• PM To Join • [Willow Woods]Dress Up (Fridgar)

[Felicia Stark]

14th of Ymiden, Arc 717

Felicia tugged at a loose strand in the little dress she was attempting to repair. It was made of a course, colorful material with hints at the edges that suggested that, at one time, it had lace trimmings. The needle in her hand was unsteady as she poked it through the fabric, lacing it through the other side and crossing the stitch back on itself in a simple patter as she went up the small rend in the dress. As she worked Felicia's brow furrowed in concentration. Beside her lay a wooden doll, nude to the world and missing its left arm. Its clay face was cracked from the corner of its mouth, cutting a jagged smile on its face that gave it a slightly cynical look. A single green eye stared blankly up at the world, unworried about its nakedness as one would suspect a doll might be.

Off to the side could be heard a soft tumble of water in a river that cut its way through this part of the Willow Wood.The light from the late afternoon sun set off a dance of orange and yellow lights reflected off the waters surface that painted the shaded ground around her with shifting colors of which Felicia paid no heed. Her cool blue eyes were focused, intense as she bit her lower lip and studied her work with a critical eye. It was then, with a sigh, that the woman used the small scissors on her lap to cut the last of the thread from the stitching, tying it off before holding the dress up before her eyes for a closer inspection. It was lopsided, looser than she had hoped, and all in all just seemed to add to the raggedness of the dress' appearance. There was nothing to be done about it, however. She couldn't afford to pay for a new dress just yet. Mir would just have to make do.

It's hideous.

Felicia returned the needle and thread, along with the thimble and small scissors back to the little box that sat open at her side. Then she carefully returned the dress to its owner, being careful not to snag any more edges on the stiff wooden appendages of the doll in case the stitches might burst once more. Once the doll was fully clothed once more she sat it on the ground before her, facing in her direction as if they were about to have a conversation.

Tilting her head to once side Felicia put a smile on her face, "There, isn't that better?"

Yes, much better.

She whispered her own reply softly to herself, nodding appreciatively as if the doll had complimented her efforts generously.

[Varthakh]

Fridgar stood with his eyes closed and palms pressed together. It almost seemed as though he was praying at the river side. This was not the case. The giant cleared his mind, standing tall and firm. For a few split trills, he almost appeared as lifeless and un-moving as a statue, only to have the illusion broken by the occasional breeze that threw his leathers against his hard, rigid body.

It was Ymiden, this he loved. What was more? he was in his element, the willow woods, where he had redeemed the dignity of the willow Redbear and claimed a new totem for his family. As the trials went by, Fridgar found the empty space in his pocket was fast decreasing. Soon, he would need a new method to carry his kin, as old Fridgar had used a necklace, he might try a belt of some sort? This was a problem for another trial, for now, he would practise Rupturing.

Just as he'd seen Sintih perform in the late Zi'da, Fridgar started his training session with a light warm up. Utilising the chasing, Fridgar pulled himself to a relatively close pocket of ether, disappearing and reappearing in a different spot, before performing the same move again and reappearing where he stood before. Two blinks seemed like a light enough warm-up, but still got his ether flowing. There was one technique that he desperately wanted to learn for mobility purposes: Sky-stepping. Alistair, his master and beloved fiancé, had used it often in front of him as part of his light style of combat. He'd said that Fridgar was ready, and he believed his master.

Thus, he was here, with the rushing waters to calm his mind and push whatever ailed his weary soul to recesses of his corrupted mind. He was at peace, more so than he'd ever been in the presence of humans. He did not want to think of their filth, this was a time of concentration.

Seeing through his mind's eye, Fridgar unclasped his palms and held them apart, as though he were about to lift something heavy. One foot would raise into the air, though he would maintain balance. Closing his palms together, Fridgar tried to condense space around a particular pocket of ether. He came to a block. His paws wouldn't move any further, was he doing something wrong? Perhaps just not concentrating enough? He tried harder, focusing the whole of his being into the one focal point of ether. It gave way soon enough, forming a hardened portal.

