Back-up Is... (Ray)

[Minor NPC]

The white tiger's stomach grumbled behind the ragged sleeveless shirt, and he tried to rub it once to make it through the lesson. His gruff expression was only slightly relieved, as it finally ended - something he guessed was because the small fey heard it.

Thankfully, he didn't comment on it, and they stopped reading "Three Blind Mice" with several pages to go.

The brawny ex-slave towered a foot over most at 6'8", which was only made more pronounced by the snow leopard's lack of height. He waited for Professor Scrumble to finish with Ray, hands shoved in his pockets as he leaned against the wall.

His chest rumbled once as he saw him, bass and impatient.

"Hey," Klaus said flatly. His head cocked off to the right, jerking his thumb off to the side. The massive, scarred arm flexed with the motion.

"Wanna go hunting?" he asked succinctly.

[Ray]

Ray's ears perked at the invitation, and he raised his head to look at the source of it. It's his classmate, the tiger. The snow leopard's nostrils flared as he's taking in his scent, trying to figure out what might prompt the suggestion, but his scent is neutral.

He dig at his memory for the name of the tiger. “Klaus," He recognized with a nod.

“Hunting, you say?“

[Minor NPC]

"Hunting," he replies, just as flatly. He drags in a breath through his nose, before turning and starting to walk.

"Want fresh meat," he explained as simply as possible. "Deer in forest. Good to have backup."

He glanced back at Igorei only once, to see if he was following. The tiger's daggers were on his person, but his bow he left under his bunk. He didn't need to carry that big thing around to classes, but range always had the advantage when it came to hunting.

[Ray]

Ray considered for a moment, and decided why not before following the tiger without a word.

He thought about what should he bring. A rifle would be useful, but he never liked them. Took a lot of time to reload, and you can only squeeze two shots out before you need to reload again. Your prey would be gone by then. Or worse so, your enemy would be closer. A lot closer.

Which is why he preferred hunting with traps. Or a silenced handgun, depends on what kind of prey you're talking about.

[Minor NPC]

The tiger didn't talk much - in general. Now was really no exception. In the short time he knew her, his mom had told him that it was better to be thought a fool, then open your mouth and prove them right.

He kept his mouth shut a lot.

The brief detour to his bunk, out of the several others around the room, saw him reaching underneath it for something special. The large bow was obsidian black, with an assortment of elvish letters written along its length. He couldn't read it. He could barely read the common tongue, much less Elvish. He'd had it translated once. Something about flying shadows. He'd forgotten the exact wording, but it hadn't let him down yet.

He carried the bow alone with him at his side, and started walking toward the building's exit.

[Ray]

Ray just took his backpack from his locker and followed Klaus. He got everything he'll be needed inside it, and it's stocked up regularly, in case there's an emergency he can just grab it and be on the road. On second thought, he stopped and turn back to his locker and grabbed the crossbow that he found on a raid a few days ago. Better safe than sorry.

He followed the tiger's tail, stealing glances at his bow while he's at it. He never really understand why would anyone decorate their weapons. After all, it's just a tool, a machine for killing. It's not a toy. But then everyone have a different opinion on what a toy is.

Or maybe that have some sentimental values. Maybe a present from someone important.

That actually makes more sense, He thought silently.

[Minor NPC]

It wasn't dark outside just yet. That was bothersome. The wildlife wasn't as active during the day. It might be more difficult to find the kind of prey beast he was hungry for.

He glanced back at the kid following him, wondering for a moment. He didn't face him again, when they passed the armored winter elves on the way out to the woods, and thought to ask, "You have good senses?"

[Ray]

"They'll suffice." He replied.

Having actually lived in the mountains for a few years, Ray knows the ways around them. It's been a while since he's out hunting, and the anticipation bought a little life to his tail, making it swishing back and forth.

"What are we hunting?"

[Minor NPC]

"Anything meaty," the tiger said sternly, as if it was obvious. His own tail was composed, moving only to keep his balance.

He hunched a little further down the more they got into the woods, as he sniffed at the air, and looked for the trail signs of wildlife suitable for his hunger. He held the black bow in front of him at a downward angle, and though his other hand was on the string, he nocked no arrows.

Indeed, he didn't have any arrows at all. He didn't need them. He just needed a target...

[Ray]

The snow leopard took in a deep breath of fresh air when they arrived at the forest, enjoying the smells of plants, earth, and the feeling of the sun against his fur. Sure feels good to be back around something you're familiar with.

He noticed Klaus didn't have an arrow notched. Then he found out that he have no arrows at all. Maybe it's magic. The thought bothered him a little. Seems like everyone around him is a mage of some sort. With only guns to and his bodily skills to compare with them, he feels somehow incompetent.

Then he saw something that make him throw all his worries to the back of his mind. Scratch mark on the tree right there.

"Hey," Ray called out for the tiger, and points at the mark when he turns around. "Seems like we got lucky."

[Minor NPC]

The call made him turn, trying not to glare too roughly at him.

"Voice down," he growled under his breath, not wanting potential prey to hear them coming.

