We sneak down and it's obvious that Reiley is used to moving in nature and hunt, and her smell is probably far better than mine as I can see her use it. Probably better lowlight vision too. I guess she don't have a high estimate about my skill, so I let her take point, and she move graceful and smooth. Yeah, she have hunted before, and in dryer grass-sandy-brown terrain she might be very hard to see from a bit of a distance, especially compared to me going in black pants, grey shirt and my hat. A good long armed camouflage shirt and pants would have been lovely. And proper boots. Reiley offered me the cloak, but it will just be in the way, and hot. She left her cloak, gloves, bow and arrows in the hut so she isn't hindered by it, and she just wear a knife in the belt with a couple of pouches beside that water bottle, and carry a spear in her hand. I almost expect a tail, but she just have a very human looking back and cute butt. Not that I am looking. We make it down to where her friend Tiola died, and it is not hard to find. Lots of blood. We crouch and Reiley signals to follow the blood, but I put my hand on her shoulder and whisper:
"Might be better to take the beach. There is a 1-2 meters drop as cover. I don't trust being close to the jungle."
Reiley whispers back: "There shouldn't be any Dragons. I smell many sanctuary flowers."
"Sanctuary flowers?"
"They're yellow with two black lines and a distinct smell. The Dragons of all sizes strongly dislike it and avoid going near. As long as the wind isn't too strong or it is raining, there is a very low risk of them being near here, although Dragons will follow fleeing prey quite close, especially if the prey is bleeding. You should keep a bit of distance as the flowers might effect your mind and body."
Yellow with two black lines? The damn viagra flowers repel dinosaurs?! WTF?!
Actually that make some kind of weird sense, and it was raining when that dark shape took my trapped animal. And I've never seen dinosaurs here otherwise except those that hunted Reiley and Tiola, and they quickly left. I caught a 'pig', not a dinosaur. Huh.
"I've seen flowers with yellow and two purple lines, and know those flowers and their effect. They are this big and they're about a hundred meters in from where the trail up starts. I got horny as hell by being close for a few minutes."
Reiley smiles: "Seems right. People see different colours."
"True."
I signal that she should lead the way after the bloody trail. We find Tiola's shredded bloody leather pants and camouflage cloak, with a water bottle and stone knife, and make a gruesome discovery as we find Tiola's half gnawed head, and I puke. Twice. Tiola greyish skin makes it obvious she wasn't human, but close enough to be gruesome. Apparently that pinkish hair was her natural colour, and I thought I stood out here. According to Reiley people sizes change a lot, but a head and a body with two arms and two legs is the most common way people here look, but there are those with up to four arms or legs and strange head an faces. I assume two arms and two legs are energy efficient and an efficient body shape, as height makes it easier to see the environment and arms makes it easier to carry stuff and use weapons, and proper tool usage needs hands with preferably opposable thumbs. Or the damn alien bastards are selective who they bring here, so it is more fun or something. There is also the option that a highly advanced alien culture seeded the galaxy millions of years ago, or tweaked life. Reiley isn't weak stomached and lifts her friends head and looks at it. She wipes a tear and say:
"Better leave this here for now. Tiola would appreciate if we could burn her remains. It was her peoples way."
We continue sneaking forward, and it feels kind of silly to say that this is new ground to discover. I've never been here. I have always take the same beach route and never really left the river. There is plenty of blood, and it follows the dinosaur tracks leaving so we guess Tiola hurt one of the dinosaurs. Reiley finds Tiola's bloody spear, and it cut deep. This spear actually has a metal blade with a weird hue and with some kind of decorated composite shaft, and Reiley confirm it was Tiola's precious red Star fall. And Reiley hands it to me. Wow. Yeah, Reiley really seem to want to be in my good graces, or she plans to be an asshole and steal all my shit in the future. But I take it. That is a hell of a weapon, and looks very mean. It badly needs to be cleaned though.
The canoe is still here, and third full of water. It is a leather wrapped wood frame, with a big tear low along the back side. I told Reiley about the animal charge across the water a few days ago, and we guess it's one of those trees that did the damage. Tiola couldn't have known about it and expected the stretch to be clear. If there hadn't been dinosaurs chasing they would have gone slower, seen it in time and managed to completely avoid it. The water is clear. The paddles and both their leather rucksacks are still in the boat, but Reiley's is half in the water. She quickly fills her water bottle directly from the river as she assess the damage, before washing of the worse of the blood from the shredded pants, cloak, water bottle and spear. Leather is leather and can be repaired or become straps or pouches. It doesn't matter what Reiley say about the flowers, as I don't want to spend any more time here than necessary, and my eyes and ears hardly look at the stuff or Reiley. My attention is on our surroundings. We tip the water out and lift the canoe out of the water. Then we shoulder a rucksack each, lift the canoe and carry it back towards the ridge's safety.
We store the canoe a bit inside the jungle by the trail where it won't be seen, and return up to the hut to leave the rucksacks and other stuff while checking the kiln. Still too hot. So we bring empty coconut shells with us back down.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Reiley hurry back for Tiola's head while I prepare a fire on the beach. I won't stay here and watch it burn, but dug down and surrounded by stones and dirt for many meters there shouldn't be any grass fires started. That would be bad. Very bad. But Reiley thinks it's going to rain and so do I, so we will watch from my hut. I won't be moving around down here in the rain or just after, as her information about the flowers seem true. But rains mean destroyed salt production, so we fill my new water bottle with the salt slurry. Tiola's water bottle was one of those white Star fall bottles, so now I have my own. Everyone in Reiley's old camp had one of those water bottles. We bring more salt water up with us in the coconut shells.
