Felix woke as the sun rays hit him squarely in the face. He blinked and groaned, turning around as he tried to get a few more minutes of rest. But it was useless, as the sun was relentless and was working in tandem with the jungle, creating a cacophony of noise and light all in order to wake him up. He stared at a rock in front of him as he groaned once more before decided that he should indeed wake up. It was technically his third day in this new world seeing as he spent most of his first unconscious, and he was determined to spend as much time as possible building a new home for himself.
Sitting up he scratched his arms and legs, which despite being mostly covered by his thin windbreaker, were still covered in bugs bites that happened early in the morning and late at night when he was asleep. “I look like I have the chicken pox,” he cried as he looked at his red arms with a sigh. He didn’t really have a remedy for them other than to gently wash them with water and to try not to scratch them, so he forced himself to get up and get going with his day.
He had spent all of the last rays of sunlight yesterday building that new axe of his and he hadn’t really had a chance to test it out. He had used some of the vines to tie it to the handle after he gently hammered it into the hole with another branch just to be on the safe side, so Felix believed in the craftsmanship of his axe. He looked towards one of the smaller trees that had made up the general area in front of his cave and began to whack at it with his axe. It landed with a solid thump, and he practically beamed in pride as he pulled it out of the tree, wood chips flying. He carefully tested the axe head and it had stayed put. It seemed the more he used it, the more it would be hammered into the wood, keeping it secure. He grinned and with a determined gleam in his eye, Felix played woodcutter. The tree was down for the count after ten minutes of solidly chopping away and fell down with a satisfying snap and crash.
The thin tree wasn’t as tall as the other monstrous jungle trees, but it was still as thick as Felix’s forearm, making it perfect building material. He looked at the other trees, and the wind made them look as if they were shuddering in fear at him. He took them like a madman, chopping them left and right, laughing loudly and singing any songs that flit through his head; mostly 80’s pop.
It was in the middle of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun that Felix stopped. In a larger tree he caught sight of what he swore were bananas and his stomach rumbled just on cue.
“Girls just wanna have fun,” he sang with a large grin as he put his axe down and rubbed his palms, ready to climb that tree. He jumped as high as he could, practically hugging the tree as he climbed. He hadn’t stopped singing either, though it was mostly just him repeating the chorus and humming in a facsimile copy of the synth pop song. Soon he found himself on the branch and grabbed onto the first bunch of bananas. They were smaller than the ones he were used to, and looked more orange than yellow, but he didn’t care. He peeled one, revealing an equally orange, albeit lighter, meat and a sweet smell that reminded him of potpuri. He shrugged and took a huge bite.
It was sweet, almost too sweet, and soft as he scarfed the not-banana down hungrily. It smeared over his face and a bit on his hands, leaving a gooey mess but he didn’t care as he ate another, and then another, and after his fifth did he finally stop. There were three left and he threw them down the tree, fully intending on eating them after he was done. He climbed down the tree, jumping off when he was at a sizable height and picked up his not-bananas and his axe, taking them home with the largest grin he had all day.
Back at camp he carefully placed his bounty on his backpack and windbreaker and pulled his fallen trees in front of him. He was feeling just flush with energy and began to chop the large trees into sizable logs to build his new home. Since he was back at his cave, he grabbed his phone and dutifully played some more trashy 80’s music. He knew logically he should conserve the energy on his phone, but fuck it, sometimes you needed the dulcet tones of Whitney Houston to help you survive a jungle in another world.
The sun was now at its zenith and Felix was working up a sweat trying to cut his logs to all the same height. He was aiming at least a foot or two taller than him, which would help since he was 5’10 and knew he would have a few inches in him to go. Wiping the sweat from his face, he turned towards the cave, looking for his water bottle when he saw a small monkey staring back at him, his not-bananas in it’s tiny simian hands. Its eyes grew wide and let out a screech as he yelled back at it.
“GIVE ME MY NOT-BANANAS YOU NOT-MONKEY!” he yelled loudly, chasing the small simian across his camp.
The reason Felix had called it a not-monkey was because even though it looked exactly like a capuchin monkey, it had two devil horns protruding from its forehead. It was small and more like lumps than horns, but they were clear as day. The not-monkey screeched loudly as it jumped up a tree, making away with his food. Felix cursed loudly as he grabbed a nearby rock to throw at it, but it was already out of range. It seemed to laugh at him and he stomped his foot in frustration. He knew he was at fault, he left the food right out in the open, but it still made him upset just the same. He groaned and sat down on a large boulder, trying to figure out what he was gonna do.
He had limited food as it is, and those not-bananas had been a boon, especially since there really wasn’t any food he could find readily available, meaning he’d have to go foraging soon, or try his hands at fishing in the small stream. He shook his head and stood up on his feet once more, readying himself. He needed to finish working on his home. He wasn’t starving yet, and he needed to get this thing done. Of course he wasn’t actually sure how to get it done, but he’d find a way.
