Closed Forced Cooperation (Khara)

[Azira]

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As she set about her work, Azira hardly noticed the comings and goings of the Chiet. Various pieces of greenery appeared behind her but she hardly noticed, to preoccupied with what depth her incision was. It wasn't until the girl put in an appearance by pulling one of the moose's legs back and out of her way that the Avora really registered her presence. She gave the teen a cursory glance before looking behind to find the piles of ferns and other plants set out for her usage along with a tree branch. Her gaze settled on the branch for a few moments, eyes uncomprehending. She hadn't asked for it so why had the scout brought it. The branch had been dragged, leaving slight impressions in the ground showing the path that it had followed. An idea flashed in her mind and her attention turned back to the Chiet, eyes widening in surprise. She'd brought it so that they had a way to bring the moose meat back. She'd taken the initiative and brought back something that would work. The teen was certainly full of surprises.

Well there wouldn't be anything in bring back if she didn't hurry up and cut the poor beast to pieces. Better to hack it up now - and quickly - rather than wait for some predator to come along and take the job off her hands.

The teen dug her fingers into the opening that she'd made. The knife having cut through flesh and fat but didn't seem to have nicked anything that it shouldn't have. She couldn't be sure yet though. It wasn't easy to get into the cavity so she made two incisions at either end of the existing one, making the new ones vertical rather than horizontal. It meant the flesh could be peeled back in flaps to widen the space that she had to work with. Peeling it back was difficult enough as she had to take her knife to where the hide and flesh remained stubbornly fixed to the rest of the carcass. At last she got it free though and rolled the top flap back and letting gravity deal with the lower one. That left her with easier access that before although she only had one hand to work with.

The knife was put down, her right hand holding the flesh out of the way while her left hand reached into the cavity. She had no idea what she was doing and was literally trying to get a feel for things. She'd dealt with a wolf before but that had really only been field dressing. The organs had been taken out and the carcass brought to the Processing Centre. She didn't have that option this time and so would have to remove what meat she could from it by herself. She had no idea how that was going to work and the huntress knew that she was going to end up missing meat that she shouldn't and maybe keeping parts that she shouldn't but all she could do was attempt it and try to get some butchering experience in the Processing Centre sometime in the future.

Now that the cavity was open a jumble of organs was before the girl's eyes. A mass of purples and pinks, tainted with the red of blood. It was difficult to differentiate anything in that mess and it was still tricky to get into it. It'd need to be moved onto its back. "Here. Help me move it onto its back. I'm going to have lengthen that cut in its belly as well. I think." She got her hands under the carcass and shoved, trying to get some purchase under the thing. It was no easy task and she didn't think that she could succeed in getting it where she needed to be. If it could be put on its back, she doubted that they'd have much trouble keeping it there whereas it'd be a struggle to get it into that position. Her eyes fell on the branch.

"Khara? I can raise this a little but I can't push it up all the way. When I push it up a little, put that branch under it and then go back over your side. I'll lever it up and push and you can pull. Then you can hold it in place on that side and I'll hold it on this. It'll make it easier to work." The teen waited for the girl's cooperation, which was to be expected and lifted the beast at the right time, her arms trembling at the effort. It was enough space to wedge a branch under although how well it'd work to shove the carcass any higher she didn't know.

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[Khara]

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Khara had tried to watch what Azira was doing while keeping out of the way, finding a sudden fascination in what the huntress was doing. Was she just going to start pulling organs out from the incision she had made? Was there a specific order it had to be done in? Would any of them be placed to the separate pile that would mark what they would be taking back to Wind Reach? When the Avora had told her to help initially she had tried pulling the moose's leg in her direction while Azira sought to push from the other side. It became quickly apparent it wasn't going to work and Khara found herself at a complete loss until the huntress mentioned the branch.

She wasn't sure if it was going to work, if the branch would just break in the process, but there was no hesitation once told what to do. The branch was pulled nearby and a tick later the huntress strained and lifted just enough for Khara to forcefully shove the end of it underneath the carcass. As she let go of the branch she watched, listening to the wood groan in protest, but the limb was still fresh enough it didn't snap, the slight bend seeming more springy in nature than she had expected. Maybe it would work after all.

