The Calm Before the Storm (Aello)

[Gunho Ma]

Gunho barely knew anything about hunting or the wilds. He was proficient in the preparation of food, not in its acquisition and his inadequacy was making him feel self-conscious and just a little angry at himself. He was an industrious person, always putting his hands to work even if there was no duty he had to fulfil. He thrived on being useful, very useful but tagging along to play the part of a bipedal mule felt to him, like one of the biggest lowest points in his life. Without anything left to do but to obey the girl and mutely follow her the former acolyte remained quiet through the wordless minutes where the only thing that distracted him from his dark feelings and the a pale dead world of white and ice was Aello’s slender form gracefully cutting through the snow on a hunting path. Even his untrained eyes could pick up a little bit about the girl’s ability now, with a distance he may not have been able to witness it but so close he could easily see the confidence that she wore like a second skin. Gunho wished he could become like that one day though he wasn’t jealous of the challenges in life that Aello had to overcome to become the way she was. He stopped, rather abruptly since the huntress had too and he followed her gaze to the prey she’s spotted. Squirrels again, they wouldn’t be impressive trophies but they were food no matter how you looked at them. An acorn fell upon the ground disturbing a pair of squirrels and they were quick to scatter. He could notice that compared to the hares he saw during spring or summer... These weren’t very fast, they couldn’t survive winter if they didn’t have their fur or put on a respectable layer of fat around their bodies... now that was going to be the fatal drawback in their design if he had anything to do about it. Gunho prepared himself to witness Aello’s skills first-hand, not to hunt in her place upon her orders... Was she really seriously considering letting him shoot? Wouldn't it be a waste of arrows...? was this even an order? Or was Aello having fun at his expense? Gunho didn’t have time for reluctance. The prey was coming right at him so he accepted her bow and arrow and he was looking to Aello for her additional instructions. "What now?" there was no voice behind the words, only exaggerated lip movement.

[Aello]

Aello smiled as Gunho took her weapon, and she deftly reached over her shoulder and plucked a raven feather fletched arrow from her quiver. "I'll show you," she mouthed, as she held it out to Gunho, before moving closer to him, and pushing down on her bow, so that it fell on its side. She laced the arrow onto the serving for him then, and then tugged his right hand over. She put his three middle fingers around the arrow, the top two above, the lower one below, and then motioned for him to raise the bow again. When Gunho had, Aello nudged his foot with her own, kicking his legs apart, before nudging his left foot again, so he'd turn it towards her. Smiling when he seemed to get it, Aello moved behind him, bringing her body close. She wrapped her arms around him, and pressed her chest into his back, her body curling along his side, as she reached for her bow's grip, and pulled his hand up a bit, to help better balance not only the weapon, but the arrow which clicked delicately against the wooden frame from time to time. When the left hand was done adjusting, it wound up the length of Gunho's arm, slowly, straightening it a bit, but being sure it stayed somewhat bent at the elbow. But not enough so that it was noticeable. Delicately, the girl's hand wound up Gunho's arm, to his shoulder, his neck, feeling along the side of his face until she found the dip of his eye sockets. The gentle curve of his bones. Her fingers furled as she drew them along the line of his dark hair, and then, when having reached his forehead, allowed them to droop and shut his left eye. As soon as that had been done, Aello pulled her hand away. Her right hand, which had been resting against the middle of Gunho's back, made its way upwards, and towards the bowstring. Her fingers wove around his, helping to inch it back, towards his right side, past his ear. He being taller than she, she couldn't help him aim, but almost inaudibly, she whispered, "sight down the arrow. Direct it at one of the squirrels, and then shoot." As she did, her fingers slithered away, along the length of his back. Towards their center. She thought she could feel him trembling beneath her touch, and smiled, pleasantly to herself, as she stepped away. Waiting, as the squirrels fought for their territory. She knew it'd be over soon.

