DoA Careers: Survivalist 1 | Aramun, (Laugom, Vozgall)

Survivalist career training 1 for Aramun aq758

Milestone 5 for Laugom if108 and Vozgall if113

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Aramun's bicolored bulk lay strewn along the beach, wheezing and a bit too dry, as they repeatedly wedged their long claws into a crevice to pull out sand and deepen it.

 

"Right," said Laugom, who was sitting at a respectful, safe distance. "Why don't you go first, Vozgall?"

 

"Oh," said Vozgall, with a flap of one broad paw, "I don't mind waiting. Why don't you start? I can tell you're very proud of that necklace. You've preserved the bones remarkably well, what with the seawater - the salt can't be easy on them, can it?"

 

"Well, as a matter of fact," Laugom started, oblivious to the fact that Vozgall had just baited him into going first after all. "There's a merchant I visit every now and then, who just dips them into a special brew, and after a moment or two for the coating to stick and then a few moments more to dry, the water slides right off the bone just like - so. See that?" Laugom dipped his necklace of human skulls in and out of the foamy surf to demonstrate.

 

"Huh," said Aramun. Their vast bulk did not make navigating over land very easy, but nevertheless they'd braved the sandy shore with a bundle of their own valuables in tow. With the hole finally dug, they began to tuck them inside: a large gleaming shell, a golden fish fin, an improbably-intact glass bottle...

 

"What about yours, Vozgall? What is that - a voodoo doll?" From anyone else, the question might've sounded sarcastic, but Laugom didn't have a single snarky bone in his body. He was energetic, flamboyant, and bombastic, but never anything less than sincere.

 

"What is a voodoo doll?" asked Aramun.

 

"Well, I - I'm not sure, actually. I think it's a sort of magical artifact, meant to grant power over someone else. Been a long time since I last heard the stories, so I'm afraid I don't rightly recall!" Despite this failing, Laugom's mood remained as bubbly as ever.

 

Aramun grunted wordlessly and returned to the task of tucking away their treasures, down into the dark little hole at the foot of the craggy rock.

 

Vozgall decided it must be her turn to answer. "This is just a little plushie I won during a Festival game, quite recently actually - but Alaya's grown on me more than I ever thought she would. Which is especially funny when you consider how much trouble she's gotten into. She's been splashed, soaked, trampled, even stabbed once. I've had to learn how to weave wool into thread, just to keep up with all the repairs she needs!"

 

"You must not hide it very well, if it becomes damaged so often," Aramun observed.

 

"Ahm," said Vozgall, intelligently.

 

"Well, hiding is, er, not exactly the proper use of these things, is it? They're meant to be shown off!" Laugom explained. "...unless they're meant to be hidden, which... yours are?"

 

"Of course. Why do you think I am here, on land? Even if my own sleeping-place is discovered, precious few will ever think to search up on land for my treasures. If need be, I can simply flee and return for them later when it is safe." Aramun imparted this self-apparent wisdom in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact tone, indifferent to the appalled expressions Laugom and Vozgall now wore. 

 

Laugom gently mouthed at the cord of his human-skull necklace, before letting it drop back down against his chest. "Are others of your species truly so - ah, opportunistic, that they'd all resort to thievery?"

 

"We have our prideful ones," Aramun admitted. "Those who would always make their own way, and avoid trailing in the wake of any other."

 

"But - that's only a few? And all the rest... it must be a very lonely sort of life," said Vozgall. She cradled her plushie in her broad paws, every bit as gently as Laugom handled his human-skull necklace. No matter that her plushie could and had been repaired before, where a crushed skull would need a full replacement.

 

Aramun shrugged, lifting one forefin before dropping it down to slap the sand in a gesture of dismissal. "I am a proud one," they declared. "I need neither thieve nor beg, to keep my prizes safe from those who would take them.

 

"Look there, see? How can my treasures be damaged or destroyed when they cannot be found? Consider it, both of you. Better to keep your most precious treasures hidden in the eyeless places of the world, safe from harm." With that final recommendation, Aramun hauled themself across the sand and slipped back into the water.

 

"My goodness," said Vozgall. "What a rather bleak way of life. I must admit I strongly prefer the community of our caves to - that."

 

Laugom studied the sand thoughtfully. Aside from the sweeping trails where Aramun's weight had been hauled along, there was no sign to indicate that anything of real interest had happened on this beach. Aramun had disguised the burial-site of their treasure with marks from their fins, so that it had lost the look of something dug up and buried. "Ship breakers aren't such a cozy lot," he said, somewhat wistfully, "but we're not thieves or muggers."

 

Aramun watched from a distance, peering up from the sea with blank yellow eyes. To teach was one thing, and they did so readily enough, but to trust was quite another. When those two were well and truly gone, they'd climb back up the beach and move their treasures to a different hiding spot. 

 

It was always best not to tempt fate.