Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Ten: Cooperation

It was the farthest that both Nia and Perren had been from Granport since the start of their careers with the guild. For Nia, it was the farthest she had been from the city in a whole decade. On foot, it would have easily been a three day's walk both ways to the Coastal Fen, a large stretch of marshland that sat between the vast ocean and the southernmost reaches of the Amber Weald. Fortunately, since people back at the guild were wanting the entirety of their stubborn quarry physically brought back, even this rookie team was able to get a much faster airship ride to their destination. Of course, the airship was not much more impressive than the kind of hot air balloons most often used by researchers, but it would be enough to get the team and their target back with ease.

"Busy, busy Bulldrome", Bucket muttered as he surveyed the surrounding swamps with his binoculars, "Bet you didn't think anyone would find your little den this far south. Well, you're about to be in for a rude awakening". The brutish fanged beast they were after was a large, hairy, long-tusked monster of a boar, not too dissimilar to the much smaller Bullfango oft encountered by hunters or even far less dangerous creatures such as Mosswine or domestic Poogies, and was of a species known for being obnoxiously stubborn. This beast, however, was tricky among its kind in that it was a far traveler, taking part in bouts of trashing farms much farther north and then slinking off into the deep wilderness before any hunters could get at it. Yet, as with many 'tricky' monsters, the Guild eventually tracked it down, leading them to believe it claimed a portion of these marshes as its territory. Now, it was a matter of the hunting team dispatched to take care of it actually tracking the beast down.

Silently, Nia looked on into the horizon herself, beholding little more than salty marsh water, peat, fog, and the occasional Vespoid. In truth, she wanted to simply take off in a direction, track down the monster, and dispatch it all on her own, but she knew very well that would entirely defeat the purpose of why Haldys was having her work with a team in the first place. Still, she was already falling short in the social aspect of such an endeavor, as she had spoken very little with the rest of her team at all during this quest, even Perren. Of course, the felyne and Bucket both chatted up enough of a chorus on their own to effectively make up for her silence, but it didn't change the fact that it felt difficult for her to approach any conversation that was being had, never mind start them of her own accord. In fact, she was so concerned about the hunt at hand and her own apprehensions that she only scarcely noticed that Sariko was faring almost as poorly as she was in many of the same regards, though she didn't exactly know enough about this stranger to judge that with any amount of certainty.

Making matters worse, it had been a few hours since they had set foot in the fen and started their hunt, and Nia was starting to get anxious. "What if we can't find the Bulldrome?", she thought to herself, "What if it isn't actually here to begin with?". Doubts were starting to fill her mind, growing stronger as the sun drew closer to setting. Then, suddenly, something else began to fill her mind, or rather her senses: an unusually sweet aroma for one to smell when looking for a hog in a bog. It took little more than turning around to discover that Sariko had taken a moment's break to sit down on a nearby stump and pull out a small, cloth-wrapped package; Within was a small assortment of colorful, ball-shaped treats that Nia could not identify, all skewered on tiny sticks, one of which Sariko had already started to munch on, paying little heed to anything else in that moment.

Nia didn't want to intrude, partially on account of her still not knowing where she stood with Sariko, but the treats in front of her simply smelled too good for Nia to not at least try and figure out what they were. "Um...", she spoke out, Sariko perking her head up before Nia continued, "What's that you have there?". To this, the green-eyed woman quickly looked back down at her snack and then back up, seemingly having forgotten herself for just a moment, before answering, "These? They're dango. They're... uh... pretty popular back in Kamura. Granport's got a shop down in the market that makes them as well. Not near as good as the stuff back home, but...". For a brief moment, Sariko paused, as if considering something, looked down at the dango in her lap again, and then looked back at Nia in front of her, soon asking, "Would you like one?". Swiftly, Nia was left far more conflicted about this offer than she had any real reason to be, and she was well aware of this despite not knowing exactly why she was that way. She couldn't commit her thoughts to a simple yes or no, even though she was rarely the kind of person to ever turn down free food, in spite of her general efforts even before becoming a hunter to stay fit. Though, after a few seconds of mercifully internalized panic, she came to the conclusion that, at this point, it would be easiest to simply turn the offer down, and opened her mouth to try and give voice to this.