aw!

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The flight of his shrike's had led the Sharadoii to forests unknown. Through the endless sea of swaying tall grass, past hillsides and knolls. Now, the birds bobbed and weaved through the thicket of crowded trees. Guiding the Stormbird forth in the pursuit of prey.

With blind trust, he followed. The two bundles of feather chirp and flutter amongst themselves—brother and sister, with a bond that bittersweet you reminded him of his late twin. They'd been at his side as a fledgling Sharadoii, brazen and dauntless.

With them, he flew. They provided, they guide, they offer the sweetest of company. If only pesky at times...

His birds perch atop a gnarled branch, shaded beneath the oak leaves, glossy black eyes watching the Sharadoii man tear a path after the thunder of elk hooves. A stampede, frantic but calculated. Alongside their powerful bodies he glides, jaws apart and ferocity a flame in his eyes.

The herd's calves were adolescents now, this late in the season. Stronger, faster. Grey Shrike sought to claim on of them for their food, but more importantly, its hide.

Jaws snap at strong hocks, steering a yearling away from the masses, toward the crowded treeline.

She had traveled in order to hunt. To find food for the growing home in Druid’s Rise with Kirain and the injured Lestan. There was no way in hell Stardust was going to live off of berries. It just wasn’t going to happen. Kirain can do it all she wants, but Stardist needed something more sustainable and filling.

The animals had pretty much vacated the area in which they lived, and Kirain informed Stardust she would need to travel south in search of food. Really, she was scouting at this point. With her, the raven that had transported with her from Moladion flew ahead. As it always did. Ever watching, ever annoying at times. At least it didn’t treat her like the raven’s treated her father. They hated him for some reason. Perhaps this raven would have hated her in other circumstances, but at this point she was the only familiar thing in its world.

The woman of night hues traveled through the treeline under the canopy. She was actually quiet right now, and not arguing with the raven. Yet. It was always yet. It would eventually irritate her in some way or form. She used her nose to sniff the soft breeze, her tall form pausing. There was prey here.

The scent of elk grew stronger as she strode forward, the raven hopping from branches to branches above her. She wondered if her and Kirain could take on elk by themselves, maybe with Ketamine. They were an…odd group, but hunger did wonders. It was then she heard the sound of elk hooves in the air. She paused, dark ears perking with attention on high.

She watched as elk ran past. Something had spooked them. Her head flickered back and forth, and unexpectedly a yearling comes raging towards her. ”WHAT THE HELL,” she yells out, instinct and hunger kicking in. She leaps at the yearling, her jaw missing but causing the creature to have to slow to veer away from those shining teeth. She dashes forward and begins to chase, seeing the other in the corner of her eye. Perhaps the two of them could bring this thing down, her own presence having interrupted the yearling’s path.

With tunneled vision, Grey Shrike pursues his prey with vengeance. An empty stomach that curls with ire, he needs this not only to feed himself and his feathered friends, but the beast of a man that wishes to become Sharadoii. In hindsight, perhaps having the larger man tag along would have been an advantage...

Like a wildfire gone rogue, he blazes a path through the row of oak and pine. Weaving between their sturdy trunks, ducking to dodge low-hanging branches. And with a burst of speed, he lurches forwards, oh so close to snagging one of those limbs and locking his jaws around it.

He does not succeed, as both himself and the elk nearly topple over a piece of the night sky. Grey leaps over the woman last second, eyes wide and withers risen—barely avoids careening into her side and ruining the hunt. Her voice is shrill as she shrieks. If he weren't on the move, he would be teased her for it.

She joins his hunt, charges after the yearling as it veers back toward the open meadow. With a soured hiss, Grey Shrike follows. Cut it off! He barked, hoping the woman had half the brain to obey.

Okay. So it was chaos. The other in the corner of her eye is suddenly upon her, like he is not nimble enough to have moved without jumping over her. Dramatic. He had not succeeded in his attack, and nor had she, but she barely knew what was going on. All she knew now was the instinct driving her from hunger.

