[SD:SC] Locust! - Chapter 7

The others couldn’t really say much more about Gem’s circumstances and so they dropped the matter of whatever they had done for the moment. Besides, the group was ready to move.

And like that, a few more days passed without much happening. A few creatures made a showing, but even the monsters tended to leave without a fight once noticed. Not that all were noticed in time and a couple of sheep were injured. 

Gem was even pivotal in saving one of them. Their timely Wind Blade hamstringing the wolf-sized fox. The fox did manage to escape on its three remaining legs, but was incapable of bringing the sheep as it did so.

Then, on the fourth day, Gem spots the critter again. That sheep-like critter with the clawed feet and flat black face. They point at it, “Hey! It’s Fresco!”

Gem waves at it, “Hey Fresco!”

The others look over and yep. It seemed to be the same critter with the much too big eyes and grabby claws. Though it has said claws closed, which makes them appear shockingly close to an actual sheep’s feet. If you don’t pay too much attention.

Samuel, “There is no way to say whether that is the so-called ‘Fresco’ from almost a week ago. Given the reactions when we asked, they’re clearly a known quantity and at least not driven off. There could be many of them around.”

Gem tilts their head to the side, “Hmm, nah, that’s Fresco. Look how cute he is!”

The friendly cattlekin cowboy who has been hanging around their area looks over, frowns, and then looks away.

Samuel gestures at the guy, “See how they react? Leave it alone and ignore the thing.”

Gem scratches their chin, “Hmmmm, Fresco should be a boy, so I think we should use the proper pronouns.”

Samuel closes his eyes and breathes out heavily, “How could you even know that?”

Though when he opens his eyes, Gem isn’t in front of him anymore. There is also no doubt in his mind where they likely are now. He turns to where the critter is and yep.

Gem has managed to sneak up on the critter despite it clearly watching their group. This is mainly seen in how it jumps and makes a cute meep sound when it feels Gem hug it.

June, “Hey! Don’t hug something you don’t recognize. More than a few idiots have died because of mimics for exactly that sort of impulsiveness.”

Gem looks up from burying their face in Fresco’s fur, “I recognize them. They’re Fresco.”

Everyone sighs, even Fresco seems to. Though that may be more related to Gem combing their fingers through his fur.

Gem, “Look! He likes me.”

At this point, the cowboy can’t keep quiet anymore. “Please leave the Inago alone.”

June frowns, “Locust? That doesn’t look like a bug.”

The cowboy shakes his head, “You’re not the first to think that, but the similarity is coincidental. Inago is the name our people had for them even before our modern customs. It doesn’t have a meaning, well, besides being the name for their kind.”

Emrys, “Well, that’s unusual. For something to have such a reaction, their names generally have a meaning. Even if that ends up simply being descriptors of the creatures.”

The cowboy shrugs, “They’re like sheep, but not. I guess we could have called them flat-faced sheep or clawed sheep? But they aren’t sheep. What they are is useful beings that eat insects and grass. Keeps the flees and such under control.”

He then raises his voice a little, “Which means they’re seen as good luck charms. Except they tend to leave a herd if you pay too much attention to them.”

Gem frowns for a moment, “Hmm”, and they turn their head around to search behind them and seems to spot multiple somethings. “Well, I think Fresco was going to leave soon anyway. Likely that's why he went with the splinter group. There’s too many of these cuties with this herd of sheep.”

Samuel, “Still! You should follow the rules of etiquette. They prefer you ignore them and it is only polite to do so.”

Gem turns their head back to the group, though in the wrong direction, and nods, “Yep, that would be the Orderly thing to do. Some might even say the Good thing to do. I’m neither of those so I’m going to invite Fresco with us.”

Emrys, “Hah! I like this.”

June sighs, “If you’re going to adopt a team mascot, you should run it by us first.”

Samuel, “Is it even legal?”

Gem is nodding along with the others, but rolls their eyes at Samuel. “Once again, not Lawful. Besides, they’re wild. Not like the locals are domesticating them. Plus, if he accepts a pet contract with me, he won’t have to worry as much about food. My Mana helps to support him.

“Like I said, there are too many Inago in this herd. They need to eat a certain number of insects as a part of their diet. Sure, this many sheep will have plenty of bugs hanging around, plus those just in the area. Even so, they still need to gather them and eat grass at the same time.”

June frowns, “Wait a second. How do you know that?”

Gem flicks their tail, and their ears stand up straight as they smile wide. “Why, I looked them up, of course! Did you think moving would take all of my time? Oh, and I know the actual source of their name.

“You weren’t wrong about the name standing for locust. What was missing is that in other regions they’re the Taberu. Both names descend from their original name, Inago O Taberu. To eat locusts, i.e., locust eaters. They’re actually sacred beasts in places with frequent locust swarms.

“Their two cute little fangs actually secret a venom that attracts them. And while it is a guess, there are people who believe they developed their fur to protect against the locust. The fur itself is uniquely resistant to bug attacks, and the oil is slightly poisonous to them. They’re quite interesting!”

The others are stunned into silence.

Gem frowns as two tiny fangs stick up out of their mouth, matching Fresco’s own fangs. “What? You doubt my knowledge?”

Emrys laughs at this, “No, but yes. I didn’t think you were stupid or anything. Just figured you as the impulsive type who didn’t bother looking up stuff.”

