Low On Resources (Open)

"Hmm... You'll barely last a day..." The defeated boy would say picking off the few remaining berries that hung from a weltering bush. He'd quickly cast a glare around the rest of the brush around the area, everything had been picked dry. He didn't understand it, this place had been plentiful for food year after year. It was even the place he could rely on when winter came, yet now... When the food should be everywhere. There was nothing.

The boy would sigh and pack up everything he had collected thus far into a little hand made pouch before adventuring off to a part of the forest he didn't often go. It was a more populated part of the forest which he didn't take fondly of, he preferred the peace of the inner woods. But for now he was desperate to find anything he could. He wasn't sure how, or why but the roughed up boy was convinced this food shortage had something to do with that creature that kept attacking innocent wildlife at night, he was determined to get to the bottom of all that... Once he managed to fill his stomach that is.

Note:

Datara was there as well, by sheer chance, she saw the boy who ran off while picking berries. She woul've called out to him, but he ran off before she could do so.
Datara's curiosity was piqued by this odd sight, and she decided to follow him. It had been a long time since she had seen wild boys like that, fictional or otherwise.

"Where's that boy going...?"
She thought as she followed him as quietly as possible into the forest.

He had to keep quiet, he didn't want anyone noticing him right now. Void was on a mission of survival and right now that's all he had time to care about, he didn't want any stupid distractions stopping him from achieving his goal. Swiftly the boy would dodge between the tree lines, keeping at a rather fast pace whilst still staying quiet. After years of living in these woods he had learned the best ways to keep a good balance of speed and stealth and it never usually let him down.

"Grr... This doesn't make any sense..." He'd say angrily at himself as he continued to quickly scan the surrounding forest he ran through for any signs of food or... Well just about anything. That damned beast must be eating all the food, or causing it all to die somehow. This wasn't just a massive hardship for Void, but for the animals of the forest as well... What would they possibly eat if everything's gone? He couldn't even afford to try and help them... He was having trouble as it was keeping himself alive.

The sudden sound of a twig snapping behind him made the boy spin around before darting behind a nearby tree for cover. Whether it was an animal or some pesty person roaming this more habited part of the forest, he wasn't going to take any chances yet...

Datara watched the boy scan the trees and heard him mutter something about something not making sense. She had to wonder what exactly he was reffering to though.
Suddenly, a thought hit her, making her move closer, except..
*SNAP!* went a twig, making her mentally curse as the boy suddenly darted behind a nearby tree.
"Damn. Oh well. Looks like I've got no choice now..." she thought.
"Hello? I'm not out here to hurt you. My name's Datara. What's yours?" She said in a calm and friendly tone. She also made sure her body language seemed as harmless and friendly as possible so as to not scare him away.

"Tsk." Why could he never be left alone to do what he needed to. It literally didn't take him more than five minute out of his usual area for someone to find him, try to approach him and then try to talk all sweetly to him. He could see through their lies, all those pesky humans were the same. With a reluctant sigh, the boy would slowly step out from behind the tree, accepting the fact he had been spotted whilst eyeing the person who had seen him with piercing, unblinking eyes. He'd consider running off right away, he had no reason to stay here, he had to find food and fast. Yet his stomach was telling him otherwise, this pest might have something on them he could steal for a meal. He wasn't fond of the things normal people usually had, yet right now he was desperate.

"What do you want." The boy would say bluntly, still refusing to take his eye off the woman standing across a few trees from him. He'd snap a tree branch off the nearby tree to hold for self defense in case this person tried anything he didn't have time to react to, yet he was ready to run and he knew he could get by faster than anyone else in his wooded home so that shouldn't be an issue. "Tell me what you want. But don't come any closer. Or you'll regret it." Void would add, drawing a line in the dirt with the stick he now held. Visually marking off the fact that this was his territory. As young as he was, he was pretty good at making himself seem intimidating, it was an important skill to have in the wild.

Hm. Something told her that she had to be careful. She wasn't as young as she used to be, despite her appearence outwards suggesting otherwise.
Meaning a fight with a boy like him would give her a decent challenge, but at the same time, probably go to hell if something snapped.
And she got the feeling it wouldn't be one of his bones.
So she decided to voice her thoughts.
"Alright. What I want to know is, what happened to all those plants? I recognize them. Those are fruit bearing plants. I saw you picking fruits earlier, and there's no way you could've picked off all those berries in that sack . Actually, I don't see any berries at all, rotten or otherwise nearby. Even most animals don't go that far, and not any ones in a lush forest like this." she said.

Void refused to take his eye off the women when she mentioned the berry bushes. He already knew they were all dead, he didn't need to recheck now and leave himself open. "Grrr... And why do you think I'd know?" The boy would growl angrily at the thought that this woman was really blaming him for all this, regardless of she was or not. "For all I know. This is your fault." He'd say, he was already angry about the lack of food, and vocalizing the topic wasn't helping matters at all. Especially with how damn hungry he felt.

