ORIGIN

Chaos-Two had understandably taken that day off. After passing out from the pull of energy the spell demanded, they'd remained that way for the rest of the day and into the night. They were sluggish upon waking up, but after eating, drinking, and having some more rest, they were up and running again. Clearly such a spell could not be used lightly.

"Yes Master Vargas!", they called out, trotting on all fours towards the Leviathan, coming to a halt before him, looking refreshed, "Is Khavur still hurt?"

Of course they'd ask about their sibling. Briefly, they looked Vargas up and down, checking to ensure he was healed as well.

Chaos-Two's ears perked up and forward as they nodded, "That's good to hear. I'm ready for a lesson today."

They glanced at Vargas' wounds, wondering if they ought to offer aid, but looked up. Surely Vargas had taken his wound into account beforehand, and if they were to have a lesson, then they needed all the strength they could get.

"Should I get my spear?", they asked, "What are we doing?"

Chaos-Two worked their jaw and shifted, "Ah, I learned to stalk, hunt, and how to track. That last one was... limited, because I didn't have my eyesight at the time. I've learned how to disappear into the shadows and how to muffle my steps. I used the latter to get away from the creature I encountered in Ursa. It was blind, so I managed to sneak away without alerting it."

They shifted and thought some more, "Recently I trained with Labradorite, we hunted each other through the woods to practice our skills."

They chewed their cheek for a few seconds, trying to remember more, before shaking their head, "That's about it. I've learned the how's and have been able to practice them since my reformation."

Chaos-Two shifted, ears tilting back. They stared at the ground, jaw working, before speaking.

"To um... hunt, you first have to find your prey. That's where tracking comes in. Either you follow their scent, their footprints or dung, or use magic to sense their heart beats," they said, "The first kind of hunting is stalking. For example in a field, you crouch low to hide in the grasses, and only move when your prey's attention is elsewhere. You move slowly, waiting until the last possible moment to draw attention to yourself, being as quiet as possible. Once you are in range, you lung, and either you kill quickly, poison it, or injure it enough that if it escapes, you can catch it again."

"The other kind is chasing," they said, "If you are faster than a creature, then you can run after it and take it out quickly. Or if you aren't, you can corner it against a cave wall or water, or chase it through a cave until it drops from exhaustion. The last option is best done in a group though, I've found that as the prey grows tired, as do you."

They fiddled with their hands, brows furrowed, "Hunting a lesser is easy compared to us, who are observant and can sense things easier, and have spells and different ways to defend themselves against ambush. Whereas a lesser would have a delay, either to look up or alert their herd, greaters rarely hesitate. So you need to have the advantage right away, whether it be biting with venomous fangs or clawing with poisoned claws, going for the throat, or immobilizing quickly."

Over many nights laying awake after one of Vedette's temper tantrums, they'd had time to think and reason various strategies. Not that they'd be able to use them at the time, what with them being crippled, but now that they could, it was paying off. Hopefully they'd said enough to sate Vargas, and if not, they'd have to be subjected to more humiliation. They felt awfully stupid sometimes in front of the Master.

Every detail. What more detail could Vargas want?! Would they have to admit that they'd been a terrible student due to their clumsiness and crippled legs?

"... I don't know what more you want me to say," they said softly, ears pinned, wringing their hands nervously, "I've learned spells, strategies, I understand what they asked of me but I don't know what you want me to say. I told you how to stalk prey, how to stalk greaters, how to track footprints and scents."

"Do you want me to go in depth about how to infiltrate a gembound group?", they asked, voice loud, quills quivering, "How to act docile and innocent and how I could have used my crippled nature to appeal to the kindness of the greaters that live in the caves? I could ask for aid and spend time watching and listening to them, to break them apart from the inside with rumors and poisons slipped into food to mimic a disease spreading."

"Garnet-Delta taught me to always have an escape route,", they said, "They told me not to rely on magic but on my physical abilities, and to always assume that whatever I'm hunting is hunting me back. They taught me to counter magic, to act calm and unassuming so that anyone using a spell to detect me could suspect a lesser instead, it even taught me flying maneuvers."

They wracked their mind for more, trying to keep talking until their tongue went numb, "I learned to roll in the mud to mask my scent and to plaster leaves and branches over myself to blend into a forest environment and how to take things without alerting their owner and how to lie to someone's face and convince them it was a truth and how to talk someone into giving up information. They taught me to always have a backup plan for any situation and how to use my surroundings to my advantage, whether to hide in or use to trap my quarry."

Chaos-Two's knuckles were white from how hard they were gripping their hands, "Is that what you wanted me to say?"

They might just cry if Vargas said no. Being crippled and in constant pain was one thing, but trying to ignore it in order to do things that even your normal body was barely capable of was another. They couldn't count how many times their burly, tall silhouette had gotten them alerted because they hadn't been able to hide behind something or squeeze under an obstacle. Maybe Vargas had some sympathy, but they doubted it.

They tasted copper. In their ranting they'd cut their tongue on their gem, and had to spit off to the side so it didn't fill their mouth. Stupid gem...