ORIGIN

Garnet-Delta practically lived in Orion these days; it lived, breathed, and bathed in the crumbling dust, blood, and ash that dug deep into the ruined cracks of the cave. This was a second home, if it ever could call anywhere a home. Home, after all, was where the heart was. And it didn't know the first thing about any of that. How could it?

It had begun to test itself further. Today, it wanted to see what it could really do against an intelligent gembound. It had steered clear of any that looked like they belonged to the Seven, or Bonebound, or Masters' forbid the dragon family, sticking to its usual routes.

The flash of white feather's drew Delta's attention, and its ears pricked as it froze in place. Pulling on its magic, it tried the apparent coin flip of turning invisible. Tails, idiot. With a familiar crawling up its pelt, its fur was set ablaze with invisible fleas as its body flashed vibrant, blinding white against the backdrop of dark shadows. With a hiss, it knew its cover was blown.

Then again, a white cat-with-wings didn't look anything like what Garnet-Delta normally did, so, to hell with it. How much trouble could it reasonably get in? "Aww, lookit me!" Delta yowled, voice almost cracking as its claws sank into the stone underfoot, resisting the urge to fall to the ground and roll about to try and satisfy the itch.

It burned so badly. Grimacing, it tried to turn the situation around, "Snow white! Everyone has to look at me! I'm so pretty!" It taunted, prowling forward toward the rock, fur puffed out in a comical fashion. It spat, "How do you live like this, eye-sore?"

Did it manage to strike a sore spot? It didn't seem to dig as deep as it would have liked, but considering the improvisation, it was about as good as the alien-cat hybrid could do on the spot while trying to swallow a hairball of burning rash across its skin.

Delta's hackles rose, and it snorted, flicking its tail as the owl said it didn't talk to strangers, all while talking to it. The bird puffed up right back, hissing and spreading out her wings to make herself look bigger.

What was a mother? The feline's muzzle wrinkled, and it bared its fangs. "Yet you're still talking to me," Delta stalled, prowling in a pace around the base of the rocky perch, blood-red eyes glinting off of the bleached albino face. It held its wings out at its sides, mirroring the display of the bird with each sulking step. "At least I have half a brain, hm? Who are you? Where's your friends?" It pressed, claws clicking as it walked.

Hopefully she didn't have any friends.

Because Garnet-Delta was getting ideas. It pulled on its magic again, though its pelt rippled with allergies from its own spell, jaws soaking with a venom that it had to be careful not to swallow. Perfect, just perfect. Now it just had to get the damn bird to hold still.

So she did have some magic, did she? That would make this interesting. Garnet-Delta's tail tip twitched, flexing its claws into the stone underfoot with each slow stride. Ruby eyes stared down the flaming glow of the owl's, lips curling at the words spit at it.

No friends? Well, then she surely wouldn't be missed. What a waste. At least Garnet-Delta could think of a use or two for the pretty birdie.

"Good point," it mocked, a purring growl in its throat, "I shouldn't waste my breath on a brainless dolt."

There. Now. With a twitch of its muscles, it pulled at its magic. It needed the owl to hold still for a moment-- and it had practiced this magic on plenty of rodents. Getting it to latch on to a sentient creature with its own magic was tricky, but Garnet-Delta was determined to use Kethri as a test subject.

Nothing. At most, its foe might have felt a tingle, but this was nothing like trying to grasp mice. "What are you going to do? Shit on me, birdbrain?" It taunted. Maybe if the owl was closer... Or it could just go for the bite, and risk getting sliced by those nasty looking talons.

Garnet-Delta's fur puffed up as Kethri took to the skies. No more time to think about what to do. It was time to act on its plans, no more double guessing itself.

It spread its own wings and leaped up to take flight, but before it could get any height, the owl dived. Talons scratched at its pelt as it twisted with a yowl midair. Its wings flared out under it as it (uselessly) lashed out at the bird, trying to gain any purchase before it fell.

Kethri pulled away, rising back into the air as Garnet-Delta fell into the dirt. With a growl, it jumped into the air again and flew after her, lunging straight for the bird. As soon as it closed the distance, it aimed with the razor quick speed of a snake striking its prey, making to sink its teeth into the owl.

The venom it had prepared was not particularly strong, but could numb and even paralyze. That was all it needed to turn the gembound from sentient threat into meat for the Doctor to use. Garnet-Delta hadn't experimented much with its magical venom, however, so maybe Kethri could fight it off with adrenaline long enough to get away; but from the Sentinel's perspective, the fight was already over.

The bird was still screeching as Garnet-Delta was kicked away. After falling several times throughout its life, Delta was used to being sent into a tail spin, and quickly recovered with a furious straightening of its wings and a violent lash of its tail, blood-stained white muzzle flicking up to focus on the owl.

It gasped for breath, surging up into the air, but this time it didn't try to close the gap between it and its prey. It didn't have to, apparently, because Kethri was diving for it again.

Shit.

A sensible thing to do would be to try to fly out of the way. Garnet-Delta was a lot of things-- a tactical genius, sometimes-- but it also overlooked the easiest answer nine times out of ten.

It took the harder path. Half the time, it ended up with a rash across its puke-green (or, like now, blinding white) pelt or a splitting migraine. The other half of the time, however, its brilliance shined through.

Magic grabbed Kethri by the wings and pushed, throwing one of the owl's wings out, completely disrupting her flight path as Garnet-Delta continued to sweep through the air, trying to lock up the owl's muscles completely and send her tumbling into the ground. It had worked? It had worked!

Hooooopefully we wouldn't break any bones, hmm?