(The Communal Kitchens) Eating Issues (Taln)

[Drusilla]

" I still could use your help, moving things here and there. Plus running a wheel, you use your hands over your eyes." Drusilla smiled, "I don't see too well myself, unless it's dark outside. Then I'm fine."

She cringed at the fact Taln had met her teacher, "She's more a harpy than Inarta. That woman.... scares me so much." Things learned in that classroom were learned with pain and humiliation on a daily basis. "My very first day here in this city, and she put me to work. I was a tattered mess, but I was still given a quota to fill..."

[Taln]

Taln nodded his head at her comment and looked around. There were thankfully no crowds at Edge of the World. He gestured with a hand and pointed toward the northeastern tip. The man stood close and looked up where he aimed. "You see that eastern most part, about three fourths of the way up? What most don't know is that there's a small ledge where the birds don't build. That's cause there's a ton of snakes, lizards,rodents and some vicious little furries in that nook." The man smiled down at Drusilla, hoping he'd gotten her wishes right. It was a hard to reach place usually overlooked by Inarta using it for other purposes entirely. The sizable crevasse crawled and crept with every type of vermin and reptile that could fill the niche. "If you can climb as you say you can, and eat only something you can freshly kill, then that's exactly the spot you can feast. You fed me right? It's the best I can do for you." He sincerely hoped that she could get more out of it than he could. The few times he'd tried, the critters were fast, clawing and quick to bite. But when he was desperate for a bit for himself or Reech's essential meat needs, this was where Taln would go. The man watched her face carefully, wanting the chance to give back a good meal.

[Drusilla]

Drusilla grinned, "Yes, this will work...very well indeed. And some for you and your friend? Some not laced with venom." The sky was darkening, and Drusilla's vision was improving. She removed her dress that hid her armor, she also slipped off her shoes. "Would you mind watching my dress? I can't move very fast in it."

She surveyed the area summing up her plan of action. She ran through it once more. Drusilla took a few steps back, and like a runner starting a race took her starting point. Taking off suddenly on all fours, showing what her over-long arms were made for. She lept onto the rocks, quickly climbing the rocks in a most unhumanly way to the ledge. Where she pounced, noises rang from the ledge, then sounds of struggle, then silence.

[Taln]

Taln held Drusilla's dress for her and watched the woman intently. Her behavior reminded him of a bird of prey--hungry, fearless and an efficient killer. Actions speak louder than words and he marveled at her intensity. He nodded to himself as he thought, 'That's what the Valintar saw in her to give her Avora status. The ruthless drive to take and keep what she wanted.' "Make sure to grab a marmot--they're fat this time of year and the best of the lot for eating!" the man yelled up to her helpfully. He was glad to finally be able to let her have something to eat after eating all the food she was given.

[Drusilla]

Marmots, so that's what they were called... She would not only kill a few for herself. But some for Taln and his friend. She would make sure this dek would be fed and safe. She spotted a marmot, Drusilla froze wait for it to come closer. Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. She made her move, long fangs dug into the animal. She placed her prey to the side, letting her venom do its job.

Drusilla looked over her catch of the night, a dozen Marmot-furballs and a large snake that had been giving her problems. She desended making a few trips. Drusilla sat not far from Taln, her fangs hung a good inch longer, "Here, these six plus the snake. He really bugged me up there. Hope that's enough for you and your friend to get ahead of the game." She turned to the bloated six marmots, they were ready now.... "Ermm, you might not wanna watch, but you can if you want..." She warned Taln.

