Flashback All Along the Watchtower [Part I]

[Spoons]

The cusp of Midnight 91st of Summer and 1st of Fall 509AV

Spoons found himself looking at the stone atop the watchtower many leagues of travel away, the fire crackling beside him as he absentmindedly fed it twigs. The stars were gracing Leth's reign in the sky like little soldiers of light. Yet something else intrigued the survivalist, an urge that involved that tower so long away. It was at this cusp he saw the stone seem to fumble in colour, blooming outwardly from it's center in a blur of color from yellow to red. The red was slowly swallowing the yellow up as if it was nothing. Soon though the gem was a pure red, glowing just briefly in triumph before settling in. Fall has taken over. Soon the leaves will turn rust brown, vibrant reds, and crisp golds. He noted, turning his attention to the small fire beside him. It's crackling dance soothing to the pycon. Yellow flames licking the air, yet your center is still red, below that a brilliant white. Too hot to look at very long but still there, nestled between the roaring reds and the black ashes of the coals. It is that white that wants to continue traveling but cannot, like the god of Travel himself. Or so the stories speak.

He frowned, taking in the other nocturnal sounds as the invaded his senses. Owls hooting in the night, the breeze fluttering through the trees, rustling leaves not yet turn. He noted the passage of time was slow in affecting Caiyha's children, but even then Tanroa had her way eventually. It was still warm, the season has change abruptly as one always seem to imagine it does. It was still warm this late in the evening the Pycon took to allowing his small fire to reside in it's current state without fear of it burning down the forest around him. Settling himself onto the ground with just a blanket and his pack for his head the clay survivalist took a pull from one of his water skins, the water wasn't ice cold, but it wasn't sweltering hot either. The warmth of the day had given it a tranquil feel as he swallowed before capping it tightly and setting it beside his pack. Syna would rise and he would need it soon enough. Laying his head against the pack he couldn't help but stare out towards that gemstone, It was but yellow ticks ago. He noted that behind it were mountains. Purplish-black across the backdrop of Leth's domain. They would've blended in if it wasn't for the lack of stars across their surface.

Spoons sat bolt straight up. The mountains weren't that far away were they? He looked at the fire, it was still burning bright. Shaking his head he looked back towards the tower. “Not far at all. The morn I will venture out. Not stop until I must.” He settled down once more with that determination keeping his nexus from slumbering. The fire beside him was not enough to put his nexus to rest as his gaze kept returning to the bright red in the distance. It seemed to be calling him, beckoning him.

“Petch it. I start now.” He threw off the blanket and by firelight started to put his belongs back together. He small hands took hold of his compass and leaned it towards the fire's glow, turning to find north on the equipment and looked at the direction of it. Scanning the horizon for any landmarks to use by day or night he found nothing by the deep purples that were the mountainous backdrop of Kalea, he turned turn west according to his compass until the watchtower's red gem showed it's facade and the pycon nodded, he looked down, squinting in the dim of lost firelight and he could just see it, northwest. Hmm, Northwest by the wings of Eywaat. he nodded and slide the compass back into his back. His right boot kicking at dirt and rocks into the pit, extinguishing the flames in a huff of dust and smoke. Forcing the Survivalist to dump some of his precious water onto it to smother the cloud of distraction before taking another swig from the skin and capping it.

Rolling up his blanket and attaching it to the pack that found itself on his back the Pycon picked up soon slung it over his shoulder and took up his pole and started in the direction of the wonders known as a Watchtower. It came as a brief understanding that he should probably start a map, but this was an advantage. And my life is in the hands of Aquiras and Priskil.

[Spoons]

1st of Fall 509AV
Mid-Day Bell of Syna's Reign

Spoons realized he did the mental arithmetic in his estimation of travel times to the Tower in his eye sight absolutely wrong, this was slightly foreign land and the survivalist had to settle his pack bells back on the ground and slide his namesake into place between blanket and pack before re-shouldering and continuing on, the ground though was hard packed dirt underneath the Summer undergrowth, but it was this undergrowth that slowed him down more. Unsure of what it was the Pycon didn't want to get snagged on it so with the buzzing of insects and the chirp of birds ahead Spoons found himself stepping slowly and cautiously through, using his always forward moving foot to check for pitfalls, sudden changes in the terrain, roots, rocks. It didn't matter entirely to him, but something had to give for him to make better time, a clearing, a heavy rock… His pole worked some to move the foliage from his sight, but it wasn't really giving him the path he needed to get through.

