Hunting Is Far Preferable (Graded)

[Denali]

Season of Fall, day 83, 510 AV

Being a people of the sky, the Inarta weren't known for having sled-type contraptions readily available; eagle's didn't pull sleds very well. So they had two choices when trying to get a heavy load of stone from one area to another. Well, three. They could do it by hand, they could get a magic user (which were rare), or they could commission the city tiger to pull it. Usually, Denali could make an excuse that she was going to hunt, or the like, to get out of it. But fall was coming to a close, and even her thick coat was having trouble keeping the cold out now. Not to mention, she didn't want to be out for another of those winter storms.

The Kelvic had still tried to dodge the request, mind you. She'd searched for other, more pressing matters to attend to. But she didn't have anyone to hide behind anymore, so Denali ended up stripping down, throwing her clothes at the temporary employer, and shifting into her tiger form. This brings us back to the sled; A leather tarp was put on the ground, the stone on it, and the tarp was secured to the cat by a harness. She did her share of growling as she was strapped in, but the had been done before and she knew for certain that she could both reach and snap most of the harness without difficultly.

So she strained and got into her groove. The young man who had commissioned her assistance was trying to prode her to move faster for the first few minutes, but the fifth time he did so she nonchalantly clashed her maw shut in his direction. He did not try again. Though the stretch was not long nor the load overly taxing, Denali soon began to feel her stomach rise up in protest. At least when hunting she could eat her fill to ensure the ability to shift back to human form—right now she was realizing she might not be able to without more food.

Her fears were affirmed when the harness was taken off of her. She shook herself down and stepped away from her employers, stretching a little as she did so. And then she attempted to change, and then...nothing. The large wildcat drooped from a second before turning to the young man and staring expectantly. He tossed her clothes on the ground in front of her. She growled.

“Hey, hey.” He said, holding his hands up, “I don't have the money to pay you just yet. Do you really need any pay for that amount of work? You just walking, after all.”

A paw placed a little forward, Denali began to crouch and snarl. At this point it was more for fun that for the expectation of a reward, but there was a part of her that wished she could speak and just tell him she needed some food. The hungrier she was, the harder it was to think in tiger form.

The man had froze, but soon she payed him no mind and pushed her clothes around until she could pick them up in her mouth. Then she turned in the direction of the commons and began to move at an easy trout. She probably had some rations stored...if she could get to it. It was a bit of a walk to the commons, though. Maybe she'd find some food on her way.

[Delicah]

I had just entered Wind Reach at the beginning of Fall, what I find, I wouldn't know. That's the thing about wandering, you don't know how's the water until you test it. She had been wandering around, getting a feel of the city. She disguised well with the Inarta due to her hair color and didn't correct anyone if they assumed she was. As long as they didn't look into her eyes, she was safe from being asked to do any manual labor, as if she would say yes anyway. I was about to head to an Inn I saw a while ago when a saw a tiger, no tigress, pulling a huge load of stones. She looked tired. I wondered if she must have carried it far. I watched as a man took the harness off of her. She bagan to wonder why she even cared. She began to get up and leave when she saw the tigress tried to change back. She recognized the slight furrowing of the brow, taking up about as much concentration as snapping your fingers and then... nothing. She remebered that often happened to her when she often was really hungry and/or tired. The tigress looked up at the man expectantly. He muttered something about money. Money? What would a tiger do with money? Haven't they ever heard of hunger? A slight growl came from deep within her cheast, too deep and menacing to be human. They just reminded her that she can't depend on anyone, not like she was planning to anyway. Memories flooded back to her. All people want is what they can use to their advantage. Delicah was steaming. She had to take a momment to calm herself before huffing off. Stupid non-kelvic people. It was the best she could come up with in her anger. She normally didn't get this mad but they were just so... Stupid and inconsiderate She looked after the tigress. Once she found her she looked meaningfully into her eyes. She reached into her backpack and tossed her tree slabs of dried meat she had finished making the previous day. She tossed them infront of the tigress, nodding and walked away.