She heard him. Oh, she heard him. It doesn’t mean she is going to listen. Her long strides were already in motion and she was not about to stop now. The yearling was making its way back to the meadow. Stardust’s cyan eyes flicker up for a second, seeing the raven was watching and ready to go.

”GET UM,” she calls, the raven acting almost at the same moment her voice rang amongst the trees. The black creature flew through the branches, and smacked the yearling on the head with its talons right before it go to the meadow. The yearling was startled, and it was enough to slow it for a few seconds as the raven cawed furiously and flew back upwards to catch itself.

It was enough time for Stardust to make a few very large, deliberate strides. Long limbs, a burst of energy, and stubborn determination to prove the man wrong allowed her to catch up. In a final push her jaws reached out, and she was able to nip the left heel of the yearling, tripping it up. The heel slipped her maw, but if the man had any sense he would go in for the kill shot.
 

She doesn't listen. Bitterly, angrily, he's convinced that women never fucking listen. With a huff of a snarl, Grey veers off to the right flank of the young elk, slipping between rows and rows of tree trunks, ever the careful not to trip along root and underbrush.

There's a raven's caw, followed by a dark shadow that swoops from the treetops. There's Sharadoii watched in mild annoyance as the woman has to rely on a pesky bird to help her hunt. He should be grateful, perhaps. And he would have, should she had stuck with his plan.

With a stumble, the elk falters. Stutters in its steps, nearly trips over its own hooves. It is then he lunges from the shade of the trees to collide with the beast's strong chest. Claws hooking into flesh, spittle flying from his parted jaws before they find their mark on the elk's throat.

Using his weight, Grey Shrike swings the beast to fall. It collapses with a puff of dirt and pine needles, its bellow echoing throughout the stillness of the forest. His growls are muffled against its throat as he squeezes, thrashes, tugs. It kicks and fights, but it's outnumbered.

It stills after a while. Its beady eyes glazing over listlessly, its final breath a wheeze. Grey drops its throat with a scoff. He didn't want her help, nor did he need it.

He does not thank her. The selfish part of him wants to chase her away from the carcass. But he allows her to stay. The pelt is mine. It was not a question, but a demand.

She snaps again at the heel with another dash. This time they seek purchase, and it was the same moment the other wolf striked. Stardust moves with the pull, taking steps to where the yearling eventually falls. She bites again and harder, holding the heel of the left hind leg tightly as she pulls away, ensuring the young creature could not attempt to get up with both of their efforts.

Hunting was never her favorite thing. If she had listened to Aunt Celeste, she would be sitting around waiting for the men to bring back food. Good thing her mother forced her into all sorts of trainings, including hunting, because now she is here without any men to help her.

The yearling begins to fade, and with it, its movements stilled. Stardust let go of her grip, and took a step back as the male growed and made all sorts of disgruntled noises. He had the same aura as her sister Aurora, and thus she was mostly unbothered. Mostly. Perhaps she was a little bothered, in a way a sister gets annoyed with a sister.

Regardless, she was HUNGRY, but how was she going to deal with this guy? Cyan eyes watch him as he completes the kill, and before she speaks he simply states that the pelt is his. She blinks, and gives a careless shrug.

”As long as I get some meat, it is a deal. I do NOT want to eat berries again tonight. BERRIES. Have you had to eat berries before? It is dreadful,” she complains, moving towards the belly of the fallen beast. However, she does not reach out for the kill. Instead, she inspects it with great care despite her stomach audibly rumbling. Perhaps Kirain has been rubbing off on her after all.

”So, you want the pelt, eh? Along here would likely provide the most satisfying results, but I am SURE that you got it, hm?” she asks with a bit of natural attitude to her voice, her muzzle pointing to the middle line of the stomach. The call of elk could be heard in the distance as she raised her dark, naturally aesthetic visage back and away. Now she got a look at him and his grey toned form. He appeared to be a young adult, perhaps slightly younger than herself. She sits, knowing full well the male probably wants it done HIS way.

