[The Bronze Woods] Spoils of War (Part 2/2)

(Job thread) Scarlet takes to her prey, preparing it to be sold in Syliras

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Stretching northward along the coastline of the Suvan Sea, the Cobalt Mountains are the home of the Bronze Wood, numerous ruins, and creatures both strange and fantastical.

[The Bronze Woods] Spoils of War (Part 2/2)

Postby Scarlet Evony on May 26th, 2013, 7:28 pm

Step, step, hobble, wobble... It was amazing how much more painful a wound became when you grew nearly three times in height. The blood had made a nice little pool along the rock she had perched on and seemed to vaguely resemble a doe, though that was obviously not the real case. Blood loss could always be attributed to amazing and unrealistic stories. It could also be attributed to forgetting where one put their clothes.

Scarlet could swear she had stashed her clothes just behind the third tree on the right. Only, now it seemed to be curiously missing and the tree seemed to have gotten far ruder than it had been this morning. No matter, clothing was for suckers, warm and comfortable suckers.

To the credit of the grumpy tree, her line was still hanging and it’s previous bounty fully intact. From left to right hung the nearly unblemished fox pelt, a pristine wonder sure to fetch a good price, the now fully drained and setting carcass of her fox prey and her proud capture of the bobcat. Soon to join them were the two she had so valiantly fought for earlier and nearly gotten herself killed to secure.

The first to join the line was the falcon. Falcon’s were proud beasts, but hardly meaty or possessing of fine fur. There was a miza or two to be made here somewhere, but the beast was a curiosity more than it could ever be materials. To be able to mount the beast, or use it for bragging, that was where the real price would come from. Scarlet’s trembling hand slowly made it’s way over the falcon’s neck, jutting at an awkward angle the striations from the crushing were fairly noticeable as they joined into the pristine body still left. Perhaps she could find someone who could repair the next a bit, it would likely fetch a much higher price if she could.

Next came one of her least favourite ordeals. Skinning was a necessity of hunting for other races and it ensured two sources of income from the prey. Still, it was hard not to see herself in every animal she skinned. Badger hides, especially, weren’t of any great value, but it was something. Having long since drained the few remaining vestibules of life from her prey, it was simply laid down, the rock it now rested on had already been witness to this particular atrocity once before, the crude knife still laying as testament next to it.

In one quick and practiced movement she slid the handy blade down the length of her badger, neck to torso. It was up to her afterwards to separate the rest of the neck from the fur, anything above that point couldn’t be removed easily enough for the pelt to be worth it for her. Naked, trembling, and slowly working the knife under the layers of skin to separate pelt from muscle. It was always a slower process than she would have liked, making sure not to unnecessarily injure the meat while slowly removing the pelt whole.

Working around the once conscious beast the pelt began to fall off much like a full body piece of clothing. When the last vestiges of pelt were all but removed from the rear legs, one final tug freed it from its former owner with an unsettling squelch. It was far from the most appetizing sound one could imagine, the last vestiges of muscles tearing themselves free from the skin that had protected them for years. In the end, all that was left was a beast that was unrecognizable and the flowing fur dismembered to the point it was hard to remember the original shape it had taken. The work wasn’t perfectly done yet, Scarlet still had one last piece of work to do. The knife raised again, trimming off patches of fur and, in some cases, even taking out entire sections of the pelt. It was a meticulous removal of anything stained in blood which would make it useless to the buyer. All in all, it was less than a square inch of pelt and a few extra tufts of fur that had to be removed by the time she was done.

Her legs felt weaker now, trying to stand was a little more difficult. The pool of blood she left near this rock was considerably smaller than her initial outcry, a testament to her wound starting to close on itself. Still, it was risky to do any more hunting today. Her wound would slow her down just enough to endanger her again.

The pelt first was slung up on the rope, followed by the badger carcass hung by a small hook. All in all, four catches and two pelts worth selling. It wasn’t the perfect catch she had hoped for, but it was enough to take back. Scarlet could rest here for the rest of the day while her wound healed and return back in the evening. She did eventually find her clothing, though, under a tree on the opposite side of her camp exactly where she had left them...
Scarlet Evony
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Joined roleplay: March 19th, 2013, 2:27 pm
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