Hestia watched her mothers flames lick and roll across her hide. Crackling against her own flesh she paid little mind. She listened to Louie and watched her mother. No words were needed between the duo. Hestia knew what fire that boiled the trinoceros's blood. She could feel it surge through both her and even herself, her own emotions feeding from her mother's. Volatile, furious and deadly. Nemesis's body rolled with waves of flames and Hestia beckoned her own flesh to burn just the same.

She asked the location of Diamondfang, foot kicking at the dirt. She was furious and rightly so. The absence of her friends and family treated as if it was nothing. Hestia listened to Louie and she visibly frowned. He wanted to bring pain, death; chaos. And for what? To be in power!? Perhaps this was just the reason her mother had kept her from such 'members'. Louie was going to manipulate every of their free will. Hestia's stomach churned, insides boiling from such words. He wanted them to be feared, was this really what the Merrymen stood for? It had changed so much since the absence of her loving family. Now all she had was her mother, who was more than ready to fight with ever strain of fire in her being.

"Do I have any questions so far?"

Hestia remained silent, standing beside her mother who only started a rumbling laughter. Feet shaking the earth as she approached the fox drunk on power. At first she was shocked by her mother's tender voice, but it was as painful as if she was screaming in your ear. Spatting out word that dripped with hate she defended her stand and Hestia took a few steps towards her. Eyes flickering from gembound to gembound, slowly; waiting.

To hear their names, the tender siblings she loved Odyssey and Illiad. Why it drove an arrow through the hybrid's heart. To know now that it wasn't just her family who this fox condemned but his own children too!? Bullshit, he was no family to her or any of them. A sneer took Hestia's features. Brows furrowed she spat, an unnatural expression now plastered across this once gentle giant. She would gladly partake in this, flesh ligting up in a deep smoke as she prepared. She would be on her toes, even if it was a fight between the two of them.

.He would not escape.

Honestly, was he surprised to see Nemesis standing against him? Perhaps not. Head raised, the fox stared down the rhino as she spoke. Laughing to seem confident, but he knew that all she was was a meat head. Never contributing anything other than her weight and prowess. Images of fire and the heat that rolled off her was indeed intimidating. It would never burn as hot nor as bright as the dragon who had stripped him of his beauty, but still it caused him unease. All her rants meant nothing to him, if those who stood here didn't know who he really was than they had no worth. They deserved to be eliminated along with the others who chose to stand in his path.

Really he had no idea what had happened to Diamondfang, he was sure he could find eventually but her presence or absence was of no concern to him right now. Thinking she was being coy by speaking to him such a playful and teasing way. Dumb rhino, a smirk played onto his face to mirror her attempts at being cute. He merely sat back as he attempted to sway the... what. Three other people in this room? One who was already under his control, another who had just presented the divine fox with gifts, and one more who would rather see everyone in this room dead if she so saw it to be that way. "Not entirely sure who your audience is?" There was concern for Penelope and Othello. "Penelope, I need you to take Othello and get out of here..." Kind of annoying he hadn't yet formed a mental bond with the maned wolf but eventually.

There was no time for talking, no reason to be either as the woman charged towards him. Louie side stepped, the horn clipping the corner of his skin but only enough to allow him to step away in pain as he was knocked. Horn wasn't sharp enough by itself to pierce him, kind of hard to gore something who didn't have much flesh to be gorged. Bouncing away, the smell of Hestia burning herself was gross but he had smelled and felt his own face burning off. Not much a little bit of skin burning was going to do to deter him. A sickly expression crossed his face.

Chunks of vomit were heaved up from inside and he felt himself becoming light headed at the physical strain it was putting on him. So many of the larvae were present as they began to head towards their goal, helped along by magic as they were placed along the body of Nemesis. Whether or not they managed to pierce the thick hide of the rhino was another question. Hestia didn't concern him, as he caught Gadanai out of the corner of his eye. If she really wanted to, she could join and form a trio to murder him. There was no way of knowing what the most recent member wished to do.

"DO NOT FORGET WHO I AM"
"DO NOT FORGET I AM IN YOUR HEAD"

table by lisa

ooc; roll must be performed to avoid infection by the parasite <3

@Gadanai @Hestia @Nemesis

Nemesis seemed to be an overflowing pot of boiling water. Silence had hardly settled between Louie's magnificent speech and the rantings of the horned leather-backed mammal. While Gadanai would be the last to disagree about how weak and pathetic Louie might really be, she didn't find herself appreciating the comments that ended up directed at her. The big grin that formed on her face was her tell; round two would have to come, at last. Alas, Gadanai's attention was dragged away from Nemesis charging the fox, the disturbing smell of cooking meat attracting bright red eyes. This thing looked somewhat like the big tank who went for a flea and appeared to have a fire burning to join in any action. One glance was stolen toward the distracted Nemesis and her loyalty to Louie proved itself nonexistent, as the assumed-weaker creature became the new target. At giant legs set forth on the path toward the hybrid, giant ears fanned away the charred smoke produced by Hestia. The smell was still strong, but without the burn of the fumes it was much more tolerable, making for the possibility of provoking a match with a new opponent. Her trunk flailed around, twisting around tusks and slapping any loose dirt and rock up from the ground. Threatening trumpets bellowed out through her smile, with a little head toss to accent her pretentious nature. "You look like you want to rumble," she cooed, "I'm here to oblige." "Speech" Thoughts OOC: ooc Tag: @Hestia | @Nemesis | @Louie

