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 Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:00 pm
A horn was blown by the chief, he was atop his horse, one of the few horses the village owned. He would be the only one to ride other then the watcher, who in this case was ill so he would either take the job of both or find someone else to do it.
He blew the horn a second time, he would do it three times as tradition went and then on the fourth the dogs would be realeased. It always went the same way each time. Traditions he had been taught by his father continued over generations and generations.
The cheif looked down from his skewbald stalion. He was a picture to look at and then there was the chief ontop with his various piercings and feathers that he worse, his cloak floating down his back and his piercing eyes watching as some of the females attempted to make themself look more male, it happened on every hunt.
"All men we must go, We shall leave at sunset and go for a few miles. I have heard rumours of some pups playing not too far from here and I am sure the dogs will track them down. Females I can see your game, if you are caught coming you will have 10 lashes. You are warned." His voice was old and sounded grumpy even though this was him when he was enthusiastic!
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:16 am
Bat, an unlit cigarette hanging from his jaws, glances over over the gathering to pick out the faces of the people he'll be working with over the hunt. His own dogs, rarely penned, almost constantly on his side, quiver with every blast of the horn. Not with fear but antisipation. Half mastiff, they make excelent 'driving' dogs, driving animals before them into traps or into the hands of the hunters. His revolver hangs at one hip, and his empty knife sheath (since he'd offered the blade to Asad) hangs at the other, and both arms are draped over the rifle he carries slung like a water-bucket pole over his shoulders. He doubts he'll need or use it for this, but the same as any many here carrying a weapon, it's much better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:23 am
"I bet I catch one first." Asad said as he bumped his shoulder roughly against Bat upon entering the hunting party. He still had the man's knife but held a spear just to get some range between him and any dogs that might get a bit too close for his comfort, "A good time for a hunt, those woman are driving me insane... any more blabbering about being a voo-doo seer or how miserable life is and I was ready to skin -them-." He made a popping sound with his lips, looking over his spear.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:29 am
Bat grunts noncomittaly, ignorning the thump on his shoulder. "Tell me about it. I'd like to give that little hoodoo wanna be a thump on the ear..." He muttered. "Get used to it though, women are just like that. Less sense in their head then a ball of fluff. Worse they're always trying to get you to settle down and go be nice to their mother, or the european ladies who faint all the time. Something just WRONG with that...."
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:30 am
The chief looked over them all and deided he would be the watcher, his sight may not be as good as it use to be but that was life. "To all my boys, the ones who can hunt, for those who have hunted before and those who are yet to do so. This is for your wives, or those to come as without them, we would all die." He let a smile cross his face at these words, "This hunt especially is deidcated to my own wife as we are getting old and she has served me well even though we have no children to call our own. So this hunt is for her." He then looked out at the lands and smiled. "I hope you are all ready." He then took the horn to his lips and blew for the fouth time.
((people can still join just want to get the hunt underway!))
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:32 am
"I'm glad I'm not Euro...een...", He sneered at the word, not quite getting it right but it didn't matter, "Anyway, I'd rather have my face torn off than be wed to one of them. Any children will surely get their insanity and I can imagine the one playing "I'm the seer" with me to get her way and the other crying and whining until I tire of her wailing."
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:46 am
Bat nudges Asad with his elbow to direct the boys attention back to the chief for now. "Better look for one you can stand then, or think of a real good reason you won't get married." He notes, out of the corner of his mouth. "This is why I'm glad I'm not you, boy."
Snick and Snap jump to their feet, tounges lolling with exitement, waiting to be given the command to bolt off ahead and stir up the quarry.
