22 Zi'da 708
continued from here
Dan stared down at the child caught in his pit trap for a long moment, wondering if this was another feral kid like he had once been, and if so, what should he do? Then he remembered to lower his spear, letting the shaft fall back until it rested on his shoulder rather than pointed at them, ready to strike. The first and obvious thing to do, was to get the kid out of there and replace the cover in hopes of a better catch next time.
"Do you know Sign?" he asked, without much hope, and wasn't surprised when the kid just kept staring blankly at him. He sighed, and then realised that he had gotten himself so wound up with the thought that he might not have caught anything that he hadn't prepared or brought anything to deal with a success. No rope to haul it out of the pit, no spare sticks to replace the broken cover. Nothing.
He grimaced, and then carefully lowered himself first to sit on the edge of the pit, and then into it, trying not to land on any of the sticks that had fallen into the pit with the child. He smiled as warmly as he could manage, mimicked boosting the kid out of the pit, and held out his hand. The child focused, finally, but only to babble out a string of words that Dan couldn't even begin to decipher. He shrugged apologetically, and resorted to one of his few phrases. IonlyknowSign. A kid that talked easily? Probably not feral as he had been. Still a kid though.
He bent to gather up the fallen sticks, propping his spear against the wall of the pit to free up his hands and piling them up on the rim instead. Then he turned back to the kid, pointing to him and then up on the rim by the sticks. The kid followed his gestures, hesitated a long moment, and then shrugged and held up his arms to be lifted. Dan gritted his teeth against the strain of protesting muscles, wrapped his hands around the child's torso, and hoisted him up out of the pit with a effort. He retrieved his spear, then dragged it and himself out of the pit too. He put the sticks back in place over the pit, covered them with leaves again, and turned to see that the child was still there, watching him. He'd more than half expected the kid to run off home once he was out, but clearly that wasn't the case.
"Well?" he signed, accompanying it with raised eyebrows and a questioning tilt of his head.
The kid looked up, swallowed visibly and flung his arms around Dan's legs in a sort of half frozen hug, blurting words in between sniffles. Dan chose to interpret that as gratitude for the rescue and bent to clumsily hug the kid back. As if that clumsy comfort unlocked something, the kid started to cry in earnest. Dan froze for a long moment, wondering what to do. He couldn't just kneel there and hold him for however long, it was too cold out. And if he was cold, the kid must be too, goodness knows how long he'd been stuck in the pit.
Dan gathered the kid into his arms and hoisted him up to sit on his hip, then gathered his spear in his free hand and made his way slowly back down the path towards his camp, and the fire. They could get warm, and he could add the rest of the gatherings to the soup, and then try to figure out where the kid came from and should go back to. The kid was asking questions now, Dan recognised the rising pitch, but even if he did understand Sign, Dan's hands were too full to respond. Kid didn't sound afraid though, just curious, which was something, but not something Dan particularly enjoyed facing. Curiousity turned judgemental all too easily when the answers either didn't come or weren't what the asker wanted to hear.
They reached his camp at last and he set the kid down and went to stoke the fire in its brazier. The warmth cradled him and unlocked a little of the tension, as he peeled and roughly chopped the burdock root. It would turn the soup from a thin broth to something that was actually filling, and flavoured with the scrap of a fish, the mushrooms, and one of the wild onions (he'd store the rest for another time, they were too strongly flavoured to need much in a meal) it might actually be a tasty soup.
He saved the peel from the burdock to treat the ponies, and when the soup is cooking, he went to find them, grateful that it was quiet long enough to get it done. Only then did he discover why it had been quiet. Cloud and Smoke were having a quiet, ears pinned back, stand off with the kid, who had clearly been doing - something - with the blankets Dan rugged the ponies with for warmth when it was necessary.
Dan hissed through his teeth, making it just a soft note to let the ponies know he was there rather than a sharp warning to behave. Their heads came up as they looked at him and he came forward to claim the kid with a brief hand on his shoulder. He gave Cloud and Smoke a look that promised no treats if they misbehaved, and they took a reluctant step back, acknowledging him as being in charge. He turned the scowl on the kid, pointing first to the blankets and then jabbing a finger at the cart they should be stored in.
The kid mumbled something that started apologetic and then morphed into admiration. Dan wished he would stop talking and try to communicate some other way, but like most people the kid expected Dan to adapt to him. It only rubbed in the reasons he'd come out here in the first place. Dan sighed quietly, pointed to Cloud and held out a scrap of burdock skin to her. Cloud Cloud lipped the treat off his palm and he turned to Smoke with another piece. Smoke. The kid's eyes lit up as Smoke also took her treat.
