The Little Wooden God

by Apophis797

13. I Am Warmed.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the longer than average delay. Part of it is just real life getting in the way of things but I also accidentally lost the first version of it about 900 words in.

Song: https://youtu.be/ZaocZdvXQlE

It probably helped but not as much as I'd thought. Certainly not enough that I can't chalk it up to random fluctuations and me getting better at whittling. I think I know why though. The way I see it having a proper market stall greatly improves my access to the normal trinket market but it comes at the cost of seeming like an actual business. That may sound like a good thing, and it is in the long-term, but it means ponies will be a lot less likely to see me as a glorified beggar and get one out of pity. With how much kinder ponies seem that likely made up a decent portion of my business which is now gone with the improved normal business just barely picking up the slack. I didn't think this would be too likely since my clothes still look horrible but most ponies don't wear any clothes at all so I'm guessing it's not the first thing they pay attention to. The table is also, despite the hell that was made for it, very nice. I think the change was still a positive one though. I can get a lot more improvement in whittling and painting than I can in begging for change.

On the language front things have been going. I can speak in broken sentences and get food from shops without painting but I can't exactly hold a conversation. Still, a few day's practice at the library and the constant conversation around my table means I'm making good progress. I'm farther ahead with this than any language I had to learn in school. I have been helped along by a few... coincidences, though. The sounds in the language are all easy for me to make but that alone isn't too surprising, English has an almost comically large sound set and I'm pretty good at pronouncing foreign words, but when you get down to the structure of the language it's practically English too. From word order to what verbs are conjugated if someone had made this language and presented it to me I would tell them it was a lazy relex, not a language in it's own right. I know there's all sorts of weird space magic involved but it still seems kinda convenient.

Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth though. I've got plenty to worry about that actually matters. First on the list is my chimney since I've actually started making progress. Finding a pipe of the right length that's light enough to easily carry is a lost cause, such are the tragedies of a world without lightweight corrugated tubing, but that doesn't mean the whole project is scrapped until I find a purpose-built stovepipe. Instead since the main problem is transportation I can just find a lot of small pipes which are meant to be fitted together and today, in my usual time spent exploring, I found some pipes that are about a foot long and about 6 inches across. Taking 9 or 10 of them in 4 or 5 trips should let me do the same job with less effort and I can always fasten them together back at the warehouse. I've still got some time until I need to do that, by my guesstimate it's about mid-september, but it would still be really helpful for cooking. That just leaves getting a hole in the ceiling and I'll have everything in place to start getting the furnace set up.

_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_

I think maybe standing under the thing I'm cutting off may have been a bad idea. I kept my hand up under the patch of ceiling and I wasn't cutting through any of the frame or somewhere with pipes and things, I'm not that stupid, but all the bits falling in my face and eyes are really annoying and I can't look away or I won't know where I'm cutting. You never really appreciate safety goggled until you don't have them when you need them. It's not like it's the worst thing I've had to get through though and I don't think there's any permanent damage. It's just annoying. Got the hole cut though. After that all that was left was the unenviable task of getting all these pipes in place on top of my makeshift cinder block oven and connecting them so they're slightly more secure than just sitting precariously on top of eachother.

The holes on each end aren't threaded so to fasted them properly I'd need a lot of compatible nuts and bolts and I don't currently have any so my current plan is a good bit simpler, if less secure. I've got quite a few large crate nails and a hammer to pry them out and hit them so I can get a connection by putting one through the hole, the head preventing it from slipping through all the way, and then bending the smaller end sideways so it can't slip out. It's tedious as all hell but it's better than nothing. From there it was just a matter of doing it over and over with every pair of holes on every pipe, starting crouched down and ending standing on my table. If I keep doing things like this my arms had better look amazing. Still, it was over faster than the chair.

With the makeshift chimney in place on top of the furnace body, a box made of cinder blocks with a hole in the front and a metal plate for the top, now all that's left is to get a fire started in it and see how it holds up.

_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_/|\_

A lighter isn't exactly ideal for this sort of thing, I'd much rather have my pocket torch from back home, but it looks like my camping experience held through. I split some of the boards into kindling and used some scraps of cloth from the sculpture for tinder and it wasn't long before I had a nice little fire going. Ideally I'd want a mesh or grating to cover the front but the air seems to mostly be flowing in the front and through the chimney and the top got, for lack of a more accurate measuring technique, damn hot. I'll need some actual cookware before I can make most things but I think my random piece of sheet metal will work fine for searing. I just have to hope whatever alloy it is isn't toxic.

The real advantage for now, though, is the heat. A thin blanket is fine this early in the year but after a hard day's work there's just nothing quite like sitting in front of a nice wood fire. Even a contained one. The warm orange light sets a night atmosphere while the heat hits my chest and face and the smell of burning pine fills me nose, along with all the memories it carries. For the first time in a long time I can properly relax.

Comments

[Pete100]

Still, a few day's practice at the library and the constant conversation around my table means I'm making good progress. I'm farther ahead with this than any language I had to learn in school.

For some reason I’m not surprised.

I have been helped along by a few... coincidences, though.

Coincidences?

I know there's all sorts of weird space magic involved but it still seems kinda convenient.

Space magic?

Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth though.

What does that mean?

A lighter isn't exactly ideal for this sort of thing, I'd much rather have my pocket torch from back home, but it looks like my camping experience held through.

What’s a pocket torch?

[A Mule with no mane]

10556740
Pocket torch is a basically a lighter right but the tip is longer just Google it.

[Pete100]

10558003
I did, but it talked about a flashlight.

[duckmagee]

10556740
Don't question the value of a gift. The proverb refers to the practice of evaluating the age of a horse by looking at its teeth. This practice is also the source of the expression “long in the tooth,” meaning old

[Pete100]

10558127
So, is he saying not to question smart ponies?

[duckmagee]

10558135
not to question his luck on the easy at which he can learn their language, because it could be worse

[Pete100]

10558157
So, be grateful that the language isn’t harder to learn?

[Apophis797]

10556740
10558003

A pocket torch is a blowtorch that fits in your pocket. I've got a butane one that I use for cooking and lighting things.

[Pete100]

10559183
Ohh, that was honestly so confusing to me.