Immaculate

“Lay the beavers out here, then you can go put away the supplies.” Tavr dictates. “I’ll make sure the corpses are properly chilled out here and get started preparing them. Just come right back, so I can show you how to skin the beasts."

As soon as he is given the signal to put the beavers down, Antares sighs with relief and rolls his shoulders; even if the beaver got quite a bit lighter with the blood drained and viscera stripped out, it is still heavy for the twelve year old to carry. Following Tavr’s instruction, the beavers are laid out, cut bellies facing skywards, on a large sheet with old bloodstains on it set aside for that purpose, presumably to keep dirt out of the meat. The carcasses look different than when they’d started; all gutted and bled out, they look almost withered, as if there isn’t enough flesh to fill out their pelts.

Vekt motions for Alunya and Antares, some of his normally boisterous attitude having returned since his experience earlier that day. Antares sighs with relief as he rolls his shoulders; Even if the beaver got quite a bit lighter with the blood drained and viscera stripped out, it is still heavy for the twelve year old to carry.

"You've never been hunting before, huh? You guys are in for a treat." Vekt announces, opening the door to the stone house and stepping inside along with his two guests.

Yuvia and Risa were sitting down at the table, working over a belt loom protruding forwards from themselves.

Alunya immediately forgets whatever else he is supposed to be doing and prances over to the table before they could say anything, eyes lit up. “Ooh! Are you weaving? I asked Mom to show me how to, but she wouldn’t show me anything beyond stitching!” Alunya announces, eagerly.

Antares groans and places his head in his hand. Oh boy. Not this again... He shudders to himself.

"Why would you want to learn to weave anyways? It's boring." Vekt says, judgmentally, before hesitating. "At first I thought your mother made you do this stuff, or you were just too weak to do a man's job, but you're actually a great shot with a bow. Are you really just that weird...?"

Antares glares fiercely at Vekt for the insult, but Alunya just looks up, pondering. "Well, it’s fun to make things! You should try it sometime."

Vekt crosses his arms, looking away. "Well, it's not fun to me." He peeks out at Alunya with one eye, suspiciously. "...Is this just you trying to buddy up to my sister again?"

Alunya just stares at Vekt. Man, he really is a pain. I really should've just let that beaver eat his throat. The cold, standoffish look Alunya gave must have had some impact on the boy, because he just flinches and looks away.

"Alright, alright boys! Settle down!" Yuvia barks out. "I know you're all excited from your day out hunting. Since you're already back, should I assume you caught something?"

Vekt pauses in thought. "Well... Yeah, we caught two beavers upriver."

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I guess our two guests got to see my son’s hunting prowess, then, huh?” Yuvia winks at her son, who shrinks away.

“Well... I mean...” Vekt starts, uncomfortably.

“I took one of them down!” Alunya announces cheerfully, completely oblivious to Vekt’s discomfort.

Yuvia blinks in confusion. “...What? Don’t be silly, you barely know how to use a bow.” She starts.

Antares takes up his place by Alunya, who is trying to subtly edge his way over to where Risa is to see how the loom works. “He did! After Tavr took down a younger one, its mother showed up and attacked Vekt, and Alunya got it in the throat!”

Yuvia looks at the boys with consternation, as if suspicious. “...Vekt? Is that true?”

“I-I mean, I’m sure Dad would have gotten it! but... Yeah.” Vekt mutters in an increasingly low voice, hanging his head in shame.

Yuvia’s concern deepens as she hurriedly looks over Vekt, looking for any injuries. “My goodness! Well it’s a good thing Alunya was with you then, I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you! Did you get hurt at all? Those beavers have nasty teeth. It didn’t bite you, did it?” She straightens out his outfit and brushes off the dirt.

Vekt dodges away from his mother’s attentions. “No, mom, I’m fine! Alunya shot it in the throat before it could do more than knock me over. I just got a little bruise, nothing worse.” He brushes it off, his embarrassment growing

Yuvia sighs with relief and looks up at Alunya. “Well, I guess I’m glad you went with my husband, then. And you're home early enough for me to make dinner! You two will be joining us, right?"

