Once they reached the tree edge, Vira paused, admiring the pleasant view before her and shifting the carcass of the deer on her shoulders. The twenty or so chime walk to this point had begun to add weight to the dead deer and she could only imagine what it must be like for the bulky fur of the vecerem and offal Kovac was carrying. The brief few ticks allowed her to take in the scene:
It was the same little stream they had begun their tracking from, their shadows dancing over the ground where the trees broke the light. The cool water of the stream looked very appealing to rinse her throat in but they needed to finish up with the kills first. There was a lark on the branch of a hoary old oak tree that looked over a slower bend in the stream, the little bird watching them curiously before taking wing and leaving. The lark had a handsome crest that was unusual for the species, and a green-brown breast that made her wonder if perhaps it had been affected by the djed storm last spring. She dismissed the thought and continued on, picking her way over the mud and stones carefully before crossing a shallow portion of the waterway.
“Aidara seems like a good woman, I wish we could have encountered one another more; still feels weird that an Endal chose to hang around with me. Most of them are so…you know.” She shrugged some, the deer slipping and having to be quickly re-shouldered before she led them back to the camp. Once there, she dropped the kill beside the lean to and went to take the skin and organs from him so that the effort of getting it down would not cause him to lose his balance.
When he answered her query of his health, she nodded in understanding, “That’s alright. You said we were here for small game anyways; I can take Tulaj out later and we can flush some more muskrat and see if there’s any raccoon around. We’ll just stalk the coast here and a little ways in, don’t worry.” She gave him a reassuring smile, slipping in close to take his knife once more. “Go wash those cuts so they don’t get infected, though. I’ll take care of the deer.”
With dagger in hand, she moved to the deer to begin the arduous task of skinning it. It was very different from a rabbit hide but not as thick as the vecerems. Her novice skill at doing it in the first place remained apparent by the time she had finished; the carcass was fully stripped of its hide and it now lay draped over a log nearby, bits of meat still attached to it. It took around thirty chimes for her to finish the task, and once she had, she gathered up the animals head once more. She had wanted to examine the sinus-cavities to see about the odd swelling in its muzzle.
With the head on her knees, Vira turned it this way and that to help her see before sticking a finger up the nose of the animal and feeling around inside. The sight was somewhat nonsensical, but proved necessary when she pulled her finger back and examined something on it. It was hard and kind of a greyish yellow in color. She took the hunting knife up again and made a careful slid along one of the sinus’, opening it and then sticking her thumb and first finger inside and pulling something out. It had the same color as that which she’d grabbed, but had a harder structure, and what’s worse…it had legs.
“Okay, that’s disgusting…” She murmured, turning it over in her hand slightly and then yelping when it started to move. She gave whatever it had been a hurl across the camp and away from her, Kovac, and their temporary lodgings. “Ah!” It landed with a wet plop, wiggled a moment, and then rolled itself into an upright position and scampered under a rock. “What the hai was that?” Her eyes lowered to the deer, then, staring at it with a mix of emotions. What if there were more of those insi- “Ugh!” She shoved the deer off her lap when a dozen more of the six-inch long things came crawling out. They were narrow and slightly ridged with four legs and feet and a tail that looked a bit like a scorpions, but shorter.
The teen swung her legs over the log and pulled quickly away from the carcass and the scattering of creatures that slither-crawled their way over the rocks and away from the kill and the camp. “Hey, Kovac! I don’t think that deer’s any good!”
It was the same little stream they had begun their tracking from, their shadows dancing over the ground where the trees broke the light. The cool water of the stream looked very appealing to rinse her throat in but they needed to finish up with the kills first. There was a lark on the branch of a hoary old oak tree that looked over a slower bend in the stream, the little bird watching them curiously before taking wing and leaving. The lark had a handsome crest that was unusual for the species, and a green-brown breast that made her wonder if perhaps it had been affected by the djed storm last spring. She dismissed the thought and continued on, picking her way over the mud and stones carefully before crossing a shallow portion of the waterway.
“Aidara seems like a good woman, I wish we could have encountered one another more; still feels weird that an Endal chose to hang around with me. Most of them are so…you know.” She shrugged some, the deer slipping and having to be quickly re-shouldered before she led them back to the camp. Once there, she dropped the kill beside the lean to and went to take the skin and organs from him so that the effort of getting it down would not cause him to lose his balance.
When he answered her query of his health, she nodded in understanding, “That’s alright. You said we were here for small game anyways; I can take Tulaj out later and we can flush some more muskrat and see if there’s any raccoon around. We’ll just stalk the coast here and a little ways in, don’t worry.” She gave him a reassuring smile, slipping in close to take his knife once more. “Go wash those cuts so they don’t get infected, though. I’ll take care of the deer.”
With dagger in hand, she moved to the deer to begin the arduous task of skinning it. It was very different from a rabbit hide but not as thick as the vecerems. Her novice skill at doing it in the first place remained apparent by the time she had finished; the carcass was fully stripped of its hide and it now lay draped over a log nearby, bits of meat still attached to it. It took around thirty chimes for her to finish the task, and once she had, she gathered up the animals head once more. She had wanted to examine the sinus-cavities to see about the odd swelling in its muzzle.
With the head on her knees, Vira turned it this way and that to help her see before sticking a finger up the nose of the animal and feeling around inside. The sight was somewhat nonsensical, but proved necessary when she pulled her finger back and examined something on it. It was hard and kind of a greyish yellow in color. She took the hunting knife up again and made a careful slid along one of the sinus’, opening it and then sticking her thumb and first finger inside and pulling something out. It had the same color as that which she’d grabbed, but had a harder structure, and what’s worse…it had legs.
“Okay, that’s disgusting…” She murmured, turning it over in her hand slightly and then yelping when it started to move. She gave whatever it had been a hurl across the camp and away from her, Kovac, and their temporary lodgings. “Ah!” It landed with a wet plop, wiggled a moment, and then rolled itself into an upright position and scampered under a rock. “What the hai was that?” Her eyes lowered to the deer, then, staring at it with a mix of emotions. What if there were more of those insi- “Ugh!” She shoved the deer off her lap when a dozen more of the six-inch long things came crawling out. They were narrow and slightly ridged with four legs and feet and a tail that looked a bit like a scorpions, but shorter.
The teen swung her legs over the log and pulled quickly away from the carcass and the scattering of creatures that slither-crawled their way over the rocks and away from the kill and the camp. “Hey, Kovac! I don’t think that deer’s any good!”