That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari licked the blood from his maw and gazed down at his work. He had just finished skinning another rabbit and now it was time to prepare the hide. He held it down between his front paws and picked up a deer scapula in his teeth. He'd had one of his fox companions carry it with them when he went out hunting for just such a purpose. Dómari bent his head and began working at scraping the hide of excess bits of flesh and gunk. He worked quickly and efficiently, practice making the work go smoother each time.

When he was finished he set the scapula down and moved back over to the rabbit carcass which was still mostly intact except for the missing hide. He wanted to try drying some of the meat to help preserve it for winter. Ice blue eyes gazed skyward as he squinted at the noon sun. The day was blessedly warm and dry. He hoped the climate would work in his favor. Dómari bent his head and began to peel off a few thin strips of meat. There were a few rocks near by he could try drying the meat on.

Now that Saren had settled down in an area he could concentrate more on his efforts to learn the art of healing. The thought had occurred to him that maybe he could use the stretchy tendons in animals to creating some sort of binding, maybe for a broken limb or to help stop bleeding he wasn’t quite sure yet. Experimentation was something he was used to by now. He had captured a pair of rabbits to eat as well as experiment with. As he walked into the valley he spotted another wolf who appeared to be working on a project of his own. Saren picked a spot relatively close to the other wolf and set to work. He targeted one of the legs on a rabbit and worked at it until it came free from the rest of the body. Slicing open the foot of the leg he got to the tendon and did his best to detach it from both ends, it wasn’t a long tendon but it would serve for his purposes. He took it over to the small creek of flowing water and dipped the tendon in to wash any of the blood off it. After he did this he looked over at the other wolf, still working on his project. Still holding the tendon in his mouth Saren asked “What are you working on?”

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari worked on tearing a few different sizes of meat strips. He wasn't quite sure yet what the best length and thickness was but there was only one way to find out. He took the strips in his mouth and began to lay them out on the rocks. He then instructed his foxes to help guard them. That was the one thing about having strips of meat drying. It was bound to attract other predators and he had a feeling vultures and other birds might also gain interest.

Speaking of… his ears perked up at the sound of approaching paw steps as another wolf appeared. The yearling had his own rabbits and Dómari felt relieved. The other was polite and seemed to have his own projects so there was no reason to fear theft. He smiled. "I'm going to tan this rabbit hide and I'm trying to experiment with drying meat to help preserve it for the winter. What about yourself?" He moved back over to the rabbit carcass and took the head in his jaws. Biting down carefully he fractured the skull. Working his jaws to peel the flesh and remove the fragments he soon got down to the brain. using his paws he carefully dislodged it and flicked it over onto the hide.

Saren took the freshly rinsed piece of sinew and walked back over to where his dead rabbits were. He needed to dry the sinew and once that was done he could test its uses. Sinew straight from the leg felt like it still held moisture in it. Saren normally didn’t watch over corpses he’d eaten from as they rotted so he wasn’t totally sure what would happen once it was dried. He placed the one he had rinsed off back down on the ground before starting work on the other leg of the first rabbit. Following the same process as before of biting off both ends and going to the water to rinse it. As he worked Saren heard that the other man was working on tanning a rabbit hide and looking into drying meat. Both sounded like interesting ideas although Saren wasn’t quite sure what it meant to tan something. He had glanced over a couple of times to see what the man was doing and it seemed like he had skinned the rabbit and was going to cover the back of it in….brains? The idea of that certainly wasn’t one he would’ve come up with but he would have to try it. Maybe he could eat the meat on the rabbit he was currently working on and then skin the other? Drying meat also sounded pretty cool although he didn’t know how one could dry it without it attracting flies and rotting. Saren paused in his process to respond and ask some questions “I’m experimenting with animal tendons to make some sort of binding for wounds, I’m curious to see how it ends up and what uses I’ll actually think of.” Saren was eager to get the experiment fully under way, if he could figure out how to make things to help actually heal other wolves that was a big step up from eating random plants and occasionally throwing up. “Drying meat sounds like an interesting idea, are you sure it won’t just rot?”

