"No, no! Get off of Leon!" As the first lunged at her friend, she couldn't help but cry out, too frightened to attack. Why were they attacking her friend, why couldn't they just talk things over? "Stop it! Go away!"

Panic swelled suddenly in the tiny bird who-- while she could see plenty of bacteria among her friends and the raptors, she couldn't tell... she wasn't good enough, wasn't trained enough, to tell if the raptors were actually sick. They didn't seem sick, but their leader had latched on to her friend and fright filled the poor bird. Her stomach churned as she watched from above, and her red-splattered gem glinted with a green light. She had to do something, and so, with a frighten squawk, the bird unleashed her first intentionally harmful magic upon the leader of the raptor's.

;; post roll

But it wouldn't work. She couldn't quite will herself to intentionally hurt another creature. Despite her pull of bacteria towards the raptor-- which she could watch with her bright, sharp white sense-- she couldn't bring herself to put the nasty, sickening illness inside of the beast. Her insides were in turmoil, and although she hadn't nauseated herself, she surely felt as though she had. It was just so frightening...

Usui watched the ground shake beneath his paws, the shock directed in his path towards the raptors. As such, Leon, or anyone of his comrades would not have been affected by it. It proved effective and the critters backed up and huddled together for protection. The boy snarled at them and bared his fangs. He would not hesitate to use his brute power if he had to – even with the twisted leg. Leon was not backing out of the fight either. However, in the moment that Usui cast his pebblequake spell, the bear had lowered himself onto his haunches and the leader of the squad was having none of it. With a shriek, Usui scrambled to the side, painfully dragging his injured, left hindleg as the raptor lunged for the bear. He got out of the way safely, but was enraged to see the raptor get a grip on Leon. He saw the bear try to work his magic but only succeeded in spluttering, burning embers glowing from beneath his teeth. Odd fungi had started to sprout as well. Was he turning ill? Was this how it’d turn out, a failure like when the rocks came crashing down on him? Meanwhile, he heard the desperate squawking of the bird overhead and felt that he had to protect it as well.

The cub desperately knew that he had got them into this mess and he wanted to pull them out of it. Channelling his courage, the boy attempted to gather his heat right from his insides and attempted to mimic Leon and cast his fire at the raptor, if he were capable of it. Alas, he ended up with no better outcome than the bear. Immediately, his insides flared up, rejecting the fire magic. He felt the bile rise from within his throat and he retched onto the floor a mass of disgusting green stuff. The cub felt winded and overheated from trying to conjure the fire from within which he was so sure he had but maybe, he didn’t. The heat overtook him and as his vision faded to black, the cub collapsed entirely on the floor, sides heaving and mouth frothing from the heat and over-exertion.

- Usui is unconscious and overheated now!-

The raptor continued to snap at the bear's scruff, missing each time due to all of the motion that the massive meal Gembound went through. Giving a scream of frustration, it finally would lurch downwards and sink it's teeth into something. But that something was familiar... not the taste of flesh, but the taste of something else. Small fungus would be pulled up from the bear's side as the raptor reared back, hissing. The taste was horrid. "Skkkkkkkkkrrrrraaaa!" The alpha screamed, bouncing over to his companions and spitting out the 'shrooms. Gazing about wildly, primordial gazes settled upon the hyena. With one hasty glare, they decided that there would be another day where the Raptor Squad could find a big meal like this. With that, the monsters fled deeper into the caves. They could perhaps be followed, or left alone.

- the Raptor Squad have exited this thread -

Giggle stared blankly, watching the raptors retreat. She froze, waiting for an attack--perhaps not from the front, but from the side, where the creatures might be circling and preparing for another attack. Surely they wouldn't just flee from the taste? ...Or had they decided that all Gembounds now tasted of this fungus?

When it became clear that no further attacks were coming, she slunk back further into the shadows.

"...They should wear off soon enough," she said toward Leon, voice low and hoarse. She didn't have the power to make her mushrooms feed off of living creatures--not yet, anyway. Perhaps that was something to look into? For now she could make them grow, but soon they would fade, and die.

Unless spoken to further, Giggle would remain nearly completely hidden in the darkness, not speaking, merely observing the others until they left--at which point she, too, would leave. If spoken to, however, she might respond.

________________

Roll the bones.

