Alejandro smiled, looking at Asta's instructions, confusing his patience with hesitation perhaps, if sometimes it was hard to read her, he could only guess that it worked the other way. Even then, she seemed to be interested in chopping the animal in parts before skinning it, something that Alejandro didn't know much of, as he never dealt with game that wasn't already clean. He could chop off that boar in a couple of minutes and have it ready to cook, but skinning it would be new for him. Either way, Asta got into action as soon as she had given him instructions, something amusing when at the restaurant it was him the one that guided the process, although he had followed indications for years as he learned, so it was no issue. Curious about what Asta was going to do, and not wanting to get in her way, Alejandro waited and stared unabashed, delighted to see the little girl in action.<br/><br/>To Alejandro's awe, it soon showed that Asta wasn't only swift and precise in killing the beast, but also in disemboweling it. He should be queasy about the process, he should feel disgust when Asta pulled the pig's disgusting insides out, and yet, Alejandro felt nothing of that. There was something about what they were doing, something about Asta working so hard and sure of herself that had a beauty to it beyond Alejandro's infatuation with the girl. Once she sliced up pieces of raw liver for them to eat, Alejandro started to understand it, or so he thought.<br/><br/>They were alive.<br/><br/>It may feel as something obvious, but they had survived the impossible, and now they struggled against their situation to keep fighting, to keep being alive. As Alejandro chewed on that warm bloody organ that tasted better than anything he had ever come across, he knew. It was her life, her constant fight to keep not only her but the ones surrounding her alive. Feeling invigorated, Alejandro couldn't help but laugh and nod, looking at those sparkling pale eyes that were beaming at him. They were alive, dammit, and to hell if that stupid island thought that it could kill them.<br/><br/>"Estamos vivos, Asta" Alejandro said, leaning in closer, his hands on her shoulders. "Estamos vivos" repeated, sharing a kiss, bloodstained lips mushed against each other. Happy and decided, Alejandro picked up his tools of the trade and taking advantage of the sharpness of his steel, he decided he was going to do something special even if he had never tried his hand on it. Memories of his father and grandfather doing so appeared in his head, they seemed as clear as if they were yesterday's events, yet he knew that it was his mind filling the gaps of his childish recollections.<br/><br/>Alejandro moved quickly, removing the ears so they wouldn't be a bother, then cutting into the skin all along the animal's length. Leaving the knives aside once he was done, he pulled with all the strength he could muster, slowly peeling the creature off, making use of a small knife from time to time to help himself with the hardest bits. The end result was a bit uneven, and small patches of skin were still to be removed, but he had managed to take most of the skin of the wild pig in one go. He knew that it had to be scraped of small bits yet, but he wasn't aware of what else could he have to do to the skin to make it usable. Perhaps Asta would know, and anyways it was a gift for her rescue and killing. Folding it the best he could, Alejandro presented the skin to her with both hands, nodding and smiling.