Grime and Punishment (Open)

    Gilgaard sighed. "Alright fine, I'm just sick. I can't stand the taste of them any more. I wish... I wish we had something else. That's all." he grabbed the dog by one of his hind legs and picked it up, walking off. Eyes followed him as he went back up to the Opening of the catacombs. pulling the rubble back on top of the opening. Then back again to the halls. A long blonde braid sweeping the floor this way and that as he sauntered. down the hall, still relatively near the entrance, they had a room where they skinned their food. Most of the meals lately had been canine in nature, thanks to the Jackal. But they had luck with Birds and sometimes reptiles when Gil had a chance... to change things up.     He'd settle with Dog... for one more day. Then he'd get out of there and find somewhere else in the city that still had decent game. The wizard dug into his cloak for a switchblade, flicking it open as he slammed the dog onto a rickety old table. Eyes watering with the smell. The Others had tried to clean it out the best they could, however the blood stained the stone floors and the stench of death still clung to the walls. His stomach turned as he got to work preparing dinner.

Aalis had been pacing near the back of the antechamber, just in the shadows. She was in a "were-cat" form, padding along on shoe-less paws. Most of her scarves and skirts had been re-purposed for other needed things, such as bandages, so now she wore very little. She had a simple skirt that ended above her knees, and an over-skirt that was really nothing but some tattered cloth that only decently covered behind her since there was a large gash down the center front. On her torso, she has the remnants of a tank top. On her left arm and her right thigh there were also scarves tied to her that held weapons in place for when they were to be needed in eventuality. Usually, they would slip and fall, but on her currently rather furred skin they more or less stayed in place with only the occasional fidget.

When Guile came back, her ears perked up and her eyes flashed their icy blue-green towards the entrance. She watched him drag in another dog, and quickly walked over to him. She ignored Gil as he walked past in the opposite direction. As he slipped down to the ground, she knelt in front of him and leaned forwards to gently hug him before pulling back and immediately scanning over his body for injuries. Going into "no man's land" and coming back unscathed was nearly impossible. She only deigned to give a quick glare over at Starfire at her comments before focusing on Guile again. 

"Ugh, thankfully you didn't take as long as last time... Are you hurt?" She was already pulling out a small scrap of light blue fabric from one of her old skirts from under the hem of her shirt and handed it to him. "Here..."

'You look good.' Aalis laughed quietly and rolled her eyes, self-consciously adjusting the strap of her tank top. One of the reasons she loved her were cat form was that there was significantly less of her skin that needed to be hid - it was all hidden by fur as it was, really. Though, the shredded remnants of clothes she still wore weren't exactly comforting when it came to not just having Guile around. Gil especially made her feel awkward for some reason, as he was even more keen eyed than the rest of them sometimes, and so she still tended to avoid being around anyone in the group. Well, besides Guile, and occasionally Starfire. 

When she saw what Guile had found, however, she paused for a moment. "How did you... I... To find anything like this anymore..." At a loss of words for once, she quietly took it from him and cupped in in her hand. However, when she heard Starfire padding up behind her, she quickly pulled open her shit and let it fall into her bra. It really was the most convenient storage spot. Though, hiding her small treasure was much more instinct than it was necessary, this whole situation had made her a little bit touchy on keeping things to herself. Then she glanced back over at Starfire over her shoulder and gave a dry smile. "You know, that's what the food is for, Star. You could always go help Gil prepare it for once, or, I don't know, go out and scout for things yourself." Her voice, heavy with frustration and sarcasm, actually held very little venom. Though the other girl tended to drive her mad, she found a strange companionship in their rivalry that helped keep the long and tiresome days from dragging her to her wits end. 

Star glared at Aalis, anger quickly raising. She moved closer to Aalis pointing a finger at her before she even began to speak. "Oh give me a break. Like you do anything. It's not like we can do anything. If we leave, people can come and take our stuff, if one of us stays then its easy for a group of people to take over and take the one staying hostage. So don't think that i'm not trying. You can't stay here cause you're not strong enough on your own, that's why we're a team. None of use is strong enough on our own I mean, Guile is lucky he came back alive. Not that i'm not impressed that he did but you Aalis need to learn to keep your mouth shut."

