|
Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai
It had been a successful hunting trip into the Out There and Cai wore her trophies slunk over her shoulder, some inside a thick canvas haversack and some strung together and slunk over her shoulder.
Her traps had taken a few blooms, screes, a few that looked like long, wrung out rabbits, and another creature she had not yet named that had delicious meat when roasted. It looked similar to blooms but a little larger and darker with blunt claws and stubby snouts.
Her bow and throwing daggers had downed a few birds, even a few tree gerbil like creatures. It was a decent haul. The pelts were so so. Blooms coats were waterproof and insulted against the cold, a few more and she would have enough to make a coat or something to protect her when hunting. The rest were mostly soft, though the bloomesque creature¡¯s pelt was coarse and a little prickly. She didn¡¯t know what she would do with that.
The meat would be worth the hassle though. Ella with her cats would take any offal or off cuts she had, Sinjin at the market would take well cut pieces, she could scrap the bone marrow from the bones for stock or soup, keep a little meat to freeze for the future, the possibilities were endless. She just had to butcher first.
Mordecai farm had not been designed with butchery in mind. There was a small amount of space in the kitchen for domestic butchery; a chicken or maybe a rabbit, nothing on the scale that Cai needed. Thankfully her neighbour, Anne Crane, had such a facility and they had come to an agreement over its usage.
Approaching the farm she gave out a loud whistle quickly followed by: ¡°Anyone home?¡±
Tag
|
Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai, Anna?
Anna heard the whistle and looked up. She'd spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon in the barn tending to her cows. One had become pregnant, and the others were just stubborn for some reason. Spooked, maybe, since they were so close to the boundary. So part of the morning she'd spent calming them and soothing them, and then the rest of the morning getting them into the stalls so she could milk them. It was difficult work without an automilker, but the repetition was soothing to some degree, and she could filter out the background noise, hear everything around her, and just be aware of her surroundings. It was useful when you dealt with grazing animals, she could shut out the cows, and the creaking of the barn, and listen for the far-off baas.?
Or in this case, a whistle. Anna knew what that meant as the sound ripped through the air, and was already halfway to the door by the time it echoed and the cows again started mooing. With a sigh, she tugged off her heavy gloves, adjusted her cap, and picked up the battered not-quite-leather flight jacket from the hook by the door before greeting the afternoon sunshine. Sure enough, through the squint, she could see Cai waiting just at the gate. With a wave, she headed up the dirt road from the dark green barn to the gate, keeping a nice walking pace, tightening the tied sleeves of her bright red coverall as she reached her neighbor.
"Ma'am." She smiled. It was her usual greeting, somehow feeling both easygoing and formal when she said it. "I take it you're here to cut?" Anna leaned on the gatepost, "Room should be clean today, just tidy up when you're done with it. I'm going to be in the barn most of the time, but I can help if you need."
On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 9:21 AM Jo < eommods@...> wrote: Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai
It had been a successful hunting trip into the Out There and Cai wore her trophies slunk over her shoulder, some inside a thick canvas haversack and some strung together and slunk over her shoulder.
Her traps had taken a few blooms, screes, a few that looked like long, wrung out rabbits, and another creature she had not yet named that had delicious meat when roasted. It looked similar to blooms but a little larger and darker with blunt claws and stubby snouts.
Her bow and throwing daggers had downed a few birds, even a few tree gerbil like creatures. It was a decent haul. The pelts were so so. Blooms coats were waterproof and insulted against the cold, a few more and she would have enough to make a coat or something to protect her when hunting. The rest were mostly soft, though the bloomesque creature¡¯s pelt was coarse and a little prickly. She didn¡¯t know what she would do with that.
The meat would be worth the hassle though. Ella with her cats would take any offal or off cuts she had, Sinjin at the market would take well cut pieces, she could scrap the bone marrow from the bones for stock or soup, keep a little meat to freeze for the future, the possibilities were endless. She just had to butcher first.
Mordecai farm had not been designed with butchery in mind. There was a small amount of space in the kitchen for domestic butchery; a chicken or maybe a rabbit, nothing on the scale that Cai needed. Thankfully her neighbour, Anne Crane, had such a facility and they had come to an agreement over its usage.
Approaching the farm she gave out a loud whistle quickly followed by: ¡°Anyone home?¡±
Tag
|
Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai, Anna
Cai grinned as Anna approached; she liked the other woman, there was a mutual understanding that she enjoyed. They didn¡¯t really talk but it was still a comfortable relationship.
?
¡°Yes, good haul today! There are more creatures coming close to the border, my traps have been picking up a few. More and more are coming through I have noticed a few things around the farm.¡± that was a little worrying. It was one thing to choose to go into the Out There to hunt, it was entirely different the Out There coming in.
?
¡°Let me know if you want any deterrents putting up around the place. I am talking to Snicks, the nervous engineer guy in town? Big tattoo on his throat, jumps at loud noises? Anyway, he is trying to find some non-harmful ways to discourage them. He was talking about a motion sensor noise or air thing, I¡¯m not sure. I am just suring up my fences right now, blighters dig and gnaw.
?
Do you want anything today?¡± she indicated her haul again.
?
Tag
|
Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai, Anna
Anna pursed her lips for a moment and tilted her head, regarding Cai for a moment. They didn't talk, short of the times Cai came up the property, but Cai was respectful, and a good neighbor, and didn't ask too much of her, and that was pretty much all Anna could ask for given her current situation. She kind of felt for the younger hunter, the way she had to figure out how to run things all on her own, and the way the Mordecai Farm was a challenge in and of itself. Plus, hunting in the Out There beyond the boundary was dangerous. Hell, living?near the boundary was dangerous.?