Sweet Caiyha, can this be worse? He grimaced and stopped several times at large enough stumps or rocks that rose higher than the foliage to see if there was a clearer path while still keeping his directional bearings. It was these brief use of natural land islands that the survivalist used to fuel himself upon clay and water. The foliage was not necessarily bad he noticed, but it was not conducive to his trek. Yet the clay man had no want to knock it down, he would need to relinquish to it and allow himself to flow with it better, calmer. It was nature and he needed to learn how to adapt to it, to become one with it.

Taking his attention from the foliage though Spoons took time to asset where Syna was in the sky and where the tower was. It seemed important to the traveling man to know his destination and the source of light he had to make the best time. Yet no matter where he looked he could no longer see Syna or the tower. Even when he craned his head upward there was no visible trace of the light bearing Goddess, he could see the natural light streaming down, but yet something seemed unnatural about his inability to actually see their source. She is there. I just know it. He pulled out his compass, turning to the next source of direction he had in his disposal. Standing Spoons tilted his head down to stare at the compass's face, no matter which direction he turned however, the needle swung rapidly in a circle as he spun around, never really falling on north, but not giving him a direction either.

There was no sense to be made about this and the Pycon found himself cramming the tool back into his body pack and scrambling down his isle of relief and taking several long steps away from it. That specific location, he figured, was confusing my compass? Yet I do not understand why. Once more Spoons pulled out his compass and looked at it's face. It swung lazily around in a slow right handed fashion, Spoons followed the point around in a circle, watching as the point aligned itself with north once more. Lifting his gaze forward to see the direction he was facing something told the Pycon he already knew though.

It was that rock. He growled and clutched the compass tightly, before he threw it to the ground and stomped on it in anger. “Petching shyke! It's a rock you foolish thing. A ROCK!” He roared at it, the birds took to air and cause the pycon to duck down and shut his mouth. The fluttering of their wings putting the Pycon on edge for a moment before he realized he had scared them off.

A few more ticks and the source of fear and anger had fled and Spoons reached down to pick up the source. It was cracked on the top and the sides were dinged pretty good. The pin that indicated north still swung towards the rock but it struggled as it scraped across the bottom of the compass. This frustrated the Pycon and shook it hard before just cramming it back into his pack and turned away from the rock. It wasn't good that his tools were lying to him. “Aquiras will guide me. He will show me the way. I travel on. It is the journey, not the destination that marks the passage of one's life.” With a sigh Spoons started in the direction he was facing, unbeknown to him that he had just reversed his path, heading back to his original campsite he had left just prior to midnight.

For several chimes Spoons walked in that direction. Pausing only a few times to take swigs from his water sources or rest his weary legs. It was during the last pause that he turned in place, looking over the horizon and searching for landmarks. It was mountains all around: purples, blues, grays, blacks, peaks covered in snow that never seen to melt, others had massive swatches of dark green tress. Yet he continued to turn, stopping when he saw the glint of Syna against an object in the distance. A squint of his eyes made it come into focus, it was barely noticeable, but it was the Gemstone. He had turned off course slightly, pulling out his compass he looked at it. The needle dragged against the bottom, gouging the wood underneath it as it swung grungingly in towards the right slightly, indicating north.

Spoons crammed the compass back into his pack, making a note to get it fixed or replaced in the future. A smile caressed the Pycon's face as he started towards the Tower.

[Spoons]

2nd of Fall 509AV

Spoons had been trekking through the wild for the whole of the first, camping out on the night in a ditch with some rock overhang, an old animal habitat judging from the bones that were scattered underneath the rotting leaves. Everytime he twisted in his sleep the bones would crunch and crackle beneath him. That was last night though – today the weather felt unbearable, not hot but heavy. Might it rain? the bushman wasn't entirely sure, but rains in the Unforgiving were not exactly walks in the park. The pycon felt it was important to stop and prep for the possibility. He didn't have a way to keep the wet from his body, so it was necessary to find something. Spoons knew of wax from bees were useful, but he didn't want to go in search of the buzzing flying critters and decided to go in search of something far less... Dangerous to gather for waterproofing.

Off the 'beaten path' Spoons found himself standing beneath a tree, it's knobbed and gnarled trunk would make it easy to climb up and he did recall that last year he was able to tie his tarp off on some leafy foliage and collect the water run-off. So maybe leaves would work. Spoons could only hope, so he started the climb upwards into the tree. This was not an easy feat for the little Pycon, his pack was threatening to toss his weight off the trunk even though the gnarling grooves provided him a bit of support as he tried to scale the tree.

