Logs:Hun(ting) Solo
| |
|---|
| |
| RL Date: 11 November, 2015 |
| Who: Ellerey, Jocelyn |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Virisceth gets her first kill! Jocelyn and Ellerey discuss their experiences. |
| Where: Feeding Grounds, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 2, Month 4, Turn 39 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Heavy, driving rain makes everything a wet and muddy mess. |
| Mentions: J'vain/Mentions, Lys/Mentions, T'gar/Mentions |
  |
| The driving rain might keep enough weyrling dragons (and even the full grown ones) out of it, but Virisceth seems to relish the cacophany of sensations it brings. The large (if still little) green is out stalking the penned beasts on her first hunt - both Ellerey and J'vain watching as intently as they can from the sidelines - both humans squinting and protecting their eyes from the relentless rain and wind. Virisceth has her own, built-in rain protections (thick hide and twice inner-lidded eyes), and the dark and sinuous 'ling makes full use of her natural endowments as she stalks her choice of prey: an old male porcine who's well-beyond breeding prime, though still round. Viri makes a sudden charge at her 'chosen,' seeking to drive the pig from the rest of the animal herd, but it dashes between a couple of herdbeasts, while the greenling skids on past in the mire of mud, goes down to her belly. Hissssssssss! Aidavanth may have hunted successfully this morning with Evyth, but hunger compelled her to try again by dusk, with or without a partner. The rain makes things more difficult, of course; the terrain is now squishy. It takes the better part of an hour for her to make her first solo kill, but far less time to consume it while Virisceth has started chasing her chosen porcine. Despite having a hood pulled up over her head and hands stuffed well into coat pockets, Jocelyn is still sporting her best drowned rodent impression, face pinched into a scowl as she approaches from the direction of the barracks. "We could manage a whole nap in the time it takes them to take something down, " she grumps at large, nodding curtly Ellerey-ward while leaning up against the fence not far from the other weyrling. J'vain merely grins in response to Jocelyn's comment once the former assistant headwoman joins them, but raincoated Ellerey - who's now watching Virisceth jerk herself back to her feet, and go back to stalking that specific pig - comments aside to her fellow weyrling, "How did her... -their- first one go?" She heard about Aidavanth's (and Evyth's) first hunt in general, but not in detail. Beyond them, Virisceth gives off a loud and rather unpleasantly-rattling 'skree' of sound that sends many of the animals about 'her' pig to stampeding away, the green lashing her tail in annoyed focus as she moves with less speed, this time, trying to drive the porcine away from the fence. At this point, she's not even looking at her golden sister. Must. HUNT. Jocelyn huddles a little deeper into her own raincoat, gray eyes impassively tracking Virisceth's progress. "Better than if they had tried it alone, " she replies at some length, frowning as Aidavanth squelches some steps away from what appears to have once been an ovine. Keen eyes observe her sister's focus for a moment before she turns her attention to one of the animals frightened by the other's unpleasant rattle, heading after a bolting caprine with a stride that's far from short or speedy. Her pouncing isn't much better than it was earlier: a determined jump toward the creature overshoots it by a significant distance, leaving the bleating beast free to continue its attempts to flee its yet-unskilled predators. Her lifemate, meanwhile, keeps her gaze beyond the fence but opens and closes her mouth as though she isn't quite sure how to begin before she manages to add, "Your hands seem to have survived." Because their chances of making it will surely increase once hunting is the new norm and hand-feeding is a thing of the past, right? Dry as her remark is, there's nevertheless a glance in the direction of the appendages in question; perhaps this is her way of expressing concern for her fellow trainee. Giving Jocelyn a sidelong and quick glance between Virisceth's calculated stalkings and drivings of her porcine, Ellerey notes just loud enough to be heard over the pounding rain, "She...wanted to do it by herself, the first time." Why this leaves the former Trader looking a tad ruffled is unspoken. The dark haired woman's features soon return to their former pensive cast as she flicks her dark gaze to where Aidavanth pursues her next meal, finally returning it to Jocelyn at her inquiry. Those hands - hidden within pockets - are glanced down at within their hiding places, Elle finally looking back to to her fellow weyrling as she nods a pair of times. Noted quietly, with equal hints of dry and dark humor, "I thought I was all alone in that...until T'gar admitted he tried gloves with his bronze." "As communal as the barracks are, I'm sure they'll be a more comfortable place to sleep than out here, " is what Jocelyn offers by way of sympathy for Virisceth's determination to succeed, solo. Aidavanth's a muddy, orange tangle out there, getting back to her feet with a vocalization between a growl and an exasperated rumble before she's off again to track down that poor caprine. Another ovine attempting to limp farther away from her pulls her attention; this time, her pounce succeeds in