His estimate that no one could be mad at him seemed to hold strong, but he couldn’t take any pride in his accurate prediction of the future because every interaction that followed was backlit by the knowledge that they’d all known what was going to happen. Something about it rubbed him the wrong way—in the same way that Alex and Alice revealing that they were together had done. It was like the previously stable ground he’d been standing on had been abruptly disturbed, or like he’d been tricked—targeted even. Besides the fact that it had never really been about him.
It had been about him this time, but faint echoes of that same painful structure existed here as well. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of what he and Haiko had done because he wasn’t at all. But the sense of vulnerability that came with knowing that everyone had been aware of something intensely personal about him, and somehow August himself had been the last one to find out about it, was just—
“They are heavier than they look, aren’t they? The material is way denser than it should be,” Boko said, spinning the [Bone Javelin] around in his hands. “When we’re fighting these things, we need to avoid hitting areas with lots of bone—it’s not going to punch through, even with our strength behind it.”
“Are there any weak points on its head?” Kalter said.
“The skull is almost a singular solid piece, with the exception of where the jaw connects,” Boko said in answer. “You might be able to dislocate its jaw, but that would give it a chance to bite the weapon, and it might have the jaw power to break it.”
“The Efkini hit that other one in the spine, near the base of the skull,” August said, not quite looking at either of them. “That’s one potential weak spot—the connection.”
“That’s the primary target since we know it works, and with two Efkini involved, we should be able to get them the right angle to make it happen, but just letting them run around an empty field isn’t going to work,” Boko said, nodding his head towards where the Efkini were crowding around their legs. “If each of us carries one on our shoulders, we can give them the height to make that shot by tossing them up into the air.”
“They listen to us for killing Mitikos,” Kalter said, eyeing them. “Will that hold up in a real fight?”
“Ladybug, Morningstar,” August said, crouching down for a moment. “Boko and Kalter are going to be fighting something today, so you’ll need to listen to everything they say from now on, okay? They’ve got command.”
A pair of trills answered the words, and once he was sure they understood, he gave them both a scratch in thanks.
“We can do some practice runs before we leave,” Boko said, “See how much force we need to get these guys to a decent height and if they can target small spots at the right kind of angle.”
“Morningstar,” Kalter said, “You’re with me.”
Morningstar gave a trill at the words before stamping down hard enough to flip himself into the air—Kalter caught him with her bottom right hand before moving to place him on her shoulder.
“That means you and I are working together, Ladybug,” Boko said, taking a knee for a moment and holding out a hand. “I’ll be counting on you out there.”
Ladybug accepted the offered ride with a trill, stepping up onto his hand and then jumping from there to his shoulder when it was halfway up. The others were without weapons—if you excluded both the bone axe that each of them held and their immense physical strength—and already prepared to leave, for the most part. Melon seemed to have attached herself to Haiko, the two talking quietly about something beyond his ability to hear. Rittan was standing by himself, with a smile on his face and his arms resting against his hip as he eyed the distant ridge to the north that would be the first point in their journey. August excused himself, although he probably didn’t need to bother because Boko was already corralling Kalter and the two Efkini into doing some practice runs.
“Rittan,” August said, coming to stand beside him. “You look excited.”
“I am indeed excited; I have been curious about what exactly Devil’s Nest and the creatures that call it home actually look like,” Rittan said, “This will be the first chance for most of us to better understand our surroundings.”
Rittan had been here longer than all of the others, and he hadn’t had a chance to see much of anything except the lake and the forest—that seemed kind of shitty, now that he thought about it.
“Sorry, man,” August said, feeling a bit bad about it. “Maybe I should have tried to convince everyone to go look earlier—it just seems like we have so much we need to do all the time, you know?”
“You do not need to apologise to me, August,” Rittan said, reaching down to touch a hand against his shoulder. “Our time here has been spent with great care, and I do not blame you for that.”
“Right—better late than never, huh?” August said, breathing out. “Hope you’re not too disappointed by what it all looks like.”
“I’ll do my best to manage my expectations,” Rittan said, “I find myself curious about this cliff face to the west that you described—the one that towers over everything.”
“Boko and I were talking about building a bridge across the gap up to the top of it,” August said, with a nod at the topic. “I bet we could see everything on Devil’s Nest from up there.”
“That sounds like an interesting challenge,” Rittan said. “Perhaps we could set out to investigate it in the coming days.”
“You bet,” August said, “Make sure you put your hand up to go on that one, alright?”
“I will make certain that I do,” Rittan said, smiling. “Haiko seems quite pleased with herself this morning.”
The words drew forth a groan of complete anguish from him, and August wondered how Rittan could strike at him with such betrayal.
“Come on, man—I can’t believe she warned you all,” August managed, “Where the hell was my warning?”
Rittan laughed out loud at the words and patted him on the shoulder again. Strangely enough, having the subject dragged out into the light made him feel a little bit better about it, or maybe it was just the fact that it was Rittan who was teasing him.
The book one revision of Contention with the overhaul of the system is done, and it's sitting up on my Patreon in the 1$ tier; you can find it in the pinned master list post. It will stay up until it eventually becomes an ebook. It's only available in pdf for now. I'd appreciate any feedback on the new system/revised version if anyone wants to pay the gatekeeping fee to check it out.
Contention: Revised Edition - Book One.
