\|/ Turn 44, dark
Something is outside of the tent.
We were both writing in our journals when we heard rustling outside. Nothing has come inside… yet. Both of us keep glancing towards the entrance. Mik has its hatchet close, and I have my new spear closer.
Since we have to be silent, I'll write about the turn now.
It stopped raining at some point last dark. I went to sleep pretty late but woke up earlier because of the sleep I had in the bush. I felt incredibly groggy but couldn't fall asleep again. My body ached from work the last two turns, but at least I was fed. I didn't dream of beating myself up again, which was good. There was singing outside.
Mik was awake as well. It seemed surprised to see me wake so early and flailed its arm. We don't sleep right next to each other anymore, Mik keeping a small distance of about a length.
It's probably for the better, since it turns a lot when asleep, and Mik getting impaled on my thorns is not a good thing to wake up to. It was warm inside the tent, and I slept with only my blanket on, having taken off the soaked cloak.
When I woke up and stretched a bit, Mik crawled over to me and showed me some text in its journal.
"Big water go?"
I thought about it for a moment.
Mik is doing much better. It can move properly now, but it's still dangerously thin, and its left arm just won't heal. The lake was full of animals, and I knew that the screechers there were hostile.
I took its journal and wrote down "No."
Mik looked at me, confused, and wrote down "?"
I wrote "Dangerous."
It didn't understand the word and just wrote down "?" next to it.
Remembering that it knows very few words, I took my journal, flipped to Mik's notes and read what it does know. Afterwards, I took its journal and wrote down:
"Mik barely move, monster big water."
Mik went to write something, probably to protest, but I moved the journal away and wrote:
"Maya find food."
It breathed in deeply and took the journal, writing:
"? do"
I breathed deeply, rubbing my snout with my tail twitching.
Of course, Mik won't listen to me to just stay and recover. I swear I've got the most hyperactive alien…
I looked around and thought of something for Mik to do. I didn't want to give it a hard task, but I also didn't want to give it nothing, because it would follow me. My eyes dropped on the two bowls we had lying near the campfire.
I took one and tapped it. Then, I wrote "bowl" in Mik's journal.
Mik looked at me for a moment, confused, and tapped it. I tapped it again, smiling.
It wrote down the translation and gave me the journal again.
I wrote down "2 bowl", some space and then "5 bowl". The reasoning being that we should have something for holding things aside from meat, since we can't properly clean the bowls.
Mik looked at me with its face contorted in the "unsatisfied" pose. It's hard to describe, but it just looks like it sags. Still frightens me when it does that.
"We need more." I hissed out loud, tapping the message.
It breathed deeply once and took its journal out of my hands, putting it on the ground. It took its hatchet, struggled to get up a bit and then went outside.
"Wait!" I hissed, taking my dry cloak and running after it.
When I stepped outside, I was incredibly surprised.
There was a deep fog enveloping everything. I've seen fog over my lifetime in the sands, but this was more than I expected. The rain had stopped, but I could only see about a length in front of me. There was a weird taste in the air, something between ozone and water.
"Mik!" I hissed out, not seeing it in the fog.
It then appeared beside me. It made a noise without opening its mouth, something like a question, startling me.
"Suns!" I yelped out, flinching and almost falling backwards. It smiled and chuckled a bit.
I regathered myself and tapped the hatchet in its hand.
"I'll need this." I told it, taking the hatchet and starting to pull.
Mik didn't give it this time, instead pulling back lightly.
"Mik…" I grumbled as I pulled harder.
It didn't let go. I gave up after a moment, deeply frustrated. It was just being rude at this point.
I needed a weapon in case my plan went sideways. I went to go and get my journal from the tent to explain.
I then heard a snapping noise behind me, next to the tent.
I spun around and saw Mik, holding one of the spikes it had made for the tent. It was handing me the spike as a makeshift spear.
I grumbled a bit and took it, smiling only to be polite, though my tail wasn't still. Mik never notices that, though.
It tapped my tailtip with its foot and went towards the water spring. I started making my way towards the lake. The spear felt odd in my hands, being overgrown with vines.
"I lost hatchet privileges as soon as it got better…" I grumbled to myself, more than a little annoyed.
I started walking down the path, deep in thought.
I know that the stupid hatchet means a lot to Mik, but it's being unpractical…
I almost left without grabbing the contaminated fruit. One of the things I had planned was cleaning it. I quickly ran back, grabbed it, and continued towards the lake.
I already had some experience in finding my way in the dark on that particular path, but it felt odd. I never saw fog this thick. I could only imagine what it must be like in the wet domain.
I've got to visit it one day, if I survive, just for the fog.
I got to the bush, almost walking into it.
"Heya." I said to it. The bush immediately opened a path through.
I need to think of a name for the bush… I thought as I walked through.
Bushy…? No, that's silly…
A normal name? Hisha? No…
Maybe some bush type from Varanth?
I continued thinking and murmuring to myself as I followed the path, not at all focused on what was in front of me.
I've got it! Shlika! Like the decorative bush Vera has!
