BELLONA

The beauty is busily jamming the bone inside the lock when the invasive mongrel approaches. His unmindful gesture causes the bird to lose her hold on the jawbone, but it seems that she did not manage to lose the cursed object fast enough. At first the burn feels cold -- her mind has not registered this new pain yet -- and she is barely able to scream a retort about manners to the unicorn when it hits her, and her tongue starts to swell. The bone hadn't been in her mouth long enough to do any permanent damage to her musical instrument, although the devil bone's words have hit their mark. Oh, you want to see clever, do you?

The enraged vixen lifts her body in a flurry of feathers and hair, preparing to bring a sombre hoof down on the being that dared to besmirch her character. Just before her dull weapon is about to make contact, the creak of bending wood interrupts her, and a massive reptilian beast spills forth from the door. Still in the midst of dealing her revenge, the colorful bird has no time to move before the lizard bowls her over. Its hairy pillars threaten to bury her, and the peahen shields her face with her wings, peering through the gaps in her feathers as the beast passes her. One eye glimpses something protruding from its belly and, as if by instinct, she knows what she must do. Under any circumstance, she must claim that egg.

Before the monster has a chance to pass over her completely, the bird takes a chance and rises from her wallow. There is a shriek and suddenly the air is much, much hotter around her, and the peahen's eyes start to roll in reaction to all of the chaos. She doesn't care about what has happened to the idiotic unicorn, or to any of the others who had urged her to twist the bone. All that she cares about now is getting out from underneath this rampaging beast, and making certain that it never runs again. The warrior sorts through a list of possible maneuvers that she can take, flicking from one idea to the next like a bee flitting from one flower to another. A nearby command tears the panicking woman from her thoughts, ultimately settling them for her. "Well, what are you waiting for? KILL IT!"

Diving for the obnoxious bone, the chieftess refrains from coming up with a sarcastic response and instead concentrates on grasping the weapon once more. Agonizing pain envelopes her mouth as soon as she has it in her teeth, but she bites down harder on the cause of it as if that will force it to stop. Wasting no time in dispelling the pain, the bird surges forwards to gain enough speed for take off, launching herself in the air with a powerful stroke of her wings. As soon as she thinks she is near enough to the raging lizard to make contact, the peahen throws her head back and attempts to thrust her burning weapon in its belly.

As the bird rotates her feathered appendages and attempts to lunge past hairy legs, a parting remark fills her cranium. How’s that for clever, tlacatecolotl?


{tlacatecolotl -- "possessed one."

Bellona is knocked over by the lizard, who is running over top of her, and despite her burns she grasps the bone again and flies to the beast's belly, where she tries to drive the scorching weapon in. She attempts to escape through its legs after trying to skewer it with the jawbone.

Still under 600 words. Seeks a common rougarou companion. Wishlist Denial}

"Talking"