Each knob provided a place for his hands to grab a hold of so he could hoist himself up closer to the first clutch of branches and their offshoots. Each of the previously held knobs would become a foothold, when it was possible Spoons used the gnarled trunk's plateaus to rest on so he could catch his breath and think. He needed to figure out a way to attach the leaves together. Maybe if I get the stems on them I can twist them together to get a start... Maybe get lucky and it will stay without much effort. Maybe I can use some grass or maybe find some strands of tree fiber. I think that is a worthy replacement for thread. The air was getting heavier, the weight of moisture was becoming more noticeable and this spurred the Pycon to climb faster up the tree. Worrying that he would get soaked through – literally – from the rainfall if he didn't do something Spoons pulled himself up the tree faster. Knob by knob, aching limb by aching limb.

It was a chime at best before for Spoons reached the Y between two branches that sprouted from the trunk and Spoons sat there, resting a tick before he scurried across a limb and reaching for the leaves. Touching the top plane of the leaves he found them to be waxy, a good sign he hoped tha tthey would do what he was hoping. Reaching towards the base of the stem Spoons gripped it and yanked at it, pulling the leaf down towards his body as he carefully tried to pull the leaf off. With some effort he got it released and held it up. It was a small specimen, maybe an inch in length and not quite half that on its widest part. He placed it against his body and tried to do a rough count as he pressed the leaf into his body.

One, two, three, four, five... That is five going up. And--

Once he counted them going up he counted them going around his body at his widest part. One, two, three, four, five. Five around. Yeah, that seems about right.

It was going to take a while to gather enough leaves to protect himself from the rain, but he would need to be quick about it if he wanted to gain any sort of ground today. And so the Pycon started grabbing at leaves and pulling them down at himself, yanking off the leaves at their stems, as he did so he placed them in a pile in the junction of limbs and trunk, resting his pack against them so they didn't flutter away. Spoons didn't keep track of the number of leaves he had pulled or even the length of time he has used so far, all that mattered was he had enough leaves to protect himself. Protection was important. I can use some of these leaves to protect my pack and roll too... And so the little pycon kept pulling them. It must have been a full two or three chimes before he felt he had enough and the pycon was sitting in the junction with his pack and picked leaves and staring at the small pile.

Picking two of them up he carefully placed them against one another so the same waxy like top were facng the same direction and he bent the right leaf's stem over and behind the left stem, this shifted the right leaf some so it overlapped the other leaf. Spoons did not notice the overlapping as he pulled the stem back over the other stem then twisted it over the top of itself. This was hardwork, and Spoons was afraid he wouldn't have enough stamina to do this before the storm broke. Yet he was determined and with a pull of the stem up he released it and looked at his handiwork, it was crude but it looked to hold. Both stems were sort of parallel to one another and the right was twisted around the left so it sort of chained itself together. Spoons reached for another leaf, shifting his leaves to the left so now the old right was his new left and the new leaf was his new right. Once more he twisted the right stem around the left and around itself before moving onto another leaf. He did this with two more leaves, there were now five strung together in a chain and Spoons picked it up and laid it against his waist and pulled it around, it would cinch together and Spoons smiled. Setting the leaf-chain down Spoons repeated the chaining process two more times before he had to look into how to do his arms and legs.

Placing a leaf on his limbs and sort of wrapping it found that he would need two leaves for all four limbs. And so he quickly paired leaves together four times over. He paused and looked at the chains, now that he had chains of leaves he needed to fasten them together so that they were overlapping slightly... Carefully he flipped the three chains of five over so he could see their backsides and carefully laid them so that the top ones were underneath the ones underneath them so that when he flipped them over the top layer was the most uncovered. He was quick to notice that he couldn't just lash them together that way.

Picking up three of the chains Spoons set them aside and looked at the first two, they were lined up exactly with one another and Spoons soon another problem, even though there was an overlap from top to bottom the sides would be exposed, water could still get in and therefore into his body and soaking him. Granted it would probaby be a lot slower, it was still a possibility that Spoons didn't want to take.

Taking a hold of the bottom layer he picked it up and moved it so the chain was overlapping the one edge and decided that would be so much better for protection. Shifting the leaf-chain up a little more the pycon saw he could loop the stems up between the twisted stems of the chain above and he was able to pull it back down and wrap it around itself. Once the second chain was lashed to the first Spoons picked up the whole set up and carefully pulled it around his body and looked down at it. It looked like it would provide more protection, but it would also take more time and more layers. An unfortunate oversight on his original thought process. Setting the leaves back down, once more with the waxy side down, he picked up the third chain and laid them in parallel with first chain. From this direction Spoons was able to see that with the staggered layering he was able to see the protection provided from the layers above.

