Straighten Up Little Soldier

Allegro drew closer to the den he shared with his children and paused for a moment, dropping the doe he was pulling back into the pack lands with a sigh. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck a bit to work out the kinks that were forming in his muscles before going to pick up the doe again by the neck. The doe had been a lucky hunt considering how suddenly winter had come upon them and how quickly the snow was beginning to build around them.

He felt like the shift from fall to winter was usually a bit more gradual, but this year the cold had swept in chilly and bitter seemingly right off the bat. Of course he also knew that his sensitivity to the cold was perhaps a little higher than some given the ache he usually felt in his formerly broken leg and the age that was quickly creeping up on him and his joints. The joints in his feet and toes in particular were particularly achey as he trudged through the layer of snow that had built over night and it made him realize that he was going to have to cut down on some of the hunting he usually did. He couldn't afford to hurt himself doing all of this when he had pups relying on him. He had a feeling that if he did get hurt Aranea would surely come to help care for their pups while he recovered, but he didn't want to but that on her either. He had committed to caring for them and so he would.

As he reached his den and dropped his kill again, his son's voice made his ears perk and he lifted his eyes to see his little pup sized twin bouncing over to him. Balthier's energy made him smile and his tail wag gently behind him. All of his children were precious to him, but Balthier in particular had a secret soft spot in his heart. He had been the only one of his own litter to carry those distinctive golden swirls from his mother and now they had been passed on to Balthier as well. The memories of his mother grew more and more faint as the years went by, but he had always been proud of being able to carry on those unique markings - especially after visiting with his mother's family and getting to hear the history and significance behind them. As his son bounced around him, requesting a lesson of some sort, Allegro laughed lightly and grinned. "Alright, alright! I think I know just the thing."

He turned to the doe that he had brought back for them and he knew that he was going to need to make it last as long as possible. He knew they always had Abaven's store of food to fall back on as well, but he did like to provide for his pups himself as much as possible. It was a point of pride for him despite the fact that his body sorely disliked the work he put it through on a daily basis to do so. This was a fairly big kill for him and four small pups so as long as they made the most of it he could make it stretch for quite a few days at least. Plus the hide itself would be great to have as an additional fur to line their den. "I need to start breaking down and preserving this doe so we can actually enjoy it," he told Balthier, shifting his eyes from the kill at his feet over to his son. "We'll have to carefully remove all of the hide so we can use it for other things and then we'll need to pull off all the meat into pieces that are small enough to dry them into jerky. It's going to be a lot of work, but it'll be a lot more fun with your help." He smiled and went over to Balthier's side, giving his son a playful bump with his nose on the boy's gold-marked shoulder.

"But first, we need to thank nature and this doe for nourishing us and allowing us to use all of these things." It was something he had learned from his mother and had fallen back into the habit of after living with her family for a few seasons. He wouldn't push that belief, or any belief for that matter, on his children, but he thought it was a nice lesson to learn either way. They wouldn't be able to survive without these prey animals existing in the world so it only seemed fair to at least thank them for their lives and treat them with a bit of respect. He gave Balthier a little nod toward the doe for him to say his thanks before he smiled and went around to the doe's throat.

"I like to start here because it's a little easier to skin the animal if you make a separation around the neck and around all the legs. Could you go in the den and get the stone knife that's on the shelf across from our bed? Be very careful, it's sharp! Only hold it by the leather part." It was little more that a long shard of rock that he had taken the time to sharpen and wrap one end in leather to make it easier to hold, but it made it much easier to get the skinning process started at least and make incisions in the otherwise tough skin.

wc: 930
total wc: 1219/1500

Walk | "Talk" | think