Yunjae had started sitting by the campfire with Tae more often.
It was just observation. He didn’t take part, only watched from a distance. The sight of hunted animals still wasn’t something he could get used to easily.
Tae worked with animal hides constantly. Nothing went to waste. Every scrap of skin was turned into blankets, covers, or rough layers for the camp.
But Yunjae noticed something strange.
Tae never changed what he wore. The heavy leather stayed on him all the time.
Sometimes he would hang it near the fire after rain or leave it in the sun until it dried completely, but he never replaced it with anything lighter.
There was nothing else. No thinner layer for warmer days. Just thick, heavy leather or nothing at all over his chest.
Yunjae eventually decided to do something about it.
He took one of the thin hides Tae had discarded.
Quietly.
Without really explaining why.
Then he started working.
Flax.
He had seen it before, of course. Recognized it easily. As a biology student specializing in bothany, plants were never the problem.
But this was different.
This wasn’t theory. This wasn’t diagrams in a textbook. This was raw material that refused to behave the way it should.
He soaked it in water until it softened.
Left it too long sometimes, forgetting about it.
Then broke it apart with whatever he had. Stone, hands, frustration.
Stripping away the useless parts until only the thin inner fibers remained.
Most of the time it didn’t work the way he expected.
The plant either fell apart completely or refused to separate at all.
Tae watched him like he was doing something completely incomprehensible.
And maybe he was.
To Tae, it looked like repetition without purpose. Wet, dry, break, repeat.
Just Yunjae sitting there, playing with plants like a child.
Yunjae got frustreted more than once.
“This doesn’t make sense..” he muttered.
But he didn’t stop.
Eventually, something started to hold.
Not thread yet. Just fibers that didn’t immediately collapse in his hands.
So he twisted them.
Carefully at first. Then with more confidence, as if his hands finally understood what his mind was trying to remember.
And it started to behave like something continuous.
Like thread.
Rough. Uneven.
But real.
Yunjae stared at it for a long moment, then exhaled.
Finally.
Using Tae’s tools, sharp, brutal things meant for skin and meat, he cut the thin leather into shape and punched holes through it. Then he threaded the flax through slowly, carefully, like one mistake could make everything fall apart again.
Tae watched him the entire time.
Silent.
Confused.
Curious.
And when Yunjae finally finished, he held it out without much ceremony.
Tae took it, paused, then looked at it properly for the first time.
Something changed in his expression.
He put it on immediately, as if there was no reason not to.
He flexed his arms slightly, testing it, then looked at Yunjae again with a look of quiet satisfaction, like he had just received something far more valuable than he expected.
Yunjae felt something loosen in his chest. Relief, and something like a pride.
With the leftover thread, he didn’t stop. He made more pieces for Tae, and then for himself.
He even wondered, briefly, if he could eventually make something entirely out of flax alone. No leather. No hides. Just plant turned into fabric.
It was great idea. Yeah.
At least until Yunjae realized he had absolutely no idea how to actually sew anything properly. The moment anything required symmetry or patience beyond basic knot-tying, everything immediately turned into chaos.
He stared at his own stitches for a long moment.
Then sighed.
“Yeah… I’m definitely a biologist.” he muttered, pulling the thread a little too hard as if tightening it could somehow convince the poor piece of cloth to behave.
___________________________________
Hey, hey Doves! 🌸🌸
I’m dropping another piece from the lives of my two wildlings.
Yunjae is generally a very helpful and patient person when it comes to others. So imagining him struggling to extract flax fibers just so Tae does not have to run around naked feels like a pretty cute sight in my opinion.
Also, I do kind of know how flax fibers are made since I come from a pretty rural area, but I’ve never actually done it myself. Only observed it a bit. So I’m pretty sure I’d lose my patience just like Yunjae, watching something that looks so simple in theory completily fall apart in my hands.
I hope you enjoyed this short fragment from their primal life, as well as these few colorful sketches >w<
Kisses <3 🌸🩷
also- Tae's eye reveal????