Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I've not got any scenes planned for the rest of the night. I'll probably summarise what La'khay and Tzirret get up to again. Was there anything you wanted to do?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha and Colours' tale caused a bit a laughter from just about everyone.

The shrugs and silence from the others seemed to indicate that not much else really happened, so Uthri stood up to gather everyone's attention. "Now, Tzirret, we're all properly gathered, so I would like to take this opportunity to speak officially. In the past, you have always been cloudy cat for a reason. Today, you proved that you have some courage. You say it was luck, but you still acted. You saved lives today. Always remember that you have that in you. As your pack mate, I say congratulations!" She grinned, "I would propose a toast, but we don't have the drink so we'll just pretend with this fresh meat. Well done, cloudy cat!"

There was an echo of agreement through the group. Though he wore a smile, Tzirret shrunk a little with the continued attention.

"Now, could you catch some more minotaur for us? The meat is great and we'll not be suffering for food for the rest of our search!" Uthri said with a hearty laugh.

Tzirret took it seriously for just long enough to look a little afraid, but he soon understood.

"Here's to Tzirret," Gallus spoke up, "And here's to a successful search!"

After the congratulations died down, Sabine happily leaned into Peiter as she neared the end of her meal. She wasn't the only one tired after today. Tzirret looked at the both of them, then glanced at La'khay, but didn't shift as he continued eating.

"So, I imagine we are changing up the groups tomorrow. Who's going to be looking after the camp?" Janius asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Everyone went about various routines to settle after the days searching. A party went out to retrieve the rest of the meat from the minotaur den, while others either maintained equipment or just rested. Janius did end up joining in with Kaleeth when receiving some instruction from Ra'kalesh, but they didn't get through much before dinner.

Tzirret and Sabine were not picky in their dinner, but they did sample from the leg of the minotaur calf that was getting eaten as a treat. Tzirret didn't look quite as withdrawn as usual where he sat, but he seemed distracted.

"Did anything else happen on your searches?" Sabine asked everyone, "Seeing Uthri try to talk with S'ajira was funny, but they got used to it quickly. You are right, Ciinriel, she is good with body language."

"Hm?" Tzirret glanced up at Sabine, "We did not find much of anything else, apart from the cave. Tzirret saw a strange colourful butterfly, that was about it."

The Jade Stream

Feel free to interrupt the small talk.

The Jade Stream

Taking her time eating meant that Kyang was missing out on many of the bao - Torako was delivering food to the army that lived in her stomach as she had been before. Though, Kyang didn't much mind. Her constitution was closer to average and she had eaten soup barely an half hour earlier. These bao were an experience of quality over quantity anyway.

Kyang felt a little guilty for asking Torako about her family. Any number of tragic stories could explain her lack of family, but at least she was good natured about it. Liu's answer was a little more upbeat, thankfully. Xin seemed to ignore the question, likely for his own reasons.

"It's nice that you have a good family," Kyang said to Liu. Just for something to talk about, she decided to give an answer, "My family were real stuffy types. They didn't even let me out of the walls of the manor until I was ten. I had to get out of there or else they were going to marry me to some fat-face from the eastern coast." Kyang opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue in a pretend retch. In an effort to keep the conversation tame, Kyang changed the subject. She didn't want to risk going into detail about her family. "So, any of you got hobbies? I like reading."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Now that he had seen the damage as much as felt it, Gallus did not resist Meesei's healing. He only spoke, "If you insist, Meesei." Had Meesei not administered healing, Gallus might have felt more pain that night. His bruising was so bad that it might have meant near-permanent damage to his sternum cartilage. How he was not wincing on the way back was a stoic act, if somewhat unnecessary.

Tzirret started to smile more at the congratulations. He was glad that it was not jealousy he received from Ahnasha or Peiter, not that it was particularly likely. He looked back at La'khay and smiled to her once more, but he actually grinned when he got validation from Lorag, even if it was just a nod.

In additional congratulations, Sabine stepped up and gave Tzirret a quick hug. "Well done!" She proclaimed before stepping back.

It was safe to say that Tzirret wasn't used to this kind of praise. He let out an uneasy laugh and looked down at the horns. "This one thinks that he will not carry these everywhere. I will cut a length of one to use as a signal horn, maybe." Tzirret didn't mention at that point that he would have to be taught how to craft these horns into anything. "This one does not know what to with the rest." He looked up at everyone else, particularly Ahnasha, who gave suggestions before, "What should be done with them?"

Sabine confirmed Ahnasha's previous suggestion, "I could use some for potions."

"They're quite valuable as well, if you wanted some coin," Fendros suggested, "But you would have to buy something equally as memorable."

Tzirret looked at the horns again, wondering something. "Tzirret will think of something."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In order to get some short measure of relief from the jungle's humid heat, Gallus began to strip out of his mail armour. "Fortunately, none of us took hits. Maybe a few bruises. In the dim light it only had eyes for me while I had the torch, so I was doing most of the evading." Gallus removed his tunic so he could soak some water over it and revealed a massive, blotchy red welt on his chest. He was surprised by the mark it made, but not overly concerned, "Oh, I suppose there is this, too."

Ahnasha's recollection made Tzirret somewhat bashful about answering. I just stabbed it once, he thought. He angled his ears and scratched behind them nervously. "Err, it was luck, I think," Tzirret said.

"Tell us what happened," Sabine appeared behind Peiter with a curious smile.

