When things became stale,  Resin walked. Today,  she decided to take Malalia with her. The giant woman had taken a shine to the young wolf. Before she had given birth to her own children,  Resin had imagined having a daughter to follow in her warrior footsteps. Instead,  she had Iolaire. While she loved her small,  healer daughter,  there was always that abandoned hope within her. Malalia was filling that emptiness just a bit.

With her nose working overtime to make up for her lack of vision, Resin smelled the strange creature long before she saw it. What a strange smell. It was something that she'd never smelled before. Curiosity got the better of her and the scarred woman stuck her head between  two thick vines. The sight that met her was an odd one. A black and white creature sat,  shoving its mouth full of grapes.  It's body looked like that of a bear,  but it didn't smell anything like the bears that she knew.

Pulling her head back to hopefully allow Malalia to see the odd beast,  she took her gaze off of it. Perhaps it was the rustling of the leaves that gave her position away, but a moment later the black and white creature was barreling through the grape vines. It snarled and bit at the big wolf,  swatting at her in a very bearlike manner. Resin dove out of the way,  more curious than anything, though she did slash reflexively at the beasts face with her steel claws. Blood welled on the bears face and she imagined that it would turn tail and run. But... then the beast turned and rushed at Malalia and that simply wouldn't do.

Malalia trailed alongside the woman, happy to be doing something that wasn’t training for once. She was usually pretty disciplined in her routines, but lately she’d been feeling restless, especially after the whole to-do with Mort. When Resin called her, she’d gone along with the woman without a flicker of hesitation.

The poor girl thought it was going to be a fairly normal day. That was quickly enough corrected when the duo came upon the strangest black and white creature. Mal’s head cocked slightly as Resin paced forward to get a better look, and oh, would you look at that, the bear-thing was barreling right towards them.

“Holy—“ she could barely get a word in edgewise as she leaped out of its path, prickly as a porcupine. She gave the barest check to see if her claws were tightened before diving in after it.

The creature had caught them by surprise, but Mal was still faster, and its initial leap for Resin had given her time to adjust. The small wolf wheeled around, barely dodging the swipe of the thing’s impressive claws as she skidded around to its backside, latching her own blades into the beast’s flank and ripping downwards. It reared up, bellowing in pain before kicking her viciously in the chest, flinging the girl away to tumble into the dirt.

How lovely.

It definitely wasn't the biggest bear...thing... that she'd come across, but it was nasty. As it attacked, she realized that it didn't attack like a typical bear. Yes, it swiped with its wide paws, but it also hunkered down, almost curling its body into a ball at times. As it rushed Malalia, the young wolf dove out of the way. She retaliated with the slash of her claws. Good girl.

As the bear was preoccupied with attack Malalia, the larger of the wolves rushed forward, sinking her teeth into the haunch of the bear. The serrated edges sliced through fur and flesh and the bear groaned and roared, spinning to try and bite her, but it only caught a mouth of the thick, black fur of her ruff. Shaking free, Resin pulled back. Its next bite could have landed had she stayed. With its attention divided, it would be easy for the pair of ladies to pick at the beast until it fled or died.

She'd have some serious bruising, but thankfully the kick hadn't come with claws. As soon as she'd tumbled down, the girl had sprung up again, more guarded this time, a perpetual snarl curling her lips. She might have had claws, now, but it didn't mean she could be reckless with her attacks. Especially with creatures she had no experience fighting with.

Resin had dived in soon after she had, sinking into the bear's haunch. The moment she came free was the moment Mala was shooting forward, and with her claws, the wold scored its flanks along the same bite that the older woman had taken. The bear bellowed in pain, curling in a c-shape to try and reach her, but she was already moving, her canines finding the underside of its right front paw. She dug and tore the soft flesh there in a quick movement, before snaking her head back just as the beast snapped its jaws in the place she'd been. "Ffffffff—!"

Too close. The bear(?) held that paw closer to its chest now -- not quite crippled, no, and she'd be wary of the limb, but she'd definitely scored a good hit.

With Malalia snapping at the bears paw, Resin made her way to the other end. Diving forward, she latched her jaws around the hind leg opposite of the injured front paw. Biting down hard, the woman shook her head violently back and forth, tearing muscle and most likely dislocating the knee. The bear roared and rolled onto its back, jaws and claws flailing wildly as it fought to protect its useless leg. If Malalia pulled its attention, she would be able to dive it and deliver the killing blow. The white of the bear was already turning red from the bites and slashes. She couldn't wait to skin it and keep that strange black and white coat.

