The turtlekin puts a little more force into the blows applied to some of the rock above as he tries to make better space for the next payload.

"Briefly," he grunts, pausing before he figures it's good enough to work with. "They figured I was too young to throw into the Hunt and I'm pretty sure they weren't sure what I was in general. But they asked why I was stealing, and I don't think they believed me at first when I told them I was learning about machinery. ...but then they realized I wasn't so bad about understanding them after all."