Hey guys, so I read one of the reviews, and the one from lanceStryker93 actually stuck out because he mentioned 'Slice of life' was a genre I did well with. And Honestly I thought it over, and maybe just to get my motivation back for this story. I'll try to write some more 'slice of life' chapters vs the political series. Because yeah Jem is a politician now, but honestly I've kind of hit a dead end for that section. Mostly because I hate politicians.
So maybe I'll do a few chapters of Jem and the others just doing some random wholesome and regular stuff and see how I feel afterwards.
Also I don't know how accurate the view counter is for the story stats. You know that section where it shows you the story stats breakdown by country?
Maybe its just me, but some of the countries on that list surprise me.
Mostly because I'm surprised so many different countries are interested in my borderline autistic ramblings.
But to go off of the list.
1. United States (Obviously)
2. United Kingdom (Oi mate, you got a fecking licoonse for that fanfic)
3. Canada (hey ya hooser, don't talk shit aboot Canada, we'll drown you in maple syrup bud)
4. Philippines (I don't know enough about you guys, except I'm pretty sure I watched a documentary about illegal gunsmiths there once)
5. Russian Federation (Man its funny I got so many viewers from there considering Red Dawn is one of my favorite movies)
Meanwhile, in a forest on Patch
"I really appreciate you letting us stay here for awhile Mr. Xiao Long." Jem said as he shook Tai Yang's hand.
"It's no problem at all, when Yang and Ruby said you were a friend, that was good enough for me. I'll admit though, I wasn't expecting you to be so...Old." He said as Jem laughed.
"Yeah, its weird for your daughter to be friends with someone whose cresting 30. But trust me theres a REALLY good story behind that." He said as he and Nala were moving some hard cases into Tai Yang's house.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing on Patch?" He asked as Jem unbuckled the case he brought along with him.
"Well Ruby told me you guys have a pretty prominent deer population, so I was hoping to take Nala here on her first deer hunt." He said as he patted Nala on the back as Tai yang looked in the case.
Jem was happy that he managed to move most of the armory he had over to Atlas before Earth went through Nuclear Winter. So he had a wide variety of firearms to choose from. And luckily he made sure that he could pick something for his daughter and himself. He brought along a Henry Model X chambered in 45-70 for himself. He always loved Lever actions, and 45-70 was a big enough round to kill mostly anything back home. But he never had an opportunity to take this one out on a hunt, so he figured why not bring it along on this trip. Nala's rifle for this trip was a Ruger American rifle chambered in 450 Bushmaster. While he was certain she could handle some of the bigger cartridges he had, she simply felt most comfortable with the Ruger. So as far as he was concerned, that was her rifle now.
"You know, most fathers would take their daughter to build a bear or something." Tai Yang said as Jem laughed.
"Boy, trust me, this is normal where I'm from." He said as he could remember when his dad took him deer hunting for the first time.
They didn't get any deer. But for hours Jem and his dad got to sit in a deer stand in total silence just enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature. And even though they didn't see a buck all day, sometimes it was worth it just to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and just forget about the stress for a few hours.
"Yeah, Yang told me a little bit, still not sure how much I believe." He said as Jem looked over.
"Speaking of which, where are those two? Isn't Beacon on a break right now?" Jem had honestly completely lost track of everything.
Sure Beacon still got attacked in the end, but they minimized the damage. School was still going on. But this was supposed to be their break period last he checked.
"They're sleeping. I guess the stress of finals got to them." He said as Jem laughed.
"Boy do I miss those days, it was a lot simpler then." He said as he rubbed his hands together.
"Anyways, how about Nala and I try to round us up some Venison for dinner?" He asked as Tai just looked at him amused.
"You're that confident huh?"
Jem just patted Nala on the back again.
"Trust me, I think we're all going to be eating good tonight." He said as he motioned for Nala to grab her stuff.
A few hours later
"Dad...how come mom didn't come along?" Nala asked as Jem was looking through his binoculars.
"I figured it would be nice for you and I to get some father/daughter time in. Haven't had much of a chance with work and then the rehab, and then having to sneak away from Robyn and Fiona being protective." Jem said as he laughed a little.
