Waste Not Want Not

Players: Mint, Jaksor, Ferilla, Bindi, Coaxoch

Location: Mossflower Woods, Guosim Camp

Summary: The otters of Camp Willow have run out of time to save one of their own, and an innocent dibbun pays the price.

"Full moon t'night, buckos," Jaksor calls to the camp at large, dragging his hook theatrically around a post as he turns a circle around it. "We're pullin' up camp! Th' streamdogs don't want their kit, an' neither do we. It's time we get out of this cesspool."

Mint is still in the hut and she is not in very good shape either, she has not eatten well and what ever the stuff was from the other day has left her ill still. She is also still tied up and the gag is on her mouth and she looks a bit unconicious right now, well if anyone looks.

Ferilla sits a good distance away from the hut where the kit is being held, in her makeshift little abode fashioned of burnt bits of hut and canvas. She's got her equipment all pulled out and laid across her jacket, and she's sitting against a charred board that's still stuck upright in the ground, putting a new edge on her sword. "That mean we dump the kid?" she asks of Jaksor, raising her voice enough to reach him.

Bindi pokes his head out of the forest near the southern edge of camp, having heard the call of Jaksor. His eyes are blood shot and he looks a tad sleep deprived, but despite this the little rat disappears back into the foliage for a moment before reemerging carrying the mop, bucket, and flower pot (flower intact), he procured from the raid in Ferraval.

Ferilla's comment seems to spark some sort of memory in Jaksor's head, as he pauses his pole-scratching to think for a moment. With a snarl, he whirls on the hut where Mint is freshening the air and stalks inside, slipping his hook under her bonds and lifting her by the arms towards him, breathing less-than-minty air in her face. "Nobuddy wants you," he growls, frustrated by the lack of ransom goods from the otter camp. It's her fault for not being desirable enough to save, right? He hoists her up and hauls her outside, dangling from the hook like a prize catch at a three-day fishing contest.

Mint eyes open maybe a crack as she is barely conicious and manages a weak whimper as she comes more awake from the foul breath of the polecat.

The whetstone grates down the steel of Ferilla's sword as she eyes the dibbun dangling from Jaksor's hook. At least the gag's still working so she's not crying or vomiting everywhere. Ferilla makes a face. "Congratulations." she remarks snidely at Jaksor's display of the captive. Her eyes roll as she sees Bindi emerging from the forest with his treasures.

Bindi proceeds to the middle of camp whereupon he dumps his passel of items, careful to make sure the flower pot stays upright. He trundles over to where Ferilla and Jaksor stand with Mint and pauses, looking curiously at the kit, "Wadda yew reckon ta do with 'er?"

Jaksor gives Ferilla a snide grin, as if to say "very funny", then glances over at Bindi, the otter kit still hanging from his hook. Pinata? "She's a riverdog, ain't she? If Coaxoch don't want a new chewtoy, she can go back in the river."

Mint goes to try and weakly struggle to get lose and fails badly, she whimpers weakly and coughs a little.

The ermine sits back, laying her freshly-sharpened sword to one side. "No chance they'd jus' forget about it if we threw her back?" she suggests as a sort of aside.

Bindi nods decisively at Jaksor's words, applying himself strictly to the belief that /boss knows best/. Then again, the ermine makes a good point, though the little rat's pride can't bring itself to openly agree. So he simply stays quiet and leers at the pinata child. When all else fails, intimidation has your back.

"An' they're not gonna forget about us draggin' 'er off, neither," Jaksor replies, roughly dropping the kit to the ground and extricating his hook from the bonds. "We've already riled 'em much as they can be, like as not," the polecat reasons, staring down at the sluggish movements of the captive.

Mint gives a small yelp as she is droped, falling flat on her face and shakes her head causeing the gag to come loose, she coughs roughly and whimpers as she does her best to curl into a ball. But being tied up still tightly makes it hard to do so very well and she now has a place on her forehead seeping blood from the fall.

"Nice one, boss." Ferilla snickers at Mint's misfortune. She doesn't really have a problem with killing the kit, she just figures that that's a surefire way to get the otters after them even worse than they already are. "Where is the lizardy one, anyways?" she asks, referring to Coaxoch.