[Taln]

His emerald widened at the enormous windfall. He'd never been able to catch more than two marmots before! "Thanks--I need to gut these things before they swell. You eat, I'll get to work making you a snake skin belt." He took out his talon sword and began the messy busy of skinning and eviscerating the carcasses. The first incision was from throat to anus with a soft cut, leading to a second slice to separate the viscera from the skin attachments. Done correctly, the skin pulled away with little effort while the animal bled out through the neck. Taln hauled the bounty to a small stream to clean out the intestines and wash the skin. With little effort, he snapped each of the necks to slide off the heads still attached to the carefully separated skin. He didn't have time to scrape the hides so he rolled them into neat bundles. Once the marmots were skinned and dressed, the copper haired man turned his attention to the snake. The tapered tail and patterning distinguished it as non poisonous so he chopped off the head and buried it. The desert patch nose would make a nice, slim ladies belt. He went through a similar process to skin the snake, but kept all the viscera self contained and just removed it in one careful piece. This would be a delicacy for little Reech! Part of a falcon's natural prey were snakes so Taln felt like a proud poppa to bring home the good stuff. Taln rinsed the snake skin and his hands in the water and shook out the snake to full length. It was as long as he was tall! Apply a bit of paraffin to preserve the scales and Drusilla would have an amazing belt. "Great catch--it looks like you got a six foot desert patch-nose!" He yelled up to her, his eyes still admiring the snake. He noticed it was getting dark so he clumsily started a fire after much effort. The man silently scolded himself for not thinking of it sooner. He spitted two marmots on a sturdy branch, placing it carefully on two sturdy Y shaped branches, waiting impatiently for the food to cook.

[Drusilla]

Drusilla looked over fangs in her prey, had it really been that long? "He was after the same things as me. It got annoying, so I killed it..." Looking at the fallen prey a thought came to mind, "Maybe, I over did it, just a little.. Or alot.. Oh well, eat up Taln! You better hurry up and take some over to your friend before it spoils."

Drusilla sunk her fangs into another carcass, draining it of its fluids. She would and did walk through the six marmots. Now, it was time for the waiting game of her fangs to retract. Talking with them at full length could become cumbersome and to Drusilla who rarely used them they felt odd and foreign too her. Giving up on trying to get them to go away, she watch Taln.

[Taln]

"I gotta bring this to my friend and the marmots need a little time to cook that way. I need to get this food to my friend and with time to eat it and come back it'll take about about bell. Then I can eat and you can sit back and digest--if that's okay." Between the dark moonless night, Drusilla's vantage point and his bad sight there was no way for Taln to see her at all. He heard her faint rustling and assumed she must still be eating. "You probably got your mouth full, so keep feeding those skinny bones and I'll be back as soon as I can!" he called up to her, grabbing the viscera and some carcasses. The man's long legs were off and moving swiftly to the hatchling that awaited a great meal.

[Drusilla]

Drusilla watched the Inarta get up and leave, she could see him like it was high noon. She hoped no uppers would bother him.

The fire under the night sky...Camping humans called it. It was the first time she had ever done something like this, it was nice. Drusilla scooted closer to the fire, keeping a watchful eye on Taln's meal. Even though she didn't eat cooked meat, she could assume anything that was burn was yuck. To her anything cooked was yuck and stomach pains.

The fire was slowly making her feel slighty drowzy or maybe it was the six marmots.... Either way, today had been..to put it bluntly...confusingly, crazily, wonderfuly, awesome. As if she had fit in here.

Drusilla looked at her arm with the bracelet silently asking Kellan and Toran how they were doing and telling them how much she missed them. It was a habbit that had started while Kellan was still around, talking to Toran. But now, she spoke to both brothers.

[Taln]

Taln was jogging back to Drusilla, his bare feet slapping the ground rhythmically when he almost ran into a yasi. "Watch it dek!" the boy snapped. "Sorry, gotta get back to the Avora!" The man tapped downward that he was wearing bryda, stressed the higher caste and kept on with the ground eating pace. He didn't mind running. He liked it actually, because it was one of the few things he was good at. When he saw the cook fire, he slowed down and finally reached the Avora. She was looking at her bracelet and seemed distracted so he said nothing. The marmots smelled ready or at least close enough. The night was cooling off everything around them and the darkness was comforting. The large critters were roasted on the outside and rare on the inside. In his usual style, he held the food with his left hand and half covered it with his right hand and arm. Especially in the dim lighting he resembled a bird of prey mantling his food as he tore into it. There was only one big difference. In his downward facing angle, the firelight caught his gaze and showed an eerie, opaque covering over both of his eyes. They had a whitish grey cast over both orbs making him look completely blind.