At The Cad's firm words not to come if they couldn't remember what they had trained as, many of the women around him looked dejected but shuffled off to find something else to do.  Mina and Onyx both smirked as The Cad walked away; his words had made choosing the members of the hunting party much easier.<br/><br/>Mina, as the Golden Retriever, looked around to pick out the three Retrievers he wanted.  Onyx thought having that many Retrievers with the group was a little paranoid on Cad's part... but for him, no one would arue that point.  The four girls, even without speaking of it, would all see<span style="font-style: italic">him</span>as their priority...<br/><br/>"If you guys are going to have that many Retrievers with you," another woman spoke up, thinking along the same lines apparently, "Then I'd like to be one of the hunters."  The woman stepped through the others.  Her dark eyes were almond-shaped, moreso than most women, and her hair was a long, sleek length of shiny black; her skin was somewhat of a different clor than most, also.  Unlike most women she was wearing some manner of clothing: a skirt of stitched-together animal skins, and thin boots of the same stuff.  Like all the other women, however, her breasts, sizeable ones, were bared to the world.  Held loosely at her side was a crossbow she had built, and at her waist she had a quiver of small bolts for it, as well as a sheathed bone knife at her other hip.<br/><br/>"Tia,"  Onyx said, a bit surprised.  "Are you sure?  I mean... there would be a lot of things for you to do here..." she was right.  Tia loved to tinker with things, and in many cases she was one of the few girls that understood how certain devices --- like her crossbow --- worked.  She was brighter than most... risking her would be unwise...<br/><br/>"I need to try out the changes I made to this thing," Mia declared, hefting the crossbow.  "And I've been on hunts before.  I can more than handle myself."  She shrugged.  "And what better group to go with than one with four Retrievers?"<br/><br/>Onyx nodded in response.  "All right," she said.  She looked around.  "All right, then, two others... you, Zeena..." The poofy-haired brunette grinned and thumped her metal-tipped spear against the ground.  "and you, Marie... so we have a good archer."  The small woman nodded slightly before turning and heading off to find a bow and some arrows, her loincloth and ponytail fluttering behind her as she walked.  "Mina, you got those you need?"<br/><br/>"Yep," Mina said, nodding.  Standing in front of her now were three girls.  Onyx recognized all of them... Rachel was a typical blonde, as Retrievers tended to be, though she looked rather dirty after the insane days they'd just had... the caked-on mud might help mask the girl's scent a bit though.  The second girl, Janessa, was larger, both in terms of musculature and overall curviness; she was also a dark-skinned girl, with relatively short brown hair that was very curly.  People had called her a Dark Retriever... she was good, but beause of her appearance the term "Golden" Retriever didn't seem appropriate somehow.  As for the third girl, she was a very young one, fully adult but still inexperienced as a real Retriever... Lucille was pretty average in terms of size, but wearing her wavy blond hair in pigtails made her look younger and more vulnerable than necessary.  She was bouncing on her heels; she'd been waiting for a chance to prove herself as a Retriever.<br/><br/>Onyx tried very hard not to scowl.  Every one of these girls... she saw them all as competition.  Every one of them, she was sure, had hopes that The Cad would choose<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>to spend a few hours with upon their return from the hunt.  Tia was somewhat exotic, Janessa was particularly curvy, Lucille looked young and innocent, and every other girl had something going for her.  True, The Cad would likely manage several "rounds" tonight, but still...<br/><br/>"Aw, all right," she managed.  "Everybody, find yourself whatever you need... weapons, herbs --- if there are any left --- ropes, whatever.  Then head to the main gate... probably the east one.  Let's not keep him waiting!  Go, go."<br/><br/>Not long later, the girls were making their way to Zeref's location, all of them outfitted with whatever weapons and equipment they had been able to find.  The Retrievers all had ropes and some form of breathing tube or another at their waists; everybody had at least one knife, usually made of animal bone, and some had spears or in Marie's case, a bow and a quiver of arrows.  Tia, of course, had her crossbow, but as she approached Zeref she held out a small, plain bow and a small quiver of arrows for it.  She didn't say a word, just asking him by her expression whether or not he wanted it.<br/><br/>They were about ready to leave when a tenth person joined the group... a large, muscular man stepped through the girls, not apologizing for knocking little Marie almost off her feet.  He came to stand right in front of Zeref, and though a little shorter than him the newcomer was certainly a more imposing figure.  Him being stark naked --- and having traces of blood on his manhood --- didn't help.<br/><br/>With hazel eyes the newcomer glared at Zeref for a few seconds.  All the other men seemed to have a kind of inferiority complex around him, a complex born of jealousy for Zeref's raw skill with the women... they always seemed to desperately need to prove they were as good as him or better, though they weren't.  Of course, if they would<span style="font-style: italic">try</span>being gentle with the girls, instead of grabbing the first one they saw when the urge came for some release, they might have better luck.  "Melissa said I could go with you.  I remember stuff.  And I feel like beating something."  He raised a large wooden club.  Like his other "club," it had dry blood on it.  "Let's go."<br/><br/>It was Ted... Ted, one of the worst brutes of all the clan's men.  This guy had at times beaten girls senseless while injecting his seed into them... and so far, as he was unfortunately one of the most<span style="font-style: italic">productive</span>males as well, he hadn't been punished for it.  Unfortunately, if he said Melissa had given him permission, he was probably telling the truth... though she had likely given him that permission to avoid having him beat<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>.