[Aidara]

"Petching bird, you really are going to be the end of me, you know that right?" The light female voice was clipped with stress, every few words punctuated by a hair raising screech. "Artemis, really?! It was a petching mouse. I wasn't going to let you have it anyway...no, Stop it! C'moooooon!" The swearing continued, and 'round the corner came a tiny redheaded woman, balancing a immature falcon on her arm. It seemed like they were playing tug of war, beak clenched on the head of a poor, furry brown creature, while human fingers grasped at the tail. A tug of said tail was responded to with a jerk of the birds head or a flap of his wings. "You don't scare me, now. Let. Go." The last words were punctuated by sharp tugs on the dead animal. Whether or not the woman was aware the the bird couldn't respond seemed irrelevant. She paid no attention to where she was walking, confident strides bringing her though well known passage ways. Deks fled under foot, fellow Avora stepped aside with wry smiles or a shake of their head. Stubborn Endal stood their ground, until it was clear that the woman had no intention of stepping around them, and resulted with the higher caste diving rather ungracefully out of her way. She might only rise barely over five feet, but she also had a good 10 pounds of beak and talon on her arm. "HA!" Triumphant, the mouse carcass was swung into the air, out of the birds reach. The tugs had finally gotten to the falcon, and he had opened his mouth for a cry and lost the grip on his prey. Aidara smirked to herself, tossing the mouse over her shoulder, into a rather shadowy corner. She hated to do so but....well, she wasn't going to have that battle again, and she wasn't going to stick her fingers down the birds throat to remove a mouse skull when it became lodged. Fingers were brushed down the raptors back, delicate cooing sounds now to sooth the irritated animal. It's hooded head swiveled back and forth, unable to see anything at all. Talons clenched and unclenched around her heavily gloved wrist, the bells on the jesses gripped in her fist jingling with each shift. Banking quickly around another corner, Addy stopped dead in her tracks. There was a tiger in the middle of the yard before her, lugging something with... a harness? Still idly stroking at Artemis's back feathers, the woman took another step towards the odd scene, her green eyes wide with curiosity. Momentarily forgetting the training she was supposed to be heading off to do, she continued towards the animal. It snapped then, its jaws clashing together at the Inarta that was standing beside it. Jumping nearly out of her skin, Addy lost her tenuous grip on the jesses. Sensing freedom, Artemis beat his wings strongly, managing to lift up off of her wrist before she had him back under control. The bird flapped awkwardly a few more times before landing in a rather ungraceful manner back onto her arm. By the time Addy had the bird settled back down and turned her attention back to the random tiger, it was gone... Well, it wasn't gone. But it's harness was gone. Great. Now it was loose and it was totally going to come over and snack on her face. Where was Sai? She would totally be able to fend it off while....Addy....ran for her life? No. Cried in a corner? Well...maybe. Ah! Go grab her bow and come back to defeat the foe and be declared a heroine! Oh, for the glory...Nahhh, the possibility of the tiger even noticing her was slight. Back to reality, Addy watched the silent exchange of meat flung at the big cats face, the strange red-haired...lunch lady...?...strode away. Well, Aidara knew one place she wasn't going, and it was near that cat. Skirting around the animal, praying silently that Artemis would be calm, quiet and well behaved for once, she tried to pass the great animal without looking too nervous or like a delicious snack.

[Sairque]

This was it, she was done. Jeral had brought a total of three elk back over the course of fall. Three. After it had been made more than clear that unless the Avoran hunter stepped up, shook off his funk, and started slaying some beasts, he was getting his ass tossed out of the city. He was one of their best hunters but for the last two seasons he couldn't seem to get his ass out of bed for any other reason than to drag someone else back into it with him.

The city would be combed, systematically searched until the lazy hunter was recovered and in her custody. Coincidentally enough, Addy stalked down one corridor, battling valiantly with the raptor for a tasty rodentic snack, while Sai strode up it, freezing the stout and simpering alike when her icy gaze searched their faces for the rapscallion features of her prey. Every mistake they made endeared them to her ire; why was the general population of Wind Reach botching every single task necessary to ensure the maximum rate of survival over winter? What churlish disease was sweeping their ranks; nay, it didn't matter. She would find the root and squish it, with the most satisfying of crunches, until only a faint memory of snapping bones and rupturing innards could be scraped off the heel of her boot.

The crash of glassware, skidding over the worn stone floor to ping forcefully off her boots, snapped her out of reverie where her eyes refocused on the balding Avoran glassblower responsible for the ruined trade goods. His lip was bleeding where teeth gnawed into it, but Sai knew that she had been staring at him for the last fifteen paces and he likely thought he had somehow been the cause of her irate expression. He was now; glowering, a large chunk of what had once been a masterful creation was stomped underfoot as she strode past. Great. Just great. Now she was contributing to the mass mucking up. Petching Jerol, forcing her to traipse all over the city to find him.

