Hunter remained in the Training Hall for hours after, switching between various exercises as he worked and worked until his body was about ready to cave in and give up from the punishment he was inflicting on it and himself. He used the training to focus himself, to keep his mind off of any invasive thoughts. Meditation could achieve the same effect of course, but he needed to keep in shape. Needed to keep on top of his game. Or so he told himself, when it seemed more like he was just focusing on something other than whatever he had bottled up. The only reason he wasn't in here sooner was because he counted his previous contract, the travelling and the fight with Su and her bandits as exercise. Now he needed to establish a routine, a training schedule for the week while he was here, maybe with time for one or two personal errands he wanted to see to while he was here, and of course meditation and meals.

Speaking of meals... Hunter walked over to his sailor bag that was stashed away in one of the corners and took out a ceramic container, opening it up to reveal udon noodles in a soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar thick sauce with spring onion, cabbage, tofu, garlic and pork. "And Po says I can't cook..." he mumbled to himself as he sat down cross legged at the side of the training area, taking his chopsticks out and digging into the food he'd prepared for dinner. He wasn't an idiot, he knew how vital it was that he have at least 3 meals a day, give or take for possible time constraints. Hunter wasn't as strong as he was by living off of just tofu, ginkgo leaves or mystical energy after all. He ate plenty and exercised often.

As he sat there eating, he remembered The Croc Clan contract he'd completed the day he'd received the Scroll from Shifu. Hunter often used that jungle they tried to escape in to train in. They'd pretty much literally walked into the lair of the beast on that one and he found it rather amusing. Of course, he would have caught them no matter what but the fact he was extremely familiar with the terrain there was certainly a boon. It felt like at least a week ago that had happened, not just the other day...

"That smells rather delicious. We're not supposed to eat in here, but I won't tell anyone." Hunter had thought he heard someone come back inside, but he assumed they'd left something or otherwise were checking something out, not that they'd want to engage in conversation with him.

Noting the lack of footsteps and the sound as whoever it was approached, Hunter surmised it was... Viper? Hunter turned his head to look at her, giving a nod. "Master Viper. Shouldn't you be in the Kitchen with the others?" he asked the female serpent, cocking his brow and wondering why she had come back as he ate some more noodles.

Viper gave a shrug with her tail at that. She looked rather nervous at being here alone with him. Not that he could blame her, after he'd lost his shit that morning he assumed that it would take a while for any of the Five or Po to be comfortable talking to him alone. "I was, but then I noticed that you didn't leave with us. I thought you may not have heard Master Shifu call it a day..." she pointed out to Hunter.

He wasn't sure if he believed her or not. Viper's sweet demeanour and killer smile didn't really help in determining whether she had ulterior motives or not. "After another kiss are we?" Hunter teased her a little and she scoffed at that.

However, Hunter saw that she had a small smirk on her face. "A joke? Wow, we should mark this day on the calendar." she chuckled a little at that. "It's the same with Tigress, any time she makes a joke or cracks a smile we consider it a big deal." Viper informed the man, who wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment or not. "I did come to check if anyone was still here, but I did want to catch up to take the time to truly apologise for what happened earlier." She spoke, tapping her tail nervous against the floor. Hunter wasn't completely surprised by this, but he wondered why she'd come back on her own. "We drew straws." Ahhh, there it is. "But that's only because none of us wanted to have to wait any longer for Po's cooking." She said to him.

Hunter ate some of his noodles then while considering what she had said. "So you came here to say sorry... Again?" He asked, feeling it was a little bit redundant when they'd not long ago been forgiven.

She swallowed a lump in her throat then, getting the same feeling from back when she'd try and convince Tigress to open up a bit more... "Well, we all agreed that it was a really terrible thing we did, making assumptions, calling you names and all of it behind your back no less. The least we could've done was brought it up to you personally so you could explain your reasoning." Viper briefly explained why she had come back on behalf of the rest of the group before elaborating a little more. "We know you forgave us, but... Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to eat with us? I'm asking on behalf of everyone, not just Po. I mean I see you already have food, but I mean you could just sit with us? For company?"

