\|/ Turn 49, early light
I'm not sure whether I regret convincing Mik or not, but we're preparing for the trip.
We both slept under Shlika for yet another dark. Fortunately, I didn't have any absurdist dreams.
I woke up at early light, and Mik wasn't there. It didn't bother leaving a note this time, since there was only one place to realistically go unannounced.
When I got out of Shlika and the red dwarf hit my scales it felt nicely warm. The air was surprisingly… moist. It was unusually hard to breathe. After a moment of slight confusion, I continued to the lake.
I found Mik preparing a fire on the shore and two full water bowls sat nearby. Mik flailed its arm to me when it saw me.
"Heya" I hissed, going to help it bring more branches to the campfire.
After making the fire, Mik went towards the edible trees.
"Wait!" I hissed, running up to it.
Mik turned around and asked something.
I took out my journal and started writing. I really wasn't sure how I would explain a whole plan in our improvised script.
"Maya home find" I wrote first.
After a moment, Mik tapped the word "home" and shook its head left and right.
Alright, you don't know home yet…
I scribbled out the words and thought of what to write. I tried:
"Maya space hide go find"
Mik read it, took my journal and reread it a few times. It then shook its head left and right again.
Exasperated, I took the journal and tapped the sentence. Mik tapped "space".
I breathed deeply once, thinking of how to explain the word spaceship without knowing the word space.
I wrote: "Maya hide up up up up up"
"Congratulations if you actually understand this." I said, handing the journal to Mik.
Mik looked up after reading it.
I groaned, grabbing my journal from Mik's hands. For just a moment, I passed the pain threshold of my left arm, so that made me even more agitated.
Mik looked down at me, waiting for me to think of something to explain what I wanted.
…
I have to draw it, don't I? I really didn't want to draw our tragedy.
I tapped the ground to tell Mik to wait for a moment, I sat down and began drawing.
Mik looked at me and then went to the shade nearby, waiting for me to finish my drawing. I won't ever get used to that fact.
It took me a few spans, but I managed to draw the approximation of my ship in a simple format. The first drawing was the ship in space (surrounded by nothing), the second was the crash on Tau.
I really didn't want to draw the wreckage that was engrained in my memory, but I had to if Mik would understand anything.
I drew the half of the ship that had survived the crash on Tau, though I spared the details of it melting from CHD. I drew a bunch of scrap around it, writing "metal" (though I doubted Mik knew that word, seeing I had never used it here) and then "Maya Mik go find" next to it.
I went over to Mik and handed it my journal.
Mik looked at the drawing for a while, connecting the dots.
It took out its pen and wrote "go find?" and handed my journal back to me.
I smiled, then I remembered that Mik had shown it's preferred method of conformation, so I moved my head up and down.
It took the journal and wrote "Maya miss?" next to my crashed ship, handing it back to me after. Its face looked like an unusual variation of mildly afraid, which I think was concern.
The words haunted me. Did I miss my ship, which I had been on for so long? Did I miss SILT?
I moved my head up and down. I couldn't explain the practical aspect of it, but it was right to think I missed my ship, even if we found nothing but CHD melted hull.
Mik got up and went towards the fire. I followed it.
Mik tapped the sand next to the water bowls and then looked at the fire. It put down the bottle next to the bowls and tapped it afterwards.
I moved my head up and down. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that we maybe wouldn't find water sources on the way. I felt selfish for forgetting Mik needed so much.
Mik turned and left, going to the trees with its hatchet, immediately harassing them for more bark.
Now I'm writing this, tending to the fire. Mik's sti
I forgot to add wood. It almost went out.
Anyways, the bottle is almost full of boiled water, and this is about to be the last batch. Mik keeps bringing more bark to me. Who knows what we'll find there, food and water wise? I literally ran away…
Every time Mik approached, I noticed its flesh was… glossy, somehow. It reflected more than usual under direct light. Its air taste is unusually potent as well. I'm afraid of something tasting Mik just from how intense it is.
Though this might be me trying to distract myself from the fact that we're heading to the ship. I'm probably just trying to observe anything and everything to forget the fact that we're going where we're going. I already manically wrote notes about the massive filter feeder on the lake now, despite only seeing it from far away.
