THE FRUIT FROM THE TREE •• pittian visitor

[guts]

The scene falls apart so quickly, right in front of her eyes, just as she arrives. Aurum's order to attack, to get them off their land shatters the air and she tenses, heart beginning to throb away in her chest. She has never seen a fight between creatures like this, hell, she hasn't really even seen combat as a human, despite her position on the battlefield. All she had ever seen was the aftermath, blood and crippling injuries, shattered bones and muscle, bodies pumped full of lead.

Memories of such gore makes her tremble, a struggle to decipher between what was happening now and what had already happened. The sudden headache that strikes her doesn't help, either, teeth squeaking as they grind over one another.

The sudden creation of fire--from the lion's mouth, no less--would have sent her into a frenzy, excitement at the sight engulfing her, but all she felt now was fear. She didn't want to know how he had managed to do that, she just wanted it all to stop. Naive, maybe, she hopes they heed Suvi's words.

But of course, they don't. It makes Adelaide angry for a split moment, a heat in the middle of her chest, but she's distracted from that negative feeling when the ground shakes, moving underneath her paws. She nearly loses her balance, but manages to stay upright. She doesn't know that it was the jaguar causing this commotion under their feet, all she knows is that it's so loud, so chaotic, and she wants to get away.

Suddenly, it all stops. She hadn't even heard the stranger's parting words, voice full of malicious intent, but she isn't sure she would have wanted to hear, anyway. She breathes a sigh of relief. Still, there was this large cicada creature to deal with, a pang of sympathy running through her at the creature. It didn't seem to understand, not like they did. Was it not capable?

Either way, it was over and dealt with. If Miller had been successful in his attempt to throw Leroy off the creature, she would consider walking away, only wanting to put distance between herself and this odd scene, but she ends up staying out of fear that someone might have been hurt in the fight (scuffle? She wasn't sure what to call what had just happened). Considering the fall, she wouldn't be surprised if the cheetah had suffered after his little rescue of the canine. She had no idea he was their leader, since she had yet to meet him.

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

The battlefield is chaos before Aurum can even really think about it, and as soon as everything had exploded into action, it was gone just as fast. Aurum watched as his fireball crashed violently against a wall of rock, sparks and small flames jumping out in all directions before fizzling just as violently. A snarl left the proxy's throat as he moved forward, intent on taking on Kydobi one on one, but already things were thrown into chaos. Leroy charged forward from the shadows, moving to sink his teeth into the cicada-esque beast that Aurum hated so viciously, and the thing was already taking off into the air in a fearful panic, clearly confused by what the hell was going on. Piers had already left the scene, disgusted by what had just begun, and suddenly an almost crippling headache was ripping through his mind, causing the lion to stop in his charge forward. He let out a hiss of anger in pain as he lowered his head for a moment, the dizzying wave of pain and nausea making it difficult to focus on anything going on around him. He could faintly feel and hear Snarl charging past him towards Kydobi, but he wasn't able to refocus again until he felt vines wrapping firmly around his legs, clinging to and squeezing his front legs and wings painfully. Brought back into the moment, Aurum let out a rage filled snarl, thrashing a bit before Kydobi's words were directed at him. Tail lashing behind him, Aurum felt flames erupt from him, crawling over his front and charring the vines around him to cinders. He snapped once Kydobi was finished, lava dripping slowly onto the ground in front of him from the rage bringing his elementals to life, "And I promise you, I will never regret today. Or the day that I killed you, you bastard!" Before he could spring forward again, Kydobi had suddenly vanished into thin air, slipping from the battlefield like the coward Aurum knew him to be. The lion could feel his blood practically boiling as the other vanished into nothingness, but he didn't have much time to linger on his anger, since there were still some very sobering and worrying events taking place around him. That wasn't even beginning to mention the way that his chest clenched and burned with pain, his new wound still healing having been exacerbated by the fighting.

As soon as he saw Miller rushing forward towards Astiar, Aurum's heart sank, knowing full well what the other was planning on doing. The lion watched as the other launched himself gracelessly into the air, a warning shout leaving the proxy. Before Aurum could even think about what he was doing, he was bolting forward as well, his entire body burning from the effort of it all. Once he was close enough, he leaped towards the plummeting pair, attempting catch them out of the air and snag Miller by the scruff. He knew it would hurt like hell, flying into the air and grabbing them right into his hurt chest like this, but it wasn't as if he could just ignore it. He didn't want Miller or Leroy to get hurt, especially not as a result of his order. It also wasn't as if Astiar was about to land and put them down gracefully, either. The thing was too fucking stupid to even understand what was going on, so much so that it had almost kidnapped another accidental victim. Deep down, Aurum knew that Astiar was simply incapable of understanding anything complex, but that didn't really help to be comforting when the creature had already hurt so many because of this, and Aurum just wanted him wiped off the face of the goddamn map. His primary concern for the moment was obviously Leroy and Miller, but if he ever saw Astiar on their border again – alone, mind you – he probably wouldn't be able to stop himself from killing the damn thing. After all, if you came around again and again to the sake place and was always yelled at and injured because of it, you shouldn't come around to that same place again. Even the most basic creature in the world could understand that, or at least Aurum hoped it did. Although honestly, most of the anger that was radiating off of Aurum towards Astiar at the moment was just secondary heat from Kydobi, especially since the other had gotten under his skin so badly. All of the male's words had been utter bullshit, and it was enough to make Aurum want to scream and rush after him to find wherever the fuck he had gone.

