Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen)

Subject: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:11 pm

She stood still as stone, her bowstring drawn back far enough for the goosefeather fletching to brush her cheek. Thirty yards off there was a young buck. She was downwind from it, and hadn't moved since she'd drawn the bow. The buck had been fifteen yards closer, but the creaking of the bow had it wander farther away in its paranoia. She was holding her breath, listening to the thudding of her heart and using it to block out all other sound. Focused as she was, it would be easy to come upon her, but not as easy to come close. She was just as flighty as the deer she was about to bring down.

She loosed the arrow, and although the thrum of the bow startled the buck, the arrow took it in the throat before it could run to safety. The thing made an odd noise in its distress and had run off. It was like to die in the next ten yards, and so she walked after it, careful to keep silent. There were other animals she'd rather not alert.

She came upon the spot where she'd gotten its throat, and from there on followed a trail of blood to where the deer lay. It was on its side, its dead eyes wide, blood leaking from its nose and mouth. Carefully she removed her arrow, cleaned it, and put it back in her quiver. She worked quickly to skin and clean the animal, hacking off the parts she would not need, like the hooves. Her hound, who'd been hunting while she'd gone for the deer, came bounding back to her while she hoisted up the deer by the rack of antlers. The dog gnawed on the hooves and yelped when the gyrfalcon landed next to it, to eat of the organs that lay in a steaming pile by the hooves.

"Hurry up, I will leave you to the wild" she told her animals even as she carried the carcass off, eager to get it back to her den-like residence, to be cut up and smoked over the fire.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:36 pm

The days had been long lately and Del'ure was desperately trying to recharge some of his strength by napping in the woods, casually laying against a tree with the hood of his cloak over his head to block out the sun rays. It was not the brightest of days but it was clear enough to disrupt his sleep if it was burning down on his face and the man was not very inclined to let anything interrupt the few hours of peace he was now finally getting. He rarely dwelled on things passed, even less when it was a job, but this one had been taxing, unusually so, at that.

Sighing, the man, who was actually a demon - but nothing about his appearance gave away this fact, apart from maybe the his odd eyes as his pupils were shaped as a cat's -, closed his eyes and immediately dosed off. However, it seemed like merely a few minutes had passed when suddenly the sound of an arrow being loosened from a bowstring sounded, the light thrumming catching his attention. There had been no one around when he had fallen asleep, how had he not heard there was a human around? Slowly, opening his eyes, Del'ure lifted the hood off his face and squinted in the sunlight. His hearing sense told him that whoever had shot that arrow was not all too far away from him and sure enough he could hear the sound of footsteps heading towards the place where a deer or similar creature had surely been felled.

For the time being, he remained where he was, listening to the person do their job, very efficiently it seemed. There was a lot of fiddling with the animal before any other action was taking, suggesting that this person knew exactly what they were doing. Intrigued, Del'ure decided to investigate, his curiosity winning over once again. Curiosity killed the cat, and almost purring, Del'ure acquiesced. Sooner or later, curiosity would kill him, but alas, maybe the pupils were a sign that he just might have the seven lives cats were rumoured to possess.

Hearing a female voice suddenly echo through the air, Del'ure halted for a second, tilting his head to the side. Now, he usually took into account a lot of possibilities but by the sounds he had heard, he had started to doubt it would be a woman he would be running into. Skinning was not a line of work most women wanted to undertake, so this definitely was a surprise. Like so many times before, Del'ure had decided to swear off women just the night before, but when he finally stepped into sight of this particular one, he began to doubt his own decision. A fleeting glance told her that she was a wild one but she was definitely a beautiful one, who probably had senses like a hawk from the way she was moving despite the carcass of a buck dangling from her back, thus he quickly stepped out from behind the trees, not wanting to find himself under sudden attack or making her bolt in case she was easily scared. He was intrigued and wanted to know more. In typical Del'ure fashion, he appeared on the path - how odd that he had been sleeping on the way to wherever it was she had begun to head without even noticing there was someone around, what was wrong with his instincts? - and shot her a dazzling smile. "Need a hand with that?" It was more of a rhetorical question seeing that he preferred not to get his hands dirty, well not in such a literal sense of the word, and seeing the striking appearance of the woman in more than one way, he decided to pass on the usual "my lady" he liked to add when addressing the opposite sex. Too late, he realised that he would probably have to be rather careful with this one.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:52 pm

His sudden appearance stopped her in her tracks, and his words were no less calming. She dropped the deer and withdrew a knife. She'd already unstrung her bow (bowstrings were hard to come by and she would not risk this one snapping what with the deer she was carrying) else she'd have an arrow notched and pointed right at his beatific smile. Her hound was by her side in an instant, growling, but once it caught a whiff of the man, its tail curled between its legs and it backed away, still snarling, but out of fear. Her gyrfalcon took to wing, screaming its hate of the man in her path.