Fridgar refrained from grinning, too concentrated to express or feel pride. His heavy boot would meet with the surface of the portal and press, unrelenting. His weight would shift as he extended his leg. Could his first portal take the full of his weight? The answer was made obvious; no, it couldn't. In a matter of trills, the portal would dissipate and fade from existence, Fridgar would land with a jolt, bringing his whole body forward. In that instant, Fridgar opened his eyes and withdrew his sight from the second vision that had been granted to him during initiation. His senses took their time but they soon returned, his hearing was among those senses.

And what was it he heard, sharp in his ears? Chatter? This deep in the woods? That called for some investigation. The last people he'd seen out here were both godly swordsmen who mutilated innocent animals for pleasure. Fridgar would never forget the paw thieves, they'd nearly killed him too, after all. Fridgar rolled his shoulders and set off after the sound, following along the bank of the river. He held, keeping low to the brush. His mismatched eyes would lay upon a girl, playing with some dolls? That wasn't too out-of-the-ordinary, but why was she alone in the willow woods? This was a dangerous place, she didn't look like a seasoned fighter.

Fridgar crept back keeping low to the floor and hoping that he was not seen. Once he was a fair distance away, Fridgar found himself presented with two options; he could work on his form a little more, practise sky-stepping and grow in power... Or figure out what the girl was up to... Being the curious and fun-loving Lothar he was, he chose the latter. But how did he go about it? How did he normally forge alliances with weirdos in the woods? The he remembered the trial that he met the other Lothar in Andaris woods, the savage. How had he greeted him?

Fridgar took a step back and fished about in his pocket for the Redbear totem before focusing his body and spark on its structure. Once he was ready, Fridgar initiated the transformation and assimilated his leather clothing, totems too. In the span of a bit, the gruesome, agonising transformation was complete; Fridgar felt good. He stood eight-foot-tall on his front paws and was sixteen feet long. An aura of menace surrounded him warding off other less-intelligent creatures with ease. One whiff of the air pointed him in the direction he sought before his massive, thick legs carried him there. he walked on all fours, failing to shake the ground under his tremendous weight because he travelled with care.

In the span of a few bits, he reached what he was looking for. A beehive. Fridgar approached the hanging yellow bulb, it buzzed intimidatingly above him, though he would not so easily be swayed from his end goal. The tenacious Lothar reached the end of the tree it found itself attached to and stood on his hind paws, nearly standing at a staggering twenty feet tall with his immense display of feral might. A single well-aimed strike would send the beehive crashing to the ground, splitting open for all the bees to fly free, sincerely pissed.

Throwing himself to the hard, dry earthen floor, Fridgar bolted and bit into the exposed honeycomb before rushing off into the distance. Bees attacked, getting caught in his thick fur to be dragged along by his unrelenting charge. When at last, he'd gotten far enough away, he stopped and shook the bees from his hide, throwing them to the floor with a shake of his thick coat, dead. He was precisely where he was before setting off to collect the honeycomb offering. After making sure that his fur was straight, he walked back into the woods to where the girl had sat with her dolls.

He did not hide himself, though he did wait before approaching. The girl would behold the biggest Redbear she'd ever seen, none grew to be his size, not naturally anyway. It was thanks to his corruptions that Fridgar was at least twenty five percent more massive than the totem he'd harvested. He stood on all fours, testing the waters and holding his position. If all was well, he would approach with the honeycomb he'd recently stole in his massive maw, slowly. He would gently lay the honeycomb on the floor before the girl before pushing it toward her with his wet nose. His enormous head hung low and would stay there until she reacted to his gift, whether he liked the reaction or not.

[Felicia Stark]

A slight rumble in the distance made Felicia look up from her examination of the doll to search the woods surrounding her. It had been a sudden thing, gone as quick as it had come so that for a moment Felcia was not sure she had heard anything at all. Blue eyes swept over the brush and trees, pausing for a moment on the river and its reflective light before she looked back at the doll in her hands.

Mir had come to the girl by chance, abandoned and left to rot were it not for Felicia who happened upon her that fateful day. There was something about seeing that pathetic, broken toy laying among the rest of the trash of the street that had given Felicia pause. It stirred within her chest an odd sense, like a tightness that made it hard for her to breath no matter how deep a breath she drew. That, and a small amount of curiosity, is what made Felicia pick up the doll that day and take it home with her. Ever since then she had been loath to part from the toy, something about it filling a slight divot in her soul she had not even realized she possessed. When she looked at its single, sightless eye Felicia felt... a warmth of some kind that she could not explain.

