[BOUNTY] nice gnawing you

[ceruleo]

CHARACTERS: Lance (ceruleo) and Aloy (datapoint)
DATE: shortly before (??) reaching the Empire of the Crashing Wave
WARNINGS: none.
SUMMARY: Aloy and Lance team up to take on some imps!!

[ After the relative success of the ogre cave visit, Lance is feeling pretty optimistic about their chances with these imps. As they chase the rising sun up the dried-up creeks and canals through the rice fields, he has the bow Hayame gave him strapped to his back; Aloy brought her own, and he's watched her use it with sharp attention, hoping to pick up pointers.

And if all else fails? His bayard is tucked away. ]

So...how do you wanna approach this? I'd feel kinda bad just wiping 'em all out, wouldn't you?

Comments

[datapoint]

[Aloy's moving carefully, already on alert in case they run into something mean and nasty -- there are ogres out here somewhere, sure, but she hasn't shaken the habit of looking out for machines prowling anywhere outside civilization. She probably never will.

She's got a longbow slung over her back, purchased from a mountain clan merchant; it doesn't function exactly the same as the bows she's brought with her from her homeworld, but she's always up for a challenge. Glancing over her should at Lance, she purses her lips.]

They're interfering with a human settlement. Why wouldn't we wipe them out?

[ceruleo]

[ He gives her an 'are you serious?' look, brows pulling together. ]

Isn't that a little hasty? What if they're important for the ecosystem? Plus, wouldn't more just move in...?

[ Not that he's some kind of expert on how Hanabiran animals work. ]

We've got to at least figure out why they're damming that particular area. Maybe there's a change we could make that'll keep 'em out.

[datapoint]

[Aloy mirrors his look, not really getting the problem here. They're pests; getting rid of them would only be a benefit.]

It's probably just a good location. If we make it a bad location, that would affect the farm, too.

[ceruleo]

[ He nods. She has a point. He's not really willing to die on this hill--at the end of the day, he's more concerned with doing what's right by those farmers than sparing some imps. ]

I guess. So we just...get up there and take 'em out? [ A beat. ] I guess it'll be good bow practice. [ He really should probably use the gun. His noodle arms aren't quite there yet. ]

[datapoint]

[Aloy eyes Lance for a second, then sighs and stops walking, turning around to face him instead.]

Fine. We can figure out a way to relocate them. [Since CLEARLY!!! he is very upset about it. She takes a second to glance around, then reaches up to start snapping branches off the tree they're beneath.] We might be able to build a partial dam upstream to divert some of the flow.

[ceruleo]

[ He wasn't expecting her to just, well, cave like that--but he grins, delighted. ]

If it doesn't work, we'll do it your way. Gotta say though, I've never built a dam before--are we gonna need shovels?

[ Or axes, or...??? They've got time to turn back, probably. ]

[datapoint]

[Look, she could tell he was just going to pout the whole time, okay. It's less of a headache this way.

Aloy snaps a few more branches off until she has a large enough bundle, then tucks it under her arm.]

Good idea -- we can use sticks to split the river in two, and a shovel to dig a trench to bypass the dam. [Assuming nobody is going to stop by and steal her bundle of sticks, she drops it by the tree.] Think the farmers will loan us one?

[ceruleo]

[ Wow, he wouldn't have pouted! (He would have.) ]

Hey, that's a great idea! [ He's gotta hand it to Aloy--she's incredibly resourceful. He nods resolutely at the question. ]

Of course they will, just let me talk to them.

[ He has this handled. Probably. ]

[datapoint]

[Living in a post-apocalyptic Iron Age society means you gotta be resourceful, or you're going to die. And she's made it so far.

Aloy herself can be persuasive -- nicely, even -- but she just smiles good-naturedly and nods, gesturing for him to lead the way back to the farmhouse.]

Alright. I'll leave that part in your very capable hands. Let's go.

[ceruleo]

[ 'Very capable', huh? He likes the sound of that. Bolstered by her confidence, he leads the way back down a ways, until they reach one of the last farmhouses; Lance jogs up and, while Aloy hangs back, animatedly talking to the teenager that greets him on the patio. He'd used his voice powers on the goats to soothe them, but there's no need here: once it's established that they need the shovels to get rid of the offending imps, the boy gladly fetches twin shovels from the back of the house.

Triumphant, Lance returns with his haul, one over each shoulder, careful not to jostle his bow. ]

Piece of cake. Now, shall we?

[datapoint]

[She was kind of making fun of him, but she's not about to point that out -- it worked, after all. She raises her eyebrows, impressed, then motions back to the dam before she heads off herself, expecting him to follow.]

So, we'll need to come up with some way to distract the imps while we set everything up. They might try to interfere, or worse -- they'll see we'll responsible for the changes and try to dismantle it. [As she assumes imps are intelligent enough to fear humans and anything the humans have a hand in. But maybe that's giving them too much credit.]

Do you have any creatures like this where you come from?