The reactions of her animals had her all the more wary.

"I do not need your help. Be on your way before I send you back naked" she snarled.

She'd picked up the northern accent, having spent most of her time in the north, around northmen.

The knife in her hand was steel, carefully honed. It had a slight curve to it and was only five inches long. The handle was wrapped in animal skin of some sort. It had been some man's knife, but the handle had gone to piss, so she'd had to fix it, and she'd fixed it well. She had no time to question her dog and bird's reaction. She'd hunted all morning for the buck and she was not going to give it up to this smiling fool standing before her. Her eyes were narrowed, her nostrils flared as she tried to catch his scent, to see if she could smell what was wrong, like her animals.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:05 pm

His first impression had been correct, this woman was indeed a wild one, and he was now thinking he would have done better in maybe not stepping into her way. Taking in her figure, quite pleasing to the eye, and the slightly dishevelled hair with a few bits of trees and bushes sticking out here and there, those wonderfully pink lips, the womanly curves, he couldn't help but wonder what on earth this woman was doing out here in the woods, basically doing a man's job. Not that he would ever phrase it in such a manner in her face. She would probably rip his head off if he did.

Shifting his weight evenly to both feet to stand ready, just in case she would throw herself into his face after all, drawing a dagger merely proved such a possibility quite likely, he questioningly raised his eyebrows. "I do realise that it is out of the ordinary to randomly ask people in the woods if they need a hand but is it a reason to draw a dagger on me?" With a quick sideways glance towards the dog - and where on earth had that falcon just suddenly come from?! - Del'ure was wondering what particular smell it was he should work on covering that had the dog recoil in fear. It could blow his whole human cover, which was not a good thing.

"If you're scared, I'm after your prey, I can assure you, I am not. I was merely trying to be friendly," Del'ure added, raising his hands, palms forward in order to show her that he really did not intend any harm. He didn't even bother considering to draw his own dagger. "But I can see how that is obviously a completely ridiculous thing to be doing. I do apologise for my rudeness." Del'ure kept his eyes steady on the woman, wondering what her reaction would be to this more sarcastic tone. It was not his usual way to talk to women but he was fairly certain this one would not be easily enticed by anything, and he was beginning to wonder if that was what he even wanted from this one, considering she was so very feisty in every possible way.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 09, 2011 11:23 pm

She wanted to cut his eyes out.

However, he seemed to look more competent than the other braggarts and swine she'd cut up over the years.

"Hush" she told her dog and gave it a contemptuous kick. The beast snapped at her and circled around her, to be on her other side. "If you're not going to help me, go back to eating" she told it. She would have scanned the skies for her much braver gyrfalcon, but to take her eyes off this man would prove to be a mistake, she knew. Instead she whistled and held out her arm. As predicted, the falcon landed on it and screamed at the man. She grinned fiercely.

"Put your hands up slowly and get down on your knees" she ordered.

She'd send the bird at him, and while he was distracting the man, she'd be on him in a minute, stabbing him a dozen odd times before he knew who to fight.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:06 pm

Del'ure raised is eyebrows in surprise at her words. Was she for real? Was she seriously asking him to get down on his knees? Who did she think he was? Who did she think she was? It was one thing to be able to kick your own dog like it was nothing but a mere nuisance but to order someone she had just met and who could give her quite the fight to go down on their knees? That took quite a bit of courage. Or arrogance. Or maybe something else completely. Even though, no matter what it was, the man looked at her and stupidly asked: "Are you for real?"

There was no way he was going to go down on his knees and he definitely showed her this by obviously remaining standing upright. He had wanted to be nice, well, nice enough, and he had even offered to help her and she thanked him by wanting to debase him? Or whatever it was she had planned with him, but he was sure it would not involve any niceties. He steadily kept his eyes on her, wondering how he had ended up in such a little pickle. Of course, he was not defenseless, unlike she seemed to be thinking. He did not need a weapon to keep things from coming at him, but he was not really up for using any of his skills right now. He was still curious about her, never having come across anyone quite like her and he was intrigued. It was an impressive show of authority to have a falcon follow your simplest orders but she might be able to do more still and the more Del'ure remained in her presence, the more he wanted to know what it was. He wanted to know her next move.

