Complete Private Solvale The Lizard That Rolls

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora blinked, her eye set on the hand squeezing her own, no sooner noticing the look in Ronja's eyes, the genuine request paired with a stare that meant business despite lacking pain like the last time this situation aroused. "Anger is what fuels these spells. it's the only reason I can use magic in the first place." She squeezed back, almost certain by now this would only make her worry for her sake. "I'm not toying with your mind, I'm protecting it. If I didn't, you would feel the same I made you feel when we fought." Familiarity and emotional suppressors helped digest the extra doses from healing others. She resigned long ago on this loss.

Regardless of what she did, Ronja wouldn't be pleased, not without an explanation at the very least.

Unclasping her cloak, Fiora tried to straighten herself up as best as possible to give an ample look of her case to her lover. The first assessment and these pursing lips didn't put her at ease, specially since glancing down didn't give her the best of views of how really bad it got, despite her struggle to breathe being enough of a tell.

"Is it this bad..?" Her tone grown soft, a hand wrapped around the offered concoction, giving it a few wiggled on her grasp, listening over to the explanation given over the spheres, surprise colouring her features as she gave another glance to these spheres. "That's impressive, you are housing gases in... Spheres?" A half-assed chuckle escaped her mouth, shut down by the sharp pain to her sides. "If there's a Philosopher's Stone in this world, it's gonna be useless by the time you find it." She helped herself to the drink afterwards, the taste souring her face as the smile got wiped off, cringing a little at the taste no elven trait could save her from. "Ugh, it's like Ibuprofen..."

Once her whining could come to an end and Ronja wrapped her fingers at the edge of her chest piece, Fiora nodded. She would have taken a deep breath, but that would only make matters worse...

The moment the plate was pulled off, quite literally as a sharp end lodged into Fiora's side was taken out, coated in blood that now begun to pour from the wound, a gap large enough to prove close to lethal when exposed like this for long.

"Ronja, I don't know if the potion's working." Her eye opened wide as she focused solely on breathing and keeping herself awake, with the bodytight shirt ripped enough to expose the fleshy area Ronja had to work on.

The potion probably worked, or she wouldn't be awake in the first place. Her fingers dug into the stone beneath them as if it were sand, keeping still to let Ronja work on the injuries. Mostly bruises and superficial cuts beyond the gaping wound caused by teeth and metal alike.

"I guess now you can... Teach me how to fix my armor." Her voice struggled, fading in and out. It wouldn't be the first time she's given Ronja a broken mess to fix, yet maybe a lesson could be made out of it this time.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja understood @Fiora Di Angelo's words, even if the idea of meddling with her mind, even if it meant to suppress mental pain, still didn't settle well. Perhaps it was because some wounds were still too fresh, and maybe it would be possible to notice it through the share.

However, the magia offered a bittersweet smile to her beloved. She knew she meant well.

"Alright." She rested a hand on her cheek, caressing it softly with her thumb and then taking a deep breath, taking another careful look at the wounds and frowning her lips at it. "It doesn't look good at all." She said, giving the elf a stern glance.

"Before fixing any armor, let's fix you first..." She said, placing away the armor, but not too far. Then, she absorbed a sphere with a whole on the palm of her hand, shaking it and making a tingling sound before she 'sprayed' a soothing gas over a piece of cloth, that she used to carefully clean the wound and numb the area again. "It is the best and most flexible way to contain several different alchemicals in a single place to use at any moment with any combination, honestly."

With it being numb, Ronja took care of the wounds and bruises with a far more relaxed expression, knowing she wouldn't submit Fiora to as much pain as she would before the proper alchemicals had been applied.

After some regenerative salve, and some pure arcane healing, it wouldn't take long for the elf to look 'brand new', even if the exhaustion of all the physical exertion lingered slightly, along with the cloth that was damaged and stained.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora nodded, her worries put at ease once Ronja flashed a smile. Mixed feelings, but at the very least understanding enough. Her lover, however, was an open book, a concept the elf thought went both ways: She can see the damage behind that smile, while her own guilt pours from her eyes and spread all over her stoic visage.

