Bears Best Friend

((February 19th. Merida and Koda, but Open to all heroes! No risk no danger thread! Feel free! uwu))

Merida had been keeping busy. Almost a month had passed since she'd met that strange man in the woods, Prince Hans and she was doing her best not to think about it since then. He hadn't followed her to the heroes army. That was good. But thinking about him was hard to do when she had stolen his crossbow. Once she'd gotten it back to the tent, she was happy to have it but realized she preferred her bow to the intricate weapon. For a time, she thought of giving it away. Surely someone else in the army would have wanted it, or knew how to use it? But she didn't have the heart, so Merida kept it covered and wrapped gently with a sheet.

She sat beside her cot, looking at the bundle of the contraption that was still concealed but pulled slightly out from beneath the mattress. Lines appeared in the middle of her brow as she scrutinized the thing. In truth, Merida didn't know how she felt about it. But she'd do what she always did, and shove it back under to continue collecting dust, and abruptly stand like it had poisoned her. It was becoming nearly a weekly tradition now, and she scorned herself for it.

Merida didn't need to think about it. It wasn't her problem and unless he came back to claim the thing then it wouldn't be her problem! He wasn't her problem! Straightening up, she pulled the belt up around her slight waist and gave it a tug tighter. Squaring her shoulders in confidence, Merida turned to exit the tent.

She didn't need to worry!

She pushed the tent flaps to the side.

She didn't need to think about it!

Began her march outside.

She was comple-

She tripped over something immediately over knee high, furry and moving, and face planted. Merida. The princess. Beauty and grace, her wild fiery red hair completely gone askew as she rolled onto her back and groaned. Rubbing her cheek with her free hand, she rolled over and lifted her head with a grunt to look at who she'd bowled into.

"K...oda?"

As per usual, Koda wasn't doing anything of real importance in the camp. It was becoming a trend for him to just wander about and hope that he wasn't somehow getting in the way of things. Naturally, though, he tended to get underfoot a bit and found that that very thing was happening again. He had been moving rather quickly through the camp in the hopes of finding Kenai somewhere when, all of a sudden, he felt someone bigger than him trip over his body. Koda gasped in surprise and watched as the someone in question went sprawling down to the ground face first.

His fuzzy ears perked when he was able to make out the girl's shape a bit more clearly. The wild hair was a dead giveaway of who she was, honestly, and Koda was pretty glad to see her again. It felt as though it had been forever since he'd last seen her! ...And that probably was because that was true. It had been forever, in a manner of speaking.

"Merida?" Koda asked. He padded a bit closer and looked the girl over again. That was definitely her. But what had she been doing? Where had she wanted to go that had made her want to rush like that? The same questions could have been applied to him, obviously, but that hardly mattered. Koda wanted to know more about what Merida had been doing more than anything. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe, because he finally seemed to be growing a bit, Merida had tripped because he'd gotten bigger. The fact that she might not have seen him could easily had added to that fact, too, but he didn't think of that.

"Whoa... It's really you! Man, it's been forever since I last saw you. What've you been doing? I mean... Aside from dealing with how dark it's gotten and things like that."

Merida could hardly believe it. Of all the people in the army and she trips over the little bear cub she had met in the forest in what felt like ages ago. How bizarre, as it had only really been over a month? Time sure flew, but all the same she was more than thrilled to see the bear again, he'd been the only one willing to stand up for her in a group among his own kind. He was also the only cub there at the time, but Merida would remember it for a long time. Not all those bears had been friendly.

"Oh Koda!" she laughed pushing herself up to sit. "Ah missed yeh, you li'l rascal!"

Koda's little bear form had leaned over her slightly when he'd peered to better look at her, so swiftly closing the gap she wrapped her arms around his neck and squished her face into his furry neck. Any friendly face was pleasant for Merida to see at this point, but she couldn't help that Koda reminded her of her wee brothers. Maybe it was because she'd seen them as bears before or maybe it was because she was homesick. All the same she hadn't seen her family in a little while.

"Well-" she pulled apart, examining him a bit up and down, "Yeh aren't actually so little anymore. Are yeh?" she remarked. Truthfully, Koda wasn't exactly looking like a cub anymore. It was no wonder she'd toppled so hard when she tripped over him, let alone that she hadn't managed to see him. And then she returned to his questions with a shrug.

"Ah've been huntin' in the forests." she admitted, "Bring'en food fer Tiana teh cook fer troops."

"Koda?!"

The male's ears flicked upwards. Damnit. He was in trouble again! Or at least he thought. Ever since the darkness fell, Kenai had kept a watchful eye on his little brother. So Koda had grown bigger, so what? Kenai still felt as if he had to watch the little raging ball of wild fur. He didn't want the darkness to consume him.

He galloped towards the sound of the stumble and found Koda with a very pretty human girl. The male's ears flicked back and his fur bristled. He looked aggressive but he didn't rear up or anything of the kind. His eyes did narrow however as he spoke. "Koda...what did I say about just galloping off into the dark?" He was disgusted. He sounded like a mother bear not a brother bear.

Bucky meanwhile had been walking around camp. There wasn't much fun to be had in the dark . Other than a great game of Hide and Seek. That was probably what this darkness was best for. He thought he had heard Koda's voice. And followed it into the tent that he had heard it coming from.