He turned to Dan, pointed firmly to himself and said, Jack. Dan was reminded of a chattering jackdaw. He hesitated, then pointed to himself in his turn. Dan. "Dandelion." He offered the remains of the peel for Jack to feed the horses - which he did properly, Dan was glad to see. After they were fed, Jack looked hopefully up at Dan and pointed out into the wider area, asking a plaintive question. Dan echoed the point and the kid nodded frantically.
"All right," Dan told him, "we'll ride. Hope you know your way home..." He called Cloud to him, brushed her clean, then saddled her, mounted, and pulled Jack up to sit in front of him, rummaging out another of his few phrases. Showme.
They rode, following Jack's pointing finger and more subdued chatter, until they came to a farmhouse. Jack screeched something at the woman working in the yard, slithered down from Cloud's back, and ran to meet her. Cloud shifted and stamped unhappily at the sudden movement, and Dan had all he could do to soothe her. When he finally looked up again, the woman was smiling her gratitude and holding Jack close, even as the kid babbled on at her. Presumably, she actually understood what the kid was saying because she responded with a phrase of her own here and there.
She extended a hand, inviting him in, and he was suddenly horribly aware of how patched and shabby his clothes were in comparison to hers, and how easily she made the invitation. He smiled and shook his head and pointed back towards his camp, nudging Cloud into a gentle turn. She held up a hand in an almost universal signal to wait, and dashed inside.
Dan waited, easing Cloud through a series of gentle loops so that she didn't stiffen up, and at last the woman came out again, accompanied by a man, each carrying a bag of something. They held them out to him and when he started to refuse out of confusion and instinct - he had nothing to pay with and no wish to be in debt - they got insistent, and more grateful sounding.
Eventually, he dismounted long enough to take the bags and fasten them safely and securely behind Cloud's saddle. They hugged him in turn, talked at him for a moment, and finally let him go. It wasn't until he got home and found that the bags contained food - oats, beans, carrots, dried apple - that he realised that his pit trap had, after all, brought him the supplies he needed to survive Cylus. Just not in the way he expected.
"Signed words" Spoken words
continued from here
Dan stared down at the child caught in his pit trap for a long moment, wondering if this was another feral kid like he had once been, and if so, what should he do? Then he remembered to lower his spear, letting the shaft fall back until it rested on his shoulder rather than pointed at them, ready to strike. The first and obvious thing to do, was to get the kid out of there and replace the cover in hopes of a better catch next time.
"Do you know Sign?" he asked, without much hope, and wasn't surprised when the kid just kept staring blankly at him. He sighed, and then realised that he had gotten himself so wound up with the thought that he might not have caught anything that he hadn't prepared or brought anything to deal with a success. No rope to haul it out of the pit, no spare sticks to replace the broken cover. Nothing.
He grimaced, and then carefully lowered himself first to sit on the edge of the pit, and then into it, trying not to land on any of the sticks that had fallen into the pit with the child. He smiled as warmly as he could manage, mimicked boosting the kid out of the pit, and held out his hand. The child focused, finally, but only to babble out a string of words that Dan couldn't even begin to decipher. He shrugged apologetically, and resorted to one of his few phrases. IonlyknowSign. A kid that talked easily? Probably not feral as he had been. Still a kid though.
He bent to gather up the fallen sticks, propping his spear against the wall of the pit to free up his hands and piling them up on the rim instead. Then he turned back to the kid, pointing to him and then up on the rim by the sticks. The kid followed his gestures, hesitated a long moment, and then shrugged and held up his arms to be lifted. Dan gritted his teeth against the strain of protesting muscles, wrapped his hands around the child's torso, and hoisted him up out of the pit with a effort. He retrieved his spear, then dragged it and himself out of the pit too. He put the sticks back in place over the pit, covered them with leaves again, and turned to see that the child was still there, watching him. He'd more than half expected the kid to run off home once he was out, but clearly that wasn't the case.
"Well?" he signed, accompanying it with raised eyebrows and a questioning tilt of his head.
The kid looked up, swallowed visibly and flung his arms around Dan's legs in a sort of half frozen hug, blurting words in between sniffles. Dan chose to interpret that as gratitude for the rescue and bent to clumsily hug the kid back. As if that clumsy comfort unlocked something, the kid started to cry in earnest. Dan froze for a long moment, wondering what to do. He couldn't just kneel there and hold him for however long, it was too cold out. And if he was cold, the kid must be too, goodness knows how long he'd been stuck in the pit.
