\|/ Turn 45, dark
Mik's arm is finally getting better, though there are hunters in the dark.
I fell asleep late last dark next to Mik. I was trying to keep it company, lying next to it, hissing quietly every once in a while, but I was too tired from the entire turn to stay awake. From what I saw and tasted; Mik was extremely afraid the entire time.
When I woke up this early light Mik was already awake. I was facing it from my lying position, and it didn't notice I was awake. Mik didn't taste like fear anymore, but it obviously hadn't slept. The flesh under its eyes sagged and looked… black. I was actually startled when I saw it, thinking Mik was decaying again.
But another thing that surprised me was what Mik was doing. It's left arm was out of the improvised sling, and Mik was actually moving it around! Granted, Mik was moving its left arm using its right, but it wasn't grunting or moving its face uncomfortably.
I sat up, startling Mik. It let go of its left arm and grabbed the hatchet. That snapped me awake, and I yelped and rolled away.
Mik quickly let go of the hatchet and started flailing its right arm around, talking at speeds too fast to differentiate its weird language.
"It's fine, Mik." I said, crawling over to it. I understood that it was afraid from the last dark. I was, too.
I got to it and held my tail out towards Mik. It looked at me for a moment and put its right hand on my tailtip.
"No…" I hissed out, moving it to the side. I wanted Mik to move its left arm.
Mik realized my intention and slowly moved its left arm. Mik managed to bring it up the tiniest amount, and it was shaking quite badly.
I smiled at it, happy to know that my alien wasn't completely broken. I placed my tail against its left hand, helping it up. Mik exhaled slightly but managed to keep the arm up with my help. After a few moments of this it took its left arm with its right, exhaling through its teeth.
"Yeah… I get it." I hissed to it, moving away and stretching. Mik put its left arm in the sling again.
A bit later, as I got up, Mik approached me with its journal.
"Water eat?" it wrote.
I reread it a few times, utterly confused. I was feeling groggy, and deciphering first thing in early light wasn't my specialty.
…
…Oh.
I took its journal and wrote "Drink" underneath, hoping it was trying to say that, and not describing hunting in water.
Mik took its journal and wrote something underneath, then left it in the tent. I left mine as well, grabbing my spear and heading out.
I immediately froze as I stepped outside.
There was blood around the tent. Not a lot, but it was clearly visible.
Mik got out after me and immediately drew its hatchet.
Some of the grass and bushes were stained by the red blood. There was a line of it leading away from the tent, disappearing in nearby bushes. The air tasted vaguely metallic.
We both looked around in utter silence except for the singing. Neither of us could find an animal, but I found the source.
One of the spikes that Mik had placed around the tent was covered in blood. It was still dripping slightly, though most of it was dried out. Whatever was prowling around our tent last dark had bumped into the spike and fled.
I'm glad I had that nightmare… I thought grimly.
I hissed for Mik to come over. It did and crouched next to me, looking at the spike.
Mik put out a finger and tasted the blood. Its face contorted afterwards.
WHY would you do that? I thought in disbelief. Mik seemed to think the same thing.
Maybe Mik tastes things differently than me…?
It got up and followed the trail of blood to the bush.
From what I could see the tracks in the ground were quite large. Whatever was here had four legs with four claws. Two facing forward, two back. They were larger than Mik's tracks.
We got to the end of the blood trail. The bush was bent quite a bit, and the tracks blended in with the surrounding plants and leaves. I couldn't make out where it went, or if it even flew away.
I lowered my spear, reasoning it wasn't there. It probably wouldn't come back, having been poked by a spike.
But Mik stepped through the bush, motioning me to follow.
I stepped through a moment later and almost fainted.
There were so many tracks.
Whatever was here, it wasn't alone. There were bent bushes and stepped on grass. There must have been at least 4 to 10 of these things, depending on how many times they circled the area last dark. Mik tasted like fear again, but it was combined with something else I couldn't recognize. Its hand whitened around the hatchet.
We both stood there, looking at the tracks. I breathed deeply for a few moments, steadying myself. Mik was shaking slightly. I wasn't sure if it was going to faint.
I need to get Mik out of here.
I went over to Mik and tugged it by the cloak. It didn't move, staring at the tracks. I grabbed its right arm and pulled it away. It finally listened and followed after a few moments of my struggle.
I pulled Mik over to the rock next to the tent where I would sunbathe. Mik looked at me, confused, as I pushed it to sit down.
"Calm down. We'll be fine." I hissed lightly. It didn't understand, still gripping its hatchet.
If I can survive getting chased by a screecher, we can survive whatever this is…
I breathed deeply and exhaled slowly, staring at Mik. I couldn't be sure whether breathing exercises were normal in its species or if it would shake its stress off, but usually the breathing queues had been the same between us.