Unlike the rest of the people in the world Mir did not talk over her. She didn't cut Felicia off, or ignore her. She just listened, quietly, and paid absolute attention to everything that Felicia said. Sometimes Felicia liked to imagine that Mir could talk back to her, filling the one sided conversations with something more substantial. Not that she would ever admit this, least of all to her brother. After all Felicia was a grown woman and she at least knew that at her age she shouldn't be playing pretend with dolls. Yet even so here she was, playing pretend like someone was actually there with her.

Felicia was so engrossed in her thoughts that at first she didn't notice a looming figure nearby until its shadow fell across her. When she looked up at the creature the woman's first reaction was simply a blank stare. It took several bits for her surprised mind to process what it was she was looking at, for the bear completely filled her vision. She just couldn't grasp it, the suddenness of his appearance nor the shear size of the beast overwhelmed her senses. It was not until the honeycomb had been set before her that she suddenly gasped, realizing she had forgotten to breath and scooted back several inches. Her eyes widened in shock, and Mir she clutched tightly to her chest as she felt a throbbing in her breast. She could feel something then, like a crack had formed in the ice of her heart and the rush in her ears was the sound of an emotion escaping. Fear, sharp and bitter on the back of her tongue froze her words and sent arch's of electricity through her body so that her limbs did not quite work right. She couldn't seem to get her feet to move how she wanted, and the plain dress she wore did not help matters at all.

After fumbling uselessly for another few bits Felicia stopped and just focused on breathing, each intake a gasp as her shocked mind tried to piece together what was happening. A bear, no a HUGE bear had appeared from no where. A huge bear with a honeycomb. Why? Was it getting ready for winter?

You're going to die.

The thought made her sick as it bubbled to the surface of her mind, and Felicia had to force down nauseated panic as it threatened to over come her. A few more bits, a few more breaths... and still she was alive. Slowly, ever so slowly, the rush of feeling began to ebb and the numbness began to return, and with it came a little clearer frame of thought. Felicia looked from the honeycomb to the bear, and then back. Slowly she relaxed her grip on Mir and looked down into her one eye as if for an answer.

Pay him.

Mir's unspoken suggestion came to Felicia's mind as if it were the most natural of things, and before she could think otherwise she reached into a small pocket at her side and pulled out a single silver nel. Then, without taking her eyes off the bear, she leaned forward and placed the coin on the ground and slid it toward him before sitting back and holding tight to Mir once more.

[Varthakh]

The girl didn't seem to notice him as he emerged from the brush. Not that Fridgar minded, of course. he had methods of making his presence known. Thankfully, it only took for him to approach. The girl would look up at him, confused, oblivious? he could almost see the workings of her brain by her expression. Perhaps she thought she was dreaming, or having a nightmare? Reality clicked a little slower with this one, that he took note of.

When she did recognise him, her expression erupted into a twisting fear. Yes, she would have believed that she was in danger. It was a natural reaction to suddenly be so close to something that could quite literally bite through someone’s skull with ease. His size and radiating menace didn't help either, but she would find that the beast made no attempt on her, even as it lowered it's head to place the fresh honeycomb softly on a bed of grass. The female appeared to be afraid of the honeycomb, even more so she was of him. She gasped and inched back a few paces. The bear would look to the honeycomb, confused. Maybe she'd never had one before? Never had she come to taste the delicious sweetness of a fresh, crunchy honeycomb? This saddened the bear.

Fridgar still held his massive head close to the ground before the honeycomb as the woman calmed down. She gathered her senses and assessed the scene, a bear had brought a honeycomb, apparently offering it? Maybe she understood that part, maybe not? Regardless, she produced a single silver nel and slid it over to Fridgar after a lengthy stare at her doll. Fridgar's yellow eyes darted to the nel with a slight motion of his head before looking back at the woman.

Really?

