If I get burnt, I’ll show ya what it’s like to hurt
[WC: 306 || Pts: 3]
Post-dated to July 10th.
Anathema was surrounded by mountains, but Axelle found that the mountains were a place that she visited the least in the territory. She wanted to get out for a good hunt; she needed to get out for a good hunt. She found herself leaving the territory after a while of scaling the land underneath the mountains. She kept going, walking out of a cave mouth and toward the forest. She had never visited this area before and found it quite peculiar. It was a forest, pretty dense with a few abandoned farmhouses lining the lands, and it was near the shore. The water was in a close proximity away, but that didn’t stop Axelle from believing this was a good hunting spot.
The farmhouses around gave her doubt, but since humans have been gone for about twenty years, more or less, the wildlife reclaimed the lands as their own once more. Axelle hiked along the ragged forest floor, which was littered with sticks, fallen trees, rocks, and all of which were covered by grass and leaves, until she found a good spot where she could smell some deer nearby. She settled herself in a secluded spot off in the opposite direction of the scent. Her scent was downwind, so that was lucky. She crouched down in her area and took the crossbow off of her back. It was all she had with her today. She took some arrows out of another bag she had slung around her shoulder. There were only a few in there, maybe about ten more than what she had already stored in the three slots that the bow had. Just in case. Axelle loaded her crossbow, and left the bag hanging on a tree. Then she grabbed the bow, and held it in an aiming position, and crept forward toward the prey.
He was starting to gather his bearings after being shipwrecked, for a while he had lost track of days and nights, but after meeting a few of the natives and non-natives of this land he had found time again. He was aware that he had now been walking for days and he thought that he had achieved a good distance in the short time he had been in Nova Scotia, especially since he had already managed to find new homes for three of his quoll babies. The remaining two pups were perched on either shoulder, both little males cuddled up to his neck, tails twined around his throat, keeping them in place. Their mother, Pangari, was curled up asleep in his pack, he could understand her exhaustion as her little boys were usually exuberant and playful, as well as demanding and always hungry. Pan had been busy suckling them, but also hunting for them, finding an abundance of small rodents and birds to feast on.
Despite Pangari's success with hunting Baird had had no luck himself and his reserves of kangaroo jerky were running low, he knew he would have to hunt soon but this was a strange land; there was far too much green. He had not seen any prey animal larger than a rabbit, and while that would keep him going for a while he knew that he needed a large meal that would keep him fed for longer.
He carried on his walk, his hard foot-paw pads almost soundless on the soft loamy floor of the wooded mountains, the crack of wing feathers above him drew his attention. He raised his verdant eyes to spot Gelar, his kookaburra companion flapping from tree to tree. He called quietly to the bird, the accent of his own voice reminding him of home. "Gelar, ya bludger, why don't ya have a Cap'n Cook and see if ya can spot some brekkie?" The bird cackled as quietly as he could before flapping away above the tree canopy and out of sight. Despite Gelar's attempt at subtlety his sharp laughter echoed through the quiet forest, bouncing from trees and reverberating through Bairds yellow furred body. The haunting noise brought back memories of lying in the quiet Australian night, and then the sudden loud call of a kookaburra cracking across the great black sky. He shook his head violently, trying desperately to dispel his thoughts of home.
Gelar's slight weight made him dip his head a little as the brown and white bird landed in his head fur. Baird flicked an ear at the bird, asking silently what he found. The bird cackled again and pointed his impressive beak to the left. Baird offered his hand for the bird to climb down onto, Gelar responded quickly, sidestepping down Bairds wrist to walk up his wire corded arms, finally settling on his shoulder next to the smaller of the male quolls. As soon as Gelar was settled Baird took off at a jog, neatly stepping over obstacles even though this environment was not one he was used to.
Before long he came to a clearing among the trees, a somewhat familiar but entirely new scent filtering through his powerful nose, he raised his head and peered through the tree cover, spotting the large brown shapes that moved slowly, heads bowed and long, elegant legs taking a small step every now and then. The deer were grazing, and as they hadn't spooked he was sure that he was downwind and they hadn't heard his approach. He raised his nose to the air and sniffed, confirming his downwind position. He set about preparing himself for the hunt; this would be his first big kill in Nova Scotia. In Australia he had only taken down a deer once and then he had had his brothers help. He knew he was big for a dingo, but he didn't know if he was big enough to take down a deer on his own, he hoped he was.