It then occurred to me that the thought was incredibly stupid. I was giving a plant a name and basically considering it a friend. I thought about bringing a part of the bush back to Vera so she could grow it. She would love that, even if it was alien and slightly terrifying. Her reaction would be priceless. The thought made me feel warm for a bit, giving me just the slightest thing to look forward to if I managed to get back home.
Until I fell into the lake.
I screamed as I fell underwater. My mouth filled with water, making me choke. I physically wasn't meant to be in deep water.
I flailed horribly for a bit, letting go of the spear and fruit. My cloak fell off and sunk with the rest.
The world faded in front of me. I thought I was dead.
Then, I managed to grab the ground from the little cliff I had fallen from. I pulled myself up with all my strength, ignoring the ravenous pain in my left arm from the action.
I managed to break through the surface and pull myself onto land. I gagged and spat out the water in my mouth. My thorns hurt from the amount of water being redirected at once.
"…suns…" I gasped out as I lied next to the cliff. I was shaking from the adrenaline.
It took a few spans for me to calm down from the fact that I almost drowned. The absurdity about drowning because I was too busy thinking about names for a bush didn't miss me.
I slowly got up and backed away from the water. I lost my balance and fell down again.
I felt bile rising and vomited onto the ground. The water inside of me was killing me.
I managed to get up after that, having vomited out the excess water, and got my balance. I was cold without my cloak, but I didn't feel like I would die. My thermal suit was useless at this point.
After some more deep breathing, I went to a nearby bush and licked it. Not my proudest moment, but I needed to be able to taste the air, and vomit in my mouth didn't help with that.
My whole plan was to try and steal an egg from the screechers and to clean the fruit for Mik. But I had lost the fruit, and now we didn't have any food.
"My sunsdamned spear…" I muttered to myself. I had no way of defending myself.
I thought about going back, getting another spike or trying to find a different food source, but it all felt like it would take too long, and I was getting desperately hungry due to vomiting. It was a stupid idea, but I would have to sneak to get the egg.
I tasted the air, tasting nothing new yet. I followed the lake, going to the left side. I kept as much distance between me and the water as I could. I stared into the water and ground to make sure.
I heard some rustling right of me in the water and fell to the ground, curling in on myself. I cursed myself for not going back for a spear.
Nothing came out.
I continued walking slowly.
I started tasting a new taste in the air. It was the screechers. They had a poignant taste that's hard to describe. It was something like Mik, but much more dense and watery.
I continued, now pushing aside different weeds and grass slowly, so as to not make any noise. I could still see almost nothing in front of me, but at least that meant I was also hidden. I heard some chirping and breathing around me.
Extremely carefully, I stepped on ground that had their marks. There were hundreds of feet marks from the screechers, leaving a pattern that had three claws in the front and one in the back. I felt incredibly nervous as I continued forward.
Then, I almost stumbled into a screecher. It was lying down on a type of large nest. Its four eyes were closed, and it didn't notice me. I took a step back and went around it, letting the fog cover me as best I could.
There was a nest to my right, but no screecher inside of it. I heard frills and rustling all around me. There was a single, large white egg with patches of red inside. Incredibly slowly, I took it and started sneaking back the way I came from. The egg was incredibly heavy and warm in my arms, making my left arm ache in pain, but adrenaline kept me from letting go of it.
I avoided the screecher that was sleeping and got out of the area that was walked in by the screechers.
I breathed a sigh of relief and continued to walk towards the path, following the lake.
My own vomit made a fortunate landmark, as I would've missed the turn towards the path without it. I sneered at the irony, still in shock that I almost died in such a stupid way.
As I got on my makeshift path, I heard the bone shaking shriek. The screecher must've seen its missing egg. Animals flew out of the trees.
I started running towards the tent, but I was incredibly slow due to the heavy egg. More shrieks followed from the rest of the nest. I was hoping it wouldn't follow me during my loud escape.
But the screecher heard me, and I heard the ground from its feet behind me. It kept shrieking and making more noise.
I saw the bush in front of me.
"OPEN!!!" I hissed to it. The bush opened to my size.
I dove inside and scrambled to the side. More leaves moved out of the way as I scrambled out of the path Shlika made for me.
I stopped moving, in a hole to the side. Slowly, the bush closed around me, and the path closed.
Then, the screecher came to the bush. I heard the fluttering of wings at the entrance and panting. I wasn't breathing, trying to minimize noise. The bush then moved, making a rustling from the entire mass, making it seem like something big was inside.
The screecher whimpered and turned in another direction, shrieking again.
I finally breathed, putting the egg to the side in the me shaped opening.
I felt incredibly sorry for the screecher. I never worked as an egg collector, but the stories from what I've heard from Scale working there are nightmares. The suicide rates alone…
…
I waited for quite a while for the screecher to stop. I didn't hear or taste it anymore, but I was too terrified to leave the bush.
After what I guessed to be about a mark, I got up. Shlika opened as I was getting up, and I went down the path towards the tent. I balanced the egg under my right arm, with my left to support as little as it could. It was painful, and my right arm was strained, but I managed.
The fog was less dense on the path then. I kept looking around for the screecher, but it wasn't following me. I bumped into trees and leaves during my distracted walk.
I just heard something running away in the dark. Mik tensed up as well.
