Learning New Things
Imported from SF2 with no description.
We did it. We had captured the great maccao. And as it lay there passed out from the handfuls of tranqs we lobbed at it, I had voiced the concern of how we could transport it back home. Sure, we could probably drag it through the frontier and back to Bherna, but that would take way too long, risking the great waking up midway there. Not to mention the possibility of other predatory monsters showing up for an easy meal of a sleeping beast.
Cerys reached into the bag tied at her waist and pulled out the tiniest crossbow I'd ever seen. It was already loaded and spanned, so she pointed it directly up and pulled the trigger. The bolt soared up, higher and higher into the sky, going above the glowing mushrooms, and then after a second of hanging in the air it exploded into a bright red ball of light. A flare.
As the flare shone, Cerys let out a yawn and I fixed my eyes back to her. She was stretching, her arms reaching out to her sides, standing on the tips of her toes to stretch out her legs too. When the yawn faded, she let out a long groan as the relief from the stretching washed over her body.
Finally, she relaxed and looked up at me. “That answer your question?" she asked, hooking a thumb up at the still burning flare in the sky. “An airship should be here soon to take all three of us home."
“Why didn't you tell me about the flare and all that before?"
Small shoulders shrugged and she stated, “Didn't seem all too important at the time. I told you to get potions, and that's all you needed to get. And speaking of potions…" her voice trailed off as she eyed my own bag I'd tied to my side.
Taking the obvious hint, I reached inside my pouch, pulling out two bottles filled to the brim with green liquid. I tossed Cerys one, which she caught deftly in her little paw-padded hands. I mocked a toasting gesture before uncorking the bottle and downing the contents in their entirety. The potion was a thin, watery substance, tasting almost similar to skimmed milk in a way, but with the added aftertaste of celery. Strange. I always kinda hoped it was more minty.
As the liquid waterfalled down my throat, I began to feel the aches and pains of the past hour begin to disappear into the distance of my sense. Less like outward pain, and more like a soft tingling sensation. It was like when your limbs fall asleep and have those pinpricks, just not as strong or as annoying. Kinda tickled a bit.
When I shared my disappointment with the potion's taste with my felyne companion, she said, “I first thought it was gonna taste like spinach, back when I started."
“Hey, about that…" I started.
A small smirk appeared on her face. “You gonna try asking how old I am again?"
“Nah," I responded with a shake of my head. “Wanted to ask why you joined the hunters. There's tons of jobs in the Guild for felynes that wouldn't have been putting yourself in danger."
“Could ask the same for you," she quickly retorted.
I waved her off with a, “No, I'm serious. I wanna know why." I reached up and pulled off my helmet, letting it fall to the ground as I ran my fingers through my sweaty hair. My nails dug in and scratched at my scalp as I told Cerys, “We've barely known each other for a week, and all I really know about you is you're older than me and have been partnered with a hunter before."
The little palico sighed and sat back down. She went quiet for a bit, probably thinking of what to say. Eventually, though, she opened up.
“You ever hear about Felcote?" Her dim blue eyes locked onto mine, and try as I might I couldn't look away. Her question hung in the air for a minute as I couldn't find my words.
I began to feel a bit uncomfortable with how long the eye contact was lasting, but was still unable to break away from it. I did manage to find my voice, however, and finally stammered out my answer.
“Uh…n-no, I haven't."
“She's the only known felyne Guild Knight. The only one to have ever achieved such a feat." At once, she snapped her eyes down and the contact was gone. Her tiny hands were brought up for her to twiddle her fingers together as she continued her explanation. “I first heard about her when I was a kitten, and I was so inspired. To think, a lynian managing to rise to the highest honor within the Guild. It was so amazing. When I learned that, I decided right then I'd join the Guild the instant I was old enough."
Impressive, I thought to myself. “The minimum age is like 19, right?" I asked aloud. “Did you really join so early? What about your parents?"
A small hum of nostalgia sounded from her at the mention of family. Her fingers stopped fidgeting and she looked back up at me. I could see a bit of sadness in that gaze.
