#debukefarmhold

She shrugs. "Only if the chicken deserved it."

"Hawks'll eat chickens, for sure. Yesterday I saw one swoop right down and scoop up a fat hen like whoosh." She mimes a stooping raptor with her hands.

"Why's it different if a hawk or a coyote eats one, instead of a person?"

"Because folk think they own chickens?"

"So it's more, like, stealing than anything?"

"Like, uh..." thinking. "Like, a peregrin falcon can eat all the pigeons in the city fer all I care, but they can't eat YOU 'cuz I said so."

She coos.

"You're too scrawny anyways."

"Should we take some of these berries back?" Not to share, surely... ah, of course not. "Maybe they'll bake us a PIE!"

And then laughs. "Ain't even! I'm working out, gonna get strong." She flexes her arms.

"If we bring the berries for the pie, they gotta give us some, right?"

"We're the benefactors of the feast. Philanthropists."

"You gotta carry 'em though." Gruffly. "I'll forget and eat em." Kicking at a rock.

"Founder of the feast, is what they called Scrooge. I like that part, there's a goose even bigger than TIny Tim. I want a goose to eat that's bigger than me."

"I'm great at remembering!" She chirps. "Especially if it's dumb stuff Les did. You've had goose? I've met geese, but I've not eaten geese, all the geese I've met have been bigger than me." She turns up the hem of her t-shirt to hold more berries.

"Once I was at the park and that was the day of the Great Goose Battle of 24. You see, Mom let us get french fries, and..."

"Mmm, fries." She nods, and they get to work!

---- fade to harvesting! ----

It must be said, wilders still wild, and that's not always a good thing. While trolls normally, as proclaimed by the Code of Dagda, only pick on their physical equals, Redcaps are one of the few kith that can really hurt them without weapons (Though some would say their teeth ARE weapons). And if a troll DeBuke wilder decides someone is talking shit about the farm and it's a matter of honor, and a redcap thinks he'll speak however he fucking pleases... well, an issue can arise. And that's how Les, who probably did mouth off a bit overmuch, ended up in a fight with a blue gray farm boy who was MUCH bigger than him. THen again, Les isn't runty, far from it.

The troll boy is named Reynolds, after a favorite TV space Cowboy of his father aka Mal Reynolds. Reynolds didn't ask for the name and he's not sure Mal is a good role model, but he bears it with dignity normally.

Reynolds and Les now have beef, and not the 'it tastes delicious because while grass fed for a while, the last year was grain fed to marblize the meat and make it less gamey just so' kind of way.

WIlders aren't stupid, and they know that if they want to have a good fight, they need to take it where elders are less likely to notice. Otherwise, some grump will come in and throw a bucket of maturity and common sense on the whole thing . Every wilder scrapper knows that more good brawls have been ruined by maturity and common sense than any five temporary cease fires combined!

And that might be why they meet by the old broken down windmill. It's not a windmill like you see in a postcard about the Netherlands... nope, this was some old metal sucker than didn't get maintained and the wiring and such half rusted long ago. If more nockers knew about this, one shudders to think HOW they'd repair it, and as it's not quite on DeBuke property, the DeBukes leave it be.

This is the choice place for two wilder boys with beef to settle their hash... and other food metaphors as well!

Les, like a lot of 14 year old boys, has taken up some efforts at sports... or had PE thrust upon him. Reynolds has a lot of cousins. The fact they can both wrestle pretty well for their 14 years on this earthh means this could be a fair fight after all, sure, Reynolds has the mass and extra strength, but those teeth change everything. You've heard of having a Tiger by the tail? Well, holding a redcap in an attempted full nelson is not that far off for precarious situation.

Now this is a private fight between two boys....

which means half the wilders know about it.

And you can bet, no matter how full of wonder the farm is, folks crave a break from the same old same old. And that means watching a cousin go Cap Wrangling!

"Give it to him, Reynolds!" One female cousin Kinian calls out as Reynods tries get a grip on the surprisingly evasive cap (When you have a sister who pranks you with gooey jokes from above you learn to dodge!) . / Her sister, another Kinain, says to her "We shouldn't encourage them." / "Definitely should not," Says a wilder Eshu who drops by the farm every other month or so for easy haven, her eyes taking in raw masculine agreession, "They might get all hot and sweaty and stuff.... mmmm." / "You sure you're not a satyr?" / "You sure you're not a nun?" Hurumphs. Good thing girls are more reasonable than lads or their might be beef in another area.

