In Pursuit of Ragout

The rumbling of Maples stomach cut through the awkward silence hanging over the group who had been quietly marching along on their way to Bullmar through shady forests alongside steep cliffs and atop of mountains.
"Guys-" says Maple, wings still bound as they agreed to make this journey on foot, foliage brushing up against their pelt and the soft forest ground below their feet. Katholes shoots them a look before lightly scolding them "You bought all this stuff but didnt follow Ninshus advice on how you should be stocking up for the journey ahead and ration your... well rations, didnt you?" they say with a squint, but then ease up looking over to Ninshu, however before Maple has the chance to protest Varos giggle cuts through the brief moment of silence, though her flushed cheeks are already giving away that Katholes had indeed said the truth. Ninshu kept quiet throughout the exchange as she was preoccupied with making sure that the party continued on the right path to make it to Bullmar though her ears swivelled back toward the group from time to time to catch bits and pieces of conversation.

"Stop teasing me." says the brown and orange colored Tyrian currently sporting a crimson blush on her face. Katholes bumps into the Tyrian with little force to tell her that she is just kidding and not to take her teasing seriously even without having to say as much as a word. Varos had in the meantime snuck up on the tyrian to give a curious look to the winged creatures belongings which they carried on their back- his findings did little to surprise him as the part of the backpack Maple had stored her rations in was unmistakably light- if not empty at this point. Smirking at this discovery the Chaser speaks up, sidestepping a cluster of mushrooms he had otherwise walked all over.

"We havent been travelling for a while yet- so its too soon to set up camp. But! I know how to cook, Im a bit of a gourmet too-" he proudly puffs out his chest before continuing, but the mention and prospect of eating food cooked by someone who knows how to produce something remarkably tasty is enough to capture Maples attention completely. Hearing this Ninshu chimes in from the front of the group, currently leading the bickering trio "What Im hearing is that you have to cook for us if you know your way around cooking. Im excited to taste a meal that youve made." they briefly glance over their shoulder back at the group before focusing back on the path ahead which allows the chaser to continue their train of thought on what would be on the menu tonight.  "Thing is- we'd have to hunt something big. Like a deer- if, we want to get the chance of getting everyone sated with what Im going to cook tonight."

Katholes, being the honest to god edgelord that they are, smirks deviously at the prospect of hunting and the inevitable shedding of blood that accompanies it- yet that crack in their facade is only there for a split second before indifference takes over their face again.

"I can show you guys the ropes." says Katholes after having allowed silence to briefly fall over the travel group.  Seeing as nobody had volunteered to hunt Katholes figured theyd so graciously offer up their services. Varos has raised an eyebrow at the fuzzy coated pullers sudden shift in behavior but chose not to comment on it for the moment. Maple who had been lost in thought at the very pleasant idea of eating deer ragout tonight snaps out of their hunger induced stupor and looks at Katholes with big pleading eyes. "Youd do that? To be quite frank- I am good at eating food, very good even. Catching food- or well prey for that matter, not so much." the tyrian admits with a coy smile to which the crimson colored puller only nods in response, figuring that after the tyrians previous reaction to their teasing that they would cut Maple a break from their snarky remarks- at least for the time being.

Ninshu is the first to speak up to comment on one crutial flaw in their dinner plans from the front of the group having listened in on the parties banter.
"Food is good- but you are forgetting something quite important." a playful smile appears on their face "raw meat is nice, but I'm sure our chef here has different plans. So we need to make camp." they respond nodding in Varos direction to which the chaser just confirms that indeed he would need a fire with a nod. "So set up a campfire it is- and allow Varos the time he needs to prepare what he has in mind for us. Besides- if you lot are so hellbent on deer being your meat of choice then we'll have to hunt one. How experienced are you lot when it comes to it?" asks the yellow coated runner rather bluntly, the cheerful tone in their voice not faltering.

"Well-" comes from the Chaser, currently gently nudging maple a bit to the left as to not have the at current very daydreaming tyrian have the ropes that bind their wings become entangled in a thorny berry bush the chaser had spotted ahead. "Id say we find a place where we can hunt for deer first- once we are in the area we can focus on hunting one down. together." Varos pauses grinning at the group as a whole at the last word to which the others respond with grins of their own, though for Katholes the corners of their mouth barely noticably move slightly upward. "Once we have the deer we set up camp in the area! I have to admit I havent really travelled around much- usually I just stayed in my small home in the forest. Foraging and spending my days cooking. So I... certainly havent camped out in the woods before."
Ninshu retorts with a small chuckle as she brushes some low hanging branches to the side. "Just be thankful that we arent traversing Thedales deserts right now. Travelling through that unforgiving landscape and finding food can seem like wishful thinking at times."