[Gunho Ma]

A nod was the only response Gunho returned before submitting himself to Aello's authority. There was nothing left to do but trust her. He eased up, allowing his body to relax and his mind to become vacated of all thoughts but those inspired by Aello's silent lecture. If only it would be that easy. He could follow most of her cues when it started innocently enough. Gunho brought his hands where she guided them effortlessly and his mind registered all the details he could pick up. He squeezed the arrow, pinning it securely with three fingers upon the shaft the way she'd positioned him to and he kept it raised to the level Aello suggested with her hands. When she was correcting his stance Gunho didn't understand if she was asking him to move forward at first, but he got the message when she pried his legs open and motioned for him to turn his foot towards her. The thing that happened next was what slowly started to whittle away at his concentration however. Aello position herself right behind him, which he'd expected from the start. What he didn't really think she'd do after telling him last night that she would was press her body so closely against his back that he could feel her chest and her warmth. He could swear that he could feel - or was it hear - the sound of her heartbeat through his skin while she looked for her bow's grip and helped him secure better balance on the wooden arch so that he could avoid making his shots horribly misaimed. After she finished setting his left hand in place, he became acutely aware of her fingers climbing all the way up from his arm to his eye without losing physical contact with him. It was slightly more than mildly distracting but he somehow endured and with some more help, Aello finally had his arms almost perfectly poised for the kill. All he needed to do was to follow her instructions, sight the arrow down and fire away. If only he could concentrate... but the huntress' light touch was oddly electric and caused him to tremble slightly even after she stepped away. Gunho didn't want to waste her effort however. He willed his mind to focus on his prey, he trained his eye right on his target and aligned it. Then he released the shaft. This was more Aello's shot than his own. She'd shaped his form, guided his aim and was at the heart of that single motion where he released the arrow that had been knocked into the string. It flew and despite all his effort, the arrow flew a few inches shy of his target digging deep into snow covered earth. "Crud." was the only thing he could articulate in response to missing that shot. He felt utterly horrible for the mistake after all the effort Aello had put into helping him align the shot.

[Aello]

Aello could only smile weakly as her gaze settled on the back of Gunho's back. "It's alright," Aello whispered, "didn't think you'd get it on the first try, or so much as come close. Especially when you were doing most of the aiming yourself." The girl chuckled, as she watched the squirrel's eyes grow wide, as they peered at their assailants for a moment, frozen in place, before they quickly caught ahold of their senses, and scurried off, towards the nearest tree in the hopes of finding some cover. Again, Aello chuckled, as she stepped forward and pulled another arrow from her quiver. She handed it silently over to Gunho, expecting him to take it as she turned to him and mouthed the words. "Do it again." She knew now that the squirrels were hiding, that they expected an attack, and it would prove to be all the more difficult for the novice to shoot them, but she didn't care. Right now he needed the practice; to learn how to aim properly on his own, so that when they found another animal, some sort of prey that proved slightly more accommodating than the squirrels, he could kill it himself. Of course, that wasn't to say that if he took too darn long, Aello wouldn't step in and simply bring down their dinner herself. She did, after all, want something more substantial than a few poorly-cooked potatoes.

[Gunho Ma]

"I'll try not to disappoint you." he replied, his gaze still following the fleeing squirrels as best as he could. He didn't want to reward her efforts with a smile, something substantial, something they could eat... if there was anything he could give the girl he wanted to give her in exchange for her kindness and initiative it would be that. He took the arrow she offered, knocking it into the bow and drawing it firmly with the three-finger grip Aello had taught him. His left hand remained firm, angled as she shaped it earler and he aimed his weapon carefully, his one eye taking care of the allignement between his bow, prey and arrow. It was a difficult shot, more than the last one... He held his breath, not wanting the rise and fall of his body to displace his shot more than his inexperience might. He wished his target weren't a squirrel, a person might be easier to hit than this. With his left arm locked and the elbow angle corrected, he strained the string further and he allowed the arrow to fly. Like quicksilver the metal-head shone white in the weak light of the sun and it struck the ground beside the squirrel like a hammer. He muttered a curse in his mother's native tongue and went to retrieve the arrow he'd used earlier to knock it back into hisborrowed bow all the while staring at the moving squirrel. It was fortunate that the ground was hard and compacted so the metal was relatively soil free once he shook it in the air. The bad part was that he'd lost the prey he was tracking with his eyes. The thing was too small, too fast and too shrewed for a novice to follow. "I lost it Aello, do you know where it is? Or its friend?"

