Part XXXV
When the sun was shining again, more than one member of the Pride mentioned to Magneto that he really needed to find himself something to work on or he'd have severe cabin fever before the year ended – let alone winter. But when he asked for suggestions, he generally received shrugs. Drake offered the reason for that when questioned further.
"You could probably have gotten an answer for that better if you were over with the Pack. They're a more… I don't know if this is the right word.. interactive group. Our Pride tends to be more on the individual mentality track. We all know what we can do – we look to see what we can make that will make life better or easier and we do it. For instance, during the winter, I make ice windmills that Reed uses to catch some of the energy from the storms. Some folks have found they can work with bone and make fish hooks. I know Hank and Namid use the winter months to work with the herbs and other plants things they gathered during the warmer months. Sabes works with the skins and some are starting to get good at making things with them."
Then Drake joined the majority and shrugged.
"You've been around longer than most of us. If you can't think of anything useful to do with your powers or other talents, I doubt we could."
That earned him a glare from Magneto which he easily ignored. He'd been glared at by professional glarers. Besides, he had meant to prick the man's pride and that expression just meant he'd done that successfully.
Very successfully. To Magneto, a sting to his pride was equivalent to a wasp sting in his pants. Then, to his greater chagrin, he realized two things. One, that knowing a metal fish hook would be superior to a bone one didn't give him a clue on how one would be formed. He knew the basic shape, of course, but even with his limited knowledge, he knew that there must be something special to the design and he hadn't a clue what that might be. Two, what metals he had seen around the area were in use. There was no ready metal to scavenge and, while he could pull ore from rock were he able to locate a vein, that was not the same as forged metal. And a conglomerate metal like steel was yet another matter altogether. If he were going to do anything to meet the challenge Drake had thrown down though, he'd need something to work with.
After due thought, he headed back to the waterfront where all of this mess had begun. So far as he knew, the chains and javelin had been abandoned there. He could locate them without a great deal of difficulty from wherever they'd been disposed of and harvest them for raw materials to use.
As he headed past where lunch preparations were underway, he heard a rumble of thunder, which oddly enough seemed to be a signal for a round of laughter among those gathered. Frowning, he shook his head. Must be another of those 'inside jokes' that seemed so common here. Ignoring it, he continued on his way.
Reaching the clearing, Magneto could sense the nearby ferrous metals easily. But he realized that he'd been a little too intent on his goal when he noticed movement over to his left just before hearing an exasperated woman's exclamation in an unknown language accompanied by a bemused male's chuckle. A fog rose almost immediately from the water to obscure the view of the couple, but that alone was enough to tell him who he'd walked in on. Retreating, he now realized what that laughter had been about and was momentarily angry before it occurred to him that there was no way that they had any idea where he was going. And no reason for them to have guessed it since he hadn't gone back there since that first day.
Sighing, he shook his head again and pulled the chain and javelin to him. It was going to be a long winter.