Alunya glances at Antares, who shrugs. They didn’t really know what the plan was, they just knew they were there to go on a hunting trip and now they had. “Um, sure, I guess.” Antares responds.

“Good! I’ll go talk with my husband, see what cut I’ll be cooking tonight, then get a fire going.” Yuvia announces.

Vekt makes sure that Yuvia gets the two blood gourds before she leaves, and then puts the supplies away. Alunya and Antares leave their own satchels by the door for when they would leave later. When Vekt returns from putting the supplies away, he finds Antares trying to pull Alunya away from studying the loom that Yuvia had left behind, trying to figure out how it works.

Antares puts a hand on Alunya’s shoulder and tries to pull him away. “Um, Alunya. Wouldn’t you rather go learn how to skin the beaver with Tavr? That’s why we’re here after all. And you did say... ‘You killed it, you should be the one to take it apart’, right?” Antares words his question carefully, knowing Alunya would respond poorly if he directly told him that he was being embarrassing again.

“Oh, right! Yeah, let’s go, that sounds more fun!” Alunya announces cheerily. Vekt just stares at him in utter confusion.

"I just don't understand you. One moment you're acting like a housewife, the next..." Vekt trails; Rather than just mocking, there was a note of awe in his voice at Alunya's strange behavior as he follows Alunya outside.

“...There you three are. You sure did take your sweet time.” Tavr says to the group pointedly, as they step back outside.

“Um, Mom wanted to talk to me for a bit.” Vekt explains, but Tavr just shakes his head.

“Don’t make excuses, boy, just own up and get over here. ” Tavr growls out, making Vekt gulp nervously.

"Now watch me closely. I'll show you how you skin the beast." Tavr apparently had gotten tired of the detailed explanations, as he simply set to work with gusto, tugging and slicing at the skin until he had pulled the whole thing from the beaver. It was already bled mostly, but there was still some liquid that leaks from it as he works.

"Ooh, can I have the pelt from my beaver? Maybe I can make something from it!" Alunya asks, his eyes shining, but Tavr simply shakes his head sternly.

"Are you kidding? I'm going to fetch a great price for this. Just because your mother roped me into watching over you two for the day, doesn't mean you're getting my quarry." Tavr rebuffs, almost incredulously.

Antares furrows his brow and steps up. "But, my little brother was the one who shot it! He got it right in the throat!" Antares protests, while Alunya looks down glumly, disappointed.

Tavr laughs. "And well he did, but who was it who gave him that opportunity? Just be grateful I agreed to take you two along."

Alunya raises his head momentarily. "Can I at least try skinning it..?" He asks, almost meekly.

Tavr just shakes his head again. "Not a chance. I'm not having your amateur work ruining my pelt."

Alunya visibly wilts, and he barely pays attention while Tavr removes the pelt from the second beaver.

While there is more work to be done on the beavers to preserve them, cutting up all the different parts of the beaver for smoking, Alunya and Antares return inside to wait in a warm room while Yuvia cooks up dinner. Alunya drums his fingers on the table, pouting; Not only had he not been allowed to help butcher the beavers further than the initial slaughtering, but he wasn't even able to help cook dinner!

Not fair... When else am I gonna learn how to cook beaver tail... Alunya's mouth scrunches up in disappointment. Antares was giving him a sympathetic look.

"C'mon Alunya, cheer up- We came out here to hunt, and you did a great job." Antares encourages.

“I guess…” Alunya murmurs glumly. “Wish they’d let me do more though.” Alunya perks up. “But, maybe when we’re older you and I can go on our own and I can cook it up!” Alunya pauses, scrunching up his face. “...If I can figure out how to without any experience, that is.”

Antares sighs. “C’mon Alunya, don’t be like that. We’re gonna be having a tasty dinner tonight, don’t be so glum. It’s your birthday dinner!” Antares pleads, putting one hand on Alunya’s.

