Day 2 - Around the Island

[want_to_belong]

Who: Prompto, OTA
What: Exploring and survival
When: Day 2
Where: Different places around the island
Warnings: Dumb boy

Early Morning - Oatmeal - Around Weiss' camp, OTA
As promised, Prompto went to seek out Weiss' camp with some freshly made - and sugary! - oatmeal. The way Ignis worked out perfectly good and normal meals with so few ingredients amazed him. If it was him, he'd probably be trying to figure out how sugar was supposed to go with beef.

But there he was, calling out Weiss' name with a small pot of still warm but quickly cooling oatmeal. A piece of cloth had been thrown over it in an attempt to keep in the heat. She had said she didn't know when she would be leaving in the morning. Hopefully she'd still be around.

Morning - Survival Fruit and Veggie hunting - OTA
Food was a top priority for obvious reasons. Noctis had his fishing. Ignis had his cooking. Laurent seemed to be a hunter of sorts. Nyx had the ability to lounge around with his shirt off. That left the ever popular fruits and veggies.

He'd seen much of the beach and coastal areas the day before, so he searched further inland and managed to find a palm tree with a bundle of coconuts waaaay at the top. If he wasn't short on ammo he'd have just shot them down, but he couldn't be so reckless with their limited supplies.

Instead, he could be found painstakingly improvising his way up the trunk.

Exploration - How wide is this island? - OTA
After a comfortable stash of food and drink was put aside for that day, the ever present need to figure out their dilemma rose. For the time being Ignis had chosen to stay behind, but Prompto went on ahead with everyone else who had decided to see how long it took to reach the other end of the island.

There were precautions, of course. Should the island be so wide that they couldn't make it to the other end in a reasonable amount of time, they were to head back so that they wouldn't be caught in the dark. Beyond that, it was mostly a matter of safety in numbers. No one would wander off and get lost, right?

Evening - Night at the Ruins - Open to Women and Kids
Like a good boy, Prompto was back at the ruins by evening. It was the only place with solid shelter they had thus far, and with Iggy in such poor shape it wouldn't have been a good idea to go camping in the wilderness without any camping gear.

The chill of the night air rose, and after keeping to himself for some time he finally got to his feet and walked over.

"Hey... You look cold," he said as he shrugged off his thick winter coat and offered it.

Evening - Night at the Ruins - Open to dudes
For a while Prompto could be found tucked into a corner, quietly trying to get his phone to work. It would've been nice to place some King's Knight with Noct... They didn't have a place to plug their phones in, but maybe he could hook it up to a Leiden potato or something.

While he was putting his phone away a burst of wind cut through the ruins, creating a haunting howl. Prompto tensed up, scrunching up tighter until the wail subsided. Glancing at the man next to him, he asked with a forced smile, pretending that he wasn't bothered at all. "Hey, you, uh, don't think these ruins are haunted, do you?"

Comments

Early Morning

[aurabble]

Of course Jaune would check on Weiss to make sure she was still safe and alive before going anywhere. He decided to wait for a little while before falling into a panic and calling her name. She was probably sleeping. Right. Sleeping.

So instead he sat, Crocea Mors out and in his arms, as he examined the weapon for any damage in the pale light of morning until someone else calling Weiss's name caught his attention and he looked up to see a smaller--but still scraggly--blonde.

He stood up, sword still out. "Who are you?" Perfect introduction, Jaune, very polite.

[want_to_belong]

Prompto had his gun hanging at his hip, but he didn't reach for it. The stranger caught his attention, someone he hadn't seen before, and it didn't fly past him that he was holding a sword. With a nervous laugh, he paused in place and shifted his weight, still holding the pot in both hands.

"Hey, you from Weiss' camp?" He strained for an upbeat tone but apprehension was scratching the surface. "I'm Prompto. Just came with breakfast." He lifted the pot. "Like I promised."

[aurabble]

"Sorta." The familiar smell of oatmeal did waft through the air, convincing Jaune that he was hallucinating until he noticed the pot. Eyebrows knit in confusion, he was clearly at a loss as to what Prompto was talking about. But some of the tension dropped from his shoulders, and he gave his sword one more glance for any scratches before returning it to its scabbard.

"Oh. Uhm...she's back there, I think." He nodded behind him. "I haven't been here long. I'm Jaune," He added as an afterthought. Prompto seemed nervous, and he felt bad about it, assuming he was younger than him, but Jaune was nervous too for other reasons.

[want_to_belong]

Good. The sword was away. He wasn't about to rush jump into any scuffles, though he would if he had no choice. It would be a lot better to just get along. Truth be told, it was mostly a one-sided promise for him to come here, but that was enough for him.