"So, what are you going to do about it? Me being so terribly unruly now and not doing what you're asking of me." Del'ure cocked his head slightly to the side, trying to push her buttons, wanting to provoke a more direct reaction from her rather than just an idle threat issued in a few harsh words.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Wed Dec 14, 2011 5:09 am

She bared her teeth at him, mocking. "Stand or kneel, it doesn't matter to me, you'll be dead for too long, you've a tongue that wags and wags when it should stay silent in your melon head" she said to him. She launched the bird into the air and flew up, and up until it was nearly invisible in the sky. At her whistle, it would attack him, though she stayed that course of action long enough to get a good look at him. He was attractive, far more so than any of the others she'd come upon in her travels, although the boys up in the far North were quite the specimens. "You a lordling? a knight?" she asked. "If so, cut your fat purse and be on your way. If not, then you're out of luck now aren't you?" she asked, but the latter was more her thinking aloud than something she spoke for him.

He was far too pretty to be common. Maybe if she kidnapped him, the ransom his return would draw would be hefty. But she wasn't really one for money. Besides, everyone was treacherous, looking out for themselves and themselves only. She'd be damned if she'd fall into a Collect the Bounty trap. Nay. She'd keep him long enough to make his people sick with worry and grief, then she'd return him and steal a horse. Aye, a horse was much better than a man to have at one's side. It did not talk, it often found its own food, and it carried more than its share of things.

She unsheathed another knife.

"I'm very good with these. You'll find yourself lame before too long, if you keep up that attitude, boy" she said.

She'd lamed men with daggers before. She'd also come to understand that men hated being called 'boy'.

She did not know what she had in front of her. Had she known, she might have just hauled her kill, and her ass, away, far far away. Her dog snapped and snarled, but she ignored it.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:02 am

Del’ure couldn’t help but yet again raise a mocking eyebrow at the woman, only barely containing the laughter he felt rising inside. She really was serious with her threats, although she seemed to be thinking that she could mock him. Well then, the demon was prepared to take this further, and he would love every second of it, he was sure. “Yes, I’m sorry, my tongue has a life of its own sometimes,” he told her, forcing himself to remain somewhat serious, “though I do have more than just my tongue that likes wagging…” Suggestively wiggling his eyebrows at her, Del’ure tested the territory to see how far he could go before she launched her animals or even better, herself, at him. It had not escaped his attention that she had sent the bird upwards most certainly in preparation of an attack but he could deal with the bird. Her however, he preferred to keep his eyes on.

Cocking his head to the side at her musings, he briefly considered his next course of action. Why exactly was it that she thought he was a higher ranked person? It was an interesting thought however and it had once again raised his curiosity in her a notch. What had she experienced to consider him, of all people – the thought almost made him snort – to be higher up in the hierarchy, maybe even royalty? Deciding to go along with this, he replied: “What if I refuse to give you my earthly possessions?” He had heard that he would be out of luck but he wanted details, and most of all, he really wanted to know what she was capable of. The more he stood there looking at her and talking to her, the more his curiosity grew. In more than one way.

Del’ure had been called many names in his days and there was hardly anything he took seriously enough to get angry at. He now had a role to play however. Thus he frowned a little, as if to feign a bit of discomfort and anger, while he lightly positioned himself in a ready-stance, drawing one of his own knives and purposefully holding it in an idiotic way to suggest he was somewhat clueless: “Stop talking then and bring it on, sweetheart.” He flashed her a bright smile at this, hoping she would take the bait and finally jump into action. It would be such an interesting fight!

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:17 pm

She snorted in disgust at him.

He would hurt himself long before she slit his throat, that was for sure.

"After I chop off your little wagging tail, and replace it with your little wagging tongue, I'll take all your worldly possessions from you and send you back to whatever family you came from with a buck's head in place of your own. It'd be an improvement I am sure" she said, already bristling. She hated men. She hated people in particular, but she hated men much much more than women. There was something about that thing between their legs that made them think they walked on top of the world and owned everything they could put their hands on and set their sights on. She would love to go through the world and geld every smirking bastard she met.

