"How do you survive?"
"You give everything else."
"Okay... you got her?"
"She's not gonna budge."
The day stood in stark contrast to the night- the clouds were banished and the sun reigned now, it's inviting rays barely warming the ground below it until we almost felt welcome in the sub-arctic crevices of the mountains. No snow was falling, and the air was tamed-tired, perhaps, from it's mischief last night. I was standing on the opposite end of a small opening, stroking the barrel of my gun while Melissa was straddling the still-asleep Tessa to make sure she didn't immediately go on a rampage when she woke up from her two-day nap. On a nearby stump, Poppi sat, brandishing his humble wooden staff.
"...Okay. Okay." I breathed. "...let's do this."
I pulled my gun up and aimed it at the bug.
"If you hit me with that thing, I'll shove that gun where the sun don't shine." Melissa almost growled- she appeared more than a little uncomfortable holding the bug down, but Vyger was busy making excuses for the missing pet, and Flo sure as fel didn't have the lower-body strength to do a job like this.
"Relax- today's windless. If I couldn't make a shot like this, I would be dead by now."
"Well it's not too late."
There wasn't any real danger of me hitting her. The real trouble was between her legs. Something I probably should have rephrased.
I pulled the trigger, and with a obnoxious bang, the bullet hit it's mark: a shot of adrenaline to help pump the tranquilizing poisons out of her system. By now I think there was equal parts blood and drugs in her veins, but that's why Poppi was here... well, in addition to healing me and Melissa should we need it.
As I had hoped, with the adrenaline in it's body, it didn't take long for Tessa to begin to stir-first with an almost numb yawn, followed by a quivering in her limbs that came when adrenaline blitzed through her body; a landslide that pushed all the tranquilizers out of her.
She shuffled, moaned slightly, and attempted to lurch forward as all six of her eyes sporadically shot open. Melissa kept her pinned down with her manly thighs, though, and the bug wasn't able to get very far, only scraping at the ground with it's legs as it tired to regain itself, straining in vain against the woman's hold-who, by the way, didn't look especially happy having to clasp the disgusting creature between her legs.
"It's going to hurt itself soon!" Poppi called to me, my gun still pointed at Tessa as it squirmed. "Its got too many drugs in its system still!"
"So? Heal it!" I suggested, probably only illustrating my complete lack of understanding on how healing magic actually works.
Melissa, meanwhile, glared at Tessa and muttered to herself.
"Ugh. I haven't been this uncomfortable riding something since I got that gnomish mount."
For what it was worth, that particular adventure was uncomfortable to witness, too.
Poppi huffed, glaring at me for a moment, because I had raised his ire. "It's not just something you do willy-nilly! It's not to be taken lightly and I don't just throw heals around like noblegarden candy!" He slid off the stump and jogged over to the contained beast, the tail of his staff dragging behind him, creating a trail in the snow. "I'll still heal it, but don't be making those kinds of easygoing comments, silly goose." He smiled his previous indignation away, "Keep it still, I don't want to get my head bitten off."
"All things considered, I think I have more I need to worry about, here." Melissa groaned, her eyes shifting between the animal under her and my gun, which was still pointed in her direction.
"Just be cool, guys: once I'm sure this thing won't go on a rampage, I'll work on it by myself. Ya'll can go... chop wood or something."
Poppi, once at the monster's side, pulled his stick up and pressed it against the sea-blue shell, causing a small ring of light to encircle the tip of his weapon. The glow grew more intense, and with a heavenly 'popping' sound, he pulled the staff away, a small bubble of light being drawn out of the creatures skin. It'd float to the ground and dissolve into the snow, as if just a brief hallucination.
"That should do it..." Poppi muttered, stepping back as Tessa grew more livid, wiggling with even more energy as she finally returned to her true nature-the nature that had so far been oppressed by the plethora of drugs I'd given her.
Melissa's face contorted uncomfortably as she strengthen her grapple, although from my perspective it seemed unnecessary-Tessa was relaxing. She seemed more confused than upset, and was looking around without making any of the motions or gestures that suggests anger from an animal. Sure, she still struggled against being held (who wouldn't?) but otherwise seemed rather placid.
"...Melissa... loosen your grip, k?"
