#anywhere

There were some dreaming adventures she doesnb't quite remember.. .how she got someone's scalp with long golden hair on it, Briar does not know, but Dirk comes through carrying a realy nice shark tooth necklace

The hair is pretty. Maybe it belong to a sidhe. Briar grins wickedly at the thought.

but now theyr'e back in the mortal world, and damn it, she may not know where the fuck she is. It's hot as hell, and dry, very dry. There's a forest here, but it's leaves are sunburnt, if that's possible, and shrunken... everything here speaks of drought. Rain has abandoned this place for too fucking long

She reaches into her bag and pulls out a thermos, taking a swig of the cold contents. "Milk. Bleh. Marigold says I should drink it 'cuz soda or coffee'll stunt my growth. Fuck that, ain't my fault YOUR daughter is a goddamn giant." Another swig.

"Milk ain't that bad though."

Now, Dirk? Dirk got iced blood orange juice. Refreshing and an appropriate color for a redcap!

Dirk smirks and takes a swig, "Save some of it. " He looks about "Yeah, bad as I heard. Come on, there used to be a small river this way. You know where animals go in a drouht?"

"Where the water is. Or someplace cold, I guess. We don't get droughts up in apples. I guess if we did, Gwen'd make it rain."

For someone who argues that she doesn't give a shit about the troll, she certainly brings her up a lot.

He notes this, but doesn't give her shit about it. Not his concern, "never a rain dance when you need one. See, the boars will be at what's left of the river, and they likely won't share. Worse, their filth will kinda poison the water remaining. They're hungry like us"

"Can't be as hungry as us."

"THEY can eat till they're full."

"Me? I eat and eat, until I can't eat any more, and even throw up and I'm still hungry. It's like.. that goddamn caterpillar book."

A grin "But no wings for us, right? " He knows the book

Then they move on and he bends down

"Unless, like, cool demon ones... or like a bat..."

She checks the ground for tracks.

She doesn't find tracks, the ground has turned too hard, to dry, but she does notice along the trees, there are rips and tears, the boars seeking to get to the sap perhaps? And it's definitely boars. She deosn't see tracks, but she can see the holes in the underbrush they've made rooting through.

She sniffs at the trees, fingering along the rips in the bark. A low whistle. "Thems tusk marks?"

"Yeah, see, they're killing the trees just being around em... tearing cosnstantly, this is why folks keep hunting season on em open all year. Boars don't think ahead. Now that don't mean they're dumb, they'll zerg you in numbers and they don't die easy. Best way to kill them is from a distance up high, kind of like what you were trying to do with that snare, but we got advantages most don't. And we ain't afraid to use em"

"I didn't snare 'cuz I'm afraid of no critters!" She's quick to add. "They're just too fast to grab on the ground."

"Don't snivel about it" he says "Aint no shame in an unfair fight as long as it's unfair in your favor. That just shows you got brains"

He moves closer , expecting her to follow or maybe okay if she doesn't

Closer to that river he spoke of, that is

She considers this for a long moment. "Huh." Then follows.

She looks for the river - is it a river bed, or still water present?

"When I set snares, I use activated charcoal to keep my stink off the traps. Learnt that from the Baron. He's a decent hunter.

..I ran out of charcoal and took some charcoal sticks that Thistle had, but they didn't work the same. She got all pissy about it too."

And she finds the river bed with him. It's mud... mostly mud now, and what was once a small river is a pathetic trickle that one would hesitate to call a stream. Sure enough, there are boars there, rooting, trying to dig up the eearth to get at more muddy water. Further up, a dear that looks like a skeleton with hide drapped over it, tries to lap.

Dirk scratches his chin, "Worse than I thought even a drought would make it" He scowls "Thistle sounds selfish if you ask me, or even if you didn't. Who hoards Charcoal?"

"Right? It's just, like, burnt twigs. She can burn more! Fire is free. Twigs are free. Damn, that deer doesn't even look worth eating." That's saying a lot from a redcap...

"Makes me wish I could call rain. I can whip up a little water, but not enough to make a difference. It would be like pissin' in a hot pan here."

"Where we at, anyways?"

"Place in Cali... northern San Jokn valley or something" He says "Yeah, last thing this place needs is mroe fire. We kill the boars, we get more water for the deer if you give a shit, but it still won't have grace. How long ahs this been going on? News didn't say it was THIS bad"

"I ain't no soft enviro- Envir- ain't no tree hugger. But I know what a proper deer should look like, they should be at least 150, 200 pounds on the hoof, and 60, 75 pounds of meat once dressed out. Ain't nothing getting a meal off that wretch."

"That guy can't weigh more than a button buck."

"Not shit. Yeah.. okay, you wanna plug a few boars, or move further up.. something odd here"

"Where's all the water? Is something plugged up up stream? It's hot, but it aint' THAT hot."

The boars look threatening, but Dirk seems to be focused more on her question, "Let's check this shit out"

She casts a wistful glance at the boars, but that skin-n-bones deer sticks in her mind. "Don't like anything lookin' that hungry, is all. It bugs me."

As she follows.

"We'll kill it when we come back if you want" He offers "You know, because we're blood thirsty and all"

That cheers her up a bit.

He thought it might. They approach some signs here and there 'restricted area'?

A snort at the sign, walking right past it. "Is this parkland or private?" Not caring either way.

"Possed to be parkland... somebody is pissing on our legs and telling us it's rain"

She starts to rub her hands together, then stops, and lets the glamour drain back off. "Was gonna burn the sign.. but fuck, it might take up the entire park." Disgusted. "Let's see what they're hiding."

"Maybe it's bodies!" Hope springs eternal.

"If they're short of those we might be able to provide" He nods liking her optimism and then...

(Perception plus Alertness. Bonus for hearing or smell, but not an easy roll otherwises)

the dry crunch of most of the soil, the sick smuck sounds of mud patches... it contrasts with something. Dirk sniffs. But Briar hears it. Water... lapping. And she realizes that the stonework that seems to be blocking them isn't natural, this isn't a rock formation. She climbs it, easy to do, and then sees behind it the wall, and the wall is to container... and the container ? A rough make shift reservoir the size of a pond hoarding the bulk of the river water (Not that there is much) and piping it out to the sides!

Some assholes put up some cheap ass star trek set just to hoard water!

"What dumb fuckery is this? Let's smash it up!"

DIrk joins her, then says "Huh... metal, strong... " A grin "No problem" And he takes a bite on the edge, got to start chewing