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Cass' answer earned a nod of approval from the division leader. "Excellent. Considering the unique... aspects of your weapon, training for you is going to be a bit difficult." Aria tapped her lips thoughtfully, thinking. "You could look into combining some training courses, such as the shadow run: shoot enemies first, then when they're close cut them down. Just don't get too caught up in trying to keep an eye on both enemies close and those far away."

Oops, she was lecturing again. Aria shrugged it off, picking up a duck and showing it to Cass. "How do you think we'll carry them? If we do it like this..." Aria held it by the head, nodding towards it. "First off, it's gross. Secondly, the wings get all over the place. We're just going to tie them up so we have an easier time carrying them..." Aria motioned for Cass to get a length of twine, and showed her how to bind them.

"It looks like Beau has to sniff a few out," Aria said after a moment, working with Cass to bind them. "Otherwise... I think we're set for awhile as far as food goes. Once we're back at the lodge, I'll show you how to prepare them. We could turn one into a meal now, then either smoke the rest or freeze it..."

"Smoking takes time, but it's worth it," Aria replied. "Take pork for instance. Smoking bacon can take up to three days, though considering we're dealing with ducks here it shouldn't take that long... hypothetically." She shrugged. "Chances are someone rigged some runes up to some of the machines in the cabin since I was last here. If we're lucky, we won't be spending the rest of the night plucking feathers off of these."

The last of the ducks was retrieved and dropped at their feet, followed by Beau sitting down and looking expectantly. "Good job, Beau!" Aria cooed, petting the dog before reaching aside to grab two sticks. Using more twine, Aria tied the feet of ducks to them, five each until both sticks had ducks dangling from them. "All right, let's g- wait." The Mist lead disassembled the blinders that hid them before, taking a moment to place the safety back onto her rifle and unload it before motioning to Cass. "There. Now let's go."

They began to walk back up the path, Beau all but prancing alongside them while they walked. Aria glanced to Cass, then back ahead. "There are a couple other places like this," she offered after a moment's pause. "When you've been around for awhile, you'll see more. I have a... place in the Himalayas."

Aria nodded in agreement to Cass' assessment. "Exactly. In addition, if you decide to thaw it out in a microwave... Well. Let's just say you'll attract quite the crowd." Aria waved her hand vaguely. "We'll figure something out. When in doubt, we can get several fires going and cook as many as we can. Or pop'em all into an oven or stew or something."

The talk of going places earned a quick grin from Aria. "You'd be surprised at how many places you've probably been already. Our sort of work takes us all over the world to many different places. When I was a trainee, I did most of my training in Africa. It was..." Aria trailed off, shifting the weight of the ducks in her hand and her rifle on her other shoulder. "It was rough, but the training was invaluable. I don't think I could replicate it, nor do I think I want to."

The division leader left it at that, changing the topic. "Is there anything in particular you want done with the ducks aside from changing them into rations? It you can sew, we could probably hold onto the feathers so you can make a pillow. Though I honestly don't know much about that," she quickly added with a laugh. "All I know is that pillows are filled with feathers of some sort."

Aria's turn to wear the glazed expression came at the suggestion of casseroles. Ask Aria how to set up a pit trap and she'll tell you how. Ask her how to fight a bear and she'll demonstrate it. Ask her to go into the kitchen and make you a sandwich and... she could do that, actually. Though depending on who asked, there was a possibility that the sandwich would be a last request.

But cooking? Fancy cooking? Fancy cooking with pots and pans and specifications? You lost Aria there. "I... maybe...? You can certainly experiment to see if you can replicate it," Aria began slowly. "Otherwise there's a refrigerator in the Mist Lounge you can store things in, providing it's still in one piece. There's the chance that someone else may take some, though. Otherwise there's mine... but that requires catching me in order to get into that."

And there was still a chance that someone would've taken some. Aria was about to say more when Beau stopped, tail tucked between her legs. The dog whined once, backing up rapidly before she took off running into the forest.

"Beau! s**t, this isn't good." Aria grabbed her shotgun, glanced at it, then dropped it before grabbing her flamethrower. The foliage rustled as several dark, shadowy forms charged out of the underbrush at the hunters!

It was as Nicodemus said for her to keep moving, however, as Cass was blown into by one of them, reeling back in surprise before swearing as it made off with one of the ducks in her possession. That was not cool!

I told you.

<>

That was annoying, and it put a very flat expression on Cass's face in response.

She made a point to switch hands once the immediate threats had been forced away. She still had three bullets in Nicodemus right then, after all, and he'd been wise to tell her to save them, firing upon the next one and making a point to get it right in the face.

Not that it seemed to do much besides get it away from her.

The first shadowling dissipated beneath Cassandra's blow. The others were only lightly injured, driven back while one was unscathed and retreated into the forest. The three shadowlings lingered, eying the hunters and their ducks warily. Aria clenched her flamethrower, keeping her eyes on them.

"Cass? Shoot them," Aria ordered. "If I use my flamethrower, there's a chance this place can go up in flames. The sooner we take care of these, the better." As if listening, the shadowlings rushed forward again!

You're going to have to get me a minute, Cass. Nicodemus insisted and Cass frowned as she fired on the second of the lingering shadows. Again, not her best shooting ever. She needed to practice on moving targets more.

She was grounded, time to put more time into the Shadow run with her gun to work on this pitfall for sure. That was, after these shadows were gone. Because right now, if this was a Shadow Run she was doing a very poor job.