The River Keeps Running

[YseultNott]

Alec







They have enough water on them for the night, and they decide to set camp there and head back to the spring in the morning. The Dork brings them enough bugs to make skewers to complete the rests of Rachel's quarry, and they add to it a few fruits Lisa identified as safe.

Armsmaster takes advantage of the rest to gather the biggest, strongest bones of the animal to try and make himself a variety of small tools for easier tinkering. Lisa looks fascinated by the process, until she gets a headache and go to sleep.

Alec wonders what her power tells her about Armsmaster's work.

It looks like the Dork doesn't feel like sleeping, either, because she goes and pick up more fruits, staying in sight of them the whole time. She says it's supplies in case they need it later.

Alec wonders how long it will take her to realize they don't have anything to carry them.

 

[YseultNott]

Brian







He takes the third watch, after Alec and Taylor.

Halfway through, and Armsmaster is still tinkering, as always, this time with a bunch of twigs and vines.

It hits Brian, suddenly, that it has been two weeks, and Armsmaster hasn't slept the full night one single time. This can't possibly be healthy, unless he's one of those capes who don't need sleep.

He's not. Not with how he looks whenever he takes off his helmet.

"You should go to sleep," Brian says.

Armsmaster turns toward him.

"We need you to go home," Brian continues. "You won't be able to do anything if you're too tired to think."

Armsmaster doesn't answer, and doesn't go to sleep either, and Brian lets it go.

In the morning, when Brian wakes up, Armsmaster is still asleep.

Brian will count it as a victory.

 

[YseultNott]

Brian







Armsmaster made a giant basket, and vehemently insists that it's not a result of his powers.

"It's basketry," he says, "not Tinkertech. Or tech at all, for that matter."

"How come you know basketry, Spidey?" asks Alec.

Armsmaster doesn't dignify that with an answer. Too bad. Brian is kinda curious about it, too.

Anyway, they have a basket, now. With straps, to be carried like a backpack.

They fill the basket with the weird fruits Taylor picked up, and Brian is designated volunteer to carry it. He's the strongest besides Armsmaster, and the armor won't fit through the straps. Brian is sure it was on purpose.

Assholes.

 

[YseultNott]

Colin







Colin has no desire to get involved in the Undersiders' internal drama. As long as they're willing to work with him, he doesn't care whether they hate each other's guts, or his, for that matter.

He has to recognize that he was… Surprised, somewhat, to learn that Skitter was actually planning to betray them, and wasn't merely trying to trick preemptive amnesty out of him. She's hard to read. He's not sure his lie detector is entirely reliable where she is concerned.

She said she wanted to be a hero, but her attacks of the bank and Fosberg Gallery convinced him it had been a lie.

There is a small twist in his stomach at not having managed to stop her, at having been blinded by his anger, but in the end, she made her own choices.

He warned her. From the moment she robbed that bank, she was a villain in the eyes of the law.

She said it herself. In the end, she chose not to betray them.

 

[JamesRick29]

Colin does have point, and what Taylor did afterwards didn't exactly help at all, yes Colin was being a jerk but Taylor decided to act like all teenagers and think they knew better.

 

[YseultNott]

Colin







Skitter stops in her track so suddenly Regent runs into her.

"I think I've found people," she says.

Colin focuses on her.

"Humans?" he asks, and she shakes her head.

"I don't think so, no," she says. "They're humanoid, and they have clothes, but their hair is weird, and they're about seven or eight feet tall."

Well. They already established they aren't on Earth. It would have been strange if there were humans there. It's already lucky there are people at all.

There is no reason to be disappointed, really, and so Colin doesn't let it show.

"If they have clothes, they probably come from some kind of settlement," he says instead.

A settlement is good. If they can manage a source of income, it will make it easier for him to secure the necessary materials for his tinkering. The most technologically advanced, the better.

"How many?" Grue asks.

"Two," Skitter says.

Two to six. Even taking the size difference in account, those are good odds if it comes to a fight.

They decide to go meet them.

 

[Hecatonchires]

That's why they think they're children!

 

[YseultNott]

Rachel







The people Taylor found are very tall, and they have spikes on the head, like those weird hedgehogs, how are they called?

Porcupines. They have porcupine quills instead of hair.

They look very strong.

Rachel misses her dogs. She feels all alone, now. The others, Brian, Lisa, and Alec, they have each others, and Taylor is a traitor, and Rachel is on the outside, looking in.

Rachel doesn't know how to be part of their group. Doesn't know how to understand them, or how to be understood.

Humans are pack animals. They're not supposed to be alone. She's not supposed to be alone.

She doesn't even have her dogs.

 

[YseultNott]

Rachel







The tall people don't speak English.

Armsmaster says that it's not a language he recognizes with his helmet, and probably not a language that exists on Bet at all. He says it was to be expected.

Brian says it's very inconvenient. Alec says their eyes are kind of creepy, with their lack of white.

Rachel doesn't mind. A lot of dogs don't have white in their eyes.

