Swimming, Fishing and Making Plans

"Now the key to spearfishing is to aim where the fish will be, not where it appears to be nor where it actually is. That's what makes it difficult. You have to factor in the refraction as well as the fishes thinking ahead of time and anticipate it. So you're going to miss a lot at firs-"

Knives jabbed downward with the spear and pulled it up with a fish on the end. "I got one!"

Roman blinked. "No way."

"Hahaha!" She laughed happily showing him with a grin. "Yes way!"

"Beginners luck," he said taking the fish off the end of the spear for her and sticking it in the bag. "There's no way you'll be able to do that a second-"

Knives stabbed downward again, then laughed pulling up another fish. "See? This is easy!"

Roman rolled his eyes but smirked taking the bag they were using to hold the catch and handing it to her. "Yeah, okay. Then you're on fishing duty. Try not to catch all of the fish in the ocean, alright? We might want some tomorrow. Maybe we can try salting or smoking them or something but that'll require some more prep work." He did like watching her sexy little body in action, particularly her butt when she lunged, but- "I'll take a swim, see what I can gather and maybe push them your way. Deal?"

"Deal!" She said happily grinning in her victory and in mastering the basics of the art of spearfishing.

Roman shook his head and waded deeper, taking off the shirt and his hat and tossing them to shore with a practiced hand. He dove into the crystal waters and started swimming around. The cave side of the secluded cove was fairly shallow but it got deeper further out. There was the possibility of shellfish and different mollusks. With the right materials he might be able to devise some traps and nets they could use.

He swam further out to the opening in the natural rock wall out into the ocean proper. It was just right for boats or canoes... or even a small ship. He grabbed onto the rocks and looked up. The tip of the cliff above could just be seen. That meant anyone looking down wouldn't be able to see much from above. Just a few rocks and water at most. The area was naturally well hidden. If they were careful it could stay that way for sometime.

It was a nearly perfect spot, and they were lucky to have found it, but it did have drawbacks. Mainly bringing anything back was going to be problematic. Until they devised something like a canoe or outrigger everything would either have to be swum or ferried into or out of the camp... or snuck past the guardian at the top which was not a good prospect really. Even if it were possible he'd be loathe to do it and agitate their neighbor too much. Conversely while likely to keep people away for the short and possibly the middle term, long term it was likely to draw people seeking to challenge it and explore the Caverns.

Roman shook his head and started swimming back. That was a problem for another day and he felt the benefits of a fairly secure and hidden early starting Basecamp with some resources far outweighed the drawbacks for now and likely would well into the future.

The next most immediate concern was finding a source of fresh water and more dry wood for feul and working with. Their supply of each was both finite and low... which was not good.

The cove's beach only had so much dry driftwood and after building their rudimentary shelter they only had enough left for firewood for a few days at most. He didn't want to cut down their few trees. They were an important potential source of nuts, fruit, leaves and natural shade. If they were going to keep using wood they'd A) need to get it from the rest of the island and B) figure out a way to transport some of it.

That last was tricky. If he could get some logs, without attracting attention, and use his illusion he could, possibly, hide floating them out on the tide. In theory it was possible but he'd never exerted it that particular way and in those particular conditions before. Maintaing concentration, while fighting the waves and possibly the tide if he timed it wrong, while pushing a log? It sounded difficult... and then there was several other problems.

Any potential firewood needed to be dry. The drier the better to burn well and not make too much smoke to give away their position. That meant finding and gathering as much drywood as possible. Transporting from the forest to the beach, then from the beach to their camp and going unnoticed while doing so and keeping it as dry as possible? A difficult proposition to say the least.

He saw Knives waving to him and he hid his frown waving back and diving. He thought better when he was moving. They could make a basic raft lashing a few logs together to ferry supplies? Of course that would require felling multiple logs, materials to lash them together and working without being noticed on the beach. Not likely. A dugout canoe or outrigger would be better. Require less material, be faster and less clumsy to pilot, easier to conceal... but would take as much if not more time and labor and thus increase their chances for attracting notice.

Not that they could realistically go long avoiding that chance. The dangers of the island. It's trials, challenges and Characters... he felt reasonably confident about their chances. Other competitors however were the wild card this time out. The game had never had so many before and that changed the dynamic drastically. "Never underestimate the danger of people," his father would say... and he was right. Smart or stupid, brave or cowardly and everything in-between... people were the unknown "X" factor. Always. And this time out they were the biggest unknown on the island. They could only avoid people for so long. Even if they were lucky awhile it wouldn't hold. They'd have to adapt and develop their tactics to that deal with them sooner rather than later.