The Chiet couldn't help but wonder how an animal this size was normally handled. Surely a lone hunter would have considerable problems - not with the kill - but with maneuvering and returning with the remains for certain. An Endal would have no issues, their Wind Eagle could easily manage such things, she supposed. But a single Avora? Considering the struggle the two girls were having, she couldn't imagine that even a much stronger male would find this easy. Khara suspected that may have had something to add to the prestige of retuning with such a kill, not only had you managed to take the animal down, but bringing it back was no small task in itself. There had to be better ways of managing it though. Another mental note of something to look in to, if for no other reason than to be able to offer a suggestion if she was ever lucky enough to find herself in this position once more. Most game scouts seemed perfectly content with the idea that once they found the animal their job was over, but Khara was out to prove herself as anything but a typical scout; even if the end result only had her being wanted like Orthin sometimes was.

Thoughts running through her head while trying to stay on task, Khara hurried back over to the other side of the moose and waited for a signal from the Avora that she was ready to begin. The scout tried to mentally prepare herself for the exertion she expected would have to take place, the moose already proving far more heavy than expected and herself far more tired than she had imagined the day so far would make her. There could be no time for rest, however, as the Avora made her move. Khara tried to not focus too much on exactly what Azira was doing with the branch, despite wondering if it was a technique she should be trying to learn from. Instead she focused solely on the task of pulling the moose towards her, feet firmly planting into the ground as she tugged with the meager strength she had. Her hands protested the grip on the moose's leg, even more so when it began to shift and the carcass' weight was slowly moved .

She watched as it rolled, like a lazy animal basking in the sun except for the large gash in it's belly. As she caught full sight of the cut that Azira had made and what laid beyond a new thought occurred to her; Oh gods, she began, not exactly in prayer but certainly wouldn't object to any divine aid in that moment. Please let it stop where she needs it to. Please don't let this thing fall all the way over.

A mental image of the animal toppling fully over onto her side, its innards spilling out over her boots ran through her head. Khara swallowed uncomfortably and continued to pull the carcass towards her as best she could, hoping that Azira would let her know exactly when to stop.
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"Nari" | "Common"

[Azira]

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The same fears concerning the branch had entered Azira's mind as well but she wasn't going to show a lack of faith in her own plan. If the branch broke then she would have to remain totally unperturbed as if it was only a minor incident and that it didn't matter in the slightest. If it broke though she had no contingency plan. It would mean more thinking on her feet if the branch snapped and so she prayed to any god that would listen to help her to make sure that it didn't. She set about levering the carcass upright. The girl held her breath as the wooden limb was pulled upwards, expecting it to give at any moment. It didn't, instead bending slightly with the movement and she exhaled with relief. The feat of moving the moose was no easy one, even in spite of having a lever that managed to stay intact.

The weight of the beast was little lessened as she attempted to lift it with the branch. Physics wasn't her forte and that was quickly becoming evident as she tried and failed to successfully lift the blasted thing. She paused for a moment, panting, letting the branch fall at her feet again. She tried to remember how she'd seen them used before. Someone would wedge something straight under an object and then lifted it. No, they usually pushed downwards to raise whatever was on the end but how did that work? The branch was already on the ground so that wouldn't do anything. She couldn't make it go down any further and how would that work anyway? The huntress knew that she was missing something, forgetting some small detail that would make her efforts succeed. People normally put something under the lever!

The Avora sought about for something suitable. There were a few small rocks scattered about the place and she collected them, stacking them carefully about halfway along the branch's underside. It raised the branch a little off the ground but didn't make much difference when she pushed down on the newly elevated end. There was an ominous creak and a slight improvement in the weight at the end but other than that, nothing. She moved her stack of rocks, first closer to her and then further away as she tested her lever. The second option improved things greatly and so she moved it closer so that it was almost up against the moose and put pressure on it from there. The carcass began to shift, moving higher as she exerted force. It was working more like she'd expected now.

