Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen)

Subject: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:01 pm

Bishop had gone to check her fish traps first, aware that the wildlife would take advantage of boxed up fish, breaking her traps in the process. She wasn't so afraid of her snares being taken advantage of, as she'd set many and they weren't as easy to break as her traps were. She didn't use the bear traps, as catching a bear was meant for when she lacked warmth and pelts, and it wasn't an undertaking to be taken lightly. Hunting a bear meant a lot of preparation, and she preferred to use hunting pits if that was the case. One never wanted to be around an angry, injured bear by oneself. Her hound was off somewhere sniffing at things, and she let him go. Like her, he was more wild than tame, but they'd bonded well. Her bird watched her curiously from a branch as she gutted the fish. "I'll give you your share, no need to watch me." The bird chwerked and lowered it's head, hunching it's shoulders. Bishop sighed and grabbed the fish guts, throwing it to her bird and watched it sail down from it's perch to have at the juicy tidbits.

She had just finished packing salt into the fish when her dog came bounding up to her with cloth in his mouth. Her brows furrowed and she wiped her hands clean on a rag. Tugging the cloth from Hound's mouth became a chore and when she finally got it loose, she realized it was of fine make. "Where did you find this?" Hound cocked his head at her and she showed him the scrap of cloth, pointing back where he'd come from. "Show me. Go." She was unafraid of leaving her den of sorts. Her dog's scent marking usually kept other animals away (as well as the smell of fire), but, just in case, she always approached her den carefully and never left without her bow and quiver.

As she neared where Hound had gotten the cloth, she could hear the sounds of human struggling. Male human struggling at that. She crept closer while her Hound just bounded forward, barking and nipping at the man, jumping out of his reach when he went to swat at the animal. Bishop stared down at the cloth in her hand, feeling it with a thumb. It was of fine make, and her heart beat faster. Her betrothed hadn't come looking for her, had he? No... last she'd heard, he'd gone back to his hometown.

Bishop edged around the tree, peering at the man from behind foliage, her hand hovering over her hunting knife. She said nothing, but her fool Hound looked over his shoulder to see if she'd followed him. She waved him away and he went back to bothering the man. He could get himself out, surely...

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:21 pm

How he had gotten himself into this forsaken situation again, he did not know. Slowly, Del’ure was starting to be very annoyed however that things were constantly going wrong lately. Something was off and he needed to remedy that as quickly as possible. Definitely.
Yet, the most important thing for now was trying to get out of this damned trap. Preferably before the owner of that weird dog showed up. Bastard had ripped a piece out of his shirt!

It was easier said than done though, and despite the fact that this was not Del’ure’s first encounter with a trap, he was having serious trouble getting his foot out of it again. Of course, it didn’t help that briefly before stepping into the snare, he had twisted his ankle, which was now throbbing angrily and seemed to swell up to double its size.

As had to be expected, considering his days lately, Del’ure did not have any such luck of being able to escape before the next bad thing appeared on his menu. The dog was back, barking madly and mocking him, much to his annoyance.
Despite the fact that he was still struggling with the snare though, he kept an eye on the hound and thus did not miss the look it threw over its shoulder. Was that... Yes, it had indeed been a woman. A woman? Alone? In these parts? With just a dog? Hmm...

“Would you mind helping me out of this trap? I’d like to hold on to my foot, if you please.” His tone wasn’t exactly accusing or sarcastic, but there was a definite tone of annoyance in there somewhere. And typically, now he realised that he should just quite simply have melted the thing off his foot, it would have made everything so much easier, and he would not be in yet another pickle. ‘What the hell is wrong with me lately?!’

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:46 pm

Bishop sighed and crept from her hiding spot, throwing an annoyed glare at her Hound. She clicked her tongue and the Hound bounded over to her, sitting only after she'd scratched his head and chin, patting him roughly. She looked to Del'ure, eyes narrowing in suspicion and she circled him. "What are you doing up here?" She neared only when he stopped thrashing and reached out to hold his leg steady. "Don't move." She produced a hunting knife and slid it under the rope, holding his foot still because his ankle looked bad. The knife slid through the rope like butter and she sighed. She hated having to destroy her snares, but she couldn't slide it off the man's foot without causing him some serious harm. She kept her grip on his foot. "Don't move. Wait." She got up and started scouring the area for something, and when she couldn't find it, she went to the nearest tree and measured it's low-lying branches. She finally found one she thought was appropriate and cut it down. "You're in the woods with a hurt ankle. You can't just hobble it off." She was talking to Del'ure but she was staring at the branch as she stripped it. "Some bear might take a shine to you, or perhaps a pack of coyotes that are much more playful than my Hound." She rose with the walking stick and handed it to him. "The road is that way." She pointed, making sure to keep her distance and not make eye contact. She had tucked the cloth her Hound ripped into her vest, determined to make it into something, the material was so fine.

