ORIGIN

Almost comically, Titanite's head bobbed up and down as it followed Orthoclase-Alpha's leaping.

The creature was... not agile. It seemed to be shrugging off the attacks of the bushes, and Titanite wondered, vaguely, if it might use its sibling's (and there was a thought, they were siblings) weight against it.

But-...

...It was bouncing.

The tangling vines had not manifested, either because Titanite's own magic had failed or Alpha had thoroughly trampled them prior. Titanite came to a decision; it would do its best to drag Alpha down with vines. But it would need a moment to make that magic, and now the creature was very clearly sailing through the air toward Titanite.

All right, so he still had bushes that would chase Orthoclase-Alpha, and fight it, but for the time being it needed space.

Titanite dropped to all fours, rushing with surprising speed in an attempt to evade the bouncing crustacean-alien-hybrid.

Titan had had time, as Alpha had... built up its bouncing, to begin preparing its magic. It'd had to put that on hold long enough to skitter out of the way, but as the massive beast crashed past, it turned back again.

It stood upright, facing Orthoclase-Alpha, concentrating on weaving this magic to completion--and dragging the kaiju down once and for all.

But the Alpha wasn't standing idle; it had turned, too, and now they faced one another with a battle of magic, more than anything. The answer was no; Titanite did not have blood. It had no heart; it had a gemstone where that might have been, but instead sap flowed through its branching limbs. Slowing that was a similar effect, so that it felt its movements slowing to a halt--and if it failed in its magic, now, things might turn... ugly.

It poured its power into it, struggling to bind Alpha securely, this time: to wrap at least some of its too-many-legs and nail it--... metaphorically speaking!... to the ground.

Character: Titanite Age: +5 (5 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Pupil) ROUND 1 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +17 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +6 Penalties: -0 Total: 68

Character: Orthoclase-Alpha Age: +4 (4 Cycles) Magic Level: +5 (Champion) ROUND 1 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +5 Penalties: -0 Total: 62

WINNER: Titanite

"Enough, for now."

Vargas was surprised, and relatively pleased, with Titanite's performance. He hadn't expected it to be this skilled with magic, let alone a magic not of its element but, he supposed, it did seem... plant... planty. The outcome if Alpha got ahold of it was clear enough: the Orthoclase could likely rip Titanite limb from limb. And Alpha's own skills in magic, it seemed, had not gone untrained.

"I do not remember you being able to-... bounce." Bluntly, drily stated, but impressed nonetheless.

So Orthoclase was a prime shock-trooper; but what of running into issues like this-? A dozen Titanites could easily prepare a snaring mess against the front lines of a charging army.

Hmm.

"You know, you two would work well together," Vargas pointed out, studying them each briefly. "Can you carry him on your back, Orthoclase-? Imagine if he were ensnaring opponents for you to tear apart. I think that would be a devastating combination."

Still, what if they ran into something like that? They'd need to clear the field of traps and foliage in advance, poisons, whatever... Maybe a dragon to sweep forward, lay down fire, and Orthoclase charging in over what was left--a dozen Orthoclases-...

Vargas sat lost in his own imaginings, his own planning, for a long moment before shaking himself clear of his thoughts.

"What would you say to practicing together, in such a way? It may be worth a try. You can test it, later on, on me. A shame that it would not work so well in the air," he added, briefly mulling over a dragon ensnared in vines. Then again, the bastards could just burn the stuff off.

Ahh, well.

Oh--credit where it was due...

"You have both been training, and that is good. Well done."

Well Titanite hadn't been training, really, but it wasn't about to correct its father.

It remained utterly motionless--in part because it didn't really have a choice, for a moment. When the sap again began to flow more freely it gradually flexed itself loose; and the vines were free, already, for Orthoclase to tear away should it so choose.

Titanite turned, gesturing lightly, and the angry bushes--still storming toward Orthoclase--fell and wilted away, blackening. At Vargas' words, however, it turned to regard Alpha again quizzically. Carry me... on its back..? Why? Who was it Vargas thought they would have to fight..?

The Titanite did not voice its questions, however, simply turning to peer with some confusion between its father and its sibling.

Experimenting.

"Good! Testing new things is how we advance." He'd never heard of anybody bouncing before, though. Ahh, well. If it worked, it worked, and it certainly-... mostly!--had.

Vargas gestured to Orthoclase-Alpha, and nodded to Titanite, indicating for him to go ahead.

Surely, the mounted combat duo of his two children could not fail?

Titanite was entirely unsure about this. A wiser or more experienced being might have been frightened of Orthoclase-Alpha, of its hulking size and brutish potential for violence. Titanite hadn't experienced firsthand violence yet, possibly because he looked too much like trees for anyone to even notice him--and anyway, Vargas, the only creature he'd interacted with for more than an hour of his life, had proven trustworthy so far.

He turned, moving with somewhat-stiff steps (what the hell had Alpha done to his sap-flow-?) to his sibling's side and then, tentatively, moved to grip onto carapace.

Long, taloned branch-fingers--surprisingly hard, when one actually felt them--paused atop the hard shell. Six green eyes trailed over the various points, quills and hard surfaces that made up Orthoclase-Alpha's shoulders and back.

"I do not know... what to hold..." he rasped, at length. And then attempted to haul himself up onto Orthoclase-Alpha, to sit astride it... rather awkwardly.

It was odd, however, how well the branchlike body seemed suited to Orthoclase's shell. Assuming its sibling didn't chuck it off, or otherwise rebel, they almost seemed made for this.