Beginnings of Tobi and Cookie Ch.3
Story by Amric Docal on SoFurry
Chapter three of the beginning of Tobi and Cookie earning the trust of some nearby chimps and forming a tribe.
Three days after their visit from a stranger at the pond, Tobi and Cookie now rummage throught the storage room, looking for anything they can eat. Tobi turns things over while Cookie lifts and moves things around and scans all the empty containers.
"We have reached the last of our food," Cookie says.
"There might be something," Tobi responds.
"We have no food, Tobi. We need to accept it."
Tobi sighs.
"The orange wouldn't have mattered in the long run, Tobi. I don't hold it against you."
Tobi stares forward.
"We need to hunt," he says.
"Tobi, if we go into their territory, they could kill us. We should just search the city for more food."
Tobi shakes his head.
"The humans are more dangerous than the other chimps are. The chimps will leave us alone if they see us, as long as we retreat. Humans may not show the same courtesy."
"Then why have the humans not come here?"
"Maybe they do not know we are here."
"Humans would have come here if they did not fear the chimps. There is a reason there aren't humans here."
"Humans have guns."
Cookie remains silent. He looks ahead as he realises this and wonders why the humans were not in the forest.
"We need to hunt. But first what we need is a hunting weapon."
"How will we make it?"
"We need to find a lot of wood. We need to fashion spears and a thrower."
"We have had no practise with such weapons. We-"
"We have to try or we will not be able to eat."
"If we are to hunt in their territory then why do we not forage instead?"
"Foraging will take more time. If we can kill an animal we will be able to take it back more quickly than searching for food."
Cookie remains silent, quietly admitting that Tobi has a point.
Tobi and Cookie look at each other. They silently move out of the sanctuary to search for suitable pieces of wood for an atlatl and spears. After they had armloads of what they expect to be suitable pieces of wood, they return to the sanctuary building. They dump the wood on the floor of the former chimp enclosure.
"We need something to carve these," Tobi says.
"We could search for a knife. They might have used one to open packages," Cookie reasons. Tobi hums in agreement.
They head off to the storage room in search of something to carve the wood. Within a few minutes, they find a box cutter. After they find the box cutter, They look at each other and after a split second, they embrace each other. They squeeze each other and loosen enough to look at each other. After a brief delay they touch lips and return to a more tight hug. Tobi rubs Cookie's arm
"We need to make these spears..." Tobi says hesitantly.
Cookie scoffs
"I suppose we will have time for celebration later," Cookie says.
Tobi lets go and goes to the wood and begins to fashion a suitable piece of wood into a spear thrower while Cookie tries to pick out the most straight pieces. While they are working, Cookie spots a chimp walk up throught the gap on the enclosure's bars. Cookie stares at them. The chimp has a juvenile and a baby with them - Cookie assumes this is the chimp they met at the pond few days ago.
She seems different, Cookie thinks. The chimp is walking upright moreso than she was a few days ago, the same way Tobi and Cookie do, and her eyed seem to have become a lighter shade. Her children exhibit similar changes.
Tobi noticed Cookie looking intently at something, and looks over at the chimp Cookie was looking at. Tobi stands up and places a hand on his macuahuitl.
"She has something," Cookie gestures.
Tobi looks over to her. She has the corpse of a couple squirrels in her hand. Tobi and Cookie look at each other. The chimp slowly approaches the two of them and holds out the animals. Tobi gingerly takes them from her and looks in her eyes: they are green, like his and Cookie's, as are those of her children.
"Thank you," Tobi says, but the chimp doesn't seem to understand him. He smiles at the chimp, which seems to put her on-guard. Tobi drops his smile in favour of simply holding out is hand. The chimp rakes the fur on his arm with her hand, briefly looking through it a picking a couple of pieces of bark from it.
Tobi turns to Cookie.
"We have food," he gestures. Cookie smiles in return.
The chimp meanders over to Tobi's half-crafted spear thrower. Tobi walks over to the thrower and picks it back up and continues to wittle it. The chimp stares intently at what he's doing. Tobi looks at her and smiles. The chimp doesn't react defensively, perhaps indicating that she's already picking up that it's a kind gesture.
Tobi notices the chimp is looking at what he's doing and decides to go about it more methodically.
Cookie looks on nervously.
"I have the pieces sorted. Some of these, I don't think will make good dpears after all."
"That is fine," Tobi says. He continues to carve his atlatl in the watchful gaze of the chimp. The chimp's daughter picks up one of the sticks Cookie sorted. Cookie takes it from her, and the juvenile leaps on him to get it back while the mother diverts her attention to what is happening. Cookie instead hands one of the reject sticks to the young chimp. The chimp takes it and scanters off a few feet and begins to play with it. Tobi smiles again, an expression the adult female mirrors. Tobi continues to carve the atlatl.
Hours pass and Tobi is satisfied with the shape.
"This will do," Tobi says. The adult female inspects the tool, still not sure what it is.
Cookie responds by handing Tobi one of the sticks. Tobi begins cutting it into a spear. The juvenile has become tired and now goes to her mother and hugs her. Tobi enjoys the company of these strangers.
Eventually the adult female becomes restless and gets up. Tobi doesn't want her to leave just yet. He decides to give her a demonstration of how the thrower is supposed to work. He stands up and puts the whittled stick into the thrower and tosses it at one of the bars. It passes through the gap between the bars. Tobi reslises he'd need to practise with the tool before he can use it well. Nevertheless, the female chimp appears intruiged. She retrieves the "spear". She returns it to Tobi. Tobi smiles at her and places it back in the thrower and tries again. It bounces off one of the bars. Tobi attributes it to a lucky shot.
The chimp mother takes the spear thrower and examines it. She retrieves the whittled stick and puts it into the holder. She throws the spear. She releases it too early and it flies straight up in the air and lands a few feet from her. Cookie stifles a chuckle.
"It seems we could all use pratice with the atlatl," Tobi says. The female freezes, preumably perplexed. She doesn't understand what he's saying.
As Tobi smiles, the female looks outside and sees it turning dark. She looks back at Tobi and Cookie. She grabs her baby and holds sits down by her older child, who grabs hold of her back. She head off away from the building, toward the rest of her group.
Cookie looks at Tobi.
"I think, traps would do best if there are small animals like squirrels. It would take too long to master this weapon," Cookie says. Tobi nods in agreement.
"Save the rest of the wood for buiding a trap," Tobi says. He sits down to begin setting up a trap.