Futuristic ARK: Survival of the Fittest (Closed)

[Silverwings]

"At this point, do we have a choice?" Vera asked, looking at Jack with worry, "They've been at this all day..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack nodded, "I'll talk to Roan if you'll talk to Anna?" The two girls seemed to get along pretty well before Jack and Roan came along, and Jack would like to believe he and Roan shared some form of bond, having gone through Hell together before meeting the girls.

 

[Silverwings]

Vera nodded, "I'll see what happened."

 

[Darkling0096]

With their missions set, Jack and Vera went to go try and figure out what was wrong with their friends. Jack went back into the hut to get some narcotic arrows. He knew Roan liked taming and training animals, and in spite of the rule about only taming creatures they had a use for, Jack thought it might help him calm down to do his thing. With some taming equipment in his implant, Jack roused Nike to go looking for Roan.

In turn, Vera found Anna taking out her fury on a glowing piece of metal. Even though the implants did most of the crafting, the crafting stations had tools, and it felt good to hit something, even if she was only creating slag.

 

[Silverwings]

Roan was found scratching designs into the sand at the beach and wiping them away. The man was so into his artwork he didn't notice his friend and Nike approaching him.

Meanwhile, Vera came up behind Anna, "Hey, whatcha doing?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hey," Jack tossed a parcel of tranquilizer arrows onto the sand next to Roan, "You wanna go tame something?" Even though he framed it as a question, it wasn't really an option. If they didn't go taming, then Jack would pull him to go building, or spear fishing, or something else.

Anna was so intently hammering this ingot into whatever shape her angry brain had come up with that she hadn't even realized Vera had come up behind her until she spoke. Needless to say, Anna just about discovered spaceflight, she jumped so suddenly. "Where'd you come from!?"

 

[Silverwings]

"I thought we had a no taming rule.." Roan said. His voice quiet and calm, yet different from his normal demeanor. He didnt even glance at the parcel beside him as he kept digging the sand.

"Outside?" Vera answered, "What are you making?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well, that was before all our animals died," Jack replied, "So, you can sit there and poke the sand, or you can come with me and we can talk about what's going on with you and Anna." There it was, what he was really after.

Anna groaned and looked back at the metal, it was already cooling too quickly for her to hammer if any more, not that she'd made much progress anyway. It took some muscles to shape the metal, maybe Jack would have an easier time than she was. "A lump of scrap," she decided as she cast it back into the forge to heat up again.

 

[Silverwings]

Roan nodded a bit, "nevermind what happened with Anna.."

He stood, taking up the taming supplies, "Nothing much you can to to fix it."

"Why?" Vera asked, moving to be out of the way but leaning against the wall, "You're not really one to.. well... forge. Not by hand anyway."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Oh, we'll see," Jack shrugged, leading Nike towards the barge. "About the only thing we don't have right now is a dedicated wood collector, right?"

"Because I can't kill Roan," Anna grumbled. For a few different reasons, not least of which the medallions wouldn't finish recharging for a few days.

 

[Silverwings]

"I think so," Roan said, taking a moment to think, "What is really good for wood? I mean... a beaver... right?"

"Oh? What happened with Roan?" Vera asked, "Killing sounds pretty.. serious..

 

[Darkling0096]

"It'll probably be easier to get a beaver here than it would to get a mammoth." Like many things, Jack didn't know how he knew what a beaver was, but he knew enough to know that it was something that chewed up wood, and at minimum that seemed like it applied.

There were no beavers on their little island, however, so Jack took up his spot at the helm to pilot the barge. "Where's your raptor?" As far as Jack remembered, only Nike and Meatloaf were named of yet.


Anna's hands balled into fists, "He's just so-" She whirled around to face Vera, her crimson locks flying loosely as she turned. "You and Jack happened!"

 

[Silverwings]

"Back at the hut?" He guessed with a shrug, "I'll go get it."

Vera raised her brows, "we... what? What do you mean?"

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack nodded, "We'll be waiting." While Roan went to go get a mount for this endeavor, Jack opened his map to figure out where to go. Really he hoped Nike and the raptor wouldn't be needed, but having two powerful carnivores with them couldn't hurt.

"You two!" Anna pointed, "Ever since you and Jack had the butt bone debate it's just been back and forth!"

 

[Silverwings]

Roan got his raptor and made his way to Jack, "Where to?"

