Snow wasn't exactly Rue's favorite. It wasn't an obstacle, as it melted easily enough with a flame held to it, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying as watching grass and wood burn to ashen black and grey.

Also, it was cold. For a creature running as hot-blooded as they did, cold wasn't particularly fun either. "Go away," they huff at the white drifts, pushing through another pile. Wet fur, curses...

Having had enough, they glare at the snow, wishing it would just all dissappear. Their magic curls, before lashing out as a whip of black flame. A narrow path is melted into the snowdrift, giving them a space to forget ahead. It also puts on a bit of show as well, even if the fire was weak. Enough for an onlooker to notice, for sure.

@Tema

Tema had been searching, wandering the caves with a growling stomach nothing could quite please. She'd passed through Cepheus once before, nothing more than a faint memory now, but she'd never traversed this far. It had felt wrong as a cub to stray too far from their birthplace, let alone- No. She would not think of them any longer.

Now, she was fully grown and more than capable of exploring further caves. The Void should be able to rely on her no matter where it might lead her, no matter what it might need from her there, and she still had yet to find the means to satiate herself. It was the perfect reason to explore, to push herself to new heights and learn more about the Corruption. Where could she find more? For something that wished to see chaos among the caves plural, she wondered why she had yet to see evidence of it outside of the altar tunnel.

A sudden burst of flame, if you could call it that seeing as it was the black-purple sheen of the oil she craved, caught her attention. Something purred in the back of her mind, the claws of a cat making biscuits on your lap, vaguely comforting despite the pain.

"An interesting display." She made herself known, standing a few paces away despite violent whispers cajoling her to charge. Easy prey...

"speaking" and corruption

She's only Touched, so signs of said corruption aren't yet visible, just as a note :)
@Rue

Ears prick, and Rue turns to look at Tema. Their green eyes are narrowed,
as they spit a gob of oil into the snow.

"Can I help you?" they hiss, not a threat, but just frustrated at being bothered. "It's just magic." They're not really used to having an audience, but instead just being another extra. While they weren't a dissappointment to the Forge, they definitely weren't a shiny example either.

They were getting antsy, anyway. All work this and work that.

@Tema

Tema's tongue darted across curled lips without conscious thought, visions of blood and black ichor swirling together in puddles at her feet. The hissing and glaring made them hard to ignore. And the oil... Tema was hungry for it, fighting the urge to charge, to tear, to drink...

"Just magic?" She asked, voice distorted with a rumble from deep in her chest as she took a steady step forward. "There is more." She didn't know if the other knew what power they wielded, and honestly, all she knew about it herself was that it sang with the same voice she'd come to know better than her own. She hoped, silently, that the other wouldn't call her bluff.

Rue's tenseness didn't go unnoticed, and the bear's muscles tightened in response, wired to kill. "Do you hear it?" She smiled, a challenge lingering somewhere between playful and murderous. If her guess was correct, Rue would know exactly what she meant, what she craved; what they both craved.

"speaking" and corruption

@Rue

Their eyes follow Tema's ravenous gaze down, down to the oil staining the snow. The same stuff that streaks from their mouth and around their stone.

Warily, they look up again, towards the advancing Gembound. Tema is larger, and the way she growls as she speaks sets Rue's fur on edge. And the confidence... She shows no fear. And Rue's instincts scream fight or flight.

Combined with the pent of urge for destruction, that instinct makes Rue tense like a spring. Green and purple magic sparks around them, as they hiss, "Back off!" A black lashing tendril bursts out of the ground, just barely brushing against Tema's nose as it flails. The touch of corruption lingers there.

@Tema

ROUND 1/?

#100%

ATTEMPT: bap the bear to make it go away
DEFENSE: being oh so scary
INJURIES: none yet

Tema was just looking for an excuse. Whether she was aware of it or not was no matter, because the second the other lashed out, her brain shut off.