Mal vaulted backwards as the beast suddenly flipped onto its back, limbs flailing in the air. It was the turning point in the fight, and adrenaline rushed through the yearling as she circled the animal, looking for an opening. And there again were the wounds they'd rendered on its backside. Mal leaped forward, carefully slashing her claws along each leg, leaping back when the creature snaked its head forward to snap at her, and diving right back in for a different leg, a different section. It roared in frustration, trying vainly to protect its belly while its outer limbs were torn to shreds.

Mal sprang for the opposite forepaw, and bit cruelly into the soft flesh of its pads as she pulled it backwards, almost in a dragging motion. She kept low, ears pinned as the bear-like beast twisted its head to try and reach her.

With her previous attack to the leg of the bear thing, Resin realized that it was a relatively weak creature. It was unfortunate that they would now have to kill it. The damn thing hadn't made an attempt to run though and had just kept on attacking. Most unfortunate. Resin liked to let things go if they had the smarts to retreat. This beast just wasn't very smart.

Malalia kept its attention, biting into another paw. Since the black and white creature was on its back, Resin came in close, her body swaying with the flailing motions until she could get the correct trajectory. Her opening came and the maned woman dove forward. Her big body landed hard upon the bear, which promptly wrapped its arms around her. It couldn't bite, however. Her jaws were latched under its jaw and she bit down hard, feeling the esophagus crumple beneath her teeth. She held on and soon the struggles of the strange bear began to wane. Eventually, it was dead.

Releasing her hold on the corpse, Resin stepped back, wiggling her sore jaws and licking the blood from her lips. She cast a one eyed glance towards Malalia. "Well done," she praised. The pair had worked well together. The girl had used common sense in her attacks rather than trying to show off. She thought before she acted. Mort and Azure could learn a few things from her. "I'm going to skin it if you'd like to help. We can try this strange new meat and head back home." No doubt she would have tales to tell the boys about this odd bear that wasn't a bear.

Mal watched from the corner of her eye as Resin found an opening. She dug her teeth in harder and growled, doing her best the keep the creature's attention on her. And then the warrior dove in, her jaws clamping around the beat's throat. It jerked, vainly attempting to batter the duo away in its last moments. And slowly, inevitably, it stilled. Red began to trickle down its neck, beginning to pool beneath the wound. Malalia removed her fangs from the creature and ran her tongue over her muzzle, breathing heavily.

She was a little rattled at the sudden attack, but shone with pride when Resin praised her, tail waving softly. With the beast dead, she stepped forward to examine it more closely, head cocked and one ear pinned high with curiosity. And then Resin was offering to skin the not-bear, and she smiled. "Sure! I'm down to try some weird meat," she chuckled, and settled down to assist the she-wolf. Mal could always use more practice.

At the girl's enthusiasm, the older wolf nodded and set to work. Using her steel claws, she carefully sliced a V in the corpse's chest. She worked her way down the center of the underside, careful to make her cuts precise and straight now that she had claws again. With this skin, she was going to try to keep the face in tact as well, and so she didn't cut completely around the neck. "If you could slice down the center of the legs while I work on the face, that would be good."

As Malalia worked on the legs, Resin began carefully cutting up the center of the throat and chin. Peeling the pelt back, she used one steel claw to carefully separate the skin from the flesh. She wouldn't process the skin here, but she would take it back with her and let Iolaire do it. Her daughter was much more skilled in the art of tanning and could do this unique pelt justice.

Mal nodded at the instruction, and moved around to the other side of the I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-bear, settling down between its hind legs. She really had very little experience skinning carcasses, but she was a good listener. Malalia raised her left paw and flicked out a single blade from her claws, and carefully worked the sharp tip into the skin of its hindleg. She sliced a steady, even line down the center as Resin had instructed. She then moved to work on the other hind leg, and then each one of its forelegs while Resin worked on the beast's torso. Finishing up, her head tilted slightly as she looked over to the she-wolf, awaiting further instruction.

