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But the Orthoclase did not come bounding forward, fear of licks forgotten in favor of play like Kerberos had expected. Instead, the hellhound watched as the big, lumbering beast growled and stood so very still, completely on edge. A jolt of something came out of it, and then bounded back toward it-- magic, obviously, backfiring.

Kerberos yelped as the pop rang through the air, bouncing toward Alpha with ears pricked forward in full alert, as electricity crawled over Alpha's quills and the smell of burning hit his nose. No, Kerberos didn't mean for the fellow beast to get hurt-- he didn't want them to hurt. There had to be something he could do--

Unfortunately, he didn't know any healing magic, he really only knew how to-- well. Make stuff explode and implode and become plasma and radiation, and also eat stuff and bark kinda loud. He could maybe make things warm (that was his go to with smaller creatures) but Alpha would probably think he was trying to set the big fella on fire or something.

Kerberos slid to a halt, kicking up a few ribs by accident, just in front of Alpha. He lowered his heads to sniff at the big guy cautiously, a low three-pitched whine coming from his throats.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft woof with each of his voices, squishing himself down to the ground to be as nonthreatening as possible.


Round: 4/?
Attempt: help friend
Defense: oops he forgot
Injuries: a lil' poked up
@Orthoclase-Alpha

Kerberos came closer in that moment of weakness, and the Orthoclase twisted reflexively, ignoring the searing pain lancing through its neck to hiss. Neon saliva sputtered from its jaws as it did. Hobbling forwards and planting its lifted claws back onto the ground, it growled again. Puffing up, covering up.

It shied away from three sniffing noses and gave off yet another animalistic noise, more verging into the cub-screeches of its youth. A clear get the fuck away from me gesture.

Even then, its breath was hitching, throat swelling, saliva pouring out of its mouth from the nauseating amounts of pain roiling through the rest of its body. Alpha just tilted its head to stare down at him, eyes glazed, and grunted, "we're done." Short, sweet, not admitting blame for its own injury or showing that it was that bad - even as the aftershocks of such a disastrous failure were making its limbs weak.

Round: 4/?
Attempt: wellness check
Defense: nah
Injuries: lightly squished, sick lightning wound around the stone

@Kerberos

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Kerberos stood stock still, heads low and ever whimpering with worry. There wasn't much he could do to help-- not if the titan retreated, hissing like a cornered animal and demanding the game end.

Everything had gone wrong. He wanted so badly to go back in time and retract his playful licks, to keep it strictly rough and tumble play. What he had done had startled it so badly, it had hurt itself trying to defend from the cerberus.

"Hang on--" He whined, but even as the words left his throats, something clicked into place. It was a familiar feeling; a red string tied like a noose around the two behemoth's hearts. Unlike the connection Kerberos knew-- one that brought two souls so close they could feel each other's emotions and hear each other's hearts, this one brought only one thing: searing pain.

Kerberos's gem burned, and the three-headed dog yelped, rearing back and raising their paw as electricity scrawled up his leg with a sharp crackle. Flesh and fur burned up from around his gemstone, which felt like it might simply shatter with the pressure. The energy spread through his chest, and finally faded as the agony evened out between the two.

... Not that the hellhound knew he had taken some of the pain from the Orthoclase. He stumbled, slipping on a large, individual piece of vertebrae as his paws landed again. He landed on his uninjured leg awkwardly, heads and tail thrashing for balance. He sputtered, the most upright head craning toward Alpha.

"What-- are you okay?" He pressed urgently, claws digging for purchase among the mess of their disaster of a wrestle zone.



Round: 5/?
Attempt: before you go lemme help bls
Defense: oops he forgot
Injuries: a lil' poked up
@Orthoclase-Alpha

"Hang on -" and along came a little... feeling. Like something was being lifted from it, but more clawing out the searing-hot pain of its own magicka recursively buzzing through its gemstone. It left a phantom sensation, just an empty, mind-boggling numbness. All of Alpha's hissing and spitting stopped for a moment, jaw hanging just slack as it lifted its claws, pressing them against the Lichtenberg marks weaving from each quill base. Nothing but a faint rawness, like a wound freshly scarred over. It's intense tolerance for pain had taken the brunt of it all, but still.

The scent of ozone amplified as the orthoclase finally looked at the dog, watching him as he stumbled in place, a fresh set of marks up his leg and chest; the same. Alpha didn't connect the dots, merely reaching for its own push of magicka - one last something to put that scar to rest and act like it wasn't there, which didn't come to fruition (as expected) - and growling in lieu of answering Kerberos, "what did you do?"

Always with the accusations.

Some strange feeling niggled at the back of its mind, urging it to at least see some similarities between their marks. It couldn't see the flow of electricity and magic amidst its quills, but it knew that stench, burning air between them. Alpha shoved that sensation aside, huffing, and growled, "I'm fine. I didn't cast anything to fix that." It's prior response had been too quickly defensive, vulnerable, the like. That's all.

Round: 5/5
Attempt: let's forget that happened
Defense: nah
Injuries: ... :(

@Kerberos

Character: Orthoclase-Alpha Age: +4 (4 Cycles) Magic Level: +5 (Champion) ROUND 1 Attempt: +13 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +5 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +11 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +1 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +2 Penalties: - ROUND 6 Attempt: +4 Penalties: - Total: 45

Character: Kerberos Age: +59 (59 Cycles) Magic Level: +5 (Master) ROUND 1 Attempt: +11 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +9 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +7 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +4 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +20 Penalties: - Total: 115

WINNER: Kerberos

Two GM notes: 1. be sure to count your rounds carefully!! Orthoclase-Alpha has two Round 3s, which in this case, thankfully... doesn't... matter so much *cough.* Second, if you'd like to do rounds and claim a fight please ensure the rolls and rounds are actually part of the fight, and attacks/defenses rather than other interaction. This fight was realistically "ended" at round 3 and in this case should not be padded out for claims--for future battles!

