[Flashback] Essence of Rabbit (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 7, Fall of 416 AV
Afternoon
Near Aylasa Caves

Time ticked slowly by, and in the middle of the wilderness a single vantha is concealed by twigs and leaves, lying flat on his stomach waiting patiently for game. He had been here for god knows how long, but he believed this place to be a prime spot for rabbits, just that he happened to be unlucky. He had placed bait of nuts that he 'borrowed' from Coinsmith who had been foraging earlier at the spot a distance ahead of him.

He was a young associate of the new organization that he joined via a mysterious but clearly magical contract, the Alazapatl, or the Legacy of Heaven in Common. It could also be understood as Alahea's Legacy, for he had learned that this group used to belong to the mighty kingdom of Alahea before the Valterrian.

Middleman had demanded for him to go out a get something edible for the group, for they cannot possibly hope to rely purely on Coinsmith and Yeller to hunt and forage all season long. Shifts were very much preferred, but when he asked by Medal did not do so, the projectionist said that he could just bring back food if he wanted with magic. That left Eridanus, or 'Redeemer' as he was known to them, the only one without any viable hunting skills.

That was going to change.

[Eridanus]

There was a fluttering of noise in the bushes nearby, and the vantha's heart quickened in anticipation as his eyes followed the motion of a small white bunny coming out of the shrubbery. Its nose sniffing the air around it, its eyes darting around cautiously, entering the clearing, aiming straight right at the nuts that the aspiring hunter had deployed.

Eridanus began to channel the astral streams to his legs, specifically directing them first from his chest and hands to his lower torso, then pumping them to the muscles in his legs that governed explosive power, namely the thighs and hamstring. He kept his body still otherwise, his steely gaze intent on the rabbit so as to not lose his prey.

Feeling the strength leave his upper torso, he felt the proportionate strength increase in his legs as his body buzzed with energy, the flux streams that he wielded coming into play as pure force and vitality grew in his legs. Taking a deep breath, he positioned his legs carefully behind him, and in one single exhalation he exploded forward in a powerful motion, sailing through the air from his hidden position, his arms grabbing soft fur as he rolled into a tumble.

He might have heard some sort of squeal from the rabbit, or whatever sounds terrified rabbits make, but that was the least of his attention. Heart pumping from the adrenaline of a successful strike after endless waiting, he rolled from his tumble, standing up while his hands grasped his prey in an iron grip. The rabbit struggled, but the vantha's strong grip caused it to slowly suffocate, and he heard several cracks as bones broke in the young bunny's frail frame.

Bringing his flux streams back up to their normal positions, he waved the hand holding the rabbit just to see if it was still alive, and when there was no more motions from the animal he strode back to the cave, holding his kill in the air triumphantly.

[Eridanus]

"Oh look here! Ickle Redeemer has caught himself a widdle bunny wabbit!" Coinsmith exclaimed, his voice oozing in sarcastic wonder. Eridanus gave him a death glare before walking by him, standing before Middleman and hefting his hunted prey.

"What now?" the vantha asked.

The old nuit glanced wryly at the vantha, then looked at Coinsmith again before looking back at the vantha. "Maledict it, pass the remains to Coinsmith; he'll do the preparations for the meat." The rash brawler began to protest, but when Middleman stared at him in a commanding gaze he backed down, instead submissively assenting.

The head was probably the most unimportant part of an animal when it comes to food, and so the vantha took out his assassin's dagger, utilizing the wicked edge of the weapon to chop the small bunny's head off, flinging the rest of the corpse to Coinsmith. Fresh blood sputtered from the wound as the body sailed in the air, some of it getting on Coinsmith's robes.

So there for being condescending, you asshat.

With a triumphant grin at the brawler, Eridanus left the room of the cave into a smaller room at the side of the cave in order to concentrate on his next task.

Settling down in the center of the smaller room, he first began the tiresome task of stripping the flesh and viscera from the head. Digging a hole on an area of the floor that is made of soft ground instead of hard rock, he buried the non-bone parts that he stripped from the skull with his dagger.

When the gruesome job was finally done, he found himself looking at the tiny skull of the small rabbit that he caught. Eyes twinkling in excitement, he rolled up his sleeves, placing the skull on one side as he took out a quill and a vial of ink that he borrowed from the nuit. He had no idea just how many vials of ink and quills the old nuit brought around, but from what he had seen so far he could safely say 'unlimited'.

