Between a Snare and a Badger

by **Garnet Sunsong** on March 1st, 2016, 7:55 pm

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Garnet Sunsong
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5th of Spring, 516 AV.

The morning light of Syna was just starting to peak over the tops of the grass when Garnet exited her tent, parked within the Moving City. She had left her fathers Pavilion not long ago and already was starting to realize how useful it was to have family close by. The Winter nights had been cold, and the tragedy the Drykas had experienced in recent times was heart breaking. Garnet had to suppose she was lucky, she had not been involved in the Pirate problems and had remained safely tucked away in Endrykas. Most of her relatives seemed unaffected by the events of Winter as well, having mostly just kept to themselves and working to just make it through the cold season.

She pulled her dark red cloak tighter around her frame as she trudged through the grass towards the Sea of Grass just outside of the city. She did not have the desire to stray far, but her snares where out there, hopefully having caught something. Even a few rabbits would be welcome, and if she could figure out how to skin them properly she could probably tanned the hides and use them for practice, or in the event she did a better job than intended, she could even sell them. the mere idea of some extra Mizas in her pocket and some rabbit meat to cook up or even try to dry or salt was exciting. She was no cook, but it was not terribly hard to throw some scraps of meat into a pot with water and vegetables and call it a stew-- no matter how overcooked or bland it may turn out.

The area her snares where set up was not too far from her tent, a few chimes worth of walking, so she had opted to leave Aggra to graze the grass around her little set up. The mare was not so much the best trapping companion anyways. Occasionally it was nice to have the Strider at her side, to make a quick escape or to help frighten off any scavengers who might think about trying to attack Garnet and steal her traps work from her, but today she was pretty sure she would be fine on her own. She was a fully grown Drykas after all, and even women needed to be able to handle things by themselves.

It wasn't so bad being a Drykas, really. She'd heard foreigners passing through the city, or happening upon it by chance speak of how odd their culture was. To her, though, this was just life. She had no, or little to no, experience with anything else. She had heard of people marrying for love in the Drykas culture, and for the benefit of family or a Pavilion as a whole, so it did not seem that different. The biggest issue she seemed to note people took was the whole multiple wives thing. It was interesting to imagine what it would be like to live in a culture that had enough men to pick and chose from, but then again, the idea of a fellow wife helping out was also pretty nice.

Maybe she was just accepting because she had been raised to accept it. Either way, romance was not really that high on her priority list at present. It was perhaps one of the reasons she decided to take off on her own when she did-- you know, before her father offered her to another Pavilions Ankal as a second, or third wife. She wasn't opposed to the idea, she just was not quite ready to start that part of her life.

As she began getting closer she paused to take a good look around the Sea. It was a fairly normal morning, you could hear the occasional sound of an animal near by, and for once it was not raining, which was precisely why Garnet was out to check her snares. Syna slowly climbed up the edge of the sky as Garnet closed in on her first snare, one of her tiny's. She carefully pushed the tall grass away to see if anything was inside the cage. A smile graced her lips as she spotted a small creature peer up at her and begin to try and trash around in the snare. The creature inside was a small brown and grey squirrel who began chattering angrily at Garnet as she picked up the snare and eyed the animal.

"Well, you're not very fat, but you'll at least be good enough for some stew." She muttered mostly to herself before she carefully opened the snare and reached in to grab the creature. She held it steady with her left hand and pulled out her hunting knife with her right. She paused a moment to say a silent prayer to Caiyha for this creature, promising to honor its sacrifice and to not be wasteful. Once the prayer was done she quickly, and without trying to cause the creature much pain killed it.

It was a bad idea to do a gutting right here in the open, even if Endrykas was in view of her location, there was still the chance of running into something that would smell the blood and guts and try to kill her, or at the very least steal her game. Instead she just tried to drain as much blood from the squirrel as she could and then slipped it into her backpack. She quickly grabbed the snare, set it up in a spot near by and moved onto the next. It was one of her small snares, usually it yielded slightly larger creatures, usually rabbits but on occasion a duck was a welcome treat.

951 words

by **Garnet Sunsong** on March 1st, 2016, 8:11 pm

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Garnet Sunsong
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5th of Spring, 516 AV.

