[Outlands] Skills of the Wild II

[Wald Lowca]

7th of Cylus arc 719, Around Noon

The seemingly eternal night of the north drew old in the sky as a small fire pierced through the darkness. Around the fire sat two people of dramatically different backgrounds. The two had talked for over a break among the flames that gave them warmth as the two animal companions grazed on some brush on the edge of their campsite. Wald was still getting use to the bitter taste of the tea leaves that Sybil had brought. Not really being one for such pleasures but none the less he drank the mixture to not seem rude to the student.

A deem blue light started over the campsite and Wald set his drink down getting up. Moving to the tent he grabbed his bow and arrows. "We should get moving the sun is upon us now." Saying this offering a hand to the student before going back to ready himself for the hunt. Grabbing the camp knife to place into his belt and his new hatchet he gotten from the city just before leaving on this hunt.

Wald did not expect to see much danger since they were still close to the human civilization but they were also in the wilderness. If anything were to happen he would give the student time to get away if he had too. This seemed to be an unspoken agreement since the young Sybil went out with him a stranger before their encounter the other day. Wald then watched as the other got ready. "You will want to be silent rabbits don't have long ears for nothing." This was just to make the student feel easy going deeper into the woods.

[Sybil Malach]

The tea wasn't the best in quality. Truly, it was just something to break up the taste that one is used to, with water. While a more bland variety was used in the distilling process in lesser wealthy Videnese households, Sybil had brought the sachet along with no such idea. Simply put, it was to just offer something other than the typical Videnese sense of utilitarian living. The student, simply, wanted to enjoy something for the taste, rather than it fulfilling a basic need. Sybil, in the student's own naivety, simply believed that this was how tea was supposed to taste. Just like how ale in the Devil's Advocate was watered down, and of notoriously shoddy quality. The fact that Sybil even knew what alcohol tasted like, hinted at the student's slowly waning interest in the Videnese way of life.

Taking a deep drink of the murky liquid, there was no additives. It was simply a bland tea mixture. Sibyl, though somewhat comfortable in Viden, wasn't going to waste money on buying imported sugar, or the hassle of transporting milk so far out here. This was the best that could be done. But none the less, it still gave the sensation of making the heat stick to one's insides better than simply warm water. The distant taste of mint, even served to keep the airways clear, if causing the two drinkers to cough up a bit more phlegm.

Finally, daybreak was beginning to hit. A few bits of sunlight that would be enough to see. Sibyl's eyes follow Wald, as he begins to gather his equipment. Rising to a stand, the student simply understands what the man is going to do, before he begins to speak. Shouldering the satchel, the student had packed lightly, now only wearing the clothes on back, and the satchel, the rest was stored within the tent itself. Tugging the cloak up, Sibyl simply takes a soft breath, "... I cannot promise that I will be as silent as a skilled hunter," The student begins, eyes glancing to the side, towards Wald, "But I will try. It's the best I can do." A soft chuckle escaping the lips, as the student stretches, preparing to leave, allowing Wald to take charge of the ordeal.

[Wald Lowca]

The sun barely had come out as the two started to ready for the trip. Wald lead the way forward through the trees staying low checking the ground with each step. The snow giving a silent give with each step he took. Moving slowly through the woods the only sounds came from the wind on the tree tops and the young student following. Checking under shrubs and the like for signs of life as the moved each step brought them closer even if they had no clue where it would be.

While checking under one of the bushes on the way Wald found paw prints in the snow. Motioning over to the student. "Look I have found a trail..." this was said with a whisper. Pointing over under the bush he uncovered some droppings the smell had just reached Wald's nose. "This is where the rabbits are storing their droppings." Covering the bush up still staying silent. "They store them close to their burrow so they can consume them later after fermenting." Lifting his body up he looked over the surroundings searching for a clearing where they could find the rabbits.

Taking his time Wald found the area where the rabbits would have set up and watched over the clearing. Being sure to be just in the treeline as he took the bow off his back. Gently notching an arrow to the string and kneeling down. Keeping his eyes opened and searching for the opening where the rabbits would move in and out from. It took a moment for any movement to be seen in the clearing, but a single rabbit come out and started to hop around. Pointing it out to the student he motioned for them to take the bow.

[Sybil Malach]

The implication of what Wald was saying made Sybil furrow a brow, and flare at the nose in disgust. Rabbits did what with their droppings? The notion, to the city dweller, was utterly nauseating. Someone who, very much did not rely on the footfalls and droppings of animals to track them on a daily basis. Very much not like how Wald was used to it. But then again, the student had a decent share of things that disgusted many others, but barely made Sybil flinch. Cadavers, were once such thing. The thought swirls in Sybil's mind, taking a deep consideration of what's even happening, before giving a shake of the head, "Nasty creatures. But then again... This is far different than where less... Strapped for time and resources, animals, tend to live." Comes the sigh. The student's voice remaining mostly quiet, and just settling with the disgust internally. This was just another disgusting truth on how things lived. Sybil had cleaned enough humans to at least stomach this, that was for sure.

A rabbit then hopped out from the den.

