The dusk sun blared through the windows of Leon's warehouse, gluttonous, bloated and orange, fit to burst as the solstice drew ever closer. Leaves unfurled from the tapestries that covered the walls, scrambling and blooming with pungent scents as they leaped on the daylight like hyenas on a fat, wounded antelope. Phosphorescent veins took up their initial glow, a dim haze of green that promised a nuclear radiance best found in a reactor once midnight came around. The three figures gathered would not bend to such a luxury of visibility.
Leon swept his leg forward and stamped with assurance into his horse stance. Already, his hands drifted in the loose, serpentine motions. A long snorting exhale fitting on a steed blew through his nostrils. The shift in light meant little more than a shift in coloration to the cuttlefish-eyes that stared endlessly from his sockets, but the warps and wefts of filters did little to assuage his nerves. Two pairs of reflected coin-eyes set on him. One, a harsh blare of ultraviolet, set tall, and still as a board. The second, an occasional blip of gold, heralded by a pitter-patter of steps, and all manner of phantom motions that made his instincts scream. The latter one, he needed to track, to land at least one single tap to its vulnerable spot and he would have the evening to himself. Then, the skiff and scuff on the ground ceased...
Leon's back leg slid out to bolster the forward whip of his hand to the fox-girl as she sailed toward him, palm readying to meet with the unrooted core.
"Gwrook!" Instead, he met with two tiger-clawed hands setting thumbs into the inside of his elbow, a jab of toes straight up into the ganglia of nerves in his underarm, and a heel raking up from the inside of his knee to the juncture of his hip, just close enough to his groin to make it an insult.
"WuunnnGAUGH-hu-FFFFAAAAA*K!" The arm that supported the Ball of Vulpine Pain dropped at the elbow, hoping to draw her down enough to land a wide, draconic swipe at a throat just a bit too short for him to fit his mits around, if at least to land his thumb in her trachea.
A stout little elbow settled over his wrist and unfurled into a wallop of a facepalm, short little fingers tapping at his occipital ridges, just to make a point. "Waaoowoop!" Saffron leaned into the twist and finally set foot on solid ground, leading Leon into a graceful, but humbling lie-down on his belly, with just a few fluffs of hair and brushes around his neck and cheeks to illustrate a few points, as well as folding up his abused arm into a vicious lock, and a knee effortlessly immobilizing him from a gentle press against his ribs.
At this point, all Leon could manage was a taptaptap of his unapprehended hand on the floor, with one leg absently kicking up behind him as his nerves set on high alert. "Okay!!! Okay... Uncle..."
She let him go for juuuust a bit longer until finally relenting, untwisting his arm into a shape far more amenable to lifting, bringing the towering oak to rise next to her, with a little pat-pat at the small of his back and a very subtle push to his hips to angle him towards the other figure, whose stillness broke with a trembling of shoulders and a low, sinister chuckle. "Tough beeeans, Pizza! How's it feel to have a full dance card?"
The nuclear glow kicked in to reveal the stoic Swiss alchemist behind the vicious blacklight eyes, still boring holes in whatever he set them on. Leon slumped forward for the mighty mit to clasp his wiry frame and draw him towards the shadows, where hints of eyes and glints of teeth glinted menacingly. "Like I'd rather be the D.U.F.F..."
Leon swept his leg forward and stamped with assurance into his horse stance. Already, his hands drifted in the loose, serpentine motions. A long snorting exhale fitting on a steed blew through his nostrils. The shift in light meant little more than a shift in coloration to the cuttlefish-eyes that stared endlessly from his sockets, but the warps and wefts of filters did little to assuage his nerves. Two pairs of reflected coin-eyes set on him. One, a harsh blare of ultraviolet, set tall, and still as a board. The second, an occasional blip of gold, heralded by a pitter-patter of steps, and all manner of phantom motions that made his instincts scream. The latter one, he needed to track, to land at least one single tap to its vulnerable spot and he would have the evening to himself. Then, the skiff and scuff on the ground ceased...
Leon's back leg slid out to bolster the forward whip of his hand to the fox-girl as she sailed toward him, palm readying to meet with the unrooted core.
"Gwrook!" Instead, he met with two tiger-clawed hands setting thumbs into the inside of his elbow, a jab of toes straight up into the ganglia of nerves in his underarm, and a heel raking up from the inside of his knee to the juncture of his hip, just close enough to his groin to make it an insult.
"WuunnnGAUGH-hu-FFFFAAAAA*K!" The arm that supported the Ball of Vulpine Pain dropped at the elbow, hoping to draw her down enough to land a wide, draconic swipe at a throat just a bit too short for him to fit his mits around, if at least to land his thumb in her trachea.
A stout little elbow settled over his wrist and unfurled into a wallop of a facepalm, short little fingers tapping at his occipital ridges, just to make a point. "Waaoowoop!" Saffron leaned into the twist and finally set foot on solid ground, leading Leon into a graceful, but humbling lie-down on his belly, with just a few fluffs of hair and brushes around his neck and cheeks to illustrate a few points, as well as folding up his abused arm into a vicious lock, and a knee effortlessly immobilizing him from a gentle press against his ribs.
At this point, all Leon could manage was a taptaptap of his unapprehended hand on the floor, with one leg absently kicking up behind him as his nerves set on high alert. "Okay!!! Okay... Uncle..."
She let him go for juuuust a bit longer until finally relenting, untwisting his arm into a shape far more amenable to lifting, bringing the towering oak to rise next to her, with a little pat-pat at the small of his back and a very subtle push to his hips to angle him towards the other figure, whose stillness broke with a trembling of shoulders and a low, sinister chuckle. "Tough beeeans, Pizza! How's it feel to have a full dance card?"
The nuclear glow kicked in to reveal the stoic Swiss alchemist behind the vicious blacklight eyes, still boring holes in whatever he set them on. Leon slumped forward for the mighty mit to clasp his wiry frame and draw him towards the shadows, where hints of eyes and glints of teeth glinted menacingly. "Like I'd rather be the D.U.F.F..."