She closed her eye, focusing on her breathing as Ronja comforted her with a fleeting touch before assessing the severity behind her wounds. "Doesn't... Feel that good either." She sighed. Despite the pain being null to what it should be, there is heaviness behind each mouthful of air she's taking felt more like a hundred kilograms flattening her chest.

"Would be easier to fix... If I was a magia, wouldn't it?" A rumble followed through the crystal lizard's throat, making her joke fall as flat as her heart did down to her stomach, every muscle tensed painfully in preparation for a confrontation that... Didn't happen- The beast slumbers, exhausted by the beatdown it gave and received, and yet in it's state it still sounds as menacing as it were awake, only in a far more sorry than they found it.

Her focus went back to the sphere, having only noticed Ronja take one of them, as the next time she checked it was gone, almost like a sleight of hand trick of sorts. Fiora leaned back a little as she heard the spray, unconciously stretching herself a little to make the wound easier to disinfect. "Have you tried to do the same with magic? Storing cantrips in it?" It wasn't so far fetched from runecrafting. Perhaps something she could finally teach the teacher about..? "Two sides of the same coin, I bet. Your spheres and my runestones." Only more science-y for the first, and more magical for the latter.

"Good as new~" Giving her girlfriend a grateful smile, a hand brushed over her own abs. Her next deep breath felt like feathers rather than weights, the surface as good as new, as if the magia had pulled a trick of chronomancy to revert all the damage done. Fiora leaned forward, planting a smooch on Ronja's cheek "Let's go help the croc now. Don't suppose you got a giant aid-ling helicopter to carry it over to Zalria, though?" She hoped, despite being too far fetched to be real. Her hands wrapped around Ronja's, slowly helping both of them back up.

"If we go by land, I doubt we'll have to deal with bandits. Don't think anyone would want to rob a cart with this fatso in it." She added, thumb aimed over behind her and at the 'Lizard That Rolls'.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja rolled her eyes and chuckled with a head shake. "It wouldn't." She responded, even if the question was a joke. Their hands connected, and they were soon back to their feet, ready to leave that place.

"Ronja has never tried to infuse magics on consumables. But it is something within her research- She just knows it will never be as powerful as outright infusing a temporary burst of power into your equipment as Ronja had done it earlier." She said, then rubbing her chin with her free hand.

"But cantrips... It would be interesting too. Perhaps she could make bullets or pebbles for her sling." Her mind tinkered about it, but she didn't give it too much thought. They needed to leave that place, and the big lizard that was before them needed to be transported soon.

The magia nodded to @Fiora Di Angelo's words, taking the suggestion with confidence.

"You are right. Ronja thinks that a large, unconscious crocodile is a very good way to warn people to not mess with us..."

She cleared her throat, feigning a menacing voice. "Lower your weapons. Our crocodile will wake up hungry and you may become the breakfast."

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"But imagine all the stuff I could do if I was a magia. I could have magnetic powers and pull you to me." She gesticulated an imaginary rope, pulling it closer towards herself. "We could have dodged the lizard better with that. Just pulling eachother around too." A hint of excitement tickled her words as her imagination ran wild, visualizing the battle with this idea in mind.

Fiora paused for a moment, opening her ui as she begun to filter out the many rows of items stored, darting her gaze back to Ronja as soon as many sets of ropes and chains begun to materialize, all on different lengths and sizes. "Ammunition is what I was thinking of really. I'm not sure about magic on consumables, but perhaps in certain scenarios. Preserving our energy is almost as important as our health bar. Specially for you." A luck she wasn't about to rely on given how often they cut it too close in both departments when things went awry. "Even if a little less efficient, it can be a good last resort to support."

She begun to stride closer to the Lizard, making sure to wrap it's jaws shut first with as many chains as possible, zig-zagging them together into a tight knot, a large smile flashed her fangs as she fought back a laughter. "Yes Mr. Bandit, he's going to roll all over you, he's the lizard that rolls." Fiora tagged along, giving a few pats over to the beast's snout.

"Can you mix up something to sedate it? We don't wanna wake it up right now, but it's got a few wounds we gotta heal." Watching the croc's wounded eyes, closed yet maimed all the same, made her almost feel pity for it. "I rather not leave him blind. He won't last long in Zalra like that."
@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja chuckled, glancing at @Fiora Di Angelo and pondering. "Ronja can pull you when you are using your armor." She said, soon rubbing her chin as her girlfriend went on about ammo infused with the cantrips. IT wasn't a bad idea at all, though Ronja still needed to work on it properly.

