sunshineverse | [closed] Cannibals having lunch

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zz old game: shin megami tensei series

[closed] Cannibals having lunch

Who: Argilla and Gale.
When: April 29th.
Where: Southern part of Tea.
Notes: A little lunch with former aggressors. Aka Gale and Argilla eat them so cannibalism abounds here sorry.

Bandits weren’t exactly familiar when they were attacked once in Tea. And oh how happy Argilla had been to have her feet on solid ground that didn’t rock with the motion of the ocean. It was soothing enough at night, making keeping a watch nearly impossible, but during the day it just served to remind her of how uncomfortable she was surrounded by so much water. The ground was so far away that she would be virtually useless with specialized jutsu if they were attacked. It made her nervous.

There was just one problem, the sea was ultimately safer than land. They weren’t off the boat more than a couple hours nor had they strayed very far from the shore before a small group of bandits made the worst mistake of their lives. Of course their mistake was good for them. It’d been some time since they’d last had a decent meal. And as much as it made Argilla’s stomach turn, she couldn’t deny that she was hungry and devouring them was much needed.

In the shade of a tree and no longer in her towering demon form, Argilla watches as Gale cuts up one of the corpses. Her stomach growls loudly in anticipation an echo to Prithivi’s chatter of how good that meat was going to taste and how good she was going to feel afterwards. She couldn’t be sure of the first part, but she couldn’t argue with the last. She would feel better after eating. Stronger and less like she could consume an entire large summon on her own never mind the needs of the rest of her tribe.

“How’s it coming?” She can’t bring herself to refer to the corpse as a person, it reminds her too much of those early days where she fasted out of some childish belief that she was above her hunger. That she wouldn’t suffer if she didn’t eat and she came so close to doing the exact same thing as Gale. If it hadn’t been for Sera...she glances at the body and hates how it makes her mouth water.

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Gale had warned them, but they hadn't listened. He doesn't feel regret in what they've done, but he does feel uncomfortable cutting into the corpse with kunai instead of claws and teeth. It is the better option, because even though they are not on a worn path, there are obvious signs of this area being well-traveled, and their other forms would attract too much attention. Cutting up lunch like this is at least harder to see at a distance.

Butchering is hard work, but he's glad he had Argilla create a stone block with a depression in the middle for the purpose. The blood has collected and started to congeal, and while not as good as flesh, it helps, and he stops to lick gobs from his fingers more than once as he continues. By the time the legs and arms have been reduced down to piles of cut up meat and gristly bone, he's thoroughly splattered, and Gale would stop temporarily, but the heart is always a good part, so he cuts into the chest and pulls up a couple rips, splattering himself even more as they crack, and with careful precision cuts out the heart and on second thought, the liver too.

He nods at her question, and piles up the meat to take to her. "Enough to get started. We can butcher the rest when we're done with this."

He sits down close enough to feel her warmth against his shoulder and bites into a piece of heart. It's awful, but it's also delicious, and Vayu is a contented rumble in the back of his head as he chews and swallows.

The silence is a little weird now that the sound of the knife cutting through flesh and connecting with the block. She lets her head fall back against the tree as she watches the leaves above. The warmth from Gale slipping through the arm of her jacket letting her know just how close he is to her. There's a comfort in that, in how he handled the butchering while she kept a vague watch of the area. She could sense other's like Serph but she was attuned to the earth beneath her feet and it spoke very little of other threats after the bandits had been taken care of. It was sloppy and lazy and if Gale knew he wasn't saying anything for the moment, but she expected a lecture at some point.

She's just reaching for a piece of meat when she turns her head and gets a good look at the mess the process has made him. Blood still rolling down his skin in fat drops leaving bright red tails in their wake. And they look so appealing that she has to swallow. It's so tempting to lick the blood right off his skin. It would be a simple matter, a tiny shift in how she was sitting and leaning in. And then that sweet coppery flavor would just explode across her tongue and she could chase that with a piece of the heart of liver, or any other piece of meat that Gale brought to share with her. Not like licking was exactly abnormal among the tribe when they ate. The only reason she was hesitating over it at all was because licking was often followed by biting which could be perceived as a threat. Then again Gale knew her and trusted her and she trusted him, he would stop her if she did bite him.