She tried to give a wild animal money in exchange for a honeycomb? Maybe she knew he was a Becomer? if so, then he had no reason to hide it. Utilising echo, a deep voice would emit from the creature's being, it was masculine. "A bear has no use for coin, miss," the bear's mouth did not move, but a subtle growl as well as quiet roaring could be heard beneath the words of the unseen speaker. The bear would raise its head and jump from its frontal paws, dragging its body back until it sat on its hind legs. The creature towered sixteen feet in the air, taller than most trees in the forest.

"This is my gift to you, a sweet honeycomb," the voice spoke again while the bear got comfortable. "Don't you want it? It's rude to refuse a gift, you know," the voice spoke once more. Fridgar had made a bad habit of speaking like a smart person while in animal form, echo just made his voice sound intelligent. He exercised it frequently.

Once it was settled that the bear was indeed the one talking to her, Fridgar leaned forward to rest on his front paws while he sat, significantly decreasing his tremendous height. "Whatchya doing out here in the woods by yourself, anyway?" he dropped the annoying, pompous tone, sounding more like himself. "There's a fracture nearby, a space that leads to Emea. Do you have any idea how dangerous that makes these woods?" she probably didn't, or so he expected. Most non-mages didn't have a clue about fractures. That being said, she’d known that he was a Becomer, right? Maybe she knew about fractures too?

[Felicia Stark]

Felicia frowned at how the bear looked at the coin. Maybe paying it wasn't the correct response at all... but she could not really think of what else to do. Victor had always taught that nothing was given for free, and ever since Robin and she had made it to Ne'haer the spirit of mercantilism had only served to reinforce this fact. No one gave simply to give, they always expected payment of some kind be it coin, information or blood. That is how it works with humans at least, but did animals have a similar exchange? The thought gave her further pause furrowed her brow as she tried to think of something else she could offer that might appease the bear, but she needn't have bothered.

The bear towered over her now, its height staggering as it settled itself into a comfortable position. This surprise, however, was lost on the girl as the voice came to her and made her jump slightly and look around. It was not a voice she was used to hearing, those that often bubbled in her mind being female, so it took her some bits for her to piece together the meaning in the words and register any importance to them.

A bear has no need for money.

Of course not. she thought back with a shake of her head. She should have realized it from the start, but one could not blame her lack of focus given the situation as a whole. It was not until the masculine voice continued that Felicia suddenly realized that it did not belong to her mind, but to the bear itself. Nervousness was suddenly replaced by an explosion of curiosity as Felicia relaxed herself, her blue eyes shifting from suspicion to a searching gaze both confused and craving understanding.

The bear is talking... an animal is talking.

It's going to kill you.

For a bit the chill of uncertainty crawled up her spine once more, but Felicia snuffed it out like a candle before the thought could take root in her mind. Hesitantly Felicia reached forward, picking up the honeycomb from where it lay with one hand still clutching Mir. The first thing she noted was the stickiness between her fingers, and then the feeling of the odd structured comb where it brushed her palm. She set the doll down beside her on the grass and worked her legs back underneath her, finally grasping the offered 'gift' with two hands looking back up at the bear.

"I... apologize." she said slowly, still staring at the bear, "I did not mean to be rude."

The calmness in her tone belied the tumble of thoughts she held within her. The spike of feeling had almost completely subsided now, leaving behind the normal void Felicia was accustomed to, yet somehow the emptiness seemed to buzz. Her mind was practically spinning as she struggled to come to grips with the surreal experience. In truth it made her a tad light headed, so instead she focused on the honeycomb in her hands. She lifted one finger to her lips, licking the sticky honey from one tip and her eyes widened in surprise at its sweetness. Victor had only very rarely bought anything but the basic foods, and even after moving to Ne'haer she had never bout anything so extravagant as honey. She hadn't realized it would be so... so...

Before she knew it she was nibbling the comb itself. It was crunchy, and when she bit it more of the sticky honey seemed to pour out until she was afraid she might get some on her dress. The task of tasting the treat held her attention for some time, such that she almost didn't notice what the bear was saying next.

"A fracture?" she asked, frowning as she licked honey from her fingers once more, "How dangerous is it?"

Had Victor mentioned fractures? Or Emea? At the moment Felicia couldn't recall. If they were really that dangerous he would have emphasized them wound't he? Then again, for a witch Victor hadn't been very diligent in his instruction of Felicia. Maybe it was because Robin was his favorite?

