Flashback The First Kill

[Kars]

The wind was calm and subtle, and the sun was high in the air.

Kars could hardly contain his bursting excitement as he and his father yet again set out to hunt some birds. It was about time he finished making those arrows; all he had was the one his father had made. He had been practicing for a week now, even. He had needed to replace the arrowhead twice, as it had been cracked on multiple occasions from striking a rock.

Beside Kas, his father strode along sprightly with a longbow slung over his shoulder. Kars hadn't told his father that he had been practicing archery at night, too. He knew that if his father found out, he'd likely take the bow away until he was older, and only let him use it when they were out during the day. That and a beating, of course. Neither of which Kars was looking forward to.

But it was still worth it, to him. He so badly wanted to become a hunter like his father, and make the Emerald clan proud.

Soon enough, they returned to the tree where they had been going the past week. A solitary bird sat, perched on the limb that outstretched over the bush at it's base.

"Now I believe in you," His father whispered. "You've made some progress, more than I've ever seen in a week. If you think you can get that bird, do it."

Kars inhaled. He was really feeling it this time. All that practice would lead up to this first kill. They were farther away than before, but Kars felt as if he knew he could adjust his aim. He pulled the string back with the arrow, brought it to his cheek, fixed his aim, and with an exhale of breath, he let the arrow fly.

THUD.

It was a soft thud however, and though the air flew into the ground, something happened to the bird that he could not see. It had fallen straight into the bush at the base of the tree!

"You got it, son! Retrieve it!" His father cheered.

Kars ran over to the bush. There on the ground, with a slight trail of blood, was the bird he had shot. It seemed he had clipped the bird along the left wing and the back of its neck, and though while it couldn't fly, it was still alive, crawling out from under the bush.

Kars panicked. This would have been so much easier had the bird died. Now, Kars didn't know what to do for the bird. Sure, killing the bird would not have made Kars unhappy, as Kars knew of the importance that hunting provided for the clans. His father had cautioned him over and over about famine and starvation, and how the hunters of the Emerald clan are what keep the Drykas from dying from hunger. So it wasn't that, it was more of a longing to save this bird from its suffering.

Swiftly, using the knife his father had lent him for making the arrows, Kars plunged into the bird where he figured it's heart would be. It twitched, like it was trying to cough or something. But it must have been dead, shouldn't it? Kars figured this was the "nerves" his father had told him about. How sometimes dead things would still move, even though they had been hit vitally.

His father came up moments later. "Oh, Kars! What happened there!? There's alot of good meat in that area, son!"

"Sorry, it... it wasn't dead yet, so I tried stabbing it in the heart..." Kars tried to explain, feeling an unknown guilt at his father's tone. Was he not supposed to stab it in the heart?

"Bah, well, you couldn't have known. I should have told you before, but if you shoot a bird and it doesn't die, you snap its neck. Not stab it in the heart! There's lots of edible parts in that area. Well, it's fine! We'll de-feather it and I'll let you cook it for yourself later on. It's befitting of a man to cook his first kill."

Kars was so excited. He had brought down a bird! His first bird! And altogether, his first kill!

"First lets get his tail feathers." His father announced, blood from the bird dripping onto his hands. He examined the feathers; there were two good ones than could make for some decent fletching. What they really needed was a duck or some feathers from a raptor bird, but this would have to do.

Supplied with the ingredients from a satchel on his back, Kars went about making the other two arrows. He watched as his father stripped the chest feathers off the bird, and then gutted it. It didn't seem like such a difficult task, but it wasn't the most pleasant to watch. Kars prided himself, however, as not being the kind who is faint at heart at the sight of blood and guts. He had seen many times as the butchers carved up meat, and had even seen his father skin animals after hunts. In fact, the entire act of preparing your prey was fascinating to Kars. Not as much as the hunting there of, but still.

"See here," His father ripped out the chest of the bird, having long since separated the inedible pieces, "This is what we are going for. This is a nice chunk of meat, nice and tender. Good eats, this. The rest you can skewer over a fire and chew on, but this is the delicacy."

His father showed Kars the fresh meat, and after examining it, he stored it in a pouch, after it was cleaned.

"Well, no reason to stop at one. Let's see if we can get some more, yeah? We will treat those later, though."

Kars nodded. He would dare stop at just one kill, this was too much fun for him.

They continued on, the rest of the day. Out of twenty sighted birds, Kars took out six. Two of them were ducks at a small pond. He didn't mind swimming out to get it, even.

He made a total of nine more arrows, making eleven in all. It was nice, he thought, being able to craft all these things. These were certainly useful skills to have! Based on what his father had taught him, Kars de-feathered and gutted the remaining birds on his own, back at the pavilion. The first four were the ones that weren't ducks, and those were a bit more difficult for Kars. The meat wasn't the easiest to separate from the organs, such as the heart, but with some time Kars was able to pull through. His first butchering job was... well, butchered... but it would still be edible. The next wasn't as bad, and then the last two were pretty okay. Not much more to learn about gutting and treating small birds. The ducks, however, gave Kars some leeway. His experience from the previous birds help alot, as did advice from his father, and these went much smoother. Soon enough, Kars had some fine looking meals ready to be cooked.

He made sure he cooked the first kill, first. This, he thought, was what he had been waiting for. He sat watching it longingly for a while, skewered over a hot little fire he had made. Of course he could make a fire, he had been helping his father make them since he was seven. The next piece he added to be cooked was a slab of duck meat. Mmmm, Kars loved duck. He had tasted it many years ago, and was always treated with it on some occasions, but he was sure this one would taste even better. The rest of the meat had been stored away for later use, and some of the small bird's meat was being dried for tough-meat. Meat spoiled quickly, so it made sense that they were taking these measures.

Kars even shared a bit with his siblings. They were proud of him too, for his success at hunting. All in all, it was a good day, but it was a day that would drive Kars to continue pursuing his dream of becoming a proud Emerald Clan hunter.

[Khida]

Kars

Skill	Points
Butchery	+1
Cooking	+1
Hunting	+1
Weapon: Shortbow	+1

• Fletching: reserve tail feathers from game birds
• Hunting: a botched kill
• Hunting: dispatch bird by wringing neck

Notes

As with the others, you need to timestamp this thread. Also, bear in mind that birds are pretty hard targets for a novice in both hunting and archery, being small and often skittish. Kars' achievements in this thread seem a bit above his skill level, though it's hard to tell for the brevity of the thread.

I didn't award Fletching XP because you didn't really describe any fletching activity -- just the flat statement 'Kars made arrows', which I can't award for. Similarly, I didn't award Cooking lores (or much XP) because the process of cooking the meat wasn't really described; I don't know what exactly Kars learned this day. If you include details like how long the meat cooks for, what's a good cooking fire versus bad, what cooked meat looks/smells like versus raw, etc., then I can give more.

It would have been nice, and I could have awarded you more, if you had gone through the process of the day in more detail. Where did Kars tromp about? What else did he see? Other game, tracks, plants, terrain markers? How did they find birds? Spend a post on Kars creeping through the grass: what does he see, hear, smell, feel? What clues him in to the presence of a bird? Where do you find different kinds of birds? How does he go about picking an angle to shoot from? What causes him to lose prey? Bad environment, loosing too quickly, loosing too late, inadvertently spooking the bird, something else? What's it like, shooting at a duck on the water versus a bird in a tree? What does it feel like, to butcher a bird? How does he remove the feathers? How long does it take? Is it interesting? Does he get bored, daydream of other things? What does it feel like, the process of cleaning and preparing the meat?

Long story short: include more details to put the reader in Kars' shoes. Immerse yourself and me in his experiences. It pays off!