Hunter gave a chuckle then. The Panda truly was incessant in his attempts to get him in that kitchen, even getting Viper in on this little game he'd started of trying to get Hunter to agree. "No, I'm sorry." he shook his head, although he did find it rather difficult to decline her offer because her look of disappointment was, even for him, heart wrenching.

Viper gave a small nod at that. "That's okay, I understand. Just know that the offer is always open, even if you bring your own food you can always eat with us. Remember that Tigress used to only eat tofu and meat for a while while sitting with us, we don't mind." she gave a smile and slithered towards the exit, leaving Hunter sitting on his own once again...

:A few hours later:

"I don't understand. The Winter Festival is coming up in a few weeks, couldn't we have gone out then instead?" Tigress asked Viper as they both walked down the steps of The Jade Palace towards the village.

Viper for her part gave a chuckle in response. "We will be going out then too, believe me. This is just... Well, let's call it a 'warm up'." she smirked at Tigress, wondering if the joke would land with her or not.

Tigress groaned and rolled her eyes in response. "Here I thought we'd left Mantis back up at the Palace." she said to Viper, although as usual her tone was unchanged, it was clearly meant as a jab.

Viper smirked and rolled her eyes at that. "Very funny. And here I am thinking you don't even know what a joke is. Looks like it's the day for it though." she jabbed right back, leading to Tigress actually chuckling a little to Viper's delight.

The next part of the walk was spent in a comfortable silence, although at one point on the way they looked up to Peach Tree Hill and found it empty apart from The Hunter's campsite. "He must still be training." Viper noted, mainly to herself it seemed, a hint of sadness in her tone.

"Seems like it." Tigress offhandedly stated as she took a second at seeing the empty camp. She herself would have been doing the same thing not so long ago, staying in the training hall until the dead of night perfecting her moves and honing her reflexes leaving no time to spend doing anything non-Kung Fu related. Like going out for a night on the town with Viper. The last time had ended up with the two of them laying out a couple of greasy guys trying and failing to flirt with the two of them, which ended up with the guys fighting over them and the two girls having to kick their asses out of the bar before they hurt someone.

Maybe this time it could go a bit less... Violently. While Tigress did enjoy teaching the two of them a lesson, she also wanted to learn how to appreciate things outside of just training. She caught herself wondering if they should invite Hunter next time to maybe get him to do something else as well, before deciding she didn't care what he did or didn't do in his spare time, although she couldn't shake the familiar feeling of how he acted like she once had... She tried to shake the feeling of it bothering her, although she couldn't quite manage it.

The two girls eventually reached the bottom of the Palace steps, finding the Valley nightlife rather active around this time, although it was dusk, not quite night time yet. "Come on, The Red Lotus should be open at this time." Viper gestured with her head for Tigress to follow her, which she did. However, on the way there Viper stopped in her tracks while seemingly staring at something off to the side.

Tigress noticed this and approached her friend. "Viper? What is it?" she asked, tensing a little just in case some of the bandits had decided to make a comeback or if there was some kind of trouble. However, upon peering around the alleyway corner Viper was stationary at, she was rather shocked by what she was seeing, and ended up in a similar position to Viper.

It was The Hunter. He was currently standing behind the counter of a local eating establishment, the Duck owner of the place was sitting nearby counting coins while Hunter seemed to be giving out food to the more disenfranchised people of the Valley. While there were shelters that were provided food and beds to house and feed more than they had, since the Valley was created as a safe haven after all, the recent bandit attack meant quite a few of these places would be shut down during the upcoming winter months due to damages while they were being repaired. These were the first places the bandits raided due to the vulnerability of the inhabitants and many of the buildings had been wrecked or even burned down, leaving the people who relied on them out on the streets. Like intentionally done by the bandits to make an example and sow chaos.

Watching the scene before them and hearing the happy voices of many hungry people, they spied a middle aged Boar shove an older Rabbit man aside to be served first, but Hunter actually then in turn moved the Boar aside and served the Rabbit before taking notice of the Boar's seemingly healthier weight and spotless clothes compared to everyone else... "Thank you, kind sir, thank you." the Rabbit bowed to Hunter who simply gave a nod in return as he continued serving people.

