Land Down Under (KJDarKnight & Treasure)

whence they had all eaten a watch schedule was set, Badru, Gray then Jonah go give Mathias a break from keeping watch for a night.

They did keep a small fire going in the cave this time, leaving the mouth open to let the smoke out, they would need the fire when the rain came later that night.

As per their usual pairing off Pepper and Peter slept by Mathias while Badru kept watch, Charlie slept near Lynna and Misty slept by Jonah with the excuse of being cold but it was nice if she was being honest.

soon they were sleeping, it had been a long long day.

Justira would get up when Gray took watch and partially heal Peters feet
 
They traveled the next day in the rain. Badru had almost agreed to wait, but they were so close! Even slowed down with the wolf-girl's injuries and the rain, they could easily reach their winter home in the day. He carried Peter as promised even though his feet looked far better in the morning light. Perhaps it had been the fire? And Jonah carried Gray even though the heavy cloud cover eased the effects Gray felt from the sun.

Finally, late afternoon, they reached their new home.

Badru stopped at the edge of a large meadow and pointed. "There. It is there." He had to speak up as a low hum seemed to fill the air, so low that no one had noticed it until it was noticeably loud.

Lynna stepped around him an looked out. The grassy, flowered meadow stretched out in a huge, slightly domed grassland. "Here?" she demanded in disbelief. "Badru, there's nothing here! No shelter, nothing! We are out in the open! Vulnerable!"

"Knew we shouldn't have trusted him to know what we'd need," Jonah grumbled.

Badru waited for their grumbling to subside then started walking around the edge of the meadow. There seemed to be a slight lip that was easy to trip over all along the strangely oval meadow. One en rose up just slightly more than the other, and he followed the trees down to bring them to the opening of what looked like the largest cave any of them had seen above the surface. The inside was sloped in a rounded top leading away smoothly, and the bottom nearly as smooth and flat as man made floors. A low drone sounded as the wind blew through the hollow middle from one end to the other.
 
They were all wet cold sore and hungry so when they saw where Badru had actually lead them, there was visible relief.

"This is perfect Badru" Mathias said as he ducked inside to have a look inside. Didn't look like anything had luved there in a long time
 
Lynna looked down as she walked farther into the cave/tunnel. "The floor looks polished... and that moaning sound... no wonder people think it's haunted."

"No one likes sound. Stays away," Badru told them, gently setting Peter down.

"No, they don't," the wolf-girl growled. She and the wolf had identical looks of disgruntled discomfort as they edged inside. The wolf shook itself off, showering the place with water droplets.
 
"Well that just means we will be all the safer. We will get used to the sound"

The others followed them inside. Peter looked at the floor and up towards the ceiling. Reminded him of something but wasn't sure what. "Plenty of space..can we keep it warm enough?"
 
Badru inclined his head. "The center is very warm. It will be easy to make small walls with what the forest has and blankets. Hides of animals we catch."

"Yeah, I guess there is a lot of potential here," Lynna said thoughtfully. "The floor is still weird. "Did water used to flow through this or something?"
 
"It's possible" Peter said as he looked around "not sure how it isn't flooded now..." he was mesmerized by the place.

"Leta get into dry clothes and get set up for the night. Tomorrow we will figure out everything else" Mathias spoke up. Wet as everyone was and evening coming on they needed to get dry and warm
 
Jonah sighed. "I'll get the fire going."

"Great! How about I start a second one and we put up a curtain between them?" Lynna suggeste. "Girls on one side, boys on the other, we can finally get out of these nasty clothes and change! The best thing about the rain, I feel like I just had a shower."
 
"Good call Lynna" Mathias nodded "You and Charlie get that up. Badru helped me get a line up to hang wet clothes on" the rest free to do what they will.

Misty chose to go help Jonah, or try. She needed to learn survival skills and starting a fire seemed like a good start
 
"What kind of sheets or blankets do you have, Charlie?" Lynna asked as she set down her bag and started unwinding the length of rope she kept there. "And see anywhere we can attach this? Everything is so smooth in here! Might have to go get some sticks and set those up."