As she approached the second snare she quirked a brow and eyed the patch of grass that hid the snare. The grass was rustling and the sound of metal being scratched at was heard. Garnet held her hunting knife carefully, looking around the near by area for any signs of predators who could be lurking or of anything else. She knew she was likely just being paranoid, but the last thing she needed was a coyote, or two not only poaching her traps but to attack her as well.

When she was close enough she moved her foot out to kick at the snare and was met by the growling rumble of a badger. A look of sheer disappointment etched itself onto her face. She should have been glad that it wasn't anything more violent, but Badgers were not pushovers and were renowned for ruining snares. The creature poked its head out at Garnet and made another agitated noise at her as she slowly moved forward, trying to peer around it to see the damage. It was hard to tell, but she was certain any damage was mild and the creature her snare had trapped was still secure.

"Shoo! Go away!" Garnet tried yelling at the badger, making large hand gestures and stomping to try and scare it off. She was almost sure she could see it roll its eyes and scoff at her as it just growled and turned back to trying to break into the snare. "No! Hey stop that!" The creature just growled back at her as the sound of its claws raking at the snare sounded back up. Garnet gritted her teeth and began weighing her options quickly. She could abandoned the snare and the creature, which was not only a loss of five golden mizas for the trap, but the potential loss of a meal and a pelt. Her other option was to try and somehow get rid of the badger, by killing it, picking it up and tossing it away or just kicking it until it ran off. Any of those options seemed like they would result in some sort of injury.

With a groan and then a decision, Garnet made her choice and moved to the badger, trying to grab it by the back of its neck and pick it up. It was heavier than she thought and she staggered, giving it a chance to bite at her, missing but managing to at least land some claws on her arm. She hissed in pain as the creatures claws dug into her flesh enough to draw blood. She shook it off as best she could and having a better understanding of the creatures weight flung it off to the side a few feet.

The badger was a determined and stubborn creature and she knew she would have to move quickly to grab the snare. There was no time to try and inspect the extent of the damage to the snare or what sort of creature she had caught yet. She lunged for the snare and picked it up, trying to turn and flee when she heard the badger start making a break for it as well. A growl of irritation left Garnet as the badger jumped and clung to her snare, the extra, sudden, weight causing her to loose her balance, drop the snare and fall on her face.

"Not today thief!" She roared with determination as she struggled to locate her hunting knife, finding it only after sliding her palm on it. She cursed and then wrapped her fingers around the handle. There was murderous intent in her eyes and she was incredibly irritated with this creature. It could not just take no for an answer and find it's own meal, no, it had to try and steal, from her. The nerve.

639 words

by **Garnet Sunsong** on March 1st, 2016, 8:25 pm

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Garnet Sunsong
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5th of Spring, 516 AV.

It seemed animals were as desperate for food today as she was. On a normal day, back with her family, she might have given up by now and moved on to something else, leaving the badger to ruin her trap and call it Caiyha's will, but today she was not going to have it. It was much harder to provide for yourself alone than she had anticipated. Without the comforts of the Sunsong Pavilion it was made clear to Garnet that life was indeed harsh, but this was a lesson she felt she needed to know. She knew if she could get through it until she found a place for herself on her own she would be better for it. Her ability to provide would be better as well.

This badger was not going to take this meal from her. Nor the potential for a pelt and the mizas that may bring her. She held tightly onto the hunting knife, it was no dagger and really, not meant to fight with. To be frank she had gotten it just to help her kill animals she had snared and to gut with. She had never expected to be fighting a badger with it. She moved towards the badger, shuffling her feet and nearly tripping as she did so. She drove the blade down and right into the badger's back, just below where the neck and back met.

The feeling of the blade moving through flesh and scraping bone was odd. She had killed many animals before, but never any that she had not caught fairly. She felt almost bad once she saw the badger go limp and the blood start to trickle as her blade was pulled free-- which much effort mind. She sat on her feet and stared at the mangled cage, and dead badger. She felt exhausted. The whole struggle had really taken it out of her-- she was not used to this much running about this early in the day, not to mention the emotional drain killing the badger had placed on her.

