Working the Earth (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Fall 14, 515 AV

Talya had done it again, she had left the civilized world behind and ventured into the wilderness. When she looked up, all there was to see was a soft blue sky, blanketed occasionally with a mixture of fluffy white clouds, and far wispier ones. The sun was rising toward its noon time position, and looked to be a little less than halfway there. She supposed it was somewhere in the realm of eight in the morning. There weren't many birds in the sky- a few geese, a few smaller songbirds that Talya could not recognize. There shadows crawled across the tops of the trees; the leaves that rustled in the wind. Still, largely green, although tones of bright orange, red, and yellow, were beginning to intersperse with what had already been. The sun shadowed them, darkening their feathers into periodic silhouettes, which soon faded back into tones of beige, grey, brown, even the occasional streak of blue or red. She smiled up at them, as she listened to them chirp, their tones not strong or consistent enough to compose a full length song. But Talya didn't mind, their company was still nice, she found, as she meandered through the trees, her feet idly following the rises and falls within the uneven terrain- marked often by patches of rock, wildflowers, shrubberies and grass, if not simply hard packed soil. Parched from lack of recent rains. Of course, there were the trees too- largely oaks, by the look of things.

Talya continued down the slope of a small hill, following an unmarked path that she had set herself. She liked coming out here, into the Wildlands, she realized, as she moved left around a tree that blocked her way. It was peaceful, she got to see things she couldn't when she was back in the city, and she got to be alone, which was nice, when you were most often used to being surrounded by all number and all sorts of different people. She smiled as she took a deep breath in through her nose, and out through her mouth, before continuing on for the better portion of an hour. After which point, she stopped outside the brink of a clearing. It was smaller than the ones she tended to choose for her purposes, but for today's purposes, she supposed it would do. It was roughly circular, perhaps six feet all around. It was ringed by a mixture of trees and stone, and looked to be pretty well secluded. At its center were patches of grass, as well as areas blanketed entirely in soil. She knew this would help, as it meant the ground was more even- although the fact that it rested on an area next to a small slope helped some. With this in mind, the Ethaefal set her bag and all of her belongings down beside a slender tree. She then entered the clearing, and began to take another look around.

Talya noticed that there were a mixture of types of trees around the clearing. Some were taller, some were smaller, some were wider, some were more narrow. She scratched her chin- considering how she wanted to challenge herself today, as far as the making of a shelter was concerned, she knew she would need something wider to work with. She took another quick look, and then chose the fattest tree. It was against its side that she would build a shelter. To do this- she would need a few things- longer logs, to make the full body of the shelter, mud and dirt to pack things in place, and then small twigs and leaves to fill in spaces, and also, give something for the mud and dirt to cling to when she packed it. The presence of the tree would serve as a support, and give her less to have to build. It may also be a little less comfortable, if a lot of roots were above ground, but she thought she had chosen wisely- a tree where that didn't seem to be the case. Smiling to herself, as she was pleased, Talya moved away from the clearing and into the forest, in search for logs to use. Since they were heaviest, she wanted to get their finding out of the way first. She kept her eyes peeled, set on the ground as she moved. She picked up one stick within an instant, and then another, before moving on, deeper into the forest.

[Talya]

Talya crept through the forest, she was careful not to step on any flowers that might have been growing if she could at all avoid it. She thought it bad luck to do so, mainly because it could have been something she could have come back and eaten later. So she let them be as she continued her search for several minutes, kicking past some of the leaves that had begun to fall, and blanket the forest floor. She kept on looking for several more minutes, until she found a few sticks she thought she could use and filled her hands, at which point she returned to her camp site, and dumped the logs beside her things. She then went out into the forest again, making another trip that lasted about twenty-one minutes. When she had filled her arms with logs again, she returned to the camp, and placed them on top of the pile that had been forming, one by one. From there, Talya set out on a final venture to gather larger logs from the forest floor. She would gather them even if they were wet or a little mossy, but not if they were so damp that they had begun to rot and feel weak, as she knew they weren't meant to build a fire, so that should be fine for her purposes. It took another twelve minutes or so, but she filled her arms with logs again, and returned to the camp and dumped them.

By then, her throat was beginning to dry out. It felt scratchy and sore, so she took a drink from her waterskin to cool off. Her arms ached though from carrying everything, so she sealed it up and put it back the instant she had finished. By then, now that she had a moment to stop and think, she could feel the sweat upon her brow, and wiped it away with the back of her hand, she flicked it onto the forest floor, before taking a few minutes to take deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth, and gather herself before venturing out into the forest again. These trips would be far easier for two reasons, the first being that she was gathering far lighter objects, the second being that they fell more readily as they were smaller, and as such, were far more prevalent than the logs she had gathered before. She decided that first, she would gather leaves. Talya made her way through the forest, moving around the trees. She would stop now and again to pick up leaves- as long as they didn't appear dry. She wouldn't pick them up if they were crackling, if they were brown or furled. She favored the green ones more than the red, orange or yellow, but at the end of the day it didn't really matter, they would all do, she knew. She wound up gathering maple leaves, and oak leaves, and smaller lobed ones from bushes.

