Hunting (Finished)

[Erik]

Erik had been hunting his prey for over three hours. Every time he got close, it just got away from him. But now he had it. Slowly he laid the arrow across his bow, gripping the arrow, ready to fire. The deer stood there, eating, perfectly vulnerable.

Then a thud.

The deer dropped dead as the arrow pierced its body. Another perfectly placed shot. Erik put his bow back across his back and approached the deer. He pulled out his carving dagger, pulled out the arrow, and began to get to work on removing the skin of the deer carefully, not wanting to spray blood or cause an imperfection. The better the quality, the more money he got for it.

[Fane]

A Hunter, a marksmen, an archer, all things that Fane saw qualifications for the Guild. Was he always badgering people to join? No, he figured if they wanted to, they would. Even so, he had to offer them the oppurtunity, otherwise they may never even know of the oppurtunity.

Fane was heading back through the woods looking for a specific someone, well, information on a certain someone, when he came across Erik. Prior to coming upon him, he had stepped on plenty of twigs and made enough noise that he figured the deer had to of been killed at least five minutes ago.

"Hm..." Breaching the area and clearly visible, he stood silently watching Erik with intrests.

[Erik]

Erik's sensitive ears picked up on the twigs and Fane's little "hmm". He slowly turned his head to find Fane standing not far from him, watching. He turned his head back to the deer, finishing up his work on the deer's hide.

"Can I help you with something traveler?" he asked, all the while examining his newly cut hide. "Yes, this one should do nicely." He then flung the hide over a branch before carving out the good parts of the deer for food. With this he could feed himself and maybe a couple others. A decent meal for a arty of 3.

[Fane]

Fane stepped forth and leaned back against a tree, crossing his arms and biting his lip. "Yeah, you could. You hunt alot I assume?" Fane realized his question was vague and mysterious, but he rather liked it that way. Besides, it had worked before, so why mess up a good thing. The male was obviously skilled in his work, and he knew how to handle a dead animal better than Fane. It was simply a matter of if he could handle a monster.

"Ever deal with a Monster before?"

Wierd questions for a random man with snow white hair and a jacket with white wolf fur to pose after coming, literally, out of the woodwork and simply staring at Erik, and he knew this.

[Erik]

Erik continued to carve out pieces of meat, until he had a few decent cuts. The rest of the deer was excess to help feed the carrion birds.

"I hunt when I'm not freelancing. This deer took me three hours to stalk and kill. Skittish little bugger, but I managed to take him down. Monsters, yeah I've dealt with them a few times. Moblins and the like, terrorizing a farm here and there." He wrapped up the few pieces of meat, put them away and slung the hide over his shoulder.

"You certainly ask a lot of questions stranger. Mind telling me what this is all about? If not, I gotta get going. These hides don't sell themselves after all and the shops aren't opening all night."

[Fane]

Fane ignored the notion of him being in a hurry. He honestly just...wasn't concerned with that at all right now. He really wanted to know if this guy was material, and willing, to join a guild. If not, so be it, but their guild was rather small and needed growth. "Well...ever heard of the Monster Hunters Guild? I'm the Guildmaster, and I'm offering you a position."

Fane pushed himself off the tree he had been leaning on and moved his hand onto the back of his head. Scratching gently, he felt a pulsation from Aarondite, the slim sword attached to his hip...Valen, the poe locked within, was becoming restless.

Fane, quit bothering the man for the love of all things good.

Fane chose to, as always, ignore the poe. He was useful at times, and at others he became a curse.

[Erik]

Erik stopped and considered the possibility. Working for a guild certainly had its perks. Consistent work bringing consistent rupees, hunting monsters would certainly help out people. But he was also a man who made his own schedule, and sometimes being tied down in guild politics would be highly unfortunate. Plus, he liked being a freelancer.

"Hmm, your offer is tempting. Typically I just do freelance work, but a guild would be steady work. Thing is, though, I like what I'm doing now. Tell you what, I'll keep myself freelancing, but if you ever need a little extra help on any task, just hit me up." Seemed to Erik like a nice halfway compromise. He keeps himself open while still helping out what appeared to be a noble cause. He readjusted his hide and continued to move out of a thick of the forest, hitting the road before taking it back to town.

[Fane]

Fane nodded in understanding. He figured thats how most people where anyways. Finding members for a Guild was rather difficult, and he felt that it was only a lost cause the majority of the time anyways. He couldn't blame Erik, and seemed mostly independent anyways.

"Hm. Where you heading then?"

He followed Erik out onto the road, looking around to the choices he had. He could take the road either way, but honestly it didn't matter. He had lost his lead on the target and couldn't get any new information about him. Perhaps Erik would know.

[Erik]

Erik was glad he had someone to travel with. Being a hunter meant many long hours alone. He was used to it, but that didn't make it any tougher.

"Heading to the markets. I can get a decent price for this hide, then a good price for this meat. Use that money to buy some bread, fruits, hand them out to people who need them." It was a typical trip for Erik. He knew the right buyers, the right sellers. He'd been working the system for almost 3 years now, and he was getting good at it.

[Fane]

"Charity? How do you pay for yourself then?"

Fane reached into his pocket and traced his fingers over a few loose rupees, seaching for the miniscule bottle of rum that was merely the size of a small cup. Feeling the edge of the cork, he grabbed it and pulled it out, popping the cork off and taking a small sip. Water could be dangerous if you didn't clean it right or get it from a safe source, so alcohol was the next best thing.

"Names Fane by the way." He figured an introduction was at least polite.