template by orion

[toboggan]

Direct hit. The general's acute dentition implanted itself, albeit strenuously, in the grotesque being's underbelly. Putrid-tasting ooze - or blood - or whatever the fuck this thing bled - trickled through the orifices between his teeth and entered his mouth. Never up until this point had his palette been so befouled. The fluid's flavour allotted an ample deal of discomfort to his jaws' insides, nearly causing the wolfhound's unshakable grip to fail. Through a display of vicious winces and grimaces, Leroy maintains the clasp he'd established on Astiar; contrarily, he tightens it, in an attempt to contend with the irritation that surged within his maw. The grip would persist until the beast exited the territory. He'd make sure of that.

Ain't nothing gonna tear him off of the bug, not even its grody bodily juices. Unfortunately for the attacker, though, this affected him worse than his target.

The creature began to buzz. For all the cur knew, it was just a sound, a panic mechanism activated when in danger. It caught him off guard, and left him somewhat disconcerted, but if it meant Astiar was making tracks, he'd pay no mind to it. Instead, his unbridled attention was directed on the cicada's stomach, and nowhere else.

Without a moment's notice, a force yanks him downwards. What exactly this force was, and why it influenced him, Leroy understood not. Whatever it was, though, it worked against him, attempting to undo his accomplished work by drawing him away from his victim. This wouldn't do. The only logical action he could take at this point was harden the grapple he had over the creature. Which he did.

Leroy was mighty proud of himself. The male's track record for hand-to-hand combat looked shamefully atrocious. In the five or six raids he'd partaken in during the entirety of his existence, he came out on top in only two encounters with an enemy. This included border skirmishes. Only two encounters won, the rest being narrow draws and bitter defeats. And of those two fights where he did win, both were merely ambushes. Indeed, one of said ambushes ended up with a Pittian's death, which is pretty badass, but still... it was a fucking ambush. Ambushes aren't cool. So essentially, he had yet to win any notable fights. It'd be dope to drive Astiar out, because that'd count, he thought.

Okay, his jaw was starting to hurt quite a bit. How long had his mouth been clamped on the dragon? A few seconds? Yeah, a sizable amount like that made sense. With the cicada utterly refusing to fight back, Leroy felt... bored, if he was being honest. He wonders how the others are faring, and slightly tilting his noggin to the side in an attempt to observe his comrades' current state of affairs. Chocolate eyes widen in absolute terror, as the mongrel comes to the realization that the monster he latched himself onto was flying away. Now, he realizes his life may be in danger. Now, he realizes the stupidity and recklessness of his actions. Now, he realizes what exactly the force was that wrenches him towards the earth. That force was called gravity.

Something - or someone - grabs hold of his midsection and tears him off. The ensuing fall lasted but a brief amount of time, but time short duration didn't nullify just how horrifying the experience was. If flying was exactly like that, then the hound solemnly vowed that he'd never pull an Aurum and sprout wings. Because fuck that. At least
he avoided shattering his bones with the landing, which was cushioned by Miller, and his Proxy.

Leroy stands upright, and shoots Miller an appreciative glance. The cheetah may very well have spared him from death - or worse, a trip to the Pitt. His display of loyalty would definitely be repaid soon enough. He then nods to Aurum, who played an equal part in saving him. Removing his gaze from the feline, instead focusing on the Kydobi-less accumulation of Tanglers, the wolfhound approaches his tribemates with a half-satisfied half-worried expression. The lack of the jaguar's existence meant one of only two things: either he escaped, or he got totally pulverized. By all things holy, he hoped it was the latter.

"So, what happened to the deadbeat?" he asks. Regardless of the actual answer he'd receive, Leroy knew his next course of action. Goldenluxury would be needing a visit. Given that her underling had been offered numerous warnings for being within the forest's vicinity, it was easy to anticipate that the temporary Ardent would side with him.

It'd be pretty dope if Kydobi just got totally pulverized. Pretty badass, even.