Set Up (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Summer 5, 515 AV After having endured her little fiasco with the bad drinking water, the members of the caravan had begun to assign Talya to easier tasks. Mainly those not involving food or drink, or even fire, or anything that could be considered potentially hazardous to her health in the least. That left them very few tasks to potentially assign the Ethaefal, (not that she really minded, because any sort of work as far as she was concerned was still work). Today, she had been assigned the task of helping with lodging. This meant that as soon as she had finished up her own tent, she would have to go around the camp and help those who were having trouble with theirs, or hadn't gotten around to setting theirs up yet. So, as the sun continued to sink in the western sky, casting streaks of pink and orange against a cloudless backdrop, which had once been entirely pale blue, Tal moved through the camp as it began to settle down for the night until she found an empty space, which would allow for enough room for her to construct her tent. The ground here was made up almost entirely of soil, still damp from the light rain that had befallen them the night before; although it was not muddy, and she didn't sink much into it. There were clumps of grass here and there, and a tree poking out of the corner, but all in all, it seemed like a good place, to set up her mini camp within the larger camp. So, Talya set her bag down against the tree, and then retrieved her tent, which had been rolled up and clipped to the bottom of it. Talya then set it in the space she had envisioned for the structure, and slowly, began to unpack each of the items in the rolled up tent package. She gingerly removed each and set them on the ground, atop the two pieces of fabric which comprised the tent itself. This meant a number of long poles with holes on either end, (at the bases), some of which had loops on the end to allow for a binding agents to be strung through, and little bits of finely woven rope. Talya dry washed her hands when she was finished, and looked over all the parts. They seemed a strange smattering of things to build a tent with, but that was likely because for the most part, she had simply watched other people build it for her, and had scarcely participated herself. That wasn't to say that she hadn't built the tent herself before, simply that more often than not, she had at least had a bit of assistance in doing so. But today, as she looked around the camp, she realized that most everyone was busy with something- building a fire, cooking dinner, or tending to the animals, so she was entirely on her own in this. So, Talya began her task by picking up all of the hempen rope and stuffing them in her pockets so that they wouldn't get messy before she got to them. Or lost, whichever came first really. With that done, she began to construct the frame of the tent. She picked up the poles at random, (made of wood, and done over with some sort of varnish by the look of things), and drew their ends closer to one another, so that they were perhaps, only a few inches apart. By taking two at a time, holding one pole in each hand, she stared down the bridge of her nose as she settled herself onto her behind, and began to press the ends lightly together. Rotating the beam in her right hand slowly, to make the process of sliding it into the groove on the other a bit easier. But the stick wouldn't take, and she began to think that these two weren't meant to go together. So, she put the stick in her left hand down; allowing it to be the first in a small pile on her left side. When it had settled in, Talya grabbed another support beam from her original pile, and tried that one. She slid it easily into the groove, and then twisted it lightly as though she were screwing it back into place. The stick took easily, but she found that when she pulled her hand away, the newly constructed beam wobbled, and eventually, the one on the left fell out. So she supposed this one didn't fit properly either, and there was something better for that. So, she set the new beam aside in her smaller pile, and tried another. This one fit much better, so happy with her work, she set the large beam to her right side, and then pulled the two planks from the pile to her left off the ground and tried them. These didn't fit at all. The groove on the right stick being far to large for the other, so she set the stick on her left aside and tried another from the main pile. This one worked, as did her next two combinations, which left the Ethaefal with each of the support beams having been grouped correctly. With that done, she dry washed her hands again, before picking up two of the long poles and binding them together at their middle so that they made an X shape. She then did the same with the other two, and then bound everything together so that they made a rough, star like shape with a larger opening on one side. With the frame