New Beginnings

[Tyran Numeck]

Mandalore - Numeck Household.

Tyran huffed patiently despite how long he'd been standing there waiting for his new apprentice, he didn't like using that term though it sounded too Jedi like for his tastes. It had been a few weeks since they'd turned her parents over to Gruda the Hutt and Anora had left the Jedi Order, or abandoned if you wanted to get honest. The mission he'd given her was simple: head into the woods and find the galek hound that was causing a lot of trouble in the area and bring it back for dinner. Galek hounds were usually revered by Mandalorians but this one was a real nuisance. It had killed a lot of livestock from local farms and it had been deemed necessary to hunt the beast. Just for the added experience Tyran had borrowed his neighbor's hunting strill and sent the foul creature along with Anora.

The whole idea was to get used to killing because it was a necessity, killing one Trandoshan by shear luck and handing over her parents to a lowlife gangster were good steps in that hardened direction, but he just wanted to see if she could handle this. Galek hounds were hardy beasts but they could be beaten, plus Anora had full use of the Force now that he'd returned the Ysalimir to Myrkr. Something she'd been rather happy about. Just to give her a little kick in the teeth he opened up his comlink with her. "You going to be done any time soon? That strill stink might start clinging to you if you spend much more time with it. Which means you'll wind up sleeping outside tonight and it looks like rain." He said looking up at the rather gray sky above him.

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

It hadn't been an easy transition for Anora to make, though it had nothing to do with leaving the Jedi behind. Frankly, the brunette could care less about abandoning the Jedi and going on her own path. No, her problem had been not contacting her sister right away. She knew that things for Eenia were...complicated enough on their own at the moment. So getting word to her little sister that she had decided to not return to Kashyyyk? Not a good idea. She did of course at least let her sister know she was alive, but that had been it. It had been a very short and vague missive.

I'm alive. Don't look for me.

Love you

A

And that had been the entire gist of it. From there, the older Vahn sister moved on with her life. Though she was braced for the inevitability of Eenia finding out what really happened to their parents, and Anora would be braced for that day. However, for now? Well, she had a pain in the ass teacher that she found herself far too used to far too quickly.

[I'm not sleeping outside,] she informed him with a scoff once she heard his voice come through the comm. [In fact, I may just roll around with the stinky beast for a while, then go straight home and roll around in your bed for a while if you don't stop rushing me.] she smirked and it could be heard in her tone as she continued along her way. She wasn't far now, not with the way the strill was acting now.

[So has anyone figured out while a normally friendly creature has suddenly turned ferocious? That isn't common for these things, is it?]


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Roll around in my bed smelling like a strill and I will shoot you." He said deadpan. "As far as the galek hound, it could just be rabid. Normally they keep to themselves and don't attack humans unless threatened." And no one on Mandalore would threaten a galek hound. "Or it could just be plain old hungry, but we can't have it go around eating livestock, or maybe get a little more adventurous and grabbing some kid training in the woods." That wasn't something anyone wanted to risk. Normally a group of Mandos would head into the woods to search for this thing but Tyran had felt this a good learning opportunity for Anora and had volunteered to do it himself. It had been a while since he'd spent a significant amount of time on Mandalore and even though he wasn't doing the hunting it still felt good standing on his family's land even if he was the last of the Numecks.

 

[Anora Vahn]

There was another scoff from Anora, [We both know it wouldn't be the first time you've shot me.] she stated, just as flat as his response had been.

She went quiet from there however, because immediately she knew she and the strill were no longer alone. [Hold please...] she whispered, and then promptly ducked out of the way when she was lunged at from behind. It didn't take her but moments to get upright, and it didn't take the hound any time to get turned around to face her either - and were this any other situation? There probably would have been some gush from Anora about the beast. However at the moment that was a back burner thought.

There wasn't much time for reactions, so concentration went almost immediately to the energy surrounding the creature. Nia had told her about the Force stunning before their falling out and eventual separation, and as of late Anora had been practicing it on her own, which didn't always work out so great. But in that moment she put her focus forward and concentrated on that energy and forcing it inward against muscles and senses.

