August listened as Kalter and Rittan discussed an attempt to start fishing in the shallows, apparently picking up on a half-finished conversation that they had been talking about earlier. The thrust of it regards fishing with either long spears or with some attempt at making some kind of net. Before August could weigh in on it and suggest something like braiding vines together in a crisscrossing pattern, Boko spoke up.
“You might want to put your early morning fishing adventure on hold for a while longer,” Boko said, “We’ve got something to vote on for tomorrow, and it might mess up your plans a little bit.”
“Oh—and what would that be?” Haiko said with interest. “We’ve not yet passed enough time to summon someone new, so it couldn’t be that.”
“We’re starting to run out of bamboo, so we were considering making another trip down tomorrow morning,” August said, “But there’s a couple of other things we could do during that trip—I suppose that depends on who wants to participate.”
“Other things,” Kalter said. “Catching an Otrogon is one.”
“Catching or killing,” Boko added, “We’re running low on bones, and we need more so August can start making weapons for each of us.”
“The fur could also be good for making proper bedding, or a proto-mattress maybe,” August said, “That’s one of the other objectives, but the third one is going to investigate that metal ring that has runes all over it—I never got a chance to use analysis on it when I first woke up, so it might give us some answers.”
Melon straightened a bit at the mention of runes, no doubt realising that she was in consideration for coming along and for that specific purpose.
“This ring is apparently big enough that he thinks it would take a few of us to carry, and while I could kill an Otrogon on my own, it would be easier if I had someone to work with,” Boko said, nodding at Kalter. “Having at least two of us cutting down bamboo at once would also let us stock up on the way more.”
“It’s also worth considering that I can’t put a dead Otrogon in my inventory,” August offered as the thought occurred to him. “We’d either need to butcher it on-site or drag it back—and they are pretty big as well.”
“An adventure for all of us,” Rittan said, glancing up from his work. “August, do you recall where this object is?”
“I have it on my map, so I know exactly where it is,” August said, nodding. “It took me a couple of hours to get from there to the cliff side, so it’s probably a lot quicker to cut our way through the west side of the forest straight to it.”
“What kind of experiments are in the area?” Kalter asked.
Haiko shifted her weight to one side, sliding a hand to a position that was almost behind him, and he did his best to pretend he hadn’t noticed that she’d inched a bit closer in the process. Boko clicked his fingers at the question, clearly liking the direction Kalter had steered the conversation.
“There were about forty Otrogon in that field that I could see during the last trip, but there could have been more of them actually inside the bamboo,” Boko said, nodding towards August at the last point. “Most of those looked a bit bigger than the dead one we found in the forest, but not by too much—about eight of them were two or three times as big as that.”
“There is at least one of them that looks about the size of an elephant; do you have animals like those here?” August said, but judging by the glances, none of them did. “Oh—the top of its back was taller than the pillars, and it was about twice as long.”
The measurement wasn’t anywhere near being accurate, but it was the biggest thing he could see nearby that could be used to give a proper idea of what kind of scale they were talking about.
“You had animals that big running around on your planet? I don’t think there have been animals that size on Gaia since the Age I,” Boko said, sounding impressed. “These elephants—
were they aggressive?”
That was kind of sad, and while he wanted to point at it as another reason why the Children of Gaia were unhinged—the reality was that Humanity wasn’t exactly doing a good job of keeping its own animal ecosystem alive and well.
“Elephants aren’t aggressive, at least, I don’t think they are, but I’m pretty sure they would mess your shit up if you tried to hurt them, or their young, though,” August hedged, “They’re usually really friendly—I saw a video once where some people had taught one how to paint using its trunk.”
August kind of mimed a trunk coming out of his face to give them some idea of what he was even talking about.
“Remarkable,” Rittan said with interest. “Kalter, if you would?”
Kalter glanced back and realised that he was handing the first of the skewers to her. Soon they were being passed around to everyone, and once that had finished, the conversation began once again.
“When I first climbed out of the hole beneath that ring, I heard some other sounds to the north,” August said, holding all three of his skewers above the fire and in one hand. “Whatever it was, there’s another one that appeared up on the ridge a day or so before we brought you back, Boko.”
“That makes four different species on Devil’s Nest,” Boko said. “What did these things sound like?”
Haiko sat all the way forward to answer the question, the splayed fingers of her hand remaining in place directly behind him—the result of the very deliberate movement was that a large portion of her forearm was now pressing against the small of his back. The render in his mind went into overdrive at the contact, pulling at his attention and informing him that there was other skin touching his skin.
“It was a truly terrifying noise, I must admit—a high-pitched shriek, harsh and with two distinct layers,” Haiko said, in something approaching a stage whisper. “Given the size of the one we saw peeking over the ridge, I assume that we would see it before we got anywhere near the creature.”
August had been up on the ridge three separate times so far, and there was a very good view of the surrounding area up there, but not once had he seen it. Either it had a hiding spot that left it impossible to see from the ridge, or it had some kind of enhanced ability to hide itself—his thoughts were completely derailed as Haiko tapped a single finger against the back of his hip, dispelling the façade that the contact had been accidental.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
Please remember to leave a rating and a review, it helps a lot with visibility!