The tunnel spilled out into a larger yard, but the flight leader continued on with little heed to the floundering occupants. That is until a slab of dried meat almost hit her in the head, followed shortly by some acne-ridden doofus, currently playing with a stack of rocks loaded on a leather sheet, guffawing at the large cat the meat landed in front of and retorting "Why should I pay you when you've got people throwing food at you?" A prime case of the churlish virus running rampant through their people; why should one work when the contribution wasn't getting them so much as half a pinion? And apparently food was now something that could be thrown around willy-nilly like they weren't about to lose countless Inarta to starvation over the winter.

In the midst of this bubble of inactivity, most people having cleared out at the growling occurring before her arrival, but Sai feared no such things and hardly noticed, the short but regal flight leader spun around without breaking stride and backhanded the unfortunate rock collector. Without even bothering to watch his reaction, she spun back around and both the Kelvics, though one wasn't known as such to Sai, were encompassed in an incredulous glare. Make no mistake, Rock-Boy was still included in this.

"What the petch is wrong with you people?" she demanded, giving each contributor their own special and drawn out eye contact. It could be mistaken for a rhetorical question, but Sai needed to find out what exactly was causing this massive misfunction so it could be taken between her hands and wrung squirming until it was tossed away sans life, with no hope of reviving to continue this maniacal torment that incited visions of bloody, masochistic, hysterical butchery.

[Denali]

Many things happened very quickly in this city. Denali would have liked to say she'd gotten used to it, but most of the time she'd seen it happen. Not experienced it. Though she had enough control to keep her cool when ignorance reigned supreme, the sight—and smell—of raw meat changed her stature completely. Her keen senses allowed her to detect the sustenance long before the woman had even taken the steaks out of her pack. Denali's bright eyes had been following the woman dully, though she didn't much feel like putting her status in jeopardy by trying to steal anything. That all changed when the food was thrown in front of her. She dropped her clothes and leaped, catching one of the slabs in her mouth and swallowing it whole. A low rumble, a tiger's pur, emanated from her throat as she took a second to stare her thanks at the other Kelvic. Then the rumble turned into a predatory warning to those who strayed too close—a young woman with a falcon, a random Dek, and a very nosy woman who smelled of eagles. The feline stepped over her possessions, including the newly acquired food, and rose to her full height. At the head, that was close to fifty inches. The sound from her throat faded as Denali matched the icy stare with a predatory glare. Taking a full step forward was narrowly avoided, but she felt herself leaning forward as she challenged this being for her territory. Her left leg was smarting and sore after her exertion, not doing anything for her temper. It was times like these when she wished she didn't have to eat to shift back to human form. For lack of anything else to do, Denali bared her teeth and then lowered her head to rip another of the slabs in half, swallowing that. There. She was beginning to feel better. Hopefully this would be enough to allow her to shift.

[Delicah]

Delicah was stopped a few meters away. What was wrong with these people? The rumble of chaos was hurting her delicate ears. She turned, her long hair whipping around behind her. She glared at the scene. What are these people, vultures? Even though Delicah had been in the city a while she was not well accomidated with these people and often kept to herself. She sighed heavily as she began walking over there, taking her time. She wasn't in a rush to meet such greedy people, and wasn't really sure how to get them away at all. She stoped when a woman strode past the tigress, obviously nervous to be seeing a tigress in the first place, and another woman identical to her came but facing the crowd head-on. She was clearly a women of status, due to the fact that people slightly coward when she gave them icy glares, and many took step back when the tigress joined her icy looks with a look of her own that seemed to say Ok you can have my meat... if I can eat you in return. Delicah rounded the group completely, stepping behind the man who had started the whole mess. "Well answer her!" referring to the woman with a large bird of some sort on her arm. She glared as many of their stares shifted to her and she now turned to look at the man who had made the first remark about money. A growl escaped my lips as I glared at the man and his eyes widened. I looked back toward the now silent crowd. "I haven't got all day, I'm wondering what's going on just as much as she is." The crowd took another step back with a barely audible gasp, no doubt from the canines bared. The only people who didn't back away were the tigress and the single Inarta, protecting the tigress.

