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Day 2

Well, guess some problems resolve themselves after all. I woke up this morning, and first thing I noticed after sitting up was my fingers. They didn't hurt as much, and the black has faded from them. I can even move them all again! Weird, I was always told that they were pretty much a lost cause once they got like that. They still look fucked up and have a dark tinge, but they're healing.

Took a dip in the pool or whatever that place with the waterfall is called. My toes don't look as bad as they were feeling the day before. Guess those are healing too. Too bad about the bigass crack in my beak, though. That's gonna need staples at best, and THAT I'm not looking forward to.

I decided today would be the day I figure out how to make fire. After drying myself off best I could and getting dressed (except for my shirt, which I rinsed out in the pool and hung up to dry for most of the day), I sat down in my makeshift shelter to try to remember back to flight camp.

Most of our time was spent in the clouds, but a couple times a month we'd go camping down on the ground, in the woods. Flyers needed to learn the basics of survival too, y'know. I vaguely remember there was this thing we did with a stick and some twine we'd use like a bow to spin another twig really fast. How did that go again?

It was right around then that I leaned back too far and nudged the side of my shelter, causing it to fall down and bury me under the tarp. Yeah no, this isn't going to work in the long term. Gonna need to either find a more permanent shelter or build one, and I really don't wanna bust my ass trying to build a house.

I took some time to get my tarp shelter set back up, and I tried to be a bit more careful about it than I was last night. Should be a little sturdier now. Once that was sorted and my shirt was dry enough to put back on, I went back out in the jungle to find someplace else to stay.

I covered more ground today. Also had enough of my strength back to take flight a couple times, just to peek out the canopy. This island's fucking huge. Aside from the big rocky mountain in the distance, it's like a sea of treetops. I landed on one of those twisted branches on my way back, to see if I could follow it back to the ground. Had to jump off about halfway down, else I was gonna get lost. These trees are knotted together to make a big maze!

Further in I was able to find a break in the trees to some tall grass. It's about knee deep, and there were more animal paths worn into it.

Speaking of which, I haven't seen any large animals still. I've seen and heard plenty of brightly colored birds, and there's been a fair few insects buzzing around me. That's getting annoying, and the last thing I need is to die of malaria after everything else that's happened.

Whatever, something is making these trails, and I'm sure I'll find it eventually. I followed them into the grass a ways, but I decided to go back to the beach and follow the shoreline some more. I can come back later while I'm looking for food. Saw some low-standing plants in the grass with fruit that might be edible. Will have to check that.

I finally found what I was looking for after walking the beach for a couple of hours. The ground sloped up ahead to form a sheer wall of rocky cliffs. There was enough beach in front of the cliffs for me to take a closer look. From there I saw a bunch of cave openings in the rock.

Those caves MIGHT be what I'm looking for. I'll have to poke around in there a couple of times to make sure there's nothing dangerous in there. That'll take a few days at least. For now, though, I needed some lunch and to get a fire started.

Okay, my firemaking skills aren't exactly great. I was able to get a couple coconuts open without spilling the water inside. But I'm gonna need some solid food in me soon, particularly meat. A girl needs her protein. That, and it gets chilly at night. Not as cold as it was on the boat, but still.

I put some sticks around a large branch, then I tried scraping a dent in the wood. Stuff from Junior Speedsters started coming back to me while I worked, and I figured if I could get enough friction I'd set stuff on fire.

After an hour of effort and some new cuts on my hands, I realized I should probably be using something lighter as tinder to get things started. That's when I remembered my winter jacket was full of cotton stuffing. One split open sleeve later, and I had a bunch packed around the stick. I took strips of the fabric to tie to another stick, so I could do that bow thing.

No clue what I'm doing wrong. I must've been at it all day. At least one of the sticks was sturdy enough to get the meat out of the coconuts. Made for a pretty lame dinner if you ask me.

Oh well, I'll hopefully figure this shit out soon. I almost got it, and I'm not about to back down from a challenge! There's at least one pegasus I know who wouldn't.

Least today didn't completely suck, and hopefully it'll suck even less tomorrow. Right now I'm just gonna watch the sun set, then get some sleep.

-Gilda