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Hunter dodged away from the abomination tendril aiming at his chest and managed to block with his staff. He had to focus hard on not zapping away. In real combat situations, it would be his go-to method to dodge attacks, confuse his opponents, and even attack. Frankly, it was his go-to method even when he would spar for fun.
However, zapping around had no place while practising for his Abomination Combat 101 exam. He would only be allowed to use abomination spells. The new abomination teacher claimed it was to force them to learn the proper form of spells. “If you rely on things you already know, you may avoid properly relying on abominations and therefore those skills will remain underdeveloped.”
It made sense, but it was frustrating.
“Good,” Darius commented, “now it’s your turn.”
Hunter took a moment to steady himself and then focused. While using the abomination staff Darius made for him a few months back was now becoming second nature to him, fighting still wasn’t as instinctual as it was with Flapjack.
He wasn’t sure if any staff would ever feel the same.
But it was good, and he could use it to perform quite a few spells.
Using it to manipulate abomination goo in combat was new though, even just practising the basic moves.
The abomination staff was similar to using the one he got from Belos all those years ago, but with a major improvement. The magic in it was less…harsh, closer to using a palisman to cast. He could feel it reaching for the goo in the pouch on his hip and imagined the shape, sort of like he would with glyphs. A long tendril formed and swiped at Darius. He repeated the motion one, two, three times. Darius blocked the first two swipes with great ease, though the third one almost landed on his cheek. Using his dad’s momentary distraction, he tried to direct the goo into a direct, strong, swirling blast only for the abomination to lose its shape and splatter on the ground.
“Crap!” he groused, pulling it back into the pouch.
“No, no, that was great!” Darius cheered, wiping the few drops of abomination goo off his face. “Your speed is improving. The force of the hits too.”
“I know that, if this was real, that third swipe would never come close to your face! I know you’re holding back.”
“Yes, because it would make no sense to attack you full force while you’re only allowed to use a type of magic you only recently started to use. What would that teach you? Imagine if you had to teach, say, Augustus, some melee combat, would you attack him full force?”
Hunter huffed. He hated when his dad used this argument on him, “In real-life combat, you’d defeat me in seconds!” He argued stubbornly.
“Hunter, in an actual fight, I’d defeat most of the abomination witches in seconds,” it was clear in Darius’ face that he was suppressing an eye-roll, “Or witches in general! You only started using abomination magic in combat two months ago, Little Wolf, and you’ve been studying general abominations for less than a year. No offence, but you can’t compare with 40 years of experience! Come on, don’t act like you don’t know how training works. Normal training, at least.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hunter hung his head, still feeling like he just embarrassed himself slightly, “I know.”
“That was a bold move to try, you’ll get it one day,” Darius ruffled his hair, “For now, you almost mastered the basics!”
“Really?”
“Really,” Darius nodded.
“You’re not just saying that?” Hunter asked doubtfully.
“Little Prince,” two words were enough for him to recognize the tone Darius always used when he was overly self-critical or self-doubting.
“Ok, ok, fine! I know you aren’t! But the exam is tomorrow and I’m still struggling with a few moves and not relying on zapping or even other types of magic I know! What if I mess up?”
“You won't mess up.”
Darius’ confidence in him, ironically, only made his worry spike. If Darius was so certain he’d make it, wouldn’t he be even more disappointed if he failed? “But what if I do? What if I mess up the moment the exam starts?”
“Doesn't the new teacher have the rule that you can re-start the test three times?”
“Yes…but what if I mess up all three?”
“Well,” Darius led him to the bench at the edge of the lawn, “she may knock off some points if you zap away, or for a failed spell, but that won’t mean automatic failure on the exam, now, will it?”
“No. But what if-”
“Little prince,” Darius gently places a hand on Hunter’s shoulder, “Deep breath,” he said and Hunter followed, feeling slightly embarrassed for freaking out.
“If you fail the exam, it’s ok. It happens. Even with nice teachers,” Darius said as if he read Hunter’s mind. It would be one thing to fail under Hermonkolus. Amity once failed Abomination Combat under Hermonkulus. Darius and Alador both failed under his tutelage.
But the new teacher, Mx. Claymore, was much, much nicer. And, more importantly, fairer. If Hunter failed under them, he couldn’t chalk it up to the teacher being a jerk. It would be a genuine failure.
“Hunter?” Darius nudged him gently, “You know I won't be mad if you fail?”
Hunter sighed, leaning into Darius’ side. Even a year later, every time he (or anyone else for that matter) would say something like that, it felt like a lie. Every time he would compulsively question how and why was he so nice, why was he giving him so much grace? He knew his dad wasn’t lying, but there was still that part of him, a part of him that was still reeling from Belos’ influence that didn’t get the memo.