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:52 am

Eyeing the woman as she stepped closer, Del’ure readied himself to fend her off, just in case. Typically, he would have tried to enthrall her, after all that was what he did, but he was hurt and he was trapped. Things were different then.

“I was merely trying to get out of someone’s way. And missed a hole in the road somewhere, and then ended up in your snare. Just a bad day really.” Del’ure watched her at work, letting out a relieved sigh when she cut off the rope and stepped away from him again. One never knew with people who were wielding knives.
Plus, it would have been a waste to kill off a pretty lady like her. She may not have been pretty in the ordinary sense of voluptuous curves and so forth, but there still was something about her that made Del’ure cock his head to the side and contemplate her. It probably was a good thing she had her back turned to him.

“I know,” he replied dryly. “But there isn’t much else I can do in the woods either.” Having healing powers would have come in very handy at that moment, but alas, he did not have such skills. His healing was of a different kind.
As he took the walking stick from her, his brows lifted questionigly. “You’re going to send me off back on the road after lecturing me about what I’ve been doing to my ankle?”
Either way, he would not have moved now, whether she wanted him to or not. He needed to rest his ankle a little so that the swelling might go down a bit, or wait at least until most of the painful throbbing had died down.

“I don’t suppose you have anything with you that you could use to bandage it? I’m not all too keen on ripping even more of my clothes to shreds,” Del’ure asked with a glare at the dog before turning his eyes back on the woman. Even if she wasn’t willing to help him any more than she had done so far, he could at least try and figure out her purpose. “What is it you are doing up here then? Hunting all by yourself. That isn’t generally what women do.”

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:53 pm

"I figured you'd have sense enough to wait a while before going. Do I have to mother you too?" She sighed and turned back to him. This man was very needy and, when she glanced up at his face, very good looking, which would explain the neediness. Men with good looks were often used to being taken care of. Bishop knew this well, not that she minded, but after a while, taking care of a man made her feel like a slave, and she hated feeling trapped. Though handsome men tended to treat ladies one of two ways.

She snickered when he glared at her Hound. "I'm sorry about him, he's excitable." And he was a good Hound, sticking around and keeping and eye on the strange man. She'd feed him something nice when they got back. Maybe a strip of beef. It was hard to come by, because she had to trade for it, but Bishop figured Hound deserved a reward for good behavior. She wanted to keep the scrap of cloth, but Bishop decided perhaps she'd sew it back to his shirt, so he didn't look so silly upon getting back on the road. She tucked the scrap into a pouch at her belt and sighed. Now he wanted her to wrap his ankle?

"You're in luck. I happen to have something we can wrap your ankle with." She took off her top. which was just an animal pelt sewn into something vest-like. Turning her back to him, because she remembered how to be a Lady, she unraveled the breast-band she wore, then shrugged her pelt back on. Bishop gathered up the material she'd unwound from her chest and squatted by his ankle, holding his foot still. "No that is not what women generally do, but I was raised out here as a girl, and I've had a taste of Lady life. While it's nice, I always have a desire to come out here and live on my own." In the winter time, she usually came into the town and settled in the inn, doing chores and such for them for a place to stay until it got warmer.

She patted his knee. "You're all wrapped up now." Bishop rose and clicked her tongue, her Hound bounding over to her. She gave his head a good rub and rested her hand on his head as she led him off, deciding she'd finish checking her snares.

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:47 am

The something Del’ure had had in mind when Bishop said she could wrap his ankle was not what she was suddenly producing. He had seen many different sorts of women already, but never had he come across someone like her. He was very much intrigued by now. She was practically displaying herself to him, even though she tried to abide by certain rules of propriety and still she did not even in the slightest give a hint that she was even the least bit interested in talking to him, not to mention anything else.

Chuckling at her reply however, he agreed: “I figure the life of a lady can be somewhat ridiculous sometimes, not to mention incredibly annoying and exhausting. I have heard my share of stories and experienced some myself. Most of them made me shudder.” All the while she was working on his ankle, and he was positively surprised at how soft her touch was.

When she turned and walked, barely leaving him the time to thank her, he did call after her: “You aren’t really the talkative kind, I get it, but you could at least let me thank you before you run and hide again.”

The real trick however was to get her to stay and stick around or take him along. He wasn’t very interested in going after her in a creepy sort of stalker way, though of course, he would if there was nothing else to be done, but he preferred not to resort to those kinds of measures.
“Maybe I could offer you some company? It must be lonely out here from time to time, even if it is by choice.”
‘Horrible, horrible,’ he scolded himself at the very lame attempt to get to her. ‘You sound like a needy little girl. You’re better than this… Though she is probably going to run now anyways.’

