Vale circled above. Half to survey the damage. Otherwise? Because flying was fun, and what was the point of being a raven if xe was hopping around like a wingless bore? From up here, though, Vale didn’t like the projected timeline of this long-term project.

Hopefully Kole—and maybe more templars, like Chernabog and Rhode—would be able to capture some more earth elementals. Preferably, though, ones who were easier to twist into compliance than Kane.

Hearing Kane’s voice, Vale swooped down and circled the winged fox in a wide loop. “Yup, long-term project!” A quick laugh. “Hopefully we’ll get you coworkers, but I wouldn’t count on it!”

Vale eyed Kane. Unfortunately, the winged fox didn’t have convenient horns for roosting like Meteor or Chernabog. A shame. Then again, the guy probably wouldn’t appreciate if Vale landed on him. Not today, anyway! Vale cackled softly to xemself, then landed on a tree branch.

“I believe this area was the heart of the rainforest. Lots of rainwater. Lots of runoff from the mountains. The rainforest near the Hawit River survived, so you’re not starting completely from scratch. Want me to lead you there? Say the word.” Vale shook out xyr feathers. Like before, xe shapeshifted into a white winged fox. Unlike before, xe was able to maintain the flesh upon xyr face, and the body was closer in size to an arctic fox than a copy of Kane’s height. “So, you fix this area? Rainforest spreads easier. Let the birds feast and spread the seeds elsewhere on the island, eh?”

Vale balanced on four paws, shaking out xyr fur. The gore dropped to the soil. “Ah, much better!”

Vale grinned, flashed fangs. “So, long-term project. Let’s collaborate, eh? I have water and fire. You have earth. There’s a few more fire elementals on the island—Chernabog, Kole—and Meteor has lightning. You hate creatures who destroy nature, eh? This’ll be good practice for fixing nature.”

Xyr three red eyes narrowed. A laugh. “I don’t think Meteor cares about specifically targeting creatures who destroy nature, but, hahaha, someone’s gotta kill ‘em for you and it’s not like you had your own group when Kole caught your tail!”

“Thanks! Talking a lot is part of my charm!” Vale barked out a laugh.

The fox jumped down from the felled tree’s branch. Xyr eyebrows scrunched as xe followed Kane’s eyeline to the blocked river. Vale’s head tilted. Oh, so Kane was going to actually try hard to fix the island, eh? Vale was wondering if xe’d need to start barking out actual orders or if he’d take initiative on utilizing his own magic.

As the earth elemental manipulated the plants, Vale sat back on xyr haunches and watched. Xyr grin grew. Xe glanced between the elemental and the work. It took quite a lot of self-control not to rub xyr front paws together like a little evil maniac. Then that thought made Vale remember, oh god, xe had toe beans!

When Kane spoke, that’s when Vale broke the silence. “Not so bad, eh? Hahaha, knew you’d be damn good at your magic. You don’t strike me as a lazy lil idiot who can’t nurture his own potential into growth. So guess today we’re gonna unfuck this river! I can help, what trees do you think aren’t worth rerooting? I’ll burn ‘em!”

With a soft laugh to xemself, xe reached out a paw and attempted to poke Kane in the forehead with a palm. “Haha, I have gray toe beans! I’ve never had grey toe beans before!” Vale’s toes were actually, in fact, pink.

“Actually, my eyes are broken.” Xe snapped xyr teeth. But then tilted xyr head to the side, as xyr red eyes took a calculating sweep of Kane’s expression, body language. “Did you insult me because you didn’t like the poke? You know, I’d rather you tell me if you don’t like something.”

Then a chuckle, which became a cackle as the fox stood and shook out xyr fur. White tufts and black sludge splattered. And still xe cackled, until, out of the gore, a three-eyed raven hopped over the scorched grass.

Xe tilted xyr head at Kane as xe added, “Haha! Just don’t wander too close to any of those tall ass motherfucking trees!”

Then, with noisy wingbeats, the raven took to the sky and circled. A cawwing sort of cackle.

And then, from the third eye in the center of xyr forehead, a flicker of fire. Xe circled the largest felled tree, as pointed out by Kane, and, yeah, Vale supposed that looked too annoying to try salvaging. The cackling stopped.

That flame became a beam of red flames. The raven scorched the damned tree in a fly-by!

While the tree burned, Vale circled it. Looked lazy, except every flame that licked outside that radius folded back in on itself and burned the tree anew. Vale spared a few glances at Kane—enough to make sure the prisoner hadn’t decided to try escaping while Vale was distracted with pyromania lolz.

Vale, in one xyr verifying glances, crossed eyes with Kane. Huh. Interesting! The raven refocused back on burning the latest tree to a reasonable amount of ash, and then veered off the circle to investigate Kane’s plants. Admittedly, Vale had an easier job. Burning shit was simple, and xe didn’t even need to burn all the big-ass logs, since felled trees provided useful utility to the ecosystem. Just needed to burn enough to provide space.

“I like shapeshifting. I like decay. Why shouldn’t I combine them?” Vale sounded cheerful about that, but there wasn’t the usual laughter or cackle. “But, eh, honesty for honesty, it’s a bit more complicated.”

In the air, the raven banked right and landed on a recently resurrected tree’s branch. The raven tested the sturdiness with a little hop. Excellent! Good timing on Kole grabbing this guy quickly. And Vale’s persuasion. Revitalizing the rainforest’s heartland would only get harder once the trees gave up on living.

Vale looked back at Kane. Three eyes squinty in thought. “You really didn’t have to put in all this effort. But! Ha! You really do like nature, huh? Guess it helps that we cannibals on cannibal island didn’t cause this devastation ourselves?” A noisy wing fluff. “But you also mentioned experiments? Did you try turning prosocials into antisocials? Trust me that’s a bad idea, bahahaha, you should talk to Xanti, xe’s a made psychopath!” 

“Bahaha, good to know! But, seriously, what would be the point in destroying the environment? A tree has never harmed me.” Vale’s three eyes narrowed in disdain. “But prosocials? They harm one another without even realizing. How not sentient!”

Vale looked down. Tilted xyr head. When Kane avoided answering a question, sometimes that gave Vale the same information as if he’d responded honestly. A born psychopath would’ve been fascinated that mades are truly possible. But a made psychopath? Old news.

With a flutter of xyr wings—more to announce to Kane that xe was moving than anything else—Vale did the short jump from the branch to the rock. Xe was far enough away from the fox that xe could probably fly away if threatened. Probably.

“That explains why your knowledge is weird. You’ve never actually talked to a fellow one, do you?” Vale laughed softly. “You can get good information from talking. Honesty for honesty, eh? A narcissist would never. But a psychopath? It’s useful, so they take the deal. Every. Time.” Vale raised xyr head and puffed up xyr feathers in pride. “Worked on you, didn’t it? Learned that trick from my mom!”

“Maybe you haven’t figured it out yet, so I’ll explain it to you. Antisocials are better collaborators than prosocials. You know why? Because you can always trust an antisocial to save xyr own skin and optimize for their own goals. So coalitions of antisocials who know they can trust each other not to backstab? Unstoppable.” Vale clicked xyr tongue mockingly. “But the prosocials? They have built-in divide and conquer buttons in their brain: morality, guilt, shame.”

Vale blinked. “You’re a funky psychopath. You’re basically feral. But you’re intelligent, eh? That means you might be a useful collaborator.”