Summary: Traveling is almost as staple for Pandarens leaving the Wandering Isle as the ale they drink. Obviously all of them are not born equally, some might even choose to settle down, rather then explore the world. Some wish to wield heavy plate, some prefer magic.
However, for Hadronix, she wants to travel, aspires to be a Hunter, but can't. She lacks the genetics to properly develop her muscles. That won't stop her from finding a way, she'll just need to approach being a Hunter from a different standpoint.
A/N: So, yeah... origin story for my OC, but technically this isn't the first 'version' of Hadronix. She was first a FF idea, which was pushed aside until I made a Hadronix in-game, to which I based a story from that one.
Headcanon abound.
A lone orange-furred Pandaren stands in an archery range in the middle of the night, shakily drawing a bow, "Steady... aim…" She slowly says as her arms fail to keep a steady grip, "Breathe… Fire." The practice arrow plops a pitiful half a yard or so before landing on the ground. "Ancestors…" She sighs and grabs another. "Steady... aim..." She repeats the process, but receives the same results. "Ugh…" She tosses the bow aside and falls down on the ground.
"Still up, Hadronix?" She startles as the gentle voice of the Innkeeper walks up to her, she too is a Pandaren, though she is of the black-and-white furred kind, her gentle gray eyes scan the Hunter-in-training over. "You aren't going to do much better if you spend another night practicing."
Her own jade eyes meet the gentle woman's, "I'm far enough behind as is, ma'am." She shakily grabs the bow, "I'm on the border of being kicked out." She draws another arrow and grunts as she puts all of her might into this one… only for it to go mere inches farther than the rest. Tears escape Hadronix's eyes. "Maybe…"
"Have you tried for anything else?" She gently asks.
She nods, "I've no magical aptitude, so that eliminates nearly all combat-related things. Ancestors… how can I properly travel without being able to defend myself?" She looks at her arms and snorts in disgust, "Why did I have to be born with this…" She pauses, 'I'm sorry, but you have a rare genetic defect. You won't ever be able to grow the standard amount of muscle…'
She is startled out of her thoughts by the Innkeeper wiping some tears away, "Well, have you thought about anything in a more passive role? There are traveling traders."
Hadronix knows she is trying to lighten her mood, "I'm too brash for trading." She glances at her bow, it's old but not worn, why? Because she doesn't have the muscle to actually put any strain on it. "Forget it." She places both the bow and practice arrows and returns to the inn that the Hunter trainers provided, might as well get a good night's sleep, it'll probably be her last in here.
The inn itself only has a few occupants up at this hour, "and sho I shaid," a gnome hiccups as he talks to… a chair. He is alone and he is talking to a chair. "If your brains were ash big as your hoof, then maybe you could cali…" another hiccup, "caliberate… calibrate your devishes… devices!" He seems to be waiting for the laughter to follow. Hadronix raises an eyebrow as he takes another sip, then lets out a loud belch. 'He's really something.'
Shaking her head, she moves to go up the stairs and walks up to her door, then gently opens it and steps inside. She didn't have much, but to be honest, that's how most of the Hunter trainees were. Their supplies are found in the wild, they only bring what they can only get or craft in civilizations, even the ones who have the fancy, but highly priced enchanted pouches. "Another day, another reminder of how I'm not going to make it." She walks over to her bed and just lies down, not even bothering to remove her training clothes, or move the sheets to cover herself, not even place the pillow under her head, while one foot hangs off the bed.
Hadronix wakes up on the floor… again. She gets up and stretches herself out, then flinches as some idiot starts banging something on the first floor's tavern section. "Oy! Keep it down!" She hears someone shout from the hallway, "Not all of us are morning birds!" Shrugging to herself, she leaves her room and walks down the stairs, then gets a bowl of soup, some bread, and a glass of water. It's not like she needs a ton of energy…
Even as some prick stumbles onto table she chose to sit at and knocks the bowl of soup over. 'Well, there goes one free bowl of soup… I didn't like the broth anyway.'She grabs the bread and water off the table before some other person caused those to drop, too.
"Class tests are today!" She overhears someone giddily exclaim.
"...shouldn't have drank so much last night, whoops." Another one says.
"Aw, lighten up, you fight better drunk anyway."
"Ironarm won't see it that way, he wants his students sober before bashing them in the head with his shield." Ah, the Warrior trainer.
"Then show him what-for, get drunk and kick his ass yourself." The first one goads.
Hadronix shakes her head and takes a small bite of her bread, 'at least it's fresh.' The only chance of redemption she has on her test will be trap-making… maybe a bit on animal taming, but as for actual combat? Forget it.
"I suggest you keep your distance, or I will Discombobulate you so intensely that you will turn into an egg inside of a chicken!" The hunter-in-training raises her eyebrow and stifles a giggle at the absurdity of that threat. "H-hey! That's delicate stuff!" She spares a glance, 'It's the gnome who was talking to a chair.' There is currently a human next to him, he looks like he is just hitting puberty…
Then the device the gnome was working on let out a small puff of smoke and the gnome's face drops. Seemingly satisfied, the human walks away. The gnome grumbles a threat with words so large and complex that she is sure he is just stringing words together. "Nope, this is what I get for procrastination… there goes my chance at the Engineering entrance exam." He slides back into his chair.
