The two rhino siblings had been sleeping in one of the buildings together, resting after a long day of playing. They had searched through ruined pile of rubble through collapsed archway using their imaginations to make every corner hiding a new danger, bringing back invisible treasure back to their base away from home, the one with the fallen-in basement by the river, and the crowning jewel was the diamond they had found way back when when their Mama had found them.

Fever was dreaming about even more adventures, cuddled next to her brother, when a sound woke her up.

Her head raised, turned, and her skin prickled. "Nets, come on, Papa's calling us!" She said to him, nodding towards the call. She got up and nudged him, making him grunt, and ran out the doorway.

He rolled over, making low sounds of discomfort as she woke him up, and when he heard her run out the door, he just sighed and got up slowly. He was tired from their day of adventuring; Fever was relentless with her sparkling eyes and her pull for adventure, and his hips had been screaming for rest by the end of it.

He was still sore, so he followed her at a much slower pace, wincing as his hips complained, the pain waking up as slowly as he did, till, when they reached the area where their Papa is, his hips and his tail were burning with pain. He didn't want to be awake, but he would follow his sister anywhere, so here he was.

He looked up to Papa and his sister and the two winged things at Papa's feet, and his head lowered, his mouth set in a heavy line. These two were carnivores. He could tell from the sight of them.

His hoof crackled with electricity, ready to shock them if either of his family members commanded him to.

The stag knew his children would come as quickly as they could at his call. The words of the black bird were met with a "tsk tsk tsk" as he looked down at her. She was so far beneath him that it was almost amusing.

Almost.

"Calm yourself or do you want the next thing frozen to be your lungs. I would do it nice and slow so I could watch the life drain from your ignorant face." He grinned at her for a moment before his gaze turned to the sound of the thundering feet of his children. They came and he gave a fatherly grin to them both. "My children, how would you like to beat down a pair of carnivorous scum?" He tilted his antlers towards the pair on the ground. "They have insulted the fine names of us herbivores and have spoken out against the Lord. By speaking against me they speak against us all. Would you allow them to insult us?" It was a rhetorical question, he already knew how enthusiastic his children would be.

"I have called you so that you can show me how much you've learned. Teach this two imbeciles what happens when carnivores dare disrespect herbivores." He stepped back to give his children room to do their dirty. "But do not kill them. I think they would make good servants once they are properly punished."

______________________________________

"This is how I talk!"
This is how I think!

234
@Ashtoreth Liora @Feverfew Deadnettle
---
7/10

When the huge beast called forth his children, Ashtoreth has expected smaller versions of himself. Something she could handle, maybe, if they were small enough. If she was clever enough.

The creatures that came instead, however, were massive, bulky things made of stone, and fire and electricity crackled at their hooves, massive horns on their faces. They could stamp her and her sister to death, they could impale her and their magic seemed just as deadly as their bodies.

... And Kerberos was not coming to their rescue.

Ashtoreth thought, for a brief moment, that she was going to die. She thought, horribly, that she might have to watch Liora's skull get torn out of her feathers, or worse that her sister would have to see such horrors while she bled to death. The poor child shook, images flashing in her mind of the terrifying black cat monster and of her own father shredding a piece of white fur into a bleeding, crimson mess.

The noodle wanted to cry, but she held her ground and set her teeth and felt her throat swell. An ache filled her neck, as she forced her magic to come to her aid. She had to protect her sister, somehow.

{ FIGHT STATISTICS }
ASHTORETH + LIORA VS. DEADNETTLE + FEVERFEW
I II III

{ ATTEMPT }

~ scream at the rhino children

{ DEFENSES }

~ protecting liora with her body

{ INJURIES }

~ injuries;;

• none

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

@Liora @Feverfew @Deadnettle

Blah blah blah, she wasn't really listening to what the stag said, she was just too wrapped up in trying to free her damn beak. Laying helpless on the ground, the girl could only struggle until her sister's magic had managed to vibrate the ice, cracking it open and she finally wrenched her beak wide, clacking it threateningly at the approaching rhinos. It was at this point that she began to experience... worry? She was frozen on the ground, unable to do much of anything while her poor, mute sister was left to protect her against a huge stag with pointy sticks on his head and now two big fat rhinos that looked like they could crush them in an instant. Or maybe she could crush their spirits first. "GO ASHY! BEAT THEM UP! STUPID FATTIES, YOU'LL PROLLY NEVER BE ABLE TO CATCH HER, SHE'S SO FAST! GIVE UP NOW BEFORE YOU EMBARRASS YOURSELVES, KRAK!" She shouted, grinning wickedly.

In the mean time, Liora struggled and rocked her body, hoping to free herself from her casing of ice.

Round 1/3
Attacks: None
Defense: None
Injuries: Wings currently frozen, might thaw depending on roll

Nettle looked up and watched his father give his speech on how they had to teach these carnivores a lesson, and he looked at them thoughtfully. They were...small. Small enough to crunch under his hoof if he really wanted to kill either of them. He just sighed silently to himself.