The tall people decide to try and talk with their hands, and Lisa tries to make sense of it.

"I think they want us to go with them," Lisa says.

She hesitates.

"I don't think they mean us any harm," Lisa says.

They decide to go with the tall people.

 

[YseultNott]

Lain







Bène is back.

Presumably, she and Natais brought back flowers from the palte tree for the Truthful Night before his wedding next ten-days.

As excited as he is, Lain has to confess that he's more concerned with the strange people his sister brought back.

They're strange.

They're so… They're so small! He thought they were children, at first, but one of them, the one wearing armor, looks older. Adult.

Maybe they need to eat more? Lain will cook them something, just in case. It can't hurt.

Their size isn't the only strange thing about them. Their skin is strangely pale, except for one, whose skin is the darkest he's ever seen. They don't have quills, just weird hair where they should be. Their eyes have disturbing triangles of white on both sides. Creepy.

But they're so small! Like children, whether they are or not.

It would be wrong not to help them.

 

[Rakaziel]

Now I imagine the Undersiders as Gnomes, and Armsmaster as a Dwarf

 

[YseultNott]

Rachel







The tall people's village is weird.

It's not square.

The houses are hexagonal, with flat roofs, grouped together by groups of four or five like in a honeycomb.

Rachel never went anywhere with houses like that.

The tall people are all tall, but the smaller among them have very colorful spikes, candy apple red and cobalt blue and neon green, and the taller ones have duller ones, grey or brown or black. Maybe it means something? Lisa would know.

The tall people look at them, and point, and whisper.

It's very, very hard not to snap at them.

She has to go back to her dogs, or she wouldn't bother trying.

 

[YseultNott]

Rachel







The tallest of the tall people who found them leads them to a house, and talks with one of the smaller tall people, with red spikes and orange eyes.

The small tall person keeps looking at them, eyes wide. Rachel doesn't like it.

The small tall person finally walks to them, and makes a series of gestures and sounds, pointing at himself.

"His name is Lain," Lisa says, "I think he's male and the taller ones are female."

Lisa points at each of them one by one while saying their names. The civilian ones, not the cape ones.

Lain makes a weird little movement with his head, and starts gesturing again, this time pointing at his stomach.

Rachel thinks it means food, and Lisa says it does. Regent cheers.

"No more bugs!" he says.

The food is bugs.

"Really ?" Regent says, and Armsmaster lets out a brief sound.

Rachel is fairly sure it was a laugh.

 

[YseultNott]

Lisa







After they're done eating their bugs, which have the advantages of at least being seasoned, Lain leads them to what, from the outside, appeared to be another house.

Lisa doesn't think it is. She thinks each of the hexagonal constructions is a room, and each group of them is a home.

The room they're led to has a drain in the floor and a big bucket full of steaming water. Lain puts cleanly folded clothes on a chair, and hands two pieces of cloth to each of them before leaving.

"He wants us to clean up," Lisa says. "One cloth to dip into the water, and another do dry up afterwards."

There are awkward looks, especially from Brian and Taylor, and it is eventually decided that they will wash one by one while the others look in the opposite direction.

It feels good. Awkward, because of circumstances, but getting to wash with hot water is worth it, and so is finally wearing clean clothes, even if the shirts are so big they look like shapeless dresses.

They all look ridiculous.

 

[ZhaneSilverman]

Really interesting! I'm looking forward to reading more of their adventures in this very different places.

 

[YseultNott]

Lisa







After getting dressed up, even Armsmaster doesn't have the heart to put back his armor until he has had the opportunity to clean it thoroughly.

By contrast, he looks almost small without it. More human. He's smaller than Brian, which is admittedly the case of most people. Most human people.

Tense. Wary..
Wary. Feels vulnerable.
Wary. Distrustful.

They discuss their truce.

Armsmaster still needs them or, at least, he needs her. She's the only one who can reasonably communicate with the natives.

Armsmaster still needs them, and they still need him, and his willing cooperation. Using Alec's power to control him would be complicated in the long term, and it might cause division with Taylor, and they really don't need that.

They will keep to the truce. They will work together.

They can do it, Lisa thinks. As wary, as distrustful as Armsmaster is, he still took off his armor.

 

[YseultNott]

Brian







Brian isn't entirely sure what to do now.

This place is weird, and he has no way of talking to the locals except through Lisa, which is… Problematic. If only because the amount of time she can use it for is limited.

Not ideal.

There's the issue with Taylor, too. The betrayer.

The would-be betrayer.

Lisa should have told them. They should have discussed whether to take the risk as a team.

Taylor apologized. Asked them to take her back. To keep her. Swore she had changed her mind, she wouldn't have betrayed them, she was committed now.

She's on fucking probation.

Brian doesn't know if he will ever trust her again.

Time will tell.

 

[YseultNott]

Brian







A few days go by. Bène and Lain allow them to stay in their home, providing both food and shelter.

They adapt.

