The discovery of the river...
Who: Kenneth and Jasper What: Discoveries When: Early morning Where: In the Sweetgrind Plains Rating: PG, I'm sure
Jasper had gotten her sleep requirements for the night - they were minimal at best, anyway, and now she was sitting on the branch beside where Gibson was sleeping, chewing on a stalk of the sweetgrind grain that as so abundant in the area. The sky was lightening up in false dawn, and the laughers were just on their way to leaving. Where she'd been stung had blistered up, and felt much better today, they just looked nasty and itched a little bit, but no big deal anymore. "Kenneth. Ken. Wake up. Laughers are leaving. We're going to have to haul ass. Wake up." She took the stalk out of her mouth and poked him with it.
Ken nodded, "I'm awake. Been up for a bit." He stretched then watched the laughers slinking off. "Need to find a grazer first. Once we bag one, we'll be off and let the others break it down while we explore." He gathered his stuff from the near by branches then climbed down the tree he was in. "You ready to do some tracking, sport?"
"Huh. Yuh-huh." Apparently less concerned about her personal health and safety, Jasper jumped out of the tree into a roll that kept her from breaking any bones by dispersing the impact. She got to her feet and dusted herself off. "I know where we'll find a couple - come on, I'll show you."
"Really? You've already been out?" He gave her a disapproving look. "We're supposed to stay in at least pairs, Jasper. You know the reasons for that." He shouldered his pack and guns, getting everything settled into place before he fell into step next to Jasper. "Lead the way."
"Cha. No. I didn't want to set foot on the ground before our hyena friends left. I ain't daft. I just went to the top of the tree." Jasper grinned to herself. "Wasn't beasties there earlier, might not be there now, but when I tripped over it there were a lot of prints around and not laughers, and animals tend to stick with what they know." She paused, and added philosophically: "People too."
And she continued on, occasionally crouching down and examining the ground before continuing on, and eventually ending up at the hummabee mound she'd tripped over before. "Watch yourself around the little birds; they're mean."
"Didn't think you were that stupid," Kenneth agreed as they moved through the trees and out into the grassland. It was early just post dawn and dew covered the grass. In moments, Kenneth was soaked from the knees down, but he barely noticed. "I remember," he agreed when she mentioned the birds. His eyes scanned the horizon and he reached out to tap her arm then pointed as a small herd appeared heading straight for them.
Kenneth placed a finger to his lips then crouched down in the grass and waited. He glanced at Jasper, hoping she could be still long enough for the herd to get close enough for a clean kill. Kenneth didn't want to waste any bullets if he didn't have to.
While she was less concerned about wasting bullets - they'd run out eventually anyway - Jasper did shut up and stay still. At least until she saw one of the herd creeping up to the mound of angry birds, thump it with a hoof, and start running like all hell with the little green birds turned into little red birds and started chasing it. The others trotted up to the mound like nothing and started to lick it. Jas eyed the behavior curiously, then looked at Kenneth and shrugged in a 'now or never' sort of way.
Why were they licking the mound? Kenneth had no clue, but he watched as the one that had kicked it took off running. There, that one would be better. He'd be able to take it down without spooking the others. He sighted along the gun and waited quietly until it came within range, still leading the birds on a merry chase apparently just close enough that they wouldn't give up the protection duty. As soon as the grazer got close enough, Kenneth let one shot fly, catching the animal in the middle of it's broad forehead.
Immediately it stumbled and went down. Kenneth glanced at Jasper and nodded. It didn't feel right killing an animal like that, but they needed it and Kenneth gave a swift, silent prayer of thanks.
While the bloody little birds flitted around confused (usually what they were chasing didn't randomly die on them), Jasper let Ken tend to the kill. She was more interested in the birds' mound, because it was different and unusual. Moving slowly, though she figured out that the animals didn't really give a damn about her just because she was smaller then them and also they'd never seen anything like her before, she wandered into the herd, to the mound, and licked whatever it was that the grazers were licking curiously.
At the sudden realization of what was going on, Jasper walked slowly back out of the herd and to Ken. "So what do horses, cattle, camels, and big ugly beasties all enjoy in their fields? I'll give you a hint. They lick them."
Kenneth was aware that Jasper wasn't behind him, but he figured she could take care of herself. He rested his hand on the large animals neck, but it was already dead and the birds didn't seem to know what to make of him since he hadn't attacked their hive. They flitted around a bit before taking off.
He was trying to figure out how to get the animal dressed out when Jasper appeared. "I don't know. What do they enjoy," he asked distractedly. That was..a big beast.
"Salt licks." Jasper grinned, then she eyed the grazer thoughtfully. "You ever dress an animal before?"
"Small ones when I was starving. Think we should grab the others? They can get started on this and we can explore." Kenneth looked at the mound again and was surprised to see another grazer walking over to them. "Uh...the salt is a good perservative and I think we're getting company."
The grazer walked over and nudged the dead one with it's nose then waited and nudged again. Kenneth backed up a few steps and looked at Jasper.
"I think you killed it's friend." Jasper said dryly. "In a way it doesn't understand, anyway. Come 'ere, bud. That's not a good thing to poke at." She lightly pushed its nose away and it obediently backed away for a moment. "Well, I can field dress a deer so I think I can start field dressing this, if you can get the others." She frowned when the other grazer started nudging the dead one again, and pursed her lips. "Hm."
Kenneth was all about letting people take charge when they knew what they were doing. He was a little put off by the clearly distressed grazer and it only got worse when it laid down and lowed in a sound that well...sounded like a mourning cow. "Damn it." Kenneth sighed, "Do you have a knife?"
"Nope. I assumed you had one." Jasper eyed the really sad grazer speculatively. "What's his name - Thorne. He wanted to catch one, right? Well. I don't think you can get more captured than this."
