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Post by Eryk on Aug 27, 2022 18:40:04 GMT 1
Time: Year 1, spring, day 91 SFA, mid-morning Participants: Eryk, FarSight , open? Other tags in IC text are mentions for reference. Thread summary: TBA ~*~ To be fair, Eryk had not mingled a lot within the group of elves he had been whisked to be with. Some winter things he had taught to Choice , considering the dark-skin had not seen much snow before, not to mention done snow activities. Some of the other elves seemed friendly enough, and some others brought a massive culture shock. Eryk had remained mostly in his own company, dealing with his grief on his own way. Dealing with grief, well, it had been working out, skiing, working with tools, making tools, fixing things, keeping himself busy. As soon as the nature had thawed and the spring flowers had sprung, the go-back had started to make longer and longer treks among the area that had been claimed as the Beacon territory. For what, he had not really told anyone... But in his mind, the carpenter had decided that he would not live in a cave like a common troll, and he was not built for denning like a wolfrider or other elves who preferred that. No, he wanted a Lodge. Maybe a hut would suffice, though. Eryk had found a decent place nearby some hills, it seemed rather safe and protected, and he had found a good source of fresh water nearby. The grey-haired male had made a sharpened pole and struck in on the ground as a sign of the place chosen. "I think I shall call this place ... The Last Chance!", he decided out loud at that time. "Last chance to stock up with things and water before heading out to the wilderness." Aptly named, since this was at the outskirts of the known territory of the caves and the Beacon Room. So, Eryk had spent the majority of the spring in the site. With a crudely made shovel, he had flattened the terrain, bit by bit, slowly, working hard from the early morning until the late evening, when the cold winds started to bite again despite the days warming up a little more. The go-back found this ... soothing. He worked so hard he had no time to think of his old home, and when he finally got back to the caves late in the evening, he fell straight to sleep and did not dream -- or if he did dream, he did not remember those dreams, which he found to be a blessing. After the terrain had been flattened and hardened, the go-back carpenter went out to find good stones and rocks for foundation -- but considering this was now spring time, he noticed some things; rocks were easier to find, no problems there. But due to the lack of snow, they also were not very easy to move around... Well, Eryk was not sure if snow would have helped with this task, but as much as he carried, rolled, pushed and pulled the rocks to the site, he noticed his strength improving, bit by bit. He had always been wiry and more stamina-focused, like in hiking and climbing and long treks around in the nature, but this was different exercise. Not that he cared, not that it mattered to him. He just liked to work, because then he did not have to think of the life he had left behind. Today's problem was a small hole, where his current stone had partially fallen into. The male grunted and groaned as he tried to get the stone up again, and the warm sun beaming down on him did not help. Eryk removed his fur coat and the undershirt, revealing the slightly grown muscles and the scars he had gotten in the last war ... in ... he bit his lip and stopped thinking about. That was in the past, this was now, and if he wanted to make this new home, he had to figure out how to lay the foundation stones in right places... "Maybe some kind of lever...", he groaned as the sweaty palms slipped off the rock, and the piece did not budge from the small hole where it was stuck. |
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Post by FarSight on Aug 27, 2022 21:23:11 GMT 1
FarSight was an observant elf. He was named for his ability to see at a distance, but that didn't mean he didn't see what was in front of him. He'd noticed the white-haired elf leaving. Noticed him hanging in the background. While FarSight was more extroverted, he understood the shock of suddenly being... here. He had already known that when he left his tribe to make a desperate attempt to reach the humans across the frozen wasteland between their tribes it was dangerous, and the tribe had agreed that if they did not meet again they'd howl for him. They had all expected him to die in the journey. There was a reason they didn't travel far from their homes during that time of year. As it happened, he, along with the great wolf Frostbite and two cubs, had driven their sled right into the wall of the Beacon Holt common room cave.
He'd spent some time getting to know the elves, the human-elf Milo had been a great help with the cubs. Now that they were more playful, though, he'd been working on training them for their futures. Pulling, working, hunting. This day, however, had him following Eryk to see what he was up to. He'd noticed the elf was bulking up which meant he was working on something. The smaller elf had hung up his heavy winter clothing, and even with the temperatures being considered cool or even cold, it was as warm as a midsummer day to him.
"Could use a wolf." He was standing next to Frostbite, arms folded across his chest casually. The wolf, standing as he was, was about as tall as Eryk himself, leaving the smaller elf about a foot shorter, head even with the wolf's shoulders. The wolf looked on somewhat lazily, ears perked, tail at a neutral posture.
