Needless to say, the tall-legged grey animals were rather startled when a small girl hit one of their number like a cannon, causing it to topple over sideways. With unusual, melodic calls, the younger ones scattered first, as the older jabbed and flailed their forelimbs at the attacker before eventually concluding it was a lost cause and loping after their young, both sets of limbs working in tandem in a strange, hopping gait.

The one pinned beneath Alasayana's small body flailed and struggled, but naturally had difficulty rising. While their long legs allowed them to cover great distances quickly as demonstrated by the others, and they were clearly able to reach high sources of food because of them and their strange tongues, it appeared to be a struggle for them to get up quickly after being knocked over. It was letting out further distressed, melodic hoots. At least, of course, until Alasayana ended it however she chose.

A hunter should know that a distressed prey animal would likely draw unwanted attention. Then again, they were gods, so perhaps the potential of predators appearing was less of a concern?

Shifting slightly uncomfortably at the sight of Alasayana's hunt(though she did not seem to think that it was wrong, merely that she'd rarely seen animals hunted in general), Flora held onto Ashte's horns lightly, scanning the forest for another few moments.

"Um... I don't remember if there was anywhere good for a camp nearby..." she confessed, "I just remember going this way..."

It was likely the little girl had simply not been the one in charge of making camp, and thus would not readily recognize such a location. The tall trees seemed endless, and while that obviously couldn't be the case it likely meant that camp would still be within the bounds of the forest.

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"Shhh, shhh." The huntress would coo as she'd wrestle briefly with the beast. It was unfortunate she had no real way of dispatching it quickly and painlessly, but lacking such a clean method to kill, one of her tails would latch around the creatures neck, the fangs sinking into its flesh and quickly severing the spinal cord from its head. Relatively painless at least, hopefully. Still, even if this was a relatively tame hunt and not too exciting, she was rather pleased with herself all things considered. Probably should save the skinning and preparation for later - though come to think of it, carrying the food with them would no doubt attract the attention of other predators.

"Hmm...well, it will probably be fine." She'd say to herself, scooping up the carcass of the creature in her tails. She'd prepare and skin it once they made camp. Maybe its pelt could be made into something useful, such as a blanket...though she'd have to perhaps, rely on the mortal for that.

"I have secured food for the evening." She'd say, smirking confidently as she'd catch up to her companions glad that they didn't seem to have run too far ahead. Any predator that came after them would be a non-issue anyways.

Trineon
Lord of Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans

The water god looked away as the goddess of the hunt leaped onto the tall gray creature. While he had seen a hunt before, Trineon knew that this wasn’t going to be a clean kill, as Alasayana had no hunting tools like a spear or bow and arrow. As Trineon made sure to avoid watching the kill, O’Menus suggested they go ahead and let the hunting goddess do her thing. Trineon immediately agreed with the sun god as he followed him deeper into the forest.

After a snide comment Moridax also followed after O’Menus, the gathered gods leading the young priestess away from the hunt. Aureia then mused if the gray creatures were even edible. This perplexed Trineon as he realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since being reborn. Back in ages past he knew what plants and creatures were poisonous, but now he was surrounded by the unfamiliar. For all the water god knew everything here could kill sicken him if he ate it.

As Trineon wondered about the food, the idea of making camp was raised. Before Trineon could weigh in on the issue he heard the melodic calls of the creature Alasayana had pinned. It clearly sounded in utter distress. Out of the corner of his eye, Trineon could see Flora shift uncomfortably at the noises. The young mortal also said she didn’t know a good place for camp but that they were going in the right direction.

“That’s alright,” said Trineon, “We should be able to find a decent camping spot on our own.”

As Trineon finished speaking, Alasayana ran back to the group, the body of the gray creature securely in her tails. She proudly declared she had brought food for the evening. Again Trineon wondered if they could even eat it safely.

The water god then turned to Flora, “These creatures, can we eat them? I’m not familiar with this species and want to make sure it isn’t poisonous.”

Moridax seemed unconcerned about much of anything. She didn't really need to eat or sleep or anything of the sort, though perhaps a rest would hurt. It took a lot to keep this body together as it were and more importantly, keep the smell at bay. Regardless, she might as well take the moment to rest while Sunny was off doing... Whatever he was doing. Scouting? Mostly likely, well, whatever it was, she plopped her butt right against a tree and rested leaning on one.

And everyone seemed to be questioning if the beast was poisonous. Moridax just smirked, "Well, if you're worried about poison, my dear River, I'm sure we just need to wait and see if..." She thought back on what Aureia had said earlier, "'Yana' tasted anything bitter. I would joke and say wait for her to drop dead but I doubt poison would affect her and I'd rather not have paperwork. More of it... At least." That part she said with a sigh. Wondering about how much had pilled up. How long have they been away?