Mik actually listened to me and followed my breathing. I would usually breathe faster than it, being smaller, but I really slowed down to match what would be a slow pace for Mik. Mik closed its eyes and just breathed with me.
I put my spear on the ground and went to take away Mik's hatchet. The moment I pulled the hatchet Mik jerked it away, holding it up. I stepped back and held my hands in front of me.
"That's fine. That's fine." I said, afraid Mik would do something rash. "You can keep your hatchet, just breathe."
Mik lowered the hatchet but didn't let go of it. After a few moments it closed its eyes again.
I climbed onto the rock and sat down next to Mik. There wasn't anything around us, and the air tasted neutral aside from Mik, so I let Mik just calm itself down.
A few spans later, it opened its eyes and motioned drinking to me. We still hadn't gotten water, and Mik really does need a lot.
"Sure, let's go to the water spring." I said, picking up my spear and following the path. I saw Mik leave its cloak in the tent before leaving.
As we made our way to the water spring Mik was extremely close to me. I was slightly nervous as well, but Mik was less than a length away, constantly looking around with its hatchet raised. I tried to step away a few times, but Mik got closer every time I did. It was really unnerving.
Then, we got to the water spring. I was hoping that Mik would calm down a bit there, drink and wash its face like it usually does, since the breathing exercise wasn't enough.
But the water spring was tinted red.
"…what?"
Mik noticed it like I did, looking around frantically.
I approached the water spring and found the source.
There was a swimmer carcass stuck inside, the water washing over the body.
The swimmer was torn apart by something. The body was split open, with the right wings completely torn off. A foot was missing. There was something like insektal flying around and into the body.
And then I saw the bottom left wing.
It was green and black from infection. It was the other swimmer. My swimmer.
I stood frozen in shock. My mind raced.
Did it die because of me?
I knew I shouldn't blame myself for its death, but the wing…
I couldn't stop staring as Mik stepped over to the body. It grabbed it by the cloak and threw it out of the water spring. But the water spring was still red due to the contaminated rocks underneath.
Mik had run over to me in the meantime, grabbing me by my left arm and hurriedly pulling me towards the tent.
"Aah!" I yelped, my arm bursting into pain. I hit Mik with the side of my spear. It stopped and stepped away, letting go of me. Its eyes were wide and slightly red.
I held my left arm and hissed at it angrily. Mik looked confused for a moment, slapped its head and did the weird flailing apology.
I exhaled deeply and started walking towards the tent. It followed me a moment later, looming over me again.
I entered the tent first and sat down, needing a break after everything. It was almost midlight, and Mik was still in a state of perpetual panic, pacing inside the tent. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down, convincing myself it wasn't my fault, that I wasn't evil. Mik then dropped its journal on my lap, tapping it.
"No. Just… give me a moment."
I closed its journal without looking at it and put it off to the side. Mik stared at me and then continued pacing around.
I closed my eyes again and thought back on the swimmer.
It was hunted. There were hunters. A lot of them.
It wasn't me.
I'm not her…
My line of thought was broken by Mik placing the journal in my lap again.
"Oh, for the love of Suns! What?!"
I looked at the journal. Mik had written "Big water", underlined and circled it.
"Fine! I'll take you to the lake already!" I shouted out, throwing Mik's journal aside and marching out of the tent. Mik quickly ran after me, keeping its lack of distance.
"No, we are not doing this." I hissed, turning around to see Mik looming over me again.
I turned my spear and slowly put the blunt side against Mik's torso, pushing it away. It hesitated before taking two steps back. While I was doing this, I saw it had stacked the three bowls on its left arm.
I turned around and kept walking, Mik now actually keeping a distance.
Suns is Mik acting erratic. I really need it to sleep this dark, even if it means hitting it against the head…
I was deep in thought when we got to Shlika. I didn't even realize that this was Mik's first time seeing the bush, or Shlika's first time sensing Mik.
When I got to the bush, I walked right into it. Shlika didn't open, instead, making the same rustling noise it had used for the screecher.
Hilariously, it worked. I heard Mik drop the bowls and take its hatchet out, taking a step back.
I couldn't help but chuckle. I held out a hand towards Mik, and then slowly went to Shlika.
"Hey, it's Maya. Mik is my friend."
Of course, the literal plant didn't understand me, instead rustling again, trying to intimidate Mik. Mik held its hatchet higher.
Huh. How do I fix this exactly...?
Shlika seemed to react to size more than anything else, I figured. Something small? Let it through. Something large? Scare it off. It made sense for herbivores, but it meant something like this would occur.
I put my spear down and went over to Mik. I pulled its right hand which was holding the hatchet down. It looked at me, confused, glancing at the rustling bush. Mik let its arm be brought down after a few moments.
"Good."
I crouched, trying to convey for Mik to do the same. It didn't quite understand, but it wasn't startled when Shlika rustled again.
Get down, Mik…
I got up and crouched again, tugging Mik's clothes gently. It finally understood and crouched to about my height when standing.
Finally.
I placed the bowls onto its left arm and went over to Shlika, holding my spear. The bush had stopped rustling in the meantime.
"Hey, Shlika. It's just two Me's, nothing suspicious or large. Could you please let me and me through?"
Shlika didn't move.
I sighed and touched a leaf. Finally, Shlika opened and made a clearing that was my size, as usual.
I turned around and went inside the clearing. I mimicked Mik's crouch and walked. Mik understood the message and followed me in the crouching position.
I glanced at Mik a few times while we were going through. It kept looking around, and its hatchet was half ready, but it wasn't hurting Shlika. I was glad we sorted that out.
After some more walking, we got to the lake. It was past midlight at that point, and the red dwarf felt amazing against my scales. Mik watched the sight in awe from the shade.
I saw some of the usual animals there, though there were fewer than last turn. The screechers were on the left, but they were also mostly in the shade. There were only two divers in the lake, and the large being wasn't there. I saw some other divers next to the lake, lying under a tree.
Why does everything except for me hate warmth?
I understood if Mik was weird light-wise, but from what I could see at that point everything avoided the brightest part of the turn.
Mik, snapping back from its awe, went in front of me and crouched in front of the water.
"Please watch out! I almost drowned here!" I hissed, running after Mik.
I stopped carefully as I got to the edge. Mik had put its hatchet down and filled the bowls with water.
"Ok…? Do you have the tube thing?"
But Mik didn't drink from the bowls, and neither did it present the filtration device. I didn't remember seeing it since I woke up, thinking about it. Had Mik lost it at some point?
Mik grabbed its hatchet and got up again. It looked around a bit more from the clearing.
Mik then bent down and used its hatchet to write "Food" in the ground.
What's with the bowls, then?
I didn't bare my teeth. I pointed my tail in the direction of the screechers and mimicked their position with spread wings and the open chitinous snout.
Mik bared its teeth at me lightly.
I pointed to the right and wrote "Maya no go" with the blunt end of my spear.
It smiled lightly again, moving its head up and down for some reason.
That was the end of that discussion. I wasn't sure what Mik's plan was. I planned on stopping Mik if it wanted to go towards the screechers, it being far too visible to try and steal another egg.
Mik, instead, slowly went towards the right of the lake, making the following gesture. I hesitated for a moment before going after it.
The right side of the lake wasn't much different from where we came from. There were a lot of bushes with flowers, indicating they would become fruits at one point, but it was presumably too early in this phase of Tau.
We both checked bushes and tried to find anything that looked remotely edible.
I approached the lake to see if I could find any pisca (or Tau's version of them) to spear, but when I got to the lake, I saw sand.
Actual sand.
It immediately made me feel extremely homesick.
I lay down on the warm sand and just let it run through my claws and thorns. The air tasted so damn familiar. It reminded me so much of home that it hurt. I heard chopping behind me, with Mik doing something, but I was completely entranced.
I reminisced about meeting Vera the first time when we were kids. She would constantly complain about sand being on her scales and claws. I would make fun of her, saying she is in the arid domain. She would complain about how her parents made her move from lush greenery to sand, sand and more sand. I laughed, reminiscing about how I would purposefully fill her pockets with more sand just to get under her scales.
While I was thinking about all of this, some kind of tiny, chitinous creature had gone beside my half-buried snout. It was about the size of my hand, fully covered in an exoskeleton with a very deep purple color.
I snapped out of my dream and grabbed it.
I flipped it over. Twelve tiny, sharp legs clawed in the air. I couldn't see any eyes or sensory organs, and its underside was covered in slits that opened and closed every moment. It made the air taste moist.
I wasn't completely sure what to do with it. When I turned to check what Mik was doing, Mik was a few lengths away, hitting random trees with its hatchet. I had no idea what its goal was, but I saw that multiple trees had pieces of bark peeled away.
I thought about letting go of the weird thing in my hand but decided against it for now. Maybe Mik could gauge whether it was edible better than me. I held onto it with my left arm.
I quietly filled my pockets with as much sand as I could fit.
Afterwards, I got up and took my spear, holding the creature in my left hand. I got to the water edge to search for anything to eat.
There were some animals swimming underwater, but they were absolutely too small to hit.
I wanted to go into the water to check for bigger pisca-like animals, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. The fear was too much.
As the turn slowly progressed into late light, I went over to Mik who was harassing yet another tree.
