Instead of getting the cougar's stomach, Nai got his side. Infuriated, she avoided his attacks at her own soft fleshy parts, twisting her body to the side and almost flipping around under Rift. Nai spat, her anger rising. She tried her hardest to escape from under the cougar, wanting the fight to be over. Her anger was mighty, but she had just hatched and was at a disadvantage. The Fennec Fox knew that she would most likely lose.

Round: 6/?
Attempt: Escape from under Rift
Defense: Eyes squinted
Injuries: Scratched hind leg(right)/face

Rift held onto Nai as she struggled under him, but he held on tight, despite her movements. He leaned down and snarled in her ear, "Don't you ever burn life again." He raised his hind legs again to try and scourge her stomach again.

Round: 7
Attempt: Use hind legs to scratch her stomach
Defense: n/a
Injuries: scratches on shouulder/face/side, burned shoulder

___________________________________________________________

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Ritonai
notes: here

Hearing his words as he kept her pinned, Nai howled with rage. "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" She screamed before struggling again, her body thrashing as she struggled to escape. His claws raised again, and Nai knew it was either time to escape or be wounded forever.

Round: 7/?
Attempt: Escape before Rift gouges her belly
Defense: N/A
Injuries: Scratched face/hind leg(right)

Character: Rift Age: +1 Magic Level: +3 (Pupil) ROUND 1 Attempt: +6 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +1 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +19 Penalties: -0 ROUND 6 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 7 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 Total: 63

Character: Ritonai Age: +1 Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +9 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +1 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 ROUND 6 Attempt: +2 Penalties: -0 ROUND 7 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 Total: 66

WINNER: Ritonai

Kera wasn't entirely sure when the fight broke out, but when it did it seemed to be over within seconds. Alarmed, and far too late, she brought herself up to all fours, wide-eyed. "Stop it!" she called out with her muzzle crinkling aggressively, limp-shuffling forward with hackles raised.

She didn't dare get too close-- hell, she was injured enough as it was --but she did creep gradually closer to Rift's side. "Accident or not, you shouldn't have done it," she said towards the fox. "You should have thought about what would happen before you did it."

Calming down-- and remembering Rift's ear --she turned her head and spoke softly. "I'm sorry about your moss, and I'm sorry it died," she began. "But you can't attack others like that."

"If you think of it this way-- you make life, and light, and all she does is destroy and bring death. You can make more, right?" Kera spoke carefully, slowly moving off towards the water and flicking her tail.

"Come this way. Water will help the burns," she said just as softly.

@Rift @Ritonai

Rift leaped back as Nai struggled to escape and Kera called from the sides. Her voice was suddenly ringing in his ear and he staggered back, the haze of the fight broken. Suddenly, the wounds on his body started to sting and the burns, well, burn. He winced in pain at all of his wounds. He looked at Nai and was crestfallen at the realization that she was not nearly as hurt as he was. Ashamed and defeated, he dropped the snarl in his eyes and simply pawed at the ground. He was very glad as more of his friends appeared, glowing softly against the ground. He laid himself down in them and just soaked in their softness, trying to forget about what he had just did.

Did he really attack just because she had burned his friends? Why did he do that? Like Kera said, he could have just grown more. Angry with himself, he got back up and followed Kera to the water, internally beating himself with the shame of his loss.

He sat down next to the wolf and looked over at Nai. Now he just felt bad and, suddenly, felt like he couldn't look in her eyes. He looked into the water and saw the scratch running down his face and the blood that dripped from it. Without really speaking to anyone in particular, he whispered, "I'm sorry." He then sat down at the water's edge and raised his burning shoulder to allow Kera to treat it.

___________________________________________________________

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Ritonai
notes: here

Kera shook her head tensely for a moment, dunking her paws into the cold water before carefully pressing them against the burns threading through Rift's fur. "This will probably hurt," she blurted out moments before the action, quickly, then added- "You don't have to be sorry."

The process was repeated, soaking Rift's burns in ice-cold water. "Everyone makes mistakes, you know? We learn from them and we do better because we know what we did wrong before," she explained, moving onto the next wound once the burns were covered in cold water.

She started licking blood from Rift's face, speaking between the gentle rasps of her tongue. "You make light," she said softly, aware of how close she was to Rift's ear. "Me and my friend make light, too- we're trying to bring light back to the caves."

A quick drink from the lagoon water, and then Kera was moving on and cleaning the other scratches on Rift's body. "Can you teach us how to make plants? I think it would help."