I have planned the trip, mostly. I had to reread my first entries to remember where to go, but I have a general sense of direction.
First, the tent.
Continue past it, try to find Mik's ship (or where it had melted. Nothing is left from what I recall.)
Then continue towards an electric valley. Supposedly I should be able to see the area where my ship melted from a hill near the valley.
And if we get lost… what difference does it make? We just need to find another source of water for Mik, but we have nothing to keep us here explicitly. I will miss Shlika dearly. Hopefully there's another of her kind wherever our journey takes us.
The water's about to be drinkable for Mik, so I have to go burn my claws again to fill the bottle.
Why do I feel so afraid of finding my own ship?
\|/ Turn 49, midlight
I don't know what's happening to Mik. It collapsed randomly.
After writing, Mik and I started the trip. I was holding the wood Mik had chopped, while Mik held its bottle and a full bowl of water, with the other bowl stacked underneath the one it was holding.
We walked in silence to Shlika.
When we got to the bush, I took a moment to say goodbye.
"Thank you." I said, gently touching a leaf while standing in the clearing it made for us.
I'm thanking a bush.
I felt silly. Mik was crouched next to me, but didn't complain or say anything.
Oh who cares. I've done worse.
I thanked it again, and we continued.
We struggled to get through the new foliage covering what was once the path to the tent. We managed to get through in about a mark.
The tent was half buried, just as we had left it when we unburied it to find my journal and the body.
But there was even more freshly dug up dirt around it, with tracks covering it all. We both knew what was underneath.
I shivered from seeing it, staring at the tracks and dirt. A light nudge to my back got me to get out of my trance.
When I looked at Mik, it moved its head left and right with closed eyes. It didn't want to stay.
Agreeing, I continued towards the general direction of Mik's ship. Mik followed closely behind. Later, I heard it drink from the bowl, making the oddest sound, but I was too focused on guiding to truly take note.
As we got closer, I was surprised that the air taste was still there. That horrible, sweet taste.
How in the…?
I followed the air taste, with Mik saying something when I sharply changed direction. I think it couldn't notice the air taste.
I hurried towards the ship, with Mik failing to keep pace with me through the underbrush. I heard it saying something aggressively as it got stuck in leaves and vines I ducked under with ease.
But I was hyperfocused. I couldn't fathom the fact that the CHD was still there.
Until I got to the clearing.
I was right about predicting not much of Mik's ship would be left. There was almost nothing there.
Including life itself.
Aside from the crater the large ship caused from crashing, the ground was almost completely black. There were lines surrounding the crater, some burrowing deep.
Mik finally caught up to me staring in terror.
We hadn't tested environmental impact…
No one had thought about what would happen if activated CHD got loose. It was all a mad dash to get it into space when we found out what it did. Mik and I were the first to witness the aftermath.
After what was almost 50 turns since we crashed, no new foliage had grown at the crash site. It was an extinction of life in a localized area.
I was forced out of my thoughts when Mik started walking towards the crater.
"No!" I hissed, dropping the wood and grabbing Mik by its right arm. Somehow, its arm felt wet.
I urgently pulled Mik back, almost making it fall. It dropped its bowl and almost all of the water spilled out of it.
Mik tore its arm away from me, cursing me.
"Sorry…" I muttered, holding out my tail to apologize. Mik ignored it, still frustrated about the water.
My tail drooped down sadly, and I remembered why I didn't want Mik to go into the crater.
I took a piece of bark I was carrying with me off the ground and threw it at the crater.
We both stared in abject horror as the bark sizzled and melted into black. Carbon and some vapor. Reducing to base atoms.
"Suns…" I could only gasp.
If anybody found out about this and got their hands on a lot of CHD…
I was distracted by Mik bending down and awkwardly tapping my tail. When I looked at Mik, it was looking at the ground.
That got me to laugh once, seeing Mik's awkward apology. However, the ramifications of what CHD could do were still horrifying.
We both just looked at the crater for a bit, not fully mentally there.
After a while Mik silently walked away. I took the wood and went after Mik.
Suns, don't allow this to happen on Varanth. I prayed.
