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CHARACTERS: ratonhnhaké:ton/connor (

bastard_kenway) and dragonborn (

preyed) !
DATE: week fourteen, day two.
RATING: r for bambi deaths + likely accurate vocabulary and imagery for skinning and dressing the carcass.
SUMMARY: connor hunts and then meets vera.

Connor was shocked the first time he saw a deer in the woods here- and what was more, he heard her break leaves as she walked, and when he kept tracking her, the scat and the trail was as real as anything he left, forcing him to come to the realization that he was going to get fresh game.

After a quick run to the sporting goods store to pick up a sleeping bag and some basic camp tools, he took his time tracking more deer. He could go after the fattest doe if he wanted, or the buck with the biggest rack, and smoke the jerky for later. How wonderful it was to have a forest full of real game, and options, and the chance to gather herbs he recognized from home. Why anyone would spend the week in the town confused him– they were far too attached to the idea of hot showers, or mattresses. More meat for him, Connor supposed.

He had been luxuriating in tracking this doe for a good hour. Connor had chosen her for her hide, which was a creamy brown, and there were still faint spots on it, the white of her pelt still soft and bright. She couldn't be older than a year and a half.

He notched his arrow, aiming carefully. A nice, clean shot through the eye, and she would be his. He loosened the shot and watched it hit– as another arrow sailed through the air at the same time and sunk into the doe’s other eye.

Connor stood and cursed, loudly.

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Well, shit. She wasn't the only one out here hunting.

She didn't see the man at first from her hiding spot, though she certainly heard the cursing, and she pressed the heel of her hand to her eye and grumbled beneath her breath. If it was one of the locals, perhaps she could persuade him to let her have the deer. They'd been welcoming enough that she didn't think they'd mind if she took it. She'd just need to act sweet enough to make off with it.

Vera climbed down, her leather jerkin and pants giving her away as someone not from this time period. She was careful to sling the bow over her shoulder as she walked, looking for the other man. "I didn't realize someone else was hunting. I do apologize." She didn't mean it, of course. "You have a good eye for quality in your animals."

He moved out of hiding quickly enough, not wanting to be hit lest she mistake him for another deer. Dressed in his assassin’s robes, he certainly seemed intimidating enough, though it faded as he took his hood down and knelt by the deer, making sure she was dead.

“No need to apologize.” This wasn't the only deer he was planning on taking down this week, just the first.

“There is no reason not to share. I assume you want the hide?” Connor removed both the arrows easily, tossing them off to the side and digging out rope from his back pocket, looking for a low strong branch to throw it over and tie the deer to.

Not one of the locals, then. Well, that put her a bit at odds with what he might want. If he was after the meat--

Ah, but he wasn't. Vera could live without the hide (even if she had wanted it, too, greedy thing that she is) if it meant she could have some clean and fresh meat in her mouth, something cured and cooked. It would alleviate a bit of the homesickness she had. "No, not really. I would have used it, true, but I was after the meat itself." She slowly knelt down and examined the animal, testing her flank, looking her over. The doe was enough for one person; she was not wasteful in her conviction even as she craved. "I haven't had anything fresh or even remotely resembling game in months."

“Myself as well, but only weeks. I do not need more than a small amount for my dinner tonight.” He found a nice branch, and tossed the rope over, then tied the two ends together, leaving some length at then ends for the feet. Connor tugged the doe over, tying her on and pulling her up so that she was clear of the ground by a foot or two, hanging upside down.

“Game is better than the swill they give us. I do not mind showing you what plants are eatable here, if you are unfamiliar with the area. ” He triggered his hidden blade, slitting the does’ throat and letting the blood start to drain and drip onto the forest floor below.

“I am Connor. We have not met before.” He nodded at her, his hands a little busy with holding the doe's head at the best angle to keep the cut open and the blood flowing rather than offer her a handshake.

He was very good with hunting, she noted. He knew how to skin an animal, how to collect its blood and what to do with the carcass. He wasn't a hunter for the thrill of it; he killed to sustain himself. It was an admirable quality that she hadn't seen in any others in Zelien. Well, besides Miraak, but he was a Nord. Hunting was practically a requirement.

Vera gave him a brief look of appraisal at the comment. "I wouldn't mind some tips about where to go. I'm exploring today now that things aren't so murderous." And really, it might be her only chance. They could be dragged back to Zelien kicking and screaming tomorrow.

Her eyes flicked to his for only a moment and she nodded. She reached out to help him with the doe, keeping the body steady for his work. "Vera. You said you've only been in Zelien a few weeks? Where did you come from before?"

He grunted in thanks, waiting for the blood to slow enough to a steady drip. The rest would be in the heart and lungs, and it would be faster if he cut them out.

“There is no reason to be in the town when this is an option.” As long as no one else disturbed the forest and drew the monster’s attentions into where Connor was staying, which he doubted. The hotel offered all the comforts most people wanted, but the temptation of meat was more important.

“I have a selection of the plants with me. I trust you will take no more than you need and keep quiet.”

Not deprave him of his food source, or deprave the animals that also lived off of the forest.

Connor took a moment to figure out how to answer the question of what his world was like. He busied himself make the cut from the deer’s throat to her rear and spitting the meat open, tying off the intestines and removing the bladder, moving to leave them far from the body. It was easier to define the place by what it was not, based upon what he knew of other worlds.

“We have no magic. Many people die of illnesses I have seen cured easily here. I come from a place that has recently been... occupied by people from across the sea. I am one of the natives. There are no intelligent beings besides humans.” He supposed that would be enough, unless Vera had questions.