Pip had decided something. The Collector was a great friend. She wanted to repay him somehow, she was sure of that. LB was a bit iffy on that. But they agreed to help. As best a rock could, that is. The idea hit her. She would make the Collector! The collector liked items, so maybe the Collector would like a Collector! LB had insisted that the Collector would prefer them to spend time lying in a single spot, or perhaps a rock. Pip, after sitting still for about thirty seconds, concluded that sitting still was not for her. She was sure to ask if the Collector would enjoy that, though.

She wasn't sure what to start out building a miniature collector from. It started with wood. But, after hours trying to rip wood and bark from a tree with her tiny teeth, she quickly gave up. She moved on to stone. Little Blue seemed disturbed by the concept. Luckily for Little Blue, that attempt was even less successful. And Pip was not willing to try again, after having LB endure that. The attempt with water barely even deserves mention. And then, finally, she stumbled upon straw. The dried husks were thin, easy to chew through, and light enough that Pip could carry them.

Which brings us to the present. Pip, dragging straw together. Pip had, at first, attempted to magick them together. But her strength failed her. Pip, instead, had been forced to drag it with her own body, arranging them on a stone together. Pip huffed, tired. It was them arranged.

"I'm telling you, he would enjoy just laying down! Like I'm doing! Would be nice to walk sometimes, though." A small voice said. Little blue laid against the rock, their googly eyes unmoving for the moment. "He'll love both," Pip said confidently. "Ooh! Maybe he can get you legs!"

Little blue was quiet as they thought on this. Pip uncharacteristically quiet as well. Though, mostly because her face was full of straw. She was painstakingly chewing through each individual piece of straw. Pip stepped back to observer her handiwork. It looked like a strange triangle. Perfect!

Little Blue's small voice piped up."Could he?"

"The legs? Uh, maybe! We could as him! Hes a good friend. But he couldn't make you eat." Little blue didn't seem disturbed by that. Given that they were, quite literally, a rock, and did not need to eat. "Have you tried not eating? I haven't done it once, and I feel great!" Pip paused, giving it thought.

"I went without eating for a week! But it, uh, didn't feel so great." She concluded. Little blue thought on this more.

"Maybe you didn't try for long enough?"

"Huh," Pip said. "Maybe that'll work!"

Pip had resolved to try out Little Blue's idea. It sounded great! After picking at the arrangement of straw, Pip was satisfied. Then came the next step. She had to get it all to stick together. She drew a blank on it. Until she was hit with a grand idea. Sap! She'd seen it before. Tried to eat an insect stuck inside. It wasn't very pleasant. She spent at least an hour trying to unstuck it. It wasn't very tasty, either.

Pip was soon to find out that gathering sap was easier said than done, however. Finding a tree? Easy. Getting to that tree? Hard. Finding a tree with sap? Even harder. Getting a glob without getting it on herself? Hardest. She was unlucky to find this out the manual labor way. All in all, she visited about twelve. Having to crawl and hop between each tree. Many were unusable, til she came across one damaged in a storm, dripping sap.

She willed the sap away from the tree. It was resistant, hard to move. But, eventually, a glob pulled free. The amber substance twisted in midair. Pip wiggled in excitement. Then, she carried it back to the beginning of her doll, placing the glob at the top, where the head and arms of the collector would, eventually, go. The weight of the sap caused the straw to stray from its position, and Pip climbed over it, to keep it from falling apart. It didn't work. It was on to the next idea, then.

She would try again. Fruit did not, in fact, work well as glue. Neither did honey. Little blue suggested dirt, but dirt was just as bad as honey. In her search, she happened across various vines. The vines were too big, however, so she was forced to make her own. The whole concept had been trial and error, especially the rope part. Actual vines were too large. Difficult to use. So she was forced to make her own. She quickly found out that a lot of stuff didn't work for ropes.

One piece of straw snapped too quick. Too dry. This trial and error continued for five other objects. What did, however, work, was fresh grass. It was weak alone. But two pieces stayed together better. And so did five pieces. And six. Eventually, she began to loop them through each other, forming something remarkably similar to rope or string. This did, in fact, work well. She used it to gather the bundles together. Crude, but it worked. Better than the sap at least.

She moved on to the arms, next. The scrap grass was enough that Pip did not need to go out and search for more. She weaved the arms, as she had learned with the rope, Then, after she was finished, tied the ends. A puff of straw at the end of each arm. Then, cautiously, she attempted to stuff the arms through mini Collector's body. Unfortunately, Pip got the ground and the collector's body confused. The arms were too much for her to bear.

Her balance gave way. Pip yelped. She unceremoniously fell from the rock. The straw rope arms broke her fall, fortunately. She rose from it, shaking herself free of dirt. But the bindings on the arms, they'd come loose or snapped. They were dirtied now, unusable. Pip sighed. Little blue shimmered, anxious.