@Orthoclase-Alpha @Kerberos

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"What did you do?" What did he do? Kerberos's ears laid back, its brains thinking through the pain burning around its gem. "I just wanted to help... to heal... I... Did I do that?" Slowly, it clicked into place.

Was it like the sensory link it had used with the kitten? Would they share all of their pain, forever? The thought made Kerberos's chest tighten.

"Wait!" One head barked, "... Hit me with something." His other two heads gave the far head a bizzare look, as though the thought was still creeping through into the others' heads. "Not too hard," grimmaced the opposite.

Did he really want to see if it would hurt them both? What if Orthoclase-Alpha struck too hard, and then got upset when it was hurt back? Quickly, the center head let loose a whine. "I want to make sure it's not-- permanent. I wanted to heal you, but it hurt me-- hurt me too," he explained, hoping that the kaiju would understand as he lowered himself to the ground and eased himself on to his side, showing part of his underbelly in a submissive gesture that would hopefully ease the beast's worries.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

"Did I do that?"

Claws sought to clutch at its chest again, around the faint soreness of its gemstone and what lay around it. Alpha considered for a second, and planted its foot back on the ground - and rather than say that simple three-lettered word, it deflected with a clipped "why?" No action was without its ulterior motives.

Kerberos went on, something about - permanence. Constantly exchanging pain, suffering. The poetic beauty of that was lost on it, and it stared blankly, as if not parsing anything quite yet. A few seconds of delay and - ah, there. A suspicious glance, but more directed towards that crackpot-sounding theory. The massive cerberus went belly-up, completely vulnerable.

Were they still fighting, that would be a clear opportunity to leap in.

The orthoclase stared for a few moments longer, keeping its distance; then, it reached for a bone. Balancing on five legs, it wheeled the improvised weapon up and threw it at Kerberos surprisingly gently. Not with the force of a thousand bulls, at least. Still, it was a bone, and it'd hurt at least a bit if it landed anywhere on that soft bear-tummy.

Miss.

@Kerberos

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Kerberos watched-- sideways-- as Orthoclase-Alpha grabbed a bone and gently hefted it through the air. For some reason, watching the arc of the bone made the big lug want to grab it in his teeth and see if he could see what it had to say; he usually left that to Giggle... But as it was flying, it struck him all the same.

... Well, actually, it didn't strike him at all. It hit a puddle of dust near by and sent up a small cloud with a quiet puff. A couple of the dog's huge tongues lolled out of his jaws, and his tail gave a gentle thump. It was nice that Alpha still didn't want to hurt him.

"Hang on," he woofed. "Better idea." He propped himself up on one good forelimb, and squinted all five of his eyes closed as he wiggled his paw. "No hurt," he explained in a short, and patient fashion.

The ache in his paw seemed the fade, and he peaked one (his central) eye open. "... do you feel any better?" He asked in a hopeful fashion, craning his head toward the big fella. His left-most head sniffed at the nearby bone, distracted, and reached a paw over to scoop it closer, and began to gnaw on it.

Ah, at least the other heads were paying attention, still. "If it's permanent, you should've felt something too-- if not, then it's not! If it is, we... I can undo it!"

@Orthoclase-Alpha

It hadn't intentionally missed - if it'd been a more forceful throw, like a massive rock hurled at a dragon like it was a damn Frisbee, it surely would've hit its target. But, alas, out came those tongues again - why? Alpha slunk forwards a little, sniffing, four eyes fixing on the big lug while he was still lying on his back. With all the caution in the world, an equally big and slobbery tongue lolled out the front of its mouth. A quick glance at Kerberos - and the tongue was placed out the side of its mouth. Imitation, maybe - to see what all the hubbub was about with such a silly gesture.

Nothing. The orthoclase's tongue slipped back into its mouth, and it closed tight.

"Do you feel any better?"

It glanced back over, asking rather plainly, "you did something?" A pause. Then, it pressed again, "why?"

@Kerberos

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From Kerberos's position, he watched with his singular eye as Orthoclase-Alpha blepped.

This was a blessed occasion. His ears pricked forward, his tail beginning to sweep more excitedly back and forth, knocking some brittle bones about with the carelessness of it.

The six-legged tank asked the three-headed beastie a question, otherwise keeping its jaw clenched and refusing to let the tongue slip again. The dog tilted his upright head, and woofed back, "I used magic," he prefaced, "on myself! To heal. If we were connected, you should have felt it heal you, too."

It didn't seem like that was the case, which was for the best. It would've been quite bad for them to share each other's pain all the time... Especially since they barely knew one another. Kerberos was glad to make the other gembound feel better, but there was such a thing as going too far.

The other head that wasn't gnawing on a bone yawned, and then he stretched out his paw. "Hey," he barked, "if you ever want to play again, we can! If you wanna wrestle and stuff. No licking or magic, promise..! Unless," "Unless..." The middle head interrupted, causing the right head to run a slobbery tongue up the muzzle of the center head, which was trying to exclaim without buckling over in (incredibly doggish) hyena laughter, "You want kisses!"

The left head, separate from other's antics, continued to gnaw on his bone. However, he made the side comment of, "you ever catch a tunnel runner?" Maybe that'd be a good common ground. Kerberos certainly wouldn't mind sharing a catch or two with Alpha, and what better to bond over than a tasty deer? (Normally, he'd suggest rats, but between him and the other big fella, that wasn't going to be a meal to share as much as a kitkat snack.)

@Orthoclase-Alpha