Pulling his out, he flipped it, caught the blade and handed it to her handle first. "Be careful and avoid bone. I don't have a sharpener for it. I'll fetch the others. " Turning, Kenneth trotted back toward camp. Well, that was the first part of the mission....now for the second.
"Go with Kenneth, boy! Go on!" She pointed at Kenneth and the grazer stopped its bleating and looked at her. "Go on!" She encouraged. Of course, the grazer wasn't trained for that kind of nonsense, but it did get to its feet. She pushed it lightly in Kenneth's direction while she took the knife. "I need to get it bled out and the organs out of the way before it bloats and taints the meat. Take the furball with you so it doesn't try to kick me when I gut his bud... er... I mean her bud, okay?"
"Uh..I'm not really good with animals. Better leave it with you and I'll be right back," he called over his shoulders before he was out of earshot. No way did he want that thing following him. Besides, the sooner they got the others working on the animal, the sooner they could head further east.
Of course, because that was how luck turned out, the Grazer started following Kenneth anyway, much to Jasper's amusement. Go, Grazer, go. She wondered if Kenneth would even notice. "You and I," she told the dead one, "better get you cleaned up before Thorne gets here. He looks like the delicate, sensitive type."
LATER THAT DAY
"I dunno. That Thorne guy looked like he knew what he was doing with the meat, but I'm not sure about the other ones..." Jasper shrugged, pacing herself slower than usual to let Kenneth keep up - personally, she thought he was far too loaded down to be any good with the running thing at all. But that was just her opinion, and she hoped he wouldn't get, like, heat stroke or something. They were heading further east, to see what there was. "Think they'll be okay?"
"I think they'll be fine. Thorne was farm raised, he knows what he's doing and the padre seems okay. Cross...he and I have other issues." After what happened the last time, there was no fucking way Kenneth was letting his pack out of sight. He jogged along beside her at an easy pace. He wasn't a racer, but Kenneth was used to steady jogs and heavy packs. "We should keep an eye out for water."
Jasper nodded, pursed her lips, and veered off slightly because there was a large rock peeking out of the grass that she could get up on and look around from the top off easily enough. "Gonna climb up there, take a look around above the grass. Need a break? I can take my time with it."
Kenneth just smirked. "I'm fine, scout. You take a look and catch up when you're done." He kept right on jogging along at his steady pace, sweat beading his forehead then running down his face. As fast as he was going, he could keep that pace for a full day pretty easy. He'd be tired as all fuck tomorrow though.
Jasper nodded and went towards the rock, not bothering to hid her presence from anything in the grass. And up the rock she went. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she peered around. "Wide river, dead ahead! Tree copse across from it!" She called to Kenneth, who, she was pleased to note, was actually getting further then she thought he would.
He raised a hand to show he'd heard her then veered toward the only copse he could see. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard her coming up. "How wide? Any clue?" He didn't slow down at all as he checked his watch. They'd been going about three hours. Another hour and he'd start pushing Jas to head back.
"Big." Jasper said dryly. Rivers were notoriously hard, in her line of work, to judge distance across because they tended to change. "We should get there soon. Looked pretty deep, too."
Nodding, Kenneth matched his pace to hers and as they jogged through the grasslands. The sweetgrind, as it was being called, seemed to stretch out endlessly and Kenneth occasionally snapped a head off and chewed on the grains as they ran. When they reached the edge of the river, Kenneth stopped, shrugged his pack off and walked to the edge. The land was mostly flat with the occasion low rolling hill and the banks of the river were a fine grain dirt that showed it would flood quite a bit higher. Just another sign that it was likely fall on this planet.
The water was very clear, no silt suspended in it. He cupped some in his hand and tasted it. If he had to judge, he'd say the river was at least seventy yards across. The current was decently strong, although not fast. He picked up a stick and tossed it in, watching as he floated downstream. "Doesn't look like too bad a swim," he said quietly. Not that they had time to do so now.
"Maybe not for us." Jasper agreed thoughtfully. Not that she was sure about anyone else, especially not the injured and the pregnant chick. She scrubbed a hand over her face. Looking north, she traced the river as far as she could see it, and her eyes were drawn to the mountains. "Should get even slower further south, if it's coming from those." And she pointed to the mountain peaks in the far distance.
Kenneth followed the gesture and nodded. "If it's really fall now then the water could rise a bit more. Not sure I'd want to cross this bad boy in the winter. We could get people across with rafts easily enough. At least if there's no rapids downstream, it wouldnt' matter how far down they went as it's a pretty easy walk back up." He looked downstream and could see the river for a far as his eyes could see.
Jasper clucked her tongue softly. "We'll see. Gonna have too. Wouldn't want to cross it in winter 'cause it'll be cold, won't want to do it in spring because of melt. Probably best around summer and fall, like around now. Other then that, probably won't be all that fun."
Looking across, he saw a herd of grazers in the distance. He pointed them out, "Looks like there's grazers there. Wonder if there are laughers." He looked over Jasper. "Do you think they could swim? Or do they have multiple...what did they call it? Headquarters?"
"There would have to be multiple laugher packs. No genetic diversity otherwise. Though they're ugly bastards - wouldn't put it past them to mate with their mothers." Jasper thought it over. "They might be able to doggy-paddle a bit, but with only three legs? Fuckers would more likely drown."
"Might be worth it to send someone back here to check that out and see if they come out at night here. If not, suppose we'd better check it out for other predators, but this could be what we've been hoping for." Kenneth glanced over at Jasper, "About time for us to head back."
Jasper nodded, though she was obviously disappointed. "Yeah, guess so. Let's go then."
Kenneth laughed softly and patted her back. "Don't worry, Scout. You can come back later. Let's go pick up the boys and find a camp for the night."