@Rift @Ritonai

Rift hissed as the splash of icy cold water stung at the places where he had been burned. However, he tried to keep himself still as Kera continued to get water over the wounds on his body. He disagreed with her - he had to be sorry. He had just attacked someone for a stupid reason. However, he decided not to voice this, in case he cried out when he opened his mouth.

As Kera continued to treat his wounds and speak, the stinging began to turn into a pleasantly cool feeling as he got used to it. He listened carefully, each word feeling like stones in his stomach. Did everyone make a mistake like that? Just attack? And get totally beat from it? It was, after all, a little embarrassing to have to be treated like this after instigating a fight. He wondered if Kera had ever made mistakes like that. "Perhaps," he murmured, "But that doesn't mean I can't feel bad about it." It took all of his power not to glance over at Ritonai as he said those words.

When she started licking the blood from his face, he felt his skin beneath his pelt grow hot. He wasn't sure what it was from, but he did his best to ignore it as he continued to listen. He didn't think he made light, he just called friends to the surface and they were the ones that made light. However, he assumed that it was pretty much the same thing in Kera's head. He did a spell and light appeared. It was light.

But turning the lights back on? Honestly it wasn't too big a problem for him. He could see pretty well in the dark. However, he would admit that it would be nice to see a little more. And to see what the cave would be like in full light and color. It would probably be easier to call his plants once the caves were light again.

When Kera moved to his other wounds, he internally sighed with relief as the heat under his pelt cooled. Having her so close to his face was a little awkward (even though he liked it). He forgot about it in a moment, when Kera asked for his help. "Teach you?" Rift paused for a moment. Could he teach others to raise plants? He wasn't sure he could, really. It came naturally to him. But, he guessed he could try. However, he wasn't sure what the point was, since Kera and, probably, her friend as well could create light that was much better. But if she thought it would help them, then maybe it would.

"Well, I guess. But I don't make plants, I grow them. Or I ask them to move for me." This seemed really important for him to get across. Perhaps, if she understood it the way he did, he would be able to teach her.


___________________________________________________________

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Kera
notes: here

Ritz didn't even feel all that bad. And this wolf girl was telling her she shouldn't have done it. Was she stupid? Did she not get the fact that Ritz didn't even know what she was doing. The Fennec fox waited and watched the pair as they talked, and the dumb wolf girl helped stupid cougar boy. Ritz listened, her big ears picking up most of what they were saying. Ritz was still angry, and she didn't like that wolf girl.

"Stupid wolf girl, you just don't like me because you like that little cougar boy, huh? Your afraid I'll take him from you, isn't that right?" Ritonai spat as she sassily walked towards the pair.

@Rift @Kera

Kera was silent for a moment as she cleaned the blood from Rift's fur, thoughtful. She wondered, briefly, if the goose had harboured any guilt for attacking her. The pup knew that, for some reason, she did not have any guilt for what happened. She was the one that had lost that fight, but perhaps she should have felt at least a little bad?

But she didn't-- not really. She could try to kid herself and say she did regret what happened between her and the goose, but the only thing she regret about the situation was that she lost. Kera shook her head a bit. "You can," she said softly, agreeing. "But you shouldn't beat yourself up about it."

She almost didn't notice the heat in Rift's face. She only did when she moved from his face to his side to continue cleaning blood from golden fur-- but she decided not to bring this up. Her eyes flicked from Rift to her work, before she resumed cleaning. Similarly, she decided not to even question it. Perhaps it was just a thing that happened when you get burned.

Kera had never been touched by fire. She wouldn't know.

Regardless, she nodded, beginning to answer Rift when her gaze lifted, briefly, to the approaching fox. She did not know what she meant by 'taking him away.' Where would she take him? There were only a few rooms, she could find him again.

What if he didn't even want to go? Would it matter? Was that allowed? If he did want to go, did Kera even have a say in that? She supposed not, so she wasn't entirely sure why this was being brought up.

She decided, instead, to use some choice words that a wolf had taught her.

"I don't like you because you're an asshole," she said matter-of-factly. "There are other assholes out there you can make friends with instead. You don't have to stay here and keep attacking people or killing plants for no reason."

Although the wolf was fairly calm on the outside, she did have to fight back a growl that climbed up her throat. To restrain it, she looked down and continued licking blood away, speaking quietly towards Rift.

"Can you teach us how to ask them to move?" She asked. "We can teach you how to make mushrooms, that make light, or I can teach you how to make things into light." She supposed-- incidentally --it was sort of the same with making mushrooms. She urged things to move, that turned into mushrooms. They were technically always there before they sprouted, but Kera liked taking credit for making them grow regardless.

@Rift