It was a good thing that Khara was pulling it towards her as well, righting it as it reached a level that was acceptable to the teen. Once it was higher and was almost falling over onto the scout's side, the huntress dropped her lever and stepped quickly to the beast's side, pushing against it while gaining a firm hold on its legs. It took a good shove to get it fully onto its back but it was as much of a battle to stop it from continuing. "Easy does it. We don't want it falling over onto you, ease up a bit so that you don't pull it into you while I'm pushing." Azira murmured instructions to the other as she focused on getting the moose to where she wanted. Once it was there though keeping it where it was posed problems.

"Just try to hold it steady would you. And warn me if it starts tilting. I don't want to cut my fingers off or something by accident." Trusting the Chiet to do as she was told, the huntress lengthened the cut that she'd made before cutting down towards the anus and up towards its throat. The flaps were pulled to either side allowing her clear access but that didn't mean that she recognised what she was seeing. There was fat on some of the organs but she still tried to identify them, feeling in the cavity to try to get a better idea of what was where. There was its ribcage, which contained lungs and heart and then below that would be the stomach and all those wiggly things that came out of it. The huntress made a face. The wiggly things. She really needed a better anatomy lesson. Well she had something to start with at least. There were other organs as well, others that she was vaguely familiar with.

She sifted through it trying to find organs that were usable. The liver might be and that appeared to be below some muscle that was below the lungs. The heart could be eaten she thought but she couldn't be sure. The stomach she wasn't sure of but it was big and stopped her from seeing anything else beneath it. It was shifted with difficulty to reveal the two smaller organs that she suspected were kidneys. If they were then they could be eaten. She worked her knife around them, cutting them free with fat and all and placing them on one of the piles. It was the only organ that she could be really sure of being useful so the rest would have to be meat although what meat was good was hard for her to tell. Was there such a thing as bad meat? Probably. She didn't think that all of it could be used but then what did she know.

There was meat on the ribs, there was meat on its flank, there seemed to be meat everywhere but the skin was in the way. The flaps she'd made had meat on them but she'd have to skin them and remove the meat in... strips? The young woman frowned down at the carcass, not willing to show herself as being ignorant in front of the other. She was the hunter, the Avora in this situation for a reason and she had to show that. The teen began to score the meat on the flaps before working her knife under them, trying to separate the newly made strips from the skin and no doubt sacrificing flesh in the process. At least she'd look like she knew what she was doing. Once that was done the meat would be added to the pile with the maybe kidneys and would then proceed to separate the skin from the flank to try to get to the meat there, crouching slightly to allow herself better access, praying that Khara wouldn't drop the carcass on top of her.

x

Nari | Common

[Khara]

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There was an undeniable sense of relief as the moose's carcass mostly settled onto it's back. Mostly being the important word. It shifted as Azira cut into it, more so with each tug of entrails - That's what that stuff is called, right? - or cutting off portions of meat from the animal. With the Avora's hands busy with the actual task, the job of keeping the body in place fell squarely onto the Chiet.

Thankfully the majority of the weight had been moved, and while it wasn't entirely stable, Khara felt reasonably sure that it wasn't going to be too much of an issue as it only seemed to want to move when the Avora made a more aggressive cut. The scout stepped around the leg, making sure he stood closer to the center mass of the carcass. Then it became simply a matter of either pulling the leg back towards her or suddenly moving against the animal to give it a small shove with the rest of her body if it needed to go the other way.

It also gave her a much better view of what the huntress was doing. Khara tried not to stare as the huntress began cutting strips off and it was only then that the Chiet began really wondering exactly how much they were honestly going to be able to bring back with them. It seemed a terrible waste but surely the bones and organs they would leave behind made up the majority of the animal; or at least Khara hoped. The view of the inside of the moose didn't exactly help to reinforce that idea, though.

As Khara continued to watch the huntress she tried to take note of the techniques she saw, the way the huntress held the blade, which pieces were kept versus which were discarded, what order things were handled in. It seemed so much to take in and process, far too much to try and remember. While the task the Avora was engaged in seemed far too complicated for the Chiet to fully understand, Khara had begun realizing that there was definitely a method to it all. Although she may not have understood exactly why or even what Azira was doing, the scout found it was becoming far more easy to predict where she needed to shift her hold on the moose to keep it from moving. A slice made closer to the side she stood meant a nudge away from her, something to the opposite side meant a tug of the leg back towards her. She hadn't expected to have to counter balance the creature, but it certainly seemed to make sense.

