Repaying a Debt

Tanner had found himself in an uneasy spot once again though this time it was very different compared to his over encounters. He sat at an end of a table with a hot meal resting in front of him but it was not the food that made him uneasy but instead the hosts to his meal were the ones. Kore and her father sat at the other end of the table and had already started to pick away at their food. The food was delicious and it had been a long time since Tanner had a home cooked meal of any calibre and for that, he was thankful for.

But what made Tanner uneasy was the complete silence that hung over the table along with the fact that Kore's father seemed very unhappy about this. Tanner could tell that he was upset by this by how aggressively he dug into his meal with his utensils. So knowing that Tanner decided to just to stay quiet and eat his food to make the best out of his situation.

As he began to eat his meal his eyes wandered around the room that he was in taking all the sights of their little house. Though calling it little was an understatement even though it looked rather small from the outside it was in fact quite spacious on the inside. To his left, there was a narrow staircase that lead up to a second floor that was hidden from sight. Then behind Kore's father was a doorway that by Tanners best guess was a kitchen judging by the cabinets he could see. Behind Tanner was a small couch that sat in front of a lit fireplace with a couple pictures rest on the mantle. And along the walls there many more pictures though many were hard to make out in the low light of the house.

"Toothpick?" Kore pipped up breaking the heavy silence that filled the room, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?" Tanner quietly responded as he tried to swallow the food that was in his mouth.

"How did you do that back there?" Kore asked as she rested her head on top her hands.

"Do what?" Tanner asked confused by her question.

"You know," Kore stated as if Tanner could read her mind, "back when you were fighting those Creeps. You would kick and punch them from a good 5 feet away but they still seemed like they got hit by something."

"Oh that" Tanner quietly responded "That was just my semblance"

"Semblance?" Kore asked

Tanner was about to respond but was cut by Kore's father cutting in drawing both of their attention. "HMPF! That weird Hunter magic," he exclaimed while he chowed down on his meal.

"Magic?" Kore asked sounding even more confused than before, shifting her sight back towards Tanner.

"Well, it's no such thing as magic." Tanner said trying his best to clear it up, "it's more like manifesting your soul." Though as he said that he could tell it didn't really help.

"OK, Toothpick," Kore quickly snapped back, " 'Manifesting your soul' sounds a lot like magic to me."

Tanner couldn't help but rub the back of his neck as he could understand where she was coming from. He once thought the same way that all Huntsmen and Huntresses had some magical power. "OK, let's just drop that argument for now, alright?" Tanner asked hoping he could finally catch a break.

"Sure, why not." Kore quickly answered while her father gave another heavy humph. "But you really haven't answered my question yet. How did you do that?"

"Well," Tanner said as he finished swallowing the remaining food that was on his plate. "it's was just my semblance." Though as he finished saying he could tell that Kore was still confused on the matter. "OK, I'm guessing you don't know how they work, correct?" he asked Kore who simply shook her head back and forth as her father gathered up the plates and headed back into the kitchen.

"OK, Well a person's semblance is again a manifestation of their soul so all them unique in one way or another. Some people could disappear into thin air while others could maybe move things with their mind, for me, I can amplify vibrations."

"You what now?" Kore quickly asked as her face contorted into a very confused expression.

"Alright," Tanner said under his breath trying to think of the best way to explain this. "You know how sound travels right?" he asked hoping to get a break

"Yeah." She said giving a quick nod as well.

"Well, I can take the vibrations formed by sound and amplify them into pressure wave that I can direct," Tanner stated hoping that it would finally make sense.

"That's why you were playing that garbage," Kore said as she snapped her figures.

Tanner buried his face in his hand feeling a little hurt but glad he managed to finally make some sense. "Yes that's right," Tanner responded, "and that was not 'garbage' that was music," he said trying his best not to sound petty.

"Whatever you say toothpick," Kore quickly retorted, "but if you play that 'music' here I don't even think my dad's hospitality would help you out." She said as she got up from the table and proceeded up the staircase.

Tanner looked toward the kitchen he could not see her father but he just thought if this was hospitality he did not want to see what he was like angry. With that Tanner also got up from his seat but he decided to move in front of the fireplace to warm his cold hands. So Tanner squatted in front of it holding his hands out to flames letting the heat enter his body.

Though as he was there his gaze shifted to the pictures that rested on the mantle. There three pictures lined the mantle and the first two he quickly glazed over. But as soon as he got over to the third picture he could not help but stare at it for a while.

In the picture were three people, two of them Tanner quickly recognized as being Kore and her father. And the third person in the frame he not seen though he had to guess that it was Kore's mother.

"What do think you're doing?" Kore quietly yelled at Tanner causing him to spin around to see that Kore had already come back from upper level with a couple blankets and a pillow in her hands.

"I…." Tanner trailed off as Kore marched over to him throwing the blankets down onto the couch and snatching the picture out of his hands "Sorry about that," he said hoping not to incur her fathers or even her anger. However, she did not respond instead she only looked down at the picture in her hands. "She's your mother right?" he asked but Kore still did not respond, "Where is she if you don't mind me asking?"

"Dead," Kore finally spoke up as she rested the picture on the mantle again before she leaned against the wall right next to it.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tanner said in understanding tone "How did she…"

"Die?" Kore quickly cutting in finishing his sentence looking over at Tanner with a gaze so sharp Tanner swear it could have killed him. "She was killed by a Huntsmen."

This just shocked Tanner to his core values, "What…." Tanner slowly wheezed out.

"Not in the way you think," Kore said trying to clarify what she had said earlier, "but it was because of what he didn't do that lead to her death."

After that silence filled the air again as Kore paused her story and looked out towards space. "About a year ago before that village was formed my father had asked a Huntsman to help clear out some Grimm that were in the woods. The problem was he wanted more from father then was originally agreed on in the contract so they got into a heated argument with the huntsmen leaving Grimm in the woods. Then one night when my mother was tending the fields she was attacked. We didn't know what attacked her but in the morning we had found her body in the fields."

"So that's why you hate…" Tanner said realizing what he had gotten himself into.

"Yeah." Kore snapped back at Tanner, "All Huntsmen are weasels who only care about fame and money. Even you are." She said as she once again glared at Tanner. "Now I don't know what your end game is but I know where it's going to end with you extorting my father all he has left so just get comfy and sleep for the night," Kore said as she got up from leaning against the wall and proceeded to march back upstairs.

Tanner stood in front of the fire for a while still watching flames wither away. After a while, Kore's father left the kitchen and proceeded up the small staircase himself. A few more minutes of complete silence had passed before Tanner decide to sit down on the couch and unrolled the blankets he was given. Once Tanner had laid down he just stared up at the ceiling as if there was something important up there.

"In the woods, huh" Tanner mumbled to himself before he fell asleep.