Closed A Student's Student (Leith)

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska knew she was right. The mace was there for intimidation due to his weak state, and any wolf with half a brain could take him down simply out of speed. The mace was barely intimidation when it came to the smarter thieves and thugs who recognized he couldn't stop a simple swing once he'd begun it. He gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to strike out and slap her for speaking to him that way. But the fact that she was overwhelmingly right stayed his hand. "Fine." he growled, his own gold eyes flashing with rage at her. The two stood there for a moment bristling at one another, then Leith went off to gather reeds. Kaska was no fool, he followed and squatted beside her to watch how she put them together again and again. When she finally paused he picked up the reeds and his deft fingers began weaving them. A few minutes later he had a good replica of the trap Leith had made. He set it down beside her. He had been a fool to question her; she'd flashed ahead of him like a gazelle through long grass while he had been tangled on tree limbs. The mace might have been ferocious but now he felt like he would have a better chance against wolves with a sharpened stick. He gathered a bit more reeds and made the trap from memory again. Even with all of his arrogance and crudeness, Kaska was a fast learner and retained information well. He couldn't help but think how she would take him when he began teaching her. What she would think of him afterwards. She didn't know about his profession and it was easy to dismiss because she couldn't see it. When he taught her about pickpocketing, she would be in the thick of it.

[Leith]

Eventually she looked at him, her mismatched eyes having a slight watery sheen to them. “I’m more scared than you are out here, but I’d follow everything you asked of me. You could strip me of my freedom and make a very nice profit from it. You don’t even trust me… How can I trust you? I’m not human, I can choose to look like one, but I’m not. Killing just to kill is outside my nature and…I am terrified of what may happen.”

There, let him stew on that, she changed forms an started preening her feathers. It was mostly to stop herself from showing any tears as she almost had. She was giving up way more than he was and she wondered if he realized that. He had hurt her badly accusing her of being petty, especially after she had warned him. She had given him plenty of chances, a lot more that he would have gotten otherwise.
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

"Don't tempt me. Slavers make a good profit, but someone else would have to deal with you then. You're too innocent, the thought of selling you would mean a lot of pain and damage down the road for you. Perhaps for me as well, when you bought your freedom and came back with thousands of your birds to kill my skinny hide." Kaska told her, gently weaving the trap as she'd shown. He was going slower the second time around to get every step memorized. "I was a slave, for a long time. Not in the formal sense. But I was damaged by a man who was supposed to be taking care of me, and just wanted to use me for his own ends. The fact that I'm not him is probably the reason we're sitting here right now, and you aren't being auctioned off." he added, frowning as he focused on getting a particularly slippery reed to behave. "I'm only not frightened because I know the outcomes. What's a few days lost in the woods throwing up from bad berries, or starving? Starvation and I are good friends by now. There's only so much suffering a man can take before he starts getting used to it. Teach me, I'll do my best to lay aside what I think is right and learn. I don't want to, and gods know I still don't trust you, but I'll try. Only benefits me, right? Unless you decide to have your flock peck me to death." Kaska said, laying aside the second trap and waiting for her to transform back.

[Leith]

She studied him out of one eye as she finished changing back “As long as you don’t break your word and that you swear to me on your own life you’ll do your best to keep me from what you suffered. If that means slitting my throat, do it, whatever it takes because I would rather die than lose my freedom.” She stood up walking to his weapon “Lets take it to under the tree, I’ll take the direct rout this time and if you want from me what those others want for you…so be it. That’s a lesson too I suppose and to be honest I’m not afraid of you really, I know you could hurt me and stuff, but you don’t get anything lastingly valuable out of it. Money is temporary, food is temporary, but an eye on your back who you learn you can trust is a lot more useful. You could be using me, that’s true, but when you bared your teeth at me in the alley I realized that you and I…aren’t too different. You’ve suffered a lot and its made you ready to bare your teeth, for good reason, I don’t think you’ll seek to do the same to me unless I push you. You’ll learn I keep my word.”

She started walking, bending down to show him how to put his traps in the water. She took out her own to give him a better chance, he’ll be happier knowing it was his traps that caught the meal. She’d give him that gladly, he could choose to put hers back if he wanted, but that was up to him, she headed for her tree.
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska wasn't happy about the thought of putting his weapon against the tree for the world to see. He set his traps in the water the way she had shown him, curious to see if they would work. His stomach was full and happy, and it was already showing in his face a bit. His eyes weren't as dull and sunken, but shining with discovery of new health. He picked up the mace from the ground, rubbing some of the dirt off of it with his sleeve, and rested it on his shoulder. He followed her back to the tree and leaned it against the trunk without a word, the face snarling at him nastily in silence. He took off his robe as well and flung it over a branch, revealing just how skinny he really was. His shirt didn't do much to hide the skin gliding over easily counted ribs. His body wasn't straight, but sunk inward at the hips. His hipbones jutted out uncomfortably far, his wrists were as delicate as a bird's ankle. He leaned in close to the tree and stripped a bit of bark with his teeth, using the skin of the tree to make a thong that he could tie his hair back with. He turned to her, still slightly uncomfortable at leaving his weapon. "Very well then, what's first?" he asked.

