Give us rest.
#1
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Word Count :: 555 About 2 miles outside the Festival grounds. January 24th.


There was a dying animal nearby…why it was suffering, Tawny was not sure. The screams and sounds of struggling was clear through the forest, echoing from the treetops and bouncing around until it fell upon her ears. Whining softly, she grabbed a knife from one of her packs and began searching, hoping that she’d be able to help in some way. The closer to the struggling she got, the more nervous she became, not knowing what was causing such a horrendous racket. A few more steps…just a few more… The young woman pulled back a few branches and peaked from behind them. Her breath caught at the site in front of her, eyes blinking rapidly in shock.

There was a large dark horse thrashing around on the ground, those awful screams coming from its throat. The snow covered ground was sprinkled with little puddles of blood, leaves on the trees colored red as well. Small squeals and snorts came from about ten feet behind the big horse, and Tawny could see that it was a baby…not new born, but not old enough to be on its own yet. Mother horse was fighting for her life…from a mountain lion apparently. It was a relatively small cat, young and not very smart in the ways of hunting yet. The mare kept getting in good kicks and bites, wearing it down slowly. It wasn’t enough to save the horse though, and the young female knew that she had to do something in order to help.

Growling loudly, she leapt out from the bushes and rushed at the horse and cat, snapping her jaws and making lots of threatening noises. Apparently she wasn’t scary enough, because they all but ignored her presence. Irritated and full of adrenaline now, she rushed again, slashing her knife out in an awkward arch, grinning viciously when the blade sliced through the fur and skin on the cat’s back. Another terrible scream echoed, this time from the large feline as it turned and ripped one huge clawed paw through the air at Tawny. The mare took advantage and slammed a front hoof out, catching the cat on the hip and throwing it aside. Running over to the fallen attacker, Tawny fell to her knees and stabbed the knife down on its chest multiple times.

Blood arced out from the holes she was making, splattering over her face and fur, staining her a killer once again. Finally there was no more movement…there was simply nothing at all. Just a bloody mess of torn flesh and fur. Tawny dropped backwards and stared at the dead cat for a while before looking over at the horses. The mare was down, twitching slightly…but down, and she was not going to make it for even a few more minutes. Whimpering softly, the woman moved over to the horse and drew her knife across the muscular neck, pushing hard to slice through. She simply could not allow the creature to suffer like that, laying there in pain, dying at such a slow pace.

Moving away from all three of the animals, she plopped down on the ground and closed her eyes, burying her face against her hands with a sigh. All of that had happened rather fast and was hard to take in all at once.


Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#2
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OOC OMG yay!

Word Count → 549


Although the hapless scene appeared to only have three fateful creatures involved, a fourth, and more fortunate soul watched the grisly scene. In only a few days' time the festival orchestrated by the little-known band of merchants had garnered a lot of attention, and even the woman of the solitary, private pack called Salsola's interest was peaked. It was rumored that many of the packs were participating in the month long festival, a fact that had most of Salsola reeling with horror. So many wretched, nosy bastards in one place? But the usefulness of such an event couldn't be denied by many, what with the promises of so much merchandise so well at hand. This is why Liliya just so happened to be in the area and heard the wailing cry of the dying horse.

At the first sound of trouble Liliya's dark ears perked and her gaze jerked in the direction of the cry, even though she could not yet see what was going on. It was obvious to any fool that the screeching that came from the west was not Luperci or even canine in origin, so any fears Liliya might have had of marauders or thieves were quickly assuaged. It wasn't long before the coppery scent of blood permeated the area, and Liliya couldn't help the appetite it suddenly drummed up.

Only a few seconds after the first horrifying shriek Liliya was in motion, her long legs carrying her quickly toward the scene. She was tall and lithe, built like a true athlete, and her thin frame moved swiftly over the ground even in her Optime body. She donned her usual clothing, the leather corset and skirt that were fastened with laced and knotted leather thongs. It was scant clothing for this ruthless winter but she'd had access to little else. That was one thing she hoped to gain at the festival; although today's visit was really only supposed to be a scouting mission. She needed to know if there was even anything worth while before she would take wares out of Salsola in hopes to trade with the merchants.

By the time she arrived on the scene the feline's back was slashed and deep crimson began sopping into the tawny fur. The horse kicked and the animal went flying, and soon after it lunged a woman with a dark auburn pelt. Liliya saw the silver flash of metal as the knife thrust into the beast, and then over and over again until the cat lay still. Then her gray eyes turned to the mare that was weak and dying, her blood pooling out in stark contrast to the snow. The woman moved over to her and in an act of mercy slit the horse's throat.

Liliya had to hand it to this one. Killing a horse was no big deal, but being as tiny as an imp and taking on a hungry mountain lion? That took guts. She moved out of her place on the sidelines, stepping into sight, but the hybrid Russian remained at a comfortable distance from the other.

“That vas an impressive act,” she complimented, her voice dripping with thick Russian tones. “Vhy vhould you even bother to interfere?” She was truly curious, there was no derision in her voice.

Image from Englaender. Table code by the Mentors!

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#3
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Word Count :: 310 Blaaargh. Crap post...but we can do this. xD


Only a few moments had passed before Tawny heard the sound of crunching footsteps and then the harshly accented voice. Her head jerked up and she froze, eyes widening when she saw the beautiful woman walk into the blood splattered clearing. Tall, muscled, graceful…she was intense. Taking a deep breath, the darker brown female stood and walked over to the fallen feline, kicking it roughly to make sure there was absolutely no way in hell that it was indeed still alive. No movement from it, thankfully. She would have flipped out if it was somehow still able to function after being stabbed so many times.

There was more movement to her right, about twenty feet back in the shadows. The foal was scared to get closer, but afraid to run away from the scent of it’s mother. Sighing softly, Tawny took a few small steps towards it and sat down, wiggling her fingers in the air in a friendly manner. ”Needless s-suffering…is p-point-tless.” Her slim shoulders lifted and fell in a nonchalant shrug, as if killing cats and horses was an everyday occurrence. Looking strong to outsiders was important in this world of evils. If she looked too weak, they might think her a good meal and roast her little body over am angry flame.

The foal snorted and threw it’s little head in the hair, apparently enraged that it’s savior would dare to extend a friendly invitation. Tawny chuckled softly and shook her head, turning to look back at the woman with a smile. ”How can I help you?” This time her words were strong, more confident than before. Any canine who had just seen her kill a mountain lion and take care of a horse that way would at least think twice about attacking her. She had nothing to be afraid of at the moment, hopefully.


Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#4
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OOC Liliya has forgotten her introduction on purpose. Well, I have on purpose, not the character. x.x

Word Count → 409


A slow nod was the Russian’s only movement as her eyes became shadowed, deep in though. “You are merciful wolf,” she said. “To even show mercy on stock. Most do not care if it suffers. Some vhould enjoy it.”

Her feet moved in the snow again, leaving prints in her wake as she stepped up to the horse. The other woman didn’t seem to mind her there, but then again she wasn’t exactly greeting her with open arms either – not that Liliya expected some kind of special treatment. Kneeling down by the horse, she laid a hand on the neck, and when she took it away her palm was covered in blood that was still warm. She wriggled her fingers before wiping them in the snow, smearing bloody hand prints as gray eyes turned back to the woman who now inspected the lion’s corpse.

“No help is needed,” she shook her head slowly. “I vhas just curious about the noise, but now zhat I see it is all beingk handled…” The words were as if she was preparing to leave, but the Russian didn’t move.

“So are you goingk to be leavingk this to the buzzards, or vhat?” She asked as she watched the young horse deny the woman any warmth. The thing was still traumatized by the attack, it seemed, and possibly too feral to trust the Luperci woman. “Kind of lucky to be findingk this so close to the merchant festival, da? You could use this for trade, one-hundred percent profit. Prob’ly hard to get it there by yourself though.” Her angle couldn’t have been more obvious, but she assumed no right minded Luperci would come upon such luck and just walk away from it. If she did, then Liliya might reap the benefits. If not, well, Liliya could probably still benefit, for there was no chopping up this corpse, or even just skinning them, and getting it to the festival before some wandering brigand came upon the claim.

She finally stood and walked over to the woman, but her eyes were on the foal. Knowing jack shit about horses she paced right up, not worrying about frightening the little horse. It whinnied and backed up a few steps awkwardly. Liliya placed her hands on her hips and looked at the stranger.

“Is kind of stupid,” she said, motioning toward the foal with a hand. “You have mercy on it too? It vhill starve without the mother.”

Image from Englaender. Table code by the Mentors!

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#5
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Word Count :: 495 LOL foreshadowing to Liliya's future. xD


Tawny watched the larger woman in her peripheral vision, shying away from getting to close at any moment. When she began talking again, the girl’s ears perked up and she listened intently. Both of the dead animals would need to be skinned and dismantled for sure, leaving them to rot was pointless and such a waste. Sighing once again, like an exasperated teenager, Tawny stood and stretched, looking back towards the way she had originally come from. All of her belongings were back that way, the bags containing her knives and skinning equipment…she’d have to retrieve them in order to get the job done.

“I will be back soon.” Turning away from the carcasses and the woman, she darted back into the forest and ran quickly to where she’d stashed her bags. Within a few minutes she was trudging back at a slower run, carrying all three heavy, overflowing skin bags in her arms and on her back. The scent of blood and death hung heavily in the air around the area where the animals had fallen, and Tawny knew right when to drop her bags out of sight. Her hands reached in and rummaged around for a few moments, finding and pulling two larger knives from their sheaths.

“I’m going to skin them…m-merchants fes…tival? What is that?” Her head tilted to the side as she walked over to the mare and fell near its belly. Despite the outside temperature being so cold, if the dead horse stayed hot for too long, the meat would spoil and become absolutely disgusting. Palming the sharper knife, she pressed the tip in between the mare’s front legs and pushed with enough pressure to split the skin open, then began slowly sliding it down. Steaming blood poured from the cut and pooled in the snow, melting the white and turning the entire area around the horse into a sea of red. Tawny didn’t mind the blood, and actually enjoyed the scent covering her body.

The knife was dropped to the side and she reached both hands into the split open underside, gripping the innards that she could get ahold of. Pulling slowly, they began to spill out onto the ground, still hot and fresh. Wrinkling her nose, Tawny backed away and crouched, concentrating on shifting her form. Three minutes later she stood as a Secui, more muscled and fuller bodied than either of her other forms. Grabbing onto the horse’s throat, she tugged and leaned all of her weight against her back legs. Thankfully the ground was wet and extra slick from blood and snow, and the carcass slid a few feet away from the guts.

The female flopped over, panting heavily and stretching, casting her eyes back to the other woman who was now inspecting the foal. “Not stupid at all, just fearful. You would be afraid, too, if you witnessed your mother murdered and the attacker killed in front of your eyes as well…”


Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#6
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Word Count → 809

Not much of the talkative sort, she was, but Liliya could understand that given her own tenancy for privacy and all that. The girl didn't give her a lot in return to all of her chatter, but then again why would she? Well, maybe because she was a Salsolan, and because Salsolans were the only true canines. Everyone else was without a soul – or so Eris had taught. She couldn't expect someone without a soul to understand.

Still, soul or not, the woman was determined and a hard worker. Liliya watched as the woman set a goal and went about achieving it. She was a little surprised when she disappeared, leaving Liliya alone with her kills. Then again, Tawny didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to get her tools, and it's not like Liliya could just take off with a dead horse and mountain lion, so when the girl returned Liliya was waiting patiently for her, using the deceased horse for her chair.

She kind of liked the soulless girl. She didn't say much, certainly nothing that didn't need to be said, and by the looks of it she worked hard, earning her keep in this world. Her eyes trailed after her as she secreted her tools, and when she saw her move toward the horse she stood up and moved out of the way. The Russian stood over the woman with her arms crossed, watching everything she did with rapt attention. When the woman made it out like she hadn't heard about the festival Liliya blanched.

“Vhat? You mean you have not heard of eet? The festival, the festival,” she repeated it slowly like she thought her accent was the problem, but Tawny had repeated her just fine. “You are not zhat far away from vhere is at.” She gestured with her hand, pointing in the basic direction of the festival. “Merchants send out invitation to pack, say they vhant us to come look at their stuff. Supposedly have big festival!” she gestured wildly with her arms, indicating something huge “Say it vhill last a month and vhill have everything you could need. My pack, we like to trade and I need supplies, much better to trade withs stupid merchant than use up pack resource.”

She still was searching for something in Tawny's face as though to say, 'oh yeah, that festival, but was never relieved. Finally she shook her head and said, “Vhell, there is one.”

The next thing the brown one did utterly surprised her, Liliya's gray eyes again widening with disbelief. She had the horse partly gutted when she began to concentrate, and then she saw the small tell-tale ripple of muscle that began the change. Was she really just going to transform right there in front of her? Most Luperci she knew shifted in private. Even those that weren't bothered by having their intimate moments witnessed wouldn't have trusted a stranger to see, for there were always proprietary moments, no matter how quick, that left one extremely vulnerable.

Yet change she did, and into her bulkier Secui form. She watched her take hold of the carcass and pull it away, and finally she took the initiative. The soulless one was working hard and all she had done was stand over her and watch. Liliya was not a lazy woman, but the girl hadn't asked for help, either. Moving to the rump of the beast, she set her hands on the haunch and shoved, helping her make it over.

Brushing her hands off, she looked at the young animal again. It had quieted, but the fright hadn't really left its eyes. She considered the woman's argument for a moment. “Vhell, I vhould be afraid if I saw my mother keeled. But that is just dumb horse, it doesn't know the difference. It probly forgot already.” She was adamant on reputing the beast's intelligence.

“Vhell, anyway, this big job for you. Maybe if you vhant, I help, and we can take to merchant festival and split profit. Vhat do you say?” She raised a brow. It had to be a tempting offer since this job was actually even bigger than the both of them. “I am fisherwoman and cook so I know my vhay around a knife, I can help skin and carve. Then we vhill hide it and carry it over, take many trip. Maybe we buy more sacks to carry meat with after first trade.” Sometimes she sounded like she was 'just suggesting,' but mostly she was telling Tawny what would be best. Still, she did leave the decision to her.

“Buyingk the way, I am Liliya Russo,” she stressed her surname as though it were a great honor to be a Russo. And it was. “I am from Salsola pack.”

Image from Englaender. Table code by the Mentors!

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#7
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Word Count :: 553 soulless tawny likes blood. Big Grin


There was really nothing for the girl to say in response to most of the other woman’s words. Half the time she couldn’t even understand the heavy accent, but it was very nice to listen to. Somehow it reminded her of her mother’s voice; back when they’d been together. Despite all of the abuse that the evil woman had put upon the small girl, she had loved her. An Alaskan wolf from a Russian pack up in the extremely cold parts of the world…they were intense creatures, and the woman had kept her accent throughout Tawny’s childhood. Liliya’s lilt was much stronger, though, and it made the girl really have to listen and pay close attention.

Describing what a festival was futile, as Tawny had nothing to base that knowledge upon. Of course she knew what trading and bartering was…but not the concept of gathering all of the packs together to do so. What was the point of that besides trying to stir up trouble when opposing packs intermingled? There was bound to be some bad blood in the area, she was sure. However, it also meant that members from Ichika no Ho-en were most likely there for the trading, and she sure would like to see some of her old friends. Perhaps Saul was there, if he was, she could spend some time with him and tell him about Wretch…then find the coywolf at a later date and inform her as well.

Her musings were cut short when she saw the woman move closer and lean down to push on the horse’s rump. Thankfully the mare wasn’t one of those huge beasts that some Luperci rode on, this one would have been too small for riding…but perhaps a cart carrier or a pack holder? It was bigger than the llamas, but still too small the carry a well proportioned canine.

Whatever it was, it was dead and needed to be stripped down quickly. Once moved away from the innards and Tawny caught her breath, she began the shift back into optime form. Her body never wore clothing, besides the occasional cloak when temperatures got too cold for her body to stand. Bare furred and covered in horse blood, she grabbed up her knife and began sliding it between the skin and meat. Liliya’s offers made the girl tilt her head and look up, studying her for a few moments. That was a lot of helping that the fisherwoman was willing to do, even if it was for a share of the trade. She was right though, this job would be too big for Tawny to do alone and in a timely manner.

Sighing softly, she shrugged and turned around, grabbing her extra knife from the snow and holding it hilt out for the other female to take. “Thank you, Liliya Russo. I am Tawny.” Her head bowed a little at the proper greeting and she smiled slightly, eyes flicking over to look at the baby horse and it’s positioning. The little thing kept creeping closer to them, most of the fear gone and now looking very curious. “It knows…the smell of blood must cause fear. But he is so curious. Hmmm…” Shrugging a bit, she turned away and went back to skinning the horse, pretending to ignore the foal this time.


Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#8
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Word Count → 577

A bit of a new kind of smile came to Liliya's muzzle as the girl reached for the other knife and held it out to her. Well, this would be profitable indeed, and the proud Russian couldn't help but feel good about herself having found a way to work this situation in Salsola's favor. Tawny had already begun the brunt of the work on the pony, and if she started putting her hands in there she might just slow down the operation, so she moved over to the corpse of the cat and rolled it from its side onto its back. She knelt down next to it and inspected it for a moment.

“You vhent ape sheet on it,” she said, frowning. “There are lots of stab marks in pelt.” She prodded at one of the open gashes. “But vhe can cut it off anyway and see vhat we get for it. Probly more like sell to tailor for patches and scrap, or cloak lining. Vhill not be makingk any good rugs.” She chuckled softly and then shoved the skinning knife into the belly, and just as Tawny had with the mother pony, she sliced the animal from chest to groin, then began peeling back the skin and slipping the knife in to carefully separate the connective tissue.

“You know how to cure skin, or you just sell it raw?” She asked, but never looked away from her work. “Vhat you do with zhat part, anyvay?” She flicked the knife towards the horse guts, little red spats of blood flinging off the blade and dotting the snow. “Intestine make for good sausage casing. My mother could make good treat with eet.”

She did finally look up from the skinning as the smaller pony began to ease itself forward. “See? It doesn't care. Is only afraid of smell, like you say. Eet's valkingk over to you vhile you cut up eet's mozher!” This was riot and she couldn't hold in the laughter as it erupted from her belly. This scared the creature and made it back away a few steps.

“I not bringk any of my supplies, did not think I vhould need them, this scouting mission. Too bad, usually carry rope. Could lasso it and take it to market too.” She was talking to the feline corpse again. The skin was completely flayed from the belly now, so she peeled it back and rolled the animal over to have a better angle on the rest. “If you has some sort of tool like pliers vhe can get teeth and claws off this, sell it to weird-o's at market for jewelry and spells and junk.” She shrugged. She wasn't much into the spiritual mumbo jumbo that many were, but she wasn't against capitalizing on it, either.

Several minutes later she rolled the naked meat away and laid a furry skin on the snow, gore side down so it could cool. They weren't far from the festival so they didn't run the likelihood of the skins spoiling – that would take weeks in this cold, dry weather – but still every precaution was good. She walked over to Tawny, looking at her progress.

“Vhenever you are ready, I vhill help carve. You know, vhe could wrap the meat up in the skins and use them as makeshift sack. Get more done on first trip 'til we have more packs."

Image from Englaender. Table code by the Mentors!

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#9
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Word Count :: 354 this SUCKS.


Tawny chuckled when Liliya began to skin the big cat, making comments about how stabbed up the thing was. If she had her way, the skin wouldn’t be made for any rugs…who even used rugs anyway? They were absolutely useless. The skin would be better used for a cloak or lining for the inside of a cloak…possibly be crafted into a hood for a larger canine. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back to the horse and continued sliding her knife against the flesh, then tugging and peeling it back gently. Within a few minutes the legs and neck were stripped and she just had to roll it over to get the other side. ”It will be warm in the chill of winter for whoever wears it.”

Rolling the horse would be a pain if she left it whole like this, so she tossed the skinned flesh off to the back to lie on the snow and got to work removing the limbs and neck. Her knife sliced through the meat and muscle like butter, but glanced off the bone without even creating a dent. Growling softly, she grabbed the leg and jerked it up in the wrong angle sharply, shivering when the satisfying crunch of snapping bone sounded loudly. Standing, she lifted the removed leg and tossed it to the side before moving on to the next to repeat the process. “The insides? Eat some and leave others…you want?” A smile pulled her lips up slightly as she gestured to the guts before snapping the second leg and tossing it at the first.

The little horse was spooked by Lilya’s laughter and Tawny shook her head a little, amused. “I have rope…and a few extra skin bags we can use.” Her smile grew as she thought of all her supplies that she had painstakingly collected over the past few months. There was seriously at least one hundred and fifty feet of rope and strings, all in different lengths though. “My bags are a bit back in those bushes if you can get them? You can dig through and find what you’ll need?”


Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#10
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Word Count → 424

By the authoritative sound of crackling, crunching bone, Liliya knew that Tawny had her job well in hand, and the help that she offered would have just been a luxury rather than a required necessity. Judging by the look of satisfaction her work gave her, Tawny deserved to finish that one all to herself, so Liliya turned to the bushes where Tawny indicated her things were and loped over. There was little commotion, having the place pointed out by the woman she found the supplies quickly, and she set the bags in front of the bushes and began to go through them, helping herself to the supplies.

The rope was easy enough to find, and she soon had the length of it out and was working the end into a slipknot. While she worked she glances out of the corner of her eyes at Tawny and wondered if she had been joking with her about eating the animal's organs. She knew that they could actually be quite tasty, and ground up could make a good sausage. It was the intestines that were the worse part, but dirty work didn't scare Liliya. You just had to squeeze all of the offal out of them and then they could be cured and made into perfect casing. She decided that, whatever the girl meant by it, she was going to take it.

“Yes, actually, I do vhant it,” she said, keeping most of the emotion out of her voice since she still wasn't sure of Tawny's angle.

The knot being completed, she held the rope aloft and moved over to the foal. “Ok now, stoopit horse,” she said, though her tone was calm. The horse couldn't understand her words but she knew it reacted to the tone of voice she used, so she tried to sound gentle. Still, the creature snorted and backed away from her. “No, comingk on horsie. Come here. That is it. This not keel you.” She urged, and the foal took a step forward, but at Liliya's next step it skipped three steps back.

She wrinkled her nose but kept going, and in a matter of seconds had slow motion chased the thing across the width of the clearing. Finally her patience was done and she threw the rope to the ground. “Baaah! Eet too stupid to come to me!” She yelled, kicking up clods of snow at the foal and not caring as it scrambled away from her, looping back through part of the clearing towards Tawny again.

Image from Englaender. Table code by the Mentors!

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#11
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Word Count :: 429 bahaha, facking pony


When Liliya indicated that she wanted some of the insides, Tawny nodded and gestured to them, not really caring at all about them. Usually she only ate the meaty pieces like the heart, liver and such. Now it was time to work on breaking the neck off. Sighing softly, the smaller female straddled the hot, bloody horse shoulder, uncaring of her fur getting so messy and gross. Leaning over, she began to saw the knife through the thick meat and muscles. It took at least three minutes of hacking and sawing until the knife finally hit bone on both sides. Instead of immediately trying to break the spine, she began cutting off steak like chunks of the meat and piling it in the snow, sprinkling the cold frozen water in between each piece to begin the freezing process.

