The Southern Dark Forest

Andrew walked on a dirt path in the Deadly Forest that curved off to a part that was lesser known to most of the camp. It led to one of the more flora-crowded regions that hindered capture the flag matches and wasn't as desirable for monsters to inhabit in (or so people thought). Still, warm rays of light penetrated between the dense tree branches, telling Andrew it was still late afternoon- plenty of time to set up camp. He was carrying standard camping gear, with hopefully everything he'd need. The idea of camping within a camp but not necessarily in the camp intrigued and confused him at the same time. He didn't know when, why, or how the idea came into his mind, but he had decided to go along with it, and now here he was.

Andrew broke through the dense forest and arrived at a small clearing of grass. He decided that this was a good spot to set up camp. Walking to the middle of the clearing, he set down his gear and started setting up the tent. He had brought along two for some reason, maybe in hope of someone(s) else somehow coming along, willing to join in this (mis)adventure.

Andrew broke out one of the tents and started setting it up for the night. He noticed that the bag holding the metal sticks was still in the backpack. He fished them out of his pack, but when he raised it up, it was upside-down and the opening spewed the contents on the ground. Andrew sighed and brushed his hand through his jet black hair before picking up the rods. He then proceeded to give the nylon tent structure by inserting the flexible, metal poles in the proper places. The tent was meant for a single person, but it could fit two if necessary.

As he was constructing, he heard some murmurs in the surrounding forest and raised his head. Andrew wondered if the sounds came from monsters or human but didn't bother to find out. He was in the southern side of the forest, notorious for deadlier, hungrier monsters than the north side, after all. If anything were to approach, he'd have plenty of time to react, what with the space of the clearing. Just to make sure, though, he transformed his chain necklace into his Celestial Bronze repeater crossbow and set it next to his backpack. Feeling sufficiently safe, he hummed Internal Cannon by August Burns Red as he continued to put up his tent.

After a few minutes, the tent was all set up and ready for dozing off in whenever Andrew desired. For now, however, he'd have to get some drywood and thick branches to keep a fire burning through the night. He brushed his hands on his jeans and picked up his crossbow. He didn't know what could possibly be out there, so he thought it'd be best to be prepared for the worst.

Andrew decided to leave all his gear here rather than take his backpack with him. It'd just be too unwieldy. Still humming to himself, he breached the treeline and went looking for solid burning material. His walk was near silent as he instinctively avoided the obvious crunch of leaves and snaps of twigs so any nearby monsters wouldn't be alerted of his presence. He wanted this to be a fun night, not a problematic, stress-filled foray, but somehow, the thought that of the one thing he wanted to avoid kept popping into his head.

Hearing a snap, Andrew impulsively swiveled on his heel to the direction of the sound with his crossbow raised at eye level. He slowly drifted his aim left to right to see what had made the sound, but the densely crowded trees made it difficult to see what was actually there. Deciding to risk it, he asked firmly, "Who's there?"

Andrew stood in a stalwart manner as he waited for a response, vocal or physical. Hopefully it wasn't a monster because Andrew wasn't in much of a hunting mood. His right index finger was poised on the light trigger, nonetheless. He was glad he knew how to shoot a gun; a crossbow wasn't much different except for the slower trajectory.

Andrew realized the voice belonged to a guy, a rather pusillanimous one at that, and lowered his crossbow. He started walking through the trees in front of him and saw a guy a bit older looking than he was. He let his crossbow point fully downwards, holding it in his right hand. A girl came after the boy, she obviously knowing him. She said his name, and Andrew took note of it.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He tried to reconcile with the guy named Anders. "I thought you were a monster. Could never be too cautious around here." He glanced from one person to the other, noticing the girl's sword. Deducing from their reactions, Andrew had the amusing guess that the girl was trying to save the guy or something. He hid his grin behind his mask of not-so-seriousness.

Andrew couldn't help but let out a chuckle. He decided to return his weapon into its chain necklace form and put it back on. He gave a warm smile. "Nice to meet 'cha. I'm Andrew."

He gave a quick look-around on their whereabouts and then turned back to the couple. "So, why're you guys here? Isn't it a bit dangerous to be clumsily stepping on branches and yelping?" Andrew lightly teased. He put his hands in his hoodie pockets, standing rather relaxed now.

Andrew smirked at Kyler's interjection. Replying to Anders, he said, "Just gonna go camping for the night. It was a random idea that popped in my head this morning."

He noted that the boy mentioned something about a clearing. "You wouldn't be talking about the same clearing I am, would you? Did you see one with a tent and gear 'round here?" He asked. Andrew was curious because maybe the two of them would want to camp with him. Company was always (more like usually) a good thing to have, and it was definitely better than spending the night alone, he supposed.

Andrew grinned and nodded in agreement. "I was just gonna go look for some wood and stuff to make a fire. Want to help?" He asked the duo. He took his hands out of his pockets and bent down to start picking up some decent-sized branches. More people would mean less time wasted in the already-late afternoon before it got dark, he thought. He didn't care if they helped or not though. It was their choice after all.

Andrew rose his head and nodded. "Yeah, I'll catch up." he replied as he grabbed a few more sticks. He didn't know how much they'd need for the night but an overabundance never hurt anyone, he supposed. Andrew kept his eyes and ears open for any unusual noises. They were in the southern half of the forest after all. Who knows what kind of baddies could be lurking around. He decided not to wait and find out and followed Anders and Kyler.