- September 2022 Prompt -
The heat of summer has finally broken, and the cooler winds of autumn are finally rolling in, much to the relief of some. What was once green and lush has become a brilliant of tapestry of burning oranges and reds as trees and plant-life begin to prepare for the inevitable arrival of winter. Still, there's plenty of time before the bitter cold! Some crops thrive during this period of cooler weather, larders to stock, and homes to reinforce to keep out the chill of the night. The more nomadic sorts may be considering scouting out a good place to hunker down once the snows finally arrive.
What is your 'taur doing now that fall is here? Are they busy harvesting or otherwise preparing? Are they simply enjoying the change in season? The cooler temperatures do make hot food and drinks that much more delectable, after all...
What is your 'taur doing now that fall is here? Are they busy harvesting or otherwise preparing? Are they simply enjoying the change in season? The cooler temperatures do make hot food and drinks that much more delectable, after all...
With the cooler months beginning to set in was a good reminder for Tykhe to set about looking for a more permanent shelter. After some days of searching his hooves brought him back here. With all the trees around it turning their leaves he almost didn't recognize the place at first. This cave was a place that he had first come across some months ago now when he'd been looking for refuge from a particularly nasty downpour. Finding had a very fortunate stroke of luck, help from a benevolent spirit, or both. He hadn't been inclined to question it in any case.Provided it was still uninhabited this would do nicely. It was well situated with a stream and decent sources of food nearby. He could build up garden and a vegetable beds in the Spring as well. Though the last was quite getting ahead of himself at the moment.
He had to pick away at some decaying vines over the entrance with his hands and a knife. So far this was a promising sign that nothing else had made it's home here in the interim. Inside he was met with moss, mushrooms and windblown leaves. Some careful scraping and a broom would take care of all of that. There were no tracks - animal, taurian or otherwise - so he headed further inside. The cave in itself wasn't terribly large. It was big enough to be liveable in the short term and he could expand upon it and build something larger in the future. Tentative plans were already forming as he scanned the space a second time.
For now it was best to start with some kind of a shelter for the cave mouth, to keep out the wind and the snow once things really started to get cold.
It had been a few hours now but Tykhe had a plan hashed out for the basic structure. A wide angled roof that hugged the front of the cave and provided a bit of an overhang and several beams to support it. The framing and roof base would be built mostly from wood and maybe he could find some turf to cover the roof? That would be solid enough to hold off the snow. He could focus on making it more appealing once everything was proved to be sound and unlikely to leak.
But he did have some ideas for that already. Another frame around the cave entrance to make a neater doorway for one, that along with the columns he could carve designs into. Smooth stones packed into the earth to serve as a stable floor outside the entrance. And those were just the beginning.
But first things first he had a fair bit of cleanup to do before anything else. He dropped his tools just inside the cave, keeping only his knife and axe for the time being. The rest of those vines on the outside needed to go, along with any big plants or rocks in the near vicinity.
This would be a big project for him alone, but as long as he finished the important parts before the first snow that was good enough for him.
-fin
528 words.