sooo does anyone want ankle rope burn (open)

[fish]

Out under the speckled Altas Verde forest canopy, a dark hood emerged from between the foliage. The figure stepped through the leaves more silently than the dewdrops rolling off their hood, although at this point it seemed more force of habit rather than function. What was the point of quietly sneaking up on a wild game trap that he already set up if it worked? Not like the animal would get away.

A handful of rabbits and grouse, dead but fresh, dangled limply from Onca's belt as he approached the last trap of the morning for him to check. He only found it logical to check the largest last so that he wouldn't be encumbered from dragging a larger carcass around, but this was neither wild game nor carcass.

What was meant to snare and suspend a larger animal had snagged a more unfortunate and sentient catch. Onca stared at his unintentional victim with an unreadable face. It wouldn't matter how readable his face was anyway, given his entire face was fucking covered. He expected venturers in this neck of the woods (lol) to be less unseasoned to spotting a fellow woodsgoer's traps. The hell?

[DragonSong]

Was a quiet life really so much to ask?

Asta--or The Ghost, as she had once again begun to be known in her new stomping grounds--had been in her doe form when the snare snapped shut around her back foot. Surprised, she'd instinctively reverted to her human shape. Which was something of a mistake, as it left her dangling above the forest floor it little more than an enchanted slip and a frown.

She'd considered taking a smaller shape--maybe even a bird of some sort--but an experiment start to change into her pine marten form had proved that the snare just tightened around her ankle, and then when she tried to change back, the damn thing was cutting into her flesh.

Maybe if I could swing myself up, she mused, eyeing the closest branch. If she could just get ahold of it, she could change into something that climbed more easily, maybe a squirrel, and keep herself steady while she tried to untie or cut the snare.

She was just starting to swing herself back and forth when the hunter--presumably the person who'd left the snare--approached. Baring her teeth and wishing she'd kept her knife on hand--but what good was a knife to a deer--she warned, "You lay a hand on me and I'll bite."

[fish]

Onca stared disinterestedly at the hapless lass snarling at him. Wordlessly, he sighed slowly. Disappointment? Irritation? Definitely not guilt. The victory of catching something was sort of killed if it was something not even worth butchering or skinning. Like a person.

Completely ignoring her warning, he turned to the side where the snare's base was. He unlatched whatever da hell mechanism held the rope up, but held it in place with his hand. The snare didn't move yet, leaving Ms. Bycatch still dangling.

Keeping the snare still suspended, he turned back to her and held his other hand out expectantly.

"Pay up."

He tugged on the line a few times to get the message across, resulting in the snare bobbing her up and down. Not the most polite shakedown.

"For the deer I lost because of you."

[DragonSong]

Asta yelped when she bobbed in the air, the snare digging even more firmly into her ankle.

"Alright--alright, stop it!" she snapped at the hunter. Gods. Just her luck. The last time she'd been trapped, she'd wound up spending a hellish few weeks in a traveling menagerie. It seemed this time she was to be stripped of any coin she had on her.

Which...was precisely none. How was she supposed to pay him?

"I don't have anything," she sighed, glaring at him from her upside down vantage point. "But if you cut me loose, I--I can get you two deer."

[fish]

Had he been a funnier individual, Onca would've cackled at the view of this pale woman being strung up and shaken around, reminiscent of a tablecloth left out to dry. Instead, he just raised his eyebrow when he heard her offer, stilling the snare in his hand. Ever the skeptic, he looked her up and down to assess whether he could hold her to follow through with her proposal as strange as it seemed. She looked feeble enough to coerce even if she didn't.

Even though his face was totally covered, anyone could tell that Onca seemed amenable to this compromise. However, he's just a tad bit scummier than your average opportunistic predator.

"Make it three," he demanded without skipping a beat, "and I'll let you down slowly. Instead of just dropping you." He lessened his grip on the rope to demonstrate that he wasn't above just letting go rather than easing her down gently. "No tricks."

[DragonSong]

Asta glared, but muttered, "Fine, three." She probably could have figured out her own way down eventually, but the hunter was closer, and new the intricacies of his own trap. At least, she assumed.

Besides...she didn't have to deliver on the deal. He didn't know just how fast she could get away, if she put her mind to it.

"Now, will you let me down? Please?"

[fish]

"Bring two here first while I'm lowering you." Even someone as magic-illiterate as Onca was still sharp enough to recognize when someone wasn't. Surely this starkly pure white and flowing lady hanging out (literally) in the woods didn't look like this without supernatural reason. Onca figured there was a non-zero chance of her somehow magically summoning or calling them over, so it was worth a shot trying to negotiate for her to do it right where she was.

However, he still did need his trap back, and he wasn't the type to be dishonest during negotiations, so Onca began lowering down the snare anyway. He just did it at a snail's pace (if the snail were stuck in molasses) to give her ample time to respond to him. After all, he did promise to let her down slowly.

"The third after I let you down," he grunted. He thought this was a fair enough deal, or at least if it was within her powers anyway. She could hand the last one over if she rated his customer service for gently letting her down enough stars.

