Cold Scales, Warm Heart (Monster Hunter)

	The wind was lightly blowing down from the mountain peak, bringing with it soft snowfall. Two Hunters were separated, one gathering firewood and the other tracking down food. The woman, a Rathian wyvern-halfbreed named Kinoreia, was tracking down a Popo with ease, deciding to have a little 'fun' with the furred herbivore it before she brought it back. The man, a Human named Roy, was busy chopping down a small tree and cutting it into easily-burnable planks. He...wasn't having as much fun.

	"DAMN IT ALL!" Came a thunderous cry as Roy struck a tree with the axe, causing it to dump enough snow on him to bury him to his waist. Usually he would have been more cautious than that, but he was in a little bit of a competition with the Rathian woman. Nothing was truly at stake if he were forced to be honest, and they would often do this at any Hunting Ground they went to.

	He just didn't want to lose his lead.

	With a forceful huff, the silver-haired Hunter forced himself out of the snow, wiping it off of his thick clothing. While anyone else would be frigid, he had been raised in these very mountain peaks. It would take a little more than a random snow drift to freeze him to the bone, though he was starting to get a little chilly. Lightly shivering, he picked the axe back up and swung once more, and was immediately buried up to his waist again as more snow dumped on him from above.

	"Oh come on, that's not even fair..." He grumbled, going to remove himself from the snow. Again.

---

	The green-scaled woman had been, to this point, tracking down a large Popo. It appeared to be the only one around, belonging to no herd that she could see. Red scarf twisting in the light wind, her mismatched blue and green eyes locked onto the heavily furred beast, Kino's mouth twisted into a smirk. Yes, no one would miss this one, and she and Roy would have dinner soon.

	At least, as soon as Roy stopped shouting and scaring the damn thing off. His voice once again echoed across the mountain peak, the Popo twisting its head to listen to where it came from. Rolling her eyes as the Popo once again ran off, Kino was certain she was going to give the man a piece of her mind when she got back. Just judging from his shouting, he wouldn't be winning their little competition this time. Still, she didn't exactly want to take her time. Whatever was holding Roy up might not stall him forever, after all.

	The Rathian halfbreed followed the Popo after a moment, watching as it came to a stop at a ledge, looking over and down. It was a healthy drop to the bottom, one that neither the Popo nor Roy would enjoy making. Kino didn't really care, she could glide down if need be, her wings easily capable of that at the very least.

	Kino contemplated on her method of take down from behind a rock, ruling out anything involving poison. While she was sure that she had accidentally stabbed Roy enough with her claws and tail quills to make him at least somewhat resistant to her poisons, she didn't want to *actively* poison him. That would be a night that neither would enjoy, with the human evacuating his digestive tract and the wyverness having to hear it.

	No, that wouldn't do at all.

	A fireball wouldn't do either, it would make the meat too difficult to cook when she eventually dragged it back. Besides, she wanted to keep her scarf in one piece. All that left were her teeth and claws, and her teeth wouldn't puncture through the Popo's thick fur. Method of attack set, she charged out from behind her rock with vicious talons bared.

	It wasn't there.

	Blinking in confusion, she studied the footprints. They lead to the edge...and then off.

	Eyes widening in alarm, she looked over the drop to see the Popo sliding down the mountainside, seemingly no worse for wear, before hitting the bottom and walking away. Kino's mouth dropped as the Popo rejoined its herd, half a kilometer down the slope. Her stomach growled soon after, and her lip quivered as she watched her meal walk away with its herd. It would be too much work getting it now, and she had no real way of transporting any meat she would possibly grab anyway.

	Turns out they would have to burn a day's worth of rations after all, AND Roy would win the contest today. Again.

---

	"Kino is definitely winning today." Roy grumbled as he pulled away another sizable log, the fire not even close to set up. He still had to split them, set the tinder up, spark the fire...

	Today was definitely not going his way. A day away from civilization, just him and her, almost ruined by bad luck. The first tree he had felled was rotten, bugs chewing it inside and out. This one, while not rotten in the slightest, was also the one that dumped a metric ton of snow on him. He was cold, he was frustrated, and he was irritated. His azure coat was drenched in melted snow, and he was sweating from exertion, a terrible combination on the icy peaks. Why Kino had insisted on coming up here, he would never know.

	Kino made her way into the camp, empty handed. He was going to say something until he noticed her crestfallen expression.

	"...Kino?" Roy started, eyebrow arched in mild confusion.

	"Stupid Popo..." She half replied, not looking at him.

	Now he was even more confused, previous irritation completely forgotten.

	"What...?" He asked, planting the axe in the ground. Even if it had brought friends in, she was more than capable of taking them out...

	"It got away...slid down the mountain..."

	"Oh." Roy finished after a moment with a shrug. The Rathian woman planted herself in the fur-lined tent, head in one hand while the other drew small circles in the snow. The Human turned back to his task, not anywhere near as upset as she seemed to be. Good thing they had rations, then. "You okay?" He asked, knowing that prey didn't often get away from her, especially in such a ridiculous way.

	Kino gave a noncommittal shrug.

	"With words, please?"

	"I guess."

	Roy frowned as his axe split the wood a final time. He placed the axe back near his tool bag, then set the wood up. Now that he had the fire wyverness back in his camp, he ignored the tinder altogether. "Kino, can you light this please?"

	"Oh, sure."

	With a deep breath, a small fireball struck and lit the wood, turning it into a merry campfire in mere seconds. He sat down near her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "There, we're even."

	"How?"

	"I set the campfire up, you lit it. I didn't have tinder ready." Roy fibbed, hoping she missed the dry leaves and other flammable junk just behind the tent. Kino narrowed her eyes for a moment, then shrugged, curling up and putting her chin on her knees. "Hey, come on, it's not that bad. We still have food."

	The Halfbreed nodded, leaning into Roy for comfort. Like Roy, she had started getting cold as well. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't exactly equipped for the cold weather, her various body features preventing her from wearing much clothing. While she did have a coat, it was in the tent and she wasn't in the mood to get it. Said coat was made of Aptonoth leather with Moofah fur lining the inside, and the coat was very effective in trapping heat, as most Moofah-based clothing was. It helped that said leather was also resistant to flames to a degree, allowing her to fight with her complete arsenal. Its sleeves were shortened, missing from the elbow on down to keep from being torn to shreds if the Rathian woman spread her wings. She had no boots nor did she have any sort of winter pants, her talons and tail not fitting or shredding the fabric, respectively.

	Roy sat his coat nearby to dry, so he appreciated having the warm wyverness nearby. They sat near one another for a little while, the fire going from a sputtering candlelight to a roaring blaze over the course of a few minutes. The wind had stopped, but the snow had not, coating them lightly. The tent was underneath a rocky outcropping, shielded somewhat from the elements. Kino yawned, then stood up before making her way into the tent. Roy heard her rummaging through a bag before she came back out with two potions of dried Popo meat.

	"Still don't like this." The green scaled woman complained before tearing the container open. The dried meat would be more likely to turn to ashes over the flame than warm up properly, so they ate it cold.

	"It's not that bad. Could be rotten." Roy said with a shrug of his shoulders, eating it with little issue. "Gotta say, brings back memories."

	"Hmm?"

	"Oh yeah. Used to help my dad run one of the trade carts between Pokke and my home town of Samui. I was maybe fourteen, fifteen. Always loved helping him out, too."

	"...I'm sensing a 'but'."

	"Mmhm." Roy popped open his waterpouch that had been sitting by the fire, drinking some before capping it again. "Lovely, warm water. At least it's not ice." Sighing, he leaned back and watched the snow. "But yeah, a Blangonga attacked it twice. First time we managed to get away, but second time..."

	Roy shuddered. "Dad pulled his sword out and told me to get out. I watched the damn thing take his head off."

	"Oh no..."

	"That very Blangonga was my first hunt, actually. I was a little underaged, but I was just 'in the area' when a few other Hunters were. They let me keep a pelt, I made my pack out of it."

	"Really? I wondered what those white hairs inside were." Kino mentioned, eyes also towards the sky. "I'm sorry for your loss."

	"I'm...mostly over it now. It's been a decade. Still need to patch things up with my folks though, they didn't take me being a Hunter too kindly."

	"At least you have them."

	"Yeah."

	Roy looked over, placing his hand on hers. "We'll find them, okay?"

	"If you say so."

	A soft stepping sound caught both of their attentions. Looking down and over, they both saw that same Popo trudging along the path in front of them, completely ignoring them and the fire.

	"...ready for fresh food?" Roy muttered softly. Kino's only response was a wicked grin and a flash of her claws.
----

	"Oh, I'm stuffed." The Rathian groaned, hand on her stomach while she laid in the tent. "No more..."

	Roy said nothing. He was too afraid that if he opened his mouth, something would dribble out. He was, instead, busy with extigushing the fire. The tent itself had a Lavasioth-based heating element, keeping the small space nice and warm. It would continue to do so for the next ten hours at the very least. The tent was also nice and covered by the mountain itself, keeping it out of the eyes of larger wyverns. Not that they didn't sleep on a razor's edge anyway.

	Roy stepped in, and saw one half of the sleeping bag filled with sleepy, content fire wyvern. Chuckling lightly, he slipped his outer clothing off, slipped on lighter sleeping clothes, and slid into the bag as well.

	His hand was seized almost immediately, as Kino put his hand on her heart. A warm, quick thumping greeted him, though he was slightly confused.

	"Reia?"

	"Just letting you know, you won't ever lose this."

	Roy smiled, rolled her over, and placed her clawed hand on his own chest.

	"Just so you know, this will be right here for you, always."

	"Copycat." The green-scaled woman complained with a smile, green and blue eyes locking onto solid green. Roy merely chuckled, kissing her forehead.

	"If you say so. I'm headed to bed, at any rate." Roy said, small smile disappearing into a yawn. Kino nodded, rolling over with her back facing him. His hands found spots on her belly and upper thigh to rest on, and her own hands clutched the one on her stomach. The Rathian's tail in turn drifted and laid lazily on his waist, quills carefully distant from any soft point of his body.

	The human heard her sigh peacefully, her breathing leveling out over a few minutes. He soon drifted off as well, after making sure her tail hadn't moved. Roy just really didn't want to get stabbed again...