Hunter spoke while not stopping preparing food and giving it out. "What's the Boar's story? Is he really in need, or is he just looking for a handout? Do you recognise him from the shelters?" he asked the old Rabbit, knowing older folk like him had been around and knew the regulars of most of the shelters around the Valley. Hunter had been turned away from more 'shelters' than the old Rabbit had likely ever seen after all.

The Rabbit had a sad look as he answered Hunter's question. "Yes, I do. He is... In denial of his 'situation' you could say. He believes he is the long lost son of the great Master Boar, and that he will be back someday to get him out of this squalor. But really, he is just as poor and hungry as the rest of us. Although he has some amount of talent in sewing and threading." The Rabbit explained why his clothes looked a step above everyone else's. "He sometimes sells his work for scraps of food to feed himself, but... His equipment was destroyed by the bandits, so he hasn't been able to earn money for food." The Rabbit finished his explanation and took his food package to his family that were waiting for him, and his wife waved gratefully to Hunter, who was already looking away and giving some food to the Boar.

Hunter then leaned down to the Boar and handed him some coins. "Get yourself some new sewing equipment. After all, what would the Valley do without your clothing?" he asked the Boar, who looked at the coins in shock, seemingly tears came to his eyes before he laughed and shook it off.

The laugh was rather cartoon villain-esque, and the Boar leapt atop a table as he spoke. "Haha! Finally! My plan to become noticed for my epic clothing so that my dad comes back to get me can continue on! Thank you, kind citizen! Your service to the great Master Boar and his long lost son will not be forgotten!" he exclaimed in over dramatic fashion before jumping down and running off with the coins and food in his trotter.

Tigress and Viper were left speechless staring at the scene before them. "This is a side of him we haven't yet seen..." Viper noted offhandedly, so to speak, as she watched the happy citizens walking away with their food parcels in hand, some of them going to their families with the exciting news that they finally had some proper food. Many thanked him, but Hunter ignored them in favour of packaging and giving out more food.

Tigress was utterly stunned by the action, and stumped by the man himself. He was so... Cold and distant, like she once was and yet he clearly held some sort of softer side to him if he was willing to spend his own money just to feed those who cannot afford to feed themselves, and even help to provide the means to feed themselves if he could... "He hasn't forgotten where he came from." She observed, with Viper nodding in agreement of that. Not only was this a side that they hadn't seen, but one that had gone oddly unmentioned in Po's fanboyish exclamation of his apparent exploits. Both of them wondered if it was because he'd never done this before... Or people thought it just wasn't worth spreading tales of kindness like this...

Viper then nudged Tigress and began moving away. "Come on, he seems to have the situation well in paw... Or talon, or whatever those things he has are called." she said in an amused voice as Tigress took one last look before following Viper to The Red Lotus, which wasn't very far away. Once they arrived at the place, Tigress took a seat at one of the tables while Viper ordered each of them some kind of fruity cocktail and joined her friend. "Hopefully this time goes a bit less..."

"Violently?" Tigress completed the thought with a slight amused smile on her face, a look of remembrance in her eyes as she recounted the last time they went out.

Viper chuckled then. "Exactly. Those two guys were just... Uch." She shivered at remembering the encounter. "Remember the one that called you 'Kitten'? And it wasn't even in a teasing way, like Hunter does. He meant it as genuine compliment." Viper laughed in a way that denoted she was still grossed out by the encounter.

Tigress took a sip of the drink and grimaced a little. A bit too fruity for her liking. "Yes, at least the way he says it he doesn't use it as a means to try and... What is the phrase...? 'Woo' me." she agreed with what Viper had pointed out.

Viper also sipped on her own drink. "I have to say I'm rather curious, what would it take to... ahem, 'woo' the legendary Master Tigress?" she asked with a grin on her face.

Tigress stopped for a second at the question. Not because she didn't want to answer, but she didn't have an answer. What would it take? Could it be done, was a better question she thought. Why would anyone want to was another good one. The two guys before were clearly just looking for a... Good time, and not anything serious. No commitment. Was that was she wanted? Commitment? "Why? Did you have someone in mind?" Tigress asked Viper a question back to buy herself some more time to think.