Bucky froze , when he had noticed that he was talking to a human. Now, in the dark he couldn't tell this was Merida. Granted, he didn't like her as much as Koda, since she is a human after all, but, Bucky liked her just fine.......NOW.

"HI, I remember you. That time in the forest that you met Koda, I think you met me, that same time. I'm Bucky, do you remember me"?" Bucky asked hoping the human did. And, maybe tell him her name again. Bucky had forgotten this girl's name, he just had remembered her voice.

"Hello, Mr. Kenai, SIR" Bucky said as Kenai came into the tent to lecture Koda.

((Hey Bucky! They're actually outside the tent now just so you know! Not a big detail. uwu))

Merida was pleasant and happy with the bear in front of her, looking over her shoulder to look at the other bear cub who'd also arrived. He wasn't much different in age from Koda himself, and although it took her a moment she did recognize him. He had been one of the few bears that was around when she'd first met Koda. Though familiarizing herself with bear features was not as easy as human. They all unfortunately looked rather similar in her eyes. Koda seemed to be an exception.

"Oh aye," she agreed, nodding vigorously in response, "Ah remember yeh, Bucky. Merida." she re-introduced herself. It'd been a while, and he had extended the courtesy to her. She'd have not remembered his name otherwise. A soft thudding grasped her attention though, and she turned towards it not entirely sure what to expect.

But she was greeted with a rather displeased looking bear, ears back against that round bear skull and fur bristling at the neck. She didn't know how to read it beyond unpleasant, and she subconsciously tightened her grip around a clump of Koda's fur despite herself. Not enough to pull or pinch, but the tension will have no doubt alerted Koda to her unease. She was surprised however, when maw parted and he scolded Koda. For a moment she herself frowned, her brow furrowing in confusion.

And then Bucky said his name. Kenai.

"Kenai-" she repeated before she could stop herself. She recognized the name, Koda had mentioned it in the forest all those days ago and it had come back to her. "So, yer Koda's brother!" she remarked, most likely quelling any thoughts of how she knew of him. She was admittedly more timid than she'd meant to be, the sight of another bear who hardly looked pleased putting her off a little.

The feeling of Merida wrapping her arms around him was not unwelcome. In fact, he was glad to feel the embrace. It was true that for the most part Koda didn't trust humans easily, but Merida was different. She had seemed like someone who was just one with nature to him. Someone who, in his opinion, looked as though she belonged more in the wild, untamed land than a human... Living area. He didn't even know what to call the places humans lived, but it was still true enough. He laughed aloud and found himself looking over her again moments later. Her comment about how he wasn't so small anymore did resonate a bit with him, and he smirked a bit.

"You're not wrong there," Koda chuckled. "I'm getting bigger! Sorta... I mean, I'm not super big yet, but I'm definitely not as small anymore either." He sounded goofy, he knew, but the statements were true. He was finally starting to get bigger, and that meant that he would actually be an asset at some point. Maybe Kenai would actually show him some battle moves that were more than just Koda's regular old play fight tricks.

It sounded as though Merida had been keeping busy, too. Koda nodded in understanding when she mentioned how she had been hunting, and he opened his mouth to comment when Kenai appeared on the scene. Not only had Kenai shown up and expressed his disgust at how Koda had run off into the darkness, but Bucky had shown up as well.

"Kenaiii," Koda whined, "I wasn't running off! I was just... You know. Exploring the camp. And then I saw Merida, and we were just catching up and stuff! Well, actually... She kinda tripped over me. But you know how that goes."

Had Kenai and Bucky met Merida before that point? Kenai definitely hadn't, and Bucky... Yeah, Bucky had. Koda remembered how Bucky had been present when he'd first met the redhead. So they all technically were friends. ...Right?

Kenai snorted, his ears folding back as he gave an unimpressed look at the pretty female. He planted his rear on the ground and turned down as Koda started speaking, proclaiming his innocence. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah well, don't do that," he clucked, "You're gonna trip and fall. Or hurt yourself by stubbing a toe." Mama Brother Bear was in full force. "See! Tripping!" He huffed, pointing a claw at Merida. He walked closer, sticking his nose towards her.

"Yeah, Koda's brother," he said, giving her an unimpressed look, "So, y'know, watch out. Scary bear." He raised his claws and wiggled them in a mock-scary manner.

She inhaled as his snout closed in closer to her. He was bigger than Koda. Not the biggest bear, but the size of animals always managed to alarm. Especially if they seemed a little cranky. But not wanting to appear timid or weak, she covered her held breath by blowing a strand of fiery red hair from her eyes and wrinkled her nose at Koda's brother.

"You don' scare me." she quipped back cheekily. It wasn't by any means a real challenge, but a gentle tease. If he was Koda's brother then Merida felt quite certain that he wouldn't hurt her. Judging by his own mocking wriggle of clawed paws she could almost confirm that. She deliberately didn't comment on her tripping over Koda though. Who wanted to relive an embarrassing tumble.

"Koda, yeh din' tell me yer brother was an' ol' borin' mum." she joked conspiratorially at Kenai's expense, eyeing the cantankerous bear while giving Koda a gentle nudge with her elbow.