[Aidara]

"What the petch is wrong with you people? The voice made Aidara stop in her tracks. Closing her eyes, wishing she was imagining things, she turned on her heel to face the direction she'd come, green eyes snapping around the courtyard as the owner of the voice was sought out. It wasn't hard for her to find her sister, as Sai's commanding presence usually cleared out a decent ten to fifteen feet radius from her. And there she was, alone, demanding and staring down the very cat that Addy was trying to avoid. The healers chest heaved in a resigned sigh and she began to make her way back over towards her sister. "Move aside, please, unless you really want him to take your eye out, then cool, stay where you are." Was said to the woman who provided the tiger with the dried meat. Trying to keep her voice light, and to show the woman that she wasn't serious, Addy smiled brightly. "Only joking, he's harmless...well, for now. What's going on here, do you know? I saw you throw it food" Since one arm was holding Artemis while the other soothingly smoothed the feathers on his back, Addy was left to nod towards the animal in question, a brow raised inquiringly. Whether or not the woman chose to answer, Addy was going to get her sisters attentions. She did so now, puckering up her lips and letting loose the high pitched whistle that she used to call the falcons to her. "Bossy britches, get over here. I think it might eat you, it looks hungry enough. You have one dagger, it has a mouthful and I don't really want to be twinless just yet." Despite telling her sister to come to her, Addy stepped forward and closed the gap between them. "I can't get his training in if I am having to babysit you too, little sister." Older by a matter of minutes but older none the less. A bright smile into Sai's eyes, even though the woman knew what effect her words were going to have. She was prepared for it, lowering her gaze to her raptor charge and cooing softly while she waited for the fury to be unleashed. While it seemed rather stupid for Addy to taunt her sister when she was rabid like this, it was all intentional. Having a connection with Sai, closer than anyone could possibly imagine, had it's benefits. She knew the Endal inside and out. She knew exactly how mad she was and exactly how she would react. Addy also knew that if she didn't step in and redirect her sister's anger onto herself, there would be trouble... And the healer was ready to take one for the team.

[Sairque]

Despite the fact that the large tiger, standing all the way to Sai's shoulder, was clearly challenging her, Sai felt the best about it as chaos descended on the scene. Unyielding steel entered her eyes after the large feline loomed protectively over a pile of clothes and the gifted meat, but the cat stopped there and didn't force the issue; granted, Sai didn't see the glinting teeth because not only did meat-girl have the gall to pretend she was a spectator and jump in on the flight leaders side, but Aidara also made a rather unwelcome appearance, both of which took up her full attention. And Rock Boy had yet to do anything aside from flinch. Sai didn't even know where to start. Aidara was taking their relationship as permission to openly demean an Endal Flight Leader in public while the latter was trying to get her head around a situation to rectify what she was perceiving as a gross malfunction in their society. Meat Girl was acting cavalier, like she hadn't exacerbated and entered a situation that did not involve her. Rock Boy had yet to explain himself. And the tiger, well, it was a tiger. Couldn't very well answer her. Her teeth were grinding at this point, as though the small physical release of anger would aid her in turning the events into a clearly linear sequence to be addressed, or even finding the correct words to address the various factors here. Aidara had only one thing keeping her from getting dressed down in front of everyone, and that was the fact that she lived in Sai's home and there would be plenty of time to explain to her just how close she had come to getting banned from meals for the foreseeable future. Sairque knew exactly how lenient she was being with the Avora, fully aware that anyone else of her status would have stripped her of everything she held dear, her job with Val, her living quarters, even her protector...which just so happened to be the woman she was currently belittling. The simple fact that Sairque was speechless at all right now was probably more than enough for Aidara to realize that she had grossly overstepped her boundaries; that the Endal was fighting between her duty to put the healer in her place with merciless cruelty and her loyalty to her twin. One word was ground out, Sai not even bothering to look at the woman grinning at her, "Home." Read: Now, and if you're not there when I return, I will turn you over to another Endal for punishment. On the up side, Addy's plan had worked, and it was with a much cooler eye that she addressed the remaining participants. "You, Rock Boy, you're receiving food chips for completing whatever project requires these stones, correct?" He nodded dumbly. "Good, give me whatever you were planning on using for dinner," she commanded, holding out her hand which was quickly filled with two chips. "That's how life works here. Someone does a job for you so you can do your job for someone else. Each pays the person before them for being a contributing member of this society. I don't spend all my time finding food for this city to watch hard working people starve. Do you understand?" she growled at him, and without waiting for his fervent nods dismissed him with a wave of the hand the food chips were in. Next came Meat Girl. Her attitude just blew Sai away. On second thought, after only a brief glance at the girl, the flight leader dismissed her as well. That was just...ridiculous. She was too much for right now. Sairque was baffled by the mix of correct and incorrect behavior coming from the girl. Petching Jeral. Finally, her eyes settled on the tiger, much cooler this time around and her head shook from side to side minutely. "I can't have a petching conversation with a damn cat, change already."

