The latin phrase had surprised Ryan, after dredging his fragmented memory of his latin schooling in high school and university thoroughly he understood, the victor eats. How Fury had reconstructed the phrase from his memories baffled him, he probably wouldn’t have been able to string that sentence together. He put aside his musings on how quickly Fury’s intellect was growing and dug in, forcing himself once again to eat more than his fill.
After he had stuffed himself with another helping of lioness, with the grudging approval of the little cub, Ryan headed back to Johannes. Fury had made her disapproval unequivocally clear, she wouldn’t accept being starved while he gluttonously devoured his food and had only reluctantly allowed him to eat while she had to wait. The mental discussion had been enlightening. Fury was a queen, and demanded to be fed, at least until she would deign to source her own sustenance.
Ryan chuckled to himself as they walked out of the kitchen, Fury was cute in her attempts to portray the stereotypical spoiled princess, he could, however feel how insecure and threatened his other half really was. The bravado she displayed couldn’t ever fool him and Fury would know he knew. Still, he went along with her little game, if only to reassure her.
Again he considered how impressively quickly her burgeoning intellect grew, assimilating the knowledge he had retained on a wide variety of topics, deconstructing it and interpreting it from the unique point of view of an apex predator. She incessantly queried his understanding on anything from weapons, construction, hunting and social interactions. Even if she had direct access to his thoughts as he had to hers and to his memories, she often missed contextual or tangential information that she would have otherwise have to rummage for, so instead she just asked. As she indexed and referenced ever more information her understanding of the world was quickly on the way to equalise with his own.
Vice versa, in a process that roughly mirrored hers, Ryan quickly gained a nuanced understanding of the information his Enhanced Senses provided. In particular, the information that his increased sensitivity to smell provided, bolstered with Fury’s instinctive understanding, had become increasingly intelligible. This new understanding humbled him, as only now he had become aware of all the knowledge he had failed to process previously. Ryan also found that he was moving through and interacting with his environment differently, predatory instincts quickly optimising the best avenues of approach to his prey. When he became consciously aware of what was happening he immediately clamped down on what his/their? instincts were telling him. The fact that this caused him to shift from a graceful predators stalk along the margins of any path to walking smack dab in the middle of the path and approaching Johannes’ stable openly not lost on him. These new instincts would prove beyond useful if he could reign them in when not needed.
Their new unity also caused him a non-trivial amount of embarrassment. Ryan was just glad that no-one else could understand Fury.
“You should mate with her, she’s in heat.” Fury’s observation had Ryan stumbling as they walked past Alexis and Carmen as the duo tended to the herb garden. Flashing images of making the beast with two backs with Alexis percolated through his imagination. Moments later his face reddened as Fury interrupted him.
“Not her. The other one.”
The little cub was paying very close attention to his thoughts. Trying to distract himself he sniffed deeply, sampling the aroma of the two virile females. It took him bare moments to untangle the scent and indeed, Carmen’s smell caused a small shudder of excitement to rush down his spine. His instincts told him that she must be ovulating, ready to procreate.
Ryan forcibly clamped down on the sensations. “Ugh, this will take some getting used to.” The chuffing hngk, hngk, hngk sound Fury issued vocally only caused his face to strive even more to become the ideal of a ripe tomato. Focusing on the thoughts of his companion didn’t help, the evil minx was definitely aware of the mating habits of homo sapiens and was having a field day playing with her prey.
“Damnit Fury. Stop messing with me, will you.” His protesting thoughts had no impact on the unrepentant lioness.
“You should get laid, that would relieve the tension you’re feeling.” Ryan could feel her amusement. He tried to focus on her thoughts, attempting to figure out whether the playful tone she had used reflected what the lioness really thought. Fury had learned something new, her thoughts were veiled somehow. Ryan could only catch tanatalising glimpses, fragments of thought, seeing only the tiniest part of the whole.
“How are you doing that?” he asked her.
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“I won’t tell you. Figure it out, it isn’t that hard. You’ll need to learn this, I won’t ever stop.” Fury’s smug, self-satisfied grin could be heard in her statement. Ryan considered how she could have veiled her thoughts. When he reconstructed how her thoughts felt previously in comparison to now he quickly arrived at a conclusion once he took her nature into account, the predatory intent the veil expressed the last clue he had needed. Fury was hiding in deep grass, stalking her prey. Ryan visualised himself stalking through thick bush, dressed in camouflage, approaching the little lioness with a bow drawn. He was so focused on this visualisation that all other thoughts disappeared.
“Huh, you’re gone. How did you do that?” she in turn asked him.
He attempted to maintain the visualisation while he communicated back, “Figure it out.”
