Well of course Aran was a magic user. The most unreliable thing specialty. She had ditched practicing magic a long time ago and had not once regretted it. But it was true magic could do things that nothing else could replicate. Such as when he had healed her somehow, partially of course, but it definitely helped. Arquia was prepared to defend herself from another attack before the Deinocornus just. Collapsed. "That- that works." she was going to say something else, but was too tired to think. Her attention was still focused on the dinosaur, which wasn't quite dead.
She needed to end its suffering quickly, though she thought this all would've worked out much better for the thing if it let her one shot it earlier from the tree. Unfortunate. The neck was too thick to break, which was her generally preferred method for a painless death, so she instead slit its throat with a talon. Arquia looked away, not wanting to confront what she had just done. Her emotions that she had oppressed for so long started to bubble up. Not that of fear, or caution. No, she knew those emotions all too well.
She felt pain. The kind of pain that came from no physical wound. The kind that made her throat close up and want to curl up and do nothing. Arquia forced herself to take a few deep breaths, collecting her emotions and shoving them back down. Turn to face Aran. "Good job."

@Aran

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

death

The half-conscious creature lurched, limbs stiff as instinct propelled it, with the last of its strength--aware now that it was gravely wounded, that it could not escape this fate--backward. It tipped back, sheets of blood splattering loudly to the ground, the metallic odor rising sickeningly sweet in the air.

It slumped, sprawled half on its side, the torn leaves and dirt caked to its hide. It spasmed and kicked, a gurgling choke escaping it--and then it slid into motionless silence.

Seconds ticked past, and a dragonfly landed on it, buzzing, before taking off again, intent on some other goal.

gore

He watches the creature collapse. There's a disgusting mix of blood and snot going down its face. The poor thing looks like its on its last legs - not that he's complaining. Would the lesser have hunted them if they didn't start the hunt first? It looked too relaxed before... Too late to worry about it now. Should they have wandered until one started a fight first? Oh well... (He's going to face much mental distress later from this.)

It hits the floor, laying there - just waiting for death. Aran has no way to give it a swift end, all of his spells finely tuned to make sickness, slow and painful. The exact thing this lesser is going through. He does have the toothy one... But surely his jaws would not be strong enough to do that kind of damage - he also does not know where to deal said damage, but still.

Arquia was still close to getting her skull crunched. He needs something to better protect others... Doesn't seem like he's very built for that. What kind of gembound was he before? It isn't looking too good. Should he be leaning into this behavior?

Her words shock him out of it.

"You too." he hums. It feels like Aran did most of the work here, but he should at least be appreciative that Arquia was there to be a target long enough for the sicknesses to take effect. Not that he'd say it out loud.

When Arquia kills it, Aran cannot find himself to feel sorry anymore. At least it's dead. Maybe it would have hunted a gembound in the future, maybe not. Something feels wrong in his head here. It feels wrong to feel the way he does about this. Why is he so nonchalant when he feels the way he does about everything else?

He looks to the dragon.

"What's your name, anyway?" Little weird to leave your life to someone you've just met, but Arquia was in more danger here.

He'll let her talk, and then attempt to get that stone out of the creature's shoulder. It's a beautiful red-orange color, he'll figure out what to do with it later.

He feels the teeth form where his front ones would have been, if deer had them. Aran moves forward to slowly, and carefully dig his way into the flesh of the creature just enough to grab the stone from it's flesh. He's a little red in the face now. Aran places it in a bush to collect later.

@Arquia

She glances one last time but quickly regrets it. Shame washes over her, and she has to force her face to remain neutral. Arquia knew what it felt like to be hunted, to be weak. It was why she had trained so hard, so that she would never be the prey again. She was the predator. And though the dinosaur was probably not used to being the one on the run, that was no excuse to pity it. She was stronger, and she had won. It was simply how nature worked. The weaker do not survive. But why did she feel so ashamed?

Perhaps it could have lived a long and full life if they had not ended it. It could have had children, watched its young grow old, and countless other things that made life worth living. And they had taken that away. Arquia tried to snap out of it. It was a lesser! She shouldn't feel bad about hunting it. It was the same as hunting a mouse or rabbit. What she did every day. But something, something felt different about this. She wasn't sure what. But when she looked at Aran, he also seemed to be deep in thought.

"Thanks." she tries her best to avoid looking at the deceased creature. "Arquia. But you may call me what you want. It does not matter." And the deer had earned that much, hadn't he? They were like comrades. There was something about working together on such a challenge that brought gembounds closer. Shared experience. Shared happiness- no. Shared struggle. Shared pain. She had felt no happiness from this. Only relief. Did the Deinocornus feel relief when it died? Glad that it was all over? "And you?" Arquia wasn't sure what his name would be, but if she ever forgot she could always call him 'deer'. It was short and to the point anyways.

