Solo Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Alone, naked, confused, and trying to survive in the forest.

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Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Postby Asterope on February 4th, 2021, 4:32 am

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25th of Winter, 520 AV
Day 1

Aster squinted, blinking her eyes open. She wasn't sure what exactly had woken her, but something had changed; the sun was in her face, which wasn't usually the case in the morning, and the air was cooler and more fresh. A bird sang over head, but it sounded startlingly close. Pushing herself up, grass tickled the palm of her hand, and she stared around in confusion.

She was sitting in a forest. Lush greenery surrounded her, and the air was moderately warm despite being notably cooler than the Outpost. The warm weather wasn't out of the norm in winter lately, but the vividness of the plant life around her was a bit surprising. A stream bubbled faintly somewhere not too far away, birds chirping and singing around her. The trees were dense, the canopy of leaves stretched above her, but sparse enough that a healthy amount of sunlight dappled through and fell across her bare skin in warming spots.

Wait. Bare skin? Aster's hand flew up to her chest, a blush creeping up her neck, though there was nobody to protect her modesty from. She was entirely naked, though she certainly hadn't gone to sleep in that state. Her hand crept up to her neck, slight panic beginning to set in. Even her necklace with Navi's tooth on it was missing.

Scrambling to her feet, Aster spun around in a frantic, decidedly ungraceful circle, nearly tripping over her own feet as her fawn-coloured waves whipped around her face, her hair catching in her mouth. "Hello?" She called out, startling a flock of birds in a nearby tree, causing them to explode into flight in a cacophony of flapping. Only the sounds of the forest answered her.

Where was she? How had she gotten there? Had someone brought her here? But who? A million questions raced through her mind as she took a few uncertain steps forward, pulling her hair from her mouth and away from her face as she swallowed hard. The intensity of the sudden shock of awakening naked in a strange place was wearing off, but her anxiety was still simmering beneath the surface. Forcing a few deep breaths in and out, Aster looked around, something out of place catching her eye; a burlap sack hung from a nearby tree branch, just low enough for her to reach up and grab.

It took a jump or two to hook her fingers onto it, but she managed to grab it and tug it off the branch. Kneeling in the grass, she carefully poured the bag's contents onto the ground. The first thing that flopped out was furry, and Aster bit back a startled cry as she fell back on her behind. A dead rabbit lay in the grass. Aster grimaced, righting herself, and prodded at the dead creature gently. It was fresh; the body was almost still warm. So someone had brought her here, then, and they clearly wanted her to at least potentially survive. Unease crept through her, the hairs on the back of her neck raising as she glanced around, peering over her shoulder, wondering if she was being watched.

But nothing else seemed out of place. Still, the dappled shadows of the trees around her suddenly seemed a lot more ominous. Chewing on her lower lip, she turned back to the bag, dumping the rest of the contents out onto the grass. Flint and steel tumbled out, followed by a small, tied bundle of tinder, and a short wooden spear. Lastly, a piece of paper fluttered out, marked with crude drawings; a map.

Word count: 597
Last edited by Asterope on April 15th, 2021, 2:38 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Asterope
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Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Postby Asterope on February 4th, 2021, 4:35 am

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Exhaling, Aster sat back on her heels and took stock. Her uneasiness and nervousness hadn't really left her, but common sense and survival instinct was taking over. Wherever she was, she had to find her way back, and if she was going to do that, she had to survive. Right off the bat she was at an advantage in that she didn't need to eat or drink, at least during the day; her hunger and thirst at night were usually minimal as well, though she imagined the footwork she had ahead of her might make it more prominent.

Material for a fire, particularly to start one, was invaluable. She would have to keep warm at night. The spear was hardly a weapon of note, and she'd never handled one before; but it was better than nothing, and provided her with a bit more range than her claws. Hopefully she wouldn't need a weapon, but if she did, she would want as much distance between her and the threat as possible given how naked and vulnerable she was.

