OOC. This thread immediately follows Crocodile Dundee.

When he laid down to rest after the round of vicious effort, there wasn't much he could do to ward off the embrace of unconsciousness. He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been out, but when he resurfaced, the sun had noticeably shifted a little lower into the sky. Stretching his jaws in a yawn, he slowly pulled himself upright, blinking back the sleep from just moments ago in a valiant attempt. It took a moment for his attention to return to the crocodile and its hoard of slain offspring that he and Sephiran murdered earlier that afternoon.

Casually approaching the large reptile carcass on hazy limbs, he couldn't help but notice the odor of death had already begun to set it. Not that it was easy to move while it was still alive, but he was sure that it had become even more stiff by the time he had come back around to inspect it. He spent a few moments hunting for a fairly good size rock, and when he found one suited for the task he had in mind, he kicked it toward the face of the beast. With careful paws, he forced its mouth open to get a better look at its teeth. But instead of having to hold it himself, he shoved the small boulder inside to keep the jaws propped open. Spaced out relatively evenly, the crocodile had very long, and very sharp teeth that he couldn't help but wonder if he could put to use. As he examined the connection of bone to bone, his mind raced- trying to come up with a practical way to apply the given resources that could benefit him in a fight.

Like Aresenn, the Saxe boy had fallen into a deep slumber after exerting more energy than he was used to. Killing the mother had taken a lot out of him, but taking the time to slaughter her offspring had left him feeling exhausted. He woke up several hours after the event, not much later than his… companion? Or whatever the other boy had started to become. It was quite uncommon for Sephiran to spend so much time with someone who wasn’t part of his family. But if he wanted to build his own kingdom, he would need to build relationships with others, he supposed. Even if they were superficial and disposable.

For a while he lay there, listening to the sounds around him, debating on getting up or falling back asleep. And when he heard what sounded like Aresenn messing with the croc’s dead body, he felt the need to intrude. After stretching and shaking the dirt from his pelt, he walked over to the boy who had shoved a rock in the croc’s mouth. He appeared to be studying its mouth, and Sephiran wanted to know why. He cast an expectant glance at the boy, figuring he would explain himself.


"Speech"

Coming to the decision that he would make an effort to try and harvest at least some of the teeth, he searched the surrounding area for another fairly large rock. Scoping the surrounding area with a panning glance, It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. But before he could leave to go pick it up, he was met with Sephiran's inquiring eye. The Saxe boy didn't ask any questions- he didn't have to. It was written all over his expression. So after he cast a glance towards the other boy through his peripherals, he cleared his voice to speak. "I bet its teeth would make a great weapon in a fight ..." Aresenn mused out loud.

Without waiting for confirmation from the other boy,  he went to go gather his second rock, quickly returning with it and dropping it into place.  With a brief moment spent aligning it with one of the longest teeth, he swiftly applied as much force as he could with a single kick. Echoed the sound of a satisfying fracture, the tooth snapped out of its socket. With a single swipe of his paw, he drew the broken fang out of the Croc's mouth. It tumbled out on the ground between the two boys, giving them a clear view of it. Aresenn admired how cleanly it broke, making it that much easier to imagine them attached to his bracers that he had made from the bear leather.

It wasn’t surprising to him that the boy was conjuring up ways to use the carcass. He was resourceful, which had been proven when he made the bracers out of the bear pelt. He thought back to the bear, and how they should have taken its teeth and claws too… Because Aresenn was right, their strong fangs could make good weapons. “And the hide would make strong armor.” He also mused, right before Aresenn walked away. Sephiran didn’t follow him. Why would he put in more effort than he had to, if the other boy was willing to do it for him?


He also stood back and watched Aresenn use the rock and a swift kick to fracture the bone, causing it to splinter and a fang to pop out. He studied it with Aresenn, impressed with how it hadn’t broke into pieces when popping out. “You get the teeth, I’ll work on the hide.” He instructed, even though the other boy didn’t need it. He was working on his own agenda anyways. So, while Aresenn worked on gathering the teeth, he spent time peeling the hide away from the muscle, which was much harder than it had been with the bear given its rougher texture.

When Sephiran pointed out that the hide would make strong armor, Aresenn thought for a moment, before slowly nodding in agreement. It would make very strong armor. But he had never worked with crocodile flesh before. He couldn't help but wonder how easily it was manipulated. But from the sound of it, that sounded like it was going to be the other boy's job. His task was going to be to continue to punch out the remaining teeth. Sephiran seemed to share a similar thought process as he made a similar demand. The Praetor boy grunted in acknowledgment- not the 'instruction' he was given played any part in his decision-making process. However, he would harvest more teeth than he wanted for Seph to use if he chose to do so.