Then again, Middleman had no need to bring along supplies such as food, which would explain the abundance of such supplies on the nuit.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus had an inkling of what he wanted to do with a rabbit. It felt a little like a cop-out, but he knew that like dogs, rabbits had an excellent knack for smell. He decided that he would amplify that characteristic, though he could not do it in the same way he did for the dog since well, rabbits were primarily prey on the food-chain while dogs were natural predators.

Dipping the quill in the ink, he first began by drawing a rough outline of the rabbit skull, though he did realize that the skull is a three-dimensional object, and thus he compensated for that by imagining the bone surface wrapped out in a two-dimensional plane, and then drawing that rough outline on the stone floor. That would be his practice canvass.

This time there would be no Yeller to help him draw, or Middleman to help him inspect. He was to work on this alone, and then present the nuit with the final product. If it worked, it was a success regardless of effect. That was the philosophy of malediction after all, whether it be a boon or curse as long as there was a sort of effect it was a success. If nothing happened it was a failure.

He drew a horizontal line partitioning the outline into the top and bottom. Writing words would be easier on the parts of the skull that were uneven, while the smooth back part of the skull would be better suited for drawing. He would of course use the same method as he did for the dog; a potent combination of prose and art to convey his intended meaning.

Starting on the words first, instead of compiling a list like he did the last time he wrote a short sentences describing the rabbit and how its sense of smell would help it to seek food and escape predators.

Enhanced smell, seeking the air. Find sustenance. Evade predators. Sense danger.

[Eridanus]

All of this he wrote down, filling the bottom part of the outline in neat legible handwriting, taking his time to carefully write each word down. Looking up at the other half of his canvass, he sighed as he dipped the quill into the inkwell again, wondering how he was going to do this.

Perhaps, a rabbit with its nose carefully whiffing the air while its eyes glance around warily?

That was the common image he had of rabbits, and indeed that was the particular position his prey was in before he launched himself at it. The only problem lay in trying to transfer that into drawing, and thus he decided to do it conservatively, using simple circles, squares and triangles to portray his vision in a cartoon-like manner. In other to compromise, he then added a short caption describing exactly what he thought at the bottom of the picture.

It's the thought that counts, right?

Shaking his head, he stood back up to take a glance at his writing and drawing combination, nodding to himself before picking up the skull. He was going to do this in a two-step manner, first replicating what he had on the blank canvass on the skull with the ink from the quill. If he made any mistakes at least he could wash off the ink.

When he was done and satisfied with the result, he would then use the dagger to carve out the final design using the ink as a guideline by tracing through. That would be probably the best method that would prevent him from accidentally screwing up and having to find another skull. He did not relish going back out in defeat to catch another prey, possibly seeing Coinsmith's smirk while doing so.

[Eridanus]

Dipping the quill into the inkwell again, he glanced at the rapidly drying ink on the stone floor of the cave, deciding that he would start first with words. After all, it was difficult to screw that up as long as he remained a steady hand and a careful eye for detail. Meticulously, he copied each sentence word for word, replicating the descriptive phrases and sentences he laid out along with uneven parts of the skull.

That was a feat in itself for the stone ground was even but the skull had random parts jutting out; or at least as random as nature allowed rabbit's skulls to be. Eridanus was no expert on animal anatomy. Several times he had to readjust the angle at which he held the skull in order to paint the ink more conveniently, and he had to reposition a few words so that each word could be written in their own tiny space instead of being drawn over jutting edges. That would work for ink but would function poorly in carving.

After half a bell of doing so, he next proceeded to the harder part. It was easier in theory, but difficult for one lacking artistic talent like him. Using the remaining even edge of the back part of the skull, he made several tiny ink blots around the part of the skull he was drawing on as points of reference that he could use. That was actually one of the methods of drawing Yeller taught him in order to maintain a certain level of proportions in one's art.

With that technique it actually made it a whole much easier to draw the picture he had on the ground that was made out of crude shapes, for he was no longer drawing one huge picture but instead the work was divided into smaller segments that he could simply replicate. Divide-and-conquer; it worked in tactics but surprisingly it worked in something as mundane as art as well.

He spent the next better part of the bell finishing the picture segment by segment, and finally he added the caption at the bottom. That was much easier for the part of the skull he was writing on was smooth unlike the bottom half of the skull that had uneven edges.