“Yeah… Alright.” Alunya acquiesces after looking up at Antares for a long moment. It’s fine, we had a good time hunting. So what if I didn’t get to try as much as I wanted? Alunya reasons to himself. Antares is right, I should just relax. Alunya makes a concentrated effort to smile.

Just in time, because just then Yuvia traipses into the room carrying dinner for that day; Flame-broiled beaver legs and tail, still on the bone, plus some kind of odd dark red pastry.

Alunya lights up at the sight, though it is still tinged with a bit of disappointment; So many exotic food items he’s never eaten or even seen before, and he’d been denied his opportunity to learn how they were made and expand his cooking repertoire. Yuvia places the dishes down around the table and everyone takes their places seated around the table; Yuvia and Tavr on opposite ends of the table, Alunya and Antares beside each other on one side, and Vekt and Risa sitting on the other; Vekt adjacent to his father, and Risa adjacent to her mother.

Antares glances around nervously, not wanting to make any kind of faux pas. He’d only had a meal outside of home a couple times before, and even then that was still with Reia and at the festival. And those couple times, he had not exactly made a great impression. It is somehow even scarier, being at someone else's place, without his mother around, eating dinner he had never eaten before. He suddenly finds himself reviewing his etiquette; Did his mother do anything differently or weird?

…And of course, there is the problem of Alunya, who is already digging into his food with characteristic abandon and complete lack of table manners. Antares felt his heart sink in his chest… There wouldn’t be much chance of avoiding embarrassment as long as his brother was around.

“Alunya, cut it out, we’re trying to make a good impression!” Antares hisses in Alunya’s ear while nudging his side. Alunya just turns to look at him, unimpressed. Is there anything he could do that day that someone wouldn’t tell him to stop…? What a pain…

Still, it was his big brother asking him. So Alunya makes at least a token effort to stop chewing with his mouth open, despite rolling his eyes so far back in his head that it hurts a little.

“What… Is this?” Risa asks, poking at the bit of beavertail on her plate with confoundment. It seems somewhere between fish and bone marrow in texture, and the girl seems uncertain about putting it in her mouth. “Did you go fishing..? I thought you all went hunting today.” Risa looks around.

“It’s beaver.” Tavr states gruffly, not offering any further explanation. After the silence lingers for a moment, Alunya pipes up.

“Um, they’re these furry beasts that live in the water! They kinda look like really big, fat rats with fish tails and squashed-in faces. They don’t look that strong but they’re actually pretty scary! They chew through entire trees!” Alunya explains.

Risa looks at her mother, unsurely. “Um, Mom? Is that really what we cooked today?” Risa sounds almost a little scared. Alunya shoots an indignant glare at her-of course she got to learn how to cook the darned thing…

“Oh? You don’t believe our guest?” Yuvia asks, a little coyly. Risa looks unsure, but Tavr nods his head sagely.

“You should listen to the boy, he was there. What's more, he shot one of the things dead, straight through the mouth. Kid’s a damn good shot, almost makes me wonder if his mother was lying about him not having gone hunting before.” Tavr barks out a laugh, while Risa looks on in awe. “Just about saved your brother's good looks, too.”

Risa blinks at him. “...Huh? What do you mean by that?” She asks, while Vekt rubs the back of his head uncomfortably.

“Um, one of the beavers got me by surprise after Dad and I shot the other…” Vekt announces, hesitantly, seemingly wanting to say it himself to avoid someone else describing it in a more embarrassing manner. “But you should have seen him, even though he was further away he got it right in the throat. I guess even a sissy boy like him can be cool sometimes.” Vekt tries to play it off by focusing on Alunya’s achievement rather than his own slip-up.

Antares’s mouth slips down towards a frown while Risa makes an awed murmur. Not fair, I just did what I was told, but Alunya gets all the praise for breaking the rules… Antares thinks to himself. He knows that’s selfish, and completely unfair, but he can’t help feeling that way. It was his first time hunting too, but it felt like he might as well not even have been there.

