Nimbus squawks at Beist, his tail wagging excitedly when the large beast man essentially plucks him from the air. Fully trusting, Nimbus just flaps his wings and opens his maws in excited chitters while Beist speaks to him; his legs flex and retract, almost as though the drake is attempting to swim in the air. Upon seeing the candy, he grows even more excited— reaching out with his neck to snap up the treat as Beist unwraps, then offers it to him.

Leni-Aura can hear the hard candy clacking around in Nimbus’ jaws from her position at the door as he tries to crunch down on it; eventually succeeding with a loud crack.

Brows furrowed in confusion and irritation, the rabbitaur reaches her extended palm towards her spear; Beist finally addresses her. Just as he points at the spear driven into the wall, it crackles violently and returns to Leni-Aura in a streak of lightning. She looks at it briefly, before tucking it away in its hilt. “It has been very useful on our travels,” she answers; she looks fondly to the drake squirming in Beist’s grasp.

The wiggling Nimbus is not stressed, in fact, he’s delighted to see Beist.

"I use it often when needed."

Beist’s other Winter’s Crown gift, a lily, sits snug in her hair— clipped just above the base of one of her ears. She still thinks that it doesn't quite suit her— it feels unusual— but there's something about it that she is quite fond of. “We….?” she repeats, brows furrowing as she steps in through the door frame to join Beist on the inside of the shop. He must mean the little quetzal— Pretzels— that would make sense. She doesn’t see Leon or Dora here. As she moves, her paws brush against the spear on the floor; she starts slightly, ears perked as she looks down, then she looks back at the werebeast quizzically. “You are breaking in?” she repeats.

That seems awfully uncharacteristic of the gentle giant; she doesn’t know him as someone who likes to instigate conflict. Not like her, anyways.

“Why in the name of the gods are you breaking into a pet shop?”

Beist held two hands up in front of him defensively while the other two pulled Nimbus into a gentle hug, one hand stroking the drake's back.

"This looks bad, doesn't it?" Beist asked with a nervous chuckle. If he could sweat, he would have been right now. He'd clearly been caught in the act of breaking and entering, and by his own friend! He even just admitted to his crime!

"Alright, yes, I know it's illegal, but I have good reason! I received word that this was not actually a pet shop. That's just a front! The animals here are being treated terribly and used as test subjects. I broke in to rescue them."

Beist indignantly pointed at the spear embedded in the floor that had fallen from a trap door in the ceiling.

"What kind of pet shop has deadly traps like that!?"

He pointed to the arcane lock of the door that he'd melted with acid.

"And look at this! They had glyphs carved into their door! _{Eh, Ignore the melty parts...} That's highly suspicious, don't you think? What kind of pet shop would need such strong security? This isn't a pet shop at all! You know I'm not one for committing crimes without a very good reason." Beist pleaded with Leni, hoping she'd understand.

“It does.” Leni’s voice is blunt; but as a woman from a clan of individuals who raided as a weekly activity, she’s not particularly disgruntled that Beist is committing a crime— it’s just that this is out of character for what she knows of the big beast man. Nimbus, meanwhile, has not a care save for showering Beist in draconic affection.

Still cronching on the hard candy he’d been given, Nimbus clings onto Beist’s cradling arms with his clawed wings, wagging tail thumping rhythmically against the werebeast’s chest while he savours the little strawberry candy.

“A front?” Leni-Aura keeps moving forwards, head tilting as Beist continues explaining himself; she only stops when Beist points behind her; and she looks back to see the spear embedded in the floor. “Test subjects…?” Her ears twitch, seemingly trying to put it altogether in her head.

She moves forwards, stopping to look at the arcane lock on the door that Beist had… actually, what had he done to it? She frowns, cocking her head as she taps gingerly at some of the melted remains which have since cooled. She purses her lips, looking back over her shoulder at the open door. “I… do not know.” she admits about the pet shop.

She’s never seen such strict security for animals before.

She looks back at Beist, blinking at him, before turning her eyes back to the door. After a few moments of consideration, she looks back up at him. “That is true. You would not.” she agrees, her voice is soft but feels too loud in the silence; Beist wouldn’t just rob a place for fun. Maybe survival.

Maybe.

“Do you need help getting them out?”

