[Bronze Wood] The Hunters Awaken (Sturlin)

[Miharu Mindi]

She practically melted into his lap when he started threading his fingers into her hair, eyes shuttering as she relaxed completely beneath his hands.

She was quiet, and a moment after Sturlin caught his cat winking at him, Miharu gave a soft snore - and then snorted and blinked, having woken herself up with that. "Oh! Oh, shyke," she muttered, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand. "I shouldn't pass out on you, I need to take care of this stuff," she mumbled, leaning on him as she hauled herself to her feet. She did, however, lean a hand on his shoulder and press a kiss to his scarred brow, a little thank you for the pettings. It was the sort of thing her father had done whenever Lliani had been especially kind to him, and it seemed right.

[Sturlin]

Sturlin chuckled softly when she snored herself awake. It was the sort of cute gesture that he had come to expect from his animal companions. "It is alright. Do you need any help with the body?" As she stood he gave one last parting stroke to her hair. When she placed a kiss to his brow he brightened further and gave her one of his lopsided smiles.

[Miharu Mindi]

"Sure," she said brightly, dragging the hide towards the fire, meat still piled high on it. "I mean, as long as you don't mind watching me eat the rest once we get there," she chuckled. There was really no telling what humans might be squeamish about, but he'd been fairly good with everything but nakedness so far so she didn't really see a problem.

"Here, grab that leg," she said, getting a grip on one of the back legs and pointing him at the other. They would need to drag it a good ways from camp, and then she'd have to spend another half a bell covering the scent of blood with her own, but it was worth it not to have to butcher and bring the meat back three or four times. She could shift that much without a problem, but it would make her grumpy, and she'd likely eat half the meat she'd intended to leave with Sturlin just to sate the hunger that would follow all of that. "Back this way, there's a copse of rocks not too far." And with that she just started hauling, powerful legs straining as she pulled the ragged remnants of bone still attached to the boar's head.

[Sturlin]

A shrug of his shoulders showed that while there are a few things he may seem squeamish about, blood was not one of them. At her direction he gripped the boar and heaved along with her. A bit of a groan escaped his lips, but he was a powerful man and once his own legs found their stride he was able to keep pace with her without difficulty. Still, a dead boar is a heavy thing.

It was a little funny to have her give him directions though. He would have smiled, but it took quite a bit of concentration to keep his grip on the boar and avoid stumbling through the undergrowth as he followed her lead. "I'm glad you killed this thing. I would hate to have had to carry it to camp myself."

[Miharu Mindi]

"Better to have it dead than wandering your woods," she chuckled, heaving it over a fallen log. "These petching things can be dangerous if you accidentally come across them. I've marked most of these woods for you, though, so that should keep some of the nastier creatures away. It won't last forever, but it'll do for a few weeks at least. Or until the next good rains," she chuckled. "Besides, you gave me a gift. Least I could do is leave you with enough meat to last you a while."

The dragged it at least a mile upwind of camp before they reach a little clearing, no more than ten feet across, where a tree had fallen and made a bit of space, leaning against an outcropping of rock. "This is good enough," she said, panting a little as she dropped the carcass and collapsed into a seat on the tree to catch her breath. "Give me a moment," she murmured, "and then I'll eat and we can go back. Though you'll likely end up carrying my dress again," she laughed breathlessly.

[Sturlin]

"Well thank you for the trouble. I may be packing up in the next ten or twenty days to seek out a comfortable cave. Thought I'd mention it so that you could find me more easily when you came back." He smiled and continued to drag the boar. Mr. Pickles had decided that this was the time to follow them. Occasionally he would swat at the ears of the dead boar playfully, trying to claw them into submission as they flopped about.

Once they had set the boar in the clearing he rested his hands on top of his head and took several deep breaths. Carrying a big beast like that for a mile was a good workout. Not that he planned on repeating the process any more times in the future than he strictly had to. "It would be my pleasure," he said in response to carrying her dress. As they both rested Mr. Pickles pawed, with claws retracted, at one of the open eyes of the boar. Apparently the way it rolled was quite interesting.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu watched the cat battling his foe, chuckling as she imagined how very different it would have been had the boar been alive.

She stood and pulled her dress of, as uncaring of sensibilities now as she'd been before, except now she had a bright splash of angry red across her left hip and what was without a doubt a hoofprint in the center, already purpling.

"All right," she chuckled, dropping the dress on the log where she'd been sitting and waving for Sturlin to get comfortable. Then another bright flash of light, and the wolf padded up to the corpse to give Mr. Pickles a quick lick between his ears before she nudged him out of the way with her nose and began feasting on the boar's cheek-meat.

She went on to stuff herself thoroughly, pulling all the meat off she hadn't butchered - the cheeks and thick muscles of the neck, the tough bits at the bottoms of the legs, the fatty lining along the spine. Anything edible left by her knife was soon ripped off with teeth, and though the sounds may not have been exactly pleasant, it was likely better that the noises involved when she'd felled the thing.

She did, however, pull off a small bite every now and then to set in front of Mister Pickles, just in case he was hungry too.

[Sturlin]

Sturlin had no trouble watching her eat. It was, in fact, quite fascinating. He had never been able to observe the habits of the wolf in close detail. Certainly she was a better hunter than he was. That was something he would have to remedy in the future. The hunter had become too complacent with the success of his traps and snares, and had stopped using his bow.

Mr. Pickles sat watching the jaws of the wolf with rapt attention, as if watching a ball of string. Each time she deposited a scrap of meat in front of him the cat leaned forward to lick it several times and then daintily devour it. It was like being hand fed, and he certainly liked that. The mildly unpleasant sounds of their teeth against flesh was joined by the powerful rumbling of the bald cat's purring.

[Miharu Mindi]

When she was finally finished, she licked the last of the blood from her muzzle and then sigh heavily, full and content. She sat down on her haunches and went about licking the last bits of dirt and meat and blood from her front legs, and then looked up at Sturlin and gave a sharp bark to indicate that she was ready.

She started back the way they'd come, occasionally stopping to dig into the dirt and throw fresh earth over a particular patch of blood, or to urinate on something that smelled particularly strong and needed to be covered up.

When they made it back to camp, she shook herself out, dispersing a little cloud of sliver hairs, and then shifted back to human form.

"Gah," she said, taking her dress back from Sturlin with a laugh and wrapping it around herself. "I need a nap. I'm sooo full," she chuckled, patting her belly. Golden eyes found his again, and she tilted her head a little. "Can you take care of the meat? It's all yours, of course."

[Sturlin]

While they traveled back to the camp Sturlin payed close attention to her methods as she covered the blood trail. He could not duplicate them exactly, he was not a wolf, but surely it would come in handy in the future. When she spoke he responded, "Thank you. I will deal with it while you rest then."

Making sure that Mr. Pickles had made it back to camp, the hunter unpacked his preservation equipment and began preparing the rack for drying pork. As he worked he resumed humming the child's lullaby that Miharu had first heard when she arrived. This type of work always felt relaxing.