His kangaroo leather haversack made no noise as he let it slip to the ground, he knelt next to it and opened it slowly, unwilling to startle the sleepy Pangari. Luckily the quoll mother was awake, he gave her an affectionate smile before placing her two sons in the pack with her, at that she didn't look so pleased. He chuckled quietly, "Strewth! Don't spit the dummy Pan, Keep 'em hush while I get us some brekkie." He plunged his hand-paw into the bag and rummaged until he found his bone dagger. He stood and thrust it through the band of his cow hide loincloth, knowing that his claws and teeth might not be enough to take the deer down in this form. He held out his hand for Gelar to step onto, throwing the bird into the air to help him with his take-off. He watched the bird fly up to a branch out of the way and start preening. He nodded once, sinking into a hunting crouch and creeping forward toward the deer, not knowing that not that far away someone else had ideas of taking down a deer.
If I get burnt, I’ll show ya what it’s like to hurt
[WC: 500 || Pts: 5]
Hi
Her crossbow led the way and she silently followed. The scent of another was faint, but she didn't let it distract her. She was going to take down a deer, and if it was stolen from her- she would have to take them down with it. Wolf meat didn't seem so bad at the moment, though she was hungry enough to even consider her cat as food. She made sure she was far away enough from her den so that the idea of cat meat didn’t get to her. She needed to make a good hunt and take some meat back to the Anathema reserves. She needed to make her contributions to the pack.
Her scent was downwind from the herd of lunch. She prowled to the edge of the bundle of trees that hid her, and crouched down still aiming her weapon. Her eyes scanned each deer for any sign of disability. One large deer caught her eye. It seemed he had a large gaping wound in one of its hind legs and carried a very bad limp. That was the one she would shoot. Axelle waited for the right moment, pulling the string back to her crossbow slowly, and when the arrow clicked into place, the deer's heads shot up. Axelle fired the arrow and it soared through the air. All the other deer made it safely out of the way, but the one that she chose with the bad leg didn’t make it out of the way in time. The arrow pierced through its other hind leg and the animal stumbled and fell to the ground. It had a hard time getting up from its predicament, but when it finally rose again, Axelle had another ready arrow. This time she aimed for its neck, and another soaring arrow pierced through the animal’s neck, probably cutting off its steady flow of air. The deer fell to the ground once more, but it was a fighter. He attempted to get up once more, but couldn’t all the way. He managed to drag himself a couple of feet, but by this time Axelle exited the brush and rushed toward the animal. She pulled the good arrows out of its flesh and put them back in the slots her crossbow held for them. Blood profusely leaked from the prey animal’s wounds, and by the time she had collected her arrows, it was barely alive anymore.
Axelle grabbed a knife that was strapped around her ankle and cleanly slit the animal’s throat. Blood poured out all over the dry grass, but the struggle was done. She kneeled by the carcass now figuring out what she would be able to do. She couldn’t carry the animal all the way back to Anathema, it was way too heavy. She cut a piece of its flesh off with her knife and hungrily ate it. Then she cut another one and gobbled it down too. She repeated the process filling her hungry belly.
Baird had stepped through the cover of the trees when the first arrow flew, he watched as it hit the injured buck in the flank. He was nonplussed for a moment, the thought tat there could be someone else out here hunting had never occurred to him. He stepped back into the tree cover and crouched down as the second arrow found its home in the deers throat. He watched as the buck went down and a black and white female moved into the clearing, running over to the animal and ending his suffering swiftly. She seemed half starved as she cut hunks of meat off of the deer and hastily chewed away at the fresh meat. Baird was unsure what to do now, he couldn't just expect to be able to take a piece of her kill. She had taken it down fair and square, she was obviously hungry and from the scent that was wafting to him on the breeze told him that she was part of a pack. She would have to take meat back for her packmates and he didn't want to inconvenience her.
He scooped up his pack and water skin, slinging the pack over his shoulder and tying the skin to the band of his loincloth. He stepped down into the clearing and kept a respectful distance from the female and her kill, he did stop a good few feet away and raised a hand-paw "Ripper of a shot." He said, genuine admiration clear in his voice. It was rare for Baird to be genial and polite, his acidic sarcasm put on a backshelf for the moment. He did not want to get in a dispute over a kill, knowing that fights involving food could be the worst. He still remembered the feel of his own brothers jaws around his throat when they were pups, and all of it over a scrap of kangaroo.