Viper snorted at Tigress insinuating she would try and set her up on a date without her knowledge. "Don't worry, I'm not about to spring some unlucky guy on you out of the blue." She put her friend at ease and rolled her eyes. "Now answer the question, I'm getting antsy."

Tigress stared into her drink as if willing it to give her the answer to her question. "I... I don't know." she shrugged to Viper then. "It's not something I think about." Tigress admitted to her fellow Master.

Viper seemed a bit nervous then as she looked into her own drink, casting her eyes up at Tigress. "You don't? You don't think about... The future?" Viper gulped slightly at mentioning it, although she wasn't exactly sure why.

Tigress raised her brow at Viper's question. "The future? In regards to... Romance? No, not really." she shrugged in admittance. "I've never had a reason to. I still don't."

Viper gave a small sigh at that, stirring her drink with the straw with her tail. She remembered her father talking about how he'd met her mother around Viper's age... And she wondered if she'd ever get to feel what they still did for one another. Shaking her head of the depressive thoughts trying to burrow into her mind, she chuckled. "Sorry for the downer questions, that's not why we're here. I've actually been meaning to ask, what shampoo do you use now? I've noticed a difference recently..."

...

The two Masters left The Red Lotus a few hours later, having eaten and drank a fair bit by that point. Tigress had found herself enjoying the fruity drinks more and more as time went on. They had both certainly consumed enough to feel quite the buzz, which they attributed to their lack of experience with alcohol. "That was actually rather fun." Viper smiled widely, having enjoyed their time together, swaying ever so slightly more than usual in her movement.

Tigress nodded in agreement. "Indeed. We should do this again." she said to Viper, her own movements a little more sluggish.

Said serpent chuckled in response. "We are. At the Winter Festival, remember? *hic*" she pointed out with a hiccup at the end, leading to Tigress nodding in an 'oh, right' manner. "Unless, of course, you've managed to snag a date by then~" Viper teased, nudging Tigress with her tail and grinning in a mischievous manner. "I saw you looking at that Leopard in there."

Tigress rolled her eyes and scowled at that. "He was acting suspicious, I thought he may have been concealing some kind of weapon on him." she said to Viper, who actually believed the excuse she had given. If Tigress was staring at you, it was rarely if ever a good thing...

The two passed the restaurant that they'd seen Hunter in and looked towards it, seeing he was gone and the crowd had long since dispersed. Either he ran out of food, or the owner had decided that Hunter's money had run out, preventing him from dispensing any more food. However when the two got near the Palace steps, they spotted Hunter fiddling with his bag as he was about to climb them himself, seemingly not long having concluded his business in the village. It took a moment but he did turn and notice them walking towards them, an unreadable expression passing across his face for a brief second before his usual blank look returned.

"Masters Tigress and Viper. A pleasure to see you out and about." He gave a bow, and so did the two of them, but during her bow Tigress tripped over a loose stone due to her slightly inebriated state, causing Hunter to catch her by the shoulders mid fall. She looked up at his face, and in that moment he found himself lost in her brilliant amber eyes, and she in his own arctic blue ones.

A sudden and invasive thought then crossed Hunter's mind... 'Beautiful...' However, he quickly shook it off, pushed the thought far aside and steadied her to make sure she didn't fall once he released her, the both of them acting like it was just part of him helping her up, but Viper, even slightly drunk, for a split second could see a teeny tiny little spark there between them, and it made her wonder...

Both of them made sure to not make direct eye contact afterwards in a way that was comically obvious. "Be careful, Kitten. Don't want to 'fall' for me." Hunter said, his eyes denoting that he was joking even though his tone betrayed nothing.

To Viper's shock, instead of anger or a scowl she saw a small blush appear beneath Tigress' fur, although both Tigress and Viper put it down to the effects of the alcohol as Hunter turned away. If he had noticed the blush, he made no sound nor show of it... "Thank you." Tigress simply mumbled out as the two girls followed him back up the steps to the Palace. The look on Tigress' face was unreadable to Viper, which wasn't really anything new, although she did notice the blush had persisted... When they arrived at their destination, Hunter nodded to the two of them. "Good night, ladies." he bade them farewell and walked over to Peach Tree Hill, while Viper and Tigress went to their quarters to get some sleep...