The young deer watched, watched as she monologued, and still felt the blinding cold rage boil through him.

She. Is not. Running. Still, this he bit back, again--knowing full well it was the same childish anger, the same foolish hunger for revenge, that drove him now.

It was only when he saw a tuft of his white fur, clutched in her abominable talons, that he felt the rage boil over. That was his. It was a part of him. It belonged to him. He would not be a piece, a trophy, for some mad monster. His eyes coldly tracked her as she flew up and he turned, hurtling out his magic with another cold flare of anger.

The grip was faint, but there--barely. He didn't move to close the gap, but instead stood staring at where the goose had chosen to gloat from, trying to keep her there with the magic.

"Put that down."

(permission given to attempt an exit stop)

@Blackberry

At the sudden feeling of magic, Blackberry felt herself be thrown to the ground. Annoyed that she had been stopped, she turned back to look at Pride, her eyes narrowed. "No. It is mine now. You don't deserve it, snowball." She tried to raise a wing, perhaps to support herself, but she could barely move, so she decided not to let it show.

She glared at the deer, raking her eyes across his multiple wounds. "Are you going to drag this out more? Are you sure you want to do that? Over a little tuft of fur? Look at yourself." Her beak cracked open in a twisted smile. "Unless you really do want me to kill you. Of course, I'll oblige. Killing is fun. But I didn't come here to kill you. It's not always the most useful course of action."

She remembered a lesson she had learned from her enemy - sometimes killing stopped the word, stopped the memory. Let them live and they will fear you, your name will spread. Yes, she wanted her name to spread, she wanted the fear of her to go far and wide. She did not want to kill Pride, but she would, happily, if he kept this up.

@Pride

He still did not bridge the gap.

He had no need to.

Instead he once more attempted to call upon the magic that he had sprang to him just before. To harness that white inner fire, that rage, and to give it life beneath the bird. All around her. To engulf her in vaporized, blinding stone. To hurt her. To drive her unconscious. So that he could take back what was his.

His intention was not to kill--he did not care for killing. But he wished to hear the rock crack and hiss away into nothing, to see the bird's strange claws spring free and relinquish his fur--even if only into fire.

A moment later there was a crack and a hiss--and he saw nothing. He was left standing, staring blindly forward, his fury impotent as the stone between them--and not beneath Blackberry at all--flared into white fire. His grip on her released.

He determined, at once, to kill her next they met.

...Assuming he could see again.

@Blackberry

When the sudden flare of the white hot stuff burned at Pride's feet, Blackberry realized exactly how fortunate she was. She could have been seriously hurt in that, perhaps fatally. But it didn't matter. He had gotten himself once again.

She immediately got to her feet once the power released her and she cackled loudly, her voice hoarse and honking and she walked away, towards her tunnel, with Pride's fur gripped tight against her stomach.

*exit

@Pride

He wanted to pursue her at once. Perhaps it was a good thing that he had blinded himself--assuming it were temporary, at least. He would have given chase, hooves clattering along the stone as he tried to tear her from the air.

He wondered how many bones he had broken, and in a foul, indignant flash of pure hatred, he hoped it was a good many. He had slammed her against the stone, repeatedly and as hard as he could; he could only hope she was seriously injured.

Pride would want that fur back, regardless of what it would take. He would hunt the bird, and he would try to find her.

Perhaps-... This would be a good thing to take up with Reseda. If the lizard were told that this was a good place to start her "reign of terror," with all others fearing and respecting her--they could do it. Hunt the bird down. Kill it, perhaps in public, or at least take from it what it had taken from him.

If not, he would do it himself.

In time.

//exit Pride

Character: Blackberry Age: +6 Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +9 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +9 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +10 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +10 Penalties: -0 ROUND 6 Attempt: +10 Penalties: -0 ROUND 7 Attempt: +17 Penalties: -0 Total: 82

Character: Pride Age: +2 Magic Level: +5 (Master) ROUND 1 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +11 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +14 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +1 Penalties: -0 ROUND 6 Attempt: +12 Penalties: -0 ROUND 7 Attempt: +12 Penalties: -0 Total: 72

WINNER: Blackberry