“I can feel you again, but now you’re hidden.” Fury exclaimed.
Struggling to maintain the visualisation while thinking of other things was harder than anything Ryan had ever attempted, inclusive of approaching the first girl he was ever romantically interested in. Eventually it got easier, slightly. A soft chime told him that he had just unlocked a Skill, he’d review it later, but he assumed that he knew what it would be. For now, Ryan would practice this obsessively until it became second nature, the little devil was far too nosy.
“Ryan, are you okay?” Alexis voice startled him and he quickly opened his eyes. Once again, he could feel the red tinge of embarrassment creeping up his neck. He must have been standing next to the herb garden with his eyes closed for quite a while, and he now again remembered the fantasy that had played through his mind earlier which was the reason for it.
“Uhmm, nope. I’m fine. Just having an argument with Fury here.”
“You can understand her? What, our bond doesn’t work that way. I just get the vaguest impressions from Kira.” Ryan could hear how shocked Alexis was at this particular bit of information.
“No, crystal clear. Say, did you bond or soulbond Kira?” Ryan queried Alexis as he couldn’t remember the particulars of her bond with the dog.
“No, it’s just called a bond. Why?” Alexis answered quickly.
“Well, Fury and I are soulbonded. From what it sounds like it’s far more beneficial for both partners than the type of bond you and Johannes have with your companions. Say, let me speak to John and ask whether we can all discuss the nature of our various bonds. I promise it will be well worth your time.”
“Sure. Weren’t you heading to speak to Johannes in any event? I’ll just tag along then. We’re done here for now in any event.” Alexis was quick to decide.
“Shit, Fury just reminded me that the whole reason we headed down here was so she could grab some yum yums from Johannes. Little glutton is perma-hungry it seems, she had a meal barely an hour ago. You’re walking down with us?”
“Yes.” Alexis answered, “let me just call Kira.” A sharp whistle sounded. Seconds later the dog approached from the house with a leisurely lope.
“See that Fury. See how well behaved Kira is?” Ryan spoke the teasing admonition out loud for Alexis benefit.
“I am not your little bitch.” Fury’s mental voice was cold. Then she patted his boots with an unambigous there, there gesture and curled up with her wiggling butt towards him. It was obviously a dismissal.
Alexis couldn’t help laughing as she saw Ryan’s face. “Owned!” she managed to squeeze out before losing it entirely. Instead of replying and further becoming an object of ridicule Ryan elected to turn around and head to Johannes’ stable, preserving what shreds of his dignity remained. Focusing on something productive he called up the notification he had received.
Skill learned – Predator’s Veil. Passive/Active. Novice. Passive effect. Players mind is shrouded, lowers psychic emanations. Active effect: When concentrating, Player can deepen the passive camouflage, making Player harder to detect and veiling his thoughts from all observation, observation of the veil inflicts observers with Player’s predatory intent, may result in a fear effect. Effectiveness dependent on Skill Rank.
“Hmmm, yes, definitely training that religiously.” Ryan thought to himself as he strode through the door of the stables.
“Jup, we definitely need to train that Skill up.” Fury’s thoughts reminded Ryan that he had dropped the veil when speaking to Alexis, so concentrating intensely he again visualised stalking through the bush, veiling his thoughts.
When he felt a nudge on his shoulder he realised that he must have been missing what Alexis, who was now facing him, must have asked. Seemed like he couldn’t both maintain the veil and actively interact with his environment, such a shame.
“Huh, sorry. New Skill, got a bit lost there. Could you repeat that, please.” Ryan tried to rescue the situation.
“You really are oblivious.” Alexis said, and after a short pause continued. “Did you speak to John yet?”
“John is here.” Johannes answered for Ryan as he stepped in from the corral, “Aah, I see Fury has found her meal already. Alexis, what brings you here?”
“Ryan suggested that we discuss the differing nature of our bonds with John. He promised that it would be worth our time.” Alexis replied.
“John actually suggested the same and asked me to fetch you and Ryan. William and Lizzy are joining in too, he informed them earlier and they should be here soon. Ryan, you guys made me curious. Want to give me a heads up? Help a brother out?” Johannes weedled.
“Nope. Your High Levelledness can wait until the VIP’s arrive.” Ryan couldn’t help paying Johannes back a little of the lighthearted teasing he had been enduring. “No need to repeat the story unnecessarily.” He finished the conversation as he stepped away to join John outside. Ryan grinned to himself, he was looking forward to seeing their faces when the implications of their revelation would dawn on them, he’d just have to ask John not to immediately start off with the explanation the System provided, better to let them stew for a bit.