The Bloodforged Kin

Zavier had his chain out and was using it to keep the Scamperers just outside of attacking range while Luna fired shots in their directions. He intentionally didn't inflict any damage, that was for Luna. He just slapped them hard enough to force them back or to make them roll to the side. Luna, for her part, recovered quickly and looked determined to unleash holy hell on the creatures. She had the gauntleted arm extended and was holding it up with her other, her aim getting better and better with each shot. Zavier's intelligence was high enough that he could pay attention to the attacking creatures while also monitoring Luna's data. It was interesting to see the potential paths start to evolve, narrow, or broaden based on her actions. Already he could see paths developing for projectile and magically enhanced weapons. While he was watching he noticed something fascinating and focused more deeply on that.

Every so often she'd launch a projectile straight into the path of where the creature was moving to, but she wasn't leading the target like a hunter would. During those times the data pinged off of her luck skill and it seemed to direct her movements to where the thing was going to be. Her Luck was decent - high enough to impact the fight, evidently. It occurred to him that if she wasn't going to be able to become proficient in any particular style of fighting the next best option might be to stack the odds in her favor. He dove a little deeper into the data on Luck and verified that it did exactly as the name suggested - it turned the situation into something favorable.

This could be her edge, he thought. But only if she learns to trust it.

He started backing off to let the creatures get closer. She grew more frantic and started backpedaling, glancing at him with confused desperation in her eyes. Zavier's heart twisted as he watched her panic, but he forced himself to assess the situation clinically. Her armor was intact, health at 95%, and she had clear escape routes in three directions. The Scamperers were dangerous but not overwhelming - he could close the distance in two seconds if needed.

Trust the process, he told himself, even as his paternal instincts screamed at him to intervene.

The creatures got closer and closer when suddenly... THERE! He watched Luck activate as Luna slipped on a patch of grass just as the Scamperer shot to where her head had been. As she fell her arm swung wide and a projectile from the gauntlet fired directly into the eye of the other charging squirrel. It dropped heavily and Luna flipped to her stomach to push herself up. Zavier stepped in and flipped his chain to knock the first Scamperer back as Luna got to her feet. Then he moved back and let it charge her. It barreled into her, knocking her to her back.

Zavier's panic had him running before he had a chance to think. The luck only seems to activate when she's in real peril, he realized. If I keep helping, she'll never learn to rely on it. The thought made his stomach clench, but the data was clear. This was how she'd survive when he wasn't there to save her. So he did the hardest thing he'd ever had to do - he stopped.

His enhanced intelligence was calculating risks in real time while his heart hammered against his ribs. Luna's health, armor integrity, the creature's attack patterns - everything was within manageable parameters. But watching his daughter in danger, even controlled danger, felt like swallowing glass.

He heard a thump and saw Maisy drop from the roof. Every instinct screamed to let her go, to end this, but he forced his chain into the motion he'd seen her use with her tail - 'No! Wait.' If he stepped in too soon, Luna would never learn to trust her own abilities. She let out a low rumble and was poised to jump, but she waited. Even the cat thinks I'm making the wrong choice, he thought grimly.

Luna was pushing the squirrel up and away from her face and yelling for him, but he forced himself to watch. Her health dropped by 5% when it hit her - still not in real danger, but close enough that his muscles coiled to move. Its open mouth dripped saliva onto her hand and he could see her grip slipping from the thing's face. Her hand slid across its fur as she lost her grip and his chain was already moving when he saw the Luck ping again.

Wait. Trust it. Trust her. He forced himself to halt mid-strike, watching her health like a hawk. If it dropped past 60%, the experiment was over.

Luna's hand slipped off the creature's fur, and it lunged, jaws wide. Reflexively, she raised her gauntleted arm, and with a flash of light, twin projectiles blasted into its open mouth, silencing its growl with a gurgle.

Zavier watched in elation and relief as the Scamperer disappeared. "Great job, Sweetie!" he said as he rushed up to her, his voice slightly hoarse from the tension he'd been holding. She slapped his hand away and pushed with her legs to slide across the grass, putting distance between them. As she got to her feet Zavier saw her wipe away angry tears.

The look in her eyes hit him like a physical blow.

She glared at him. "Why did you do that, dad?" The tears were still coming but her expression was a combination of anger and hurt.

"You were fine, Honey! You did great! I was keeping an eye on you." He took a step towards her, arms spread wide, but he could see the damage was already done.

She backed up another step, arms crossed tightly over her thin frame. "That thing almost got me. I was still shook up from what I did to Cass but you made me fight them anyway. And that last one almost got me and you just watched!"

Zavier's voice dropped from excitement to something heavier. "Honey, you know I wouldn't have let anything happen to you! But you have to be able to handle these things on your own. You need to get strong enough that I don't need to come save you every time something comes up."

Her head dropped but Zavier saw the pain flash across her eyes before it did. God, what have I done? He may have been able to see the optimal path forward, but it didn't make watching his daughter's heart break any easier.

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She stood there for a moment, silent, before dropping her arms and jerking her head up to glare at him. Gone was the pain, replaced by anger and determination. She looked so much like her mother at that moment that Zavier had to stop himself from smiling.

"Okay then, Father," her voice was laced with sarcastic derision, "if my own dad is so sick of saving his poor, helpless daughter that he's willing to risk her face getting chomped off by an overgrown squirrel then I guess I just need to get strong enough for him not to have to worry about that anymore."

