#Thanks to Lee for making it newly canon that the I tribe do scrimshaw

[endangered-liaison]

Prompt #6: Onerous

"We need to talk about this," DeMeer says, and is greeted by the sounds of six women and three men groaning loudly enough to be heard in the Lochs.

 "For fucks' sake."

 "Piss off, DeMeer."

 "Someone please just shoot him." The order comes from Claudia, perched atop her magitek Reaper (as ever). She rubs the point just beneath her third eye, long-suffering.

 In front of them all lies a marid. A dead marid, to be more precise. And despite how angry it might make the entire squad to hear it mentioned in that exact way, they DO, in fact, need to talk about the marid on the track.

 "What? It was right there. If I didn't say it, Ness would've." DeMeer defends his actions with a shrug, looking to Victoria for support. She just shakes her head in disappointment. She's not angry, just disappointed. And that feels so much worse.

 "Please. Puns are beneath me." I'xaness steps forwards, prodding at the dead Marid with the haft of her spear and humming. "...It's fresh. Only been here a day or two. Maybe less, since the antlions haven't gotten to it yet."

 "What killed it?" Victoria speaks up, eyes flicking across the perimeter. Always watching, always ready for an ambush. Checking for whatever - or whoever - killed the beast. Her rifle is held low and loose, but her finger hovers just outside the trigger guard with near-mechanical precision.

 "No arrows from the Ananta or the M." Max paces her way around the beast, checking for any trace of its killer. "Not that the snake-girls would kill 'em anyway, yeah? Basically worship the things."

 Claudia leans forwards on her Reaper, resting her forearms against the metal of the cockpit. "Reports place the M tribe camp four malms north for now. The hunting parties wouldn't roam this far, and it's too close to Ananta lands even if they were nearby."

 "Disease?" DeMeer asks.

 Max and Ness continue their walk around the beast, before pausing at the same place. They look to one another, and Ness raises the haft of her spear again. She pushes it against a point on the Marid's flank...and the haft slides into a hole pierced deep into the beast. She pulls the weapon back with a shudder. "Gross."

 "Know any diseases that leave a fulm-long hole in a beast?"

 "I'll diagnose you with one if you don't piss off."

 "Shut up, both of you!" Claudia's voice rings over the burgeoning argument between Max and DeMeer, stopping in its tracks before it can properly get started.

 "Sorry, Dec."

 "Yes, Dec."

 (Max is not the one who apologised.)

 "Was that caused by a spear, or something else? A spear could mean Resistance activity, and then we'd have to make reports and I'd have to fill out paperwork and it would be a pain, but it'll save lives." Claudia speaks loud and clear, the tone of voice she reserves for orders and speeches. And orders which are also speeches. "So I want you to be sure. Set up a perimeter, keep on the lookout. Any sign we detect could be the difference between-"

 "Beast," I'xataka replies, short and to the point in interrupting Claudia's flow about the safety of the Legion. She'd wandered over as the woman was speaking, stepping close to her tribemate and to the marid.

 "...How are you so sure?" Claudia sounds slightly deflated. Like she was looking forward to her speech.

 "The goop on Ness's spear isn't just blood. There's apitoxins. And pheromones, too. Smell that, Sawyer?"

 "Come close to me with that shite and die, yeah?"

 Taka rolls her eyes. "This marid was killed by a wespe. A big one, too. I know there's some bastards big enough to kill jhammels out here, but a this is impressive even for them." She waves Ness's spear around in demonstration, before handing it back.

 Ness wipes the haft clean on a part of the marid that hadn't been stabbed.

 Claudia breathes out a sigh of relief. A marid-killing wespe might be the stuff of nightmares, but at least it's not the Resistance. The last thing they need is guerilla fighters moving into ananta territory again. "Alright. Nicely done, Cinna. Everyone get ready to move out."

 "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Taka calls, waving her arms in Claudia's direction. "Hold on just a minute, Dec."

 If one were to listen closely, they would hear the sound of Claudia's teeth grinding with a force strong enough to open beer bottles. She does, however, wait.

 "Do you have any idea how valuable ivory is around here?" I'xataka draws one of the knives from her belt, twirling it between her fingers and grinning wide. "And mama needs a new set of dice."