He pointed in the general direction of where the herd of deer had run off, "Well, brekkie ran in that direction, I suppose I'd better follow it." He knew with his size the injured buck had been his best bet, but now that he was gone he'd have to pick off a young'un. He didn't mind, that would be enough to feed him, Pan, the two remaining pups and Gelar.
If I get burnt, I’ll show ya what it’s like to hurt
[WC: 315 || Pts: 3]
I think his aussie-ness is aussome
As she hungrily stuffed her face, the foreign voice surprised her. She looked up with a sliver of meat dangling from her mouth and startled eyes. She chewed the piece of meat, and called back a "thank you." Then she stood a few seconds later, realizing that he must’ve been hunting too, and she scared off the rest of ‘lunch’. Axelle quickly regained herself with a hungry ‘Mmmm!’ to get the brute’s attention back. When she was done chewing and swallowing, she ran a few feet toward him, leaving her kill and crossbow behind her. She had the knife still in her hand though, but it hung loosely at her side along with her hand. ”I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware you were hunting the same pack of deer, or else I would’ve tried to bring you one down too!” She wasn’t normally this nice to others, but she felt bad. She made his ‘brekkie’ run off.
Her brain worked quick to come up with a solution. Then it came to her, ”I could cut you a few big hunks of meat of this elk. I won’t be able to carry the whole thing back anyway.” She started walking back towards her kill, waving him to follow her. She bent down, and with the knife, started cutting the good hind leg out of its socket. The tiny knife she brought with her wasn’t really the type for cutting a leg off of a creature, but it would have to do. It would do its job, but it would take a while. She hacked away at the creature and briefly looked up, trying to start a conversation. ”So, where ya from?” His accent really threw her off. She never heard another with that kind of accent before, and it kind of drew her in. She was very interested in him, and wanted to hear him talk more.
Her face as she looked up very nearly made Baird snort with laughter, but he reined it in, not wanting to offend the female. He had given her a polite nod and moved away, holding his arm out for Gelar. Her 'thank-you' made him smile, but her strange humming noise got his attention, he flicked his ears back and turned his head a little to see the black and white woman hurrying towards him. His verdant eyes flicked down to the knife held loosely in her hand and a second of panic stole over him before he realised that she wasn't going to attack him. He felt his heart pound in his chest, and his own paw moved slightly towards his bone dagger. He stopped the movement as he watched her stop a few paces away, her apology making him smile. He shrugged his shoulders, "No Worries. I'm sure I can track 'em, taking down a young'un shouldn't too much of a challenge." He said, rolling his eyes slightly as he revealed his inability to hunt the larger prey that a wolf obviously could. She then offered to cut him off a hunk of meat from her kill. His eyes flicked up to hers, looking fir any sign of falsehood or scorn, he would not stand being humiliated by a wolf because he was smaller and foreign, but he saw no such emotion, only genuine concern.
Baird was about to offer a sarcastic comment about his own ability to hunt but a sharp set of canine teeth sank into his finger and an indignant chirrup came from Pan. He looked down and saw one of the little pups hanging onto his finger and Pan looking at her pup with pride in her chocolate eyes. The dingo sighed and stuck his tongue out at Pan it seemed that his quoll companion wanted him to work on his sarcasm. He looked up at the wolf who had gone to town on the dead animals leg with her knife, "That'd be bonzer." He said, sparing a glance for Pan, watching as she nodded in approval, he felt a grin slip across his slender muzzle.
Her next question made his grin wider, he was always happy to talk about home. "Ah, The Lucky Country herself." He looked up through the canopy of the trees, the sun shining bright on his yellow fur. "Australia is where I call home, but I'm on Walkabout. I heard about this place where Two-legs and Four-legs all lived together, so here I am." He revealed his reasons for being in Nova Scotia, the words reaffirming his own resolve to stay in the cold country instead of running back to Oz with his tail between his legs. The flap of wings and the brush of disturbed air against his ears alerted him to Gelars presence seconds before the bird landed atop his head. "I suppose it helps that I bought a bit of Oz with me." He chuckled, tickling Gelar under his beak and flipping the cover of his bag open to reveal Pan and the two pups. He looked up at the female, "So, you part of a pack? I've come across one pack already." He thought back over his first days in this country, and his meetings with Grace and Andara, both of a new and seemingly strong pack; Vinatta.
