The Preserve, Wednesday Afternoon

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin was atill leery of the oddly colored deer, but he was willing to give them a chance should they provide a decent enough meal for his yurt.

And possibly an interesting pelt for leathercrafting.

Though at the moment, his chief concern lie in his hunting companion's ability to stomach the activity. "Are you ready?"

[For said companion!]

Comments

[dwarvenswagger]

"Too exciting a topic maybe?"

[tigerundercover]

"Clearly we're both fascinating."

[dwarvenswagger]

"Perhaps they are smart enough to know a trap," Thorin replied, holding up the hunting bow he may have had to make.

[tigerundercover]

"True," Raven said. "But in my version, we're not calling ourselves boring." She pulled out her book again, cleared her throat, and started reading. "'Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution

"'SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. . . .'"

Something rustled in the bushes.

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin fought against the pull of sleep from listening to the book, bow drawn and arrow ready.

"Once more."

[tigerundercover]

It didn't help that Raven had no real idea what she was reading, so she wasn't putting the right emphasis and tone into it. "'Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.'"

Her lack of enthusiasm for the topic wasn't stopping the three young teal deer from stepping out to listen, though. They were fully grown, but not yet old enough to know a really quality speaker from one simply doing a recitation.

[dwarvenswagger]

So, really, they were merely acting in the best interest of the herd by culling those less clever.

How kind of them.

Thorin inhaled once to steady his aim before letting the arrow fly. Two deer bounded off, startled. And the third lay on the ground as it died.

[tigerundercover]

"You got one!" Raven cheered, clapping. "Nice shot!"

[dwarvenswagger]

Yeah, Thorin was just gonna preen at that a little. "Of course I did."

[tigerundercover]

"I never doubted you for a moment."

That was a lie.

[dwarvenswagger]

"Of that I am certain," Thorin replied dryly.

[tigerundercover]

Raven leaned over the deer. "What do we do with it now? Are you going to stuff the head and hang it on the wall of our yurt?"

[dwarvenswagger]

"We make use of it," he replied, carefully removing the arrow as best he could. "You may keep the head if you so choose."

[tigerundercover]

Raven thought about it for a minute. "It would probably just come across as tacky," she decided. "So you know how to do all the . . . butchering or whathaveyou?"

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin hesitated fir a moment at that. "I'm more practiced at rabbits, but the idea is the same. Remove in innards before they spoil the meat, seperate the flesh fron the skin."

How... pleasant it sounded.

[tigerundercover]

"Gross," Raven said, not sounding too put off by it. "That's why people hang them from trees, right? To help remove the innards and all the blood?"

[dwarvenswagger]

"That's right," Thorin replied, inspecting the arrowhead for damage before putting it to the side. "Can you help left the beast once I secure it with rope?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven beefed right up.

"Not a problem."

[dwarvenswagger]

"That is..." Something. Thorin shook his head, wrapping rope around the deer's hind legs before tossing the other end over a tree branch for leverage in keeping it upright.

"Did you hope to learn this for yourself?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven shrugged. "Mostly it just sounded like an interesting way to spend an afternoon," she said, grabbing the other end of the rope and easily hauling the deer up into the air. "Though I've had to live on my own before, so knowing how to get my own meat without stealing it wouldn't be terrible."

[dwarvenswagger]

"It seems to be a skill lost for many here," Thorin agreed. "Not even I am expy from learning skills."

And he totes had servants for this.

[tigerundercover]

"Well, it's easy enough to walk into town and buy meat if you want to," Raven said. "So a lot of people never even need to learn."

[dwarvenswagger]

"A strange land indeed," Thorin said with a sigh. He pulled a knife from a sheath at his belt to begin slicing open the poor teal Bambi.