Bindi scowls at the kit, now cringing on the floor, and turns abruptly from the scene at the mention of Coaxoch. The lizard is best forgotten about, in Bindi's impotent opinion. The little rat heads back his treasures laying in the middle of camp, saying over his shoulder, "Mebbe we should wait 'an chuck 'er in once we're 'bout ta leave, tha' way when they find er' body, they can't catch us unawares."

"Y'll notice she's not already in th' crick," Jaksor replies, pointing pointedly at the kit with his hook. "Th' shrews've left a fair supply of logboats about. We'll be takin' 'em downriver t' th' coast, where there's like t' be more an' easier pickin's." The question about the lizard bears some thought, but the polecat doesn't seem inclined to give it. "I've got enough t' deal with cleanin' up th' messes you lot make without playin' nanny too. Coaxoch is where he wants t' be."

Mint shivers and stays hardly moveing on the ground, she tries to inch her way somewhere besides where she is , but its hard when she is still tied up.

The jill just sort of gives Jaksor a mildly annoyed "Hmph," in response.

Mint meanwhile has inched her way, or rolled a little. closer to the polecat's footpaw and with the gag off she shoes she can still do something that is annying and probally painful, she goes to bite his foot paw as hard as she can. This is most likely a very bad idea, but she is a dibbun so she doesn't reallt think things all the way out before she acts.

Bindi scowls again, this time at Jaksors reply. Well, /he/ thought it was a clever idea, even if bossman had already considered it. However, his ears perk up at the mention of boating, "Somethin' ta do, at last!" He rubs his paws together gleefully and starts to shuffle towards the river, reckoning that's where the boats will be located.

As if summoned purely by being talked about, Coaxoch strolls out of the treeline, stretching languorously as he walks into the middle of the camp once more. Apparently "clean yourself" doesn't mean much to him, as his chest is streaked with blood that doesn't seem to be his own, and he's carrying several bits of fresh meat in a sack. Hellgates knows where he got it from. "Sssomething happening?" he asks, sounding almost lazy.

Jaksor snarls and kicks at the otter kit as her sharp little teeth sink into his foot. "Blasted streamdog," he fumes, reaching down to hook her bonds with his hook again and hoisting her aloft, proferring her at armslength to the lizard. "Jus' takin' out some trash. Y' want it, it's yours. Otherwise, toss 'er in th' crick." He jerks his head towards the body of water just outside the camp. "An' start loadin' th' boats. We leave tonight."

Mint is kicked in the throat and lets out a little gasp, as she is lifted up and held out to the lizard she looks in worse shape than she was before. She coughs again and her eyes start to flutter shut. Is she still alive? She is..barely.

Ferilla seems to regret asking where the lizard was when he actually shows up, covered in gore. "Jaksor's bein' bested by an otter kit." she remarks snidely in response to Coaxoch's question, sitting back and watching things play out. She almost feels bad for the little kit, but seems to repress it.

The lizard grins as the otter is held out to him. Sure he'd just gotten back from fetching more food, but... this is a delicacy, and the other stuff won't last forever anyhow. He'll even share it with the rest of the group, should they want it! With a swift snatch of the otter's tail, she's gone from Jaksor to Coaxoch, the lizard holding her aloft by her rudder, letting her dangle in midair, utterly unconcerned that she's in some kind of measurable distress. Reaching down, he pulls out the flint knife he keeps at his waist, flipping it between his spindly fingers. "Thanksss. Coaxoch acceptsss gladly. Will get rid of otter bessst way he can."

Mint looks weakly at the lizard and looks ready to pass out.

There's a hunger in his eyes as Coaxoch looks at the otter, and his tongue flicks from between his lips. The monster might even feel some sick thrill at killing something so weak and defenseless; hadn't he insisted that weak things were nothing more than prey enough in the past? He switches his grip, moving his hand from Mint's tail to the scruff of her neck, looking straight into her eyes as he holds her aloft, high in the air, away from the ground and any help at all. He's muttering something, something in some fell reptile language that just sounds like a series of gruesome hints and ugly syllables. He does it work slowly, reaching up with the dagger and pressing it to Mint's throat, letting the stone bite into her flesh for a moment before letting out a loud cry and whipping it across her neck, cutting the otter pup's neck open nearly to the spine, holding her up and letting her bleed out in midair.

