Mæva trotted south of the Rio Grande with a wild hare swinging in her jaws. It had taken several tries but she'd finally managed to catch one. Settling down beneath a nearby tree she got to wok. Geira, her caracal got lazily to her feet and padded over to the young huntress. It was time to get to work. Mæva moved to a few small rocks that were nearby. Using her paws and her snout when she needed to, she rolled the rocks over toward the tree, arranging them in a ring. She wanted to try drying some of the rabbit meat so she'd have a snack on her travels. It was risky but she wanted to try at least a few pieces.

Satisfied with the rocks she settled down with the rabbit between her paws. Geira said that Mæva could preserve the hide if she was careful and under the direction of the caracal she started working her jaws around the rabbits throat. She wasn't terribly careful. Geria would peel the hide off the meet but the pup was just cutting in first. She planned to eat what she didn't peel off to dry so she wasn't to worked if she was making a mess around her initial cuts. This was more practice anyway.

The morning had been unusually fruitful for Mara, in that she had actually managed to catch herself a meal. A game bird too no less! She was pretty sure it was called a kale... a quail? Something like that. It had burst up from the dry grass beside the game trail she was following like an asshole, and sure Mara snapping at it had been more reflex than the cold, calculating skill of a true hunter, but either way she had lunch now! So that was cool! Being the benevolent, generous, thoughtful, most kindest most bestest sibling that she was, Mara didn't even scarf it down right away! She was seeking out Mæva instead, to share it. Mara was pretty sure she deserved a trophy or award or something, and wanting help removing all the damn feathers had absolutely nothing to do with it.

She ended up finding her sister a short time later, and to her surprise saw that Mæva already had caught something of her own. Huh. Well, more meat for her then! "Whatcha doin' there, sis?" she said, words muffled around the bird until she set it down near where Mæva and her cat worked. Mara cocked her head sideways, confused. That was a weird way to work up an appetite, but who was she to judge? "The hair's good for you, you know. Digestion or somethin'. Never took you for a picky eater." Mara winked at her sister, then settled down with the bird between her paws. She wanted to get to work, but watching this pair was stealing her attention away. She almost offered help, but figured she'd wait and see what an offer like that might entail.

Mæva chewed off the front paws and tossed them aside. She didn't really know what to do with them other than leave them for the scavengers. Maybe it would keep the ravens and crows distracted while she worked. With the front paws removed Mæva took the hide in her jaws and started peeling it back. While she was working her sister appeared. She looked up at her sisters voice, dropping the flap of partial peeled back skin. She laughed and cocked her head. "Digestion? Really?" She didn't remember hearing anything about that.

"I'm skinning it. Hope to line my den with a little patch of rabbit fur for the winter. Also gonna try to smoke dry some of the meat like this lady showed me on the obsidian beach. If Lini ever gets back with the sticks we need." She wasn't sure where the lemur had gone off to, hopefully not back to sleep.

"You can dry some of your bird meat on my fire ring if you want." She gestured to the rocks. She'd taken to drying meat for travel though she wished she had a good way to carry it around. Speaking of, at that moment Lini appeared. The red-ruffed lemur started dumping sticks into the fire ring. Mæva padded over to help him arrange them. Lini placed his hands on Mæva's neck, shoving her head down as he peeked over at Mara. "Oh, that's a nice bird! You going to keep the feathers?"

Channeling her inner Astralagus energy apparently, Mæva had the audacity to challenge Mara's deep pool of wisdom right off the bat. The nerve! Mara totally knew what she was talking about, so what if she'd made it up on the spot? Pfft. Anyhow, Mæva carrying on with an explanation cut short whatever sassy response might have followed. Turns out she was laying the groundwork to live a life of luxury, which was not what Mara had expected to hear. "Huh! If you're looking for more practice later on then, you can line mine next." She winked again and began to work on removing the feathers from the birds breast, tugging gently on them with her front teeth until they tore free. She spat at a stubborn bit of down, then asked, "What's dried meat taste like?" Far as Mara knew, she'd never had that before. Was it... good? Or just convenient. She sure did like the idea of having to hunt less often...

Mæva offered her the chance to dry some of the bird, and after a moment's consideration figured, why the hell not? Worst case scenario it all goes horribly wrong and she has to take her chances hunting again tomorrow and starve if she fails, so what did she really have to lose? She always told herself she worked better under pressure anyhow. So she kept on plucking feathers. Mæva's lemur arrived with a bundle of kindling and set to work himself, at least until he noticed all the feathers. Was she going to keep them? Mara scoffed. "Wasn't planning on it. Did this mystery lady give you any magic tips to make feathers edible? 'Cuz if so, please feel free to work your witchcraft here too." Mara hated feathers. Tedious to remove, she always ended up breathing one in and hacking on it, and just generally useless. If Mæva or Lini had ideas for alternatives, she'd be happy to hear them.

Mæva giggld as Mara suggest that she line her sisters den. "Weeeelll…. we'll see." In all honesty she probably would have a number of pelts starting to build up as she continued to practice her hunting as well as her crafting. Mæva shook her head to dislodge Lini so she could continue her work of laying out meat on the rocks. The lemur hopped onto the last free rock and using flint and metal he began to strike the two together until the tinder finally caught fire. Mæva continued laying out the strips of meat. This time she made sure to go with the grain of the meat to get better strips.

Mæva shrugged. "It's fine. The flavor is a bit more concentrated but it is a lot tougher and chewier. When you dry it near smoke it tastes a bit uh… smokey." Ah, yes, she was such a culinary expert.

"Oh, I was just curious if you found any good uses for them. Beyond decorating I'm not really sure if they serve a purpose." Satisfied that the fire would help keep bugs and scavengers from the meat she moved back over to the remaining rabbit and started peeling the skin from the backside. She peeled carefully until at last the hide was pulled free.

Mæva gave her a neither-here-nor-there answer when it came to lining her den. We'll see? Mara filed that away for future consideration. Even if it was a polite refusal, it was a morsel she was more than happy to gnaw on. Amaranth watched with mild fascination as Lini struck up a flame and tended the young fire... Huh. She swiveled back to her sister when Mæva began to speak again, working as she did so. Mara did her best to imagine tough, chewy, smokey meat but all her mind could come up with was the kind of meat that had set out in the sun too long and the scent of the forest after a lightning fire. Neither sounded pleasant, but she kept that to herself, willing to put her trust in her sibling's carefully assured ministration as she continued to prepare her own carcass. "Well, I s'pose anything's worth trying at least once!" Mara's quail was at last as clean as she felt like making it, and she began to tear off strips as well, surrounded by her pile of feathers. Mæva mused, "Beyond decorating I'm not really sure if they serve a purpose." Mara scoffed. "Don't forget choking! They're great for choking." But maybe that was food for thought too. What could feathers be used for? She hummed to herself as she tried to imagine what could be done. Not that she wanted to redeem the blasted things, perfectly content to go on hating them, but she was one to think with her stomach and anything that made finding food easier... An idea crept slowly into her mind, and she spent a moment forming it out before speaking again. "Hmm... Well. Okay, maybe this is dumb, but you know how fish jump up when things land on the water? Looking for bugs or whatever? Maybe we could trick 'em with feathers, lure them in or something." She preferred red meat to fish, sure, but she also preferred a full belly to starving and wasn't really known for being picky when it came to eating. Eh, it was probably a dumb idea anyways. Mara scooped up her own strips of meat and carried them closer to where her sister was working, looking down quizzically at where Mæva had arranged her own on the rocks. So they just like... went anywhere? Or was there science to this witchcraft? Figuring she was hardly the expert here, she gently laid them in the grass beside her sibling, careful to keep them out of the dirt. Mæva could figure it out. "TALK" "YOU" THINK

Mæva chuckled as she finished up with the hide, rolling it up and setting it aside to tan later when she got back to the estuary. "Hmmm I wonder if there's a way to weaponize them. We could roll some up in a slab of meat and give them to Gus. It would be a great surprise!" She would just love to see his face as he bit into a nice hunk of meat only to realize there were a bunch of feathers in the middle. Maybe she could invent a story of a turkey flipping inside out or something. Mara was better at coming up with good stories for pranks.

She leaned forward as Mara mentioned using them to tempt fish. "Oh, I like that idea! Maybe we can give it a try in the estuary when spring gets here."