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Post by Eryk on Aug 28, 2022 12:13:40 GMT 1
Eryk hemmed and hawed at the rock dilemma, struggling to get the stupid boulder move, but I was stuck in the dent on the path. He turned and tried to push the thing with his back and leg strength, but the rock was too small for that… what a bummer, it was too big for him to lift, and too small to comfortably push along… Eryk thought of getting the shovel from his building site, but then he heard someone nearby.
“Could use a … wolf?”, he repeated and peeked over the rock to see one of the newer tribemates close by. Initially, they had introduced each other, but as Eryk had mainly concentrated on Last Chance and working hard, they had not had much talks around the cave system.
“Greetings FarSight … and? Uh, Frostbite, was it?”, he said to the elf and gave a wary look at the beast that accompanied the younger elf.
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Post by FarSight on Aug 28, 2022 18:54:33 GMT 1
"Yes, this one is Frostbite. The other two aren't named yet. Fuzzball One and Fuzzball Two." The cubs in question were not with him, currently. "So you've been out here a lot lately... Need help with anything? Aside from that boulder?" As it happened, he had a harness with him, attached to his waist. He had kept carrying it with him, more because he had been looking for fallen logs to prepare for wood for the fire, or perhaps some way to make his sled useful during the warmer months. Imagine... a land where there wasn't snow on the ground all year!
He began to secure the harness in place, the rope coiled at his feet for the moment that could be used to tie around a log, or in this case, a boulder. "He can pull just about anything. If there were snow on the ground I'd offer up the sled to help move boulders around for you. Frostbite would love it. We're not used to not being able to go riding..."
Frostbite yawned widely, panting a little. Hearing his name, though, his tail wagged. While his ears were perked, it was a lazy perk of a content wolf that didn't feel threatened. He sniffed toward Eryk, then his tongue lolled back out as he waited for the harness to be secured. It was obvious he was excited just to have the harness on.
"You could even borrow Frostbite. He won't mind at all. It's kind of his favorite thing to do in the world, running the sled."
He was making casual conversation, though he wasn't sure what else he could realistically say. The white-haired male didn't really talk much. Introduced himself once, but FarSight had to admit he couldn't remember names that easily. Not of the new elves he didn't see often.
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Post by Eryk on Aug 29, 2022 16:08:05 GMT 1
Eryk kept a safe distance from the animal, but noted that it was not aggressive by its demeanour. Frostbite seemed relaxed and eager to get something to do other than lazying around.
“Well, uh, if he wants to help…”, Eryk then said with a shrug and a nod, taking the rope and beginning to bind it around the rock.
“I have been having this building project.”, he then explained, “no offence meant, but living in a cave or a den is not for me, so I have been working on a lodge. Er, or a hut, that’s probably more accurate.”
He had managed some of the floor and the fire pit already, but he was not really a stone worker, so the handiwork was a bit crude… But the carpentry-driven Go-Back was sure the floor would be fine, at least once he tossed some pelts and furs on.
Eryk secured a knot in the rope by pulling it hard for a couple of times and then signalled the other elf and his wolf that they might now try and pull the rock out of the little dent.
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Post by FarSight on Aug 29, 2022 21:12:38 GMT 1
"A lodge, eh? Not sure what that is... we lived underground mostly. Stone shaped ceilings and usually it was covered in snow and ice. Several large rooms connected with tunnels so the caves here... nothing new to me."
He was learning about the way of life for the other elves. Tambri, the quiet female with the white wolf Spook didn't like staying inside the caves much. It was too cramped for her. The spotted feline elf was used to crowded rooms she called <barracks> which was a human living space. He hadn't really been able to ask others yet but they all seemed relatively alright with the caves.
Frostbite began tugging as soon as he felt the tugs on the rope, his paws scraping into the earth. FarSight moved to push the Boulder and after a few tugs, it was free of the small dip that had trapped it. The rope slackened as the wolf turned to look back at the elves, eager to continue pulling.
"Hey if you're good with building things maybe you can help me figure out how to make the sled work without snow. It'd be useful for our hunters to bring back food or for you to haul rocks like this. Like I said, Frostbite won't mind and soon we will have two more trained up to pull. Just need a few more sleds to make it work."
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Post by Eryk on Aug 30, 2022 5:44:28 GMT 1
Eryk pondered on how to explain a lodge.
“A lodge or a hut, well… they are built. Some earlier era lodges were camouflaged in the hillsides due to enemy trolls and humans, but my design is going to be a more building-like, I guess.”
