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 Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:23 pm
 The day had dawned bright and clear and Kaliri was up at the crack of dawn to greet it, yesterday it had rained and the weather had put a damper on playing - but she and Fairbreeze had come up with a great idea while trying to starve off the boredom and she was excited now to put it to use. "Come on Fair!" She urged her brother - bouncing around a fashion which might be suited to Lapin one of the Usdia foals in the herd.
"It's bright and sunny and perfect!" She went on, prancing around and nudging her brother. They had already asked permission to go out on this mission and as long as they stayed in the herds territory they were allowed to build a Fort Foal. Later on they would have to come up with a better name for it - but for the moment it could stay Fort Foal, well you know once it was built....IF she could get her brother to hurry up.
"Coooommmmeee ooonnnnnnnn!" She complained to her sibling "Your wasting the daylight!" Never mind that the day had barely started - she'd heard her mother tell such things to her father before and it seemed like an apt comment to make in this situation.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:24 pm
 Though his sisters enthusiasm was contagious, and honestly Fairbreeze was pretty darned excited about this project himself, the colt let out a yawn and gave his muscles a stretch. Glancing at the sun, which was still partially tucked behind the horizon Fairbreeze shook his head and turned to his sister. "It is a perfect day." He agreed, as long as it didn't get too hot in the afternoon. But they could always take a break in the shade if needed, or if they managed to get enough work done quick, in their Foal Fort. Getting to his hooves Fairbreeze gave himself a shake, ridding his pelt of small bits of grass and dirt.
"Alright let's go." He told his sister and set off at a brisk pace. Once they were further away from the still sleeping herd he was able to talk more freely and no longer half whispering. "Just remember what father said, we can't rush building it. Gotta make sure it's sturdy." Their father had warned that a hastily built fort could collapse and if they were inside when that happened they would get hurt. Fairbreeze didn't want that to happen, not to him but especially more so not to his sister. Glancing towards her he was exciting that this project was just between the two of them. Falcon was still grounded, in a number of ways, so their brother wasn't allowed to leave the sight of the adults.
"We need to find a good spot for it. Where did you want to look first?" Last night they had discussed some possibilities of where to build it, with their father lending some advice, but they had not settled on a specific location yet.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:42 pm
As they trotted along Kaliri was also considering the advice they had gotten from their father the night before. Their mother had been a bit less excited by the prospect and had done little but warn them not to get to dirty. Kaliri would try of course but she wasn't sure how they could build a proper fort and not get at least a little bit dirty in the process...
And then a great idea dawned on her and she paused, whirling about to face her brother "I know! Lets go and see if we can find a spot by the stream - it has to be far enough back that it won't flood of course, but that we can get a drink when it's hot and clean up afterwards so mother won't be mad!" She suggested. Kaliri was sure that her larger brother would agree to this suggestion "And we can dig up some of the wildflowers that grown along the banks to put near it too..we'll have the most amazing foal fort ever!"
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:01 pm
The stream! It was a perfect spot. There were plent of spots that a fort could be build, there were many groups of trees along the stream edge, and like Kaliri pointed out they could drink and clean up with little effort. Fairbreeze smiled widely at his sister. "That's a great idea Kaliri! I'm sure we'll find just the right spot once we get to the stream." Reaching out he nipped playfully at her shoulder and then started to run a bit faster. "Hurry up, you're wasting daylight." He told her in a half joking, half mocking tone.
It didn't take them long to reach the stream and after stopping to take a quick drink they were ready to find a spot to build their foal fort. "It's got to be someplace good." He spoke, not directly to his sister but more announcing his thoughts that anything else. "But it's gotta be hidden too, don't want others using our fort unless we want them to." His eyes were scanning everything as they walked along, following the streams gentle meandering through the herds territory. "A bit up high so it doesn't flood if the stream swells. Protected from the wind and sun, but open enough so we can move around in it. He stopped at a group of trees to get a closer look. "Maybe....but I think we can find something better." He said to Kaliri before onward, spotting the next group of trees. "Let's check these ones." It would be only a matter of time before they came across the perfect spot, and then the real work would begin, but Fairbreeze was most definitely looking forward to it.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:54 pm
Kaliri agreed with everything that her brother was saying , nodding her head along with his words even though he wasn't really talking to her. Eyeing the first group of trees she shook her head "No we can definitely do better" She stated before trotting along with him to the second.
