She was flying at him, flying at him and he was gathering his magic, his strategy already clear in his mind. He saw her leap over him, he felt her descending, felt her talons grip a dubious grasp in his fur. He turned his head slightly so that he could see her--but otherwise he remained unmoving.

Still.

He aimed to settle his magicka around her--moreso now that she was so conveniently close and settled--and tear her up, away, and throw her--and not just throw her, but slam her down, down on the ground, closer to the river.

He made no motion as he did this; he made no sound, and his gems did not glimmer. He merely stood still and silent, focusing, as his magic worked as a giant, violent hand.

Round: 4/
Attempt: Grab Blackberry and throw her down
Defense: None
Injuries: None

@Blackberry

Blackberry thought she had him for a moment, but then something strange gripped her, a force that she had not anticipated wrapped itself around her body. She tried to hold onto the deer's pelt, but it was no use as she was wrenched away and slammed into the rocks. With a groan, she rolled over, her head spinning.

Anger boiled in her stomach. How DARE that thing use magic like that on her! How DARE it defy her and think it could defeat her! And HOW DARE it stand there so calm and dignified!

She stood up, her red eyes glaring at the white deer, disappointed at the lack of red covering its body. But still, she had time. Perhaps...a cruel joke. She had felt the pain in his friend's leg, perhaps she could let him feel it for himself.

She launched herself forward, her cruel beak aiming straight for his right leg, intending on clamping down as hard as she could, her sharp, long fangs to sink into the thin skin and muscle.

Round: 5
Attempt: bite down on his leg, hard
Defense: natural defenses
Injuries: bruised

@Pride

He felt the tear of talons scratching over his back as the goose was flung free, and of course immediately began focusing on gathering his magicka again.

Again, and for something more powerful.

But once more the goose closed the distance before he could finish it, her strangely-barbed bill clamping around his leg. He felt blood drawing, and snorted loudly in pain, though it was nothing compared to what he'd felt through the link with Aster.

Irritated, he flung his magic forth in a shockwave, aiming to strike Blackberry dead on in her bizarre chest--and again throw her tumbling over the stone. Instead, he struck his own leg, and now it DID hurt almost as much as it had then, a thud knocking him flat on his chest with a bleat of angered, startled pain.

He had not, exactly, succeeded in dislodging the goose.

Round: 5/
Attempt: Throw Blackberry again, more violently.
Defense: None
Injuries: Scratches & bite

@Blackberry

Blackberry felt the taste of the blood stir something in her stomach, but she held it back for now. She was going to try something new where she didn't try to kill everyone she met. But still, she could not help but enjoy the tangy, metallic taste of Pride's blood. It was clean and clear, a little sweet as well. Delicious.

But then she felt the stirrings of magic and let go of it immediately, only to watch as he crippled himself with his own spell. She let out a honk of laughter as she readied her next attack. She lunged forward with her hooked beak, slashing down to stab it directly into the soft skin above his collarbone.

Round: 6
Attempt: stab into his collar
Defense: natural defenses
Injuries: bruised

@Pride

The pain wrenched higher as the bird's spiked beak drove into his flesh, and anger rippled through him further. He was desperate to be free of her, to fling her and crush her bones, to bleed her and tear her feathers from her body, to get rid of her so that she was no longer biting him. To silence her madness.

He bleated, squeezing his eyes shut and thrashing against the pain, blindly.

He feared trying to throw her away, again, biting him as she was. He summoned his magic, as powerfully as he could, willing it to do something--anything--to destroy this bird and get her off him.

Pride felt it lash out, felt the heat bloom as the ground just before him was abruptly flash-vaporized into burning plasma. His eyes sprang wide in surprise, flicking over the vanished stone, the pool of roiling heat and flaring white fire in its place. Had he done that?!

He just hoped it'd take the goose with it--or harm her enough to drive her off. Or, at the very least, to force her away long enough for him to create further magic.

Round: 6/
Attempt: Supernova on the ground beneath Blackberry
Defense: Summarize your character's defenses.
Injuries: Scratched/bitten/ow/wounded leg

@Blackberry

More blood rolled into her mouth and, for a moment, Blackberry thought she was going to be taken by her bloodlust, that she would go crazy on the taste of the young deer's blood. But she just barely managed to regain control. She steadied herself and tore her beak out of his skin just as she felt magic dancing at her feet.

