[Trade] Training (Stage 1, 2, 3) for Vorion, Marcynne and Higatami

TRAINING

RANK 1: - Draw/Write your Reosean and their companion. This can be their first meeting, or how they've learned to trust each other.

Marcynne huffed, tapping her claws on the rocks. She was waiting for someone, a Haedian named Vorion, that was going to explore the “surface” for the first time.
The Expedition party had asked some locals to help the Haedian learn more about Vitalus' nature, from the enormous forests to the salt plains and smooth canyons.
So, she came up with an itinerary and a plan for a smooth transition from the Beneath to the surface, with a few lessons about the territory sprinkled here and there.

But of course, she had to be paired with a latecomer Haedian and the most obnoxious Empyrian ever: Higatami. The blind tyrian was part of the “Adventures Guild” created by the Expedition Team, and like Marcynne she had received a request to support an Haedian. The same Haedian Marcynne had to look after.

“What's wrong, is your plan on fire?”

Higatami asked, laughing at her misery. The Haedian was late. Really late. And since he was going to be that late, it meant that her plans were going to need some changes: if they departed now, before reaching the forest of Ebru it was going to be dark.

“You will be on fire soon, if you don't shut your trap.”

Marcynne hissed back, whipping her tail and smacking the other. Higatami sucked in a breath, but before she could start a screaming contest, their third companion finally appeared.
Vorion walked out of the Beneath with sparkling eyes, looking around like a curious pup. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that he was late, but the way he innocently examined even the little blades of grass made Cynne sigh. She couldn't really beat or scream at someone like that, not that early in their travel at least. It would have been like kicking a hungry puppy.

“Well well! Look who finally is here!”

Right as Marcynne thought about avoiding conflict for once, Higatami had to do what she did best: be annoying.

“Quiet, Higatami!”

“Buh-hu! You were the one who got all pissy about this lagger!”

“You-” A vein started bulging on Marcynne forehead, but before she could claw the other Empyrian, the Haedian approached with a small chuckle.

“Oh? Am I the lagger? If you didn't want the money you could have said so!”

Higatami couldn't see it, but Vorion was grinning a bit as he talked. The shadow-coated Empyrian hissed, and Vorion just laughed some more.

“I mean, if you want to abandon this mission, I could always request someone else at the guild! I'm sure they will find someone to accompany... What was your name?”

“...Marcynne.”

“-Marcynne here. Say, should I go ask or...?”

Higatami grumbled an insult. She needed that money, so she couldn't really be that rude to their “customer”.
Vorion smiled: he had already control of the situation. He stored the information about the grimace of Higatami face at the mention of the pay: it was going to be useful, soon or later.

“Well, if we are done, we should go. It is already late.”

Said Marcynne, starting to walk down the trail for the West of Vitalus. That was another one of the difficulties of the mission: Haedians could only glide, so the Empyrian had to travel on foot like him.
The purplish Empyrian looked at the Haedian more than once as they walked, while in the back Higatami was mumbling some questionable insults toward the guild.
Marcynne wasn't really going to trust that Haedian quickly: she had seen how he diffused a small fight, using his words to shape the emotions of the blind Empyrian. He gained control fast, and it seemed like he was able to find his way easily by using only words.

“So, Ebrus. How is the forest? I heard that there are some very large flying creatures! With a lot of feathers all over their body!”

Vorion spoke excitedly, and Marcynne raised an eyebrow. Alright, she was dealing with a very smart and curious little prick, who probably was going to try and manipulate her into being a far too nice teacher. She could see that spark of wild intelligence in the eyes of the Haedian, she was not going to fall for his traps.

“You mean BIRDS? How do you not know what birds are?!”

Higatami laughed, Marcynne sighed and Vorion pouted, whipping his fluffy tail in anger.

“I lived in the Beneath, I never saw some before! Well... I doubt I will see some anyway...”

He started, with a smirk on his lips. Marcynne looked at his face, the fur on her back bristling. There it was again... That subtle manipulation.