Through it all the Chiet wanted to ask questions, wished she could find out more about exactly what the Avora was doing, but each time Khara went to open her mouth to begin an adjustment was needed and each tug, pull, push, nudge, or even just simple hold still demanded her attention and caused a small cringe as the burning sensation in her hands was noticed once more. They'd no doubt be raw and practically unusable by evening, Khara glumly realized. Small price to pay, sparrow. You'll heal. Grim determination set in, no matter the pain she refused to let the huntress down, even if it took until evening to return back to Wind Reach.
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"Nari" | "Common"

[Azira]

The huntress really didn't know what she was doing. Anything that was red and that seemed to have hide attached to it was cut off in the assumption that it must be edible. Whites and yellow bits and bits that wobbled sickeningly were either avoided or else cut off from the mass of flesh. It was awkward, it was messy and within a few chimes her arms were caked in congealed blood while bits of flesh clung to her fingertips. Hide hung from the corpse in tatters, lumps of meat sticking to it thanks to Azira's clumsy cutting. The pile of meat returning to Wind Reach grew slowly, a mixture of little morsels, strips and the occasional sizeable piece. The best cuts of meat were indistinguishable from the worst but the teen wasn't even aware as she hacked at the moose. This was butchery but in the worst sense of the word.

Khara thankfully remained silent during the operation, focusing on holding the body where the Avora had positioned it. There were no comments on her shoddy techniques, no questions, no sounds at all from the scout. It was good to know that she'd learned to be silent. It meant that the young woman could block the other's presence out for the most part until she caught a glimpse of her hands or caught the woman in the action of readjusting the moose's position. The Chiet was watching her, her eyes following her work but she wouldn't be able to pick up on what a bad job she was doing. She hoped she wouldn't at least.

Its side was stripped with slow inefficiency before she cut into its legs, searching for meat on the limbs. The blade was dragged through the hide and then under it, separating hair from the flesh beneath. She pulled it back as she cut, the bristly fur coming free with reluctance. Her knife dug under scraps of meat and poked holes in the hide but she managed to peel it free, open the leg to her inspection. The inside was different, more muscle, less useable parts. So it seemed to her at least. She cut into anyway, separating muscle from bone, searching for meat that seemed to be like the rest. The upper leg was better, she could find meat there and so she cut chunks away and added them to the pile. The lower leg didn't look great but she still cut some chunks away from it and threw them on the growing pile.

The huntress needed to work on Khara's side. They'd need to switch positions and that was bound to be awkward. With the way that the scout was currently gripping the moose if she switched her handholds she was in for a messy but also a slippery grip thanks to the slicing that Azira had been doing. It'd have to be a careful transfer but it was something that could be done. The teen stood, dropping her hunting knife on the far side of the corpse. The teen wrapped the tattered skin back around the moose's legs and gripped the limbs, the hold far less slippery thanks to the hide covering although some of the hairs came loose and stuck to the blood that was on her hands making it unpleasantly prickly. Khara didn't have bloody hands though so hopefully she wouldn't have that problem. "Come around and hold it on this side. Hold onto the skin or else you'll probably lose your hold on it. I need to do the other side," the Avora informed her, waiting for the other to come around and take over from her.

One leg was released and then the other, the huntress pressing her hands against the moose's side when it seemed ready to toppled towards them. Once the scout took it off her hands, Azira moved around the corpse quickly, catching its uncut legs on the other side and trying to balance it. She tried to make sure that it was going to stay in position before setting about her work, making a brief check with Khara before she continued. "Have you got it?" Once she had confirmation the young woman retrieved her knife from the ground at her feet and set to work on the new side. After this was done, she'd have to find some way of checking its back for meat but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

Nari | Common

Template courtesy of Khara

[Khara]

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The crude balancing act continued, and for the first time Khara actually felt an uncontrollable twinge of nausea as her hands wrapped around the piece of hide that wasn't entirely attached to the carcass' leg any longer. It shifted unnatural under her grip, sliding against bone and blood rather than staying firm where expected. The scout swallowed uncomfortably, fighting back the sudden taste of bile in the back of her throat. No, no, no! Not now! Out of everything she'd seen today why was it that holding into some mangled limb going to be the thing that bothered her?