Axelle continued to hack away at the dead creature’s leg, while occasionally looking up at him with interested eyes. It was a lot harder than she imagined it would be, especially with her puny knife. ”Oh yeah? Which pack?” Meeting Inferni first would be enough to send any newcomer running for the hills, but it didn’t seem he met them yet. ”My pack’s located underneath the mountain,” she pointed to the Halycon Mountain looming over them from the distance, ”Anathema. Best pack for rogues and misfits like me.” She had come to accept the fact that she was a misfit. A lot of others didn’t see the way she thought, and so they judged her. Axelle had learned to ignore all of it.
Australia was somewhere where she never imagined. She’d heard of it before, but thinking about the terrain and the creatures and the life there never crossed her mind. The dingo’s mention of his homeland had her wheels turning now. Her eyes lit up as she looked up at him, finally getting the creature’s leg detached from its body. She picked up the heavy piece of meat and plopped it on the side of the grass closest to him, and motioned for him to collect it. Then she started working on the other hind leg, making sure to cut the diseased part off first. She paid attention to what she was doing at first, but still looked up at him with bright eyes and a big smile when she wanted to ask a question, ”What’s it like?” She couldn’t even begin to imagine what his homeland was like, and secretly she wanted to find out. Maybe she would take a trip in the future.
”Do you ever plan on going back?” Here she was asking him if he was ever going back home when he just got here recently. Nothing like rushing him out. However, she wasn’t rushing him out – she was rushing herself out. She wanted to see more of the world, not just Nova Scottia and Canada. ”I’m from Canada – Ontario to be exact. I’ve never seen much of the world aside from whatever’s around here. I hope, one day, to travel places to learn of better life.” No matter how one wanted to slice it – there was better living in other places than there was in Nova Scottia, even though conditions here weren’t so bad. It was just the same old thing.
He wanted to offer to help her with the hacking of the leg, but didn't want to offend her, she seemed determined to use her small dagger as a saw, he admired her grit. She asked him a question then and he thought back, the foreign word not coming to him immediately, "Uh.... Vinatta? Yeah, that's it. I met two little sheila's Andara and Grace." He grinned as he thought back over his two meetings, and the fact that he knew three of his quoll pups had gone to new homes. He chuckled as she spoke of her pack, "Rogues and misfits, eh? Sounds like a fun place." He grinned, genuinely intrigued by this Anathema.
A small period of silence fell between them as the meat of the leg tore away from the body of the deer. The female placed the meat near to him and gestured that he should take it, he nodded and shot a grin her way, Cheers mate. He placed his foot-paw on the ankle joint and rolled it slightly. His grin broadened as she looked up at him with a sparkling smile and adventure in her eyes, her question made him release a happy, nostalgic sigh. "Australia?" He asked, "It's hot, and dry, and much less green." He chuckled. His smile became misty and his tail wagged slowly as he talked of home, "The Outback is vast, all sand and rocks and little critters. There's billabongs that smell like salvation, and sometimes they are. Water's scarce in the Bush. Almost every critter's venomous and wants ta bite ya, and the ones that ain't full of poison are just plain bad tempered." He paused for a moment, looking at the female, trying to tell if he was boring her or convincing her to run off to Oz. "Ah, despite all the dangers it really is a Beaut of a country. I can't imagine ever calling anywhere else 'home.'" He smiled at her, a little self conscious now after his mini speech.
Her next question caught him off guard, "Go back?" He laughed loudly, his grin now returning with ease, "Yeah, I reckon! My family's still out in the Never Never, I might as well lob in." He chuckled, "It'll be a while though. Gotta finish me Walkabout first, they understand." He fell silent and she told him of where she came from, he hadn't been to Canada, maybe he should go one day, see what it was like. The black and white femme expressed an interest in travel and he heard the desire to see more, feel more and know more, others called it the beginnings of Wanderlust, he called it the Walkabout bug. "Ah Darlin' Sounds like you got bit by the Walkabout bug." He winked, "It ain't fatal as long as ya get out and about eventually." He was enjoying this meeting, this complete stranger had distracted him from his mindless wandering and had provided amusement for him. She had even kept Pan and Gelar quiet, the Aussie animals enraptured by the strange coloured woman.