She gave me a curious look, but did as I instructed, slightly easing up her tension to give the beast a little more breathing room... and, as I'd anticipated, the animal didn't lash out violently.
"...let go of it. You two can go. I think I got this."
"Are you sure?" Poppi asked, eyebrow raised inquisitively, although Melissa didn't wait for confirmation and quickly dismounted the animal before I had a chance to change my mind.
"Yeah. I think I got this from here... she seems fairly tame."
"...alrighty!" Poppi shrugged. "Holler if you need anything!"
And he waddled off through the knee-deep snow, following Melissa, who seemed too gracious to be freed of her duty to think to say goodbye properly, which I was okay with. For training's sake, I had to do it with Tessa alone, as much as I didn't like the idea. They were only there to make sure she wouldn't go crazy and hurt herself or others before we could start.
We had the field to ourselves. Only our breath, given the shape of fog, moved.
My gun tracked her movement as she slowly started to the left. She was looking at me, twisting her head, clicking her mandibles curiously as she sized me up. I kept a straight, stern face, but I wasn't exactly confident-I had no idea what she was planning to do. Everything about her motions suggested the possibility that we'd have an agreeable encounter was just as likely as her attacking me. The uncertainly felt like a rock in my throat.
...I had an idea for a Haikou in that moment.
A rock in my throat
Stuns the air, locks in my mind
I yearn to dislodge.
I took a few deeper breaths. Rolled my fingers on the barrel of the gun. Touched the edge of my lips with the tip of my tongue.
She took a step forward-I stood strong, despite my instinctual desire to keep the distance between us where it was. I had to establish my dominance over her first; she wouldn't listen to a single thing I said if she thought she was better than me. I may not know much about these freaky spiders, but that was the standby rule for taming any beast of the wild: show them the wilderness is gone-that you had banished it-and the only way to survive in this new world is to follow the stronger man.
She continued to advance, and while my eyes may have trembled, my body was cemented. My gun stayed steady, and my breath was quiet... only the sound of the snow snapping under her legs gave a voice to the surrounding white. She was as bold as I could have ever imagined, never breaking stride out of fear of my gun, or my slightly twitching finger.
Her face was right in front of the barrel of the gun, now-only then did she stop. Our eyes met: no longer was my eye plastered to the scope. There was a cooling fire to her stare-a violent curiosity. They were the color of inviting ice, the kind you press to a burn, or use to soothe a swollen limb. I felt like the sourness of my soul, however little there was, had found a remedy in her presence. I was stronger.
I lost myself in those eyes for a second.
When I re-captured myself, I instinctively took a step back- to which Tessa squeaked, clicking her mandibles together in pleasure as she began to frolic in the snow. I stopped and stared at her, confused, until I realized that she had "won". She showed me she was stronger.
"...yeah, like fel. We're doing that again!"
She paused, and twisted her head at me.
"You heard me- go back to where you started, it's time for round two!"
The second time she advanced on me I did much better, and I didn't step back at all, even after elongated stares were exchanged.
"Yeah, how'd you like that? First time was a fluke!"
She huffed, and spat a cluster of webbing into my eye.
"Gah!"
I fell to the ground, dropping my gun, and started clawing at my face, trying to free myself from the blinding effects of her silk.
"No-That's BAD. BAD Tessa!"
My eyes and face were somewhat red, the web having a weak venom in it, and the snow having drawing the blood out from under my skin from when I was rolling around in it. However, I was ultimately no worse for the wear, unless you wanted to bring my pride into consideration, which was in considerably worse shape. Thank the light there were lots of empty fields so close to our camp- I'd never be able to live this down were there witnesses.
She seemed more or less indifferent to my chastising-and apparently also felt the need to re-establish her "dominance" of me, because in the middle of turning away from me, she quickly reversed momentum and shoved her face into mine-I yelped, and my index finger immediately clamped down, as if firing my gun. Fortunately for her, though, I had dropped it when she attacked me last, so I didn't accomplish anything in doing it.
But by that point I was tired of this bull. I was quickly losing my place, and if I didn't do SOMETHING to regain control...
So, after I calmed down somewhat from her little scare, I smacked her. Right in the face.