It turns out she’s not that hard to convince of spontaneous crime when it comes to trusted faces.

Beist was immensely relieved to hear Leni take his side. He'd been afraid she'd have to turn him in or that she was working as a guard here. What a terrifying thought! He wasn't a fighter in the slightest despite his large size and knew that Leni was, in fact, quite the fighter despite her small size. He also really wouldn't have wanted to fight his friend. He let out a sigh of relief as he smiled down at her.

"Yes, I would greatly appreciate your help!" He said happily as he handed Nimbus back to her and pulled open the door leading farther into the building.

As soon as the door opened, a small snap came from a thin wire that had been connected to something on the other side. A huge hammer suddenly swung down and hit Beist directly in the stomach. If anyone of a normal height had been standing there, it likely would have been aimed at taking their head clean off! Beist fell to his knees, holding his stomach in pain, all the breath knocked out of him.

"That... really hurt..." He wheezed. He was just glad he'd handed Nimbus back moments before or he might have been squashed.

"Just... a moment." Beist coughed as he held up a finger to Leni.

She nods in response to Beist’s gleeful approval; after all, she trusts him. He’s big and kind of goofy, but she’s never known him not to mean well; truly, she can’t imagine he’d rob a place for no good reason.

She reaches out to take Nimbus as Beist hands him back to her. “What are you eating?” she murmurs, “Did he give you candy?” Nimbus squirms in her hands, chomping up the last of the strawberry candy. Leni-Aura breathes a soft puff in a laugh of amusement, before looking after Beist.

She prepares to follow the large beast man inside when a hammer swings down. “Beist!” Nimbus startles in her arms, squawking at Beist when he holds up a finger. She frowns, lifting Nimbus up to allow the drake access to her shoulder; she steps forwards as Nimbus crawls up onto her shoulders, and drags his blue-tinted tongue across his teeth to swipe up the last taste of strawberry candies.

Leni-Aura reaches up next to Beist, using her paws to clutch the doorframe; then she snaps the wire with a quick slash of her spear. Crash! The heavy hammer falls to the floor harmlessly, but leaves cracks in the cobblestone floor with its weight. “Perhaps you should stand to the side next time a door has to be opened.” she suggests, brows furrowing as she falls back to all four paws.

Lightning crackles in her palms as the spear lights up in her hand; the light it gives is irregular, but it’s light nonetheless. She squeezes around Beist; and while she does so, Nimbus clings onto one pair of the large man’s arms. He crawls up onto his shoulders and brushes against his cheek with all the affection of a feline, seemingly trying to comfort him while he catches his breath.

Leni-Aura, meanwhile, jabs her lightning spear into the floor— and it lights up, allowing a better glance at the room that Beist had plans to enter.

"Yes... A very good idea..." Beist answered Leni as he continued to try to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him. He finally managed to stand back up, a hand still on his stomach.

"It's lucky that I have plenty of padding there, eh? I'll be fine." He meekly chuckled. His stomach was a bit pudgy which had absorbed a small amount of the blow, but truly a majority of the protection was the hidden layer beneath the fat and fur of thick muscle. If he wasn't a a giant beast man with the strength of a werebear, he might have been seriously injured by that strike even if it had missed his head by a lot. Thankfully, the strike just hurt a lot and would probably leave his gut bruised for a while.

Taking a look around at the room lit by the crackling spear, there was a lot to take in. One wall was entirely lined with large cages of thick metal bars. Only one of these was occupied by a large canine creature that seemed to be some kind of cross between a hyena and a wolf and possibly a bear. It was very large with grey fur with brown spots speckled across it and a mohawk down its back. Its canine legs were thick and its feet were large, looking almost like a bear's paws while it's tail was like a wolf's and head like an oversized hyena's.

On the opposite wall from the large cages were many smaller cages stacked atop each other and built into the wall. All sorts of animals were inside these, from birds to small cats and some reptiles. In the center of the room was a large metal table with chains connected to it. Along the back wall of the room were shelves and cabinets that must contain tools and equipment for whatever they did here.

"How horrific..." Beist mumbled as he looked around. These conditions were truly awful and who knew what experiments happened on that table? He had to get all these innocent creatures out of here right away!