of her tent bound and complete, Tal picked up the canvas tent, and began to lace it over the frame. The first time she did so, the frame got stuck between boards, and she had to take it off and try again. The second time she tried, she got the canvas to glide over all of the beams but it looked frumpy and as though it hadn't been stretched out quite right. So, Talya took it off again, and made yet another attempt at constructing her tent properly. This time, she got the canvas to go onto the frame properly, which left her with a tent that looked roughly like a dome with a slight peak at the upper middle portion. The front was almost entirely open, although there were small sections of fabric hanging down the sides, tightening the opening where the door was. It was at this point that Talya retrieved the final piece of fabric, and threw it neatly over the front of the tent, as though she were laying clothes out to dry on a line. She then strapped this bit of fabric into place against the frame, and made herself a crude door. Satisfied with her work, Tal took a deep breath and dry washed her hand one more time before heading out into the forest to find some sticks she could make into some crude pegs, which would then help keep her tent in place if the weather became windy and inclement, or she rolled around to much. She pushed past low lying tree branches, and through the underbrush cast by shrubberies, until she found some relatively thick, (maybe two inches across), fallen branches she could make into pegs. When she had, Talya returned to the camp to finish her tent. She was lucky she found, that it had not moved at all while she was away. She set the branches in her arms down and then looked around until she found a jagged rock. When she had, she brought this over to the branches and then picked up one of the sticks. She broke this by smashing it on her knee, and then repeating the process so that they made smaller sticks with jagged inches perhaps seven inches in length. She repeated the process with the remaining stick, and then sat down on the ground. By now, light was beginning to fail, and she knew she must work quickly if she wanted to finish before Leth overcame the sky, and she shifted into her more otherworldly form. So, Talya pulled the stone into her lap, and then grabbed one of the earthen shards, and began to roll it around the rock. Pressing firmly, but not to firmly, lest the stick should break. Slowly, she began to sand the stick down until it made more of a nail shape. Although it was crude and messy, and seemed as though it may split on one end. With this done, Talya repeated the process with the others, and made a mess of terribly crafted wooden nails. The majority of which weren't very sharp, while another two had split entirely down the middle. Tal then looked up from her work, and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, before setting the rock aside, and getting up and moving away from the pile of pegs to her tent. She noticed it had shifted a bit in the interim, and the door had fallen a bit, so she readjusted it, and then placed her hand on the upper frame and drew it across the earth. Moving it onto a patch of land, which was emptier and farther than the others, and which she deemed better to finish setting up everything. With that done, Tal retrieved the first peg, and set it three inches to the right of the northeastern corner of her tent by pressing it lightly into the ground. Pushing until it had sunk a few inches, and appeared stable, as though it wouldn't budge. She then retrieved one of the small ropes from her pocket and tied it around her wooden peg, before lacing it through the hole at the bottom of the pole, and binding it tightly. The tent then lurched to the side, threatening to fall over, causing Talya to run to the opposing end and repeat the process so that the tent stabilized. With this done, she repeated the process with the remaining two sides, having only a single incident with the frame threatening to slip out from under the canvas, but she deftly shoved it back into place and everything seemed ok. When she stood back to survey her work at the end of everything, the tent appeared fine. The door a tad imperfect, as it only covered most of the opening, leaving a sliver exposed to the elements, although Talya didn't care. The rest of the canvas looked ok, and the tent only leaned slightly to the left side, which she supposed would mean that she couldn't shift much in her sleep lest she knock it over by mistake, and everything come crumbling down on her. But again, she didn't care, she felt this good enough for her first time around on her own, and something she could live in for a night. Besides, she didn't have the time to fix it and make it perfect, as she had to go help the others, it was her job. And the hour was drawing late, the moon just beginning to creep up, and the sun finish sinking. So she knew everyone would be turning in soon. And she had to do something.

