rattlerofthestars:

“Eh, beats me. He was introduced to me as Morph. I think all creatures of his kind are called that. Morphs.” Shrugging his shoulders in a careless way, he went back to picking up scraps of metal from the ground. All he really needed was a gun to solder with and he would be good to go. But where would he find those sort of tools in the mountains? 

Turning back to Ping, he gave an askew smile. “Uh, sorry. I know you’re trying to be helpful but I’m just…” Jim never liked to ask for help. He didn’t like the feeling of having to rely on someone. At the same time, it wasn’t like he had a choice. He had just crashed into a mountain in a land completely foreign to him. Ping seemed nice enough anyway. Perhaps he could be trusted. If there was any suspicious signs from the soldier, he could always abandon the mission and come back later.

“Er…you wouldn’t happen to know where I could find…tools?”

“Oh.  Um, that’s okay.”  Mollified by Jim’s sudden insight, Ping returned his small smile and turned away as if to look for more discarded pieces of metal, straightening his disheveled topknot absently.  When the pink blob returned to his line of sight instead, Ping giggled - a real, unfeigned, girlish giggle - and held out his hand as if inviting a bird to perch, though Ping had no bird seed.  He was surprised when Morph really did drift towards him, chattering.  "I never knew that anything could fly without wings.  Men or…or Morphs.“

Though Jim’s question registered right away, Ping lingered, his gaze still trained on the strange pink creature.  After a few moments he turned a little uncertainly back to the boy.  "Tools?  You mean…what kind of tools?”