Rachel goes on walk around the village, and tries to learn more about some kind of dog-like species the natives keep. They're close enough to Earth dogs for her power to work on them, but different enough that she needs to actively learn about them.

Taylor, as part of her apology, has used bugs and spiders to make adjustments to their new clothes, so that they look a bit less ridiculous, and helps out with the bug farms as a way to repay the village for their hospitality.

Lisa ensures translation, or at least communication, when absolutely necessary. Brian is trying to learn the local language. To his annoyance, Alec is picking it up much faster than he is.

Armsmaster has caught up on sleep, and made cleaning his armor his top priority. Brian has to confess that he's annoyed by it, but can't really protest. He gets where Armsmaster is coming from.

Still.

Aisha needs him. He has to go home.

 

[YseultNott]

Colin



Colin feels much better with his armor back on. It's not that he doesn't trust the Undersiders, it's just that… He doesn't trust them. Although he has to concede that the fact that they didn't try anything yet is a point in their favor.

Still. They're villains, and Colin did his research. He knows what Regent, what Hijack is capable of. What he did, or at least some of it.

He feels much, much safer with his armor on.

Now that it's done, it's time to get Tattletale and go to the smith. Get an idea of the technics and materials available. Time to finally work on a way home.

He's needed there.

 

[YseultNott]

Colin







With Tattletale assistance, Colin manages to get a pretty good idea of the smith's equipment and materials.

The smith is… A smith. Which, granted, is more or less what Colin expected.

Nothing electric, or industrial. No precise tools made for fine work. Very likely little, if any, access to rare earths and precious metals.

This is not ideal.

At least, he will have access to basic tools, and processed iron, instead of trying to start from scratch or find and smelt the ores himself. It could be worse.

It's not ideal, but it could be worse.

He needs to see with Tattletale if he can find a way to have access to better tools and materials but either way, one thing is terrifyingly certain.

It will take him a long time to make a way back home.

 

[YseultNott]

Alec







Armsmaster is back in armor.

It was to be expected.

Oh, well. They had decided to keep to the truce, and he won't be able to keep his guard up all the time anyway. If taking him over becomes needed, sooner or later, an opportunity will present itself. No need to worry about it.

If worse comes to worse, Alec doesn't actually care all that much about getting back to Earth Bet. Brian has his sister, and the Dork has her father, and Rachel has her dogs, but neither Lisa nor him have anything tying them to Brockton Bay. The most inconvenient things will be the bug food and the lack of video games.

That's a good thing, because Armsmaster says it will be months at the very least before he can bring them home, assuming he works exclusively on that. Apparently, that's likely not something he will be able to do, so it will take even longer.

He's not going to do it here.

Apparently, there's some kind or big town called Capole, and they're going there.

 

[YseultNott]

Alec







The good news are, they won't have to walk to Capole.

That's a good thing, because Capole is apparently a pretty long distance away, and Alec is tired of walking. They've done enough of that wandering in the woods.

So. Not going to walk. Lisa worked her magic, and there's some kind of vehicle coming by every ten days to transport people to Capole.

They got blown up onto another planet, and they're going to take the bus.

The absurdity of it is great.

The bad news are, they need to pay for the bus, and with Armsmaster watching them, they can't just steal money.

They're going to need to earn some.

 

[YseultNott]

Taylor







She didn't get kicked out of the team.

Yet.

They don't need her. Not the way they did before, in the wilderness, when she was their best source of food. Lain and Bène would have let them stay even without Taylor helping at the bug farms.

They allowed her to stay on the team. For now.

They still don't trust her, except Lisa. Taylor isn't sure how to fix it.

Lisa says they need money for the bus.

It's strange. Taking the bus on an alien world.

Lisa and Alec help her negotiate with the seamstress about producing spider silk. She will make some money that way, enough to pay for the bus and have some left over.

If she makes herself useful, they will have to let her stay.

 

[DoubleThought]

The chapters are short, but they do tell a compelling story. I quite enjoy reading this.

 

[YseultNott]

Taylor







The bus doesn't look like what Taylor usually has in mind when she thinks of the word 'bus'.

It's not square enough. It's closer to an old car, but longer, with four pairs of big, wide wheels that stick underneath. It looks almost like a child's toy.

"Oh, damn it," Armsmaster says. He's chosen not to wear his armor, which composes the majority of their luggage.

She looks at him in askance.

"The wheels," he says. "Given their size and shape, it looks like we're going to go through some rough patches of the road, and I don't think that thing will have a very good suspension. I don't expect we will have a very comfortable journey."

Oh.

Well. That's inconvenient, but not necessarily a problem.

There is an awkward silence.

"They don't hate you, you know," Armsmaster says, voice low.

Taylor turns to look at him, and he jerks his head in the others' direction.

"They're mad," he says, "but I don't think they hate you. They will forgive you in time. Except Hellhound, maybe."

It might be silly, but when Taylor steps inside the bus, she's feeling hopeful.