Star caught the bag and pulled out the keycard and bullets. Quickly she stuck the bullets in her back pocket but kept looking at the keycard slowly she started calming down. "I'm sorry.... It's just difficult knowing whats going on out there and I feel helpless sitting here waiting for Guile to get back. I mean I can do things too. I don't want to just sit around base all day." She took a deep breath then tossed the bag to Guile with the Keycard in it. Before she sat back down she pulled the bullets out of her back pocket and started to look at them.

"If you really want me to do something, pass me the bow and the few arrows we have left."

The Wizard had skinned the better part of the left Side, taking whatever meat he thought he could cook. By the end of the day, he thought he might as well call himself pretty good at cooking dogs. Though he was still fairly new at the concept and he'd never really eaten them before. Certain situations change, and you find yourself looking at your best friends like food. Gil glanced down the Hall at Guile, he was in Human form now, but you never know when he'd start looking like the mangy mutt on the table. Gil shuddered at the thought. 'Who's to say this wasn't some poor kinto yesterday? Is he not telling us because it's all he could find? A few days ago I flew over the entire city and hadn't found anything... and he comes back with another dog. I don't know...' He thought to himself, stomach heaving. the more he thought about it, the more it made him want to throw up. Gilgaard could change into any animal like this, but what would happen to him if he Died? Would Guile bring him back to the den to eat? Would he accidentally hunt him, if he couldn't see his face? 
    Aalis came into the room, making him jump a little. She turned to her as she readjusted her scarf and bandanna. "Ugh, yes please." He nodded, taking a moment to take it and wrap it around his face. Breathing in a few times before facing the slop on the table. Through the muffles of the fabric he spoke to Aalis; "Did he find anything else? I'm getting sick of Dog, And if this is all we can find, I want to take the next hunting trip. I could try rustle up some... fruit, or... something." He shook his head, he knew it was no use. They were stuck eating mystery meat. With the shock the earth was in, it was almost impossible to find anything growing. No fruits, No vegetables. Definitely no Fish with the Pollution in the water. They were lucky they could still boil the bacteria out. But.. he knew where there was a garden. Mushrooms, potatoes, even carrots, and corn.

    His eyes got wide, imagining a mashed potato and corn dish, with some Deer meat and.. an apple. It disappeared when he looked back to Aalis's grim expression. he slammed the knife down on the table and leaned his back up against the wall. Staring down at the dog with disgust. His eyebrows drew down into a concerned curiosity. 'what the...' He held his breath and leaned a little closer. Something strange about the dog he didn't notice until now. Reaching out to touch the dogs spine, his eyes became wide and horrified. He shot a glance to Aalis, pointing out a disturbing discovery. As they leaned in to take a peek, It became obvious this wasn't an ordinary dog. It had begun to mutate. A long Ridge of spikes had started to grow along the spine, it looked at though it started cutting through the skin, and was hardly noticeable through the fur because it was so shaggy. Gil grabbed the dog and slid it across the table in blood, getting his hands dirty in doggy insides. He lifted up the head, opening an eye and looking at it. then prying the jaw open. The teeth were regular dog teeth, but they were curved like snake fangs. There were more baby spikes where the eyebrows were, and tiny spikes on top of it's head.
    Gil didn't say a word, not wanting to scare anyone. He just stared unblinkingly at Aalis. 

Guile Lifted his arm and craned his neck to take a look at his side. A nice long gash across his ribcage throbbed in pain. Though he'd never let Aalis see it, or know he was hurt. Pain yes, Gash leaking blood? No. He fiddled with the Ripped garb and wondered what he could do to clean it or hide it some way. The man sighed, not wanting to move, but he'd bleed to death if he just sat there. 
    Looking around awkwardly, he tried to think but Starfire interupted him. "I know, Star, we're all sick of it. You know? And you're lucky I was able to steal that little bit of Anti-magic bullets. I know where I can get a load of shit we need, but i'm not willing to risk all our lives to get it." He cringed, forcing himself to get up off the ground. "I get it, we need shit." He grumbled. Taking the scrap of fabric Aalis had given him, he tried it to his wrist and began to undo his belt, changing it from holding up his pants to tying his shirt tighter around his wait, hopefully putting better pressure on his wound and hiding the gash. He locked his jaw. 'Argh. that's not going to work. she can smell the blood. They're not stupid. I need something else to bandage myself up.'

"I need to go fix the fire. throw some more things on it so we can cook that thing. If we're going to die, I want to die on a full stomach."