Ever since Robyn and Fiona had become his official bodyguards, they tended to be overcautious. Mostly because they were still trying to rebuild their reputation with the people of Mantle. Even after Jem had shown clear evidence, some people were stubborn. So it had been a rough adjustment. It led to them tending to almost 'baby' him when they were out in public.
Jem didn't regret making his former rivals his bodyguards because he was worried about their trustworthiness.
He regretted it because he was starting to feel like a six year old whose mom needed to hold his hand.
So when he told Winter he was going on a hunting trip with Nala, she offered to stay behind and distract Robyn and Fiona for as long as possible as it took to get him on the bullhead to go to Patch to go see Ruby and her family. And what better way to spend your vacation then take your daughter hunting?
"I guess I'm a little nervous." She said as Jem looked at her.
"Why? I've seen you shoot, you're a crack shot." He said trying to cheer her up.
"No, it's not that, I'm just...nothing." She said as Jem looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Whats the matter Sweetie?" He asked as she looked away.
"Oh its nothing! Nothing at all!" She said as Jem could sense she was lying.
"Nala, when you turn away and say 'Nothing is wrong' that means theres something bothering you. Come on, just tell me." He said as she went silent for a bit.
"You promise not to get mad?" She asked as Jem nodded.
"I'm not sure I want to shoot a deer." She said as Jem made a 'oh' face.
"Thats fine, I understand." He said as she just blinked.
"You do?" She asked as Jem put his binoculars down.
"Nala, its normal. No one is born a great hunter who can just shoot anything that moves. You're nervous about shooting a deer, its completely understandable. But, WHY are you nervous? Is there something specific?" He asked as she was looking down at her rifle.
"It's just, I don't know how to describe it. I just feel bad, like I'm doing something wrong if I shoot a deer." She said as Jem listened to her.
"I'm not against eating meat or anything like that, its just I keep thinking about all the things that could go wrong if I miss." She said as she didn't want the deer to suffer and for her to be the cause of that pain.
"In other words, you're worried you'll skim him and you may cause him some unnecessary pain." He said as he smiled and patted her on the head.
"Sweetie, thats what is the difference between a good hunter and a bad one." He said as she looked up at him.
"Really?"
"Of course! Sweetie, you have to understand. We're all a part of nature. I know that sounds cliche, but its perfectly for all of us to feel bad for an animal in pain. If you don't, theres probably something wrong with you. I had the same thoughts going through my head when I went on my first hunt as a kid, I wanted to shoot a deer, but I didn't want to hurt him. I know it sounds like a contradiction. But hear me out." He said as he readjusted himself in the deer stand.
"Obviously, you don't shoot to wound right? You shoot to kill. And if you place one well aimed shot, it will be a peaceful death for that deer. But another way to look at it is to think that out of all of Nature's creatures that he could have been killed by, he would be very lucky to have someone like you take him out. You have the proper tool to do the job right, and you have the skills necessary to do the job right. You give him a nice clean death without any unnecessary suffering. Now compare that to a rabid wolf who will bite all over trying to weaken him before the kill. Which one would you prefer? The ethical hunter? Or the rabid wolf?" He asked as Nala caught on.
"The hunter, because even though it still results in death, one is more likely to give you a clean quick death." She said as Jem messed with her hair.
"Exactly, we don't hunt just for the sake of wanting to mount a head. Thats stupid. Sure, if you want to mount the head after you get all the meat, theres nothing wrong with that, BUT just remember, we're hunting for food. And last thing you want to do is thank the creature that is about to feed you by making him suffer."
Jem was hoping that would get through Nala's head. He wasn't sure if he had explained it as best as he could. But he tried his best. Too many people had the wrong idea about hunting. Thinking it was a bunch of bloodthirsty psychos who wanted to hurt animals for fun. But if you took the time to talk to the average hunter you would find most care more about the environment that the most radical of environmentalists.
"Oh my god...Dad..." Nala said as she got the binoculars up.
"We got one!" She said as Jem looked through his own set of Binos.
"Oh wow, he's a big one." Jem said as he saw a large whitetail making his way through an empty clearing.
"Thank you Lord for this..." He said as he lined up his rifle for the shot.
