Take Two (ZardHatta's Journey)

He got bit again but the fear that consumed him before was gone. He didn't think to run. Only to fight. ZardHatta commanded. It's face! Now!" ZardHatta kept clawing at the Tanuki for biting it again. ZardFae listened and attempted to do what ZardHatta ask and would viciously scratch and claw at the creatures face. The two would not relent this wasn't for their stomach. This was for their friend! If they died here ZardGown would beat them up in the great burrow in the sky.

with the combined fury of the two zard it was more than enough to take revenge for their friend, but the real subject remained, why would they take out their anger on a armored tanuki that did nothing to them. the body of armored tanuki would fall flat on its side without moving a twitch, the two could be more than positive that the beast was died. if they decided to continue their hunt they would find that the sky would darken and monster lurched more frequently than they did in the day

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OOC: Oh its a normal armored tanuki... Oops.

The two tore apart the Tanuki. The two would feed wholeheartedly until they were full. All that was left was a near barren carcass. ZardHatta would pick up the remains. "I'm keeping this..." ZardFae kept quiet until she looked up to the sky. "It's time to go." The normal sass in her voice wasn't so vibrant. ZardHatta agreed he just ate a bit more of the flesh. Just really bone, the shell, and tough muscle he didn't bother to eat, he attempted to carve something useful out of this carcass, a trophy. A tool. Anything. He was tired. He had two wounds that needed to heal up. His stomach was content. So off the two went back to the burrow. As they began their trek he'd attempt to shed more of the broken scales so new ones could grow. Today sucked.

OOC: Used Shed, and if i can attempt to carve the Tanuki that would be great but overall I'm exiting the topic.

OOC: Day 6 Afternoon; South Forest

ZardHatta and ZardFae had made it some way through the forest before they slowed down. The sun was still far from the horizon, they had time to hunt. The two Zards needed to eat. Anything would do if they worked together! Hatta fixed his little shield that he had made. Any gear was useful gear and he would have to keep safe. The two would begin to sneak through the bushes and as they went Hatta squawked out. "Check for food! Berries can be good! Anything for the belly!" ZardFae shrugged as she kept an eye out for prey, more then for berries anyway. The two remained quiet and low. Food had to be around.

OOC: Brought my Cracked Tanuki Shield. Using Sneak. Attempting to Forage.

Their foraging wouldn't be too fruitful in regards to food but they would find two poison berries on a bush that was currently being guarded by a Horned Rabbit who would emerge from it's burrow and try to gore Zardfae from behind for daring to try and steal it's precious berries. It didn't have to make all that much sense, considering it couldn't even eat those berries, it was the Great Forest and sometime monsters were weird.

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Their bount was fruitless as ZardGran had warned them about this color of berry. They'd definitely pocket them but... A creature most foul has struck from the shadows! The Rabbit sprung up and nearly speared through Fae's leg, she let out a squeal as the cut was shallow and she'd be shedding all night to fix it. ZardHatta would not appreciate this. Fae was mad and let out a Battle Cry in hopes of keeping the rabbit in place and with that roar Hatta sprung forward and would attempt to bite the Horned Rabbit on it's side. Hoping his jaws would prove true and get them their first meal, if he clamped on he would not let go.

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Not only was Zardfae's battle cry successful in intimidating the Horned Rabbit but it proved enough to spook it into trying to get some distance unfortunately for it, Zardhatta was waiting for it. He would move forward and sink his jaws into it's tender flesh and though the initial bite wouldn't kill it outright by clamping onto it the Horned Rabbit would quickly bleed out and go still giving the two Zards a fresh kill. Fortunately the minor damage inflicted by the Horned Rabbit wouldn't be much of a problem for Zardfae as it was but a flesh wound.

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The two would feed on the Horned Rabbit wholly. They devoured every bit they could as they had been absolutely starving. Fresh meat. Blood. How good. Hatta wanted to explore eating other things but nothing beat a fresh kill. Once they were done eating Hatta would attempt to carve the Horn out of the rabbit's skull. He wanted the horn as a weapon. Yet he wanted something with more reach. If he could carve the horn out he'd attempt to look for a stick he could attach the horn to and make a rudimentary spear. All the while Fae kept on watch as she was shedding her pierced scales and making room for a fresh set.