'Someone I can relate to in some way, then.' She finishes her bread and water and walks over to him, then respects the distance for his work, "Hi." She simply greets.
"Come to break it? Well, you're too late." He idly tinkers with it.
"What is it?" She looks it over, compared to some of the other devices she occasionally sees, this one looks rather simple.
"It was going to be a force amplifier, something I could attach to a weapon to allow us 'tiny and frail' Gnomes to hit like a Tauren… if I got it work properly, instead it comes out more 'Human' than 'Tauren'."
That peaks her interest, "Which weapons?"
His own face brightens, he seems excited to share information, "Well, I started simple, going for a sword first, then I'll expand and configure it to work on other weapons."
"Like bows?" She asks almost the same second he finished.
He pauses, then nods, "I could, but might I ask why the enthusiasm? Unlike most melee weapons, bows can be made lighter."
She scoffs, "Not for someone who lacks the genetic makeup to form muscles properly."
A moment passes and realization dawns on him, "My condolences, miss…"
"Hadronix."
"Sprits Gearshifter." He extends a tiny arm and she shakes it. "So, I'm taking an assumption, you are training to be a Hunter?" He looks her armor over. "And uh, no last name?"
"Would be nice, but I'm probably going to be kicked out today. I can't pass any of the combat portions." She slumps back and lets out a heavy sigh, "Parents didn't even bother naming me when they left me in the orphanage, so I only got a first name." She could have, but it's not like she can make enough of an impact to care.
He furrows his brows, "What else is there besides combat?"
"Pet taming, survival skills like plant identification, and trap making."
"And… I'm assuming you won't graduate unless you pass all of them?"
"I need at least one combat, under either melee or ranged, then two of the three non-combat related to pass." She sighs, "I can't carry any of the two-handed melee weapons, one-handed weapons come out weak, my arrows fly about a half-dozen feet, while crossbows and guns are just heavy enough to keep me from having a steady grip."
He looks at his device, then her, "When is your test?"
"Wildhoof is a night cow, so when the sun starts to set. Why?"
"Well, the Profession exams are next week… if I adjust this for a bow, would…"
"She won't allow outside help, else I would gladly do it." She shakes her head. "I deeply thank you for the thought, though."
"Oh, rusted bolts…" He frowns. "Okay, how about this, would you just be willing to test it if I adjusted it for bows? I mean, you don't have to pass to wield bows, right?"
She nods, "Nothing is stopping anyone from buying a weapon and heading out on their own, but…" Her face brightens, "I see where you're going with this. There is a major disadvantage to not passing, and that is access to an advanced trainer, but I could learn in due time. Alright mister Gearshifter, I'm in!"
"Wonderful! I'll start modifying it right now." Suddenly, his mood seems to improve tenfold as he starts tinkering with it.
Smiling to herself, she quietly gets up and heads out, might as well do something. She takes several dozen steps out away from the closest building and pulls out her trap materials, 'Something that doesn't require a lot of force…' She hums to herself as she loses herself in the familiar sounds of 'clicking' and 'snapping' of the metal parts coming together…
Hours seem to fly by as she puts traps together and takes them apart seemingly faster and faster each time, 'At least I'm good at something .'
"Ah, there you… woah!" She quickly turns around just as Gearshifter steps on one of the triggers for her grease trap, 'Thank the ancestors I was only working on the non-lethal stuff' , but what she wasn't expecting was that the grease loosened up her ice trap just enough to set that one off, which ended up activating her explosive trap,'Very thankful that was a small charge' and finally, the fire hits burns the rope from her tripwire and a bucket of water drops. "Ow…" Gearshifter carefully gets up from the grease, then stares at the domino-style mess that happened.
"My apologies, I should have…"
"Did you set this up?" He looks amazed.
She nods, "At least a half-dozen times."
"All of it?" Another nod, "By yourself?" A third nod, this time with a smirk, "Have you ever considered Engineering?"
She frowns, "Traps are so simple compared to the devices Engineers create."
But to her confusion, he laughs, "Hadronix, does a Warrior aspiring to specialize as Arms immediately use greatswords as their first lesson? Do Mages learn Pyroblasts as their first spell? Do Hunters go and tame a powerful and exotic beast as their first pet?" She shakes her head, "Engineering is no different, in fact, traps are a common starting point, they build a foundation, before moving on to advanced things."
"I… understand." By now, the traps effects have dissipated, "but no, I've never considered it."
"How about, after your Hunter test, I'll give you a crash course on what the beginners learn?" He offers. "Granted, I'm no teacher myself, but I can pass along the simplest of gadgets."
She smiles, "That sounds great."
He smiles in return, "I'll be looking forward to it."