"As long as Ronja finds a way to mass produce them, it is a good idea. But for now, if Ronja makes something like that, she would probably hold these infused bullets as very situational and special ammo." Fiora wasn't wrong when she pointed out the importance of saving energy, so it was something that Ronja needed to keep in mind.

When the concern of the creature waking up was brought, Ronja nodded, taking three alchemical spheres, starting to shake them into a flask filled with a neutral solution while she spoke-

"Ronja will take care of his eyes while we are on our way to Zalra. But she can sedate it, for sure. Though we will have to wake it up once to feed it." She had no idea how long it has been since the creature had eaten anything, so she couldn't risk going all the way to Zalra without at least trying to make it eat something...

... But that was a bridge they should cross later.

"Anyway-" She clasped her hands. "-Ronja thinks there are still plenty of things to study in here... But we can go through it later. For now, we should focus on the lizard, and leaving this place." She reassured

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora snorted, clicking her tongue as Ronja suggested she would be the one with the magnet here. "You gotta make it look like you have a lasso on your hands while doing it or it don't count for me." She jested, eyes set on her lover as she begun to make a shake out of her fancy spheres, biting down her lip as it reminded her of the mixture she gave her not so long ago and it's taste.

"I don't think we will ever find a way to mass produce them to be honest. But we could always make you a few rounds every day out of magic. Eventually we should have enough ammo piled up for you to take out at your whim. Even twelve bullets is enough for Skullbuster to kill large targets, so." It wouldn't solve the issue permanently, but with their combined efforts there should be plenty to spare, specially when it comes to ammo for a rifle such as Ronja's. "But you are right, we'll tinker it in the future." Fiora said, wrapping the chains together and giving them a testing tug.

Only then she realized, as Ronja brought it up, that the beast here would need to be fed, leaving her stunned for a moment, humming in thought. Her eye darted out to the large gap in the caverns, the only other way to enter and leaving in the first place. The elevation would mean a lot of work just to get the croc out. "If we can get it closer to Hanrift... We could get Elias to prepare some food, but we gonna need to makeshift a cart together." Her attention then returned back to the entrance of the laboratory, and how they were still things left to be investigated.

"We can check it out when we return, so long as we do it while the sun's out. For now, can you get some Aid-lings to help me lift this big boy out? I'll tie him out and head over to Hanrift to bring over some supplies and a horse, but we gonna need a bigger cart to transport him." Frustration had her rubbing her temples, yet the solution seemed to rely on one person here, who her eye now locked onto. "Do you think you can build one right now while I bring over some horsepower for us?"

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"Can do." Ronja nodded with a wink, soon letting a large needle peek out of one of her fingers, allowing her to administer the alchemical into the croc, sending it into an even deeper slumber.

The possibility of making it a daily thing wasn't far from Ronja's capabilities, but at the same time, she couldn't help but think of how much that reminded of someone simply grinding in a MMORPG. Granted, in this case, it was slightly different. "Ronja could try it, for sure. She isn't sure about the durability of a spellcrafted ammo, but it just means it is the time to experiment it." She nodded, slipping her hand inside of her pouch, shuffling to pick up a small disc.

As for carrying it...

"Ronja could try making a temporary cart with Arcanamancy. It will require a lot of energy through time, but she will try to be economical about it... Function over form, and everything." She handwaved, holding the small disc before holding it flat on her open hand. "But Ronja wouldn't recommend to use aid-lings to help you to carry it."

She then tapped the disc, that grew and turned into a bowl, and then shifted while a larger form started generating under it. There was no physical container or contraption, it was literally magic keeping all the construct reduced into mana that soon erupted into a large metal golem. Ronja rested a hand on the 'box' behind it, and a cyan energy ran through it, with the 'box' roaring before the exhauster released tiny sparkles of blue fire, fuming with a grey-ish cyan tone.