Eyes glazed, the bear strode forward with exaggerated steps, slowly dipping her head down to lick at the oil. The smells of it... rancid. But it was exactly what she had been searching for, the only thing that could quell the ever-growing hunger.

She raised her eyes, hot as embers, to meet the other's... and she stared as her faced morphed, encasing itself in bark.

"speaking" and corruption

ROUND 1/?

97%

ATTEMPT: Prepare defense
DEFENSE: Bark skin
INJURIES: been bapped

@Rue

Rue hisses and snaps, baring teeth stained black they own venom and oil. Green eyes spark with fear as the bear sniffs and licks at the oil splattered onto the stone, seemingly unfazed by their lashing out. "You're weird!" they howl, adrenaline and chaos clawing away at their mind.

It's too late for them to be rational, now. They glare at Tema, watching natural armor form around her. It almost mocks them, saying You cannot hurt me.

Well, they'll show her! With a snarl, their magic, black and toxic, lashes out again. Fire erupts from the floor at Tema's feet, melting snow and igniting oil alike.

ROUND 2/?

#100%

ATTEMPT: arson
DEFENSE: being oh so scary
INJURIES: none yet

@Tema

Oh how her soul screamed, how the voice of the Void sang in the back of her mind as her assailant continued, offering her every permission to fight back, to rend flesh from bone!
"Weird?!" She cried, "You feel the same urge, the same NEED!"
Once more she was reminded that there was no love in chaos, no friendship, no connection. There was only destruction. Fire and blood, panic and disorder. she would do her master proud, if this one would not. They were a false follower, mistakenly granted power if only for her to take it... and take it she would. Her stomach growled, or did that come from her throat?
Tema was unstable, a perfect conduit for the whispers of chaos as the corruption seeped in. Rue's magic was tainting her further, the pain of cold fire a distant thought as she descended upon Rue with frenzied swipes, each one of them a miss. She wasn't sure when she had started, but she found herself to be smiling.

"speaking" and corruption

ROUND 2/?

85%

ATTEMPT: Flurry of Claws!
DEFENSE: Barkskin, kind of
INJURIES: nose bap, owie fire paws

@Rue

Their assailant screams about the urge, but Rue doesn't hear it as any more than a warcry. They are in danger. They cannot stay here, with this... thing, any longer.

They need to make an opportunity to escape. To flee. So they call on their magic, as they backpedal away. The ground underneath her is what they direct the corruption towards, causing the snow to be shoved aside - for the land underneath shudders and warps into oily black ground.

ROUND 3/?

#100%

ATTEMPT: knock the bear down
DEFENSE: hoping and praying
INJURIES: none

@Tema

Tema was sated, finally, as oily earth unsteadied her feet. She landed on her side, a heavy fall that made an equally loud 'thud,' followed by... Laughter?
Genuine laughter. It poured from the bear like Rue had just told the funniest joke in the caves, and Tema took her time getting back to her feet.
"Oh, that was fun!" She cried between panting breaths, teary-eyed. "You are a strange one, I think, controlling the hunger the way you do! But you are fun! Your magic is unlike anything I've seen!" Tema's legs were still unsteady given the oil-slick earth they now stood on, but she made a slow and careful effort to give Rue some space. The hunger she had felt, the ever-growing all-consuming hunger had been fed, be it by the oil she lapped up like a dehydrated dog or the magic that Rue had cast upon her. It left her calm, for a time.
"I didn't actually scare you, did I? That was quite the spar! A bit without warning though, don't you think? You should have just said you wanted to fight!" She laughed again, as if she hadn't just moments ago descended upon the other with a flurry of poorly placed swipes. It didn't matter much to her, honestly, if the other stayed or not. She was satisfied, and seeing one more attuned with the Void than she was (for now, of course) told her that there had to be something important nearby. Another altar, or a nest of corrupted lessers... She would have to look, someday soon.

"speaking" and corruption

ROUND 3/?

80%

ATTEMPT: backing up :)
DEFENSE: bark skin?
INJURIES: bapped and burned and knocked over

@Rue