“Hah? Why wouldn't you see any? It is full of them everywhere.”

“Weeeeeell, I'm not that good at flying. I really wanted to touch one that was alive, but how can I catch one all by myself? It will be toooooo difficult!”

“PFFFF! Sit and watch, pup!”

And with a snarl, Higatami took off, scaring off some birds who were resting on high branches... And then, she started to chase them, trying to catch one alive.
Marcynne didn't know if she was more impressed by the way Vorion pulled the right strings to obtain what he wanted, without moving a finger, or by how easy it was to convince Higatami to do things.
Even a pup would have noticed the way Vorion tricked the blind Empyrian, but apparently Higatami still had a lot to learn.

And with Higatami screams of rage in the distance, Vorion turned to speak with Marcynne.

“So.”

“So?”

Vorion smiled a little, making Cynne frown.

“You look like you ate a sour fruit.”

“I am not the one that tries to deceive others.”

Vorion made a surprised face, then he curled his lips back, exposing his fangs.

“Excuse me?! Who did I even deceive?!”

Marcynne growled lowly, and the Haedian responded with a similar noise.

“You manipulated Higatami into bringing you birds, as if you challenged her.”

“And? I don't get what you are so pissed off. She was the one who said it was easy, so she can demonstrate that!”

The two tyrians looked at each other, fur bristling and fangs showing. But before they could start another back and forth, Higatami landed with the grace of an hippo nearby.
She had her mane all wind swept, and a lot of feathers stuck to her body.

“Look! See, it is that easy! Hah!”

Voiron looked at the poor pigeon, who was trashing in the claws of the Empyrian leg. The Haedian gently picked up the feathered animal, and looked at it with interest, examining its reddish eyes and pinkish legs.

“Huh... It is warm.”

“Duh! If it wasn't, it would have meant that it was dead!”

Higatami said, still looking all proud of her catch. Vorion hummed again, then set the little guy free. Higatami squeaked, as if insulted, fluffing up the feathers around her ears.

“HEY! I worked hard to get that one! Aren't you going to eat it?!”

“Ah? Of course not. Why would I ate something that bony and small?”

Marcynne watched, with tired eyes, how the two started bickering again.
Yep, their journey across Vitalus was not going to be a walk in the park.

***(1205 words)***

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RANK 2: - Dealing with sudden danger on their own for the first time, show a moment where your Reosean had to overcome environmental hazards in their surroundings. Maybe they avoid natural risks like deep snow, or lack of water. Maybe it's another Reosean or human hunters.
Or - Sometimes Reoseans find themselves in precarious circumstances and must be nimble to get out of it; depict your Reosean getting out of a tight bind, whether it’s attempting to cross a high up narrow path, sneak past watchful eyes, or something else.

The forest of Ebrus was beautiful in the eyes of Vorion. The Haedian had never seen such tall trees, with crystals growing on the bark and glowing flowers wrapped with vines around them.
Higatami was unimpressed by all the “Oooh!” and “Aaah!” of the bluish Tyrian, while Marcynne kept scanning the surroundings with a worried eye.

They were in the depth of the forest, where even seasoned hunters and adventures avoided going. Why were they there? Well, the Haedian had Higatami wrapped around his little fingers, and he had challenged her to guide them in a dangerous place, and get them to the other side uninjured.
A stupid game, really, but Higatami felt wronged when the Haedian whined that he was “afraid” (another lie) that the forest was going to be too hard and dangerous for them to cross.

So there they were, with Vorion touching everything he could find, and Marcynne nearly losing her mind, trying to keep the Haedian away from possible dangers, like venomous snakes hidden under the shiny rocks and very creepy insects with far too bright colours.

“Psssh! Did you become a mom now, Marcyyyy?” laughed Higatami, after seeing the other Empyrian scolding Vorion for touching a squirmy caterpillar.

“Shut it, Higatami! You live in Vitalus too, you should know to NOT touch anything that is bright and wiggly!”

“Buuuh! How scary! A little bug is going to hurt meeeeh!”