After a moment's thought, she shrugged and tapped Cai's shoulder with one hand. "Come on. We'll talk about that on the way." she said. "As much as I'd love for the two of us to just stand by the fence, you have work to do, and I have a few things I'd like to show you." Anna turned back towards the road and led Cai down the path to the lesser-used barn, smaller, a shade of green that almost looked black with a sliding metal door and a red lightbulb mounted above the entrance. "Non-harmful would be interesting, but two of those Scree fuckers got through the shield the other night and got three of my ewes before I grabbed my rifle from bed, so I'm not exactly in a charitable mood." She paused. "Two survived, but they're laid up and that's more work and less time when the next season gets here."?
As they reached the door, Anna slid the metal aside and switched on the lamp. "But you two can take a look, certainly. This close to the boundary, I can't keep wasting bullets." Already on the cutting table were the remains of two scree. "You're welcome to any goods from the kills I made."
|
Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai, Anna
Cai followed behind Anna listening attentively; Anna wasn¡¯t much of a talker so when she spoke Cai listened carefully. She could empathise with the other woman¡¯s frustration. More and more predators were coming through the barrier and they were ill equipped to deal with them. They were growing bolder or more desperate, Cai wasn¡¯t sure, but her traps were catching them closer and closer to the force field.
Years ago she would need to go further into the Out There to catch anything. Now she barely needed to step outside. It worried her, but she couldn¡¯t say she was upset with the additional meat on her table or furs to trade with. The people in town liked to ignore the Out There, they wouldn¡¯t want to hear it if Cai started talking about the barrier failing and the increase in animals coming through.
¡°I will talk to him about some lethal counter measures as well. It would be better for all if something was in place before the barrier falls. I would ask him to look at the barrier itself but no one knows where it is controlled from.¡± That annoyed her to no end. No one, not even travellers from other cities, knew anything about the force field, where it was powered from or where it was controlled from.
Stepping into the cutting room Cai dumped her kills and took a look at the screes; there was enough meat on them to make it worthwhile butchering, ¡°Thanks, these will be a good addition.¡± She smoothed her hands over them, examining them with dispassion her fingers slowing over the ribcage and stomach,
¡°They weren¡¯t starving,¡± she observed, ¡°this is a problem. If they were starving then this would be an act of desperation. The Out There has a cold season where nothing grows. Starving during this period is natural. If they are coming through when the hunting is good then they are expanding their hunting grounds and this won¡¯t stop. Damn,¡± she dropped the carcass and cursed under her breath, ¡°I was hoping this would just be temporary during their cold season.¡±
Tag
|
Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai, Anna?
OOC: Sorry it took me a while, I've been dealing with a lot. Details privately.?
"I think we're more temporary than they are." Anna said, handing Cai an apron and getting her own from the hooks on the wall. "Which bothers me. If they view us as just another hunting ground, they're going to step up their attacks, and if they step up their attacks, then we might see something bigger than the occasional scree raid." The space was limited, which made their movements a lot smaller and more restrained so they wouldn't bump into each other. "I think we should probably find some low-tech way to enforce the boundary. And probably a better way to patrol it, because if things are as bad as you say they are Out There, we're in for a lot more than just attacks on farms." For some reason, Anna rubbed the scarred patch of skin on her neck and shuddered a little.?
"Thanks for offering to talk to Snicks, by the way." Anna said, stepping over to the side so Cai could work. She took down a set of gleaming metal tools with a variety of uses-- of course, Cai had her own, but Anna as always offered a full service for the room. "I'm thinking if they find a few corpses, they might think about the boundary. Sort of what Earthers used to do with feral hogs." And of course what the corporation used to do in conflict areas, but something told her reminding everyone of the dirty corporate tactics was a bad idea. "It'll also save me having to walk the boundary night of the solstice festival. You goin' to that at all?" It was a huge event, of course, and Anna's family always went, but the farmer tended to spend half the night walking the border and couldn't enjoy the celebrations when she was?there.?
On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 10:14 AM Jo < eommods@...> wrote: Date:?20/09
Time:?Early afternoon
Location:?Crane farm
Characters:?Cai, Anna
Cai followed behind Anna listening attentively; Anna wasn¡¯t much of a talker so when she spoke Cai listened carefully. She could empathise with the other woman¡¯s frustration. More and more predators were coming through the barrier and they were ill equipped to deal with them. They were growing bolder or more desperate, Cai wasn¡¯t sure, but her traps were catching them closer and closer to the force field.
Years ago she would need to go further into the Out There to catch anything. Now she barely needed to step outside. It worried her, but she couldn¡¯t say she was upset with the additional meat on her table or furs to trade with. The people in town liked to ignore the Out There, they wouldn¡¯t want to hear it if Cai started talking about the barrier failing and the increase in animals coming through.
¡°I will talk to him about some lethal counter measures as well. It would be better for all if something was in place before the barrier falls. I would ask him to look at the barrier itself but no one knows where it is controlled from.¡± That annoyed her to no end. No one, not even travellers from other cities, knew anything about the force field, where it was powered from or where it was controlled from.
Stepping into the cutting room Cai dumped her kills and took a look at the screes; there was enough meat on them to make it worthwhile butchering, ¡°Thanks, these will be a good addition.¡± She smoothed her hands over them, examining them with dispassion her fingers slowing over the ribcage and stomach,
¡°They weren¡¯t starving,¡± she observed, ¡°this is a problem. If they were starving then this would be an act of desperation. The Out There has a cold season where nothing grows. Starving during this period is natural. If they are coming through when the hunting is good then they are expanding their hunting grounds and this won¡¯t stop. Damn,¡± she dropped the carcass and cursed under her breath, ¡°I was hoping this would just be temporary during their cold season.¡±
Tag
|
Jo