There was hate in her eyes as she circled him, stepping away from her kill.

It was now evident that her dog was not by her side anymore.

He'd be a fool if he tried to go for her deer. She'd open him up neck to crack and pull his lungs out from his back.

Her teeth were grit and she ground them, lips peeling back from her teeth.

She'd be much more comfortable up a tree and aiming at him with her bow. She did not like fighting men hand to hand. They felt far too comfortable with steel in their hand. It was like an extension of their repulsive organs. Sometimes a man could land a lucky shot. However, there was nothing to do for arrows, especially if the archer was up a tree and you didn't have a bow of your own.

"Last chance. Drop your valuables and get gone".

She was stalling for position. Her hound would dictate that nature of this attack, which was why she was worried under all that anger. Her normally brave hound had tucked tail at this stranger. He had too much of a mouth to have it backed up so poorly. No one could handle a knife that badly.

Was he playing her?

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:31 am

“Oh, so you are good at stitching and general housewifey-things?” he retorted, feigning surprise that she wanted to replace his better parts with his tongue, and then even his head. He did have to swallow though at the thought of his thing being cut off. It would take away all the fun! Seducing women was his thing! Well, he didn’t really ever do a lot, they seemed to drop like flies whenever he came close, especially the married ones. It was a phenomenon almost, but without his particular part he would not be able to perform those kinds of pleasures anymore, which would indeed be quite a shame.

As he watched her circle him, he began to slowly move along with her, not wanting to leave his back exposed to her, but then there was now the problem of the dog. The dog might be scared of the demon but it was still its mistress’ dog, if she called, it probably would attack, no matter how scared it was. Or would it? It was not so much the fact both the animals would attack, it’s the fact that he would have things coming at him from all sides. Of course, it made for a bit of interest but it would also mean that he would actually have to pay a bit of attention here. Then again, he had not even decided what he wanted to do, or what he wanted to let her do with him. Apart from touch his thing of course. Correction: he would not let her touch it if she wanted to remove it. Anything else… Del’ure was always open for suggestions.

“I’m sorry, my dear, but I can hardly just drop the family jewels like that. You know, they are attached to my body after all.” Del’ure grinned, figuring that this would definitely provoke her. Gripping the knife tighter in his hand, he slid his left hand under his coat and brought out a second one. He couldn’t quite remember where he had gotten that one from but it came in quite handy now, especially since he usually did not carry weapons apart from a single knife. Maybe for cases like these, he should change that.

The hound was not pouncing yet, the bird was not attacking yet and the woman was staring at him as if he were her next prey and she was trying to calculate his next move. Yet, he would not make the first move, no, he would wait for her, see what happened. She was a feisty one, it would definitely be interesting, no matter what she would bring. He prevented himself from grinning broadly once again while his eyes quickly darted towards the prey before his gaze settled back on her. What would she do?

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:18 pm

She had bluffed her way out of many situations, but the truth of the matter was she was not willing to fight a man who knew what he was doing, and this one was too clever by half. He was too confident in her presence, not the least bit angry or indignant or afraid. He acted like a mercenary with the brains of a noble. Those types were bad, and those types she could try and outwit, but the only thing she knew she could really do was outrun them.

She didn't look to her downed prey, but she could taste bile at having to leave it there.

Bishop would leave it there.

She whistled sharply and her dog came bursting out of the brush. Her bird came screaming from the sky and she flung a knife at him before she turned tail and ran.

There was nothing wrong with fleeing. There was everything wrong with getting caught and killed. Her dog and bird knew the drill, only one pass at the man before they too fled.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:23 am

Del’ure had prepared himself for a lot, evil bite and scratch marks only being a small part of it, but when the girl suddenly turned and ran, he was utterly confused. Instinctively, he had lifted his arms to prevent the bird from reaching his face but neither the bird nor the hound followed through on a complete and full attack. A few scratch and peck marks on his left arm from the bird, a kick in the direction of the hound, which he did not even hit since it was already on the run again, apparently still afraid of the demon. The knife however was a different story. Del’ure was so surprised by the way this had all turned out that he did not manage to properly deflect it, instead, it cut through the flesh of his hand while he was trying to batter it out of his way.