Sybil stares at Wald, as he starts to wordlessly gesture to the bow. Sybil can't help but blink in sheer confusion, as he implies something like that. But then it begins to sink in. Taking a deep, quiet breath, Sybil simply begins to reach over, and grasp at the bow. The hold was something utterly awkward, something that had to be reinforced by Wald's grip, otherwise risk utterly failing at keeping the arrow itself drawn. Sibyl wasn't, frankly, strong enough to keep the bow drawn, the pressure of the tension that the string itself is subject to, is simply not something that the thin armed student is not used to, "This... Is harder than it looks..." Comes the admission. The student far used to the romantic depiction of lithe figures holding bows--

It was becoming obvious, why so many of actual archers had such big arms, outside of stories. The aim Sibyl was taking was horrendously shaky, unlikely to hit anything, at this rate.

[Wald Lowca]

Wald saw the student struggle with the draw of the bow. Taking his time he moved around Sybil and held onto both of their hands helping with the draw. Getting the string to pull all the way back and keeping Sybil in control of the firing and aiming of the bow. Only helping with small movements trying to keep it steady as the student shook.

The rabbit taking its time to hop around started to dig through some snow. It did so in order to eat the small amount of grass underneath the sheet of snow. With a few blades of grass in it's mouth the rabbit stood back up to look around. An arrow flew into the rabbits shortened life. It went through the back leg into the ground pinning down the rabbit to where it was struck. In pain it started to scream and yelp.

Wald let out a sigh and took out his hatchet looking over to Sybil. "It was a slight miss, we shouldn't let it suffer." Handing the hatchet to the student he walked to the rabbit with them. Wald knew he could ended it quickly but he also knew the student needed to go through this as well. It was the very same for him when he was a child. His father took him out hunting for the first time and Wald too also missed even with his father's help. It was almost a right of passage to be a man in Wald's eyes that one must be able to not only take a life but mercy kill if there is undo suffering.

The rabbit stopped its screaming before they got there as it saw the two. As if to say to help end the pain it looked to them with its eyes wide on the blood stained snow under it.

[Sybil Malach]

The release of the arrow was what made Sibyl lurch the most. It wasn't the noise the animal made after the hit, it was the heart jolting adrenaline that is primal in most humans, when doing something like taking another creature's life. An instinctual, natural response to help aid the hunter during the harshest conditions. Sibyl could hear the thrumming of a heartbeat right behind the eardrums. The arc of the arrow was true. Partially. Sybil's eyes watched, as the string to the bow itself slackened, and it, with the assistance from Wald himself, slamming into the flesh of the small creature. The arrow's head was something that was off its mark, however.

Sibyl was handed the hatchet, however. And this, truly, was where the anomaly of this entire trip begins, for Sibyl. Something doesn't fully register. Being handed a hatchet? But this was a hunt, who hunts with a hatchet? The creature was surely about to die. But, as the man nudged the student along, it was slowly, and properly beginning to register within Sibyl's mind what was being asked. This was a part of the hunting process. Sibyl knew that things weren't easy to die. Things, no matter of their complexity, were born to live, above all else. Death was something that had to be ushered in, and helped along. It only made sense, that a hunter would have to put a creature that struggled against its fate out of its misery.

Sibyl's footsteps crunch against the grass, as the student is led along by Wald. Eyes going sidelong to him, it's clear that there's a level of uncertainty here. The buffeting wind almost threatening to carry along the quickly becoming corpse with its biting grasp. A breath is taken, as the two finally reach the source of the screaming.

And it goes silent.

A steady breath is taken, as Sibyl raises the hatchet, glancing down at the rabbit. It was a target that wasn't moving. It was something that was quite literally pinned into place by the very thing it could've used to move. But even then, Sibyl was uncertain how to do this. Eyes glancing to the side, the student takes a breath. Leaning over, crouching down, Sibyl does the only thing the student properly knows how to do. Sibyl had dissected an animal before. Knew enough about them that they were essentially smaller people. And the easiest way to carry along something with flesh and blood... Was typically at the neck.

With one hand holding down the animal, Sibyl reaches forth. Eyes glancing back to Wald, once more. Taking a deep breath, as those gloved fingertips sink against fur. And the student cuts its throat, in a slow, shaking movement, having to apply pressure to the small thing, the moment the blade touches skin, to make sure it didn't bring more pain upon itself.

[Wald Lowca]

After watching the scene unfold Wald laid his hand on Sybil's back. "It's done." Leaning down to the rabbit Wald pulled the arrow out and softly said to the now dead rabbit. "Thank you, for the life you gave for our meal." Wald tied the legs up and put them on a hook that went on a belt handing it to Sybil. Taking his bow he walked back to the edge of the forest line to the small clearing.

"I will take my own dinner now." Wald said with a whisper readying his bow knelt down like he was before. Watching patiently over the clearing as the light of the sun was half way done for the day. The unmoving forest seemed to be at rest for a time from the commotion of the events that transpired. Even the breeze seemed to stop to morn the rabbit's loss of life. But given time the forest stopped its rest as the breeze began once again. The sound of a squirrel in the distance chattering. Then the sound of snow and dirt being pushed came from in front of them.

