The children blended into things without a lot of hiccup. Soey personally helped all the unnamed children find a name they liked, using her knowledge of tales and extensive vocabulary. The female belemoid became Whimsy, while her brother was Dennis. The aquatic tsabhua chose Bisman. Following a few days of rest, feeding up, and administration of medicines and vitamins, the children felt well enough to venture out. Getting so much room and freedom made them nearly giddy with joy and they ran in circles- in Dennis' case, until he fell down. He laughed so hard that, between this and the spinning, he puked. Poor Dennis! Although, between getting to feel the glee of the spinning and laughing, and the fussing Blip did over him and his tummy afterwards, he felt it was well worth a bit of a retch. He kept his exhuberance a little less physical after that, even so.
This was also the day an immigrant arrived- at last, they were being sent some new recruits! Turns out this was also an orphan, if perhaps a less tragic one than the others, a tarkee named Liam. The colony already seemed to be brim full of orphans so really, one more wasn't any trouble. He fit right into the crew. Soon they were all told about colony life and how it was important to pitch in, and were taken by the adults on their first mission to forage for edible vegetation. They also had a garden, but plenty of the local flora was good to eat so they supplemented with gathering. Given the strictness of their upbringing, chores that helped the colony not only made the children feel important, but seemed like an extended playtime in comparison. Not one of them made a complaint as they scattered over the lushest part of the rocky landscape with their little baskets.
Liam and Finnian were getting quite chummy and began a friendly competition to see who could collect the most berries. Of course, they were both chattering to one another and eating a good number of them, so they lost count and declared it a draw in the end.
Burn turned out to be very adept at tree climbing, so he and Fog decided to team up and collect some soft fruits from a tree. They didn't survive being dropped very well (the children helpfully ate the squashed ones), so Fog decided she'd need to reach up and Burn could reach down and hand them to her. In spite of her wings giving her a little extra balance on her tiptoes, she couldn't quite reach, so Bisman lent a hand, or rather, his back, letting Fog use him as a stepstool. In this way the three successfully gathered a good portion of the ripe fruit.
Blip showed Whimsy some little spring green sprouts, using her trowel to dig at the base of one. Out popped a round purple tuber, which could be used in a number of recipes. Whimsy was entranced. Food, right out of the ground, hiding in plain sight! She set to digging with her strong front claws and her brother joined in. What a great game, looking for the round tubers. Then Dennis found a salamander of some kind. The little animal kicked its six legs, agitated at having been so rudely disturbed. Dennis was from that moment lost to the allure of little creatures and though he still found plenty of tubers, he was no longer looking for them but instead, for more salamanders. He found another, and an earthworm, and several beetles, and considered it a very successful day.
Mateo was an old hand at all this and his mission on that day was looking for signs of animals that could be hunted for food, or may prove to be pesty or dangerous- just get a general idea of the wildlife in their favorite foraging spot. Rummaging under some brush, he heard a soft snuffling noise. Before he could even react, a tiny head popped up out of a pile of leafy underbrush- a baby nukap!
Babies of this species tended to stay with their mothers, at least at this age. But there were no other nukap in sight. Mateo wasn't content to leave it at that, after all, helping orphans was what you did, right? So he hoisted the small animal onto his back, and though it squealed out once, it didn't protest and seemed to settle into his soft fur with a bit of a sigh. Perhaps it had been lonesome, or maybe it was merely tired, but either way his heart went out to the foundling and he brought it back to the others. He was apologetic as he approached, but Blip took it in stride, saying she heard they made good pets, and were helpful in the garden to eat the plants down at the end of the season and fertilize and dig up the soil. Maybe they could even find a trader who had a female, and breed some for meat as well. Mateo said that would be fine so long as they never ate Piggly. Apparently, he was already attached.
Bisman: 1 mentions
Dennis: 3 mentions
Liam: 1 mentions
Burn: 1 mentions
Fog: 2 mentions
Liam: 1 mentions
Burn: 1 mentions
Bisman: 1 mentions
Fog: 1 mentions
Dennis: 2 mentions
![Avatar of Othermoons](/images/data/avatars/212.png?v=6774c487683d8)
Helping Gather Food
Colonists
Linked Submissions
Mention This
In the rich text editor:
In a comment: