Working Nine to Five!

[Erikal]

35th of Fall, 515 AV.
9th Bell
Spit Fire


It was another busy day at the Spit Fire. Erikal paused in his work to mop perspiration from his brow. The tent canvas walls and support beams were a veritable tapestry of animal hides. Many stretched across drying racks. Some freshly slain animal hides tied to beams, ready to be scraped clean of flesh and fat. He currently labored over one such beam where a sizable deer hide awaited yet more scraping. Tanning wasn't the only activity going on at the Spit Fire. A large portion of the tent was devoted to the actual butchering of the animals and preserving the meat and other edibles along with the extraction of other useful things such as antlers, tusks, organs, feathers, glands, and even the bones of the animals themselves were not wasted. It was the Drykas way: efficient and resourceful.

Today had been particularly busy. Even more so than usual with the Fall hunting in full swing. Everyone was preparing for the coming winter and making up for lost time. Erikal sighed. He often daydreamed of going out on the hunts as he worked. He loved being out on the plain with the wind blowing free on his face, astride Korvas. At such times he felt like he could do anything with the expanse of endless grassland a place of infinite possibilities.

Erikal blew a snarl of brown from his damp face. That was much better than being cooped up in a tent full of smelly animal hides, he lamented. Still, Erikal was not one to complain overmuch. He saw the bright side. The proverbial ever elusive silver lining of the current situation. He was learning a respectable trade and one that he could ill afford to slack off at. The Drykas even envisioned himself eventually learning a fair bit of leather working to compliment the ongoing knowledge-gleaning of tanning. There was always a bright side. Well, in this case, a fur side.

The tall horseman endeavored on, holding a leg-bone tool firmly in his hand with a leather strap bound around his wrist, he made pounding downward-motions to cut away the thin layer of flesh that remained on the deer hide. It was a slow process, but care had to be taken lest he damage the hide. He'd already punctured enough hides to find the right balance of force required.

It was then that he was interrupted by a firm but gentle touch to his shoulder. Erikal turned to see Ronir Duskstep. As usual the man had a warm smile on his face. He nodded to Erikal's progress. "Very good. I see you have finally learned how to use the flesher tool," he remarked with a jovial laugh. Erikal grinned good-naturedly in return. Piece of Venison, he signed. Both men laughed at that as it had been anything but....easy.

"Oh I almost forgot. I have good news for you, boy. Due to the increased work loads we've managed to snare an extra pair of hands today." The Sunspear warrior nearly jumped out of boots with excitement upon hearing such wonderful news. "Zulrav's breath! You're actually serious?!" He exclaimed after a moment of eyeing the older man suspiciously. "Aye. But before you go thanking me, you should know the person is completely unlearned in the ways of tanning. It will be your job to help her find her way."

Erikal's broad smile melted to a frown. "A rookie tanner?! But I myself have just only learned the trade this season and you wish for me to teach a complete novice the whole thing like...."

"Like a piece of venison eh boy?" He chuckled heartily and called a red-haired girl over. "There we are. Erikal this is Ife, your new assistant. Well have fun you two!" said Ronir as he practically pushed the woman inside and fled for the hills.

Erikal blinked at the woman and then smiled rather wolfishly. Offering her a somewhat belated greeting sign before presenting his back to her to instruct her on the current assignment. "Alright so what you want to do here is firmly take hold of the fleshing tool and strike down at a downward angle like so." He momentarily turned to her, "Not too hard, mind, or you'll damage the hide. Ronir practically flays us if he so much as spots the tiniest imperfection in the pelts."

Erikal grinned at her and returned to the hide to demonstrate him removing a section of flesh and fat. After he was through, Erikal slipped off the strap from his wrist and gave the fleshing tool to Ife. He leaned a strong arm across her shoulder and pointed at the hanging deer hide partially fleshed. "Let's get that hide smooth as a newborn Zibri's behind! Go ahead, you can do it!" he said optimistically with a smile and gesture to the hide. "Just remember, nice and easy. Let the tool do all the work for you," he added helpfully.

Erikal promptly leaned back against a tent beam, arms crossed, observing Ife. The warrior-hunter was beginning to like this whole help idea after all. He'd just watch for a short time before getting on to work of his own.....

[Ife]

"Ife, I can't see anything."

"Well, it's there. I can feel it!" The redhead twirled and twitched frantically, jerking her limbs out as if she was being possessed by an invisible poltergeist. Her bizarre movements suddenly stopped as soon as they had appeared. Now she stood half-frozen, her entire body stiff. "I think it's on my neck now."

Mea Windstride tsked and gently lifted the plait that hung in her duagter's fiery red hair. Her dark eyes scanned Ife's pale neck before she sighed yet again and stepped back around to Ife's front. "I can't see anything. Maybe it's gone."

But Ife could still feel the light tickling sensation that ran up and down her spine. She shivered, grimacing as the vision of a spider crawling on her skin invaded her imagination yet again. Still not convinced, Ife ran a paranoid hand on the back of her neck and down her left shoulder. When she pulled her hand away to check it, she was horrified to see a spider the size of her thumb dashing across the palm of her hand.

Instinctively, she crushed her hand against her kneecap, her entire face crushed into an expression that truly reflected her disgust. Keeping her eyes tightly shut, she quickly wiped her hand - and the remains of the spider - against a blanket.

A final shudder and swipe of her hand, and Ife was ready for the day. It was her turn to do her bit for her beloved family.

The Windstride family was undergoing a dramatic change. The oldest son of the Ankal, and Ife's oldest brother Royce, had recently become a first-time father. In order to ease the workload of the deliciously happy new mother and father, each member of the pavilion had taken to learning a skill that Royce and his wife had previously fulfilled for their family. For her part, Ife had volunteered herself to learn tanning, which had previously been the responsibility of her brother. Though there was little pressure for her to become quite as talented as Royce, Ife still felt she needed make a hard effect. As such, she had made plans today to visit the Spit Fire in order to take a lesson in tanning.

She hurried to the Fire Pit, still a little shaken after her arachnid encounter. Thankfully, it seemed that Ife was expected to jump straight into it, which she much preferred compared to long, drawn out lessons with no actual practise involved. No sooner had she arrived was Ife introduced to the young tanner she would be taking lessons from.

She quickly plonked herself down, preparing for a hard day's labour and learning. Erikal dived right into it, and Ife leant forward to fully drink the quickness and smoothness of his actions. It seemed a simple enough action: but nevertheless Ife's stomach knotted with nerves when the fleshing tool was handed to her. The male's earlier warning was still fresh in her mind: "If I happen to damage the pelt, what's the likelihood I can blame it on you?" She smirked playfully before setting to work.

The blade was heavier than she had expected, so when Ife first scraped at the flesh, she did so gently. Barely anything was scraped away from the pelt. She paused, readjusting the angle of her blade so it lay horizontal against the pelt and was bent slightly towards her. She tried again, this time picking up more gross stuff from the pelt.

She repeated the action three times before stopping to admire her handiwork. In truth, there was barely any alteration in the pelt, but she was still pleased that she had not caused any untoward damage to the skin. "It's harder than it looks." She commented, flexing her arms and wrists, surprised that they were aching slightly already. "When's lunch time?" Another joke, and to ensure her new acquintance would know she was not being serious, Ife winked playfully.

[Erikal]

In spite of his earlier reservations on taking on a rookie tanner, Erikal was not ashamed to admit he had been rash to jump to conclusions. For one, she might actually turn out to be a half-decent tanner. Though admittedly, he had his doubts when the flame-haired woman started working with the fleshing tool and proceeded to leave the hide in exactly the same condition as when he left it.

He took a step forward to position himself directly behind her, squinting his left eye critically and studying the work she had done from various angles. "I think you missed a spot," he said jokingly, displaying a lopsided smile meant to relieve any stress he may of initially heaped upon her with the whole flaying prank. Ronir Duskstep was the kindest and gentlest man he'd ever known. Had the owner been more strict and severe on him for his own careless mistakes, he would have likely quit the job some time ago.

Secondly, and most importantly in his opinion, she had a sense of humor. An affinity for chuckles was always a soft spot for the nomad. He found it unusually difficult to maintain a straight face when she ventured a query on the possibility of blaming him for all of her blunders. So much for Erikal's idea of being a harsh taskmaster! He blurted out a laugh, but managed to corral most of the silliness with an effort.

"Not a chance! But nice try, Ife," he drawled. "Besides, in order to make a mistake that would require actual work. You have yet to do any of that," he said with a wry grin to show her he was indeed amused.

Thirdly, she wasn't half bad to look upon. A lot shorter than him, with more freckles than he had ever seen. That reminded the Drykas of the spotted hunting cats he had seen in Endrykas. And most interesting of all were her very expressive green eyes within what he considered a pretty face. "Don't worry about it. Look, I'll show you again. Feel the tool cutting into it and scraping it away," he said, lowering his hand to the strap and her smaller hand to guide her through the movements.

When Ife raised the fleshing tool to begin again, he stopped her to reposition the blade in her hand and adjust the angle. Erikal uttered words of encouragement into her ear as he saw her make strides and begin to actually cut away layers of skin from the hide. The underneath part was a creamy white hue. Erikal lifted his hand away from hers and smiled. "Good job! See, nothing to it Ife. You haven't much left. Let me know when you finish so we can begin to wash it and prepare the hide for drying on the rack."

Erikal chuckled in light of her lunch joke and peered at her quizzically. "Hasn't Ronir mentioned the eating arrangement? You think all that perfectly good meat you're stripping away is wasted?" When it dawned on her what he was getting at, a slow smile spread across his lips. "That's right. Yummy snack food right at your fingertips. Enjoy!" He turned away, snickering as he went.

[Ife]

To his quick reply that she had not been working hard, Ife threw her hands in the air in an exaggerated action of surrendering, blade wavering in the air. "I just don't want to embarrass you with my natural talent in tanning! This is your source of income; I'd feel bad swanning in here and blowing you out of the water straight away." She winked playfully before chuckling to herself. Ife was relieved that her instructor was as keen for a joke as she was: all too frequently she had found that other teachers took themselves too seriously.

She felt his hand atop hers, guiding the angle and pressure of the blade for the next few strokes. Slowly, she started to familiarise herself with the amount of force needed in order to scrape up all that fat and the flecks of meat, leaving only the very top layer of the skin. She found Erikal to be a good teacher, with plenty of encouragement and subtle ways to correct her posture and the position of her knife. And, more importantly, there was that banter between them that made the lesson all the more enjoyable.

Whilst there was still a challenge (and what a challenge it was) for Ife to learn, she was enthused about the skill of tanning. As always, she filled with the desire to become as skilful as she could and to produce a high-quality product. But already her mind was starting to become distracted: she wondered how her newborn nephew was, when she would next see her beloved fiancé. A secretive smirk flickered on her lips at the thought of Graham and their upcoming marriage. Perhaps he would appreciate a wife who was proficient in tanning?

She shook herself gently. Focus! Focus! It was a bad habit of Ife's to become restless and distractible, especially when doing a task that was repetitive. With a wince she remembered the pottery class she had taken part in the other day, how intensely boring the skill of pottery would have been had it not been for the company that evening.

But at least tanning rewarded Ife with a sense of pride when she observed her progress on the skin. Though each of her scrapes were nowhere near as efficient as her teacher's, slowly she was making progress.The blade came down once more, this time with only Ife's hand guiding it. Whilst trying to maintain the angle and pressure Erikal's hand had previously pressed upon her, Ife scraped away another layer of meat and fat.

Her green eyes flashed to the residue that clung to her knife blade. Though she suspected it was fine to ingest, there was something... unappealing about the congealing paste of fat and meat. Nevertheless she carefully picked a piece of browning meat off the knife and placed it on her tongue. The fat instantly melted away leaving the salty tasting meat. She chewed and swallowed it tentatively, then gave a surprised grunt. "Not as bad as I expected." she murmured before slicking a globule of fat off the blade and rubbing it between her hands. "Doubles as moisturizer, too." She proffered with a smirk.

There was a few more subsequent scrapes of the blade onto the skin, followed quickly by eating of the residue meat, and then Ife sat back with an accomplished sigh. "I think I've finished." She declared hopefully, admiring her handiwork.