Bevy fluttered above him, frantically trying to ward the raptors off. Usui, meanwhile, had tried to counteract their attack only for it to backfire, causing the little lion cub's insides to violently revolt against the use of foreign magic. He practically cooked himself, throwing up steaming bile and passing out behind him. Leon struggled to keep an eye on Usui while Bevy zipped around his head and the raptor dug its claws deep into his flesh. His life had become infinitely more difficult as the large mushrooms blossomed from his skin, adding weight and a mild stinging to his skin. He groaned and snarled, tossing his body until he felt the raptor lunge for him. His blood ran cold, and when the raptor made contact with something, Leon was certain that the shock and adrenaline had numbed him to the pain of having a chunk of flesh torn away.

Only it wasn't his flesh that the raptor had gotten a mouthful of. The creature reeled back with a shriek and launched away from him, and with the sudden weight lifted from his back, Leon jerked and stood upright. He spared no time cracking his jaws open, filling his lungs with air, and uttering a thunderous, violent roar. Searing heat boiled in his chest and left in the form of a blinding fire blast, red hot tongues of flame erupting from his mouth as he bellowed his fury. The claws of his paws flexed, ready to lunge at the raptors and set them all ablaze - only by the time his roar had died down and the fire extinguished, the predators had turned tail, fleeing in the opposite direction.

Leon snapped his teeth shut. His chest and throat burned, but the display had hopefully been enough to frighten the raptors off, at least for a little while. Still standing on his hind legs with a snarl painted on his lips, the bear bristled and uttered one final roar before falling back onto all four paws. He huffed, his back rising and falling and his heart clamored in his chest. As he panted, the hyena spoke. His eyes darted to her, for a moment still lost in the adrenaline of the fight. When he realized that she was talking about the mushrooms, he furrowed his brow and glanced up at them. The scent was a mixture of charred flesh and vile fungi. Unfortunately, Leon was still rather sour about unwillingly growing mushrooms on his back. He grimaced at the hyena before whirling around to face Bevy and Usui.

Usui was out cold, and Bevy probably wouldn't be able to take the cub back to Pisces like this. But Leon couldn't risk those raptors going back to Orion and finding Zetos... "Bevy," He huffed, looked to the bird. "I need to follow those things. I'll keep them away while he recovers." Leon said, sincerely, and his words ached for forgiveness. He was effectively abandoning her here with the little lion cub, dumping him in her care. Hopefully, he would wake before long. "Thank you." He added, dipping his head to the bird. Then he dragged himself away, jogging - with great effort - down the tunnel and back towards Orion.

exit Leon!

enna . ratchet . calypso
sweet and soft . bright and cheery . critical and melodic
ooc ;; notes and tags

Oh no, oh dear, everything was going wrong and her magic was failing. Somehow Leon had sprouted mushrooms and Usui was--... But then the raptors got a taste of something they didn't like and fled. Her frightened eyes met Leon as he said he was going to go after them, and though she opened her beak to protest, her voice died in her throat. She was scared, no, terrified. She fluttered down to the earth besides Usui, the lion still breathing but knocked out.

What am I supposed to do? She wondered, her feathers trembling as she looked over his wounded leg, trying to ignore the fact he had been sick only a few talon steps away. Shivering, she did her best to make him feel better. Brushing away the nasty cloud of illness-- she still felt bad for summoning the nasty white things-- she went to get the good stuff, the healthy bacteria from the area.

A swarm of cool, healthy bacteria came to her call and filled the area around her and Usui, and even as she breathed them in she started to feel better. "Usui, Usui, wake up," she peeped softly, hoping to rouse him from his sleep. Would Leon be gone long? She felt so vulnerable-- wait. Wait, wasn't Giggle there?

She turned her head towards the shadows, and with a shiver, she called out to the hyena. "Excuse me, Giggle? You'll stay with me, won't you?" She asked, her voice taking on a desperate tone. She didn't want to fight by herself, didn't want to have to hurt anything, if the raptors or worse came back.

and if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones

The cub was unconscious and remained so. The roaring, shrieks, fungi power and fire blast went by completely unnoticed by the lion. It was not till Bevy started using her magic that he reacted to the magic and took in good stuff which calmed his insides – which were still rather fried. He woke up, sides heaving and tongue lolling out from the sharp tang of bile, heat and pain that assuaged his body. "Bevy…?” he ventured and looked around him. It was silent. Panic shrouded him. "Leon, where’s Leon,” he coughed out desperately and tried to pull his body upwards. Had the raptors gotten the bear? Did he lure them away? Usui looked around wildly and it was then that he saw he hyena. "Um.” He stared at her in shock, for he had never expected to meet this old acquaintance again, in this situation. "Did the…bones tell you this?” She seemed ominous lurking around, somehow, blending into the shadows, though the boy knew it was just the surface of things. She was very wise, so perhaps she had answers. He then instinctively bent over and crunched his teeth into the ice, taking in a mouthful, attempting to swash the melting ice into water to swallow and rehydrate himself.

