Hunter and Naomi's Prelude

[Tree]

Naomi nodded, leaning to kiss his forehead once before slowly sliding from the bed and heading from his room to go shower.

[Sushi]

Hunter actually scooted under the blankets, dozing faintly.

[Tree]

Naomi tidied and read, this is, until Thalia decided she was lonely... Where was Fang? He seemed to have decided his daughter should be Naomi's headache.

[Sushi]

Hunter did eventually get up. He absently paced past Naomi, going to the front room where he would best be able to see the situation with the snow.

[Tree]

No change. The man and woman were nicely snowed in. Naomi left Hunter be.

[Sushi]

Fang would return about now, carrying a small animal carcass in his mouth. This was for his cub, to start teaching her how to get at her food and stuff.









Hunter wouldn't come back through until all of the electricity in the house died. Then, he would sigh.



"I really hope this is a power outage."



He then moved to the utility room to check the breakers.

[Tree]

" versus?"



Naomi asked, following Hunter in the dark now.

[Sushi]

Hunter's answer was completely casual.



"There are rumors that a thunderbird has take roost around here. It would explain the thunder snow and the power going out."

[Tree]

" Well dang... That sounds like a pain to deal with."

[Sushi]

"Hey, you're catching on fast."



Hunter was flicking breakers, but to know avail.



"But, you know, it's not half as bad as half the things out there. You know, just figure out what they want and then they tend to go away."

[Tree]

" So why would one just be wondering around? shoot, are they common?"



Yeah, she'd not heard of one.

[Sushi]

"They are solitary birds. Good grief, I can only imagine the havoc if they were to fly in flocks!"



Hunter moved then out of the utility room.



"No. They aren't incredibly common. There's, oh, I don't know... ten or so in the world. But believe me, that's plenty."



He was digging through his closet now, pulling out his heaviest clothes.

[Tree]

Naomi considered this.



" we could just go somewhere else until it leaves."



Just an offer.

[Sushi]

Hunter laughed then.



"I like that approach."



He shrugged.



"But I'm really supposed to do something about it."





Besides, if he didn't, he might not have a house to come back to.

[Tree]

well, I thought I'd offer...



" And what are you suppose to do about a bird like that?"

[Sushi]

You could feel Hunter's smile through the darkness.



"I'm still working on that."



He was pulling on heavier clothes.



"If you need to borrow mine, that's fine. Without the power, the temperature in here is going to plummet."

[Tree]

" and with the ground covered in water? This could be fun.... Just to watch."



let alone be a part of.

[Sushi]

"What do you mean?"



Hunter asked quizzically as he moved towards his front door.

[Tree]

" electric oriented creature, water and electricity not a good mix."

[Sushi]

"Oh."



Hunter laughed faintly.



"So does that mean you are coming or staying?

[Tree]

" Coming. Let you have all the fun? No way."

[Sushi]

"Alright then."



Hunter opened the door and ducked out into the cave. Then, he shimmied up to the surface. However, he didn't even surface the whole way before coming back down and literally pushing at Naomi.



Not a thunderbird. Back in the house. Back in the house. Back in the house.

[Tree]

Naomi pouted.



What is it?



She whined.

[Sushi]

All at once, the tunnels began to collapse, snow rushing like a river.



Avalanche. In the house!



Because he didn't mean an avalanche like he meant an earthquake or tsunami. He mean an Avalanche, the mythical creature.

[Tree]

Naomi jumped inside, settled down with Hunter, looking at him now, confused.



" a what?"

[Sushi]

Hunter was holding on to Naomi's shoulders. The man looked up as his whole house shook with impact.



"Avalanche. Huge snow monster. Uh... Come on. I'm thinking the basement."



The man tugged her along. The very ground seemed to shake with another impact as he unlocked the door to a dark staircase.

[Tree]

" I can get us out of here-"



She stated, kind of trailing off as he tugged her down.



" Isn't there a reason you keep this locked? Like, twelve more of thimbleton or something."



it was an innocent joke.

[Sushi]

Hunter descended into the darkness, letting the door shut behind him.



"Because there is stuff down here that could hurt you, me, the neighbors, or any combination thereof if stumbled upon by someone unknowing. I kept it locked before you moved in, though. Nothing personal. So, please understand why I'm saying what I'm about to say - I promise that it's not to be an ass. Please, do not touch anything unless you are absolutely certain that you know what it is."



Then, Hunter lit a small oil lamp, one that cast just enough light through the room to see everything. The air was cooler down here than in the rest of the house. Standing at the base of the staircase, it was certainly something to look at. It was all one room. The righthand wall was entirely of little cubbies for storing wine and other liquors. Most of them were full.