"It should work for half an hour... Not enough, but Ronja needed to save her energy for later. It should help us at least to have a fast and relentless pace for the next half hour though." She smiled, caressing the arm of the golem, that helped @Fiora Di Angelo to put the large croc on a makeshift arcane cart, that was nothing more than a large open box with three wheels, two normal ones on behind, and a bulkier central one in the front.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Outside of Solvale.
Betwixt Roads,
Late Evening.

The first half of their journey had gone fast. The juggernaut Ronja brought forth having served his purpose as there was little that could stop them. Even a horse would have trouble keeping up this pace, yet a horse would make it the entire way as opposed to an early rush as the golem had given them. Beyond the bumps they would suffer sometimes, it left ample opportunity to watch over the wounded crystal croc. Eventually however, they couldn't slack anymore, at least in Fiora's case.

"Your bot made it look easy..." Stripped of her armor and left in her torn newbie hobo garbs, sweat ran down her body as her muscles kept pushing the cart, at a slower pace compared to the Golem's, her legs left itchy and pained as much as her feet. The roads were far from easy, sometimes heading uphill and making any effort double. "How are you... Holding up- Need another manastone?" Her eye struggling to find Ronja at first as the unyielding winds whistled hard enough to push green bangs over her sight.

Her thoughts snapped back to the Lizard as it grumbled, it's jaws barely lifting from their chained prison as it shut them once again. It lacked in strength, no popping sound happening, yet the creature shook, weakly, against it's restraints.

Frowning, Fiora begun to steer the cart off-road, resting it on the side as she let the weight finally drop onto the ground with a thud, stretching her arms with newfound relief from their burden. "Alright, how about we stop for a little to eat something? I think you got a point: lizard here's starving." Her gaze went back to the mountains, as crystals akin to the croc's hide were visible already, protuding from the earth and scattering all over in tiny fragments as if blades of grass they were: They weren't too far, but neither quite yet there.

Sitting down on a nearby rock, fingers pushed across her bangs, long locks tied up neatly on a ponytail, the runes on her arms, chest and fingers having finally lost their faint dark vermillion tone. "Tell me you got a plan, because I'm out of ideas, other than going together to hunt. I can skin 'em if you shoot 'em." A hand brushed over her forehead, pushing away the beads of sweat rolling down her features. "We just need to hurry. Night is coming soon, and we should at least be out of Zalra by then."

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"No need. Are you okay yourself?" Ronja shook her head, far more concerned about @Fiora Di Angelo's state. She watched over the elf carefully, but didn't forget to stay wary of her surroundings. The last thing they needed was to be caught off guard... For a moment, the magia lamented she couldn't have more mana to spare bringing forth a golem, wishing that they would reach to their destination quickly so her beloved could stop straining herself that much.

After a while, they they finally came to a halt, and it eased the troubles that were running in her heart.

"Travelling rations won't do, so Ronja has no plans. We will have to hunt." She sighed and casted a glance at the crocodile, scratching her back, and bringing forth the Skullbuster, making sure to adjust its power, not wishing to blast off the creatures she intended to hunt into pieces. "If this thing is just like a real croc, we don't need a lot of food. Just feeding it once will be enough."

She could be wrong, but hopefully National Geographic wasn't going to fail her this time. They didn't need to waste time cooking their hunt either, so they weren't going to lose a lot of time as long as they found a creature.

"Well. Ronja will count on you to find a prey. Ronja is good at investigation, and her aid-lings are great for that too. But to find food? The prey will run away as soon as it hears her aid-lings." She admitted.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"I'm fine, just a little weight." Fiora finally replied, her voice returning proper now that they could take a breather. Seeing as the roads have been awfully calm lately, being near them didn't seem nearly as dangerous as the ones in Astorea. It was quite some time ago that the Lander exodus happened, and such means less people for bandits to assault around these parts. Specially in a road to Zalra.

She smirked as rations were brought up, a single glance cast on the croc's direction made it very obvious that wouldn't work at all. "Leaving aside we need these, he may starve if you feed him our rations." She jested, her finger tracing an invisible circle in the air, as to show the circumference of their chonky lizard. "You are right though. We just need some decent game. I'm only concerned on if he will need some help to eat it or not." Given how sedated he is, he can barely lift a leg, let alone break free from it's bindings. "Guess that's a problem for the future." She exhaled a sigh through her nose.

