[Maaike]

Maaike rarely left Espur (save for her infrequent trips to see her son) since there was an overabundance of criminals to keep her busy in her home town. She dealt with animal bounties even less, having a sympathy for the creatures who in most cases were only trying to scrounge up enough food to survive and doing what came naturally.

But she'd spent a bit more time in Alexshire lately, trying to churn up enough information to put her husband's cohorts at the very least out of business, and she'd found that people were far more forthcoming if they got something in return. Trouble was, despite her husband's wealth, most of it was tied up in property and the business so she couldn't really afford to go waving around wads of cash. Besides, most folk were offended by the assumption that they were hard-up enough - or greedy enough - to take a bribe, so she was helping out the best way she knew how instead.

“And you're sure it's in this neighbourhood?”

“Aye. They mark out turf and stick to it, and every morning there's some kind of evidence it's been nosing around. Footprints in the mud, bloodied feathers or fur, animal bones.”

Maaike nodded her acknowledgement and let loose a shrill whistle that launched Magda from Cailean's saddle and into the air where she'd scan for signs of the gytrash's presence. At this time of day the creature would have to be either daring or starving or both to come out of its hiding spot, but then again with lunch time came tantalising aromas and tasty trash.

“How under Hel did you get one of those?”

Maaike glanced around in the direction Samantha was hissing, already knowing she'd find Cailean at the end of the female's line of sight. “Luck.” The short answer made it clear she wasn't willing to go into specifics even with one of her own, and Samantha backed up with a curious but miffed frown. “None of you can sniff it out?”

“We tried,” came the ready response accompanied by a shrug. “None of us have a good smeller. If we ever need a climber or a runner, though, we're solid.” Her self-deprecating smile brought an answering smirk from Maaike, who jerked a thumb in Cailean's direction and back-stepped toward the azani.

“I'll let him do the sniffing.” Azani were aggressively territorial and Maaike wasn't convinced she could handle him if he took exception to her wolf form. Besides, why use up energy she might need later to transform just so she could track the gytrash's scent when she had Cailean to do it for her? “I'll check back after dark. Keep your guy on stand-by.”

She wouldn't kill the gytrash if she could avoid it, so Samantha had supplied her with some sleeping darts and her husband had a cart ready to get the creature out of the city where it belonged. Maaike was concerned about the darts since she wasn't trained with throwing weapons, but if she could get close enough it wouldn't be an issue. The trick really, she supposed, was going to be keeping Cailean from ripping the gytrash's throat out.



Average : Bounty : Stray Gytrash

Spoiler

A neatly typed poster sits perfectly pinned at all four corners. "There's a runt gytrash scouring the city. It's killed a few of the neighborhood pets, and we wants it stopped! The guard is looking into it, but they're taking too long!" The stationary has the emblem for the Western New Alexandria Neighborhood Watch, or WNANW, proudly stamped at the bottom.

• Employer: Samantha Vincent, Therian
  
• Starting Location: New Alexandria
  
• Objectives:
  
  • Locate the run gytrash.
    
  • Kill the gytrash.
    
  • OPTIONAL: Instead of killing it, capture the gytrash and remove it from the city.

[Kiel]

Kiel had been bored. Like, for sers, man. Marty'd sent him to this little neighbourhood with a package but told him to stay there to root out business, except nobody had anything for him to do. He'd made a pest of himself just to double check.

And then, like, joined in a game of pitchball with a bunch of neighbourhood kids 'cause he had nothing better to do.

“You should see it, though!” squawked one of the wide-eyed Therian kids, the fist-sized leather ball clutched between his hands against his face so all they could see was his eyes. He'd started telling some kinda horror story, so they'd all slowly lost interest in the game and were gathered around the kid in various stages of repose. Kiel, unable to sit still, was bouncing on his toes, his messenger jacket rippling in the stiff spring breeze. “It's thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big and has bright red eyes and if you go near it, it'll EAT YOU!!!”

