“Partitions, I see,” Rittan said, pulling them back on track. “That will require quite a substantial amount of bamboo—and we will need to come up with some kind of doorway?”
“Bamboo frame sunk into the ground would work, two uprights, and a crossbeam,” August said, “A hanging shade would work to cover it, or we can try for an actual door—I can probably make some kind of hinge system.”
It wouldn’t be too difficult to carve out the joinery for a wooden hinge, and he could make some kind of pin out of bone or metal to hold it all together.
“I’m certain you can,” Rittan said, “I recall mention of attempting to plant and grow some bamboo at our settlement—will we be attempting this?”
“We might as well do it while we’re there,” August said, “Bamboo has roots in these big clusters—at least the stuff I’m familiar with did, so it might be a hassle to dig out.”
The conversation lingered on the topic of what else they could plant in their slowly growing garden—and what seemed to be the nascent talk of a new expedition into the forest to find more plants. They reached the first of the inclines that would lead up to the ridge, and he found himself struggling to keep up as the others ascended. It quickly became obvious why—while he needed to be exceedingly careful with his foot placements in order to avoid small rocks, sticks, and exposed roots, the Voithos had no such issue. They simply planted their feet wherever they pleased, uncaring of the small detritus that broke beneath their skin.
August sped up and did his best to ignore the painful pressures digging into his skin. Reaching the first of the giant’s steps was a relief, his ankles and calves burning from the steep incline. By the second ring, he couldn’t keep the pace up and started to silently fall behind, unwilling to speak up about his inability to match them. He waved Rittan on when he stopped to wait halfway up the last incline, then struggled up after them, using the long grass to pull himself towards the top.
He crested the ridge a few minutes later and found the group arrayed at the top, staring out over the island. August’s eyes landed on the cliff to their west, on the other side of the crater, and the rising trees that dominated the sky above it. He searched the west side of the island, looking for any sign of the massive creature that had passed the crater days ago, but once again, he couldn’t see any sign of it.
“The lake looks even more beautiful from up here,” Rittan said, coming to stand beside him. “Seeing it like this—it’s hard to believe such a place could be filled with monsters.”
“Yeah,” August admitted. “I thought I’d found paradise for a minute there.”
“Perhaps it will grow to become one in time,” Rittan said, taking in a deep breath. “If we keep working hard, then I know we can do it.”
“That’s the spirit,” August said, balancing on one foot for a moment to brush his sole clean. “Here’s hoping Paradise figures out how to make some shoes—feels like I’m walking on glass.”
“Can you continue?” Rittan said, in concern. “We can stop here if it’s too difficult.”
“The grass is softer down there, and there are about a million fewer rocks, so it’ll be fine,” August said, “Thoughts on the cliff?”
“Im surprised we couldn’t see it from down by the lake, given how high up it seems to be,” Rittan said, eyes panning across it. “I’m not sure a bridge would get us across—perhaps a ramp?”
“Yeah, well, that’s one way to do it,” August said, amused. “Have you seen the Otrogon yet?”
August turned as he asked the question searching the east side of the island for the first time and immediately spotting the herd of Otrogon that were sitting out in the open—terrifyingly enough, the massive one was very much present, towering over the others.
“Yes, they are quite close to what I had imagined, given your description,” Rittan said, following his gaze towards the massive creature. “That is the one you spoke of?”
“Yeah, that’s it all right,” August managed, “Better that it’s somewhere we can watch it, then hidden away the forest, I guess—still a bit worrying, though.”
“The elephants you spoke of,” Rittan said, “Were they really this large?”
Its presence was a known but definitely unwelcome factor in the plan—the silver lining was that the herd of monsters were much further north than the last time he’d seen them, so they had clear access to the bamboo and at a place that should allow them to cut straight in towards the ring.
“Now that I’m looking at it again, I think an elephant is a little bit bigger,” August admitted, “Wonder if they’re thinking about calling it off—I wouldn’t blame them if they did.”
Turns out that they hadn’t given up on the plan at all, only moved to postpone it for reassessment; after they had retrieved the ring and then collected the bamboo, they would check to see if the large Otrogon had moved. If it had, they would proceed with the original plan; if it hadn’t, then they would send the rest of the group back up to the ridge and then try something a little more risky.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” August wondered. “If I was that big, I probably wouldn’t be scared off by food randomly falling out of the sky around me.”
Tossing bamboo spears at it from across the field and well outside of the range of its echolocation might freak it out enough to send it running in the opposite direction, or it might react in a way that none of them could predict.
“Worst case scenario, it goes berserk and starts messing the area up—and we won’t be anywhere near it when that happens,” Boko said, “Best case scenario, it runs off with its tail between its legs, and we pick off a few of the ones at the edge of the herd.”
“It will work,” Kalter said.
She didn’t offer any explanation for why that would be the case, but August figured she had something of a reason stashed away for why it would.
The book one revision of Contention with the overhaul of the system is done, and it's sitting up on my Patreon in the 1$ tier; you can find it in the pinned master list post. It will stay up until it eventually becomes an ebook. It's only available in pdf for now. I'd appreciate any feedback on the new system/revised version if anyone wants to pay the gatekeeping fee to check it out.
Contention: Revised Edition - Book One.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
Please remember to leave a rating and a review, it helps a lot with visibility!
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
“Partitions, I see,” Rittan said, pulling them back on track. “That will require quite a substantial amount of bamboo—and we will need to come up with some kind of doorway?”
