Day 1: Testing Poison

"I'm not going out like this."

"Move it!"

"No, not like this."

"You go out now or you will never see the sun again."

"It's winter, the sun is absent for days regardless."

"More of a reason to get your human butt going!"

Though she would have been delighted to be more physically aggressive, she was hesitant to admit he still intimidated her. He was much smaller than what she imagined a hunter would be, but her view of him shirtless provided evidence of his muscular tone. Not bulky strong but definitely healthy and fit with slim muscle tone. She and Zimi crawled out of the burrow and snickered between themselves, with Emyri holding a chain going inside. Everyone else stood quiet and still as slowly Leone crawled out wearing a silly leaf pancho and a collar on his neck.

There were definitely enough hushed giggles and squirms that it become the opposite of subtlety. The two girls were not shy to express their feelings towards the entertaining display, with Emyri being the loudest to laugh. At last, she calmed down and wiped a tear from her eye as she watched the young hunter turn into a dark shade of red.

"Oh geez, that was good. Not so funny being the pet this time, is it human?"

"This is degrading." He murmured, looking behind him to catch a few girls smirking and staring.

Zimi tugged at her friends arm, keeping her focused on the task.

"Okay okay, fun is over for now. Let's go, time to begin the first day of training." He followed, unable to recover from being the display of entertainment as every girl they passed by either whistled or giggled. Well, wearing this silly thing did very little to surpress the cold which made matters worst. He hugged himself and felt his teeth begin to chatter until they finally stopped.

"Okay human!" She began, crossing her arms. "Teach us how to survive."

He stared at her as a minute passed by. "Yea and how do I start?"

Both her and Zimi pressed a paw to their chin, thinking it over. "Well, I was kinda hoping you would start us off. Hmm..."

"Oh I know, he can teach us how to use weapons! I've always wanted to use a bow and arrow!"

"No no, no weapons for him. He would just point them at us and make his escape, or worse."

"Truuuuee... well, we can have him teach us what foods to eat and how we can tell they are safe!"

"Huh, I guess so."

Leone frowned. "You can start by making a list of things that troubles you -chu! Sniff You girls."

"Right, we can do that. Actually, we can definitely do that." Emyri sucked in some air before whistling loudly, drawing numerous Nekomata girls to approach them with lifted cat ears and curious faces, whispering and questioning what she needed. "Okay girls, we need a list of stuff this boy can help us with, start!"

Several of them grumbled or moaned as they began to concentrate.

"Poison foods!"

Emyri took a note of that. "Okay, that's one."

"Arrows!"

"That's another."

"Mates!"

"Fevers!"

"Getting sick!"

After numerous suggestions and several arguments about whether sex was an issue or not, she motioned for the girls to go away. "Thanks for helping, I'll let you know if I need anything more. Okay, let's see...."

Zimi stood up. "Poison, Medicine, Food, Injuries, Tracking, Shelter, and Reproduction." Seeing Emyri's puzzled face, she blurted out, "As in sex."

"Right, I knew that." She nodded before returning to face Leone. "Okay then, we will start with poison."

"Elaborate." He coughed, covering his mouth.

"So first thing is, our last home had worked well for some time when some of us began to get sick. Upset tummies turned into vomiting which causing fever and fatigue, then well... yea. Mom said it was the food, and sure enough the only ones who went ill were those who ate the most recently from the Sushi Market."

"The food was super yummy." Zimi groaned, clutching her stomach. Leone rolled his eyes as Emyri continued explaining.

"And so, it was fine. We figured we would stop eating from that shop and that is that, but sure enough more of us began to get sick from eating anywhere else from the town. We used to be a lot bigger but... we're down by over half."

Leone sneezed and rubbed his nose, shivering as he held himself to keep warm. "I'm s-sorry to hear that."

"So... can you maybe help us deal with that first? We got so scared and paranoid that we moved away, and now we don't know where to call home anymore. Food is scarce but we can deal with that another time. Right now just show us how to be more careful."

"If I help you with this I will be set free to go with my life intact?"

"Y-Yea, if that's what's on your mind yes but first show us you know what it means to survive. Convince me you're a true monster hunter and not just a kid playing dress up."

He glanced to his left and right before closing his eyes. "Sure, I can help with that. Do you guys have any poisoned foods around or something?"

