I Am Alone

Chapter Ten: Laying the Foundations

Yeah, this is not working anymore.

The cave had done well to suit our needs when it was just the three of us, now with a fourth member, it's starting to get crowded.

I've stepped on Crimson's tail who knows how many times. She was really starting to not like me, she would always slink out of sight when I was near, and she always flung her tail at my face.

"That's It. I'm building a base of operations." I say finally, after Fang pummels me to death with his furiously wagging tail.

"Not to burst your bubble, but how? You're not an architect." Aphmau gives me sass, but I'm too fed up at this point to care.

"I'll think of something, we need space to build stuff anyway, and I'm getting tired of sleeping on the ground." I reply, walking outside into the snow, it had stopped snowing for now, and I looked over the book that I had stashed into my pack.

There was a map of the island, it was huge, we were in the northern coast, over the mountain was a redwood forest surrounded by swamps and jungle, the southern coast was dotted with islands, a tropical paradise.

But I had to do with what I had been given, and I stashed the book back into my stash, it had nothing about building a house.

I sharpen a stone and carve an axe head out of it, I tie it down to a short, thick stick with fiber.

Testing out my axe, I go up to the nearest tree and give the axe a good swing.

The axe stays together, and now there was a big dent into the tree, I smile as I continue hacking at the base of the tree, the trunk creaking with every hit.

Aphmau came out to see what all the noise was about and laughed at the sight of me cutting down a tree.

"Didn't know you were a lumberjack." She yells above the sound of my hacking, and after what seems like hours the tree starts to fall.

"Timber!" I shout and Aphmau laughs as the tree almost falls on top of me, landing with a concussive crash.

Aphmau makes her own axe and stands beside me, smirking and twirling the axe in her hands.

"This'll go faster if we both do this, we'll need a foundation for starters, if you're serious about this." I give her a surprised and amused look, my grin turning into a smirk.

"I didn't know you were an architect." I say in the same sarcastic tone she used earlier, and she rolls her eyes.

"I'm not, I just know the basics, I'll start building the foundation, you keep downing trees, I'll see if I can get Fang and Crimson to help me." She walks to the shore and tries to find a good spot to start building, once she finds a good place nestled between the hill and the sea, she starts marking places for the foundation.

I watch her out of the corner of my eye as I start hacking on another tree, this one goes a bit faster, now that I know what I'm doing.

Once she finished marking the base of the house she starts splitting the trunk I cut down earlier into logs, I thought that she would need my help, but she did it without breaking a sweat. I'm mildly impressed, though I shouldn't be surprised at this point.

She drags the logs over to the place she marked and lays the logs down in between the places she marked, she was planning something big, and by the looks of it multiple rooms.

The tree I'm hacking at tumbles over, but I'm so distracted watching her I barely notice, and I stand hacking air for a few seconds before I realize what I'm doing.

She's now over by the water, getting big chunks of stone from a rock, and gathering clay from the frigid water.

We both work until we have a flat, stable foundation to build on, and I look, impressed at her work.

"I gotta admit, using the clay as cementing paste was genius, we have to wait till it dries until we do anymore though." I lay my hand on her shoulder, and she sighs, I can tell she's tired.

"Yeah, it should be dry by the time we wake up in the morning. " She doesn't bat it away, instead she leans back into my arm, making me jump at the sudden contact, she had gotten more affectionate since we shared what we remembered.

We had figured we were in a serious relationship before we came here, but we decided to see what happens now, see if those feelings are still there. If they are, great. We can sort that out, If they aren't, Well....

That would make only one of us who didn't feel that way, as I am starting to feel at least protective of her. And that's transforming into borderline crush territory.

I dully remember a sister, I can't remember her name, but I know that I have a family.

"You sure are determined aren't you." She asks,  looking up from her place on my arm, I grin stupidly, and she giggles, it sent me into a place of light and calmness.

"I'll take that as a yes." She rolls into my chest. As it was late, it was starting to get unbelievably cold, even with our clothes made for it.

"Woah. Your so warm! Your like a living furnace!" She wraps her tiny form around me,
Getting as close as she can to my warm, fuzzy parka.

I'm getting hotter by the second, but I force myself to act natural, and I curl my black cloak around her back like a blanket, she looks up at me curiously.

"H-Hey! What are you-" She's bright pink, and I chuckle innocently and ruffle her hair. Although I'm red as a beet, I don't let her notice.

"You're cold right? We should probably head inside." I take her gloved wrist and gently pull her to the cave, she doesn't fight me, and I hear a squeaky little yawn along with our footsteps crunching in the snow.

Fang and Crimson are already asleep, Crimson tucked under Fangs head, him using her as a pillow.

I pull her down to sit with me, using Fang as a mattress, I pull a hide and pelt blanket over the both of us, and restoke the fire, tonight was going to get really cold.

She looks at me, the blanket, and Fang, and she cracks a genuine smile, one that was rare from her usual sarcastic smirk.

I flip through the book as she tries to get comfortable next to me, it's not like either the blanket or Fang was small, and she could have been all the way across the cave if she wanted to, but she didn't, she stayed seated next to me, her body only a few feet away.

I wish I had my reading glasses, as my vision, although not poor by any means, I had a hard time reading small words. And this was not only small but in cursive.

"Raptor, don't a...approach unless..... skilled..... enough to handle." I feel stupid, I can read just fine, but I pretty much have to guess what words are because they are so damn tiny.

"Um.... Are you having trouble reading?" Aphmau asks, hovering her head above my shoulder looking into the book.

"No. I just... can barely see what I'm reading. I need glasses."'I admit, and she giggles a little bit.

"So... your a ripped dork?" She smirks and starts laughing when I give her the look of death.

"I'm not a dork! I just need glasses to see words okay?!" I whine, suddenly going on the defensive, and she just continues laughing.

"Mhmm. Okay.....Dork."