Peeling the skin back from the face was tedious work. While she continued, the large fae occasionally glanced at her young assistant. She was doing well. "Peel the skin of the hide back as far as you can, then we'll flip it and peel off the rest."

She'd given up on the lower jaw and just removed the fur in line with the cheeks. So the upper portion of the fur would still be there, but the lower jaw would not be. She peeled the skin away from the sides of the neck and the cheeks and started peeling back the legs that Malalia had bisected. Carefully, she used her claws to slice away the tissue that held the fur to the body.

Her tail waved a little when Resin directed her to her next task. She remembered when the Valhallan showed her how to separate the skin from the hide using his forepaw, and here she did the same, to the best of her ability. Carefully as she could, she peeled the skin as far back as she could, digging in her bent forepaw where necessary to work the skin off of the carcass, and using her blades where necessary, copying Resin. Her brow burrowed in concentration as she did the work, and came away with increasingly larger swathes. She snickered softly at the sticky peeling sound as she tugged it free, morbidly fascinated. She didn't think she'd ever get over that.

When it was time to flip, Resin sunk her claws into the carcass and rolled it so that it lay on its stomach. With a nod, she motioned for Malalia to continue doing as she had been. Resin worked on the face from a different angle. Rather than try to skin the ears, she simply sliced them clean off, keeping them attached to the rest of the skin. Soon the face for was completely off of the skin and the woman felt accomplished. Only then did she begin to peel back the rest of the skin that Malalia was working on.

Once the pair had the skin successfully removed, Resin rolled it up, bloody side inward. She would present the fur to Iolaire to process when they returned home. "I suppose we should see what this thing tastes like." Killing the beast and working to skin it had worked up her appetite. Settling upon her stomach by one shoulder, she bit into it, pulling off a strip of meat with her teeth. Chewing, she shrugged lightly. "Not bad."

Once the hide was done, Mal settled down for a moment to take her claws off, and lick idly at the blood on the straps. The best part of skinning a carcass, in her opinion, was that final, satisfying pull after the cuts were made. Mal didn't particularly care for the rest of it; the angles could be awkward at times, and it got to be a little tedious at some points. Maybe she just needed more practice.

As Resin settled for a shoulder, Mal came around to the opposite side, digging her teeth into a haunch and coming away snapping up a tendril of flesh. She wasn't particularly fond of eating other predators, but it was ... surprisingly not bad, as Resin had said. It had a mild flavor, and wasn't quite as rank as she had expected bear meat to sometimes taste.

Then again, it wasn't your average bear. "Have you ever heard about a... a 'bear' like this before?" She certainly hadn't.

Surprisingly enough, Resin also wasn't a fan of eating predators. Their meat always had a strange musty tag to it that she didn't appreciate. This meat, however, tasted more like that of an herbivore. The big woman made a sound of contemplation in her throat before taking another bite. "Interesting," she growled with her damaged vocal chords. This was something that she would eat again, and gladly,

Malalia asked if she'd ever seen or heard of such a thing. "No, I haven't. It's like a bear, but it doesn't smell like a bear. Its blood doesn't taste like bear blood, nor does its meat taste like bear meat." She gave her head a shake, black mane swaying with the action. "I don't know what it is, but it tastes surprisingly good, like it eats plants instead of meat." There was a distinct flavor difference between herbivores and carnivores.

After a time, Resin's stomach was decently filled. Rising, she gave a stretch and shook out her coat. "Are you ready to return?" Picking up the pelt between her jaws, she waited for the girl to answer. If she was ready, they would head on home. Maybe someone there would know what in the hell this thing was.

Mal shrugged. Maybe once they took the pelt back home, someone there could identify the strange creature that wasn't quite a bear. Really, the form of the creature was the only thing it had going for it in that sense -- its taste, coloring, feeding habits, and behavior were distinctively un-bearlike. But hey, at least it tasted alright, its meat even possessed a note of sweetness. Maybe it feasted entirely on those grapes that it had been eating before it attacked them.

What an incredibly dumb creature, she thought absently, to have the gall to attack them, and then refuse to flee when the tables had turned. Not bear-like at all.

After she'd eaten her fill, Mal began to clean the excess blood from her muzzle and paws. Shortly thereafter, Resin was calling it a day. Mal leapt up to her paws with a happy swish of her tail. "Ready when you are."

--exit--