In the end, she did exactly as she imagined and licked up some of the blood still sliding over his cheek. One hand pressed tightly against the bark of the tree and the other picking up a piece of meat more a reminder than an actual desire for it. Prithivi all to willing make excited noises of agreement that Argilla might actually eat her companion and have the warm blood drip down her her throat and spray over her face instead of the warm bits of flesh and organ carved from a corpse. She doesn't pull back away immediately and she breathes in deep, either to savor the smell of the blood or to fully reassert her control is anyone's guess, and then she's shifting back to rest against the tree. A piece of liver disappearing into her mouth even as her whole face is pinched in disgust with her actions.

"You need a bath."

Gale sees her eyes slide to the blood on his cheek, and can predict the action that is coming. So he's not surprised when she leans in and licks. It's an interesting feeling, though were it anyone outside the core, he'd be fighting it. But he trusts Leader and the core never to intentionally harm him, so Gale sighs out a breath at the feeling. It is almost pleasant, even if his heart upticks at having a mouth so close to his flesh.

He tears another piece of meat between his teeth and chews to keep Vayu distracted, because Vayu cares far less for the bonds of comrades than Gale does and wouldn't mind things devolving into a fight. Living food is always better in his demon's opinion. The taste and feel of it do something to ease the hunger, and as the hunger eases the state of his clothes and skin does begin to matter more.

"I do, but finishing with the rest of the meat will result in much the same state, so it is best to wait until after."

She sighs and plucks up another piece of raw meat. It would make Prithivi infinitely happy to tear into Gale and that is just as bad. The tribe is her everything and it's the reason she forces herself to eat. She doesn't think there's enough power in the universe to erase the memories of Jinana or Lupa going after them from their hunger. And she often thinks it's something Gale feels just as acutely as she does, even with how long it took him to wake up his emotions.

"We both will when it's all done with." She wasn't going to leave butchering the remaining bodies to him alone, that wouldn't be fair. And he had to be tired after the first body, never mind the two remaining two. "I should have helped you with this one." And how it turns her stomach to say that as she bites into the piece she'd picked up before. And when they're done and they've eaten and packed the meat away they would find a secluded place easy to defend to get clean.

Gale turns his head towards her for a moment. He understands the sentiment, but he knows the difficulties Argilla has with this part of their lives. Difficulties that have grown in him since Lupa. It hurts, but he will make it through, and act in a way that honors Lupa's memories. So he shakes his head. "I was happy to take the first shift while you kept watch."

"The help will make the work go more quickly. I wonder if there is a way to store it in a scroll without it spoiling."

They've never made an attempt to store the meat before. It was always eat, eat, eat, and if anything was left, there were always other groups that needed a little extra. Gale is certain thay'll clear away all of the first body and much of a second before they can no longer eat for risk of ending up with an Ache, but that means there will be some left over, and it seems a shame to waste it.

He thinks more on the problem while he continues eating, sucking blood off his fingers in between bites of liver and muscle. There must be a solution. The rations that they now have a limited supply of, due to the enemies who'd been providing them being driven off, have had something done to them so that they last a long time, so it has to be possible, but Gale knows so little about preserving food. Given their demons' preference for fresh, live meat, preserving it may be a moot point, and remove whatever it is that satisfies the hunger.

She's quiet a moment while she chews. Let it never be said that she doesn't appreciate him doing that. "I know and that's why I'm going to help with the remaining corpses." She bumps her shoulder against his in a show of solidarity.

They'd also only ever eaten in fairly large groups before. The amount food they had on hand for two of them would be next to nothing if they had Cielo, Heat, or leader with them. But they couldn't very well take the whole core of the tribe out into the world and leave the rest on their own. Any number of things could happen that they don't want to have happen in such a situation.