Jonah dug out the kindling he'd managed to keep dry as well as a few dry bits of wood. There wasn't an abundance of that, but once it started burning, he could go get more from protected cavities out in the forest.
 
"Just my blanket..I mostly stole food and stuff like that" he admitted. He hadn't considered personal needs much when he had gone after them. "But we can use it for the cuetain" he glanced around "mm I can go haul in some big rocks and long branches" he offered. Always eager to help her out however she needed
 
"Um..." Lynna looked back and forth. "How about you see about getting more blankets, and I'll go grab the sticks and rocks? I think we'll need three blankets, at least, four if you can get them. I'll be right back." She pulled her coat tighter and hurried out into the rain.
Lynna collected four study branches a little taller than herself and two heavy rocks, bringing them in and setting them up at either end of her invisible line between the two fires. She stood up two of the branches like an inverted V and tied the ends together. Situating the branches so they leaned outward and pulled on the rope, she was able to walk back to the other side with the rope and copy the procedure. Now the rope stood steady with the branches playing tug-of-war with each other, but once something heavy got added, they'd collapse inward. So she then tied the branches to the rocks at either end to keep them in place. It looked a bit like the start of a tent. Just add sheets!
 
Between the lot of them they soon had it set up. Despite the hard floor it was nice to be able to rest knowing they wouldn't be travelling again. Their sore muscles and damaged feet could rest though the next day prepping for winter would begin. A different kind of work.
 
Lynna sighed as she started stripping her wet clothes on the girl's side of the curtain. The two fires had heated up the "cave" fantastically, and they burned brightly and gloriously. "You know what we should do tomorrow, Misty?"

On the boy's side of the curtain, the wolf-girl started to undress.
 
"Sleep to our hearts content?" Misty asked as she started to strip off her wet clothes too and hang them to dry.

Mathias noticed and was quick to go over to her "no no, go with the girls" he pointed to the other side of the curtain
 
"Try to fins some kind of giant basin, or something to make a giant basin out of, and make a hot bath," Lynna told her as she wrung out her wet braid.

"Why?" she asked him blankly.

Jonah stared at her. "Exactly how long have you been alone?"
 
"That would be nice" she agreed. Not totally comfortable sitting there naked she used her blanket to wrap around herself like a towel, though her shoulders were still exposed so the nasty scar of a human bite mark was visible

"Not really a priority though" Pepper added, not shy at all as she pulled off her clothes. She had all sorts of scars from her job and from the physical abuse from her now dead ex husband

--

"It's not appropriate for humans. That's the whole reason for the curtain" Mathias said, not sure how to better explain
 
"Oh please, it's totally a priority after everything we've been through," Lynna pointed out as she sort of used her ragged blanket to cover up as she stripped. She wasn't particularly bothered if it slipped now and then, though.

The wolf girl shrugged and walked around to join the girls where she instantly dropped everything except for the bandages around her side and ankle.

Lynna paused, glancing over at the wolf girl. She didn't mean to stare, but the girl obviously didn't care one bit, and she was covered in scars much like Pepper. Except for two faint ones on her upper arm that Lynna didn't notice before. Those two looked suspiciously like the one Misty sported on her neck.
 
"Survival is mor important. Winter is coming. We need to stock supplies so we don't end up like the cannibals" Pepper said seriously, settling down close to the fire to warm up. She glanced up at the wolf girl "how's the ankle?" She asked as if they were friends though they had hardly spoken at all. Not phased by the scars.


Justira of course sat quietly, keeping herself covered, more shy than the others.
 
Lynna heaved a sigh as she slumped down on the other side of the fire. "Your right, but I still think we should take a break. Like a rest day."

The Wolf-girl looked at Pepper, surprised at being addressed. After a moment, she cautiously said, "It heals. Some pain. Not going to die."
 
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