"This spots not bad." She said, moving in to take a closer look, it was a nice little grove..close to the stream but far enough away that she didn't think it would be likely to flood when harsh rains made the stream grow. "It's pretty bushy here along the outside" She told Fairbreeze "Will keep others from seeing it well..and most of the herd drinks closer to the meadow anyways" She added for good measure. Of course looking at their prospective spot from the outside was hardly good enough - they had to go in to really check it out and so moving a branch out of her way she worked her way into the grove. "Theres a big dead tree in here!" she called back to her brother in excitement.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:06 pm
Fairbreeze cast his gaze about, making sure no one was watching them before following Kaliri inside the small grove. It wouldn't do them any good to pick a spot and have it almost instantly discovered by others. So as Kaliri went ahead Fairbreeze stopped once inside the trees and did nother quick survey. The only movement he caught sight of was a few birds gliding in the gentle breeze and a number of bugs, mostly bees, hovering around a patch of nearby flowers. Satisfied that they hadn't been seen the colt turned to follow his sister and then heard her excited voice. A hollow tree could be just the thing to form the base of the Foal Fort. With quick steps Fairbreeze caught up to his sister and got his first look at the dead tree.
"This is great." He said, barely containing his excitement. But first they needed to get an even closer look at it. Dead trees weren't always the most stable of structures. Stepping up to it he tapped it with his hoof in several locations, the thud echoed up through the hollow but there was no sign of rot which would make it an unsafe choice. "Let's look inside it!" Rounding behind the tree Fairbreeze found a decent sized opening in the trunk and stuck his head inside. Dead leaves, twigs and a few acorns littered the ground inside the tree, bugs skittered up the bark but otherwise it was empty. Turning back to his sister Fairbreeze smile was enormous. "I think we just the perfect place for our Foal Fort!" It would need some work, but hey that would be the fun part. First though Kaliri had to agree to this spot. Fairbreeze was fairly confident she would agree.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:25 pm
Prancing around the tree Kaliri gave the prospective sight her own once over, eyeing the size of the tree and the hole that Fair stuck his head into critically. There was a smaller knot hole on the other side that she thought might make a good peek hole, it faced the stream too which was good since they could use it to see if anyone was tying to sneak up on them from that direction.
"We'll have to add some stuff to this side and make that hole bigger so that we can fit" She told her brother as she joined him back on the other side "But look over here!" And she was off again, leading him around the trunk to show him the little peep hole "There's a spy hole over here.." Bouncing back around the tree she was motioning upwards over the larger hole that she envisioned could be the 'door' "And look we can lean other branches up against that big branch over the door to make a bigger space out here!" Yep this spot was perfect!
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:33 pm
Fairbreeze halted his continued inspection of the prospect tree to see the things that Kaliri was pointing out to him. His head bobbed in agreement over the hole needing to be made bigger, it would take a bit of effort to do so, and the area where they could place larger branches to make the entire fort bigger. "A spy hole is a handy thing to have." He told his sister while giving it a closer look. It was in the perfect spot to see anyone coming from the stream side of the fort. That would prove handy for when they wanted to take a drink or swim, they could check to make sure no one was out there so as to not give away their forts location.