Higatami kept making fun of Marcynne, and the purplish Empyrian was very close to just jump her and smack her until she was going to get some working neurons.
In the meantime, Vorion ignored the two bickering and decided to turn toward a very interesting crystal construct. It was shiny and smooth, white and pinkish. It seemed to have been shaped by the rain falling from the high branches, and it had some interesting little holes.

But as the Haedian approached the weird crystal, he noticed something... Odd.
His head felt a little heavy.

“Hmm...”

As soon as the Haedian slowed down, Marcynne noticed the weird behaviour.

“Vorion? What happened?”

“What's wrong little pup? Stepped on a bug?”

Cynne whipped Higatami with her tail, trying to make her shut up. It was not the time for stupid chatter.

“...Vorion?”

“I...” Vorion started talking with a weak voice, a little trembling and suffocated. “I think there is something wrong here. I feel heavy.”

“What, you fat now?”

Marcynne grabbed the snout of the blind empyrian with her talons, shutting her up with a angry hiss.

“What did you touch?” Asked quietly Marcynne, looking at every plant and rocks that surrounded the three.

“I don't think I touched anything... But we are under some very weird flowers. I didn't see them before... They were closed.”

Marcynne froze, and Higatami cursed with a closed mouth.
As the first looked up, she knew they were in deep trouble: bright, seemingly innocent, little flowers were blooming, growing on the vines that gripped the high trees.
Those were poisonous flowers, that only bloomed when the moonlight was able to hit them. And they were right under some giant trees with a very scarce foliage.

The Haedian was probably weaker than them to the poisonous pollen, since he had never been exposed to a lot of pollen in general, down in the Beneath.

Marcynne gulped, then she saw Higatami with her talons in her pouch. The Empyrian looked for once serious and not a idiotic moron, so Marcynne released her hold on the other's maw.

“Here, come closer. You too pup, before you start drooling.”

Whispered Higatami, pulling out of her pouch some whitish fabric. It was some sort of big bandage, and the Tyrian then proceeded to cut the fabric in three long and thick stripes.

“Here. Put this on your mouth and nose. DO NOT breath too fast. 'k?”

And saying that, Higatami placed the fabric on her mouth and nose. It was quite weird to see her so serious and not whiny for once, but neither Marcynne or Vorion could enjoy the quiet in that moment.

The shadow-coated empyrian then pointed South with her chin, before starting to move without even explaining what she was doing.
Marcynne knew, of course, and Vorion was intelligent enough to avoid questioning the others. The more they talked, the more they would have breathed in the poisonous pollen.

They walked and walked, with droopy eyelids and a heavy and sluggish mind.
Higatami kept tripping on the roots of the trees, and every time Marcynne raised her head, the blooming flowers mocked her, with their perfect little pink forms, shaped like stars.
Soon, the poison started to be troublesome for all three Reoseans.

Vorion was the first to double down and throw up. It was clear at that point that they were not going to leave the forest easily, and they not only needed to get out as soon as possible, they had to find a village or something with an antidote.
Then, it was Higatami's turn to get sicker, and foam was starting to drip from under her fabric-covered face.
Marcynne was not fairing well either, but she stayed strong. She had to.

“Where... Where do they end?”

Whispered Higatami at some point, trying to keep up the pace, but her limbs felt weak and trembling.
Vorion hummed quietly, tired.

“...There are flowers everywhere.”

Marcynne sighed, and looked up again. Yup, the flowers were still there, releasing their poisonous powders in the air over them. In her plans, they travelled through the forest in the day, after resting in a nearby village. But since they had departed later, they skipped the village in favour of some more exploring, and now the night had brought on a challenge she was not expecting.

“...We will not go far if we keep going like this.”

Whispered the purplish Empyrian, making the other two Tyrian stop on their tracks.
Horror was filling their hearts, who fluttered under the strain of the poison.

“...We have to fly over them.”

“Fly over? And how do you plan to get little worm up there?”

