The forest was eerily quiet at dawn. Perhaps the birds were lazier today, because the only sound was their crisp footsteps. As they skimped through the woods, Yuki walked timidly no further than a step from Leonardo, much to his amusement.
Despite training regularly in swordplay and beginning to enhance her physique — Yukiko was just a timid girl at heart, and every sudden noise would spook the living ghosts out of her. Much to Yuki’s disfavor, he wouldn’t hold her hand nor let hold his the hem of his shirt.
“Listen, Yuki.” He wagged his finger absurdly as he begun to preach with mock seriousness, “Combat readiness is very important. You shouldn’t set bad habits. Imagine if we were to be ambushed by a big bad fox, by the time I let go of your hand and reach for my weapon, you’d already be eaten up whole!”
The girl paled at his exaggeration and took it for a fact, causing him to once again burst into laughter at her expense. Gritting her teeth as she looked left and right, it suddenly dawned on her.
“Wait, why a fox?”
“Because you - little fox - smell good to them, hehe,” he couldn’t quite explain it himself, but the girl clearly had some special affinity with that species. He’d sensed them prowl around them several times, but what surprised him even more was they were on guard against him mainly, as though seeking to protect Yuki.
“Hmph! You’re ridiculing me again!” She stamped her foot on the ground, causing a nearby rodent to dash out of a nearby bush. This immediately caused her to yell and jump on Leonardo on instinct. She then blushed and let go, but by the time they separated their ‘prey’ was long gone.
“Lesson learned, little fox?”
Smiling as he stroked her head, he looked at the bush the creature fled from, then separated the leaves gently to look within.
“Come look, Yuki. It’s its den. We’re having meat today.”
“But.. brother Leo” she asked him hesitantly “are we going to eat its children?”
“Of course not. That’s disgusting and they have no meat on them. Pass me the bag I gave you, I’ll show you something important.”
Rummaging through the contents of the bag, he removed various wooden pieces Yuki couldn’t make sense of. He then attached them in a specific order, before nimbly setting the trap down just outside the burrow. He then adjusted the nearby branches, leaving only the trap to serve as a tunnel passage into the burrow.
“Look here, Yuki. If you don’t want to go hungry, you need to learn how to make the most out of your gifts. What is it you have over animals? They’re either quicker and smaller than you, or bigger and stronger. Once you learn to use weapons, you can go after the bigger ones, but for small critters…” He prodded her temple with a finger as he continued, “You must use your intelligence. It’s the greatest advantage you have over them. Observe this cage, how do you think it works?”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Rather than spoonfeed her information, Leo often spurred her to think and observe for herself. As such, he patiently let the girl to her devices and walked some fifty yards further, where he’d already spotted another burrow with his Spatium senses. He set the second trap and finally made his way back. Watching the puzzled girl still squat with a dumb look by the cage, he smirked and slowed his steps before adjusting his pace to enter what he’d dubbed ‘stealth mode’.
At the moment the spell was merely in its infancy, and didn’t do much rather than hurt his brain. He would activate several perception spells at once, allowing him to analyze and process information about his surroundings. Trying to be sneaky in a forest was hard mainly due to the layer of foliage on the ground. Dry branches, crusty leaves and other such obstacles would make noise whenever you stepped on them. To that end, Leo sought to observe and unveil an optimal path through the terrain without leaving traces of passage or alerting people through sound.
This embryo didn’t serve much use at the moment, as most animals relied on instinct or were usually alert, but as far as little Yuki… ‘Time to wake the forest’ he thought with a grin. Making his way over to the girl’s backside, he took a wet branch from a nearby bush and stuck it under her shirt, at the same time calling out with a gentle tsss sound.
(( Kyaaaaah! ))
Jumping like a rocket, the girl scrambled away in a flurry and barely stopped some 20 meters away when she finally realized the ‘snake’ didn’t bite her but fell out of her shirt limply to the ground. She then looked back and saw the wheezing Leonardo barely able to breathe as he staved his laughter.
“Leo you meanie! LAUGH. Laugh all you want! hmph!” By the time she finished her sentence, the girl had already crouched down and burst into tears. Much like an ostrich, she hid her face and pretended Leonardo didn’t exist. Even as he apologized and promised her the world, her sobs continued. It seemed the prank misfired a little, much to the dismay of Leo who couldn’t calm the girl down even after ten minutes.
“Alright, alright… stop or you’ll scare away the food and we’ll go hungry… Oh! Let’s go down to the market today, I’ll take you with!”
“R-really?” The girl stopped crying instantly and looked at him with enthusiasm.
“Sure...” Unaware if he was being conned by the girl, he could only lament that all women were great actors. “Here, hold my hand.”
“Yeeey!” Cheering, Yukiko jumped to her feet briskly and held on to his hand tightly, as if to prevent him from reneging on his promise.
“Come, we’ll take a shortcut through the cemetery.” Leading her away from the forest. He waited until she calmed down fully before continuing his lesson on the importance of alertness.
“Listen, little fox,” he pulled on her ear gently and only stopped when she winced and looked at him with teary eyes. “Alertness is not something you can turn on and off, its an instinctual habit and you must develop it early. Don’t think I’m only being mean to you. One day these lessons might save your life.”
Of course, he would never admit he also took great pleasure in seeing her squeal. Was he a sadist in the making, or is that just something every mischievous brother has in him?