Alunya, meanwhile, is basking in the praise, keeping his chin held high smugly. “Aw, shucks, it was nothing.” He says, although his radiant expression and self-assured tone of voice make it quite apparent he did not consider it to be ‘nothing’ at all.

Risa looks at Alunya, a bit awed. “Really…? You saved my brother..?” Risa still sounds a little uncertain.

Alunya’s smirk grows and he whips his hair back, looking about as self important as possible. “Mhm! Antares saw the beaver before Vekt or your dad did, so I had to shoot it!” Alunya explains. “I just fired at it reflexively and took it down in one shot! Didn’t even mess up the pelt!” His tone becomes progressively more boastful as he continues.

“I-I mean, I’m sure dad would have gotten it…” Vekt deflects, embarrassed, looking up to his father for support.

“Ha! You bet I would have, it’s not like you were going to.” Tavr bellows. Vekt noticeably withers in place, gazing down at his food.

Antares picks at his food, attention on the present conversation all but lost. Just more of Alunya getting praise for technically breaking the rules. The food is rather unusual, and Antares can tell why Risa was confused what it was; the texture of the tail meat isn’t quite like anything he’d had before; Soft, a little squishy, certainly rather greasy and bursting with flavor, too rich to eat too much of at once.

And then there is the dark red pastry, which he isn’t very familiar with. “Pastry” is only a loose guess as to what it is; Moist, with an odd texture. Looking up, Antares questions Yuvia “What is this?”

“Oh, you’ve never seen bloodloaf before..?” Yuvia asks in reply. “It's a good way to make the best use of an animal's blood after you kill it. But it has to be made pretty fresh; it doesn’t keep well at all.” Yuvia affirms.

“Blood… loaf…?” Antares looks at the food, strangely engrossed. It is certainly solid, made of some mixture of some granular food substance with fat, viscera, blood, and an unidentifiable vegetative component. It didn’t look like anything he’d ever eaten before, that much is for sure.

“Well, why don’t you give it a try? Your brother sure seems to like it.” Yuvia chuckles. Antares glances over at Alunya. True to form, he is digging in with a characteristically animalistic fervor; though to be fair, Antares isn’t sure if it would even be possible to eat this particular food item without coating one's face in blood.

Antares skeptically raises the pastry to his mouth and takes a bite. It tastes rich and the texture is all over the place; he rather got the impression it is made up of whatever scraps were available, thrown together to not waste them, but somehow all the different flavors and textures when added together work surprisingly well. It tastes sweet, some odd mixture of crunchy and slick, with a definitive bloody, metallic aftertaste.

Antares smacks his lips as he finishes the pastry. It was an interesting experience to say the least, but he was glad it wasn't too large; it's rich flavor would be a bit much if there was any more. Meanwhile, Alunya is devouring the rest of his own food, ripping the meat from the bones of the beaver's legs.

It takes longer for everyone else to finish their food; Risa in particular never finished the beaver tail, perhaps because of how odd it felt.

“Well, that was quite the meal, eh lads?” Tavr asks, yawning. “I’m just about beat, I think. And I need to have a talk with Vekt in private, so why don’t you two scurry along back home now? I’m sure your mother will want to hear all about your day.” Tavr tells Alunya and Antares, while Yuvia starts clearing the dishes from the table.

“Oh…” Antares starts. Was the day already over..? “Yeah, alright. It's just up the hill, I can take Alunya back.” Antares affirms. …Better make sure he doesn’t decide to run off into the woods again or something. Antares grimaces to himself.

“Sure, sure. And hey, Alunya, maybe I’ll take you out hunting again some other time, and you can show my son a thing or two.” Tavr cracks an unsettling grin, his voice slurring as he speaks. His attitude is somehow more relaxed, yet also unnerving, less inhibited perhaps. Somehow, Antares feels glad to be going about then.