5.14

With the food sharing meta established, Haiko handed out three of her freshly cooked skewers to the others.

“Thank you,” August said, taking it from her.

Haiko smiled at the words before sharing another curious glance with Kalter. Either they weren’t used to being treated with basic manners by people outside of their own race, or something else was occurring. August bit into the meat skewer, holding it in his mouth before pulling one of many palm leaves that had been too small or broken for use as the roof.

He ignored the looks he was receiving from the others before orientating it on the ground beside the fire. There were two existing designs that seemed to come as default inside of the [Blueprint] menu—[Leafy Pants] and [Leafy Shirt]. A series of large leaves strung together with vine, and as far as clothing went, it was a pretty simple design.

August removed his [Flint Knife] from his inventory and then cut out a large rectangle from the middle of the palm leaf. It came out less clean around the edges than he’d wanted at first, but that wasn’t something he cared about right now. He placed the offcuts into his inventory again before removing a second palm leaf.

“What are you making, August?” Rittan asked.

“A pair of pants for starters,” August said, after taking hold of the meat skewer and freeing himself up to speak once more. “I’m sick of running around without clothes on.”

“Of course—it is rather distracting, isn’t it?” Rittan admitted after he’d finished swallowing his food. “Would you like some help?”

“If you want to,” August agreed, “We’re going to need more twine; I have enough for maybe two sets?”

“Then twine I shall deliver,” Rittan nodded.

August removed the materials needed to make twine and passed them over to him, and the Voithos set about organising them in his lap—Kalter reached over and stole half of August’s pile of leaves before glancing up at him.

“I don’t have a knife,” Kalter said.

“I’ll make you one tomorrow,” August offered before handing over a large piece of flint for her to use. “Here.”

Kalter took it without a word and then set about cutting the palm leaves into sheets. Haiko slowly drew her hands together in a soundless clap, the motion drawing his gaze before he could catch himself. He lifted his gaze to find Haiko smiling.

“Well, I certainly cannot be the only one running around naked,” Haiko said, amused, “August, may I assist you?”

August just nodded quietly, passing a piece of flint and a new stack of leaves across to her. Then he turned his attention back to his own task. He worked on cutting the leafy sheets out, only stopping to take the next round of cooked meat skewers from Kalter and then Rittan.

Once he had more than enough sheets to make something useful, he began aligning them on the ground. The blueprint’s basic design was more of a vest than a shirt, but given that the temperature on the island wasn’t particularly egregious, he thought it would be fine.

Once everything was lined up, he used his knife to cut a series of small holes in the corners of each sheet. Then he took a piece of twine and threaded it through the holes in the sheet to strap them together—He was left with two long strips of green. He took out a long, thin piece of vine from his inventory and used it to criss-cross between the two sheets to connect them at the back.

With the [Leafy Shirt] complete, he moved it to the side and started on the pants using the same process as before. Align the sheets, cut the holes in the corners, and then thread them together with small pieces of twine. Once he was done, he placed it next to the vest and took in his work.

It felt flimsy in his hands, and he doubted it would survive for too long before needing to be repaired, but at least he had something to cover himself with.

“Lucky it isn’t cold here,” August said, stretching in an attempt to deal with his poor posture. “We’d have had a much harder time collecting fur or whatever else in the snow. Thoughts?”

“The top doesn’t exactly cover much,” Kalter said hesitantly.

August nodded at the point; given that it was essentially two strips of leaves tied up with some string, he wasn’t exactly surprised.

“I appreciate that the top is very open around the sides,” Rittan said, injecting some optimism into the critique. “Conventional clothing can be an issue with our arms—I’m thankful that you took that into consideration, August.”

August shook his head immediately.

“You’re giving me too much credit there, man,” August admitted, “That was the default style—I don’t think I’ve got much of an eye for design in the first place.”

“Even so,” Rittan said easily. “Haiko? What are your thoughts on it?”

“I think it’s adorable,” Haiko said, carefully picking the vest up and holding it against her uncovered chest. “Perhaps a little restrictive around the chest.”

“Uhuh,” Kalter said drly, “August.”

August managed to tear his eyes away from the vest—Kalter was holding her stack of finished sheets out. He took them and placed them down onto the remainder of his own pile.

“Thanks,” August said, taking them. “Going to need some more twine soon—if you feel like making some with Rittan.”

Kalter didn’t respond, but she did help herself to some of Rittan’s supplies—the man took the overt theft with good humour.

“You’re making things now, Kalter?” Haiko said, raising an eyebrow. “A few days on an island, and you’re a changed being.”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” Kalter mumbled, “It’s not that hard to do, and it’s actually useful—do you want me to show you how?”

“I couldn’t imagine denying myself the experience of learning something from you, pet,” Haiko said, smiling.

Kalter huffed at the word but kept her silence as Haiko placed the vest back down and then crawled around the fire to sit beside her. The two began to talk quietly amongst themselves, and August focused on producing more sets of clothing.