I continued leading to where I could approximately remember the electric grass would be. We were mostly in the shade, and I couldn't feel the sweet taste. Mik lagged behind me, despite me taking the clearest route I could find.
At one point, I heard a thud behind me.
I turned around to see Mik on the ground. It was completely wet and extremely red. The bowls it was holding clattered next to it. The bottle was fortunately sealed as it rolled away.
"Mik!!" I yelped, dropping the bark and sprinting to it.
I crouched next to Mik. "What's going on?!" I hissed as I shook its shoulders.
I felt that Mik's shirt was soaking wet. I was baffled.
Why is Mik leaking water? Why is it so red??
I gently touched the top of its face under the growths. The feeling made me immediately recoil. The flesh, now completely wet, had some saltiness I could feel where the water went into my hand.
And Mik was so warm. The warmest I had ever felt it.
"I… Mik?"
Still, no response.
Is the water poisoning it?
I got some nearby leaves and started wiping Mik's head. Even its head growths were soaked.
Ignoring privacy due to the emergency, I brought Mik's arms up and took its shirt off. The soaking shirt would not help if Mik was drowning. The feeling of holding the shirt was putrid.
Why?! Is it expunging water because it drank too much?? I panicked internally.
I put the shirt off to the side. Then, moved the hatchet from the holder off to the side so Mik wouldn't impale itself. I tried to come up with some theory, but how Mik would drown from consciously drinking too much wasn't explainable.
…
…
Did it want to die?
Did Mik just try to commit suicide from seeing its ship?
The thought made me feel nauseous.
…
No…
That can't be it. It would've run in and melted.
It didn't make enough sense. Nothing made sense. I was with an alien that had collapsed from nothing and was releasing salty water.
Not knowing what to do, I sat with Mik in that state, waiting for it to come back to me.
I'm still in the same spot now. Mik is less red and less wet. It's also stirring a bit. I'll ask it to explain what happened when it gets up.
Suns, I am so damn afraid for Mik.
I don't want Mik to be stupid like me.
\|/ Turn 49, late dark
We haven't managed to find my ship yet. The weather is getting worse.
Mik stirred for a while and eventually opened its eyes.
I was immediately there, waving my hand in front of it. I put my tail in its hand to reassure it.
Mik groaned and put a hand on its head, pulling my tail without realizing. I yelped as I got pulled before I took my tail out of its hand.
Mik told me something and laughed to itself a few times. It apologized by tapping my tail. I wasn't sure whether it was fully conscious.
…
Feeling a bit embarrassed about having taken its shirt off, I picked it up and put it in Mik's hand. It had Mik's extreme current taste, but it was Mik's.
Mik held it up, still laying on its back, looked at its torso in confusion, then, looked at me.
"Sorry…" I said, looking away from it.
Mik tapped my tail. I looked back at it, and it was smiling.
So I did do the right thing?
Mik's eyes suddenly widened. It quickly sat up and opened a pocket in its shirt. And took its soaked journal out.
Mik was nervously muttering to itself as it dropped the shirt and opened the journal, flipping through the pages.
I crouched next to it to see whether it was all gone. From what I could see; the corners were wet and the symbols there were wonky, but most of the journal was fine.
"It could've been worse." I lied.
Mik then sharply turned to me.
I took a step back, unsure if I had insulted it.
Mik then handed me its journal.
"Okay?" I hissed, carefully taking the journal.
Mik then stretched an arm towards me and tapped my pocket.
Oh, you want me to hold on to it. I thought as I stuffed the journal in the nearly full pocket.
Mik then grabbed its water bottle from next to it.
"NO!" I hissed, snatching it away. "You barely survived, don't do it again!"
Mik stared at me.
"No." I hissed again, holding my hand out.
Mik reached out to grab it from me. I took a step back, holding the bottle further from it.
Mik brought both of its arms and leaned backwards from its sitting position.
I moved my head left and right.
…
Mik breathed deeply once and picked its shirt back up, tapping the pocket where its journal used to be.
"You can have that." I said, handing its journal back while being very careful to not let it grab the bottle from me.
Mik wrote something in its journal and handed it to me:
"Give water Mik"
I moved my head left and right. I wrote "Water monster Mik" and gave the journal back.