"Don't worry, I'm fine! I fell from a tree, once!" She was quick to assure them. It only made Little Blue shimmer more. Pip began to climb the rock again. "Welp, back to square three!" The tiny insect began to weave the straw arms once more.

Weaving became easier with time. In fact, Pip was starting to enjoy it! It wasn't nearly as good as someone experienced in the matter, a master seamstress or weaver. But it was good enough for Pip. And she was sure it'd be good enough for her friend, too! Pip stood once the weaving was done. She took a few steps back to admire her handiwork. It...didn't look bad! It looked like grass strung together! She liked grass strung together!

She had to go about the task of connecting it, now. She was more cautious about just trying to stick the straw arm in. She had an idea. One that would take longer, but be worth it! Probably! She went to the narrow end of the bundle, tying her handmade rope on it, looping it cautiously. Then, she attempted to thread it through the center of the straw. The rope would keep it in place. She did it slowly. Swaying to make sure to keep her balance, despite the relatively heavy object she carried. Minus a few slips here and there, it went without incident. It took her a good while to push it all the way through, given her size, and the weight of both objects she fought with.

But, there! It was finished. Now..to do the head. Pip wasn't sure about that part. Pip stared at her grass scraps lying around. Then set to work. Pip would go through many prototype heads, struggling to form the shape. Many were misshapen, but ultimately she landed on a teardrop shaped head. It was stiff and hard to bend. And it had been even harder for tiny Pip to work into shape. By the time Pip was finished with it, the cave lights had dulled to the orange of a sunset with no sun. Then, she shoved the head in. It held. For a minute. By the time Pip was in the midst of celebration, the head fell back onto her workspace rock.

A different solution, then! Pip shoved the head in again. But, this time, she crawled into the depths of the straw doll, crawling to where the torso and head would meet. Then, she tied the straws of the head to the arm straws. This is very decipherable i dont know why you're reading it. Pip crawled out. Pushed it. Waited for it to fall. There was no fall, but the head drooped to one side. Sucess!

Pip watched it, Little Blue clutched in her arms. Something felt off. She squinted. Or, at least, thought about squinting. Oh! She knew! It didn't have any horns! The Collector had big, friendly horns! It also didn't have a hood. Pip thought hard on the concept. Shared the idea with little blue, who suggested tucking a leaf into its collar. It was an idea she couldnt deny! The last thing she realized was that the doll wasn't the Collector's color! The Collector was tall, and dark grey with red eyes. The color was the problem she wanted to deal with at that moment. Pip tried to will the doll into the air, to trail it after her in her quest for color.

It lifted surprisingly easily. Pip tucked Little Blue into her arms, then hopped off her rock. She carried Little Blue around below as she kept her eyes focused on the doll above. It must've been a strange sight. A straw doll, seemingly floating on its own, with the user below barely visible in the grasses. It didn't take Pip long to find what constituted as...pigment. Against the base of a pine tree, nestled amongst red and orange needles, was a shimmering dark mess.

Dubious goo in the best sense, grey stained shapes and scraps of hair peeking through. Pip didn't know what that was, but Little blue seemed wary of it. All Pip knew was that it looked like it'd make a pretty good dye! Carefully she lowered the doll towards it. Pip dunked it in once, twice, both times headfirst. She removed it, still slick with that strange substance. Nope, not dubious at all!

Pip set the doll down away from the oil puddle, to let it dry. Little blue seemed to think that using the oil was still a bad idea, for some reason! How silly! She set off, Little blue still grasped in her claws, to look for horns and "eyes," whatever that could be! Pip was lucky enough that her search proved fruitful. Little blue was quiet, but Little blue was observant. Whatever she missed, Little Blue was quick to point out. She settled on a pair of thorns chewed from a bush for the 'horns', and a pile of something red she'd found in the dirt for eyes. It was wet, and felt strange on her claws, and Pip found herself wanting to experiment with it more.

But she had to return. Pip went about the work quickly, stuffing the thorns into the head. As best she could, at least. They were short and stubby, not like the Collectors. But Pip did not notice, nor care. Next was the Ochre. It went on the dried doll easily enough, she simply need push her ochre wet claws into the face. Pip hummed as she looked at the doll.

It was still missing something...oh! The hood! Pip, ever resourceful, scuttled about. She quickly grabbed the shell of a nut. It was dark, heavy, and absolutely nothing like the cloth of the Collector's hood. But it'd work! Little Blue suggest they wait for it to dry. Which Pip was excited to do. They spent the rest of the night staring blankly at the doll. As normal gembound do. The doll was raggedy, not made by professional hands, and definitely smelly, but...it was Pip's own creation. Pip, not patient enough to wait, repeatedly paced and stood up to check on the doll. Eventually, she fell asleep. Still standing.

The next day, Pip gathered Little blue up in her arms, and with Mini Collector in tow, left Pegasus. Setting off on a long, meandering, and difficult journey to give the Collector her little effigy.

;exit pip (I DID IT DAD I COMPLETED A SOLO AGAIN)