Instead of Glow, today Depths was assisting Marchus and Lairi on their hunt. She'd gotten injured, attempting to hunt on her own.

The jaebo problem in the fields had subsided but wasn't taken care of, so the three of them were out to set snares again. Lairi, having experienced the inefficiency of a bow and arrow, had come up with another method - baited traps.

Depths held up one of the bait pellets confusedly. "At this point, wouldn't it be easier to just poison them?"

Lairi and Marchus looked at him, aghast. Depths looked back, confused.

"You can't poison animals low on the food chain," Marchus explained, "It takes days to set in, and it makes them vulnerable to predators which then get poisoned as well."

Lairi nodded empathetically. "Besides, it's not a nice way to go." she shuddered.

"Oh," Depths said thoughtfully, understanding as they looked out over the fields, the jaebos staring warily. "I see."

The dirt of the field was sandy, and small pebbles in it crunched beneath Depths' feet. He fiddled with the items he carried absently, nervously eyeing those spikes on the jaebos. Were those sharp?

Lairi caught his gaze while Marchus set about to setting his snares, shooing the jaebos away from the crops.

"They're harmless, don't worry," she assured him, and he nodded warily.

Still, he made sure to shoo the creatures away before starting to pound stakes into the dirt as he'd been instructed. Their fields were small, up against the wall of the canyon where his colony made their home, but near the trees so that they could gain nutrients from the fallen leaves. Smooth stone on one side, bones protruding oddly, and dark trees on the other, pine needles rustling in the mountain breeze.

Lairi was digging shallow divots in the ground, away from the plants, and constructing her traps. Depths watched for a bit as she set one up - clearly having had a lot of practice - and then began using leaves and twigs and other detritus to blend it into the environment.

"Do you think that'll work?" Depths asked, curious.

"Absolutely!"

Marchus snorted, and Lairi turned to shoot him a dirty look, motioning indignantly with one set of hands. He gave her a look and then sat back to motion at the sets of snares he'd set up while she had only set up one trap.

"Just because it's simple doesn't mean it doesn't work."

Lairi snorted, and turned back to her traps.

Depths blinked at them both for a second, then shrugged and continued pounding in the stakes with the rock he'd found, finding comfort in the repetitive motion. It was nice that what to him and Lairi and Marchus were pests were going to feed people that needed it.

Marchus came over to him, and started tying the wires, positioning them near the entrances to the burrows. It seemed to be far simpler than Lairi's traps, though Depths figured if you wanted one to study, her traps were a great way to do it.

Not so much if they were going to become food, though.