A deep breath was taken, eyes shut for a tick or two as Khara readjusted her grip, trying to ignore the squelching that came from the process. She couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was because there was too much blood left in the moose's body. More than enough seemed to have escaped from the gaping wounds the Avora had made in it's neck, but enough had still managed to remain making the entire process far messier than Khara had expected it to be. Hunters didn't usually come back caked in nearly the amount of blood that Azira seemed to quickly be adding to herself.

The Chiet tried to keep her mind off it all, looking at the animal only marginally gave the result she wanted. She felt sorry for the creature. Not only had it's death been far from clean, but it seemed there wasn't even dignity to be found in the aftermath. The carcass looked less like she had expected a hunter to be leaving it and far more like it had been attacked by a pack of wolves. Wolves with knives. Khara couldn't help but hope that Caiyha's attentions were now as far from the two teens as possible, not even so much as willing another prayer to the goddess was offered lest she draw her to the scene. You realize, of course that just thinking about her has doomed you? The guilt that came from that thought was staggering.

The scout glanced back towards the huntress, trying to think of anything to say, questions to ask, questions to not ask. Sadly it was one of those that finally came tumbling from her lips.

"Have you killed a moose before?" Khara knew there was no accusation in the question, knew it was mere curiosity, but the Chiet cringed and immediately regretted opening her mouth. Only thing she could think of now was to hope to clarify and not antagonize the blood stained woman with the knife. "I-I mean, I've j-just never seen one before yesterday. Not up close, anyway."

It was a pitiful attempt, but still she pressed on. "I'm not even sure how rare they are. Everyone just seemed to be making such a big deal about it but no one believed it was even in the area..." She forced herself to trail off, biting her lower lip to silence herself, still cursing herself for having spoken in the first place.
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"Nari" | "Common"

[Azira]

The scout was compliant of course, following Azira's instructions so that they continued to balance the carcass between them while also swapping places. The huntress was pleased to have succeeded but a glance in the direction of Khara - to ensure that she had a firm hold of the kill - showed that the girl didn't seem too happy. The Avora didn't set to her task with the same fervour as before, instead her gaze more attentive to the posture and expressions of the other. It wasn't that she was unhappy but rather that she seemed ill. That careful, measured breathing with the occasional gulp, the way her eyes closed and she seemed to avoid looking at the moose corpse where possible, instead focusing her gaze on the huntress when she happened to look that way. Certainly seemed to point to an upset stomach but why was she disgusted now and not earlier? Maybe it wasn't the sight of the moose but some coincidental illness. She resisted the urge to snort at that ridiculous idea.

The mystery somewhat solved the teen tried to ensure that the meat was better removed on this side than it had been on the one she'd just finished with. The hunting knife was used with greater care, her butchering dropping to a slower speed as she took care to strip the skin back first before touching the meat. Where the incision had been made, the tip of her blade worked its way between flesh and hide. It was a slow and laborious process, the hide not willing to part but with time she managed to part it - with the help of some careful tugging - from the incision down to where the legs began. Here she cut around the top of the limb, a circular cut so that the legs could be dealt with separately. Then she cut upwards from the top of each circular incision so that she could continue to remove the rest of the skin without having to bring it along the length of the leg first. It was by no means neat and she still lost some of the meat on the inside of the skin but it was certainly better.

It was as she was continuing her gradual skin stripping that the Chiet decided to break her silence and of course it was to go back to asking useless questions. The huntress signed softly, resigning herself to the fact that the girl couldn't be forced to shut up. If she couldn't be moved to silence by threats then so be it.

Azira considered remaining silent in that hopes that a wall of silence would stop the other short but it ultimately wouldn't achieve anything. If she could satisfy her curiosity then perhaps she'd run out of questions and wouldn't have any to bombard the huntress with for the next bell or so. Peace in the future would be better than intermittent queries so Azira decided that it was probably be safer to answer.

