Charlotte frowned to Marianne "well, at least i got something, you dont" she said while hugging her knees

Katrice smiled at the argument. "Ha you two are silly." She said and Dragneel barked his agreement.

Aiden smirked. "You guys ever hear of the one about the guy with a hook for a hand? They say he wanders these woods looking for those meddling kids and that dog of theirs that took his hand." He chuckled out and patted Dragneel on the head again.

Dragneel barked happily, Katrice laughed at Aiden. "So many scary things in these woods."

"I remembered this story, it was one my father had told me. It was called the Juniper Tree, rather popular and some might have even heard of it. 'A woman wishes for a child as red as blood and as white as snow. She knows she is about to die, so she requests that she be buried under a juniper tree that her family has outside, as that is where she wished for the child. After a few months she gives birth to a son and dies a few days later. She is buried underneath the Juniper tree." Helona attempted to collect the pieces of the story, "Her husband grieves for a long time, and gets married again. His second wife gives birth to a daughter, Marjory, but hates the son because he would be the one to inherit all the family's money, and she wishes it to be her daughter. One day, she offers Marjory an apple and she graciously accepts it. Then, she has an evil thought and cruelly offers the boy one. As he reaches in a box to get it, she slams the box's heavy lid on him, beheading him. The mother then takes a bandage and ties his head back to his body, and tells Marjory to ask him for the apple, and if he doesn't give it, to give him a hit on the head. Marjory kindly asks for the apple, and then boxes hits him on the head, resulting in the boy's head falling off. Marjory goes to her mother and tells her in sobs that she killed her brother. Her mother reassures Marjory and they both agree not to tell the father. When the father returns they tell him boy has 'gone to stay with his uncle'. The father is upset that the boy did not say goodbye and tells Marjory that he will be home soon. The stepmother then turns the boy's body into a stew, and in some other versions, black sausages, without anyone knowing apart from her and Marjory.The father eats the stew, suspecting nothing, and declares it delicious..."

She paused for a moment before going on, "In the end, the stepmother died because a bird dropped a stone on her head, and the bird turned back into the boy. The family left and had dinner leaving the stepmother to rot under the stone."

"well...to be killed by a bird...that is bad luck" Charlotte said whilelooking at the fire, in that moment she felt something climbing her leg and it was obviously Topaz, Charlotte picked it up and placed it on the piece of apple he didnt finish eating

"My my, such interesting tales." Mateiu's voice rang from somewhere above the others. As everyone had spoken to one another, Mateiu had once again climbed into the trees and taken refuge on one of the thicker branches dangling near the camp fire. "You know, all these stories and legends reminds me of a tale my grandmother told me before I came to the village.", Mateiu wrapped his legs around the branch and dangled over the others, his long hair casted shadows through the camp, like numerous serpents wriggling about. "On the island i'm from, we have this creature called the Manananggal. You see, by day, the manananggal would take the form of a beautiful woman in her early to late thirties, she would behave just as you'd expect from a normal person, socializing with everyone, helping where she could, she'd become a well loved person in the community. But at night, the manananggal would detach its torso from its body and grow wings. The manananggal would then slip into the homes of pregnant woman and suck out the hearts of the unborn children by piercing the stomach and chest of the mother and child respectively with a long proboscis like tongue. It was said that the manananggal was nomadic and would often stay whichever village experienced an increase in pregnancies until suspicion as to its identity arose. My nana told me that some villages would even banish any single woman around thirty until all of the children were born, just to prevent an attack.".

Merl woke up when his hair started to sizzle, he looked around at the others, they seemed to be having fun, he wouldn't stop them. Merl noticed how nice the butterfly girl was and smiled as he moved his head from the fire, which seemed to never die.

It seemed topaz was having fun with the apple so Charlotte picked both up and walked to Merl "I think this is yours" she handed the animal and fruit to him

Aiden smirked and stood up. "Well all these stories of people eating people and monsters eating people are making me hungry. So does anyone mind If I start cooking the bear?" He asked as he walked over to the bear.

Marianne was slightly entertained by Helona's story, it was certainly more realistic then the other ones. "Well I'll have you know I don't have such a mind to make up such ridiculous stories" she stated. "If I did, they probably wouldn't be any more believable than the ones I've heard thus far" she said. "I can tell a good story about bears, if that's what you want, but its not really scary" Marianne offered.

Charlotte walked to Aiden, "your father is blacksmith right, could he forge a weapon for me?" she hugged herself "i was thinking...i should let that sword rest" she looked aside embarrassed for the question

Aiden was still eyeing the bear, his mouth nearly watering, when Charlotte came over to him. "Yeah I could do that. What did you have in mind?" He asked. But before he could get an answer a loud gurgling sound escaped his stomach. "Oi I'm about to eat this damn thing raw. Can some one start roasting it?"

After listening to most of the stories, Helona smiled slightly, they were all rather interesting, but didn't Marianne say she was going to tell one? She glanced at her and nudged Marianne with her elbow, "I do believe you have a story to tell, yes? Do tell."

Marianne grinned and began to tell her story. "Once, there was a family of bears that lived in a cave on top of a mountain. One day, the oldest bear, went out for a stroll. Suddenly, a maiden of shimmering grey hair burst from the trees, and the bear was wrapped up by the maiden's whip. The maiden gracefully rode the bear through the tree, and the bear had felt that no matter what he did he could not be victor against this sparkling maiden. The bear surrendered, and in her wisdom, the maiden cooked the bear and fed some blind orphans, and was given several gold medals, and everyone else was jealous of her. The end" Marianne finished triumphantly.

Charlotte almost smiled to Aiden's hunger. "i was thinking in something i can use with one hand....but heavy at the same time so i can deal some good damage while i use a shield or something else in the other hand...one of those curved swords..."katana" are they called?" she asked with a hand on her chin

Katrice laughed and helped Aiden carve the bear. "Am I the only one that brought food?" She looked back at Charlotte and tilted her head. "A khopesh maybe?"

"What a wonderful story." Helona clapped in surprise at the sheer magnificence of Marianne's story, she had never heard such a tale before, "You sure do enjoy bears quite a lot." She chuckled slightly and stopped her clapping, finally feeling her eyes grow heavy. "It is getting rather late though... If I do say so myself..." She yawned, "I need rest... I'll see you all in the morrow."

Marianne stood up and dusted off her legs. "I believe I will turn in as well, goodnight, don't let the bears eat your internal organs" she waved as she took the bear pelt into the tent, and laid on the fur, regardless of the blood stains.

Aiden smiled at Katrice. "Thanks gorges." He said as he started carving the bear. He smiled over his shoulder at Charlotte. "Ohh katanas. Me and my dad made a few of those before. Great blades if you ask me, but I always preferred my machetes." He said with a grin, some bear blood smeared on his forehead. "Sure once we get back to the village I'll get started. Any material you had in mind."