"She's still here?" He perked up. "Awesome." He didn't have any guarantees before that she would be and he'd cut his sleep short to make sure he'd get here in good time. "I think everyone just arrived the other day. It'd be nice to know what's going on."

[aurabble]

"Awesome," He echoed without much inflection, still unsure about this stranger with a name and perhaps embarrassed he hadn't thought to do the same thing. What kind of friend was he if he couldn't help anyone?

Well, now he could remedy that, even if he had no idea where to get oatmeal. It probably wouldn't look good on him if he stole from the camp either... He would figure something out eventually. He seemed to snap out of his daydreams of stealing all the best supplies from the camp, Weiss's gratitude before everyone caught him and he was officially labeled the island pariah, when Prompto spoke again. "Yeah, but that would be much too convenient," He replied, some of his cynicism leaking through, but his tone had become more friendly this time.

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

J hadn't bothered wandering too far off from the ruins during the night. It had been pretty rough night, easily one of the worst ones she's had but not bad enough to take the number one slot. The next day she spent with continuing her earlier idly explorations -- at least this time she was smarter to avoid poisonous sea creatures, and when the day was turning into night for the second time she returned back to the ruins, a place that she had somehow started to associate with 'camp.'

This time she had managed to get something little to eat but her stomach was still complaining from the hunger. She had switched her dress into another one, which of course was just as unsuitable for the environment as the previous one, and cleaned her face a bit. There had been some attempt to renew her makeup.

And what made the hunger even worse was the creeping coldness. The air got chilly near the evening.

-- But apparently the latter one of her worries was about to get fixed as the guy she remembers from the raft approaches and offers his jacket.

Batting her eyelashes at him she takes the jacket and wraps it around her shoulders.

"Why, thank you. Glad to see there's some chivalry around here."

[want_to_belong]

Oh, wow. That was way different than the usual rejections, always brushing him away - albeit softly. His response was beyond stumbling, chuckling for a moment at the compliment before answering, "Well, I try." He didn't really know what to say.

He did recognize her, of course, and he would have been around a lot more if more dire problems hadn't come up. Finding friends, food, shelter... As much as he would have liked to stick around and make sure she was all right, he just hadn't been able to. Kind of made him feel bad to think that she'd probably been cold the other night.

He didn't exactly have the warmest clothes on under that coat, but talking to her was making him feel pretty warm anyway, and he'd been camping often enough. He would deal.

When he made a movement to sit down he faltered, staying on his feet so he could ask, "Anything else I can get you? Are you hungry? Need anything to drink?"

Supplies were limited but the group had enough combined survival skills to bring stuff in. Combined with what they'd already been given, they could manage for a while.

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

She slides her hands up to grab and pull the coat on her shoulders, expression softening as she looks back at him. Well, well. If she didn't just stumble upon a gold mine just now. He had been more than just a little happy and eager to play the part of hero for her and the other woman on the raft. Performing acts of bravery even on the chance he'll get hurt.

Now she wonders how much she could milk this cow for her own benefit.

"Well," she says with a coy smile, pushing some of her hair back to behind her ear. "I am bit hungry, sweetheart."

[want_to_belong]

How right she was. It wasn't like she needed to manipulate, though. Prompto was happy to hover around and serve. It was just one way he could kind of sort of be in contact with a woman at a safe distance.

"No problem." His smile widened a bit. Oh, his heart was racing, but at least this was something he knew he could take care of. "I'll be right back."

With an extra bounce in his step he scurried off to the spot where the boys had set up. It was only natural that he, Noct and Iggy, along with the outlier Nyx, had banded together as a group. At most points during the night and a lot of times during the day it would be easy to spot them together somewhere.

He went to their pot and gather up some of the stew Ignis had made that night. With the combined ingredients of several people, they'd been able to put together some dishes that were surprisingly decent considering their circumstances. They even had some seasoning. It might not have lived up to the food they ate on the road but Prompto still thought it was pretty good. He poured some into a makeshift coconut bowl he'd made that day. Steam drifted away from it to disappear into the chilly night air. On his way back he grabbed another coconut, and returned with his offering.

"Here. Ignis is a great cook, you'll like it," he said with some actual confidence in his voice as he offered the uneven bowl. The other coconut he kept held to his chest for now.

Morning!

[crosslaced]

In the distance, perhaps masked by the rustling of the forest, comes the distinct and dangerous gait of an equine. But fret not! This horse is a meek creature who spots a splash of blonde moving far off the ground and freaks the heck out.

(“Ssssh. What is it? What do you see?”)

A few minutes later another blonde emerges through the underbrush, squinting suspiciously at- oh. He's ….not sure if Prompto is stuck up there or climbing after something. Laurent stops short, blinking against the sunlight at Prompto’s spot on the tree, and at the very least he doesn't laugh.

“.... do you need help?”