[Eridanus]

Not it was the actual event. Gripping his assassin's dagger nervously, Eridanus cautiously poked into one of the outlines covered by the ink. As long as he maintained a steady grip and traced the ink it should be fine, though he had to take care to prevent his grip from swaying off due to the tension that he needed to place in order to carve.

That meant cautious carving, and it was a highly painstaking method where he chipped away the depth of the carvings in the skull instead of stabbing the knife in and tracing. This method was much slower than the latter method, but had the benefit of having a much smaller margin for error as well. He was quite comfortable sitting here and slowly chipping away in the mundane task though, it was much better than having to hunt for another animal, not when he was already so far in the process.

Failure now was not an option.

Gritting his teeth in determination, he first began with the drawing. Conversely, now that the ink was in place and his job was now chipping a carved edge along the ink the even surface where he had a drawing was easier now. The harder part would be maintaining an accurate and steady hand while carving the uneven parts of the skull.

That would be a problem later on, but for now he would focus on the easier task. Spending the next bell or so he carefully chipped away with his dagger at the smooth part of the skull. First gently flaking away the surface, then digging the dagger further and creating deeper edges into the skull. Chimes passed, and slowly the picture began to take shape, etched deep into the skull. The words also began to form, and the next bell passed before the vantha finally stopped to take a rest, emptying bone fragments that were released as a result of his chipping work.

Wiping a sweat that formed over his brow, he shook the skull on the ground again, dislodging any bone fragments remaining before working on the harder part; etching words into the rest of the skull.

[Eridanus]

The vantha rested his hands for about ten chimes, then he picked up the skull again with his left hand, wringing his wrists to release some of the tension within it before using his right hand to grip the dagger once more.

Let's do this!

Eyes knitted together in concentration, he visually segmented each part of the skull into carveable and non-carveable sections. He would use the uneven ridges as partitions of sentences, essentially using them to act as commas or full-stops depending on the width of the ridges. Each small carveable segment - a tiny area of smooth, even surface - would be the canvass upon each sentence would be written; or carved in this case.

Over the next several bells, he worked on each tiny segment that he mentally partitioned with the ridges, taking care to chip away meticulously until the words formed were deep enough. His mind screamed in boredom at him, but he soldiered on, shutting off most rational thought and instead relying on automated motion to keep himself going, using the little conscious thought that he had focused on making sure he was doing the right thing.

It was an interesting sort of semi-meditative trance he was in, and several bells later when he finally chipped away the last word in the skull, he breathed a sigh of relief, placing the skull in front of him as he placed the dagger on the ground. Leaning back with his hands supporting his body, he blinked his eyes several times to alleviate the slight headache he was getting from the intense staring and concentration, and he groaned as he rubbed his temples.

[Eridanus]

"Well, here goes nothing..." the vantha muttered to himself, his heart beating in anticipation. Would his effort now succeed? Or would it come to naught?

Pricking his finger gently with the point of his dagger, he squeezed the tiny wound to extract a single drop of life from it, positioning it over the skull as he watched the drop of blood fall on the skull, coaxed from his body.

Nothing happened, but the skull seemed to have absorbed the drop of blood, like a hungry artifact absorbing blood as if it were sustenance. Perhaps he had made an effect, but whether the resulting product had any properties were up to question, really. Being a beginner, Middleman had informed him that the effects tended to be minor and generally noticeable, and therefore he had no reliable way of knowing for himself whether his operation was a success or failure.

Well, by himself anyway. Keeping the assassin's dagger back inside his robes, he stood up, massaging the partially numb legs as he kicked his feet several times in the air, hearing several tense muscles pop as they shifted back into position.

The blood circulating properly in his legs, he took his finished product proudly, walking out of the room in order to present it to the nuit, who had his own ways of certifying his work. Would his painstaking methods succeed? He sure hoped so, for he was already tired from the intense concentration he focused tinkering on the skull for the past three or four bells straight without much rest.

"So, Middleman, what do you think?"

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Eridanus Skills Malediction- 5 XP Drawing- 4 XP Carving- 4 XP Writing- 2 XP Trapping- 1 XP Flux- 1 XP Lores Yeller's Technique Essence of Rabbit Novice Malediction Has Minor Effects Points of Reference in Drawing Comments : Nice job Eri as usual! I will upgrade your malediction lore when you hit competent, so for now it will remain at partial. Also, add a 4% bonus to smell as well as the rabbit skull. If there are any other questions then go ahead and PM me!