Although now the grey-haired carpenter was beginning to doubt himself and wondered if he should’ve planned a place more easy to hide and blend in the surroundings. Oh well, he was too far along with the current plan…
Eryk was pleased as they got the rock out of the dip in a mere flick of a tail. Maybe having an animal around was not a bad idea — well, he had tried to find some elk or similar in this neck of the woods, but so far he had only seen tracks and marks, and a herd in a distance. How hard would it be to tame an animal once he got to it, though. He supposed Frostbite would be a big help in an absence of an elk or other.
“I suppose I could take a look-see at some point.”, he promised as they got the boulder moving again. “I am not afraid of work, it’s been a …”
There was a thoughtful pause as the carpenter tried to decide how much and what to share about his inner turmoil.
“It gets lonely, and I like to keep busy.”, he then said, although Eryk had to admit that of course he was lonely because he did not spend time with others who had been whisked away just as much as he had been whisked in.
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Post by FarSight on Aug 30, 2022 20:13:30 GMT 1
FarSight nodded his head slightly as he understood. His own former home could have been called a lodge. To them it was simply 'The Den'. "Well if you want some help or company I can try. I don't have any useful magic but I have done some building. Nothing like what you've described so far, but we've had to make shelters during storms when caught out. Something we learn young."
He tugged the side if the harness to turn the wolf to face Eryk. It was barely a tug and the wolf responded. "Lead on to where you need this rock and we will see what else we can do to help, yeah?"
He tilted his head slightly. "Lonely? I guess it is. I miss my home... my friends. My mother is probably grieving but they'll howl for me. Your kin probably howled for you... or whatever your tribe did. Do... do you want to tell me about them? Where you came from? I know it seems like dwelling on the past but in truth... telling their stories keeps them alive... for us."
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Post by Eryk on Aug 31, 2022 20:37:02 GMT 1
“My place is not too far from here.”, he then said and nodded graciously to the offer of help. “I suppose
I could use help — it would be nice to have a decent cabin or hut before the leaves fall again.”
And Eryk had to admit it to himself, he DID work very slowly, and even if he cut the socializing with the rest of the elves, he did his best to contribute to the new tribe.
“Come along then!”, he gestured the wolf and its rider to follow him. At least the trips he had made to retrieve materials had already formed a bit of a path way to the building site. It was faint, but a skilled and trained eye noted the path.
The discussion of mourning made the grey-haired carpenter sigh a little. “They, they probably had a pyre, but no body to burn… so maybe they burnt my coat or some other item.”
Hopefully not his fishing gear, how else would his brother Danik get to Spikefin?! Eryk scrunched his face at the thought of unfinished business out there.
“Did you leave anyone else behind, other than mother?”, he then asked, “siblings, mates?”
He expertly dodged the question of his old tribe — it was still a tad too fresh and painful for him to discuss the life he once had.
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Post by FarSight on Aug 31, 2022 23:21:20 GMT 1
FarSight followed along, the wolf knowing to follow as well. "Pyre? Your folk burn the dead then, eh? Not us. We returned to the land. Usually headed south to the forest." He kicked a small stone out of the path to make sure it wouldn't inadvertently cause an issue with the wolf and his load.
"Nothing official. Tumbled here and there but no one I would call my mate. My mother's sister, I suppose. Her cub and a few of my age mates but really not anyone very close. Still fairly young for my people. I only did my Rights a few seasons ago... although I guess that would be years from how everyone else here operates. Us? We had two. The Long Night and The Long Day."
He knew Erik was avoiding the topic of his own home and he really couldn't blame the elf. He didn't really want to talk about his either. But at the same time it helped. It was strange... grieving for elves that he knew were alive and in no real danger apart from what they regularly faced in the tundra.
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Post by Eryk on Sept 1, 2022 17:18:15 GMT 1
Eryk sucked his tooth deep in thought.
“Pyre and a dance for the departed. Wars left us not much time for burials I guess.”, he said, as if building a funeral pyre was any faster than a grave.
He took a moment to retrospect a little and noted how he fell in a comfortable silence with FarSight — in his old life, he might have boasted about and challenged the other in a competition of some sort. Like… who would pull a stone to his site the fastest. Maybe he just realised a proper competition and knew the wolf would win in a flick of a tail, anyway.
“So, uhh, I have just built the thing around here.” He then said and gestured at the clearing near some hills and a sharpened slender pole like a spear sticking in the middle of the site. Eryk had even tied a piece of cloth on the spear to show it was here on purpose and it was a mark of claimed territory.