Opening her UI, Fiora quickly begun to pop away the last remnants of her armor. Leg-guards and gauntlets specifically, as she wore something lighter, and most importantly, quieter than plate. "Sounds like a plan." She cracked her knuckles first, before turning around to get a better look of their surroundings. With mountains upfront, to the left, and forest on their right, Fiora waved a hand for Ronja to tag along. "Alright, let's go in the direction of deer."

As they begun to venture past the first few trees, she lifted her head up once they crossed a few thick bushes, noticing the sky still visible amidst the leaves. "First clue: Look for any trails or change on the grass. Denser or darker grass means there should be water nearby, and that means a lake or river. We'll find prey there." Her voice waved a little as she bent down to dodge a branch on their path. "Second clue: The sky. It's getting dark, but look for any fog or low clouds, even something as the sky looking darker on a spot means there's water right beneath it. Don't ask me how it works, but it does." She wasn't a fan of the wilds by any means, yet newfound passion for them came with the newfound freedom from pushing a fat lizard on a cart.

"As dangerous as forests can be in this game, I'm honestly glad we are building our house near one. There's a lake not so far off. Great spot for fishing, planned to take you there one day." She glanced back to Ronja and smiled. Probably means she would have to teach her to fish in the first place, given the chances the Ronja outside of the game did it are... Slim. Very.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

At @Fiora Di Angelo concerns, Ronja looked at her with an expression that pleaded her to not make hard questions. That was sure a bridge that they would need to cross very soon, however, so Ronja's mind continuously tinkered about it as she followed her partner, until her attention was caught at the instructions of what to see and what to pay attention at...

... Hints... Huh...

"Ronja didn't know any of that, are you used to hunt?" Ronja asked, rubbing her chin as she continued to walk, sometimes shifting to glance to her companion as she mentioned their house.

"Fishing. Ronja would like to try." She nodded with a small smile. "Making our house closer to the forest was wiser, anyway. Ronja doesn't want to trouble anyone." Her tone was mostly neutral about it, with her eyes trailing around to try and see any spot that matched Fiora's guidelines from before.

"Especially when you are so loud." Her index went up to her lips, looking at Fiora with a giggle.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora scratched her cheek as Ronja gave her 'The Stare', that one look the magia had that made her reconsider her own thoughts. A bridge for the future, not the present, as right now they had to focus on finding a meal in the first place.

"Yes. Time after the Red Fever Incident, I grew hungry, and so I tried to hunt down a rabbit. I had never hunted before on my own, as it was more of a family thing for me. I didn't care as much as my dad did." She explained. Naturally she didn't think much of it, as her father used guns and here in Terrasphere she was throwing spears or using bows. Two different worlds. "I failed though, enough times that someone else found me chasing a rabbit and shot it down with a bow. This hunter was a lander, obviously, and he offered to teach me a few things that evening as we made our way back to honeyhome, at the cost of anything we hunt being his. I've been practicing ever since, but i'm nowhere near as good with the bow as he was." Fiora concluded her little story, just as they walked across one of the trees.

The dark discouraged any search through the clouds, which forced her to look back down instead in search of clues, then back to Ronja as she agreed on going out for fishing. "I'll buy you a fishing rod back on Hanrift then. Two, just in case you break the first." Cautious moreso than playful. While these were sturdy, then didn't build them in mind for magias or super strong elves in the first place, a painful lesson for her purse at the time of her first few attempts.

The mud that stretched infront of them was enough of a sign for Ronja, aswell as the dried out prints. The trail seemed to lead to the East. A deer? Perhaps a boar? The edges of the tracks seemed to lose their shape, making it a hard guess for either.

Fiora tilted her head in the magia's direction as she begun to giggle, only now digesting what her lover just said, baffled expression followed by a quirked brow. "Loud?- Oh you are one to talk..." She smirked, giving Ronja a playful, gentle shove by her shoulder. "Hope you shoot as well as you tease, Princess."

The dark blues could already be seen from their position, the many bushes making it hard to get a good look, but the closer they got to the lake, the more the mud seemed to replace the padded grass. Up to the point where it was revealed.

