RP:Learning to Hunt

Summary: Kumori finds his student Korenai wounded, then teaches her how to hunt as he promised.

Characters: Dominic, Korenai, Kumorohyou, Ranok.

Locations: South of the Kelay Tavern, Spring of Vitality.

Kumorohyou quietly stalks his way towards the tavern, silently moving like an acrobat through the branches of the tree-city, leaving little to give away his presence as he stops near the tavern.

Kumorohyou looks down from the winter-bared trees, his cool, electric-blue eyes glowing through his translucent, featureless visor. The shaman sees Korenai, the kitsune looking like she just walked through a burning building...then took a nap in it. Jumping down, the feline moves with alarming velocity towards her, his massive Spirit, as well as his exoskeleton, amplifying his movement.

Ranok lifts an eyebrow, "So. Hyu are friends vith him. Und hyu try to kill de odder onder de pretense uf trainink. Und its to impress me to boot. Und dere hyu are. Kovered in burns. Hevink been eksploded. Kovered in fire. Und vatever odder nonsense dat lycan iz apparently kapable uf. Und hyu're vaitink for a 'goot job' from me? Instead uf seekink medical attention. ...hyu hef fadder issues, don' hyu, gurl."

Korenai watches Kumorohyou rush over to her and she backs up, "I'm fine Getsuga-sensei." and then her gaze returns to Ranok, ice-cold blue eyes staring him down. "I stand before you as what I would like to believe the victor. I did not try to kill him, I didn't think he was.. that slow. And I didn't think he would take such hits. And I wasn't going to show mercy." she sighed, not even going to answer about the father issue comment. She carries around his pelt for god sakes!

Kumorohyou stops next to her, the shaman's form having some sort of "mirage effect" due to the residual power of his armor, the light around him appearing to warp slightly. Sighing, the feline simply says, "What a mess. You won't be able to hunt very well if you smell like burning meat."

Ranok obviously wasn't pleased with Korenai's behavior, "Hokay. First uff, hyu don' 'schpar' vith naked blade. Hyu never, ever brundeesh a svord or de like at a man hyu don' vant dead. Dere iz no safety on schtabbink a man. Trainink vith vooden veapons iz dangerous enough. Und den he goes und breaddes fire at hyu und eksplodes. Its fool herdy. 'Trainink'. Feh." He starts to gather up his cards, "Hyu try to impress me, but hyu keep insistink dat hyu've gotten absolutely no vere. Gettink kaught by a functional retard und bound up. Trainink by tryink to kill a man. Pickink fights."

Dominic walks into the area not really paying attention to anyone or anything, the seventeen year old lycan(which it was obvious just from the bad smell) was in human form with a pair ragged pants on and a sheathed katana in his hand. As he gets he carries on walking he stops looks around and sniffs, Why you all here now looking at the Drunken fool he laughs, I get it, you all as wasted as this guy mumbling something about people that can't hold there drink he looks towards the fox-kin, Your a weird one ain't you .

Korenai sighs, hanging her head in dejected shame at Ranok's critiques. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." she then turns to Kumorohyou, "I will still train with you sensei, I need it. My behavior and performance wasn't up to par. I need to work harder. So that I may become better." she continued to hold her head, but upon hearing about not being able to hold her drink she growls faintly, "I don't drink.. anything but water, and the occasional juice." she glances at the lycan of her own age, finding his smell more than atrocious. "And I don't understand what you mean."

Kumorohyou does his best to ignore the teenage lycan, despite the fact that his feline sense of smell was being assaulted by Dominic's horrific odor. Listening quietly for the moment between Korenai and Ranok, the panther simply says, "If you still wish to go hunting, I insist we begin as soon as possible." Of course, the shaman wasn't going to heal Korenai, or cover up the mistakes she made in any manner while they hunted. Things would be harder, and she would have no one to blame but herself.