It was unfortunate that Zardhatta was so clumsy as in trying to break off the horn he would crack it apart causing it to break and thus be useless to him, whereas in his disappointment he couldn't find a stick but he did manage to find a root which he could actually eat. Zardfae would look a bit disappointed as she knew having a weapon like that would of been useful but it seems that they were just lucky today. Well it wasn't as bad as yesterday at least, that was the important thing.

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ZardHatta threw the horn to the wayside as it had cracked in half. Failure. A cruel yet frequent mistress... ZardHatta would shrug his shoulders and pass the root over to Fae who had gotten hurt. "If you get peckish. But I want to hunt more." Fae wasn't much of a vegetarian but she appreciated the gesture and put the root away. The two would begin to sneak again throughout the brush aiming for their next prey. They kept low and continued on. Hopefully the two of them would stumble on something ZardHatta could make a weapon out of.

OOC: Using Sneak~

The pair would move through the area and they would come upon quite the dangerous gathering of monster, there were two Yellow Monkey lounging around as if they owned the place, though to be fair based on where the Zards were they owned about half of the area. After all the North-East was populated by various species typically native to both the east and the north sections of the Great Forest. As such they would continue with what seemed to be a bit of a game between them as one Yellow Monkey would toss a small rock at a tree which had what seemed to be a dent in it, and the other would watch. It seemed that the game entailed who could accurately hit the dent rather than hitting somewhere else or missing entirely as when one did so they would cheer while the other one would get upset.

The two saw that the monkey's were in the trees. With their lack of climbing ability the two would both agree it'd be best to try finding other prey. However... The two had gone from several life and death situation. Maybe they could use this opportunity to relax. So instead of attacking or any of that nonsense. Hatta stepped out of the bushes, stone in hand and much to Fae's dismay... He yipped at the monkeys and threw the rock at the tree. Aiming for the dent, he wanted to play if even just for a moment. If anything the Zard would simply scare off the monkey's unless they attacked him. WHich wouldn't be nice. But Fae remained hidden in sneak to make sure that if they Monkey's were hostile, she could jump in and try to kill one of the Yellow apes.

OOC: Attempting to learn aim?

Zardhatta would cause the Yellow Monkey's to jump before he threw the stone and perfectly hit the dent in the center causing them to pause as they regarded the new threat. One of them would look towards the other who would shrug before both of the monkeys would cheer and move to the left before one of them got about as far away from the target as Zardhatta did before lining up his stone and then tossing it managing to hit the target just barely. The other yellow Monkey would whoop and both of them would look at him before stepping back a bit further to see if he understood the game.

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ZardHatta yipped to the bushes and Fae would poke her head out. He passed her a stone looked at the monkey's. He'd follow them and got within arms reach of them. Looking at the dent in the tree he'd aim again and after he watched the monkey's throw, he'd Try to impress his new friends and threw the rock. ZardFae wasn't sure how good she'd be but she'd throw the rock too after ZardHatta. It'd prove to be a good form of stress relief.

OOC: Using Aim again and Fae will attempt to learn it too.

OOC: Not sure what Vix was going for here, so I'm going to do my best to roll with hit.

Plunk, plunk. Two rocks bounced off the tree, shaving small scrapings of bark with each strike. The monkeys hooted and hollered in delight as they had found opponents for their game. One of the yellow monkeys grunted and pointed at his friend, signaling at something in the tree. The other nodded and scampered into the branches. There was rustling, several leaves falling from the branches before the monkey came down with an armful of berries. These did not look like normal tree fruit, indicating that the monkeys perhaps had a food supply stored somewhere in the treetops. The climbing monkey made his way back to the group and deposited the three berries between his friend and the two zards. The other monkey, the one who had ordered his friend around, pointed at the berries and then at Zardhatta and Zardfae. He held out his hand with a "come" motion, as if asking for something and then pointing at the berries. He then held up the rock and pointed at the tree they had all been using for target practice. Clearly, he wanted something out of Hatta and Fae, but...what?