[Erik]

Erik chuckled. It wasn't the first time someone asked him about taking care of himself. Yeah, he was a pretty selfless person, but it was what Erik did.

"I've adapted to eat very little to keep my body going. Sure I'll keep a bit to myself, but I don't really need nor want any of these chunks of meat. Leave it to the more affluent, they can serve it to their families. You ever tried feeding meat to someone who's starved?" The results were not pleasant. Erik knew from personal experience. It was not a shining moment of his life.

"Name's Erik. Nice to meet you Fane." He held out his hand for a shake, being nice to the man. He had no reason to be mean, the man seemed nice enough.

[Fane]

Extending his free arm, he shook Erik's hand firmly. With his other hand, he finished the small thing of alcohol, then disposed of it into his pocket. "Nice to meet you too." Fane figured now was as good of a time as ever to simply go ahead and ask the question. If Erik had been doing this for years, he was sure he picked up stories here and there on the occasion.

"So, I'm tracking an Oocca, goes by Raven Shade or something like that. Heard anything about that?"

[Erik]

Erik pondered the question as he walked. Eventually they reached the open field and the sun shone down brightly upon them. It was a nice enough day that Erik removed his hood, letting his shaggy brown hair blow in the breeze.

"Raven Shade you say? I don't remember anyone mentioning any oocca by that name. Truth be told, I'm not much of a rumor mill. Information is shared at bars and taverns, two places I don't typically visit. Why are you trying to track down this oocca?" Tracking oocca was an odd profession for anyone. But if he was a monster hunter, then perhaps there is something to this Raven Shade worth looking in to.

[Fane]

Fane was surprised that he never heard anything about it, or more importantly about the fact that Erik didn't take some time at Taverns for a drink after a long days hunt or travel. Perhaps he was more anti-social in public.

"He attacked a good friend of mine. Left him in bad shape. Claims he is purging the world of inferiors or some nonsense."

It was, what Fane believed, to be a racial issue. The Raven was a menace, and his death was imminent.

[Erik]

Erik wasn't anti-social, he was a minimalist. He hardly ever went into bars and taverns because he didn't drink. Drinking was a huge money sink and every drink he had was money he couldn't give to those less fortunate.

When he heard Fane's reasoning, his heart seemed to slowly sink, and he saddened. "I'm sorry to hear that Fane. I hope he's alright. If I hear anything about the Raven Shade, I'll pass on the information to a guild member." Erik was a fighter, but not a murderer. But the idea of a racial purification was very strange.

"Your friend, was he also a human?" he asked, trying to gain a little more information while he had the chance.

[Fane]

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

As his body embraced the shining light cast from the skies of blue, he reached his hand into his white, snow like hair, scratching his head lightly and ruffling his hair. Turning to face Erik, his large black blade, Greer's Sword, caught the sun and slowly absorbed the heat, growing hot to the touch with time. It was 12 feet tall, and had to be carried at an angle to fit Fane's height, as it would any average man.

"Zora. When the catastrophe hit, I was at Lake Hylia. I forget why exactly, but a Knight who wielded this blade-" He reached behind himself and grasped the large blade, tilting it slightly to signal his subject of speech. "was controlled by some spirit. Me and the Zora Kulau along with some others killed the man, the poe escaped. After that we stopped the Jotun from reaching Castle Town. I couldn't of won that battle alone."

[Erik]

Erik couldn't help but look at the blade. It was massive, yet he seemed to be unencumbered by it. Impressive for sure.

"Well it sounds like you and this Zora get along well. It's good to see positive race relations. I heard about the catastrophe at the lake, apparently a huge column of fire shot up. Regardless, I hope your friend recovers." Hyrule Castle began to make its appearance as the two crossed into Lanayru province. He reslung the hide over his shoulder.

"So I have to ask: is the blade magical? You seem to be easily wielding it, but it seems very cumbersome."

[Fane]

"Yeah. I don't really understand it, but as of now I'm the only one who can even lift the thing with no effort. For everyone else, they either can't lift it, or it takes someone of Goron status." He looked at a cross in the roads, one leading to Castle Town, and the other heading to where the Guild Headquarters was.

Staring at the split in the roads, he was unsure of how the headquarters was actually holding up, but assumed it was doing fine without him. Their number of members was low and custodian work was on a clean up after yourself basis.

"Well, I go this way, you go that way? It was a pleasure meeting you Erik. If you hear anything about the Raven, I'd appreciate the information."

He extended his hand in a final handshake. Their time together had been short, but useful for him.

[Erik]

Erik chuckled. "It looks like a blade a Goron would wield. I thought maybe they designed a lightweight version for humans but magically enhanced works too."

Erik looked toward castle town. The markets would be hitting their peak soon. By the time he got there, they would die down a bit and he could haggle with the vendors for his goods.

"The pleasure has been all mine Fane" he said, shaking the man's hand and smiling. "You ever need my help for a mission, or just to say hi, the beggars know where I am. Likewise, I'll pass any information your way. Take care." He waved goodbye to Fane, walking down the road. He met a good man today, and even got his mark. Hunting was difficult for him, since any beast in the wilds might be a minish in hiding.

EXIT[/i][/u]

[Fane]

Confirming the handshake with his own tight grip, he waved back as Erik walked off. Turning and heading off in his own direction, he made his way to the Guild Headquarters. Today had turned out rather pointless, aside from meeting Erik, of whom he wasn't overly sure of. The kid was nice, but he seemed a little off. Perhaps Fane was just being paranoid, but the kid was definately unusual. Then again, who wasn't.

Wierd.

Hm... Fane chuckled at Valen's mental note.

What?

Your one to talk.

exit