“They…they were against it," she got out after a second. “Kept telling me I should forget about hunting and become one of the cooks, or a housekeeper, or a receptionist. Something simple and away from all the dangers out in the wild. I understood their feelings, ya know. They didn't wanna lose their daughter. But I was too stubborn and determined about my goal.
“So, I left home the day before my 19th birthday. Packed all the things I thought I'd need, and shipped off to the nearest Guild town. Passing the license exam was easy enough. I'd been studying up on everything Guild related for years." Little hands came up to remove her helmet, letting her ears flick about in the open air. It was kinda cute how they jittered.
She then reached back into her bag and produced some dried beef strips, tossing a handful my way, which I 100% caught in midair and totally didn't miss like an idiot and have them land in the dirt.
Brushing away the not dirt and taking a bite of the jerky, I asked Cerys, “So, I guess that means you wanna try for Guild Knight?"
Her fuzzy little head bobbed affirmatively. “One day, yeah."
After that, we sat in relative silence for a bit, waiting for the airship to arrive to help bring the great maccao back home. It didn't take much time. A few more helpings of jerky and soon enough I could see the telltale balloons floating above the trees. Hanging from the bottom of the ship was a large harness, one I'd seen before to lift up farm animals. A long rope ladder then unfurled from the ship, and down descended a few sailors, one of which was rather familiar looking; it was the sailor I talked to on the ship that brought me and Cerys to Bherna.
“Greetings again, Arland," he said with a smile. He offered a handshake, which I returned firmly.
I voiced an assumption I'd thought about his journey. “I thought you were gonna head back to Val Habar."
A small laugh came forth from the man as he went to work helping the other sailors get the great maccao in the harness. “Well, I was still in town," he said while he fastened some ropes to the beast's legs. “And when I heard about your assignment, I kinda wanted to stick around to see how it went."
A little snort from my side alerted me to Cerys's presence. “Needless to say, he did alright for himself," she said with the smallest hint of pride in her voice. She slapped at the back of my armor-clad thigh and stated, rather boldly, “Maybe one day, he might even be good enough to take on a fatalis!"
All the sailors' eyes shifted over to Cerys and I. There was a small pause before all of them burst out laughing. Through the laughter, they began to mock Cerys's words.
“Yea, every rookie says the same thing."
“Capture one monster and already they think they can make it to the big leagues."
“A goddamn fatalis? Is this little cat serious?"
Even though I hadn't said it, I could still feel some embarrassment from their mockery, as my cheeks began to feel a tad warm. Chancing a look over to my felyne companion, I saw her twist her face into an angry look and puff up her chest, assumedly ready to argue. But before she had that opportunity, the sailors' laughing died down and the one I was familiar with spoke up.
“Sorry 'bout that. It's just real common for new hunters to get a big head after their first success. We don't mean nothing by it, honest." He tied a few more knots into the ropes at the great maccao's legs and tail and continued talking. “Not bad for your first hunt, kid. Maybe one day, you could take a fatalis. Just don't go rushing off to do that too soon. Be a shame to lose a promising hunter."
“Well, I'm certainly not suicidal enough to try," I told him.
The sailors began to double check the monster's bindings and told us to head up the ladder and onto the ship. Before we left, I remembered that I never got that one particular sailor's name, so I asked him before making my ascent.
“Oh right, I never introduced myself," he mumbled. Scratching at the back of his head, he finally gave his name, “Grant."
I gave the now named Grant a friendly nod and began my climb. Unbeknownst to me, Cerys had already started going up the ladder, as when I looked up, I got an eyeful of her furry rear end. Despite being such a short creature, Cerys's butt was round and firm, shapely and…enticing. At that that thought, I quickly averted my gaze, feeling a sense of shame for thinking such a thing. Because of this sense of guilt, I took the climb without looking up, keeping my eyes fixated on the ropes directly in front of me.
Eventually, I made it to the airship, and sauntered over the edge and onto the deck, where I was met by none other than Chief himself. The older man had a big grin on his face, and in one hand he gripped a bag of zenny, judging by the sound of the tinkling metal as he jangled the bag when he saw me.
Chief handed over the bag of zenny to her, then he said to us both, “Congratulations indeed for a job well done. I had nothing but the utmost certainty you would both succeed."