Gem, whose face is now flatter, though very specifically not changing color, “That would be irresponsible of me! If you’re going to get a companion, whether animal, human, or other? You need to learn about their needs. So not only did I search up some Inago facts, I looked into the pet system. Which isn’t like a normal pet system! They still call it that for simplicity, but it feels more like a companion system.”

June, “I actually don’t know much about that.”

Gem shrugs, “Bah, mostly a bunch of nonsense. You can’t even see their status. They have to be smart enough to pull it up for you, before that can happen. Which is one of the bigger caveats. Any creature can be a NAI. Long as it thinks. Human, beast, monster, elemental, conceptual being, magic item, and so on. All can be Nascents waiting to awaken.

“Oh, and you have to convince them to join you. No throwing capture devices at them and magically they’re yours if they don’t escape. Which makes me really impressed by the horde callers, few as they are.”

The cowboy nods, “Our land has a horde caller. His herd of sheep can flatten cities. Each member of the herd is an evolved form of sheep and most are taller than any cattlekin, let alone humans and such.”

Gem has rejoined their group, except Fresco has followed them. Gem smirks, “He followed me home, can I keep him?”

June sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, “Did you already form a contract with him?”

Gem giggles, “No, but I can!”

June looks at the others and shrugs, “I do know that being contracted, like Gem said earlier, reduces the dietary needs of the beast. So it won’t be too much of a burden. In fact, given Gem’s Mana stat? Chances are he won’t have to eat.”

Emrys laughs, “I say let them keep the critter. If anything, it will reduce the annoyance when camping out.”

Samuel crosses his arms, “We should consider the locals’ opinion on the matter.”

Then the false righteous look on his face falls as the cowboy shrugs and says that, “Sure you can tame them. We’re simply really particular about anyone who would hurt them. That bit about locust swarms really makes some of that make sense. Since we survived off of our sheep, a locust swarm would ruin us, but good.”

A flash of green.

Emrys laughs again, “Not even waiting a second!”

Gem shrugs, “Contracted beasts share their contractors ability to respawn. Whether that means they suddenly have their own pool of respawns equal to, but separate from their owners. Or the unlimited respawns that us travellers get. So yeah, I wasn’t going to let things hang until some major fight happens and they are put into grave danger while still vulnerable. That is way too cliché!”

Then, off to the other side of the herd, the sounds of fighting can be heard. Gem points, “There! See! You can’t waste time on stuff like this.”

The others don’t get much of a chance to respond as knee-high cats stream out of the grass and charge at them.

These beasts prove harder than the other fights, though not because of how tough or fast the cats are. Not even their agility. Rather, they’re simply too small to effectively target.

Gem laughs and begins to toss out Wind Blades. Not bothering with their spear as the smaller profile would make it harder to hit the cats.

And Fresco didn’t just cower. While not exactly a combat pet by any definition, it was enthusiastic about guarding the sheep, getting in-between the two sides to tank the damage. His fluffy fur is able to stand up quite well to their claws. Though his own claws don’t do any better.

Though soon enough the fight wraps up, and Fresco finds himself standing next to the group with a much smaller Gem lying across his back.

June, “Did you pick him up just to have a fluffy place to rest?”

Gem lazily waves their hand in the air, “Nah, though it helped. Anyway, see? Bonding with him right away was the right choice.”

The others don’t really have anything to say against that. Not that Samuel entirely believes this happened because Gem had befriended Fresco. Though June and Emrys didn’t put it past the system to do so.

And with that bit of chaos figured out, the herd continues on their way. A peaceful trip that is rudely interrupted, not by monsters or some other in-game event. Rather, irl some nonsense was kicked up and the government mandated everyone out of their FIVR capsules for an announcement.

Gem was on Fresco’s back again when the warning screen popped up for everyone from the countries that were forcing this.

{

Your government has an announcement and are forcing all those currently using the capsules to log out and watch said announcement. Given the nature of the announcement, we are going to play along as the matter touches upon our games and capsules. You have until the timer counts down to exit your capsules or you will be forced ejected.

}

Neither June nor strangely enough, Gem got this message. So the three all glance at Gem who shrugs, “You know I just moved.”

Emrys laughs and logs out, with Samuel close behind. Which leaves Gem and June standing around in a frozen world. The admins having locked everything down so people in the middle of fights and whatnot wouldn’t get ganked by a forced log out. Especially if they were PvP-ing against someone from a country that didn’t require them to watch the announcement.

June sighs, “So, why did you stick around? I know you don’t have to watch the announcement, but it isn’t like there is anything to do here.”

Gem buries themself deeper into Fresco’s fur, “I don’t want to get up.”

June sighs even louder and turns her head towards the cowboy. “So, ever experienced this before?”

The cowboy is still for a moment before they laugh, “I just tried to shrug! Anyway, I’ve heard campfire stories of this? Not recent though. And certainly not this, which I presume is a little more global than not.”

June, “Okay, yeah, feels weird to not be able. to. move. Wait a second. Gem, how can you still move?”

Gem looks up, “Huh?”

June, “You’re moving your body and not just your head. How are you doing that?”

Gem wiggles a little, “So I can! Not much, though. I’m guessing Chaos for why.”

June, “That doesn’t make sense. This is the system locking us down. Why would your system-given abilities be able to defy the same system?”

Gem almost shrugs, their shoulders barely moving, “Well, it isn’t like I can freely move or anything.”

Gem Leaves Home - Chapter 6

Where Gem Moved - Chapter 8