"Nope. Haven't seen a moose before today so I'd have a hard time killing one without doing that much," she replied casually, knife beginning to work its way into the flesh now, stripping it away from the rest of the carcass in big chunks. She frowned at a piece that could have been muscle rather than meat and aimed it at her pile after a shrug. It hit the bloody pile on the other side of the carcass with a wet thump. "Not many people bring them in, I suppose but that could be because they're big, you know?" The blade stabbed and sawed, the huntress struggling to rip it through some sinew around the rib cage. She had to be aggressive in her approach to it before she was able to hack some of the meat away and fire it over the corpse. This time, it didn't land on the pile but bounced off it and landed in the dirt. She swore emphatically at it and then returned to her hacking as she took her annoyance out on the moose.

"I don't think that they stay around here at this time of year. Could be wrong but I think they go somewhere else. Could be they just didn't believe that there'd be one this size so close to the city - Here throw this on the pile - and I find it hard to believe it myself." More flesh had been forcibly removed from the bones and handed to the scout. She wasn't risking another bad throw. "So what? Are you surprised that I took it down or something?" The question was asked flatly, no annoyance or anger in her tone. She paused in her butchery for a moment to fix the other young woman with a questioning stare, eyebrows raising as she waited to get a better insight into what the girl was thinking. She assumed that that was what the girl was really getting at.

Nari | Common

Template courtesy of Khara

[Khara]

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The fact Azira responded with more than a single word answer was something Khara found both surprising yet a complete relief. At least, at first. It was somewhat surprising to find that the huntress hadn't even seen a moose before today, though it did account for some of the way the day had panned out. Not that Khara had deemed any of the events remotely unprofessional or anything of that nature, but certain methods had seemed a bit... Well... Unorthodox. The Huntress' voice also provided a much needed distraction from the feel under her constantly stinging hands.

The piece of meat that didn't hit the rest of the pile instantly caught her attention. Not due to any failure of accuracy on Azira's part, more than there was an instinctual need to go and correct the situation. For a moment she struggled between the need to remain where she was and the urges to go and place the wayward chunk with the rest. Indecision kept her in place, and it was the Huntress' return to speaking that kept her there.

It was strange to hear that not many others brought in such large game. Khara had figured it was a regular occurrence, which was why she had been brushed off so easily to the task of seeing if the rumors had been true and even more so once she had actually confirmed the thing existed. Rarity of such a creature brought things strangely into perspective, and a new found respect for the huntress who actually had considered seeking out the scout whereas everyone else must have seen Khara for only the novice she was and clearly wasn't worth their time. She doubted Azira felt much different, not really, but the fact the huntress had come for her suddenly seemed to mean all the more to the Chiet.

It wasn't entirely something Khara could think on, as a sudden tug on a particularly stubborn piece that the Avora was carving at had to force her to redirect her attention to keeping the diminishing carcass from toppling over. Even the seemingly simple task was becoming taxing. Each tiny adjustment made Khara realize just how much effort she had been putting into holding the remains in place. Muscles in her arms and shoulders burned with the sudden move, legs joined in on the complaining just so they didn't feel left out. Just a bit longer, she promised herself while trying not to think about the long haul ahead of them back to Wind Reach.

But thankfully - or not - it was Azira's last remark that removed that thought from her and brought everything back to focus on the here and now and the fact that Khara had been berating herself for asking about the Avora's experience in the first place.

"N-no! Not at all." Khara was painfully aware of how the stutter made her sound far less certain than she should have been. Her lower lip was bitten and sucked partially into her mouth before the Chiet could force more words to form. "When you showed up this morning you said you were going to kill it. I haven't doubted that for a tick. I..."

She fumbled for what to say next, tripping over words in her head until something sounding vaguely correct rose to the top of the heap of rejected thoughts. "I'm just a bit surprised it was your first one. There was no question in your voice about what would be done today. I guess... I guess I'm just envious of your certainty when facing the unfamiliar."

There was an over dramatic sigh and groan from her inner self at the choice of wording. It sounded too grand to properly explain how Khara was feeling, but it had been said anyway. Not that it wasn't truth. Anything outside of routine and familiarity left Khara feeling as though she wanted to sprint away before her pulse caused her heart to erupt from her chest, but today had been different. She longed for an adventurous lifestyle, at least ones that ended up facing something as exciting as this, but the Chiet knew she wasn't really made for such things and the jealousy she felt at Azira's attitude through it all was genuine.
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"Nari" | "Common"

[Azira]

Khara's first stumbled words were met with a snort from the huntress. Yeah she really seemed confident in what she was saying. Azira knew that the girl would try to remedy her mistake, to say that it hadn't been meant the way that it had sounded but the Avora couldn't be bothered paying complete attention to her rambling. She had other things to be doing than listening to the Chiet stumble over her own tongue in her attempts to please her. She wanted to have this carcass stripped some time today and with the rate she was going she didn't need to be listening to Khara.