How horrible it must be to be born so small and useless. What could they even do? They couldn't break a wall down, they couldn't break stone if they needed to, they couldn't protect anyone at all. How did they even get out of their shells in the first place? Someone must've helped them.

The free one made a cave-awful sound, and his head turned slightly and his ears flickered back, but for the most point he ignored it. Was that supposed to do anything?

How stupid. He looked at Fever, who bounced excitedly at the idea of following Papa's orders and bringing the monsters under heel, if not outright killing them. What could they even do? One was encased in ice and could do nothing but run her stupid beak off, and the worst she did was call them both fat.

He went after that one. No one insulted his sister.

ROUND: 1/3
ATTEMPT: Shock the stupid useless bird
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES:
Bad hips - previous

Fever flinched at the awful sound, and it kind of hurt her ears, so while Nettle aimed his charge at the bird, she grinned and walked over to the tiny little mutt thing.

How nasty looking it was, shivering and looking up at her like she was going to hurt them. Well, good! She was! Fever giggled and shook her head. "If Papa didn't tell us not to kill you, I'd kill you! You're so ugly you hurt my eyes! What are you even supposed to be? Some weird ferret bird thing?" She gave out a short bark of laughter. "Huh! The only good rat is a dead rat! Isn't that how the saying goes?"

Her throat grew red under the skin, like something was burning inside, and she felt the build up of slick fuel ready to slather all over the monster right at her feet. It was slow to build, and she waited until she had enough so that she could throw the stuff up all over the monster, so that all Nettle would have to do would be to set off a small static charge to set the entire thing on fire. Doing so built up the heat in her throat, and it was starting to hurt, really hurt. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but she kept at it.

Roast rat.
She looked forward to smelling charred flesh.

ROUND: 1/3
ATTEMPT: Cover the mutt monster in pyrogel
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES:
1st degree burn along throat

Ashtoreth was trembling with fear as she stood in front of her screaming, furious sister. She had managed some kind of screeching noise, but it filtered out into nothingness before it even started to hurt her ears. Feathers flat, she watched the pair as they moved in for their attack.

Ash wanted to protect Liora-- and if fire had been thrown at them, it would have been a good solution to stand in front of her. As it was, the boy lashed out with lightning that spiked through her and towards her sister as though she was just a stepping stone. The noodle squeaked like a broken chew toy, her body convulsing as the electricity flickered through her body.

It hurt so badly.

Ashtoreth would never let them do that again. Anger flashing through her eyes, she grit her teeth and flapped her wings as hard as she could. She would blow them away, somehow. They wouldn't get close to her sister. The wind stirred under her body, and she summoned her magic. If it went well, she'd be tossing a small but powerful tornado at the awful rhino children.

{ FIGHT STATISTICS }
ASHTORETH + LIORA VS. DEADNETTLE + FEVERFEW
I II III

{ ATTEMPT }

~ summon wind to knock them away

{ DEFENSES }

~ protecting liora with her body

{ INJURIES }

~ injuries;;

• electrocuted

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

@Liora @Feverfew @Deadnettle

She wriggled and wriggled but no matter how much the bird struggled, she remained trapped in her chrysalis of ice, her wings frozen solidly to her body. As her voice crackled and died down she came to realize now the vanity of her efforts. The rhinos closed in, preparing their magic and Liora was unable to flee. Worse than that, Ashtoreth remained. The bird croaked, watching, feeling the magic burn between them all before her eyes shot to Ashtoreth. This wasn't right! They shouldn't be attacking her! No, maybe they should attack Liora - she deserved it - but Ashtoreth was never meant to get in the middle of it! "Ashy!! She cawed, pitch increasing with panic. She wanted her sister to run, to not have to suffer, but she was afraid now. Afraid of being hurt, being killed, being punished. She wanted so badly-

A bolt of electricity crashed down around them, as did a wave of heat, and static jumped to Liora, stunning her. She screeched in surprise, and then anger, seeing Ashtoreth take the brunt of the attack. This was all wrong! It shouldn't be like this! As feeling returned, she rocked herself viciously on the ground, vying for escape.

Round 2/3
Attacks: trying to break the ice
Defense: none
Injuries: sore probably, minor shock

@Deadnettle

Nettle saw that the stupid bird cried out when the mutt-thing went in the way of his spell, like she cared. How ridiculous was that? Carnivores couldn't care, and if they pretended to, they were lying. Carnivores didn't have hearts, they were just trying to trick any herbivores into lowering their guards. Just like what Papa said. It wasn't going to work with Nettle.

"Don't insult my sister again." He muttered to the two of them who were just taking the pain and the heat and trying with the pathetic little spell casts. They were small and they were weak, and if Papa didn't tell them to keep from killing them, both he and Fever would kill them immediately, either with their hooves or their magick.

He readied his magic again, this time pushing the mutt out of the way with his horns, looking darkly at the bird encased in ice. He would teach her a lesson.

ROUND: 2/3
ATTEMPT: Shock the bird
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: Bad hips - previous