Where the hunter willingly becomes the prey (Jarhal)

[Aleksi]

Aleksi nodded at Jarhal's words softly, keeping her face serious. It seemed that she understood how important this is to him. Luc stood up right after Aleksi did, standing by her right leg and waiting for further instructions.

Her pale lips moved as she mumbled something to herself and put the dagger back in the holder. It was quite clear that her lips will curl into a smile again before she whispered
"I do hope this will be as interesting for you as you've hoped for it to be"

As soon as she was done saying that, s he jumped over the rock and started running down to where she said she would. Luc was following each and every move she made. They looked like a perfect team. Every move of her legs was followed by a move of Luc's huge paws. It almost seemed as if their hearts were beating at the same time.

Aleksi stopped and so did Luc. Crunching down, closer to the ground she grinned in a somewhat wicked manner. Yup, she got them, once again. Luc looked at Aleksi and she gently scratched his big, furry head
"Yes my boy, we are going after a deer this time.... the more we get, the better."

It was obvious that she wasn't aiming at just one, but it was always that way. Sometimes she'd come with two or three things home and sometimes she'd come back with just one. That was nature.

Aleksi's fingers moved down to the dagger, slowly taking it out and looking at all the animals closely. She knew she'd have to wait for one to be away from the others to catch it, but even that part wasn't boring for her. Kneeling in the grass with a hungry cat on her side seemed perfectly fine for her.

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

Stalking with his furry companion, he made way for the side of a little rocky hill that over-looked the rest of the grassland plains about. Finding a nice hiding spot on the side of the hill that faced where he assumed Aleksi was headed, he took out several more arrows and stuck them into the ground in front of him. Chural laid down on his belly, but was not relaxing. He sniffed the air and watched, tensed to spring up and sprint on command.

It was true he had said he didn't plan to interfere, but now that he was out here he decided that he might take a shot at bagging any that escaped over his way. After all, winter was almost here and he needed to help the clan stock up. He kept an eager eye for movement in the grass, curious to see just how the pair worked in tandem. He wondered if she'd be as interested to see him and Chural go to work, but that would be for another time if at all.

From what he had learned of the woman, he doubted it would be too much similar to his own methods. To him, patience was crucial and a successful hunt could mean waiting for a whole morning in terribly uncomfortable positions until the prey presented itself for the perfect shot. Of course, he didn't have a giant cat to speed up matters.

[Aleksi]

Aleksi was as still as she could be in the grass, holding the dagger in her hand and waiting for her prey to move away from the rest. The sun was shining above their heads and yet, it was almost as cold as last night.

Aleksi rolled her eyes as she moved her left leg. She didn't really notice that before, since it didn't seem important, but the grass was still wet from the dew. The thing that annoyed her was the fact that her silky outfit already got wet and was stuck to her skin. If it didn't go dry in about an hour or so, Aleksi was sure she'll rip it off.

Her eyes went back to the deers. She was quite lucky this morning, it seems. Three of them had separated from the group and went to Aleksi's left. They were all females, as far as Aleksi could see, so it was amazing. There were a very few rules Aleksi had while hunting. Never kill a leading male and never ever kill a pregnant female or a female with an offspring.

The same, big, green eyes went towards Luc, slowly leaning down and whispering
"See the big guy?", she pointed at the huge deer that was the closest one to them, "Go Luc, I will be right behind you", and as soon as she said that, Luc ran out of the grass like mad.

The animals weren't sure what hit them, so they started running all over the place like crazy, while Luc chased the biggest one of them all. Aleksi was running towards them as fast as she could, but obviously not nearly as fast as the cat.

It took at least 10 minutes of a nice run for Luc to catch the deer finally, jumping on it's back and pinning it to the ground, which as usual made Aleksi run even faster towards the pinned animal. It seemed like Aleksi wanted to end the pain of the loud animal under the huge, blood-thirsty cat.

As soon as Aleksi got close, Luc seemed to have pulled the deer's head back, allowing Aleksi to jump on it and shove the dagger down the throat of the animal. It was a painful way to kill something, but the easiest one as well.

The dagger ripped through the deer's skin covered with fur, after which it stopped twitching and making noises. Aleksi didn't smile, not this time. It seemed like the noise that the deer was making made her sad, or was she thinking about something else? One could not be 100% sure, but as soon as all of the mess stopped Aleksi clapped her hands twice, in a rather weird manner which made the cat growl madly and start running towards another deer again.

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

Unfortunately, nothing worth shooting passed by Jarhal's hiding spot and he was forced to pluck up his arrows and run to keep up with her and the cat. Keeping to the ridge, he could see them as indistinct forms in the distance but making out much beyond that was difficult. He was now fairly sure that they would not enjoy his style of hunting. This sort was close enough to what he expected from her, chaotic and primal. Was this how all Diamond clan hunted?

It was no matter, he followed along well enough. To say he was within bowshot would be stretching truth a little bit, though. Every time he bed down to watch her, he could feel Chural curled against his leg, almost shivering with the desire to join in. Jarhal understood, but he would not allow it. There was little the dog could do here, besides get in the way and hurt himself. Chural had protected him for years, so it was only fit Jarhal should return the favor in the little ways that he could.

Chasing after the woman made him wish he had brought his strider along after all. All this watching was getting rather exerting.

[Aleksi]

Aleksi stood still, above the already killed prey as Luc kept running around. It seemed like the cat knew exactly what it was doing. The deer, within 10 minutes or so ran almost right into Aleksi, but was stopped by Luc who jumped on it and held it down so Aleksi could repeat the move from before.

