ORIGIN

The sheep's words bit deep. They bared their fangs and forced their grin to continue. "Only because I thought you didn't have the guts to actually hit me. Proved me wrong there, didn't you?" they snickered irritably. "So actually, I think you're the brainless one. You hit me, after all."

Their ears twitched back as the sheep's yell trembled their sensitive ears. They winced a little, raising a paw and rubbing one rounded ear, one eye closing. They tutted slowly. "Oh, don't worry. You'll come around, eventually," the weasel said, lowering their paws back to their chest. They could feel themselves slowly being backed into a corner, and knew that the sheep was goading them; but they couldn't have their reputation ruined by a newborn of all things, much less by a cocky degenerate. They met her challenging expression with one that was equally impish, puffed out with forced confidence.

"Scared? Psh. I'm Envy. I'm never scared." They narrowed their eyes, sinking down onto all fours and slinking a few steps forward, eyes narrowed. And they remained down, fur bristling challengingly.
"Then I will. It's time for you learn some respect, scrap." With their fur puffing out, they focused in on their magic. They felt the magic drifting out of their grasp like mist, though. When the humiliation of failure began to creep over them in the form of heat crawling over their skin, they instead advanced, step by slow step on the sheep, as though they'd never tried anything.

"speak."

"And why do you think that is?" Envy snickered, coiling themselves like a spring in preparation for the sheep's inevitable strike. they could see it in her eyes, the anger, the way she shook with rage. They knew it was coming, and their body ached from their last failure to move. They weren't about to let that happen again. So as soon as the sheep started forward, the weasel curled and readied, watching her closely.

Then, as she charged, like a little bullet, the weasel shot out of the way, bounding to the side before turning back to watch with a grin on their face, gleefully hoping that she'd carry on full speed, and perhaps crash into the pillar. They hoped she would be that stupid. Then she'd get it. Envy wriggled and thrashed with glee, sinking onto all fours and waiting to see what the outcome would be. After this, though, it was time to go. They didn't want to get too invested, and it seemed like the situation was getting dangerous. They'd already been flung, but they just had to make sure the sheep got what was coming to her.

Adrenaline coursed through their body, fur prickling upright, numbing the aches which would probably bruise. Their eyes narrowed, grin showing pointed fangs. They were hooked.


"speak."

Just as planned, the lamb charged headlong into the pillar, with a quiver through the stone that Envy felt even from where they stood. "Oooh. That looked like it hurt," they said, a tone of smugness in their voice as they examined the claws of one paw. But, ever challenging, the weasel's gaze lifted back as the little lamb continued to challenge them. They grinned, baring sharp little teeth. "Of course not," Envy reassured at her question, lowering themselves so that all four paws were placed on the ground. "Wouldn't wanna waste the rest of it on you though."

They looked around them, and then back to the lamb, carefree as ever, as though they had all the time in the world. And then they grinned once more. Looking straight at the sheep, they tried to trigger their magic and fade away into the shadows, and they felt a familiar power rushing through their fur. But it didn't feel right. exhausting, even. "Wha-?"

Envy let out their breath and looked down.

"-the fuck?"

They looked at their paws, and contorted into some crazy shapes as they checked themselves out head to toe. But they weren't invisible. Like some kind of shitty practical joke by whatever cave-gods there were, Envy's fur had become completely neon green, so bright it almost hurt to look at. But most importantly, it was the opposite of what they wanted. Rather than being inconspicuous as they'd hoped, they stuck out like a sore thumb, looking terribly gaudy.

Envy glared at the sheep with eyes full of rage, as though she was to blame. There was little they could say to redeem themselves, especially not whilst looking as ridiculous as this. And they certainly couldn't sneak off. What a pain in the ass.

"speak."

The sheep laughed, and they shook themselves roughly in a series of serpentine contortions until the last slivers of lime green had faded from their fur, which returned back to an ordinary, weaselly sienna. Though maybe a little bit of a red blush lingered; they couldn't quite be sure. "Kelp-elf?!" they stuttered, flabbergasted. They didn't understand what it meant, but it sounded like an insult, and that was good enough for them. They wouldn't take it. The tips of Envy's ears burned and they puffed themselves up, bristling like a toilet brush. "Okay, no more Mister Nice Weasel!" they snapped, holding their breath and glaring with a piercing gaze.

They leaned back, curling in on themselves like a snake about to strike. They puffed out their cheeks and felt a wave of nausea building in their stomach. This was getting serious now.

They felt a burn, but it was more like heartburn. The nausea carried on into their throat, though, and the tiny creature doubled over, baring their teeth in a grimace. They clamped their eyes shut for a moment, before finally loosing a tiny burp, that allowed a small coil of smoke to escape. they clamped their paws over their stomach, tail thrashing angrily. Finally, they straightened up with a hiss. "I'll show you who's a bloody snowflake in a minute, wool-brain."

"speak."

Envy was glaring at the sheep when they felt something small and delicate curling around one of their limbs. Fizzling with rage, they yanked one of their paws free, hopefully enough to rip the scraggly thing from its roots, but it continued to coil around their other ankle. The grin returned once more to their face. They glanced pointedly at the tiny plant. "Is that all? That scraggly thing? I've met butterflies more dangerous. Really. I once knew someone who choked to death on a butterfly." They were lying, of course, but the sheep would be none the wiser. Besides, it was possible, they were sure of it.

The weasel sucked in a deep breath, with a clear plan in their head as the pain of failure faded gradually in their chest.

Power surged through the small creature, and they opened their jaws wide to unleash a torrent of air, hot enough that the air rippled and glowed, not quite enough to flame. It wasn't as powerful as the superheated bile that they preferred, but this one came to them with ease. Their heated breath surged in the direction of the sheep, steam pouring out of their nostrils. They swung their head in a wide and showy arc, finally finishing the exhale gazing towards their feet, where they breathed the last remnants onto the plant growing at their feet, causing it to wither and recoil.

Envy removed their paw from its loosened grasp, and stepped back with a wink, brushing themselves off with their paws.

"speak."