As the night falls, less can be heard beyond the owls. Even the fish can barely be seen from their vantage point. Nocturnal animals is all they can find, and the serenity of the moon that begun to rise to the skies, moonlight falling upon the forests and lake alike. It seems empty from any prey large enough to fit a crocodile their size.

Except for that one light at the corner of the lake, something that caught Fiora's attention as she looked back to Ronja with a puzzled expression, nodding to her left as to try and get a better angle of where it came from.

The reveal was all they could pour their luck into as the only ration big enough for Mr.Rolling Lizard.

"Think you can shoot that one from this far..?" She whispered, a finger pointed towards the Magical Moose that quietly drank from the waters. One of the many magical variations of species they knew, and yet from this distance, it's no more than mere moose. One that can scare off the regular wolf and bear, for sure. Yet still, she bets the odds are in favour for Skullbuster to get through. No armoured scales this time around.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Listening to the story, Ronja nodded briefly at it. Things always seemed much more simple and organic in this virtual world than it did in the real word, which was quite ironic. People willingly help one another just like that, and yet, the world had turned into a mess so quickly. Ronja wondered if the simple days of this virtual world would eventually come back.

... Granted, in Hanrift they did have a glimpse of things how they were before. Simple, honest people, filled with integrity.

Ronja felt a bit alien there, honestly.

A thought spiraling to another got a Ronja walking mostly silent and nodding absent minded to the mention of getting her rods. The silence could be easily excused by the fact they were in a hunt at the moment, but Ronja only truly snapped out of the spiraling when @Fiora Di Angelo whispered, making Ronja blink and retract her eyes, looking at her girlfriend, and then back at the moose, letting out an admiring sigh.

"Beautiful." She muttered, grasping the skullbuster a bit tighter and starting to adjust herself.

"Ronja can do it. She will need a higher caliber though, mooses don't fall that easily." Ronja muttered, carefully loading her weapon with a bulky concentration of mana. She wasn't a true hunter like the one that had helped her lover to become one, but she knew mooses were no easy to meddle with.

Adjusting herself, she took an aim. She didn't need to make it that clean, it was food for a crocodile, after all.

Aiming for the center of mass, Ronja waited patiently, taking a deep breath to steady the aim when she was ready, and pressing the trigger as soon as she figured it was the right moment. The gun wasn't subtle about it, letting out a thunderous sound before the projectile fiercely pierced the creature, in a speed much higher than your average bullet.

Ronja pulled the gun, prearing for another bullet just in case– "Is it down?" She asked, finally letting her breath escape her lungs.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora rised a brow as Ronja sighed, checking again at the moose as she described it. A pretty looking beast, yes. Probably a pretty tasty one too, she thought. The reassurance that her lover could pull the trigger is all she needed to let her shoulders drop.

"Yeah. This one is bigger than most, so make it count." The thought it could simply run away with a fatal wound is there, but being magical in nature, these bullets should be plenty enough to pack a punch and put the moose down.

Taking a step to the side, Fiora gave some space as Ronja prepared herself to take the shot, her eye set on the magical creature as a few silent seconds passed, where nothing could be heard outside of their own breaths.

As if a thunderbolt it were, the sound alone almost fully deafened her. Anxiety from the woods's inhabitants, critters and bugs, is all one can hear, drowning the moans of the moose but not the thud noise it made when it flopped to it's side.

Quickly standing back up as Ronja wished for confirmation, not making a single step if only to not get in the way of a second shot. "It's down." She replied, glancing back at her, "But we should put it out for good." Fiora added, hands pushing aside the bushes they had for cover as she begun to circle the lake.

The moose was down, struggling to hold it's breath as it fought against it's wounds in an attempt to live through, despite being fairly certain that the bloodloss would take it first before it could even think of recovering. The crimson liquid dropping from it's wound was almost... Glimmering. Mana, similar to how their Lizard had, except this one was far less vibrant and much more mute. Rather than overloaded with mana and Zalrasis, this was merely a creature attuned to the land.

And judging by it's size, it's had a long, long life.