The boy would raise the stick he held in his hand to point it at the woman. "Until proven innocent, how would I know if it wasn't people like you that steal all the food from this place? Animals would never be so foolish. To waste everything at once. It's stupid." The boy would continue, he didn't massively believe this could be the woman's fault however, he knew it was probably that stupid creatures fault... Everything had been going wrong since it first turned up, yet he didn't want to disclose that information onto any which person that tried to say hi to him. So instead made up this whole blame thing to keep himself showing he wasn't truly thinking about something else.

"True. But I don't know either. I've seen enough environmental destruction to gain a disgust for it." Datara said in response.
She sighed as he kept talking.
"Indeed. Sad, no? The innocent suffer in place of the ones guilty... sickening. But this is not my fault." she nodded in response.

The ragged boy would spit on the ground in irritation. "You only here to taunt me on what I already know?" He'd ask rudely, not caring for this unknown person to be talking as if they were some innocent flower where all else is to blame or whatever she was trying to do to gain the boys trust. He just wasn't buying it.

"Listen Girl Face, I need to find food. It's nearly dark and I'd prefer to be prepared before that time. Now are you going to be any use or are you just wasting my time?" He'd say, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Why did everyone insist on wasting his time...

"No. I'm here because i'm curious about all of this, and I want to do something about it." she said to the boy, not once changing her tone of voice. She was used to dealing with kids like this.
Although he did have a point with what he said next.
"Fine. I'll give you some food, and help you figure out what the hell happened here. But you have to be willing to cooperate with me. Do we have a deal?" She said in response, holding out her hand for him to shake. Already, she was forming a rough hypothesis of what she thought could cause this.
She had two theories at the moment:
One, either there was a extremely huge and constantly starving human being or beast here (something she sincerely doubted since this forest was full of life, and that even a human being with no survival skills for the wild couldn't go that hungry).

Two... well, she already had a bad feeling about. She had a feeling that her second theory was probably correct. Already, she could see some of the signs, which she had years of experience with.

"I hope it's not two, though. If it's two, this is way beyond both of us at the moment. Because if it's two, there's only one way to deal with it, and neither of us has the means to do so." She thought.

"Tsk. And why do you care?" He'd state, looking the woman up and down. She definitely didn't look like this was a place she'd call home so why did she even care. People live in those stupid cities and that's where they get their food, why would she care what happens in this place. It's none of her business. "Not like you live here. Not like it effects you."

Void would stare at the woman with vacant eyes. "No." He'd finally say. He didn't trust this woman at all, let alone trust any food she may give to him. Who knows what she's done to it, plus it probably wouldn't be anything natural. Even if it was he'd still be suspicious of it. Plus who did she think she was demanding him to cooperate with them, he didn't even know her! He'd ignore the handshake completely, crossing his arms instead and taking a step back away from the woman. "I'm not helpless. I'll find my own food." He'd spit.

"Because all life is connected. It may take a 100 years, 1000, or even just six months, but all life is connected. If a forest like this dies, it will be felt greatly by the world." she said in response.
She had other reasons to care as well. She cared because it kept her from becoming lonely after living so long

Which is why when the boy rejected her, and rather rudely too, she snapped back.
"Will you quit acting so damned prideful?!? You may not be helpless, yes,but in this case, you are! Is it so much trouble to accept help from others for you? I can tell already, that if you wanted to be alone, and you could find food, you wouldn't have gone out foraging so far out so that I could see you!" she snapped at him.

"I am not helpless!" He'd bark back. "You know nothing of what's being going on here, and you know nothing of how the forest works! I know what I'm doing and I know that I don't need you!" He'd add, growling under his breath once he was done talking. This woman was pissing him off, what did she know! This was his home, his problems, he'd deal with them in any way he chose! How dare she judge his actions like this. "I'm only out this far to try and figure out what's going wrong! Finding food was just something I needed to do in the mean time!" He'd lie, not wanting to show a single sign of weakness to this woman anymore. "And I don't need you to do that! Now would you leave me alone!"

She sighed. There wasn't going to be any more reasoning with this kid.
Plus, she had lost her cool. Not good.
She sighed, deciding to leave. There was no point in arguing any further.
"Alright. Fine then. Have it your way. See you around." She said as she walked off.
Looks like she'd have to take this into her own hands.

Thread Complete. Intrigue Level: 3.

Void would stare at the woman with anger in his eyes as she decided to leave. He'd watch her go and only once satisfied that she was completely out of view and not going to come back and follow him or do anything weird like that, he'd turn around and continue his trek through the forest where he was going before. "Tsk." People were the worst. But that didn't matter at the moment. He needed to find food before it was dark, so he'd better hurry.