Dan gathered the kid into his arms and hoisted him up to sit on his hip, then gathered his spear in his free hand and made his way slowly back down the path towards his camp, and the fire. They could get warm, and he could add the rest of the gatherings to the soup, and then try to figure out where the kid came from and should go back to. The kid was asking questions now, Dan recognised the rising pitch, but even if he did understand Sign, Dan's hands were too full to respond. Kid didn't sound afraid though, just curious, which was something, but not something Dan particularly enjoyed facing. Curiousity turned judgemental all too easily when the answers either didn't come or weren't what the asker wanted to hear.
They reached his camp at last and he set the kid down and went to stoke the fire in its brazier. The warmth cradled him and unlocked a little of the tension, as he peeled and roughly chopped the burdock root. It would turn the soup from a thin broth to something that was actually filling, and flavoured with the scrap of a fish, the mushrooms, and one of the wild onions (he'd store the rest for another time, they were too strongly flavoured to need much in a meal) it might actually be a tasty soup.
He saved the peel from the burdock to treat the ponies, and when the soup is cooking, he went to find them, grateful that it was quiet long enough to get it done. Only then did he discover why it had been quiet. Cloud and Smoke were having a quiet, ears pinned back, stand off with the kid, who had clearly been doing - something - with the blankets Dan rugged the ponies with for warmth when it was necessary.
Dan hissed through his teeth, making it just a soft note to let the ponies know he was there rather than a sharp warning to behave. Their heads came up as they looked at him and he came forward to claim the kid with a brief hand on his shoulder. He gave Cloud and Smoke a look that promised no treats if they misbehaved, and they took a reluctant step back, acknowledging him as being in charge. He turned the scowl on the kid, pointing first to the blankets and then jabbing a finger at the cart they should be stored in.
The kid mumbled something that started apologetic and then morphed into admiration. Dan wished he would stop talking and try to communicate some other way, but like most people the kid expected Dan to adapt to him. It only rubbed in the reasons he'd come out here in the first place. Dan sighed quietly, pointed to Cloud and held out a scrap of burdock skin to her. Cloud Cloud lipped the treat off his palm and he turned to Smoke with another piece. Smoke. The kid's eyes lit up as Smoke also took her treat.
He turned to Dan, pointed firmly to himself and said, Jack. Dan was reminded of a chattering jackdaw. He hesitated, then pointed to himself in his turn. Dan. "Dandelion." He offered the remains of the peel for Jack to feed the horses - which he did properly, Dan was glad to see. After they were fed, Jack looked hopefully up at Dan and pointed out into the wider area, asking a plaintive question. Dan echoed the point and the kid nodded frantically.
"All right," Dan told him, "we'll ride. Hope you know your way home..." He called Cloud to him, brushed her clean, then saddled her, mounted, and pulled Jack up to sit in front of him, rummaging out another of his few phrases. Showme.
They rode, following Jack's pointing finger and more subdued chatter, until they came to a farmhouse. Jack screeched something at the woman working in the yard, slithered down from Cloud's back, and ran to meet her. Cloud shifted and stamped unhappily at the sudden movement, and Dan had all he could do to soothe her. When he finally looked up again, the woman was smiling her gratitude and holding Jack close, even as the kid babbled on at her. Presumably, she actually understood what the kid was saying because she responded with a phrase of her own here and there.
She extended a hand, inviting him in, and he was suddenly horribly aware of how patched and shabby his clothes were in comparison to hers, and how easily she made the invitation. He smiled and shook his head and pointed back towards his camp, nudging Cloud into a gentle turn. She held up a hand in an almost universal signal to wait, and dashed inside.
Dan waited, easing Cloud through a series of gentle loops so that she didn't stiffen up, and at last the woman came out again, accompanied by a man, each carrying a bag of something. They held them out to him and when he started to refuse out of confusion and instinct - he had nothing to pay with and no wish to be in debt - they got insistent, and more grateful sounding.
Eventually, he dismounted long enough to take the bags and fasten them safely and securely behind Cloud's saddle. They hugged him in turn, talked at him for a moment, and finally let him go. It wasn't until he got home and found that the bags contained food - oats, beans, carrots, dried apple - that he realised that his pit trap had, after all, brought him the supplies he needed to survive Cylus. Just not in the way he expected.
Receipt
30 trials of basic quality food - 1 WP
