7 Seeds (Pacifista & FiroIV)

[Pacifista]

He was thankful that she did not ask, but at the same time he felt like he was being ignored. This was one of his faults that he knew he should have fixed a long long time ago, but he could not. His ability to think ahead and deep into things has what allowed him to survive, but it also came with a price. With each passing he thought one part of his mind would cling to it and let grow inside of him like a tumor waiting for the right moment to burst. It was one of their stark differences, he would think too deeply and get sucked in by his thoughts and she would simply come up with the proper solution without giving it much thought.

“Food sounds about good right now.”

He was half awake, half asleep and a hundred percent tired. It was simply the consequence for thinking too much so he didn’t whine, well out loud anyway. As they were preparing their breakfast, eating their breakfast and cleaning up their breakfast he was arguing with himself over the idiocy what he did all morning all while managing to stay awake and alert for a conversation over food.

Once they were done it was time for them to depart. For him it was part dread and excitement, but just like when they were eating he was mostly tired so really didn’t care. It was a comforting thought to not care sometimes and just want something so bad, such as rest that even the daunting thought of leaving a comfortable island and onto the vast ocean of pure blue nothingness where they could die any number of ways. People who have never needed to survive in the wilderness like they have would never understand the true meaning of being tired, but then again there weren’t any people anymore just a maybe a dozen or two.

“We’re all set, shall we head out?”

---

With Atsuin agreeing to the notion of food, Juri was happy to get it ready. Going to their food stores, she noticed it hadn’t been touched since yesterday’s dinner. That meant that either Atsuin hadn’t eaten at all or he did fall asleep. Not minding, she got a little extra, in case he was hungry, and went to the fire top prepare.

They had no problem eating the extra food, and when they were finished, Atsuin asked if they were ready to head out. Juri answered, “Yeah, let’s get out of here.” The two of them began to clean up to leave. By then, Juri could certainly tell Atsuin had been awake all night. She picked up the pace with the cleaning to counterbalance Atsuin’s sleep deprived sluggishness, putting out the fire and checking to make sure they had everything, especially their knives. If they lost them here, they’d never be able to find them, or this island, again.

When everything was together on the raft, Juri looked at the island one more time. There were the stumps from the shrubs and trees cut down, which might grow back or not. Near to that was a spot of sand with countless small bits of tree mixed in where they cut the tree into logs with their knives, some of it clumped together by spilled sap. She could also see a few tiny crabs scuttling about, and she was glad they never really bothered them. Their well-used fire pit was put out, likely never to be used again. It was always a little melancholic to leave something behind for good, but Juri was surprised to feel it here. She supposed it was a welcome break from the sailing, and having her feet on solid ground was relieving. Turning away back to the raft, she looked at her compass, planning on going back to the same course they’d been traveling. Looking over to Atsuin, she grabbed her oar and said, “Come on, we have a mainland to get to.” That would ensure their survival. If they could survive on this little patch of earth or a ramshackle raft, they’d have no problem anywhere else.

[Pacifista]

Too tired to be emotional, too tired to think and definitely too tired to even complain, not that he would complain, but having the option to do so was appealing. He rowed quietly and as much as he could paced himself with Juri to avoid swerving left or right. Half an hour later and what felt like a good distance covered he was a robot, a rowing bot with minimum conversational skills.

He would have stayed like that until he would begin to fall asleep while rowing where he would most likely fall down into the water. Thankfully enough he did not need to because some time just after his fifth or sixth yawn their small raft was finally able to chance upon a breeze. It was a nice see breeze that felt like a breath of fresh air. It was nice. They were grateful.

The sails were raised, the oars were put to rest and the back roar was to be used again after such a long time. He would have volunteered for the position of rower, but Juri was kind and much, much faster than him. He thanked her and asked if it would be okay for him to go take a nap for a little while and wake her up when something occurred. She said fine. He thanked her once more.

His sleep was fast, uneventful and dreamless. In one moment he was getting ready to place his head on the sleeping bag and in the next he was waking up from what felt like a millisecond of sleep. Was it a good sleep or a bad sleep? He didn’t know how to judge, but it was sleep and that was what mattered at the moment. What he did know was that the sun was no longer in the same position it was in before so it was safe to assume that certain amount or an acceptable amount of time had passed.

“Uneventful travels I presume? How long was I out anyhow?”

---

As they rode the raft, Juri tried to keep the pace with Atsuin, whom was a little inconsistent. She figured it was his exhaustion. She didn’t say anything though. After a little while, a refreshing breeze started to blow. Juri stopped for a moment, running her fingers through her hair, keeping it from blowing in the wind. Juri and Atsuin raised the sails, which would help them out a bit. Once they did though, Atsuin said he wanted to go to sleep. When he finally asked, Juri replied, “What are you waiting for? Get some rest.” She could tell he was asleep moments later: out for quite a while likely.

