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

[want_to_belong]

"Another wall... I get that. I grew up in Insomnia, and we were protected by a wall, too. Made by the king. Was it kind of like that?"

That's where his mind immediately went, anyway.

"It was huge, too, compared to the other cities we've gone to. Places outside the city were decades behind technology-wise."

There were probably big differences between the two worlds, but some of it sounded at least remotely similar, and he wanted to try and understand other people.

"If there weren't daemons, what were your walls for?"

[builditstrong]

He's never heard of Insomnia, but that stands to reason. It's in an entirely different world.

"I s'pose. Ours weren't made by a king. Were built by Masons like me."

Though obviously he's much, much too young to have laid any of the foundation stones. All he did was help maintain it, and that was fine by him.

"Caelondia were like that. Huge. Smaller villages an' such out beyond. An' th' Tazal Terminals."

He always heard that the Terminals were massive, given that they stretched for miles beneath the earth. The portion he saw must have been nothing compared to their original grandeur.

"Wilds. Creatures. Invaders. Ura."

[want_to_belong]

"I know what three of those things are, but what's 'ura'?"

His mind immediately went to some sort of daemon counterpart, because it's what was a big threat where he was. But, perhaps it was some sort of beast, or something of the like. Maybe it was even the name of some hostile clan of humans. Picturing it all as best he could, he kind of wished he could take some photos of it. Of the wilds and the foreign creatures. Wouldn't that be cool to have in a frame?

"Masonry will probably come in handy around here. Looks like some things are going to need to be rebuilt if we wanna use them."

[builditstrong]

"They's people. Lived in th' Tazal Terminals, underground. Hadda war with 'em, few years back. Were in peacetimes, but was still a lotta mistrust. Complicated stuff."

He never understood most of it, and he had never even met an Ura before finding Zulf. None of it had ever really concerned him. People always talked about the Ura like they were some kind of spook, but he figured you can't judge something you've never met.

He nods. "S' what I'm thinkin'. Jus' gotta see 'bout clearin' some trees. Figger out 'f the wood's good 'nuff t'build with. Maybe start diggin', see what th' stone's like 'round 'ere."

[want_to_belong]

Ah, that was one of his guesses.

"Sounds like the Empire where I'm from, then. Maybe." Big wall to keep them out and everything.

"There's a lot of ruins around. We could always use stones leftover from them and rebuild what's there to make it stable. I don't know how we can tell how long we'll be stuck here, so it's probably best to start building rather than doing nothing and hoping we go home."

He could be sensible sometimes. "I... don't know a lot about building. Never really had to do it myself. But, it can't be that hard, right?"

[builditstrong]

"Wouldn't know. Don't go no empires around."

Maybe across the Boundless Sea, but he never knew too much about what was out there. It didn't concern him. He always thought there was no point in knowing what lay beyond the sea when he was never going to see the water at all.

He nods a little, looking around at the stones and the parts that have fallen in.

"Shore up th' walls...cover the ceilin' bits wi' palm leaves. Must be trees 'round what can serve as support beams. Rafters fer better support."

He smirks just a little behind his bandanna.

"Buildin's jus' 'bout all I know."

[want_to_belong]

He gave a soft snort.

"Better than me. I'm pretty good with technology, but I'm not sure that's going to be very useful around here."

Unless he could manage to repair and mod the snowmobile somehow. He still wanted to keep it, regardless. As some sort of possible transport in the future. The idea of being able to ride away, even if they didn't have the resources to get it moving.

"My phone's broken, my snowmobile won't turn on... Just about all I've got is my camera and my gun. I guess the gun could be good for emergencies. I have to use it wisely if I can't get anymore bullets, though."

At a time like that he wished he was more proficient in something that didn't need ammo, like a knife.

"...I could help build stuff, though. Just show me what to do and I'll do it."

[builditstrong]

"Never know wha's gonna come in handy, out in th' wild."

Either way, intelligence never did anyone any harm. Anyone who is half-decent at surviving knows how to be resourceful, taking whatever skills they have and applying them to something else.

"Dunno what a phone 'r a snow...mob-eel is." Or a camera, for that matter. "Gun's always useful, though."

For self-defense, for hunting...you can use the gunpowder to start fires, and if nothing else, the parts can be repurposed.

He smiles faintly.

"Yeah? Don' mind teachin' ya a thing'r two. Proper Mason stuff."

It's...a little flattering. He's never taught anyone anything before. That sort of thing is reserved for the veterans who have been out there and experienced the world much more than the Kid has.

Though, he can't think of a Mason off the top of his head who has seen and done all the things the Kid had to do to rebuild the Bastion.

[want_to_belong]

"Wow, really? Oh man." He scooted closer, holding up the phone that he'd tried to get to work to no avail. "It doesn't turn on right now, but if I can get it working again I'll show you how to use it. I'll even let you play on it."

Because phones were for mobile games, right? It was hard to imagine a world without such things. What did they do for fun without video games?

