Closed Short Flight Hunting

[Lavira]

"Alright sounds like a plan. Why don't you gut the other one. The processing center and skin them." Vira had just finished with her wolf now, the hollowed out carcass now laying on its side in front of the young woman. "I'm going to get some fern to wrap the organs we'll keep in."

Standing and moving over to the lake, Vira knelt by the water and rinsed her hands and knife quickly, using her fingers to remove any fibers from the knife itself. Once this was done, she returned to the pile of offal and picked through the pile until she had located the wolf's stomach. "I forget she likes the stomach. Save yours, too, and give it to her when you get done. Hey Mohya-" The teen called to her eagle, the giant raptor turning with the summons and then chirping in delight at the sight of the stomach.

Predator stomachs often had other meat in them, too, allowing for double the protein if the meal was still fresh. Standing over them now, the eagle waited for the toss, to which Vira promptly obliged, and caught it out of the air once it had been. It wasn't even the size of the eagles nostril, though, so it was a wonder how it could give her any kind of nourishment. Still, Mohya loved them and Vira loved it when she was happy.

Once this was finished, Vira rinsed her hands a second time and then headed for the forests edge. She went a few yards in where the ferns were thickest and began cutting several large fans. Each fan was easily her height in length and would make excellent weaving material. She continued cutting and piling until she had a pile (unsquished) about knee height. Then, she went to one of the pines she had spied which some vine growing up along its trunk. The vines did not appear to have any thorns on them, so she decided to use some of this to bind the make-shift baskets.

Biting the knife between her teeth with the sharp edge facing out, Vira wrapped her arms around the trunk of the tree and used a combination of knee, thigh, and feet to shimmy her way upwards to the first set of branches (a good twelve feet up). From there, she cut the vine and gave it a pull, following its release from the tree down as she clung to the trunk with one arm. The vine continued to pull free until it was nearly at the bottom. By this point, Vira slid her way back down, landing lightly on the springy grass.

Before finishing with the vine, though, the teen wriggled where she stood, picking a wedgie the slide down had caused in her bryda and rump. Freed of the tension, she pulled the rest of the vine off and returned to the pile of ferns, laying the vine atop it in a circle.

Vira then gathered it all up into her arms and returned to the shore. She dropped it all on the opposite side of the rock she had been working with the wolf at and settled in once again to begin weaving the material into a useful basket.

[Azira]

   

Azira shrugged. "Sure, no problem. I'll get to it now," she replied, moving to the remaining carcass. This one was a little worse for wear than the one that Lavira had gutted. This one had suffered at the beak of the raptor, all ready partly ripped open although it didn't seem like there was too much damage done.

The huntress sat down beside it and took out her hunting knife, rolling up the sleeves of her katinu and setting to work as the Endal went off to get something to carry the organs in. She dug her hands into through the torn fur on its belly to see whether it went as deep as the organs. It did but it wasn't wide enough so she slit it open further with her knife. Reaching her hands into the cavity, the teen began to rummage around, pulling out the intestines in coils and freeing them with her knife. She placed them to one side when she'd pulled them out and went looking for the stomach, cutting it out and flinging it in Mohya's direction. 

The girl worked diligently, her hands searching for organs and her knife working them out. She'd removed most of the offal by the time Lavira came back. Azira found her eyes darting up every few ticks to look at her companion. She wondered if she should just Lavira to work or if she should strike up a conversation. She didn't even know what to say to her. If it was work related then that would be all right, she supposed.

"Uh Lavira?" Azira began hesitantly, uncertain about whether or not she should speak. "What organs do you want me to keep?I'm not really used to keeping organs. They aren't really much use when they come from a rabbit or a squirrel," she explained. The girl dropped her gaze back down to her work.

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[Lavira]

With the ferns and vines now laid out before her, Vira took the vine and draped it across her lap before taking a few of the largest ferns and laying them flat on the stones in an alternating pattern. The tips would point in opposite directions so that one blade of the fern never lined up with another blade. It created the bottom of the weave and was at a width of four blades wide. Then, she took four more and wove them over and under the four fans of fern and then adding one to each end to widen it slightly.

From there, Vira added a row on either end of the original layer and called it done on the base. It was really just improvisational since they just needed a temporary but sturdy basket that would hold the organs inside the paunch without spoiling the meat. Taking up the vine, Vira began to loop the flexible plant around the ends of each fern, making two loops on the first stem (both going over and around), and then one on all of the three other stems in the middle. She alternated from over to under on these until there were three over loops and two under loops with the two ends having too.