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
His estimate that no one could be mad at him seemed to hold strong, but he couldn’t take any pride in his accurate prediction of the future because every interaction that followed was backlit by the knowledge that they’d all known what was going to happen. Something about it rubbed him the wrong way—in the same way that Alex and Alice revealing that they were together had done. It was like the previously stable ground he’d been standing on had been abruptly disturbed, or like he’d been tricked—targeted even. Besides the fact that it had never really been about him.
It had been about him this time, but faint echoes of that same painful structure existed here as well. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of what he and Haiko had done because he wasn’t at all. But the sense of vulnerability that came with knowing that everyone had been aware of something intensely personal about him, and somehow August himself had been the last one to find out about it, was just—
“They are heavier than they look, aren’t they? The material is way denser than it should be,” Boko said, spinning the [Bone Javelin] around in his hands. “When we’re fighting these things, we need to avoid hitting areas with lots of bone—it’s not going to punch through, even with our strength behind it.”
“Are there any weak points on its head?” Kalter said.
“The skull is almost a singular solid piece, with the exception of where the jaw connects,” Boko said in answer. “You might be able to dislocate its jaw, but that would give it a chance to bite the weapon, and it might have the jaw power to break it.”
“The Efkini hit that other one in the spine, near the base of the skull,” August said, not quite looking at either of them. “That’s one potential weak spot—the connection.”
“That’s the primary target since we know it works, and with two Efkini involved, we should be able to get them the right angle to make it happen, but just letting them run around an empty field isn’t going to work,” Boko said, nodding his head towards where the Efkini were crowding around their legs. “If each of us carries one on our shoulders, we can give them the height to make that shot by tossing them up into the air.”
“They listen to us for killing Mitikos,” Kalter said, eyeing them. “Will that hold up in a real fight?”
“Ladybug, Morningstar,” August said, crouching down for a moment. “Boko and Kalter are going to be fighting something today, so you’ll need to listen to everything they say from now on, okay? They’ve got command.”
A pair of trills answered the words, and once he was sure they understood, he gave them both a scratch in thanks.
“We can do some practice runs before we leave,” Boko said, “See how much force we need to get these guys to a decent height and if they can target small spots at the right kind of angle.”
“Morningstar,” Kalter said, “You’re with me.”
Morningstar gave a trill at the words before stamping down hard enough to flip himself into the air—Kalter caught him with her bottom right hand before moving to place him on her shoulder.
“That means you and I are working together, Ladybug,” Boko said, taking a knee for a moment and holding out a hand. “I’ll be counting on you out there.”
Ladybug accepted the offered ride with a trill, stepping up onto his hand and then jumping from there to his shoulder when it was halfway up. The others were without weapons—if you excluded both the bone axe that each of them held and their immense physical strength—and already prepared to leave, for the most part. Melon seemed to have attached herself to Haiko, the two talking quietly about something beyond his ability to hear. Rittan was standing by himself, with a smile on his face and his arms resting against his hip as he eyed the distant ridge to the north that would be the first point in their journey. August excused himself, although he probably didn’t need to bother because Boko was already corralling Kalter and the two Efkini into doing some practice runs.
“Rittan,” August said, coming to stand beside him. “You look excited.”
“I am indeed excited; I have been curious about what exactly Devil’s Nest and the creatures that call it home actually look like,” Rittan said, “This will be the first chance for most of us to better understand our surroundings.”
Rittan had been here longer than all of the others, and he hadn’t had a chance to see much of anything except the lake and the forest—that seemed kind of shitty, now that he thought about it.
“Sorry, man,” August said, feeling a bit bad about it. “Maybe I should have tried to convince everyone to go look earlier—it just seems like we have so much we need to do all the time, you know?”
“You do not need to apologise to me, August,” Rittan said, reaching down to touch a hand against his shoulder. “Our time here has been spent with great care, and I do not blame you for that.”
“Right—better late than never, huh?” August said, breathing out. “Hope you’re not too disappointed by what it all looks like.”
“I’ll do my best to manage my expectations,” Rittan said, “I find myself curious about this cliff face to the west that you described—the one that towers over everything.”
“Boko and I were talking about building a bridge across the gap up to the top of it,” August said, with a nod at the topic. “I bet we could see everything on Devil’s Nest from up there.”
“That sounds like an interesting challenge,” Rittan said. “Perhaps we could set out to investigate it in the coming days.”
“You bet,” August said, “Make sure you put your hand up to go on that one, alright?”
“I will make certain that I do,” Rittan said, smiling. “Haiko seems quite pleased with herself this morning.”
The words drew forth a groan of complete anguish from him, and August wondered how Rittan could strike at him with such betrayal.
“Come on, man—I can’t believe she warned you all,” August managed, “Where the hell was my warning?”
Rittan laughed out loud at the words and patted him on the shoulder again. Strangely enough, having the subject dragged out into the light made him feel a little bit better about it, or maybe it was just the fact that it was Rittan who was teasing him.
The book one revision of Contention with the overhaul of the system is done, and it's sitting up on my Patreon in the 1$ tier; you can find it in the pinned master list post. It will stay up until it eventually becomes an ebook. It's only available in pdf for now. I'd appreciate any feedback on the new system/revised version if anyone wants to pay the gatekeeping fee to check it out.
Contention: Revised Edition - Book One.
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