The first chain would take the most of the rainfall but it would slide down the leaf's stem channel with aid from the downward angle and waxy surface, this naturally would go to the left and right as well as down and the leaves of the second chain would repeat the process of the first chain but protect me as they would send the water down the third chain and repeat the process. Spoons laughed to himself. It was a laugh of one surviving on his own. A laugh filled with knowing he could do this. It was filled with excitement and joy.

[Spoons]

Spoons lashed the stems to the chain above in the same fashion before moving to the next chain and laying it parallel with the second. He repeated the process of staggering the parallel chains until he had the fifth one done and he picked up the whole thing and held it to his body, a few more chains would be needed it seemed, looking at the pile of leaves Spoons calculated that he should have enough to handle that and then some and so he made more chains and lashed them parallel to the rest.

After the eighth chain was completed and lashed to the rest of the leaves Spoons picked it up and stood carefully, holding it up to his body and carefully wrapping it around his body so he could look down upon it take in his work. It was just long enough to reach just before his legs and the lashed together stems seemed to be holding and that was good. The weight of the leaves was minimal and that too was good for Spoons. The pycon noticed that the second, forth, sixth, and last rows of leaves were gapped and would need an extra leaf to provide necessary protection appropriately. Setting the body part down Spoons quickly fashioned the last leaves needed to the body.

Sitting up Spoons admired his work before picking up a pair of leaves and wrapped them around one of his legs. It was clear that he needed to do another row of staggering so protect himself best and maybe a longer chain so the leaves were more like pants then just leggings. Much like the body Spoons set the pair of leaves wax side down and lashed them together, so not to repeat the mistakes he made with the body Spoons lashed together a set of three leaves together before laying them in the same fashion over the pair and lashed them together. Holding the legging up he drapped it over his bent leg, it fell easily around his leg and the staggering provided coverage for his feet which was a nice accident. Repeating the process with the second legging Spoons was getting the hang of the twisting and tying of the stems that the process was getting faster. It was still taking a toll on his body though, his fingers were starting to cramp and his shoulders were aching from the amount of effort he needed do use them for.

Taking a short break Spoons looked out at the sky above and saw it has darkened, the winds were starting to pick up and Spoons frowned, it was getting closer and that mean he had to work quicker. Making two chains of five and then a chain of six Spoons lashed them together so that the sixth of staggered between the two fivers he took a hold of set he made, picked it up and wrapped it around his waist so the opening was in front and made note of where to lash on his leg pieces on both sides. It was a littler easier to lash the legs in place before he created the arms in a similar fashion to the legs. They were not going to be able to be lashed directly to the top yet so Spoons took to making a shoulder set and that was a bit easier as he had the measurements of fives and six to work with. So he started with a sixer and when that chain was done he placed it down on his shoulders and looked as best as he could, The sleeves could use another chain on them of three and then be attached right to the shoulders that way and a chains of two or three could be secured in the front and back and the arms would be done.

He nodded and started the piece work of handling that. Once he had the chains in place and the arms attached the pycon slide the legging setup on his body and lashed together the front leaves stems together and seen that there was enough of a stem sticking up all around that he could push the stems into his flesh and they would stick in place. It was uncomfortable but it worked. The chest was done in a similar fashion.

The arms and shoulder protection was handled by tying them in the front and then pulling the stems down into his shoulders and chest. Pulling his tarp from his pack the pycon drapped it over his pack before throwing the whole pack and tarp setup onto his shoulders and cinching it tightly in place. The leaves were a layer of waxy water protection but they also produced a bit of heat that Spoons was not expecting. Picking up a few more leaves from his pile the Pycon fashions a crude hat in a similar fashion as his bodywear and used the stems to tie it in place to the shoulder parts.

Once everything was in place he slowly made his way back down the tree. The leaves stayed intact and didn't tear which was a good thing. As soon as his feet touched ground the first of heavy drops hit his leaf hat slide down the right side of it. It hit the shoulder on his right and quickly split into a bunch of smaller drops that rolled away away from his body down the leafy protection and down the ground. It works. Oh gods it is actually working.... He stood amazed for a few ticks before he remembered why he wanted to do this. To keep moving forward.

With the darkened skies Spoons could see the gleaming watchstone easily enough and so he moved in that direction.