Taking Time

[Ixzo]

3rd of Spring, 516AV

"One more?" The Drykas asked her as she dropped her haul at the Spitfire. She had given them two rabbits, four quails as well as three of the delicate bird eggs. The only thing she kept was her own rabbit. The hardest one to catch, and she wanted to keep it for that reason.

"No." She shook her head, twisted the limp creature in her hands. "Food." She offered the weak explanation, but it was enough for her employer. She had fed two smaller families or one big family with her haul today, surely they wouldn't deny her her own meal. And they didn’t. A drop in the butcher's smile was quickly followed by a curt nod as he appraised her other kills. She was quickly becoming one of their better hunters, still he seemed to want to make sure he was given the cleaner kills.

She had worked with the men and women of the spitfire enough so that they were nearly kind to her. Surely, by anyone's standards these horselords were very kind to her, since she was a foreigner. Still, Ixzo did her best to take it all with a grain of salt. The pride she had built up in Taloba was dangerous here. No matter how small they had beaten it, it was hard to erase, and thus Ixzo had to watch her mouth.

Nerves tingled in her finger tips as she trekked back through the city. Stopping by the market she picked up a few random tools. Paint brushes and small ounces of paint. She was glad no one asked, else she would have to use the excuse of buying them for Iollu, but the tiny, detailed brush was far too delicate for a child's play, her explanation might fall through.

Once she had finished, it was not a far walk to her tent, and in moments she was plopping down outside her tent. Her bow and arrows were carefully laid in the shade, but before she gave her attention to the rabbit, Iollu popped into her mind. The sun had just risen, and the child would likely still be waking up.

[Ixzo]

"Iollu!" She sang out, abandoning the rabbit by the dead fire pit, and peeling through the knots that closed her tent. When she ducked into the familiar canvas, the groggy Drykas child was pretending to be asleep. She could see that the child had moved, been disturbed by her attempt to wake the girl up. The usual drool puddle was there, although Iollu's mouth was not agape letting the stream of slobber flow as it usually was in the morning. The little Drykas' eyes fluttered as she worked to keep them shut as well, but the child was committed to pretending to be asleep, even with her uneven breathing giving her away on top of everything else.

Dropping into her hunter's crouch, Ixzo gently rolled her weight onto the silent tread of her toes. The packed earth was her friend as she crept forward, stepping over the clutter. She and Iollu would have to clean that…

Still stealthily silent, she reached the end of the bedroll they shared, with concentrated effort, she slowly lowered her weight down. She was a muscular woman, used to long treks in the grass and the power required to take down the animals larger than her, yet this move was unfamiliar in her realm of stealth. On her tip toes and lowering herself into a squat took extra effort to stay silent. Of course once she was in reach of the twitching bulges beneath the skins, the lioness striked. With light fingers her large hands dove under the furs, tickling the young Drykas' toes. Shrieks and squeals of joy erupted from the child and Ixzo whipped the furs off her. "Goooooood morning!~" Apparently she was still feeling sing-songey as the child rolled off the bedroll.

[Ixzo]

"Chore time." Ixzo spoke now, returning to her thickly accented guttural tones rather than the light, fluid voice of her songs.

"Noooo…" The child groaned, dramatically collapsing on the dirt. She had bathed the night before, and now the earth worked its way into her tangled braids. Ixzo realized she'd have to redo them before the child left that morning.

"You have work this day." Ixzo reminded her, flinging each fur back onto the bedroll and then straightening them out.

"I dooooon't," She complained, rolling onto the earth, Ixzo sighed. Straightening the last fur. The child did have something to do today. Although small, Ixzo had worked to get her a deal with another Pavilion. With the language barrier and lacking a Pavilion of her own, it had been very difficult to do, but she still managed to talk up the child's skill with animals. With the gifts of a few days of fresh game, the family agreed to teach Iollu a little more on her skills. And that is what the child had to do today, and why Ixzo had to commit to waking her up.

"Up! Up! Up!" She grinned at the child, scooped her under the arms and pulling her to her feet. The child didn't help, letting deadweight fall to the Kelvic and crumbling under her feet when Ixzo let her go. Ixzo sighed, crossing her arms at the child who only grimaced at her.

"I'll eat him." The wicked twinkle drifted into her eyes and she bared her teeth. Not giving the child a chance to respond, Ixzo swiveled on her feet heading out the front of the tent.

"You wouldn't dare!" Iollu shrieked after her, immediately aware of what 'him' she'd eat. Ixzo wouldn't actually dare, the thought of it only coming to her in their leanest of times which had long since passed. She loved the stupid creature, maybe not as much as Iollu, but enough to keep it around. Still, it got the girl up with the idea of a lion eating her only animal, Ixzo wouldn't let her get more than just the ox. The lack of animals was a foreign concept to the young Drykas, and the threat of losing her only one had woken her up.