“What is this?” Leni-Aura’s expression flickers with uncertainty as she looks to the wall lined with thick, metal bars; the creature inside pulls its lips back to bare its teeth at her. It shies away from her approach, causing her to pause before she moves forwards with more caution to her steps. “Mm….” She frowns, reaching out to touch the arcane lock holding the creature inside.

Zap!

Leni-Aura flinches; a current similar to electricity runs through her at the touch; and she pulls back sharply as though she’s been bitten. It doesn’t hurt terribly, but it’s enough to make her heart beat just a little faster. “They have more of those locks.” she grumbles, shaking out her hand as she looks to the strange creature inside. She's not sure she's ever seen something like it before; yet, despite its size, it seems more scared of her than she does of it...

She feels guilty watching it press back into a corner. She starts to pace backwards before she turns to look behind her; she notices the table for the first time, ears perking as she follows the line of chains.

“... What do they do here?” she asks hesitantly, looking at Beist with a mild concern. “You say they… test the animals? What does that mean?”

"Hm. I don't know all of the details myself, but I'd heard they tested potions on the animals. From what I see though, it seems to me that that's putting it mildly." Beist answered sadly as he looked around. He'd never seen or heard of animals like a lot of these before. Were they permanently altered by the potions? This was just too much. How could anyone do this?

He walked up to the larger cage with the hybrid canine inside it and knelt down. The lock was just like the one that had been on the door. The security in this place was definitely more than a simple pet shop should have. That much was painfully obvious.

"It's alright. We won't hurt you. We're going to get you all out of here." Beist said soothingly to the creature in the cage as he pulled the oozeling from his bag again. With another splash of acid, the lock to the cage was dissolved and the glyph deactivated. Now he just hoped this creature wouldn't turn violent. He opened the door to the cage and held out a hand. The hyena-wolf-bear stepped forward and sniffed his hand. For a tense moment, Beist thought it might bite him, but he sighed in relief as it nuzzled into his hand gently. It was actually kind of cute to him.

He nodded and walked over to the wall of smaller cages with the canine following behind him.

"We'll get all of you out of here, so just stay calm, alright?" He announced to the rest of the caged animals soothingly as he began to melt more locks one by one with Trashjar's help.

The huge canine sniffed curiously at Leni and Nimbus, but suddenly turned toward the door with a growl as some noise was coming from the entryway beyond.

---

Oozeling
Bonded to Nature

“Potions?” she repeats, her voice pitching in surprise; she wants to ask if they just use the ones that are good. She’s seen Beist make potions, and though her knowledge is limited, she knows that there are some potions which help with injuries and illness alike.

Those would be safe for the animals.

…Right?

But looking at the way the creature skulks cautiously towards Beist, and the way that it looks… she has her doubts. People— and creatures— don't just act like that without reason. “That’s horrible.” she manages, ears lowering slightly as she watches the strange creature nuzzle against Beist’s hand. She doesn’t want to spook it when it comes out, so Leni-Aura steps back to make room for the large beast while it follows Beist to the other cages.

To her surprise, the big canine hybrid sniffs at her curiously as it moves after Beist; taking a lesson from the beast man, she hesitantly holds out her hand for it to sniff. “Hello…” she greets. Nimbus chirrups curiously in return, his tail twisting tighter across her collar; but suddenly, the beast turns around and causes her to flinch when it growls. She holds her hand close to her chest, eyes narrowing sharply when she realizes there’s something beyond the door.

“Shit,” Leni-Aura’s picked up a few colourful words in common during her time here, “Do not stop, I will see what it is. Get them out.” she tells Beist; the rabbitaur yanks her spear out of the ground, causing the light to begin flickering out. “Nimbus, come.” With that, she quietly bounds towards the entryway and slips out into the next room— careful to swing around one of the counters to avoid detection by whatever– or whoever’s— there.

Beist was worried as he watched Leni set off to deal with whatever or whoever was causing the noise. Did the owner come back? Was another person robbing this place at the same time? Either way, someone might attack them and Leni was going to go deal with it alone while he stayed back here and kept freeing the animals. She was a capable fighter while he wasn't but he still couldn't help but be worried and want to assist her somehow.

"Pretzels, go with her and let me know if she needs some help." Beist spoke in a hushed tone and pulled the little white snake from the fur around his neck.