This time though, as Aleksi dug the dagger into the animal's body, blood splattered all over her and she cursed something loudly, almost growling as she made the final cut. It seemed like she didn't want to move. Sitting there with blood across her face and body made her look even more predatory, with a bit of sickness to it. Luc didn't seem to mind it though.

Aleksi finally decided to stand up, wiping her hands off her pants, she looked around the place, trying to find Jarhal. She whistled as if trying to get Chural to go, just before Luc growled quietly and took her hand in his mouth to get her attention. This might seem insane, but he never hurt her that way.

"I will be at it soon boy.... relax", her eyes still wandered the grass as she walked towards the deer she has killed first. It was still quite cold, but the grass was a bit dryer. Dragging the deer over to the one that was killed last was a painful part of hunting. Luc kept looking at the newly killed one, like he was waiting for something

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

Her whistle carried pretty clearly to Jarhal's location with only the high grass to muffle it. Chural looked up to him, waiting his command, and he nodded back. Two deer was a good enough hunt, surely, but he hoped that cat of hers was going to be dragging the other one. Not that he'd refuse to help, but... well, it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable part of the whole process.

Standing then from the high grass, he waved his hand wide to her from a distance of perhaps 50 yards and began to make his way to her with as much speed as he could muster in the thick grass. Eventually nearing her, he pulled back the hood of his cloak and yanked the hunting mask down below the chin. Chural heeled him the entire time, sometimes leaping and struggling through the grass.

"That was interesting, I suppose." He said, then catching sight of the blood splattered all over her. He could not help but smirk though, it seemed to fit her if anything. "Do you plan to try for any more? The smell might attract..." He paused, whether for emphasis or consideration was unclear, "larger predators if we stay here too long."

[Aleksi]

She grinned wickedly and licked her lips. The blood seemed flattering right about now, since she was standing in front of another hunter. Her eyes moved over Jarhal's shoulder just before she whispered
"What about you? would you care to try?"

Aleksi moved down and pulled her other, slightly bigger dagger out of it's handle, gently kneeling down and moving her right hand so she can cut down the throat of the animal with the dagger in her left hand.

It would be a lot easier if Aleksi didn't forget about things like deep scars along her upper arms. But it didn't take too long for her to remember. The first big move of her right arm without the adrenalin rush and she growled almost like an animal. It was obvious that Luc didn't find that normal since he turned his head towards her and made a questioning, whining noise.

Aleksi frowned, looking down her bandaged arm and sighing. Her eyes moved up to Jarhal as she whispered "Could I get some help with the skinning of this one?". She seemed to have made it clear that she is planning to skin only one of the deers, which made Luc growl quietly, not in a threatening manner though.

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

The hunter merely stood by for a few short seconds without answering, consumed with acutely observing the bandaged wound that seemed to pain her. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it since he wasn't a healer, but he made a mental note of her injury and filed it away. It was tempting to tell her she should get the injury looked at back in Endrykas, but he seriously doubted she would listen.

With his cursory inspection done, he inclined his head and reached around behind him to withdraw a simple little skinning knife from somewhere under the green cloak. Without further ado, he knelt down and began field dressing one of her deer. He concentrated closely, making sure not to cut into the intestine. It took forever to get the smell out of your nose when you did that.

"None were unlucky enough to cross my path, but I'm satisfied anyhow. You win some and you lose some, as the foreigners say." As he spoke, Chural sat and stared off into the grass. Every so often he made to sniffing the air, and then would settle back down to watch when he was satisfied nothing 'dangerous smelling' was closing on them.

"I have a bit of a proposition for you, Aleksi Diamond." He began slowly, still cutting and slicing, "I am envious of those dagger skills of yours. With winter closing in, I see myself growing extremely bored and I assume you will have some time free as well." He paused in his work on the deer to look up and catch her eyes with his own. His father had always said it was important to look someone in the eyes when you were trying to make a deal.

"I'd like to learn how to defend myself with a long knife similar to yours, and in return I'd be willing to teach you some of the finer points of the Hunter that only an Emerald clan knows. Tracking, recognizing poisonous plants, proper camouflage... how does that sound to you?"

[Aleksi]

Aleksi smiled as he kneeled down. It didn't feel odd for her to work with someone else right now, which was kind of strange. Her eyes would go over to him every now and then, trying not to concentrate on it too much though.

Her dagger was moving down the deer's body, doing everything she can to prevent the skin from ripping, since she could sell it for quite a bit of money or use it herself.

When Jarhal started making the proposal, Aleksi sighed softly and smiled. Her life was getting quite interesting. It took her a couple of seconds to figure that he was watching at her, but once she got her eyes up, she blushed for some reason. Not a lot, but she did, some.
"Well Jarhal, I'd be happy to do that with you.... as the matter of a fact, I hate winters, since there isn't much to do and I spend most of my time in my tent. Learning and teaching sounds better then that

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

Giving a pleasant smile, he bent back down to working on the door again. Maybe that whole eye contact thing was onto something.

"Good, good. I'll look forward to it." He murmured as he focused on finishing up the deer and getting back to the Tent City.

There wasn't much he could think to say past that, there was just work left to do to finish this hunt and call it successful. Not a single arrow had been shot, but he felt like he'd come away with a prize anyhow. Anxiousness was a bit of a foreign emotion to Jarhal, rarely did he have much different to be eager of from one hunt to the next, but that's what he felt dimly. Eager to learn and teach... or perhaps more precisely, eager to have someone to learn from and teach to.

As he looked forward to winter, as strangely as that was, his hands continued their practiced work. Before long he was finished with the task entirely and looked over to see the woman's progress on her own deer. More precisely, he was curious just how much the injury hindered her now after all the exercise of earlier. It was only natural to hope your hunting partner was alright, after all.