"Ixzo, stop!" Iollu shouted a little louder, a hint of panic in her voice. Ixzo grinned and spun on her feet.

Look. "You are up." She grinned which brought another grimace from the child. "You can taken care of him than." Stern. She spoke, accomplished, adding the sign in to know she wasn't joking. The child knew she had been defeated, but got her last glory out of laughing at Ixzo's bad grasp with the words. Ixzo rolled her eyes, stepping past the child. She had less of a grasp on the words than the signs. Once she learned the meaning of a sign, adding it to her words to emphasize them was easy. Yet, there was a distinct difference between the way sentences, questions and exclamations were structure in this language that confused her. Since learning their past and future versions on tenses, those have been adding to her confusion.

[Ixzo]

]Returning to the tent, Ixzo set to straightening the place up. Iollu's yarns and looms were stacked back in place, and the dirty clothes were tossed in the basket. She hated washing the clothes, and usually had the child do it, trading chores. She was no parent, but being the provider gave her some benefits to the almost sister-relationship she had with Iollu. At least now both of them had the excuse of needing more soap to push the most horrid chore off. And so she did.

Moving towards the food basket, she made sure they weren't running low. The spitfire was giving her more money than the Hunter's Allegiance ever did, and she was enjoying the benefits of it, now that she understood how Mizas worked. The Oca tupers and the carrots gave her an idea. She brought the rabbit home with nefarious intentions, but she would not let the meat go to waste. Stew was a good slow cooking meal she could make even with her lack of skill.

Scooping out the Uca tupers, she added potatoes, salt, wild onions, chives and lima beans to her pile. She wasn't entirely sure if they all went well together, but it seemed varied enough vegetable to taste good. Iollu would let her know if it was bad, that is for sure.

Walking back outside, she set the vegetables and fruits aside, Pulling out one of her two pots. Going down to the stream, she filled one all the way and the other halfway. Coming back to the fire, she got back to setting it. By now the action was fluid. Ixzo tossed a dry patty in, then lit the tinder, a simple bundle of dry grass, blowing on it until the fire had grown, and then placing it among the fuel. After it caught, Ixzo prodded the patty a little more, pushing the tinder into the center of it to make sure it burned. Shit was pretty useful.

[Ixzo]

Once the fire had started, she let it blaze a bit. She had purposefully given it little fuel, since she wanted the flames low when her stew cooked. She remembered before how she had made the mistake of putting the crock into the fire right away and the stew cooking unevenly. It had to boil down. However she was fairly good with her knife, and Ixzo was chopping the vegetables quickly, pouring the beans and the roots in. Once all the vegetables were in and the remainder put up, she moved on to the rabbit.

She had been taught how to skin the thing last season, and now this creatures was easier to clean, however today she had to be very careful with it. Usually her skinning wound up with broken hides and bones. While today she didn’t care about the hide, she had to keep the bones intact for what she wanted.

Having only done it a handful of times, she could still remember the steps. Pinching the rabbit's knees, she carefully applied pressure. Concentrating, she grinned when the knee join slid through the fur with a clean snap. There was no feeling of breaking bones, which was very important, especially these ones. She did the same with the other leg, releasing both legs from their fur. Then, with already slick fingers, she wiggled the meat from the fur, leaving two bare legs. With less care she ripped the fur between the rabbit's legs, and was carefully pulling the skin gently down the torso. Still, she had not hear a bone crack yet.

When she repeated the process with its upper arms, the frailer limbs snapped under her fingers. Still, she let it slide, they were not so important as the hind legs for what she needed. Sure that the bones in her hind legs were still intact, she took a little less care wiggling each arm out of its fur. Finally, Ixzo pulled the hide over the rabbits head, switching her hold so she could grab the meat by its hind legs. Pulling out her game knife, it was two quick slices to the neck to release its head. She worked the tail off as well and then turned towards their waste bucket. Cutting the torso of the rabbit, she wiped the blade on her thigh and sheathed it once more. With a brushing movement, she pulled the organs out of the carcass, letting them fall in the waste bucket. It would be buried soon so that she did not have to smell the retched mess.

[Ixzo]

After she returned to the fire, eyeing the dwindling but staying flames, Ixzo set to work. With her game knife, she cut strips out of the meatiest part of the rabbit, the good parts. Without much ceremony she tossed them into the crock with the vegetables, switching to her fingers to peal the meat from the bones, tossing it all in. While she did so, each hind thigh bone was separated from the growing pile of bones. With as much meat as she could in the crock, she tossed the bones in the waste bucket to be buried as well.