Speechless—appalled, truly—Grey Shrike simply stares at her as if she'd grown threw heads as she ranted and raved about being forced to swallow berries. His maw wrinkles in faint disgust at the mere thought; that was practically torture, in his mind.

Berries are for birds and rodents. What kind of heathens desired to eat them, rather than venison? He surmises then, with pinned back ears, that she must've been raised by lunatics. Berries? Are the people you travel with large rodents? With only little mirth, he really only sounds confounded.

With his haunches seated, Grey furrows his brows and frowns. Truth be told, he'd never successfully skinned anything. His late sister had always been the one to take care of such—she had delicate hands and the patience he sorely lacks.

His pride is wounded. The Sharadoii feels as if he should know how to skin and where to cut, rather than some strange raised by mutant rodents. And her tone doesn't help—like salt rubbed into a wound. At first, he scoffs, chin tilted upward as if he had any ground to stand on.

Which, he doesn't.

Since you seem to know how, maybe you should prove it. He grumbled. An ass-backward attempt at asking for help without actually asking because he's...embarrassed.

The look on his face was probably similar to the look she gave when Kirain first explained eating berries to her. Then Stardust actually ATE the berries. She felt exactly how his face wrinkled. She almost felt relieved when he had such a reaction. It felt…normal to her.

”See? That is what I said but with birds. It is BIRD food. But the animals all left our lands because of the poison water, so we are stuck eating berries since Le-…well, anyway, that is why I am here, to find…not berries” she said, wavering a bit since the details of Lestan being a melted mess from the water was probably something no one wants to hear. She had to find where the animals went for the sake of her friend Kirain and her mate, and at least she got some answers today.

She sees his reaction to her but she simply looks at him with narrowed cyan eyes. Her chest puffs out a bit as she sits up completely. His scoff was met with her own huff, her own chin lifting almost as a natural response to his. There is a natural sense of pride in her, that apparently they share. He practically dares her to skin it for him. Eyes flicker to the dead thing on the ground, and all she wanted was to eat…but she didn’t take lightly to dares.

”Well FINE then,” she exclaims with her puffed form. Tilting her head slightly as her expression morphs from that of great confidence to…a more truthful hesitance. ”Ahhh, to be honest though, I have only ever done it once, but pshhh, it can’t be TOO hard, right?” she says, remembering the time Kirain taught her the basics…literally once. It wasn’t too long ago, but it was only once, and long enough ago that she was unsure if she could pull this off. But she had to! He wanted the pelt, and she wanted the food, and at this point she would do a LOT of things to have a full belly of meat again.

Stardust clears her throat, and stepped forward. ”Okkkayyy, gotta do this,” she said quietly to herself. Her jaw reach out and grabs the belly by the groin. Her dark paw reached out to press again the side to keep the yearling still as she tugged. She began ripping the skin with some effort, and the smell of fresh meat filled her nose. She moved down the middle line of the belly through the ribcage, and was able to create the initial opening.

Stepping back, she looks at her work, with the raven swooping down beside her then. It cawed and pecked at the inside of one of the legs. ”HEY I know, you don’t need to tell me! You gotta…” she leans down to begin ripping at the inside of the front left leg, but ends up ripping it too much and pulls some of the skin off completely. It is only a chunk under the leg and some of the stomach, but it was enough to displease her. Her whole body flies backwards a few steps from the sudden release of the skin. Blood splatters on her face, and her displeasure was immeasurable ”Well shit…Ugh, ew,” she complained, spitting the skin and fur from her mouth, looking to the male again. ”You wanna show me the way, hm? Seems like YOU know,” she dared as she licked more fur off of her tongue, cyan eyes narrowed again as she wondered if he had any clue.

IM SO sorry for the wait ;; my muse for him is back tho!

