Rope and the Request
Thom visits Newt with another request.
Newt paused in mid braid, cheeks trembling with his quickened breath as he peered across the swamp. Something had made his can alarms rattle not too far away. Instinctively, he dropped his work and leaped tentatively around the water towards the source of the sound. He pulled his make-shift knife he had constructed to peel tree bark for rope making, keeping it low and to his side as he moved.
His heart was in his throat, expecting a guard or a wolf or a tiger... once he poked his large wide head through the brush, though, he was relieved to just find a rabbit tangled in the trap. With a relieved croak, he hopped forward, jamming the knife in such a way that killed the rodent quickly. The thing squealed briefly before falling limp and he sat himself down to untangle it- rope was valuable, and he couldn't risk wasting it by simply cutting the critter free.
Thom had avoided the booby traps with ease and approached the little swamp while Newt was away, taking the opportunity to inspect the various projects Newt had hung about the clearing. It really was impressive, what things he could make with so little Newt certainly had his uses. And he wasn't a bad sort, really, just..irritating. That stutter.
Thom shook his head, then tensed briefly as the squeal of the rabbit sounded through the air. Curious, he followed the rabbit's scent through the trees, and soon came upon Newt hovering over the carcass. He grinned. "Mind if I 'ave that?"
At the sound of a voice, Newt dropped down onto his belly, pushing the rabbit into his mouth until only the legs and tail hung out, his throat inflating with a warning, territorial croak. His large eyes twitched this way and that to search for the intruder.
"Apparently you do." Thom grimaced and moved around towards Newt's side, lifting a hand in a half-wave to catch his attention. "It's just me. I need you t' make a few things for me."
The frog jumped again, but sat up this time as though relaxing. He nearly swallowed the critter before pulling it out again once he realized he wouldn't have to fight to keep his meal. "T-t..." He swallowed and narrowed his eyes (as narrow as a frog could narrow them) and concentrated on his mouth. "Thom!"
"Yes, as far as I can remember, that's still my name." He rolled his eyes, but seemed to be in a good mood. He was mildly impressed by how easily Newt had just held the rabbit in his mouth. He could swallow the rabbits whole, yes, but it wasn't exactly an easy process. Newt seemed to have no trouble with it. "I need you to make me a map."
"A... a m-map? A m-map of what? I'm n-not... ter-ter-terribly..." He caught himself, eyes quivering with a loud ribbit. "I'm.... n-not terribly... ff... familiar with the... the Island... Outside my s-swamp I mean..."*
JFreak2007: "I know the island well enough," Thom assured him. He coiled his tail around and sunk down as if sitting, flashing a grin that was mostly fangs. "I want a map of the labs. You were there long enough, I'm sure you remember where everything' is."
"I..." His eyes twitched to the side and back again, his mind racing. Without answering, he huddled down over his rabbit, not daring to move back towards his main camp in case there were any installed cameras he might have missed. Deep out this far upstream he was fairly safe, he'd found. At least from the labs. The other beasts were another matter. Thom was a living testament to that. He used the knife to cut in certain points, skinning it on the spot. It could be cleaned and recycled. As could the bones and claws and teeth. "I d-don't know," He said finally, his voice oddly calm and low for the jittery frog. "I coo-coo-could get in a lot of t-trouble." In a land where most things were provided by the labs, other things became valuable. Like information. Thom wasn't the only one who had tried to get it out of the frog- it had to be of some worth to him.
Thom's good mood faltered only slightly, saved somewhat by Newt's work at not stuttering. He probably should have expected such a response, but he had grown used to Newt supplying whatever he asked without argument. Newt was the supply man, it was Newt's job to keep inventing potentially-useful things. That was why Thom kept him around. "You'll already get in a lot of trouble if they hear about th' weapons you've given me. They'll never know about the map."
"And.... if... I c-can remember enough to m... make this m.. map...." Once he had sawed through the neck and managed to twist off the paws, He cut it down the middle to try to pull out the bones. "What... what will you do for m-me?"
Thom's expression contorted into a grimace as he watched Newt skin the rabbit. Sure, he ate them, but he never butchered them first. Even when he had eaten lizards, biting them in half and chewing them up, he hadn't picked them apart first. The poor rabbit. Newt's response didn't help Thom's diminishing good mood, and he frowned, sinking a bit lower in his coils and leaning towards the frog. "I will pretend you're not gettin' arrogant an' remember why I 'aven't killed you yet."
"Y-you need me." Once the precious parts of rabbit were cleaned from the meat, he tossed the mangled carcass into his wide mouth to swallow.
"At this point, I really don't," he assured Newt, tongue giving a quick flick. "A map would be useful, an' would make things a bit easier, but I could do without. And, you forget, you're not th' only island who's stayed in th' labs. I'm sure I could convince someone else t' help me.."