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ZardHatta was confused from the display and was wondering what it was trying to entail. "A Game! To Share?" ZardFae was always the smarter of the two, so he wasn't surprised of the thought. She pulled out the root Hatta had passed to her earlier and placed it in the pile.They both jumped Excitedly and found some new rocks to throw.

The two wondered if that would be enough as the only other thing they had to offer was the poison berries and they thought it'd be best to avoid using those. ZardHatta had a few ideas for those. But he needed a weapon first. The two were having fun and were getting some good target practice. They would stop soon after they won this little contest,they needed to go back to the hunt.

One of the monkeys picked up the root that Fae had deposited on the fruit pile. He sniffed it before offering it to the other monkey who in turn did the same. The second monkey tossed the stick on the pile, clearly annoyed. He shuffled over to Fae and slapped the rock she was going to use in the game, out of her hand. It wouldn't hurt any, but it was enough to cause her to drop it. The monkey would howl and grunt, pointing at the pile of fruits while jumping up and down. He was agitated and his friend behind him was flaring his nostrils, an intense gaze focused on Hat. Clearly they weren't pleased with Hat and Fae's offerings, desiring more to make it fair. It seemed things could get ugly relatively fast if Fae and Hat didn't think of something.

Fae did not like what the monkey had did to her. She would not take this lightly. She knew these berries were bad but... did they? She plucked the two poison berries from ZardHatta, much to his dismay. She then presented the berries to the monkey to see if they were acceptable. ”What are you doing?” Hatta squeaked at his companion. “Seeing if this is good enough for the game.” She was being a tad malicious but from her point of view, these monkey’s seemed to be getting agitated and could start attacking them. She had to be on guard if ZardHatta was going to be lax.

The monkey eyed the berries and Fae wearily, clearly unsure of what she was doing. Whether the monkeys knew what those berries were and, more importantly what they were capable of, wasn't entirely clear. However, the first monkey looked at the second behind him, who nodded in acceptance and both began hooting and thumping their chests. Apparently, this was enough of a wager for them to continue the game. The monkey who had knocked the rock from Fae's hand before would reach down and lightly toss her the rock, while the other monkey would look at Hatta and point at the tree they had been throwing at. Apparently, Hatta's team was up first in this strange game with no real rules and poison going to the victors. What an odd forest this place turned out to be.

Well it was time to show these Monkeys who were boss! ZardFae caught the small rock in her hand and ZardHatta would go first. He was feeling lucky and took aim. As soon as he lined the shot he would take it. They pointed at him so he'd go first yet Fae would follow suit. ZardHatta aimed for the little notch and hoped to get it as he smiled over to his new friends. Fae however... Was taking this rather seriously. Guess she took the rock incident as a challenge. "Aim. Set. Go!" And she too took her shot at the tree. Aiming to win and get her berries back!

OOC: Using aim on both and ZardHatta has E- luck so idk if that factors into anything.

OOC: Not gonna lie, I didn't totally understand what Haio was saying when he tried to explain this to me, but Hat got a 10 roll and Fae got a 2 roll. So since one is super high and the other is super low...I'm gonna go with logic instead of convoluted maths. If you have a problem with that though, let me know and I'll break out the TI-83

Zardhat's rock would strike the trunk dead center, a perfect bullseye and the monkeys would grown, grumbling to one another a bit. They were clearly annoyed with how quickly the Lizard had picked up their game. However, when Fae's turn came up, she took a step forward and hurled the rock with all her might, sending it...arcing high over the tree tops, not even close to the leaves far below. The monkeys would fall over, beside themselves with laughter. One of them even pounded his fist in the dirt, trying to control himself as best as possible. Finally, with just a few shaking giggles, the monkeys would rise, each taking their turn and slapping the trunk of the tree with extreme precision. The monkeys would howl in victory, beating their chests and grabbing their winnings. The pot that the four contestants had accumulated would be divided among the two monkeys, who eagerly licked their lips in anticipation of the feast they were about to enjoy. That is unless the Zards were actually sore losers and had something to say about this little game...