"We can try it and find out. If it goes bad we'll know better for the future." They just had to add preserving food to their ever growing list of skills and processes to research and learn if they were going to survive long term on the island. They could probably enlist a few tribe members to help them figure out how well preserved meat would satisfy their hunger. She'd be on hand in case they came down with aches as a result of course.

The shoulder bump causes the briefest flicker of a smile and Gale reaches out to offer her a particularly succulent portion of meat. It upsets Vayu, but makes him feel... good at the same time, so Gale ignores the urgings at the back of his mind. Vayu is getting food, so there's really nothing to be upset about.

Then he picks up his own next portion to tear into and considers the suggestion. The suggestion makes sense, and the result can't be worse than leaving it. With the current temperature, it will rot in short order, and if it rots while sealed, as well, there's nothing they can do to prevent it just yet. They are sure to find a way once they have time to experiment.

"It will be an experiment. We can seal it in several different portions and remove them at separate times to see how long it lasts sealed."

Prithivi is practically purring at the gift. Yes that is the best way for this situation to progress, feed her all the best pieces of the meat between them. It sort of makes her feel like what she's already eaten is going to me a return appearance and that would be a pity. Taking in a deep breath, to calm her stomach as she bites into the piece.

She nods. It wouldn't be too difficult to portion out what was left, and Gale was fantastic with seals. It would be better to have a baseline to start from. It helped when she was in the medbay, having a base of knowledge to work with in order to set bone and heal muscles. Or how to stitch up lacerations and re-attach fingers where possible.

"We can. It'll give us a good starting point if nothing else."

"Then that is what we'll do. But first, we should make sure to eat our fill, so that we can go as long as possible without another meal should what we seal spoil."

The idea of eating so much that he risks an ache isn't pleasant to Gale, as much as Vayu doesn't seem to care about limits, especially since filling his stomach that drastically tends to leave him feeling drowsy and sluggish. It has a negative effect on his performance, even if Vayu means he can eat so much more without getting to that point than before the Atma. Or, at least Gale is fairly certain of that. What they consume now passes the limits of what should logically fit inside their stomachs even considering a faster digestion and metabolism.

On the other hand, risking going Mad is worse, so Gale turns to his food and focuses on getting a more significant amount down while he considers the best seals to use in the experiment.

Her own expression looks more than a little uncomfortable at the idea. But eating enough to silence her demon was usually her overriding goal. The only good thing was she had packed a few doses of medicine for aches just in case. Though she'd prefer not to have to use them if they could avoid it. The sluggish and tired feeling of an ache weren't exactly pleasant even if they were unavoidable entirely.

With a tiny nod she continues eating, blood dripping down her chin from a particular juicy piece. Wiping the blood away with the back of her hand she stares at it a moment before licking it up. The quiet of the woods and the dappled light coming through the trees almost made it easier. At least it was pretty and she could feel the heat of the sun on her skin instead of the constant chill of the rain clinging to her skin.

Gale eats in silence, aware of Argilla's discomfort with eating. He feels it too, sometimes, though in this case, they killed to protect themselves, and these men were obvious predators preying on the weak. He does not feel regret this time, as much as he wishes sometimes for a cure so that they do not have to eat what they kill, even if those people are dangerous and deserve death.

He starts feeling that uncomfortable sensation in his stomach but Gale pushes on, wanting to keep the hunger at bay for as long as possible. Losing control and hurting or killing someone because of it is the worst thing he can imagine right now. Still, his eating slows, and Gale winces slightly at the next bite.

She keeps eating too, but she does stop before it starts to become uncomfortable. At least any more uncomfortable than it already was. The meat sat like a rock in her stomach waiting to be digested as it was. Eating until she she felt like she was going to burst seemed even less appealing. And Prithivi could whine as much as she liked about all that sweet sweet meat disappearing into Gale's gullet.

