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Post by Bee on Apr 30, 2008 1:24:12 GMT -5
Mnem tossed a bone at her morosely. "Nibble on this," she said. But halfway through the bone's flight, Montly leapt up and tackled it to the ground, sharp teeth ripping it to splinters. Mnem was going to be very unhappy if she had to pull bone fragment from Monty's face; she imagined that the little furball of death would not take kindly to being held down and subjected to a painful experience.
She supposed they should be grateful that some of the marlin had survived; if they had at least some token of their victory, that would count, right? If the villagers were presented with the head of the great marlin, that would surely placate them, and then they could be out of the blasted Range and into the Marsh at last.
"Let's find some way to transport the head," she said. She stared at the massive bloody marlin-head. "After we eat, and then have a very long nap." She pointed to some nearby trees. "Peaches," she said. "We can dine on fruit. Unless you enjoy marlin gore, but personally I have no desire to look at that wretched abomination until we need to move it."
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Apr 30, 2008 1:40:40 GMT -5
Minh went to sleep with her whiskers still sticky with peach-goo and a miniature mountain of peach-pits mounded up beside her. She woke up when Monty batted the pile down on top of her head.
Clearing the remnants of bleary sleep from her eyes, she took in the pre-dawn sky; she'd managed to sleep clear through the night. And she was definitely feeling the prior day's efforts. Her back seemed frozen in some contorted skew that she was sure wasn't nature, and her neck was cricked out of sorts and so was her tail, and it felt like she's pulled a muscle in her bicep.
"I think it'd be better if I'd woken up dead." She heaved herself up long enough to grab another peach, before curling back in on herself in abject misery.
"How does a vacation sound to you, Mnem-dear?"
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Post by Bee on Apr 30, 2008 1:49:13 GMT -5
"A vacation sounds lovely," said Mnem dreamily. She was still mostly asleep, and wished very much to stay that way. Her mind drifted to relaxing locales and scores of beautiful women serving her martinis and discussing with her all the lovely, lovely ways she could poison Shinrai and his idiot mentor. It was a happy daydream. "I wouldn't eat another peach, if I were you," she said, her inner botanist taking over while the rest of her languished pleasantly on a beach. "It's likely already doing unpleasant things to your digestive system without further provocation."
Minh wouldn't need to worry about it, anyway--Monty snatched the peach from her paw, chewed it viciously for a moment, and then spit up a peach pit and some gooey gore onto the ground in front of hir. S/he burped loudly.
That was the end of the daydream. The attractive women and sunlit beaches vanished.
"Godsdamn," she muttered.
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Apr 30, 2008 2:03:12 GMT -5
"I repeat that most heartily--" Minh heaved herself up into a more vertical position, forcibly straightening out all the kinks and minor hurts that were making themselves oh so very well known to her. It was surprising she could move at all, really, "--I could sleep for a week." And she would, if they ever made it to the Marshlands in one piece. Which, considering their track record thus far, was to say never.
She cried a single manly tear and turned to face the day, "Alright. We need some manner in which to haul that damn bloody thing down the mountain. I don't suppose they'd appreciate us just rolling the thing along."
They'd have to construct some sort of stretcher that they could drag behind them, the only real problem being the uneven path down. If Mnem's flight ability was more honed she might be able to fly-hop the thing down the mountainside, but as it stood...
She banged her head against the trunk of the peach tree and felt her stomach gurgle unpleasantly in response.
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Post by Bee on Apr 30, 2008 2:12:57 GMT -5
"So," said Mnem, casting a critical eye about their surroundings. And a critical nose. Sweet dancing goddesses, it was really reeking quite wretchedly. The night of exposure had not done wonders for the marlin's odor.
And they would have to deal with that smell all the way down the mountain, and it was only going to get worse. She tried to think of beaches and pretty women again; the image was faint and elusive. She wanted to jam a stick through her eye. Or take an option that invited less self-harm and chuck the marlin head right back into the lake. "So, some of the leaves on these trees are quite exceptionally enormous, I see. I may be able to fly up and acquire a fair bit for us. If you can find some viney undergrowth and some sturdy fallen limbs, I do believe we can fashion ourselves a suitable device to aid us in moving this beast."