Vera stared at Anna blankly, trying to process what her friend has said, "I can't even... begin describing how confused I am.."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Do you remember that beach we first woke up on?", Jack asked, "Back when-" He paused. Back when Natalia was still alive. It had been close to a month, and while neither of them had really liked Natalia, permanent death of anyone represented a failure to protect. "Back at the beginning."

"You and Jack had your butt bone debate, and then Roan and I got stormed in together while you two have been playing house." Anna's eyes were starting to water, all her frustration boiling through her rant.

"You and Jack get along so well!" The tears were starting to fall as she sank down the wall, holding her knees to her chest, "Why can't I get along with Roan like that?"

 

[Silverwings]

"Yea, what about it?" Roan said, "did you see any beavers there?"

Vera took a moment to take it in before thinking, "Well.. Jack and I learned to talk and listen to each other and play into each other's strengths."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Not there specifically," Jack shook his head as the boat shifted out into open waters, "But there's a river that leads inland from there, and I bet we'll find something." If nothing else, they'd have a better idea of the island's interior, anyway.

Anna just shook her head. She and Roan had tried that, she'd thought, and they only ended up fighting with each other. "That doesn't work."

 

[Silverwings]

Roan nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

"Well.. what are you two fighting about?" Vera asked, trying to get an idea of what the problem might have been.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack let the air hang quiet for a while. It would take a while to navigate around the southern shores, so they had time. They'd definitely be sailing back at night, at least, as late in the day as it was when they set out. But he did pull Roan on this mission for a reason, so he spoke up to break the silence.

"Alright, start talking. I wanna know why you and Anna are on the verge of blows."

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Anna muttered to herself for a moment. They were fighting because she was just so obstinate, but no one wants to admit they're the problem. "Well..." She gave Vera a rundown of everything that happened, from when everyone first got stormed in to that morning.

 

[Silverwings]

"Honestly? No idea. All I did was tell her she's pretty and she blew up on me.." Roan said, folding his arms, "I dont know why I even try showing her how I feel, she blows up either way. So I guess the real answer is because she's a hot head."

Vera blew air through her lips, "Wow.. that is.. way different from me and Jack." The thought for a moment, "Maybe, dont try being like us.. you and Roan are kind of opposites in the same. You both like the dinosaurs. Roan like taming and training, you like being lethal and being able to kill them.. where Jack and I are really similar. We both are thinkers. He builds, I invent. Sort of.. there has to be a way that you two can work to each other's strengths."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack raised an eyebrow at the explanation. "So... don't tell her she's pretty?" Vera didn't like it when it was cold, so Jack just made sure the fire was warm at night. "There's gotta be something else, though. Houses don't fall apart because of aesthetics." Everyone in the group was kinda hotheaded, but they seemed to have found their niche. At least, he and Vera had, he hoped Roan and Anna did, too.

Anna just looked at the floor, trying to figure out a response. Vera was right, of course, if slightly off in her judgement of Anna's likes and dislikes. It wasn't about the lethality, it was about safety and security, through killing your problems or potions to make them go away for a while.

"I just- we-" Anna huffed, "How do and Jack get along so well?"

 

[Silverwings]

"I dont know.. how do you and Vera get along so well?" Roan asked, frustrated.

"We try not to argue anymore.. we work together," Vera answered, "we designed the shower and bathroom together. I made an idea with his help and he built it."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack thought about that for a moment. He'd never really thought about why he and Vera got along, they just did. "Well... we found something else to focus on." He gestured to the lines of, now emptied, crates on the barge. "Vera designed the storage system, I built the boat." They figured out pretty quickly that arguing only caused problems, so they quit and focused on other things.

Jack scratched the back of his head, "There's been a lot going on, lately, I think we're all still recovering." A pair of gigas had destroyed their home and everything they had. They'd been separated by miles of the island, and they'd all gone into survival mode out of necessity. Growing, but also changing, and it made things a bit weird. "How about you try to find a problem to solve, get Anna to help?", he offered. "Food's not an issue, but if we keep hunting on the island, we'll wipe it dead. How about you and Anna try and sort out food?"

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Anna looked back towards the forge, the slag was glowing again, but she didn't feel like retrieving it. "I can't do that, like you guys can." Designing stuff was outside Anna's wheelhouse, and considering Roan was still making thatch structures, it definitely wasn't in his.

 

[Silverwings]

Roan hummed, "I can try to talk to her about it, I guess.."

Vera hummed, "I have an idea. Try looking at your conflicts as the two of you versus the problem rather than your versus him? It's just an idea."