Shaking her head, not wanting to dwell on what may or may not be, she changed the subject. "But do any of you know how to cook? Not to brag, but I'm rather proficient at cooking!" The unsaid part was the why she was proficient at it... She was just hoping people wanted to come to the underworld to have dinner for her. "I mean, you know, I could cook if no one else will."

While she said this, it finally dawned on her that they had very little in terms of cooking utensils or supplies and there would need to be a great improvisation of supplies and other such things. To start, they would need a fire... Maybe some rocks... Hmm, yes....

"Oh, poisoning... that's right, you don't need to eat anything specific, like grass? You won't turn into some horrifically cursed monstrosity if we feed you after midnight, or do something strange if we spill water on you?" Ashte wondered, directing her questions upwards as O'Menus went off to check for somewhere safe and Alasayana dragged back one of the spindle-deer things.

It was a good thing that Moridax had volunteered to do all the cooking, because she didn't know where to start with the food preparation. Unless it was chocolates or cocktails! Or setting the mood for a romantic dinner. But your normal food preparation, or doing something whilst out cooking? That was the sort of thing that cooks and soldiers did, not her.

and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck

Aureia simply shrugged as O’Menus seemed to get her point, and strode off to scout ahead. She contemplated joining him for a moment –it made the most sense to do, after all—but for all of her situational acumen, she really didn’t want to hang out all alone around the sun god when he was grumpy. And if recent memory served right, he was grumpy a lot these days.

So, she elected to stay with the group, though she took a mental note of the direction the god had scouted towards incase they would have to rescue him for some reason, bidding him farewell with a nonchalant wave.

She stepped back towards Alasayana and the priestess, raising her eyebrows at the animal carcass that she had brought back. It didn’t look bad at first glance, but she really didn’t know where to begin cooking that thing… though, Aureia did know how to cook. It was a small pastime for her to poach recipes from mortals, after all.

“Me, I can help,” she offered, deciding to make herself useful and help Mori with the task of preparing a meal. She’d never worked with no equipment at all, though… How were they going to make a fire? “Oh… hmm, perhaps we shouldn’t have sent off the sun god, some heat or a fire would be useful right now.”

Aureia, was, after all, completely clueless on how to set up a camp or even get a proper fire going without the trappings of civilization.

How…

Civilized?

As Alasayana's teeth sunk into the flesh of the creature, it let out one final hoot before finally going limp. It merely twitched a few times afterwards, before stillness completely took it. This did allow the goddess to get a sense of the texture of its meat and the possibility of any toxins. The neck meat was definitely fairly tough, but it also did not appear to be poisonous in any way.

From some distance away, the others of its kind peered through the foliage. Several let out more of their melodic hooting, before disappearing from view again.

Already, it seemed her hunt had caught some notice, the distance sight of what appeared to be several birds alighting on the trees far above, watching as she dragged it back to the others. A few stranger, glassy-winged creatures seemed to drift above as well, keeping track of her movements.

When She reached the others, and Flora was asked about poison and her diet, the small, pale girl fidgeted slightly as she clutched at Ashte's horns.

"I d-don't think so?" she began, "Um, they're..."

She trailed off. She'd never seen what some of her food looked like before being prepared, and Sir Oren had never shown her what it looked like when he hunted.

"Um, oh I... I don't think I would do... any of that..." she added to Ashte's line of questioning. She wasn't sure exactly why Ashte was worried about any of that, but she must have had a reason. Flora herself had never experienced any of these things happening to her, and thus she had to assume they couldn't. But when Aureia raised the matter of fire, the little priestess perked up.

"There's a plant!" Flora declared, "U-um... S-Sir Oren showed me, er... it's... there's something that comes out of the flowers that makes lighting fires really easy..."

Raising her hands, she appeared to try illustrating a conical, hanging shape, gesturing slowly.

"They hang down from big vines."

Meanwhile, O'Menus's search would not prove unfruitful. It seemed as if one of the large trees had fallen, creating a small clearing in the forest. It was mattered with hanging vegetation, secularly leaning against another, even larger dead tree that seemed just as likely to never budge. This created something of natural, partial shelter.

Surrounding it were numerous mushrooms of various sizes, and from atop it several long, grey-furred mammals with sinuous bodies and tufted ears peered at him curiously.

Perhaps it would be best to make certain such an ideal spot was safe, first, however...