[Erikal]

Whilst Ife scraped away on the deer hide, Erikal busied himself with other activities that needed doing. There was always things needed doing at the Spit Fire. And that day was no exception. He was glad for the extra help as that now allowed him the freedom to attend to other tasks. One such task involved him preparing a soupy brain mixture and setting it to cook over a fire. This particular brain was that of a bear, mirroring the exquisite grass bear hide he had laid out on the floor. The underside of the pelt still held thick brown fur. Many Drykas with needs of a pavilion rug or a coat for the winter ordered to keep the hair-side intact. Erikal stirred the mixture to a uniform consistency and carefully lowered to his haunches to apply the mixture very liberally to the hide; rubbing it into every inch of the surface.

The braining process would help to soften the hide and make it more malleable. Erikal recalled the first time he had seen it done and how amazed he had been that something so rough could become so very soft. From raw hide to usable clothing. Once he had completed the task of rubbing a layer of brain oils into the hide, Erikal rolled the hide up and stored it in a dry place where it would absorb the important juices overnight.

He returned to Ife and it was abundantly clear to him that she had found a nice rhythm in her work. He observed her movements, noticing them to be more economical than when she had started. Every stroke of the scraper was relaxed and she followed through with the motion. She varied the scraper angle to trim away slightly more obstinate areas instead of resorting to excessive force. The warrior-hunter grinned and strode the rest of the way to her.

"That looks great, Ife, " he said approvingly, running his finger over the creamy white layer, following the vein track. Erikal took up a scraper of his own and stood alongside Ife to make a few finishing touches to a few patches of clinging flesh. He widened his eyes in surprise to see the redhead actually eat some of the animal flesh. The Drykas had been joshing her earlier about the whole lunch business. He hadn't actually thought she would go through with it. Erikal managed to catch her arm before she could deposit anymore of the gooey raw strips of flesh into her mouth. "Ife! Don't eat that." Might make sick. I tease. Sorry. Still, Erikal found himself chuckling ruefully at her words and silly nature. He may of well met his match in that regard!

Erikal instructed Ife next on the simple method of washing the hide. Fairly straight-forward as it was, he had no need to provide many tips. The two of them worked together, plunging rags into a barrel of water and soap and wiping the hide clean of any debris that remained. Dunk, rub, splash, repeat. Erikal found his curiosity sparked as to who his flame-haired helper was. To what pavilion did she belong? Did she have a husband and family? To that end, Erikal broke the quiet of their working. "So....you live around here?" He paused to scratch his neck and ring out his cloth. He pressed the damp cloth against the hide, rotating in small circles. "Your family get you into this mess as well? Follow in his or her footsteps and become the best Tanner in Endrykas sort of praise?" He inquired. "Haven't worked here long, myself. Only started this season. My Uncle thought it would be wise if I learned tanning," he told her, though by his unconvinced facial expression it seemed the entire thing was still up for debate maybe?

The Drykas crouched down to wash the lower areas of the deer hide. Continuing on with his talk after a few ticks. "Thing is I'm not even of the Emerald Clan. I'm a Sunspear. We're Diamond. I think Ronir owed my Uncle a favor. Pulled some strings, y'know." Erikal wiped the perspiration from his brow and a few lonely dangles of hair from his eyes. "I should be out hunting the animals we now tan. But Caiyha chose not to listen to my prayers, I guess," he said with a low laugh. "Don't get me wrong, Ife. I consider this a worthwhile education. It's as important as any other trade." The warrior-hunter sighed and tossed the wet rag into the barrel. "I sound like an old biddy, don't I? I'm sure this isn't the first time you've heard a Drykas lament over missed hunting opportunities eh? Come on, this looks clean enough to eat off of! Oh and Ife.... I didn't mean that literally," he said with jovial laugh, sidelong glance and nudge of elbow.

The Sunspear had Ife help him bore holes into the outer edge of the pelt with a knife tool. After completion, they hauled the deer hide up onto a drying rack. Erikal reiterated his teacher's emphasis on making sure the hide was stretched and not just hung up, lest valuable size be lost. Then he proceeded to offer her cordage and show her the technique of threading it through the holes and tying it to the rack. "There. Well done! She'll need time to dry now before further steps can be taken. Not to worry though, I've plenty more hides where that came from," he said, grinning.

"Come. You'll enjoy the softening and smoking. Piece of venison!" he said in a cheerful manner, ducking under and weaving through the maze of hides as he led her to another area in the enormous tent.