Lastly, Aster picked up the map. She didn't particularly have much experience reading maps, but this one was drawn simply enough. A few squiggly circles and lines marked what Aster assumed were streams and a lake or two; there were a few rough drawings of various animals dotted across the map. Warnings for wildlife, perhaps? Then there was a small 'x' towards the bottom left, and a much larger one near the center top. Aster furrowed her brows, tucking her tongue between her lips.

Surely the large 'x' had to be a destination of some sort; then the smaller one was...she glanced around, cocking her head. The stream still ran quietly nearby. Looking back at the map, Aster circled the area around the smaller 'x' with her finger, and sure enough, a squiggly line indicating what she assumed must be a stream ran nearby. So that must be where she was. Should she try and reach the large 'x', then? She didn't exactly have anything else to guide her even slightly. Even if it meant playing into some stranger's sick game, at least she had a purpose and a destination if she followed the map.

Letting out a sigh, Aster rubbed a hand over her face. Alright, then. Following the map it was. Based on where her location was marked, the destination was north-east of her, more north than east. So if she just started walking northwards, she should be able to reach the general vicinity and then go from there. But which way was north? Aster glanced around, then up at the sky, squinting at the sunlight that streamed in through the trees. Panic began to bubble again; she didn't have a compass, how was she supposed to know? She forced herself to take a few deep breaths, folding the map up carefully and repacking the bag slowly and carefully, thinking.

As she packed and tried to calm her panic, Aster let her mind wander slightly. She was grateful for her newest nighttime form this season; she didn't have any skills or knowledge from the body, but it was taller and stronger than her other forms. Hopefully it would come in handy. Something prickled in her mind, then; her forms. Her gaze wandered upwards again, towards the sky; it was difficult to see perfectly clearly with the arching branches, but she could see patches of blue and see Syna through the leaves, making her slow descent towards the horizon.

Word count: 587
Total: 1,184
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The sun will rise, and we will try again
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Asterope
A light that never goes out
 
Posts: 651
Words: 661387
Joined roleplay: August 16th, 2017, 11:11 pm
Location: The Outpost (Sunberth)
Race: Ethaefal
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Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Postby Asterope on February 4th, 2021, 4:36 am

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She felt a spark go off in her mind. That was it! She knew the direction that Syna set in; she hardly even needed to see the sky, it was a deep, instinctual thing that she almost felt every single night as Syna disappeared over the western horizon. Likewise, every morning, she rose from the east. It was difficult to tell now; the sun was high in the sky, meaning it was mid-afternoon, and she couldn't see the sky well enough to know which way it was traveling.

She would have to wait until nightfall to get her directional bearings, and then she could set out tomorrow. In the meantime, she supposed she could prepare for the journey. Some clothing would be nice, but her materials were limited, and she had no idea how to weave, or any materials for sewing, so that was out. Food and water wasn't necessary for the time being; if she was careful with her energy, it might not ever become necessary. Shelter was next, then; she would need somewhere to sleep. Looking around, her confidence in figuring out what she should do waned when she realized she had no idea where to start.

She wasn't completely foreign to being out in the wilderness, thanks to her time with the Drykas; but that had been an entirely different environment, with a whole pavilion of people who knew what they were doing, and horses and supplies and tents. "Okay," Aster breathed, taking the time to braid her hair back and out of her face; it was a quick and clumsy braid, her finger fumbling as she weaved the strands of hair through each other and then tied it off, but it was enough to keep it out of her face. "Think. Tents have support poles..." So she would need something to support whatever shelter she made. Branches were the best place to start.

Slinging the burlap sack over her shoulder, Aster began to scavenge around for branches. It was...harder than she would have thought, to be honest. A forest should be full of branches, but all she was finding were sticks and twigs. She was wary to venture too far from where she had woken up; it was a marked spot on the map, she would need it to find her way to her destination. Taking one of the sticks she'd found, Aster stuck it upright in the ground, and ventured a little bit further into the trees, where she began to have better luck. She found a few moderately sized branches and large sticks, and dragged them back to where she'd set her marker. Peering around, she wondered if she'd be able to break any of the lower-hanging branches off the nearby trees.

