Arawn

Arawn narrowed her eyes as she watched a small back of noocar explore the ramba remains she’d set out. Light sparkled off every frozen surface, even in this shadowed not-quite-clearing; some days it left her half-blind with everything reflecting into her eyes, but here, today, it was tolerable. She reached up and adjusted her hat, tipping it back against her skull, and crouched low to the ground.

She pounced with a burst of energy, claws flashing as she caught one noocar, then a second, slicing them open with a practiced gesture. The rest scattered frantically, abandoning their attempted meal in the face of such a threat. Arawn picked up the slaughtered creatures, and the rambra remains, and stuffed them into her game sack before swinging it over her shoulder again. Time to move to the next spot.

As she turned to leave, a stone smacked into a nearby tree, sending a few birds flying. Arawn turned fast, crouching and baring her claws, ready to defend herself and her hunt, but stopped when she recognized the Spiral in front of her.

“Adil,” she said flatly. “Just what kind of prank are you trying to pull now?”

Adil tossed a second rock between his foreclaws as he said, “Not much. Just wondering what you’re gonna do with those legs in the bag. Did you pull them from the food stores?”

Arawn narrowed her eyes. “Yes,” she said, “when I was getting breakfast. They’re bait. Why?”

The pirate shrugged and bounced his rock into the air. “Just asking. You know how Tamere gets about food waste. Spend enough time starving and you want to do anything to keep in stock, I guess. So, what’s on the menu?”

“If you’re trying to get in the bag, it won’t work,” she warned. “I know better than to let a pirate scam me. Especially out of a fresh kill.”

Adil drooped dramatically, letting his rock hit the ground and stay there. “But Arawn,” he whined, “nothing is fresh on the ships. And nothing is fresh when we’re here, either! We’re gone too much to learn the schedule for when we can eat the good stuff. Please? Just a little?”

Arawn looked at him for a long moment, weighing her annoyance against the knowledge that he did have a point. The food was always preserved on their ships, and while some people liked it better that way, Spirals never did. Every Spiral she had ever known hated the taste of preserved meat, hated the toughness that came with smoke and salt, and the insects - there was barely anything to preserve. And Adil… he was the only Spiral on his family’s ships. More than likely he was always told to suck it up and deal if he started whining.

Finally, she sighed. “Fine,” she said, not bothering to not sound as miffed as she felt. “You can have one of them. Do not make a habit out of this, understand?”

Adil scrambled up as soon as the bag hit the ground, tail smacking into a tree. “Really?” he asked, more excited than she’d expected him to be. “You’re - really giving me one?”

“Yeah, I am,” Arawn said, digging out one of the noocar. “Eat fast and scram. You’ll scare everything else off.”

She tossed it his way; he caught it in his mouth first, immediately dropping it to tear hunks of fur off. “You’re the best,” he said. “Really - thank you. I won’t tell.”

“You better not,” she said, putting the bag over her shoulder again. “And don’t expect it to happen again. I don’t feel generous often.”

She didn’t mind much that Adil was too busy eating to answer as she turned and started moving on again.