Felicia studied the bear closer then, staring at it with an intense gaze as she was now fairly sure it did not intend to eat her, or at least it did not seem to wish to kill her out right. It clearly was not afraid of people, as most animals were, and whats more it spoke. Was it really a bear at all? Felicia looked at Mir and shrugged, and she could almost see the doll shrugging its own shoulders, just as bewildered as her owner was at the entire thing.

[Varthakh]

The bear would bare its teeth in an attempted smile, more or less forcing a more savage visage in the process. "Don't worry, I forgive easy," the beast explained with a nod of its humongous head. Even if it weren't entirely true, this poor woman needn't be bothered with the gory details. When at last she licked the honey from her hands, Fridgar gave an expression of pain, perhaps a wince? Then, she bit into the flesh of the comb; Fridgar choked back a sob. Always was it a sad trial when he recalled the taste of honeycomb. Since the trial that his body was mutated, he hadn't the ability to eat anything but raw meat. It was a sad, hollow existence that longed to be filled with the sweet taste of honey.

Thankfully, bears weren't capable of crying.

As pained as he was, watching the consumption of his ex-favourite food, he still mustered an echo; "How does it taste?" a simple enough question. In truth, he longed for even the slightest remnant of the taste in a way that wouldn't force his body to regurgitate its contents. The bear would endure, stiffling its pain.

Following the discussion of the honeycomb came the discussion of the heart of the wild, a fracture in the area. In that same fracture, Fridgar had nearly been consumed whole by a harvester, he was also granted some harthyte for his troubles. How dangerous was it? "Depends if you're a mage or not," The bear spoke, looking away from the honey-coated heathen. "If you're a strong physical combatant, you'll have no problem beating down the creatures of nightmares. That's not a joke, by the way, the monsters you find in those things come from people's nightmares and dreams alike," the beast shuddered, recalling the freaky things he'd beaten to pulps in the cavern.

"But if all you can do is cast spells and you suck at punching... you might as well dig yourself a grave instead of going in there," The bear nodded, apparently insightful. Did the people from Ne'haer frown upon the use of magic? He couldnt remember. He would soon find out, it seemed.

Leaving the topic, Fridgar looked to the doll in the girl's hands. "You never said what you were doing out here, by the way. Also, aren't you a bit old to be playing with dolls? Sorry, all you humans look the same to me," the beast wondered how long he could get away with pretending to be a talking bear. She seemed to be buying it at least. The bear would look to the east as she spoke. Alistair was in this direction, he could feel that he was close by. What was he doing over in this neck of the woods? He wasn't at the fracture, that was to the west... probably.

Well, he seemed to be getting closer, maybe he'd find out what was going on? Give him a hand if needs be? Still, he listened to whatever the girl had to say about her doll with half a rounded ear.

[Alistair]

In the midst of their conversation, a portal appeared. Immediately after its conception, Alistair catapulted through it, falling through mid-leap. Before meeting the ground, he curled his body and placed his spear safely to his side, impacting the grass with a spinning roll, sliding past Felicia and her doll before digging the weapon into the soil, gaining balance. His leather armor was covered in grass and dirt, and his sandy blond hair was met with the muddied colors of the forest. Whilst the portal closed, the pursuers did not give up chase, ascertaining his location with Attunement.

"Fridgar!" he exclaimed, as two portals opened side-by-side in the distance. From one of them spewed forward a blast of kinetically inspired gravity, flinging past Felicia and likely knocking her back, throwing her doll forward. When the doll would hit the tree Alistair had rolled near, it would cease being flung against the wood, and instead begin to suspend upwards. Infinitely, it rose, away from reach. As it grew higher and higher, a single drop of drizzling rain fell from where its face was in the sky beyond the trees, followed by the onset of a light rain.

The doll continued to rise, never to be seen again.

"Fridgar, they're here!" the mage yelled. "The Seekers -- they're here," he explained. From the treeline, two men and a woman appeared. The woman's palms were covered in duo globes of wind, whilst both of the two men collectively flung forward Ether Missiles, three, all aimed at the Venora. Alistair dodged the first by throwing his head quickly to the side, followed by a rotating spin on his feet, the second and third barely missing his chest as it swung to the side.