His horse is fretting a little farther off, clearly nervous.

No worries, I don't nitpick things like that

[want_to_belong]

His shoes scraped against the trunk of the tree as he desperately tried to gain traction.

"Totally got it," he grunted.

There were cultures where the people climbed coconut trees with ease and could reach the top in seconds. Prompto was not from one of those cultures. He was a city boy who had never left the capital until months before, and his training had revolved around protecting the prince more than scaling palm trees.

He'd managed to get about eight feet up through sheer willpower, but that's where some of the bark gave way. His foot slipped out from under him. His grip loosened and he grabbed desperately for a good hold before falling out and hitting the ground. The earth was at least soft, and he hit his feet first before tumbling onto his back.

Staring up, he panted for a moment before asking, "Any idea how people get the fruit off of these things?"

[crosslaced]

Well, the man said it himself. Totally got it. Laurent shrugged in response, letting Prompto have at whatever he was doing. Only when the man came crashing down did he raise a hand to his mouth, hiding the beginnings of a brief smirk, before quickly resuming his typical deadpan. (Ehehe.)

“Fruit?”

So that was the issue. Laurent squinted again into the sunlight, straining to spot the cluster of brown spheres nestled amongst the leaves. He himself, as a prince, had a training even more unsuited to…. this. But, but. An idea, he had.

“One idea, yes.”

Prompto would see Laurent now getting on his horse, and guiding her a few steps back for a better angle at the coconuts. Inexplicably, it happened- a burst of brilliant light flared out from the gem on his wrist-bangle, and in the next moment- a shower of ice-chip sparkles. His clothes were different now, an ash-grey coat over something fancily Victorian. A magi’s transformation was magical indeed.

Before the glamour had fully shed from his pristine coat, Laurent was pulling back his arm and sending a glittering spear hurtling towards the tree.

THWACK. A few coconuts came thundering down, as the tree twitched from impact.

The ‘duplicorn’, it seemed, was not the thing one should be worried about.

[want_to_belong]

He was less fearful of said duplicorn now that he new it wasn't a threat. He rather liked animals, so he liked having anything tame around. As long as he didn't get kicked in the face, all was well.

He watched the entire thing in disbelief. When the coconuts came tumbling down he scurried over to collect them. One thwapped the ground and juice started pouring out and he frantically turned it to save as much juice as possible. Lots of people would be needing drinks, and maybe they could even make bowls or something.

With a bunch of coconuts hugged to his chest, he stared up at Laurent.

"Whoa... Are you a magical girl?" No doubt this boy probably loved the shows with panty shots and skimpy outfits.

Morning

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Doing a bit of foraging of her own, Muffet pauses upon hearing rustling noises and goes cautiously over to investigate. Seeing Prompto's efforts, she calls out:]

Would you like some help with that, dearie? It looks like a rather frustrating tree to climb.

[want_to_belong]

[A girl??

He didn't expect to have someone bump into him in the middle of trying to scale the tree. Well. He wished it was the middle. He was more like 1/3 of the way up. He didn't want to look like a wimp, though.]

Don't worry, I can handl...

[As he carefully clung to the tree so he could look back, he suddenly saw there was an Arachne. A kind of small one.]

Daemon!

[He let out the manliest high pitch yelp before dropping down to the ground and pulling out his gun. The daemons hadn't come out at night, so he hadn't expected to run into any. Perhaps that was a foolish dream.

His eyes darted left and right. But where was the girl? She must have hidden when she saw the daemon.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Oh fuck, that's a gun.]

[He's not the first human on the island to react to her with panicked hostility, but he is the first one to pull out a weapon that means she's not safe just by virtue of staying out of stabbing range and- if necessary- using magic to keep it that way.]

[There's the urge to attack first and defend herself, but he hasn't pulled the trigger yet and adding extra bullets to this situation isn't likely to help that continue.]

Excuse you, sir, you're just as much a different species to me as I am to you, but do you see me going around waving weapons at you and calling you something presumably insulting?

[She gives him a very stern look, but the overall effect is much less 'terrifying beast' and more 'schoolteacher who just lost patience with you talking in class', particularly given her prim and proper bearing and neatly-dressed appearance.]

[want_to_belong]

[Limited bullets. He wasn't about to shoot unless necessary. The most unfortunate thing was that he didn't know if it would shoot, but he couldn't waste ammunition just testing it. At least for now it was good enough that other people didn't know that.]

You can talk?!

[That was a first. None of the daemons had been conversational before. They just made sick groaning noises. He could hear the sound in his mind, like metal slowly giving way and bending, as they reached out of the ground and pulled themselves out.

Thus far he'd seen humans and, somehow, he was expecting everyone to be human. It hadn't really occurred to him that there could be something else.