It was even harder with abomination stuff. Darius was the best abomination master out there. (Sorry, Amity). And Hunter’s dad. What if he expected Hunter, his own son, to be great abomination witch. What if-
“Yes,” Hunter said, shaking his head in an attempt to break the spiral.
Darius said you don’t have to be great at abominations, or do them at all just because he does it. He is not like that! He reminded himself.
“I know…, well I’m trying to know that.”
“Good,” Darius pulled him into a side hug and pressed a kiss to his hair, “You are ready. I know it. But even if you don’t pass, it’s ok. There is always another shot.”
“Can we have another sparring session?”
“Maybe after you had something to eat.”
Hunter frowned, then tried going for a compromise, knowing Darius wouldn’t budge on him eating. And he was hungry, “Can I at least try a few forms first?”
Darius sighed, “Fine! Stand up!”
Hunter followed, knowing what came next.
“Blade! Tendril! Two blades! Blob. Blade. Tendril. Mitten. Blade. Octopus!”
Darius gave him about two seconds between each demanded form. Hunter managed to form all of them, even if his dual blades were kind of uneven and wobbly, the mitten felt like it could fall off his hand any second and he barely managed to hold all eight tendrils that formed the octopus.
“Ok, that’s it for this session,” Darius said, and Hunter pulled the abomination back into the sack.
“The octopus was wobbly.”
“Nuh-uh, we’re not going to do this!”
“What?”
“We’re not starting with which parts were imperfect! Tell me what you did right.” Darius demanded,
“But-”
“Nope. What did you do right?” His dad insisted.
Hunter huffed, feeling his face flush. Praising his own form in this manner felt unnatural, and conceited. “Um...the blade was ok. But-”
“No buts. The blade was more than ok.”
“But it wasn’t as sharp as yours! Or, before you say the 40-years-of-experience part again, Amity’s either.”
“Uh-huh,” Hunter didn’t even have to look at Darius to see his playfully raised eyebrow, “and how many years of experience does Amity have?”
Hunter looked up at his dad grumpily, caught in a trap. Why was there the stubborn part of Darius that insisted he talk nicely about himself? And what was there an even more stubborn part of Hunter that refused it?
“Hunter…”
“Her whole life,” he muttered.
“Yup, what did the hack say? She managed her first abomination spell at the age of two, so that would make it, what? Thirteen years? So…thirteen times longer than you, correct me if I’m wrong!” Darius teased, “My math is a bit rusty!”
“Daaad!” Hunter rolled his eyes.
“So, tell me which parts if the forms were correct!”
“Ok, ok. So, the blades were…not as sharp as I would like them to be, but good, stable. Um…I know my tendrils are good and do pack a punch, and the blob was, well, blobby enough and, ok, one thing I know I have done well are the quick transitions!” He said the last part with actual excitement, feeling a boost of confidence.
“That is all very much true,” Darius said.
“I do need to work on the mitten if I ever want to develop it into proper gauntlet,” Hunter said, “But at least they weren’t dripping today! I think that, if I had to punch someone like that, they would hold shape enough to at least protect my knuckles.”
“Good point,” Darius nodded, “Was that so hard?” He asked lightly.
“You know it is,” Hunter sighed, “but…less than I expected.”
“Good,” Darius said, leaning to press a kiss to his forehead. “I’m proud of you.”
“My octopus is still wobbly!”
“The octopus, if done correctly, is extra credit. It’s not a basic form,” Darius got up and ruffled his hair, “that was amazing.”
“The turret is also extra credit, and I didn’t manage that one.”
“Well, good thing that extra credit isn’t mandatory, you’ll get there,” Darius said, “Also, come on, you know what Eber would say. If you want extra credit, be sneaky about it! Show off the form you’ve mostly mastered.”
“I wouldn’t say mastered…”
“Hey! Who is the former head abomination witch?”
Hunter rolled his eyes, “You are!”
“Exactly! So, if I say you mostly mastered it, you mostly mastered it. Or do you need me to drag the Blights over to confirm it?”
“No, no, I don’t. I’m just…nervous…”
“I know.”
“I still find it dumb I can’t use other stuff in combat”
“Well, this is Abomination Combat 101. Integration is important and, finally, legal. But you first must master the basics. If the sources we found are correct, even wild witches of the past did it this way.”
“Ugh…”
“You’ll practice how to incorporate this into your general style while practising with friends, and in derby, now focus on this, ok?”
“Ok.”