"Seems like we got lucky," the smaller snow leopard told him, pointing at the evidence left behind. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he almost berated himself for not noticing it. Hunger was supposed to sharpen one's senses, but he was more eager than hungry.

The big cat moved in closer to it, getting down lower, and started to sniff around were the mark had been left.

"Buck," he mumbled, and continued sniffing to get a better idea of the direction.

[Ray]

"Buck." Ray nodded in agreement, whispering now that he got Klaus attention. "Mark seems fresh. Might still be close. Hope we didn't startled it yet."

He kneel down to grab a handful of grass, then let them loose in the air to know where the winds blowing. From the lessons he'd learn about hunting, you'd want to stay at the leeward side when tracking down a prey. Since they have much better sense of smell than you and all.

"Don't see any arrow on your bow. You a mage?" He asked.

[Minor NPC]

Klaus watched the leopard test the air, noting it for himself. He felt it earlier, but wind could be fickle. It was good to keep checking it, just in case it suddenly took a turn for the worse.

"No," the large tiger said back flatly, as he faced the direction of their quarry and started stalking, low to the ground. He was almost walking on three limbs at times. His left hand held the bow up at his side, trying to avoid letting it brush anything.

"Not mage. No magic," he said it in a way that was almost resentful - as if he'd only had it, then things would be different. He clutched the obsidian weapon as tight as a lifeline. "Bow is. Elf work. Doesn't need arrows."

[Ray]

"I see." The snow leopard nodded, and went back on the task at hand while wondering loosely about how good it'll be if he had a gun that doesn't need any reloading.

Keeping his ears perked, he focuses on the voice around him while advancing slowly on Klaus' lead, trying not to make any sound himself. Keeping his eyes low, he try to look for any trails that may lead them to their prey.

[Minor NPC]

"How about you?" the tiger asked in turn. He looked over Ray again, as if to gauge his ability somehow. "You a mage?"

Klaus picked up more on the markings as they went, identifying them more easier the more they saw. His stomach growled for him to hurry at the thought of fresh game, and he tried to pick up the pace.

[Ray]

"No," Ray shook his head, vaulting himself over a fallen trunk that blocked his way. "Not lucky enough to be one."

"I get by, though." As if to strengthen the point, he adjusted the crossbow on his back, which gotten a little looser from the jump.

[Minor NPC]

He grunted once. "Yeah..."

Memories kicked him in the back of the head, of how helpless he used to be in the face of such magic. He remembered a magic lash. He remembered the lack of control. He remembered pain that didn't belong to physical wounds.

He rubbed the scar that circled his neck, and remembered the day other mages took down his owner, and got him out.

"Not lucky," he growled under his breath. Bad feelings, surfacing and raising his temperature, made him second guess bringing a partner - even if it was policy.

He picked his pace up, a little more noisily. It was stupid and hasty, and he remembered to slow down after a minute.

That's when the scent hit his nose, hard.

He had just enough time to duck. The spiked appendage missed his head, and slashed open his shoulder instead. He slid forward on the ground, as the spiked tentacle drew back - into the forest. Something moved fast through the bushes, out of sight.

[Ray]

The snow leopard's first instinct is to find a cover, and he followed it by crashing his back into the nearest tree, loading his crossbow as he did so. He then raised his head carefully out of the corner, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that moves, ready to put an arrow through them if he noticed any.

"Hey! You okay?" He yelled.

[Minor NPC]

The tiger cursed a feral growl through gritted teeth, one hand grasping the wound as if to physically check it. It didn't seem that bad, but the barbs had scratched deep through skin. It was more painful than deadly - though the sheer amount of blood loss it could cause if untreated was certainly a fatal possibility.

But he didn't have time to worry about that, as he tried to stay down, and look everywhere at once.

"Shit, no!" he yelled back at the other cat, annoyed that he'd even ask that.

His nose sniffed constantly, trying to catch the scent of the demonic beast. Bushes rustled a ways away, and he bit through the pain to try and nock an arrow himself.

His now bloodied hand grasped at thin air where the string of the bow should have been. A line of darkness rose up from his shadow, and fashioned an arrow for him.

Something out of the corner of his eye moved in the dark, and he prepared to fire.

In the opposite direction, another barbed tentacle lashed out at Ray from behind.

[Ray]

His whiskers sensed the motion behind him, and he turned almost immediately, raising the crossbow and knock the tentacle away from him. Before it could recover itself, Ray shoot and arrow through it, pinning it down to the ground.

After that, he ran out from behind the tree and towards Klaus. One look at the wound tell him it's bad, and needs immediate care, but they don't have time for that. Not yet.

Taking another arrow and nocking it on the crossbow, he remembered what had happened just now and kept him back close to the tiger.

"You see anything?"

[Minor NPC]

"Don't let up!" the tiger growled, trying to fire an arrow. His shoulder screamed as he tried to lift the bow, and the shadow fired off into the ground a few feet in front of him. He cursed something under his breath.

"Is beast of displacement! Demon thing!" he warned, gripping his shoulder again as if to squeeze the blood back inside.

The pinned tentacle wasn't there a moment later, when Klaus pointed at it.