He took a breath, and his fists began to crackle, before the man emptied into a black pit with a blaze emerging from within him. Spiked shards of jagged stone flung from the pit of his chest, rapidly accelerating towards the three magi. One of them, the female Abrogant, created dense folds of energy to block out the spikes - but one particularly large one slipped through the outer folds before their solidification and impaled one of the male mages between the heart and the lungs.

Lowering his knees onto the floor, he immediately began to cough up blood, before his face fell into the dirt.

"Fridgar, we have to kill them," he pleaded, "there are more -- they're after Kaiserion. We need to kill these ones and get to him, now!"

[Felicia Stark]

Felicia was oblivious to any expression the bear made, his features too foreign for her to clean anything from, and her own inability to distinguish another's feelings or pain now truly manifest.
Thus she answered in a soft, thoughtful voice with little inflection, "It is sweet." She paused, and continued after taking another bite, "And sticky. I like it very much."

Felicia continued in silence them for a time, coming to realize there was no way she could consume all of this in a single sitting, but was faced with a dilemma as to what to do with comb. She could not just stuff it into a pocket of her overdress. It might ruin the fabric, or at least leave a lasting residue that would never fully was away. Somehow she did not think she could simply set the gift aside, for it was indeed a gift, or she might risk insulting the creature once more.Its temper was stilled for now as far as the girl could tell but there was little reason not to suspect he might be driven to anger if she were to act in any way that might denote her disregard of the show of kindness. So it was then that Felicia only half listened to what the bear was saying. The way he spoke, though, made it seem like it was quite important so she forced her eyes up and tried to pay attention. She had never seen a fracture before, or the apparently nightmarish creature that dwell within them so Felicia decided she would have to take the beasts word on their danger.

She was quiet a bit as she thought about his question. To give her time Felicia licked her fingers slowly, carefully placing what remained of the comb on the ground beside her and wiped her still sticky palms on the grass at her side.

"I was practicing." She said finally, taking up Mir once more so that she sat in her lap. Felicia put a protective arm around the doll, hugging it close to her chest as she continued, "How old is too old for dolls?" The concept seemed odd to Felicia. What made someone too old to play with dolls? Was it a sign of maturity that an older girl put hers aside and had nothing more to do with them? Did it really matter that much?

"It is ok." Felicia tried to place a convincing smile on her lips, pulling the corners of her mouth upward in a show of understanding, "All bears look a like to me, so I suppose it can't be helped."

Perhaps she would have continued. Questions buzzed in her head as she sat in an odd setting or normalcy before something so peculiar. A bear was chatting with her so easily, like he had been born to do so like no other person had. Not even Robin paid her this much mind of late. How odd, she mused, that the first true amount of social interaction she would get since coming to Ne'haer would be with a wild animal. Maybe she would wonder more at that, but then all of a sudden those thoughts were blasted aside as a rend in the world opened and a man stepped out. Just as she heard his words she felt a force unseen push her, Mir flying from her grasping fingers as she rolled backwards. It was all she could do to catch herself before she rolled to far. The toes of her boots dug into the ground, fingers grasping at blades of grass that they might act as her anchors against the unknown.

She did not know what was going on. People had come, tearing through reality itself to present themselves. Was a talking bear not enough wonders for one day? Felicia's heart pounded in her chest as adrenaline began to flow through her veins. This feeling was different, not fear but rather an electricity that made her hair stand on end as she struggled to wrap her mind around the situation. Then, with a start, she realized the most important thing of all.

"Mir?" she gasped, raising herself to her knees and looking around, just in time to watch the doll float into the sky. She cried out in distress, scrambling to her feet and rushing to the tree where the doll had first been flung. She ignored the man completely, fingers scrambling at the bark as she made as if to climb the tree after her doll. After a less than a moment however she realized it was useless. Mir was too far gone, higher than she could see now as the rain began to fall and this thought stilled Felicia's frantic motions. She was gone.

The woman stared upward for a few moments more before the coldness settled in her heart once more and she looked away, toward the mages just as one fell with a cough of blood to face plant into the dirt. No, Mir was not gone she reasoned. She floated up, and eventually she would come down again. Felicia resolved herself to set the problem aside for the moment, but later she would seek out Mir and find her once more. She knew she would.

