Itching for a Hunt

[Jacob]

Ricky unloaded a lot of lead into the creature. Jacob fired a couple well placed himself before the creature fell to the ground. There was no point spending more than needed. Now was the messy part. "I do, but its in the car, in the extra gear. You fancy a camping trip?"

Jacob headed in the direction of their car. "Burning the body might work too, but we should behead it just to be one thousand percent sure." Last thing they wanted was for it to resurrect itself.

[Enrique]

Ricky emptied the spent shell casings into his hand and put them in a pouch. He reloaded his own rounds. He followed the older man back to the vehicle. "Camping in Russian Wilderness in winter - sounds like a good time." he said, a bright grin on his face. He was game for it. They had a lot of work to do anyways, so getting back would be quite a bit later. It also meant he needed to make sure Marta was taken care of, so he sent a message to Elyse and Marta's group thread.

Enrique: Hey - I think I'm going to be out late tonight, might not be back until tomorrow. Elyse, can you keep an eye on Marta?

Marta: You know I'm right here weirdo

Elyse: Yes - I can always keep an eye on the little brat.

Marta: Hey! D:

Elyse: <3

Marta: Hehehe - yeah - always up for staying with Elyse!

Elyse: Yup she's taken care of!

Enrique: Great! Thanks!

Ricky couldn't help but smile at the banter between Elyse and Marta and it got him to thinking. This hunt had gone well, but what if one didn't. What if something happened like what happened to Nox with the Dreykan and he had no one to bring him back. It wasn't the first time he'd had the thought. He hadn't hunted much since coming to Moscow for that reason. Ricky reminded himself to talk to Nox about it. Ricky was sure should something happen to him, Nox would take Marta in without a heartbeat. But maybe Elyse would be better for her. Ricky contemplated and then came to the decision. Maybe he should just ask Marta.

Ricky came back to the conversation. "Yeah - better safe than sorry. Let's not take a chance on resurrection. I'm okay with burning though. Will beat the hell out of digging a hole in the ground."

[Jacob]

Jacob was surprised that Ricky had agreed to staying out in the cold wet wilderness. It didn't sound fun, but it was the nature of his life. He'd slept many a night under a wayward pine because he couldn't find his mark or because he needed to sleep. At least they had a cave, even if it would have burning dead things in it. It was at least dry.

Jacob opened the trunk of his rental and tossed a sleeping bag to Ricky. And pulled one out for himself, and he grabbed the bag of back up gear Nox had in the storage shed. The machete was attached to the backpack. It was sharp, Jacob had tested it before hand.

"A hole in the frozen ground. Let's not forget that." Jacob started back. "Would be so much easier if Nox were here." He said off handed. "That boy could burn that body down with just a thought and we wouldn't be cold either." As much as Jacob had cursed the boy in the beginning he did admit those powers were handy to have around. Not to mention deadly.

[Enrique]

They collected some camping gear, Jacob tossing him a sleeping bag. He brought up the frozen ground, and that was a whole another issue entirely. Frozen ground would be a pain to dig into especially how cold it was here. Still the camping wouldn't bother him. He'd done it before, even if his warm blood wasn't so used to the cold weather. Still they would be dry. That was half the battle. In the cave they'd be out of the wind too. The pair headed back towards the cave and Jacob mentioned Nox.

Ricky had wondered about that when he had seen the man's file. A Noel Durante had worked with him before and he wondered if there was a connection there. Jacob's statement also showed that he knew about Nox's ability - well former ability. It wasn't like Nox hid it. It seemed like Jacob didn't know he couldn't anymore.

Ricky was silent for a bit after that. "So, you know Nox?" he eventually asked.

Ricky wondered how much Jacob knew. Did he know Nox basically had a creche full of kids, and that in that creche, a young wolfkin often hung out with the kids he had taken in. His file indicated Jacob had hunted channelers. Had a relationship with Nox changed his views or not? Ricky wasn't sure.

[Jacob]

There was an awkwardness after mentioning Nox. Jacob could understand the conundrum. Here he was an Atharim, with another and they both read the others file -- he was certain of that. Any good hunter would. Not that in the US they had any such files, but you knew people around you. They all had their own territories. And friends of friends. It was mostly word of mouth, except they did keep records just not as detailed as the CCD group did.

And there were rumors of other factions now too. Jacob had a clandestine meeting with one soon. All because of Nox. They wanted to know more about the boy. So when Ricky actually asked Jacob grinned. "His grandfather was my partner." His partner in more ways than one but partner sufficed for the answer. "I came to Moscow after I found out what the boy could do. He's rather convincing." His record stood for itself. He had killed many channelers. Jacob patted the medallion that hung under his shirt. It kept him safe. He didn't know how, he didn't care, and he'd hand it down to someone worthy of the job. Even if he was a godling.