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

One stomp from his paw effectively crushed the wee rabbit brain. Dómari rolled it around a bit, feeling the strangeness of the goop between his toes before he started massaging the hide. He worked from one end to the other. He glanced over at the young man who was crafting something of his own. It was nice to have company while working. He wasn't sure where his foxes had gone off to but sooner or later they'd be back and getting into his stuff. He pressed a bit harder into the hide to make sure the brain was worked in good.

He trotted back over to the carcass as the boy explained what he was doing. "Oh, wow, that sounds like a great idea! I wished I had more skill with healing but it was always hard for me to remember plants and what they were supposed to do. I'm Dómari Xanilov by the way." He bent his head and stripped off some meat from the belly before moving it over to the rocks to dry. It was much easier taking meat from this section and going with the grain. His strips from the legs were a bit off kilter but he had to learn some how.

Saren placed his second rabbit tendon on the rock with the other one, he’d have to wait until they dried, but he really wished he didn’t have to. He was alright at being patient but sometimes he was just too anxious and excited to be. He wasn’t quite sure how long they would take since he hadn’t done this before so he figured he might as well keep making conversation. The other wolf seemed nice enough, they were knowledgeable enough to know how to prepare hides and Saren envied that knowledge. He wanted to know as much as he could. While waiting for the tendons to dry Saren responded to the other wolf, apparently named Domari “Healing just called to me, it’s an art of helping instead of hurting. It’s a pleasure to meet you Domari, I’m Saren Abraxas.” After speaking Saren began to look for a small enough rock that he could pick up in his mouth with fairly few sharp edges. He needed something to use so he could separate the strands that made up the inside of the tendon and he didn’t think banging them with his paws alone was gonna cut it. The rock needed to be blunt enough that it didn’t sever any part of the tendon, it needed breaking, not cutting.

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari was satisfied with the strips of rabbit meat he had laid out on the rocks to dry and so he settled down with the rest of the rabbit between his paws to have a good lunch. He needed to keep an eye on the meat strips while they dried though he supposed he could always set his foxes to doing it. Dómari listened as the boy spoke and introduced himself as Saren. "Good to meet you!" He bent his head and consuming the rest of the rabbit. It was a lovely day out.

"Are you from a pack around here as well?" He was slowing getting an idea of the packs that resided near Valhalla. There was Lirim to the north and Fireside somewhere in the south. Maybe if he had enough hides remaining he could start doing some trading.

The hunting for a rock had concluded as Saren had found one that seemed like it would work for his purposes. He set it down near the rock that he was drying the tendons on. Finishing the work that he could do for the time being he followed the lead of Domari and sat down to have a lunch of his own. Eating the rabbit that had already had its tendons removed, he’d save the other one for later to try tanning with. He had been asked if he was a part of a pack nearby, come to think of it the other wolf did smell like a pack. His must be close to some other packs, he’d have to investigate that. Maybe he could find another healer that he could learn from, being the only true healer of the pack came with a burden that he wasn’t sure he was adequately equipped to bear. That probably wasn’t good information to give out though, if another pack found out that they were unprepared in the healing department that could spell bad news. Saren saw no good reason not to answer the man so he did “I am, I’m from Aerie I take it you’re from a pack as well then?”

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari made quick work of his rabbit, not realizing til that moment just how hungry he had been. Of course the drying meat had only served to increase his hunger. He worked to strip the meat from the bones, leaving any stuck on bits for he birds of prey that were starting to gather above him. Hmmm… maybe he should've started doing this closer to the packlands. Ah well, at least he had his companions to help guard the meat and if he needed he could always move.

He listened as Saren stated he was from a pack called Aerie. That was a new one to him. He nodded. "Yea, I'm from Valhalla. We're in the west not terribly far from here. What about your pack? Did you have to travel a long ways to get here?"