Lost Lunch (Streams of Silver x Half Truth)

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"Dragons? Sheesh, I thought I had my hooves full with a cave worm. My kid's an acha, and I made a point of talking to a bunch of them to find out about their traditions so that if Changes- that's my son, Time May Change Me, but everyone just calls the kid Changes because that's a mouthful- ever wanted to reconnect with his roots, I'd at least have a starting point and know some kin for him to talk to. But all of his, I guess you'd call them half-siblings, sorta, are kimeti. It's all kimeti with the one acha- but my girl and her kids really like poetry and theatrics, so they've bonded over that." She squeezed again as the cave worm tried to pry loose from her legs. "You've been a great help, you know? I'm really sorry we had to meet because a cave worm tried to steal your carcass, but I'm not sorry in the least that we met!"  

[Anhelisk]

Streams chuckled. "Maybe we'll meet again, without this dead weight coming between us," she replied cheerfully. She saw a goodbye coming– and frankly, she was fairly certain that worm wouldn't give up until it had a meal.

"Cattie? Fetch the boar down, will you?" The canine whined a little uncertainly, but at the lack of further instruction, started to unhook the boar from the bough she'd trapped it on... and let the carcass fall to the ground.

"It'll probably settle down after it's eaten– and we can take down something fresher," she said. "You take care, now." With that farewell, the doe started walking– and her muskie followed soon after.  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Gratitude beamed across Half Truth's face as the boar fell. She let the worm go and it streaked across the ground, its many, many legs moving in a flurry. "Well, now we have to meet again, because I'm not letting this go unreplaced! I'll bring you something in return- after my son comes back and retrieves his worm. What's your tribe called? I'll come find you!"

She found herself liking the doe quite a bit, and it was always nice to know where friendly kin were. She watched as they retreated, trying very hard not to look at the worm as it ate. She didn't want to be put off her feed.

Which left the problem of the cave worm. How to get it home?

Groaning as she knew what would work best, Half Truth heaved the carcass onto her back. The worm made an awful screeching sound as she started to head for home. Ugh. How did it even do that? It might not want to listen to her, but it'd listen to its own hunger- even a cave worm was motivated by a good meal!