The Systems Challenge

Jonas kept an eye out in the dark as the night neared its end. He wasn't sure about any star constellations of this world, but he'd been on watch long enough to start recognizing a few of the star patterns at this time of year on this world to identify when the sun should start coming up. Despite the stars being obscured from the light cast by the stellar bear.

He hadn't gotten the stars' locations and movements down to a science, but he was at least confident it wouldn't be much longer before the sun came up. Although, with light from the bear coming from the southwest of their position, it not only made seeing the stars a bit of a pain, but also made it a little difficult o remember which direction the sun was supposed to be rising in when he started to have a wave of drowsiness come over him.

While it wasn't a bright light, it was bright enough that Jonas felt like he might be in the suburbs of a city, which would naturally affect his ability to see the sky. Only, the light was close enough that looking at it would ruing his night vision and perception of where the stars were.

As such, he did his best to avoid looking in the direction of the bear. If only to make sure that if anything approached their camp, that he'd be able to see it clearly rather than just a blur or general sense of movement.

Not that he expected anything. Even from predatory animals he'd occasionally seen during his watches hadn't seemed like the were that interested in them. Though, he couldn't guarantee that things like that would always turn out that way. Especially since he didn't know what to expect from this world.

In the past he'd occasionally walk around as he tried to keep his legs limber, but with the light from the bear being such a nuisance, he'd stopped doing that. Opting to merely occasionally stretch his legs, even though that quickly stopped having the effect merely walking around the camp had. Which was primarily to get his blood pumping and wake him up.

Which made Jonas even more eager to figure out a way to deal with the stellar bear, if only for that reason alone. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone about the detail that Elmo had learned about the bear seeking out those who were in its lair for the past few years before it woke up to kill or something. Nor did he see the benefit of letting anyone know that.

He doubted anyone would try to sacrifice him and Elmo to the bear, but he wouldn't put it past them to try and use Elmo and Jonas as bait in a trap that probably would end up with him and Elmo getting killed with the bear getting merely annoyed by the attempts against it.

Though, he wished that the 'discussion' the night before had been more productive about coming up with a strategy to attack the bear, but with what little information they had about it, he couldn't say that he was surprised. If anything, he figured it would probably be more surprising if they had come up with anything even remotely akin to a plan.

Jonas sighed as he heard a sound out of the ordinary in the distance to the north of them. He wasn't sure what it might have been, but it at least had him on alert.

The sounds at night was always incredibly noisy. If you knew what to listen for, that is. Insects were always active, not that Jonas knew which ones they were, but then there were other things that would occasionally make noise. Yet, even those almost seemed to have a bit of a rhythm about them.

However, this sound was closer to a branch breaking than a twig getting stepped on. If it was an animal, Jonas would have expected to hear a lot more noise coming from that direction. Yet, after that branch breaking: nothing. The sounds of the night returned to the state they'd been in before, which only made Jonas even more nervous.

Maybe whatever was out there wouldn't head towards them, but at the same time, he couldn't be sure that it would just pass them by. Especially with how he couldn't say if it was an intelligent creature or not, only that he couldn't go himself to see what it was, given there'd be no one left at the camp to sound the alarm if there was a danger. Or the chance that the sound could merely be a diversion to get him to leave the camp while the real threat approached from a different direction.

However, Jonas didn't have to wait long before he saw a shadow separate itself from the darkness cast by the trees. He couldn't be sure what it was, but it looked like it might be a quadruped, but it walked on its hind legs. Whatever it was, it was covered in shaggy hair or fur. Jonas could see the light glinting off the creature's eyes, making them look like they were glowing red, and an almost growling sound as it moved.

If it wasn't for the light from the stellar bear, Jonas was certain that he'd have been able to make out exactly what the creature was. Or at least get an idea of what it likely was. Though, trying to focus on any specific detail of the creature seemed to only give him a headache.

The creature didn't move straight for the camp, but more of a zigzag pattern, where it seemed like it was either trying to keep from being seen, calculating its own threat assessment, or just approaching warily.

Jonas slowly moved and reached for the person closest to him: Patrick. He shook him awake, also waking Patricia, who seemed rather entangled in Patrick's limbs. Neither made any noise as they woke up, but looked at Jonas in confusion. That confusion dissipated at he gestured towards the creature, which he was pretty sure was easy to see, since it either didn't know how to hide, or didn't care to and it would easily be seen in the moonlight without any real issues for them.

Jonas was about to cry out an alarm to the camp and wake everyone up, also letting Patrick and Patricia know to launch their attacks immediately when the creature stopped. Then it seemed to make a sound like it was trying to clear its throat before saying clearly, "Uh, is anyone awake? It smells like someone is."

Jonas wasn't sure what he'd expected to happen, but that certainly hadn't been it. He wasn't sure what this creature was, but apparently it was intelligent enough to speak clearly. "Yes, I'm awake," Jonas called out, not caring if he woke anyone up. "Is there something you need?"

"Oh good," the creature said, sounding like Jonas had promised something that had given it immense relief. "You have no idea how scary it is to walk around out here at night. Especially with all the orcs that seem to be around here."

Jonas couldn't help but smirk at that comment. Whatever this creature was, it certainly didn't seem to be a fan of the dark.

"How do you know we're not orcs?" Jonas asked, partly because he was interested in seeing the creature's reaction. As he could use a little entertainment.

"Please, you don't smell anywhere near what orcs smell like. Though, I think I do detect Stanley's scent in addition to Frank's and Thomas' scents."

Jonas blinked. Whatever this creature was, it clearly had not only met Stanley, Frank, and Thomas before, but also knew their names.

"What's your name?" Patricia asked, sounding like she might attack without waiting for the creature to attack first.

"Patricia?" the voice asked. "It's me, Harold!"

Jonas glanced at Patricia to see a mix of emotions spread across her face. One was disbelief, another was incredulity, another was resignation, and another was annoyance.

"What're you doing here?" Patricia demanded, loud enough that it made Jonas jump, but also loud enough that he saw everyone else waking up from it.

"I came because I think Stanley, Frank, and Thomas seemed to have forgotten me when they left with Blinky," Harold replied, sounding much more friendly now than he had when he'd first started speaking, though Jonas wasn't sure if it was just his imagination about the whole situation. "I had no idea you'd be here or any of…" Harold trailed off and Jonas thought he heard Harold taking deep breaths, like he was trying something that didn't make any sense to Jonas. "Any of the others too. Who are they?"

Jonas looked at the sky and just could see the brightening of the horizon, signaling the approach of the sun. Though he estimated it still might be another half hour to an hour before the sun actually rose. Regardless, he had a feeling the rest of them wouldn't be getting much more sleep no matter what else happened before the time everyone else would get up.