Talya wound up gathering some toothed ones as well, which looked as though they belonged to some sort of flower. When her arms were overflowing, and some of the leaves were crunching between her hands, and beginning to spill out over the top of her pile, she returned to the camp with them all, and set them all down nearby her pile of wood. She wiped another bout of sweat from her brow, and wiped it into her side, allowing the moisture to gather on the cotton fabric of her dress, by the right hip. When she was done, she moved away while dry washing her hands, and went to gather more leaves. She did this easily, and returned with another handful within another few minutes. Then she set out for another, and another, and another. When she had finished her next three ventures perhaps fifteen minutes later, she supposed she had enough, and moved onto gathering twigs. This she could use to weave into little spaces, and fill in holes she knew, so that air, or rain couldn't get in and make her cold, or knock everything over. It would be very important in this little venture she knew, so she set out immediately, right to work, not wanting to waste another minute, as time was gradually ticking on by.

[Talya]

Sometimes, Talya would pull small growths off the trees she passed, but most of the time, she simply picked things up off the ground. One twig became two twigs, and then two became three, which rapidly became four, five, and then six. Soon, she lost count as she tucked the twigs into the crook of her left arm, picking things up as she moved across the forest floor. She kept on working until her arms were full, at which point she returned to the camp and dumped everything before going back out and into the thicket of trees. She gathered more twigs she found off the ground, and then when her arms became full again, dropped them off at came, before making a final voyage out and away from the clearing to gather the things she would need to build a shelter from scratch. When she had collected everything about ten minutes later, she returned to camp and dumped everything on the pile she had already started forming. She gasped for air, and walked over to her waterskin, she opened it up and took a few good swigs, before wiping her mouth, sealing it up, and putting it back. She took a few deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth, and then wiped more sweat from her brow.

From there, Talya massaged the sore muscles in each of her arms with her hands. She didn't moan and she didn't groan as she did so, although she made a few faces as she walked over to the side of her three piles and sighed. She had a lot of work ahead of her, so she best get started. She let her body furl, and eased herself onto her knees. She inched closer to the tree she had chosen earlier in the day, and smiled. This likely wouldn't be too bad, at least, not as bad as setting up a tent could be sometimes, she felt, as she reached for two of the longer sticks she had gathered to start things off. She picked one up in each hand, and then guided them over to the tree she had chosen, setting their points against the bark at an angle. So that when paired with the ground, they formed the beginnings of a triangle. They seemed to rest comfortably against the tree trunk, and this widened her smile, as she nudged the two together with her fingers, so that she would have even less work to do filling things in, and an easier time of filling things in, as there would be less space for things to potentially fall through and onto the ground, which would be a pain as she would have to start over again, which was always annoying.

Talya breathed deeply, in through her nose and out through her mouth as she finished nudging the sticks, and then reached for another two from the top of her pile. She placed these two sticks to the right of the first two, and then pushed the one on the far right, so that they rolled across the trunk toward the other two. She must have pushed to hard, because the stick on the far left rolled so far it moved past the side of the tree trunk, and then fell onto the forest floor. It thudded softly. She blinked, and then picked it up, putting it back to the right of the others, while trying to catch the new western log as it threatened to fall behind it. She couldn't do it, and the log fell. She sighed and picked it up, and placed it beside the one she had just righted. Then gently, ever so gently, she nudged the sticks more closely together, and then reached for another two logs. She placed these to the side of the other sticks- on the western portion of the tree. They stayed well enough, as she placed one hand on the far side to brace everything, as she pushed the other sticks into her hand. One popped up and rolled over the others, so she set it back to the side, and made sure everything was in place before adding another two sticks.

[Talya]

By then, the logs were beginning to fill the face of the trunk on the side she had chosen to use. They were beginning to snake around the bend, around to another face. Talya wasn't sure she wanted that to happen, as it meant that binding it would be more difficult, at least, so she thought. Thus, she stopped adding the larger logs, and determined now that she would begin filling in the spaces between the logs. She would start by working with the twigs, and then adding in the leaves, and packing it all in place with dirt and mud. With the plan in mind, she set to work. She picked a single twig off the top of the pile, and then moved over to the right side of her structure- which would now look as though it were a wooden tent, that had been cut in half by a large tree, or alternatively, a rather shoddy lean to. But she knew it wasn't ready yet, and didn't allow this to distract her as she braced the log all the way on the right with her left hand, and then slipped the twig in her right hand over and around the log, and toward the next one in line. She must have applied to much pressure though, as it snapped, leaving only a small piece to jut out from between the logs of a structure, like a sort of horn. Or maybe even a thorn.