Dumbstruck, he finally stood there with the three creatures sprinting off into the distance. What had just happened? The cut wound on his hand began throbbing to let him know that it was slightly deeper than he had wanted it to be and the marks the bird had left were beginning to itch, definitely not a good sign in the demon’s opinion. He wanted to call after the woman, but she was quick, very quick and had already disappeared into the trees before he had been able to utter a word.

“And now what?” Del’ure quietly asked himself, still unable to wrap his head around this. He had met a lot of thugs, most of them having a bigger mouth than wit or skill, but most of them had not run. Then again, they usually did not have brains. This one apparently seemed to have at least something filling up the void between her ears, which was probably why she had decided to run. He would not have hurt her, but she could not have known that. “Hmm…,” Del’ure mused, all the more intrigued by this woman.

As he definitely lost the woman’s trail out of his eyes, his glance caught the carcass she had left behind. She really must have been intent on getting away from him in a hurry, otherwise she would not have left her prey. Grinning, Del’ure decided to try and track her to pay the woman a small visit and maybe bring her a present. Pocketing his own knives, Del’ure picked up the wild one’s knife as well and stowed it away in his coat. With a grunt, he then bent down to get the carcass and threw the beast over his shoulder before leisurely wandering off into the direction the woman had disappeared in. He would find her, one way or another. Or rather she would find him. He was counting on her turning around at some point to check on her prize and she would hopefully be very displeased about the fact that he was carrying her things around. Or maybe he would never see her again. Who really knew with this one?

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:30 pm

She was livid as she raced away from the man and her kill. The dog sensed her anger and had his tail tucked firmly between his legs. She'd probably blame him. The bird was even smarter, it was flying high, tracking its mistress with its eyes and staying well far away from her wrath. She slowed her run when she was sure she was far enough, and began to head in the direction of her traps. "This is all your stinking fault, mutt... if you had just growled and looked menacing instead of whimpering like some bitch in heat... we might have scared that smarmy bastard off and we'd be eating venison right now. Well no venison today. Fucking rabbit instead. I am bloody tired of rabbit" she snapped. The dog kept his head down, ears flat.

She began checking traps, and was rewarded with three rabbits and a stupid pheasant.

It was stupid. The damn traps were meant for rabbits, but she wasn't complaining.

By the time she'd checked them all and reset them, it was getting dark. She slid the bow from her back and restrung it, then headed back in the direction of her kill. Surely he couldn't have wanted the buck, and if that bastard had taken her kill, she'd track him and put an arrow right between his arsecheeks. She held her bow low, an arrow nocked and ready as she padded carefully through the wood, taking care to make as little noise as possible. Her dog decided to go ranging. It wasn't going to be blamed this time.

When she got to the spot where her kill had been, she cursed colorfully under her breath and followed the easy trail that bastard had left.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:00 pm

She must have been running rather fast and quite far, the demon mused as he kept walking through the forest without a sign of either the woman or one of her pets. There were birds up in the sky but none that seemed similar to hers. The carcass he was carrying was not getting any lighter, the more time passed and Del'ure was slowly beginning to mentally kick himself for having such a ridiculous idea as to bring the prey to the hunter. Why would he even consider such a thing? Curiosity was one day really going to get him killed. Good thing that demons were slightly harder to kill than other creatures. The smell of the corpse was not getting any better either, making hard for Del'ure to smell anything else besides the deer anymore.

"How hunters can carry these around for miles and still be proud of their kill instead of annoyed, I will never understand," Del'ure muttered to himself. As the night was starting to fall, Del'ure dropped the carcass on the ground where he was standing and stretched his back muscles for a bit before slumping himself down on the floor, leaning against a tree. A little rest would be nice and if she really was going to come back for her kill, she was certainly going to find the latter, one way or another. He had walked the direction she had ran away into, and even if she had not run in a straight line, she would easily be able to pick up his trail. Plus, she had animals to help her with those kinds of things.

Before not too long, he could hear steps on his path and without looking up, he grinned. From the way she was walking, she was pissed, and that might still be stating it mildly. Del'ure however was not particularly fazed on thoughts of what she might possibly be wanting to do to him now, rather, he remained sitting. He stared off into the direction where she would be coming from and hailed her already before he could see her - maybe even before she noticed he was there, but he couldn't know for sure. "Honey! You found me!"