Zavier's heart lurched in his chest and he opened his mouth to tell her he was sorry and that she was so, so wrong about what he had said, but she didn't give him the chance. She flipped around and whistled a long, sharp note. She stepped a little further from him and dropped into a limber pose, legs spread wide and bent at the knees, her arm up and fist clenched.

I need to explain this better, he thought desperately. But not now. Right now she needs to channel that anger into focus. The thing about luck was that you couldn't force it - it had to happen naturally. You could slightly improve the odds, but once it became a conscious decision you were taking control and luck was out of the equation.

Instead he just shook his head and stepped back, readying his chain. He knew he was hurting his skill with the chain by using it for creatures this easy but he didn't care. He'd burn all of his progress with it if it helped Luna survive what was coming.

Maisy stepped in front of Zavier and shoulder-checked him into stumbling backwards. Her tail flipped dismissively in his face and then she was off into the woods. He got the message loud and clear. Even the cat thinks I'm an asshole.

Zavier watched Luna weave and dodge with growing precision, her shots finding their marks with increasing accuracy. She had his relentless determination but, when it came to channeling anger into focus, she was all Tess. Every well-placed shot was a testament to her fury, her concentration unwavering as she dispatched the two Scamperers and immediately signaled for more, a fire burning in her eyes. Either these were taking longer or they weren't willing to face down a wrathful teenager because nothing rustled in the woods.

Zavier had watched her stats during the fight and noticed a troubling irony: the more adept she became in killing these things, the better she got at dodging and anticipating them, the less and less her Luck stat was brought into play. It made sense - it wasn't luck if it was skill, but that wasn't going to help her when she faced something truly dangerous.

She needs to understand what happened, he realized. She needs to know she has this ability.

"Luna," he said and stepped up to her. She ignored him, whistling for more creatures. "Come on, Luna, look at me." He put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off.

"Luna!" he said loudly this time, frustration bleeding into his voice. She flinched but didn't turn to look at him. Zavier took a deep breath and softened his tone. "Look, you're pissed. I get that. I'm sorry it seemed like I wasn't there, but I was. I was ready to jump in, I just needed you to handle it on your own." She hadn't turned to him but he saw her body language soften slightly. He decided to press on. "If I had my way I'd protect you for the rest of your life, but that's not how things work anymore. The best thing I can do for you right now is prepare you for when I'm not there. I know you hate me for making you face that, but I'd rather you hate me and learn to survive than love me and die because I kept you safe when I should have made you ready."

Luna still didn't look at him but her shoulders had lost most of their tension. Her voice was soft when she finally spoke. "I was really scared, dad. I thought I was going to die and you were just watching it happen. It was the first time in my life I didn't feel safe with you around. I thought I was going to die and your face was just... interested."

The words hit him like a physical blow. She turned to him with shining eyes. The tears hadn't fallen but they broke Zavier's heart anyway. He pulled her into a hug and just held her as tightly as he could, smelling her hair and feeling her heart flutter against her ribcage.

"Oh Honey, mi Corazon, Love of my Life - I will die before I let anything happen to you. Losing you would literally kill me." He released the hug and put his hands on her face, tilting it up to his. He looked into those eyes that he had loved from the moment she opened them and felt his resolve crystallize. "I was watching every second. If you'd been in real danger - if your health had dropped much more - I would have ended it immediately. But Luna, you have something special. Something that could keep you alive when no one else can help you. I needed to let you discover it."

"What do you mean?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"I was planning on telling you guys later but I'll let you know now - I'm dumping all of my stats into Intelligence. ALL of them. I'll go into why later, but what that means is that I'm going to be really, really squishy even as the world around me gets stronger and harder. Protect you?" he laughed, though there was pain in it, "I'm going to need you to protect me! But first, you need to learn to trust the abilities you have."

"You're doing what? Why are you doing that?" she looked at him incredulously.

"No time for that right now, I'll explain everything later. Right now I think we're about to have company." They both turned their heads and saw four trails of wavering grass moving rapidly towards them. "And I have a plan that's going to help you develop that special ability I mentioned, but it's going to involve me making things harder on you in the short term. You cool with that?"

Her eyes hardened and she smiled a wolfish grin as she nodded. So much like her mother.

He stepped back and returned the smile, though his stomach was already knotting with worry. "You're going to be SO pissed at me!"

Luna pulled out the Toxic Weaver Dagger and held it awkwardly in her left hand, her right facing one of the trails.

"Don't try to take them all at once!" Zavier shouted. "Block, dodge, fire. Cut if you can but don't go for the kill every time. Outlast them until they make a mistake!" He didn't know if this would help her luck but he could at least have her thinking tactically.

She gave a slight nod then sprang into action just as the snakes erupted from the grass in unison. She dodged to the right, the fangs of one pinging off of the knife as she blocked the strike, the second spinning backwards in a tangled jumble as the gauntlet took it in the face at close range. Zavier watched her Luck stat take a small bump on that last shot - not as much as he'd hoped, but something. Then Luna was in a roll, the snakes flying over her in unison.

When they landed in the grass they split up, one going towards Luna and the other towards Zavier. His chain cracked like thunder and dirt sprayed in the air just in front of the snake heading his way. It quickly pivoted and the grass swayed as it shot towards Luna, deeming her the easier prey. Luna was focused on the one in front of her, its head raised up level with hers, flashing forward in hissing bursts that kept her attention.

Zavier's heart rate spiked as he watched the second snake approach her blind spot. He coiled the chain, one twitch away from ending this. Her health is still good. She can handle this. But if that thing gets past her guard...

"Surroundings!" he yelled, hoping it would be enough to alert her without him having to intervene directly.