Hissed Higatami, remembering some unpleasant memories: he had tried to carry a friend while flying, and it did NOT end well.
Vorion, hearing the insult did not stay quiet.

“Worm? WORM?! DO I LOOK LIKE A WORM, YOU BLIND TOAD?!”

“TOAD?!”

Marcynne wanted to strangle one of them, then use their body as a bat to beat the other. She was done: even in danger, the two could argue like that.
With all the patience of the world, Marcynne flared and spread her wings, then jumped and grabbed the Haedian with lower limbs' claws.

Vorion let out a chocked scream, and Higatami cursed.

“Wait! You'll make him fall!”

“He won't. Now fly up, if you want to keep being alive!”

Higatami soared with Cynne, following her voice out of the canopy and up in the sky.
The Haedian was all curled around the empyrian legs, trying to not fall, but also enjoying the view. As his species could only glide, it was his first time that high in the sky.

“Uff... There. At least we were going the right way.”

Whispered Marcynne, looking at the torches of a not so far village.
The three Tyrians were tired, foamed at the mouth and had bloodshot eyes. But now, they were outside of the poisonous cloud of pollen, that luckily only fell down and didn't really scatter over the tree tops.

When they (crash) landed in the village, they were immediately surrounded by concerned Empyrians, who then kindly gave them the antidote and allowed them to rest in their little tavern.

The day after, Higatami got a very harsh scolding by the elder of the village, under the pleased eyes of Marcynne.
Vorion wrote down in a little diary to never, NEVER walk into the forest where pink flowers were.
Unfortunately, he still didn't know that there were many species of flowers, and lots of them were pink.

***(1330 words)***

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RANK 3: Draw/Write your Reosean and their companion taking down a large or legendary prey animal, team effort!

After the scare with the poisonous pollen, the three Tyrians had reached the South area of Vitalus. The Salt City was just a couple of days of walk away, and Vorion was literally vibrating with excitement. Marcynne looked tired and dead on her feet, while Higatami kept calling names the elder that scolded her for guiding her group in a dangerous path.

“Umph. That old turtle is so stupid. He doesn't even know that around the Salt plains there are Gryphons! Easy travel my a-”

“Gryphons?”

Marcynne raised an eyebrow, perplexed. She hadn't ever heard of Gryphons in that area, which didn't obviously sit right with her.
How could that the maps she had didn't even mention it?! Gryphons were not easy prey, and could deliver quite heavy blows.

Before Higatami could answer, Vorion pointed at something in the sky.

“Is that a Gryphon?!”

“How am I supposed to know?!” Hissed Higatami, obviously not able to see what the Haedian was looking at.

“Hm... It looks big enough to be.”

Marcynne said, trying to follow the movements of the beast they could see in the sky.
It was quick, but not as big as she thought: it was probably juvenile.
Now, they could leave it alone since it wasn't even trying to pick a fight... But their food supplies was getting scarce, courtesy of a blind empyrian that ate everything in sight.

“Well, I suppose we should hunt it. It is dangerous for civilians and travellers, and we could use some food.”

“No.”

Both Vorion and Cynne turned to look at Higatami, who had a pouty expression and creased brows. Since she refused to elaborate, Marcynne took initiative.

“Why?”

“It tastes gross.”

“...Are you picky?”

“Shut it! It tastes really bad!”

Both Vorion and Marcynne didn't expect Higatami to draw the line at eating one particular thing. Vorion looked up at the wild animal, with a bit of a frown. He was curious... How would something that looks like two animals patched together taste?
A smile creeped on the Haedian lips.

“Mhh... Are you sure that's not an excuse?”

“A what, now?!”

Marcynne sighed, as Higatami took the bait AGAIN. How she didn't realize she was getting played was surprising.

“Well, many say that something isn't good to eat just because they can't reach it...”

“I can catch a Gryphon!”

“Can you?”

“AAAAH?! SIT HERE AND WATCH, PUP!”

Vorion chuckled, seeing Higatami launch herself in the air like a falcon, flapping her wings faster and faster to go after the Gryphon.