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:08 pm

She loosed an arrow at him without a second's thought and had another on the bowstring, loosed that one too and yet another nocked. She came close enough to see if any had hit their mark. Her dog appeared from the brush near the carcass and stood over it, growling and snapping. Yes, she'd come back for what was hers and she'd come back with less options and more actions. She figured that she'd give a man only two chances next time, that way she could stuff a knife between his teeth before he could grin a stupid grin and steal her godsbedamned kill.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:19 pm

The words had barely left his mouth when suddenly an arrow came soaring through the woods, straight towards him. With a surprised "ouf", Del'ure rolled himself onto the ground and away from the tree, keeping on the move so the arrow only barely missed its target. It was his luck that he did not remain in the same spot for a second arrow swiftly followed the first one, however, he was not quite quick enough to be able to escape it. The tip of the arrow viciously bit into his flesh and Del'ure was staring at the arrow protruding from his leg with an angry frown. "You shot me!" he shouted, disgruntled when she came into sight, completely ignoring the growling dog. That petty hound finally seemed to have found its balls again now that its mistress had an advantage over the demon. What a little coward. The bird was nowhere to be seen - yet - but Del'ure was pretty sure that she would not hesitate for a second to set the winged one onto him as well.

"That's what you get for being nice these days," he growled as he pulled at the arrow to get it out of his leg. It didn't bother him all that much that she was stepping closer and that she had another arrow nocked to the bow. She was a very accurate shot and she would not miss, not at this close range. Of course, there might still be ways for him to defend himself, but it was slightly harder to fight against a flying and deadly-aimed arrow. "Is that how you treat people who want to bring you back something you lost?" he accused, all whiny, as he looked up to her from where he was still sitting on the forest floor. "Or in this case something you left behind when you disappeared extraordinarily quickly out of a harmless conversation."

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:06 pm

She loosed the arrow at him, aiming to maim him instead of silence him. All whiny and bleeding like that... he was starting to look like her type. "Shut your gob. Do you ever stop talking long enough to look as pretty as you should?" she barked and nocked another arrow. "If you're quiet, sweetling, I'll stop shooting you" she said and edged toward her prey. She crouched to check it, eyes still on Del'ure as she ran a hand over it. She whistled sharply and her bird landed on a branch above her, screaming at the bleeding man on the floor. It had more balls than the dog, to be sure, but the dog was now doing his job and that was all that mattered. She patted the mutt's head and stood.

"The question is... do I kill you?" she asked, and bared her teeth in a feral smile.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:30 pm

When she sent another arrow flying into him, he was growling under his breath. Maybe he should stop letting her play with him and do something against the many arrows she was obviously planning on pumping into him. He could use his strength on things other than trying not to lash out at her because she was giving him quite a few ugly bits to heal. And even though these were more flesh wounds than anything else, which - granted - were going to make his life hard for the next couple of weeks, they cost more strength than he would have liked.

"Are you done now?" he asked, but she had already nocked yet another arrow onto her string. "Ah, so that's how you like it?" He suggestively wiggled his eyebrows at her. "A pretty boy who kisses your feet and honours you with total obedience?" Looking smug, despite the dirt and blood staining him from almost top to bottom in the meantime, he looked at her, trying to see if there was anything other than anger and wilderness to be read in her eyes. She was considering her next move, which already was not bad. At least she was not immediately shooting at him, though he still did wonder why on earth he put up with it but he was sure he would get something out of it sooner or later.

"I can't really answer that question for you," Del'ure replied, "but if you're asking for my opinion, I would rather not die today."

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:31 am

She considered putting another arrow into him, but she stayed her hand. She wanted to punch him in the mouth, but to do that, she had to get close. She didn't like being close to men. "Dog. Guard" she said and the dog jumped forward, away from the carcass and close to the man, snarling and snapping in his face despite his fear. He was still quite afraid, this man didn't smell right, but he didn't want to anger his mistress. She was a terrible thing when angry. She put the arrow back into her quiver and slung her bow over a shoulder. She undid the thong holding the rope at her waist and came around behind him, yanking his hands behind his back. "Stay still or dog mauls you" she told him, her mouth by his ear as she tied him up.

The rope had been meant for the deer, really. After she'd cleaned it, she would have wrapped it all up and tied it, making for easier travel, but she had never gotten the chance to take it to the river for cleaning.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:00 pm

The dog was a mystery to the demon. It was obviously still afraid despite the fact that it was sticking its muzzle into his face and throwing his weight about but Del’ure knew that the hound still did not like the sight of him. Did his mistress have such a strong hand that he was scared of failing her? Or did he love her that much? Dogs could develop strong ties to whoever was feeding them but such devotion in the face of fear was quite something – at least in Del’ure’s opinion. “Oh, shut up,” he snarled at the dog, “I’m not going anywhere.”

