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The Least Common Denominator XVI.I Geophysics
It's been over a day since that very productive town hall meeting had come to pass. We all had a lot of fun coming up with stuff to improve after everything had been over and done with, and even now, I could see the beginnings of the various sectors of our small town developing into their own subsections on our isolated civilization. A few wooden planks were being erected at the outskirts of the settlement, and a ways away from that, what seemed to be the start of a watchtower was also starting to take shape. It might still all be wooden, but as soon as we got the resources, it'll all be turned into the sturdier and more reliable stone in which we'd also carve in some runes to make it more impenetrable.Which was why I now found myself at the same clearing as last time, in front of my makeshift chalkboard brainstorming with Lace as to how we'd get our materials."Why me again, Leader?" the older woman asked, still skeptical as to why I chose her to help with th
The Least Common Denominator XVI.II Geophysics
In hindsight, I should have seen this coming a mile away."S-So," my teeth clattered sarcastically, partly self-deprecating and mostly trying to keep our spirits up. "What did we learn?"Beside me, Lace shivered with reckless abandon, having foregone the strangely prim and proper demeanor of yore in favor of the usual behavior that I saw in her during the first time that we properly interacted, "D-don't... und-derestimate... n-nature?"The sheer cold of the stale air caught us by surprise the deeper we went into our expedition. It was probably night by now; my own sense of time muddled by the perpetual darkness surrounding me and my clearly panicked partner as we huddled on some corner of the cave system we stumbled upon. We were only supposed to be in here until just before sunset. But since hubris was hubris, and with my own tendencies to see thi
The Least Common Denominator XVI.III Geophysics
It was probably a few hours later when my... uhmmm... partner... finally woke up from her deep slumber. The fire keeping us warm had been reduced to a small flame even before I got pleasured earlier, but the warmth of daytime clearly permeated through the rock above and provided us some semblance of comfortable warmth deep inside the damp cave."Ughh...""Rise and shine, sleepyhead," I blatantly remarked, my patience kind of wearing thin due to the lack of stretching that was caused by the older woman's hold. "C'mon, Lace. It's probably close to noon at this point."Gently rising from my awkward position, I lifted Lace's head from my chest as I sat up straight towards the small flame. The older woman was grumbling on my lap, but I wasn't going to let her off that easy. We still had to get back to the settlement."C'mon.
The Least Common Denominator XVI.IV Geophysics: Olivia
"Where were they?"It had been over a day since Big Sister and that one other woman left for what was supposed to be a quick geological survey of their new mine. Olivia knew that her sister had other plans for the mine; the teachings in her mind telling her to exploit any and all manner of resources necessary in the most efficient way possible. She would have gone with the expedition, but Olivia trusted her sister to know what she was doing and had begrudgingly allowed herself to sit out on it in favor of doing more work for her ongoing project.Only now did she regret her foolish decision."I'm sure they're fine, little Olivia," Gramps assured, the older man sitting in front of a desk as she paced with anxious worry. "They're strong. They'll find their way eventually."The assurance did nothing to soothe the brunette's
The Least Common Denominator XVI.V Geophysics: Olivia
"If I was Sister, where would I put it..."The first few marks had been located etched into the wall; the 'x's evenly spaced approximately a few paces away from each other. Barring the other marks that denoted ores and other stuff that she didn't really know about, the next mark should be somewhere in the center of the cavern. Sister was particularly obsessive with uniformity sometimes, and if the pattern held, then it was a step towards following the trail that would lead her to the missing pair.With a raised eyebrow, Olivia paced back towards where she stuck her first torch, her eyes peeled just beyond her feet for the supposed mark that she so desperately needed. If she could just find it, then it would strengthen her idea that the marks were indeed spaced evenly, and from there, she could extrapolate the distance of the next mark and narrow down the possible answers from
The Least Common Denominator XVII.I Cartesian Plane
I supposed that I was getting some sense of deja vu, but the sight before me right now was the last thing that I ever expected to come across.“Leader?”Atop the hill that we found ourselves in, I stood aghast as the remnants of my old home stood out amidst the sea of grey rock that was the hillside that I used to live at.“I never thought I’d see this place again…”It was surreal. I didn’t even register the fact that Lace was trying to grab my attention as my eyes were glued solely on the remnants of my old home. Gone was the homely and comforting atmosphere that I felt whenever I saw the old stead, instead, only a strange sense of despair and nostalgia flooded my chest as I seemed to be unable to tear my eyes away from the ruins.“Sister?&rd
The Least Common Denominator XVII.II Cartesian Plane
“It’s okay, Leader,” Lace soothed with a voice that was far too effective for me to ignore, her hand gripping my shoulder with the warmth of encouragement. “We’re here to help.”“Yeah, Sis,” my sister added, giving me even more guilt about what I was about to do as she held my hand. “I’ll always be by your side, remember?”I felt the warmth of their words permeate through my being as I stood in silence. It was comforting, but I knew that I wouldn’t last. There was a reason I wanted this to be something of a private affair.And I won’t be budging anytime soon“T-Thanks…” I managed to sputter out before shrugging off the two’s gestures of comfort. “I-I’ll call for you both when I’m ready.”<
The Least Common Denominator XVII.III Cartesian Plane
My knees buckled as I found myself kneeling in front of what I now knew to be my parents' graves. Undeserved relief flooded throughout my body as I realized that I didn't have to face my parents' corpses anymore. But the short-lived relief was quickly surpassed by the growing confusion that was building up in my head. I couldn't even fathom how this had been erected, and when. And the most important question was still left unanswered:Who did this, and why?There was just no way that the nearest town could have even managed to see what had happened. While our family frequented the markets as both our source of food and income, we hadn't really made enough of a connection to the point that someone other than ourselves even knew where our house was located. As far as I was concerned, there were only three people that knew this place even existed."Wh
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