Two Rivers Isle i aint never seen so many long faces

maybe @Iseul? >.>;

colt was a man of muddy legs and twigs tangled into his nape by the time he'd excavated a densite for he and @Sadey. 
he'd dug it far west, almost up against that sprawl of woodland. a pile of riverstones marked the bend in the path which led up a small rise and to the modest shelter.
now he plodded out of it, meaning to wash the worst of the muck off his body before he went hunting again. were they out there, he wouldn't hardly care. but in a pack, appearances meant something.
silt floated downriver as colt crouched on the bank, splashing water over his tattered face.

<333

iseul had never met a cowboy before. the American drawl that colt spoke in was certainly new to her ears and he almost felt like the opposite of her shadow. which, now that she thinks about it, Makan has not been around her lately. and while she knows that he is a man with his own duties and she has her own, it certainly makes her feel lonely.

but work kept her mind busy, and work today consisted of figuring out what to do with her latest and greatest catch. another unlucky bullsnake had found a way to cross her path due to the start of their mating season. the only difference between this snake and the last one she caught with Ulrich was the fact that this male was much longer. he would have been a good mating candidate if he had made it too!

her neck, as strong as it may be, had gotten tired of dragging it through all the grime of the isle. the scales of the snake were caked with mud and other unpleasant things and it certain was not edible without a thorough cleaning. so like the clean and sanitary butcher she was, iseul thought to bring the snake to the river to clean and prepare for the caches.

as she makes it past the last clearing before entering the shoreline of the river, she comes across the newest member of the isle. and while one may have felt embarrassed to have walked in on someone bathing, iseul was used to bathing with others and therefore didn't register the situation as awkward. instead, all she does is offer the man a friendly chuff as she comes to back her rump into the water while dragging the rest of the snake in.

a satisfying ploop could be heard when she drops the bullsnake's head in and comes to push it around with her paw.

colt, too, was taken aback; anyone else he might have told to fuck off with a quickness. but this was a woman, a lady, really, and his leader to boot. that made three of em higher on the totem pole than himself, adylaide included as she was ulrich's wife.
idly briggs wondered why they didn't lead together, but iseul certainly proved it a moment later. colt let out a low whistle of approval. "lookit th'size of that bastard!" the cowboy hooted, forgetting himself a moment. 
he stooped, watching the coils disappear into the clean surface. "yew have a lot of snakes like that round these parts then?" he asked politely, red eyes flicking to her face.
they were matched in height, though her body was curvaceous where his was only lines and hollows. it would be impolite not to notice, colt told himself, noticing how the cool of her gemgreen eyes stood against the scarlet of his own.

he comes to say something first, guffawing at the sheer size of the reptile (and perhaps that was the best response iseul could have gotten!) so naturally, the girl's tail can be compared to a propeller of a plane with how quickly it wags behind her.

there was certainly a sense of pride in the fact that she did something worth noticing. and when he asks his question, she must think of her response. and it wasn't the fact that she didn't know the answer, but instead that he asked it in a different way than she was used to! 

"snake season," is what she manages to get out, "in spring. not many on isle, but ahh– Iseul no like snakes." the isle certainly did not drown in the limbless reptile, but with the breeding season opening up, there would certainly be more snakes around than not until the summer would come. that would mean hopefully more food to cache in for others, depending on if they would even be willing to eat the beast at all.

"colt eat snake?" she comes to ask him before she continues to roll the snake in the water and attempt to wash away the mud clung to its scales.

"shore i have. snake's good eatin' when yew ain't got nothin' else. not to say yew don't, ma'am," colt hastened, not wanting to offend iseul with a clumsy insinuation that her food was unfit for consumption unless one was living rough.
colt scratched thoughtfully under his dirty chin. "seen an ol' buddy o'mine get ate up real bad, few years back, in th'swamps. we was runnin' — huntin'," he amended, too late. too late.
just remained to be seen whether or not iseul would call it out.
his scarlet eyes flicked over the snake. 
"anyhow, he died a real horrible death. jes' been plumb sour on snakes since then, i guess."
colt grinned, brash and bold with yellowed, hard teeth. "guess we have that in common, miz iseul."
the man snorted, straightened. "why don't yew, ah, let me help with that, ma'am. need t'earn my keep."

his accent surely tickled her and the woman could not hide her fascination with him as she listens. her head comes to tilt and nods with his words, and when he comes to offer his help with butchering, iseul could come to step aside and allow the man to join her, wherever he saw fit.