"If it hurts you should stop for a little bit." If there bandits on this island, she doubted they were the only bandits they would come across in their travels. Even if the meat they sealed spoils they should eventually be able to find more and they have decent enough control over their hunger. It was part of why they were sent and not the others. "We're going to save what we can. That should help."

As much as part of him worries, logic agrees with Argilla. But sometimes now, feelings run counter to logic and Gale is never certain which is the correct path. He's sure he'll learn eventually, as the others seem to have, but it's confusion right now. At least Argilla has a better instinct for navigating emotions. Gale will defer to her in this.

If they aren't eating any more right now, Gale needs to set up. They have gone through all of the parts worth keeping of the first corpse. Bones might offer some sustenance, but are difficult on the stomach. Regurgitating the shattered bits later is never pleasant, especially if he's in human form.

He stands, licking a little blood from his fingers and nods at the corpse. "You can start with one, and I will take the other. Once we have separated out the different parts, we can decide how best to distribute them to determine preservability.

She takes a moment to collect herself. Butchering wasn't exactly a task she was looking forward to, but she'd said she would help so she was going to do that. She just needed to a second to make she wasn't going to lose what she had eaten in the process. That would quite possibly ruin the corpse she worked with.

Wiping her hands in the grass she moves toward the other corpse. Her stomach rolling a little now that she's close enough to see the dead bandits face. Swallowing hard around the lump in her throat she unzips her weapons pouch and produces a kunai of her own to get started.

"As small as what you did with the other or larger pieces this time?" She asks staring at the lines of the body. It isn't her first, she's seen plenty. She just wishes she could find the calm that came with the clinical eye from before when she was just the tribes medic as she waited for Gale's direction.

Gale tries not to look at the face as he butchers, and removes the head immediately. It's set aside with the other bones, because there's little meat, and retrieving the brain doesn't seem worth the effort.

When she asks the question, he looks up and considers the remaining corpses. "Somewhat bigger, but as evenly sized as possible. Leave the organs whole for the moment."

It's messy work, and cooling blood splashes over his face more than once, but Gale makes an effort to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. When he's done stripping the inedible parts away, he lays it out for a visual assessment. How many should they do?

While he thinks it over, he looks over to check on Argilla's progress.

She's nowhere near as far along as he is, mostly because she'd waited for his answer on how big she should cut up the body. And partially because she had pause once or twice to settle her stomach again. Though she had taken the head off first as well. It allowed her to dehumanize the corpse a little better despite still being very much in human shape.

She had her hands inside the torso of the body carefully cutting the organs out with precision. It would be easier if she could crack open the chest cavity to get at the heart instead of having remove stomach and intestine so could reach up underneath the ribs and do it blind.

It's official she hates butchering corpses. "I can feel you watching me. Are you already done?"

"I made an effort to work as quickly as possible. There is only dividing up the portions left. Do you require assistance?"

Gale is aware of the trouble Argilla has, and wishes there was some way to avoid it, but there is not. He can only offer his help instead. He notes the difficulties she's having with the organs, but unfortunately doesn't have a better way of removal to offer. He considered separating the ribs, but it seemed more work, and likely to damage the meat with the force required.

"When you are finished we can begin the final portioning. I think that five to seven portions opened at three to four days apart would be sufficient for an initial test. Once we determine the period where the meat spoils within, we can perform a second test with shorter duration between unsealings."

She heaves a breath as she sits up with the heart cradled between her fingers. "Legs. I can get the arms." It should be so hard for her, bodies in general didn't bother. It was why she was covered in blood up most of her arms that bothered her. She was a medic bodies were nothing, especially when they were of people she didn't know and had actively attacked her and hers. And she doesn't wait to hear Gale's response before moving to work on the arms like she said she could.

She appreciates that Gale understood her problems with it. Her head bobbing a little in acknowledgement. "That sounds like a good plan." The timing made sense as did the second round once they had an idea of shelf within the scroll.

"Alright."