[Aello]

Aello simply nodded as she watched Gunho shoot, not all surprised when he missed the squirrels again, and they scurried away, even deeper into the tree's branches; its recesses. The girl chuckled as she stepped forward, along with his questions. "Into the holes in the forest," she responded, "hiding from you," she added, as she grabbed her other arrow and returned it to her quiver. "Come, we will find something else for you to kill," she finished, as she stepped past him, offering a small smile before truly moving on. The girl wove in and out of the trees in silence, knowing that Gunho would follow, and that if he tried anything stupid, he'd be dead in a heartbeat. "Just keep the bow at the ready," Aello called over her shoulder, as she pushed a low lying branch away, so it wouldn't scrape across her skin. "That way it won't be much of a blunder when something else comes along and you have the heart to end it all." The girl paused as she moved past the branch, and into a deeper portion of the forest, her steps echoing lightly across the forest floor. The aurist's eyes passed back and forth over the terrain, looking for steps other than their own, a disturbance in the underbrush. Silver mist pooled about her lips as she forced herself to concentrate. She had a feeling that Gunho wouldn't be of much use on this particular hunting trip. Not until she had had the chance to train him up a little better, anyway.

[Gunho Ma]

Disappointment. A harvest of failures. He wished he could do better, he had naught the skill or talent to do what he must do to impress. Industry and perseverance were all noble qualities, but they would not satisfy here. He sighed, slumping in his failure... Fortuate Aello's smile was comforting - a small comfort in the shadow of his grievances however. He wished to show her competence, but this was his first time with the bow and arrow. He accepted her suggestion, following her lead to abandon the fruitless hunt of small game. Perhaps he would do better with something that had more bulk... perhaps prey more than a handspan in size would fall easier under it's own weight and the barbs of an arrow strung. The masseur moved quietly, not daring to make noise or risk quick movements that might alarm potential prey. He took up the bow, knocking an arrow in it while avoiding to draw it completely. He'd not risk a misfire, arrows were precious commodities int he wild. Perhaps it would remain invisible to the masseur but there was, some distance from them the trail left behind by a small woodland creature. Upon closer inspection the gentle depressions couldn't be mistaken for the tracks of any other creature. These were hooves, a deer or moose had wandered around these parts not so long ago. If they made haste, they might yet catch up to the creature.

[Aello]

After trekking through the forest in silence for several chimes, Aello and her companion happened upon a series of tracks. The gentle crescent-like curvature of the outside edges caused the girl to think that the meandering path was carved by something with hooves. A deer perhaps, an elk, a caribou. Slowly, easing her body down a little to study them, Aello peered at the lines, following them with her outstretched finger against the cool earth. As she continued to stare, the colors came forth, illuminating the path she would have struggled to stay upon; to find, had she tried to proceed without its help. As she looked at the deep red outline of each of the prints, the girl thought she could hear a sort of bellowing off in the distance, the stamping of hooves, feel a soft fur beneath the tips of her fingers. Brushing against it, almost unnoticeably. She could hear antlers tangling together, presumably after a fight, just make out the outline of an animal off in the distance. The bright red glow flashed as it darted away, leaving the girl uncertain just as to what it had been, but she had a feeling it was a doe. "These belong to a deer," Aello whispered as she straightened herself out and followed the glowing trail with her eyes. "Not sure how old they are though. It's difficult to tell with this sort of weather, the ground being so hard." Shrugging, the aurist's right hand fell into place just above where her cursed dagger rested, "we may as well follow them then, since there seems to be nothing else around anyway." With that, she shrugged again, and motioned for Gunho to follow her. Slowly, but steadily, she followed the glimmering path, until it led no further. After all that time had passed, the girl simply sighed as she looked up, only to find a deer laying on the ground, its chest rising and falling rapidly, as thick tendrils of silver smoke escaped its nostrils. The girl thought she could see its large, black nose quivering, as she followed the line of its back to its legs, which had been curled beneath it. Well this isn't going to be any fun, Aello thought. At least Gunho should be able to hit it though, her mind added, as she motioned for him to come forward, and slowly, slid her hand past the long slit in the fabric of her dress. Her bare hand crept across her skin, until it fell against the hilt of her dagger, and pulled it free. The blood glistening in the morning light. She held the weapon out to her side, simply waiting for one of the others to make a move. For the glowing red outline of the deer to flash away, when it came to notice them.

