Rites of Ascension to Adulthood – Day 7 Continued

Day 7 – Continued – Snake! Why’d it Have to be a Snake?

Well, there it is. This why some Tabaxi don’t make it back from the jungle. I have to hunt down a snake. Not just any snake but an eyelash viper.  Not just any eyelash viper, but an adult, giant eyelash viper. Maybe not the MOST poisonous snake, but definitely enough to kill you when you’re days away from a healer. Plus, the giant ones can put so much of their poison in you there’s no way you’d survive. Okay, so no getting bit. Oh well. No time like the present. They also have great camouflage so that should be fun.

I head off right away, but not to get the snake. It’s time to make a weapon. Stick; check. Sharp rock; check. Now what do I do? I figure out I don’t really have what it takes to make myself a spear, so I get a heavier stick and rock, bind them together with a bunch of vines and make myself a hefty club. A very unwieldy, heavy club. I also decide I can at least sharpen a few smaller sticks into decent stakes. Working on them a bit more I figure I can get a few in good enough shape to be thrown. So, two stabbing stakes, two throwing stakes, and a heavy club. I’m probably going to die.

So, as great a story as it seems to me, I think some people see it as too long so I’m gonna cut to the chase. I found one of those snakes. It was sunning itself and I was able to sneak right up on it enough to smash it in the head with my ridiculous club. It was a good hit but didn’t manage to kill it. I did a lot of damage and pissed it right off though. That’s when I ran. It came for me and I put on a burst of speed. Got my distance and turned and waited. One throwing stake hits it in the… throat. Do snakes have throats? Anyway, it continued and when it got to a very dramatic, and terrifying, three feet from me, it lunged to strike, and my last thrown stake went right through its open mouth and out the top of its head. Yay me!

Yay me, that is, because I killed it. In case you didn’t realize. You’re readin’ this so you are probably a smart cookie. I probably didn’t need to explain. Okay… movin’ on. I was feeling pretty proud of myself but now I had a dead snake carcass and night was coming fast. I can’t let anything eat my prize, so I guess it’s time to figure out if watching dad skin and eat things was enough to give me the skills. The head and skin should be enough to prove that I killed the thing, so I don’t think I need to bring the meat. I did a bad job of it and the skin was pretty gouged up by the time I finished, but I did it. Wish dad had taught us to light a fire without a tinderbox. Oh well, time for that when I get back. I haul the meat off a good distance, wash myself up a bit, and climb up a big tree for another night in the jungle alone.