Talya sighed, and dropped the remainder of the twig she held in her hand. She picked up another one, and tried again. This one she got a little farther with, and managed to get it to stretch between the two bits of wood. She smiled at her progress, before reaching for another stick, and trying to weave it into the log pattern, just beneath the one she had just placed. It was so short and stubby it barely got through, and seemed to hang there simply out of sheer tension. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that, but she shrugged and left it in place moving on. The next two sticks she tried snapped, and she tossed them into the wilderness. The third one she managed to weave through two sticks, below the others she had placed, but it was a sloppy job. She paused to wipe the sweat from her brow, and then continued onward. She tried another few sticks, but they snapped, then she managed to get a few to work. Then another few, although they stuck out, and formed little spikes on both the inside and outside of her shelter. She thought that when she made her way inside she could break them off and smooth them out a little when she had packed everything and made it more secure, but for now, she just wanted to build.

Talya wiped more sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, and then reached for another few twigs, she added it to what had already been woven, and finished making her way down the first row. By then, she realized that she had broken so many twigs, that she had expended her pile, so she got up and moved back into the dense tree line. She moved past that, and began to gather more twigs and small sticks. When her hands were full, she returned to camp and dumped them. Then she made another trip, and another and another, and kept adding to her steadily growing pile. She continued onward, until it began to overflow and fall over, toward her structure. It was then she stopped, and returned to kneeling beside it. She plucked a stick off the top of her new pile, and starting from the second log in, began to try and work the stick in from whatever space was left, and weave that stick into the third stick from the right. It snapped from the tension, so she tried again, and again, and again. Eventually, she got it to work, and she continued working down the length of the column for the next half hour, until her throat ached so much she had to stop for a water break before continuing on.

[Talya]

Talya began working on the third column in. Weaving the little twigs over and under, very carefully, so as not to knock anything over. Of course, her best efforts were for naught, as she knocked the stick on the far left over, and had to stop to right it, before returning to her previous work. She wove another twig over and under, between the sticks. It got so tense, as it was drawn taut, that it snapped, so she cleared the debris and began again. This one snapped as well, so she picked up the pieces, tossed them aside, and tried a third time. This time, it worked out, and she was able to move onto a lower wrung. She broke the next few twigs, and had to venture out and gather a few more momentarily, before coming back to kneel beside her work and continue onward. She began weaving again, and slowly, over the course of the next few hours, (into the early afternoon), moved to the opposite end of her lean too. Her wilderness protection and shelter. She finally finished, and wiped the sweat from her brow. As of now- she had a frame, with a lot of little sticks poking out, it looked uneven, and not at all very stable, but it would do for now. She dry washed her hands and took a water break, before returning to work.

Talya picked up a leaf, and then forced the stem between the weavings on the left side of her structure. It flapped around a bit, but it stayed alright. She added another smaller, orange leaf below this. This stayed as well just fine. This was so much easier, she was realizing, than what she had done before, as she added another two leaves, and then discarded another when she realized it was too small to fall in properly and be good for her uses. She added a few more, until that side of the structure was blanketed, and she could move into the middle. She picked up another leaf then, and tucked its stem into the weavings, she did the same with another, and another, and another, until the middle section was done, and all that was left was the side to her right. With this, she repeated the process, and then surveyed her work. There were a few leaves left, which she added at random to areas she thought could use them. When she was done, she took a sip of water and then returned to work, all that was left was to pack things into place. So, she moved back a little, and then dug her hands into the dirt, pulling away a section of dirt. She supposed this may work better if it was damp, but she would use it all the same. With her left hand, she braced the sticks on the left side of the structure, with the right, she smudged and pressed the dirt into it.

The dirt fell off in a lot of places, but some stuck, and kept the leaves from flapping about. She smiled, and picked up another batch, letting the dirt sink behind her nails. She lifted the dirt up, some of the grains falling over the side of her palm, and onto the forest floor as she moved it over, and pat it into the side of the structure, working her way down the column the first two logs created. Then she reached for more dirt, added that, some of it rolling away as she tried to pat it into place. She kept on going, and going, until she had mat everything into place with dirt. None of the twigs obviously sticking out anymore from the outside, any more than the leaves. She peeked inside, and added some more to brace everything, and then, pulled off a few sticks that stuck out and could poke her. The structure wobbled, but did not fall. She smiled as she backed away on hands and knees, and then got to her feet and brushed herself off. Her structure was lopsided, messy and clumsy, but it had held, and it would be enough to allow for her to fit inside, should the need arrive, which eventually it would. She was happy then with that, her challenge had been accepted, completed, and won!

And now, for some good food, and a drink!