However, that was probably the most domestic thing in there. The room had a lot of crates, though none of them stacked over shoulder height. Most of them was just a single on set down on the floor, and most of them had various items stacked on them. They were of varying degree of oddity. It when from things like a stone basin full of some liquid - water? - to other items that were beyond any form of recognition. Along the back wall was a huge box, taller than it was wide, almost reminiscent of a magician's box that they put people in. When you weren't looking directly, something about it or near to it seemed to move. All sorts of stuff. On the left hand wall there was a door in the corner closest to the stairwell. It looking dark and foreboding. Where did it go?



"I would much rather you ask first than do something accidentally that we'd both regret."

[Tree]

" I am not a child."



Naomi offered up. she was looking, you could not blame her. She was naturally curious, but when she came upon something she did know what was, she turned and looked over Hunter.



" Why do you have the cursed goblet?"



It was cursed by the gods themselves, sent down to curb the greediest of men. It served it's purpose well, look at the world now though, without is cursed blessing...



To make on so wealthy they were miserable. To show them that what they drink does not have to be nectar to be pleasing. To humble man...



she let this go though, tapping it once. What she uttered though was pretty impressive as you would watch it's natural glow fade now.



" Your no longer needed."



She informed it simply, as if she knew it would cease to work, wondering on, otherwise touching nothing.

[Sushi]

Hunter sighed. He had hoped she wouldn't be upset... but she was.



"About a three centuries ago, it fell into the hands of the vampires in my domain. It caused a war - one that nearly obliterated the population of both humans and vampires. I made sure that it mysteriously 'disappeared' forever."



He watched her deactivate it without any upset. He didn't care. He just kept it down here in quarantine. He sighed then, moving out towards the center of the basement, setting the lantern down.



"And you know, I was not implying that you were a child. It's not like I'm worried that you'll come down here to get some wine and grab on of the bottles of holy water instead. I think you're smart enough for that. My worry is it's just that some of this stuff you wouldn't realize is bad until it was too late.



"I mean, all of the crates along the left wall are just storage, and so are most of the ones in the middle here. But, for instance, that thing there that kind of looks like a broken hourglass? If you get the sand out of that thing on you, you'll contract a disease that makes the flesh rot off of your body. And that magician's box over there? It looks completely harmless, but if you were to open it, you'd let out the Nightmare."

[Tree]

" i am not upset."



naomi offered absently, looking about the room. She listened to him, smiling.



"When we're not hiding though, more poking around would be nice."



She liked show and tell.

[Sushi]

Hunter shook his head.



"We're not hiding. We are taking shelter... and I'm looking for something."



He was rummaging through stuff in one part.



"Oh, but now that I'm thinking about it... You might need to know - that door over there? It's just another exit if you need it - which I doubt you would since you're a type B, but just so you know. Just follow the underground tunnel and you'll eventually surface. However, both the trapdoor at the end and that door automatically lock, so you can't get in unless you have both of the keys. Remind me, and I'll give you a set of spares."

[Tree]

" ... What about Thalia?"



Naomi asked now, looking up. Did she need to go get the cub?

[Sushi]

"I'm not really worried. I mean, my house is pretty well built. Besides, Fang has her in his nook, which is the most internal point of my entire house. I'm just... Ah. Here we go."



Hunter stood up straight then, looking over a small... well, it looked like a tin of altoids. The man nodded to himself, picking up the lantern and putting it back where he had gotten it from near the stairs.



"Put that out when you're done."



And he went back upstairs.

[Tree]

Naomi pouted. It was no fun without the tour guide. This is why it went out and she went up after him.

[Sushi]

Hunter moved to the front door. When he opened it, the wooden piece fell out onto the entryway floor along with a lot of snow. The man opened the tin box and pulled out a small stone. He didn't so much as glance at Naomi before sticking it into his mouth, placing the tin into his pocket. The man then waited about twenty or thirty seconds before quickly spitting it out, tossing it between his hands like a hot potato before moving to throw it through the snow out the door. How close were you, Naomi? Would you know that he just burned his mouth and hands?



"Mmm... there we go. Now we wait."



He didn't seem particularly bothered by the burns.

[Tree]

naomi jabbed Hunter. Her's had already healed. It was almost like a paper cut. there one second, gone the next.



" WARN me first!!"



She protested, half glaring at him.



He was the only real food source unless she felt like putting work into it... and he tasted better... so, of course she was steadily growing closer.

[Sushi]

Hunter sighed.



"I didn't think about it."



Well, that much was obvious.

[Tree]

Naomi half heartedly stepped on his foot and then waited.



" Aside from burn, what does it do?"

[Sushi]

Hunter jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the door. It was plain to see already that the snow was melting.



"It's a hot rock. It'll melt the snow."



And then it would light everything on fire if not contained, but he didn't plan on letting it sit that long.