The shot to the crotch Les gives is booed by the mostly honor loving Trolls! Les does not give a damn. It is clear removing ONE DeBuke from the breeding stock isn't going to hurt this overly populated lodge in the slightest!

Reynolds hits a high note he hasn't used since he was 12.

Then his eyes threaten to darken and the fight resumes.

The fight gets a bit bloody, busted lips, black eyes, some truly POWERFUL blows.

Les seems to have a slight edge on skill (And lack of restrictions) but both are going to feel it.

And Reynolds does more damage when it comes to raw might. This could be a fight for the ages...

But Da'an can be kind of funny... blood in the air? Fae blood at that, well,... sniff sniff sniff... if you were Snaggletooth Bristletail Wyvern hiding near an Old Mill that was deserted, you might take notice too!

That Chimera saw a chance for a big meal if it moved fast enough, and swooped down to pick up Reynolds trying to carry him away. Now, at this time, Reynolds have a half nelson on Les, and Les? He was about to twist and BITE that huge troll on the shoulder, 'honor' be darned to the 43thrd plane of Hell's excess housing? So the Wyvern, that meant to get only ONE troll, which is plenty heavy let me tell you, and fly off, found himself carrying a big beefy farm boy of a troll, and a big for his age Redcap from Des Moines on top of it! Don't judge the Wyvern for having a bit trouble with lift, it would make it hard for you to get altitude as well!

"You don't interupt a fight!" Says the already offended Reynolds DeBuke. / "Yeah, get your OWN troll!" Les snarls, then says "Reynolds, give me a swing up!" / Reynolds , wondering if he will lose a finger, does so! Good thing too, the tail coming for him would be lethal if one got a square dose of toxin.

Instead, Les finishes his bunk, go ask Alice... so suddenly, he's as tall and big as any troll with a mouth even larger, and he bites the incoming tail! WHOLE!

Now... Les should probably die, but it is known that a Redcap can eat anything short of cold iron no matter how deadly. Hell, they can slurp toxic waste! Les learned from his parents not to fight harder, but smarter if he must fight at all, and has learned to abuse this loop hole in 'bigger mouth fit more in' so the venom ? It does NOTHING because it went down his gullet hole. The Wyvern is PISSED , and you'd be too if you lost your tail bone tip.

It withdraws the tail, what's left of it, swinging Les precariously at high altitude who is still attached. Reynolds, who had wanted to make the Redcap eat nothing but dirt less than a minute ago, feels his troll guardian instincts kick in! This thing can't kill a guest of his family! It would make the DeBuke's look bad! Grabbing the talon that holds him with BOTH hands, he works to break the ankle of the creature.. scales start to crack under trollish might even as the Wyvern begins to lose the ability to rise and starts falling. Between a lost tail tip and a talon being twisted worse than any ankle ever went sideways, the Wyvern is seriously reconsidering it's life choices!

Worse for it, Reynolds has magic of his own, and when the troll fist catches on FIRE! Well....

And the still giant Redcap kicks and punches the monster while holding onto what's left of trhat tail as he chews up!

The crash is truly stupendous. Hitting a field of Soybeans (See, it's not all corn) and when the dust (and crop settles) there is one dead Wyvern and two injured lads laying flat on their kill

Reynolds groans as does Les.

But Les too has seen MOnty Python movies, and being just too beat up to continue now says , "All right, DeBuke. We'll call it a draw."

Reynolds snorts, and actually laughs, "Damn you're an asshole but that was funny."

"I am, and it was," Les agrees... and the two wilders end up laughing together. Of such insane situations, friendships may form.

Good thing Chief Clem will be there to heal both up soon because they can barely crawl! And boy there will be WORDS!

........................

The curses from mom to Les are truly inventive... Les is NOT a pooka, so when he tells his mom "I was just trying to murder my friend in peace" to explain picking a fight with Wyvern, well, it does not fly.