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
August listened as Kalter and Rittan discussed an attempt to start fishing in the shallows, apparently picking up on a half-finished conversation that they had been talking about earlier. The thrust of it regards fishing with either long spears or with some attempt at making some kind of net. Before August could weigh in on it and suggest something like braiding vines together in a crisscrossing pattern, Boko spoke up.
“You might want to put your early morning fishing adventure on hold for a while longer,” Boko said, “We’ve got something to vote on for tomorrow, and it might mess up your plans a little bit.”
“Oh—and what would that be?” Haiko said with interest. “We’ve not yet passed enough time to summon someone new, so it couldn’t be that.”
“We’re starting to run out of bamboo, so we were considering making another trip down tomorrow morning,” August said, “But there’s a couple of other things we could do during that trip—I suppose that depends on who wants to participate.”
“Other things,” Kalter said. “Catching an Otrogon is one.”
“Catching or killing,” Boko added, “We’re running low on bones, and we need more so August can start making weapons for each of us.”
“The fur could also be good for making proper bedding, or a proto-mattress maybe,” August said, “That’s one of the other objectives, but the third one is going to investigate that metal ring that has runes all over it—I never got a chance to use analysis on it when I first woke up, so it might give us some answers.”
Melon straightened a bit at the mention of runes, no doubt realising that she was in consideration for coming along and for that specific purpose.
“This ring is apparently big enough that he thinks it would take a few of us to carry, and while I could kill an Otrogon on my own, it would be easier if I had someone to work with,” Boko said, nodding at Kalter. “Having at least two of us cutting down bamboo at once would also let us stock up on the way more.”
“It’s also worth considering that I can’t put a dead Otrogon in my inventory,” August offered as the thought occurred to him. “We’d either need to butcher it on-site or drag it back—and they are pretty big as well.”
“An adventure for all of us,” Rittan said, glancing up from his work. “August, do you recall where this object is?”
“I have it on my map, so I know exactly where it is,” August said, nodding. “It took me a couple of hours to get from there to the cliff side, so it’s probably a lot quicker to cut our way through the west side of the forest straight to it.”
“What kind of experiments are in the area?” Kalter asked.
Haiko shifted her weight to one side, sliding a hand to a position that was almost behind him, and he did his best to pretend he hadn’t noticed that she’d inched a bit closer in the process. Boko clicked his fingers at the question, clearly liking the direction Kalter had steered the conversation.
“There were about forty Otrogon in that field that I could see during the last trip, but there could have been more of them actually inside the bamboo,” Boko said, nodding towards August at the last point. “Most of those looked a bit bigger than the dead one we found in the forest, but not by too much—about eight of them were two or three times as big as that.”
“There is at least one of them that looks about the size of an elephant; do you have animals like those here?” August said, but judging by the glances, none of them did. “Oh—the top of its back was taller than the pillars, and it was about twice as long.”
The measurement wasn’t anywhere near being accurate, but it was the biggest thing he could see nearby that could be used to give a proper idea of what kind of scale they were talking about.
“You had animals that big running around on your planet? I don’t think there have been animals that size on Gaia since the Age I,” Boko said, sounding impressed. “These elephants—
were they aggressive?”
That was kind of sad, and while he wanted to point at it as another reason why the Children of Gaia were unhinged—the reality was that Humanity wasn’t exactly doing a good job of keeping its own animal ecosystem alive and well.
“Elephants aren’t aggressive, at least, I don’t think they are, but I’m pretty sure they would mess your shit up if you tried to hurt them, or their young, though,” August hedged, “They’re usually really friendly—I saw a video once where some people had taught one how to paint using its trunk.”
August kind of mimed a trunk coming out of his face to give them some idea of what he was even talking about.
“Remarkable,” Rittan said with interest. “Kalter, if you would?”
Kalter glanced back and realised that he was handing the first of the skewers to her. Soon they were being passed around to everyone, and once that had finished, the conversation began once again.
“When I first climbed out of the hole beneath that ring, I heard some other sounds to the north,” August said, holding all three of his skewers above the fire and in one hand. “Whatever it was, there’s another one that appeared up on the ridge a day or so before we brought you back, Boko.”
“That makes four different species on Devil’s Nest,” Boko said. “What did these things sound like?”
Haiko sat all the way forward to answer the question, the splayed fingers of her hand remaining in place directly behind him—the result of the very deliberate movement was that a large portion of her forearm was now pressing against the small of his back. The render in his mind went into overdrive at the contact, pulling at his attention and informing him that there was other skin touching his skin.
“It was a truly terrifying noise, I must admit—a high-pitched shriek, harsh and with two distinct layers,” Haiko said, in something approaching a stage whisper. “Given the size of the one we saw peeking over the ridge, I assume that we would see it before we got anywhere near the creature.”
August had been up on the ridge three separate times so far, and there was a very good view of the surrounding area up there, but not once had he seen it. Either it had a hiding spot that left it impossible to see from the ridge, or it had some kind of enhanced ability to hide itself—his thoughts were completely derailed as Haiko tapped a single finger against the back of his hip, dispelling the façade that the contact had been accidental.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
Please remember to leave a rating and a review, it helps a lot with visibility!
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
