The Fanalis and the Hare [Training]

Ayero frowned down at the job flyer she held in her hand and mentally scolded herself for not reading the entire damn thing before accepting the job. It seemed easy enough from the first few lines of the description, hunt down a specific type of rabbit known as the “Gem Rabbit” for its luminescent coat, sought after by a seamstress for their rare pelts. Ayero wasn’t a hunter by profession, but she had gotten by on her own by taking down whatever game she could find in between towns when traveling. A few rabbits shouldn’t pose much of a problem for the Fanalis swordswoman and her beasts, so when she saw the advertisement asking for these rabbits in return for coin she had quickly removed the flyer from the board and decided that she’d read the details on the way.

Unfortunately, reading was never her strong suit. She hadn’t learned to read until she was roughly 13, and even then she had only been taught the basics. While she could read signs and flyers just fine, more in-depth literacy skills were not generally required by someone who led a mercenary life. As such she never really took to reading books or scrolls for pleasure, often finding the flowery language confusing and unnecessary. And now, she had wished that she did more than just glance over the details of the job. If she had done so, she likely wouldn’t have spent the better portion of the day running around the forest.

As it turned out, these “rabbits” were not what she had expected. They were tricky little beasts, quick on their feet and very sensitive to the noise of approaching predators. On top of that they had the ability to camouflage themselves within their environment, leaving Ayero confused whenever she had managed to corner one only for it to seemingly disappear out of sight. It was frustrating for the woman and her pets. They’d fought numerous battles in the coliseum, defeated strange creatures and powerful warriors…and yet they were at a dead end, unable to even come close to getting one of these rabbits.

Ayero grumbled to herself while descending to the mossy ground near a tree, too exasperated to enjoy the way the light flittered prettily onto the forest floor from the canopy of leaves above. After crossing her legs and straightening her back, the Fanalis woman stares pensively at the piece of paper in her hand, reading over each detail carefully in an attempt to commit it to memory. Kabu peered at the flyer from his perch on her shoulder, eyes lazily scanning the markings he’d seen so many times before but could not make sense of. Tomato perched herself on a low branch and began preening, though she tilted her head every so often to take in the sounds around her. The young bird had grown exponentially over the past few months and preferred flying rather than perching on Ayero. Having both the snake and the bird on Ayero’s shoulders proved to be a bit too crowded, and the Fanalis woman didn’t seem to tolerate the near fully-grown bird on her head for very long.

Letting out an irritated sigh, Ayero rubbed at the side of her face with her free hand. ”I’m glad no one else is out here to watch us fail. This is embarrassing.” Kabu didn’t respond but continued to idly glance at the paper, not understanding her words but familiar with her annoyed tone and knowing that it was best to keep out of it. The snake’s tongue flicked from his mouth every so often in an instinctual attempt to keep himself aware of his surroundings. He could detect Ayero and Tomato nearby, as well as some common forest beasts in the distance. Suddenly, a new scent caught on his tongue and the serpent raised his head abruptly from Ayero’s shoulder. The movement drew the eyes of both the Fanalis and the hawk as they observed Kabu flick his tongue out again for a few silent moments. The snake was facing to the left of them, eyes glued to the distance. He had sensed something, the fleeting yet familiar scent of the Gem Rabbits from their brief encounters.

Ayero watched Kabu with wide eyes, knowing that the snake had sensed something that they could not. She knew how fine Kabu’s senses were and trusted in his abilities. Rising to her feet slowly, Ayero clicked her tongue softly in direction to Tomato. Heeding the order, the red hawk took flight above the treetops, careful to keep Ayero and Kabu in her line of sight as she flew above them. Steadily, Ayero began to creep along the forest floor while trying her best to be sneaky and not frighten away her prey, following the direction of Kabu’s swiveling head. Unfortunately, the Fanalis didn’t have much training in the art of being stealthy and moving around undetected.

The warrior woman kept moving slowly, completely under direction of Kabu’s directional sense of smell. She hadn’t seen their target yet, when something caught her eye. A little rabbit with a coat that seemed to almost glow hopped out from a low bush and began nibbling at a patch of wild carrots that grew beneath a tree.  




Ayero’s eyes flared and she stopped in her tracks as the Gem Rabbit appeared before her eyes. Swallowing thickly, she drew her blade as quietly as possible and lifted her foot to take a step forward. She brought it down carefully onto a patch of springy moss, and though the flora muted the sound of her foot, the vibrations sent through the ground were enough to cause the rabbit to pause in its munching and turn around, ears straight and body erect. The Fanalis and the hare exchanged looks for a brief moment before the small beast scampered off, blending in with its surroundings and disappearing into the wilderness.