[Denali]

Huh. Apparently being a hungry tiger caused problems. Seemed like a simple enough dilemma to Denali—if a Tiger is hungry, feed it. It will end up causing less problems in the long run and will be able to better help people in the future. Not to mention, if she could just shift she wouldn't have to eat as much. As if her thoughts could be heard, the beast swept the dysfunctional crowd with an expectant gaze. But they were barely watching her anymore, which also surprised her. The girl that had smelt of fear as she skirted by now seemed careless as she faced down an Endal. The Endal filled the air with the rank smell of anger, and the boy who was currently handing over food chits was starting to scurry away in absolute terror. Denali, at this point, was starting to lose her hunger-anger. In fact, she was starting to become a little amused. It was not often that an Endal let something like that slip in front of many, many people. Obviously, these two were close for some reason other than rank or friendship. But she was only listening in a cursory manner—she was still devouring the last steak-and-a-half. Since the edge had been taken off her hunger, she was taking her time, taking smaller bites and every once in awhile just licking at them. She wasn't quite done when the Endal barked at her to change. The tiger's eyes flicked up at her, but for a few seconds it didn't look like she cared while she finished her last few bites. She raised her head on the last piece, looking the woman in the eye and letting her maw clash together a little harder and louder than was necessary. That sort of show couldn't very well be proven to be an actual challenge. Who was to say she wasn't just trying to get through the last piece of very tough meat? Changing was still a little annoying—three pieces of meat wasn't a very large meal for her in tiger form. But it was possible, and when she was done she was standing in human form, staring down the Endal with the same slitted eyes. She smirked a little before turning and putting on her clothes. People were staring. “Stupid.” This one word was said in Kontinese (one of the more random phrases she knew in that language), while the rest she continued in Nari. “I work for food, doesn't matter what I do or who's job it is. Apparently, though, they're allowed not to pay me when I'm done.” She glared in the direction the boy had run. Then she bared her teeth at the Endal, done pulling on her clothes and now standing confidentally in the spotlight. “Never leave a Tiger hungry. More than that, you should try not to come between a hungry tiger and her food next time.”

[Delicah]

Delicah was debating her choices. The people were now dissolving away and she could go with them, or she could stay. At first she wanted to blend in with the Inarta, which she could still probably do, but right now she was unsure. Their reactions startled me. No one seemed nearly as... the megestic people of the falcons. Well, except for the Endal. Maybe her sister who, for all she knew, was risking her life to save her sister. She repositioned her cloak's dark hood over her head and let her bangs fall swiftly into her eyes, hiding them. She kept her mouth shut, also hiding the teeth just as dangerous as the tiger's. It wasn't hard though to speak when spoken to, and no one was speaking to her, except for the occasional question shot her way, which she ignored. After the tiger had returned to her human form, she began to speak in Nari. It wasn't hard for her to understand it, but it wasn't one of her best languages. She seemed intelligent, and what she said made sense. She catergorized the others as brave with a sence of order and cowardly but loyal. She noticed she had not spoken a word since she had calmed down from the chaos. "Hmm, interesting, a tiger... you don't see many of those." She talked in a light voice that seemed to have a hint of darkness that would be hard to hear if they had not been so close. She sighed taking a small step back but extended a delicate, pale hand, none the less. "I'm Delicah." Might as well become acquainted, they also seemed like the only people worth knowing from what i've seen so far, though she still wasn't sure if she could trust these people, I mean, who's to say they all weren't crazy? You had to be a little off to face a tiger, a clearly hungry one on top of that. Who's to say she wasn't crazy herself? She comes to a town, decides to get out one day, and all she gets is a really bad headache. She could see no justice in that.