You Ever Seen A Dead Body?

As the small healer waits by her tools, she plucks up a small jar that is resting on her makeshift table and deftly opens it. A thick, white paste rests inside and Seere quickly dips her paw pad in to retrieve a generous dollop. The smell of any dead thing is gross and this concoction, of her own making, is a mixture of fragrant mint oils with a small undertone of the sweet floral hints of lavender. Applying the goop to her nose, the girl takes a deep inhale of the strong, sweet oils and waits as they work to naturalize the stench of the dead coyote. A sigh of relief passes her lips as the paste works just as she hoped and the girl makes a mental note to write the recipe down for future use.

Nose crinkles as she focuses, inhaling deeply several times to lodge the good smell in her nostrils before the nasty part that is to come. Saia, her beautiful red and black sister, is quick to answer her call and, as her siblings leans over the dead coyote, voice stating the obvious, Seere smiles. She does not notice her sibling’s sarcastic tone as she offers up the white paste, saying, “Yep! I have to do an autopsy on this thing and I thought you might be interested in seeing everything inside. But first, put this on your nose. It will neutralize the bad smell if you only breathe through your nose.” Waiting for her sister to get a generous mount for her nose and take several deep breathes, the monochrome girl then sets it back on her little work table.

Retrieving a sharp, short knife, she carefully moves to where Saia and the dead coyote. Placing it gently on the ground by the body, Seere looks to her sister and explains, “There have been several coyote attacks on the pack lands and we need to make sure that the increase in attacks isn’t because of some disease.” The winter has been harsh and while it likely the creatures are only hungry, they still need to make sure there isn’t something more sinister going on. With a shrug, she says, “If you are wanted to watch and learn, I would be happy to show you.” Eyes sparkle with excitement at the prospect of teaching again.

Once Saia agrees, the smaller girl explains, “First thing we will need to do is remove the skin.” A grin is flashed at her sister as she adds, “When I open the belly, the guts will fall out. So, watch your paws.” With the warning voiced, the young hear picks up her tool and places a paw on the dead creature’s side. Leaning in, she makes an incision on the inside of each leg and a circle around every ankle that intersects with the cuts. Next, she moves the knife to the throat, creating a cut from the top of the throat all the way down, across the belly to the dead beast’s anus. Sitting back a moment, Seere sets the knife aside and looks to her sister, saying, “Okay, here we go.”

With that, she places her paws on either side and begins to pry open the body cavity, allowing the contents to spill out into the grass. Even with the mint paste on her nose, the healer briefly catches a small whiff of the horrible stench and almost gags. Luckily, she is able to hold her professional demeanor and continues on, calmly removing the spilled entrails from the grass and setting them off to the side for further inspection later. Reaching inside the dead creature, she makes sure to remove everything and places the contents with the rest of the guts. Retrieving her knife from the ground, Seere then lengthens the cuts on the back of the legs until the they meet the incision down the middle.

Moving to where the cut begins at the top of throat, she cuts from one side, around the back of the head until it connects to the other side of the cut. Finally, she moves to the creature’s butt, slicing through the anus, up to where the tail is and makes another circle around the base of the tail. As she works, she explains the process to Saia and clarifies why she is making the cuts where she is making them. With all the incisions made, she sets the sharp knife back on her table and picks up a shorter yet broader one. With the new knife in her jaws, Seere instructions Saia to help her begin pulling off the skin and, together they begin the process of peeling the dead corpse.

The skin begins to come up and off with the horrible sounds of tissues and muscles being separated and the small girl is there to help convince any stubborn areas to release their hold. Once they get the skin off of one side, they roll the coyote to peel off the second side much like the first. Once the skin is completely freed, they move it off to the side and take a small break. Rinsing their paws in a bowl of water, Seere offers Saia more of the paste for their noses. Sniffing a moment, she then offers a smile to her sister as she says, “Hey you’ve never seen a skinned, dead body, right? Here, I want to show you something.”

Moving back to their ‘patient’, Seere picks up one of the dead coyotes front legs and points to the back where the tendons lay, “All animals have similar tendons running down their legs. In a fight, if you take out this one” paw pokes at the thick tendon, “you’ll cripple any creature. See how it makes the paw bend and relax?” To demonstrate, the girl curls the coyote’s paw, the rigidity having long since left the body but it still takes some little effort to bend it. Once the tendon moves, she relaxes the paw, showing how the tendon relaxes with it. Moving her hold on the leg, she then points to the elbow joint, where the tendons and muscles attach, “See the joint? If you crush this spot, you will not only cripple the creature but you’ll inflict a lot of pain.”

There are lessons in everything and, while the pair are meant to be doing an autopsy, the chance to teach with a skinned body is an opportunity that Seere can’t pass up. Moving up to the chest, she points at the muscle that wraps from the shoulder around to the chest, “There is a thick bundle of nerves in here. If you land an attack, it will cause your enemy great pain. Plus, watch what happens when I move the leg.” Picking the leg back up, the girl moves it as if the dead beast is running, curling the paw while she moves the leg. Sure enough, the muscle moves in time with the leg and she cocks a brow at her sister, saying, “Cool, right?”

Moving down to the tail, Seere pulls her sister along with her so that she can teach, “Look at the spine and the tail. Do you see how the muscles extend down into it? That is why, when we sprain out tails, it hurt so much.” A soft chuckle bubbles out before adding, “But look, there are also a lot of veins running through here. Bite off someone’s tail and, if they don’t help, they can bleed to death. Which… is kind of an ouchy way to die.” Shaking her head, the girl moves away from the body to where her little workbench is as she scans her tools. Looking to Saia she asks, “Okay sis! Brain or guts first?” An eyebrow lifts as she waits for the answer, ready to crack open the creature’s skull at a moment’s notice. She stands, waiting, she can’t help but think that she really hopes Saia will chose the brain first.



WC: 1331
Total WC: 2512 / 2500


"Seere Abraxas-Destruction"