"Well," Tzirret thought for a moment and concluded that it would probably be easiest to start from the beginning. "We found a cave sloping into the ground and moved to see what was inside." Tzirret wasn't used to telling stories, so he was stilted about it. He tried to play down the actions in an effort to not sound egocentric. "Gallus lit a torch so we could see better. There was blood smeared on the ground like kills being dragged. A fork in the cave saw the blood go in one of the two ways. We could not smell anything except blood and death. Gallus thought that if there was something dangerous, he did not want it cutting us off, so he told us to come with him to follow the bloody path. The path ended in a chamber with many carcasses and a little minotaur." Tzirret pointed to the kill Gallus brought with him, "That one, but alive. We didn't get a chance to do anything before it screamed in alarm and hid. Then its mother came." Tzirret put down the horns and started using his arms to show size, "It was...about as wide here...and had arms twice as thick as Tzirret's..." Tzirret failed to measure the last figure with his arms, "...and was twice as tall as this one. Gallus shouted to get out of the way. It charged out at him. He distracted it with the torch, but it was very powerful. Gallus couldn't hurt it with just his hammer. This one was so scared that he thought he would transform, but Gallus told him to flank it and kill it." Tzirret took on a minor look of worry as he remembered Gallus being struck, "This one tried to get into position while it was distracted, but Gallus got hit. The minotaur was about to charge him and kill him, but its side was exposed, so this one..." Tzirret took his spear in both hands and casually poked it forward, "...got it between the ribs. It was a lucky strike, but he didn't know that he could do it before." Tzirret held his spear vertical again and pointed out where the dried flecks of blood ended on its haft, "This one pushed it up to here. The minotaur threw him off then, it was very strong, but it was choking. I could see it dying. It backed away, but Gallus walked up and stabbed its heart with his hammer hook when it was too weak to strike back. It died very fast then."

Tzirret became awkward as he picked up the horns again. "It was lucky and I had help. Gallus should have these horns, really."

"Pish and posh, Tzirret," Gallus called out, "you were the one who defeated the minotaur, but you also showed real courage." He pointed to the horns, "You will keep them and that is my order to you as Alpha."

"That is amazing, Tzirret!" Sabine said with an impressed smile. Tzirret was the last person she had expected to pull something like that off.

Even Janius gave a smile. He was listening in as well, "Good job, Tzirret."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem, our search pattern can be retraced here. Hopefully there isn't a bull to deal with when we get back," Gallus responded as he hefted the minotaur calf over his shoulders. "Perhaps another in your pack might recognise the body."

After another several minutes, Tzirret sawed at the horns of the minotaur he felled to the point where they could be struck off with a hammer strike. He carried both of them under his arm as the three of them exited the cave and continued their search. He didn't know what exactly he would do with them, but he figured Gallus wanted him to take them as a trophy. Perhaps he could fashion a necklace out of them or something. Peiter would never believe this.

For the rest of the time spent searching, Tzirret was mostly in a state of disbelief and daylight dreaming. There were a few details that passed through Tzirret's mind that perhaps diminished the achievement of the moment, but not nearly enough to bring down his mood. He smiled during the entire walk, especially at La'khay. It was a contrast to the crying he released beforehand, but that was really just coming down from the stress of the situation. Gallus could have died, after all. La'khay and himself could have died as well. He wasn't experienced in life and death situations.

Time moved on and the search converged to a new camp site. The parties gathered to stop for the night with no signs of the clan amongst any of them. Thankfully, it was only the first day of searching. The first of what they suspected would be many more days to come. Gallus, La'khay, and Tzirret were one of the latter groups to arrive that day, so eyes were drawn to what they had brought back.

"Is that a child?" Fendros mumbled as Gallus approached. A wave of relief and recognition washed over him as Gallus came closer. "No. Wait," Fendros spoke up, "How did you three come across a minotaur calf?"

"How do you think, Fendros?" Gallus said with a grin, dropping the dead calf at the camp site. It was then that Tzirret came into view with a couple of arm-length horns under his arm.

"You went and hunted a minotaur family? We were meant to be searching," Fendros protested.

Gallus gave a falsely shocked look, "Oh ye of little faith!" Gallus put a hand on his chest, "We did no such thing. We simply found a cave and investigated to see if there was anyone from the clan. It just so happened that it was a minotaur den and we had to fight." Gallus flashed a grin, "You'll never guess who killed the cow."

Tzirret gave a surreptitious smile. He was proud of himself, but he was also still too modest to boast.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Alrighty. G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

La'khay's kiss left Tzirret dumbstruck and paralysed again, but not in quite in fear this time. He simply stared up at La'khay with a small, open-mouthed smile, then suddenly released all of his breath in a quick, shuddering laugh of an exhale. He seemed unsure and without words. Even if he did have something to say, he didn't really want to speak anything else to La'khay while Gallus was still around. He instead swallowed and caught his breath, looking around nervously until he found his spear. It was covered in dirt and blood, but he still picked it up and found a cloth to wipe off most of the filth.

Gallus approached the pair again with a bloody hammer in one hand and the corpse of the minotaur calf dragged along the ground behind him. It was smaller than Tzirret, so there was little doubt that they could carry it with them. "This'll be a story to tell once we get to camp again, now, won't it lad?" Gallus said to Tzirret with a laugh on his tongue. He seemed oblivious to the morbid scene he was carrying with him. "One last thing before we leave," Gallus looked to La'khay, "That Khajiit over there," he gestured with his head to the one humanoid corpse they could see, "Was that one from your clan or is the body too decayed to recognise?" Gallus raised his brow, "Oh! Tzirret, the horns."

"Ah, yes," Tzirret was giddy, but had mostly calmed from his breakdown. He pulled out a knife and walked to saw off the minotaur's embattled horns. He wished he had an axe or a proper saw so it wasn't so difficult.