Lifting his head Fairbreeze critically eyed the area where they could expand the fort by leaning branches up around the makeshift door. Luckily with several trees around them they would act as a wind barrier for those added branches or else they might be fixing their fort constantly. Slowly he circled the tree, planning out what needed to to be first. They couldn't just randomly start working on it, as certain areas would need to be taken care of before others. "We'll need to make the hole bigger first." He said, his eyes still glued to the tree. "If we put the branches up before that happens we may knock them down while making the hole bigger, then we will have even more work on our hands." By his calculations it should be a few days, perhaps a week to get everything done, but it would be well worth the time and effort when everything was done. "We can gather some of the branches ahead of time though, that way once the hole is bigger we can move into the next phase." Finally pulling his eyes away from the tree Fairbreeze looked over at his sister, a larger smile plastered on his face. "This is going to be the greatest thing ever!" A foal fort for just the two of them. "And once we are done we can even decorate it with all kinds of things! Make it really special."
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:07 am
Kaliri was absolutely brimming with excitement - I mean sure she had been excited before, when this was just an idea..but now that they were actually going to make it happen. Well it was even better. "Alright, we should each take a task so they were get more done at once then..do you want to collect the branches or make the hole bigger?" She asked her brother.
Of course once he mentioned that they could decorate their fort once they were finished she was completely distracted "Olo told me that up at the shrine where Whisper lives they mush up flowers and use them to color stuff..there are lots of flowers in the home meadow, I bet we could do that..but we'll have to be sneaky or someone will ask us what we're picking flowers for!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:19 am
Eyes examined that hole that would need to be enlarged. It would be a lot of work, and likely noisy work at that, so they would need to be careful not to draw attention to themselves. Not to mention to kicking at the edges of the hole in order to expand it could prove dangerous. One could never know when a splinter could get embedded in a hoof or leg. And the last thing Fairbreeze wanted was his sister getting hurt doing this work. "I'll work on the hole, you can collect the branches. I'll be making a lot of noise while doing it so you need to act as lookout as well and let me know if you see anyone coming to see what all the racket is about. We don't want them finding out what we are doing or else we will need to find a new spot for our fort." Fairbreeze did not want that to happen as he doubted they would find another place as perfect as that.
Fairbreeze considered his sisters words before nodding. "That would be neat to do." Not only would it make it more their own place but coloring the fort would also be a fun activity. "We'll just need to make sure to put the brighter colors on the inside of else someone might see our fort." Turning his attention back to the hole Fairbreeze stuck his head inside once more, looking for any cracks of weakness that would make his job a bit easier. Luck was on his side as there were several weaker points at the edge of the hole on the left side. Using these spots to his advantage Fairbreeze was certain he would get the hole big enough in no time. Pulling his head free Fairbreeze and took a step back before rearing up and plunging his hooves towards the edge of the hole. A satisfying cracking sound reached his ears, as he pulled his hooves back for another strike. "Just be careful around here Kaliri, there will be bit of wood flying and I don't want you getting hit." His hooves connected with the wood again, this time he could feel the small piece give way a bit, one more hit and the first part of the holes edge would give way.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:27 am
"We can put green on the outside to help it blend in" She suggested when he spoke of hiding their fort - although luckily enough, unless someone saw them come into the thicket she thought it was likely to be pretty well hidden.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes slightly when he warned her of the possible dangers . She loved her brother she really did but his constant need to try and protect her could be trying at times. Still she didn't want to ruin a fun day by starting an argument with him. "I'll be fine" She assured him and took a few steps back to appease him while she watched - it looked like he was going to have his task done fairly quickly - so she really ought to go and look for some larger branches and he was right, hitting the tree was making an awful lot of loud noise. Best do a circle about the area to make sure no one was around too. "I'm going to look for sticks and make sure no one is out this way" She told him before turning and trotting off to do just that.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:41 am
Fairbreeze paused in his work as he watched his sister trot off to look for branches and keep an eye out for anyone lurking about. This work was proving to be a lot louder than he had first anticipated. The quicker he got it over with the better. Working hard Fairbreeze started kicking the area around where the cracks were spreading, hoping to take out larger sections instead of smaller ones to help speed up the process. Every now and then he would pause to listen for any warning from Kaliri that others were approaching, but all was quiet on her end as she gathered branches.