[DragonSong]

"I--what?"

Asta stared at him. "I--I can't bring them," she exclaimed, as though the very idea was ludicrous. Which it wasn't, if she really thought about it for a moment. Plenty of mages and druids could probably pend their magic to such a task, but that wasn't exactly withing the scope of her talents.

"I'm a hunter," she snapped by way of any explanation. "And I don't need traps."

[fish]

Onca snorted at her exasperated response. Could you even blame him for trying, she looked super fancy and magical. At least it was worth a shot. He sighed, continuing to let the snare down just as slowly as before.

"Then explain how you'll hunt them." His hood shifted as he visibly looked her up and down judgmentally, considering she was fairly empty-handed. What, did she summon lightning from the sky to slaughter wild game? He'd hate that, considering how damaged the sizzling carcass would be. He'd expected to be able to kill them himself, so it only made sense that he'd still rather check to see how the carcasses might be affected by... whatever her hunting method may have been. "Without traps," he added as a biting jab at her.

[DragonSong]

"Let me down," Asta responded slowly, "and I can show you."

It's a bit of a gamble, but what does she really have to lose at this point? She'd already established that she can't shapeshift her way out of the snare, not with the weight of her body hanging from it.

She could have lashed out at him, but...gods. She didn't want to. All she'd wanted was a few months of peace and quiet, was that really so much to ask?

[fish]

"Already am," he grunted back at her. True to his word, his hand was indeed letting the rope down just as agonizingly slowly as before.

You know, at first Onca hadn't even been suspicious beyond his typical caution when negotiating with strangers. It only seemed fair to exchange both sides of an agreement at the same time to him, or at least offer an explanation why it wasn't possible in order to appease the other party. This chick hadn't done either, and only seemed to be keen on being let down. He noted this, but what else could he have done anyway. He was confident in his own ability to out-stubborn someone into getting what he wanted one way or another, even if it meant easing up just in the moment.

Onca finally let the rope go slack in his hand as the snare was lowered enough to let the stranger's head, shoulders, torso, and eventually hips make contact with the ground. He nodded at the loop of rope around her leg, indicating for her to loosen it and take her leg out. "Not cutting it. There's no more tension. 'Should be loose." Onca preferred his rope fully intact and reusable at full length, thank you very much.

[DragonSong]

Asta oofed quietly when she finally made contact with the ground, and immediately rolled and tried to scramble into a slightly more dignified position. Still eyeing the hunter warily, she reached down and worked the snare loose, then off her foot.

Then she was on her feet and changing, taking the shape of a large, lithe forest cat, though the snowy color of her hair stayed in the feline's fur. She bared her teeth at the hunter, fangs easily the length of a human thumb.

But instead of attacking, she whirled and took off into the brush, a flash of bright white against the greens and browns of the forest around them.

[fish]

"Twel-" Onca caught himself as he saw her form morph into an animal. Oh. A shapeshifter. Well that explained why she was so adamant on not being able to do anything before she was let down.

"Six hours." I'll give you six hours to come back with your end of the agreement. Onca watched her dash off, assured that her hearing was probably sharp enough to have heard him before she'd left. He turned back to his snare to properly dismantle it.

So maybe he'd halved the initial time he'd intended on giving her, but having seen her as a pure white wildcat, he knew her pelt's value would be way higher than three measly deer. Onca wouldn't be all that bummed out anymore if she didn't hold up her end of the agreement, since that would mean he didn't have to either. Honestly, he kind of hoped she wouldn't. He'd love an excuse to sell a skin like hers.

[DragonSong]

At first, Asta fully intended to just keep running. Maybe take a shape with wings, and simply...find somewhere new. Somewhere far from this hunter's scope.

But...no. No, she had chosen this place. When her father had left, she'd promised that he'd be able to find her in these woods. And—and even more than that, she was tired of running. Every time something happened, a trapper appeared or human settlements moved too close or even a shift in the wilds themselves, every time she ran.

She was so tired of it.

It took about three hours before she returned to where the snare had been laid, still in her feline shape, with a rather impressive buck dragged along beside her. She dropped the animal in the natural hollow formed by the roots of the tree and sat back.

[fish]

Well damn. There goes a massive profit for now. Bah, Onca couldn't complain if the woman was truly going to follow through with her promise. It was no pure white pelt, but three deer were still way better than none. He wasn't going to risk shooting for platinum when gold was already setting itself down for him.

He dropped from out of the trees where he'd been stringing up and hiding most of his gear and smaller catches, landing with a very [cat jumping off kitchen counter] thunk onto the soft forest floor.

"One." Two more. Onca approached the carcass while almost entirely ignoring Asta and pulled out a knife. It was unlike the combat knives he carried on his front, flaunting an ornately carved handle and a blade that looked like it belonged in a toolshed rather than a fight. He grabbed an antler and held it up to inspect the buck's head and body; at least he could trust her to make clean kills.

Onca squatted and immediately began dressing the carcass, pleased that its insides were even still slightly warm.