But then he paused and looked at Nala.
"You know what, how about you take the shot?" He asked as Nala was still nervous.
"Are you sure?" She asked as she lined up the shot.
"Absolutely." He said as she breathed in and breathed out.
Jem didn't want to take the shot for one reason. He wanted to make sure Nala got to experience it. He could take her hunting with him all the time, but if he was always the one doing the shooting, that wouldn't teach her anything. Eventually she would need to learn to shoot her own deer. And there was no better time like the present.
BANG
Jem was shocked that he had lost himself deep in thought. Only to see that the deer had crumbled to the ground.
"Did...Did I get him?" Nala almost seemed shocked at home fast that happened.
"Oh yeah, you got him." Jem was even surprised.
He knew Nala was a good shot. But that was a perfect kill shot! He was almost jealous.
"Oh my god..." Nala was super excited and wanted to get out of the deer stand and run over to it.
"Woah woah, hold up there." Jem said as he looked at the deer through his binos.
"Okay lets go." He said making sure there were no predators around.
Nala was trembling as she walked forward. The adrenaline had been coursing through her like hot lava. She could barely keep a grip on her rifle. She thought she was going to be a nervous wreck. But the closer she got to the deer, the more excited she became. She was worried she was just going to wing him and he would run off screaming in pain. But one shot, and he went down like a sack of potatoes, no twitching, no screaming. Just pure silence.
"Holy crap..." Jem said as he took a closer look.
He knew he was big, but he looked a lot bigger up close. Jem was just counting the tips on his antlers.
"Her first time hunting, and she gets a ten point buck..." He thought to himself.
Now he was jealous.
"Well, hope he tastes as good as he looks." Jem said as they were gonna eat good tonight.
Even though now he was wishing he had taken the shot rather than letting Nala do it. Because how the hell did she get a buck that nice on her first hunt? His first hunt he froze his dick off while his dad pissed in a coffee can.
Later that night
"Well, I can say this. You know your way around the kitchen." Taiyang said as Jem had made a venison stew out of some of the meat.
After he taught Nala how to butcher the deer, he made sure to divide the meat up by cuts and parts. He also made sure that they prepared the pelt for drying since Jem wanted to use it as a blanket. Jem couldn't help but be proud and concerned with how easily Nala took to butchering a deer.
Was it racist to suggest that her Lion Faunus traits made her a natural killer and butcher?
Eh, he wasn't going to think about it too much.
"Well, the biggest issue with game meat is you could have the best hunter in the world, but if he can't cook for shit, you'll never learn to enjoy the taste of venison." He said as Ruby and Yang came down as soon as they smelled cooking meat.
"Nice to see you two woke up." Jem said as they both sat down.
"It was kind of hard to stay asleep when we smelled that." Yang said as Jem put a hot bowl of Venison stew down in front of everyone.
"Okay, now before we dig in. I would like to say a quick prayer and then a small speech afterwards if you guys don't mind." He said as everyone nodded.
He bowed his head along with Nala as they said a quick prayer to God for a plentiful hunt.
And then he lifted his head and started to speak to everyone around the table.
"Alright, first things first, I would like to thank you Taiyang for opening up your home to us, I would also like to thank Ruby and Yang for introducing me to your father because hes a pretty cool guy. And of course, its best we thank Nala for the food we're about to eat. Its always a great pleasure to see a young hunter get their first deer. And I can remember my father teaching me how to hunt when I was still a boy. Moments like this are worth more than anything you'll buy in a store. And I'm thankful that I got to spend my vacation with my daughter with all of you. And I'm especially happy that we can share the fruits of our labor with you today. Now I'll go ahead and cut this speech short. Because I can see that Yang is resisting the urge to pounce on her stew." He said as everyone saw that Yang was practically drooling at the food on the table.
"Alright everyone, lets dig in." Jem said as everyone immediately pounced on their food.
They weren't starving. But Jem considered it a compliment that they wanted to have some.
"And tomorrow Nala, I'll take you Pheasant hunting." He said as Nala beamed as she swalloed a few pieces of Venison.
"Awesome!" She said as she couldn't wait to see what Pheasant tasted like.