“If it matters, I know you would give me much harder time, even in casual sparring, if you could zap around, toss potions at me and titan knows what! Now, we lingered here enough, let’s go see what Eber made for lunch today. If it's roasted rats again..."
Hunter just smiled as the two walked towards the kitchen. It meant the world.
And yes, he knew that Eber made roasted rats for lunch.
….
Darius placed the last two dinner plates into the washing mouth, fed it a few soap berries, and let it do its thing. It grumbled and hissed at him before it started the task. He’d have to ask Eber to check if the being was doing ok, since it had been acting up lately.
The dinner was a nice end to an overall nice day. Still, Hunter hasn’t been this jittery before an exam in a while. This was what Darius feared when Hunter started taking additional abomination classes, that he’d think Darius would expect perfection from him.
It was an issue when Hunter first enrolled in high school. Due to trauma from Belos, he was always shaking a bit when he’d get home with anything less than a B, even if it was something small like a homework assignment. But the first time he got a C in abomination, he actively avoided Darius for half a day, all the while doing chore after chore, to appease him, expecting anger.
Hunter always feared that Darius and Eber would be mad or disappointed, if he got less than a B, let alone an F in any exam, or even in homework. And these fears were exacerbated when it came to abomination and beastkeeping.
Trauma took time to overcome, Darius knew, but each time Hunter would beat himself over something like that, implying that Darius and Eber should be angry at him, or, worse, think of him as less than for it, Darius wanted to drag Belos back from the dead, punch him, then return him to whatever afterlife pit he belonged in.
Instead, he’d take all that energy and redirect it towards reassuring Hunter as many times as he needed. He’d tell him that he wouldn’t be less loved for getting average grades, that he wasn’t a waste of space or any other cruel thing Belos put into his head. He’d remind him that back during his own school days, he, as an overall good student, still had plenty of average and even bad grades, especially under the unfair piece of trash that was Professor Hermonkulus. It was a slow-going process, but it was worth it to see Hunter less scared, even proudly smiling if when he would get a B.
However, once the new academic year started, Hunter expressed that he wanted to take on more abomination classes in place of some in the other tracks. A new fear stirred up in Darius’ chest. What if Hunter was only doing so because he thought Darius expected him to? Darius’ love for his magic branch was no secret to anyone, so what if Hunter thought he had to love it the same way too? That Darius expected Hunter to follow in his footsteps simply because Darius was an abomination master, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
Darius wanted Hunter to do his own things, no matter what those were. If he had less interest in abomination than any other person on the isles, Darius would be happy for him.
His fears were, thankfully, unfounded since Hunter seemed genuinely excited about abomination electives, through the boy did admit that part of the interest was thanks to Darius. He was inspired and taking on a branch of magic Darius excelled in, made him feel closer to his dad.
And who was Darius to deny him that?
The only issue was that Hunter now expected them to spar. Not that they didn’t before. It was a bit nerve wracking to Darius, as he always feared he’d hurt Hunter, but his son was so excited about it, he couldn’t say no. Eber called it playfighting and claimed that while witches were very huffy about it, it was completely normal in demon cultures. Though Darius knew that, when he and Hunter would playfight, they would freak out a bit too.
However, he had to really adjust his skills with Hunter’s abomination training since they focused on Hunter mastering basic forms, before they moved on to proper combat. Despite Hunter’s other skills, he was a complete beginner in this skillset. And Darius had to treat him as such.
“You were still too careful during that last sparring session after lunch today,” Hunter pouted next to him, as if reading Darius’ mind.
“We’ve been over this, Little Prince” Darius sighed, patting the washing mouth once again before he turned to his son. “I’m sending you to an exam, not to the front-line combat!”
“I know! But what if she expects me to fight better than this and I embarrass myself? What if my reaction time ends up being just awful?”
“Hunter, they can’t expect you to fight on an advanced level using just abomination, considering you’re a beginner,” Darius said, sighing internally. “And if they do push you too hard, you have my full permission to use whatever spell, skill or object you have at your disposal to defend yourself, exam results be damned. And then they’ll have a little chat with me,” Darius said darkly. So far, the new abomination teacher proved to be a very welcome replacement for Hermonkulus. Darius sincerely hoped they would stay like that.
He didn’t mind defending Hunter, far from it, but he’d really prefer to spend his afternoon doing something fun and relaxing, not scaring the crap out of yet another abomination teacher. Though the memory of Hermie’s face when Darius burst into his office in full abomination form for insulting Hunter was priceless!
“I don’t mean that, they wouldn’t,” Hunter said, “But I mean if she just expects me to show more skills!”