At this, the group shrieked and jumped, and even Kiel - the only adult present - near hopped out of his skin. Just 'cause, like, the storyteller had totally whipped his arms out wide to emphasise the danger, and the ball had shot out and smacked right up against the nearest wall. Not 'cause Kiel was a wuss, okay?

“What is it, what is it?!” He wasn't the only one hopping with curious excitement, and the kid waved his hand to draw them in closer as if he was telling them a great big secret.

“It's a rogue gytrash!” he told them in a stage whisper, eyeing them one by one for their reactions. Some of them waved him off with a 'pfft', as if gytrash weren't the most scary creature in the realms. Kiel yelped.

“Dude! Those are, like, the worst!”

“I know, I know!” the kid yelled back, “And it's sooooo big it could eat a grown man whole!” Well, even Kiel didn't believe that, but it so made him not want to be here anymore, for sers. He really, really didn't like gytrash, man.

“Where is it, where is it?”

“Dunno,” the kid shrugged. He'd lost most of his audience now they knew he wasn't talking about, like, wraith or vlareon or something - you know, the really big bads - but Kiel was still rapt and the kid was milking the attention for all he was worth. “Could be right under us in the sewers for all I know, or down that alley there hiding in the trash. Or maybe it's found an old, abandoned shack and is lurking in the dark, so when you go in seeking shelter all you can see are the red eyes burning with hunger.”

“Wah! Wah!” Kiel's hands flapped madly at his ears as if he could bat the imagery away. The kid laughed, but he was clearly shook up by his own fabrication. “Dude, like, for sers, man, you gotta be careful with gytrash. Like, even just one can be vicious, you know? We get them a lot on the farm. Like, I took my boyfriend home with me last time and he had to fight off six all by himself!” Which inevitably drew the gang in close again while Kiel took his turn as the storyteller.

By the time Kiel's shift was over, they'd all taken turns telling stories - some more fantasy than others - but he couldn't get that image of the gytrash lurking in the dark out of his head, you know? But then he spotted something that totally distracted him, pointing excitedly at the huge wolf-like creature nosing at the ground.

“Dude! Like, that is one crazy big dog, man, for sers.”

[Maaike]

Cailean had been called a lot of things, and most of them were bad, but he'd never, ever been dismissed as a "dog" - even a "crazy big" one. Did the idiot not know how ferocious and completely un-dog-like azani actually were?

Granted, Cailean looked clumsy on the streets since he didn't like flat surfaces, but he was an amazing animal and one of few that could keep up with her. Only a blind man would call him a dog.

The snarl she turned on the idiot amplified when she saw his eyes. He looked nothing like Ashton; more like the exact opposite, actually. Halfway between teenager and young adult, his pink eyes and broad grin seemed like they'd be a permanent fixture. But he was still 'Vari - and 'Vari made her angry just by breathing.

“Get your eyeballs shined, you moron.”

But she was angry for another reason. She'd been here nearly an hour and Cailean was still rooting out the gytrash's scent. There were so many Therians in the area that every time they picked something up, it was overshadowed by another smell. Maaike's wolf would do better, having a better sense of smell, but she really was reluctant to transform with Cailean in tow.

“You!” Locking onto the kid who'd been telling the exaggerated stories about the gytrash, Maaike stalked forward. The kid's eyes widened and he darted behind the pink-eyed 'Vari, drawing another scowl from her. “You know so much about this gytrash of yours. Where are the remains found usually?” That would be a good starting place but Samantha hadn't really known. Kids tended to notice that kind of thing more, didn't they? “Show me.”

[Kiel]

“Wah!”

Very, very few people were rude enough to talk to Kiel like that. Like, mostly, if they didn't like him or found him annoying or something, they'd just ignore him or, like, you know. But this chick - who was, like, pretty hot! - seemed like the kind of chick who didn't care what people thought of her as long as she got her way. It made Kiel want to argue with her just for the heck of it, but the insult just now had been kinda funny so he wanted to laugh too. “Haha, haha.”