When Azira spoke, Vira did not look up, simply talking as she worked. "Well, we try and save most of the guts for use at the processing center. The Citizens may not eat every organ, but the birds and few dogs in the city will and will give them higher nutrition that they might otherwise miss out on. Separate your pile into two with one being the offal and the other being edible." The endal looked up now, smiling as she pointed with the vine-hand to the wolf she had worked with. "See mine? We want the kidneys, liver, stomach, sweetbreads, heart and tongue. The Processing Center will take the brains out and separate the tripe from the stomach. They'll also clean the insteines, but that will generally go into the offal pile since it's not being used for Inarta consumption."

Vira returned to her work afterwards, continuing the looping of the vines around the ends of the stems before adding a second and a third layer to it all. As she reached the fourth layer, the teen began threading the vines in a loop around each bunch to help bind it together. It was now taking on the actual shape of a basket, even if it wasn't as nice as a real basket might have been. As this improvised binding ended, the teen wove her way to the middle of the original set and then went straight across, repeating the process. With the last three feet of vine, Vira flipped the whole thing and wove the material under to the other side of the binding, and then to the adjacent weave, and back under, creating a large plus sign on the fern-basket.

"Have you never saved your organs before?" There was no tone of judgement in the woman's words as she continued to remain mostly attentive to her own work, just a quiet curiosity.

[Azira]

   

Lavira was completely engrossed in her work, her hands moving purposely and confidently to form her makeshift basket. Her fingers moved easily to weave the plants into a useable form of carrier. It was amazing that she could do it at all and Azira wondered if there was anyway that she could learn the skill. Such baskets would make carrying game home (when she caught it) considerably easier.

The Endal didn't look up when she answered her question. She merely gestured in the direction of the wolf she'd already gutted, allowing the huntress to identify which organs went where by the woman's separation and arrangement of them. Azira would have had absolutely no idea what to keep if she hadn't been with the other woman. Again she felt like a failure.

She began to sort the organs she'd removed into the piles that Lavira had told her, separating the organs consumable by the Inarta from the offal. It was actually surprisingly easy to sort them accordingly. Organs that she couldn't readily identify could be sorted into the right piles by consulting Lavira's work.

As she worked, she shot furtive glances in the woman's direction and when the teen spoke, the Avora was worried that the woman was going to scold her for not concentrating properly. It was a ridiculous notion but that's how she felt. The question surprised her however.

"Uh no. I've never taken them out an separated them like that. I've kept organs before but that's  when I haven't cut them out. Sometimes it's less messy to just skin them and carry them back untouched. Sometimes it's easier to gut them and salt them. It just depends. I've never really seen the point of keeping them before. They're just so little," she explained, placing the last organ in the offal pile. 

"All done!" she exclaimed. The huntress got to her feet and moved to the lake side, sticking her hands in the water to wash them clean. Drying them on her bryda, she moved back over to where Lavira was. 

"Need any help?"

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[Lavira]

Vira would 'ah' in understanding as Azira explained what she typically did. "So you let the processing center work it out; I've met a few now who do that. I like to go ahead and bleed and gut mine out here so that it's less cleanup during processing. I've learned it also helped keep the meat longer. If the guts are left in too long, the gas from the stomach and intestines can build up and sometimes burst into the cavity, ruining the other, edible parts. When just working with Tulaj, though, our game usually too small to make the guts work keeping, too. I'll pick out the heart and kidneys and sometimes livers if they're big enough and save them for him and the hatchlings from the nesting aeries."

With the last weave of the first basket made, she gathered several of the smaller blades of fern and lined the interior, filling in the holes as needed. "See? Everything can be made useful, even the most useless piece of trash. When you only have access to certain things, you have to improvise or you'll never make it." Vira looked up and grinned at her colleague, glad to see Azira finished.

This improvised basket weaving was harder than it looked for the one-eyed Endal. She had to move more slowly to make sure her lines were precise and that her loops didn't slip. She was FAR from an expert and tended only to do this kind of thing, with anything, on rare occasions when she simply lacked the supplies necessary. A hunter could try and prepare for everything, but the better tool was learning to use your environment.

"Huh? Oh, sure, we need to make one more basket anyways. Why don't you grab the big blades there-" She gestured to the largest fans of ferns. "Lay them out in an alternating pattern on the ground so that the stems align with the top of the blade." Straightening, she gathered the completed first basket and went to the organ pile to begin filling it up. She used the dense and heavy liver as lining on the bottom and then squeezed out anything that may be left in the kidneys and set these atop the liver. Likewise, she slit open the stomachs with her knife and emptied it of its contents, being careful not to damage the lining as she used the pads of her fingers to scrape it clean. From there, she folded the stomachs around one another and set them beside the kidneys before loading up the sweetbreads and hearts.

