Futuristic ARK: Survival of the Fittest (Closed)

[Darkling0096]

Jack nodded, "Thanks." Because the alternative was building a stone box to lock them into until they got along.

Anna nodded, "It's not like things can get any worse..."

 

[Silverwings]

"Here's to hoping we can get along long enough..." Roan muttered.

"So, what's your most recent issue?" Vera asked.

 

[Darkling0096]

As the sun was finally setting, Jack dropped anchor. They'd arrived, and it was getting dark, so torches were brought out and mounted to saddles as they did a final cursory check. "Narcoberries... narcotics... tranq arrows..." Jack's crossbow was in good condition, and Nike seemed excited.

"Nike's a monster, so if something comes after us," Jack spoke up, "Let her have it." He raised his torch to look around and saw a flat paddle slide into the water downstream. "Just saw something down that way!", he pointed.


Anna stood and shook off some dirt, "After the anky stabbed me in the butt, he kept calling me pretty even though I told him not to..."

 

[Silverwings]

Roan hadn't been looking where the paddle was when Jack spoke, "What? Where?"

"So.. why don't you want him calling you pretty?" Vera asked, trying to get an idea.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Over there," Jack's thylacoleo jumped from the barge onto land as he pointed with his crossbow, this time. "Big and flat tail, that's a beaver, right?" He assumed it was, anyway, it wasn't like he had much experience with the island's interior fauna.

"Because I'm not!", Anna shouted, "You're the pretty one!"

 

[Silverwings]

"Thats what I imagine they look like, so yes," Roan agreed.

"I appreciate the sentiment but that is not the topic we need to focus on," Vera said bluntly, "Why does it upset you? I mean, it's ok to not want the compliment, but what makes you so upset about it? And don't say I'm the pretty one."

 

[Darkling0096]

With that tentative affirmation affirming what Jack thought, he looked around and pointed at the ridge up the side of the river. A fifty foot nearly sheer cliff. Whatever was in the water shouldn't be able to mess with them from up there, right? "How about that ridge?", he offered. Raptors weren't fast or nimble swimmers, so he was worried Roan would get torn apart once the fighting started.

"Because I don't like being lied to, Vera." Anna crossed her arms as she said that. "And I especially don't like being lied to even after I tell it to stop."

 

[Silverwings]

"See a way up there?" Roan asked. The closest ramp was blocked mostly by piranha infected waters and thick woods that were in said water. It wouldn't be hard to get there, in he could do it fast.. if...

Vera nodded, "I mean that valid. But hear me out. What if Roan genuinely believes it. So.. in his eyes it isn't a lie. And besides its really more opinion, so I mean maybe he's telling you the truth about how he sees you?... im just spit balling ideas here. The point is look st it through his eyes. Maybe you don't think you're pretty, and you don't have to, but Roan might actually really seriously think you are."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack didn't see a way up there, not a clean one. If they moved the barge to bridge the gap, then they'd also be risking the ire of whatever crocodiles and snakes were in the swamp, and if they went back to the peninsula to track up back to where they were... Well they weren't likely to be able to find their way back. It looked like they were being forced to pick between evils, here.

"Hmm..." Jack thought out loud for a moment. "What if..." They couldn't draw them upstream, they couldn't even see them! "I've got an idea!" He pulled up the anchor and let the barge drift with the inland current as he made his way to the ramps and demolished them. "We've never had anything climb out of the water and get on the boat!" So if they took off the access and let the current take them to the beaver's dam, they'd be on a floating platform the beavers couldn't get onto. "We can haul them out of the water once they're unconscious."


Anna shook her head, "That doesn't change anything!"

 

[Silverwings]

"Thats a great idea," Roan agreed, watching Jack take the barge apart. He started getting his things ready to tranq the creatures, "This should be pretty easy huh?"

"Ok, why?" Vera asked.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Ideally." Jack dropped a standing torch and some wood inside to shed some better light on the situation. The barge jolted slightly as it bumped into some object in the water. Almost immediately, the pair could see at least four pairs of eyes popping into view, looking at them as they readied their crossbows. "That might have been a bad idea..."

"Because he didn't listen when I told him to stop calling me pretty!", Anna threw her hands up, "How many times do I have to say it?!"

 

[Silverwings]

"Hopefully they can't get up here?" Roan suggested.

"Because there's something more to it thst you might not be addressing," Vera said with a sigh, "Just think about it for a moment. If he can't even tell you how he feels about you, then he might as well not be with you at all. It's would be about the same. He loves you and wants to tell you what he thinks of you. And besides, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. He might think i'm ugly as a rock."

 

[Darkling0096]

"We're about to find out!" Jack's first shot missed. Since he only knew where the eyes were, and didn't want to kill it, he shot just above it, and missed.

"Why would he think you're ugly? You're gorgeous!" Anna gestured to Vera's general physique, "It's easy to see why Jack likes you!" Then she gestured to herself, "I look like a beach tree compared to you."

