[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/inS0Xvb.png[/img][/center] [hider=Character] [u][b]Skills[/b][/u] [list] [*]Master of Seas ★★★★★★ [*]Element Resistance ★★★ [*]Combat Sense ★ [*]Iron Skin ★ [/list] [u][b]Inventory[/b][/u] [list] [*]Half-Broken, Nicked One-Handed Sword [*]Rope [/list] [/hider] [b]“Aye, shush,”[/b] Belo whispered, pulling the mewling child off of him. It had been hours of wandering through the dark tunnels, scaring off anything that dared approach, but the fatigue was felt now. A heavier, weightier fatigue, one that reminded him that he literally could not remember the last time he ate food or drank water. It had been a merciful thing then, for the light in the tunnel to be finally reached and for him to be able to breathe air that didn’t smell of soil and stagnation. Tall trees, so far removed from the scraggly groves he recalled, blotted out the sky. The brush itself was thick too, enough to swallow him whole if he simply sat down. If there was so much vegetation, then that had to mean that there was a source of water somewhere, no? He swallowed his saliva, looking about slowly. But it was movement, not the sound of a gurgling stream, that caught his attention. A strange creature. Bold antlers curved out from its crown like tree branches, its form similar to the gazelles in the center of his homeland yet packed with even more flesh, even more muscles. There was something distinctly [i]masculine[/i] about it, dark fur hanging from its neck like a beard. Could he kill it? He regretted the lose of his knife twice-fold. The sword he held would be too unwieldy to carve the creature with. But even a leg or two would suffice. His stomach grumbled again. The runt of a child continued to mewl. He gave it a couple leaves to chew on, hoping that it’d be distraction enough. And for himself? It was impossible to move silently. There was too much undergrowth, and only a fool would consider the ‘silent’ stalking of a human to be imperceptible to the senses of a beast. He could mask his footsteps, but what about his smell? The smell of blood, the smell of sweat, the smell of desperation? So Belo instead dropped into a sprinter’s posture, his black eyes staring at his quarry as it padded through the forest. His muscles tautened. His breaths deepened. He waited for it to stop. To graze. To chew. To relax. To… Go! He sprang forth, clods of dirt kicking up behind him. His ears flattened back from the resistance of the wind, his lungs heaving as his heart rate skyrocketed. Already, his muscles were protesting, tearing from the exertion. But his body had never been lighter, and that surreal cocktail of chemicals and hormones hit his brain to give Belo a vicious high like no other! The creature looked up, turned to flee, but his sword was faster! He had flung it and it spun in a murderous arc, the nicked edge slicing into the creature’s hindleg. Ah, there it was! The pop of a tendon rupturing! And though the creature could still run with only three legs, its balance was lost. It crashed into the earth, its magnificent size enough to snap the sword in two halves as it fell. But that just made the weapon more useful to Belo. He swept it up on approach and leapt upon the creature, driving the broken tip into its throat as he ducked to evade its swinging horns. More violence soon followed. Blood loss was not enough to dissuade the desperation of a prey animal, but the result itself had been decided. … Once more, Belo was soaked in blood that wasn’t his own and, as he watched steam rise up from the scalding blood that he was splattered with, he let out a slow sigh. It was a good thing that he had no hair or fur. A clump of dirt was all that he needed to wipe off most of the blood, before he went to retrieve the kid once more, who was certainly bawling over the bitterness of the leaves. Raw meat wouldn’t be the best, but considering the circumstances? [b]“Eat up,”[/b] Belo spoke, as he sliced a bloody strip of flesh off the creature’s side. There were probably parasites and shit, but maybe he’d get lucky and miss out on those. If only they had a day and plenty of sun. Could sun-dry the meat, turn it into jerky. The air was too humid though. It’d rot before then. [b]“C’mon, chomp chomp. Boys don’t cry.”[/b] Wait, was this child even a boy? [b]“And it’s tasty too. Yum yum.”[/b] The meat wasn’t tasting of anything except for iron. Awful stuff, but the body demanded fuel. [b]"Ah, right. Can you even talk?"[/b] The kid had to be conscious enough to eat, and the ones who were his kind looked to have some sense of language, so... ...well, what was even the point? Not like he understood the language.