Mint doesn't have time to tense up, or whimper, she already was weak from being a captive, the otter dibbun is dead, not that she most likely would of died soon anyways.

The white jill watches all this with a slightly sour look on her face. "Yech." she spits as she tears her gaze away. She's used to slitting throats, but taking that kind of pleasure in it is beyond even her violent tendencies. At least it's over.

Suddenly there is a crow of delight from down by the river and soon Bindi appears, scampering along the bankside, "Oy, 'tis true! Light 'ase come again; we 'ave /boats/!" The little rat is surprisingly overjoyed by the news. He seems about to say more when he notices the gruesome scene spread out before him, "Well tha's....somethin" out o' a nightmare." He mutters and unconsciously puts a paw to his own neck.

Coaxoch's head flicks towards Bindi as he reappears, giving him an ugly grin, as toothy a one as a reptile's face is capable of. He clearly seems to enjoy being able to unnerve what he sees as a rather weak rat. Still, he can't stand there posing all day. He flips the otter dibbun's carcass over his shoulder, holding her as if she's nothing more than a sack of potatos, then stalks off towards the nearby river. It's not too long a walk, but at least no one will have to see him... carving. On the way, he drops the first sack of meat by the cooking pit and picks up a second one.

Getting to her feet a little shakily, Ferilla tugs her jacket out from under her belongings and slips it on, feeling a little chilled all of a sudden. "He goes in your boat," she remarks as Bindi gets within earshot. She crouches, starting to gether her things. Most of her belongings are meant to fit on her person, mostly in the pockets of her jacket, but being sedentary for so long in the shrew camp here, she's fashioned herself a small bundle of items, which she binds up tightly and throws over her shoulder. "Where've you been, anyways?" She asks Bindi.

Bindi gives Coaxoch a scowl to match his grin, and steps subtly away as the lizard passes. The reptile never fails to unnerve some part of Bindi's usually strong resolution. The little rat walks the rest of the way to his mound of stuff and snorts at Ferilla's comment, "Not iffin' I 'ave anythin' ta say 'bout it. 'e can walk." He bends down to gather up his things, hooking the bucket on the end of the mop and perching the flower pot delicately on his free arm. He stands before answering the ermine's question, "I been down river payin' off some debts, is all. S'where I picked up tha' annoyin' twip of a rat, who's sleepin' in the bushes over there." He waves non-descriptly towards the southern side of the camp, "Tis a sad thing tha' lizard didn't eat /him/"

Ferilla has absolutely no desire to meet any of Bindi's rat friends. "Paying off debts wit' what, yer mop an' bucket?" she prods, picking up her sword and slipping it back into its sheath smoothly. She starts walking towards the river, intent on looking over these boats before clambering into one with a possibly incompetent fellow vermin.

Bindi raises an eyebrow of annoyance at Ferilla's words, "Wait a second now, I'll 'ave you know I've fallen on...." He gestures nondescriptly, "Good times. I 'ave plenty more 'an just my mop and bucket." He tries to sound mysterious, with varying degrees of sucess. He sighs in exasperation at the ermine's receeding back, muttering, "Ah, it's no use." He hefts the mop over his shoulder and starts to teeter down towards the river.

As Ferilla and Bindi are going towards the river, Coaxoch is just finishing up with his gruesome task. As the other beast approach, no doubt they'll be able to hear the sounds of the lizard finishing filleting what was once an innocent otter cub. Eventually, the sounds all stop, and there's a loud splash as the corpse, minus the majority of its meat, is tossed into the River Moss to float downstream, and no doubt ruin some poor beast's day. Standing up and washing the blood off his paws in the river, Coaxoch takes his satchel full of meat back to the campfire, leaving only a red patch of grass as evidence of his grisly task. Unfortunately, it's right next to the boats for everyone to see.

Bindi gives the lizard a wide berth and a distasteful glare. He had no attachments to the little otter, certainly. But there's something unsettling about someone who goes about butchering with such joyous glee. He calls out to Coaxoch, "I 'ope yew don't think yew can take tha' along!"