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We watch the small fire below while we eat supper as Reiley quietly talks about Tiola. It's kind of fitting it's a bit of celebratory meal, and it's easier to talk and listen to Reiley when I don't see her mouth move. The damn alien bastards sure have a neat trick in almost flawlessly cancelling out what she say, while directly translating it into words I hear that sound like a true voice from the right direction and sound level and not synthetic, but I have no idea why it sounds like Swedish with an Irish accent. Guess they're not perfect. Which I already knew. But there is a disharmony when I see her lips which is distracting. I'll probably get over it, and according to Reiley the speech lag is different between people, which makes sense as it should matter how close the speech patterns and words are.
Tiola was from a high-tech world alright as there is some kind of music disc player with headphones in the rucksack that she always carried with her, but not much use for me as it requires some kind of code to start. Apparently it is solar charged. That I can explain what it probably was makes Reiley pleased, as it confirms that I too is from such an advanced culture, and maybe a more advanced as humans pretty much have gone wireless and solid state memory. I kind of want to take the music player apart since it is true Alien high tech from another culture and world, but I see no point in doing it, and it seems to be glued together or something, and the case is some sort of plastic.
The last thing Tiola remember from her former life was being out walking, and she brought those things with her here. Reiley is adamant that Tiola's stuff is mine, but since there is no way Tiola's hot pink tank top and panties would fit me, I give it to Reiley. I thought my grey and black clothes were bad, but Tiola waking up here with pink hair and in a hot pink tank top is just like having a target on your body. She should be lucky she woke up in the high valley. Tiola's knee length light grey shorts and socks stretch and fit, so I will use them, and I really don't complain about the thick wool blanket or the two bars of soap. I just feels so damn dirty and I hope it really rains tonight, so I can shower in the rain and then slip into clean clothes and under a real blanket. Honestly, I would have like Tiola to live as she sounds like a nice person and another companion would be nice even though it would be very crowded in here, but I don't complain that I now have some of Tiola's stuff and a companion, although I have no idea how that will go.
That goat animal in the high valley seems really nice to have. Living up there seems to be way safer and far more attractive future than down here. No big dino's and useful animals. Sure, I don't want to be a farmer, but what choice do I have? There are those raider, but a hidden camp would help against being noticed. If they just had had more people defending and been more prepared, her camp could have survived. If just their second line defensive tower had been finished it might have made enough difference.
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It starts to rain and it quickly ramps up, and it feels absolutely wonderful to stand in my hut and hear the rain hammer on the roof, and not finding any leaks or drips. Yeah, the slate was a good choice, and I did really good work. Reiley is quite impressed. It is now quite dark in here, but I figured it would be and it will be dark during the nights. The sun haven't set yet, but my hut is in the shade and it is pouring down. I will add shutters for protection, but it will be so dark that some kind of light source will be needed. The fireplace will be used, but some kind of candle or oil lantern is possible. I got clay and material for wicks, or one of those Eskimo fat lamps could be made.
The front wall hides my private parts, but I kind of don't care that Reiley is in the hut as I stand naked in the gushing rain from the roof and make sure I am clean. Soap! Glorious soap! I start to wash my clothes and hang them through the front windows. I need to put up clothes lines. Just half of the roof have an improvised rain gutter, but rain like this is enough to quickly start filling up my future rain pots, and we will fill all containers we can. Next time I should have a few rain pots, and then we will have water for many days and a lot of use. Tomorrow is pots and creature comforts day!
I'm really not prepared when Reiley walks out while casually pulling her top of and start taking a shower and wash her clothes. I've turned my back to her, but I can't help my thoughts. She is an alien, but still looks way to fucking close to human. Shit! Bad word. Clothes! Yeah, focus on washing the clothes. Ignore the loud humming. And content sighs. I let the clothes drip on the wall and move inside and improvise a cloth line by the forge-kitchen. Helps to dry my body too since I don't have a towel. This really feels like a hut and being indoors.
I return to fetch my clothes and can't help seeing how Reiley wash her arms and hair while making small dance moves. I quickly take my pants and return to hang them on the line and crouch by the forge and kiln. I got a serious boner. I return to fetch the rest of my clothes in one trip and hang them. That view of Reiley stretching and leaning back in the rain with her tits on full display will stay in my memory. Very human looking body. Very. I turn my back to the forge-kitchen fire to dry my back and avoid sweating, just as Reiley glides up beside me holding her clothes.
"Space for my clothes?"
"Yes."
Reiley just casually walks back and fetch the other, but I've already located those shorts. That is a mighty tent I'm pitching. So I bring my stool over to the wall so I can sit and look out as I try to avoid looking at Reiley as she casually change into those hot pink clothes. That tank top and panties don't hide much. Hell, the fabric actually glow in this darkness while Reiley blends in against the rock, and I realise it's probably pink fluorescent from the UV light. We might not see direct sunlight, but there is plenty of UV bouncing around in the rain. Horrible colour to walk around in outside, especially during dusk and dawn, and Reiley would be far better of naked. Shit! Don't think about her nak... Shit.
It just continue to rain as the light slowly disappear and night fall, and we sit by the forge-kitchen and talk as we prepare more pots. About our old lives. About our new lives. Plans for tomorrow. A better door and what furniture to build and what it needs, and who will do what. Eventually we go to our sleeping pads and try to sleep.