"Mik" I hissed to get its attention.
Mik turned around. It looked absolutely exhausted but smiled when it saw me.
"I found thi-" I began saying, but Mik started walking before I could finish my thought and motioned for me to follow.
A few lengths away, Mik proudly tapped a pile of… tree bark. Specifically tree barks from a single white-yellow species of tree that I'd only seen at the lake.
"what."
It wrote "food" in the ground next to it.
Is Mik… ok?
I scribbled out food. Definitely not edible to me, and very likely not edible to Mik, either.
It flailed its right arm once, dismissing my claim. I was genuinely starting to worry whether Mik was imagining food where there was none.
Mik then noticed the creature I was holding in my left hand and stared at it.
I wrote "food?" on the ground and presented it to Mik.
The little creature stopped wiggling in my grasp, but the slits were still opening and closing.
Mik stared at it for quite a bit. It wasn't sure, either, but scribbled out the "?" in the end.
Neither of us have idea if this is edible. Suns, I hope we don't get poisoned.
Mik tried to pick up the pile of bark it had made but struggled with one hand. I helped put some on its left arm, and held some between my left arm and body, like Mik. I absolutely wasn't trusting Mik to make "food" out of trees, but it could be used for fire, if anything.
We made our way towards the tent. We picked up the bowls of water on the way. Mik held one in its left hand, and one in its right hand. I held the third bowl in my right hand, pressing the spear with my arm. We were both over encumbered, but hopefully with actually useful things.
Mik was slightly less paranoid now, keeping the distance I set. It wanted to look around, but it was gingerly carrying the bowls of water, as not to spill them.
When we got back to Shlika, Mik forgot to crouch. Shlika rustled in our direction again, trying to warn us off.
"Oh come on."
I took a few steps back with Mik, letting Shlika calm down. When it did, I gestured for Mik to crouch, and it did.
"Now?"
Shlika opened like usual.
This bush has very specific working conditions…
The red dwarf was near setting when we made it back to the tent. Mik left the bowls next to the unlit campfire, and so did I. It left the bark in a pile pretty far from the campfire, which meant it really was intending on eating a tree.
"Mik, I don't think…"
Mik didn't hear me as it left the tent.
"Of course." I sighed.
I breathed deeply once and put the creature on the ground on its back. It tried moving its legs around but failed to get anywhere. I felt bad for it but reasoned that it shouldn't be in pain. It probably couldn't even process pain, in that regard. That's what I told myself, at least.
Better than the swimmers…
I pushed my thoughts aside and went outside. Mik was cutting wood from nearby trees. I helped by bringing the branches inside and got more from the ground and shrubs.
When we were done, Mik had gotten too much wood, for some reason. It made a pile on the campfire, and a separate pile with thicker branches in the corner. Afterwards, it lit the fire.
Mik moved the water closer to the fire and started peeling a layer off of the bark.
Right, Mik has to sanitize its water.
Mik then started handing me pieces of the bark, putting them in my lap while I was sitting.
"I'm not eating a tree, Mik."
It ignored me and continued peeling.
I took a piece and held it in front of me. It was sticky and made the air taste slightly bitter.
"Maya" Mik called out.
I looked in its direction.
Mik proceeded to put down the hatchet and mimic slamming my face into food again while smiling.
I growled lightly at the threat. Mik, of course, laughed.
"Fine…" I said, taking a tiny piece and eating it. It was slightly sweet with a strong, bitter aftertaste. All in all? Horrible.
Mik called out to me again, and when I looked at it, Mik was eating the wood like some kind of snack. Its face contorted every time, but it was smiling in a wide, fake smile.
Better than starvation…
I copied what Mik was doing, equally acting as if the wood didn't taste disgusting.
Later, when the water boiled for a bit, Mik carefully moved the bowls using its cloak. After letting the water cool for a bit it drank all three bowls. I can't imagine how thirsty it must've been the entire turn. We'll have to make something larger to keep the water, so Mik doesn't shrivel up.
It's late now. Mik and I ate all the wood it had brought, with the outer layer Mik peeled having been thrown into the fire as firewood. It was surprisingly filling, and if we don't throw up in the middle of the dark, actually food.
The creature is still on its back. I haven't eaten it yet because the firewood made me feel stuffed. It gave up trying to move and is just on its back. Mik, for whatever weird reason, went over and tickled its belly with a finger at one point, making it squirm a bit.
I haven't heard any sounds around the tent for now.
Mik is sharpening the wood it brought, though its movements are extremely sluggish. I hope it finally gets some sleep.
I've emptied the sand onto the ground where I sleep. Mik hasn't noticed yet, but it will.
Because I will make myself a sand bed.
Even if Mik complains about it.