She turned to Zimi who nodded and ran off, returning with a baggy held in her mouth. Some of the other girls poked their head around to watch. Letting the bag drop in her paws, she pulled out several apples and held them up for them, one held by each tail. "Here, we have a few more inside but you can use these three for now."

Leone picked one and analyzed it, turning it around and lifting it close to sniff it. His nose was getting runny and red but it still worked, no funny smell. Tasting it would prove lethal and foolish, so that was out of the question.

"You need to know this is pretty vague to work with as there are a wide number of poisons that could be at work here."

"Like what?"

"Well, poison can either be fatal or deeply upsetting. You said none of the girls who were sick survived?" She sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry. If this is a fatal type then it has to have a quirk to it."

"A what?" Zimi asked.

"A quirk, a tell, something offsetting that signals it's deadly. Poison doesn't just blend in without giving off a subtle warning. I don't smell anything distinct from this apple, do you?"

"No." Emyri answered, noticing several more girls creep in closer to watch.

"Neither do I. I can't taste it because that alone may be enough to take my life after a few hours. How soon did they turn ill?"

Zimi thought it over. "About a day later."

Leone rasied the apple up for them to see. "Good, digestion completes after 24 hours meaning the poison is slow and works in large quantities. I can't risk my life and take a bite to see if I survive, but I can risk licking it only a bit." He lowered it and brought it to his lips.

"Wait!" Emyri cried out as the other girls whimpered and whined. "Don't, w-we can skip this and move on to something else."

"What's wrong, I thought you wanted me to teach you and shake my head like a good little pet." He asked with a snide tone.

"Yea but not at the risk of your life, dumbass! Put it down." She reached in only for him to pull it away. "Quit it, stop playing games!"

"That's rich, you're the one who can't stop playing me since I got here." He pulled away and stepped back with the apple in hand. "Back away, you don't want cooties do you?"

"He's got cooties!" One girl shrieked with most of them trembling and retreating several feet away. Only Emyri stood her ground, huffing and stomping on the snow.

"Give it back! Please, you don't need to prove yourself to be brave. We don't need to be impressed, stop doing this."

"Say you're sorry."

"What!?"

"Say it!"

"That's it? Uuuurgh! You know wha-give it here!" She barked, yanking his chain hard pulling him to her. He stumbled forward and grabbed the chain, pulling it back making her squeal lightly and nearly trip over. "Hey!"

"Nice try, but I'm not giving in that easy. You want me to show you how to test it?"

"Not like this."

"You want me to test it?"

"No! Stop-NOOOO!!!" She cried out as he took a large bite, making the other girls gasp and yell. Emyri pounce immediately, falling on top of him as he stared wide eyed before suddenly flinching. Was he coughing, struggling? No, his face was red and he wasn't making any noises.

"Oh my god, he's choking!" Zimi screamed.

Shit, no! Gotta act fast! Enyri placed both paws to his chest before pushing down hard! Again, again, again! No effect, damn it!

"DON'T DIE ON MEEEE!" She yelled as loud as she could, lifting her paws over her head before smashing them to his gut. Leone coughed hard, with a bit of mushed apple splatting on her cheek and shoulder. He rolled around and coughed the rest of the chewed apple out, spitting and clearing his throat. Emyri felt the mush on her face before feeling icky, scooping them out and shaking in disgust.

Leone felt his neck before being able to breath at last, only with a pain in his gut. He looked up at her and smiled, laughing maniacally as he wiped his mouth. "Well well, not so much for fun and games now are you?"

The cat girls huddled around, watching them both with Zimi reaching in to touch Leone's arm. "Are you going to die?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"Relax, I told you this poison works in large quantities. I'll be sick at most for a day or two but it'll pass. Next time ask your girls to chew slowly and savor their meals, the poison adds a sour taste. If something tastes off, I would say you spit it out and find something else to eat."

Emyri slowly walked over to him as he turned around, smiling triumphantly. "That enough to show you-"

She kicked her knee up, forcing him to double over as she hit his weakpoint. Falling to his knees, he looked up to see her turn her head around and flick her tails at him. "Do another stunt like that and the next hit will he much harder, you got that!"

"Y-Yea... I got that." He squealed, feeling his voice sounding much lighter. Zimi knelt down to check on him while Emyri crossed her arms with her back to him. "Is she always like this?"

"On her best days, yea." Zimi answered sheepishly. "I think you landed a good impression on her."

"Well, she landed something on me for certain." He groaned, cupping his injury. This was going to be a painful training session.