“Bamboo frame sunk into the ground would work, two uprights, and a crossbeam,” August said, “A hanging shade would work to cover it, or we can try for an actual door—I can probably make some kind of hinge system.”
It wouldn’t be too difficult to carve out the joinery for a wooden hinge, and he could make some kind of pin out of bone or metal to hold it all together.
“I’m certain you can,” Rittan said, “I recall mention of attempting to plant and grow some bamboo at our settlement—will we be attempting this?”
“We might as well do it while we’re there,” August said, “Bamboo has roots in these big clusters—at least the stuff I’m familiar with did, so it might be a hassle to dig out.”
The conversation lingered on the topic of what else they could plant in their slowly growing garden—and what seemed to be the nascent talk of a new expedition into the forest to find more plants. They reached the first of the inclines that would lead up to the ridge, and he found himself struggling to keep up as the others ascended. It quickly became obvious why—while he needed to be exceedingly careful with his foot placements in order to avoid small rocks, sticks, and exposed roots, the Voithos had no such issue. They simply planted their feet wherever they pleased, uncaring of the small detritus that broke beneath their skin.
August sped up and did his best to ignore the painful pressures digging into his skin. Reaching the first of the giant’s steps was a relief, his ankles and calves burning from the steep incline. By the second ring, he couldn’t keep the pace up and started to silently fall behind, unwilling to speak up about his inability to match them. He waved Rittan on when he stopped to wait halfway up the last incline, then struggled up after them, using the long grass to pull himself towards the top.
He crested the ridge a few minutes later and found the group arrayed at the top, staring out over the island. August’s eyes landed on the cliff to their west, on the other side of the crater, and the rising trees that dominated the sky above it. He searched the west side of the island, looking for any sign of the massive creature that had passed the crater days ago, but once again, he couldn’t see any sign of it.
“The lake looks even more beautiful from up here,” Rittan said, coming to stand beside him. “Seeing it like this—it’s hard to believe such a place could be filled with monsters.”
“Yeah,” August admitted. “I thought I’d found paradise for a minute there.”
“Perhaps it will grow to become one in time,” Rittan said, taking in a deep breath. “If we keep working hard, then I know we can do it.”
“That’s the spirit,” August said, balancing on one foot for a moment to brush his sole clean. “Here’s hoping Paradise figures out how to make some shoes—feels like I’m walking on glass.”
“Can you continue?” Rittan said, in concern. “We can stop here if it’s too difficult.”
“The grass is softer down there, and there are about a million fewer rocks, so it’ll be fine,” August said, “Thoughts on the cliff?”
“Im surprised we couldn’t see it from down by the lake, given how high up it seems to be,” Rittan said, eyes panning across it. “I’m not sure a bridge would get us across—perhaps a ramp?”
“Yeah, well, that’s one way to do it,” August said, amused. “Have you seen the Otrogon yet?”
August turned as he asked the question searching the east side of the island for the first time and immediately spotting the herd of Otrogon that were sitting out in the open—terrifyingly enough, the massive one was very much present, towering over the others.
“Yes, they are quite close to what I had imagined, given your description,” Rittan said, following his gaze towards the massive creature. “That is the one you spoke of?”
“Yeah, that’s it all right,” August managed, “Better that it’s somewhere we can watch it, then hidden away the forest, I guess—still a bit worrying, though.”
“The elephants you spoke of,” Rittan said, “Were they really this large?”
Its presence was a known but definitely unwelcome factor in the plan—the silver lining was that the herd of monsters were much further north than the last time he’d seen them, so they had clear access to the bamboo and at a place that should allow them to cut straight in towards the ring.
“Now that I’m looking at it again, I think an elephant is a little bit bigger,” August admitted, “Wonder if they’re thinking about calling it off—I wouldn’t blame them if they did.”
Turns out that they hadn’t given up on the plan at all, only moved to postpone it for reassessment; after they had retrieved the ring and then collected the bamboo, they would check to see if the large Otrogon had moved. If it had, they would proceed with the original plan; if it hadn’t, then they would send the rest of the group back up to the ridge and then try something a little more risky.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” August wondered. “If I was that big, I probably wouldn’t be scared off by food randomly falling out of the sky around me.”
Tossing bamboo spears at it from across the field and well outside of the range of its echolocation might freak it out enough to send it running in the opposite direction, or it might react in a way that none of them could predict.
“Worst case scenario, it goes berserk and starts messing the area up—and we won’t be anywhere near it when that happens,” Boko said, “Best case scenario, it runs off with its tail between its legs, and we pick off a few of the ones at the edge of the herd.”
“It will work,” Kalter said.
She didn’t offer any explanation for why that would be the case, but August figured she had something of a reason stashed away for why it would.
The book one revision of Contention with the overhaul of the system is done, and it's sitting up on my Patreon in the 1$ tier; you can find it in the pinned master list post. It will stay up until it eventually becomes an ebook. It's only available in pdf for now. I'd appreciate any feedback on the new system/revised version if anyone wants to pay the gatekeeping fee to check it out.
Contention: Revised Edition - Book One.
Seeking Direction: Revised Edition is now live; It's a revised RWBY fanfiction following an OC with Direction Manipulation as his Semblance.
Please remember to leave a rating and a review, it helps a lot with visibility!
If you like my writing and want to see more of it, you can find links to my original books on Elbowsnapper.com
If you want to show some support, get early access, or see my first drafts, go check out my Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting: Book 1 & Audiobook. Book 2(First Draft)
Seeker's Precept: The Dragon's Marble
