To the Sea: Packing Up

Seth’s eyebrows pressed together as December and her strange mount darted here and there gathering items for their journey. The robot was almost the opposite of frantic, slapping her gear and rations around in a weirdly jovial way. “Are you sure this is a good idea? It’s barely been a half year since the last mess.”

December chirped as she folded life jackets for herself and her lycan. “Of course! That’s the whole idea, since we missed out last time we have to go now!” Dormouse returned her handler’s chirp with her own, wagging her tail.

“Imagine, an adventure out at sea! The salt, the sun, exploring the unknown and getting rich off whatever you can bring back home! How could you not be excited!” Seth sighed at the naivety. He was foolishly the same when the corruption reared its head the year before. He and Lilt survived, but not without the help of his beloved raptor Lilt, as well as Tara and Kukia with their stryx. 

“Oh you sweet summer child.” He always wanted to use that line on someone older than him, relishing the way December’s face screen flashed in sputtering anger. “You think it’s gonna be all fun and games, sunlight and cocktails and sunken treasure, but if experience has taught me anything, it’ll be the exact opposite.”

Here he paused, gathering his experiences into a neat list. “You’ll choke on volcanic ash because someone higher up on the food chain thought scouting the wild unknowns was a great idea. Then you’ll be sneak attacked and have all your stuff destroyed. Maybe you or Dormouse too, since you’re going without anyone to watch your back. You’ll explore forests that are silent for miles, not knowing if you’re getting closer to catching your prey or the other way around. Or maybe you’ll have to crawl in the sewers, getting all filthy and nasty because rhakos are smart enough to take advantage of mazes. Then you’ll have to fight a literal giant, because she’s squishing the Void- danged heart of Sol itself! So… not all fun and games.”

The robot stopped shoving tarp and cords into a rolled pack and stood up. December’s screen played a loop of pixelated rolling eyes. “And remind me, what did you get out of that harrowing, once in a lifetime, life or death event?”

It was now the boy’s turn to sputter. He had reached December with his mount’s help. His rhakos mount. Whose egg he found on the journey. Said rhakos, Blaine, trilled in a burst of laughter when he saw Seth’s face.

“That’s not the point! It’s dangerous out there! We don’t even know what’s happening. The sea is different from the Edge of the World. You can really disappear out there.” That last sentence was tinged with genuine worry.

December tempered some of her energy and stared Seth straight in the face. “Y’know, you can come with me if you think this trip is doomed to failure.” She said.

“Did you not hear what I just said? No way dude, I’m still burnt out from saving Sol.” Hearing that, December, Dormouse and even Blaine laughed at him. That’s one way to pad your ego, even if it was partly due. “Plus I’m still training Blaine, and taking a runner out to sea sounds like fifty flavors of a bad idea.” Here he shoved his mount, who quickly straightened up and posed, letting his golden-veined skin shine in the sunlight. 

“Well your advice is appreciated, but not needed. There will be plenty of folks there who want to be there, solving a mystery and making away with gold in their pockets.” Once the paracord was packed away she diverted her attention to rations. Dormouse would eat anything as long as it was decently fresh, so fishing would be the ideal, but the mystery creature was putting a damper on that, so calorie dense and light foods it was. Jerky, flatbread, oats. What else do people bring on a journey? Water? But they’ll be at sea. Of course that’s salt water, but the sailors knew how to desalinate water right? Right? She didn’t need to bring a barrel of water?

She immediately added to the list a barrel of water. Dormouse would have to carry it in a pinch. She could technically, her harness had enough hooks and straps to carry a rabid bear. Hopefully the base of operations would not sink, but Seth’s words were now cycling through her processor.

“Uhh.. so how did you make out when things were falling apart?” She quickly added when she saw Seth about to exclaim in victory. “It sounded like you were falling apart a lot.”

Seth blinked at that. Usually the robot was so sweet and bubbly. He must’ve hit a nerve. “Well like I said, it mostly helps having someone backing you up. Picking you up when you fall, or just being bigger so something lunging at you goes after them first.”

“That sounds a little cowardly to be honest.” December held her hands up placatingly before the boy could yell at her. “I didn’t mean that! Well, I did, but you’re a kid. It makes sense for someone else to take the lead, cover for you, all that stuff. But…“

“But we can handle ourselves. We’re.. well, adults. We’re not gonna let fear or cautiousness stop us. There’s too much of a risk of missing out on something grand.” Dormouse chirped in response. “We want that treasure!”

Seth scrunched his eyebrows again. It wasn’t something he agreed with, but he could see that knocking sense into the two wasn’t working. “If you insist. But you already lucked out with that lycan.”

Blaine trilled again as Seth mounted him. He too was interested in the sea, but not enough to bring his rider down. He looked back to the two wannabe seafarers before asking Seth where their next destination was.

As the two sped off December looked at the rest of the supplies strewn about them. She certainly didn’t want to deal with them now, after her mood was tanked. But that was what the explorer did, slog through the chores so they could focus on the adventure with as little stress as possible. Barrel. They still needed a barrel. Sighing to herself, she grudgingly started back to town, Dormouse loyally trailing behind her.