[Leith]

She studied him and decided the sooner they had the deer the better “We hunt. You just keep up, I’d suggest you loose any extra clothing. In the high grass the bugs can get under it and they itch, if you wanna keep pants that’s fine, but nothing more than you feel you must. Even though its spring its warmish when the sun is at its highest, but you’ll love the chase. We, fledgling of mine, are going to hunt a deer. Should be plenty of meat to eat and I know a cave that’s pretty cold inside from the spring fed waterfall we can store what we don’t keep in it. I figure we can camp there next, its always best to keep close to where one puts ones food. We’ll eat as much as we can then save the rest, I’ll show you how to set snares, rabbits usually fall for those easy. Fall is when it gets really interesting, salmon start spawning and they run so thick that even with my bare hands can pluck some from the water. I know a good place to catch them and they are even easier as they start dying. We feed well for a long time on their corpses…”

She grabbed her bow and one quiver, pulling on her tunic before slinging the arrows across her back. She did what he had done with her hair, but with a springy branch, she liked the sharp pine smell. Then moved at a lope again, this time much slower so he could keep pace. Every so often she’d stop and show him a new set of tracks or a bears claw marks on a tree, she even showed him an age old wolf track. She pointed out animals, baring her teeth at an opossum then laughing when it eyed her. For all that she had a hint of civility the wildness in her eyes was much like the other predators, she was happy. Unfettered and free she showed him how she moved showing him little by little everything she knew. It would take a whole season for him to learn, she was taking her time because she saw how fast he pushed himself to learn. At the edge of a meadow with grass in some places as tall as her shoulder she set her weapon down, shed her tunic and grinned “I’m gunna scout a bit by air and see if I can find a pair of spring mad bucks. We only want one, but you’ll get a kick out of watching them fight. I usually grab the one that loses leaving the stronger one alive, I never hunt doe. We’ll use the antlers for a spear or two, for fall.”

It was easy to attach something sharp on a stick and she figured he’d like something he had made himself that was much lighter to carry around. “You can keep the spear with you, it can come in handy, I’m not really good with spear fishing, but its fun to do when really bored.”
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

He stripped off his shirt as well and hung it beside the branch, showing off his pale and shallow chest. It was lined with scars, ragged old things that had been either stitched up haphazardly or some not at all. A small scar ran across his throat, sharp and quick like a razor. He followed her through the tall grass, listening to her words. A small cave to keep food in seemed like a good idea, and it could store things for when he wasn't able to get out and hunt. He smirked at her mention of the spring mad bucks. "What some things do to fuck. At least my clients don't try and gore one another." he snickered at his own joke. He followed her closely and stayed crouched in the grass when she mentioned she would scout ahead. He crouched down in the grass, waiting for her to leave him and take wing to find a pair. It wouldn't be hard in the spring; bucks were at each other almost as much as they were the does. He did find it funny that someone so wild could be so completely ignorant about sex. He settled in his crouch, examining the grasses around them. It was so much more peaceful here, he would be saddened to go back to the city. Even now he could smell smoke from the fires of Sunberth. Kaska knew that going back to the city with her tonight to show her his trade would be an interesting experience. He was planning on showing her the basics of pickpocketing, then leaving her for an hour or so. He did owe a few favours about town he could clear up easily in such a clean condition, and the lack of parasites about him meant he could grab richer clientele. Perhaps a high rolling gambler. Even out here in the forest, he had his mind on his territory back home.

[Leith]

It didn’t take long for her to find her quarry, the noise they made was like a tree cracking repeatedly. She eyed the distance and figured if they moved fast they could make it to the far end of the meadow. Both animals were really going at it, their shoulders and necks already cut, both older, they must have been going at it for a while. Sometimes that happened, the older ones know their lives are close to ending and when they faced another old one they beat the hell out of each other. She dived to land near her things the wind making the grass hiss. She changed back and quickly dressed arranging the quiver around her hips to make it easier to get an arrow. She would only have one to two shots as a chance, she had to mark the beast to slow it down and track if she couldn’t make a clean shot. She moved in to the grass swiftly, she wasn’t running as fast as she could push herself, she was just at a pace he could keep up. He didn’t need to make the kill, she did, so it was more important to her that she at least be there to claim the loser.