He had to.
He looked over at his stack of logs, all slightly different heights but generally the same. Maybe he could build some sort of log cabin? He immediately put that idea to rest though, as he had no idea nor the skill to actually create one from scratch. Especially with only the primitive stone tools at hand. He thought back to his history classes, on how primitive cultures created their homes using only mud and sticks. He could do that, but he wasn’t sure how.
Once more looking over his tools at hand, he figured the best method would either build a wooden frame with mud walls or try to build mud bricks like the ancient Egyptians. Thinking about the stuff he would have to do for the bricks, the first option was the best. After all it would take ages to build and dry all those bricks, something he really didn’t have seeing as he was just one person and the Egyptians had thousands to build their empire.
He hummed a tune under his breath that sounded suspiciously like the Piña Colada Song as he arranged the logs into a square, giving him an idea how big this shelter was gonna be. He bit his lip, trying to envision the finished piece as he marked the corners with some large stones from the cave. As he thought about it, he decided lining the entire perimeter with stone was a good idea.
“Everyone says you need a good foundation or whatever,” he half muttered to himself, clearing out more and more rubble from the cave. He lined them up carefully, trying to keep to only rocks around the same size. After half an hour of constant work, Felix was rewarded with a square of stone surrounding the logs. It was only then that he realized belatedly he needed something to carry the water back from the stream in order to make mud. Using his two water bottles would be grossly ineffective, no matter how large they were.
Scratching his head, Felix tried to think how he could do that. He knew waterskins were made out of animal hides, but he didn’t even know how to do that, let alone have the capacity to kill anything right now. So making waterskins out of the question. Next would be pottery but he had no clay whatsoever. He wasn’t even really sure how to look for it nor how to fire it properly, so he kept that one on the backburner as well. The only other option would to carve a bowl out of wood or stone. Of course wood was the obvious easy choice, easy being a relative term here, but he thought stone might be a good backup plan.
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Sighing, Felix picked up his axe and looked for a large stump of wood to cut down and carve. He didn’t really want to go after the bigger trees so he looked for something that had fallen over, a log or a particularly thick branch. He fell face first into the very thing he was looking for when he tripped over a vine. He was about 15 minutes away from camp when he fell on top of a small sizable log. It looked like the remains of one of the bigger trees and he grinned as he began to dug some of the dry dirt and leaves away from it. The log was as wide as his chest and came up to his knees, so it was more than perfect. Using the very vine that tripped him, Felix made a makeshift rope in order to pull the log back to camp.
What had been a normal 15 minute trek turned into a grueling half hour plight as he had to tug with all his might in order to get the log back home. He placed the axe embedded on top for safekeeping but now he was regretting it, as the log wobbled from side to side, threatening to throw off the axe as he pulled forward. Still with every inch he was getting closer to the camp and when he finally got back Felix collapsed onto the ground, letting himself relax for a moment. He took deep gasping breaths and lay there for what felt like an eternity and a second all in one. Before long though the sun began to lower and Felix forced himself up. He lugged his log back to the cave where his other tools where and got to work.
He decided he was going to build it like a backpack; hollow it from the top instead of the sides and use vines to make straps through keyholes he’d carve out. Grabbing his stone chisel and a leftover branch for a hammer, he set to work by debarking it and carving out any rotted parts. Lucky for him, most of the damage was on the outside and the pale wood was soon to be revealed. There were odd chip marks here and there where he had hammered his chisel in a little too hard and a little too deep but he could live with it.
Gripping the log between his knees, he took one of his pencils and drew a circle in order to get an idea how large he wanted to carve. Satisfied he set to work, slamming the chisel into the wood and hacking away at it. Wood chips flew haphazardly and he had to stop every few minutes just to dust himself off. Rubbing his nose he kept hacking away, only getting about an inch worth of thickness before he had to stop, his wrist killing him.
“I wish I could just burn out all the wood and just have a vase already,” he complained to himself. He drank some water from his bottle before stopping, staring at the log as an idea took form in his head. It was risky, but if he pulled it off it would be amazing. He just needed to use fire to burn away the excess material instead of chipping away at it. The sun was moving quickly and the animals and insects would be waking up anyways so he should build a fire regardless. Especially to keep the mosquitos away. He unconsciously rubbed his arms at the thought of them before getting to work.
Just as he had done the first time, he lit a small bundle of dried crushed leaves and put it in the center of his small fire pit. Within minutes he had a roaring fire and the gentle smoke already put him at ease knowing he’d be safe from the insects for a moment. Using one of his left over branches, Felix used his stone chisel and his impromptu branch hammer to crack it in half. He was trying to make some tongs to grab some burning coal, well charcoal, but he wasn’t sure if he was doing it right. It looked sort of like unfinished chopsticks and they weren’t staying open like he hoped they would. He wedged his finger into the gap experimentally and the wooden tongs opened up without wanting to snap back. So he was going to need a rock to keep it open that wasn’t too big, he thought.
Grabbing one of the smaller rocks that were kicked around when he was clearing some of the cave’s rubble he tried to wedge it into the wooden tongs without snapping one of the sides off. He grunted as the rock skidded to the side and plopped back on the ground.
“Shit,” he cursed, trying one more time. This time around he was holding the thing open his fist to give the rock some wiggle room before he pushed it in. It was still sticking out to the side but he could live with that, he’d just hammer it in. Laying its side he did just that and when he was done he realized that the sun had begun its finally cycle and was ready to set. He took a steady but determined breath as he used the tongs to reach into the dying fire, looking for a suitable chunk of ember. It was at the bottom and it was still cherry red and he carefully placed it in the wooden log vase. He blew on it carefully and added some crushed leaves on top as well as tiny twigs the size of his fingers. He needed to keep it controlled if he didn’t want to lose all of his progress.
He added another small log of wood into his fire as he went back to his wooden backpack vase creatio. Using a larger stick, he pushed the fire towards the center, making sure it burned outwards, not inwards. Felix rubbed his nose as he accidentally inhaled some smoke, practically sneezing it out when he caught sight of something staring back at him. He froze, terrified for a moment that it was the big cat coming back to eat him this time around. He slowly reached for his axe, hands grasping at the ground fruitlessly as he kept his eyes directed at the forest line. He finally grabbed the axe, but just as he did, the eyes disappeared and he was left alone, shivering as the cold and his fear set in.
Felix looked back at his project and swore, rushing to control the fire so it wouldn’t get out of hand. Carefully breathing on it and fanning the fire, Felix sighed in relief as the fire dropped deeper into the wood case instead of wider. Nervously he set it back down and gripped his axe. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to get much sleep that night and that the only keeping him safe from potential predators was his fire that was slowly dying out. He paled and swore again.
“Shit… shit I really need more firewood but… it’s so dark,” he whispered to himself, hoping the sound of his own voice would calm him down. He fed his campfire the small bits of scrap wood he had collected here and there, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Shakily he stood up, gripping his axe tightly.
“I-I can do this,” he told himself. “I can get some wood and not die and trip over and get eaten by a big horny cat.” He giggled at his own joke, but it did little to ease his nerves. With a deep breath he walked towards the edge of his camp, where the light of his fire was the weakest. Maybe he could collect firewood there from the leftover trees he had cut down earlier. There were at most three, and the light around them was sparse. Still, he knew it had to be done. He chopped at them with all his might, wanting the work to be done quickly.
The squawking of birds overhead grew loud then quiet at the sudden intrusion of his work. He shuddered; he didn’t know what was creepier, the night getting louder, or the animals suddenly getting quiet. He held his breath for a moment, waiting for something to happen.
A single monkey cry came somewhere behind him, and then another. He prayed it was a good sign and chopped down at the tree again. Sweat began to collect behind his back and shoulders, and his palms felt clammy with his nerves.
“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to, dun dun, run away I’ve got to, dun dun, get away.” He was singing again. He sang when he was happy and when he was sad, when he was nervous and excitable and fearful, music was his instant outlet, and right now was no exception.
“This tainted love you’ve given, I’ve given all a boy could give yo--” He turned around quickly when he swore he heard a crack come from behind him. He held up his axe in front of him defensively.
“D-DON’T FUCK WITH ME, I HAVE THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON MY SIDE,” he shouted reflexively.
Silence greeted him and he stood there for several minutes, still holding the axe defensively. When the light from his fire began to fade even further, he paled and turned back to the tree he was chopping. It took two more cuts to get it down and when it was done he quickly dragged it back to the camp. The fire in his log had long since died out, but luckily it hadn’t gone too far off course when he was away. The fire in his camp wasn’t too far off from it’s last few minutes though and he worriedly stoked it back to life.
Sitting back down in front of it, Felix took his axe and began chopping the wood into sizable chunks before putting it on the flames. At first nothing, and he was afraid the fire had all but died out, but then it began to blaze once more. Thick hot smoke began to pour, and he coughed loudly as it filled his lungs and burned his eyes.
“Fuck, fuck,” he coughed out, waving the smoke away. He forgot the number one rule about campfires: fresh green wood burned bad. He would have to live with his mistake but at least he had a burning fire. He moved at least a solid foot away from the smoking fire and stared out into the darkness. Pulling his windbreaker on to keep him warm, he curled up, trying to force himself to sleep.
line divider [https://i.imgur.com/O5WPA7v.png]
Felix's Current Inventory:A reference of Felix and his current inventory [https://i.imgur.com/YC4hCpX.png]