The surprise was visible in her face as Fiora knelt down to coat two fingers on the blood, rubbing motions as to get a feel of it. "Not everyday you find an animal with this much magic flowing through it. Usually it's things that want to kill us that do." She commented, glancing back to Ronja as steel hissed around her boot, unsheathing her knife and giving it a flip to have the handle facing the magia. "Okay then, wrap this up." Rather blunt, if only to not let the moose suffer needlessly. It already was aware of both of them, as it's eye faintly glows and watches them both, and were they in broadlight they could notice their reflection on it.

And every second that passes, Fiora has her eye entirely on Ronja to see if she needs help or not to make that last step.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

A sigh escaped from her lips at the confirmation that the moose was down, though it didn't seem it was completely dead just yet. As they approached, the sight of the creature suffering made Ronja frown, and when the knife was offered to her, she took it and nodded. "It really isn't... Ronja wonders why this one in particular has so much magic in it." Was it a Zalra thing? The creature didn't seem to be crystalized.

Ronja was far from pleased at the idea of finishing off an innocent living being, but she knew better than lamenting about it and only lingering the pain of the poor creature. With the knife at hand, Ronja kneeled close to it, striking a coup de grace trying to be as efficient as possible about it.

With the job being done, Ronja sighed, casting a glance to Fiora and gesturing to the dead moose. "Your turn, honey." She said, letting her beloved do the muscle work, but helping to carry it, considering the large size of the creature which required not only heavy weight lifting, but also a proper hold on it.

"The hard part will be getting to feed the croc with it, without putting us into danger..." Ronja looked at the creature, knowing for sure that it wasn't going to be amicable as soon as they released.

"Perhaps Ronja will need to make sure it is lethargic enough to not attack, but not enough to be unable to eat."

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"Folktales speak of forest spirits and beasts old enough to evolve above the rest. Given this doesn't look like a test subject like our boy, I'd assume that's the case." Not a certainty by all means, but it's all she could think of when it comes to the moose. Even as the magic begins to fade from it's antlers, it still remains dormant within the blood.

Approving of Ronja's quick decision, Fiora gave her a quiet hum as it was her turn to put muscle to work and lift up the moose, wrapping around it's belly and using her left shoulder as a resting place for the creature, flexing her knees and pushing herself upwards. At first it took some adjustments, but with Ronja's hands she could keep herself from doing more effort than required.

The way back was just as quiet, just as dormant as the lake had been. Not a single predator seemed to hunt around these parts, or decided it was not worth the effort with most prey being asleep around the forests. Fiora squinted as the notorious blues of the arcane-made wagon came to view, with the rolling lizard still struggling against it's bindings. It's jaw couldn't open nowhere near as fast as it closes, so the chains did well enough on keeping the confused beast as docile as it could.

"Hm... How about we carry the moose with us on the wagon. We could cut a few chops out of it and you can dump them in his mouth." Fiora offered as a solution, dropping the moose on the dirt next to the cart, leaving red, sore marks all over her shoulderblade and biceps from the strain. "You can feed him along the way, and once we reach Zalra we put the moose in his path, get some distance then let him loose." She explained, eyeing the crystal croc. It's eyes were losing track, focused on nothing all at once, yet they glimmer with life still, as much as the moose's antlers did, bloated with mana.

"Just don't sedate him too much, it's not too far, twenty minutes tops."

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"To think Ronja may have killed an ancient beast then." Ronja wondered about it. Years and years to evolve it, and in a matter of a few seconds, everything was done just because they needed to feed a crystalized crocodile. The world was intriguing, and as much as she felt mildly guilty about it, she figured that was just how things worked. If it wasn't her, at some point it would be some unusually skilled predator that would manage to kill the moose.

Or perhaps that moose was already old enough to find its natural end at some point.

When they got there, Ronja sighed in relief and rested a hand on the back of the cart, pondering about the ideas offered, and raising an eyebrow in an interested expression as @Fiora Di Angelo brought up the idea of bringing the moose and feeding the croc slowly.

"It is just like feeding a pet then." She giggled, then nodded. "Alright, that may be the best idea. It is a lot of moose, so Ronja doubts this croc will eat everything by itself. But she supposes we can leave it near the croc as we free it, so it can have something to get started in its new habitat." Ronja concluded, then shaking her head.

