The pup beamed up at Aspen, wagging his tail excitedly and wriggling. "That's good! Very very good! It would suck to eat friends because then you have one less friend and not having friends is not fun!" he nodded.

And then he froze. His brow furrowed. His nose wrinkled. His eyes widened. His gem began to glow. And he sneezed.

When he sneezed, violently, his Magic lashed out, launching a dispel straight in front of him. Dirt and rocks and plants were flung away and, if Aspen wasn't fast enough he, too, would be flung away.

@Aspen

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Aspen nodded his head. "Yes, that would be-" He froze suddenly, staring at Max. He was no expert on yellow furry not-prey creatures, but he was sure that expression couldn't be normal. And what was with the glow? He tilted his head curiously, trying to figure it all out, before -

Things seemed to happen in slow motion, but Aspen didn't recognize it as slow because even a slow-motion dispel was very fast in his eyes. Dirt and tiny rocks and pieces of moss rose off the ground and flew at him. Aspen reached out a paw as if to stop it before abruptly stopping that plan and attempting to jump into the air and out of the way instead. But by then, it was too late and the blast hit him full on, flinging him away and getting pieces of debris everywhere. Including, it felt like, his eyes.

For a long while, Aspen simply lay there, blinking in utter shock and also from the rather painful sensation in his eyes. "What.... was that?" he managed at last, not even sure whether to be mad or not. It felt like he should, given that Max had just sent an explosion in his direction, but he was just so confused.

@Max