"Nine hours," he revised, not even looking at Asta. Even he'd struggle to snatch two more in just three remaining hours, and the unrealistic timeframe he'd demanded had just been to make it easier to hunt her down had she not kept her word. But now she had, and waiting a little longer for the extra free catches seemed a lot more worthwhile.

[DragonSong]

Asta let her form melt back into human. Ever since she had started living in these woods, she had taken to wearing an enchanted shift that stayed with her through her numerous changes--a parting gift from her father--so at least she had some semblance of modesty as she stood before him and folded her arms, glaring.

"No," she told the hunter, softly but firmly. "I was caught in your snare, which only would have caught you one deer. If that. This is fair payment, since you didn't have the common decency to let me down for free."

Her expression softened slightly from a glare to more of a considering frown before she added, "I could have left. You know I could have, you saw what I am. But I...I live here, now. I'm making a place for myself here. And I'm tired of running. So, if I have to make nice with rude neighbors--fine. So be it. But I won't let you take advantage of me."

[fish]

"Not my problem. You offered," Onca grunted while hoisting up the prepared carcass on a hook to temporarily hang it from the tree. He didn't appreciate fickle bastards who didn't follow through what they said, even if they agreed to something unfair. "Should've just said you'd bring one."

He looked at Asta again, now facing her human form. "If you left, I was just gonna kill you instead. Your pelt's worth way fucking more," he noted flatly while climbing back up into the tree to gather his more perishable belongings up in the branches.

"Figure it out or pay me later before someone else actually shoots you," his voice rang out from the leaves. She couldn't really pay him back if she was actually dead, and he'd be majorly pissed if some other hunter still sniped her pelt while he'd dismissed his own chance. In his mind, it was still on Asta for offering two and then still agreeing when Onca got his scummy little foot into the negotiation door by tacking on a third. He wouldn't be forgetting this, and figured she'd be hellishly easy to track down again to badger for payment. Granted someone didn't kill her beforehand.

[DragonSong]

"Oh, horse shit!" Asta's glare was back. "I didn't offer, you coerced. If you don't know the difference, that's not my problem."

She wasn't backing down on this. It had taken her too long to learn to hold her ground, she wasn't prepared to give it up so easily.

"Enjoy your buck," she muttered, turning to head back into the trees. She waited until she had a bit of distance before falling forward into the shape of a snowy hare and bounding away into the underbrush, making for the small cottage she had begun building for herself settled in a tiny glade further into the woods.

[fish]

Onca snorted before dropping back onto the dirt, seeing the tracks of Asta's departure. He hefted up her little gift and prepared to take it back to town where it could age and be sold. He sincerely didn't have high hopes in her ability to survive because, just look at her. Onca mulled over an appropriate time he could track her back down before the idiot got caught in another trap or by other hunters.
... The idiot got caught by other hunters. But the idiot ain't Asta this time. Explain to Onca how being in Serendipity meant getting used to the fact that magic might've been anywhere, even a simple illusion spell for concealing a stupid fucking pit trap of all things that he'd otherwise have spotted from a mile away.

Had he any semblance of shame left, Onca would've been absolutely embarrassed to find himself stuck in the most primitive trap known to mankind. He'd managed to mostly avoid the barbaric spikes by sheer reflex and the split-second assessment that if this were him making a trapping pit, he'd have definitely laid down barbaric spikes at the bottom, but he wasn't faster than gravity. His vitals were only bruised from the fall, but his calf wasn't spared the fate of being skewered all the way through by one of the wooden stakes. Onca was smart enough to saw off the wooden rod as close as he could to his wound to detach it from the ground, but there he was immobilized with a massive piece of wood fully impaling his leg.

And now he found himself surrounded by the very hunters responsible for this childish trapping pit. He didn't fail to recognize the twist of irony when they goaded at him for ruining a massive trapping pit they spent forever working on (an inefficient and very unprofessionally messy way to kill animals, Onca thought), and demanded compensation for their ruined work. In the end though, if Onca thought that their trap was stupid, then what did that mean about Onca, the person stupid enough to get caught in that trap? He didn't wanna think about it.

"Treatment for this," he deadpanned at them from below as he cocked his head at his impaled calf, "costs more than whatever your shit trap could get. Call it even." They spit on him.

[DragonSong]

It had been a few days since Asta's run-in with the hunter, and she'd rather thought she might be rid of him. The woods were wide, after all; maybe they'd manage to avoid each other for the foreseeable future.

That would be nice.

Unfortunately, the odious hunter was not the only problem she would seemingly have to deal with. She caught wind of the poachers from a naiad that lived in the stream she'd been using for fresh water near her new cottage. Hunters were one thing—even that awful man from earlier was simply making a living. She could understand that; some had to hunt for food, for their livelihood.

But poaching was another matter entirely. Game hunters were despicable, as far as she was concerned, and these had come to her woods.

Like hells.

Once again in the form of a large forest cat, she crept through the branches above their trap—she'd caught their scent not too far away, and had decided it would be best to approach from above.

The group was gathered around their pit; clearly they had already caught something. A low growl started thrumming in her chest, and her tail lashed as she crouched lower on her branch.