The corner of Ayero’s left eye twitched and her mouth hung open before she let out a snarl. ”AGAIN?! WHAT THE HELL!” Her voice carried enough to startled several birds from their perches nearby, Ayero straightening as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. From her shoulder, Kabu hisses as if to say ”Good job scaring off every rabbit in a 100 meter radius.”

[B to A Tier training for Kabu: 1049/1500]

”The sun is about to go down…we don’t have much more time.” Ayero raised a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted towards what she could see of the horizon, estimating that there would be two more hours of daylight at best. She’d spent all day tromping through the forest with nothing to show for her efforts and wagered that she’d likely be hunting rabbits by morning. Ayero didn’t mind camping out in the forest, but she hadn’t brought supplies and would have to go back to the city for them if she chose to do so. Running a hand through her hair, the Fanalis woman pursed her lips as she weighed her options. She could either try to hunt these small beasts into the night where she would fail even more miserably, catch them within the next two hours, or give up and go back to Remano for now.

”I can’t believe that I’m in over my head hunting rabbits.” All it would take was one swift strike from her blade to fell her prey, but she was unable to get close enough to even do that. The Gem Rabbits were tricky, quick on their feet with a keen sense of hearing. ”This would be a lot easier if I had a ranged weapon…” The Fanalis warrior looked down at her blade, clearly disgruntled that she hadn’t taken the time to properly learn how to use a bow or throwing knives. She was keenly aware of the disadvantage she had by choosing close combat weapons and techniques, but she had made up for it with speed and skill. And now she was being outclassed by rabbits.

”After this is over, I should seriously considering picking up a bow or something. I’m sure I could find someone to train me in Remano. Or maybe in the mountains…wait, doesn’t Diego have a bow as well? Maybe I could ask him, but I’m not even sure where he is. But I like this idea, learning to use a weapon with more range could definitely help me out in battle. I could expand my skills as a warrior that way, maybe even learn how to hunt properly so that things like this…” Her internal thoughts fade as she steps into a clearing, too distracted by the idea of learning to use a new weapon to take much notice as to where she had been going. Ayero’s deep thoughts fade as she’s pulled back into the real world by a site she had yet to see—about a dozen Gem Rabbits in the clearing, all turned towards her with the hair on their bodies standing on edge. And they didn’t look happy to see her.

[B to A Tier training for Kabu: 1500+/1500]

”Uhh…” Ayero’s mouth hung slack slightly at the sheer shock of seeing so many Gem Rabbits in one place, and moreso that they hadn’t ran from her. It took a few moments for their offensive body movement to sink in and Ayero froze, recognizing the signs of an angry animal. In that moment, the Fanalis woman had a decision to make; would she try to capitalize on this fateful meeting and attempt to slay the rabbits, or would she listen to her instincts and back away slowly? The more confident side of her won out and she held her blade to the side, a smirk curving onto her face. She took a step forward, which was enough movement for the rabbits to feel threatened.

With a chorus of squeaks, the rabbits stood up on their hindquarters and hardened the tufts of hair on their backs and launched a flurry of tiny hair missiles as their enemy. Ayero grimaced and swung her blade, deflecting some of the projectiles but there were just too many. The incredibly thin hair needles showered down onto her body, jabbing into her skin and causing her to stumble backwards. ”Son of a—ouch!” The woman fell hard onto her bottom, grateful that the needles were only sticking into the front side of her body. Individually they barely caused damage, but the storm of needles that had rained down on her body collectively caused a great amount of pain. Groaning, Ayero dragged herself several meters away to settle down near a tree. The rabbits simply hopped off to a further part of the clearing.

Wincing, Ayero worked as quickly as she could to remove the tiny projectiles from her skin. Kabu and Tomato helped, using fangs and beak to work the needles from their human companion’s body. Removing them was probably even more painful than receiving them, Ayero decided. Thankfully the job went by rather quickly with the three of them working together. Even with all of the needles out, the pain still lingered and Ayero cringed as she tried to reposition herself to be more comfortable. The familiar sound of Kabu coughing tickled her ears and she sighed, knowing that the snake would likely only be able to heal a portion of her small wounds and that it would take a bit for her to feel better.

Closing her eyes, Ayero leaned her head back against the tree as she waited for the inevitable feel of Kabu’s healing spit on her skin. She finally felt the cooling sensation of the saliva on her shoulder and she cracked an eye open at the snake, wondering why he didn’t choose to heal her torso or her legs instead, where the damage was worse and hindered her movement more. The spit continued to drip down her shoulder, but as it did so, it began to rapidly expand, eventually covering her entire body and soaking into her skin. As the saliva seeped into her, it left behind a tingling cooling sensation while her wounds healed instantaneously (Reset). Speechless, the halfling looked over at Kabu before moving her right leg to test her mobility, then her arms before finally rising to her feet. She twists her body, finding that no traces of pain lingered in her skin and cracked a smile.