The kid beside him laughed too, then dodged the elbow Kiel jabbed at his gut with another giggle. When he ducked behind him out of fear of the hot chick, Kiel immediately swelled with a sense of, like, having to defend the weak and all that, and opened his mouth. “Hey, hey, like, dude! Watch it, man, you can't talk to kids like that.” She was taking the kid's horror stories so seriously, though, that Kiel got awful nervous awful fast, and glanced around like he was about to be jumped any second now.

“It's just a story, man, a story!”

But still, the kid poked his head out to offer, “Down the end of the next street, near the sewer entrance. Want me to show you?” And with that, the kid ran off and Kiel's legs automatically followed him, even though his brain was telling him to run the other way.

“Like, wah! For sers? I thought it was just a story, a story!” he yelled. “Dude! It better be just a story, okay? I hate gytrash!”

[Maaike]

Maaike found herself staring at the 'Varian's pink eyes, half expecting a contact to drop out any second. There was no way this guy could be, was there? Ashton would have taken one look at the kid's behaviour and disowned him - violently - on behalf of the entire species.

That alone made Maaike want to like him. Anyone who could annoy her dearly departed had to be a good guy in her book, but he was just too damned annoying for her to take him seriously.

“If you're so scared of them, why are you following us?” He hadn't actually said he was scared, but even if it wasn't obvious that's what he meant, Maaike would have said it anyway. Most men would get annoyed if their bravery was called into question, and she'd be perfectly happy to see him flounce off in a huff.

The kid with him knew what he was talking about, though, and the closer they got to the sewer entrance he'd mentioned, the gnarlier Cailean became. Where before he'd walked placidly enough, sniffing at rubbish and sneaking leftover food when he thought Maaike wasn't looking, he started straining at the end of his tether and growling, his spine arched. The skin on Maaike's nape tingled, but it wasn't hers or Cailean's senses that told her they were close. Fresh remains lay discarded barely a yard from the black hole that led into the sewers.

“Good job, kid.” Even Maaike knew when to drop praise. “Stay here.” Her pointed stare landed on the guy in the courier jacket, but she wasn't concerned with his safety. He wanted to get himself gnawed on, that was his business - she just didn't want him getting in the way. She thought Cailean would have a hard enough time squeezing through that hole as it was, and sure enough it took her almost ten minutes to get the big azani into the tunnels where the smell was devastating to both their noses.

But Maaike was fairly sure there'd be a nice trail of bones to follow.

[Kiel]

That was probably a good question, really, but, like, Kiel had never let his fears get the best of him, you know? He was brave, he was brave, he was - “Wah! What was that?”

Cowering behind the kid who'd been leading the way to the sewer entrance from behind the azani and the woman, Kiel cringed when he heard something scrape behind him. It wasn't the gytrash - he knew that 'cause he totally pulled a one-eighty to check - but no way he was going in that sewer, man.

Until the woman glared at him, like she was including him in that whole "stay here" thing. Like, “Dude, I'm not a kid, I'm not a kid!” He had his own sword and everything, man! Actually, like, he could probably protect her better than her dog could. Like, right?

Yeah. So he followed her in, snickering at the azani's clumsy entrance 'cause he'd heard so many stories about them being totally graceful and powerful and stuff and here she was practically stuffing him through the hole, and he was so busy puffing out his chest and being all manly that he forgot to be scared.

Until he spotted the bones. “Ew. Like, dude. Wah, you suck, you suck. This way.” Because even though his fear was back, and he really, really, really hated gytrash, no way he was leaving her down here alone so she could be all "haha, I knew you were a wimp!" at him, you know?

“Dude, it stinks down here.” He was actually starting to wonder if the azani could even track the gytrash's scent with the sewage up its nostrils - which was just, like, ewww - but every few yards they'd spot more bones, like a huge sign that said "this way, here I am!" “Like, someone needs to tell this thing to hide better, you know?”