Once it was all finished, she returned to Azira's side to see how she was doing. "Okay, once you have your base, you'll want to take six more and weave them in and out of the starter four. Then, add one more on each side of the original four. This, I've learned, helps hold it in place a little better."

[Azira]

   

The woman seemed to understand where she was coming from, explaining why she used the process that she did. Azira felt her face fall when the woman suggested that she make a basket. The Endal made it look easy but the huntress wasn't always the best at fiddly things and didn't really have the patience either. She was going to get really frustrated she was sure but she'd have to try not to fling her attempts away in temper. It would seem terribly childish and it would be a terrible waste as well.

The girl sat beside the materials and gathered the large blades as Lavira had suggested. She laid them out alternately making sure the stems lined up with the top of the blades as her companion had told her. That bit was easy, the fiddly bit hadn't started yet. It didn't help though when the Endal appeared at her side to tell her the next step. She suddenly found herself feeling extremely self-conscious as the woman watched her. The Avora was scared of making a mistake but she tried to keep herself calm and follow the woman's instructions.

She took six more ferns and began to weave them though her starter four, her fingers seeming clumsy doing the simple action. It took her a chime or two but then she had to add in the other two as Lavira had suggested. That was harder and she nearly trapped her fingers in the weave because of her awkward movements. At last though, she had it done.

"Okay, what do I do next?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her work. She was expecting it to fall to pieces before her eyes. That won't happen, she tried to tell herself but she still watched it closely.

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[Lavira]

Vira would act as a supervisor now, monitoring the movements of the other hunter as she wove the ferns together. There really wasn't much to the task, but the Endal had this horrible obsession for routine and near-perfection in the skills she did. It made her a wonderful laborer, but too often that obsession came out when she was really deeply upset. Thankfully, that was not the case right now!

The other hand managed to weave the next set of blades through and she nodded in approval. "Okay, the next part's really easy." Vira went to the first basket and brought it over to where Azira was to show her only to stop and frown. "Well, we may have to change our plans a bit. Looks like we've run out of vine. Okay, well there's room in the other basket enough for the remainder of the offal, I think. We can cut down what you've already woven so it fits inside the other basket to act like a protective layer. Then we'll put that in, cover it up, and load up. Why don't you go ahead and do that. I'll secure the carcasses to Mohya."

Vira approached the bird and spoke quietly to her a moment before using the feathery groove near her shoulder for leverage so that she could pull herself onto the birds back. "I've got to go get the harnesses; wait here, I'll be right back!" All of their prep-gear was back at the original landing spot, which had been a good bells walk or more around the other side of the lake. No sense in doing that when you could hop on a giant eagle and fly across in a few ticks.

Once settled, Vira knit her fingers into the long white feathers of Mohya's head and tucked in low to hold herself steady, letting her know that she was ready with a touch into the birds mind. A moment later, the eagle thrust out her wings and swept them down, massive legs pushing her off and up as she soared low and fast across the lake. They could be seen landing a moment later on the other side where the prep-camp had been erected.

Vira gathered up the riding harness and kicked down the makeshift skinning rack, breaking it to diminish the clarity of their presence at this lake. Once it was all done, she spent the next couple chimes getting Mohya harnessed and securing the little gear they'd left on this side to the straps against her neck and chest. "Mohya, stop filling your gullet...I can't get the harness tight when you do that." She said, poking the base of the eagles neck and the air-tight pocket that had been swollen out. A moment later, the bird let it deflate and the muscles relax before cinching it up the rest of the way. "It's dangerous, you know. What if you relaxed when we were flying? The harness would come loose and I and anyone with me would fall!"

~Sorry, dear...it just irritates me so; chafes my feathers on these long flights.~

"I know, but it's the best way right now. Tell ya what; when we get back to the city, I'll look into getting you some extra padding so that it's more comfortable. Will that be better?"

~Oh, I think that could work~

"Good; let's get back to Azira." Vira climbed back into the harness again, slid her hands into the holds, and braced against the bird when she took off again, gliding low across the waters so that just her wing-tips touched the surface.

When they landed, Vira dismounted again and went to the first of the wolves. This one, she grabbed on either side of its head and dragged to the eagle. Disconnecting one of the strap-loops, the teen bent beside the wolf again and began wrapping first the front feet, then the hind feet (at the ankles) together, pulling them to one another with a well-woven strip. This would allow her to hang the dead animal on the same connection with minimal effort. The extra long strap was threaded back through the connector and the Endal pulled it taut through the opposite side. From there, she heaved and ho'd until the canid was pulled up against the eagles chest.