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Poison w—

Poison water? Shrike scoffed in utter confusion. With ears tilted against his skull, he eyed her warily. You sure those berries weren't fermented? What do you mean by poison water?

There was...much to unpack there, and the entire time she's rambling about berries and whoever Kirian is, his annoyance really begins to simmer under his skin. He's half-tempted to ask if she always yaps this much. But he'd made a half-assed promise to himself to behave, lest his late sister's soul comes to smite him from her perch in the sky.

He watches with begrudged patience as she huffed, puffed, and glowered. A shredded ear flicked as he leaned down to watch her tear into the felled elk. Gore was a part of life, but he couldn't help but wrinkle his muzzle when as she gnawed at the poor beast's groin and began to saw through the thick lining of it's stomach with her teeth.

The elk jerks where it rests, and Grey reaches out to steady its quarters as the woman cuts a jagged, crude opening along its belly. Innards paint the ground, followed by blood, and he suddenly remembers why he'd never bothered to learn to skin before.

It's messy and time consuming and—

A raven dove from the treetops to assault the woman's legs with little pecks. Inwardly, he groaned. It made sense that the bottom-feeders of the bird world would attach themselves to this weird girl. While it was amusing, the commotion caused her to tear the skin and fumble.

If he was annoyed before, he's damn near livid now. Come on, I thought you swore you knew what you were doing! He bristled, voice pitched higher in exasperation. His tail thumps and lashes wildly behind him, his lips curling into a sneer as he — perhaps too dramatically — stands and hogs the carcass' space.

The truth is that he's likely going to cause far more damage than she'd done...but pride in his hubris, and he's convinced himself that he'll pull this off flawlessly. He shooed the pesky raven away with a soured mutter beneath his breath. Fine. Since I'm the only one here with enough common sense. He bit, before leaning down to stare at the incisions she'd already made.

He squints, tilts his head, talks to himself; desperately trying to remember all the times he'd watched his sister skin an animal.

But he'd hardly paid any attention back then, and it's coming to nip him in the ass with quiet vengeance.

So he picks up where she'd left off; using the sharpness of his fang to slide it just beneath the skin, dragging it downward until he reaches the elk's armpit. One leg successfully flayed, albeit missing a piece of skin, and with a smug look back at her, he moves on to the next.

This is actually pretty easy...

What famous last words.

”Yeah…I’ll tell you later, let’s do this first,” she had said, her stomach growling inside of her with great gusto. Poison water can wait. Berries simply were not enough to hold her over.

Kirain had taught him some of the ways, but Stardust had little practice. This was not really her thing, but she was not about to be completely overshadowed by some boy. Her attempt was something, better than nothing, and certainly not a complete disaster, but she dared the boy to do better in completing the task. It was HIS desire, right?

She stepped back, wiping her face with her paw to get rid of some of the splatter. The raven stepped back as well, not exactly as trusting of the male before them...also it was shooed away, which it did not particularly appreciate.

”HEY, I have done it before…once or so…when my friend was teaching me,” she said as she continued to clean her face, sitting back as she looked to him with her cyan eyes. His little sneer with his lips is met with a mirror image on her own face. This boy got the ‘tude, but Stardust didn’t even think twice about dishing it back.

”Ohhh yes, the only sense is RIGHT HERE BEFORE US,” she proclaimed, lowering her paw from cleaning her face. She heard him talking to himself just as she did, and it seemed apparent that he was probably just as familiar with doing this as she was. He makes the required cuts with his teeth, and Stardust gives him an exaggerated nod.

”Mhmm, keep going then, I got no sense, remember? Can’t help ya, but it is easy like you said” she said sarcastically, looking down at the raven who looked between the two. ”You wanna bet if he can pull it off? No? Of course, you are no fun,” she complained, the raven not wanting to participate in Stardust’s shenanigans as they wait to see if he could finish this up…hopefully quickly. She was hungry!