It was instinct. She knew something was coming. Besides, getting back above Pride felt like something that would give her an advantage, right? He would be open to her up there. So she leaped off the ground again and flapped her wings as strongly as possible to get her airborne. And just in time as the ground beneath her suddenly erupted into bright, hot...something. She had no idea what it was, but she knew, at least, that she would rather be up here then down there.

Round: 7
Attempt: UP UP UP
Defense: natural defenses
Injuries: bruised

@Pride

He hadn't ever known true rage before, but he knew it now. It blazed in him, white-hot as the fire before him. As the bird lifted off, he snapped his gaze up to follow her, staring up past the scent of his own blood and the ringing of his racing pulse in his ears.

Again he lunged his magicka up after her, chasing, savage, as he'd done a dozen times with the rats while hunting. He aimed to lash it around her, another invisible hand, a crushing grip that would drag her back down at full speed as if she had fallen from the sky--to slam her down into the rock below.

He didn't aim for anything in particular--neither the river, nor the white-hot fire that still blazed a pace before his face. Instead he just threw, blind with violence, enraged, and hoped that it would crush every bone in the wretched bully's body.

Round: 7/
Attempt: Telekinesis Blackberry back down into the ground with force
Defense: Summarize your character's defenses.
Injuries: Scratched/bitten/ow/wounded leg/a little bit beakstabbed

@Blackberry

Blackberry knew that she couldn't evade the magic. His eyes followed her as she flew above his body. Very soon he'd be sending another attack her way. And she wasn't wrong. The energy gripped her again and she flared her wings and did her best to fight the magic that was pulling her back to the ground. But it was futile - Pride's magic was too strong. She didn't cry out, she didn't scream as the magic smashed her into the rocks, cracking a few of the claws on her stomach and breaking a rib or two. It hurt, yes, it hurt, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction to knowing that he hurt her.

Instead, she let out a hoarse chuckle, stopping herself from attacking further. Now that the white...stuff was in the way, she didn't want to risk him throwing her into it. Besides, he had scratches and wound covering his body. That was good enough for her.

"Are you angry?" she hissed, gleefully. "You hate me now, don't you, snowball? Do you want to kill me? Tear me apart? Make me suffer?"

@Pride

Pride stared, stared through the flickering white flames, stared over the singing screams of his own pain. He stared at the one who had caused it, and at her madness, and for a long moment he considered if he should kill her. Was she tormenting others..? He doubted (little did he know) that she could truly kill very many creatures with her size, build and apparent lack of magic, even with her... sharp and pointy bits, but did she go around torturing rats and mice, where she could?

He could kill her. He could kill her right now; but... he did not think that he should. Morality was such a terribly fickle thing. No, he would tell her to flee, and if she did not, then he would kill her. He would give her a chance, a chance to leave this and run, without retribution--yet--for the damage she had caused him.

He bit back the white-hot rage as best he could, tamping it down, and spoke hard-bitten past tensed jaw, unblinking, his voice cold and even.

"Run."

@Blackberry

Satisfaction poured through Blackberry's body, every drop of sound that came from Pride's mouth was a victory in of itself. Anger and pain and hatred...these were the things she lived for. She sighed and raised her head proudly, despite the sharp pain in her chest. Without a word, she turned to the side to where she had dropped a shredded piece of Pride's fur and picked it up with her beak, carefully. She opened one claw and gently set the fur against her belly where the growth closed on it and pressed it against her feathers. A trophy, to add to her necklace later.

She looked back at pride and honked out another laugh. "Run? No, I shall not. Why would I run? But I do have things to do now that I've had some fun. Thank you for the entertainment. I needed a good way to spend the time waiting for my family."

Without warning, she opened her wings and leaped into the air, furiously flapping to get to the other side of Pride as quickly as possible. Once she was there, she set herself down and looked back, throwing back one last mocking laugh before setting off at a leisurely stroll back towards her tunnel, hoping that, at the very least, Huckleberry would let her back in. Or maybe Blueberry had finally returned.

*exit

@Pride