D'valinn had gotten clearance to be here. It'd been extra careful not to step on any toes once Chunky had shown up in Draco. Ugh. They'd been stupid enough to put the stones right outside Forge territory. Thank the Creator it'd avoided making that mistake again - though... It realised it didn't actually know where the second litter had been planted .
Could Audland have traveled that far?? Would he, just to screw it over??? (a second time????)
When in doubt, beat something up until you feel better. D'valinn whirled suddenly, claws lashing out at a tree it'd happened to pass by. A devastating ambush, had the target been sapient. Or... Sentient. Are trees animals?
It paused to examine its work, admiring the deep gash it'd carved into the tough bark from as many angles as possible. Then, it paused to pick away at the dozens of tiny splinters coating its paw with its teeth.
Traveling through the mosaic of plants in the jungle could get interesting sometimes now that they didn't have a constant feed of information previewing what was coming their way, and this was one such case that was definitely not interesting in a good way. They caught sight of the Valkhound just in time before coming into its view themselves and froze, heart pounding in their chest. This was one of the enemies that had ambushed the Drones here before! Danger!
They held their breath, hoping it wouldn't see them. An alarmed shriek escaped them when it suddenly turned and lashed out—but it was 'just' at a random tree, not directed at them. There was a nonzero chance that this had made the sifaka more angry than if it had just spotted and attacked them outright.
"HEY!" Yellow shouted as soon as they came to their senses, voice amplified several times with magic and outrage. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! STOP THAT!!!" They didn't care about subtlety or hiding. This violent beast was destroying the forest! Destroying their home! Why!? The Hive's fungus was already gone from here! Why did they feel the need to tear down and destroy everything in sight with no end to the violence, no reason or thought needed!?
The voice from above sent them jumping straight up, one foot high, and landing back down with its quills rattling loud. D'valinn shrunk down, expecting to see a shadow descending from above, teeth claws and stingers maybe -
No. Nobody there. Wait- somebody. It squinted up at the Sifaka, craning its neck to get a better look. "Is this your tree?? Can't you like, find another?" It called upward. But it had paused its attacks, for now.
The Valkhound's question had the sifaka shaking with fury. It sounded like deliberate mockery. Find another tree! The sheer audacity was stunning. "IT'S THE FOREST'S TREE!" they shouted back at it. "HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE FOREST AND EVERYONE HERE! WHY IS IT ALWAYS US THAT SHOULD GO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE WHEN PEOPLE LIKE YOU CAN JUST COME IN AND TEAR UP WHATEVER YOU WANT WHENEVER YOU WANT!?"
It didn't even have the excuse of the fungus anymore. Yellow breathed hard, throat burning from all the shouting—they'd amplified the sound with magic, but they'd also put everything they had physically into it. It was almost too easy to take out all the frustration they hadn't been able to vent at the others who'd torn down so much at this one lone Valkhound here.
"The FOREST?!" D'valinn had begun to yell back up the tree, trying in vain to match Yellow's voice.
"THE FOREST DOESN'T OWN SHIT. AND WHAT'S ONE MARK ON ONE TREE." It took a long, deep breath. It could already feel its own voice strain. "IN A CAVE FULL OF FIVE FUCKING MILLION!!"
It also hadn't had the opportunity to yell at someone over trivial bullshit in agessss. A part of their brain stretched, sat back, and found joy in the moment. This felt good. D'valinn had needed this.
Yellow was... not normally a debater. Faced with the valkhound's derisive disregard for Eridanus and its trees, their rage grew and grew, but they sputtered for words, unable to find the perfect retort. Finally they didn't have the patience to search any longer, and just screamed out at it: "YOUR FACE IS SHIT!!!!!"
This was not particularly satisfying, so Yellow followed up with a thrown piece of (rather small) bark that landed far short of its target and a (rather large) blast of wind right in the big bad wolf's face!!! Me when I get into an argument and shove you super hard with magic! Fall over satisfyingly, big bad wolf!
"MY face is sh-" Its next biting retort was cut tragically short by a sudden, gale-force wind ripping through its pelt, threatening to wrench it away from the ground and onto the floor.
"FUCKER!" D'valinn barked, somewhat betrayed by the sudden attack, even if its expectations of Yellow were basically non-existent. It didn't even know they were an enemy combatant yet.
The big bad wolf was not a wolf at all - no blunt, digging nails. Instead, it took a chance by pushing against the wind, moving to sink its curved, tough talons into the bark and find purchase there. Poor little scrap of fur. Doesn't know what's coming for it.
If V-Chaos-Eleven doesn't fall and eat shit, that is.
ROUND 1/?
ATTEMPT: hang on for dear life DEFENSE: being fuck-off huge INJURIES: none
Despite the wind buffeting its body, the grim orange beast managed to maintain firm contact with the ground, and even somehow found spare room in its braincase to continue their shouting match. Yellow bared their teeth down at it, absurd though the display was next to their sheer size difference. Fine then! If it liked the ground so much, why don't you go kiss it or something!
"YOUR FACE IS FUCKER!!!" they shouted back. Vehemently, if not very creatively. Right as the word face left their tongue, a wave of magic also left their gem, sinking right into the ground below the foul-mouthed beast and abruptly yanking it downward.