Unfortunately for Azu, some idiot prisoner had a bit more fight in him than she'd expected -- and underestimated the length of his holding chain. The damned mutt had managed to chew up a leg and her tail pretty bad, before she could zap him to death with lightning like a living taser. That left the skinshifter with a bit of a problem, after she dressed her wounds. Like hell she should be doing anything but resting in this state, with her muscles torn and bones broken. So dragged one of the prisoners, a smaller creature she could control even in such a weakened state, back to her chambers. And set about setting up her ritual to possess the little thing.

Strutting out of her chambers with a tiny satchel thumping against her shoulder, the fluffy cat licked her teeth and lashed her four tails. "Fuck, I thought everything and everyone was oversized before?" the foot tall wildcat mumbled, continuing to curse under her breath.

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She craned her neck up to look at the lion, pink tongue drawing over her incisors as she restrained herself from huffing at him. The little erudite expected taunts, but she found it irritating that he -- of all Pittians! -- decided to be an ass to her about it. "My serval body was injured, and this was the least damaged bone bag in the dungeons," she explained tartly, attempting to reach up and boop him on the nose with a paw. His nose seemed as big as her entire paw, how the hell was this even fair?

"If you think I'm so cute, why don't we swap bodies for a bit?" she added, mouth curling into a slight smirk. Of course, she'd have no intention of giving his body back -- not without sufficient bribes.

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"It could be worse."

Ninazu nearly rolled her eyes at her apprentice, though her tails lashed behind her nonetheless. Yeah, she could be a mouse -- or a dragon. Always something worse. Always something better, too. About a thousand retorts went through her mind, but she held her tongue. Cos meant no offense. "Maybe I'll get lucky and grab something good later," she mumbled in response, instead. If she could snatch some intruder's body or an enemy's on a raid, well, she liked the thought of that.

Her ears twitched as her paw connected with Stryker's nose, fur bristling as his teasing comments continued. Huffing out an exhale with flames laced through her breath, she attempted to pat his nose in a lightly reprimanding way. "Perhaps you're just afraid of being the smallest one in the room, hm? It's hard to claw your way to the top when you can't win by intimidation alone," she retorted, an amused smirk flashing on her muzzle for a moment, though it remained hidden by her irritated tone.

She brought her paw back to the ground, sitting down and curling her five tails around her body. "And I wouldn't claim I could handle your glory... though, if you think glory is tied to your skin, then you're not as smart as I'd hoped you were. But your sexy ass? I think I could handle that," she continued, finally releasing her tight grip on her anger. It was hard to stay her usual bundle of nerves and rationality around Stryker.

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[ feel free to have him read her mind lmao ]

She watched him, careful to see if she pushed him too far -- as much as she loved these verbal matches, she remained painfully aware of her vulnerability as she toed the line. She enjoyed playing cat and mouse, though she knew she tended to act like like a true wildcat when her emotions popped out too much. "You'd die of boredom if I hushed," she said, completely factual -- as if she reminded him of some obvious truth like the color of the sky. And it seemed true enough; most people here seemed content to tolerate Stryker's ego without risking the fun in toying with him.

She needed to bite her tongue to hold back her laugh at his next bit. But an exhale still escaped her nose, though she was quick to cover that with a sniffle or two to try and save face. Come near or inside you? Preferably both. She almost let herself retort that, but thought better of it. And a better trick of wordplay came to her soon after. This time, she couldn't help bit smirk and let a laugh escape her.

Her satchel and steel chain necklace fell through her body, and she trotted towards the ardent before they'd the time to collapse into the sand. She attempted to pass through one of his front legs with her intangibility -- and then leap up and over his shoulders, flicking off her intangibility and attempting to land in his fluffy mane. "I don't know, I think I'll do that again -- I quite like being this tall." Too far? Probably, but in comparison to her first idea of a retort, this seemed the safer gambit.

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For a brief moment, she understood the appeal of those larger bodies. Even teetering on his shoulders for balance, everything appeared smaller from up here; everything looked less threatening, more manageable. Huffing as Stryker shook himself and dislodged her grip, the slender wildcat dropped to the ground feet first with her usual grace. Unlike the ardent, she felt amused and curious. His mane, for one, felt much coarser than she'd anticipated.

"That you did. But it was punny, no?" she replied lightly, unruffled. She couldn't guess how deeply she effected him -- she'd no idea she startled him. She tilted her head as she added, "Though I won't make a habit of that." She preferred to experiment with her powers in the safe, controlled space of her laboratory. Not in the open world, where someone could step on her at exactly the wrong moment.

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