Hunting and Gathering and Things in Trees

Posted on Fri Oct 25th, 2013 @ 4:18pm by Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson & Ensign Maria Delgado & Commander Hans Munich & Gaia

1,312 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Tabula Rasa
Location: Planetside

ON

Lizzie kept a close eye on the trees and what grew under them. Every now and then she would stop to dig something out of the ground. She tried to keep as much of the root as possible, in case she chose to transplant it later, and put it in her bag.

Jenna stood at a bush and gently tugged at berries and placed them in a woven basket that she had placed at her feet. The berries were a dark black and purple in color.

Mojo crouched down and gently slid the tall grasses aside as he carefully slid the slender needle like object into hollow tube and quietly blew into the tube and the needle flew threw the air silent slicing the edge of a slender blade of grass in two as it whipped through it. The needle hit its mark, the neck and the animal jerked and tried to run. Another needle was inserted and it too flew after the first. Then Mojo lept quietly forward and smacked the furry beast in the back of the head. He pulled out a rough hewn knife and slit the animals throat and pulled the needles out and slid them back into his mouth and then gutted the animal and prepared to find another as he moved forward.

Lizzie climbed into a tree to get a good look at what grew in the branches. She hadn't seen evidence of fruit or nuts, but she wanted to have a good look anyway.

She found a good perch on a thick branch and used it to stand and get a good look.

Suddenly, something pushed her and she fell backwards, catching a branch with both arms so she wouldn't fall to the ground. "Hey!"

Mojo heard Lizzie call out as he was nearby he walked quietly below the tree she was in. "Hey Miss. You all right, up there?"

After an awkward moment, Lizzie got her balance and swung to the ground. "Something up there hit me," she said. She immediately grabbed a stick and climbed back into teh tree. "Hey, you, I think we should negotiate."

There was a chattering noise and a rustle of leaves in response.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. How 'bout we make friends?" she asked.

This time she balanced against a branch so she wouldn't be caught off-guard. Something flew past Lizzie and hit the branch behind her. Lizzie pulled out a piece of fruit and held it out. "See? I want to be friends."

A small monkey darted out of the leaves and grabbed the fruit. It quickly retreated to a branch and watched Lizzie intently as it ate.

Slowly, Lizzie handed the monkey another piece of food, then another, making it more confident each time. Finally, she jumped to the ground and offered it a small handful of berries. After some hesitation, the monkey followed her.

"Good boy. At least, I think you're a boy." She put the monkey on her shoulder and continued her search for food. The monkey jumped off her shoulder as she started to move, then jumped back and wrapped its tail around her neck. "Good. Stick with me and I'll feed you."

Mojo looked at the woman and then at the monkey. The monkey wasn't very big and a perplexed look appeared on the dark man's face. "Did you do that so we can eat him?" Mojo asked curiously

"No. I think I'm going to name him Bruce." The monkey clapped its hands in appreciation. "Good, then you're definitely Bruce."

"How can I get one?" Mojo asked

"I don't know. Offer one some fruit or nuts?" she said.

"I only have dead rabbit." Mojo replied as he held up his nicely gutted rabbits. "Besides you caught that one I thought you would be helpful in catching another and no I won't eat it. It reminds me of my home." He frowned for a moment and looked quite sad. "I have not been there in a very long time."

"Well, maybe we can lure a friend down as well?" She set a pile of nuts and made a chirping noise to see if she could attract the attention of another monkey.

While the others were busy with the monkey, Maria continued to look for something edible or useful. She really wasnt' sure why she was here with this group. Except that it seemed like more of an adventure than sitting back at the compound scrubbing or cleaning.

She found several sticks that looked promising. They were heavy and of a good wood. With a little work, they could make weapons. She began to gather up a number of branches to take back with them and rejoined the group.

She came back with an armful of large branches that would make good staves and looked at the monkey. "Cute."

She set her branches against a rock. "How much more are we going to gather before we head back?"


There was a rustling of the underbrush, something was rapidly coming at the opening. The sound of footfalls as Hans came bursting through the under brush at a full sprint. He had the two spears with him as he ran.

"I have arranged Take out for Dinner!" he ran to the opposite side of the clearing near the trees.

With a mighty grunting roar the forest seemed to belch up a large wild Boar, the creature had a half broken spear in the side that obviously agitated it. He was ready to hand off one of the two spears.

"We just need to take it out..." He explained as he readied to do battle. "Fresher than Gagh..." He said an d wondered where that word came from?

Lizzie grabbed a branch and flipped into a tree. "I'm clear! I'll play cheerleader," she said. "Hey, piggy, up here!"

Maria grabbed one of her large branches and smacked the boar in the face as hard as she could, breaking the branch in the process.

The branch succeeded in diverting attention from Hans to Maria; with a grunt it turned in a tight spin and started to charge in her direction.

Maria let out a string of expletives in Spanish as she turned and ran for the nearest tree. She wasn't as confident in her tree-climbing abilities as Lizzie, so she chose to run around the tree in hopes she could find something to distract the beast. "Oye, puerco, no me comes! Soy muy flaca y sin sabor!"

"Hey, du Seite von Speck..." Hans said as he charge the rump of the Boar.

The boar squealed and turned back to Hans. That was all Maria needed to go after the extra spear. It was only a few feet away. She grabbed it and ran back to the boar. "Hey, piggy, wanna go to market?" she asked as she poked it in its flank.

Hans head the squeal of the boar; he had tried this end run before and did not drive it deep enough, this time he charged as it turned instead of interception and a passing strike. This time with the animal pivoting it was nearly stopped. He drove the spear into the 'Kill Zone', he had hunted like this before as it felt natural.

"Goooooolllll!" Maria laughed in relief that the boar was dead. "Now, let's get it and the rest of what we've gathered back to the compound so we can roast el puerco for dinner."

"Lizzie... we need an apple while you are up there?" He joked. "What is a boar without an apple in it's mouth?"

"I think I saw some closer to the compound," she said, dropping down from the tree. "You deal with the beastie and I'll get the fruit."

OFF

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson
Botanist

Mojo
Lounge worker

Lieutenant Hans Munich
Chief Operations Officer

Ensign Maria Delgado
Science Officer

 

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