After a few minutes of chopping the meat from the neck and upper part of the shoulders, she gripped the head and jerked it upwards sharply, giggling softly when the loud snap resonated through the clearing, scaring the baby horse again. The head and half of what was left of the neck came off and she tossed it over at the legs. Now there was only the chest and empty midsection left. Stepping up and off of the dead beast, she crouched and slipped her arms under the unskinned side, lifted with her legs, and heaved it over onto the other side. Another few minutes and the horse was completely skinned. The young woman spread the large, light brown but blood stained, skin out on the snow to cool.

Instead of getting right to cutting the rest of the horse meat into large pieces, she stood and rubbed snow all over her bloody body to get the smell away. Walking past Liliya, she scooped up the rope and widened the hole pretty big, way bigger than the baby’s head and neck. Getting down on her knees to look smaller, she crawled forward slowly, cooing softly at the little frightened creature. It really wasn’t sure what to do, but finally took a few steps forward, just close enough for Tawny to lift the rope up and toss it over the things head and tighten it around its neck. The pony squealed and began hopping around like a deranged creature. Growling softly, Tawny snapped her teeth at it and tugged the rope sharply, pulling it over to a small tree and tying it up. The thing could fight all it wanted, but it wasn’t about to get away from that.



Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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#12
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Word Count → 357

This wasn’t much of a fair trade off, Liliya thought, her stuck having to wrangle the stupid beast while Tawny got to rip heads off of corpses and giggle about it. She had given up chasing the baby and now glared at Tawny from the far end of the clearing, though just as the foal had trotted towards the other woman the crackling of bone scared it back towards her. She bothered with one more lunge toward it, throwing the rope desperately, but to no avail.

When Tawny came over to her she gathered the rope and handed it over begrudgingly, grumbling something about how pointless it was and that they should just kill the beast now. Clearly, the Russian’s pride was bruised by the whole incident. It was not often that she found something she was incapable of doing, and to be bested by a baby pony just added insult to injury.

“Vhat kind of foolishness is zhis?” She grumbled as Tawny went down on her hands and knees. Shaking her head, she scoffed as the woman eased forward, crooning to the thing. “Wolf bowing to horse, pah.” But really it was just sour grapes that she hadn’t thought of it. Whatever the means, the end game was to catch the foal, and with some wit and patience Tawny son had the rope slipped around its neck.

The beast bucked wildly as soon as it realized it was caught, yanking and fighting to break from the tether, but it was still young and weak and Tawny knew how to handle herself around these animals. Liliya watched, trying to hide her astonishment and failing miserably, as she tied the foal’s lead to the tree and watched it wear itself out.

“Mm… I guess, good job.” Well, if anything, she couldn’t deny that Tawny was proving to be rather useful. “Vhe should lead it to festival with us now, vhile it is tired and can not fight. Use rope to make harness,” she was already trying to slice a length off of the rope without asking Tawny’s approval. “Make it carry meat for us, too. Keep eet humble.”

Image from Englaender. Table code by the Mentors!

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#13
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Word Count :: BLAH no muse. super tired. ugh, I'm sorry. xD


Tawny didn’t really care what Liliya did at this point, she just wanted to get all of the meat packed up and moved out of the open. Someone, some wild animal, could be smelling and searching for the blood right now. Just as more canines could be looking for them to steal her haul…hopefully they’d get all of this done and get out sooner than later. Leaving the horse by the tree, the girl went back over to the horse carcass and began to saw off more of the meat into large chunks, there was so much! The foal was going to have to carry some stuff as well, not much, but enough to take a bit of weight off of the females.

After a while of cutting and piling the meat in the snow, Tawny turned to setting all of the meat inside of the horse’s raw skin. She wanted to get it wrapped up quickly, and the skin was cool enough to do so now. A few handfuls of snow were deposited on the meat as it was stacked in, her body moving faster and faster. ”We have to hurry…faster.” Perhaps two trip would have to be made to get the rest of the carcasses, but that was a risk Tawny was willing to take. As long as they were fast and got it done in a hurry.


Image courtesy of krystian_o@Flickr; table by the Mentors!

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