Chapter Text
The Hunter watched the ooman female closely as she played in the water.
The blooded Yautja male had been hunting the forest near the small cabin for many days before the female arrived. She had arrived with a male ooman, perhaps her mate?, but the male had left her alone in the small structure.
He hunted alone in the forest by the lake. His hunt brothers had traveled further south, where the days and nights were warmer. He was an anomaly for several reasons. He tolerated cooler weather, which was unheard of among the Yautja. He could hunt the cooler pine forests without wearing his heat netting, which helped to regulate his body temperature.
The Hunter perched on a tree branch, studying the ooman female as she swam in the water below. When the days grew warm, she bathed in the small lake near the cabin.
Rissh’maua* secretly enjoyed watching the female splashing around in the water. Her small body was so unlike the females of his species. Her skin was a soft brown color and looked so smooth. She had neither spots not stripes decorating her hide, no quills, no claws, no tusks. Her head was covered in the strand-like substance the oomans called hair.
Rissh'maua liked her hair. It fell down the female’s back in a cascade of white. It reminded him of a rippling waterfall. His claws clacked together, his fingers itching to touch the hair.
The wide curve of her hips and the sight of her rounded backside had his drrok** stirring in its sheath. It didn’t help matters that the female was swimming naked.
His hunt brothers on the ship ridiculed him for his odd tastes. He was called rowl’t’dier, animal fucker. His sexual deviancy branded him as an outcast among his people. Rissh'maua didn’t care though. He embraced his unusual quirks. He was a dwarf among his race anyway, barely six feet tall. He was too small to attract the attention of the Yautja females during their mating cycles. He would never breed, so why not indulge in his little kinks?
He’d never mated with an ooman female before, but he’d spent many nights stroking his drrok, imagining what they felt like. Such smooth skin. It looked so soft. He wanted this ooman female to moan and whimper under him as he thrust into her wet heat. Would he fit? Or would he cause harm to the ooman?
He had never paid much attention to what an ooman drrok looked like. When he was skinning his prey, he paid more attention to the skulls. He cared little for ooman male breeding parts, but now he wished he had paid more attention. Were ooman and Yautja males of a similar size or shape? He would have to see if ooman females were compatible with Yautja males. More research was needed.
The female waded to the shore and Rissh'maua knew she’d be leaving the water soon. He rattled his tusks in irritation. He wanted to stare at her naked form longer. He cocked his head to the side as the female bent to pick up something in the water. A pebble perhaps?
Rissh'maua nearly fell from his perch in the tree when he glimpsed her glistening sex, spread for his view. He switched his helmet to infrared, catching the blaze of heat from between her legs. Oh, how he wanted to sink into that heat!
Her waist-length hair flowed over her shoulder as she stood back up. The sunlight reflecting from her white locks nearly blinded the Hunter. So beautiful! So perfect! Rissh'maua had never been so taken with a female. He would have his little Meezu’ka’siff, his Falling Water, if it was the last thing he did.
Rissh'maua was beginning to worry about his chosen mate. She had become increasingly unsteady over the past few days, stumbling and nearly falling several times. She often seemed confused as well. She would head outside on some errand or other, then pause, her brows wrinkling in what Rissh'maua deemed confusion. He wasn’t sure. It was difficult to interpret ooman facial expressions. They lacked proper mandibles and tusks after all. The female often had to go back inside the cabin and re-trace her steps, presumably to help her memory. Many times, she gave up, shrugging her shoulders, then went off to do something else.
Did his future mate lack nourishment? Her body seemed to have enough fat reserves, like a healthy prey beast. Perhaps he should bring a kill for her just in case. It would feed the female he wished to woo and it would also show his prowess as a hunter.
He crept away silently. He would take care of the little ooman female.
Mina stared at the deer carcass hanging in front of her cabin. A headless, gutted animal corpse was not what she expected to see as soon as she opened the front door.
“Did Dale leave this for me?” she wondered aloud. The owner of the land and cabin was an avid hunter and had been quite friendly when Mina rented the cabin. The middle-aged man had flirted pretty hard with her when he’d brought her out to see the property. She had no interest in the man, even if he did seem kind-hearted and friendly. Her tastes tended to run to the kinky and downright bizarre. Most people couldn’t deal with her weirdness, which she had come to accept. She was happy enough being alone, and her life had become...complicated lately. Dating wasn’t high on her list of priorities.