And there was another problem... a lack of tools. He'd need to either gather or construct some tools for their use. They'd need them for gathering and processing more materials as well as further construction. Thankfully he knew how. His father was in many ways the survival expert... and Roman really enjoyed and was good at that sort of thing. And he had the ultimate tool already in his opinion.

His father was an expert with multiple tools and weapons but favored simplicity and reliability. A simple revolver and his knife. A lot of people thought of his father as a gunslinger type and he was... but his real skill, like his mother, was honing his body and fighting with it and his mind in conjuction with a supremely reliable basic weapon. With those things in Harmony the person themselves was the ultimate weapon.

His father's knife was a nigh invincible cheat tool capable of many things despite it's simplicity. Roman had chosen similarly. His cane was an item his father had created upon finding an incredible material. It was basic in its form but not it's utility and he had trained with it extensively under his mother's guidance. Cane fighting, Bartitsu, Kendo and many other stick disciplines. He could use it like a wooden sword, a club, a hook, a short staff or a rod.

And with it's nigh indestructible nature it was the perfect hard surface for knapping with. Again he'd need to find the right kinds of rock and materials to work with but he'd be able to make stone axes, adzes, hatchets, knives, arrowheads and other items... if they couldn't find some.

There was also the TRS. He could perhaps buy some of the items they needed. But at what price? A decent tool would not be cheap. A whole boat or canoe would certainly be even more expensive. Possibly costing almost everything he'd just aquired. Not that he minded if it became a worthwhile investment but he deemed it not worth currently contemplating. Tokens should be saved as much as possible for use in emergencies he felt... or for trading.

One of the guys earlier had a axe. Even the other guy had a cutlass which was a multipurpose tool as much as it was a weapon. Doubtless others had chosen other survival tools. Saws, augers, picks, shovels, hammers and chisels all had practical survival applications. But that also meant making contact with the other contestants, either violently or peacefully.

Honestly, this early in the game, he preferred the former. Most would be individuals or small groups like earlier and he didn't mind conflict with reasonable odds of success. A little clever thinking and even three to one odds could be reasonably swayed. But the longer the game went on the stronger the remaining opponents one would encounter. Also the likelihood of running into people with multiple strong characters increased or worse... a massed group of challengers backed by a powerful leader with a **** of strong characters at their disposal.

That was why a lucky early start was so beneficial. He had his first Character already as well as a Basecamp. He was likely among those who were now ahead of everyone else either by luck or skill. It was important to stay that way and that meant working on capitalizing on their advantages. Which meant either working on improving their situation or capitalizing on gains.

"Heya," Knives said seeing him swimming back. "I caught two more! How'd it go?"

Roman smiled. "Not bad. I collected some mussels and edible seaweeds. There's likely other bivalves and creatures we can also subsist on. I also decided on our next course of action. I think we should go raiding and the sooner the better. Maybe starting either late tomorrow night or in the early morning after."

Knives looked thoughtful and surprised him by nodding. "Alright if you think that's best. Why not tonight or in the early morning?"

He smiled. "Well that was easy. Sure we can do that if you're up for it but I think securing and exploring our base of operations is of the immediate concern. You always come off so sweet and innocent... it's easy to forget that you're used to fighting for what you want."

"I'm not that innocent!" She said winking at him and sticking out her tongue playfully before jerking her thumb towards the shore. "Let's cook these up and eat!"

Roman hummed and shook his head taking the bag and spear. "I got this. You caught them. Go on and swim around a bit if you like while you have the opportunity, ok?"

"Really? That's so sweet of you!" She asked and seeing him nod she did too then grinned and quickly stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "You know... you'll make someone a really great wife someday!"

"Go on before I change my mind," he said swatting her butt as she shrieked and giggled running away.

But they were both smiling. Enjoying the friendly flirting and each other's company seemed to just come easily to them.

Roman smiled building a small fire and cleaning and fileting the fish while watching Knives swim about. Infact he was enjoying the show a lot! Her splashing about. The way the water clung to her skin and sparkled in her hair and-

"Ow," he said softly accidentally nicking himself not paying attention. He sucked the tiny cut until the bleeding stopped watching her. "Fuck," he said looking down. His dick had gotten hard again and was seemingly saying, "Exactly."

"Toilet," he said picking up the knife again as Knives splashed around. "Or outhouse or somekind of privy. Gonna need something like that sooner rather than later... and a private space to rub one out... or... fuck."

He frowned as he'd done it again which wasn't like him at all. "Gotta explore the rest of the cavern system too. Maybe make some kind of tripwire alarms," he mumbled sucking his new cut. "And maybe make a kitchen partition for "distractions"."

[Roman Stark and Knives Chau

Will Return In

Exploring the Caverns Until A Slimy Situation

Coming Soon]