Scouting Trip

Mudd - 145

    Trinh had an early morning,  she hadn't slept much the night before and gave up a bit before sunrise.  She was already dressed and had finished a simple breakfast for herself  and the man who had slept the night in her shed. She had already gone  to bed when he had arrived last night but she wasn't surprised, it was  about the normal time of the season for Dog to stop by and restock on  some fresh vegetables and grains. She could tell he tried to be quiet  but Gourd wouldn't calm down. 

    The sun had risen,  so Trinh made the guess that Dog was either stirring or already up. She  made her way to where he normally slept chirping a happy "Good morning"  to the Jibita the man had brought with him this time. 

    She knocked on the wood, "Good morning, I made breakfast."

Kess - 106

    Dog  was unwrapping himself from his blankets and jolted in surprise as  Trinh knocked on the door. He hopped out of the blanket and pulled his  jacket back on swinging the shed door open. 

    “Morning,  did you say breakfast? Man, I should visit more often” he said with a  grin. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and tried to fight down a yawn.

    Vigilance,  his horse let out a loud neigh from where he had been left at the sight  of his human. Dog waved at the excited animal and glanced at Trinh.

    “Sorry about him, he can be a little loud!” he said warmly.

Mudd - 203

    Trinh handed Dog his bowl of beans, rice, and a bit of bread all still quite warm. 

    “I  can’t have you starving if I get to put you to work all day,” She said  back jokingly, Vigilances morning greeting startling her  a bit. “No  need to apologize for him, I could never be mad at my favorite person in  the world.” 

    With her hands free  Trinh gave Lance a lingering hug around the base of his neck, “One day  you and I will do great things, If Dog ever gets his act together.” She  gave a teasing look at Dog and released Vigilance. 

    There was a huff behind her she turned around to find an unhappy Kamon. 

    “Fine  Fine, you aren’t left out,” Trinh said laughing at her own pain in the  behind and gave him a kiss on his nose, “You too will do great things  someday. Maybe.”

    Kamon quickly  positioned himself between his rider and the other male horse not liking  that he wasn’t the only one getting all of the attention.

    “What  brings you to my shed in the middle of the night?” Trinh asks Dog  finally moving her attention away from the Jibitas and back to the other  human.

Kess - 185

    “Thank you!” Dog says taking the bowl, the smell of the food was amazing and he could feel the warmth from the bread. 

    He  settled himself again a wall, eating his breakfast as he watches  Vigilance pretend he doesn’t like the attention. While knowing the  stallion was absolutely crazy for it. He enjoyed the meal, hot food was  never going to go down badly. 

    “Oh  you should see Vigilance these days, when were scouting he spots things  before I do” Dog said with a laugh. Vigilance lets out a snort, sounding  like he agrees with his human. He nudges Kamon gently, showing he  doesn’t mean to take his humans attention. 

    “As  for what brings us here, we were on our way to see a friend. Tarkhan, I  have told you about him before I think. We would have gotten there last  night but we had an issue with some raptors. They kind of threw us off  our path, Vigilance was worn out and you were a lot closer. Having your  farm here probably saved both our backsides” Dog says finishing his food  and standing up. 

Mudd - 134

    “Oh  wow,” Trinh said hearing about the boys adventures not exactly paying  attention to Vigilance’s improvements more thinking on who she would  want to pair him with.

    Kamon gave a  huff and scooted closer to his human, he still wasn’t a huge fan of this  other horse who always seemed to get more attention from Trinh than he  did.

    “I think I remember that name,”  she said when she had finished daydreaming about the foals Vigilance  could make. “He,” she started the got interrupted as Kamon basically  pushed her over, “Kamon! Personal space please.”

    Trinh  repositioned herself out of the horses way standing next to his head  rubbing his neck trying to get him to not be too much of himself. “As I  was saying, he’s the one with all the animals nearby right?”

Kess - 136

    Dog  has moved over to Vigilance, checking for any wounds from the chase,  pleased to see that he is unharmed. The stallion nuzzles at him, like he  is sniffing his rider over for injuries as well. His ears twitch  curiously to Kamon when he pushes at Trinh.

    “Yeah,  he breeds cattle, pigs and rabbits for some odd reason. He also has a  few dogs, so of course I’m a fan of the place! His farm is only an hour  or so away. It was just too far to try and make in the night” Dog says  thoughtfully. “He’s a fantastic herder, and has recently started looking  into breeding his horses too!” he adds making sure to offer Kamon some  attention. 

    “Do you want to meet him? I think you guys would get on!” he says curiously. 