Once she had rested a chime or two she pulled herself back up and grabbed the badger, shoving the creature unceremoniously into her backpack and began to assess the damage of her snare. Well, inside was a rabbit, dead. It looked like the badger had gotten a few claws into it and had killed it while trying to break into the snare. The poor thing was a bit mangled and it's pelt would be essentially worthless except to practice some techniques and stitches on. The snare itself was mostly intact, but it definitely needed a repair, she was not eve sure she could get into it the way some of the pieces were bent and dented.

Garnet sighed and held onto the snare, turning back towards her tent. She would see what she could do about the damage back there and if she had to, would go look for someone who could repair it in town if all her attempts failed, or just made it worse. Not to mention she now had to skin this badger and find a buyer for its hide. At least it would be somewhat valuable. The fur on it was thick and coarse and would likely be an easy sell. Hopefully enough to repair her snare. And then she would see about what to do with the meat. She was not even sure badger meat was edible. She would have to ask around and see if it was worth keeping, or maybe just find someone with dogs who might gnaw on the game.

603 words

by **Garnet Sunsong** on March 1st, 2016, 8:43 pm

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Garnet Sunsong
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5th of Spring, 516 AV.

By the time she returned to her tent Aggra had noticed she had left in the first place and came over to nose at the Drykas to see if she came baring gifts, or treats. Garnet patted the mare's nose and moved past her, heading to the fire pit where cold remains of a fire sat undisturbed. Garnet sat down on a rock she had been using as a stool or chair in her little camp, and set the mangled snare down beside her.

Aggra seemed irritated at being snubbed a treat and moved closer to the woman again. She began sniffing about, nosing at the snare and then flaring her nostrils in agitation at the smell of badger and blood. Garnet looked up to her mare and gave a short snort of laughter. "I do not have a treat Aggra, go graze some more, maybe when I go looking for a repair later I can buy an apple or some extra oats for you, alright?" She asked, motioning with her hands as she spoke in true Pavi style. The horse snorted, stomped her feet a bit then shook out her mane and moved off to find a new grazing spot behind Garnet's Pavilion.

Garnet then turned her attention back to the task at hand. She threw her cloak back away from her arms, not wishing to dirty it too much more. She sometimes wishes she had an apron to do this sort of task, but being that she lacked such a thing, she made due and just was careful when cleaning her game. She took her hunting knife back in hand and as she gripped it flinched, remembering she had sliced her hand open. A sigh escaped her lips as she unfurled her fingers and took a look. It was not quite as bad as it felt, but it did need some tending to.

A quick look around told Garnet she really did not have anything to treat it with. For now all she could do was wash it with some water. A reach into her pack provided the waterskin she needed and she quickly poured water over the wound, cleaning away the dirt and blood that was caked onto the surface. She shook her hand to dry it and promised to go to the River Flower later to get it bandages since she only had her clothing and she was less than willing to tear it up for this. She then took a drink from her skin and set it aside to pick her blade back up.

The started with the squirrel. It's hide was not super useful, she would still try to tan it and practice some stitches and other skills on it, but would not likely sell it. She first cut off the tail, deeming it fluffy enough to maybe catch the eye of someone to be used as sort sort of toy for a dog or hunting cat, or at least entertain a child with. Once the fluffy appendage was removed she carefully set it beside her and began slowly cutting into the pelt so she could just rip it off in a single motion.

A frown crossed her features as she ripped, and the pelt tore incorrectly. A curse word came to her mind but she swallowed it down and just tried to get the rest of the pelt off without more issue. So far she had two lopsided halves of a squirrel. She worked on cutting any meat she could from the skin-- as it had gotten attached in a spot of two. Once she felt she had stripped the meat from the hide, and vice versa she set the hide with the tail and placed the skinless squirrel back into her pack to look into cooking up for lunch.

637 words

by **Garnet Sunsong** on March 1st, 2016, 9:08 pm

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Garnet Sunsong
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5th of Spring, 516 AV.

A grunt of frustration escaped the Drykas woman's lips as she began trying to skin the badger. She was actually really bad at this and was terribly glad her work really only involved dealing with the already handled and tanned hides of animals. The mere idea of having to do this daily was not a pleasant one-- though she supposed if she did this everyday she would eventually become decent at it.