Giggle didn't much move, instead eyeing the others from her spot, waiting for the raptors to reappear.

"I will stay," she said at last, apparently in response to Bevy. Then her eyes flicked to Usui, watching him as he woke, listening as he spoke. He'd been an annoying little bastard, wandering off with the air of the wise before she'd even finished talking, believing he'd somehow learned something. Hrmph. And he was a lion.

She snorted softly. "No, the bones didn't tell me this. They attacked me in Canis. I've been following them. Smelling after them. But I'm going to go back, now--after the bird is done."

Giggle nodded up to Bevy, and settled against the rock, leaning there with the air of someone preparing to wait. She'd remain nearby whilst Bevy worked, at least, and then make her way back to Canis, unless something went horribly wrong.

Which, given the last couple days, she thought with grim humor, wouldn't be all that surprising.

________________

Roll the bones.

enna . ratchet . calypso
sweet and soft . bright and cheery . critical and melodic
ooc ;; notes and tags
Bevy took a deep breath and sighed with relief as Giggle, finally, told her that she would stay until she was done. Right. Enna steeled her nerves, getting ready to heal for not the first or last time in her life. She shivered and set her iridescent eyes on the cub before hopping away to where her leaves had been left, collecting a small twig with a swab of cobwebs in her beak and watersoaked moss in her talons.

She fluttered back over to the lion cub, settling down beside him. "Okay, Usui, hold out your leg as best you can and stay still," she peeped softly through her twig, hopping back into the air once he had done as she instructed, squeezing the moss so that it gave back the water and trickled over his small cuts. She dropped back down once the water had soaked his leg, then carefully applied the spiderweb to the biggest gash he had.

It was while she was applying the spiderwebs that her feathers, accidentally of course, brushed the cub's leg. She noticed immediately, yelping in alarm, flapping back quickly, a shiver going up her spine. "Oh, no-- no, it's fine! Ah, sorry-- just stay calm, I can--" She had never messed up, not seriously, when it came to her feathers. Her heart dropped to her feet as she stared petrified, afraid of what the neurotoxins would do to the lion. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe the water would-- right, water!

She fluttered off to go get more of the moss in the pile of her supplies, flying back over as quickly as possible, and squeezed as much as she could on to the lion. "It's fine, fine, just have to wash it off," she tweeted quickly, her voice frightfully high in pitch.

and if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones

As Giggle spoke, Usui groaned as the sensation began in his leg again. He nodded to the hyena in acknowledgement of what she had said, noting that they had tried to attack her too, and then he turned to look at his twisted leg which, post-fight, was bruised all over. Bevy fluttered to him and gently coaxed him into positioning himself properly. He stretched out his leg and yowled immediately, "OUCH!” as he attempted to straighten the sprained set of tendons around his limbs. The lion sighed, and plopped his head onto the ground over his paws while trying his best to maintain the sense of balance with the bad leg stretched out. The cub saw the bird squeeze water from moss onto his legs which stung quite badly, though really nothing compared to the strain of the muscles. Then, her feather fell onto his leg and he felt nothing wrong though she went into a flurry.

"Hey there there it is okay, just a feather,” he quipped and looked at her curiously. Unless…"I suppose it isn’t…poisonous?” He gulped, an impending doom flooding his senses. Bevy apologised further and flew off to get some remedy, meanwhile, a tingling sensation had begun especially since he had cuts, making him extremely vulnerable to what little bit got in. His injured leg started to spasm and the lion’s pale eyes widened. And then, it grew numb starting at the flank, then slowly seeping through his leg. Usui yelped and was about to use his tongue to lick the wound when he realized it would make him even more poisoned. All he could do was to wait for Bevy.
The bird came back and quickly washed it away with water. He wasn’t sure how effective it’d be though. "My leg went tingly and now it’s numbing all over,” he spoke matter of factly, not daring to think of the worst case scenerios.