"Bad. I'm your master, do what I say!"
It went just as well as you'd expect.
She lunged forward to bite me, and instinctively I raised my arm, and she bit into that. I wasn't wearing my mail that day, so her teeth got right into my flesh. I raised my fist and jabbed her neck, but her hold was steadfast. She twisted her head, knocking me off my feet and pushing me to the ground. She let go of my arm and tried to grab my face, but with both hands free I clapped her head. She staggered back, and I got to my feet with a quick jump.
Her opportunity taken, and her finishing move foiled, she stepped back- our eyes started to wrestle as neither of us dared move. I couldn't be sure if that was a genuine assassination attempt, or a simple spar to try to illustrate how much more deserving of control she thought she was, but either way, it had failed, and neither of us seemed sure how to appropriately respond to the action-do we trade blows? Dare we trust the other if we let our guard down? Do we continue to stand here in the snow and wait for nature to knock us BOTH out?
"...alright. I don't like you, and you don't like me."
She clicked a few times.
"But we're gonna be fighting together whether we like it or not. And you won't be lasting very long without my direction."
She tilted her head.
"Heck, after my training, you'd be able to kill me, no sweat."
She stepped back- then pounced at me. I twisted to the side, she flew past me, and I slapped the back of her head as she did.
"You're savage- Orc's are savage. You're an animal, and better than that."
She turned around, and hissed. I wasn't sure if she could understand what I was saying, but the words felt good in my ear-I was directing myself more than I was her, and I felt my spirit harden with my words. She lifted herself up on her hind legs, and spread her free legs open, trying to grab me. I jabbed the arm-pits of her middle arms and ducked to avoid the top ones. She fell onto her back.
"See? Now imagine if I had a weapon! You'd be DEAD by now!"
She wiggled, managing to pull herself to her feet. She stopped trying to attack me, and instead dipped her head-a sign of submission. I had to stay stoic and powerful on the outside, but on the inside I was giddy-I'd done it! I'd gotten that damn thing to pay attention to me! Now all I had to do is train it, and possibly find the time to even like it!
"Attagirl. Lets get you back to base and fed, alright?"
I turned to walk back to the camp, but before I could even take more than three steps ahead, I felt one of her legs rubbing up against my back. Turning to investigate, my face met with another glob of webbing.
"MOTHERF-"
So the damn thing was... "playful". That, or some sort of fashion critic who genuinely thought I'd look better with a mask of bug silk covering my eyes. Either way, there was a line between training an animal and animal abuse, a line I refused to cross, so I wasn't going to beat that out of her like I had beaten the attempted murder out of her system. Back at base, she was extremely easygoing, and didn't attack my comrades as she had attacked me. Heck, she didn't even get feisty around Melissa, the woman whose legs she woke up in-between.
Training animals is a lot like training yourself. When I was first handed a gun, there were a dozen things I need to learn before I could use it, let alone treat it with the respect it deserved. I had to learn how to carry it, how to hold the trigger properly (It's not as simple as they make it sound in books, lemmie tell you) how to clean it-which meant I had to know the mechanics inside and out. I had to know how to fire it, and how to minimize the recoil. Had to know how to load it. Had to figure out if the nuzzle was straight. Needed to learn how the weather and wind would affect trajectory. The list went on and on and on...
Using a gun is like romancing death. You have to know it's ticks, you have to communicate with it, and you have to care for it-and she'll give you her power over life itself if you do it just right.
Tessa is similar. We don't so much train as we do coordinate-my words and my bullets are the symphony, and her feet and fangs are the dancers. We depend on each other, and find completeness in each others presence. A conductor can play his melodies into the empty air, a dancer can swirl to the twisting solidarity of silence, but only together do they find fullness. Together, we seduce violence, and suggest the horrors of it's visage upon the audience of our composition.
...which right now was just some dummies with horde flags on their back, but we were getting there. Getting into a grove was the first step of many. She may not like me terribly, and I might not care for her at all, but in spirit, we needed to be one and the same.
...working into the above analogy, however, right now, I was playing a soft waltz and she was breakdancing.
With a snap, a bullet tore through the edge of the dummy, leaving a sizable hole and a small forest of splinters where there was once solid wood-a hole that wound have been in Tessa's head had I not pulled the gun up at the last second.