“Well, as I said already, your forms are really good, and your basic defence and offence is great. She can’t expect you to fight like a master after only covering the basics, you know that,” with Hunter’s anxieties, it often felt like they were talking in circles. Darius would lie if he said it wasn’t frustrating sometimes. But it wasn’t Hunter’s fault. As much as Darius sometimes wanted to grab him by the shoulders, and shake the anxieties out of him, that’s not how it worked.
Hunter didn’t look convinced, so Darius tried another approach, “Ok, you help your friends with hand-to-hand combat, right?”
Hunter frowned, as if he knew where Darius was going, “Yes…”
“Ok, now, do you treat, say, Viney, who is stronger because she has to wrestle that grumpy gryphon of hers on a daily basis as you would, I don’t know, Augustus? Or Steve’s brother?”
“No…”
“Exactly. There would be no sense in that, Gus wouldn’t learn anything if you just hit him two times and he ended up on the ground. I’m helping you train,” He ruffled his son’t hair, earning an annoyed glance, “not challenging you in Bonesborough Brawl, Abomination round!”
“Ok, ok, I get it, you told me the same thing this morning!” Hunter rolled his eyes, “I’m just nervous about the exam!”
“I know you are, but I’m telling you, your skills are amazing for your level,” Darius said.
Hunter smile, before he buried his face into his chest, “Thanks, dad.”
“You’re welcome, Little Prince. You can do all the forms that are required by the curriculum, plus one extra credit form! It’s going to go ok.” He ruffled his hair and felt Hunter’s muscles relaxing.
When he let go, Hunter seemed much more at ease, smug even, “I still think it’s a good thing I sparred with Amity, she doesn’t hold punches!” crossed his arms, an almost challenging smirk on his face.
Darius frowned. As much as he loved the fact that Hunter had friends, each time he witnessed their sparring sessions his heart would skip a beat. Or two. Or ten. In fact, there were times when he would get not-so-mild urge to grab Hunter’s friends by the shoulders and give them a little shake. What were those kids thinking half the time?
But then again, he knew that he and his friends were ten times worse. There was that one time he and Eda both got so invested they both ended up with sprained wrists after a sparring sessions that divulged into fisticuffs. And then there was the time Raine barely avoided losing a tooth.
Besides, he knew the youngest Blight well enough to know that she was holding back when helping Hunter train for this particular exam.
“Well, Amity is your friend, I’m your dad! It’s different!”
And Amity not softy. You, softie! Eber joined in conversation. Of course, they were there when it was time to mess with Darius. Typical.
“Oh, I’m a softie?” Darius feigned offence, “Well then, go ahead, Eber, you attack Hunter while not holding punches!”
Eber frowned and hissed at Darius, annoyed, Is late. No time for sparring.
“How about in morning? Before school!” Hunter suggested.
Too early. Cub need rest for exam, Eber huffed.
Darius chuckled, “Excuses, excuses,” he said, ruffling Eber’s mane.
Still not softie like you.
“Nobody is a softie like Darius,” Hunter teased.
“Hey!” Darius huffed, playfully pushing Hunter, “You’re supposed to be getting ready to sleep and rest, not mess with me!”
“You just suggested Eber and I spar!”
“Only because I know he wouldn’t agree to it! Now shoo, off to the shower and then bed!”
“But we only just had dinner!”
“We had dinner almost an hour ago, you should go sleep!”
“But-”
“Nuh-uh, run along!”
“Come on, can I at least watch CB a bit before bed?”
Darius considered this, “Ok, if you go brush your teeth and get ready for bed quickly, we can watch one episode of Cosmic Frontier!”
“How about a two-parter?”
“Nope! One episode, take it or leave it little wolf! But be quick, or I’ll pick you up and carr you to bed!”
Hunter avoided Darius hand, “Ok, ok, I’m going!” He snickered and rushed off before Darius could do on his treath.
Softie… Eber muttered.
“Hmm, maybe,” Darius mused, “Anyways, what was that Eber, you don’t want to join us tonight for some sofa cuddles? So I can do my full hand routine since Hunter will be perfectly content just snuggling and won’t demand scratches like some people?”
Don’t. Dare.
“Thought so. Now who is softie?”
……
The kitchen smelled like goreange cake, soup, and mawrigold powder. Darius could hear Eber mocking him for being a softie already, but he decided to make one of Hunter’s favourite lunches-screamcoli soup, gorange velvet cake and mawrigold egg noodles, non-spicy version.
He was, technically, supposed to be working from home. But he decided that could wait until the evening, when Hunter was supposed to go to the theme park with his friends. Now he was making a special meal that would either be celebratory, if Hunter passed, or a comfort, if he failed or got a bad grade. Blister sprouts and screamcoli soup was already cooling next to the stove, ready to eat.