[Gunho Ma]

Gunho was not blessed with the same eyes Aello had and could only look at the world through the lens of an ordinary man, how she made her discovery was a mystery to him. Only when he'd followed her and was was close enough to recognize the gentle impression of something curved in the snow and soil could he pick up where Aello was going with this. She told him they were hunting deer, though he didn't know enouhg about animal tracks to second guess her. All he cared about was that they now had prey on their hands, something so large that it wasn't impossible for a novice to hit it. He followed Aello's lead, his left hand still bearing the bow with the arrow still loading and knocked behind by the three fingers of the masseur's right hand. The chase was silent, surprisingly uneventful but Gunho remained alert and wary of anny sudden surprises. Deer were very fast creatures and he didn't want one to escape him because of arrogant carelessness. After finally stumbling upon a deer, Gunho did not wait for Aello's cue. He was certain she expected some initiative from him anyway and so he had prepared before the signal. He only had to take the stance she showed him, left arm stiffening and angling to accomodate the arrow that was being pulled back and alligned with the target via one closed eye. He stepped forward like Aello told him to and re-adjusted accordingly for his shot but something must have alerted the deer to his or Aello's presence sometime after he'd finished aiming. It surged forward with urgency and Gunho fired just as it did. An arrow that would have hit it dead center failed to skewer its target - in the intended place - instead he somehow struck it somewhere above the legs, not quiet near the ridge of the spine but not too far either. It staggered for a moment but managed to continue moving. He'd injured the prey, but the shot must have been shallow, else the thing shouldn't be moving at all. He loaded one of the arrows that he'd picked up and cleaned earlier and followed the staggering thing. It was mobile but not fast enough to outrun them now, once it's legs failed it... even for a moment he would shoot again. They were going to have dinner tonight, there was no way he was going to let this thing get away, even if he had to use his dagger to bring it down. He ran, his haggard breath a smoke of white mist trailing behind him.

[Aello]

Aello scarcely watched Gunho, scarcely watched the deer. Instead, she studied the auras which enveloped them both, until a time in which the creature sprang off, into the inner reaches of the forest. It was then that her eyes followed the trail of blood the creature left behind. Small, indescribable splotches on the dirt and snow. Even as she studied them, Aello could see the deer's aura flashing, Gunho's too, as he darted after it, Aello herself, choosing to stay several paces behind him during his pursuit. As she ran after her charge, and the deer, Aello couldn't help but smile with the thrill of it all. The chase, the fact that her bow was in someone else's hands. The fact that her chance at getting a decent meal for the night was largely in Gunho's hands. Of course, she could step in and thrust her dagger at the majestic creature's heart, and end it all swiftly, but she wanted to give the former Shinya a chance to learn. For although it pained her to have to wait on him, that was truly the most important thing, for him to learn, so he wouldn't need people such as herself to take care of him all the time. Besides, even if the animal outran them this time, they could always catch up. Aello knew the path to follow.