"Two tentacles, and makes image double! Watch plants, not body. False trail," he rattled off what he knew about the monster, silently cursing his luck. "Big panther!"

The once injured beast took to stalking them more carefully around them, as its false image danced among the trees. It circled around them, trying to disorient and control its quarry.

[Ray]

Ray quickly nocked another arrow, all the while paying attention to his surroundings. The illusion gets closer, but it's not attacking. Maybe what Klaus said was right after all.

The bushes behind him rustled, and the snow leopard turned immediately, aiming his crossbow towards it, but he saw nothing. Another rustling came from his right, and he took aim and let the arrow fly. It went through the bushes, but he heard nothing else. No painful roar from the beast stalking them. Which could only mean he missed.

The sounds are getting closer rapidly, and he didn't had the time to reload his crossbow. Cursing under his breath, he pulled out the knife from his boots and readied himself.

[Minor NPC]

The beast sensed weakness, and charged from the back, the single-mindedness of the predator choosing that avenue as the most unguarded every time.

Klaus tried to nock another shadow arrow. He growled in frustration, as his ripped shoulder made it impossible to hold the bow.

But the beast didn't know that. It dodged to the right of what it thought was a threat, a pair of tentacles lashing out like barb-tipped whips at its potential quarry.

The massive panther jumped up high, as if spring loaded, straight up into the tree branches above. They bent under its weight, but it dashed along the top before they gave. From above, it's tentacles swiped at them.

The tiger dived away from the wild attack, looking to the other cat. He threw the black bow at the cat, and glared at him once, hoping he knew what to do.

Gripping his injured shoulder, he scrambled to his feet and ran. The direction didn't matter. He just barely dodged the set of barbed tentacles.

The predator was hardly about to let weakened quarry escape, and ran along the branches after it, shaking the trees with his motion.

[Ray]

Ray grabbed the tiger's bow, and immediately took the stance of nocking an arrow. The bow responded at his actions, his shadow rose up and turned into an arrow, which he let loose after the demon panther.

How convenient. He thought, while shooting some more arrows at the beast. If the time back in the army taught him one thing, it's always remember to double tap.

[Minor NPC]

He ran. He ran, because it was the only thing he could do. The beast was faster and would catch up in no time. But he didn't need to last long.

He just had to look like good bait, and the demonic creature wasn't smart enough to see it. The predator probably thought the smaller cat wasn't worth it, wasn't dangerous, or would just run away. Maybe it didn't think about him at all.

Maybe he was just hungry, like Klaus was hungry.

The arrow lodged home, in its side, piercing through ribs. Pain made it lose balance and it fell, the protective illusion disappearing as it smacked hard on the ground. Its real body visible, its barbed tentacles lashed out at the trees and plants around it as it writhed, trying to hurt whatever might come close.

Another pair of arrows put a stopper to its motion, and muted its noise.

The tiger stopped running, turning around to face the dead creature from a distance. He approached it slowly, still holding his shoulder.

[Ray]

Ray walked up to the tiger slowly, his eyes on still on the beast, with an arrow nocked on the bow. He kicked the side of the panther, then backed off immediately. He'd only lower his weapon after the enemy's dead.

"Thanks," he said, holding out the bow to the tiger. "Your need to stop the bleeding..."

The snow leopard rummaged through his backpack, and pull out a roll of duct tape afterwards. "But I only got this. Sorry."

[Minor NPC]

Pierced lungs and heart had put the creature down fast. It's body made no reaction to the kick, except to bleed a little more on the ground.

The tiger growled under his breath, staring at the beast closer up himself - the terrible, massive creature, the vague outline of a panther with a large dose of demonic energy and magnified for greater lethal purposes.

It was a good kill.

The tiger grunted once, at the suggestion.

"Will do till we get back," he said, growling out the pain as he struggled to take off his already ragged sleeveless shirt. The tiger's large body displayed almost as many scars as stripes on his back, and an assortment down his front as well.

He tried to wrap his shirt around the wounded shoulder, and found the prospect harder to do with just the one hand.

[Ray]

"Let me help with that."Ray said, taking the shirt from Klaus and tied it over his wound.

"Lots of scars there." He can't help but noticed.

[Minor NPC]

The tiger grumbled once, trying to avoid eye contact as Ray helped him secure the shirt over the wound.

"Yes," he agreed, with the obvious assessment. "Slave owners not like defiance."

As soon as he was satisfied with the work, the tiger gauged up the beast again. It was much bigger than a normal panther, and he knew that the skin of such a beast had valuable qualities.

He also knew he probably couldn't just carry it back, with only one good arm and now missing a bit of blood. The scent of blood itself would only make the forest trip back nastier.

What a waste.

"Don't suppose, you know how to make quick sled?"

[Ray]

"I had some experience." The snow leopard said, "But I'm not sure that we should stay here. The smell of blood might draw more predators."

Ray scanned the surroundings warily, as if another beast might jump out from no where. His ears flicked, but he only heard the chirping of birds, and the wind ruffling the leafs. At least there's no immediate danger.