Neither Lovely Nor Yours

Chapter 3 - First Home

Morning had broken, like the first morning.

Sun beams shone through the crevices in the oak leaves as Stampy placed chopped wood in his inventory. The sonorous waves of a nearby pond floated into his tall pointed ears, drawing him to the sparkling deposit.

"This is quite interesting," Stampy cooed. "Maybe I could work this into a build."

He climbed into the hole and dipped his paws in. The water was warm and calm. A cod swam toward Stampy, floating beside his legs.

Stampy lunged forward and caught the fish with his claws.

"Craig, look, I caught a fish!" shouted Stampy. It wiggled about with a pierced stomach until it inevitably perished.

"Ooh, you're fishing for food, I see."

"Would you like any?" Stampy asked.

"Nah, I'm not too fond of cod. You can have it."

Stampy's eyes lit up. He bit right into its chest, chewing very loud in his usual Stampy fashion.

"What the-!" Craig gasped. "At least cook it first! You'll get sick!"

Stampy laughed, and Craig started laughing with him.

"You're such a weirdo, Stamps." Craig teased.

Stampy returned a smile as he continued to eat the cod. The man in the blue sweater ran off to search for wild wolves.

A nearby hill seemed like the perfect place to begin construction for the house. Stampy ran up there and outlined the perimeter with sticks.

Hm, Stampy thought. What sort of things would fit in a house?

The first thing that came to mind was a workbench, so he molded a log into a table about half his size. He drew a grid on its top face with coal and added a few wooden tools on its side. It was perfect.

What about a door? Stampy took some pieces of bark and set them on his workbench, crafting some hinges and a tiny little window hole. Before he knew it, he had constructed a perfect oak door.

Chests. Everyone needs a place to put their items, it's essential! Stampy carved a hole into a plank and set it down inside the perimeter he'd built.

Then he gazed up to the sky and realized the Sun had moved a bit since the last time he checked. Remembering he only had a few hours of sunlight left, he vowed not to waste them today.

Building took a while. Between converting the logs to planks, measuring to make sure the length was right, gathering and applying clay beneath the foundation, and actually placing blocks down, it sure felt like he was playing the long game. But he couldn't deny, it was fun.

He was sure the house was going to be finished by nighttime, until he dug into his inventory and only found dirt.

"I think I made my house too big," he murmured to himself.

In a moment of quick improvisation, he packed the dirt together with clay and started working on a roof just barely tall enough to fit him. He moved his paw around in his inventory to grab more dirt, only to realize he actually did have more wood all along.

"What am I on about?" Stampy joked. "I built this roof out of dirt, I could've just used wood for the whole thing!"

By the time he was done, the beautiful orange hue of the sky was beginning to deepen into a starlit indigo. The darker the sky, the darker his house became. For good measure, he hung a couple lanterns from the ceiling and hoped they wouldn't set his house ablaze.

The cat peeked his head out the door. "House's done!"

From behind him, the ginger lad cleared his throat.

"Oh, you're just back there. Come in, I'll give you a tour."

Craig crouched down while walking in. Stampy found this to be humorous, joking that the two of them would develop a hunchback after spending so long in this house.

"I think it could use more stuff," Craig suggested.

"Like what?"

Craig pulled a furnace out of his inventory. "It's a bit rudimentary, most of it is just stone, but it cooks things pretty well and that's what matters."

"I have coal, if you need any."

"Perfect! We could cook some porkchops and have a nice little picnic."

"Is it still a picnic if it's indoors?" Stampy asked.
Craig paused to think. "We're on grass right now, so... maybe? Personally, I think it counts."

"In that case, all we need is a picnic blanket."

Without a moment of hesitation, Craig pulled a knitted blanket with a gingham check out of his satchel and placed it on the ground.

Stampy nodded. "I see you've been planning this for a little while."

"Thought it'd be nice." Craig chucked a pork chop into the furnace. Stampy filled the fuel slot with coal, and the two of them lit it together.

They talked as the meal cooked.

Seated comfortably on the floor, Stampy initiated the conversation. "How's wolf-searching been going?"

"Not well," Craig remarked. "None of them want to follow me back, and even the ones that do only want to because they're angry."

"That's a shame."

"We should put a sign up outside. With our names on it."

"But what about the googlies?"

"Easy fix, one of us guards while the other writes."

"Ooh, I like that idea."

Craig ran to the door and pulled it open. "We'll put it outside the house! I'll write first."

Stampy ran outside. Brandishing his sword, he scanned every direction to ensure a clear coast.

"My name's done, now you."

Stampy knelt down to be at eye level with the sign. The top half of it read Crimson Azoth. He grabbed a piece of coal and added on below his signature.

and
Stampy's
First Shelter

"Alright, let's get back inside. We don't want any googlies to see us."

As they stepped in, the two suddenly became aware of the smell of burnt pork chop wafting into their noses.

"THE PORK!" Craig squealed. "I forgot we were cooking it!"

He put on some wool mittens and yanked the burnt pork out of the furnace. Ash and smoke followed, fogging up the house. They both went into a fit of coughing for a few seconds, until some of the smoke made it out the door.

"...should've installed some windows," Stampy sputtered.

"Sorry, that was completely on me."

"No worries, we can just eat tomorrow."

"What if we went to Crimcity and ate there? I have a few meals stockpiled in our chests."

"That would be delightful!"

"Alright, wake me up tomorrow and I'll take you. All this searching has started to make me tired."

"I get that," Stampy replied. "I've just been building all day, I haven't done something like this before at this scale so I had no idea what I was doing."

"I mean, if I could figure out how to build my own city, I'm sure you'll have no problem either. Anyway, good night Stampy."

"Night, Craig!"

Stampy slept as snug as a bug in a rug that night. Admittedly, the cat bed was still pretty comfortable.