Mudd - 87

    “I  was thinking about getting some chickens and cows,” Trinh contemplated,  meeting someone with experience with creatures other than horses. She  shifted her weight nervously not too sure if she did want to go meet  someone new.

    Kamon snorted getting  his humans attention and shoved his nose into her hands, she had stopped  petting him as she thought over Dogs offer.

    She  started petting her needy Jibita again. “I don’t think it would hurt.  It could help me get this guy used to other some other animals.”

Kess - 114

    Dog  listens, and waits as she seems to mull the offer over. He continued  giving Vigilance attention and smiled as the horse seemed to half doze,  leaning against him.

    “I have to go  that way anyway, he has the rest of the herd. I think this boy is  missing Pyre and Ashaki” Dog says and Vigilance lets out a low snort at  the names. 

    “But yeah, it’s not far,  a nice easy ride. My horses literally sit in with his cattle and they  all get on pretty well. He might be able to help you get started with  livestock too, he has good suppliers” he says sounding more and more  excited by the idea. 

Mudd - 99

    Trinh  nodded, "Sure, I'm not in need of any help around here. I'm all set for  winter so you could help get me there and introduce me?"

    "Kamon  looks to be ready to go, I just need to get my tack whenever you're  ready" she said, Trinh liked getting her day started early.

    Kamon  let out a whiny at the sound of him going somewhere, he left the group  to head to where his rider always prepared him to go somewhere. He stood  for a moment and neighed at the humans as if telling his human to hurry  up.

Kess - 126

    “Works  for me, I’m ready, just need to saddle up Vigilance and we can get  going” Dog says as the horse flicks his tail at his name. He looks  curiously at Kamon and attempts a whiny of his own, it comes out as a  quiet squeak. 

    “Were going to go see  Tarkhan huh Vigilance, pick up the girls?” he says with a wide grin as  he moves over to the shed and pulls the saddle and stuff up from where  he stashed it. Upon seeing it Vigilance begins prancing around eagerly,  making the whole act of trying to saddle him very, very tricky. He  manages to get the halter on, and ties him to the fence so he can’t move  too far as he is saddled. 

Mudd - 124

    Trinh  shook her head laughing quietly at her Jibitas impatience. She went  through her routine of placing the blanket on Kamon then lifting the  saddle onto his back and fastening it. 

    With  only the halter left Kamon huffed and walked away going towards the  other human and horse giving a low nicker saying he’s ready to go. Trinh  rolled her eyes and followed after her horse, “You aren’t done yet  Kamon get back here.”

    He stopped  letting her get close before turning his head away from her, toying with  his human. Finally he gave up the game and let his human finish getting  him ready for their trip.

    “I’m ready when you are Dog,” Trinh says with a smile as she mounted Kamon’s saddle.

Kess - 126

    Dog  finally manages to get Vigilance tacked up, the horse is excited. His  hooves pattering at the ground as he waits impatient for Dog to be ready  to go. Dog moves to the shed and makes sure he hasn’t left anything  important behind before attaching his bags to the saddle. He finally  swings up onto Vigilance’s back and nods to Trinh and Kamon.

    “Good  to go” he says steering Vigilance out of the fenced area and towards  the road. Dog was excited, two of his oldest friends finally meeting,  two of his friends who he thought would get on very, very well!

    “I’m  going to keep my eyes peeled for new Raptor tracks as we travel,  apparently people have been ambushed on the road!” Dog explains. 

Mudd - 92

    Trinh  nodded nudging Kamon forward even though the horse really didn't need  the encouragement. Kamon lifted his feet a tad higher and stuck his nose  up, he still felt he needed to compete with Vigilance to prove he was  the better horse despite his looks.

    "Oh yeah, you  had said that raptors attacked y'all last night," Trinh was not happy  with the thought of encountering the creatures.

    "Could  you maybe help me with what to look out for?" She asked, "asking the  guardians for protection can only get you so far sometimes."

Kess - 145

    Dog  nods checking his arrows and his bow are easily to hand at the reminder  of the events of the night before. Not far from the farm he points to  some scrapes on a tree and shifts Vigilance closer to them, running his  hand across them.

    “Marks like these  are often signs of raptors in the area. They claw here to mark  territory, or even to challenge another raptor. It’s the equivalent of  you coming home one day to see me sat in your farm claiming it’s mine”  Dog says with a grin showing the marks clearly to Trinh and Kamon.

    “Your  horse is your best asset when you are scouting, Kamon probably hears  twice as well as you do, smells better than you...no offence, and is  generally quicker of the mark. Him knowing what to look for can save  your life!” Dog adds.

