Ritz nodded. She felt a little bad about scaring Rift, so she let her wings dissipate.

"It's okay. I understand." She told her friend. "Hey, maybe we can make better memories about the bad magic? So it doesn't seem so bad." She suggested.

"Like maybe I can use my fire magic to help plants that are too cold, or use my wings to scare away bad guys. So that it is good, and not bad!"

@Rift

Rift considered this for a moment. How would they use fire to help the plants? Did it ever get cold in Eridanus? He had never experienced it himself. But he supposed that if it did, fire would certainly help. And yes, the wings might work for scaring the bad guys away. He could certainly use some help keeping Eridanus safe.

Perhaps there were others, like her, that wanted to help. He wondered if he should be so scared of fire. Well, he would. He would always be scared of fire. Fire destroyed life and life is what he brought. But maybe Nai could help him. "Yes, maybe that would work."

But then he was struck with an idea. He leaped to his feet, suddenly excited with his idea. "I think I might know how you can help! Follow me!"

He leaped out of the tree and ran towards an area that he had known and was still sad about. It was an area of both life and decay, a little ways away from his home. Many of the trees and plants were dead, taken over by the larger growths. And the decay was seeping into the ground, poisoning everything else. "There are lots of dead things here that are hurting others. Could you maybe burn them away?"


___________________________________________________________

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

tags: @Ritonai
notes: here

Ritz followed the cougar happily. When he asked her to use her magic, she got excited.

"Yeah! Let me give it a whirl!" She exclaimed happily. Summoning her magick, she felt her paws and ears and nose heat up. It was uncomfortable, but it didn't quite hurt. The little fox walked over the dead stuff quickly, turning it to ash. Maybe this would help stuff grow better!

@Rift

At first, Rift winced when the plants burned away, but he had to remind himself that is was for the good of the other plants. He sighed and leaned forward to nose the lost. I can't mourn over every dead plant. Their time was up and it's time for the new generation.

Instead, he placed his nose on the ground, trying to detect seeds beneath the earth. However, he could find nothing. Disappointed, he pulled his head away, wondering how things were going to grow here if there was nothing under the surface. Perhaps burning the dead plants was a bad idea and there had been a chance to rejuvenate them. Or perhaps they had killed anything beneath the grass?

He turned to Ritonai. "Could you keep burning some of the dead plants? I'm going to find some new seeds to put in the ground."


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: @Ritonai
notes: here

Ritonai nodded, toddling around like a child. She had let go of the spell for a second, so her paws and stuff could cool down. She tried to bring it back once her paws had felt normal again, summoning her magick. Successful again! Ritz toddled around once more, leaping from dead patch to dead patch.

She was using deadly fire to help! This was awesome! She kept moving quickly to the dead plants, to get as much done without hurting herself. The little fox would be done by the time Rift returned.

@Rift

Rift nodded and bounded off, casting his senses out for whatever seeds he could find. However, his power seemed not to work this time and no sense came to him. Disappointed, he stopped moving and sat down, trying to focus his magic more intensely. He didn't use this spell often, so he could understand why it wasn't working. But he needed to try again.


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: @Ritonai
notes: here

Finally, as he focused on his ear, sounds grew louder and he carefully peeled back the leaves he constantly used to cover it. Perhaps it would lead him. He heard a strange sound in his ear, indescribable, but strong and pure. He stood and immediately followed it until it led him under a small bush. There was a hole in the ground and, from the scents, it seemed to be an abandoned chipmunk's nest. He carefully reached a paw inside and pulled out a good stack of seeds and nuts.

Happy, he pulled a leaf off a nearby tree and laid the seeds inside of it, wrapping it tight to make sure that none of them fell out.

He headed back to the dead forest where Ritonai was burning down the dead plants. He set the seeds down and watched her finish her work.


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: above
notes: here

Ritz was nearly done. She was burning the last of the plants when Rift showed up. Finally, she released the spell, just as her paws began to blister. They hurt a lot, but the soft ash helped a little.

"There! All done!" Ritz grinned at Rift, moving closer to him. "What now?"

@Rift

Rift nodded as Ritz turned around. She had done good work in the area. There wasn't a raging wildfire and most of the dead plants had been reduced to ash. That was good, that would help the new growth. "Now my work begins."

He nosed some of the seeds into the ground, underneath the ash and then placed his paw where they had been buried. His magic flowed into the ground and into the seeds, pulling them out of the earth and into small, healthy plants. He did this a few more times around the area until there were small plants poking out of the ash all over the place.

He turned back to Ritonai, his tail held high. "I've helped them start. It's better for plants to grow naturally. I'll come back here every so often to tend to them, make sure they're growing healthy. This place will be flourishing in no time!"

He then noticed strange markings on his friend's paws and gasped. They were covered with ugly, painful blisters. He rushed over and leaned down to sniff them. "Oh my gosh, are your paws okay? Do you need anything? I can grow some plantain or aloe vera or I can summon some water to cool it off."


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: @Ritonai
notes: here

Ritz smiled. Watching Rift doing something he loved was amazing. It was good to see him happy. Much better than seeing him angry and upset because of her.

"That's good to know," Ritz replied chirpily, before talking again. "My paws will be okay, I think. I mean, I've hurt them before."

@Rift