Word count: 458
Total: 1,642
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The sun will rise, and we will try again
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Asterope
A light that never goes out
 
Posts: 651
Words: 661387
Joined roleplay: August 16th, 2017, 11:11 pm
Location: The Outpost (Sunberth)
Race: Ethaefal
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Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Postby Asterope on February 4th, 2021, 4:38 am

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Walking over to the tree that had held the burlap sack, Aster jumped up to try and grab the branch, her fingertips just clipping the branch. Frowning, she bent down and then leaped back up, managing to grab the branch, but she was unprepared to put any force into pulling it. The third time was the charm; she managed to grab the branch with both hands firmly, putting weight into her pull...and dangled from the branch, her feet swaying a few inches off the ground.

Her arms began to ache immediately, and Aster frowned down at the ground; just as she was ready to give up and let go, there was a loud cracking sound as the branch suddenly gave way. She gave an undignified yelp as she hit the ground; it wasn't a far drop, but she hadn't been expecting it, and she fell onto her back with an 'oof', the wind knocked out of her.

Groaning more out of frustration and embarrassment than any real pain, she sat up, glaring crossly at the branch that rested in the grass a few feet away. Well, at least it was fairly sturdy; it was longer than the other branches she'd found, and slightly thicker as well, one end tapered and the other jagged, splintered wood where it had broken off from the tree under the pressure of her weight.

Standing up, Aster brushed herself off and gathered her branches together. She could use the big one she had snapped off as a center support pole; but she didn't have any fabric to drape over it. Perhaps she could use the shorter branches as makeshift cover and lean them against the center pole in a tent shape? But she had no real way to attach them.

She grabbed two branches, leaning them against each other experimentally, frowning. Maybe she could tie them together? She wasn't sure how; all she really had that might work was grass. But if she could manage it, she wouldn't even need a center support pole. Or...if she could prop the large branch up horizontally somehow, she could just lean the smaller branches against it.

Aster frowned, thinking over her options. It was getting late in the afternoon now, and she still had to make a fire; she needed to figure our her shelter as fast as she could. Experimentally, Aster leaned the long branch against a nearby tree, widening the angle until she could theoretically sit under it if it were covered with something. She wedged it against the tree trunk as best as she could, driving the splintered end into the ground with a few hard pushes.

Starting at the top near the tree trunk, she then carefully propped the other smaller branches she had scavenged up against the main support branch. She had to drive them into the ground as well to keep them in place, but she could begin to see a sort of shelter taking place. It would be marginally better than sleeping on the bare grass in the open, in any case. She was probably going to need more sticks and branches, though; resigning herself to spending most of the rest of her daylight hours scouring the ground for branches, Aster began scouring around.

Word count: 543
Total: 2,185
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The sun will rise, and we will try again
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Asterope
A light that never goes out
 
Posts: 651
Words: 661387
Joined roleplay: August 16th, 2017, 11:11 pm
Location: The Outpost (Sunberth)
Race: Ethaefal
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Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Postby Asterope on February 4th, 2021, 10:21 pm

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As she collected sticks, she thought about who might have brought her to this forest; how had they managed to take her from her bed without her waking? Had she been drugged? Who would even have such an interest in her? She wondered for a brief moment if this was the game of some god, remembering her brief but awe-inspiring meeting with Rak'keli, and quickly brushed the thought away. It was both a terrifying yet somehow comforting potential.

Besides, where even was she? The climate and the trees reminded her of the type of forest that surrounded Sunberth, but the lush, vivid green that surrounded her made her doubt it. She hadn't seen a forest so lush looking in a long time; not since Morwen vanished and winter stopped and the seasons had been thrown into disarray. Weather was often unpredictable, especially in winter, and dry seasons were more and more common. She wondered if she was in some other world, separate from the one she knew, similar to the Outpost.

