Logs:Everything Starts Somewhere
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| RL Date: 12 July, 2013 |
| Who: N'ky, Cailluneth |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: N'ky's talk with Alida inspires an impromptu hunting trip. |
| Where: Cailluneth's Ledge and Southern |
| When: Day 19, Month 3, Turn 32 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Alida/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Follows on from Darker. |
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| After watching Ilicaeth and Alida disappear into the night, N'ky stepped away from Cailluneth, wandering to the little recess in her couch that acted as storage for random bits and pieces. Outdoorsy things, mostly. « Are you hungry, my Heart? » Cailluneth's reply was an affirmative; she always had an appetite, and the images of Southern, plucked straight from N'ky's head, excited her - a hunt in the wilderness of the Southern expanses was far more interesting than pinning beasts confined in pens. It didn't take long after that for N'ky to have them ready to go. So what if it was night time in High Reaches? He knew a spot in Southern where Rukbat would still be high enough for them to have two hours or so of sunlight. That should be enough for them to get started, at least. The hot Southern air was such a contrast to the coldness they'd left behind, both in between and in High Reaches. Staying high, N'ky asked Cailluneth to follow a wide circle, scouting the area for the flock of ovines he'd seen in the vicinity on a previous trip. She spotted them eventually, and the pair touched down on the ground just beyond their reach so that N'ky could dismount. Over his shoulder he slung the bow he'd had since he lived at home, along with a quiver, and he added his sheathed knife to the belt holding his leathers up, alongside a pair of shears, also sheathed. « Be careful in killing them, Cailluneth. Take down... five? Six? Don't eat them, not yet. I need the hides, so aim for the necks. Drive the herd this way, if you can. » It was a challenge, and one that the green was eager to rise to. N'ky watched her take off, and sought the predatory huntress that always emerged in his lifemate's mind at times like this. The tang of blood filled his mouth, but rather than gag as he had done for so many months in his early weyrlinghood, he embraced it now as part and parcel of what it took to feed his lifemate. With his mind firmly fixed to Cailluneth's to monitor her movements, he went through the familiar process of pulling an arrow from the quiver, nocking it, drawing the string of his bow in preparation for the ovines he knew were heading his way; the ground trembled slightly with the thudding of their stampeding hooves, and their terrified bleating was already audible. « Not the pregnant ones, » he reminded Cailluneth, hoping she could tell which were which. The flock was visible now, but still outside of his range. Cailluneth drove them closer to him, and he raised his bow, picking out a forerunner as his target. He began counting down. "Three." "Two..." "Go." N'ky let loose his arrow, nocking another immediately after, while Cailluneth plummeted down onto the flock, taking down her own kills. The ovines scattered in their panic, but N'ky managed to take down his first target with a second arrow, rushing in to finish the job with a flash of his knife against the struggling ewe's neck. « Arrows work much better when they're not against wool, » he observed flatly to Cailluneth. « How many did you get, my Heart? » « Many. » « How many? » « Many. » She shared the scene around her; N'ky thought he could see four felled ovines, and very little blood. Perfect. « Well done, Cailluneth. I'll finish this one, and you can start here while I do the rest. » It was harder to shear an ovine when they were nothing but a dead weight, but N'ky had enough experience to clear the fleece off the beast efficiently, if not as quickly as he would have liked. Given his upbringing, the greenrider had no qualms about what came next; he deftly gutted and skinned the ovine, spreading the heavy hide gore-side up before inviting Cailluneth to enjoy what was left. By the time he'd finished her kills - there were five, not four, and she'd only managed to puncture one hide with her claws - it was dark. The blood-stained grass was clear of anything other than the red smears and churned up earth; all other evidence of what had happened was gone. N'ky bundled up the fleeces, wrapping them as he'd been brought up to do, followed by rolling up the hides to have them ready for transport. With everything ready to go he tied their spoils onto Cailluneth's straps, and gave the green the go-ahead to take off. « Tomorrow, we'll come looking for an island. Next rest day, we'll really get to work, » he promised her just before they disappeared into between. The hides were left with the Weyr's tanners, the fleeces piled in his weyr until he could prepare them properly. It was only a small pile, but it was a start. Come next seven and his catch-up with Alida, he'd have some marks, at least. Nowhere near enough, but, well, everything had to start somewhere, didn't it? |
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