She had counted nine teeth on one’s set of antlers, nine years the animal survived the other was only seven. It took a strong will in prey creatures to survive for so long, whoever won would breed strength in the next generation. As they got closer even her weak human ears could hear their struggle, they had moved a bit in to the tall grass. Their sharp hooves scoring the ground, both too focused on each other to pause and see if they were in danger. The eldest one was getting more desperate, she silently rooted him on, but if he lost she would still happily make a meal of him. She moved carefully readying an arrow, she’d only have a split second to fire once, then mere seconds to stand and fire again. If she missed the first time she’d have to make the second shot, but the way they were going at it she may not have to fire at all.

Over and over they bashed at each other, the youngest almost losing its balance, sweat had darkened their short fur. The bugs flew around them in clouds taking their meals oblivious to the struggle. There was a wet snapping sound as they crashed in to each other, a pair of antlers breaking clean off, the young one stumbling stunned, the elder ramming in to it knocking it down. It was over, the victor was decided and she fired the first taking it in the neck, the second its hind leg at the thigh as it reared up. It bounded away shock giving it a chance to move, but the damage was done. It was too exhausted, it collapsed with a groan, the other lumbering away. She walked over to her prey, it thrashing trying desperately to rise. She pulled out her eating knife and jumped on it driving it in to its neck. The first shot hadn’t hit something too vital, her knife however didn’t miss and it screamed thrashing before at last it lay still. She stood up her face and hands sprayed with blood, her tunic only lightly splattered.

For the moment she had forgotten about Kaska, she licked her fingers one by one savoring the still slightly warm blood. Her blue eye standing out starkly next to the blood, her blood pounded through her veins her eyes half closed. She bent down to carefully cut the arrows free, she’d clean them later, sliding them in with their siblings.
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska heard the antlers clacking and slowly slid in closer. He watched the pair, nostrils flared and eyes rolling as they clashed together and brought their heads low, shoulders quivering with exhaustion as each strove to outdo the other. He watched them, riveted, his eyes focusing on the two stags. It was like a duel with pronged swords, they way they met and clashed and tried to push the others' weapons aside. They backed up and came together, their front hooves lifting slightly off the ground and their heads ducking low. The crash came, Kaska saw the younger buck's neck buckle ever so slightly and his antlers separate from his head with a crack. He younger buck stumbled and nearly fell, but the older buck sensed victory. He lifted his head and rammed his chest into the younger, sending him sprawling and declaring the older the victor. Kaska watched the older one pant for a moment, his withers twitching and sweat darkening the fur under his forelegs and along his haunches. The younger tried to rise, but Kaska saw more than heard the arrow sprout in its neck. The elder buck took off, sensing danger, and the younger reflexively reared up. It was a desperate movement and the arrow to its haunches sent it down again. Kaska heard him bugle in panick, his front legs up and his back legs collapsed. The cry was cut off. The catamite slid closer, watching the elder buck out of the corner of his eye. The large male was disappearing into the forest, likely to find a doe that had been startled off by the death cries. Kaska picked up the younger one's severed antlers. Only one would do; the other was cracked clean to the core. Kaska split off a few of the broken tines and pocketed them. Small knives were of use to pickpockets. Kaska saw Leith licking blood off her fingers, looking over the buck. "We'll have to skin him, before the meat spoils. We can sell the skin in town." he said.

[Leith]

She blinked at him for a moment startled, it took her a moment to clear her head, she nodded. “Show me then, I don’t know how to skin things. Lets carry him away from this place to the waterfall I was telling you about. This place smells of terror and death, don’t need bigger things to be sniffing around and they have ears just like we do. I’ll need to wash off when we get there too, I’m getting itchy from the grass. Don’t scratch either if you are too, makes it worse.”

She moved over to their kill closing the beast’s eyes, it didn’t need to be awake looking anymore. Had it been the older one she’d have left a piece behind, but this would be all theirs. She wondered if she’d need to take a break, she was thankful she wouldn’t be dragging it this time. “We are a lot closer than I thought we’d be, we’ll take breaks, but shouldn’t be too long a walk. Then we can let it bleed out, skin it and store the meat. I’ll go collect the leaves to wrap it in and the stones, when you feel how cold the stone is you’ll not wanna sleep inside it, but there is a bit of a spot that’s an easy climb that can be used as a place, part of the cave behind, I think the water made the smooth hole and then became what it is now somehow. Its where I go in the summer cuz being under the tree is too hot.”

The cold spot was also very good for cooling off on when you wanted to stay mostly dry.
|
|
|