[Maaike]

At several points during their journey into the deeper recesses of the sewage system, Maaike was forced to grit her teeth and white-knuckle Cailean's harness to prevent herself from coming down on the 'Vari like a dragon. Every time he opened his mouth, she hissed at him to “Shut up!” - because if the gytrash hadn't already heard her shoving Cailean through the entrance, then she didn't want to give it a heads-up now.

Except he kept talking anyway, and she figured it was way too late to stuff the cabbage back in the cart.

“Moron.” There was more to what she muttered just then, but "moron" was about the only word she could repeat to her grandmother, and the glower she sent his way was enough to stop a stampeding dashiri in its tracks. Except the idiot must be immune or something, because even that didn't shut him up.

He was right, though. The trail was so obvious she had to wonder why others hadn't found it. Even if the locals didn't have any good sniffing forms to track it down, the signs were there to follow and even the kids had a general idea where it lived. City-dwellers could be so damned lazy, though; they lost some of the edge that made Therians such good hunters. Of course, Maaike didn't lump herself in with them. Once upon a marriage, sure, but she was born and raised feral so it didn't take much to bring all those old instincts and habits back once she set her mind to it. And if they were willing to give her the information she wanted, she was willing to capture this thing in exchange.

“Quiet!” Maaike jerked her hand up towards him, palm flat, to show she really, truly meant business this time. She'd heard something, a rattle and a scrape - footsteps, maybe. Dragging something. “It's close.” And since he clearly wasn't going away, she might as well use him, if only to get him out from under her feet.

“You any good with darts?” She'd already admitted to herself that weapons weren't really her thing, and her aim was pretty poor. He was a red-eye, a warrior, and that must mean he at least had some combat training. Most 'Vari (the ones with smarts, at least) varied their weapon choices, so with any luck he'd do a better job of targetting the gytrash. And even if he missed, she could keep a couple back to use on the gytrash herself, up close and personal if need be.

[Kiel]

By this point, Kiel was convinced he'd made another friend and was totally oblivious to the mental hissy-fit she was having. Like, if he could survive Zeph's wrath, he could make friends with anyone, you know? He wasn't completely ignorant of the fact that he was pissing her off, but he annoyed Zeph too and he was still alive.

Like, right?

“Hahahahaha, I'm awesome, I'm awesome!” Technically, it was knives he dealt with, and he was no where near as awesome as Zeph, but as long as he could "focus dammit!", his aim was pretty solid. Maybe not down here in the dark, but, like, the hotty didn't need to know that.

Except, like, he'd forgotten for a second exactly what she wanted him to aim at. “Wah! I hate 'em, I hate 'em. Ergh, mangy, red-eyed mutts.” It was weird, 'cause Kiel didn't normally get to a point where he could say he disliked even people who'd really hurt him - he was just too easy going and couldn't focus long enough to hold a grudge - but he really couldn't stand gytrash at all. Even though he'd, like, totally felt bad about killing that one back at the farm when he took Zeph home for his birthday, he'd much rather it be dead than biting him. So as creeped out as he was, he could totally do this, man, for sers. “Gimme, gimme.”

Taking the darts from her, he weighed them in his hand for a second, totally acting like a pro. He had a lot of practise, you know? 'cause even though most of his training sessions with Zeph turned into snogging sessions at some point, the guy was a hard taskmaster and made damn sure Kiel improved a little bit every time. Real combat was a totally different story, of course, but he figured the two of them could take down a runt between them. Well, like, three, 'cause he kinda figured the oversized dog would be helping too, you know?

“What's the plan, man?” Like, at least he kinda figured she had a plan? 'cause she totally didn't strike him as the type to come down here without plotting out, like, a billion strategies first, you know?

... Unlike him.