After the first few, Aresenn slipped into a rhythm. Realigning the stone, and then punching out the tooth. Not all of them broke as cleanly as the first one- some of the smaller ones refused to budge from their place in the crocodile's jaw at all. But when it was all said and done, he had collected a nice pile of ivory spikes to be used however they wanted.

While Aresenn worked on his task, Sephiran completed his. It took a lot of effort to peel the hide away from the muscle. And, he had to be strategic with how he cut it away from the muscle too, so that the hide would be large enough to create bigger pieces of armor, should they want that. He was already thinking of how he would want to use the hide. Would it cover his chest? Or his underbelly? Maybe the back of his neck? Either way, he wanted to make sure he had two pieces of hide large enough for both of them to use. He was only willing to share with Aresenn, because he was collecting the teeth for him to use.


He remembered how Aresenn had treated the bear hide by dipping it in the water. So, once Sephiran had finally peeled the skin off, he dragged it to the cove where they had found the crocodile. Wading into the shallow part, and having stepped on and over the dead bodies the babies, he washed away the sinew and blood from the hide. And, once it was rinsed thoroughly, he drug it back onto the shore and laid it down directly in the sun, with the fleshy part up.


"Speech"

While he absently observed Sephiran as he cleaned the hide to prevent the skin from rotting, he was entirely absorbed in his mind how they could best use this material to their advantage. It didn't take him long to come up with an idea. Clearing his throat, he drew his voice to get the other boy's opinion. "What do you think about putting the teeth in a band that goes around your neck?" Aresenn proposed. While it wouldn't be something that he'd wear all the time, it might come in handy during a fight. "That way, if someone tried to grab your neck or throat, they'd get a mouthful of spikes instead?" He added, explaining his logic. Without waiting for further response from Sephiran, he slowly began organizing the teeth in a pattern- alternating between larger teeth, and smaller teeth.

They would need to find an adhesive, maybe some tree sap to keep everything still while it set ... but if they cut the band, and shoved the teeth through the skin, and folded it in half ... he was sure that the spikes would be supported enough to hold, especially as the leather shrunk as it dried.

After having set the hide out to dry, Sephiran rounded over to Aresenn to check on his work. He had all of the teeth removed from the top and bottom jaw, and had collected them in a pile. He mentioned something about making a band with the teeth, so that attackers would get a mouth full of them, if they tried to attack his neck. He lulled the idea over for a bit, not completely impressed by the idea at first. One one hand, his ego told him he didn’t need something so ridiculous, and that he could ward off an attacker without having to worry about his throat. On the other hand, his grandiosity told him he deserved a perk that would further set him apart from the lesser wolves. Something only gods deserved.


With a huff, he finally responded with, “And how would you make that?” He was trying to think of ways to make such an item, to determine if the idea was even feasible. He thought back to how Aresenn had taught him to make the toe holes in the bracers. He assumed this would be a similar process, just with shoving the teeth through holes instead of their toes.

He wasn't surprised when Seph asked how such a thing could be made. Truthfully he didn't know. However, he did have a working concept, he just wasn't sure how successful it would end up being. "If we double the band in width, insert the teeth through one half, and then fold it over- that would give the teeth backing," Aresenn explained, doing his best to illustrate the vision in the back of his mind. But then he came back to the adhesive part. Quickly looking around, he spotted some palm trees a bit further down the beach. "We'd need some sap from those trees to keep everything together while it dried." But that wouldn't be hard. Sap was like what trees bled ... a swipe or two with their claws should yield plenty of results.

The band would still be on the flimsy side. But then he thought of some of the equipment the Pirates had raided. There were some pieces that had obsidian incorporated- glassy rock that was formed from cooled lava. "In time, maybe it could be sealed with a couple of drops of lava from Mount Volkan ..." He mumbled, finishing his thought out loud.

Looking towards the flesh that Sephiran had managed to pull off the carcass, he would move on to his next question. "How tough is it to tear?” Aresenn asked, gesturing to the hide.

Aresenn’s idea wasn’t half bad, especially his thoughts on how they could bind the material. Drops of lava became hard and nearly indestructible when they dried up, which would make the makeshift collar even worse to bite if used as a defense tactic. He wasn’t aware that there was a volcano nearby. Having someone who had already lived on this continent, and knew where they could gather any of the materials they needed. It made Sephiran’s life a lot easier.

And when he asked how tough the hide was to tear, he couldn’t help but cackle. “See for yourself.” He said, gesturing for Aresenn to follow him over to the hide. He grabbed a small chunk, and using his paws to hold it down, he tugged with all of his might several times before a small tear appeared. He kept pulling until a strip long enough for the collar finally tore away. Which left him panting, trying to catch his breath.