"Zozo." Iollu plopped down beside her, and Ixzo scooped up the remaining bones quickly. She still had to clean them properly, hence why she got her second pot boiling. Hoping Iollu wasn't paying too much attention, the Kelvic slipped the bones in the boiling water of the second pot. Sure, the child may not take interest in her cooking now, but when the smell hit she would know.

"Will you braid my hair?" Please, question. Iollu asked, as Ixzo dipped her hands in the water to clean the mess of cooking off of them.

"Of course, Mana." She grinned, scooting closer so she could sit cross legged behind Iollu. Wiping her hands on her shirt to make sure they were clean, she scooped up the thin slippery hair of the child before her. The shiny locks in her hands gave her a bit of confidence. Hair was always a good way to find out one's health, and even through the harsh and shocking winter that they endured, she had managed to keep this child healthy and well. Her pride fluttered as she appraised the child, concluding that she might've actually helped the thin Drykas put some weight on.

Still, it took her a moment to decide. Although she enjoyed face paints and hairstyles, Ixzo knew her skill in cosmetics were not the best, especially with hair so different from her own. So she had been experimenting with Iollu's hair, and she wanted to try something new. Separating the hair into six parts, Ixzo began one braid. This was just a simple one, she didn't even attempt the intertwining braids she'd seen other women and men do, Iollu would complain about the knots. So the first stage was simply six simple free-hanging braids. Then, she separated them in half, braiding three together to create two hanging braids. It was not as complicated or pretty as the braids of other Drykas, and Ixzo didn't exactly know what the braids meant, but she thought it was a nice switch up.

[Ixzo]

"Good?" She asked patting the girls shoulder to let her know she was done, Iollu reached up to feel the twin braids by her ears and nodded, immediately scrambling off. Ixzo knew the braids were created to mean something, but it was not knowledge that Iollu knew very well, and Ixzo was to embarrassed to ask another. The Kelvic simply tried to keep the crazy hair in order so the other Drykas didn't look at the little free spirit weird.

Twisting her torso to look back towards Iolly, Ixzo watched the child get ready.

"You are gone now?" She asked, tossing her silver gaze to the sun to check the time real quick.

"What?" Iollu paused, giving the foreigner a raised eyebrow to show she didn't understand. Iollu had quickly understood her broken Pavi, and for all the sarcasm and pestering the child was good at, she knew to leave Ixzo alone about that.

"When… do you have to go?" Learn, curious, day. She threw random signs at the child hoping she would understand.

"Oh, right, when am I going." Understand.[/i] The child ducked inside the tent, snagging her boots and coming back out to sit beside Ixzo. Soon, patient, assurance. Small fluid hands quickly informed her, and while Ixzo missed the last word, she think she understood the child was trying to assure her.

"What was that sign?" The phrase that Ixzo asked frequently came out with little break, copying Iollu's last sign. Assurance.

"Umm, it's like trust. A promise but not a swear. They are similar." Promise, assurance. She paused in buttoning her boots to show Ixzo how her hands move, understanding the similarity between the signs. Ixzo copied it one more time and Iollu nodded, finishing booting up.

"Knife?" Ixzo asked getting up with the child.

"Oh right!" Iollu darted into the tent. When she emerged, small blade being tucked into her belt, Ixzo nodded to her.

"Go kick ass." Although she spoke it in Myrian, it was a phrase that Ixzo used quite often, often enough that the child knew the intention of it, her face breaking into a grin as a result. The child did not hesitate from there, turning and scampering off down the lanes of tents.

❖ Continued in this thread. ❖

[Khida]

Ixzo

Skill	Points
Butchery	+1
Cooking	+1
Cosmetology	+1
Medicine	+1
Organization	+1
Persuasion	+1
Planning	+1
Skinning	+2

• The breathing of one sleeping
• Butchery: taking meat from where there's the most
• Cooking: stew, low heat and long time
• Cosmetology: simple braids in hair
• Medicine: hair quality as a sign of health
• Organization: designating places for things
• Pavi sign: promise, assurance
• Persuasion: a motivational threat
• Planning: supplies first, then the task
• Skinning: easing out lower limbs
• Skinning: rabbit skin peels readily

Notes

This was a lovely little scene to read! I look forward to reading more about Ixzo -- and Iollu.

A couple of small comments. First, obligatory, please remember to deduct your Spring 516 expenses. I presume you're waiting on wages to come through, but I have to say it.

Second, please cost out whatever it was Ixzo purchased in the first post ("random tools, paint brushes, paint") and ensure those purchases are deducted from your ledger as well. I'd assign costs for you, but can't do that without knowing what was purchased. Same goes for the food items (tubers, salt, beans, etc.) -- given that I don't see them entered in ledger or inventory.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade. Also, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.