“Rittan told me once that the cleaners used a special set of armour,” August said, speaking up. “He didn’t seem to have much experience with it.”
“I sometimes feel like I spent more time wearing those things than anything else,” Boko admitted, tossing an entire shoot away with one hand. “It was really just a mesh bodysuit with a bunch of different runes stamped into the fabric, but they were pretty good against most of the experiments that we had to deal with.”
“Most thing—but not all?” August asked.
“They absorbed impacts and kinetic damage, then used the energy to increase the durability of the suit,” Boko said, “Pretty but for more things, but when a mishappen blob of flesh starts rolling towards you while spitting acid everywhere—well, it doesn’t stop everything.”
That was kind of a terrifying image.
“You said the runes were stamped into the fabric,” August wondered, “Were they visible—I suppose the question I’m really asking here is could you describe them to me well enough to recreate them?”
“There were hundreds of them, and they were kind of tiny,” Boko said, leaning the axe against his shoulder. “There was kind of an indent that you could feel, though; I might be able to remember one or two of them.”
“A bodysuit that absorbs all kinetic energy sounds really, really useful right now, considering the monsters we’ve seen so far seem to rely exclusively on that to kill things,” August said, “It might be hard to draw them on a pair of leafy shorts though.”
“They absorbed a lot, but they weren’t perfect; there were plenty of things that hit me hard enough for some of the damage to get through,” Boko corrected, scratching his chin. “Still, we could probably rig up some rudimentary wooden armour—might be easier to carve it into the wood.”
“That’s a good idea,” August admitted, “If we could kill a bunch of Otrogon, I could probably make some decent armour out of their skulls—it would probably be too heavy for me to use, but you guys could do it.”
“Have you killed one of those things yet?” Boko asked.
“No,” August said, shaking his head. “But the Efkini managed to kill the one in the forest, so we could probably recreate that if we get them away from the others.”
“If you can make me a spear that isn’t going to shatter on impact,” Boko said, gesturing to the wooden ones he’d brought along with him. “I could take one of them down for you.”
“Without your bodysuit?” August said.
“Well, that makes it riskier, sure,” Boko said, eyeing the distant black dots milling about in the field. “I’ve killed them before, and they aren’t all that fast—straight line maybe, but they can’t turn well.”
“You said these ones were different,” August pointed out, “For all you know, those mouths come with acid spit loaded up and ready to be fired.”
“None of the bamboo they’ve eaten is melted or burned,” Boko hedged, “Hell, even if I die, you could bring me right back, couldn’t you?”
“I’ve never brought anyone back twice, and for all we know, it might be a one-time thing,” August said, “I’d rather not find that out that my caution was warranted either—either way, that’s probably something you should talk to the others with first.”
“Give them a chance to talk me out of it, huh? I think you’re underestimating me a bit, Bossman,” Boko said, waggling a finger at him. “Still, I don’t like my chances with these twigs—suppose I’ll wait until I’ve got something a bit more sturdy.”
“That sounds like a better idea,” August said, vanishing another shoot into his inventory. “We could probably dig a bunch of pitfalls and line them with the bamboo—something to retreat behind if things go badly.”
“They’d know the hole was there, but it would give us some zone control, force them to move around it,” Boko agreed. “Not a bad idea, though; it would definitely slow them down.”
“I wonder how hard it would be to tame one,” August wondered.
“Do you even want to?” Boko said, turning to look at him for a moment. “These things seem pretty useless to me.”
“If it can take orders like Ladybug, Morningstar and Neptune, then I could probably get it to chop—bite down? Bite down bamboo for us and bring it back,” August said, “They don’t seem to be territorial with each other, so it could just walk right past without a problem.”
“How would it carry the bamboo?” Boko said, “Would it even carry it—if you’re not there, are you sure it won’t just munch down and forget?”
“The other ones carry out tasks without supervision, even when I’m not there,” August said, shaking his head. “Good point, though; it wouldn’t be able to carry much with just its mouth—maybe I could make some kind of harness with a container on top for it to carry around?”
“It sounds pretty goofy to me, but I suppose it’s one more body between us and whatever else is on this island,” Boko admitted, “You need it to be still to tame it?”
“I need to touch it every so often,” August said, “Stopping it from moving around would go a long way towards preventing me from getting eaten.”
“You can knock them down on their sides easily enough; they have a bit of trouble getting back up.” Boko suggested, “We could probably do that and then pin it down somehow? If you don’t care about injuring it first, we could probably stake it to the ground with spears.”
“We should probably avoid hurting it if we can; getting a noose around its neck would let us restrict its main form of attack,” August said, “Twine is too weak for something that big, but I’ll ask one of the Efkini if I can cut off a chain to use—they’re supposed to regenerate.”
“Weren’t you trying to convince me not to fight them five minutes ago?” Boko said, bemused. “Now you’re coming up with ways to do just that.”
“I was convincing you to wait until you’d talked it over first,” August corrected, “Something which I also plan to do because I’m almost certain I can’t capture one of these things on my own.”