[Talya]

Talya's eyes grazed over the camp, surveying it quickly. She realized swiftly that she had taken so long with her own abode that most people had already finished building their tents, and settled in for the night. Those that remained were those with more time consuming tasks- tending to the animals or cooking, and even they seemed as though they were pretty far along. But even so, it was her job to help, so Talya headed over to the nearest person to aid them in their set up. This person was a short man, perhaps in his early thirties, with a rotund belly and skin which seemed red most of the time, as he was always hot and out of shape, short on breath and the like. He had already set up the frame for his tent, but he was struggling with the tarp that was to be lain over it, as his stomach seemed to keep him from getting close enough to set it on the center, a fact that his height didn't help. "Here, allow me," Talya said as she came up behind him, and took the canvas from him. He smiled but said nothing as she took one end of the fabric in each of her hands, stretching it out before she whipped it in the air, straightening it, releasing some of the folds and wrinkles, before she lay it over the tent's frame. The canvas fell fairly neatly, settling onto the wooden beams with ease. From there, Talya bent and hooked the end of the canvas onto the base of one of the wooden poles, before crossing to the other side to do the same. It felt as though she were making a bed for her master. She a maid set to this task he surveyed to be sure she did it right; the best way possible. It felt strange to her; uncomfortable, and worse still as the moon took the sky and she shifted. Her skin sparkling; her horns dazzling as her long hair, which swept down over the length of her back. At least the man said nothing during the shift from Chaktawe to Ethaefal; she supposed the entire camp suspected it now. In any case, she continued in silence while the man watched her awhile. Her image reflected in his watchful eyes, until she came to the last side of the canvas, which much like a bed, was giving her some trouble. For every time she set it in place, the one on the opposite end would slip and slip, until it snapped off. This happened several times as several minutes rolled by, and Talya began to lose her patience, although she said nothing to this effect. Perhaps it showed on her face however, for the man eventually scuttled over to the opposing side of her, and slipped the edge of the canvas onto the frame just as she did with her side, and finally, the dome shaped structure stabilized. "Thank you," the man said as Talya wiped the sweat of her brow with the back of her hands. "Don't mention it." He nodded. "That it?" she asked. "You're not pegging it down?" The man shook his head, leading her to think that perhaps he didn't need to. He was fat enough to keep it down. It was just as well though, as the moon's milky glow; its sliver of light, didn't provide much to work with, and the light of the few campfires seemed far off. So in the end she just smiled now that she had done her work, and moved off to another woman, who looked as though she may have been at least part Benshiran. She had dark eyes, and brown hair. Tanned skin. She was still building her shelter, which was tucked into the shadow of an old oak, where her horse had been tethered. Unlike her own shelter, or even that of the man she had helped, this woman appeared to be building a teepee. "Need some help?" Talya asked as she watched the woman put some of the wooden poles together, and finish off the frame of her teepee. The woman nodded. "What do you need?" "Just help lay out the skin- it's easier with two people." Talya nodded as the woman plucked what appeared to be some sort of cow hide, if not horse hide off the ground. She offered one end to the Ethaefal who took it uncertainly. "Now what?" "We weave it into the frame. You can just hold it if you like, since you haven't done this before, you can just watch for next time." Tal nodded as the woman set to work, guiding the skin over and under the wooden support beams from the top to the bottom of the teepee, pulling it somewhat tight, but not enough so to break the wooden beams. The excess she wrapped around the rest, then tied it somehow to make a door at the end. "All done," she announced, causing Tal to nod and walk away, to look for anyone else who might need help. There didn't seem to be anyone, so she declared her job done and returned to her portion of the campsite, where she had a drink of water, some dried fruit although she was not hungry, and forced herself to go to bed.

[Elias Caldera]

Behold, Your Just Reward!

Talya

Experience and Lore :

Skills

• Wilderness Survival +3
• Planning +2
• Weaving +1
• Socialization +1

Lores

• Wilderness Survival: Setting Up Shelter

Miscellaneous :

Injuries

• None

Loot and Expenses

• None

Comments :

Wish I could give you more for the exemplary amount detail you go into, but alas, my hands are tied. One thing you should note for the future however, is that regardless of how long and awesome it is, I've learned that only a maximum of two skill points can be awarded for a single post. Keep that in mind while you're spacing the next time you do training threads like these. 400-500 is a pretty solid word count to aim for per post.

Don't Forget

Now that your thread is graded, be sure to edit your grade request. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me a private message and we'll work it out together.