The Moon Wolf started to walk off with Gil close behind. Austin rushed to put away his things and ran to catch-up. He was out of breath when finally reached where Gil and Alabaster were. Austin panted as he slowed down to match their speed.
After a few breaths, he asked "What can you tell me about Alabaster?" Gil looked over at the kid, his popped collar blocking his face from below his eyes. "You have to be careful of the information you give out about your Kindred. How about you tell me what you know about Alabaster from the time you spent near him and I'll fill in some gaps."
"Alabaster is very smart. When you tell him to do things he does exactly what you want, even when you don't really explain it. He even does things before you tell him to. Also, he is very protective. He is always looking around and sniffing the air. He patrols around us when we are picking plants. He's a giant wolf, so he is probably super strong and fast. I bet he can bite anything in half with just one chomp! He is the best Kindred anyone could ever have."
As Austin complemented the Moon Wolf, Alabaster stuck his nose up in the air, puffed up his chest, and started to strut. Gil laughed. "Haha. He very well may be the best Kindred ever, but there is no real way for you to know that. Most people focus on what a Kindred can do and less on who they are. You seem to focus on the who and less on what they can do. You were spot on in the beginning, he is a smart and protective wolf. When you got to what he can do, you let your personal feelings take over and placed him on a pedestal so high no Kindred could reach."
Alabaster squinted his eyes as he turned he had to glare at Gil. He snorted in disgust and whipped his head back forward. "Haha, it seems you have turned my own Kindred against me. Well let me tell you about what Moon Wolves can do. They start as class 1 Kindred with an upper limit of class 3. They are called Moon Wolf because of the rock that orbits their head. You can tell a lot about a Moon Wolf by looking at their moon. Alabaster's moon is the basic gray moon that most Moon Wolves have. With one gray moon, he is a class 1 Physical type Kindred. Any of his skills or passives will be physical based. There are two ways for a Moon Wolf to upgrade its power. One is to gain an attribute for the moon. When a moon gains an attribute the moon changes to match the attribute. So, if they gain fire the moon will turn red and flicker with a flame like light. Water will be blue and ripple like the surface of a lake. The other way they gain power is the moon grows in size as they attune to an attribute. The moon will eventually grow big enough to split."
As they were talking, the group came upon a small grove of nut trees. Gil put his finger up to lips to signal silence. He pointed to the right and Alabaster started moving that direction, his size shrinking with each step and gaining speed. Soon he stopped getting smaller when he was the size of a large household dog and was zipping around the group of 100 trees, staying in the underbrush on the outside ring. Austin stood quietly, listening to the sounds of the forest, trying to hear Alabaster moving. He failed to hear the Moon Wolf, but did hear a strange whooping noise far off in the distance. After a minute or two, Alabaster padded back and was full size.
"All right," Gil said. "Seems safe enough. This is a Basic Growth Walnut Grove. These nuts are good for most types of Kindred's overall development. We'll spread out and collect what we can and leave. We're not staying long, just because it's safe now doesn't mean it will stay that way. I'll go to the left, Austin you go straight up the middle. Alabaster will be on the right." Gil handed Austin two bags, one larger than the other. "If you see any nuts that are different, put them in the small bag. Be quick, be safe."
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Gil dashed to the left and Alabaster ran to the right, Austin tightened his grip on the bags and scurried under the first tree he could. He found a few Basic Growth Walnuts and fumbled them into his bag. When he looked up, he saw that Gil and Alabaster were already starting to get far ahead of him. Austin was nervous that he wouldn't be helpful.
He ran as fast as he could, looking for nuts as he went. After a few minutes, Austin paused under a big tree to catch his breath. He leaned against the tree and slid to the ground. He collected a bunch of Basic Growth Walnuts, but he hadn't found any that were special. He made a fist and hit the tree with the meaty part of his hands in frustration.
The whooping sounds were getting louder and closer. Austin stood up and was ready to head back when he saw something shimmer in the branches above him. As he repositioned himself to get a better look, he saw that the sunlight was reflecting off of a golden walnut. All of the frustration and disappointment melted away from Austin as he decided he was getting that Golden Basic Growth Walnut.
He climbed the trunk of the tree as he daydreamed about when everyone got back together and poured out all the Basic Growth Walnuts they found, and his pile was the smallest, he would then pull out this Golden Basic Growth Walnut and Gil and Alabaster would be impressed.
When he got to the branch he needed to reach the walnut, he noticed how high up he actually was. The fear he felt was like a giant hand squeezing his chest, making it hard to breathe and causing his heart to start racing.
He thought about how he was going to surprise everyone with this amazing Golden Basic Growth Walnut. He took a couple of forced deep breaths to get his fear under control. When the fear was no longer paralyzing him, Austin reached out and grabbed a branch that was about level with his head. He slowly inched his feet forward, leaving the safety of the tree trunk. He focused on shuffling his hands forward, then his feet. Bit by bit, he got closer to where the Golden Basic Growth Walnut was.
As Austin hyper focused on safely moving down the branch, he didn't notice how loud and close the whooping sounds had gotten. They were in the grove and all over the place.
He reached out and pulled the Golden Basic Growth Walnut off the branch and felt the elation of success. The noise of the whooping was almost deafening, but Austin only noticed once it suddenly stopped and the grove fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Austin looked around as he put the walnut in his small bag. The leaves rustled violently then the branch he was standing on jostled sharply and almost knocked him off. With one hand holding a branch and the other tucking away the pouch, it took him a second to regain his balance.
As he looked forward, a massive 3 foot tall Flaming Blood Tree Rat screeched into his face. Sharp claws on its front and back paws dug trenches into the branch they were both standing on. Short reddish fur covered most of its body and rippling muscles could be seen under. Its rodent-like head was topped with a long mohawk that started short by its eyes and got longer the further back it went on its head. The mohawk stuck straight out on the back of its head so long it was halfway down its back.
The Flaming Blood Tree Rat's fluffy tail did its best to soften the hideous figure, but it only served as a silly juxtaposition. Someone would laugh at the absurdity of it if they were to survive the encounter.
Between the ear piercing screech, the flaming spittle that turned into embers, and the terrifying visage of the creature, Austin lost all control of his body as he froze with fear. He lost his grip, fell head first out of the tree.
As he hurled towards the ground a white blur flashed over him. Something snatched him out of the air and jostled him sharply as it hit the ground and started running. Austin was disoriented and didn't know what was going on.
After a moment, he was able to see that it was Alabaster that was carrying him by gripping his backpack in its mouth, holding him above the ground. Alabaster gained speed rapidly, to the point that the whipping wind blinded Austin.