Living Antiquity

~19~

One march back to Thornmarsh later, we could see people eagerly filling anything they could with fresh, clean water, faces lit up, people who had been dragging their feet everywhere they were before, not eagerly running to and fro doing tasks necessary to keep the city running and get everything back up to speed.
"That was fast. But I guess they have to be, especially to build all this out in earthquake territory, and be able to keep repairs up and stuff..." I say, looking around.
Drakka nods, looking around curiously.
"Y/n...!" Atekka jogs toward us, Shekalla carrying Zella close behind as Atekka actually grasps my hands and grins eagerly, "Thank you. Even what we can give you will never be enough for helping us..." she says, handing me a weapon I didn't quite recognize... Looked like a slingshot?... "A blast sling. I noticed you don't appear to have one... This one is equipped to handle any type you need to."
I blink, then realize, "Ohhhh, for lobbing bombs. Thank you..!"
She shakes her head and smiles, "You more than deserve it."
A screech was heard overhead, and Avalanche dove down, landing just outside the town walls and dropping a wicker basket full of bundles of medicine.
"Good girl!" I run and pat her head before lifting the basket, looking to Atekka, "The medicine's here! Looks like she also sent brewing and administration instructions too."
Drakka chuckles as Atekka takes the basket, "Look at that. Utaru practice, all the way out here," he grins, watching for a minute.
I finish the goodbyes, double check that there was enough for every sick person in the village, and send Avalanche on her way.
"Thank you..." Atekka says softly, looking at me with an expression more sincere than I'd seen from anyone in the old era.
"Don't worry about it. Your people needed help, and it was right to find a way to help since I knew how to..." I point out as a couple of herbalists set to work reading and following the instructions to make the first doses of medicinal tea.
Finally, she turned to help her people, and I made a break for it, hearing Drakka close behind me.
I relax, heading toward Piglet, and the Charger that Drakka had brought.
"Hey... Would..." he frowns, "What happens if something happens to you before..."
"... I think you'd eventually find somebody else," I say honestly, "I try to mentally prepare for any outcome... Its what got me through the shock when I was thrown out at fourteen. The distrust when Trav took me in at seventeen. And the heartbreak of feeling my body try to shut down with me in it while Trav lost his mind over it... Then hearing the chaos and panic every day as they worked to build Gaia. Hearing Gaia tell me what Faro did to Trav and the Alphas... I begged to never wake up again. But here I am... I don't have battlescars... Not visible ones, anyway. Other than..." I sigh, "My time spent alone was dark, Trav pulled me out of it. I have scars from when I was on the street. Physical, mental... Painful ones I'll eventually get over if I live long enough to." I look at him as he stares at me.
He frowns, and walks over, grabbing me by the face, "I'm not gonna let you become one of my scars, got it? And I'm not becoming one of yours."
Really sweet in an ass-backwards kind of way.
I laugh and lean into his hands, "Sure aren't, I'll resurrect you just to kill you myself."
"And leave you all alone again?" he teases.
I groan and roll my eyes, "Ah yes, who would annoy me then."
He pouts.
"Oh don't make the face at me..." I groan.
Piglet chuffs and turns to stare him down, Drakka finally going to his own Charger.
"Want me to stay around a while?" He asks, looking over at me.
"What?... Oh, so you can make sure no one else catches my eye?..." I tease, seeing him tense and look away, "Drakka, I was kidding..."
He huffs and has his Charger follow Piglet and I, fuming quietly about nothing.
I rub my face, and flick through various piles of task data on my Focus, "No... not that... Huh... Aloy wanted to check out some machine riders in the desert. They had overriden machines, but did 't appear to be rebels..."
Draka frowns, leaning his elbows on the Charger's horns, "I remember getting reports about some kids running about..."
I tilts my head, "May be worth checking out, then."
I lead the way, chatting back and forth, slowly answering questions about living in the old world.
"Sounds like the food was better... Think you'd be able to replicate it?" He asks.
"Well, since there's pet and animal zygotes in storage, yeah, probably. The ARTEMIS protocol is supposedly able to activate them with human help. I want cows and chickens first. I miss burgers, and mac n cheese."
He raised an eyebrow, "Burgers?"
I gave a rough explanation, grinning, then mac an cheese, seeing him drooling a bit.
"I have reason to believe that Far Zenith already acquired ARTEMIS, but with the efforts to retrieve the other sub-functions, as well as work on a plan to capture HEPHAESTUS, our resources are currently spread thin," GAIA points out.
I nod, realizing Drakka's Charger had drifted across the path and was so close our legs were touching. When I gave him a knowing look he tensed and looked away, setting his jaw.
"... Can't help it..." he mumbles.
Know what... Fuck it.
I nudge his leg and grab his hand, focussing straight ahead and just tangling my fingers, feeling him instantly start sweating. "Figured."
"You- but... th... uuuugh..." he groans and thumps his head on the back of the Charger's head.
I laugh, and ruffle the meager tangle of hair he had due ti his tribe's preferred hair styles. "If you can't keep it under wraps, I guess we just try to take shit slow."
"Fair warning, the proper 'courting' move for a Tenakth is to throw a rock at the desired lover's head and challenge them to a duel."
"You are a terrible liar."
"Damnit."
Gaia makes a sound of amusement, "I shall keep it a secret until you desire to make it known."
