Those Blessed with Talent

Spoiler: Votes

[X] 9 Maybe if you had a better idea what's wrong, you can fix it? (Buy Analyse 1): (wayne82444, drake_azathoth, Pandemonious Ivy, Garahs, Xicree, Raron, hunter09, rcnr, redaeth)
--[X] 7 There's probably a doctor or something in the clan building, if you can stop him from bleeding too much, they'll be know what to do.: (wayne82444, Pandemonious Ivy, Garahs, Xicree, hunter09, rcnr, redaeth, drake_azathoth, Raron)
-[X] 9 Try Blood Bond. That's meant to be used on injured monsters so it has to help, right?: (wayne82444, drake_azathoth, Pandemonious Ivy, Garahs, Xicree, Raron, hunter09, rcnr, redaeth)

[X] 3 Try to find something to wrap the kitten's wound and find it some water to drink.: (Adyen, drake_azathoth, Raron)
-[X] 1 But if it does, it would make you sad but only spur you to learn how to prevent it in the future.: (Adyen)

First thing's first. You need to know how bad he's hurt if you want to fix this. You need power. You make the choice and focus, spending the XP. It's as simple as that. You can feel something indistinct within you change as the skill blossoms to life in your mind. You know how to use it, though not how it works. You reach down and focus. Power and the word rise to your lips and push out gently.

“Analyze!” Your voice echoes with more confidence than you feel. You can sense your MP declining, a solid chunk of your magic pouring forth from your soul to bring about a tiny miracle that leaves you a little empty inside. Before you, the words scrawl themselves into the air around the kitten, blocking off your vision and making it almost impossible to see anything else. If it wasn't for your reading lessons you wouldn't understand anything, not that your level of the skill gives you enough to really know what's going on.

Name: ???
Sex: Male
Age: 1

Level: 1
Race: Feline
Species ???
Rank: B+
Element: ???
HP: ?/??
MP: ?/?​

B+? No, this isn't the time to think about that. You don't really have the perception to learn anything that useful. But, his HP's dropped into the single digits. You don't really know how bad that is or if you can help, but you have to try. After a few moments the information fades, returning your vision to normal.

You don't have any more time to delay. You'll have to bond him. You bite your thumb, hard enough to draw a trickle of blood, then press it against Autumn's wound and try to call our your power. Analyze was an easy magic. It practically activated itself when you called out the name.

And yet, no matter how many times you repeat “blood bond” nothing seems to happen. You can't even feel that sense of MP trickling away even though you know this is how the skill has to work. They're only words and you're not good enough yet to use this skill without anything more than words.

The kitten, your kitten stares at you with glazed eyes, growling for a moment before laying its head down and allowing you to work. That pushes you over the edge, the bleak acceptance that it doesn't get better than this, that it's over, that he's stuck there and he's not going to get better. It's too close to home to tolerate, not when you've already decided that you will change things even if you need to become a god to do it. You take everything you have, every frustration, every sorrow, every memory of your last cat, of the way he stood up for you when no one else would and paid for it and you throw them into the skill with everything you have.

“Blood Bond”

Your power surges to life, filling you up and bursting through in a storm. It moves from resisting to pushing forward, raging through your veins like a storm and setting your blood on fire. It takes and takes and takes, crushing you, burning you and breaking you, pushing through your kitten and back out into you, changing you, adjusting you.

You can hear your bones crack and shift, your skin melt in agony as your power does everything it can to throw you off, to make you give up before you can finish. You don't flinch.

-5HP
Feline skill Tree was unlocked in the Supplementary Skill List
Shadow Element Skill Tree was unlocked in the Supplementary Skill List
Tiger Claw has been learned​

At last the power fades, and you look at your pet? Companion? Partner? Family. You see him with new eyes, a hunter outside his element, a proud child lost and alone and scared and defiant, a creature of comforting shadows, quiet and sharp fast claws. He pushes himself to his feet, uninjured, and proceeds to climb up a mound of trash then turn to you and jump onto your shoulder, sending you careening into a wall.

“H-hey!” the cat looks at you with an eye, then scratches your cheek playfully, as you try to catch your balance. Then he licks the scratch and purrs all innocently and nuzzles his head against yours while you try to stand without dislodging your rider.