[ceruleo]

[ She'll find Lance to be an earnest type--perhaps too much, sometimes, but he's learning restraint. For now though, high on his small success, he's not thinking about the second degree while he falls into step. ]

Well. Kinda? I guess the imps are kinda like...monkeys? Beaver-monkeys?

[ He frowns. ] There's nothing really like them on Earth, I don't think. Maybe on another planet, but there are plenty I haven't visited.

[datapoint]

[Earth. Lance is from Earth, too -- like so many in their guild seem to be -- and he's still rattling off the names of animals she's never heard of. Another Old One. Or, she hopes, someone from a different reality altogether, where mass extinction never happened.

She realizes the pause is a little too long, and she quickly speaks up just before the silence teeters into awkwardness.]

You've been to different planets? Well. Before all this. You know what I mean.

[ceruleo]

[ Cheerfully, without missing a beat: ] Yeah! Never thought my life would turn out this way, to be honest. We didn't think there were any inhabited planets except ours.

[ He looks at her contemplatively. He actually hasn't read her file--any of the files, yet--but it's easy to tell just from the way she acts and dresses that her culture is probably Different. ]

What about you? Any imps back home?

[datapoint]

[Aloy is thankfully used to being an outsider to the point where everyone's culture being obviously different from her own barely even registers. He's right, though.]

Imps? No. [Her mouth quirks a little; that would certainly be something on top of everything else.] Humans, machines, and animals. No "monkeys," though.

[ceruleo]

How do you have animals but no monkeys? Do you mean like, cows and farm animals like that?

[ They crest back up to the dry riverbed they were at before, looking out at the expanse of empty creek before them. ]

[datapoint]

[WHAT'S A COW.] Farm animals... boar and turkeys. [In Carja lands, anyway. The Nora don't farm.

Aloy pauses at the top of the riverbed, quiet for a moment as she takes it all in. The Carja are farmers, too -- their irrigation system flashes in her memory, and she wishes she'd thought to look into the mechanics of it all. But she'll just have to jury-rig it together. Thankfully, her specialization's Resourceful skill compounds her own natural ingenuity, so she starts weaving sticks together as the dam's construction forms in her mind.]

Well, since you're more familiar with animals than me... [She motions toward the imps' dam in the distance. Better get started on scattering them.]

1/4

[ceruleo]

Fine, fine, stick me with the tough jobs...

[ There's no actual heat in his tone as he makes his way away from her and up the riverbed, wondering how to best approach the situation. He's used his Charming Words on animals before, but he'd gotten lucky with the dozing ogres and the imps would definitely be smarter than a group of mangy goats.

He can hear them in the trees and on the forest floor as he approaches the dam, leaves rustling and little chirps coming from the bushes. The structure itself appears vacant, but not for long, as two, then three little faces poke out to peer warily at him. Lance activates his Charming Words skill, just to be safe. ]

Hey little guys... [ Their attention is immediately caught, though he's wondered in the past why that is--perhaps it's to do with the pain-soothing mechanism of it. The imps stand almost like meerkats, another couple hopping out of the bushes. Lance doesn't look up. ] You gotta go, okay? Time to let Aloy and I work!

[ Unfortunately, speaking to them as though to his little siblings doesn't seem to work. Also, Lance really should have looked up. ]

2/4

[ceruleo]

[ The imps don't move. There's a long pause as Lance contemplates his next step, eventually deciding to stop using his Charming Words. ]

C'mon little guys, work with me h--

[ Splat, right on the side of his head. The reaction is instant; a laughing chitter runs through the group of imps, and Lance's head whips around to see the culprit. A little dazed, he brings his hand up to check. ]

3/4

[ceruleo]

[ As horror dawns on his face, the little asshole has the gall to cackle.

Right up until Lance whips out his bayard and shoots the branch out from under it.

That sends them all packing, fast. ]

4/4

[ceruleo]

For the record, [ Lance huffs, stomping his way back to Aloy, the side of his head rubbed red and wet from a thorough river-water scrubbing, ] none of them died.

[ But it was a very near thing. ]

How are we building this dam?

oh my god, you weren't kidding

[datapoint]

[Aloy had been observing from a distance, only really half-watching because she didn't feel like Lance was in any real danger from the imps. Still, she caught the gist of what happened, and tries very hard not to laugh in his face.]

I wouldn't blame you, [she says instead, the corner of her mouth turned up in sharp amusement.

By this point, she has a fair number of sticks woven together, and she slings it over her shoulder, scooping up a shovel with her other hand.] First, we need to dig a trench to redirect some of the water flow. Now that we can get it done, uh... uninterrupted. [Thanks to Lance's sacrifice.]

you underestimated me

[ceruleo]

[ The fact that she's even trying means a lot. ]

Digging, okay. I got it.

[ He's not allergic to hard work, despite the front he puts on sometimes--that isn't to say he's happy to get to it, but he's definitely eager to get the job done. He takes the shovel from her. ]

Like, around here? [ He motions with his shovel. ] You said we'd be using the sticks to split the water, right? [ How do science... ]