"iseul sorry about friend," she says to him politely, "when not need meat, iseul beats snakes till gone." she admits this with a fluttery laugh and shake of her muzzle. a bit of a secret, though ulrich had already seen her go k.o on the last snake she managed to catch.

indeed, they did have something in common when it came to these limbless reptiles.

when he comes to offer his help, the deputy would sidestep and come to allow the cowboy to join her butchering class. "snake dirty, needs wash." with a sweep of a large paw, she comes to start working away at the caked mud. she comes to see if he would copy her, as there was certainly enough room for him to squeeze in and work beside her if he decided.

she'd come to hum a little tune as she washed, but breaking for a moment to say "does colt like isle?"

after a moment's hesitance, colt joined iseul with a harrumph. easy enough work: he scrubbed the scales free of their muck, pausing from time to time to rinse the snake's body with clearwater.
"i like it well enough, ma'am. not a — not so used t'all th'wet. reckon it'll take me some time to really squat."
"what're yew gonna do with th'skin?" he asked of the reptile. "curious t'know if beatin' them to death improves the hide."
he was teasing, indicated with a little chuckle. there was something downright charming about a river, good company, a fit task, and easy conversation.
that she pleased his eyes was a bonus, a sweet one.

he comes to join her and she is happy to send him a smile as the two work closely to scrub the snake clean in a rhymic motion. iseul had always known water, though not in the personal sense such as those who resided with her friend heph at moontide. however, she knew enough about the ways of water to appreciate the life it brings, as well as curse the troubles it may provide.

she would hum and nod to him at his response for needing time to settle. and when he cracks a little quip about her and her problem with beating up snakes, her own fluttery giggle fills the air between them. had iseul known better, she'd see that this cowboy had a shadow of trouble that traveled with him, and perhaps she'd know that this trouble could be either harmless or reckless. 

but the girl was naive to his manners and simply thought of him as... different. the same way she thought that others would think of her. "cole's funny," she comes to say to him, "snake skin can dry in sun. become ahh– like dry leaf. make good snack." she preferred other animals as preserved and dried meat, but snake was not a meal she'd often complain about eating.

lunch was lunch, after all.

"help iseul take to shore and open?" he didn't need to do much more to help, though she didn't mind his company one bit. and it would be easier to move the snake if she had another set of jaws and neck muscles to pick the damn thing up rather than relying on herself.

he liked that buttery little sound, aiming a look sideways with slitted crimson eyes as he watched it transform her features. "snake jerky. i'll be damned," he chuckled loudly, straightening up and sidling sideways with a swagger.
colt grunted to answer and grabbed for the snake, meaning to take it up before iseul did. it was heavy, but the man fought not to buckle, draping the majority of its weight over his shoulders.
"lead on," he grinned, taking a moment to look over the down of her cheekbones once more. "how long yew been dryin' out these serpents?"

when he came to help her move the snake, iseul took note of his strength and positioning of the carcass over his body while lifting. quickly, she'd come to lead him just a few paces up the shore where a patch of grass had been bathed in sunlight for at least a few hours. it served as a perfect place to keep the snake relatively clean before she would start her work.

upon hearing his question, acknowledged with a flick of the ear back, she comes to place the snake down before responding. "here, not many." mainly because she has only caught one snake and it was too beaten to death to even try and jerkify. "but home? many moons. we preserve lot." it meant less hunting and wasting energy on resources, which was always a sort of efficiency that iseul's dad liked.

whether it was fermented roots and fruits she was able to scrounge about, or a bit of fermented fish, it all kept her family full and fattened when the roaring winters came and left. she looks down at the snake, cocking her head from side to side as she thinks of her plan of attack.

a nail comes to point towards the head and the vent. "first step to clean, need head off. colt want to do, or watch?" while she had faith in his expertise, she didn't mean to put him on the spot if he didn't wish to be.

"a homesteader, then," colt said, grunting anew as he set the weighty reptile down. many moons. she spoke like someone offland, but then again, he'd been all over. no judgement. only a deepening curiosity.
the head.
colt cleared his throat, looked once at iseul, and then went to work sawing through the thick hide and muscle.
he did a decent enough job, though quite ragged around the left side. and he spat blood into the dirt. "well? what's yer judgement?" his eyes shone.

she wondered about his constant spitting but assumed he just didn't have the stomach for snake blood all that much. iseul's family often used the blood in other delicacies that they crafted at home, ensuring that nothing would go to waste. so a smile is shown to her yellow snaggle-toothed friend as she observes his work. "colt do good."

had she the vocabulary, she might've said more to compliment him.