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Apr 30, 2008 2:29:44 GMT -5
Minh mumbled her assent and went about gathering the necessary materials, feeling rather morose and sorry for herself the entire time she was at the task. Monty nipped at her heels, not at all helpful.
Finally, with a bit of ingenious thinking on her part, Mnem and she fashioned a stretcher of sorts. Branches formed the frame, leaves providing a more substantial 'bed,' while vines lashed the entire mess together. It wasn't pretty and was more liable to fall apart of them half-way down the mountain, but it would have to do.
"We...have to touch that thing, now," she eyed the rotting mass with distaste, not even her feline-born love of fish moving her to volunteer. Fish wasn't fish without flesh, and it smelled more like shark mauling now than anything else. "I vote that Monty does it. Yeah."
Who cared if the marlin's head was maybe sixteen times the size of the vicious bander. Not Minh. Nope.
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Post by Bee on Apr 30, 2008 2:36:24 GMT -5
Mnem threw a couple of spare leaves at her. "Use these as mits. It should keep most of the disgusting bits off. You're going to need to be the one to roll it, mostly," she said, with a faint whiff of what might have been apology but might also have been tiredness. "I can work a bit with my better arm, I suppose, but if I apply the other one my wrist is going to break again, and I'm more of a fan of inflicting pain than being subjected to it."
She grabbed a leaf. "Hold your breath and have at," she said. Monty began throwing hirself at the marlin valiantly, trying to use hir tiny ferocious might to move it, but Mnem would rather s/he not attempt to help at all--she was splattering rotting marlin entrails all over the place, and coating hirself in the process. The last thing they needed in addition to a stinking marlin head was a stinking bander.
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Apr 30, 2008 2:47:32 GMT -5
Minh winced as Monty rather too-enthusiastically went about trying to single-handedly move the damn thing's carcass. It certainly was nice the bander was helping for a change. Or attempting to. She winced as a bit of gore splattered her in the face and rushed to help, make-shift leave-glove-things held out in front of her as a sort of shield against Monty's enthusiasm. They didn't help; she was sweating and coated in grime by the time they got the thing moved. Rot had made the scales slimier than could possibly be natural, and the irregular shape and weight of it ended up to be a bitch.
"Sharks be damned. I'm taking a bath before I move another step." For once Monty joined her in the shallows, and she splurged with a little of the soap-sand they had saved away. It took several rinse cycles before she got all of the grime out of her coat.
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Post by Bee on Apr 30, 2008 2:54:13 GMT -5
Mnem joined her for a dip--the original intent had been to get herself as clean as possible, but soon enough she ended up just floating in the water while Minh gave herself a thorough scrubbing. She was never going to eat fish as long as she lived. She may not even go near open water.
Sadly, the restful moment had to come to an end. They moved to the stretcher. This was going to be rather awkward, actually. She would need to shift back into animal form to be able to carry it steadily with Minh, but she wasn't sure how well she would do with the weight of a giant marlin head on her back and only three legs to reliably wobble on. Oh well. They would just need to move slowly and take frequent stops. She didn't think Minh would object to that idea. Neither would she, really.
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Apr 30, 2008 3:05:29 GMT -5
The journey down the mountain was marked by slow going, frequent stops, and a mini-landslide that almost cost them their prize. Monty, the lazy little shit, rode down on the stretcher most of way. When s/he wasn't nipping at their ankles to hurry them along, that is.
There took their final rest just above the canyon, eying the valley and the far off village with distaste.
"Let's torch it. You can learn some sort of fire voodoo while I learn how to electrocute sharks, and then we can come back to this wretched little piece of the world and have ourselves some delightfully satisfying revenge. Nothing makes up for the shit we've dealt with better than a little bit of mayhem and destruction. Wouldn't you agree?"
Monty chirped h/ir agreement, and bounced back up onto the stretcher. Apparently their break was over, the ungrateful little shit.
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