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
“Rittan told me once that the cleaners used a special set of armour,” August said, speaking up. “He didn’t seem to have much experience with it.”
“I sometimes feel like I spent more time wearing those things than anything else,” Boko admitted, tossing an entire shoot away with one hand. “It was really just a mesh bodysuit with a bunch of different runes stamped into the fabric, but they were pretty good against most of the experiments that we had to deal with.”
“Most thing—but not all?” August asked.
“They absorbed impacts and kinetic damage, then used the energy to increase the durability of the suit,” Boko said, “Pretty but for more things, but when a mishappen blob of flesh starts rolling towards you while spitting acid everywhere—well, it doesn’t stop everything.”
That was kind of a terrifying image.
“You said the runes were stamped into the fabric,” August wondered, “Were they visible—I suppose the question I’m really asking here is could you describe them to me well enough to recreate them?”
“There were hundreds of them, and they were kind of tiny,” Boko said, leaning the axe against his shoulder. “There was kind of an indent that you could feel, though; I might be able to remember one or two of them.”
“A bodysuit that absorbs all kinetic energy sounds really, really useful right now, considering the monsters we’ve seen so far seem to rely exclusively on that to kill things,” August said, “It might be hard to draw them on a pair of leafy shorts though.”
“They absorbed a lot, but they weren’t perfect; there were plenty of things that hit me hard enough for some of the damage to get through,” Boko corrected, scratching his chin. “Still, we could probably rig up some rudimentary wooden armour—might be easier to carve it into the wood.”
“That’s a good idea,” August admitted, “If we could kill a bunch of Otrogon, I could probably make some decent armour out of their skulls—it would probably be too heavy for me to use, but you guys could do it.”
“Have you killed one of those things yet?” Boko asked.
“No,” August said, shaking his head. “But the Efkini managed to kill the one in the forest, so we could probably recreate that if we get them away from the others.”
“If you can make me a spear that isn’t going to shatter on impact,” Boko said, gesturing to the wooden ones he’d brought along with him. “I could take one of them down for you.”
“Without your bodysuit?” August said.
“Well, that makes it riskier, sure,” Boko said, eyeing the distant black dots milling about in the field. “I’ve killed them before, and they aren’t all that fast—straight line maybe, but they can’t turn well.”
“You said these ones were different,” August pointed out, “For all you know, those mouths come with acid spit loaded up and ready to be fired.”
“None of the bamboo they’ve eaten is melted or burned,” Boko hedged, “Hell, even if I die, you could bring me right back, couldn’t you?”
“I’ve never brought anyone back twice, and for all we know, it might be a one-time thing,” August said, “I’d rather not find that out that my caution was warranted either—either way, that’s probably something you should talk to the others with first.”
“Give them a chance to talk me out of it, huh? I think you’re underestimating me a bit, Bossman,” Boko said, waggling a finger at him. “Still, I don’t like my chances with these twigs—suppose I’ll wait until I’ve got something a bit more sturdy.”
“That sounds like a better idea,” August said, vanishing another shoot into his inventory. “We could probably dig a bunch of pitfalls and line them with the bamboo—something to retreat behind if things go badly.”
“They’d know the hole was there, but it would give us some zone control, force them to move around it,” Boko agreed. “Not a bad idea, though; it would definitely slow them down.”
“I wonder how hard it would be to tame one,” August wondered.
“Do you even want to?” Boko said, turning to look at him for a moment. “These things seem pretty useless to me.”
“If it can take orders like Ladybug, Morningstar and Neptune, then I could probably get it to chop—bite down? Bite down bamboo for us and bring it back,” August said, “They don’t seem to be territorial with each other, so it could just walk right past without a problem.”
“How would it carry the bamboo?” Boko said, “Would it even carry it—if you’re not there, are you sure it won’t just munch down and forget?”
“The other ones carry out tasks without supervision, even when I’m not there,” August said, shaking his head. “Good point, though; it wouldn’t be able to carry much with just its mouth—maybe I could make some kind of harness with a container on top for it to carry around?”
“It sounds pretty goofy to me, but I suppose it’s one more body between us and whatever else is on this island,” Boko admitted, “You need it to be still to tame it?”
“I need to touch it every so often,” August said, “Stopping it from moving around would go a long way towards preventing me from getting eaten.”
“You can knock them down on their sides easily enough; they have a bit of trouble getting back up.” Boko suggested, “We could probably do that and then pin it down somehow? If you don’t care about injuring it first, we could probably stake it to the ground with spears.”
“We should probably avoid hurting it if we can; getting a noose around its neck would let us restrict its main form of attack,” August said, “Twine is too weak for something that big, but I’ll ask one of the Efkini if I can cut off a chain to use—they’re supposed to regenerate.”
“Weren’t you trying to convince me not to fight them five minutes ago?” Boko said, bemused. “Now you’re coming up with ways to do just that.”
“I was convincing you to wait until you’d talked it over first,” August corrected, “Something which I also plan to do because I’m almost certain I can’t capture one of these things on my own.”
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