The rabbit had moved some dirt from its home making it better for its family. Like most rabbits the colony was of a decent size with a litter on the way even in the coldest of months. Sniffing around outside the hole it seemed to remember a noise from earlier. The smell was off outside so it poked their head out to have a look. Nothing seemed out of place to the rabbit as it fully emerged form its hole. Moving out it sniffed again and hopped to where the last rabbit was last at. The smell of blood spooked the rabbit as it ran to the hole. The lights went out before it reached the hole. An arrow had went through the neck of the animal severing its spine.

Wald went and collected the rabbit as well the sun was nearly gone so he lead the two back to camp to prepare dinner.

[Sybil Malach]

For a moment longer, Sybil was entranced by the sight of it. The freshly made corpse of something that was once living. There wasn't a deeply pitting, sickening sensation. There wasn't even something that truly told Sybil that the student had done something wrong. There was no guilt, over this. This was, simply, a more primal part of the human condition. Something that had to be done. Food did not just summon from thin air. And if it did, it would only serve to distance mankind from the very thing that allowed them to survive until now. Sibyl glanced to the side for a moment, thinking of something, as Wald began to grab at the rabbit, and adding it to the soon to grow collection. Was this world truly, and entirely, owned by the ministrations of all powerful beings? The creature that had been killed by Sybil, that stained the snow before the student. It wasn't as though there was some god that truly cared about it. What made it different than a man? Trapped within some cycle of death and birth. Endlessly continuing the race, and the habits of that race, without any thoughts to the reasons why. Predators hunt prey because they are required to, by basic law of survival. ... Was death a succor for the prey? A punishment? Or was it to simply, continue an endless, cyclic habit of nature? Like a lantern, this process was fueled. But instead of fats... It was fueled by blood and death.

A breath escapes Sybil, as the student rises to a stand. With a gesture of the ankles, the student simply brings snow to cover the rapidly drying and freezing puddle. Out of sight, out of mind. Sibyl couldn't be thinking of such things while there was work to be done. This was the natural order of things. Something to be contemplated in studies and parlors, not out in the wild. Especially the Videnese wilds, of all places. The student simply rises to a stand, and stretches out the joints in the arms. An audibly pop coming from the knees as Sibyl raises from the crouch.

One of the only things that Sibyl had noticed, as the audibly THWINK of the bow. Eyes glancing to the side, another corpse was added to the two's pile. One for each, currently, "I must admit. The prospect of fresh meat is something that I'm very much looking forward to." The student says this, as the eyes glance from the corpse, back towards Wald. Soon, joining him back to camp, curious, as to what the hunter would have the student do next.

[Wald Lowca]

Laying the two rabbits down on a stone near the fire."Fresh meat is a lot better then the dried meat I've seen in the market."Wald said trying to lighten the mood. Before sitting down he checked the edge of the campsite for any extra tracks that may have come up in their absents. Nothing to be seen no danger in the area as it would seem as Wald physically relaxed in his seat.

Wald only faintly remembered what had go though his head when he first took another life. This was something that was now common to him and he had a curiosity come over him. Getting the knife out and laying it near the rabbit getting ready to prepare them. He paused and looked over noticing the student seemingly in thought over something. Moving to add more fuel to the fire to warm up the two. When he sat back down Wald asked a simple question. "How did the experience feel for you Sybil?"

Not really knowing what answer he would get he opened his ears intent on listening to the details of the student's feelings. A life was never an easy thing to take for the uninitiated, but he also knew the student was around death itself for sometime. Hopefully the experience gained from the ordeal will help his new friend with his work in the future. Though who could really know how the future changes with each event. Wald was not one for thinking destiny was set in stone, but forged by experiences and events.

[Sybil Malach]

"Ugh. Don't remind me of the markets." Sibyl offers a shake of the head, as the two slowly make their way to the camp. The student is allowed some time to reminisce, and think about just how poor the marketplace truly is, this time of year, "The prices of everything raises so high... You may as well forget about eating meat for the rest of the season." A soft chuckle escapes the lips of the student, "And you're paying so much more, for so much less, as well. ... It's absolutely atrocious. We could probably sell these rabbits and live like the aristocracy! At least for a few days." The chuckle elevates into a laugh, as the student simply entertains the thought. A genuine worry somewhat disguised as a joke. Something that deeply hampered Sibyl's independence. But still, every now and then, it was good to laugh over such things.

But, regardless, as the two made it to the camp, Sibyl all but made a beeline for the dimming fire, settling next to it, with Wald. The sheer cold drawing the student like a moth to, quite literally, a flame. Letting out a visible breath, Sibyl simply rubbed hands together, trying to get warm, eyes glancing towards the man, as he asks that fated question. A few blinks of the eyes are given, "Strange." Comes the genuine answer, as the student glances back down towards the flames of the campfire itself, as he feeds it, "But still, it's something that had to be done. ... Pretty sure no one can live without something dying. Would have to be quite sheltered, to think that meats come from... What, the mountains?"

A slow, but curious glance wanders towards Wald, with a slow tilt of the head, "Why do you ask? ... I'm not about to faint, if that's what you're thinking."