Ranok puts the gathered cards into a pocket. The hat he had borrowed is inversed on itself and literally turned inside out into nothing. Somehow, he stored the hat...inside itself. Then again, it *was* a top hat. Such oddities were to be expected. "It hain't about beink schtronger or vell skilled. Hell, not beink schtupeed iz de first defense against hennyddink. Kommon sense. So gotterdammerungn rare its a super power." He glances at Kumo. "...yeah. Goot luck vith dat."

Dominic the youngster looks her up and down, Yeah your drunk... I mean your look funny when Ranok starts speaking he laughs and starts rolling around on the floor with katana falling to the floor, oh by the ascendi your accent the man just continuing to laugh. He grabs his sword after forcing himself to be calm and just sit cross legged on the floor while hi stomache rumbles and he gets a waterskin and small bag of a near ruine belt and starts having some milk and biscuits while his katana lay on his lap, he kept himself as alerted as he could.

Korenai nods to Kumorohyou, finding the other lycan rather... bizarre and a waste of time. She turned her head down once more at Ranok's words, "I understand, and I shall work on this... sir." she tried out the word, the reference, and she kind of liked it.. "If you want to lead the way Getsuga-sensei... I shall follow and listen to you lessons diligently."

Kumorohyou leads Korenai away from the area, the shaman speaking in his own exotic accent, like a combination of Hindi and Japanese, "Winter-hunting should suit you." The feline was very interested in getting away from the lycan, the panther half-wishing he had a head-cold or something to block his olfactory sensors.

~At the Spring of Vitality

Kumorohyou quietly ascends one of the larger trees, the shaman sitting out of sight of any prey that would pass through the wintry landscape. The feline decided to leave some 'decision-room' for Korenai, just to see what she would do.

Korenai comes into the clearing of the spring, the scent of Kumorohyou fresh in her senses. Looking around she didn't see him at first, but soon enough she opened her other senses, using her own chi to pinpoint that of her teachers. When she got it in her head she remained still, feigning ignorance.

Kumorohyou could smell the slightly-roasted kitsune as if he had buried his face in her clothing. Shaking his head, the panther draws his Spirit inward, pressurizing it into the confines of his body and taking himself off of her "chi-radar." Silently swinging over his apprentice's head, the feline moves from one hiding place to the next.

Korenai quirks a brow, finding it peculiar that she couldn't any longer sense her teacher when he brought his spirit in. That is when her eyes flitted from one direction to the other, looking at the canopy, bouncing from one tree to the next until hopefully she could find Kumo. If she couldn't she wouldn't know what to expect, but hopefully it wasn't too frightening.

Kumorohyou uses his drawn-in Spiritual energy to generate a chameleon effect on his armor, the panther's exoskeleton bending light around itself and giving him a very dynamic form of camouflage. As he speaks, his voice echoes through the trees, making him difficult to pinpoint. "You won't catch very much food standing there...smelling like food. Use your surroundings to aid in you in your hunt." The Spring of Vitality would heal her burns should she decide to drink some of its crisp, clear water, but would she sense its power and use it before taking up a position suitable for hunting?

Korenai sighs, turning to the pool, knowing that it was always soothing to bathe in when she has, even against the will of the nymphs there. Quickly she went over there, hopefully it would clear her head. kneeling down at the edge of the pool she dunked her head under, drinking deep of its cool waters. However since she had never been injured before its powers were completely unknown which made up for her surprise when immediate relief coursed through her body, the blisters and burns vanishing slowly and her head clearing up of the pain. When she stood it was like she had been reborn, quickly shedding the scent-soaked articles of clothing until she was in pants and a shirt, daggers and whip dropped until she is left with naught but her katana. After that she began darting from one sparse cover to the next, at the same time trying to track down her teacher.

Kumorohyou remains where he is in one of the trees, the panther understanding that he could cut down on noise by simply not moving. They weren't going to see a lot game if the fox was going to move around so much.