“...You are a menace.”

“Am I, Marcynne? If it wasn't for me, no food for dinner! Shouldn't you thank me?”

“...”

The purplish Empyrian didn't answer, looking instead up in the sky where the other Empyrian was chasing the Gryphon. The wild beast was smaller than usual, but also quicker and more agile. If she kept chasing it blindly, she was going to get injured soon or later.

“Wait here. Lower yourself in the grass, I will try to bring down the Gryphon.”

“Are we joining the hunt?”

“Yes.”

Then, Marcynne soared through the sky, with a roar. Higatami was surprised to see her there, and a little insulted too: did they think she was going to fail?
The shadow-coated Empyrian hissed, angry.

“I can do this by myself!”

“No you can't!”

Higatami snarled, whipping her tail to hit Cynne, but ended up flailing in the air as she lost balance. The other empyrian started chasing the Gryphon in the meantime, herding it on the ground under them.
The Gryphon screeched, and tried to bite Marcynne with his sharp beak, but right then Vorion jumped out the tall grass and latched on the beast side. Grey feathers started falling on the grass, ripped out by the Haedian claws.
The bluish tyrian was having trouble holding on the shoulders of the Gryphon, as the feathers kept getting in his mouth and detaching, same thing for his claws. In the end, the beast jumped and shook its body until the Haedian fell off, with a mouthful of feathers and a grumpy look.

“Higatami, give us a talon here!”

The shadow-coated Empyrian snarled, landing a few feet from the beast. The creature was surrounded and its wings were missing important feathers, so it was not going to be able to escape... But they still needed to bring it down without getting hurt. The animal hissed, fluffing out its remaining feather and fur, tail whipping in the air.

“Now!”

Marcynne charged, biting at the back leg of the beast. As the Gryphon turned to retaliate, Vorion sunk his fangs in the side of the feathery neck, trying to suffocate the creature.
The beast started hissing and screeching loudly while panicking, his front legs equipped with sharp claws barely missing Voiron chest.

Higatami grumbled, then used her weight to crush the beast, trying to hold it under her with her wing-talons.
Falling on the side, the Gryphon let out a scream. But the three reoseans were not going to let go so soon.
The beast struggled against the fangs and the weight of the Tyrians, and with an impressive show of strength, it turned his head and chomped HARD on Higatami's right wing.

“YEOW! WHAT THE-”

“Higatami, hold it!”

But the shadow-coated Empyrian had already stepped back, with a bleeding wing. The Gryphon hissed and then shook itself like a wet dog, rising from the ground, loosing more feathers.

“Ugh- Vorion, don't let go!”

Marcynne half-shouted, with the leg of the beast still between her fangs.
The Haedian tried to roll his body away from the claws of the beast, but failed to do so quickly enough.
The talons of the left front leg grabbed his left arm, sinking in the skin. Vorion let out a surprised yelp, the noise suffocated by the feathers in his mouth.

“Tsk! Let go Vorion, don't get hurt!”

“Hell no, don't!”

Marcynne turned to look angrily at Higatami, who was still bleeding from the wound on the wing.

“If you let go, I'm gonna be pissed! This is the last time I get hit by a stupid feathery cat!”

With a snarl, Higatami attacked the Gryphon, sinking her fangs in the animal's back, then shaking her heard to get more damage.
The creature let out a pained screech, and luckily let go of the haedian's limb.
Higatami raised her head, taking with her the screaming Gryphon, and then smacked it on the ground.

The ending of the hunt was quite brutal, and Vorion watched as the creature's eyes went cloudy, its body stilling.
Marcynne walked to his right, watching how quiet the other got.

“First time having a hunt like this?”

“Well... There aren't that many big beast down there.”

Marcynne nodded, understanding.

“Up here you will see more brutal stuff that you probably imagine. Try to be ready.”

She told him, before joining Higatami in the cleaning of the carcass, preparing it for dinner.

When that night Vorion took a bite of the Gryphon, he understood why Higatami hated eating it.


***(1174 Words)***