"now come gross part." a subtle warning as iseul came to step towards the bitter end of the snake and searched for the vent. with eyes locked onto the slit, the girl comes to pierce the skin open at a strange angle of her canines before beginning to force her sharper teeth to work as scissors up the belly of the snake. although she could have forced him to help, iseul preferred to leave this job to a single wolf to avoid making an uneven fillet.

besides, she needed him for the next part.  would require both of their work as it proved to be time-consuming. "now, before remove skin to dry," she comes to leave colt at the headless stump as she moves to the stomach base, "need to free up meat. stringy bits keep meat stuck. so need to bite free." they sounded like simple enough instructions in her head at least.

she'd come to spread the snake open and use a toe to hold down the scaly skin as her teeth came to pick at the connective tissue that bound everything together. a few picks of the teeth successfully would lead to a more opened-up snake. she comes to look to colt to see if he understood before moving to continue down to the belly towards the vent once more. hopefully, he'd pick up quickly and be able to go from the stump to where she started.

colt listened and watched, taking in the new skill that iseul showed him. he noted the position of her teeth and the delicate cuts she made. the deputy proved to be more than a decent teacher, and colt soon found himself confident enough to begin.
the going was slow and his neck ached before he was through; his seams were more like small tears than sharp cuts, but colt felt he had the decent hang of it. "lotta work. yew do this all summer?" he asked with no small amount of admiration.

"we do when we have snakes," she comes to say with a laugh, "lot of work, colt doing very good." it was no easy task to skin a snake to Iseul's liking and yet she was continuously pleased by the fact that colt took to the work with ease it seemed. "if honest, iseul like burying plants with salt water. easier work." the low part of fermenting all the fruits and veggies was just having to wait for them to hit their peak. 

"now come easy part." to relieve her friend of his neck pain (unbeknownst to her), iseul would come to grab the chuck of meat and pull the mighty meat from the scaly sides it remained bound to. it was gristly work to fillet snakes open, but with something this large, it would feed plenty. if colt did try to help with this part, she'd come to politely wave him off with a paw to give him rest. she was used to this work. 

once the snake was fully pulled from its scales, the girl would fall onto her back with an exhausted sigh, toes and muzzle bloodied. and she'd come to look to her butchering partner with a smile and wagging tail. "colt can have first bite if hungry." an honorary spot in her book.

google probably has me on some type of list now for looking up several guides on gutting snakes HAHA

THE SUPER POWER OF BEING A WRITER

colt wasn't one much for praise, giving or receiving. getting it from iseul caused his nerves to tense into a flipping sensation. he battened down the focus on his work, though he stepped back when he motioned for him to do so.
taking the opportunity to crick his neck back and forth with a snort of relief and pain at the pulled muscles, colt glanced at her.
didn't feel right, takin' the first crack at it. but she looked mighty pleased with herself, and pretty besides, so briggs took a decent portion.
gamey, tough at the surface and flaky beneath. "good eatin'," he grunted at her in admiration, sitting back to chew his bite.

he doesn't seem to hate having to choke down the meat, and so iseul just hums to herself as she takes a moment to breathe before coming to sit up. she would have to get this carried off to a cache, along with having to clean up the rest of the remnants.

with that in mind, actually, she thinks to leave the scales where they are and let them naturally dry out. she has little doubts that something may actually come by and try to snatch up her drying meat, considering there was plenty of fresh things to find in the isle.

she soon comes to take her share and often thinks that hard work before a meal makes the meat even sweeter. a pink tongue runs across her teeth and lips and now she'd come to release colt from his work. "thank you," she comes to say with a dip of her head, "always easy with two." he helped time go by faster and got the meat at the certain caliber of presentation that even her own father would approve.

iseul stands now and gets ready to haul off the rest of the meat to the nearest cache. she'd only invite colt if he felt the need to offer it, as she knew first time snake-workers often felt a bit of strain in their body after. 

last from me, so sorry my response took so long! feel free to respond or archive, i'm hoping to get another one up for these two soon <3