"Speech"

Aresenn took the lack of immediate refusal to be a positive sign- or at least a sign of mild interest. But when he asked to see how difficult it was going to be to even make a collar, he was answered with Sephiran’s chuckle- an invitation to see for himself. However, he didn’t have to. Watching the Saxe boy fight to tear a strip of it nearly exhausted him just watching. “Great.” He said in an annoyed tone. Even if they were able to get strips free … how were they going to pierce the teeth through … it was then his amber gaze settled on Seph’s elongated canines. Maybe that would be a job for his saber-toothed coconspirator.

Once the hide became free, Aresenn set to the labor of tearing his strip free. Standing on the majority of it with his front paws just as the other boy had, he tore and ripped at the reptilian flesh. Every single inch put up a considerable fight. It seemed that he struggled for a very long time when he finally had the strip free. When it finally slip into two separate pieces, he immediately let his band fall to the ground. Taking a couple of strides away to allow his breathing to return to normal, and the blood flow to return to his head. That was way more difficult than it needed to be.

He took several moments to catch his breath after exerting more energy than should have been necessary. But, given how tough and thick the croc’s hide was, there wasn’t any way around tugging it until it tore. He watched in silence as Aresenn worked on his own strip of flesh, but quickly became bored of it. Once he regained most of his energy, he turned his attention back to the strip of flesh he had torn away. He inspected it, thinking of how far apart he would need to make the holes to stick the teeth through.

Picking up the strip, he carried it over to the pile of teeth Aresenn had collected. He set it down and compared the length to the number of teeth. There was more than enough teeth to make two collars from, and they all seemed equal in size. Using a single toe, he counted out about a dozen holes he would need to make. Luckily for him, he had his long, hazardously sharp saber teeth, which would make punching out the holes much easier. Using his paws to stabilize it, he started to make the holes, carefully placing them equal length apart.

"Speech"

When he finally collected himself, he gathered the strip of hide and trailed behind Sephiran to the pile of teeth that he harvested earlier. However, he left the strip, and continued on to a nearby palm tree- clear intention present in his stride. Examining it a moment, he could see where in some of its crevices a faint shimmer- an indication of sap, which was exactly what they were going to need to hold the leather together as it dried. Aresenn leaned up against the trunk with both arms extended, and began to violently rake his claws against the bark in an attempt to expose the inner tree. When he began to feel his paws getting sticky, he stopped. Leaning in for a closer look, the beads of tree amber were already beginning to well. Satisfied with the result, Aresenn quickly glanced around, his gaze landing on a palm leaf that must have recently fallen as it was still green and flexible. Picking it up, he returned with it to the rubbing he had made, only to plaster it over the wound in an effort to collect as much of the adhesive as he could. The Praetor boy gently smeared the leaf against the tree until he felt he had enough of a collection for two collars. Once he was finished with his task he returned, setting the leaf aside to apply the teeth into his own band.

Once everything was situated, he ripped off a piece of the leaf and coated the inner flesh with it, making sure it was going to be tacky when the application was finished. When an adequate amount of the sap had been added, he gently folded the band in half- applying as much of his weight as he could muster to ensure the two sides boded. Once he felt that it was safe enough to let it dry, his attention shifted up to his associate. "There is going to be a yearling party at Obsidian Beach, open to guests. It sounds dumb, but there will be plenty of booze there. You could meet some of the other pirates as well." Aresenn mused aloud, not really caring if the other boy came or not. Though, he thought that Sephiran might like the free drinks at the very least.

It took a while to finish puncturing all the holes he wanted, and even longer to shove the crocodile teeth into each one. It was slightly easier to make the hide and teeth adhere to each other with the sap Aresenn had collected from a nearby tree. After that step, their new battle accessories were nearly completed. They just needed to add the finishing touches by taking it over to the volcano Aresenn had mentioned earlier. They had just set out the collars to dry, when Aresenn said something Sephiran wasn’t expecting. He was inviting him to his parklands, to participate in some party that would have booze. This caught his interest, not only because he was interested in what the pirate pack was like. But also, he wanted to know what booze was. It was a different term than what he was used to, but he made an assumption that it must be similar to the sour-tasting liquid his family made back home… the one that made him feel really good.

“I might take you up on that offer,” He mused back, lips contorting into a sneer as he thought about how a night like that might play out. “If there are women to go with the booze.” Gruff, snarky laughter bubbled from his mouth, as he glanced at Aresenn before turning to pick up his collar. He didn’t feel the need to announce his departure. They would meet again, if he decided to show up to this… party.

-exit-

"Speech"