Chapter 886: Cooking the Catch


    They were back at camp, calming down from all the excitement. Well, they were about as far upwind they could get from camp without loosing sight of where the cultivators were ‘resting’ underground. Because of the trees nearby, it wasn’t nearly as far away as the demonic pair would’ve liked but they had to make do. At least the scent was fading. Slowly, but still fading and anything was preferrable to the smell when it started. “So... what exactly do you want from this Lily?” asked Kat as used a fan to nail the bear to the trunk through both of its back paws. No need to slit the things throat, considering the head was just gone.


    “Err... um... do you know what the best part is?” asked Lily hesitantly.


    Kat shook her head, “No not at all. Honestly it’s lucky that we saw that documentary in history ss that covered how to properly prepared hunted animals. It was... somewhat gruesome when I watched it... I was pretty young... oh wait no that means you didn’t see it?” Lily shook her head, “Right well... it was a documentary about how people used to make a living in the past. One of the professions it covered was hunting and the basics...


    “So I know your supposed to bleed the animal a bit... and then cut it in certain ways to get the most useable meat. Avoiding the guts and shit as well as anything else that’s just not all that edible... and while my memory means I know most of those steps fairly well... with only a few holes when I just looked away...


    “That wasn’t for bears. I don’t have any bear taxonomy in my head so... not really sure where to cut? I’m sure the legs are safe, and like maybe stuff near the ribs? Is bear ass edible? I really don’t know... so... I’m just letting it bleed over the grass for now and then I guess... I’ll probably try and cook a leg? I imagine it’s going to be really tough but hopefully my own strength will make that less of a problem. What do you think you’d like to have?”


    “Um...” Lily red at the carcass for a few moments, hoping that her instincts would point her towards the juicer cuts or maybe just the ones that would be best for her... but apparently that’s not how instincts work. [Hmmm... maybe it’s something I’d know if I was biting into the thing but it seems like...] “no idea really, I can’t say any one part calls to me. If you’re going to cook the hole leg... maybe just slice some off for me? You’re not going to eat it all right?”


    Kat shook her head vigorously, “Of course not. Which... hmm... is maybe an issue? I’m not sure how worthwhile it is having a bear carcass around to attract predators when I doubt I’ll want to eat all that much of it. Hmm... problem for future Kat I think. Maybe I’ll do really well with this fire pit and cook it to perfection!”


    .....


    “Do you know how to cook over a fire?” asked Lily, “I know for a fact that I don’t.”


    “Eh... not really?” said Kat awkwardly with a shrug, “Gramps had a big fire cook out a few times since I was there at the orphanage. An old friend of his apparently went hunting in the woods nearby and brought back... hmm... can’t really bring up what it was exactly... might not have been told. So... if I was paying attention I would know...


    “But the first few times I was too young to pay attention, and when I was older it was more or less my job to watch everyone, make sure they didn’t run off or stick their hands in the fire so I really wasn’t paying attention to Gramps at all. I know just enough to know that the whole rotating meat with a stick over the fire is pretty close to the truth. It helps evenly cook the thing... but I’m sure there’s more to it. Probably some spices of marinade applied first but... we work with what we have,”


    Lily spent a bit of time practicing her magic while Kat waited for the carcass to drain. With such arge whole it didn’t take long, so Kat simply sliced straight through the back leg she chose. Kat got vaguely the right area, but with her strength the fact she hit bone part way through really wasn’t an issue at all. It was good enough, and there was no guts going anywhere so she’d call that a sess. It did fall weirdly off to the side now it wasn’t suspended by both feet, but it didn’t fall so that was fine.


    Kat then spent a bit of time taking the skin of, with a good deal more care then she used to remove the leg itself. Once it was all off, Kat took a nce at everything before finding a branch that was just a bit longer then the leg was and using the sufficient application of force to shove the bone out and rece it with the branch she’d just picked up. A few more damaged treester and she had a basic setup for roasting meat. Just turns out she’d forgotten to actually make a pit for this. And she had no string.


    So Kat got to digging. With the fire pit now in the ground, Kat was able to bury the wooden sticks and use the surrounding dirt to keep them in ce instead of using some clothing as string. Kat did, reluctantly she would add, duck back to the main campsite to grab a more of the wood that had beenying around... only for the smell to travel with her somewhat. Those logs were promptly frozen with demonic fire and shattered.


    —-


    It was a few minutester and the fire was burning, a few trees were missing their branches, and Lily had finished her slices of meat and was leaning against Kat in human form, using her both as a source offort, with Kat’s tail wrapped around her of course, and as a heat block because the fire was really going. For Kat it barely registered, and despite some initial worries, the meat seemed to need that extra heat.


    As Kat twirled the stick slowly in her hand to keep the meat cooked evenly she asked, “So how is your first real contract so far?”


    “Real Contract?” returned Lily.


    “I just feel... this is a bit closer to what things should normally be like. Sure the tournament was familiar as well and not too strange... but you slept through that one and the weird romance/detective mission we had to go on after that was... very much not typical. This contract seems like a much better representation of what normally happens... though we have already been her a week which.... Well we can get to thatter,” said Kat with a soft sigh.


    “I... well I don’t know? I haven’t been all that useful and I’ve slept away a lot of this one as well... and when I haven’t been sleeping we’ve mostly still been travelling. I certainly feel a lot more useless this time around. Even if presumably I’ll have a big role when we actually get closer to Xuena and I can sneak around better... eh... I guess I’d feel a lot worse if I didn’t feel like I was making progress with my magic. Even if it seems like that’s starting to stall a bit...”


    Kat nodded, “Well I’m d it hasn’t been too ufortable,”


    “Kat, I’mining yes but I’d much rather been around you then doing anything else. So even if the journey we’re on at the moment is a little shitty I’m never going to actually wish to be somewhere else. I’d like that to be clear and on the record for you photographic memory” said Lily firmly.


    Kat leaned back, bending around so she could give Lily a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks Lily, that means a lot you know? I was hoping you were still happy with the choice to be bound to me, even if I know that was for other reasons. It did have some far-reaching consequence. So... yeah as long as you’re still happy with things it’s all ok. What about how long things have been taking though?”


    This time it was Lily’s turn to shrug, “I don’t really know what you want me to say Kat. I’ve been chafing a little under my parents’ scrutiny. Even if they’re much happier with our rtionship now, and I forgive them. Really I do. The thing is though... it doesn’t undo basically two whole years of hating my best friend who YES I did have a crush on. It really soured things in a more general sense between me and my parents so...


    “As bad as I feel saying it, and despite how much better things are now, I’m still happy to not be spending too much time with them. Then on the other side of things, I’m not as close with Sylvie and Gramps as you are. It’s questionable for Callisto and Vivian but I know you’re not too sure of how that is either so... I guess it doesn’t bother me much at all and I feel a bit bad that’s the case?”