”Seems as if you’re not the only one who has grown, eh Tomato?” Ayero chuckled softly as the red bird fluttered in excitement at seeing Ayero fully healed and no longer in pain. ”I knew that your saliva could heal wounds, but that was truly impressive. Now…” The woman squints into the distance, peering at the direction of the sun and attempting to calculate how much time they had left before sun down. ”Alright, I think we have time to get one last shot in. We’ll need some sort of plan, though…” Ayero trailed off, wondering exactly what that plan should be. She knew and accepted the fact that she had only basic hunting skills, and this was advanced game. But…she had with her two natural hunters. Looking back and forth between Kabu and Tomato, Ayero slowly began to formulate a shaky plan. She’d been going at this all wrong and not making use of her beasts, for whom hunting was instinctive. She’d watched Kabu scurry off after rats and Tomato dive after her own meals before and hoped that she could put their abilities to good use.

After sitting in silence for a little while, Ayero rises and stretches. She clicks her tongue softly and Tomato ascends to the sky once more. Ayero waits until the young hawk is settled overhead, flying close to the tree line before approaching the clearing once more with cautious confidence. She tries to move stealthily at first, purposefully making her movements more bold as she approaches the Gem Rabbits. Startled by the noise, the small creatures turns around as Ayero unsheathes her blade in a showy flourish. In order for this to work, the rabbits had to attack her once more. Ayero hoped that she appeared intimidating enough to attack, but not too intimidating to the point where the rabbits would find it easier to run than fight.

Much to her luck, the group of hares reacted to this intrusion by rearing back on their hind legs once more, pelts fluffed out in preparation to unleash a hell-storm of needles on their opponent. The moment the rabbits chose to stay and fight, Ayero clicked her tongue to alert Tomato. The red hawk would begin to descend in a dive as quickly as possible down towards her prey. The Gem Rabbits wouldn’t see the ariel predator until it would be too late, too focused on the Fanalis woman who didn’t seem to learn her lesson the last time.

Another torrent of hair needles is released in Ayero’s direction, but the warrior woman was decently prepared this time. Kabu coils his body around Ayero’s torso, using his hardened Snakeskin to deflect the projectiles from Ayero's core, leaving some of his tail hanging free to swat some of them away from her legs. Meanwhile, the halfling used her blade to block as many of the needles as she could from her upper body and face, a few of them digging into her flesh but far less than before. While the rabbits were busy mid-assault, Tomato made her appearance.

The bird of prey swooped downwards as she neared the ground, using claw, beak and wing to take out half of the rabbits in the group. Startled chitters chorused from the Gem Rabbits as the sudden assailant made her appearance, the frightened creatures shifting their attention from Ayero towards Tomato as she tore through their ranks. This would provide an advantage to the second predator as the rabbits began to scatter away from the bird. Kabu slipped quickly from Ayero’s torso to the ground, lashing out in quick, practiced movements and seizing his prey by the throat. As snake’s sharp fangs ended several of the rabbit’s lives, Ayero worked quickly to try and corral the rabbits between the two predators. The rabbits were quick, and several of them escaped into the camouflage of the forest to avoid meeting the same fate of their brethren.

When all was said and done, the group had felled nine rabbits successfully. Most of them had minimal damage done to their bodies as well and had died from having their neck snapped by Tomato’s beak or Kabu’s fangs. A few had sustained blunt trauma to the head, but all and all there were few blood stains to their pelts. Ayero had gathered the bodies and placed them in a sack she had brought along before beginning the journey back to the city.

Though she was exhausted, Ayero let Tomato sit on her head for a portion of the trip back. The bird and the snake had done well to work together today and without them, Ayero would likely be going back empty handed. She praised the pair as they went, sparing no affection or head scratches for the two beasts. ”Wow…I was pretty useless today, wasn’t I?” Ayero frowned a little as she reflected on the day’s happenings.

”Usually I’m the one cutting down our foes, but I guess this was a different type of job that required a different skill set…I should definitely look into learning how to use a more ranged weapon. If I learn how to hunt properly, I won’t have to worry so much about food when I’m out of the city…why didn’t I think of this before?” The Fanalis woman falls into silence as she considers the points she’d thought of earlier. She’d met many warriors who have wielded bows and other ranged weapons before, perhaps if she could learn to fight like them she would not be so useless in projects that required more dexterity. It would also help put her on part with ranged fighters in battle as well. Humming softly to herself, Ayero tucks those thoughts away for another time as she leaves the forest and sees the lights of the city in the distance.

[Training for Reset: 1500+/1500]

[Exit]

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