Mudd - 54

    Kamon resisted walking closer to what the make was showing him but shortly followed Trinhs lead to go look.

    "You can't have my farm," Trinh teased with a large smile.

    Her  Jibitas ears swiveled as he listened around and the female rider  nodded, "I'm sure he'd be able to react quicker than I could."  

Kess - 71

    Dog grins and shakes his head, he pushes Vigilance back onto the path and looks over to Trinh.

    “Can  you imagine me staying in one place that long? It would drive me insane  trying to run a farm. My visits with you and Tarkhan are good enough  for me” he admits keeping an eye on the path for other marks.

    “Trinh, do you carry any sort of weapon?” he asks curiously.

Mudd - 124

    “No  I don’t think I could,” She laughed, “I don’t think Vigilance would let  you either. And I couldn’t do with more competition people are getting  pickier about their fruits!”

    Trinh  did her best to follow where Dog was looking while also glancing behind  the group every now and then, small sticks breaking under their feet  made her jump.

    Kamon snorted and  shook his head a little before letting his ears go back to work, it was  his way of trying to tell his rider that he’d take care of her. So far  he sensed nothing.

    “I, uh,” She  started, “I don’t really have a weapon. But I do have a large stick I  use to chase away stallions trying to take my mares.”

    

Kess - 92

    Dog shakes his head gently and points to another track on the ground, a few upturned stones, a small imprint in the mud.

    “Thats  the track of a deer, always handy to know about” he says changing topic  just for a moment, wanting to give her as much useful information as he  can.

    “I need to find you a weapon,  for emergencies. I know you can care for yourself, and Kamon there will  always look after you. But you need to be safe, your one of my closest  friends!” Dog says honestly.

Mudd - 95

    Trinh  smiled sheepishly and turned her attention to the track, it had two  soft almost crescents with now claws unlike the raptor track Dog had  showed her earlier. “I have seen plenty of those tracks on my farm, just  never put deer and the tracks together.”

    “Oh!,  I have scythes I use for cutting down my hay.” She remembered some of  her sharper tools, “ I might have my uncles old machete somewhere , I  think it may be under my bed. I am usually safe, I rarely leave my farm  so I’m safe as can be!”

Kess - 148

    “Thats  true I suppose, but if you ever do and your alone please take a weapon.  Mine never leaves my side” Dog admits patting his bow. Vigilance lets  out an agreeable snort his ears twitching towards his rider. 

    “You  get deer on the farm? That’s handy to know, be careful...They will be  as bad as Gourd at stealing your crops” Dog says flashing her a smile.  He looks up and points towards a large hill looming in front of them.

    “Just  over the crest of this hill is the gate to his farm, this place is good  for looking for herbs, for animals, for anything really. You ever need  meat then just come out here and lay a few snares, you will get yourself  a meal pretty quick! Or just knock on Tarkhans door, he doesn’t mind  visitors as long as you shut the gate!” Dog says. 

Mudd - 66

    "I  wouldn't say they are a problem," Trinh said, "Gourd and Kamon chase  them off, Gourd doesn't like sharing his food and Kamon likes to make  sure I can feed everyone. Right buddy?"

Kamon huffed in agreement.

    "I  usually just trade for my meat, but I'll keep that in mind if I have  any trouble," she never realized how good of an area Dogs friend had.

Kess - 124

    Dog gives Kamon a smile and nods to the stallion.

    “Kamon’s  a good horse, your always safe in his hands, or well hooves” he said  honestly and Vigilance lets out a small sound of agreement. Dog pointed  out a few more tracks, and a few more things to keep an eye out for on  the way to the hill. Like the hollow of a tree which likely had an owl  nesting, the nuts buried in some roots that were clearly placed by a  squirrel. And, the wave of birds surging up from the treeline that meant  something big was probably moving around.

    “It  could be anything, a wolf, a horse, a bigger bird. Birds are cowards,  but they are fantastic lookouts” he says thoughtfully. 

Mudd - 72

    Kamon held his head high at the praise from the other rider and Jibita.

    Trinh  nodded taking in everything Dog had taught her, it was quite a lot and  she wondered if she really would remember any of it.

    As they made it to the top of the hill she could see a house at the bottom with fences all around and a few horses.

    “Is that your friends place?” She asked.

Kess - 43

    Dog nods, grinning widely at the sight. Vigilance perks his ears and let's out a loud, booming neigh towards what they see. 

    "Someone is excited!" Dog says with a laugh as he rides to the gate and opens it for Trinh and Kamon.