using her bulk to overtake the beast, talons raking swiftly until its struggles cease. She still looks terribly awkward, all legs, tail and folded wings as she arranges herself more comfortably over the carcass before eating, but satisfaction radiates from her, quite palpably. Jocelyn's expression gives a wry twist at mention of T'gar, one hand drumming idly against the fence as she listens to Ellerey. "This, " a nod to the sequestered selection from the weyr's herds, "will probably be of at least some help to you both, I assume." There's a small roll of eyes and more nods from Ellerey to Jocelyn's word of their current parade being rained on, the woman quickly jerking her regard to Virisceth once again as the green pounces towards her piggie target...and manages to only graze one claw-tip down its shoulder. A loud squealing from the pig sends the rest of the herd near it into panic, and Viri once again loses her quarry in the stampede and mud, the green growling her continued upset and frustration...her red eyes spinning quickly. For a few moments, Ellerey's concentration is stolen away by her feral lifemate, the woman's jaw rippling, her eyes focused on nothing, hidden hands clenched tight inside pockets. And then Virisceth is leaving off the damned porcine, watching her golden sister's gambit with a new target...and a glottal click can be heard coming from her throat. With fascinated intensity, the green watches Aidavanth triumph, and eat. And soon enough, Virisceth's taking the same-ish tack with a caprine that looks tastey to her eye...stalking it, cutting it from the herd. With the little green's new focus comes Ellerey's relieved expression, her focus returning to the here-and-now, and then finally to Jocelyn. If there's sweat on the woman's face, it quickly is lost in the rain. "I -hope- so..." is muttered with dark intensity, almost a plea. Jocelyn studies her fellow weyrling in that time before Virisceth turns her attention to Aidavanth's success, watching the younger woman's expression shifts evenly. After that relieved refocus, the redhead tips her head forward in the smallest of nods, releasing a low exhalation. "I'd be more surprised if she didn't find some delight in it, " she says after a bit, glancing over to where Aidavanth is doing a most excellent job at separating flesh from bone off of her once-prey. "Even she thinks it's something special. Fresh. More appealing." Delicious, is what the larger dragon shares with her smaller sibling while finishing off the last remnants of that second kill. For a moment or two, Ellerey looks almost grim at Jocelyn's words of their dragons finding delight in hunting...and then the not-so-little green beyond them is shifting in a flurry of dark motion. And pouncing. But not upon that caprine she'd secondarily targeted. Instead, the greenling has managed to drive the beast not that far away from her -former- target, the slightly-wounded porcine now getting its breath back alongside a winded wherry. And when the 'little' piggie lurches in the thick mud, Virisceth is on its sluggish heels, slamming one forepaw's talons like blades into its haunch, her motion causing both of them to slip, skid, and roll in a churning roil of mud, water, and blood. At this point, Elle looks half-way to paniced, J'vain leaning forward and muttering something under his breath as he readies himself and his own dragon to help or intervene, if necessary. This proves to be un-needed, however, as Virisceth digs more claws into the thrashing, shrieking, squealing porcine, and then finally bites into its throat, cutting off cries and life quickly. After a few kicks, the beast goes limp...and the youthful green heaves herself and her prize up again. What Aidavanth gets for her sharing is the raw glut of triumph, satisfaction, greed, and the heated intensity of Virisceth's primal, but canny mind...and a baby-sized roar to the raining heavens. And Ellerey? -She's- shuddering heavily, her head pressed deeply into the upper rail of the fence they stand before. Aidavanth steps away from her meal in time to witness Virisceth taking down hers, and mirrors the green's triumph back at her, rejoicing in her success. Now that she's sated once more, other needs begin to reassert themselves: there's still an itch just over on that side that hasn't relented in full for a few days. "Bath first, " says Jocelyn aloud as the little queen, smudged with mud and blood, exits the pen. Reaching up to try to wipe some of the rolling raindrops away from their determined path into her eyes, the goldrider-in-training still watches Ellerey in the wake of her dragon's first kill, a hand lifting only to halt awkwardly in the space between them. "Are you - " Whatever she was going to ask gets lost in the rasp of her clearing her throat, fingers reaching to aim a brief, steadying press at the other's shoulder before promptly withdrawing. Perhaps the other may not notice her departure, as she and her lifemate make for the bathing pool before returning to the barracks for the night. Ellerey doesn't respond to Jocelyn's press of her shoulder, except to shiver slightly, and barely nod to the departing woman. Give Elle a half-handful of minutes, and she'll be recovering from sharing head (and stomach) space with her little 'monster,' and having J'vain talk her down from it as they continue to stand out in the rain...and watch Virisceth disembowel, shake, and otherwise tear up (and into) her first caught meal. |
Leave A Comment