A Hunter's Curiosity

[Verana]

The warm air did nothing for her, and neither did the humidity. The rain wasn’t falling, but given how soaked one seemed to get by just walking along this trail one could have almost thought so. Breathing wasn’t easy, but given her exposure to it Vera seemed to have grown used to it. The unmistakable smell of a wet forest seemed to be coming from everywhere, and despite the undesirable effect the air had on her Vera felt oddly at home. If she closed her eyes and ignored some of the more alien birds and critter noises she could imagine herself being at home again during one of the more humid periods on Kiara.

But she wasn’t. For a week now she had been on the trail of this one particular beast that had plagued the local populace. She had caught wind of it in passing after the ship that brought her here had touched down outside one of the bigger settlements. However, given how extensively she had traveled at this point said port was a fair distance away. The creature she was hunting was a nomadic predator that she hadn’t heard of before. On the one hand she knew better than to tamper with the locals and their natural environment. On the other she had let her curiosity get the better of her and proceeded to track it down anyway.

The trail that had once been cold or lukewarm while in pursuit had started to heat up drastically over the last few hours alone. The remains of timid woodland creatures were strewn across the path along with a sign of increasing ferocity. It brought a frown to Vera’s lips. In the end she hadn’t chased this beast to kill it but to learn. Feral creatures weren’t as keen on sharing more than their teeth and claws.

No, if she could she would try to calm it down and get a read of it, maybe give it a name of her own. Vera had always figured the galaxy was overdue for a Teethsy-Claw or a Peltshredder. Not that she expected that she would have quite the luxury. The locals probably had a name for it and it was just a matter of finding out what that one was.

Vera pushed through into a clearing and found herself faced with a…

Campfire?

Her brow perked as she inspected the camp that seemed to have been put up some time ago. She lowered her rifle and investigated without touching. This was done by someone who knew what they were doing, or so it seemed. The fire was still burning so it couldn’t have been left alone for all that long.

… Whoever owned this camp was probably coming back real soon. Vera stood up and readied herself for anything. Common decency dictated that as long as she didn’t take anything she wouldn’t get shot, right? Gods above she sure hoped so.

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya was so sick of crying. The forest had always been so full of distractions growing up. There were endless tasks and activities that she use to do to fill her days. Now it was struggle to get herself up and moving. The rodent she had hunted had taken countless tries and spears to string through. Near half the day, actually, but she failed to recognize that through the fog that had been occupying her.

Everyone dead. She had to get back to them.

Food first. It was a long way yet.

These thoughts drifted like molasses through her as she made her way back to her campfire with her cleaned kill. She wasn’t inept. The kill had been cleaned a ways away, Naya knew better than to flood her camp with the scent of a fresh death. Normally she would have noticed the signs of a predator nearby and wouldn’t have camped in such a high profile spot, but she had been ... ​distracted.

She walked with that same distracted pace back into the clearing, her footsteps light but oblivious to the twigs they snapped. She moved like a ghost, her gaze off-centered and distant. Her eyes and nose were rimmed red, but she wasn’t crying. Because she was sick of that.

By the time she noticed the person sitting before her fire, she was mere yards away. Naya gasped, a sudden pulse of the force echoing from her in a sharp shock wave. She dropped her kill, scattering to raise her make-shift spear.

 

[Verana]

@Naya Everos

The fire was a welcome break from the otherwise soupy air though. As Vera stood by the fire she felt the comfort of its heat waft against her sides with a familiar glow. The smoke blew in her face and as it cleared she swore she could have seen something move in the shadows beyond the trees. The snap of twigs and shuffle of dirt told the girl that she was in fact right, and before she knew it there was a small shockwave in the air along with a person and their makeshift spear.

Vera raised her hands by her shoulders and backed away from the fire.

“Woah hey, no need for that.” She said and motioned her hands downward hoping to have the other person lower their weapon. “Just happened upon the camp when I was tracking a creature.”

As a sign of good faith Vera would place the butt of her rifle against the ground.

“See? Not a threat. Now, I would appreciate it if you did the same. We can just… Talk.”

 

[Naya Everos]

“Talk...” Naya echoed, skimming the intruder and it’s belongings in confusion. She hadn’t encountered anyone in the woods since the raiders. Well besides Hal. But she had been unconscious for most of that.

Her heart slammed in her chest, not believing her brain when it told it this intruder was no raider. Not a raider, nor threat... She lowered the spear, letting the tip drop end-over itself and brush against the ground.

“But-but it’s not safe out here. You shouldn’t be out here, they’ll get you too,” she warned. Her own words struck a cord within herself. Naya blinked hard, a sense of reason returning to her. Coming back out here alone like this wasn’t exactly her brightest move either. She looked around sharply, her spear floating back up to a readied position.