Slowly the side of the tree was starting to give way. Breathing heavy, his heart pounding Fairbreeze mustered up the strength to finish the job. After all Kaliri had been quite productive in her tasks of lookout and branch gatherer, and they couldn't do much else until he was done anyways. Taking a deep breath Fairbreeze reared up and slammed his hooves into the weakened wood with all this might. This time he was rewarded for his efforts, though the cracked wood gave way far too quickly and as it crumbled beneath his hoof falling to the ground in chunks Fairbreeze found himself also falling forward, the momentum of the kick propelling him into the newly formed hole. Letting out of yelp of surprise Fairbreeze crashed to the ground amid the bark and pieces of wood. "I'm okay!" He called out, not sure if his sister had been there to witness his fall or not. Getting to his feet again, now covered in dirt and bits of bark Fairbreeze stepped through the perfectly sized hole. "One job down." He said with a smile, and though he was exhausted there was plenty more to do before this fort would be ready, even if it would take days to get it all done.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:56 am
As luck would have it Kalirir did indeed happen to be returning just in time to see her brother fall - and he had been worried that she would get hurt! It was a funny sight to be sure but she was also a little bit worried and had dropped her branch to hurry and check on him before he called out that he was okay. Once it was established that he was fine however the little filly felt completely justified in dissolving into laughter.
"Mother would throw a fit..and absolute fit if she saw you!" She told her brother amid the laughs. He looked like he'd gone and rolled around in the mud - which according to their mother was one of the very worst things they could do. Composing herself as best as she could she trotted forward to inspect the hole he had made. "It looks pretty good!" She told him sincerely "Come and help me drag back this last branch its a huge one!" She went on before trotting back to the branch she had dropped when he'd fallen. "There's no one around that I can see - they all must be in the meadow"
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:17 am
A smile crossed his lips as he looked over at his sister. Of course she would arrive back in time to see him take that unexpected dive into the tree. "Good thing mother isn't around then." He told her with a laugh then gave his body a shake to rid himself of some of the dirt. It was getting hot, especially after all that work. "I vote we go down to the stream to cool off once we get that last branch over here." A rest would do them both some good and then they could tackle the other jobs of the day. Following Kaliri over to where she had left the large branch the pair worked to move it closer to the tree before retreating to the stream for a while.
***
It took another five days to completely finish building their fort. The branches Kaliri had gathered had been a challenge to position into an extra wall but with a lot of effort they had managed to do it and now their fort was bigger than before. The large branch that Kaliri had gathered that first day served as a great stabilizer for all the other branches and it's extra weight kept them in place even when the wind blew hard.
Today was the final touches to their fort. Sure, they may need to make adjustments from time to time if a storm blew something down or to expand things as they grew, but for right now the fort was perfect. Setting down the mouthful of flowers he had gathered before heading out here Fairbreeze looked over at his sister. "Do you think we have enough flowers?" He asked eying the pile they had been forming over the days they had been working on the fort, each day brought two or more mouthfuls of flowers to the area. The stems they would use for green to further disguise their fort on the outside and the colorful flowers would be used inside. He just hoped Kaliri wouldn't want to add too much pink to the fort.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:36 am
Kaliri eyed the pile of flowers thoughtfully after she had added her own mouthful, tipping her head to look first at the flowers and then at the fort. It was a large fort - but they weren't going to cover the entire thing just certain spots. "I...think so" She finally allowed.
They hadn't really discussed a color scheme for their fort and the flowers they had gathered were a ragtag pile of various colors. In order to best see what they had to work with Kaliri started separating them into piles by color. They had orange, blue,purple,red,pink and yellow to work with..well and green of course from the stems and leaves. "What colors should be use? Pink and purple are my favorite but I know you won't like pink" She told him.
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