To the man's wife then, good woman. He did suppose there were a rare few women out there who didn't screech and moan about their lot in life, like they could do something about it, it was like a chicken complaining it wasn't born a fish. Still, they were DAMN hard to find it felt like, and Bat King didn't picture himself being crammed into a starched shirt and showed off to some old tea-sucking crab woman who disaproved of him on every level. That just wasn't HIM. Nah, he was a batchelor through and through, a whiskey drinking, gun toting, book scornin' son of an sidewinder. Leave the marriage stuff to little nervous accountant types who couldn't say no.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:54 am
"Yeah yeah...", he grumbled, tucking the spear under an arm as he worked to set the knife in his belt. He would use it if something got past his spear or if he lost his spear but it was horribly difficult to weild a polearm with only one hand, "I don't like the woman here, they are too fussy... I watch them with their husbands and the men become servants to squeeling girls, even if they hit them to make them stop they only cry more. I wish the cheif didn't make us get with them. I'd rather just be like you and not get a wife- they're just distracting."
This didn't go to say that he wasn't used to the idea of children getting married, Bat was far too old to get married now in his opinion and that was probibly why he wasn't. How that came along he still didn't understand, it was unheard of to just say no to being wed.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:07 am
"Guess you're gonna have to learn to do all your own cookin and cleaning and all that womens work then huh?" He teases. He can hire someone to do his cleaning for him when he visits the camps around the railroad, but out here theres no one to get to do that sort of thing. "Women are just fussy, thats all there is to it. Ya just gotta find one who's fussy you can put up with. Or stay outa the house a lot. Maybe both." He says as he starts walking, giving a short sharp whistle to Snick and Snap, who lunge out ahead with strange excited grumbling noises as the party starts to move.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:20 am
"Or a mute." He chuckled, walking along after the man as the party moved out. "Blah blah... this is for my wife- we've had no children together but this is for her. What a load of elephant dung." He rolled his shoulders a bit, "I'm sure it wasn't her idea."
He eyed the dogs as they moved out, smirking over to Bat one second before bolting after them. He wanted to be first there- that'll show the cheif. He was sure this time he'd know how to handle himself just right.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:27 am
Bat lets him charge off, trusting Snick and Snap to keep him out of trouble...and to drag him back if he gets too far ahead and into trouble. Maybe it's just experience but he thinks there's something more to this than 'elepant dung'. The chief was getting up there, especially for around these parts, and he didn't have any children. Where did that leave things when he bumped off?
Snick and Snap glance back at the small, lean hunter running behind them, 'grinning' pointily. This thing is not pack, too slow, not alpha, but it tries. Maybe it can flush some game as well? Who knows...
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:55 pm
Abasi watched then from afar, his arms crossed. He gripped his bow tightly in one hand a small dagger on abelt in his right side. A quiver of arrows on his back. This was going to be an interesting hunt. He spat a dry twig out of his mouth and walked up to where the other were, ready to go.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:34 am
The chief urged his horse forward as the rest of the dogs went flying past. He wasn't hunting, not today he had things to watch out for to see how people act and react. His lack of children had caused a horrible problem, he had adopted the young girl but she was being brough up in teh chants and rituals of the village, she couldn't possibly take on rulership, no he needed a boy who was willing and he was hoping this hunt would show him one.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:09 pm
Bat slows his step faintly, but only long enough for the rest of the dogs to roll past like a wave. However ungainly they might look, whatever their mixed breeding, there was always something incredible about watching them run. Just something eerie enough to make you remember that they weren't more than a few paces from wolves, and that the dirty cur on the side of the road with all it's ribs showing might be no less dangerous than the pack of yellow eyed wolves that cornered you in a mountain pass...or the hyena's with their eerie cackle out here.
He whistles out to Snick and Snap, not to call them back to his side, but to encourage them to slow their pace, and then a second whistle, to have them branch out, and start trying to start up their prey, or to catch a scent. No good them getting tired out early, and no good either if they missed a scent because they were too caught up in the act of running.
Abasi....now that boy knew what he was doing. He didn't have something to prove like Asad did, that would be a good one for the younger boy to take a lesson or two from. He'd probably get hurt less.
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:58 pm
Abasi waited for the dogs fo find any sight of anything, stringing his bow and following the hounds quietly. He was sure tht this hunt was one that would that would be succesful, it was a feeling and rang in his gut. His feet brushed swiftly against the ground as he ran after the dogs.
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