"You're Marta's guardian if I'm not mistaken. Elyse's friend. You aren't one of them, so I assume the little girl is. You don't have to worry. I would be dead if I laid a finger on anyone Nox considers family. He would see to it personally, and I don't expect it would be a pleasant end." Jacob was putting two and two together as he spoke. Nox just didn't take in anyone -- they were usually victims of his hunts or misfits like himself. That seemed to be his collection of family. A strange bunch -- godlings, wolfkin, sirens and god knows what else.

[Enrique]

Ricky listened to Jacob, and he was quite open about it. Ricky had been right about Noel Durante having a relation to Nox. When Jacob mentioned Marta though, he felt a chill deeper than the winter around them. It was only his reference to Nox that calmed it down.

It wasn’t his own safety he was concerned about. It was Marta’s. Marta didn’t need some Atharim zealot going after her. Jacob seemed to understand though. She was one of Nox’s - and thus wasn’t in play. That was enough. It did seem that Jacob was in the dark about Nox’s lack of ability, and that certainly wasn’t information Ricky was apt to give.

”Good to know,” Ricky said, his voice unworried. They seemed to have an agreement and that’s what mattered. As long as you weren't after his friends/family, Ricky was okay with you.  He wasn’t glad Marta hadn’t changed when he had still been working with Cross.

They got back to the cave. ”You wanna be the guillotine or you want to set up camp and scout. Might be a good idea to make sure we don’t have any other creepy crawlers around here.”

[Jacob]

Jacob thought about the options available. One was messing and hard, the other was just work. But Jacob wanted to make sure the job got done right so he sighed. "I'll take the beheading for $1000 Alex." Jacob quipped. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ricky to do it right. It was just his control freak in him. He would have done the same with Nox, though Nox wouldn't have offered he'd have used the power to behead and burn the bodies and shove the corpse ashed deep with in the earth. He was a practial man, Jacob was. And he was glad to be going in the right direction with the godlings. Though there were still dangerous ones out there. He was fairly certain the Ascendancy was one, even if Nox trusted him.

They reached the cave again and inside the dead corpse. Jacob took the machete from the pack and sighed as he looked at the foul creature. "I guess I should get started."

The creature was heavy and Jacob knew that it would be hard to behead at this angle so he used what he could to leverage it's head into a position that would allow for the sharp weapon to cut through the spinal cord and muscles without having to hack and saw at the bones. At least he hoped that was the case.

When the head was severed from the body it rolled a few feet away, dead eyes staring up at Jacob. He kicked it over and then started digging a shallow hole. They would still want to bury the ashes. But they wouldn't need to go so deep. The ground in the cave wasn't frozen thankfully.

[Enrique]

Ricky allowed Jacob to choose and he choose beheading. Ricky began to patrol the cave, searching for any signs of other monsters around. It didn’t take long. He saw nothing untoward in the cave. He then began set up their camp by setting up sleeping bags and making a fire pit. This one for warmth. They’d have a different fire for the corpse.

Jacob was methodical, finding the best way to behead the corpse, doing it quickly and making a hole for the ashes. Ricky got the fire started. He always carried food in his pack when he went out. He had really been a Boy Scout after all and always being prepared was just practical. When it was complete, he headed over to Jacob to check on his progress, bringing with him a makeshift torch and some fuel so they could light up the corpse.

”Ready for this? Anything I can do?”

[Jacob]

Clean up in the wilderness was always easier than the city. Jacob preferred it. Though he was certain Nox's way was the better way. But neither of them could weld the power of the gods. And that was also probably a good thing.

When Ricky was done he brought over an accelerant and that would be useful, staring fires was always a bitch, at least in this cave there was no wind.

"Just douse the body. I'll dig another hole for the head down over there. We'll burn them both."

Manual labor was good. He enjoyed it. Much better than sitting around doing nothing. It seemed the European way of things. They waited till they found a hunt they wanted or was assigned to them. Those archangels were always looking for a hunt, but with restrictions breaking down with the fact that these channelers were people it made their lives a bit more difficult. There were rumblings about a new shadow faction. Those using the gods for their purposes or even aligning with them. Jacob knew nothing about that. As if he was part of that movement.

But it wasn't Zephyr's caging of the new boy that he was hearing rumblings about -- this was something different.

"You heard the rumblings where you are about using the godlings or a change in the way we do things?" Jacob asked. It was just gossip. He was spreading nothing he knew anything about. Though he had a meeting with the HQ guy in Moscow, though he knew nothing more than he wanted to talk about Nox. And if it was about Nox it was likely something to do with this so called rumor.