"Guess I can't really do that right now." Currently he had an expensive paperweight. He bounced it in his hand and sighed. "'Least we could get some work done, though. It'd be nice to do something useful. And then we could surprise everyone with it!"

More likely they would need more than just two people for labor, but it was nice to think of doing something to help everyone else. All these people seemed to have powers or special abilities and he didn't want to be useless.

[builditstrong]

He tilts his head a little when the guy holds up something that looks like a small tablet made of glass and metal. Or something like metal, at least. It looks fancy, but Kid can't tell what it could possibly be used for.

"Wha's it do when it do work? Whatcha play wi' somethin' like that?"

Maybe card games? It looks like it could hold a deck of cards, maybe. There are more card games than Kid could have ever hoped to learn.

He'll have to find out when this guy figures out how to get it working.

"Buildin's hard work." Kid looks him up and down. He's got some muscle on him, clearly, plus he's kind of wiry, which tends to mean lots of energy as well.

"Ya look like ya'd be fair decent at it."

[want_to_belong]

"Oh, lots of stuff. Everything from texting to games. Ah, that is, texting is when you send a message to someone else. In text. From my phone to their phone." It was odd trying to think of how to explain something that was such common knowledge on his own world but probably didn't exist on his. He pointed at the glass. "Usually this screen will light up and have images on it, and you can press buttons and stuff to tell it what to do."

It was amazing how proud Prompto looked when Kid told him he would be 'decent' at it.

"Really?" The surprise was clear in his voice, with a hint of excitement to it. "I'm no bodybuilder, but I work out."

Any amount of compliment was good for him, and the dorky smile on his face said as much.

[builditstrong]

All of this, quite frankly, sounds like the coolest thing in the whole world. So it's a device that will let him write messages and other things, and it's got an internal light source of some kind.

"'S neat. That sorta thing's jus' common in yer world?"

The Mancers would go absolutely nuts for something like that. Especially the fact that it's common enough that this guy's word for "writing" is "texting." People changed whole words for this thing. Neat.

He chuckles a bit.

"Don' need t'be solid muscle. Yer wiry. Got energy. Goes a long way."

It occurs to him that he hasn't even introduced himself yet. Where are his manners? He's spent too much time around Rucks.

He holds out his hand.

"Name's Kid."

[want_to_belong]

He was more than happy to make a new friend in this place, and Kid seemed pretty cool. Taking Kid's hand, he gave it a cheery shake. "Prompto."

Now he really wished he could get it to work because then he could show Kid all the neat things it could do. Prompto was an expert at wasting time playing on his phone. "Yeah, pretty much everyone has one. I mean, stuff from the Crown City was more advanced than stuff outside the wall, but people still had phones outside." Just not as good. Like their cars and everything else. Excitement built up in his voice talking about it. "And, if your friends have phones, too, you can play games together. There's tons of games you can play... We mostly played King's Knight when we camped out. If I get it working I'll show you how to play."

It was all, perhaps, a bit ambitious. Prompto liked technology and he was pretty good with it, and he just wanted to share something he loved in a friendly gesture. A little more comfortable, and getting a bit bouncy in his spot from enthusiasm, he answered Kid's comment on his figure with some false confidence, "Yeah, I try."

Hell, it just felt good to be recognized. He worked really damn hard to get into shape.

back from hiatus, feel free to ignore

[builditstrong]

He shakes Prompto's hand, his grip firm but not tight.

"Nice to meet ya."

It really does all sound fascinating. Kid almost wishes he could have seen a world like that. He also appreciates just how much energy this guy seems to have. It reminds him a little of Zia when she's in her best moods.

"Ain't have nothin' like that at home. Sports, card games, suchlike. Y'wanted t'talk t'someone, ya had to go find 'em, or write a letter."

And that was assuming you knew how to write at all. Most people did, but certainly not all of them. Kid only ever learned enough reading and writing to get by, and to interpret any messages the other Masons or the Marshals sent him.

"I'll look ya up once I figger about actually buildin' stuff 'round 'ere."

Re: back from hiatus, feel free to ignore

[want_to_belong]

"Really? Not even card games?" What did these people ever do? "Well, if we ever get a pack of cards we'll deal you in and show you how to play a few games. It's a nice way to kill time."

Very simple, but nice with good friends. He smiled. "It'll be like a trade for teaching me how to build some stuff."

[builditstrong]

"Nah, we got card. Poker. Mancer's Gambit. Stuff like that."

He must have said it wrong. He does that a lot. He knows he's not so good at talking.

"Wouldn' mind learnin' cards from other worlds, though."

[want_to_belong]

"I haven't heard of Mancer's Gambit. We could always teach each other different games. Noct and I were talking about getting a deck of cards in order to pass the time when we had nothing else to do."

Maybe it was a foolish thing to ask for, but when they were journeying they'd always played little things like that together at night.

[builditstrong]

He nods, smiling again behind the bandanna.

"Sounds great. Should do that."

Shall we wrap this up?

[want_to_belong]

"Awesome. It's a date, then."

He nodded with a soft sound between a hum and a huff. Course he didn't mean it as a real 'date'. Just passing time between friends.