Or maybe, just maybe, this was all a dream. It wasn't a possibility that had yet crossed her mind, and she sincerely doubted it; a sharp pinch to her upper thigh confirmed that wherever she was, this was definitely real. With a sigh, Aster returned to what she was coming to think of as her base with another armful of sticks and short branches. The afternoon light was fading; she was going to have to be fast.

She propped the sticks up against the main support branch, a few on either side at a time, making a crude tent-like shape with the branches, digging them into the dirt to keep them in place. The angle of the support branch, propped up against the tree trunk as it was, was steep, and before long she had to stop or she would have no room to actually crawl into the makeshift shelter.

It looked fragile, to say the least; she worried one wrong turn in her sleep and the branches would come crashing down on her. They were also sparser than she would like; the gaps left plenty of room for wind, meaning it wouldn't be as warm as it could be, and if it rained she was guaranteed to be soaked. Hopefully that wouldn't be an issue; the weather seemed fair enough.

It was shabby and any survivalist would probably hurt themselves laughing at her pathetic attempt to create shelter, but it was better than nothing. Next was a fire. Aster vaguely recalled the firepits that the Drykas would set up, ringed in stone to keep the blaze from lighting the dry grass in the plains. It wasn't hard to find a few larger rocks lying around, and Aster crouched a few feet from her makeshift shelter, placing them in a circle. Was she...just supposed to start the fire in the center?

It a spreading blaze was a concern, that still didn't seem entirely safe to her. Well, she supposed it didn't hurt to be a little extra cautious, given that she had no clue what she was doing. Besides, a forest fire would make it much, much harder to make it out of this situation alive. Aster ripped up the grass in the center of the circle as best as she could, then dumped it in a pile; it could serve as additional tinder, as well. She should probably use the tinder in her pack as sparingly as possible, just to help the fire get going.

Pulling the tinder out, Aster plucked some of the dried grass from its neatly wrapped bundle, laying it in the circle with the grass. She would need wood too; hopefully not anything heavy or thick like a log. She gathered up some spare sticks and twigs from her scavenging efforts for the shelter, and added it to the small pile before fishing out the flint and steel. She'd used one before on occasion, but never to start a fully fledged fire.

Bending forward to position her hands over the bundle of tinder, grass, and twigs, Aster struck the steel down against the flint. Sparks flew, fizzling out midair, none of them hitting her intended target. A few more strikes yielded the same results, so Aster bent further over, her hands just above the pile of tinder. This time, a stray spark managed to catch the tinder; she felt elation flood through her as the dried grass glowed a bright, cherry-red, curling and blackening, and then it faded to nothing.

Aster frowned, her elation fading as quickly as the tiny spark, and tried again. And again. And again...a dozen attempts later, she was beginning to feel frustrated. She'd seen people blow on fires to help them catch, but she was certain she was doing it wrong, because she'd only managed to blow out the tiny ember when she had tried. She didn't know what she was doing wrong, and the frustration was quickly bubbling over into despair.

Gritting her teeth, Aster tried again, with the same results. Maybe she just wasn't focusing enough of the sparks into one area? Searching around, she plucked a leaf from the ground and placed it on one of the stones; maybe she could use it as 'target practice' for her sparks.

Word count: 883
Total: 3,068
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The sun will rise, and we will try again
User avatar
Asterope
A light that never goes out
 
Posts: 651
Words: 661387
Joined roleplay: August 16th, 2017, 11:11 pm
Location: The Outpost (Sunberth)
Race: Ethaefal
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Medals: 5
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Survival of the Fittest (Part I)

Postby Asterope on February 4th, 2021, 10:22 pm

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It took a few strikes of the steel against the flint to get a decent shower of sparks; her fingers were starting to feel sore. But finally, the steel clipped the flint at the right angle, and a few sparks hit the leaf, burning into it and smoking, and to Aster's shock, tiny flames began to lick from the leaf. She was so surprised she could only stare for a moment before hastily snatched the leaf by the stem, but her swift movements blew the small flame out. But now she had a better understanding of what to do; she needed a starter to place into the tinder, which would then hopefully catch with ease.