The Marbas continued to hack away at the large prey animal’s leg with her tiny knife. It was going nowhere fast, and she stopped and sighed. Somehow she managed to get the other leg torn off, but this one wasn’t budging. Before she allowed herself to gush about his country, she stopped hacking. ”Do you have a bigger knife by any chance?” It would help a lot. The leg was almost half severed, it just needed a bit more – but it wasn’t budging any more than she needed it to.
”Australia sounds like a beauuutiful country,” she beamed at him with clear wonder in her eyes. Danger seemed to draw her in all the more, and she had no doubts that she would quickly adapt to whatever harsh conditions were there. Axelle was the kind of girl any man would be lucky to take on a rugged adventure. She was in the least bit ‘girly’ and she would be just as rough as anyone else anywhere else. The female sat on her legs waiting for the male to tell her he had a knife that she could use to hack the elk’s leg off. She hoped.
A great smile grew on her lips as he spoke about Walkabout bugs. ”Aaah, no. No walkabout bugs here. I’ve always been like this. Always antsy to see something new and visit a new place. I’ve basically visited every pack here, except for the newer ones.” When she first came, she needed to figure out where she wanted to stay if she wanted to stay at all. She ‘visited’ every pack that was around at the time, but found Anathema the most suitable. ”My trespassing days are over…” Trespass she did, alright. ‘Visiting’ to her wasn’t exactly that. She kind of liked to saunter in, instead. She got into trouble a few times, but none that made her quit her hobby. She did that on her own when she found better resources to explore.
Word Count :: 281 Sorry for the wait sweet, lost my muse for Baird for a while.
He was almost startled by her question, he hadn't expected her to ask for assistance, even though she only asked for a bigger knife. He smiled, and held out his bone dagger for her to take, it wasn't much bigger than the blade she had been using but the kangaroo shin bone was blade was sharp and would probably slice through the meat like butter. He held it by the smooth, planed blade, the carved handle just waiting for the other to take it. "Sure, my dagger should do the trick." He had made the blade himself and had it approved by one of his elder tribe members. The elder had praised it as masterful work and had asked Baird if he could craft one for him too. Baird had been honoured to do so, and the blade he had created had been even better than his own. He dragged his thoughts away from home and focussed back on the here and now.
She complimented his homeland then and the grin that spread across his muzzle was the biggest so far, pride swelled within his chest and he thought back over the description he had given. He laughed and shot her a wink, "Well, with that attitude you sound like my kinda girl. Proper little scrapper if ya think it's bonzer after that description." He laughed loudly, genuinely amused. His smile lessened in wattage but he still beamed as she explained her version of wandering, he shrugged, "Ah, I suppose I'll get to see all the fair packs with my wandering ways. Could ya give me a heads up about any of them?" He asked, not wanting to amble into any trouble.
Axelle’s gaze fell upon him; she smiled, and then took the bone dagger from him, ”Thank you.” She wasn’t a big fan of bone, but as the blade sliced cleanly through the dead animal’s meat, all the negativity from her mind vanished. She easily sliced the rest of the leg off, and plopped it next to the other in the grass. Then she held his bone dagger back to him, holding the flat side of the blade in her clawed fingers.
Then Axe sat back in the grass next to the half on her kill that she kept. She would have to cut it into hunks to be able to carry it back to Anathema. Later, though. She sat in the grass and used her small knife to continue to cut pieces off of the animal and shove them hungrily into her mouth. Between chews, she explained, ”Well, I kinda find danger to be exciting and I’m not your average girl.” Meaning she was a lot tougher than others would perceive. Axelle thought about his request for a moment and took another few bites of her lunch. ”Well, you’d want to stay away from Inferni. They’re a bunch of wolf-hating coyotes, but since you’re not a wolf, I don’t really know what their perception of you would be… All the other packs are pretty good… Just don’t trespass. Some packs have harsher ways of punishing trespassers than others – like Salsola, they enslave them, and Anathema, my pack, they kill them.” She wouldn’t want to see the traveler get himself killed. ”All the others are pretty easy going as much as I’ve heard, but still. Try not to trespass anywhere. If you’re unsure, howl or bark or something- I’m sure you’ll draw enough attention from someone.” That was the best advice she could give. She wasn’t ever really caught trespassing, except for in Dahlia de Mai a few times, visiting her old graveyard friend. ”What’s your name?” They haven’t even exchanged names yet!
