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(1/10)

Someone had set up a hunting operation in the grasslands beyond her papa's forest. Not that that didn't happen, ever, but usually when someone came through they would hunt a bit, set up a camp, and then be gone within the next few days. That wasn't the case here though, nope! There were traps - all over the place, and Eujanie would have been impressed if she wasn't so annoyed. These days, she went off into the wilds on her own more often than she used to, and all it would take was getting stuck in one trap - falling into a pit or something - and then she just knew her mom would stamp her foot and say she couldn't anymore.

... Eujanie was getting older, sure, but she liked living here with her parents, and if her mama said something, her papa would make sure it happened, adult or not. So.

Traps.

You know, she could always try to break 'em. Maybe then the hunters would think the place wasn't worth the hassel and would leave. But they'd probably figure out it was a person breaking them, and really if they hadn't found her parents' homestead yet, Eujanie didn't wanna give them much reason to go poking around.

Which brought her to the here and now - hands on her hips as she peered down at a pit trap, at the bottom of which there was a scrofa - squealing up a storm. She had a knife in one hand, but honestly she didn't fancy going down into the hole, where it might get desperate and try to hit her with its tusks, but all that noise was bound to get attention - like maybe a witu or something?

Uggggh.

(2/10)

If it was Uzumati, maybe he'd have been aware enough to realize someone was watching him. But Eujanie was young, and definitely not self aware, so she continued to peer down into the hole, tapping the flat edge of her knife against her leg. "Look, I'm sorry, but it's a lot more trouble to try and get you out of there alive." She called down to the scrota, wrinkling her nose. "You're just too big."

A petty part of her wanted to just go down and steal the kill to be a brat, but honestly - she knew she needed to stop the thing's squealing, and killing it and leaving felt like a waste.

So she either left it to scream, and risk attracting attention, or- she risked getting gored. "Maybe I could tie my knife to a stick and stab you. Spear like. No chance you'd just tilt your head up so I can get your throat, huh?"

The girl was so invested in her prey that she jumped and spun around, knife raised, when someone spoke. Of all the things she expected to see though - a surprisingly fit older, foreign looking guy wasn't it. And why would she ever expect a foreigner?! She eyed him, lips pursed, eyes flicking to the bow as he pulled it off his shoulder, but he made no sign he was about to shoot her, and instead just came closer.

And killed the scrota. She peered down into the hole, then relaxed a bit, sighing as she drew a hand over her brow as if to wipe away sweat. "Well, I was thinking of climbing in to stab 'em anyway. Arrows work though." She looked at him again, frowning. "Are you the guy putting traps everywhere? My mom forages stuff around here - and I love her, but she'd step in one'a those ropes in like a second if no one was with her. You trying to catch ladies in holes, is that your... 'game'?" There was a joke there, a double entendre maybe, and it made her grin, belying how serious she was (or wasn't) about her accusations.

(4/10)

Oh spirits, if Valerian was here he would have an aneurysm at someone insulting their mom, even passively. But Eujanie had to bite the inside her cheek to keep from barking out a laugh, and instead busied herself by putting her knife back in its sheath at her hip, watching with bright, curious eyes as he began to gather up the scrota with... a net!? She would've totally assumed that the scrota would stomp or cut through the rope at the bottom, but as he heaved its body up, she saw that wasn't the case at all.

"That's okay. Some people like women more than enough to make up for it." Eujanie responded with a shrug, padding around to the other side of the pit to watch him closer. "Are you gonna be around here long? 'Cause if you have too many scrota screaming around here, you might bring predators, and it'll be MY dad who has to take care of it. That's why you sneak up on scrota, and dont' just..." She gestured with her arms to the hole.

(5/10)

A day or two? Eujanie opened her mouth to say something, but the guy interrupted by promptly slicing into the scrota - spilling blood out on the ground. She wrinkled her nose, leaning away from it as he worked. "It might if you leave guts everywhere." She pointed out. Usually, her dad collected up guts and things to use for other things - to make chum for fish, or to spread out away from the home, to keep predators far off. "Say, what's the chance I could get a leg or something? You know. And I could clean the guts up for ya?"

(6/10)

Really? Given his pretty grumpy attitude so far, Eujanie expected a 'budge off kid!' or something. Instead though, he looked at her intently for a moment, long enough that she propped her hands on her hips and raised her eyerbows expectantly... then he finally agreed.

"Seriously? You ever had stock made from scrota hoof? It's insanely good, you should give it a shot --" She babbled, excitedly.

Immediately her face lit up, and she moved forward, rolling up the sleeves of her top to above her elbows. As they talked, the man had already done most of the gutting, so she only had to wait until he'd completely removed the gut pile - at which point she moved in and, without hesitating, grabbed at it. Her actions spoke of familiarity - she wasn't good at field dressing, not like her dad, but she'd helped out enough that it was familiar to her. She knew where to grab so as not to pop the bladder or bowls.

She left the stranger to his work, and instead carried the gut pile off away from the pit, peering around. Ideally, the crystal grasses would be left unsullied, so her mom could look for pods here in a few days - so she picked her way towards the treeline instead, and began to spread the guts out the way her dad had showed her.

(7/10)

Oh, Padma would probably have a heart attack. Uzumati, though, maybe he'd be proud that Eujanie had been so useful? ... No, more likely he'd be more concerned about her dealing with a stranger in exchange for a leg. 'Hm.' He would say to her, and it would probably mean something like 'You're lucky you didn't get a knife in your back, daughter, now come here so I can hug you.'

Or... something like that. Amused at her ponderings, Eujanie returned to the hunter, smearing blood onto her skirt, right along pre-existing grass stains and streaks of mud from her earlier adventures.

"Woah-- you already broke it down? You're fast!" She said, loudly, eyes locking on the wrapped chunk that was clearly leg, given as the hoof was sticking out of the linen wrappings.