SD 08/27/05 - "When Nature Calls and It's a Wrong Number" - At least we have some meat and a little fire. But if we don't keep the latter dry, only Lynx and Tarra will have the stomach for the former.
Just a few hours into our stay, and I got a most unwelcome reception from the native wildlife - parasites. I had to remove a few ticks from my body. Getting the impression we'd have to sleep in the trees to avoid them at night, I began building a platform on a tree, or what some would call a "treehouse." Lacking boards, I got some thick branches and the rope we've been making. Lera and Droolin helped, after she knocked him down when he began groping her. Maybe this is a sign she's taking this seriously. Ben Dover tried to help, but he kept falling on the sticks and breaking them. Half was trying to get her shoe back from some animated slime mold. Lynx, Tarra, and Lott went out hunting to get something more than just bone marrow.
After I had gotten a fair ammount of platform finished, another problem hit me in the gut - litterally. Microorganisms in the water had given me a case of "the runs." I rushed down and to some bushes well away from the water. The only good news was there was a plant that provided a subsitute for toilet paper. Unfortunetly, it looked like corncobs and felt like it too.
Droolin and Ben Dover also had to make quick trips. Droolin, however, came back with a little something. He had the body of some woodchuck-like animal. Taking a look at it, the face look contorted as if it died from shock. No, it couldn't be ...
It was about this time that the hunting party arrived empty-handed, apparenty having been tracking the animal Droolin got. Then the dark clouds overhead let loose. Rain began to fall, and lightning struck a tree, setting it afire. It must have been more serious than I thought. I never heard Lynx shriek in fear like that.
We finally kept it dry from a makeshift tent made from partially our suit fabric and partially some oversized leaves. I heard something about the hunting party tracking a bunch of oversized rabbits, and thr trail disappeared at a boulder as if they were transported. How odd. How could that have happened, especially since there's not supposed to be anyone else here.
I've also noticed a bit of tension between Tarra and Lynx. Someting tells me all that time of Lynx's taking advantage of the Kzinrette's gentle nature is starting to backfire on her.