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"Here," said Sirus as he dropped a pair of large, very dead rodents in front of Wendy. He tossed the disembodied heads into the bushes, out of sight. Wendy swallowed, trying to keep a calm stomach.

"What are those?" she asked hesitantly. She slowly poked one of the limp, furry bodies with her toe. It spasmed an let out a gurgled squeeking-growl from its stump-neck. Wendy jumped back, letting out a squeek of her own.

"Trolls," he said casually, setting his foot down on the headless, squirming rodent as it tried to get up. "Well, troll young. Older ones require more than one to hunt."

"Jesus," she muttered, "you killed troll cubs... um, larvae.... offspring... what the hell are these again? They don't exactly look like any troll I've ever seen..."

'have y'ever actually seen a troll, then?' asked Tinkerbell, a light tone in her voice. Wendy glared at her and turned back to Sirus. Then reluctantly shook her head.

"Trolls have offspring, yes. They can get very nasty and slightly poisonous when they get big enough, but the offspring are still young and healthy enough to eat," said Sirus, a slight tone in his voice suggesting he was trying to impart important knowledge to Wendy. "The tusks are still tricky even without the venom, though, so the heads have to come off."

"Uhh...... oookay," said Wendy quietly. She looked at the small brown creature, it's legs kicking frantically. "Howcome they're still moving without any heads?"

"Their brains are in their upper backs, farthest from any predators. See these little quills on this one's back? These'll grow into poisonous spines, to protect the upper back even more. These things can be pretty tricky," he replied.

"So.... okay, first: ick. Second: why didn't you just, um, stick it in the back or something?" asked Wendy hesitantly, knowing her stomach wouldn't like the forthcoming answer. Sirus kept his foot on the writhing creature, its furry legs kicking frantically.

"The poison these things carry in them is only held is through muscle contraction. If I were to kill it, it would relax and let the poison in it's tusks and quills spread through it's bloodstream. And then we'd spend the next two days passing enough raw gas to light up the island," he said with a hint of a smirk. Maybe he was calming down, starting to forgive, hoped Wendy. Her cheer turned to confused horror.

"If we can't kill them before we eat them, what does that-- " she started, already knowing the answer. Sirus didn't respond, only pulled out another smooth bone shaft and handed it to her, giving her a 'I-hope-you-aren't-squeemish' look. "Ewww.... Jesus," she moaned to herself as Sirus knealt down and brought the shaft to his live meal.

->>>-

"Oh bloody Christ, I cannot believe we just did that," groaned Wendy, gagging and scraping at her tongue with her nails for the fifth time. The disgusting taste of soiled troll-meat was still prominent on her tongue. Their dinner had decided to empty it's bladder and bowels into it's ragged insides while it was in shock. Sirus had realized two bites too late what had happened.

"Ugh, in hindsight we probably should have made the trek to Jungendstadt on empty stomachs," sighed Sirus as he dragged a piece of bark from a near-by tree across his tongue, trying as desperately as Wendy to get rid of the taste of troll crap. "Bleeaaghh...."

'ah hope you two enjoy'd yuir meal' said Tinkerbell with a wry smile as she flittered down from the higher levels of the forest. Wendy gave the small pixie the two fingered salute, and went back to scraping her tongue. 'looks like we go' a clear run from 'ere to Jungen'sta' til th' sun starts te drop. then we'll be up te our arses in nosferatu an' komodos unless we keep te th' denser parts a' the forest, which'll slow us down consid'rably'

"Thanks, Tink," sighed Sirus, wiping his mouth and spitting out small chips of bark. "Are you ready to get moving?"

"Yeah, although I'm a little concerned with Michael; blimey, he ate the same as us, but he hasn't exactly taken notice, you know? I should clean him up before we get moving," Wendy replied, looking over at her brother. He stared ahead at their path, a blank expression on his face. Wendy rubbed his back soothingly, staring at him with concern. She suddenly jerked up right as she felt a shudder go up his spine. Michael started making hacking noises and jerking his head back and forth. "Oh my God, Michael! Luv...?!" she blurted out as she quickly ran behind him and took hold of his midsection.

'what are ye doin'?'

"Highmelick!" she stuttered out as she gave Michael a squeeze, to no avail. He wrestled away from her grasp and leaned his head towards the surrounding bushes. He hawked back and spat out loudly, startling everyone. A foul-smelling ball of hair, meat and bone bounced once on the dirt ground and then settled into a roll into the bushes. All stood silent, looking at Michael. He slowly and calmly moved back to the fallen tree and sat back down, his previous blank expression returning. "Holy Shit on a stick, that was disgusting," Wendy muttered. Tinkerbell erupted into a fit of tittering laughter.

"Highmelick?" asked Sirus as he ran a hand over his hair, composing himself.

"Oh, gimme a break, I got the general idea across, didn't I?" retorted Wendy, somewhat embarassed. She shook her head and patted Michael on the shoulder. "Shouldn't we get heading?"

"Yes, we should," replied Sirus. The threesom rose to their feet and resumed their march towards Pan's city in the tree's.

->>>-

"I'm going to go ahead and cut the path clear of some plants and mushrooms. Wouldn't want Michael to get poison ivy or worse," said Sirus curtly, moving forward with his staff and cutting through the branches, roots, and plant-life. Wendy and Michael walked in silence for a few minutes, following the path Sirus had cleared for them. Finally, Wendy sighed inwardly and worked up the gall she required.

"Tinkerbell," called Wendy towards the tree-tops, her voice quick and sharp. "Tinkerbell!!"

'oh crickey, what do ye want now?' asked the pixie with an aggrivated tone. Wendy grumbled to herself and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, a little quiet. Tinkerbell stopped in mid flight and cocked her miniscule head to the side, her hair slowly flowing behind her like a banner. "I said, I'm sorry. About how I've been treating you. I have kind of been giving you a rough time."

Tinkerbell folded her arms for a moment, considering Wendy's apology. She nodded her head to herself and smiled at Wendy, revealing those needle-teeth again. 'apology a'cepted' she chirped, then began flying down the path again.

"Uh... don't you have something to say?" asked Wendy. Tinkerbell looked back, then slapped her head in mock-exhasperation.

'right! i must no' be thinkin' striaght, like' she replied. She quickly zipped down infront of Michael and lifted his chin slightly with her foot gentley. 'sorry i laughed when ye coughed one up. ye just kind'a reminded me of a cat, like'

With that, she resumed her flight down the path into the forest. Wendy shook her head, grumbling to herself, and followed. The walk had already been a long one and it seemed Tinkerbell had no intention of making it any easier.

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