Baird accepted he dagger back happily, glad that it had done such a fine job of slicing through the bloody flesh. He flipped it around in his hand and sank to the floor, seating himself with legs sort of crossed, as she also sat. He gave her a crooked grin as she admitted to not being the typical 'girl', he was already aware of the fact, and he appreciated it, he wasn't fond of girly girls and was pleased that the women he had already found in Nova Scotia were cut of the tough cloth.
He used his dagger to slice off chunk and slivers of meat from one of the legs that the other had gifted him. He was about to slip a chunk into the bag that Pan and the pups were in when he felt a tug on his paw. He looked down and saw Pan, two little paws placed on his, making him look at where she and the pups were, all of them clustered on the grass by his side, it seemed Pan had wanted to get out of the bag, and may have even been conscious of dirtying the kangaroo leather. He smiled at them and put the meat close to them, watching as they tucked in with gusto, the pups letting little growls out as they fed. He busied himself with slicing off thin strips of meat then, placing them on the other side of himself, holding them up to Gelar when he had enough. The bird took them, his beak stuffed to bursting, and flew off to eat in a tree, where he could gulp down the slivers in peace. Only then, one all of his animals were fed, did Baird consider feeding himself.
He chewed his meat silently as he listened to the other talk about the packs of Nova Scotia. He raised his blonde eyebrows as she talked of a pack called Salsola that enslaved trespassers. He had encountered slavery before, finding many Luperci who implemented the practise in Africa, but he found it entirely disgusting. He was not as shocked by the admission that a pack killed trespassers, knowing that many wolves were territorial, just as the dingo packs were back home. He shot her a smile, swallowing his mouthful of meat before talking, "Good to know, I'll be sure not to trespass then." He said, mentally assuring himself that he would be more aware and wary on pack borders.
It was only as she asked him name that he realised they hadn't introduced themselves, the drama of the hunt and meat overtaking them. He placed his dagger on the grass and held out his hand to her, leaning forward from his seat, "Baird Byrne. Pleasure to meet you...?" He left the question hanging in the air between them.
If I get burnt, I’ll show ya what it’s like to hurt
[WC: 209 || Pts: 0]
This is my original reply, before everything got lost - I hope it still fits >.<
Axelle’s eyes fell upon the strange growling ferrets next to her Aussie friend. She had never seen any animal like them before, not to mention his cackling bird either. She kept cutting pieces of meat off her kill, but now slowly chewed as she watched the small family form their way into a feeding frenzy. She cracked a smirk, but then rested them back on the dingo. ”Axelle Napier. A pleasure to meet you as well.” She wasn’t used to handshakes, but she did know what they were. She switched the knife to the other hand, and gave him her right. They shook three times before her hand was returned.
Axelle went back to eating, carving into the deer carcass making a nice indent in its meat. When she felt that she couldn’t eat anymore, she sat back and faced the man while he was still munching. ”Do you plan on joining a pack, though?” She didn’t know much about Dingos – did they live in packs too like wolves did? She always thought he was more like a dog, and dogs didn’t really take to packs too well. A flash back of Amy went through her mind even though she hadn’t really ever met the woman. She’d heard stories.
Word Count ::447I didn't see the link, but I caught the message with the post in it. Thanks for finding it sweetheart. Finish up soon?.
The handshake was brief and firm, the kind of shake he appreciated. He'd met a few canines that chose to just hold on to his paw, others whose shake was limp and weak, neither feeling entirely right to the dingo man. There was one fella, a massive dog hybrid in Africa that had grabbed his paw and pulled him into a hug. Baird wasn't above hugging, back home with his family he was a regular cuddle monster, but with strangers... It was just wrong.
The other wolf gave her name and Baird smiled, Axelle, he mulled it over in his mind. He liked the sound of it, the way it could just roll off the tongue, the way it sounded so feminine but with the hardness of the 'x' at the beginning so that you weren't deceived into thinking the woman one of those soft, silly things. He had found that the women he had met in this country already, seeing as he had only met women so far, were all cut of the tough cloth rather than the lace. He was glad of this, he liked tough women, they reminded him of his mother and sister back home.
