that the Kitsune sent an envoy as well. I always thought that your kind didn't care about external affairs," Gabriel casually said before turning his attention towards the guy behind her.

"Hey there fella," he greeted the man with a nod of his head. "Why you look so angry, eh? We're just stranded in an unknown land with no map or knowledge of our surroundings and can only rely on ourselves to survive! Fun times, eh? I say fun times!" Gabriel exclaimed and made to clap the man's back with his hand but was promptly stopped by a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Ah, my dear Charlotte, why so serious?" he said and jokingly bowed. He then pointed at the smooth, black collar on his neck and smiled. "Your word is my command, princess." Gabriel said and bowed once more. And as if not having heard her, he continued talking.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Gabriel asked with a genuine look of concern on his face. A strange glint flashed in his eyes and he promptly started walking around her, inspecting her body for any signs of injury. Only when he was sure everything was alright did he sigh with relief and took a step back.

He eyed Charlotte and nodded his head. "Mhm. Not bad, not bad at all..." he thought inwardly whilst stroking his stubble.

With his notions about how farming was supposed to go now confirmed, Masaru let out a light sigh of relief before glancing at the new arrival. He had to admit, with the number of people that had managed to live through the storm, it was clear how absurdly CLOSE they were to not having to build up from what was essentially near-scratch. He'd have to remember to hold a vigil to those who were lost in the end, at the very least.

"Hey, who am I to argue with one more pair of helping hands, right? The more, the merrier!" the oni laughed as he glanced towards his hakama, which was still lying out there on the sandy beach.
...
Right. Hands full. Carrying goods that are better off not wet (or, well, any wetter than they were already). That might be... An issue.

"Er... Not to be lazy or anything, but anyone mind grabbing my stuff lying off to the side there as we move inland? If not, I'll make a quick return trip after we clear out the place. Hopefully it isn't missing by the time that's done. Or if it ends up being evening first. No clue."

"...In any case, we're wasting time here! Let's go! Uh... Well, that's what I would say if I knew where we were headed. Hey, uh... Charlotte, was it?" he asked the girl, assuming that the older man's comments were in direct reference to her name. "You and the ogre find anywhere spiffy enough to set up camp, or we gonna have to look deeper?"

Charlotte simply pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to contain a headache. She was failing pretty miserably. Goddamn it Gabriel. Why the hell was he always such a pain to deal with? At least he sounded somewhat concerned for her safety, but that that was nullified by the fact she was pretty sure he was 'checking her out' as they might say. "I'm fine, really! Swallowing a gallon of sea water is great for someones health!" She grunted in reply as he...did whatever it was he was doing. "Go help them move stuff for camp, will you? Make yourself useful and quit undressing me with your eyes, creep."

With that, she sighed, shaking her head and turning to the Oni.

"Sorry about him. The deacon insisted he come with me." Not important though, she had been asked a question. "And yes, Charlotte LaChance. Alchemist from Astril. To answer your question - unfortunately, no. I was more interested in seeing if I could find any useful herbs or berries here. It'd be bad if someone tried to eat something poisonous. Found some berries and some nuts that seemed edible, though so that's a good thing." She sighed. "So we're going to have to look deeper if we're going to find a good place to camp. Or at least better than I did."

Yukine gave a toothy grin when Gabriel addressed her as a beast-folk. Some kitsune would have found that offensive, as it was often used as a derogatory term that lumped them in with other animals and made them seem like lawless beasts. Yukine, however, could tell that there was no condescension in the man's voice, so she decided to politely correct him instead of taking offense. "I'm a kitsune, actually," she said, her voice friendly, but serious. She hoped that he would realize that she didn't like being called a "beast" without spelling it out for him. "And most of the people back home didn't care that I decided to go, but Ayato-sama says it's important to keep up with the other races, so I volunteered."

Yukine then giggled as Gabriel began to check out Charlotte's body. In Ayabukuro, people were not subtle about expressing interest in one another, but she found the way he used fake concern to look at parts of her that clearly weren't injured to be quite funny. Charlotte apparently found it substantially less amusing. Then her ears perked up when Charlotte introduced herself as the alchemist. "Oh! You're the bottle lady!" She quickly reached into her robes and pulled out her memento from the serpent battle. "I found a snake head!" She thrust it forward, beaming as if she was presenting the alchemist with the philosopher's stone, and gave no further explanation. It seemed obvious to the kitsune that Charlotte would be able to make use of it in her "science stuff."

-Lilita-

As the peppy girl slowed her pace to keep the others ahead of her - she figured Masaru was leading them, or someone else back there at least - she started to pay more attention to the scraggy-kept man, who started checking the alchemist out. Lilita gave a nervous giggle, subtly hoping he wouldn't start looking around herself. While she didn't want to be rude, the alchemist's chest was rather...flat compared to her's, and Lilita didn't have the strength or the heart to ward him off if he did. So, she instead simply watched on as the Kitsune extended her hand outward to give a snake-head to the alchemist, trying to stay a small distance, but close enough to still be a part of their lives.

The box she was carrying still felt rather light, and her worries intensified with each step. I don't want to be known as the girl who brought nothing to camp... She thought to herself, clutching the box like it was her lifeline.

Turk was lost.

