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Shauna can’t admit that she likes butchering deer. She knows how Jackie would look at her, like she was some deranged insane asylum patient that was going to butcher and eat her next. But it was true. At first, it was difficult; her knife would get stuck on bones and ligaments, requiring her to hack it out and begin the cut again. She’d end her work bloody and sweaty, but not dissatisfied. Slowly, she improved. It’s almost meditative, she thinks, cutting open the deer the same way every time, every animal full of the same meat. She’s helping her team (unlike someone who's likely still asleep on the cabin floor) but still getting desperately needed alone time. Her grip on the knife tightens thinking of Jackie; how she’s been lazing around like she owns the forest, like this is a summer field trip, like they all couldn’t die at any second –
Shauna gasps as the knife slices her right middle finger, blood immediately pooling at the inch-long cut across the center joint. It burns dully, not too painful but certainly noticeable. She grimaces as a drop of her blood falls onto the massacred buck in front of her, indiscernible from the blood of the deer. She doesn’t want to leave the buck to collect bacteria, but she also doesn’t want to die of infection, and she's sure no one wants to eat meat covered in her blood. She dejectedly puts her knife down and walks over to the cabin where Tai and Van are sitting next to each other around a boiling pot of water, giggling in hushed voices. Their eyes dart over to Shauna and they give each other some personal space. After some greetings, Shauna holds out her bleeding left hand that she’s neglected to put pressure on; if there was one way to get an infection, it was to smudge her deer-carcass covered hands onto her wound.
“Jesus, Shauna, did the deer fight back?” Van chuckles. Tai rolls her eyes ( affectionately? Shauna questions,) and stands up to take a closer look at Shauna's hand.
“Misty’s out collecting berries with everyone else, so we can help you.” As if summoned by her name, Misty trots up to the cabin with someone's purse half-full of berries. She almost drops it when she sees Shauna's hand, which has now taken to splattering drops of blood onto her shoes. Misty rushes over and takes Shauna's blood-soaked hand in both of hers, causing the butcher to recoil slightly.
“Oh, thank goodness Mari sent me back,” Misty said, looking at Shauna's wound. “Tai, Van, could you take some of the water off the heat so I can clean her hands off?” Shauna makes pleading eye contact with Tai – please don’t leave me to make small talk with Misty Quigley – who looks equally off-put by Misty's enthusiasm. Van is the one to break the few seconds of silence:
“Yeah, yeah, we can do that. Then we can make sure your corpse is okay, Shauna,” Van says, grabbing the bucket they usually use for cleaning their homemade pads and pouring some of the water from the pot into it. Tai mouths a quick “sorry” to Shauna as Van grabs her hand and leads her in the direction of the butchering table. Misty watches them leave and then smiles at Shauna, telling her to sit down and that she can handle the rest.
Shauna sits on one of the upturned logs surrounding the fire pit and watches Misty. Misty’s one of the only people shorter than her on the team - if Misty counts as a team member, that is. Shauna supposes she does at this point; if she hadn’t been there after the crash, half of the team would be dead or at least bedridden by now. The oversized cat sweater over her baggy jeans makes Misty look especially smaller than her, Shauna thinks with some amusement. Misty picks up the bucket of water and moves it next to where Shauna is sitting before going into the cabin. She comes back with a rag that someone had likely packed for taking off make-up after a victory party, not for scrubbing deer blood off their midfielders hands. Misty stands in front of her and hesitates for a second, looking at Shauna's face, then her hands, then the seat she's on, then back at her face.
“...What?” Shauna asks as Misty stares.
“Oh! Nothing, sorry!” Misty sputters out, shaking her head and pushing up her glasses. “Well, let me just–”
Misty slowly gets on her knees in front of Shauna, taking her hands into hers. Shauna's mouth gapes a little and she restrains herself from pulling her hands away. Shauna has the “unfeminine” (labeled by Jackie's mom) habit of sitting with her legs spread, allowing Misty to get uncomfortably close to her and sit slightly between her legs. Shauna squirms a little – is this weird? Is this Misty being weird or is Shauna making this weird? In the silence, Shauna realizes that Misty is just staring up at her, big hazel eyes looking like they’re trying to read her mind. They dart away quickly once Shauna’s eyes meet them and Misty begins rambling about harvesting berries with Mari and some of the JVs, eager to fill up the silence between the two girls.