The galek didn't go down all at once. It went rigid at first, seemed to get more angry about it, and then toppled over completely went all of the muscles seized up. For a moment Anora stood there, staring in disbelief that she had actually managed to pull the move off. A half laugh escaped her, but she didn't stand around to celebrate. Instead she circled the beast, double checking just to make sure that it wasn't hurt, injured, or otherwise, and upon finding nothing? A frown pulled down the corners of her mouth.

Over her time with Tyran she'd been given a blaster - well, two technically, the first one didn't survive a rather intense Force dream, but it's not like she had broken the damned thing on purpose. But the blaster was pulled and she stood at the head of the creature before firing three shots into it's skull. The first one to kill it, the second two to make sure it was really dead.

[You really want me to drag this thing home?]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Yes, we don't let anything go to waste. Especially galek hounds." He said to her. "I'll get a fire going and when you get back I'll show you how to skin and clean it."

Sure she had all these unnatural abilities from her Force connection but there wasn't anything wrong with teaching her how to track and hunt the old fashioned way. If she combined the two skills she could really be quite the mercenary. So he spent the time waiting for her to emerge from the forest getting a cook fire ready and getting all his tools to prepare the galek.

 

[Anora Vahn]

Well that made sense, though that hadn't exactly been her point of asking. Still, Anora didn't argue and instead took a deep breath, let it out slowly to re-calm her mind, and then she started to lift the galek only to have the strill alert her attention elsewhere.

Anora's arms dropped and she slowly and carefully made her way to whatever was causing the fuss - and then nearly melted at what she saw. "Well, that explains part of it..." she stated to herself rather than over the comm. A pair of galek pups, wrestling about, completely unaware of what had just happened and clearly unbothered by the strill that was glaring them down. Slowly Anora approached them, expecting quite the same scenario from moments before only to have the pups take notice and then seem to decide they needed a new playmate.

That settled it for Nora, and by the time she had gotten back to the house she was carting the two pups along, and using the Force to pull the full grown one along beside her. "So," she started once she got the door open. "The strill went home, I felled the beast, and while I don't know that it was the whole problem, these probably contributed to grouchy galek behavior." she stated, and showed him the pups for emphasis.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Tyran raised an eyebrow at her. "You do know you could make a lot of money selling those things right?" he said to her as he walked around to examine the larger animal. "Knowing you though, you probably want to keep them. I don't imagine I have much say in the matter do I?"

He knew he didn't by the way she was holding the damned things so he sighed and went about preparing their dinner while she made the pups at home. "How'd I go from training a mercenary to playing house all of a sudden?" He grinned at her. "You're supposed to be preparing this thing by the way, not playing with galek pups."

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Sell them?" the look on Anora's face alone was answer enough to that statement. She wasn't going to sell the pair of them, why in the world would she do a thing like that? Though when Tyran didn't push it, and he didn't tell her to get rid of either of them? Anora grinned and went to put the pups somewhere where they couldn't get into anything for the time being.

And then she made her way back to Tyran and rolled her eyes, "I'm right here, dad. I'm going to need you to calm down before you have some sort of aneurysm or a heart attack."

 

[Tyran Numeck]

He just gave her his knife and a look that clearly expressed what he thought about that little statement. "Shut up and skin the galek." He smirked at her and he showed her how to make the first few cuts and what to avoid cutting. It was gruesome work but she didn't shy from it and that was a good thing. "We'll have plenty of meat off this one to last a few weeks, make some jerky and a few other things out of it that'll be pretty damn tasty."

 

[Anora Vahn]

There was a simple 'Mhm' from Anora in response, but she took the knife from him and then she let him guide her and show her what she needed to be doing. Honestly carving up the creature bothered her to some extent, but it clearly wasn't enough to stop her or slow her down. Her self preservation seemed to have taken over whatever softness she had, had before her life had changed so very thoroughly.

"What about the hide?" she asked him, curious now that she had gotten this far. "What do we plan on doing with it?" She certainly didn't know how to tan leather or hide, so it was a legitimate curiosity and not her just being a smart ass - for once.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Well it would make a nice kama...it's like a battle skirt that some Mandalorians wear." He said as he looked at the hide. "I know someone in Keldabe that makes some nice ones, would be a good first step to getting you some real Mando armor."