OOC: 10 sounds good so I'll keep it :c

The sting of defeat. Sore loser was written all over ZardFae's face. ZardHatta looked disappointed and drooped a little bit as his throw looked perfect. "Dumb Monkeys! How Dare they laugh at me!" ZardHatta kicked the ground and would walk over to the stones that had fallen. He opened his pouch and took a sip from his water stone. He wondered what would happen if he ate the stone... No... Crazy thought. Maybe at home... ZardFae looked over at the monkeys waiting as they ate. The two Zards had just eaten. But once again. Fae was bitter and stood near Hatta. "If they eat those berries we should eat them..." But they let us play with them! Maybe they can be friends? Like Zarbyoshi and CubUrsa!" "They're eating our food!" Maybe they can help us find more!" A moment of silence before she reconsidered her thoughts. "Fair enough...."

ZardHatta rushed over to the monkey's and tried to stop them from eating the bad berries. If they had ate them by now then well... He guessed they would be mad. Fae knew this too. She was ready to attack but knew she had to give Hatta a chance. Hatta would try and pick up the bad berries and thought fast. Picking up the bad berries he would show the rock he had picked up and pointed at the tree again. Pointing at the rock and then the berries. As if saying, One more round! He hoped it wasn't to late.

OOC: Attempting to bond and stop them from eating poison lol.

Uninterested in the roots that Fae and Hatta had produced initially, but mesmerized by the mysterious berries, the monkeys had naturally selected those to indulge in first. It was unfortunate that they didn't understand a word of what Zardhatta was trying to say to them. As they chomped down on the juicy berries, a sweet, yet tangy explosion of juices would fill their mouths. The juice would spill out over, coating the fur around their mouths with a purple sheen. The two would look at each other, happy as could be while Zardhatta scrambled to stop them. After they swallowed, they'd reach for more fruit, only to simultaneously grab their stomachs in pain. A look of fear and confusion passed over their tiny monkey faces as they looked for help from one another but found nothing.

They were clearly in pain, but their confusion quickly turned to rage as they looked at the two creatures who had dared trick them. These monkeys weren't fans of sore losers or tricksters. The zards had lost fair and square, if they couldn't accept that, the monkeys would teach them how to. With Zardhatta being the closest, he would be the target of their poison filled rage. The two monkeys would charge him, jumping straight at him in an attempt to bring as much harm to him as he had to them. The first Yellow Monkey would claw at his face, trying to blind him or at least cause some real agony, while the second would scratch at his midsection, specifically the stomach where the monkey was personally feeling all of his own pain at the current moment.

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OOC: With a F+ in Resilience and My Shield Guard being a 1 I assume it's going to be a minus -3 to damage? Ima try all this funky math out for the first time so bear with me.

Well the worst happened and the Monkey's had attacked him. They were brutal but he was able to protect his eyes a bit with his shield. If only they listened. But now ZardHatta was mad. ZardFae knew this would happen, it was sort of her fault to begin with.... They both leapt into action. ZardHatta aimed for the monkey's neck and would clamp his teeth down on it. Hoping to end this quickly as he had enjoyed the company of the Monkey's and wish this didn't have to go down this way. ZardHatta was taking a beating but ZardFae wouldn't let this stand. SHe let out a battle cry as she ran over and tried to tackle the monkey away from her compatriot, clawing away at it's face the whole while. She needed to keep her friend safe.

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OOC: You have basic aim projectile, so I'm fairly certain it wouldn't apply here since you guys aren't throwing anything at the monkeys. However, your strength for Hatta and Fae need to have +1 added to each, so that makes up for it.

The monkey between Zardhatta's jaws would squirm, kicking and squealing as Hatta pressed his teeth in deeper. The monkey would actually live through the attack momentarily, until the poison took hold and his body quit. Now, the limp monkey carcass hung between Hatta's jaws. As for the second yellow monkey, Fae's battle cry would come out as more of a high-pitched squeak than anything. It did little to deter the monkey and when she went to tackle the beast, she more so bumped into it and the two bounced off one another. However, as they rebounded from one another, Fae did manage to scrape her claws across the monkey's face. It howled in anger, lunging at her and clawing her chest with desperate rage.

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