Solo The things you do for food...

[Darkness]

Timestamp: 87th Fall, 512 AV After his many days in the city, Darkness had arrived to one sound conclusion - being a Dek here was worse than being a slave in Xy in more than one aspect like, for instance, food. Slaves were often well-fed in Xy, simply because they wouldn't be able to do their works without such food. Deks, on the other hand, appeared to be given the minimum food required to keep them alive. They got three meals a day, yes, but bread and that watery gruel the humans called soup were not enough to fill the half-Zith's stomach. And while he had his travel rations, he'd been eating that for what seemed like ages already. He wouldn't touch a mushroom again if he could avoid it. So when the humans asked for volunteers to clear a new tunnel in exchange for extra rations, the Zith was among the first ones to volunteer - the mentally disabled still pondering the question, the physically disabled judging whether they were up to the task. He was surprised to notice he was one of but a few volunteers, and he discovered himself being disappointed somehow. He had time to mull over it as they were led to the excavation site - why was there anything to disappoint him about those people? What did he expect of them, that they did not live up to? He didn't reach a conclusion before they arrived at their first destination, the store where they picked up the gear they'd need for the mining - he identified pickaxes mainly, but also wood to make beams and baskets to carry the rubble. The rest of the gear was too specialized for him to know what it did, though he immediately noticed that it was neither light nor wieldy, and had to contain his grumbling until they arrived at the actual digsite. When they got there, the Chiet who'd brought them barked a few orders - in that Nari gibberish, of course - and left. His concentration broken, Darkness took a look around, quicly noticing that there was nobody else left to oversee their work. This opened a realm of possibilities for the half-Zith, who was already thinking how to make the most out of it. As he looked to the humans he had to work with, however, a horrible realization hit him: they were absolutely clueless as far as caves, and mining, went. Darkness wasn't an expert by any means, but he was going to have to pull out whatever he remembered from the excavations to expand Xy if he wanted to get out of there without the tunnel collapsing on him. And, more importantly, without this task taking a stupid amount of time. He couldn't blame the humans for not watching over the Dek, though. It wasn't like it mattered if one of them got injured while digging, and there was no lack of them either. The tunnel would get built, eventually, and the Dek wouldn't even try to escape the job - they reminded him of the slaves they bred, who knew nothing but obedience. Well, that was neither here nor there. He had to dig a tunnel, and he wanted to be done today. He took a deep breath, about to roar his orders, but he quickly realized that wasn't going to work. There was a problem with his plan... how was he going to get the message across to people that didn't speak Common?