Ninshus words cause a pensive silence to fall over the group. "Well its good that we are in Warrenfall for now then. It must be nice to get some respite from home." offer Katholes showing a rare display of empathy uncharacteristic for the usually quiet puller which Ninshu is even taken aback by, stopping fully to turn around and face the group.

She smiles at Katholes and then shifts her focus, her right ear turns toward the forest and recognition flashes across her face.
"Everyone, quiet! Down!" she whispers as her ears fully focus on the direction of the noise she had picked up before.

Maple tried her best to hide her large frame by attempting to press herself low to the ground, with the rest hiding behind a variety of foliage.

The rest of the group has a much easier time compared to the large tyrian to blend into the surrounding vegetation, even if for some of their bright coats that might seem rather unlikely. Ninshu urgently looked back at the group whispering a „Something is coming our way, it sounds too… big and clumsy for a deer. Be on your guard.“ The group whilst not saying anything in confirmation at the yellow Runners words all waited with baited breath to also hear the noises that Ninshu had picked up on.

There it was. a heavy set of footfalls as something large and heavy stumbled through the forest. the snapping of twigs growing from a distant sound to something that seemed right behind the next tree as this thing approached. the group tried to hide further in the shadows, preparing to turn heel or fight depending on what happened next. a large shambling frame could be seen up ahead making its way through the forest, heading straight toward the group. its large paws with sharp claws snapped another twig as its snout lifted into the air, its wet black nose taking in the scents in the air. A bear.

Katholes looked amused at the ursid that had seemingly started to track the party down. they knew it was probably hungry and had caught wind of the parties rations. Maple was unsure on what to do and as such looked over to Varos and Ninshu for input, yet the two seemed frozen in fear, having not expected a large and dangerous predator to be on their heels.

Katholes acted as soon as they saw the bear spot the terrified Varos, raising its clawed paw to strike at the Chaser.
The puller stepped in between the bear and the chaser, growling at it with such ferocity, one might have thought that Katholes and this bear had history.

„Back off bear. This doesnt have to get ugly.“ is what Katholes added, quickly glancing over to Ninshu. She interpreted this glance correctly, Katholes was asking for help to stand united against this bear, show it they had a numbers advantage and really werent worth picking a fight with.

She quickly pushed her fear down and stood steadfast at the side of the red coated puller, puffing out her chest and joining in on growling directed at the beast. Varos was still too terrified to act, they seemed to mostly have dealt with prey animals before, having gotten the luck of not running into seriously dangerous predators out in the wild before, which now however made the bear see Varos as no threat in turn.

At this point the bear was weighing its options, it was hungry and whilst the runner and the puller stood united the bear didnt think them to be too tough to deal with to get to their food. That was until a large figure started to loom over it, that creatures shadow plunging the bear into darkness. The usually fearless predator saw the general outline of something taller than it, imposing looking and knew one thing instinctually- whilst the puller and the runner might have not posed too great of a challenge, this thing- wasn‘t something the bear was going to fight. It sprinted off, to get distance between it and Maple who had seen that Ninshu and Katholes needed backup and decided to stand by her friends side, even if she too was scared and vulnerable with her wings still being bound.

As the rotund form of the bear vanishes into the foliage and its footfalls that had speedily approached the group a minute ago had faded again is when the group breathed a collective sigh of relief.

„Well I wasn‘t expecting to have a stand-off with a bear.“ admitted Ninshu with achuckle that was aimed at easing some of the tension that was still hanging in the air. As the travelling parties collective adrenaline was leaving their bloodstream again they had checked up on Varos to make sure they were okay, which the chaser confirmed even if they were still shaken up about their encounter.

Katholes brought up an interesting point.
“If this bear is also in the area we might have to expect a nightly visit from it if we do set up camp here.“ which left the group not feeling too excited about. Ninshu however echoed the pullers sentiment.