His musing was interrupted by the growls that were coming from the quolls, Pan was too busy eating to shut her pups up so Baird had to do it. He plucked one of the pups from the meat and brought him up to his face, the dingo growled quietly in Low Speech, the pup immediately falling silent. The other pup stared in shock at Baird and his brother but shut up as well, tucking back into the meat quietly as his brother was placed back down on the floor. Baird sighed and looked up, "Sorry about them, uncultered little tykes." He said.
His ears perked up as she asked about a pack, he popped a sliver of meat in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully before answering, "I dunno." He said, he paused before speaking again, "Back home I was part of a tribe, but I didn't really have much to do with the others, I mainly stuck with Ma, Da, Cole and Anya. I only really had a couple of friends and socialising isn't really one of my strong points. I think I'm destined to wander a bit more before I settle down." He sighed and grinned, "I might head back to Oz, or I might stay here. I got no pretty sheila waiting for me back home, so if I find one here that wants me I might as well stay." He laughed at that, unsure as to how attractive a dingo would be to a wolf, coyote or dog.
If I get burnt, I’ll show ya what it’s like to hurt
[WC: 349 || Pts: 3]
End with your reply? Feel free to PP her leave
Axe smiled at both the growling little creatures and the fact that he spoke of women. She looked him over once or twice, not really doing that so much anymore now that she had a ‘mate’, and noticed he wasn’t so bad looking. She didn’t come across many dingos – he might’ve been the first – but she could see herself getting with one, if need be. ”Well, you’re not bad-looking. I’m sure someone will take to you soon.” She stood, starting to ready her meat for the journey back. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to drag it back in Secui form or just drag it back by the horns. She voted the latter; seemed easier.
The carcass was still heavy even with both hind legs significantly removed and half of the meat from its ribcage gone. Was it even worth calling an ‘it’? It was an item now, just a food item. The hunk of meat didn’t even count as a deer anymore. The head was marred beyond recognition, thanks to Axelle feeding off that part as well, and the body had holes where ribs shown through. The lower quarters and intestines of the animal were leaking through the holes from where the legs were. She was going to leave the scavengers a trail leading right to her. She would have to hustle if she wanted to get home before the strays got to her.
”Tribe…” The world felt foreign to her tongue, and it didn’t sit right. It rolled off of it nicely, but didn’t seem to hold any meaning for wolves. She kept up with the conversation as she moved her half of the carcass, testing its weight and seeing how much of a crappy time she was going to have dragging it back. ”I’ll be seeing you around, no? Will you be coming back towards Anathema soon?” Not that he knew where that was… If he stayed long enough, he would find out soon. ”I look forward to seeing you again… and seeing how you turned out.” She smiled and dipped her head, bidding him goodbye.
Word Count :: 351 Very late ending post. I'll archive this now. Nice threading with you!
Baird chuckled as she complimented his looks, he bowed his head and smiled at her, "Why thank you, you ain't so bad looking yerself." It was only friendly flirting, polite compliments between two new acquaintances, he wasn't searching for a mate just yet. Yet he wasn't lying when he said she was good looking, he had been immediately struck by the dual tones of her fur, her friendly personality just adding to what he found attractive.
He watched as she bustled about preparing to leave, he thought of doing so himself and reached out a handpaw for the quoll pups, they scrambled onto his dark pad and huddled together, their bellies full and their little heads filled with ideas of sleep. He gave each of then a nuzzle before slipping them back into the bag. He looked down at Pan, the mother quoll happily licking her lips while padding over to the bag as well. He stroked her head once and held the bag open for her.
He looked up, ears pricking as Axelle let the word 'tribe' slip from her maw, he hummed in agreement. Her words of goodbye made him nod, "I think I'll try and get back here someday, mayhap we'll meet again. I'll look forward to that day." He nodded a farewell to her in response to her dipped head. He felt a little guilty as he watched her drag the carcass away, the body looking very heavy and unwieldy, but he knew that she would manage. He had his own food to haul, very charitably cut from the big kill. He stood and looked at his two elk legs, unsure of how he was going to carry them, he was big for a dingo but was still much smaller than a wolf. He sighed and heaved one of the legs up over his shoulder, the weight quite a bit more than he was used to carrying. He stooped to grab the other leg, his fingers wrapping around the ankle joint, he sighed as he realised he'd have to drag it, leaving a trail of gore in his wake.
