Fluffy was not one to suffer vermin. The Arc household was mercifully free of rats or any other such pests, but their newest accomodations could not say the same although that was by design. Jason wished to hone his combat skills, and he had been tasked with freeing a barn from vermin. Despite his skills, Jason was not well-versed in how to deal with vermin. Fluffy was, and he had also brought in another expert.
Under normal circumstances, Fluffy would not have gone anywhere near a snake. Snakes were trouble, especially for small cats, but this one was well behaved and seemed to be completely focused on the rats that skittered about in the barn around them.
But what kind of name was Count Strangula?
Oh well. He belonged to one of the children of the woman with spiky hair whose Aura felt like a campfire but smelt of raw devastation. More to the point, there were a lot of rats. They did not want to get swarmed. A single rat was no trouble. Fluffy’s claws and teeth would see to that easily enough. But he had witnessed more than one arrogant cat on the streets, and even a few dogs, going down beneath a tide of rodents after picking a fight with too many of them at the same time.
“You ready, Fluffy?” Jason asked, his shield and sword at the ready.
Fluffy yowled his battle cry.
He was joined by an amused chuckle from the dark-haired girl and a hiss from the snake.
Jason wiped the sweat off his brow. “That... that was a lot tougher than I thought it would be.”
Victoria laughed. “Oh, you have no idea. Barn rats can be vicious. They’re very territorial, and steady access to food and water lets them grow bigger and meaner than normal rats or mice. They’re smart too. They have to be to last this long.”
Jason glanced over to where Fluffy was licking his paws. It was one thing to see the small cat claw at his dad. That was kind of funny, but watching Fluffy efficiently rip out throats and bellies was sobering. That wasn’t a domestic cat at work. No. That was a small cat who’d grown up on the streets fighting as dirtily as he needed to in order to survive.
Nearby, Count Strangula was looking very happy indeed. He hadn’t eaten most of the rats he’d killed, but there was time now to snack on a couple of them. He’d read up on how grass snakes normally fought, but what the snake had done wasn’t at all similar to what he’d expected.
“How did he learn to fight like that?” Jason asked. The whip-like movements of the snake’s tail, the way he used his body like a bludgeon, and even the spear-like thrusts of his head. It looked far too reminiscent of an actual fighting style.
“That’s a funny story.” Victoria picked up a rat, and Jason grimaced and turned away. He wasn’t about to judge her for eating it, but he didn’t want to watch it either. With her Semblance, she was always hungry, and the rat was right there. A lot of crunching and squelching followed before she continued. “You know my mom really, really loved her pet snake, Strangles. They did everything together. When my mom practiced, she always let Strangles watch. When he tried to imitate some of her moves, she decided that she might as well work out a fighting style just for him. It took her a while, but she was able to come up with something a snake could use. Strangles was a smart guy, so he was able to learn it. Moreover, normally snakes can’t use much Aura at all, but Strangles could. My mom figured it was because of how close they were and how much time they spent around each other. Count Strangula is one of his kids. He learned how to fight from Strangles, and he’s been around my mom and me long enough to pick up how to use Aura too. Plus, we’ve been working on refining the style as well.”
“So basically your mom invented Snake Fu and it’s been passed down from snake to snake and honed from generation to generation.”
“Basically, yeah.” Victoria nodded at Fluffy. “Your cat uses Aura to claw stuff.”
“Yeah. It’s not a lot and it’s really subtle, but it’s there. Why do you think he never breaks his claws when he claws your dad?”
“That is...” Jason paused. “A great point.” His father’s durability was incredible. A cat like Fluffy should have injured himself when clawing him, but he never did. “I wonder if dad knows.”
“Of course, he does. Your father has more than enough skill to detect it. He probably just doesn’t care because, well, Fluffy is a cat, and he can’t really do any damage. Besides, Fluffy is smart enough not to use Aura to claw anyone who can’t handle it.”
“You’re right about that.” Jason had noticed that as ornery as Fluffy could be, he seemed to scale the viciousness of his attacks with the ability of his opponents to handle it. For his dad, Fluffy had zero mercy, but Jason’s dad could handle just about anything. On the other hand, whenever Fluffy got annoyed at one of their friends, he’d just give them a little bit of a swipe. None of their friends had ever gotten hurt, but it was enough to warn them off. Well, Fluffy was a smart cat. His mom was always saying that, and Fluffy had done plenty of things that hinted at how smart he actually was. “So... what now?”
“Well, now that we’ve got the rats cleared up, we’ll go report in to Great Grandpa Sazh.”
“You know he hates being called that.”
“Which is why I call him that.” Victoria snickered. “Besides, it makes sense. He taught my grandparents when they were students.”
“Fair enough.” Jason stomach rumbled. “We can get some lunch too.”
Victoria kicked a rat at him.
“Ew.” Jason batted it aside with his shield. “No. I am not eating a rat.”
“They’re tasty and nutritious. I mean, yeah, you’d have to cook it first, but roasted rat is fantastic if you know how to season it.”
“...” Jason shook his head. “Nope. Not happening.”
“Well, it’s your loss.” Victoria gestured, and Count Strangula slithered up her leg and then settled into place around her neck like a scarf. “Let’s get going.”
Hang around hunters long enough and you become one... in all seriousness, though, one of the most common ways of Aura activation is simple exposure. It is one fo the reasons that the children of hunters almost always awaken their Aura earlier than other people.
As for Count Strangula, he earned his name after picking out the vampire costume one Halloween when Diana was dressing her snakes to trick-or-treating. He’s one of Strangle’s first batch of children, so he’s actually middle-aged at this point. Victoria brought him along since he really loves going after rats, even more so than most grass snakes.
Also, Jason and Victoria get along decently well although as they get older, Victoria starts having fun by teasing him over his occasionally poor management of his romantic life. That said, Jason is very happy that Xanthe gets put on her team at Beacon. He knows that there is nobody better to look out for his sister.
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