'Ok, ok, sorry Greenie.' I take hold of the edge of the large leaf with my beak and pull. Off comes the leaf, the loincloth still in place.

The leaf wasn't actually for dressing him. It was to check the size of how large a loincloth he needed to replace the old one he had. The leaf would work as a pattern. If you thought I would take off his old one and measure it out, you'd thought wrong.

A cold breeze sweeps into the cave, making Greenie shiver. That reminded me. That scary thing outside. If Greenie and I were ever caught outside in the rain and that mist appeared, we needed protection. Fire was good for heat and to keep unwanted creatures out of our cave.

Having some sort of portable torch would be perfect in that mist maybe. But to make a torch, I needed something flammable. Was Ammonia flammable?

I was no science expert by any means. Once we got our hands on some fire, I wanted to test it. But fire too...Getting fire was a problem.

Sigh....One thing done, and so many other things popped up after it. I didn't mind it too much with Greenie with me. This wasn't a chore. It was survival. My brain was working overtime trying to remember all the survival tips I'd ever seen surfing the internet and on tv.

I wish I'd taken an ember from the burning tree the night the Wolf King and I had met. It might have burned into some sort of coal after that huge orb of fire slammed into it. Having coal would be perfect to keep a fire going. Because starting a fire was good, but keeping it lit was also important.

That Wolf King was the only source of fire that I knew of so far. I needed to figure out a plan. With my evolution, I was stronger, bigger, faster. While I'd barely been able to escape him and his pack while I was a baby, things might be different now. I was Raven 2.0.

There was no problem unsolvable if you had the right information. Being a research analyst and my observations in that life had taught me that. And the information I had on the Wolf King was telling me that with the right plan, I might even be able to kill him.

Killing a Wolf King should bring us some sort of reward, right? Something that made us strong enough to hold our own against other monsters like him.

But that plan required Greenie's help, and he needed to be armed just in case too.

Looks like we would be seeing some more of each other soon.

Arghh. Just do it Raven! Stop overthinking!

I hold up the hilt of the Soldier's Dirk with my beak, shaking it a few times like a dog with a bone, hoping to dislodge it from its sheath.

The rust was too thick, coating the area where the mouth of the hilt met the blade. The taste of the iron was strong too. Blech.

Using my head to poke through the jumble of stuff lying haphazardly in the spot we'd gathered them to, I picked out the misshapen iron helmet, with a large dent on the top part of it like a club had smashed into it, killing the wearer.

While the holes where the eyes and mouth would go prevented it from being used to store water, it was fine.

This would work as a bowl.

He was quick to gather things for me when I needed it, knowing he would get the occasional reward, and maybe thinking it was all like an entertaining game for him.

We pick off the round yellow berries from the berry patch outside and bring it inside. Me, holding one berry in my mouth and hopping in and out, Greenie, with one cupped hand full of berries carefully setting them down next to the upturned helmet.

Once we have enough, it's time for me to work. Popping a few of the glistening berries into the helmet, I-

[Peck]!
[Peck]!
[Peck]!
[Peck]!

I can't see anything with my wings covering my eyes to make sure none of the berry juice splatters at me, but the iron helmet makes a dull clanging noise each time.

Phew.

Let's see how it went.

Relaxing my wings by my sides, I peer into the helmet. This was one cheap helmet, or my Peck skill had grown in power. Strong enough to create small indents in the metal bottom of the helmet where my beak had hit it.

Greenie goes outside in the rain, returning shortly with a stick of wood the width of his own forearm. Searching the back of the cave for a rock, picking up one and then discarding it, he finally settles on one that's angled at a point and uses it to carve the wood into a spear.

So that's how he'd been making it! I nod, thinking about the wisdom of a native, and go back to pecking at the berries with my wings covering my eyes.

The berries were crushed up into a juicy mixture. And something was strange with their consistency. The parts which were indented like tiny valleys in the metal had larger masses of berries clumping together.

I prod it with one talon. The jelly-like consistency was thick and sticky like pudding.

[Peck]!
[Peck]!
[Peck]!
[Peck]!

Another few rounds, and the whole mixture was solidifying, the seeds of the berries caught in the solid ooze. When I tilted the helmet to the side, the liquid ran around the helmet with the motion, having a slow consistency like warm jello.

This wasn't the result I was expecting.

I'd wanted to pound the berries into the pulp and set it out to dry once it got sunnier to create a powder.

Let's set this aside and dry it out to see what happens when the sun comes out. I was still excited with where I was going with this. Take that, scary monsters out there! This is the creativity of thought!

I wanted to get as many things prepared as possible while the rain still fell.

Turning back to Greenie, I look at the long stick in his hands and do a double take. An hour must have passed already, but it looked exactly the same as before. The sounds of Greenie scraping away at the spear still went on as he quietly worked.
But I could see no bits of wood coming off. Not even the bark.
How long would it have taken Greenie to make his last spear?? I couldn't even imagine.

Bouncing over to where he was, I take a look, ignoring the stink wafting out of his mouth as his mouth opens and tongue hangs out in concentration.

No wonder. The rock he'd picked out, although sharp looking, was brittle like chalk. It could only scratch the tough bark of the stick a little until it wears out. Then he would toss it over his shoulder and go pick out another one.

I pop bits of the chunks of white snake meat into my mouth, looking over his shoulder as I watch him work. This was worse than watching grass grow.

tofu_moon

Double release for today! Enjoy!