Gale gets to work immediately, removing the leg meat in appropriate cuts, and giving Argilla a small smile to show his understanding. It doesn't take him very long, motions as efficient as he can make them. When he's done he pauses long enough to get a visual estimate of the meat that Argilla will have when she finishes, and starts separating the meat into appropriate piles. He starts with the organs, left whole, and then moves onto muscle before considering the bones. Some have marrow, which is delicious, but it takes so much effort to crack them and lick it out, even in demon form. Gale decides he'll store them separately, to be disposed in the sea. Leaving bones where they are might attract unwanted attention.

She's careful as she separates the muscle and bone in the arms. Quiet as she works, focused in a way she hadn't been initially. This was better, easier with Gale taking care of some of it. She pays no mind to him moving to sort the meat. Her only concern finishing. The faster she finished, the sooner they could seal it all away and get cleaned up.

"Done." Argilla announces putting the knife down.

"Excellent."

Gale quickly apportions the rest out, and then begins working on the seals. It doesn't take him long, and he hands some to Argilla, trusting her to be able to seal the portions without trouble. Then he tackles sealing the meat and making notes of which should be unsealed when.

However, he's left a separate pile for them to eat as they get hungry, because who knows how long until they get a good meal again.

She crowds a little close watching over his shoulder as he works. There's an artistry to sealwork, she's figured that much out. But they always seem to come naturally to Gale and it's interesting watch someone more capable work. It's short lived as she finds her hands full of finished seals, she doesn't need prompting to know what to do next. This part she has mastered as she sets about sealing piles away for the experiment.

Pausing every couple seals to nibble at what he left out for them. It was better when she was using her chakra to actually eat something given how chakra use and the hunger seemed to be so tightly tied together. And sometimes even her strange ability to absorb chakra from the world around her didn't seem capable of keeping up with her usage rates.

Gale pauses a little to take a bite or three as well. He always feels chakra use more strongly then Argilla, but he doesn't begrudge it. As their healer, Argilla always having chakra is very important.

He finishes his portion quickly and starts packing away. Now, they need to clean up. He wrinkles his nose.

"That bath would be very welcome now."

She lets him have his pick of the remainder of the meat. She's got other ways of replenishing her chakra. And now that the rest is sealed away she can feel her stomach finally stop twisting.

"There should be a freshwater source nearby." Even a stream would be welcome to get all the blood off her skin and clothes.

Gale nods and takes a look around. The way they had come is unlikely, because they'd already seen most of it, but perhaps...

"Let's try in this direction."

The plantlife looks lush that way, and it can be a sign of a good water source nearby. Sometimes. If not, they'll just have to backtrack and go the other way.

Argilla wipes her bloodied hands in the grass and stands. She'd very much like to get the blood off her clothes before it has too much of a chance to set. And Gale's suggestion of direction makes sense to her. She couldn't make out any glimmers of light reflecting on water from where they were, but that meant very little in terms of their chances. Even her eyes were limited by the flora around them.

"That sounds good, we can at least try it if nothing else." It wasn't like they had a pressing schedule to adhere to.

Gale is already standing and gives her a small smile as he turns. He’s hoping that they’ll find water quickly because the blood is already getting tacky.

Luck is with them, because it’s very soon that they’re greeted with the sound of running water. In the thick foliage, however, it’s a little hard to pick out where exactly it’s coming from so Gale turns to Argilla. “It’s close; can you see any sign?”

She hears it too. She's already straining to catch even a glimmer between the leaves when he asks what she sees, and at first it seems like they're still too far and then she sees it.

"This way." she says and leads them off the tiny path toward the water source she spotted. Her pace a little quicker now that they're that much closer to getting the stench of blood out of their clothes and and hair.

Gale waits quietly, trusting Argilla’s eyes to spot it if they’re close enough, and his patience is rewarded. He gives her a nod, and sets off, following at her side easily. He hopes it will be deep enough for a partial submersion, because that will allow a more thorough washing. Still, however deep, they’ll make due, and Gale starts fingering through his scrolls, for the pattern of indentations that indicates cleaning supplies and spare clothing.

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[closed] Cannibals having lunch

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