She went back to her butchery, keeping half an ear open to what the scout was rabbiting on about on the off chance that the girl might come out with something worthwhile after all. The knife gouged into the flesh of the moose's side, stripping it as quickly as she could although it did look more like a wild animal had mauled it than it having been butchered by a person. The meat from the side was soon stripped with each piece of meat passed to Khara to add to the pile. As she started on one of the legs, the knife jerked suddenly in her hand at the Chiet's words. She paused in her work to give the girl her full attention in the form of a stare. She didn't know whether to laugh or sink into a state of shock.

Envious of her certainty when facing the unfamiliar? Was the girl being serious?

The huntress opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out so she closed it again. She had no way of replying to such a statement. It was a compliment to her she supposed but it was still a strange thing for the lower caste member to say. It was also the first time that she'd heard a Chiet admit to being envious of an Avora. It was assumed of course but to hear it voiced aloud was another thing altogether. It left the teen completely gobsmacked.

Unsure what to say in response the huntress found her cheeks begin to redden as she became flustered with her incapability. She returned to her work as she thought it over, letting the silence settle uneasily between them. It was unlikely that the game scout would say anything before Azira did, the mistake of what she'd said probably all too clear to the young woman now that the words were out of her mouth. The first leg was hacked into and stripped of its meat as the huntress gave some thought to the matter. She'd certainly made sure that she came across as confident during the whole excursion although arrogance would be a better way to describe her attitude. She'd been holding a sense of superiority over the Chiet the whole time even at times when she had no idea what she was doing. Looks could certainly be deceiving. Should she admit the truth to the other?

The last leg was moved onto at last the meat still being passed onto the scout. When she had cut two pieces off the limb she finally spoke. "I don't think I gave it too much thought really. I hadn't seen one before, hadn't killed it but I thought that I could do better than everybody else. If I could get it in my sights then I was going to kill it somehow, you know?" The Avora lapsed into silence as she considered what more she could add. She didn't have to admit it out loud that she'd been clueless but she could certainly allude to it without denting her pride.

"Okay so I don't take big game down very often and it should have been impossible with what I had but that wasn't going to stop me from trying in spite of the odds. I wouldn't call it certainty but more... petch if I'm going to let anything stop me from doing what I want to do. You can call that certainty if you like or determination. Take your pick." The teen shrugged, sawing through the flesh that still remained on the leg that she was working on. She didn't care if she was taking parts that she shouldn't anymore. If they had to haul more than necessary back then she was willing to do it rather than discarding good meat by accident.

"I want to take what I can off the back so let it fall down again and start sorting out that meat for dragging it back to the city. Wrap it up somehow and work out how we're going to drag it out without having every zynx in the area on our tail." Her orders given the teen waited for the girl to get out of the way and shoved the carcass over in Khara's direction. The corpse landed wetly, some of the organs she'd failed to remove earlier but had loosened sliding out on impact. She ignored the mess instead focusing on stripping the skin further back to uncover the back. The piece of hide was fairly unbroken so if the scout needed it Azira could cut her free for her. That is if the girl was willing to ask.

The peeling was done with as much care as when she'd done the side and she was pleased with how well it worked out this time around, a little less of the precious flesh left clinging to the hide's underside. Once it was stripped back from the meat the huntress pulled the skin taut and sawed through it, severing the hide from the carcass. It was the size of one side and a good portion of the beast's back, holes cut where the legs had been but otherwise whole. She folded it over so that the hairy side faced outwards and placed it beside her where it could be clearly seen by the scout should she need it. With that the young woman worked on the last area of flesh, cutting it away in big chunks that she placed in her lap, not caring that the blood would soak into her bryda.

Once it was done she'd call the scout to collect the meat and see how she had gotten on with the task that she'd been assigned.

