"Are you sure about this?" Marchus asked, looking at the three sets of eager eyes that blinked back at him.

Depths looked down at them awkwardly, as Seafoam blew bubbles in a puddle and Noodle chewed on Bloodstone's tail. "They asked to come and learn."

Lairi came up, grinned at the youngsters, then turned to Marchus. "We can show them the basics of trapping. Nothing dangerous."

Marchus looked down, then regarded the mushroom forest soaring around them suspiciously. It's flora and fauna were different than what he and the others were used to, and he was obviously suspicious of its strange fruit and stranger plants.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Depths offered, though not sure how he was going to do that. Marchus considered for a moment, then nodded, grudgingly, and pointed at the path ahead with one hand.

"I've found out where they like to forage. We should set some snares and traps there, and come back and check them later."

The children blinked at the barely visible ((trail through the strange, fungus-like underbrush, with subtle signs of passage and trampling that Depths could pick out, but would be lost on the naked eye."

"Sir, how can you tell?" Bloodstone piped up.

Marchus paused in his step, feet sinking into the marshy ground, and looked at the red youngster. "Well - for one, they leave some nice tracks in the soft ground," he pointed awkwardly towards a few tracks on the ground and all three youngsters immediately clambered around to see, Seafoam's pale blues were covered by a layer of muddy water, and Depths looked on in mild horror, trying to think how he would explain the state of the child to their parents.

Lairi jumped in as Marchus was looking overwhelmed, shooing the wheels away and lifting up Noodle who had tried to lick the ground. "Now, now, don't get too close! You'll mess up the tracks." With that, she turned to Marchus and raised an eyebrow, indicating him to continue.

He cleared his throat, then settled in, becoming more self-possessed as he continued, though Depths could sense his eagerness to get on with the trap-setting.

"Now you can see here, that these tracks don't like like mine or yours. What type of foot do you think made them?"

Noodle looked up from sticking their tongue out at the air and thought with the others. "Hooves?" they ventured.

Marchus nodded. "Hooves. And we're looking for nukaps, which have hooves. But we need to be careful not to scare any off, okay? We want them to think the foraging ground is nice and safe. So you guys need to be quiet, alright?"

All three whelps nodded with wide eyes, and Lairi thought it was safe to set Noodle back down. They held to their silence as the group followed the game trail, Depths bringing up the rear to make sure that nobody fell behind. Or got lost. Or tried to eat the fruit.

It was with some moderate success that they came out into the clearing, and Marchus was just showing Seafoam how to hold one of the stakes he was going to pound into the ground, when a soft rustle sounded nearby and the three adults looked up, then blinked.

It was an aerobic tar'kee, who blinked right back at them, seeming as surprised as they are.

"Er," Depths said, "Hello?"

They turned to look at him, stripes glowing softly in the light, and tilted their head. "Hello. Are you here for the mushrooms?" they nodded at the foraging ground.

Bloodstone, Noodle, and Seafoam all made soft oooo-ing noises at the stranger, and Lairi and Marchus had to help Depths hold them back from going to say hi to the stranger.

Depths blinked, but Lairi answered instead. "Sort of - I'm Lairi, by the way - we're here for the nukaps. The Royals - ?" she trailed off, uncertain.

"The Royals want some carcasses," Marchus grunted, then eyed the stranger. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

The green stranger tilted their head, coat almost blending into the strange mushroom 'trees' around them, perfectly suited to the environment. Their feathers even seemed to not be effected by the damp and humidity, which Depths was jealous of.

"True. I'm Lumen, byt the way." they tilted their head again. "May I join you in this hunt?"

"I'm not sure if you'd call it a hunt," Depths admitted, stepping up and holding Noodle at arms length to keep them from trying to lick his fur. "We're mostly just setting snares since the youngsters insisted on coming to see. I'm Depths, this is Noodle."

"Marchus. Bloodstone."

"Oh! This is Seafoam."

The stranger - Lumen - nodded gracefully. "Then perhaps I would like to learn, as well. I am… unused to hunting aboveground, these days."

Marchus nodded, matter of fact, and set about showing them how to pound in stakes by promising mushroom deposits so that they would catch the nukaps. The youngsters scrambled around his feet, endeavoring to hit the stakes with rocks they'd found, and after a minute or two, Marchus gave up and handed them some stakes to play with and let him work.

"I thought you said they wanted to learn?" Lairi commented, looking on.

Depths shrugged helplessly. "They did, when they left."

She just snorted, then perked up and pointed. "Something's coming!"

Marchus made some last few preparations, then the adults scooped up the whelps and hid near the bases of the mushroom trees. Lumen had vanished into the 'branches' above, and Depths couldn't help but feel jealous as his feet sank into the muddy ground.

The group watched in silence - other than some interested noises from Bloodstone, Seafoam, and Noodle - as a small group of Nukaps came into the clearing, sniffed around suspiciously, then began to forge.

Success, it seemed, despite their surprise hangers-on.

Depths nodded at the youngsters. "I should probably take them home now. They need baths, anyways."

Lairi and Marchus nodded, immediately understanding. While the setting up of the snares was simple and painless, what would come next was not something they necessarily wanted the children to see. Depths shooed them along the path, dreading how he would explain the state of their fur to their parents.