"No! Tessa! Stop stop stop!"
She turned around and glared at me, spitting out a chunk of wood she had bitten off the target.
"Remember- behind and to the side! If you're in front of them I could hit you!"
She huffed, and slowly meandered back to my side, getting into position to charge again.
"Alright. On my cue... and..."
I fired at the dummy, intentionally missing it's beaten wooden body-at the roar of my gun, she charged, the parted snow clearing her way to the dummy (She had effectively plowed a path with her own body from all the times we had been doing this). She bashed into it, then tried to step around it to clear my shot of the dummy- but in doing so, she left herself open, and stopped attacking.
"Wrong again! Tessa, we've gone over this! You bite, use the dummy as a pivot point, and let the momentum carry you behind it!"
She stared hard at me, then reared her head back, spitting another long-ranged gob of webbing at me to illustrate her annoyance. I was able to duck just in time, though, letting the silk sail over my head and land on Poppi (he was behind me, chatting with a fellow soldier about something) who hadn't been paying attention.
"...sorry!"
"It's okay! I've been meaning to get a toupee for a while now!" He laughed good naturally, prodding at the web on his head with his gloved hands.
I signed. It seemed like we could communicate... she always had at least a vague idea of what I was saying. Whether we UNDERSTOOD each other or not, well, that was a different question entirely. I turned back to the spider and gave her a cruel, impatient stare-why wouldn't the damn thing just do as it's told?
My brain and eyes turned to Tessa, I wasn't able to devote any attention to the rest of the camp, and to my ears, the surrounding conversations became as ambient as the snow that hugged my ankles. It might of been to my advantage to have been paying attention, however...
"S' a pity we can' find yer Silithid- really is, ma'am, but she's jus' a trophy animal anyway, right?"
Coming out of a nearby building, the general, followed by Vyger, were still conversing over the matter of Tessa and her sudden 'disappearance'.
"It's little more than an annoyance. Pity the thing's probably dead by now." The general stated matter-of-factly, her cold stare contending with the mountain range for the most frigid location this side of Azeroth. "Regardless, I-"
Unbeknownst to me, as I was barking commands at my increasingly annoyed animal companion, and to the great horror of Vyger, the general's eye quickly found her lost animal pet, and sharpened significantly.
"Well, Sgt. Anvilthrow, it seems my animal has come back on her own accord. And made a friend."
From what I'm told, her words were so rich with sarcasm, if you could put a pick to them you'd be able to afford a motorcycle.
"Er... musta found er' in the cold!"
"Must have. I'll talk with you again later."
She stepped forward, and it wasn't until she was at my shoulder did I even realize she was there. I didn't know her name, but she was unmistakable-she was a dwarven woman used by her occupation until it had taken everything she cared for. Her face was worn by both battle and age that it was impossible to tell what was a scar and what was a wrinkle, although she had both in abundance. Her hair was gray, thin, and cut short, while her only good eye (the other covered behind an eye-patch) had so much raw expression it could play the role of a muse for a artist. She still wore mail armor, even though she long retired from the front lines, which by it's very state spoke more of the nature of war than any words could possibly communicate. She kept her right arm wrapped up in her ironforge cloak- no one's sure if it needed support because it was broken, if it was so hideously scarred even she was humiliated by it, or if it was simply colder than her left.
Naturally, being caught with her pet, I felt as if I'd been spotted sleeping with her husband, but with an impersonal hand on my shoulder, she forced me to look at her through the gravity of contact alone.
"Your dislike of this animal forces unreasonable expectations onto her. She won't learn any faster than a bear or eagle. Calm down."
My wide eyes quivered slightly, before easing as her words began to take shape in my mind. I'm not sure why she wasn't angry at me, or even how she knew what the problem was, but as I rolled the words around the landscape of my mind, I realized she was right. Just as we have high expectations of the people we love, we assume too much of the things we hate. And I certainly didn't like Tessa.
...In that spirit, I realized as I watched the general distance herself from me again after that momentary connection, that before I worked on anything else with her, I needed to do a little training I've never undertaken with any animal-train myself to like her.
...or at least tolerate her.