She had the durasteel armor he'd bought for her on Makeb and an old spare helmet, it was good for training and some easy jobs but before long she was going to need some real deal beskar armor. "It's your kill so whatever you want to do with it. Make some gloves or something if you want."

 

[Anora Vahn]

A thoughtful hum sounded from Anora, and she looked at her hands for a moment. There were plenty of possibilities she supposed, but that could always be decided on later. The hide was going to need to be dried out before anything could be done with it anyhow.

"Alright master chef, I think you can probably start taking cuts for dinner now." she informed him, and then took a step or two back so that she could get out of the way if need be.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Pay attention and you might learn a thing or two when it comes to cooking." He said as he pulled out his knife and went to work cutting up the freshly skinned animal. He cut enough meat for them to eat for a while and then cut out the rest to use for bartering. Some Mandalorians loved to haggle just as much as any Toydarian did, and galek meat was a pretty good bargaining chip. He made a roasting pit over the fire and skewered two healthy portions of meat and set it over the flames. "We'll be good to go in about half an hour."

 

[Anora Vahn]

She didn't even make a face at him in response; Anora just shifted and moved to where she could see, and she watched him take the cuts of meat that he could. Occasionally she did ask a question - mostly about why that cut, or what it was best cooked with/what it was used for meal wise, but that was about it. And once he was done, she helped to wrap the extra portions of meat up.

"Half an hour is plenty of time to get some kind of side going." she pointed out. "Some kind of bread would probably be too much with all that protein. What about greens or something of the sort?"

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"I know not of what these so called 'greens' are." He grinned at her as he rotated the meat over the fire. "There should be something in the chiller inside the house, go see what you can find that's to your liking." He didn't want to leave this meat unobserved because that damn hunting strill might wander over and try to steal it, there was little doubt the thing could smell it even though it was supposed to be back at it's owners farm a fair distance away.

He appreciated her curiosity into Mandalorian cuisine. It wasn't anything too fancy but it was always guaranteed to stick to your ribs and leave you on the verge of a blissful food coma after a full meal.

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Well then allow me to introduce you." Anora smirked at him, then made her way inside so that she could go through the chiller and attempt to find something that could go with their meal. True enough there wasn't a whole lot of selection - something she was going to have to remedy - but what she did find she knew she could at least cook up and flavor enough for him to try. If he didn't like it? Hey, more for her.

She found a pan she could use, then took the vegetables back to the fire. Without getting in his way, she used one of the fire-heated rocks to set the pan on to let it heat, and while it was doing that she went to what was left of the galek cuts and took just a few strips of fat before returning to toss them into the pan. Once they had cooked down some, then she added the greens and set back to let them cook, being sure to toss the pan once in a while.

"You can add whatever spices to them you want once they're done. But I'm going to round out your diet whether you like it or not." she teased, looking back to him with a smirk once again.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"What's wrong with my diet?" He said with a faux-hurt tone to his voice. "I'm in fantastic shape I'll have you know. What are some frilly green leaves gonna do for me?"

He watched her prepare her little green side meal that was going to accompany the galek meat that he'd prepared. He wasn't so skeptical of her cooking skills as he was of the food she was cooking. He was a soldier and needed red meat in his stomach, scorched and salted just the way he liked it.

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Stop glowering at it until you've tried it." she told him, though she hadn't needed to look at him again to know he had his nose turned up. "If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it you big baby." she smirked at him again, though didn't look at him to do as such this time.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"My face is set to glower by default." He grumbled as he pulled the skewer off the fire and examined the meat before deciding it was fully cooked. "Bring your....greenery and let's eat." Tyran walked into the house and set the cooked meat on a counter top and began to serve it up.

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Ohhh, you don't have to tell me that." Anora mused, and she once again tossed the greens in the pan before she got up, took the pan from the fire, and followed Tyran into the house. As she passed through, she peeked in to check on the galek pups and smiled just a little at the sight of them both tuckered out and asleep.

She then made her way to the kitchen area so that she could set the pan down and then get plates for the both of them. Once she had a pair down, she set them between the two of them so that both meat and greens could be easily put onto both plates. "What do you plan to wash it all down with?" she asked him curiously once both plates had greens on them - though she did put less on his plate just in case he didn't like them.