Rock On Gold Dust Woman
12-16-2020, 06:45 PM
Áskell worked his way down to Habari's southern border and into the unclaimed space between Habari and the Armada. He was planning to meet up with Gossamer again and this time work on weapon stuff. On his agenda today was making a dart for a weird thing called an atlatl. Supposedly, he could use this atlatl to throw mini spears called darts.
"Ok, the first thing you need to do is find a straight-ish stick to use for the dart. This isn't a spear. You'll want something light and flexible like a hazel bush stick." Áskell nodded and set out on his mission. He bounced along from tree to tree until he finally found a hazel bush hat had several thinner limbs growing up from its base. Bending his head Áskell chewed off one of the branches then pranced back over to Kári. He quickly set to work stripping off the bark and branches.
12-16-2020, 06:46 PM
Gossamer trotted north, tail wagging as she went. In her mouth she carried a hide bag of assorted bones. That stupid boy didn't think she could make sharp and dangerous things? Ha! She'd show him. Gossamer arrived to see the boy working on a stick while his companion set up a fire. She set her bag down. "I'm here! And with plenty of things to make sharp stuff out of. She pulled out a shoulder blade and set it aside.
Ásta sat down nearby, her tail curling around her paws. "Ok, there's no much to making a spear bonehead. You could chew on it and carve it but starting from a whole shoulder blade will take a lot of time. Set it on something hard and try dropping a good-sized rock on it. You can then select the best fragment."
Gossamer nodded and picked up the scapula before setting it down on a rocky patch of ground. Now she needed a rock to drop on it. I would have to be something she could carry in her jaws. She eventually found a good, round stone which she scooped up in her mouth. When she arrived back at the scapula she got up on a larger boulder and dropped the rock, letting out a cheer when it cracked and smashed bone.
12-16-2020, 06:46 PM
Áskell had jus finished cleaning up his stick when Gossamer showed up with a bag of bones. He smirked. "Good! Maybe we can go test our weapons on a rabbit or something when we're done. See whose is best. Though I need a couple pieces for mine." He was making something super cool and advanced.
The magpie had finished the fire and flew back over to the youth. "Ok, now scrape one end of the stick on a rock to form a point then put it in the fire until it turns black then scrape again. This will help harden and refine the point."
Áskell picked up the stick in his jaws and did exactly as the bird directed him. He scrapped a point on a rock and then bounded over to the fire where he set it in for a few minutes, watching with delight as the wood turned from a light gray brown to black. He'd have been tempted to leave it there to see what happened but he needed to show this girl how weapons were done. Snatching the stick out of the fire he very carefully scraped the point again.
12-16-2020, 06:47 PM
Gossamer thought on the boy's words for a moment then nodded. "Sounds good to me. We can work on a few different items and then whatever we like best we can do a little contest. See who can take out the most rabbits with their weapon." She liked this plan. She was going to show this boy how it was done. Of course, she'd need to really practice. She'd spent most of her time on healing and not on fighting.
Gossamer rooted around through the bone pieces until she found one that was vaguely triangular. She pulled it out of the pile and scooped the rest of the pieces to the side for now before turning to look at Ásta for further instruction. "Ok, now you just star chewing and shaping it into a spearhead." Gossamer nodded. Simple enough. She set the piece of bone between her paws and began to chew on it, working off pieces here and there until i was the shape she wanted.
12-16-2020, 06:48 PM
"Consider it a deal!" With that the unlikely duo worked in silence for awhile, each focused on their own projects. When Áskell was done with the point of his dart he called out to Kári. "Ok, I'm done! What now?" Was this it?
The bird plucked a few of its own feathers and stripped them down the middle. "I have some pine pitch heated in a bowl near the fire. Take a fine stick and use it to apply the feather halves in even thirds around the other end of the dart. This will help it to fly true through the air."
Áskell grinned, now that sounded like fun! He picked up his items and set up near the fire. Taking one of the thinner sticks he'd peeled off his dart in his jaws he held the dart between his paws then dipped the small stick into the pitch. When he had some on he dabbed it on the dart and set the small stick down before picking the feature up and carefully pressing it into the pitch. He waited for it to dry before doing the others. By the end he had a dart that he couldn't wait to test.
12-16-2020, 06:49 PM
Gossamer eyed what Áskell was doing, she was very curious to try that but she didn't want to make it too obvious that she was interested. She could always ask Ásta about it later. Gossy turned her focus back to chewing on the bone to make the spearhead. This part was kind of boring but she knew the bone would hold up better than the ceramic spearheads she had tried in the past.
"Ok, finally done!"
"Ah, not yet. You can refine your work a bit more by running the spearhead over a rock." Gossamer debated if that was really worth it but as she was trying to show up the boy she picked up her project and walked to the nearest rock. Once there she worked at running the spearhead along the rock to sharpen and refine it even further.