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Alasayana

---

As Alasayana's teeth sunk into the flesh of the creature, it let out one final hoot before finally going limp. It merely twitched a few times afterwards, before stillness completely took it. This did allow the goddess to get a sense of the texture of its meat and the possibility of any toxins. The neck meat was definitely fairly tough, but it also did not appear to be poisonous in any way.

Well, not poisonous in any way, then. Even if the creatures were strange and unfamiliar, they could serve as some form of sustenance then. The tough meat might need a bit of tenderizing, though. She was a bit wary of the birds that seemed to take note. Scavengers, most likely. They didn't seem hostile just yet, but no doubt they were hoping for something themselves, that was at least what she was thinking as she'd settle next to the others.

"I had a taste of the creature, Trinneon. Tough meat, but not poisonous or dangerous to my senses." She'd respond to the ocean god. "I'll leave the cooking to you two then." Did she want to say she had no knowledge of how to cook? Well, maybe she could put together something simple but most of her more lavish meals had come in the form of offerings and festivals put together by people on the occasional chance she decided to mingle more directly with mortals. "The meat needs a bit of tenderizing, I think, but it should be fine to serve once skinned. I'll keep watch for now. I should be able to hear anything dangerous approaching."

and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck

Aureia made a little grimace at Alasayana’s assessment of the quality of the hunted meat. Being the type of god she was, she rather much enjoyed luxury and comfort, and tough, stringy meat was not her idea of cuisine or proper living. It really wasn’t living at all. The goddess of gold wasn’t enough of a spoiled brat to complain about slim pickings when they were still like this, though, and she still remembered a good trick or too from now ancient human chefs at making poor quality meat go a very long way in the taste department.

Thankfully, the priestess girl supplied her with a toolless means of creating a fire. She had never heard of a plant that could be easily used to create flame –wasn’t that the bane of plants? Aureia didn’t get it—but she found the strange conical shaped plant easily enough from some nearby low-hanging vines.

While she was at it, she looked for some plants that were hopefully mildly acidic and totally not poisonous, so that the meat could be tenderized in its juices. If she didn’t find any, it wasn’t a big deal, and regardless, she soon set to attempting to start a fire with the plant-thing after setting up the gathered firewood.

Except she still didn’t know how to use it.

“Hum… Perchance you might remember how Sir Oren used this suspicious plant to create a fire, Flora?”

Plants that created fire? What a strange time they had woken up in. Or what an imagination this girl had. Or maybe she was just only loosely aware of reality? Though the first one seemed more likely, given the equally strange creatures they had seen.

Leaving the meat tenderising aside (was that where you kept punching it?), the question of how a conical plant could make fire... oh, that was a mystery, but not one that she could investigate too much whilst there was a small girl on her shoulders.

"Perhaps give it a squeeze?"

Well, while Aureia asked about the fire, Mori went about her way finding things to set up a small fire pit. Some small stones to make the outline.... Some good sticks to start the kindling, dry wood and some other small things. They didn't need to much to get food cooking. It's not like she needed to eat much herself. Considering her borrowed body, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take in a little food too.

Still, getting these resources to cook was a bit of a pain. The best she could do was gather stuff off the forest floor. It'd be much easier with tools of some sort. "Gah, I wish I had an axe or something of the sort." A dagger would make most of the work from here much easier. She could cut sticks into poles to cook meat or cutting the meat itself. Then a thought dawned on her. She took the body of a soldier... So maybe she had a dagger on her! Hah! Blessed was her day!

A quick look would tell her that... Yes! Indeed she had a dagger on her! It looked rather clean too, despite all the gooze and ooze from the transformation. "Aha! Behold, I have a dagger!" The Chief of the Underworld exclaimed as she held the dagger high for all to see, before calmly putting it back in place and gathering the rest of the lumber and stones she needed and taking them back to where they would set up camp. She set the circles up in a ring and expertly put the kindling inside, waiting for fire. She took the next bit of time to take some rather long sticks she found and started to use the dagger to cut them into spears to cook the meat with so one didn't need to hold their arms dangerously over the fire. After all, her flesh was rather weak to a fire like such. "You all can praise me now~"

She seemed like she... rather than want... Needed the praise. Perhaps she was a slight bit coddled by her servants in the underworld that priased her for all her judgement calls and successes... Probably even her failures.

Any efforts to butcher the creature more thoroughly would discover that the animal's midsection had considerably more tender, fattier meat, while the limbs were as tough as the neck. The organs of the creature appeared roughly as would be expected, but it was difficult to determine if the animal was mammal, reptile, or something entirely new.

"Um, she's... she's right," Flora nodded, "Lady Ashte, I mean... you squeeze it from the base onto the wood. Then you rub the wood together and it starts really fast."

Indeed, squeezing the base of the conical flower would cause it to release a sweet-smelling, orange-colored fluid, that would burn slightly if touched directly with bare hands. Applying it to sticks would cause those sticks to ignite swiftly when rubbed together, permitting the swift construction of a cooking fire.

Meanwhile, the birds seemed to remain, watching the corpse of the herbivore closely as they did. The glassy-winged creatures, too, were lingering overhead, clearly intent on seeing if they could get any meat for themselves.

While they weren't threatening, the scent of a large, fresh, dead animal could easily draw something else in...

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Alasayana

---

"Yes, yes, good work on making a rudimentary weapon," Alasayana replied to Moridax's assertion of wanting to be praised. The sarcasm would likely be obvious for any. She'd cast her head upwards as the fire started, the plant belching out fire like some sort of small fire-breathing creature. This forest was proving quite interesting by the second. The huntress would take up a position sitting cross-legged at the base of a nearby tree. Those birds were still hanging about, huh?

"Keep an eye on those birds." She'd motion upwards for the others. "Scavengers, probably. Might be aggressive."

Trineon
Lord of Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans

The water god’s mind was put at ease as Alasayana confirmed that the meat of the creature was not poisonous. As a lord of watery domains Trineon always made sure that animals were safe to eat, as many sea life were filled with poison. This mostly fish diet also meant he usually ate his meat raw and as such had no real cooking skills. Thankfully Moridax had stepped up as a chef.

Trineon found it odd that the underworld god would be the one who could cook, but he was also just glad that someone in the group knew how. It was also a positive for Trineon that Flora mentioned a plant that could help start fires. Fires were another thing that Trineon was not skilled with, as it did kind of go against him being a water god. Again he was glad that Aureia quickly found the plant.

Trineon was then prepared to grab some sticks to make a fire, but the death god beat him to it. She then produced a dagger from the corpse she was possessing, quickly whittling some sticks into spears and demanded some praise.

“I will admit that you are useful,” Trineon said to Moridax, “But let’s see if you can ignite a fire.”

As Trineon finished speaking, Flora piped in, explaining how to use the plant as ignition. The plant was squeezed over the sticks Moridax gathered, a burst of what looked like flame engulfing the sticks. With very minimal movement the sticks caught fire. Content to let Moridax to cook the strange meat, Trineon took a seat next to the fire.

For a second he allowed himself to relax. But that moment of peace was broken when the hunt goddess mentioned the birds above. Trineon looked up and sure enough there were many bird like beings watching from the tops of the trees. Trineon wondered how he had missed these possible scavengers, as in his heyday he would’ve been able to spot them from a mile away. This seemed to prove the thought he had that his full strength had yet to return to this reborn form.

“I’m not sure if they would attack us, given our numbers,” Trineon stated, “But that isn’t to say that there is not a bigger predator who would have no problem with all of us.”

and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck

“Right… squeeze it…” The goddess of gold muttered skeptically as she eyed the strange plant, but since the priestess girl confirmed, she reluctantly squeezed the strange plant. To her great surprise, it was as effective as she’d been told, and in a few minutes, she had a nice campfire roaring away with the gathered firewood they’d prepared.

“Roasting it directly over the fire with just our hands would be too barbaric,” she commented, frowning at the campfire that was healthily crackling in the darkening sky.

She quickly got an idea, though, and fetched two sturdy Y-shaped sticks. Then, she plucked a golden spoke from her golden umbrella to use as a spit. It was inelegant, and frankly, borderline heretical to herself, but she knew the necessity of making do. Thus, spitting some of the meat on the golden instrument, she could keep the meat on an even flame and cook it properly. It was a shame they had no proper spices, but flame-broiled mystery meat was the closest secondary alternative… right?

As she prepped the meal, she waved a dismissive hand at the circling carrion birds.

“Some lowly predators wish to kill gods for their food? What a grand and intoxicating innocence.”

Carefully, the goddess lifted the child off of her shoulders--sitting by the fire was no doubt far more convenient--and looked up at the birds. It wasn't really her specialisation, per se, but if they were just going to lazily circle like that...

Her golden armaments pulled close and reformed into something that was undeniably a massive bow and an equally massive ammo, leaving Sir Oren lying neatly on the ground. She held them loosely, not yet drawing the weapon. "Well, if they circle down to us, then it's just a matter of driving them off, no? We have this strange deer-like animal, adding some fowl to the mix couldn't hurt."

Mori seemed slightly miffed that no one seemed to appreciate her efforts. "Fine. I'm going just... Handle this meat more elegantly..." She started to say when Aureia had already started cooking with her... umbrella... part and some sticks. Well, that was fine and dandy. Good for a quick cook. The Underworld Goddess, handled the deer-like creature's carcass, skinned it when she needed to get to the meat, cutting into it to make some bits. She used where she had hide to handle the meat, since the human body... especially those that were young, could get sick easily from dirt. She then fetched a few nearby sticks and used the dagger to cut at them and make them into thin, sharp sticks. She tested them over the fire to see if they would burn but luck would have it that they were wet enough to not just catch on fire in contact, so it'd be safe enough over it.

Now, she didn't have anything as super fancy as Aureia to hold up her sticks, but her hands would suffice. It's not like her body really got tired. She'd stab the meat onto the sticks and hold them over the fire to let them cook. She wasn't sure how much a human child would need to eat, so the more they cooked the better, right? "If those birds prove a problem, just kill them. We can use them for food or maybe I can use them to scout the area some... if I have enough power to do that right now.... Not that you should doubt the Chief of Underworld Matters!" She seemed to carry some pride in that statement, though any seriousness she might have had was cut short by the sight of her, a cute girl in armor, holding two sticks with meat over a fire.

The birds seemed to perhaps sense that it was best not to try it. While animals were animals, and sufficient hunger could perhaps overpower a fear of the divine, it seemed as if they were not quite hungry enough to push their luck.

Flora watched as the meat rolled over the flames. She leaned somewhat closer, saying little, but it was rather obvious how she felt even before her stomach growled again.

The scent of the meat was rather gamey, as it cooked over the flame, but hardly unpleasant. It resembled the flesh of a mammal rather then a bird, though it was difficult to tell just what sort of creature it was. Still, it was likely that it would at least be filling if nothing else.

When the meat was ready to be served, however, something far more unusual then the animals both visible and not that were observing them seemed to emanate from the depths of the forest.

who

It was a voice that seemed to approach from everywhere at once, and yet at the same time had no clear source

divine scent hunters killers who

A presence, one somewhat familiar to the assembled, revived deities, could be detected. A spirit of the world, an entity below the divine and yet quite powerful in its own right.

It must have been attached to the forest.

divine scent, why are you?

As it spoke, its speech patterns seemed to become more coherent, as if it was long unused to talking.

divine scent, why are you here? why do you kill? time has passed, so long, and yet you come here and kill? tell us. tell nakri why

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Trineon
Lord of Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans

The water god stood next to the fire as it ignited. The warmth from it was pleasing to him, as he had not even realized how cold he had been before. Perhaps it was the chill of death, as he had only just returned to this world. But then he also realized how hungry he was, but luckily for Trineon, Aureia had fashioned a stick roast out of some sticks and pieces of her umbrella. Trineon admired the ingenuity.

As the meat of the mystery creature roasted, Trineon glanced back up at the birds that had been circling above the gathered gods. But then they quickly dispersed, probably deciding that these divine beings were too much of a risk to attack. Satisfied that the scavengers had left, Trineon turned back to Flora, who Ashte had just placed on the forest floor, who had been aiming a bow at the birds before they left the area.

“You wouldn’t happen to know if any plants around here could be used for spices?” Trineon asked the flower priestess, “Even though I mostly eat fish, when I have had meat, we used some kind of spice.”

Moridax then grumbled about something as she roasted the meat. The death god once again impressed Trineon as she expertly cut up the meat. The water god would be the first to say he had no idea how to handle meat, only really slicing up sea life in his previous life. She then made a comment about adding fowl to the meal or use them as undead scouts. And once again Trineon felt weird around Moridax, as the whole raising the dead thing still made him uneasy.

But then something else made Trineon feel much more uneasy. A booming voice enveloped the group assembled around the fire, seemingly coming from every direction. It asked who, before recognizing them as divine beings. As it spoke, a feeling came over Trineon, a sense of familiarness. It was a kind of being that Trineon had come across before, a spirit of the world.

Trineon was surprised to find that such a being was still around. It had appeared that the gods he stood with were the only remaining powerful magical beings. But this spirit spoke again, asking why they had killed, why they were still here, and to tell Nakri, which seemed to be the spirit’s name.

“Are any of you familiar with this spirit, Nakri it said?” asked Trineon softly, before speaking louder, “Spirit of the forest, show yourself. We are just passing through these woods and required sustenance. Come, let us discuss this in person, eye to eye.”

Trineon looked around, unable to place where exactly this being was, that was even if he had a physical form. It was hard to tell with spirits what form they would take. So Trineon was prepared to see anything as he stood in front of Flora, hoping the spirit had no qualms with the young priestess.