"No, according to what you said, Ronja shouldn't sedate it any longer. She will make it do with its current state." She was sure she could handle it just fine.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"If it wasn't this moose, it would've been another creature." Her voice shows the lack of concern. Hunting animals, killing bandits, it was all relative to their needs, be it sustenance or self-defense.

Fiora gave a look over to the lizard as Ronja just called it out as a pet, almost curious on if the poor beast would react to that. The best it could do is glance over to the pair, conscious enough to listen, not enough to move in any meaningful way other than to shake about.

"Suuure... Just don't get too close or you gonna end up being his dinner, love." She smiled, almost certain their croc here wouldn't care if the sandwich was full of gears, bolts and oil instead of venison. Ronja quite easily discerned her plan in mind: Give it a fresh meal to have enough strength to hunt the next on it's own. "You got that right. I'm sure he can make up in size for the lack of rivers and lakes in Zalra. It almost got us both, so it's proof enough nothing in that wasteland should stand up to it."

Only in hindsight did she realize it's pointless to sedate it right now. If the winds favour them they may even arrive earlier. "True, it would be stupid to do so. Alright, just be careful back there, and don't get your hand too close to it's mouth when you feed him." She warned, moments before positioning herself infront of the cart, taking a deep breath to clear her mind at the idea of continuing to push the fat lizard down the road, straining herself as she lifted the cart's thick ropes and begun to pull it along like a pack mule...

---

Nighttime.
Zalra,
Northeast path.

The roads grew colder and the landscapes lost their shine as life seemingly begun to fade in comparison to the forests and woodlands they had visited thus far in their journey. Zalra was a proper wasteland. Inhospitable, dreadful, and yet it hides it's own ethereal beauty in plain sight for those who can appreciate it for what it is. Were it not for Zalrasis, one could imagine civilization making a seat here, in the beginning steps that served as both warning and entrance of what was to come.

The new home of their cold-blooded giant pet.

The harsh winds blew hard enough to make her skin crawl, yet she remained stoic against the cold washing her over. It wouldn't be for long, yet every second felt eternal. They came to a stop, and one for her to catch a breath. The Lizard was awake enough by now, and yet it remained static, unmoving, as if it were waiting for the perfect time to chomp at them both.

Reason enough for her to keep her distance, specially now that she set her eye onto the vast, open-end of the icy lands.

"I've only been here once. Helped some player deal with a few spirits stuck in a cave that MIT was supposedly excavating through." Reminders to always keep up her guard, that life is fickle. Troubled thoughts that led her gaze back to Ronja, pondering on how long until either of them bit the dust? They've been lucky so far. But luck never lasts, even if they've been against impossible odds twice already.

"Zalra's unforgiving. But it's quiet, peaceful even, don't you think? Just don't catch the crystal flu and suddently it ain't so deadly." She smirked, a hand reaching out for Ronja's waist as she dragged both closer. A cold sigh visible as it left her lips. "You gotta install a magic heater on you if we ever have to travel around here. It's cold, even for me." Fiora teased, despite her grip tightening just a little as she let her inner warmth-vampire surface.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"Ronja will be safe, don't worry." She reassured, knowing very well that the crocodile wasn't trustworth. It was a creature that acted on pure instinct, and it wasn't really happy with any of them to begin with. Keeping her hand at a safe distance, Ronja contented herself with tossing the chunks of meant into the creature's mouth, that in instinct, ate it without thinking too much about it.

That activity lasted for long, all the way to Zalra. It was already pretty dark considering the night time, and the only source of light was the moonlight that bathed and offered its dimlight, giving them the privilege of seeing the beautiful sight of that eternally frozen place.

"Spirits stuck in a cave..." Ronja muttered. "Ronja wonders... Are these crystals so strong that they could crystalize someone's soul?"

The concept made her distracted for a moment, perhaps the opposite effect of her beloved's reminder should have given her.

@Fiora Di Angelo's pull snapped her out of it, and with their bodies pressed together, she leaned her head against the elf's bossom. "It is." She muttered. "But so is most of the nature, isn't it? Unforgiving, but beautiful. Most of the places untouched by humanity are like that." Ronja said.

Not that civilization was particularly forgiving, but at least in its most primal way, it was.