“Have you seen anyone else out here? Come across any... villages?” She swallowed hard, not making eye contact.

 

[Verana]

The other girl was afraid, or at the very least so it seemed. Vera hadn’t become as attuned to people as she were to other creatures yet. Whatever had her in this gotten into this other hunter seemed to have driven her into a state. Vera kept her hands around her rifle in case she decided to do something. That spear wasn’t posing any greater danger, but only a fool would truly let their guard down.

“Who are—” Eyna spoke but was cut off by another question. “Uh, no. Your camp is as close to a village as I have gotten in a few days now.”

A sense of discomfort did spread across Vera’s face.

“Who are you talking about? What village?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya’s hand shook, the vibrations ringing through the length of the blood-stained weapon. “Um.” She swallowed hard.

She bent down, motions stiff as she picked up her kill and slapped at it half-heartedly to remove dirt. She strained to find the words, procrastinating.

“There was a- group. Of raiders. Came through some .... parts- a days away from here. There could of been- I dunno. Maybe others?” As incoherent as her words were, her mind felt even more indecipherable. Through the pain and the lost and the utter sense of disbelief she just kept thinking.... What do you next? What comes after something like this?

She had never felt so profoundly lost before. Like she didn’t even know herself anymore. The lone victim of massacre, only alive because-... no. Not even that. She wasn’t like that.

She sat numbly down on a rock, looking down at the hand that had stopped the beam from falling on her father ....without touching it... in mid air... She flexed the fingers ... then curled them into a fist and shoved them out of her sight.

“Are you hungry?” She offered stiffly.

 

[Verana]

@Naya Everos

That skin would need more than a slap before it was clean, but there was no need to point that out. Instead Vera listened as the other girl talked about what had happened. Raiders, and something that seemed to have shaken her to the bone. Didn’t take a genius to figure that something must have happened to her home. Vera frowned at the news even if it wasn’t her home. The taste of sadness that she took to heart was quite enough to understand the situation.

So, was Vera hungry? Her eyebrows furrowed with a frown.

“I am.” She said considered her words. “Do you need help with anything?”

It was a wide question, Vera knew that. Didn’t know what else to ask though.

“I have butchered and skinned creatures my whole life. If you need anything just say the word.”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya numbly held out the carcass, not looking at it. While she usually could handle a kill without hesitation, there’s was a touch too many similarities between this dead thing and ...

She relinquished the task, grateful to not have to think long on it.

“I’ll make the spit.”

Naya turned from the new coming, leaving them both a moment’s reprieve to process the situation as she trudged around the area collecting appropriately sized and shaped twigs. There was nothing in the clearing, no sign of belongings or tools to the her name. The carcass showed signs of hacking, a sharp rock used to separate it’s hide from the meat. It was messy, but resourceful.

Naya returned, some fluidity returned to her movements as the guest’s presence kept her distracted.

“Are you from around here?” She asked, kneeling as she slowly but deftly made a spit for the meal.

 

[Verana]

@Naya Everos

“Of course.” Vera nodded and grabbed the creature. She raised it in front of her and gave the pelt a thorough inspection as she pondered where to make the cut. She lowered her rifle to the ground and let it rest against a nearby tree. Unholstering her knife she raised it towards the stomach of the creature and made the first cut.

“Huh?” She asked as she ran the blade along its furry surface. “Oh, no. I am from a planet called Kiara. It’s very far from here.”

The rest of the process was second nature at this point. As Vera worked she looked over at the other girl and gave her a smile. She figured that if there was something she needed that could have been it.

“It’s a bit colder than here.” She said with a pause for herself to chuckle. More mountains and pine trees. Plenty of game. Nature worship is really big there.”

Vera needed a follow-up. Something that didn’t lead back to ‘home’ for her friend in the woods.

“How long have you hunted in these parts?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya pulled a sharp rock from the inside of her shoe, using it to scrape off the bark of a stick. She moved with methodical strokes, finding a rhythm.

“Um.”

She let the rhythm fill her, taking a deep breath in and out.

“My whole life.” Stroke. Scrape. Stroke.

“I’m from here. About a -day’s journey away. I think.” Her brows furrowed. She chewed on her lip, paining the stinging in her eyes with a sharp wave of pain from her teeth.

“I- um. You. What are- what are you doing here then? Aren’t you like- my age?” How in the worlds did she get so far from home.

 

[Verana]

@Naya Everos

It worked, to some extent. Vera gave the other girl a warm smile to push against the empathetic flood that she was letting on.

“I am, yes.” She said and finished skinning the creature. She held the fur out in case Naya wanted it. “But in my culture we don’t put much emphasis on age. If you are capable, then you can help, and if you don’t help you are cast out. It was the only way we were able to survive isolation for hundreds of years before Talith and Locke brought the galaxy back to us.”