Special meal? Eber’s soft muttering came from the door.
“Shouldn’t you still be at work?”
Finish early. You not work from home?
“I can work later. I had to make lunch.”
Frozen meals in fridge, there. No need for cooking more.
“I disagree,” Darius sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting out of this one.
Uh-huh. So, special meal? Eber asked again, jumping on one of the counters.
“You could say so,” Darius chuckled.
For special boy with special exam.
“Yes, yes, very observant from you, Eber, you are a genius,” Darius teased, “I won’t deny making a feast for my son. Now, be useful for something other than annoying me and check is the soup foamed well!”
The demon scoffed, but did as asked, lifting the lid on the soup pot, only to hiss at it, Scramcoli! They grunted in disgust.
“Well, you don’t have to eat it,” Darius chuckled smugly as Eber eyes darted between him and the pot as if they were debating who to smack first, “More for me and Hunter! Anyways, anything important from work?”
Message from Raine, “Tell Dari to do job, not just be mushy dad!” Eber chuckled.
He scoffed, “Tell Raine I’ll have something to say next time they stay home because King had a nightmare or Eda had a flare-up.”
Softie! Cook instead work.
“Hey, if you’re bothered, you can find your own food!”
Like it, except screamcolli. Evil vegetable. But fun to mess with your mushy a- Eber was cut off by the sound of the front door abruptly opening.
“I GOT IT! I PASSED WITH A B+!” The shout was followed by the sound of wild running down the hall and Hunter go to the kitchen soi fast Darus could swear he zapped halfway there. “I GOT A B+!”
Darius could feel pride swelling in his chest. And not just because Hunter passed his exam. His joy at getting a B+, a great but imperfect grade, meant so much. It was such an improvement from a boy who thought Darius would be mad if got anything less than 100%.
He set the cooking spoon down just in time to wrap his arms around Hunter as the boy slammed into him, “Great job, Hunter, I knew you’d get it!”
Hunter let go, grinning widely, “Yeah, Mx. Claymore said so too! They did turn out to be a bit stricter than I presumed, but, like, fairly! Only one person got an A, but she was so nice about it! Mx. Claymore, I mean!”
What followed was an excited description of the whole exam and, while Darius initially had mild doubts about the teacher’s fairness, mostly due to Hunter’s tendency to underplay when people were unfair to him, what he described as reasons given for a B and not an A were valid mistakes.
Hunter kept going, describing the exam in details. At first they would have to present their forms and then, for the second part of the exam, they would have to show off their skills against the teacher, but also an abomination student in a more advanced class. Darius had to give it to them, it wasn’t a bad tactic if you wanted to properly assess your student’s whole form.
There was no real apprehension in Hunter’s voice, except when he was describing his mistakes, but Darius eased his worries.
“And,” Hunter said as he slowly calmed down, “Amity says she can’t wait to see me improve so we can properly spar with abominations, and I can’t wait either!”
“For titan’s sake, do you two think about anything else?”
“What? Not my fault we’re the two best duellists in the group!” Hunter pouted, “Come on, imagine if I manage to get Amity with an abomination spell! Imagine if I get you with an abomination spell!”
Oooh, would love see! Be there to record!
“Eber says it as if they’d do that to get me, or whatever, but I’m telling you one day, when that happened, I’ll simply be bursting with pride. Not that I’m not already.”
“I…” Hunter’s face coloured pink, “I know that.”
As am I cub, not let me teasing make believe otherwise. Worried though, Darius get any more proud, might explode from it. Mee too.
Darius rolled his eyes while Hunter let out a wet chuckle, “Please don’t.”
“What? Explode?” Darius asked.
Would be hard clean all goo, Eber mused.
“No worse than you, with all the fur!”
Hunter let out a nervous laugh, “Ok…can we stop talking about this?”
“Sorry,” Darius gave him a brief side-hug. “Off you go, change and let me finish lunch so we can eat.”
“Do you need help?”
“No, you can go rest, Little Prince!”
“But I want to help! I love it when we cook together!”
Darius chuckled. He liked it too, and spending an afternoon cooking and having lunch with his son before he had to actually do his work while Hunter went to the theme park sounded nice,“Ok, go change though, let’s not have you stain your uniform!”
“On it! Oh, I can zap now again!” Hunter said and, in a blur of yellow, disappeared.
Nice see cub happy and proud! Eber said, Over B. Healing.
“Yeah, he is,” Darius agreed with a smile. It wouldn’t be obvious to just anyone, but Darius knew Hunter well enough to see him healing even in small things like this.