But whatever the plan might have been, she didn't get a chance to tell him 'cause the azani suddenly whipped around, growling, and Kiel “Wah!!”'d as a pair of red eyes leaped out from a side tunnel. “Kill it, kill it!” and he flung three darts at thin air in rapid succession before he realised it was even the gytrash that was coming at them, and then another two - actually aiming this time - as the beast streaked past him to land on the larger canine's side clawing and biting. “Like, dude, maybe bringing a rival down here wasn't such a great idea, you know?”

But at least the gytrash wasn't clawing and biting him.

[Maaike]

For a second there, Maaike feared she had made a terrible mistake in giving him the darts. His "awesome, awesome" had convinced her more of his bravado than any actual skill, but then he handled them like a pro and her shoulders relaxed a little.

"The plan" had been really simple, actually: Find it, let Maaike draw its attention while the 'Vari tranq'd it, then have him haul the creature up to the surface so she could get her reward. (Well, why do the manual work herself when 'Vari were known to be stronger?) Depending on how well he did, she might even consider giving him a small percent of the reward, assuming Samantha even offered one beyond the information Maaike wanted.

She did have a few contingencies, of course, but she wasn't comfortable working in the sewers any more than Cailean was. They both belonged on the rooftops or on a mountain somewhere, not down here in the dark where she couldn't see well enough to 'run. In the end, she could only hope Cailean's thick hide was tough enough to withstand the gytrash's claws and teeth - because despite her heightened senses, the thing took them all by surprise.

And then Maaike was right back to thinking the 'Vari was just a kid with a false sense of his own skill when he loosed a number of darts in quick succession. Maaike's sensitive ears picked up the clink and chink of them hitting metal and stone, a sure sign he'd missed at least three times. Well, she supposed it was her turn.

Using Cailean's rocky thigh for leverage, Maaike ran up onto the azani's back and leg-sweeped the gytrash right in the muzzle, using the return pivot to launch herself back to the ground on the same side as the gytrash. The beast didn't let go entirely, but it gave Cailean room to swing around and slam the runt into the sewer wall - where Maaike was forced to flatten herself and turn her face away rather than be crushed or knocked aside.

The gytrash roared at the impact but managed to get its rear paws under it and used the leverage to shove back. It was so much smaller than Cailean but with its fangs firmly clamped around the azani's thigh and in such close quarters, there wasn't much the larger canine could do so he resigned to slamming the gytrash into the wall repeatedly.

As Maaike pivoted away from the scuffle to give Cailean some space, something wrapped around her ankle. It was hard to see but it felt like cloth, and it was enough to bring Finnbar to bear. She didn't normally like to use the ring (for many reasons, not least of which being that it drew unwanted attention) but they needed some light down here - the 'Vari probably more than anyone. Since the ring had to sense she was under attack before it would work, she was forced to put herself in the line of fire and came away with three claw marks across the back of her shoulder, but the stream of fire that lit up the tunnel was well worth it in her book.

[Kiel]

Zephyr's voice was ringing through Kiel's skull like the dude was standing right next to him. Focus, dammit! Focus! It was weird, 'cause it had always been his mom's voice acting like the nudge he needed. Don't eat that, it's been on the floor. Help that old lady across the street. Don't leave your dirty underwear lying around!

Somehow, he wasn't sure which was worse, but at least Zeph's nagging was kinda sexy. His mom's just made him feel like a seventy-year-old all over again.

“Dude, like, wah!” This chick was crazy scary, man. Like, scary in a good way, you know? She was pulling moves similar to the ones he'd been trying to learn with his hook swords, but Kiel was pretty much a "feet on the ground (head in the clouds)" kinda guy and seeing her running up the big dog's leg was, like, crazy awesome, man, for sers! And the gytrash was distracted now, focused on getting its skull smashed against the sewer wall instead of trying to bite him, and that gave Kiel the room he needed to breathe. And, like, find the darts he'd lost in the dark wet, 'cause no way he was admitting - especially not to this crazy chick! - that he'd missed every shot.