"Wh-who else is w-woo-willing to d-do it? Who else can... m-make you weapons?" His stuttered returned as his confidence began to shake, eyes twitching up from his bloodied hands to the snake watching him. He immediately looked away again. It was easier to try to be brave when he didn't have the instinctual terror of a frog's natural predator gnawing at him.
"Within th' week, I'll 'ave at least one gun," Thom boasted confidently, hissing a bit under his breath. "I guarantee it. An' once I 'ave one, if I shoot first, I'll 'ave plenty more to come. I won't need your shoddy arrows anymore." He was probably exaggerating a bit, and Newt's weapons were handy, but he wasn't about to start trading Newt for information. That wasn't how things worked. "You are only useful t' me as long as you make yourself useful. I'll be back t' pick up th' map in a few days."
Newt sagged, frustration building up in his chest. "And... and wh-what will you d-do with it? If I decide to make it at all."
"That is my business, not yours." Nonetheless, he grinned, backing off a bit and straightening up. "But it could be useful. Also, I need rope. Lots of rope, as much as you 'ave."
His urge to be useful and fear of rejection battled against his frustration of being walked all over. "N-no! No, I need my rope."
"Make more, then." Thom shrugged as if making rope were the easiest thing in the world. "But I need some. I don't need much right now, but I will. I can pick it up when I come to get the map."
"A r-rope. A m-map. W-weapons. Y-you ask a lot and f-for what? Wh-what have you done with it? Have you d-done anything with them? If th-they're so ter-ter-terrible, give them b-back!" It seemed solitude had unnervingly given the trembling fat frogman a backbone.
"They're not terrible," He quickly assured Newt, frowning. "The arrows are a bit shoddy, but they're better than anythin' I could've come up with. I've been practicin' with them, if you're so determined t' know. I can't just pick up a bow an' go shoot 'alf th' labs." He paused, then shook his head. "Look, Newt, I'm just tryin' t' set everythin' up t' where a victory is assured. I can't risk recklessly runnin' in an attackin' groups of guards. But with a bit more effort from both of us... Well, just wait an' see. I 'ave some things in mind. Right now, you'll just 'ave to trust me."
That seemed to be enough to settle the frog, and he gave a loud thoughtful KrrKIT before suckling at the rabbit ribs to try to clean them, "Alright.... alright, I'll s-see what I can do." He finally sprung over the grass to land on the more open muddy patch closer towards the water away from the snake. He wasn't sure if he trusted the snake, entirely. He was a *snake* after all. But it seemed he DID have some sort of plan, and the fact that the dangerous outlaw to the village chose to incorporate him at all made him feel somewhat important, which was a rarity in his life. He just hoped he wouldn't eat him if he didn't have what he wanted by the time he returned.
"Brilliant." Thom grinned and started after the frog, gradually unwinding from his coil. The cobra stretched his arms out over his head, then let them fall and glanced expectantly to Newt. "I'll need as much rope as you can spare today, then, an' I'll be back for th' map and more rope in a few days."
"Wh-what.... what is it for?" He replied thoughtfully, eyes peering along the piles of various supplies lined in rock-gullies he had set up to keep dry of the swamp floor until he needed them.
"A hanging," he replied casually, and edged a bit further away from the foul-smelling swampy water. "Make sure it's strong."
The corners of the frogs mouth twitched downward in a wide-eyed frown, but he murmured something to himself before leaping away through the thickets towards one of his dry stashing spots, rooting through various attempts. He had tried several different rope methods, scraping various types of bark from around the jungle, braided saplings, woven vines, twisted, knotted, twisted and tucked into various lengths and widths. "H-hanging, hang-KRIIIT-ing..." He mumbled over and over under his breath as he shuffled through the likely candidates.
Thom chuckled softly at Newt's mumbled disapproval, but otherwise said nothing on the subject. He really wasn't sure exactly what this particular piece of rope would be used for, but he did have some ideas--and that was certainly one of them. While he waited, he amused himself with scanning the surrounding trees for cameras, though he was quite sure there were none. Not unless they had been installed since his last visit, which was unlikely.
In the end, Newt ended up forfeiting the strongest, most flexible blend of weave and material he had come up with, several strands of about twenty feet a piece. Any longer and they began to weaken and threaten to break unless he managed to weave together the segments. He coiled them around his elbow and shoulder, twisting it so it wouldn't unravel, "S-see... if th-this works for you."
Thom accepted the loop of rope from Newt and unwrapped it a bit, tugging on a stretch of the rope experimentally to see if it would tear. It didn't. Nodding his approval, he looped the rope up once more and flashed Newt a grin. "Excellent. This should be perfect. Thank you," he added, more to keep from having to threaten Newt again later. "I'll be back in a few days for the rest, then."
"I'll... I'll do wh-what I KrrrrIIIIIT-an. You d-do what you kr...can." He pushed the unnecessary rope back into their stash spot amongst tree branches and rocks.
Thom nodded slightly once more, then slipped an arm through the loop of rope to keep a better hold on it and started away, slinking off through the trees--and carefully avoiding Newt's traps on the way out.
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