Once this was finished, she used the extra length of strap to weave three more times through the connecting loop (one around the neck of the wolf, another around the torso, and a final around the hips, effectively pulling it up against Mohya completely once Vira had yanked it tight. It was an exercise in pulley's to really get the job done and left the Endal leaning against Mohya with a hand over her scarred right side as she stood there and just breathed with her eyes closed.

[Azira]

   

The teen waited patiently with her basket base as Lavira went to get the one that she'd already made to show her. The Endal realised that they wouldn't have enough material for another basket. Relief and disappointment warred in the Avora. She wouldn't have to feel self-conscious about her companion looking over her shoulder anymore but she also didn't get to learn how to finish making the basket.

The Endal took off on her eagle across the lake and Azira began her task. Taking her knife from her hip, she began to cut the base to a smaller size so that it would fit in the other basket. With the other woman's presence gone, she could work with more ease and she was determined to have her work done before her companion came back. She had no idea how long the woman would be, probably only a few chimes so the huntress felt rushed as she cut her base down to size to make a lid.

As Mohya and her rider flew back across the lake, the teen placed the last of the offal in basket and  fixed the lid in place, pushing it down to secure it. The Endal didn't come over to investigate her work, obviously trusting her to have it done, but instead began dragging a wolf carcass over to the raptor. Having nothing else to do, she decided to follow the woman's lead. Grabbing the head of one of the wolves, Azira began to drag it over to the Wind Eagle, heaving on it to get it over to Mohya's side just as Lavira finished securing her own carcass. 

The woman was breathing heavily and clutching her side, something that made the girl let her carcass drop to the ground as she stepped forward in concern.

"Are you all right, Lavira?" she asked, biting her lip anxiously. She had no idea what to do if the woman said that she wasn't all right. She supposed that she could offer to take over from her but she couldn't see the Endal liking that one bit.

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[Lavira]

Vira opened her eyes to look over at Azira and gave a strained smile. "Yea," She began, dropping her hand from off her side and moving over to make sure the straps were secure on the carcasses. "I'll be alright, thank you for the concern, though." Once it was done, she stepped away to get the basket. She lifted it over her left shoulder and carried it towards the massive bird, setting it down on the ground afterwards to undo the straps on this part as well.

"Do you remember when Alori dragged me down to the Inclement back near that one day we met?" She asked, weaving the strap through first one handle, then the other. "How...er...upset I was?" Vira paused to look towards Azira. Her smile was still kind. "My fall took more than just some of my emotional strength. I'm getting better, slowly, but things like that still bother me. Physically, it's worse."

Vira turned her blind side to her hunting companion, pushing her bryda down a little at the hip with one hand and lifting part of the bottom of her vinati with the other. The red and pink and white scar that covered her side stretched from breast to hip and left the flesh badly puckered permanently. "It hurts constantly, Azira. Sometimes, if I turn wrong or reach further than I should, it flares and I have to stop. I can keep a good face on because I have to. It's not good to look weak as an Endal, and still, they're watching me to make that one wrong step. They can't un-caste me, so to speak, unless Mohya un-bonds with me, but the higher and older members of the caste can sure make my life hai if I don't keep up."

She rolled vinati and bryda back into their proper positions and then turned back to the basket, threading the strap through one more time, then heaving it up. "Hey, com'ere and secure it. Loop the strap under the basket and tie it to the main. Then, go around to her other side and loosen the one with the black-tip on it; keep one hand on it but loosen it enough so I can push the basket through."

[Azira]

   

The Endal dismissed her concern with a small smile and a thank you. Azira didn't think that the woman was truly all right but she decided not to press her on the subject. The woman resumed her work, the Avora watching her for a few moments. The woman's question caught her by surprise.

"You were pretty upset, I think. I don't know really, I was kind of distracted at the time..." she trailed off, not willing to go into detail on that subject. Distracted was an understatement though, distraught was a better word.

It turned out that pressing hadn't been needed as Lavira provided the information herself, revealing puckered scarring along her side as an explanation for her pain. It coincided with the scar on her face and so the huntress assumed that they'd been inflicted by the same accident, the one that had effectively made her a Dek, if not in name.

"Oh!" That was her great commentary on Lavira's speech. An exclamation was all she could manage to say on it. Her cheeks burned at her social ineptitude. The woman saved her from her awkwardness by giving her something to do, a task that she leapt to immediately. 

Grabbing the strap that Vira had indicated and pulled it under the basket, tying it in place. Moving around to the other side, she searched for the strap with the black tip. Once she loosened it, she held it in place waiting for her companion to push the basket through.

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