Mik read it, groaned and wrote:
"Warm monster Mik
Mik water need"
I stared at the text.
…
"Warm… monster." I tasted the words in my mouth.
How…?
I knew all beings could overheat, but it was nowhere near that warmth for a reasonable being to have issues. Broken grammar aside, it felt implausible.
Maybe Mik's threshold for warmth is lower, like mine for cold…?
Slowly, I gave Mik both the journal and the bottle. I trusted Mik to know what it was doing.
It unsealed the bottle and drank a bit. After that, I sat down next to it while Mik came to its senses. It was constantly rubbing the top of its face, making me worry whether the leaves had irritated its weird flesh.
Over time, Mik got less red and less wet.
Much later, Mik got up, swaying a bit, and took the bottle and bowls. I got up and put the hatchet in Mik's holder. It gently tapped my tailtip with its foot when it realized I was doing that.
I continued the journey, keeping a close eye on Mik. I didn't want it randomly collapsing behind me again.
As we walked, I noticed it got much darker far too quickly. When we got to a small clearing, we both looked up to see massive, gray clouds looming over us.
"That is not good." I muttered. Mik didn't look too happy, either.
I wasn't sure what would happen to Mik if it was under excessive rain, though I doubted it would drown like Thornkin, seeing it was waterproof.
We continued as we couldn't do much about the worsening weather. I was vigilant about finding shelter. Any cave or cavern or even small overhang would function, but this part of Tau was dreadfully flat. At some point Mik put on its shirt again, which made me feel slightly more comfortable. I didn't tell Mik anything about that, though.
The red dwarf started to set, so I decided to stop in a small clearing, putting the bark down. Mik was confused on why I had stopped.
I took out my journal and wrote "no go". Mik got the message and put down the bowls and bottle.
Mik started gathering wood for the campfire. Now, Mik was swinging the hatchet with both of its arms at low branches, which was relieving to see. It did resort to just using its right arm after a few swings, but it meant Mik would fully heal. It wouldn't be broken like I was. I got some rocks and helped find branches on the ground.
Not long after, the red dwarf set and Mik made the usual fire. We ate bark for yet another turn, which was starting to get very old. We ate most of it, with just some pieces left for the next turn.
After we ate, Mik held its hand out. It took me a moment to realize Mik wanted its journal.
"Oh, right." I muttered, handing it to Mik.
Mik wrote a sort of sequence and gave it to me.
"Maya sleep, Mik no
Mik sleep, Maya no
Maya sleep, Mik no"
"Oh, you want to take shifts?" I asked. Mik didn't respond, of course, just smiled at me.
I scribbled out the first part of the sequence, leaving the other two there, and gave it back to Mik.
"I'm taking first watch."
Mik handed me its journal again, tapping the scribbled-out part.
I wrote underneath:
"Maya
Mik"
Mik read it and moved its shoulders up and down once, looking down to write in its journal.
…
What does that mean?? Why can't you just use the Sunsdamned agreed upon movements!
"I'm not using tailspeak to you!" I hissed aloud accidentally.
Mik looked up at me.
"Uhh… uhh…"
I quickly took out my journal and started writing gibberish to appear busy.
Mik looked back down, laughing to itself.
I am kinda glad you don't understand hissing, though. I laughed to myself.
It's quite late now, and I'm the watch. I've been keeping the fire going, not really for warmth, it's warm, but for protection. We haven't been here before and we don't know what's here, but fire's always a good deterrent.
Mik's sleeping close to me. It gave me its hatchet for protection, and I'm holding it in my lap. Writing all of this helped me not fall asleep, and I'm going to write more notes to keep distracted.
But there's the constant wind flipping my pages as I'm writing. It's not that dramatic, but it keeps making the fire flicker and writing a bore. At least Mik won't die of warmth.
The rustling of trees really does take me back to when I was in the Green Domain. I haven't heard that in ages, and it's actually pretty calming. I get why Vera liked it there. Still not enough sand, even in "Thornkin friendly" areas. Those always felt a bit patronizing.
Now, just to stay awake a bit more, until it's time for Mik to take watch.