Learning (2)

"Carrot! I did it!" Theo leapt out the living room window and into the backyard. It was a habit Marc didn't approve of, but Marc wasn't at the house.

Carrot raised his head from his nap. "Hmm?" He grunted sleepily.

"I imbued my mana into one of the bullets without breaking it." Theo grinned. He held the bullet up proudly for Carrot to admire.

"Mortal Theo is a genius." Scourge shouted from on top of Theo's head.

"I don't know about genius," Carrot grunted, "but it will be nice if I don't have to worry about you losing control of your mana so much."

Theo rolled the bullet between his fingers.

"I might be able to learn to be less dangerous." Theo murmured.

"You will." Carrot whickered.

Theo tucked the bullet in his pocket.

"Theo?" A voice Theo was unfamiliar with called. Theo tugged on his mana and shifted his weight into a defensive position.

"It's Vin. Marc said to meet here." The voice continued.

"I'm in the back." Theo answered and relaxed his posture slightly.

"Wow, Giselle and Marie really did make you look different." Vin said as he stepped outside.

Coppery eyes and hair glinted in the sun as soon as soon as Vin walked out. Theo recognized him from when Owen had been at the hospital.

"Marc told you that I was coming to train you?" Vin asked.

Theo nodded.

There was something in the way that Vin moved and his eyes that seemed slightly unnatural. It was a bit unnerving.

"We both use daggers as a primary weapon." Vin said. "I want to see how well you can fight using only daggers. No mana."

"But if you cut me-"

"I'm highly unlikely to cut you on accident." Vin's lips tilted up. "However, I brought wooden daggers if that makes you more comfortable."

Vin's eyes glowed as he looked up toward the sky. "It looks like Marc still has a barrier in place."

Theo tilted his head in confusion.

"There's a barrier that makes it look and sound like the backyard is empty." Vin answered Theo's unasked question.

Vin threw Theo a snack.

Theo tilted his head in confusion once more.

"Giselle told me to feed you snacks before and after I make you exercise."

"Giselle is a sensible human." Carrot nodded his head.

Honestly, Theo swore Carrot and Scourge were going to make a Giselle fan club.

Vin folded his legs and sat on the grass before pulling another pastry out of his satchel.

"I can eat some of that if you're worried about poison." Vin said when Theo didn't start eating.

"No, this is good." Theo tentatively sat down.

Scourge scrambled down from Theo's head and thumped his tail. Theo bit off a piece of the pastry before ripping off a portion for Scourge.

When they finished the snack, Vin wordlessly handed Theo a wooden dagger. Theo placed Scourge on Carrot's back.

Vin armed himself with two wooden daggers.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Vin attacked with a dagger aimed at Theo's neck.

Theo barely managed to deflect Vin's attack before another dagger was aimed at his heart. Vin was moving incredibly fast. Theo attempted to attack Vin, but it was virtually pointless.

The fight only became more mismatched as time went on. If the daggers were real, Vin would have been able to wound Theo a hundred times over.

Vin suddenly stopped with a sigh and shook his head.

Theo collapsed to the ground with shaking muscles. Vin tossed him another snack and a canteen of water.

"You need to learn how to attack better." Vin said. "You tend to pull back any time you have a chance to make a lethal attack."

"I tried to-"

"No you didn't." Vin sternly repeated himself. "You hesitated almost any time I left a vital open."

"Your defense is much better." Vin continued. "But it seems like you are mostly self-taught in that regard. You would be more effective at protecting yourself if you learned proper forms."

Theo grimaced. "I do better if I'm using my mana."

"So do I." Vin said. "But you need to have a strong foundation before you add mana in if you want to have a chance of protecting yourself from Dullahan in the future. 'Dead' men don't always get to stay dead, and too many people know your identity."

"I'm so glad you've met another sensible human." Carrot hummed in approval.

"So what do you want me to do?" Theo asked.

"First, you need to learn to be more ruthless." Vin said. "You have a history of being more softhearted than you should."

"Um, have you seen the things I've done?" Theo crossed his arms. "I'm hardly some sweet, sheltered noble's son."

"You are very capable of doing what you think needs to be done." Vin conceded. "But you don't always do what would have been most effective. In the future you will be fighting against Dullahan's men, not knights or civilians. That means you will need to fight more viciously."

"I thought you were nice because you brought snacks." Theo glared.

"You and I will spar every day when I am in town until you are able to quickly and accurately aim for my vitals as soon as you have an opening." Vin was unperturbed by Theo's attitude.

"Aren't you worried that you're going to make me, like, super strong, and then I'm going to turn on all of you? Maybe I just want to beat Dullahan, so I can take over the continent myself."

"You can literally drop some blood on the ground and force me to fight Numen knows what." Vin snorted at Theo's question.

"I'm trying to give you the option to not accidentally become a natural disaster."

Theo's hand moved to the bullet in his pocket. Learning about mana had given him the option to be less destructive.

Vin's eerie eyes fixed on Theo.

"The princess, and I also noticed some patterns around your movements." Vin pulled out a map covered in red dots.

Theo flinched and looked toward the ground. It felt wrong to try to claim heroic deeds after all he had done.

"All of these are times when people were rescued or protected when you were nearby. I'm not too worried that you will try to harm others with your newfound freedom."

Theo shifted uncomfortably under Vin's scrutiny.

"Let me see that map." Carrot hissed. "I was not told about all of these." The unicorn glared at Theo. "The ones I knew about were bad enough."

Vin chortled at Carrot's response.

"That's because you didn't have me around to babysit Mortal Theo in the past." Scourge proudly lifted his chin.

"As if a little lizard like you would have done a better job talking care of Theo than me." Carrot grunted while still studying the map in Vin's hands.

"Mortal Theo got free once I joined you." Scourge leaned over Carrot's forehead to stare into his eyes.

"That is true." Theo laughed.

"I am mighty and wise. Scourge of the Night, Freer of the Mortal, Protector of our Human, waaaaaaaaaaaaah-"

The unicorn shook his head to break the staring contest and Scourge plopped to the ground. Scourge scurried over to Theo.

"And with that, it's now lunch time." Vin clapped his hands. "Giselle gave me very specific instructions about lunch."

Scourge abandoned Theo and hopped over to Vin.

"Lunch?" Scourge asked, fluttering his wings.