With Atsuin asleep, Juri kept rowing, keeping the boat straight, trying to remember to check the compass often, not wanting to stray from their path. As she rowed, she eventually felt her muscles burning in places they hadn’t in a few days. They were likely to keep that up for a little while longer until she got used to rowing again. When Atsuin got up, Juri would probably insist he row as much as possible so he could get used to it again. Then again, she remembered they still had to make his torch and their food container. Speaking of food, she was sure to check their salt collector every so often.

After a good while, Juri felt like she was starting to get more tired and hungry. Not long after she noticed that, she saw Atsuin stir. Not more than a minute later, he got up. He approached, and Juri greeted him, “Good...morning?” He asked if anything happened and how long he was out, to which Juri responded, “Yeah, uneventful.” Going on feeling and the sun’s position, Juri answered his second question with, “You were out about four or five hours, I’d say.” Juri felt like she could eat, but she was hardly starving. She wanted to see what Atsuin felt like first. Thinking for a moment, Juri said, “How about I keep rowing while you try and make your torch for tonight. I’ll keep rowing. Sounds good?”

[Pacifista]

“Four to five hours? Well I guess that’s fine enough. I’ve always been a Night Owl anyway so I’m used to sleeping for only a few hours.”

It was probably obvious thought seeing as that’s what he’s been doing ever since they did rounds. She probably knew, but on some morning where he was able to have a nice sleep he would be a bit more talkative. It was one of those time right now.

“I guess, but do we still need a torch? I mean we do have a fire pit here already, albeit odd looking.”

It was roughly built since they got off their island in a rather rough manner, washed away by the storms waves. At the beginning of their journey out in the sea they used one the cups as fire pit, but thankfully enough Juri suggested they use the pot they found in the previous island. Since they they’ve been using that, but when they got on the smaller island they shifted back to a normal pit. Now that they were once on the raft again they returned to using the pot as the fire pit.

She didn’t have a look to say anything, but Atsuo was fairly good at reading people’s body language and judging from the way she was moving she was not impressed.

“Well it wouldn’t really hurt, but fine. Have you eaten though? Cause if you are I guess we can have and early lunch? Or is it still breakfast? I’m not sure. If you aren’t though I guess I’ll start working on the torch.”

---

Juri didn’t stop rowing as Atsuin started up conversation. She gawked a bit when he suggested not making the torch, even though it’d been his idea in the first place. “Well, it’d be a better light source,” she wanted to say, but didn’t manage. Maybe he’d remember why he wanted to make one later. He’d just woken up, after all.

Atsuin asked if she wanted to eat, to which she replied, “Well, I could, but you aren’t that hungry I could wait.” Just as she finished, she felt a big gust come by, pushing their sail and rattling some of their things. Juri went to the sail, both making sure it was okay and readjusting it so it wasn’t taking the wind full on, both to keep them from drifting to the side and keep it from getting damaged. Going back to her oar, she kept rowing, finding it a little easier with the wind keeping up. She wasn’t sure how to feel: it was getting a little choppier, and if it got much worse there could be danger. Taking a good look at the sky, there were a few clouds, but no gray ones, so she didn’t think they’d have to worry about a storm yet. Juri was worried about if rowing would be difficult after a while though; wind could be chaotic. At least it would be cool, offsetting the sun they were getting while out on the sea. On second thought, she wanted something to eat, but she didn’t want to waste wood on a fire if only one of them was going to eat, and it might be trickier in this wind that was just kicking up.

[Pacifista]

He himself wasn’t hungry, but of course eating right now wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Oh well.

Atsuo went to work on the torch they had in mind. As he gathered the materials he had in mind the plan started return back to him. Beginning with the clams they had he slowly began pry them open and set the meat inside aside. Next he arranged the clam shells to resemble something like a base of the torch head. It looked positively average, but otherwise workable. Afterwards he worked on the pole part of the torch by gathering the wood to his side setting the proper amount needed for a standing source of light and then arranged them properly to look like a torch. All that he needed to do now was to piece them together using the sap from the island. For that part he needed fire.

“Hey, I’m about to piece these together and well we need the fire so do I make it now or do I do it after we eat? It’d be a waste to just light one just for this. Plus I was thinking that I can do it at night that way we save more firewood. What do you think?”

Logically what he was telling her was the right thing to do, but who was he to dictate the course of the way they do things.

---

As Atsuin put together the torch, Juri continued to row. She was starting to feel like taking a break. Opportunity arrived when Atsuin was almost done, letting Juri know he needed to light a fire to finish, suggesting he should either do it now and eat later or eat now and do it later. Juri proposed, “How about you light the fire, finish the torch, then we start to make lunch?” Juri put down her oar and went over to their food storage. Remembering, she added, “After we eat, maybe you can row for a bit while I try to build the food storage box?” She wanted to try and do something literally constructive for a change; she usually let Atsuin handle all of that.

Putting down the sail for now, lest the get blown off track, Juri helped to light the fire before getting some food ready. It probably wouldn’t take very long to do what he needed to do, she imagined. Looking at the seafood, she lost some of her appetite, but she grabbed some anyway. She had to eat, even if it turned out she was getting sick of seafood. Going over to the fire, she asked Atsuin, “What was your favorite food. You know, in the old world?”