Futuristic ARK: Survival of the Fittest (Closed)

[Darkling0096]

"Ah," jack paused. "Well..." He looked at the birds, then down at the boat, then at the materials on the peak. "Ah... probably... yes?" It wasn't like he could open the raft's menu to tell how much its weight capacity was, but he was fairly sure it was more than they were going to put on it.

 

[Silverwings]

"Just checking because, you know.. we wouldn't want to slow you down," She said with a small smile.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hehe," Jack smirked a bit, "Well, just don't drop into the middle of a rex argument, and I'll get to you in time," he promised. He looked over the mountain they'd mostly picked clean by the time the sun went down. At least, for the resources just lying on the surface, he had no clue about what was just below.

 

[Silverwings]

"Should we sleep on the raft for the night?" Roan asked, "We don't have bedrooms, but it's only for the night, right?"

"For now." Vera answered.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah..." Jack thought for a moment. "Yeah, I can throw a roof on that." He nodded, taking a glance out over the forest, "I've got an idea, though."

---------------------------------------------

Huffing, Anna dropped. Finally, the raptors had gone off. Her arms were cramping so badly from holding up her body weight for hours. She wouldn't have been able to hold on much longer if she'd wanted to, let alone fight with raptors if she'd fallen. "Dammit," she hissed, trying to rub the cramps out with her shaking hands. The sun was going down, this wasn't where she wanted to be. Too dangerous, she had to get to higher ground, to safety. She needed arrows, she needed shelter, she was starving! Son of a bitch, life on her own with jack all to help her survival was impossible!

 

[Silverwings]

"Oh? What's the idea?" Vera asked, "Maybe we can work on it together."

Roan looked out over the forest and seemed to pick up on Jack's idea, "I bet you could see light from up here. See if any fires or torches are lit."

"Ohhh! I see what you two are getting at." Vera nodded.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah, exactly!", Jack nodded. "Besides, at least one of us has to go unload the raft back home." He thought for a moment, "Well, okay, we don't have to do that tonight, but we will have to do that soon."

 

[Silverwings]

"So what the exact idea then?" Vera asked, "Build another camp here or?"

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack shook his head, "Up here? Hell no, it's cold, and I don't have any building materials." He raised his torch to take a peek down the mountain. "I mean, we can slap up a bunch of campfires, but without wood or sparkpowder we won't keep them on." He shook his head, "But, if we stay on the raft, one of us is gonna have to stay awake to keep watch, anyway, we could take turns flying sorties to look for lights."

 

[Silverwings]

"Yea that's probably a better idea," Vera agreed, "Well. Let's head to the boat then."

Roan climbed on his bird, taking the lead going toward the boat. Vera followed suit, watching the best she could to make sure Jack was ok.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jack smiled and gave Vera a light kiss on the forehead before they broke to head back to the boat.

In the dark, it was awkward, but Jack's mount could see in the dark better than he could to pick out a route down the mountain back towards the boat, which was definitely sitting lower in the water under the weight of its cargo by the time the three survivors got down to it. "Okay," Jack sighed as he pulled some thatch and sleeping bags together, "Everybody get down here alright?" He was starting to think they should make a dedicated boat for living on when they ran missions like this.

 

[Silverwings]

"All here," Vera said as she got off her bird, "Boat looks kinda low. Think it'll make it?"

"Itll be ok for now, im sure." Roan commented. He yawned, "I'll take first watch, you two get some rest."

 

[Darkling0096]

"I hope it'll make it," Jack said. He sighed as he sat down at the rudder to pull away from the shore, far enough that any predators would have issues getting onto the barge, anyway. The boat definitely floated a little easier when it wasn't scraping the sand. "Roan, you gonna be okay?", he asked, as he assembled a quick one by one on the barge, that was all he had the materials for at the moment.

 

[Silverwings]

Roan was silent for a moment before nodding, "I'll be fine.. I will wake you for the next shift."

"Roan, you've been.. distant since she left. Are you sure you're ok?" Vera asked.

"Yea.. I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.." He said with a sighed, "I'm too worried about her.."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Roan," Jack put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "We're all worried about her, but if you push yourself and get hurt, you're not gonna be able to do much towards finding her."

 

[Silverwings]

"If you lost Vera you would be restless too," Roan said softly, "I would be able to sleep until I know she is safe."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah, but..." Jack sighed, "Just promise me you won't hurt yourself?" One of their number missing was one thing. But one of their number missing and another injured was more than they could deal with. Having their manpower cut in half would cripple the group.

 

[Silverwings]

"Yea, if I feel tired enough to sleep ill wake you. I won't get hurt," Roan promised. Vera gave a look of worry, "She's a strong fighter. I'm sure she's holding up just fine."

 

[Darkling0096]

Progress had been made, Anna felt. even though her arms felt like they were on the verge of falling off at a moment's notice, she'd managed to get to a hole she could hide in, and build a fire for warmth. It was cold, she didn't like it, but she didn't have a choice in the matter. She didn't even have the materials for a sleeping bag, she had to sleep on the cold ground. She'd have to sort her options tomorrow, but for now, she just had to hope nothing would find her.

 

[Silverwings]

"I hope so. Get some sleep," Roan said, dismissing his friends. Vera looked at Jack before sighing and returning to their bedrooms, "Lets go to bed."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah, I guess," Jack sighed, "Just make sure you actually come wake one of us for a shift, don't pull an all-nighter," he said as he stepped back into the thatch chamber. "I hope he doesn't do something stupid," he said to Vera as he laid down on the sleeping mat.

 

[Silverwings]

"Best we can do is trust him," Vera said, cuddling up to Jack, "Otherwise he might go off on his own."

Roan stared up at the night sky, watching the stars move as the time passed. Suddenly he was back on a ranch, his sturdy horse beneath him. He had just finished bringing the cattle into their pen for the night. A dead one lay at his horse's feet, killed by who knows what, "Damn cougars.. I'll have to keep an eye out I s'pose.."

With a blink, Roan was back on the boat, watching for dinosaurs, "What the..."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah..." Jack sighed and put his arm around Vera, "We'll see." He settled down and snuggled into the position. They'd figure things out, and they'd be a proper family again. Heh, family, he'd never thought of them like that before, but he guessed they really were like family.

When morning came, a few shifts had occurred, with Jack taking the final shift, and deciding to make the trip with the boat back to the island to unload their cargo before they were dead in the water. So, he set the rudder, followed the current, and sat down, alternating between looking up to check the horizon and at the piece of crystal he was twiddling in his hands. he couldn't imagine that this material, that was so hard to get, and so heavy, was only useful for making Spyglasses. And then he looked at a piece of obsidian, and he had the same thought about it only being useful for making scissors. If it was so hard to get, and so hard to transport, shouldn't it be useful for more than one incredibly niche thing?

 

[Silverwings]

Once morning came, Vera joined Jack as he fiddled with the crystal, "Whatcha doin?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"I'm thinkin'," Jack answered. He held up the crystal, "This stuff was so hard to get, I mean the spyglass engram is level seven, but we're level fifty now and we only just got access to the material. And we looked." He shook his head, "But the only recipe we have that involves the stuff is a spyglass that's only good for one thing, and-" He opened his engram to check, "And a magnifying glass, that looks like it's also only good for one thing." Then he held up the chunk of obsidian, "And look at this stuff, same thing, scissors, but that's it, but look at it! It's as hard to get to as crystal, but it's worse! It breaks on incredibly sharp edges, it's already messed up my hand!" The hand he was holding the ebony crystal with was covered in cloth bandages.

"These things are hard to get and dangerous to transport, they can't possibly only be good for three things, but... they're only good for three things."