With a scoff, I waved his words off and responded, “Come on, you don't have to say something like that."
“Oh, but I mean it," the fiery-haired man reassured me. “Your exam results showed you to be an excellent hunter, and Cerys meanwhile has a history behind her of many successful outings."
Cerys was busying herself counting the zenny, but her ears flicked around at the mention of her name. Cute.
Chief limped over and clapped me on the shoulder. “Now then," he began, “with this, we'll able to study its internals more closely and determine just how similar it is to other raptor-like bird wyverns. In the meantime, I'll be sure to have some pieces parts delivered to Finley. He might be able to come up with some good designs for a new armor set."
“I don't know," I responded, brushing off some of the dirt on my chest plate. “I kinda like this one a lot so far. Alloy armor's always a good choice, if ya ask me."
Chief nodded his head in a sort of relent to my words, as if admitting I was right, before he lumbered off over to the wheel, waiting for the sailors to come back up so we could take off back to Bherna. Cerys, seemingly finished with her task, tied the zenny bag closed and then placed it inside her pouch then walked up to me.
“So, I think we talked enough about me. Now, I wanna know a little more about you."
“Like what?" I questioned.
“Well, you asked me why I became a hunter. Seems only fitting you tell me the same thing."
Shrugging, I answered, “Same reason as anyone, I guess. Adventure, seeing new places, fighting interesting monsters, blah blah blah."
She stuck out her little pink tongue and blew a raspberry at that. “You think I'm stupid? I've heard that line dozens of times, and there's always something under the surface." She reached up as high as she could and poked one padded finger against my chest. “Tell me the truth."
This cute little cat was smart, easily able to see through me like that. I let out a breath and decided it was only fair to be honest, especially after all she told me.
“I come from a small village along the edges of the Great Desert. My grandfather used to be a hunter, and when I was a kid, he'd regale me with stories of all the monsters he'd dealt with. I wanted to be a hunter too, make him proud, all that jazz. One day, though…one day there was an alarm in the village. A dangerous monster was seen in the area, a silver rathalos. They're not normally seen anywhere near the Great Desert, so everyone was a high alert, and any available hunters were called on to fight it off. My gramps came out of retirement to help out."
“I think I can see where this is gonna go," Cerys spoke quietly. She reached out and placed one small hand on my arm. “You don't have to keep going."
I shook my head. “No, its fine." I took a deep breath before continuing on. I hadn't really told anyone this story before, and the memories were coming back full force. I could feel a light stinging sensation at the corner of my eyes.
“Gramps took off after the silver rath with the others. There were about eight of them. Most were older folks like my gramps, suiting up, just wanting to protect their home one last time." The stinging in my eyes became a bit harder to ignore as I could feel something wet fall down my cheeks. “About four days later, only two of them came back. The rath's decapitated head was with them, and they told us…they told us the others got torn to pieces."
The hand on my arm tightened as Cerys got closer and wrapped her other arm around my waist, hugging me as tight as she could. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
I fought back the tears in order to not become a mess as I kept talking. “The worst part, though, the worst part is they couldn't even recover the bodies. A pack of delex came to drag the them down into the sand." My chest hurt and my throat became tight, but I kept my mouth moving, letting out years of untold memories. “The last thing I told my gramps was 'I want a big silver scale.' Not 'I love you,' or 'good luck.' I was a selfish brat."
Cerys shushed me as she hugged me, her arms rubbing at my back in a soothing gesture. It was comforting, actually. My tears gave in and accepted that I wasn't going to let the waterworks flow freely, and the pain in my chest and throat slowly eased away. I put a hand down on the top of the little felyne's head, and scratched at a spot behind an ear, thanking her for her consoling.
A soft mewl escaped my palico friend, at which point she abruptly pushed herself away from me, disengaging from the embrace, and looked a bit flustered, if the way her tail was standing on end and how she was now averting eye contact was anything to go by. Perhaps petting her was going too far.
She cleared her throat and turned around, facing away from me. She patted the pouch tied at her side and said, “We made some good coin with this job. We can divide it up once we get home." She then walked away, leaving me to wonder if I may have just screwed up something.