Shauna tunes out most of her words, giving her the occasional “uh-huh” and “really?” to be polite. Misty dips the rag into the no-longer-boiling water and rings it out before beginning to scrub Shauna's blood-covered hands, the rag quickly staining red from the combined human and deer blood. Misty's blonde eyebrows furrow as she continues to scrub. The scratchiness of the rag is grounding, Shauna thinks. She's scrubbed her own hands like this before – she’s grown rather used to being covered in blood in the wilderness – but it feels different when someone else does it. When Misty cleans the blood around Shauna's cut, she's gentle, like she’s restoring something ancient and beautiful. Misty has to ring the blood out and dunk the rag in the water twice before Shauna's hands are clean of blood. The girl looks proud of herself as she holds Shauna's wounded hand in hers.
“Alright, most of the bleeding has stopped, but we can’t be too careful out here,” Misty says, thoroughly inspecting the wound before looking up at Shauna. “I’ll sanitize and bandage it for you, okay?” Misty says it like it's optional, but she’s already reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a piece of cloth. Did she grab those from the cabin or does she carry those around everywhere? Shauna wondered. Misty shifts from being on both of her knees (Thank God, Shauna thinks, for some strange reason) to having one knee in front of her, which she places Shauna's injured hand on.
“Ok, this is going to hurt a little – well, obviously – and technically you shouldn’t use hand sanitizer internally, but we can’t be too picky. Try your best to stay still, I’ll be right here!” Misty smiles up at Shauna, who keeps a blank face and mouths out a simple “okay” as the blonde squirts some of the hand sanitizer onto the cleaning rag. Misty looks up at Shauna, then back down at her hand and presses the rag into it.
Shauna hisses sharply and squeezes her eyes shut at the burn, somehow the worst pain she's experienced since the crash. She grits her teeth and forces her clenched hand to stay in place, but she instinctively begins to clench her legs together in pain, forgetting that Misty is practically sitting between them. She is quickly distracted from the pain, though, when Misty grabs one of her thighs to keep her legs open, holding it in place. Shauna bites her lip and is so dumbstruck she almost forgets about the burning; Misty's hand is stable and warm against her inner thigh, her thumb rubbing back and forth soothingly. She’s practically cooing out comfort – “It’s okay, Shauna, just a bit longer” – in a way that makes Shauna's face heat up for no discernible reason. The pain and Misty's words and Misty's touch make Shauna's stomach turn in a way she can’t quite place – what is wrong with her right now? Finally, Misty pulls the rag away from Shauna's cut, turning the burning sensation into just a small ache. When Shauna opens her eyes, Misty is looking up at her, hand still on her thigh, an indecipherable expression on her face. Proud? Smug? Entirely fucking normal and Shauna is just going insane?
Misty's hand drops from Shauna's thigh, leaving a tingling feeling where it once was. “Alright, the worst is over! Let me just bandage you up and you’ll be done,” Misty says with an innocent smile. She doesn’t blabber on like before as she wraps Shauna's finger with the small cloth; she just lets the two girls sit in silence. Shauna can’t help but note how calm and in control Misty looks, which is when she notices how sweaty she is herself; was she this gross before? Misty ties the cloth into a small bow, ending the operation. Shauna's calloused hand feels heavy in Misty's smaller ones, and she’s looking up at her with another strange look, as if she’s lost in thought. Silently, Misty brings Shauna's hand to her mouth and kisses the bandage gently. Her breath is soft on her knuckles and she doesn’t break eye contact, looking almost transfixed. A blush coats Shauna's face to the tips of her ears and the base of her neck – what the hell? Is this some weird joke? No, Misty wouldn’t do that. Shauna's sure her confusion is evident on her face, but she sits still for a few seconds, studying Misty for any clue at her intentions. But all she does is give a genuine grin, let go of Shauna's hand, and stand up.
“ Well, you should be good now!” Misty says, unbothered. "I'd keep that on for the next 12 hours. If you need me for anything else, I'm happy to help!" Shauna mumbles out a thank you, staring at the bandage on her finger to avoid eye contact. Instead of leaving, Misty just stands there. Staring at her. Is she expecting something? The tension is only broken when Tai and Van come to her rescue, allowing Misty to walk off to do... whatever it is she does when no ones watching. Shauna sighs and begins to stand up, ready to return to her butcher table, when Tai grabs her wrist. Shauna turns and both Tai and Van are red faced like they'd been laughing for hours.
"...Did Misty kiss your hand?" Tai gawks, causing her and the goalie to break out into laughter. Shauna feels her face flush.
"Forget that, why was she on her knees?" Van croaks between laughs, "Did Misty Quigley give you a blowjob?" Shauna rolls her eyes as the two laugh and berate her with questions, their overarching theme being "What the hell was that?" Shauna eventually breaks away from them, red down to her neck and grumbling an excuse about the deer. She forces one thought into her head as she finishes her work: Misty is definitely the weird one. Not her.