After talking herself down from her frustrations a bit, Garnet took her knife back in hand and began trying to work on the badger again, slowly, methodically. It would not be perfect, but if she could just get it in one piece she would be pleased. Carefully... She repeated in her head over and over as she slowly moved her knife through the skin, trying not to mangle the meat beneath too much as she went.

Nearly half a bell had passed before she attempted to remove the hide from the badger. She took as breath, grabbed a flap of the hide which she had carefully pulled back to give herself a grip, and yanked, hard but gently. Careful but swiftly. The skin came off, mostly, in one piece. The paws snagged her up a bit-- she'd forgotten to deal with them of course, and the pelt tattered around those areas a bit, but it was still usable; at least she hoped it would be anyways.

She tossed the skin beside the squirrel pelt and dumped the badger carcass in her pack, letting out a long half sigh, half groan noise. Her vocalizations were met by the irritated huffing and stomping of Aggra, as if the horse were telling her to keep it down, as if she was being disturbed from her grazing. Garnet couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes she wondered what sort of thing Aggra had been in her past life. A spoiled Drykas princess type? Maybe a spoiled and pampered hunting dog or cat? Poor thing was definitely not with the right woman if she expected such pampering, though she was sure Aggra knew what she was doing when she picked Garnet.

All there to do now was to tend to the snare and see if it could be fixed. She grabbed the contraption and set it in her lap, looking over the damage and prodding at parts and pieces with her small fingers. She managed to sort of shove, push or bend a few spots back into place but it became very clear, very quickly that some sort of mechanism which facilitated the traps locking mechanism had been damaged and she could not get it open without risking further damage to it.

Garnet set the snare down and groaned dramatically. She could either go into town and see if anyone could point her in the direction of someone who could fix the snare. Or. She could go find her fathers Pavilion and see if one of her cousins knew how to fix it. She was not sure she was ready to visit her father yet though. She had sent him messages through the occasional child looking for a few copper to spend on a trinket or a treat, but had yet to face him since her leave.

She squeezed her eyes shut and then took a deep breath, relaxing as she slowly exhaled. She began trying to focus, thinking about the Web, imagining it and trying to lace her fingers into it, slowly moving out of her body to move along a familiar line within the web. It took time, being she was very novice at Webbing, but she eventually found the part of the web that held her fathers touch and followed it.

Before long she could sense her old Pavilion, the home of her father and his family. Garnet's family. Some of the children were already awake, and the women were starting about daily chores as a few of her cousins and uncles began getting ready to go check their own snares. She did not see her father though, and before she could think about trying to find him, she was nudged and snapped back to her body, startled.

Garnet shot Aggra a look of annoyance as the mare brought her out of the web. It had been a hasty withdraw and already Garnet could feel a headache coming on. She rubbed her temples only to react to the old sliminess of her fingers and then groaned, realizing she still had animal blood all over her hands-- well and fur-- which now stuck to her temples. Aggra neighed as if to laugh at Garnet and then nudged her again.

"Oh alright, lets go into town already... Be good and there will be an apple in it for you." She would just take the snare into town now to get it fixed as well as seeing about selling the badger hide, and pray to the gods she did not run into her father out and about. With the influx of Drykas settling with the moving city the chances of running into him were pretty slim-- but you never know. So far Garnet's been having some bad luck this day.

865 words

by **Prophet** on March 15th, 2016, 2:50 am

Garnet, congratulations on your first graded thread! You have a beautiful writing style and I look forward to watching you bloom here at Miz. As you can see, you have XP, Lores and Items to add to your CS. I recommend doing this after every grade so things are current. It will also help future graders give you useful lores. I do have a couple notes for you:

snare

Please let me know if you have any questions. Wonderful thread, dear. I look forward to reading more of your work.

Characters Name

XP

Observation: +4
Prayer: +1
Trapping: +1
Running: +1
Weapon – Knife: +1
Leatherworking: +2
Webbing: +1

Lores

Location: Endrykas
Badgers are mean
Life without a pavilion is hard
Leatherworking: Skinning is just the beginning
Webbing: A hidden world

Miscellaneous

1# Squirrel meat
Squirrel hide; good for practicing stitches or making glue
1# Rabbit meat
Rabbit hide; good for practicing stitches or making glue
6# Badger meat
Badger hide; good condition, will need to be tanned

Solo Between a Snare and a Badger