Bugger.

It'd been a while since he'd seen any of the group, after he went looking for something in the woods. Why had he even gone in here, again? It was pointless. The people back on the beach could have built a new ship and sailed for home by now. He was just about to give up hope, to go native and become a scary lizard man in the woods, when he suddenly went through a bush and was back on the beach, only a few meters away from everyone else.

Turk was completely baffled, but he didn't want to tell anyone he was just wasting his time, and got lost, so he just slunk back into the group and began some busy work. He inwardly wondered how long it was until night fall.

Masaru let out a sigh as he heard the report. Well, that was really a bit of a shame; at the very least, someplace that looked as it was stable enough and easy to clear out would've been fine. But... Nothing? Really?

"Ah... Damn, that's a bit of a shame, then. But hey, complaining about it's gonna get us nowhere; let's start moving now, then, I guess. As long as we remember our way back, there shouldn't be any issues, right? I mean, we got fish here, after all," he said, shrugging as he began to move further inland. Though... Right, this was still gonna end up a port or something if the chance came up. Making it close enough to the beach to make it easily accessible, while also making it deep enough inland to sustain crops and avoid any possible floods or whatever...

It was honestly more difficult than he'd thought it would have been. The job would've probably been simpler had the ship not been wrecked like it was now, but...

Well, it was still too early to complain. For now, the priority was going deeper in.
...
And maybe a source of fresh water. That'd be nice. Real nice.

---

The trees along the coast of the beach had long since left them, and now all Masaru could make out were deciduous trees left and right. At least, that's what they seemed to be; they certainly weren't the palm trees that had dotted the very outskirts of the border between the sand and the soil. But hey, if anything, the change was nice enough. Even if the trees were actually rather unfamiliar, at least they seemed to be slightly less prone to falling over. Even if he hadn't a clue on how to build a house... Wood was a good place to start, right?

"Ah... This place fine for now? My arms are starting to get a bit tired from carrying all this stuff around, y'know?" he asked whoever had decided to follow, placing the goods down near the trunk of a tree.

---

"A kitsune, of course. I already said I have travelled your lands," Gabriel told the girl with the pointy ears. "Sheesh, why do every beast-folk have to be so sensitive about being called anything other than their proper names. Nicknames are fun! Plus, it's not like I insulted your mother or anything..."

Gabriel's quickly plummeting mood had a change for the better, however, when Charlotte's efforts in being sarcastic reached his ears. When it came to sarcasm, if Gabriel declared he was second, no one else would dare say they were first! Her meagre attempts to joke with him prompted him to sigh in relief. "Mhm, since she's able to joke around then it means that the ship capsizing, along with the whole ordeal of being stranded in an unknown land with a bunch of strangers has not weakened her mentally."

Gabriel knew that maintaining a strong mentality was key with circumstances like these. His past mistakes had taught him the merits being patient and resourceful with what you have.

"Oh? You want me to help them set up camp? Oh, no no no. I was sent here by the orders of the Deacon to protect you, and that is exactly what I am going to to do." Gabriel looked at her and said matter-of-factly. Although he pretty much resented the old Deacon for enslaving him and loathed to follow his orders, he had already come to terms with his situation long ago. No, this sudden fervor of his to carry out his duty stemmed from his belief that beautiful things should be preserved. Gabriel was a simple man in the end. Was it a pretty girl or good food? If yes then he was all over that.

He stood next to Charlotte as she talked with the other man and then followed along as they left the beach in search for a suitable camping spot. The two that strived to lay low and remain inconspicuous caught Gabriel's attention. Not as much the girl as the strange lizard fellow that came out of the woods and quietly slunk back into the group like it was nothing. "Hello? Are we going to just ignore the strange lizardman? Is that how things are around here?" Gabriel brought a palm to his forehead, much like how Charlotte had done earlier, and walked along with the rest of the group. When the leading fellow stopped and suggested they made camp in that spot, Gabriel simply shrugged, indicating his indifference. He did not really care about the spot they chose. Rather, his mind at that moment was someplace else.

"Mmm, what would I give for a juicy piece of meat and a jug of beer right now..." he muttered to himself, just loud enough for those that walked near him to hear. Namely, Charlotte, since he always made sure to walk a few steps behind her.

Thanox crouched over the partially eaten remains of some wild animal. Some sort of boar perhaps? It was hard to tell from what remained of the carcass. While there was not any meat left to harvest, he was happy to note that the beast’s bladder was intact. Once it was cleaned and dried out it could make a decent waterskin, however the group would need more, and preferably larger ones, if they wanted to explore more of this new land.

Thanox clicked his mandibles together, something he often did while irritated. So far, the hunt was mostly unsuccessful. He may have found something that could be of value, but he hadn’t had any luck finding more food for the group. Now he had a choice, keep looking and hope he can find something, or admit defeat and return to the others. As much as it sickened him to do so he would have to return practically emptyhanded. Going too far in an unknown land, with unknown dangers was too risky. After all, he may have failed the group today, but tomorrow things could be different.

With a resigned shake of his head he began to make his way back towards the beach where he had last seen everyone else. They would have most likely moved on by now, but it would be fairly easy to find their tracks and meet up with them wherever they decided to make camp.