Had Naya accepted the pelt Vera would wipe the blood on her coat before she went back to butchering the creature again. Had she not accepted the pelt she would pocket it in her own satchel for later study. Whether or not Naya accepted the pelt or not, Vera’s eyebrows rose all the same as she realized that, well, she hadn’t quite introduced herself yet.

“I am Vera, by the way.” She said and nodded her head in as much of a bow as she’d cared to do. “Who are you?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya cleared her throat, also noticing in that moment that they hadn’t even given a proper greeting to each other. Hell, she had threatened to stab her!

Heat filled her cheeks. She shook her head at the pelt. “You skinned it, you keep it,” she offered. It was about as much of a thanks as she could give. Naya knew in the back of her mind that her current state was nothing if not... messy. Improper. Just not how you go about making first impressions. Still, it was too much energy to try and be anything other than she was currently. She stared at the stick, distracted by this for a moment.

“Naya,” she finally said, clearing her throat again and letting out a heavy breath.

“I’m Naya. ... You have to think I’m crazy, I-“ her voice cracked. She tried to reach for words to give the girl an explanation. She wanted to tell her why it was so hard to look upwards right now. Or to find words. She wanted to excuse the burns covering her body and the state of her disheveled hair. Old Naya wanted to make a good impression.

Her shoulders slumped, as if abruptly drained of strength.

She shook her head at nothing, her fingers methodically putting together the spit.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she offered, handing it over.

 

[Verana]

Her name was Naya then, and she thought herself crazy. Vera shook her head.

“No, you don’t seem crazy to me.” She said as she took the spits and began to pierce through the meat pieces she had cut up. “And it’s nice to meet you too, Naya.”

Vera focused on getting the meat onto their sticks, and as each of them were finished she handed them back to Naya. While Vera continued to get the spits prepared she thought about her own experience with loss. Not a day passed when she didn’t think back to the room covered in blood and the predator that someone had let in through a window to utterly decimate whoever lived inside. In a sense that had been the day that Vera grew up, in a sense.

Getting exposed to the brutality of life and death had that effect on people. How they handled it seemed to be a matter of having the right person there for you at the right time. Vera had Alden at the time, but Naya seemed to have no-one. At least, well...

“Do you need water, or anything else? Medicine?” Vera offered as she handed over the last spit. “I don’t mean to offend, you just look like you might need it. Given what has happened.”

And how she looked, though that could go unsaid.

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya looked down at herself. Remnants of the balm from the hospital caked with dirt on her skin. Most of the soot had been wiped away with wet cloths, but it still caked her hair and finger nails. She was bare foot. She had broken out without planning. She pulled at the crisp clothing the hospital had replaced with her own. Meat from the juices smeared on it, staining it further. She tugged at it, wanting the foreign material off.

”I-... yeah.” She relented, too drained to entertain her embarrassment.

“Should probably find a spickle. It’s a plant with four leaves and purple spots. The marrow inside will... I meant to look, but-...” She speared the last stick of meat wood-side into the ground. They were all in a perfect line in front of her, untouched and forgotten.

“I’ll help you.” She grimaced, standing back up. “It’s also good in tea.” He farther’s own words slipped out of her so naturally. Her chest cinched.

 

[Verana]

Vera continued to wipe the blood on her hands on the fabrics of her green jacket. It was thick, had a few pockets and they all seemed to be used to some extent. Her satchel was much the same with the fur that she had cut poking out from under the cover. She looked capable, or so she liked to think when she looked at herself in the mirror. At least what few times she actually cared to look at herself in the mirror.

She’d lie if she said she didn’t miss the company of having someone to talk to. Vex usually worked but this place was a bit too warm for him and he was better off chasing rats and rabbits back at the temple. Foxes usually were.

“Spickle…” Vera said and began to look around them, not quite sure what to look for. Naya offered to help. “I think I’d need it.”

It was easy to get lost like this and forget what one was doing before they had arrived. Perhaps that spoke more for Vera’s own state. She missed her pet, she missed the talks — one-sided as they were — and she also missed the people at the temple, as few as they were.

As she knelt down by a small piece of foliage she broke off a leaf and glanced at it. Part of it seemed colored. Not purple but rather red. Almost like…

“Blood.” Vera said before her eyes went wide. “The Peltshredder!”

She turned around on her heel to look at Naya.

“You didn’t happen to see a- a-... REALLY big predator pass through the area, did you?”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya blinked, the urgency in Vera's tone sending a jolt through her senses.