There was some kind of light bump to the tent, and then whatever was there ran away. I think we're safe. I'll continue writing, though Mik is starting to get paranoid.
I got to the tent sometime past midlight. It was pretty warm, and I felt comfortable without my cloak, though I missed having it. The fog had cleared up a lot at that point.
The tent and surrounding area were empty. I brought the egg inside and left it there. I went outside and lay down on a rock near the tent to sunbathe until Mik came back. I didn't feel fully safe, but I needed to relax after that many near death experiences.
Sometime later, when the red dwarf was lower, Mik tapped me on the snout to wake me up.
I flinched, not expecting the gesture at all, almost clawing its arm. I managed to hold myself back as I brought my right arm up.
Mik was standing at eye level from the rock I was on, holding something in its right hand.
Mik made sure I wasn't going to claw it, looking at my arm in the air. I slowly put it back down. It then handed me something, smiling wildly.
It was another spear. Mik had made a new one, unlike like the overgrown, half broken spear it gave me this early light.
I changed position so I was sat down and facing Mik. I took the spear in my arms.
It was a nice one, carved from a bigger piece of wood, pointy as ever. It was about as tall as I was. I smiled back.
"Thanks for the new one, but I'll still need to borrow your hatchet soon…"
Mik, of course, didn't understand me at all, and head towards the tent. I looked around, making sure the screecher wasn't anywhere near the tent. After a few moments, I hopped down and followed Mik to the tent.
I saw three more bowls in front of the tent, drying in the sun. They were still wet with sap, but I saw that they had a bunch of compressed leaves and a few branches as support. It actually listened to me, despite not liking the order.
I bumped into Mik as it quickly backed off outside, taking its hatchet out. I almost fell down.
"What the… What are you doing?" I asked it, stumbling backwards.
Mik stood outside, not wanting to go in. A cold dread washed over me.
The screecher…?
I held up my spear and went inside.
It was completely empty aside from the egg and some wood.
I laughed at Mik from inside, setting the spear aside.
"It's just an egg!" I shouted to Mik.
Mik slowly came in and stared at the egg. I crouched next to it and tapped a few times, tapping myself to indicate I brought it. I wasn't sure whether to be proud or disgusted.
It crouched next to the egg and tapped it, looking at me.
It thought about something for a bit. Then, Mik took its hatchet and carefully cracked the top.
We both leaned over, and I took the top off.
It was full of liquid. The main part was an unusual, deep green, while the rest of the liquid was mostly clear with a slight red tint. It had very little taste in the air, surprisingly.
"It looks fine… I think?"
I've eaten many eggs in my life from a lot of different animals. I've never had exotic ones, but this looked like none I had ever seen. I wasn't sure how the eggs from different stores were treated.
Mik's face was slightly amusing. It was contorted like it was thinking, but with a slight combination of alarm still present. After a few moments it went and started the fire. I helped put the firewood in place and placed the egg next to the fire.
We both waited for about a mark for the egg to cook. It took a while to start boiling, and I got very nervous that the shell would give out, but it stayed together.
After it was done Mik went outside and grabbed two new bowls. The two we had been using before were quite stained from meat, so it was better not to mix that.
Mik placed the bowls next to the egg and tried to pour it inside. The moment it touched the shell with its hand it recoiled, putting its fingers in its mouth.
I couldn't help but make fun of it.
"Oooh you can't handle a little heat without scales, can you?" I said, going and grabbing the egg.
In full honesty, it was extremely hot in my hands as well, but I saw Mik's expectant stare, and I didn't feel like giving it material to make fun of me as well.
I poured half in one bowl and the rest in the other.
Mik took its bowl by the side and put it on the ground, letting the scorching egg cool.
I took my bowl, and noticed it was dripping on the bottom. Of course I got the leaky bowl.
After letting it cool and getting sticky scales from the leaking bowl, we both ate. It was surprisingly pleasant. I felt sated when we finished eating. I noticed Mik looking around a bit while eating next to me, occasionally glancing at me.
After a bit, Mik took its journal and drew some things, it showed me when it was done.
Mik drew a stick with a sharp end, a round thing and a wavy cube, along with a "? go" next to all of that. It was asking me where my things were.
I took its journal and wrote "big water, no move, barely no no live"
Mik read it for a few spans. I saw its round eyes moving back and forward a few times, then widening.
It wrote "???" and looked at me.
I wrote "big water is monster to Maya".
Mik read it and then made a movement with its right arm while saying something. It bent it forwards, going backwards. I recognized it as swimming from what I'd seen other Scale do.
I took the journal and wrote "Maya no".
Mik closed its eyes and shook its head left and right, a movement I didn't recognize, and went to write something in its journal.
I was about to start writing too when we both heard movement.
Mik took its hatchet and I took my spear. Both of us stared at the entrance. We both stayed silent. No more of our small talk in which we don't understand each other after that.
It's late now. The movement stopped after the bump. Mik isn't sleeping, and it's holding its hatchet way too closely. I see its fingers going white, something that happened when it was extremely cold. I understand its new taste in the air now.
Fear.
The campfire is about to go out. I'll try and keep Mik calm.