He wasn't completely convinced yet. A bit too much experience with spiders of the giant variety. He kept the gun up, but he was clearly shaking.]

...Are you a native?

[Maybe that's what people here looked like. He kind of wished Iggy was there right now. He'd know what to do.]

Evening

[builditstrong]

Kid is dozing after a long day of exploring and gathering food and water, and the Ruins have been a fairly safe place to sleep so far. They get cold at night, but that's what a fire is for, though figuring out how to start fires took awhile. Makes him miss his Fire Bellows.

He comes awake when there's a gust of wind through the Ruins and he cracks an eye open. There's someone sitting next to him, holding some kind of small...tablet of some kind. The man speaks up, and at first The Kid thinks maybe he's talking to someone else, even though there aren't many other people nearby. It's just that people don't typically strike up conversations with him.

It always makes him feel weird when people do.

"Dunno. Mebe." He stretches, trying to work out a kink in his neck. "You sup'rstitious?"

Re: Evening

[want_to_belong]

"No," his immediate response was defensive, not wanting to outright admit fears to a new person. But he hesitated. "I mean, maybe."

Another pause as he thought about it more. "...We fought a ghost that was in a haunted painting once."

That would pretty much confirm they were real. He'd never been the bravest kid, and having so much time alone without anyone to reassure him all the dark shadows in the house were nothing had left him jumpy. His young imagination had come up with all kinds of dark things.

"If... the ruins are haunted, it might be dangerous for people to stay here," he said, evening out his voice some.

[builditstrong]

The Kid has never given much thought to superstitions. Out on the Wall, it certainly didn't hurt to mutter a prayer to Pyth here and there, even if you didn't fully believe. And you didn't go near certain parts of the Wilds, and you never follow a Pecker, and you always lay a coin beneath the last cornerstone you set, because it's just not worth tempting fate.

After the Calamity, a lot of that just stopped mattering. Good luck and rites and gods didn't save anyone.

"Haunted paintin', huh?"

He says it in a tone that suggests he doesn't believe it or disbelieve it.

He stretches again.

"Dun' think they's haunted," he says, folding his arms behind his head. "'S more dang'rous things 'n ghosts."

[want_to_belong]

"You mean like daemons?"

He'd seen his fair share of those, too. More than ghosts.

"I haven't seen any at night here. Noct thought that maybe they won't appear here like they did at home. It's... kinda weird to think of. A night with no daemons." Exactly the type of world they were trying to create. It'd be nice to experience it, but it would be nicer if it could be like this back where they came from. Then everyone could be safe.

Exploration

[thekingsglaive]

For going on little to no sleep for almost 78 hours Nyx was surprisingly awake as he walked beside Prompto to see just how wide this island was. It was a good idea, after all, they'd know how long it took to walk in a day but also be able to spot anything useful.

Despite his alertness, though, Nyx can't fight down a yawn big enough to make him stop in his tracks to cover it.

He swears he's not bored adventuring, Prompto. Boy just needs to actually sleep.

[want_to_belong]

Prompto could definitely sympathize. Sleeping had been hard that first night, and only the thought of bringing Weiss breakfast in the morning had gotten him up and ready to go. Now he was awake, but come nightfall he'd be crashing hard for sure.

"There's some water over there if you need to splash your face," he teased lightly. Nyx has melded into the group pretty easily. He was a lot older than the guys, but that wouldn't always be apparent from the way they acted. Prompto had thought it was neat that he'd taught Ignis, though he wasn't aware of everything that made him important.

Moving over to the edge of the water, Prompto squatted down to see how clean it looked.

[thekingsglaive]

"Don't make me push you in." He teases right back, even if the suggestion is a tempting one as he joins Prompto in squatting by the water's edge.

It was strange how quickly he fell into step with the younger man, how easily the group seemed to have welcomed him in. Sure it helped that he knew Ignis prior, but Nyx had never expected to be so readily accepted. He'd spent too many years feeling the eyes and whispers of 'outsider' from the people of Insomnia that weren't members of the Glaive and...

And well. That family turned out to be full of traitors.

"Doesn't look as dirty as I expected. Probably not clean enough to drink right away, but we could always boil it if we're in a pinch."

[want_to_belong]

"Push me in and I'll drag you down with me."

Friendly warning, though whether he'd be able to or not was yet to be seen. He was one of the Crownsguard, but he didn't exactly have the training the other two did, and he was a relative newbie. There was a reason why his weapon of choice had been a gun.

"The water looks clean enough to use as a bath sometimes. I wonder if the river starts somewhere on the mountain. Don't they say water from the top of the mountain is the best? Or is that just an advertising gimmick?" City boy with his bottled water.

Forming a small scoop with his hand, he splashed some water at Nyx. The island could be a pretty hot, muggy place anyway. He was just helping! Really.