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:59 pm

She stopped walking and turned to look at the man, a brow ticked. "You know, when most people offer me thanks and a payment, it usually isn't in companionship." Bishop didn't walk closer to him, though, wary of his intentions. "And how exactly do you plan to be my companion? You won't be stumbling into my snares and breaking my fish traps will you? I don't need help hunting." She smirked. "Or perhaps you thought to warm my sleeping roll?" She stared at him long. "Not that you're not pretty enough, but I hardly know you... I'm not that kind of woman, wild or no." She eyed him, amused as she decided to check a trap that was near. Lucky for her, this snare happened to catch a hare and not a man. She broke it's neck and tied the snare to her belt. Hopefully she'd have a few more good ones.

"What do you want from me?"

She supposed the reason she'd remained was because she had been wanting for a little attention, and he was pleasant to look at, even if he turned out to be a bumbling fool and not a gentleman with unfortunate luck.

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:09 am

The real problem was getting her to stick around now, because he wasn’t quite up for stalking her through the woods. Not only did she have a rather annoying dog but his ankle was also somewhat a troublemaker in this. He couldn’t well hop around the trees and hope to be silent when he could barely use the damn foot.
Really, why did this have to happen to him now of all times?

However, the fact that she hadn’t run off after checking this trap seemed promising enough. At least for the time being she was still there.
Chuckling at her words, he replied: “Let’s just say I’m not like most others, but I wouldn’t mind sharing your sleeping roll. Not in the least.”
He looked up at her with undisguised pleasure but he didn’t overdo it either. Or at least he thought he didn’t.

Sighing, he began fiddling with the branch she had provided him with and tried to find the perfect angle to put it down so he could pull himself into an upright position with the help of his undamaged foot. The branch held what it promised and didn’t break at the smallest sign of pressure put onto it, thus Del’ure was quickly standing on his own two feet again.

“What I want from you?” Del’ure considered the question for a moment while his eyes searched her face. It was a good one, and he didn’t quite know the answer himself, other than the obvious stirring of a seemingly insatiable hunger. “Maybe I am the one in need of a bit of company but tired of constantly meeting people who are exactly like everyone else. Or maybe I just enjoy having such a pretty woman look after me for a bit.”

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Fri Dec 07, 2012 7:50 pm

Bishop put her hands on her hips and laughed at him. "If you'd share my sleeping roll, you're more like most than you think." She watched him for a moment, a smile growing on her face. As a girl she'd been taught to smile just with her lips versus the bared teeth kind of smile that she was told 'made her look feral'. She found that the bared teeth smile was much too informal anyhow. It denoted some kind of familiarity. "I'll play no one's maidservant, but I'll be glad to give you some company. I've been wanting for some myself, and you're just harmless enough." She tapped his walking stick, walking around him to get to his other side. "I'll take you to my home. You can rest there... my Bird will be watching you so don't make sudden movements." Was she teasing him? Maybe. Maybe not.

She figured if this guy was trouble, she'd sic Hound on him and maybe feather him and send him on his way. But it couldn't hurt to have someone to talk to, at least until his ankle healed up and he felt like he could leave to wherever it is he was headed to.

Subject: Re: Hunting and Trapping (Eldar & Nen) Sat Dec 08, 2012 1:37 pm

Her sudden change of heart pleased Del’ure, there was no denying that, and he gladly accepted her offer to take him to her place. The threats, he ignored as he feared neither the dog nor the bird, which he only noticed now that she’d pointed him out. It seemed an interesting hunting tool; maybe he should consider getting himself a bird at some point as well. It would definitely be easier to keep track of a bird who would be thinking for itself and flying overhead rather than having to look after a horse which needed to be tied up and recovered every single time. And sometimes, he quite simply was in too much of a hurry to run back for a horse. Stealing one nearby was much simpler.

“Rest assured, I have no intention of making any sudden movements at all. And I’m sorry if I have somehow vexed you but I wasn’t under the impression that asking for a little help was going to make you believe I wanted you to act as my servant.”
He almost said that he’d much like to be hers though – in certain respects – but he bit his tongue and refrained from saying so out loud and instead let himself be lead to her humble abode.

Once they arrived, Del’ure sighed at the notion of being able to put up his foot a little again. He was contemplating using a little magic on it but he wasn’t really sure whether that would be a good idea or not. Either way, he was going to see what she would do first before he decided on a further course of action.

Returning to what she had said earlier however, as it refused to disappear from his mind, he stated, slightly indignantly. “I may be like most in the respect that I wouldn’t mind sharing a lovely girl’s sleeping rug, but do not mistake me for a common dog thinking with nothing but his wagging tail.”
Clearing his throat, he moved on and fully stepped inside her den, letting his eyes roam about slowly. “So this is where you live?”

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