a duck walked up to a lemonade stand

Hunting Seasonal Skill Prompt, Winter - Year 15

So apparently preserved meats were a thing. That was news to Wendigo and it had him stumped. How? How was that possible? It was a problem he had been thinking about for awhile since he had learned about it. There had been one clue that he was clinging to; one clue he thought might be the key to solving this mystery: the meat he'd seen had smelled of smoke. So fire, right? Fire was his favorite. God, he hoped it was fire. It was so much fun and if he could work it into every aspect of his life he would.

Intent on unraveling the mystery Wendigo had gathered the necessary supplies and was now dragging them in a hide towards his favorite lava flow. It was weird; as of late the flows were getting few and far in between, and he wondered if it had anything to do with how quiet the volcano had been. All the more reason to experiment tonight! He reached the flow and was dismayed to find that it was drying up. Granted, when it came to lava flows 'drying up' didn't mean much until it actually stopped and got cold. Since he could see the glow of this one from a distance it was safe to say this one was neither so there was plenty of time! He could experiment for awhile still.

Wendigo stopped a short distance away and threw back the sides of the folded hide. A small mountain of dead critters flopped loose and he looked down on them with satisfaction. He had everything from mice to lizards to birds just in case the fire was picky about the things it preserved. Gathering them had been no small feat; he'd almost had to stay up past sunrise the night before. Thankfully the harsh winter conditions beyond the mountain pushed all sorts of hungry, desperate critters his way. Critters who could be caught with a simple bait and a hole in the ground. Or, his favorite, smashed under a big rock balanced on a stick. In the end his hard work had paid off and he now had lots of little meats to try on the fire.

The first up was a very flat toad. The first victim of a Flattening, the toad was a little stiff and tacky now. Wendigo picked it up with both paws and airplane'd it around for a moment before chucking it into the lava with a gleeful hoot. As expected it promptly burst into flame, blackened and disappeared under a puff of smoke in a matter of seconds. That one had been a sacrifice. He couldn't stand on the edge of a lava flow and not sacrifice something to it. That was just crazy. The next one he'd be serious about.

And the next one was an equally flat lizard. That was going to be a theme among his test subjects. The big rock really was a favorite of his. As this lizard was still squishy Wendigo popped its mouth open and stuck a stick inside. When there was enough stick inside to hold it on there he hefted the stick over the flow and then gently patted it on the surface. Every pat made the lizard hiss and pop, and even from a distance Wendigo could see its legs and tail shriveling up. He carefully flipped the lizard over and patted the other side for even coverage, and then he pulled the stick back to look at his handiwork. The lizard was smoldering but otherwise just looked like any old lizard and not at all like the smoked meats he'd seen. Wendigo slid it off the stick and was dismayed when a string of goo slid out after. Aw, the meat definitely hadn't still been gooey!

Clearly the lizard was bad so Wendigo frisbee'd it into the lava and then rifled around in the dead animal pile for something better. He popped up with a small songbird and an approving "Ha!" This one would be better, he was sure of it.

Holding the stick in his mouth and the bird in his paw, Wendigo sized the bird up in search of a good place to stick the stick. He rolled it around in his paw, checking all his options, and then decided the mouth was probably the best starting point. Like the lizard, he popped its mouth open and inserted the stick. It took some work to get it in far enough but after a beat he was able to heft it up without losing the bird. Thinking that maybe the patting wasn't a good idea, this time Wendigo rammed the bird into the lava. It was in the flow for just a second; in and out in the same motion. Or at least, that's what he wanted. With a dismayed "What!" Wendigo watched as the stick came out birdless. Well that was no good! He poked frantically at the place the bird had been and was treated to a glimpse of what looked like a blackening wing before it disappeared entirely. Well, that one was a goner. "Poop."

Okay, don't poke it all the way in. Message received.

He went back to the pile and pulled out a big fat mouse. The last victim of the pit trap, the mouse was still plump and floppy, and would have made an excellent snack in any other circumstance. It seemed fine to revisit the patting thing since that one at least had ended with meat on a stick.  Like the others the mouse was skewered and then hung out over the flow. Carefully Wendigo lowered it to the surface and gave it one little pat. Much to his delight the fur blackened and singed off immediately. He then held it just above the lava and watched with no small amount of fascination as it continued to smoke and bubble. It gave him hope. Maybe he was onto something. Maybe this was it.

WC: 1,002