Gathering Peascods [closed]

[mountain_tree]

Character(s): Micas, Ana, Simera
Content: Looking for food and other useful things
Setting: The residences around the Library
Warnings: Simera being really cute. Potential killing of things.

Comments

[ivyalchemist]

Ana didn't like the outside much, not after everything that had happened already, but a small fraction of her was actually glad to be out of the library, especially knowing she was going to be spending a lot of time in that building. She was far too pampered, she realized, for a place such as Solluna, having a home in a beautiful countryside and a room at a sprawling college campus. She was just going to have to adjust, but that didn't mean she had to like the adjustment.

Fiddling and fidgeting with the three cloth bags she'd managed to alchemy out of a random ratty bed sheet she'd found in the office junk, she finally handed one off to Micas and the other to Simera.

It felt odd, insanely so, that some one was actually expecting her to lead people anywhere, and that penetrating gaze Micas had was all the worse for making her stomach do backflips. Rory had seemed just fine with the current team assignments, but she was damn sure he was mentally making some snarky comment about her short comings and failings as a human being,

[thejoychild]

'Are we going to the jar-house?' Simera asked, catching Micas' hand and bouncing along next to her. 'There were lots of jars and some that were made out of metal, but they were more icky. All rusted and things. Do you think there will be another gimacat there? Are we going to make soup again?' She swung the bag Ana had given her loosely in her free hand as she babbled.

[mountain_tree]

With first Ana handing her a bag, and then Simera taking her hand, Micas certainly could not use her weapon. But apparently the other woman and the girl did not feel they would be in danger on this trip, so she put her arrow away and just held her bow for now in the same hand as her bag.

She could not help but smile as Simera skipped beside her in her joyful enthusiasm, wondering what 'jars' were, and if a gimacat was the animal she had spent the morning preparing. Making soup sounded good though. An efficient way to make the most of any animal. Though if they managed to catch enough meat she would not mind something a bit more rare and off the bone. . .

[ivyalchemist]

Ana had a small hope that Simera's act the day before had at least made the other cats weary, but she kept the cold metal of her array close to the heel of her palm regardless, knowing that with Micas having the only actual distance weapon of the three of them, alchemy would be the best way to alert the girl to danger and allow her to prepare an arrow. Granted Simera could do her amazing neck-snap trick again, but Ana was much more keen on the idea of getting those things at a distance rather than seeing one close up again. Her shoulder, healed though it was, the skin just as unmarred as it had ever been, still gave a twinge of ache at the memory of her first day there

[solluna_citynpc]

The pack had been resting before the hunt, laying in the red shadows that matched their fur. The hunt leader heard it though, sounds of careless prey moving through their territory. She growled lowly and they all perked up, eyes glowing brightly in anticipation. They'd seen this prey before, sometimes weak, sometimes strong, but these ones seemed to match the looks of the weak ones. The scent was that of females. Females had been easier and quite good prey.

They stalked closer, stealth as their constant ally. This was their world and they moved like they were an extension of it. The prey had taken refuge in one of the buildings, noisy and cheerful. The hunt leader leaped at the dark female as soon as it had a clear line on the scent.

[mountain_tree]

Micas caught the movement and kept it in her peripheral vision, her muscles deliberately calm but ready for movement. She was being hunted. All the better to let her stalker think her unaware.

As soon as the cat pounced though, the bow was up and aimed, the arrow loosed and driving into the cat's chest, just below the throat. Micas let out a piercing whistle to alert the others as she drew another arrow, this one going through the first cat's eye-socket.

[ivyalchemist]

Ana was already tense enough going in to the building. Everything there was just so... so silent. The near deafening quiet left a buzzing in her ears, different than the one of home. Home was noisy no matter what, be it cars or people or wind and no where you could go could get away from such noises, and her ears just weren't used to every little crunch and shift being like a crack in the quiet. Everything, everything made her jump, so much so that by the time Micas hauled her through the opening she just wanted to grab the stuff and make a fast track back for the library. She didn't know if her muscles were ever going to relax

[thejoychild]

Simera looked up in time to see Ana make a wall out of the floor and disappear inside of it. The gimacat that tried to climb up it was thrown backwards and then another appeared, walking slowly towards Simera. She stared at it for a moment. She heard Ana yelling. She decided that it was time to slow things down

[mountain_tree]

While the others were inside, Micas stood guard over the cart, invisible, straining her senses past the immediate scent of the dead animals near her.

She saw a movement, small and clumsy, followed by another, and then a high mewling protest. Bemused, she approached with caution.

And saw three kittens, their skull-like plating not yet fully formed over their heads, stumbling on too-big paws, with their short furry tails stuck stiffly straight up in the air.

We killed their parents, she realized. And they will die too, if left alone.

After a slight pause, she gathered the little things up. They cried and mewled in protest, but did not fight more than wriggling.

Tame meat is easier to kill anyway, she mused. They should not take too long to grow, and if we don't have a good hunt, we can kill them early.

[ivyalchemist]

It didn't take long for Simera and Ana to do the final gathering, arms even laden with a couple of extra items that couldn't fit in the small bags. The cart was definitely going to be a great help, especially in other events, like major injuries done to them or one of the other groups that might need healing.

Ana practically beamed at Micas upon their return, but the smile vanished when she saw the kittens, their skulls just so damn odd, squirming around in the cart. Blinking in confusion, she set the items down and gingerly, cautiously, touched one on the back. It mewled and twisted some, but did not even try to lash out at her

[solluna_citynpc]

[Continued in "Domestic Chores"]