"Aloy'll notice immediately," I deadpan, "And anyone else with observation skills."
He huffs and has the Charger keep pace with Piglet, fuming to himself about not much of anything.
"Careful, you'll make someone think you have anger issues." I joke, watching him as he just fumes, "Hey, take solace in the fact that you get to make old lady jokes."
He shakes his head, "You stopped aging when you were frozen."
"I was still born over a thousand years ago, people won't see any point in the whole 'Delete X number of years cause I wasn't awake' thing."
As we talk, I see the trees thin and we were near a clearing, a drone flying overhead and scanning the area with blue radar.
Drakka tenses, on edge as he watches it.
"Gaia, isn't that one if the recon drones for the dome that you mentioned?" I ask, tilting my head and watching it follow the same path repeatedly.
"Yes. However I am unable to access its data... it seems to have been disconnected from the network after my predecessor's self-destruction." Gaia reponds.
I nod and look around, "If I can get it down, I might be able to snag its data so that you can connect to it again..." I tilt my head.
"The only way you're getting up there is on the Wings if the Ten..." Drakka deadpans, watching it fly to and fro.
"Not necessarily..." I say, holding up my pullcaster, "Looks like there's a few places it could latch on..."
He groans, "Blood of the Ten..."
I hop off Piglet's back and begin the climb, hopping across gaps and latching on just in time to swing myself out of impact danger, yelping when my feet almost scrape the ground.
"Y/n..." Drakka watches, gripping his Charger's horns.
"I'm ok!" I yell, "What happened to the big bad Desert Commander, huh?" I look down at him, grinning as I shimmy onto a good resting spot.
"Oh, I don't know, the woman I trekked across the entire clan lands for is doing shit that could get her killed?" He frowns, "I know I'd survive that kind of fall, but you're-"
"Still squishy!" I grin, and jump, latching into the drone and letting my weight drag it down to the ground, copying its data and signal, and smirking at him, "Don't worry. Besides, I thought that wasn't the way if the Tenakth?" I ask, tilting my head.
"We still have emotions, you..." he sighs and trudges over, throwing me onto his shoulder and stomping back toward the machines, annoyed.
"Oh I see, you're trying to be brooding. Honey, that won't really work on me..." I grin, letting myself actually enjoy the view as he walks.
"What is going on?" He asks, setting me on Piglet's back and looking up at me as I adjust myself back ti where I'm comfortable.
"... Yeah, I guess I seem pretty slaphappy..." I say, leaning forward onto Piglet's shoulders, "I think its the combination of everything. I'm stressed from trying to figure out how to deal with the Zeniths, how to snag HEPHAESTUS, how to get ready for NEMESIS, how to connect the world and learn more about the tribes, learn about tribes we haven't met... And then realizing that this wasn't just my imagination or me over-analyzing..." I look at him pointedly.
He nods, watching me, "Guess that makes sense. I know that some soldiers end up being unable to cope with battle..."
I nod, leaning my head into Piglet's carapace and relaxing, watching Drakka's face, "Just wasn't expecting you to turn so protective the moment you realized I could tell..."
"Yeah, well... Leave the doing stupid shit to me." He huffs, folding his arms.
I laugh, having to cover my mouth and snort, "Drakka, admitting he's an idiot! Who are you and what have you done to him?"
"Oh har har." He rolls his eyes.
--
It took a few days of riding and chatting away to get to a point where he didn't flinch every time I got in a fight. Overall, I still had some things to work on when it comes to how to understand being in a relationship...
Especially considering his newfound status as Commander of the Desert clan.
By the time we reached the place they were seen, I had had to replace Piglet's soles, and Drakka was sick of riding on his Charger, groaning about the pain.
"Ya know, people used to ride horses and things before there were cars? Imagine being someone that rode that into battle for years." I point out, and the whining intensifies.
"Hey... Hey! How the hell did you two get mounts?! Is that a Bristleback!?" A girl yells as they spot us.
"Don't you dare fire on Piglet. I'm guessing you're the ones that were spotted running about on Chargers?" I look pointedly at the corral, then around us, "Ahhh okay. Racing. Nice. Figure it was a matter of time before someone reignited the ages old adrenaline addiction that is speedy rides." I lean on Piglet, grinning, as some of the kids with Desert marks tense upon seeing Drakka, who's looking around curiously.
"The new Commander? Wait... F/c hair- You're Y/n?! The one who helped unseat Yarra?!" One of the kids perks up, running over.
"Whoa, kid!" Drakka tenses.
"Yeah, that's me... Tell you what, back in the old era I used to bike race people for cash. If I win- you tell us how you came to be out here by yourselves. And I'll throw in a couple old world secrets." I smirk, watching them.
One of the girls folds her arms, "Well, you'll need a Charger..."
"She can use this guy..." Drakka hops off his mount, but frowns, looking at me, "You sure about this?"
"Its been a while, but I'm not super rusty." I crack my knuckles, "It'll be a bit different, what with riding a machine with its own programming and such..." I walk over and pat the Charger's head, "C'mon bud... Let's leave them in a cloud of dust, yeah?" I smirk as I hop on, watching the kids whisper among themselves.
"But there's no room in the race.."
A guy in a red and white helmet looked at me, then shook his head at the kids.
"Ah... guess a spot just opened up. Thanks, Red Teeth," the girl smiled, and looked at me, "Deal's on."