„That is true- I believe our options are going after that bear to slay it- or to avoid this area in its entirety which would mean a long march is ahead of us to make sure we are out of the bears territory and that would mean that Varos might not have the time to cook for us.“

at this all eyes turned to Maple, who the group knew to be food motivated. Every one of them was fine with doing what the tyrian would decide for the group even if it meant tracking down this fearsome predator again- this time with the intent to slay it however.

„Well…“ started the brown colored tyrian, bringing a claw up to their face to scratch themself behind the ear as they knew all to well why the party was looking to them for a response on this which caused them to feel a touch flustered.

„I mean bear sounds tasty too. Are you all okay with that tough?“ asked Maple with concern in her voice, her eyes staying on Varos a smidge longer than her eyes lingered on the rest of the group as she scanned their faces.

„I certainly dont mind.“ said Katholes. „Its probably best to make sure we dont run into problems when we camp. I am confident we can track and take this bear down if we… work together.“ they visibly shudder after the pause.
“Thats the spirit!“ Ninshu was practically radiating optimism, whilst her mind seemed made up on how she felt about hunting this bear which echoed the groups verdict so far, she decided not to voice her opinion just yet to not put pressure on the chaser to also say yes, she looked to Varos expectantly who was still a bit shaken, but was doing much better seeing the party act confident about hunting this bear, so they too added with their voice cracking at the beginning of the sentence „I- Yes. I havent had bear yet but Im sure its just as good as deer.“

„Then its decided! It couldnt have gone far, so- keep low. keep quiet. stick together and strike when you see an opening! We are having bear tonight!!“ said Ninshu with glee aiming to get the group pumped, which was indeed working. Varos seemed more at ease thanks to Ninshus attempts at making this impending hunt feel like a fun activity. Maple however focused on the task at hand not only due to wanting to do a good job but also due to still being worried about Varos who seemed to have taken the run in with the bear the worst out of all of them. Katholes was even smiling a bit at the prospect of paying this bear back for daring to sneak up on them and the group they were slowly starting to care more and more about. - Yet that smile could have been also a trick of the eye if someone didnt end up looking intently at the puller.

With the tracks the bear had left behind the group didnt even really need to pick up its scent as they only needed to follow the trail of footprints the bear had left as it ran from Maple. Yet- katholes did promise to show the others the ropes, so they didnt skip on teaching the Chaser and tyrian on how to identify a bears scent and follow it, alongside with teaching them the tracks the bears claws created on the forest floor and that scratched up trees with deep gauges usually didnt spell good news. Now that Katholes was so plainly stating what to look out for they werent even really sure how the group had collectively missed the obvious signs that there is a bear in the area. Yet they decided not to dwell on it, attributing their failure to a growing hunger they too were starting to feel.

The atmosphere in the forest felt different as the group stalked after the bear, following its tracks. There was tension in the air, caution, perhaps even the fear of what itd mean to face this beast again- but also hopefulness mixed with cautious self-confidence. The feeling of being watched, but also being on such high alert that the group had the feeling nothing could sneak up on them made for a combo that got their hearts beating fast, every muscle in their body coiled like a spring, ready to spring into action at a moments notice.

Ninshus guidance faded into the background as the yellow coated runners attention was placed on making sure that this bear wasnt trying to sneak up on the group again- alongside any other animals in the area that could spell danger for the group, all the while she was also keeping track of which way the party was heading to catch this bear so that they could backtrack to resume their journey once the beast was slain. With Katholes taking charge things turned remarkably organised, despite the fact that Maple had little to no hunting experience as well as the chasers lack of courage which might interfere with how reliant Katholes could be on if the chaser would act once they stood face to face again with the brown bear.

But only time would tell how Varos would fare, for now Katholes only knew one thing. The rumbling in their stomach had been hard to keep quiet and with it their mouth was starting to water as bear sounded rather delicious. Another brief smirk hushed over their face as the bears frame came into view once again as the group stalked closer to it through the forest. The group used the foliage to sneak close whilst Maple wanted to try and pin the bear down. This was a risky endeavor of course, but with the rest of the vayrons there everyone was certain things would pan out well. Katholes knew then as they collectively jumped out at the bear, catching it off guard that bear ragout made by Varos wasn‘t going to be a distant dream, but rather something the party would get to experience this very night.