As Laura neared a bush, every insect and animal flew out of it, fleeing from their supposedly impending doom. Everytime she walked into an area, the area immediately cleared itself. Finally, for probably the sixth time, she threw a tantrum and gave up, sitting on the ground while her large, bulky arms hammered the earth.
"It's useless trying to hunt!" She cried out as Tenur dodged through the last leaves that stood between them. He stood not far away from her, hands on hips, head swinging side by side.
"You're not supposed to be this aggressive in hunting, are you?" Tenur said exasperately, indicating his mood was as fed up as Laura's.
"Yeah! I mean, no! Usually, I use a throwing spear to kill animals from a distance away, using my body size and strength as leverage. But now that everything's gone, my bulky body is basically a bright red flag waving the word 'danger' in the animal's faces," her words were true enough. Tenur was able to catch sight of some spears back at Denka's house. They were specially made to fit troll-use, with the handle large and firm enough to not break under their grip strength and the tip smelted tight and precise enough onto the head of the spear. A throwing spear, he couldn't have guessed.
"Since you admit it, looks like it's my turn to try then," Tenur didn't sound ethusiastic. There was a tinge of disappointment in it, but it still had some excitement in it. After all, this was his first time hunting, and it was even without a supervisor.
Guess Laura is kind of a supervisor, he mused to himself, but quickly shook his head to clear himself of such thoughts and devote himself to the mood of hunting. He had heard from the village hunters that hunting required all their focus just to detect a prey worthy of being eaten or sold, and the technique to subjugate the prey required an almost perfect control and attention over their own limbs, else they lose it or worse, get eaten by what they were supposed to be eating.
He focused his hearing, allowing him to discern almost every single sound that entered his ear. He could hear Laura grunting, mumbling about how she was the pro in this field. Beyond her voice was an animal walking through a thick bush. He could hear the rustle of leaves as the animal left a trail and, without further hesitation, he went after it in quick, silent strides. Laura was kind of grumpy so she didn't follow, saying she would only obstruct him and provide no help at all.
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After a few strides, he was already running with the balls of his feet, avoiding every little bush he could so not to make too much noise. A few more steps, and he was behind a bush that covered him from the animal's view. It was a deer, slim and majestic, with skin glistening in the morning sun that seeped through the gaps left by the trees, or maybe he was just hallucinating. But no matter, Tenur was now behind the only bush that separated the majestic animal from him, and he was determined to kill it and have its meat by sundown. Travelling with Laura had taught him many lessons, and one of them was that he will never be able to get fat as long as a troll remained by his side, maybe even get slimmer if he was already fat.
He squeezed his hands, forming fists. His fingernails dug into his palm's skin and the pain reminded him to focus. He watched the deer walk around, sniffing the air before grazing the grass, unaware of the danger it was in. At that moment, Tenur knew he wasn't going to be able to kill the deer without a weapon. Using his spells was too long winded and wasteful, since it would take much more food just to replenish the sperms he would sacrifice just to power the chosen spell, and food was absolutely crucial with Laura at his side.
He searched around the ground he stood on. There was a rock the size of a fist lying just beside his foot. Perfect, he thought, this would do. Grabbing the stone with one hand, he began devising a plan.
"First, I'll-" his whisper was broken when he suddenly heard Laura's voice piercing the jungle.
"CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKER. THE TROLL TRAIN IS HERE!" Laura's voice resounded through the entire forests. Tenur could see some trees collapsing in the distance, and the deer was looking in the same direction as well. A few more earthquakes later, Laura came into view with two oak trunks in each hand.
"SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!" Laura was rushing now, sprinting towards the deer at full speed even though she had two logs in each hand. Just as the deer turned to leave, Tenur could hear Laura's voice again.
"Oh no you don't!" she threw the trunk in her left hands at it. The deer never had a chance as the almost one ton stick came flying, knocking it into another tree and pinning it there. Tenur swore he could hear the bone crushing sounds of the deer's ribs snapping, and he was surprised he could actually feel the vibrations.
"Oof! That must've hurt," since there was no point in hiding anymore, he stood up and greeted Laura by waving a hand. Seeing another thing suddenly popping out of the bushes, Laura's hopes got even higher. "That guy will never believe I got two before him!" She threw the other log in her hand at who-she-thinks-is-an-animal.
"Holy shit!" Tenur yelled as he got hit square in the face and chest by the almost one ton trunk. The last thing he remembered was red everywhere, and intense throbbing on his face and chest which likely indicated his skull had fractured.