Korenai didn't know that she was here to hunt game, since Kumo had told her he was going to show her how to hunt people, to kill. However when she realized that her teacher stopped moving, she took a quick, but effective cover behind a grouping of dead bushes and waited..

Kumorohyou || What Korenai didn't realize was that the techniques for hunting game were just as effective at hunting people. Sometimes even more so, given that many sentient beings were not as keen to nature as prey animals are. The feline senses the his student had ceased her rapid movements, grinning slightly behind his visor as he detects the scent of potential prey. Now that things had settled down, with no large and noisy animals, a white rabbit had mustered the courage to timidly venture out into the snowy landscape, sniffing curiously at a footprint as it hopped about looking for scraps of vegetation beneath the cold, white blanket of winter.

Korenai watched the rabbit as it made its way out of its own cover and she was there, staring it down. She didn't exactly know what was going on, not making the connection yet since Kumo had not shown himself yet, but for now her attentions were ensnared by the small animal, curious but also feeling a bit wet on the tongue with hunger. What should she do, she wondered, hands tightening into balls and then unclenching.

Kumorohyou silently watches the rabbit from his hiding spot in the trees, the shaman producing a long, thin cylinder in his hands and placing what appears to be a small dart into it. His visor fluidly opens up near his mouth, the feline inhaling quietly and placing the weapon to his lips. With a sharp exhale, the dart flies forward before embedding itself in the neck of the small mammal. The rabbit seizes up, falling over and twitching before going limp, the fast-acting poison in the dart having done its job. Silently descent, the shaman seems to appear out of nowhere as he drops his camouflage, walking up to the rabbit and gently picking it up. As Kumori pulls the barbed dart from the prey's flesh, he says, "This is how I hunt. You can use a lot of tools for this type of hunting, and even traps." If a Jangalan was given a choice between open warfare and guerilla tactics, they would make the latter choice every time.

Korenai steps out of the cover of her own sparse bushes, her pelts, hair and skin blending in naturally as she was rather pale ad such. The entire display stunned her, she had only seen the dart guns used before back home, but other than that she hasn't ever really seen one or seen it in action. She had left her home at the age of eight after all, unable to cope with the destruction of her village and witnessing the murder and skinning of her parents. "I see... you would do this to people.. it works.."

Kumorohyou nods, taking a moment to walk further away from the Spring preparing to skin the small animal. The armor on his left index finger elongates slightly into a bladelike projection, allowing him to remove the skin and organs with surgical precision. The feline then searches through his satchel, removing an insulated box and partially filling it with fresh snow, placing the field-dressed rabbit inside to keep it cool. "You would need a stronger poison to kill something larger. Fortunately, this poison will cook out of the rabbit." Turning to the small creature's skin, Kumori asks, "Have you learned how to properly tan animal hides yet?"

Korenai nods as she watches her teacher dress the animal rather quickly. "I see..." as for the tanning she shakes her head, "No i haven't, but I feel like that should be a later lesson teacher.. My time is running short now.. I have taken in this lesson.. if you need me for much longer I do have time.."

Kumorohyou nods, before saying, "Alright. I will tan this in my own time. If you want, we can stay longer and see if anything else comes into the forest. Though I doubt it, since the smell of fresh blood is on the air." The feline had left the rabbits organs for any other creatures of the forest to find, the entrails and brain in a pile far from the Spring. Korenai nods, "Another lesson for another time then I am sure." she smiled an hugged her sensei, "I understand what you mean by hunting my prey now. Don't just fight them, but actually hunt them down. This will be great for my training." You smiles, accepting the hug from Korenai before saying, "Don't forget patience. That's key for any type of hunting."

Korenai nods, "I shall not forget sensei. Thank you very much for this lesson" before bowing respectfully.

Kumorohyou bows in return, "Farewell for now, Korenai. I need to get this hide prepared." With that, the panther takes up his belongings and leaves.