"I- what?" She echoed back, looking around with a newfound sense of alertness. She spotted the aforementioned blood in a heartbeat. Her gaze snapped ten feet to the left, then ten feet further... following the fresh trail of it. Finally, she looked towards the edge of the clearing, finding a large, tell-tail indentation of a paw in the ground.

"Crap," she cursed. She had camped right in its path?! She snatched up her spear just as a low growl emanated through the camp. She whirled around, ears alert for the snapping of twigs. "In my defense, I was a bit distracted." A twig snapped to their left, the creature lured in by the smell of meat sizzling over a fire. Naya's heel's dug into the ground, the shakes in her hands calming as she raised the pathetic attempt at a spear in the air.

"When you say big..." The growl sounded again, deeper... and closer.

 

[Verana]

Never had a growl felt more like a taunt and laughter. Vera pulled her rifle through the air and into her hands to take aim at the foliage that seemed to obscure the predator that had now found her. Hunter turned hunted, the usual situation when one didn’t take care of their surroundings. At the very least the duo hadn’t managed to fall asleep. Certain death, and all that.

“Don’t jump at it, or attack.” Vera whispered to Naya as she tried to pull her away from the bushes. “It’s feral. We need to be very smart about this.”

Given the small space they had to work with especially. The creature hadn’t come bursting through the shrubs just yet. The growl got louder, the rustle of leaves too. Vera raised her rifle and calmed herself down. A growing sense of anger and pain pushed against her mind mixed with loss. Her hold weakened for a second as the realization dawned on her.

The creature must have been tracking something, too. Something it had lost.

“Crap.” Vera whispered under her breath. “Try not to kill it.”

It was a lot to ask.

“Trust me on this.”

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya sputtered, the grumble resonating through her chest. The threat of death again had sobered her, adrenaline shooting through her veins in cold spurts.

“Kill it with what? My stick!” She protested, glancing down at the paw print she had so very, very stupidly not noticed. “It’s massive!” As much as Naya was a hunter herself, and as much as her blood yearned to be apart of this fight, she knew she was not going to do much against a rifle and paws of that size.

She kneeled down, swiping up the end of a burning stick from the fire and holding it out before her as well. What was this creature? What was Vera doing tracking it? Trust her? Naya bit back her questions, the leaves parting to reveal a shoulder-high creature of pure muscle, fur, and very sharp claws.

“Oh,” She squeaked, her muscles twitching as she bit back the urge to attack it on principle. “Peltshredder, I get it. So about that plan...”

It’s nostrils flared at them, his eyes sharp and unblinking as it tensely... surveyed the clearing.

 

[Verana]

It was hard not to marvel at the beast. It was certainly hard not to fear it either, but Vera mostly marveled at the sight. It was tall, big, and deadly, just like any predator was meant to be. The teeth were dripping with saliva, dried up blood seemingly covering it’s wicked grin from side to side. Each of it’s eyes seemed to fire a beam of pure anger in every direction it looked, and with each flare of its nostrils Vera could have sworn she felt the fear in it.

“It’s okay, big guy.” Vera said as she began to approach the creature. “We’re not your enemy.”

Every animal could be tamed. Not domesticated, but tamed. All it took was a show of respect, of a need for mutual coexistence even if it was just temporary. Vera’s arms remained by her side as she took her first step towards the beast. It responded by getting low and letting out a growl that exposed even more teeth that could shatter bones and pierce beskad. Well, not quite, but they were very sharp.

The girl stopped in her step.

“Naya…” She said with as much of a shaky, uncertain voice as one would expect of a ranger that was slightly out of their depth. “Keep that spear ready, just in case.”

The creature let out a deep barking noise as Vera proceeded to expand her own presence within the force to make herself seem more frightening than she was to this creature. It had it’s benefits, but it had it’s downsides too. Fight or flight was a very real concept in creatures like this. The odds that it would surrender as likely as it was that it would attack.

“We don’t want to fight you.”

However, whether or not the beast listened…

 

[Naya Everos]

Naya gaped.

Her people were hunter gathers. They spent their whole lives dealing with the prey and predators in this forest. Naya had seen some ballsy ways to take down a large prey, or ward off a dangerous predator, but walking forward and talking to it?

”You’re crazy,” she hissed from behind Verana. She finger’s tightened on the spear. For the briefest moment she considered turning and running while Verana stood as a distraction, but the urge was dismissed as soon as it arose. She wouldn’t leave the girl to this. She would save someone.

But before she could figure out the saving, the creature did the strangest thing. It let out a barking whine and took a step back.

It didn’t want a fight. It didn’t want a meal. It wanted to find its lost thing. And these larger predators that stood in its path were just a waste of energy that took it further from it. It whined again, and while it did not put away its vicious fangs, it did start a slow retreat back into the bushes.


Naya let out a noise of disbelief, afraid to move and change his mind.