And now? Felicia felt her hear still pounding, fire burning through her that set a slight trembling to her fingers. People were here. Mages? The first man to appear seemed to be one at least, and Felicia looked at him for a quick bit before moving slightly to another tree, putting the man and the bear (that knew each other?) between her and the attackers. Her foot bumped into something on the ground, her sewing kit. It seemed it had been tossed back along with her and Mir in the initial blast. Kneeling quickly Felicia unclasped the latch on the little box and took the small pair of scissors, a spool of thread and a few lengths of ribbon out and hid them. She then latched the box once more, setting it behind the tree she now crouched next to to hopefully save it from being spirited away as well. It cost her 6gn after all. She could not afford to lose this as well.

Her eyes then fell on the downed mage, the sight of the red leaking from him sending a slight shiver up her spine and an odd tingle in her breast. It was... odd, but for now she ignored it. Instead she strained to look at him there on the ground, trying to discern if he was dead or not.

"Fridgar..." Felicia tasted the name. The bear? Why did an animal have a name such as that, and why did a man speak so familiarly with him? Too many questions, all of them pointless to ask. It was too much. Too much.

Just kill them.

Who?

All of them.

Felicia frowned and remained crouched, her back to the trunk of the tree with Fridgar and Alistair between her and the current attackers. The man had said more were coming, for... Something, or someone. She cast her eyes around cautiously, scanning her environment to ensure she was not taken unawares again. Then she waited, cold blue eyes intent on the action before her as she decided what she needed to do.

[Varthakh]

By the immortals! This woman, she believed he was a a bear? Like, a true bear? Born and bred? the bear would snicker, perhaps grunt? it was difficult to say, though he seemed to be enjoying himself. "Yeah, all bears look the same to me, too," he echoed at last through barely contained laughter. The Lothar would have to try this more often, how many people could he fool into thinking he was a bear? Priceless! Becoming seemed to be a rare practise, people feared its toll on the self, on one's body and mind. It wasn't that bad, Fridgar had maintained a pretty good mental state through his journey of growing in becoming.

As he looked to the direction of his beloved, he rolled onto his side with a forceful shove of his own body weight. Fluidly, he adjusted himself to stand on all fours. "Well, as nice as its been, I've gotta-" he managed before a chasing portal thundered all around them, ripping open the fabric of reality to make way for the doorway. Alistair flung himself from it, rolling across the ground, dropping his spear at his side. The beast's eyes widened with shock before he rushed to his beloved's side. The noble had no obvious injuries, but he looked a little roughed up. The human called his name, though he hadn’t given the woman his name just yet, had he? He couldn't remember.

"Alistair!" The beast roared, scooping up his beloved with massive paws, helping him rise to his feet if needed. The woman was blown over by some sort of magic, perhaps the magic that vuda had wielded? He wasn't sure. Shortly after, her toy started to float away, disappearing as a blip in the sky, even as she tried to climb the tree and save it, all was lost for her doll. Fridgar would have laughed at the display if his beloved wasn’t in such danger. The seekers? Who are the seekers? "What the fuck is a-!?" Fridgar was blasted by an orb of wind, knocking him back a few feet as he skidded to keep balance.

Whoever had done that was evidently skilled enough to knock about a bear, nearly weighing a tonne of muscle. Alistair was skilled enough to dodge the other three. "Kaiserion!?" The bear grunted, if they were so focused on getting Kaiserion, the twink Lothar that Fridgar had been friendly with, why were they after Alistair? It sure sucked to be these sorry couple of mages, Fridgar wasn't going to let them take his friend, even if they hadn't attacked his fiancé. They would die for that. Fridgar roared, standing on his hind legs, reaching nearly twenty feet with the added length. Roaring, lightning charged in the paw of the bear, sparking sheets of electricity up the length of his arm as he raised it, ready to strike. In a single motion, he threw down his paw, letting loose the crackling lightning in the direction of the other male.

Alistair in turn.... used a nail? It was difficult to tell, but he rained sharp rocks down on the enemy. Most were blocked but one of the males was impaled by a larger rock, shattering his rib cage and piercing his heart. His lightning passed through by the abrogative folds while the woman dedicated her attention to defending from Alistair's assault he landed his mark, zapping the other male and throwing his focus. Fridgar didn't hesitate in chasing a pocket of ether behind the male, disappearing from the spot to land, a towering wall of fur and muscle.