Although at this rate, the way the runt was yelping now every time the azani smooshed it, Kiel's throwing skills weren't going to be needed.

“Ahaha!” he declared in an odd, barely visible "Eureka!" moment as he held up the three darts he'd rescued, then immediately turned to squint at the threesome. He was just about to complain that he couldn't aim at even a dashiri in the dark like this when a stream of fire licked out of the chick's hands. Like, “No way, man, for sers?!” That must mean she was a Nereid, right? Well, like, “Why under Hel didn't you do that the first time?!”

But, like, at least now he could see, you know? So he let fly all three darts at the gytrash's backside (since, like, the damn thing was backing away from the flames towards him) and then shielded his vital parts from retaliation. Except, like, this time, he was pretty sure he'd scored at least once.

[Maaike]

Maaike didn't bother to explain that she "hadn't done that the first time" because Finnbar was really just a one-off weapon. In all honesty, Maaike probably made things harder on herself because she usually held off using the ring for so long the battle was over before she finally admitted that, yes, now would be a good time to use it. She was just so used to keeping it in reserve and instead relying on her own skills, and her animals' that she often forgot the ring had anything more than sentimental and aesthetic value.

The moron had proved useful, after all. Between Cailean's ramming and Samantha's darts - at least one of which finally hit home - the gytrash was out for the count. The three of them stood in the last vestiges of light from Finnbar's flames, staring at each other and panting, Maaike's hand almost automatically reaching out to pet Cailean's muzzle. She never said the words, but it was there in the way she rubbed the azani's ears and neck: Good boy, good boy.

The other arm tickled as blood dripped from the three claw-marks across her shoulder. That was going to be sore for days, damn it.

Her voice sounded cold in the dark. “Pick it up and let's go.” She wouldn't be hanging around to find the darts he'd lost.

[Kiel]

“Huh? Like, pick up what?” No way he was rummaging around in the dirt and the nasty for those darts again, man. Not now they weren't needed!

But then, in a burst of inspiration, Kiel realised she meant the gytrash. “Wah! Wah, no way, no way! I'm not touching that if you pay me, like, a lifetime of cookies! Like, for real, man, it's gross, it's gross!” - the whole of which was accompanied by a shudder of epic proportions. “Like, why can't your dog carry it, man, for sers? He's bigger than me!” Which was just, like, kinda annoying, for sers.

In the end, though, he did wind up helping her haul the ugly thing over the azani's back. And by help, he totally meant he did most of the work and made sure she knew exactly how much he hated gytrash.

And now here they were standing in front of some Therian woman who acted like she knew the crazy chick and her oversized dog, and Kiel was grinning like a fool. “Hahahahaha, we're awesome, we're awesome! Like, but watcha gonna do with it, you know? I mean, like, you can't turn it into a pet, can you? Ewwwwww, who'd want that thing as a pet?” Shudder.

[Maaike]

By the time Maaike was standing before Samantha with an unconscious gytrash, a worse-for-wear azani and that moron of a chatterbox, she was way past ready to put a rock in his piehole. Honestly, the kid - and she had to think he was younger than he looked, because he acted like her cousins had when they were pre-teens - just wouldn't shut up.

It was bad enough that Cailean had to be pushed and pulled through the sewer entrance again, because he was surly and prone to biting after a fight, but she just wanted the idiot to shut up.

“Thank you for your efforts, Maaike.”

Maaike clenched her teeth and her fists. Dammit, don't give this kid my name. But, as one of her young sons drew the Rutilus' attention, Samantha did tell her some interesting things, and that made the whole thing worth it. Regular trades like the ones she'd mentioned gave Maaike a chance to throw a spanner in the works, which was just what she needed.

“Thank you, Samantha. You've been a big help.”

Now she just had to get Cailean home without losing an arm...



((Thread finished! ))