Aside from the fact that your thumb's covered in cat blood, you can't see a single sign of his injury any more. Still, better to be safe than sorry “Analyze”

Name: ???
Sex: Male
Age: 1
Level: 1
Race: Feline
Species Shadow Leopard
Rank: B+
Element: Shadow
HP: ??/??
MP: ?/?

Attributes:
Stamina: ****
Strength: *****
Agility: ******
Affinity: *
Perception: *****
Luck: *
Charisma:****
Intelligence: *​

The text, almost too close to read thanks to your proximity with the cat, explodes through your vision, sending you reeling. Still, his health went up back into the double digits. You sag a little in relief, then start to laugh while you pluck him from your shoulder into your arms. You did it! You did something. He was going to die and you didn't let him. It's such a strange wonderful feeling to really change something, to do something and have your actions matter, to be powerful instead of powerless. You could get used to this.

And then you realize that the Mu clan might not really be happy with you for bonding a cat without permission, not that you wouldn't do it again.

Choose a name for your new companion
[ ] Autumn Shade
[ ] Write-in

And how do you plan to play this off to the clan?
[ ] Just act normal! They won't notice you have a cat following you if you act like its supposed to be that way, right?
[ ] Try to hide him? What the clan doesn't know can't hurt them...
[ ] Let the idiot come up with a plan. He'll help, right?
[ ] Write-in

 

Spoiler: Votes

[X] 7 Autumn Shade: (Garahs, Xicree, Pandemonious Ivy, Ct613hulu, hunter09, rcnr, Wawv)
[X] 2 Jade Shadow: (redaeth, PineTreeq)
[X] 1 Stalks in Shadows: (Zum)

[X] 2 Just act normal! They won't notice you have a cat following you if you act like its supposed to be that way, right?: (Ct613hulu, hunter09)

[X] 5 Let the idiot come up with a plan. He'll help, right?: (Garahs, Xicree, Pandemonious Ivy, rcnr, Wawv)
-[X] 2 Tell him the sob story about your OLD Kitty.: (Xicree, Pandemonious Ivy)

[X] 3 Tell the young idiot how you rescued a B+ kitten from an entire pack of dire wolves and you had no choice but to bond with him so you and he could fight side by side and vanquish the rabid animals.: (redaeth, PineTreeq)
-[X] 3 If he asks if that is true, tell him that it isn't. But it makes a good story right?: (Zum, redaeth, PineTreeq)

“Autumn,” you pet his head, thinking of the few trees in the city: red leaves and long shadows giving you shelter from the sunset-purple sky in a heatwave in that season: “Autumn Shade.”

The cat in question gives you a contented purr, accepting the name. Still, even if he is really high ranked, you might get in trouble for bonding Autumn without permission. You debate just trying to pass it off like nothing's happened, or appealing to Autumn's intrinsic adorability, but you think you're still a few levels short of being able to make either work reliably.

So that leaves the Idiot. He'll help probably, and at worst whatever he does will deflect enough of the blame to him that they probably won't remember to come after you! You tuck Autumn into your robes as best you can and dash past the guards quickly enough that you hope no one sees, then make your way to the garden before Winter Breeze can find you for a lecture and catch your companion. You're in luck, the idiot's sleeping against a tree. You drop Autumn unceremoniously and shoo him into some shrubs so you won't shock the Idiot until you've gotten permission.

“Hey!” you jostle him awake, earning an irritated glare that softens as soon as recognition sets in.

“Shouldn't you be a bit more polite, like you are with gramps?” he grumbles. You... probably should to think of it, but it's so hard to match the various annoying etiquette lessons to the actual young master who still won't tell you just where he stands.

“Hey sir?” you fire back.

“Nah, that's weird. Anyway, what's up?”

Now... how to sell this? You're a genius at charisma! Your status says so every time you check, so this can't be hard.

“I rescued a kitten from a pack of roving beasts in the market district and ended up bonding him to save his life! Now we need to keep him hear to prevent umm... murderers! From coming to get him. ”

“Just an ordinary kitten?” You expect the young lord to laugh it off, instead the smile falls from his face, and his gaze practically pins you to the ground.

