The Harvest of a Different Crop (Solo)

[Laudus]

Scorpio 1/21
Today brings a test of wills-- and you are sure to find that you're atleast in contention.
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52nd day of Winter

Not often did someone go to a place where only the day before they nearly perished. In fact, it was a test of wills for most people to come near the thing that nearly killed them, unless they were in love with it. So maybe climbers would return to the mountains even if they fell, and husbands would return to his wife even though she had attempted to kill him. They did so because they loved it, but Laudus did not. In fact the nuit despised the ocean after it whipped him around like a ragdoll in its currents. Yet he tested his will be returning to the shore, even if the possibility to being caught once more was possible.

But Laudus would brave the ocean, which was at low tide at the time he was there; he had planned that the day before in a conversation with Narris after the old man saved him. He had made sure to learn the tide cycle before he returned to the beach, and the man was eager to tell him. So now Laudus could collect his kelp in peace, without fear of being whisked away in the ocean. There was no man with a Laviku mark to save him this time, and he was sure the god wouldn't help him either.

It hadn't been difficult to travel to this cluster of boulders; Laudus was very observant so he wouldn't need to ask for directions. It wasn't that he disliked Narris; the man had taught him things Laudus, after looking back at it the night before, would be valuable in the future. It was just Laudus was in his scientist mood, and when this happened, he did not want to be around people. It was just him and his experiments.

With a hand placed on the rocks, Laudus walked carefully across the objects as he made his way towards the little clearing hidden by said rocks where his kelp was located. And without much difficulty, Laudus arrived at the clearing. Clear water held what he came for; kelp. The seaweed was vibrant green with flecks of gold on it, adding already to its beauty. Not visual beauty, to Laudus, but beauty of being the best kelp in Denval. And Laudus knew where it was. And he was here to harvest it.

But before he even stepped into the water, there was a little situating to be performed. The hood of his shadowsilk robes was drawn back, revealing Laudus' face, and the robe itself was taken off to reveal the clothing underneath. The robe was thrown over a boulder nearby, straightened so the water wouldn't catch it; it has already been wet enough for Laudus' taste. Next came the slippers, which Laudus set on top of his robes. Finally the nuit rolled up his pants legs, stopping at the legs. With that down, he gave a simple nod at his reflection in the calm water before his bare feet broke the surface.

Laudus began to harvest the kelp.

[Laudus]

The harvesting of the kelp was slow and tedious, something Laudus had grown used to in his five hundred and odd years living in the world. And the nuit wished to be precise in every aspect of this experiment. No need to go wrong because he rushed. It wasn't like he had any deadline to meet for his experiment. He finished when he wanted to. But he was among humans who wished for things to be done in a quick and successive fashion, always jumping from one thing to the next. They never slowed down in their lives due to the fact that their days were numbered. And if Laudus wished to blend in, he needed to make others believe his days were numbered too.

Nevertheless, Laudus took his time today, without the piercing eyes of humans on him. The nuit grabbed each kelp leaf one at a time, measuring their length and studying the color and texture of the seaweed. He wished to only harvest the leaves that were fully grown, leaving the half-grown kelp here to continue to grow. If he ever needed kelp again, he wanted the best to still be growing. And since he did not had a knife, he was careful when pulling the kelp out of the damp ground. No need to rip the leaves because he was working with a haste.

Laudus went about this work for about a bell, his pile slowly growing with kelp leaves. Yet he was still unsatisfied with the quanity of which he had harvested. Sure he only needed a small amount of kelp to perform the experiment, but what about after? If he succeeded, he needed a more kelp to test with, and eventually he needed substantial amounts to start the crafting of the armor. Overall, he needed more kelp.

Staring at the pool of water, Laudus noticed a few green leaves growing underneath a cluster of rocks at the edge of the pool. Needing all he could harvest, Laudus waded over to the cluster of rocks, and stuck his hand into the water. There was no visual aid with this kelp; he would have to pull them all out and judge after they were removed. So his hand went further into the hole, fingers feeling around for the lower part of the leave to pull at. His finger brushed something hard that felt similar to a rock, and then there was a pain on his finger. It was if something grabbed it, and it had a tight grip.

Fearful that some rocks had shifted and caught his hand in the hole, Laudus pulled back slightly. Something was caught onto his finger, but he thought he could pull it free. So Laudus retracted his hand completely from the rock cluster, and on the end of his index finger rested a crab, claws clamped onto the nuits finger.

[Laudus]

Laudus had never been a person who was fond of humor. Yet in the past two days he had become the butt of two different jokes, even if no one was around to tell them. First he was washed away by the ocean currents, humorous to some to see a nuit, after living hundreds of years, couldn't even handle water. And now today a crab was dangling at the end of his finger, crushing the bodie's bones. Some people might've laughed, but not Laudus. Oh he would laugh, but first he had to hit the punch line of his own joke.

Laudus stuck his free hand, his left hand, into the pool of water and fumbled around, looking for anything hard. His hand brushed a rock, and he pulled it out of the water. The rock was smooth, worn down by the moving of the water back and forth over it for years. But he didn't care; the rock was hard and he needed something hard. It was time for this crab to learn who was would be the last to laugh.

Laudus waded over to one of the boulders, setting the crab down. By now the animal had released Laudus' finger and tried to scurry away, but Laudus was having none of that. He latched onto the nuit's finger, and he was going to learn that was the worst decision of his life. And his last decision. Taking the rock, Laudus drove the rock onto the armored back of the crab, cracking its shell. He did this twice more before the shell finally broke free, revealing the soft skin of it. Once more smash and the crab breathed no more. Only its blood continued running, splashing over the nuit's hand and dripping into the water. And Laudus did laugh, a slow chuckle. Mess with the mighty nuit and you died.

Laudus dipped the rock into the water, washing off the blood. He felt the slight sting of salt on his cut finger, which had released a drop of inchor before stopping. It was a good thing the wound hadn't hit a vein, as the nuit had nothing to patch himself up with. What he was interested in was the rock. With no one around, Laudus could speak without worry. Plus he usually had good conversations with himself.

"This rock probably would be a good fount for the alchemy experiment. It has proven it can survive underwater like this armor is probably made to do. I doubt it would break easy. Maybe chip when hit, but I doubt it'll break easily. Although would it be flexible enough to be made into armor?" Laudus paused, waving his hand dismissively. "It isn't like I'm using expensive materials. If my first experiment fails, I can just modify it until it works." Laudus nodded, satisfied with his own logic. It really wasn't hard to win arguments when only person is in it.

So Laudus reaches down, picking up a couple more of the rocks and added them to a pile beside the kelp. He only collected the smooth rocks, as jagged ones wouldn't fell good poking into you when you tried to wear them as armor. And eventually he finally dried his hands on his breeches, deciding he had enough supplies.

Stepping out of the pool of water, Laudus put his supplies into his backpack, which was empty at the moment. The nuit didn't want his books to be ruined by the kelp. After his supplies were packed away, he put on his clothing again, slipping on the robe last. The hood came up, and Laudus became who he was to everyone else. An old man who didn't like showing off who he was.

Laudus didn't care what others thought. He was ready for his experiment, and nothing else around him mattered. It was alchemy time.

[Legion]

Thread Award Laudus Climbing +2, Foraging +4 Consequence & Commentary You get to keep the kelp and the rocks, no sweat. Nice thread! Please feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns.