Heading Down To Flavourtown

Kaiwi let out a long breath around the fur in his mouth as he finally felt the cow stop kicking. They were always a difficult hunt solo, but the meat was more than worth it. He let the neck drop to the ground and rolled his jaw, shaking the stiffness from it after locking down for so long. He was about to slash open the gut with his claws when a loud voice interrupted him and set his feathers on edge.

"Hey there, buddy!" A Theri emerged from seemingly nowhere, shocking considering her entire front was a blazing wash of glowing fire-like stripes. Kaiwi felt a moment of embarrassment for being so immediately defensive, a herbivore wasn't going to be a threat to his dinner, especially one that announced themself so loudly.

"Ah, hey there fella, how are you this fine afternoon?" Kaiwi asked, leaning slightly on the cow carcass, like he was marking his ownership.

"I'm thrivin' buddy!" the Theri crowed, "It's a beautiful day and I'm about to make some delicious grub!" Kaiwi didn't know Theris ate grubs but he smiled politely still, nodding. The Theri looked expectantly at him before continuing, "I mean I'd like to prepare that cow for you, friend." The raptor looked down at the cow, unsure of what she meant by preparing it.

"What do you mean by preparing it?" he asked curiously, still not taking his weight off his prize.

"If you'll allow me, I can haul this over to my place and show you," she said confidently. Kaiwi squinted at her but couldn't read a scrap of malice or deception in her expression. He sighed, knowing he had been involved in stranger things and decided to let her drag the carcass away, following closely behind and stepping over the streak of blood.

----

They didn't have too far to walk, Flambé's 'station', as she called it, was nearby and she took great pains to explain each facet of it as they approached. It was next to a river to wash her claws, close to hard, flat rocks to use as a cooking surface, and under the cover of trees to avoid drawing too much attention to herself while she was busy. Kaiwi began to feel suspicious at the word cooking and his suspicions were confirmed as they arrived and he could see a fire pit and bottles.

"Oh, you're making food like how humans did?" he sniffed.

"That's right!" she affirmed brightly, either not noticing his tone or ignoring it. She let the cow drop next to the pit and began to drag her claws over the rocks nearby. For the first time, Kaiwi saw just how sharp her claws were, razor shaped compared to the usual blunter claws he would see Theris use to forage. She rinsed her claws in the river once she had dragged them over the stone a few times each claw, washing the dust and general grime out from under them. With a flourish, she turned around and brandished her weapons, making a neat slice along the back of the cow. She didn't search for the organ meat like a normal person would, instead using her knife-like appendages to cut a strip of muscle from under the skin and remove it in a fairly uniform block. She placed it on a flat rock, then rested that rock on a wooden frame standing over the fire pit. She then turned to her bottles and began to peruse them, humming loudly as she did. 

As time passed and the rock heated, Kaiwi could hear the meat begin to sizzle, watching liquid bubble out of it as it grew hotter. Every so often, Flambé would return to flip it upside down, then return to rummaging in her supplies. She returned with another flat rock slab in one hand and clutched a clove of garlic, an onion, a ginger root and a few tomatoes to her chest, careful not to drop either. She used those claws again to slice and dice the fruit and veggies, dropping the pieces into a carved wooden bowl. She grabbed one of her bottles and dropped a splash of the liquid in, grabbing another and adding it too before tasting it. She went back to her supplies and retrieved some kind of grainy powder, sprinkling it in and tasting it once more.

"Mm,mm,mm," she grunted, "Now that's what I'm talkin' about, try it!" She offered the bowl to Kaiwi and he tentatively licked the mixture, recoiling slightly at the sharp taste but letting the tomato flavour cool his palette afterwards. 

"That's not bad," he admitted, "It tastes better when you let it sit for a while."

"That's why they call it relish, cause you relish it," Flambé said confidently. She took a moment to flip the meat again, letting more juice sizzle on the slab. She leaned in to observe the browning of the flesh and hummed to herself again while stirring the relish with her claws. "It's done!" she declared, spearing the meat with one claw and making juice burst out of it. The smell was getting stronger and despite himself Kaiwi couldn't help his mouth watering. She dropped it onto one last flat stone, clean and cool and the meat reacted with a loud hiss as it settled. She poured the chunky sauce onto the meat and flourished her arms as she finished her work.

"Do I wait for it to cool down?" Kaiwi asked, eyeing up the meat in front of him.

"Ah, smart man, you wouldn't believe the scorched palettes I've seen," she chuckled, like the concept of the roof of your mouth being burned wasn't the most horrifying shit Kaiwi had ever heard, "Lemme slice it up, it'll cool down faster that way." As promised, she cut about a quarter of the steak into chunks and Kaiwi was able to grab a piece without it melting the edges of his tongue. It was a strange taste, like the faint smell of a forest fire just gently caressing the edge of the warm meat, gradually overwhelmed as he took a bite of relish along with it. The relish sank into the meat and increased the flavour tenfold, the sharp taste sitting sweetly with the cooked flesh instead of stinging obnoxiously like it had on its own. He didn’t have to say a word, just made eye contact with Flambé who beamed at him, knowing exactly what he was experiencing. Maybe humans had gotten some things right after all, or this Theri knew how to use their methods to make something beautiful on her own.