Spiders, Centipedes and Gay Apes

It turned out that there were some things that could actually be gained by waiting.

On the smaller island, the 'heart' of Russell's small Kingdom of two islands, lived one human, one seagull and a whole bunch of flies. Said flies had appeared after Russell earned a particular achievement, not one worth mentioning, he'd rather forget about it. Those flies had multiplied and had moved beyond their original breeding grounds, also known as a dunny or poo hole, nearly infesting the whole island. Russell couldn't recall what it was like to try fall asleep without the sound of buzzing in his ear.

[Fly Population has reached upper limits]

[Spiders unlocked]

A scream that would not have sounded odd coming from a bedroom with pink walls and decorated with unicorn themed things echoed throughout the island.

Russell shuddered, scrubbing out the inside of the slightly damaged cast iron kettle for the third time, making sure there were no more signs of the spider which had moved in over night. He used the torch light of his smartwatch to make sure he hadn't missed anything before filling it with water to heat for his meal. Looking at the remaining packets of noodles, he broke one in half with a sigh, wanting to make it last longer. Fortunately, he'd found apple trees on the other island and harvested a few. These and the wild vegetables helped pad his stomach, keeping him reasonably well fed.

[Harvesting has increased by 1]

[Foraging has increased by 1]

[Foraging skill has levelled up! Congratulations!]

[Reward; Season change, it is now summer.]

Around him, many plants began to bolt and bloom. Dandelions produced their yellow flowers and the milk thistles stretched tall to offer a vivid purple amongst the green. The whole island had a new look about it.

[Bees unlocked]

Russell thought about the concept of seasons changing on the island, that he'd always labelled a bit on the tropical side. Could before even be considered as spring? Wasn't everything just green and warm before? There had been no tree blossoms and the apples on the other island had been ripe, hinting that there it had been autumn… damn fucked up game…

He soon found, though, there was a difference between whatever season it had been before and the new summer season.

"Your Majesty, you've almost finished fixing the roof on the village chief's house, don't delay now!" the seagull nagged as it came to find Russell, who'd hidden in the shade of a large tree.

"Can't move," Russell lamented, spreadeagled out on the ground. "Too hot!" His once slightly reddened cheeks, warmed by the sun prior to the season change were now part of a tomato red face. Only the skin usually sheltered by blond bangs was still creamy white.

The second island had reversed in time to join the season of the first. The apples had shrunk to the size of his smaller than average palms and were no longer sweet. Some of the wild vegetable leaves had grown tougher, less tender, so although they'd not been enjoyable to eat before, they were horrible now. But he was saving his last pack of noodles for his birthday… which should be in the autumn… if autumn ever comes…

He finished eating as much as he could of his 'soup' and 'salad', before tossing the rest in the 'rubbish' hole, which conveniently was not too far from the dunny.

[Pollution from waste has reached upper limits]

[Microfauna unlocked]

Microfauna? Fortunately, the smartwatch also came equipped with an encyclopaedia.

[Microfauna; soil dwelling small animals, consisting of protozoa, nematodes, segmented worms, and the great phylum of arthropods]

Er….. well worms he could understand.

[Protozoa; informal term for a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, which feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris]

Okay, the feeding on organic matter he could understand… he didn't think that his noodles were organic though…

[Nematodes; also known as roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda with plant-parasitic nematodes being known as eelworms.]

In English, damn watch!

[Anthropoids; The simians or anthropoids or higher primates are an infraorder of primates containing the parvorders Platyrrhini and Catarrhini, which consist of the superfamilies Cercopithecoidea and Hominoidea (including the genus Homo).]

Wait, he remembered something, simians, primates, homo… so he unlocked gay apes? That didn't sound right! Wait, damn autocorrect!

[Arthropods; An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Examples include centipedes and millipedes.]

Another girly scream filled the air, drowning out the sounds of waves crashing onto the beach.

Give me back my gay apes!