Another leaf was placed, and this time Aster was ready when the sparks hit it. She carefully picked the leaf up, cupping her hand around it, and nestled it into the pile of tinder. Smoke curled from it, and for a moment she feared that she had botched her attempt yet again, but then pale orange flames began to lick up, the tinder beginning to glow hot and then burn. Terrified to do anything in fear of the fire going out, Aster watched tensely for a few moments as it spread, catching onto the pile of grass and the small twigs, and soon enough a small fire was going.

It was pathetically tiny, a thin plume of smoke curling up into the steadily darkening evening sky, but it was better than nothing. Aster broke up a few more twigs and carefully nudged them into the fire, watching sparks stir into the air as the twigs were consumed as well. She was beginning to feel the warmth on her bare skin, ghosting over her face with the flickering light from the flames, and she wriggled her fingers as she huddled closer. She hadn't realized how chilly she was; the forest was still a moderate temperature, even with night approaching, but it was definitely cooler than it had been when she had woken up.

With the fire going, Aster stood up after a moment of warming herself, stretching and peering up at the sky. She could just barely see the golden-orange glow that indicated the setting sun; that meant...that direction had to be west. Which meant if she was facing west, then...she fished the map out of her pack, shuffling her feet as she rotated clockwise until she had turned a quarter of a full rotation. So then, in theory, the direction she was now facing should be north.

She hoped she was right. Grabbing the spear from her pack, Aster dragged it through the dirt, using it to carve a rough arrow in the ground pointing in what she hoped was the northward direction. There was really nothing else to do for the night except rest. Aster bundled up the burlap sack, carefully pushing it into her shelter, and placed the spear along side it before sitting by the fire, feeding it some more grass and twigs. She was hesitant to put it out; it had taken so much effort to get it started, and small as it was, the light and the warm was comforting. Besides, wasn't fire supposed to warn off predators? Or maybe it attracted them. She didn't remember.

She sat by the fire, staring into the darkening space around her, watching the flickering flames and floating sparks until she felt herself shift into her newest mortal form. While she was taller and more fit than her other forms, she wondered if it was a mistake as she glanced idly over her shoulder at the cramped, ramshackle shelter she had built. Oh well; too late to change. The fire was dwindling quickly on its own without anything to keep it going, so Aster decided to sit by it until it went out. It was probably safer that way overall.

She looked up, watching the stars through the gaps in the foliage, her eyelids becoming heavy. She hadn't done much today realistically, but it was more physical effort than she was really used to, and the fear and anxiety that had been on and off all day hadn't helped. Finally, the last of the flames flickered down to nothing, only a few embers remaining in the pit of ash. Aster turned, crawling the few feet to her shelter and maneuvering around the support pole to tuck herself inside up against the tree trunk serving as a makeshift wall.

With night settled in and only the sounds of crickets and wind to keep her company, she suddenly felt more lonely and lost than ever. Somewhere, an owl hooted. "Tomorrow will be better," she whispered to herself, curling in on herself as much as she could, mindful not to kick the branches. She pillowed her arms beneath her head, staring out into the darkness, the only thing visible the dim shadowy outlines of trees and the last few fading sparks from the fire. "Tomorrow I'll start making my way out of here." It wasn't long before sleep crept in and claimed her after that.

(Continued in Survival of the Fittest Part II*)

Word count: 848
Total: 3,916
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The sun will rise, and we will try again
User avatar
Asterope
A light that never goes out
 
Posts: 651
Words: 661387
Joined roleplay: August 16th, 2017, 11:11 pm
Location: The Outpost (Sunberth)
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 5
Featured Thread (1) Mizahar Grader (1)
Overlored (1) Alvadas Seasonal Challenge (1)
Power Fork (1)


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