Angry words lashed out through the air, demands about someone's location being met with no remark. Penelope tried to melt into the ground, but to no avail. Her head rang with his voice, again. ...take Othello and get out of here... Who was Othello? She didn't have time to ask before the thunder of feet stampeded toward Louie - an Penelope - causing the tapir to scramble to her feet and dash away from whatever was coming. The familiar sound of the fox vomiting made her a bit nauseous, but the feeling that lingered in her gut wasn't why she stopped.

"Louie, I can't leave you," she shot back to his head. She followed the thread that bound them to find where he was, a hard swallow signifying a rather risky decision being made. Penelope trotted back to Louie and - doing her best to not step on him - stood over him. Trunk worked hard to find the one who'd tried to mow them all down, eyes straining for the impossible. Why was she defending this sack of hopeless shit? He was cruel, but not heartless, she saw it herself. So here she was, trying to be who she knew she was meant to be. Tapir flesh shielded the smaller mammal, ears pinned back mostly from fear rather than vengeance.

---

"Speech"
Thoughts.
Louie's Bullshit.
@Louie | @Nemesis

"Not entirely sure who your audience is?"

The fox breathed, panic in his eyes but his voice even. There were certain things even he, perhaps, wanted to protect. Once, she had held respect for this man, but as he chose not to speak but fight back, she knew it was over. This was the last time she would be at home in these halls. She would have to mourn the loss of her home later; she knew all too well that if Louie survived this encounter, she would not be welcome here ever again.

Nemesis felt blood and heat roll down, off, and around her skin. Louie's response to her outburst was disappointing at best, puking up a hairball that splattered all over her. It sloshed over her legs and her flames died down, dampened by the mess. If there was an illness in the sick, she had no clue. Frankly, she didn't care-- Magdalena had spent cycles poking her sickness at the trinoceros' skin, and she had never been sick. In a week, perhaps she would fall to the illness, but now?

Now, she was going to tear Louie apart.

At least, she was going to, if the gentle, giant child that seemed so much like someone that Nemesis should have protected, hadn't stepped in the way, bringing her weight over Louie to defend him, speaking a soft promise to the sick man. It made the flames in her heart roar, but she refused to hurt the child. The tapir was little more than a houseguest who had accidentally fallen for the wrong man's story.

"You think you're the first he's played this game with? He'll chew you up and spit you back out, girl," Nemesis snarled through her teeth, only barely picking up on the conversation happening behind her back. Hestia and Gadanai. That was reason enough to make this quick. "Get out of the way. He may have your heart, but you're stronger than this. You don't need him." She didn't really know the words to soothe or fix what Louie had done to the tapir. That magic was miles beyond what Nemesis was capable of.

It really only stood to make her more furious.

"Don't hide behind your PETS, Louie! Fight me, you pathetic worm!" Nemesis would not hurt Penelope. She would not strike down the innocent; and she had known Booker. He was a fool and a coward all the same, but he had been innocent. The mother of fire knew that this one was innocent too. Louie was the real monster here, and Nemesis would not be responsible for the death of one of her kind, not here, not now.

{ FIGHT STATISTICS }
NEMESIS V. LOUIE
II OF III

{ ATTEMPT }

~ gain control of the situation (taking on the illness, not backing down)

{ DEFENSES }

~ horns low, guarding her neck, tail sweeping to protect her hindquarters

{ INJURIES }

~ prior injuries;;

• nothing major

~ current injuries;;

• minor burns from smolderstep
  infected by louie's parasite
  

@Louie

It was completely unnoticeable at first, but as she stood there, she came to realize she was trembling. Fear or adrenaline? Frankly she wasn't entirely sure, herself. This was a situation she'd never been in before. Penelope couldn't have ever even imagined defending Louie before this very moment, yet there she was. Being accused of being weak again, then slapped back into being "stronger than this." Her blank eyes stared into Nemesis.

"He needs me."

Of course she didn't need him. He was hardly there for her as it was. She survived only because she couldn't let go and... and because he verbally abused her into spiting him by staying alive. Except it didn't really work that way, but whatever excuse she needed, right? Penelope snorted at Nemesis and lowered her head a little, shielding the mongrel fox further. Then- then the beast called her a pet.

"I'm perfectly capable of thinking for myself. Call me a pet again, I dare you," she said with a... darkness... that fortunately wasn't truly her own. It was merely a mix of her disdain for her existence coupled with that damned connection to the mutt who had heaved up his signature spew moments ago.

---

"Speech"
"Telepathy"
Thoughts.
Louie's Bullshit.
@Nemesis | @Louie