She does not watch Aran tear out the gemstone, looking away from the corpse until he was finished. "What shall we do now?" Arquia wasn't sure if he wanted to go find another dinosaur and hopefully kill it quickly or if they should do something else. It was up to him.

@Aran

With that done, Aran decides he won't worry about how the creature felt. It's too late now to feel as much pity as he wants to, when he's the one who had the idea to take the stone from the Deinocornus. Of course it would mean killing it. He doesn't even know if taking only a piece of it would keep the thing alive. It works for gembound, but he's not seen any lessers reproduce - and does not plan on watching that anytime soon. Do they even have magic? Curious.

He hums with a nod in Arquia's direction when she mentions her name. He will remember it, just in case they meet again.

"I'm Aran." The blood and scabbed wounds on his neck are annoying him - but he'll clean up later.

He shrugs at the question. He did come in to explore... So why not take a walk and get away from this bloodbath for a little while until they're ready to leave. Arquia could always go now if she wanted too.

"We can keep exploring if you want, you don't have to come with me though."

@Arquia

"Aran." The name is fitting for the deer, and is slightly similar to her own. Interesting. She wasn't sure if she could stomach killing another dinosaur after this, but the thought of exploring a bit more was something she wanted to do. Not that she liked exploring itself. Arquia just felt that if she let Aran go off exploring on his own he was going to get himself killed or something. His magic was too slow to save himself from an ambush, and hell, he even looked like prey. She killed and ate deer lessers all the time. Yeah, it would not be a good idea to leave him alone. "I shall come." Arquia stood up, as if indicating she was ready to let him lead the way once more.

the dice god has spoken and it has said TRAGEDY in allcaps

There was a sudden rustle in the underbrush behind them--and a strange sound. It was a vocalization, unlike any the pair would have ever heard: the sound of a deep voice making a higher-pitched questioning, alarmed sort of sound.

It sounded, in fact, like what something the size of a large bull might sound like if making a catlike 'Mrrrrp?' sound.

The rustling grew rapidly closer, and--whether they chose to move away or not--a moment later a Deinocornus head (smaller, its horn more stunted) encroached past parting leaves into the clearing. There it froze, head lifting, nostrils flaring--following the scent of the first... and of blood.

A beautiful aqua blue Grandidierite gemstone sat in a cluster behind its horn, nearly matching the pale blue of its eyes.

@Aran

Regardless of why Arquia decided to come with, Aran supposes he will enjoy the company while he can have it. The two of them are unlikely to meet again in the future, with the amount of gembound always lingering in the caves. Oh well, he doesn't particularly care about who he runs into and when, as long as no one is getting murdered.

Before he can begin moving, there's rustling in the bushes - a head pokes out. The bird's eyes let him watch as a smaller Deinocornus begins its descent into their space. He's glued to the spot, what will it do? Did it follow the scent of the other one? His head briefly goes to where the creature was surely turning into melt by now.

It has a gemstone, he notices. The light blue glints in what light comes down through the leaves. His attention turns to Arquia, what do they do?

@Arquia

Her eyes immediately locked onto where the sound was coming from, baring her fangs in preparation for a fight if need be. The noise was familiar. It reminded her of... the dinosaur they had just killed. Uh oh. She wasn't sure if they were loners or if they lived in herds and this one was just off on its own for some reason. At the very least, she hoped that the two weren't friends or something. Because they could be in some trouble. And she saw it. Arquia glanced at Aran to see what his reaction to this was only to see him looking back in equal confusion as to what to do. She really didn't want to kill it. But if it attacked. Well. She waited to see what it would do.

A second beast.

It was clear that neither of them had truly come prepared. The first creature had suffered. Had existed in terror, in agony, in the pestilence of its own rejecting body, until its clumsy death.

There had to be a better way!

Aran's magic had been used to affect his body already--to shift his teeth into something more functionally suitable for killing. Arquia, too, had known how to strike--it had just not been done all that well.

It would occur to Aran first: a new way to utilize the magic of his form for something more... effective. Something more efficient. And then, perhaps by proximity, that recognition would spread to Arquia.

A way to empower oneself--not the teeth, but the body. To focus all energy, magic, and power on one quick, brutal hit.

Whether or not they chose to employ it here and now, they would know it going forward.

---

Aran and Arquia have discovered Swiftstrike.

Swiftstrike - Animal Element. Medium Intensity Offensive. The user briefly imbues their muscles with a surge of adrenaline and magic to execute an empowered physical strike. This attack may also be used after Biteform, Ephemevenom and so on to deliver the effects of those spells.

@Aran @Arquia