She stared at the deer for a while, then shrugged her shoulders and headed back inside the cabin. She returned a moment later with knives and several roasting pans to pile the meat onto.
“It’s a damn good thing I know how to process a deer,” she muttered. “Heaven forbid the man could just bring me a couple of steaks. No, he has to drop off a whole damn deer.” She got to work, still muttering peevishly under her breath.
After working for a while, she sat back to survey her handiwork. She’d butchered the small deer and had several piles of meat sorted on the trays.
“Yay me for being raised in the country,” she chuckled. “I wish my dad was still alive so I could thank him for showing me how to do this.”
Rissh'maua preened as the female accepted his gift. The yearling deer was fat and tender and not too large for the female ooman to handle by herself. He trilled happily as he watched her skin and butcher the prey animal, secretly pleased with her skill.
Mina decided to eat outside on the deck overlooking the lake. It was so beautiful and peaceful here. The wind sighed through the pine trees, perfuming the air with the scent of warm pine sap. Birds chirped and flitted from branch to branch. It was just perfect. She wished it didn’t have to end, but she only had so long out here.
Mina sat down at the picnic table with her hearty brunch. Steak and eggs was a good way to start the day, in her humble opinion.
It looked like it was going to be warm again today. She hoped they didn’t end up having a forest fire because of the hot, dry weather. It had been unseasonably warm in the area. She missed the usual crisp mornings and cool evenings.
“Maybe I’ll go for a swim and look for more pretty pebbles,” Mina mused aloud as she ate.
She made a mental list of what she needed to do today. She had to write a note to Dale before she forgot about it again. Her memory was getting treacherous lately, and she felt another headache coming on. It’s a good thing she brought plenty of painkillers.
She picked up her now-empty plate and headed inside, not noticing the attention of the Hunter in the trees.
Mina wandered along the beach, occasionally bending down to pick up an interesting twig or rock or bone. She’d found a pretty green pebble with a hole in it, which she was quite proud of, and what looked like the jawbone of a fox. She stashed her treasures in a small bag, then took a sip of water from her insulated bottle.
“Getting warm already. Think I’ll go for a swim,” she said to herself.
She sat her things in the shade of a nearby tree, then stripped off her shorts and tank top. Her bra and panties quickly followed. Dale had told her no one else was on the property right now, since it wasn’t hunting season yet. In theory, the only person she might encounter was Dale. If the pervert wanted to spy on her, then so be it.
While Mina splashed around in the water, she kept hearing odd noises. Clicking sounds, growls, and inhuman yowls kept causing the wildlife to still, as if a predator was on the prowl. Each time, she froze, staring apprehensively into the woods. When the birds returned to singing, she would go back to swimming and splashing, but she still kept an eye on the shoreline. If all else failed, she could tread water in the lake until the bear or mountain lion hopefully lost interest.
When Mina headed back to the cabin about an hour later, she found a polished beaver skull on the front porch, resting on a cured beaver hide. She ran her fingers over the sleek, waterproof outer hair, then dug her fingers deeper into the exquisitely soft inner layer of fur.
“Weird gift, but I like it,” Mina grinned. “I may have to call Dale and tell him I’m not interested in dating him though.”
She picked up her new treasures and headed into the cabin.
Rissh'maua was ecstatic when the female accepted his courting gifts. Her mouth parts had tipped up at the sides! Some ooman facial motions baffled him, but he had studied oomans long enough to know that this was a pleased face motion.
When the translator imbedded in his ear canal translated the words from the female, Rissh'maua wrinkled his brows in confusion.
Who, or what, was a ‘dale’? Was this the name-word of the ooman male that had arrived with the female when she first came to the lake? Was she attributing the gifts to the ooman male? That would NOT do! He dashed off to find more trophies for her.
*Rissh’maua translates as ‘wall wave’. The closest meaning is a tsunami. Rissh is a small, yet powerful, Yautja. He is a force of nature when angered, hence the name.
**drrok= male reproductive organ.