All the while, he kept fiddling with the arrows, the first one now definitely out of his leg and he was just about to start working on the second one when she suddenly came over to him. What now? he wondered when he saw the look of determination on her face and the rope in her hand. He hadn’t even notice her put up the bow, so immersed had he been in tending to his wound. He fought a little against her hold but decided that first of all, it would probably only make her shoot more arrows into his body, and he was rather fond of this one, so he did not want to have it maimed too badly, and secondly, he still wanted to know what on earth moved her to act in such a way, especially with regards to him. What was her plan with him? “Just go easy on the goods, please,” he teased.

Laughing, he stated: “I don’t think your dog is going to do much to me.” Looking briefly at the dog, a small spark flickered in his eyes as a warning before it disappeared again in the blink of an eye. He wasn’t sure if dogs could spot those kinds of small indicators, but it was worth a try. When Del'ure then looked at the woman again, who was probably still wishing she would have just killed him the moment she had laid eyes on him, he asked: “So honey, where are we off to?”

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:56 pm

The dog backed off with a whine, which earned it a withering glare from its master. It loved her, it really did. She rescued it from wolves, and it normally wasn't a coward. It had fought those wolves knowing what could happen. It was always big and strong, but this thing his mistress was going to drag into their home was not right and he was scared for her as much as he himself was scared. "Stay. Guard prey" she told him and the dog obeyed, sitting in front of the deer carcass. "Normally my dog is fearless. You must stink terribly" she said as she started to drag him off. It took some effort, he was a full grown man, but she had hard earned, flat and strong wiry muscles. "We're off to my humble abode. I think I'll keep you as a pet and turn you out when you get useless" she told him. "I've been needing a distraction from daily life..." she said.

She dragged him a ways away, then cleared away some bushes, and dragged him inside a cozy little cave. And it was little. It was also wide for a small cave, once you got past the mouth. Her furs and cookware, fire pit and tools littered the place in a sort of chaotic order. She cleared some space and tied him to a ring fixed into the cave wall. "Now be good. I'm fetching dinner" she said and left him there, on his back, the bird watching him from its perch in the cave.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:59 am

A surprised grin flashed across Del’ure’s face when the woman actually replied to his question while already beginning to drag him along the forest floor. It was not the nicest of experiences however, every single twig and stone wanting to make their mark on his legs and his behind or any other body part touching the floor for that matter. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. He was not in any way inclined to help the woman drag him along either, but at least he didn’t make himself heavier than he already was. She was straining under the weight but she seemed to master the task fairly well despite that fact. “As a pet, you say? Now that’s something I’ve never been called,” Del’ure mused, wondering what she was intending to do with him, though he couldn’t help himself to add a little something to nurture her anger and hatred a little more. “I can see however how ‘pet’ would be a nicer way of expressing what you want to do with me, rather than ‘slave’. It’s just so… brute,” he exclaimed.

Her humble abode, as she had called it, was chaotic but the order was still apparent nonetheless. Grinning mischievously at her when she hooked him to a ring before disappearing out of the cave again, Del’ure wiggled himself into a more comfortable position of half-sitting, half-laying before he glanced at the bird. “Your mistress is nuts, you know that right?” Of course the bird would not reply, not in words at least, but the demon’s eyes had already moved on from the bird anyways and were instead roaming the insides of the cave more carefully. She seemed to have everything she needed in this small space, not wasting any of the space for useless objects people had a knack for accumulating over time.

“Now, now, let’s see what she will do to me,” Del’ure mumbled, talking to himself rather than the bird. He could already hear the sound of footsteps moving closer to the cave and he expectantly lifted his eyes towards the entrance of the cave.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:00 pm

She ducked into the cave, dragging the gutted and cleaned carcass in with her. She put it in the already bloodstained corner that all her kills had remained one time or another. She'd gotten used to the stink of blood, and only washed the spot when the kill was completely gone. The flap at the entrance of the cave was to prevent flies from coming in. Her dog refused to come inside and she huffed her annoyance at him. "Fine, stay outside. I don't want you staring at me anyway" she told him. She looked up at her bird on its perch, its unwavering gaze on the man. "It's a man, bird. You've seen them before" she told it and took it down from its perch to groom and feed it.