“I have been thinking a fire pit both inside the cabin and outside.”, he then shared about his vision of the building and things. “Of course it will take a while to get all the furniture and things done, but I am not afraid of extra bit of work, so you can bring in your sled whenever and I will take a look at it.”
“I mean like one fireplace inside and a separate fire pit outside.”, he then added, to make his vision even more clear, pointing at the place he had imagined the outdoor firepit. One could see the foundation work on the cabin, and a flattened area for the outdoor fire pit.
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Post by FarSight on Sept 1, 2022 18:22:01 GMT 1
"The ground was frozen where I came from. Any burials would have had to wait for the Long Day and even then at its height. But meat is scarce in the tundra so returning to the forest... maybe the native wolves or a white bear finds us. It sounds grim to talk about it casually but it is the Way. We eat them, they eat us. And a hungry white bear or wolf will attack an elf as quickly as they would attack a spike horn."
Once they got to the site he looked around, the large wolf just sitting down on his haunches after a simple hand signal. "Huh... You'll have a smokehole at the top to let the smoke out I take it?" He glanced toward the sky. "I can't tell... is it early or late?" He was trying to figure out if they had time to haul more or if this was the end of Eryk's day.
FarSight tended to sleep when he slept. He was slowly adjusting to when the others were awake but he was notably more active at night, a call back to his wolf blood.
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Post by Eryk on Sept 1, 2022 18:40:13 GMT 1
OoC: It is mid-morning, Eryk has been up since the crack of dawn and it is most likely time for a break.
*~*
Eryk nodded at the mention of a smoke hole; “maybe even a whole smoke stack, a chimney, pipe way for the smoke, depends really.”, he then added and began to untie the rock off the rope and harness.
“Smoked meat is good and all, and smoked fish, but I would not be happy to be a smoked elf.”, he added and picked up the freed boulder to add it to the pile of rocks. It was a decent pile, but it was evident he would need a lot more, if he was going to work on a chimney. He was not an engineer in the way like some others were, but he was pretty good at finding a solution… or he would be a smoked elf.
As FarSight mentioned the time of day, he looked up to the sky and the sun.
“Huh, I’ve been up since the sun peeked over the horizon.”, he noted and gestured at a log he had split and worked to look like a bench. “Do sit if you want, I’ll get some water. You want any? And your bond?”
He had dug a bit of a storage pit in the side of the hill, too, but the carpenter had learned not to store any fish or other food items in there. A sable or a critter of some kind had taken a habit to steal from the storage, so now he only kept some water skins in there.
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Post by FarSight on Sept 1, 2022 20:08:17 GMT 1
"Yes, thank you." FarSight moved to sit down near Eryk to keep the conversation open but without crowding. He tended to the wolf first with the water, which was a challenge without a bowl but the wolf didn't seem to mind the challenge.
"I am trying to get used to the daystar rising and falling like this. It happens maybe a couple hands of times throughout the year back home. That is the hardest thing for me to get used to, I think."
FarSight didn't want to mention he was struggling with the idea he wasn't in a tundra. He knew how to survive in the tundra. A bit in the forest but without snow and ice? He was a little afraid of the world. It was too.... different. But he was determined to adapt. Maybe he'd get sent back? He had learned sometimes the beacon took elves from here, too, and sent them... probably back to their homes.
"I think I might do the same thing as you... build a den for myself... a piece of home, right? But maybe you get that stoneshaper to help with your smokehole. Chimney or whatever you decide to do." He was at least familiar with chimneys.
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Post by Eryk on Sept 1, 2022 20:21:12 GMT 1
Water skins were shared among the small group, and the carpenter made a mental note to start working on some dishes — like cups and pints… although they were not on the top of the list.
He sat down on the bench and pondered about the stoneshaper idea. Not that it was a bad idea, but soon his Lodge would be crowded with visitors — the carpenter was not entirely sure if he liked this idea or not. He supposed some of them were alright, like Choice or some of the -riders, be it wolf or cat…
“So, a lack of daylight where you are from?”, he asked, “you must have a pretty good eyesight then, well, also considering your tribal name.”
Eryk was unsure about the idea of a long night. It did not sound very … appealing. He supposed he had been lucky about this world being pretty close with the one he had left behind.
“So you folks probably have to get the most of the little light you got? Sounds pretty intense.”, he then said, then waving his hand — “also, sorry I can’t offer anything to eat. Some animal poaches my storage, so…”
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