 

[Silverwings]

"Shoot just below the eyes. Since they're in water you'll likely hit them there." Roan said and shot at one, hitting it.

"Not his type probably," Vera shrugged, "Maybe he likes 'Beach tree' over this."

 

[Darkling0096]

That did make more sense than what Jack was trying to do, but as soon as Roan's arrow hit one, the water roiled to live as the beavers tried to get onto the barge and rip them to pieces. When they did manage to hit them in the battle, the beavers went down pretty easily, but it was hard to get a lock on them when it was dark and they were a lot more agile in the water than they were on the barge.

"You're ridiculous," Anna huffed and stormed off, hopping onto a raptor.

 

[Silverwings]

It took some time to get each creature down and out. Even more to keep them all asleep. After a while, Roan was able to effectively keep the beasts asleep and taming with some ease, "Finally."

"Anna, stop it right now!" Vera called, grabbing the reigns to the raptor, "This is part of your problem. You would listen to anything anyone else says. You won't even consider it. Go run off if you have to, but nothing will ever work with you two until you learn to listen for once instead of flying off the handle."

With that being said, Vera let go, letting Anna run away on her raptor. Vera sighed, "No wonder they always fight."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack was... exhausted, by the time the massive beavers were hefted up onto the barge. Four of them in total, sedated. Brown and purple bars appearing over them. 'Wild Castoroides'.

"Ah, hell, I hate water tames," Jack groaned as he took a seat to catch his breath. The beavers weren't heavy, but the water wasn't playing nice with letting them out, and he knew he'd be sore later. It had been like that with the argies, too. They were heavy and awkward.

After a while, Jack looked up. The moon was high in the night sky. It was late. "I guess we better head back," he said as he made his way around the unconscious animals to the rudder. "I hope the girls didn't stay up waiting."

 

[Silverwings]

"Yea.. something tells my only Vera would." Roan said with a sigh. He was too busy keeping an eye on the castoroides to be able to really help Jack with getting the barge moving again, "Wonder if I even have a place to sleep tonight. Who knows how made Anna really is..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack bit his lip in concentration as he navigated around the rocks in the water, until they were back on the ocean. "Well, if it comes down to it, I keep some extra bedding." In case it got cold, or something happened to the existing bed. "You'll have somewhere to sleep, I promise ya."

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Although it was so late it might as well have been early, the sun had yet to grace the sky by the time the barge pulled into the lagoon. The castoroides were still asleep, but looked to be on the verge of successful taming when the men returned to their island. "I don't see torches," Jack commented. Hopefully the girls were asleep, and they could deal with their problems tomorrow.

 

[Silverwings]

"It is almost morning.." Roan commented. He was making sure the tames finished their bars before bothering to get up. After a few more moments, the beavers all stood, "There. Done."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah, we'll train them tomorrow," Jack waved it off, "They probably won't swim off, too many sharks." He gave Nike's head a gentle scratch as he started walking. He made a mental note to build a dino-friendly staircase up to the ridge, because walking halfway around the island to a walkable slope was not fun after an exhausting night.

"Vera?", Jack called quietly as he made his way to the small 'yard' before their hut. He hoped she was asleep.

On the other side of the bowl, however, Roan found an empty hut.

 

[Silverwings]

In the hut, Vera was asleep. She had tried waiting for Jack, but after some time, the days events caught up with her.

Roan on the other hand just stood in the hut. His mind raced of all the things he and Anna had been fighting over. It's all my fault... why can't I do anything right by her?

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack smiled, she was alright. He left the wall torches unlit as he left his gear at the door, before crawling in next to her.

Anna didn't return to the hut that night, nor did she appear by morning. It seemed like she was still having a tantrum elsewhere on the island.

 

[Silverwings]

Come morning, Roan had set out to find Anna. He wandered the island, calling out for her, "Anna?"

 

[Darkling0096]

Anna didn't respond, however. The island really wasn't that big, there weren't a lot of places she could be hiding.

Ryan's calls reached even into Jack and Vera's hut, rousing them even as they tried for sleep. "What'd they get into this time?", Jack grumbled.

Down on the beach, Roan did find something. A note stuck to the barge, which the beavers seemed to have taken as their home. The handwriting was unmistakably Anna's, if the name on the bottom signing off didn't say that clearly enough.


Roan, Vera, and Jack

I spent all night trying to figure out how to say this, but there's no graceful way to tell people that you're leaving. You guys have made it clear, I don't belong with you guys. We don't get along, we're always fighting. You three get along with each other, and I only get along with the raptors.

I'm leaving. You guys don't need me. I've taken my pteranodon and supplies for a few days. I've left the tribe, you guys will do better without me. Don't bother trying to track me, by the time any of you read this, I'll be long gone.

~Anna~