She was deliberately leaving this man for last. Once the bird was well groomed and fed, she put it back on its perch, where it gazed relentlessly at the man.

She stretched and sighed. She'd cut the deer tomorrow and salt it. That reminded her that... well she needed to steal some more salt. She was down to her last barrel.

Then there was the man in the corner.

She'd ignored him and his quips thusfar.

She stalked over to him and righed him completely, so his back was against the wall, and sat directly in his lap, facing him. "You can't really be a slave..." she told him. "Because slaves I'd keep. Slaves would be afraid of their master, or completely obedient. Pets... pets on the other hand, they can be unruly, they can be irritating, despite being good fun, and when you're done with a pet, you can release it into the wild... or drown it in the river" she told him, petting his hair and stroking his cheek. "You'll be my sex pet. The last man I caught has been gone some three months now" she said, feigning regret.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:59 am

When the wild woman entered the cave with her kill, Del’ure briefly wondered why it didn’t start smelling more in the cave, until he looked down himself, suddenly realising that the stench had been in his nose because he had dragged the carcass himself and obviously a few bits and pieces, including a few blooddrops nonetheless. Rolling his eyes at this, he wished he could just whisk it all away with a flick of his hand, but then again, in that case, he would not have been used to the smell by now and it might just have made him sick. It was already beginning to grow stronger within the confines of the woman’s small home.

Funnily enough, the woman did not once look at him once, while arranging her things, growling at the hound – a grin spread over his face at the cowering dog - , taking care of the bird. It was really interesting to see how loving she was to the bird in her own manner, even if she had a rough way about her. He didn’t mind that she still did not look at him once or even made a reference to him. He was content for now to just observe her ways, especially since that had been what he had wanted to do since he had first laid eyes on her, find out more about her and learn something about a woman who was so unlike any he had ever met.

When she finally came over to him, he was surprised that she righted him up and leaned his back against the wall. He was even more surprised when she suddenly sat down in his lap to talk to him. Her words were slightly confusing until she got to the point where she wanted to keep him as a pet, a sex pet nonetheless. A huge grin spread across his face and his eyes were sparkling with amusement. “Oh, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into if you want to keep me as an entertainment partner for your lonely hours.” He briefly wondered what had happened to the previous man she had captured – leaves to figure out if she has really captured me yet – but the regret, which he assumed was not real however, showed that she had probably done exactly what she had threatened to do to him. She’d drowned him in the river after he had stopped being useful.

Without scruples, he thought. He would have to be careful around her but he nevertheless wanted to see what she would do of this whole pet thing; it was intriguing! “Well, since you firmly have me in chains here and between your legs, I guess there is not much I can do against being your sex pet,” he stated, “but as I’ve said, I can’t really say I mind.” His voice dropped to a lower tone, almost as if he wanted to seduce her while he let his eyes lasciviously roam over her body, taking in every single curve there was, whilst wondering if she was going to jump his bones right then, right there. He had not really thought, or tried not to, think about her in any sexual kind of way, but now that she had brought it up herself, he could hardly not look over her body and begin imagining certain things.

Subject: Re: Height of the Hunt (Eldar & Nen) Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:41 pm

She chuckled darkly and patted him on the head. "Good boy. Nurse a hunger." she said and slipped off of his lap. Men were easy. Say the word sex and sit in their lap and they looked at you like you were a woman and not some wild thing. She had never really gotten a man who was indignant and being kept for sex, just indignant about being a pet. She'd gotten several marriage offers, and one man promised he'd take her to town and make a lady out of her, with a title and everything, if she let him go. She let some go. Others she'd had to get rid of. Either they got too much information from her about herself, or they had too many connections and would come back and hunt her down. Either way, if a man proved himself too much trouble, she wouldn't release him as planned.

She walked over to a pile of furs stacked high and undressed. Her clothes were simple, made from animal hide and what clothes she could steal from men. Today it had been a simple oversized shirt, deerskin pants and moccasins. She wasn't the kind of woman that wore smallclothes. Why would she? You had to give a damn to wear smallclothes, and she frankly did not.

She nestled into the furs and promptly fell asleep.

The dog wandered back in and settled down by her side, eyeing Del'ure.

ooc. You can skip to morning in your post. She wouldn't be there, the deer would be cut and salted...

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