Nari | Common

Template courtesy of Khara

[Khara]

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Having a task was a complete relief to the Chiet. If she had been forced to endure the relatively simple thing of having to keep hold of the moose any longer she just knew her tongue would get the better of her and she'd start saying things that she really shouldn't aught to. Not that she hadn't already. The stare that the Avora had fixed her with for a moment had proven that fact quite clearly, even if the huntress had actually responded.

Sorting the meat wasn't going to be the easiest of tasks as Khara had virtually no clue how one red chunk of flesh was different from another. She'd tried to pay attention to what came from which parts but when her task had become less about staying out of the Avora's way and more about transferring the dripping chunks to the piles all concept of trying to keep track was lost as she became far more concerned with not dropping anything or completely destroying her clothing with blood. The actual sorting seemed secondary to the real problem though, finding some way to wrap up the pieces and make sure they could transport everything safely.

The first thing that came to mind was the large piece of branch she had found earlier that had been used to help prop up the carcass in the first place. The initial reason she had retrieved it wasn't a complete loss and thankfully it seemed to not be too damaged. The sprawling branches out from the main part still looked like it could work as some sort of rudimentary sled, but there was no way she was going to be able to easily transfer the piles of meat and organs that the Avora had made to it. Even if she could, the meat would be exposed to the open air and would be a welcome invitation to just about every predator within the region. Even if the scout managed to find a way that the Avora's hands could remain free while she pulled along the day's haul there still would be problems. More lessons learned the hard way. Despite trying to look busy, Khara was fully aware that she hadn't really accomplished anything towards what she had been instructed to do.

The Chiet found herself breathing in, lungs filling fully in anticipation of the uncomfortable task of asking the huntress if she had a better idea when Khara noticed that Azira seemed to be taking care in setting what remained of the moose's hide aside. It wasn't in the best condition, certainly not worth trying to sell once they returned to Wind Reach...

The obviousness of the implication hit her, leaving the scout to feel suddenly foolish. The huntress hadn't even needed to speak and the chastisement of her inexperience was felt once more. Khara quickly moved to inspect the hide, trying to work out how best to utilize it. Dragging it along by itself wouldn't be the best, even if she could perhaps somehow find a way to loop the remaining bit of rope through the various holes left by their arrows and other injures inflicted upon the animal. The branch though! If she tied it securely enough around portions of the branch they could easily pull it by even a small amount of rope and the hide would help to conceal the meat. Perhaps not the best to keep predators away but certainly it would keep it all from dragging against the forest floor.

She set to work as quick as she was able. Remaining bits of rope were gathered quickly into the crook of one arm and dropped down near where she had begun to work. The branch was inspected and tugged back closer to the piles of meat. Only a small crack now ran up along the length of it, not enough to cause the green piece of wood to split and hopefully with a little bit of help from the rope it would hold together. Without really knowing what she was doing, the Chiet tried to tie the rope to the branch, interweaving it as best as possible with still leaving two long lengths to hopefully pull by. A test tug showed it didn't immediately want to pull in one direction more than another and for now that would satisfy her.

Next came the hide of the moose, placed with the outside portion facing downward to help ward against any dirt and debris it would no doubt come into contact with on the journey. The inner portion was clean mostly, but the remaining blood would hopefully remain inside rather than dragging along to leave a trail behind them. She tried to unfold the hide to cover as much of the branches twigs as possible, keeping in mind that she planned to fold the edges back inward to cover everything once it was in place. There might even be enough rope left to loop it around the bundle once it was set to help hold it together, but Khara wasn't going to try and be overly optimistic about the idea.

Finally came the portions of meat. Khara began with the larger, more promising strips. Pieces that looked far more like they could be served than any of the tougher pieces that might not be of as much use. Even as she began to move each bloodied chunk, Khara noted the weight she was adding and could only hope she was choosing well. There was no doubt they'd be forced to leave things behind. Hopefully the predators would find that far more appealing than having to try and deal with two Inarta women.

It wasn't the best plan, and in fact it was probably outright wrong in most ways but it was what she could come up with on the spot given what they had. No doubt the huntress would point out any glaring flaws in the design that the Chiet hadn't noticed.
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"Nari" | "Common"