the Monk

The distant sound of scurrying animals fills the air as the Monk emerges into a clearing from the pipe. It's an oddly empty place, surrounded by monolithic machines and only a few dozen paces wide. Misshapen pieces of rusted metal are scattered across the strangely springy ground, obscured by a multitude of more familiar ferns and small plants. Brushing a small piece of lichen off their shoulder, the Monk quickly scans the area for any sign of animal life. Strangely, there isn't any.
The Monk steps out of the pipe and begins walking across the soft ground, calmly inhaling the humid air. The scene felt almost too calm, actually.. They ponder this as they kneel down to pick a karma flower, wandering if, perhaps-
Somebody nearby screams. The Monk falls backwards, neatly separating the karma flower from its stem, and scrambles backwards as jij and a scavenger tumble through a particularly slimy piece of machine casing. They hit the ground with a sharply dissatisfying thud - but the scavenger wastes no time with recovering, and quickly has their spear back at jij's neck.
The Monk nearly trips over their own two feet as they get up and dash towards the scavenger, drawing its attention as they yell. Praying that this works, the Monk hurriedly explains through the scavenger sign language that jij is a friend of the Monk and that they mean no harm. The scavenger, looking surprised, withdraws their spear and quickly puts two fingers on their mask - the sign for an apology - before scampering away.
"Are you okay?" the Monk asks as they check jij for any injuries. "That looked like a pretty nasty fall..."