He was quick to whirl around and face the hyena, back on the defensive and playing a game of chicken. When asked why he jumped over Giggle, Eythan paused for a moment, thinking. It was... somewhat difficult to describe why one did things. "I weigh basically nothing and getting slammed would've sent me across the fuckin' floor. You already did that to me once while we were, uh, throwing down in Polaris." Yeah, that had ended well.

Despite the obvious wariness the hyena had toward his next act, Eythan began to edge closer, sulking side to side. Suddenly as Giggle had, he charged, but with his head low.

At the last moment, he would drop and hopefully slide his head somewhat beneath the hyena's chest.

"Well, consider flying further away instead of over. Or maybe into. I don't know how well it works to fly into someone!"

When Eythan dove for her, aiming to dive beneath her chest, she was a bit taken by surprise. Not that he was leaping--though he certainly seemed abruptly bold--but because he was going... low. He was light. How would this work? He'd go under her, and be trapped!

With a mental shrug--all of these thoughts in rapid-fire, split-second instinct form--she dove down as he came, jaws opening, aiming for his ear. If she could grab it, she'd give it a good tug--and hang onto it, too, unless he seemed about to hurt himself in the struggle. If she missed--and he was certainly a quick thing--oh well; he'd be... underneath her?

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

"Oh, I'll think about that next time," he said quickly from beneath Giggle. He grimaced slightly as his ear was tugged. Then, rather snarkily, Eythan crowed. "I gave you that one." Shaking his head a little to get his ear free, the hybrid braced himself, shuffling a little further ahead.

As soon as he felt he was in as good of a spot as possible, the gryphon dropped low for a slight second. Then, with the swell of his wings and a powerful push from his front legs, he drove himself upward with the intent to push Giggle upward (with the top of his head and shoulders) and possibly knock her over.

But, he slipped rather disappointingly. "Fuck."

Giggle - 1
Eythan - 0

Giggle barked short laughter--not good-natured, either--at Eythan's protest. It was just amusement, abrupt and real.

"This is what I mean by someone using their weight against you!" she warned him. He had tiny bird bones, or something--she'd expected him, by his frame, to weigh as much as her. He seemed to weigh at least a little less, but it was noticeable enough.

With a sort of mental smirk, she dropped her weight, shifting her jaws to try and get a grip anywhere on the hybrid. Her intention was just to sort of flop on him, using her teeth to ensure she wouldn't merely fall off. It wasn't a particularly nasty bite, not aiming to pierce--just to hold on, since, well, she had no cat- or bird-talons to grip with.

Let him struggle, with her weight on him--let him fight and wear himself out, panting, and learn his lesson about unnecessary exertion, while she just mostly laid there. If she managed, that was.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

Hearing Giggle laugh genuinely sparked a primal fear response in Eythan, sending him into a mad scramble to get out from under the hyena before it was too late--- "oof!" Teeth lightly gripped onto the base of his wing as a weight fell upon him. Instinctively, he thrashed uselessly for a few moments, twisting and turning beneath her. Of course, each motion was very minute because of his goddamn hollow bones.

He stopped for a moment, considering his actions and glancing side to side. With rather eager eyes, he tried to focus in on his magic, honing it. With the flap of his currently ungripped wing, he conjured up some magically enhanced wind, sending it Giggle's way (and perhaps his own --- any kind of boost would be nice in this situation.)

Giggle was thrown clear by the sudden brisk shove of wind, and rolled across the stone in surprise. As she scrambled haphazardly back to her feet, she was quick to relocate Eythan with her eyes--her body tensed in case he was already leaping for her, her head held low.

Some part of her recognized it--Azazel's magic-- and responded with emotion--but she had no time to stop and consider, to put a name to the feeling. Instead she pushed it aside, focusing on the fight, grinning somewhat savagely at Eythan.

"Oh, so we're using magic, are we?" she said, her voice somewhere between a growl and a chittering laugh.

She gathered her magicka quickly, a rush of power that she focused and channeled and sent toward Eythan all in one pull, along with a bursting cloud of spores. She knew precisely which ones these were; they were the ones that fogged your mind, that bled reality and dreams together, that made it impossible to see or think with any accuracy. She remembered eating one, once--seeing colors bleeding through the world, impossible shapes looming through milky shadows, and half-forgotten memories come back to life.

She'd see how Eythan liked it, assuming he wasn't agile enough to avoid the spores.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

Eythan smirked with a giddy sort of glee as the old hyena was thrown off of him. Newly freed, he rolled to his own feet and stayed back to keep an eye on what Giggle was doing. Which was, currently, grinning and laughing ominously. Uh oh. "Oh, come on! I couldn't let you just fuckin' sit on me!" A cloud of spores rolled his way, and he began to back up, already sparking his magicka and trying to focus on it. He rose up on his hind legs, wings flapping toward the cloud of whatever-the-fuck.

As luck would have it, his stone listened to him for once and the winds shifted toward the cloud of spores, pushing it toward Giggle. He wasn't particularly focusing on dispersing it or sending it directly toward the bonecaster, only away. As soon as he was done, he fell back onto all fours, taking a sideways stance and leveling his head with his spine again.

Giggle heard the gust of wind before she saw it, sensed the magic curling back in on her, and near-panicked. She'd never experienced the like of this, and the brief moment of "oh shit" left her little time to react, other than an instinct-fuelled scramble to leap out of the way.

She managed, only barely--she sensed them brush past one side, and held her breath as she scurried a few steps sideways.

The old hyena was, despite herself, impressed.

"GOOD!" she crowed. "Excellent thinking on your feet!" Or--would that be wings?

It hardly mattered; she was on the defensive now, head held low as she backed a few more paces from the quickly-dissipating spore cloud, awaiting Eythan's next move.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan

Eythan, despite his attempts to keep on a hard-ass exterior, preened at the praise. Oh, compliments! The hybrid honestly had no clue how to take them, pausing for a moment and glancing to the side bashfully like a fucking kindergartner. Absolutely incredible. "I try," he said, softly. "No more magic? I don't think it'd be smart to play fuckin' Hot Potato with a cloud of fuckin' whatever."

Hoping that the hyena agreed, he paced side to side again, tail kept furthest from Giggle. If he was a dumbass, he would've tried the whole flipping strategy again, but the hyena had proven to be just heavy enough that she wouldn't budge. Great. So, how about that flying into someone strategy. Or... perhaps... onto someone.

Within a few wingbeats, he was already in the air, barreling toward Giggle. At the last moment, he would adjust so that he would breeze past the hyena. With the quick twist of his body and tail, he spun in the air and arced back toward her with all of the intent to slam his shoulder into her from above and a little behind. His angle was a little lopsided as to not break her back or anything.

@Giggle

The hyena agreed to Eythan's terms readily, though there was disappointment in her chest. She'd somehow looked forward to covering herself with Inky Cap and letting Eythan try his best to bite her then.

"No more magic, then." When he came at her, a feathered arrow, she barely had time to dodge; a scramble out of the way and he whipped past in a rather impressive blast of wings. She spun, hardly agile on her own accord but enough so to try a brief snap at his tail as it lashed by.

Her black muzzle wrinkled up and her jaws clacked down, and then she sprang back, bristling and ready for another clash. "Keep coming and don't let up! Or rest and let me wear myself out!"

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Eythan