“Err, I learned analyze and that said he's ranked B+, it's something called a shadow leopard?”

+5XP​

The idiot blinks, then shakes his head as that odd moment of tension fades, “Hahaha! As expected of my disciple! Though a Shadow Leopard... You really can't see one out of the Western Forest, and a kitten? Ooh, you stole it from some traveling merchant, right, and now... right, there was clearly a rampage through town where you saved it. Got it! If we set fire to the Western forest we could cause the monsters to flee toward the capital to make the story wo...”

You deeply regret the decision to involve the idiot in your cover-up at all. On second though, you find the strange intimidating version of the idiot a lot easier to deal with.

“I've been feeding him for a few days since I found him before, and he was hurt today and I decided I wouldn't let him die, so I didn't. I made him good again, and please let me keep Autumn, please sir?”

The idiot scratches the back of his head, “It's weird when you actually acknowledge my authority. And of course you can! If it's a shadow leopard, then he's neat enough to be a part of the Mu clan's household. Just call him then leave all the details to me.”

So you beckon toward the bush, and Autumn steps out as if he was trained to do that. Your cat shakes a few branches off of his fur and trots toward you, growling lightly at the Idiot to prove that Autumn really does have good taste.

“Okay!” Young Master Wu stares at your kitten for a few moments, then smiles, “Just leave it to me and you won't have any problems about the cat or this week! I have a plan!”

“A plan?” That's about the least reassuring thing he could say.

The Idiot nods then grins, “Of course I can't tell you! That wouldn't be any fun at all!”

This was definitely a bad idea.

-----------------

Winter Breeze isn't a very expressive person. You might even say her name is eerily appropriate. Thus, you're completely freaked out when she comes to find you in the garden where the young lord's instructed you to wait, pulls you into a hug and apologizes that she didn't notice. She even pets Autumn awkwardly for a few moments and tells him how brave he is.

Then she pushes you away, wipes the concern from her face and tells you in no uncertain terms that if anything like that happens again you are to inform her, that the Mu clan takes such things personally and there's no need to trouble the young master.

Then she tells you that it's been arranged for you to begin combat lessons earlier than planned. The clan was going to let you passively raise your level to 5 or so through small experience gains over time, but have decided to advance their proposed schedule, given your, and Autumn's, performance in recent events and any future risks of similar trouble.

You do your best to nod and pretend you have a clue what you apparently went through this week, too worried to suss out the details from anyone.

For the rest of the day people keep greeting you comfortingly, telling you that things will be okay or giving you small snacks and candy. You, well, it's hard to imagine how something that earned you all sorts of treats wouldn't be worth it, but you really wish you knew what the idiot actually did to get this reaction. Besides, Autumn is way too smug as he struts by your side.

-----

You yawn waking up, then stare in confusion at the small black and purple bundle of fur perched on your chest staring at you, his razor-sharp fangs edging far too close to your nose. Carefully, the little monster reaches out, licking your cheek, then goes statue-still as soon as he realizes you're awake and moving.

In a moment your cat's halfway across the room, sitting proudly and pretending that he never did anything so common as lick you.

Winter Breeze enters a few moments later and compliments you on being awake. Then she tells you that your morning chores have been suspended for the immediate future and urges you to follow.

The room she leads you to is wide and covered with soft rice mats. Winter Breeze methodically removes her indoor shoes, walks to the wall and retrieves a short straight blade, halfway between a sword and a dagger. Light from the windows sends sparkling reflections streaming across the blade's all too real edge.

“You may choose any weapon you like, then we will begin. Autumn,” why does she sound warmer when she talks about the cat than her precious junior, “should participate as well. Approach with the intent to kill.”

Okay, so this is combat training then. You're A ranked! Obviously no ordinary person can stand against the flawless teamwork you and Autumn should share. So what if you've never trained Autumn, he seems to have a pretty good sense of what you want and you're fairly confident the kitten's clever enough to respond, no matter how low his sheet says his intelligence is!

Choose a weapon
[ ] Write-in, any common weapon can assumed to be present, or you may fight unarmed.

Plans
[ ] How to go about this?