All at once, he collapsed on the man, crunching and shattering bone in horrific wails of agony. The beast lowered its head to his, fitting his massive maw over the broken man's screaming head with ease before tightening his powerful ursine jaws in a clamping motion that almost too easily burst the man's head. Blood and grey matter would fling a good few feet in all directions around him, matting his fur in dense chunks of brain matter, mixing with plenty of thick crimson. In one bite, he adorned himself with the insides of a man's head, the clean-up would suck when he turned back, but at least the screaming had ceased.

Turning his head, only one mage was left. The abrogant. Without hesitating, Fridgar chased a pocket of ether next to her, only to fail to blink? She held a hand to him, nullifying his magic with her talents. No matter, he was given legs for a reason. Instead, he resorted to charging, rushing at incredible speeds despite his massive, heavy form. The woman put a wall between him and her, trying to deter any further progression toward her while also holding off Alistair with the other hand, she was fucked, but she could prolong the inevitable if she so desired.

Fridgar had broken abrogative folds in Lothar form, he was ridiculously strong. The strength of the Redbear on a legendary standard for its species was even more frightening. He cast adapt, taking the trait of legendary strength from Fridgar and applying it to his form. Too quick for her to notice, his body would bulk up in muscle, appearing much more thickset and even heavier. In a powerful roar, Fridgar slammed his giant paw into the abrogative fold that she held, shattering it in a brutal impact. She re-applied it just as quick. Fridgar would wash, rinse, repeat until she ran out of ether if he had to, Alistair had his chance to deliver a killing blow.

His eyes darted about, more searching for portals than anything else. They would have quite a problem if the woman's reinforcements arrived. His eyes set on the woman from before, how was she handling this?

[Alistair]

Fridredbear was a terrifying creature, a monstrously sized animal of muscle and might. As the Seekers came, so too did his wrath. He stunned one of them with lightning that had radiated from his fur to his paws, before clamping down on him and biting his head into a bloodied nub with his monstrous jaws. He split jaw from neck, the man's crimson liquids spurting out of his body as he limped and fell atop the dirt. Alistair nearly winced at the brutality of the exchange - but that was his lover, animal and effective.

As Fridgar beat down against the woman and her replicative shields, Alistair corrected his collar and placed his spear between his palms. He paid little attention to the black haired woman whose doll she failed to retrieve. Instead, he aimed his spear forward, envisioning the trajectory of its throw across the distance he'd be tossing it at. With a singular motion, he launched the spear hard from his grip, and the head of the weapon ripped through the woman's throat, the object plopping over to the ground and taking her quickly dying body to the ground with it. Blinking, he retrieved his spear from her neck with a tug, winking at Fridgar.

Looking back, he heard three ripples in the distance, almost directly in proximity of Felicia. The girl would be confronted with a man wearing a fitting layer of black armor, leashing a corrupted wolf-like creature before him. He was intimidatingly large and muscular, showing through the leather of his armor whilst plate covered his breast and face.

Releasing the hound from its leash, the beast leaped for Felicia, smelling what it believed to be the scent of the dead upon her skin. If she did not defend herself, it would attempt to rip through her, whilst the man sniffed and drew his blade. "Necromantic fiend," he called her, spitting on the soil beside her. Alistair grimaced, and pointed his bloodied spear at the man who'd assaulted Felicia. With a blink, he moved in, bashing the man with the side of his spear's shaft. Then, twirling the spear, he whacked him with the kinetic force he'd accrued with the object, using his strength to overwhelm him. He swung his blade for the weapon, Alistair blocking once before - with a heavy motion - throwing his spear to the side to attempt to disarm the man. He failed, but proceeded by kicking him in the face, and stomping on his skull.

It was up to Felicia to handle his hound, whilst Fridgar could deal with the others. Before long, Alistair had managed to daze him, and followed the man's relative pacification with a vertical spear lunge through his forehead, pinning his body to the floor.

"Fridgar, don't ask questions," he requested, "just kill them."