Chapter Text
08:48
Hello. I suppose we haven't properly met.
My name is Aoreu. It's a hard to pronounce name, I know. I'm also pretty used to just being called Pinwheel, but it's not my favourite name. I'm a farmer for Eastern District farms. And a former military offhand, but I don't like to talk about it all too much. I don't really like to talk at all, being honest.
Do not confuse me for being mute.
I can speak. Fluently. In French, English and a language you may not know.
I don't know how I got here. All I remember is him showing me something, and thinking that I should join. I insisted, no, no, I shouldn't. People may have more fun than me in this. I'm already about to hit my 40s anyways. I've settled down and I don't want any more adventures. I'm far past my prime, yet he still signed me up. Stubborn little cottonpiece, always dragging people into trouble unwillingly.
All this aside. I'm here, in a birch forest, in a place called Canada.
I was told to make as much honey as I could. I don't know how or why. I can't try with bees, since I'm allergic. I'd be disqualified as dead before I could even have a chance to be disqualified due to killing a bee. I don't wanna risk my life just to make... well, I don't know what monsters of manufacturers I'm up against. So I'm just going to have to create my own way around this, aren't I? This will be a lot to take care of. But, hey. Nothing is exactly impossible, right...?
13:22
I've come to realize. I just learned that this may be impossible. I can't access the bees that can make hone
Nevermind. I can, in fact, do this.
Technically, even if it's not made by bees, I can make my own honey. Specifically dandelion honey. I remember how to make it in my head. Something along the lines of some dandelion petals, lemon, sugar and water. I'll have to freehand it though since I don't have any real recipe at my disposal. You know what else I don't have at my disposal? Cooking supplies. A stove. I'm in the woods with no shelte
Wait. Hold on. I think I see a town nearby.
13:35
I was right. There was a town nearby. Not just a town, but a whole city worth of objects. I'm just entering the edge of the area, I'm pretty sure the place is called 'Thunder Bay'. I wonder how often they get storms to be called that. I also found some money on the floor, which should help me afford some water, sugar, lemons and a pot. I don't need a basket. I can just repurpose my hat. There's a store nearby too. It's called Walmart. I think I should head in there, I'll probably get a good deal.
14:18
Alright. I'm back in the base area. I saw a few others chatting among themselves- I believe their names were Klein Bottle and Nobi (alongside their friend Teotu)? They tried talking to me. I tried my hardest to confidently wave back at them, but I bet it probably didn't come across as a wave. They still seemed to understand, though, and went along their way. I may be a bit screwed, being honest.
Returning to where I was before, I set down my materials. I even managed to get a matchbox to make a fire with, and some containers to put the honey in. I try my hardest to make a good firepit and light it on fire. I just hope it doesn't make any smoke. I don't want to be caught, as I heard that I need something called a fire license. You don't need one of those where I'm from. It seems pretty redundant too, especially if the license is flammable. All this aside, I keep the packet of water bottles right nearby incase I need to put out the fire in a rush. Now? I'm off to go get the dandelions.
Thankfully, due to birch forests having lots of sunlight capable of passing through, there's dandelions galore around here. Removing my hat, I get right to picking the weeds. I make sure there are no bugs on them, however, as that'd be unsanitary. I also want to avoid getting marks taken away for lack of sanitation and increased risks of food poisoning. It'd be bad for the voyage to end early from a host dying of poisoning from a toxic bug. I also want to avoid being a murderer.
God. There are lots of dandelions.
14:56
Okay. I'm getting hand cramps. I'm also certain I've been bitten by a bug or two, and I've already started making some of the honey. I've made around two gallon buckets?. Time to head back to the fire pit. I'm gonna have to take a small break.
16:03
Important lesson learned today!
Never leave your fires unattended for more than 10 minutes at a time. I feel ashamed to even admit what I just did. Oh, for the love of all things graceful, I did some of (but not all of) the only things you don't want to do when cooking in the wilderness. To summarize.
I went out of view from the fire. I had already made a two-gallon bucket worth of honey. I had absolutely overshot what I originally intended to do. I was starting to get confident in what I could've possibly done, right? But as soon as I return, I find that there's a decently large patch of grass on fire due to my little spot having been knocked over. It certainly wasn't by another contestant. No bees harmed either, I checked twice. I ended up resulting to sacrificing some water for my honey to stop the fire as well as stomping it out. This isn't where it ends, though. There's more madness.
Shortly after repairing the fire, I leave again. At this point I've resealed the buckets so they can't be infested and hid them somewhere safe. I end up leaving for a small while more, holding my hat as a basket still (it's been through worse, being honest). I turn around after around five minutes being away, and I see a huge smoke cloud rising. From where? You guessed right.
My fire.
So after rushing back, I realise I'm a bit too late. Some non-voyager local saw the smoke and must've called the cops or fire department, because I saw flashing lights nearing my location. In a scramble to avoid a fine, I shoved nearly everything in a bush and tried to climb a tree to hide. But unfortunately, birch trees aren't the best for climbing. So I ended up just running in a direction blindly. Once more, this wasn't the end of the story.
Trying to return to my fire, I end up encountering two police officers. One was a charging wire, the other was a plastic bottle. These two figures seem vaguely familiar to me, but that's beside the point. They weren't aware that I was the one that nearly burned down the forest and caused the smoke cloud, so they took me to the side to interrogate me. I was asked a few things, such as:
- "Did you see the suspect of who did this fire?" to which I answered "No, I'm just a hiker."
- "Do you have anything to do with this?" to which I answered "I only saw some smoke, didn't think too much of it. Maybe there was a cabin nearby."
- "Can you give us your phone number in case we need to call you as a witness in court?" to which I answered "I'd rather not."
Of course, I didn't respond with such confidence. I was trembling, but the police dismissed it as just a confused hiker being scared. I hate lying to the police, but I had to, just to get out of this hurtle. Eventually, they left the scene. I went to check up on the bucket. It were perfectly fine and unharmed. I'm still shocked it didn't spill or snap since it was for cheap quality. All this panic aside, as of right now, I'm currently waiting for the second batch to cool.
17:20
Alright. I'm not doing any more. I've mass manufactured enough dandelion honey to feed myself for a few years. Time to bring this to. Wait. Where are we supposed to bring these to? I'll just assume it's where we first landed.
17:46
That wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done. I forgot that honey is a lot more dense than water, even if human made and not by... well, bees. I don't know if they'll even count this as honey or not since it's not from a hive. I think it's worth a shot though, it's... okay, taste wise. I don't know what I'll do for shelter... maybe I'll just follow someone from my tribe. Sword and Shield might know somewhere to stay.
Until tomorrow or another day, my newfound, paper-made companion.