"Ugh, I was having a good nap you know! Why don't you just destroy them yourself? Oh, I could just destroy them! I am the most powerful being, the grand and majestic Quetzalcoatl! None can stand up to my might-" Pretzels began to hiss in Beist's ear, but was cut off when Beist just unceremoniously threw him toward the door. With an undignified hiss, the snake twisted in the air to get his wings into the right position to catch himself and fly through the door after the Rabbitaur.

With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, Beist continued his work melting the glyphs and opening the cages while speaking to try and keep the animals calm and cooperative.

In the lobby, several masked men in black leather armor began to enter through the front door and look around. From the spear still stuck in the ground and the open door behind the counter, it was obvious there was an intruder, but they couldn't see them yet. They quietly crept forward toward the back, intended on going through the door. Two of them held crossbows while one had a dagger in each hand and more sheathed on their thighs.

---

Ginma's Familiar

Several masked men enter through the front door just as Leni-Aura steps out into the next room; she lowers her ears, creeping behind the nearest counter to step just out of their way, intending to lie in ambush. She narrows her eyes, slowly tightening her grip on the spear in right hand as footsteps tap against the stone, heading for the open door.

With a small gesture of her hands, Nimbus takes flight— drawing the attention of one of the crossbowmen. The clack of the crossbow fires, followed by a dull crack when the arrow thrums into the wall over Leni’s head. A shriek fills the air, followed by crackles of lightning from Nimbus’ maw. “Lunala’s tits!” One of the masked men curses after another shot from the crossbow goes unmet. “Something got out.”

“Got out, or was let out? The door’s busted!” One of the others mutters. Leni feels a nervous flutter in her chest as another arrow is shot unsuccessfully; she trusts Nimbus’ agility, but she still doesn’t like sending him out as a distraction. With a swoop, Nimbus lands on an empty bird cage near the entrance; he stretches out his wings, making himself look bigger, as he hisses and snarls.

“The hell even is that one?” A moment of distraction brings the two crossbowman a step closer towards Nimbus, who flares his wings further at them in warning. One of the others looks towards the open door in the back, and steps towards it—

—enough for Leni-Aura to lash out.

The wing of her spear snags against the ankle of the man at the door before he can enter, and a gasp turns into a shriek as Leni-Aura pulls his legs under him and launches herself over his fallen body. “What the—“ Twisting her spear around, she slams the rounded end into a crossbowman’s stomach as he turns around to sharply face the door.

He staggers back, clutching his stomach with a wince as the opposite crossbowman fires at her; the arrow pings sharply off her pauldrons, creating a metallic cling as the little pet shop comes alive with the sounds of a skirmish in the next room.⁽¹⁾

---

^{(1) Pauldron: 0 Hit Prevention(s) Left}

The crossbowman suddenly shouted in fear and pain as something launched at him from behind the counted and bit onto his nose. Pretzels, the tiny winged snake, flapped and flailed wildly on the man's face while sinking his fangs into the man. Luckily for the crossbowman, the serpent wasn't poisonous. The fangs were more for intimidation than anything. but they still hurt like hell as they gave him a new nose piercing he hadn't been expecting or wanting.

"Get it off!" The crossbowman shouted to his companions as he struggled with the thing on his face, dropping his crossbow to the ground to try and use both hands to extract the serpent from his nose.

"Shit, how many of the damn animals got loose!?" The dagger-wielding man asked while going to help the other. He grabbed a hold of Pretzels' squirming tail and pulled, trying to yank him off of the man's face. They had no time for this, they were in the middle of fighting an intruder! He looked over his shoulder at Leni and Nimbus. He couldn't fight like this. He hoped the other crossbowman in front would be able to handle himself for just a moment, but he was already staggered from the strike to his stomach. This wasn't going well.

In the other room, Beist was expecting to either hear from Pretzels that nothing was wrong or that he needed to go out there and help Leni. He hadn't told the snake to start fighting. He continued to free the animals, a knot in his gut from worry about what was going on out there. There was a lot of shouting, and that definitely wasn't Leni's voice. What was going on out there? Why hadn't Pretzels come back to tell him what was happening? Should he go out there? But there were still so many animals to free... Ugh, this wasn't going well.

Crack!

Leni-Aura slams the haft of her spear into the same crossbowman’s gut, knocking him onto his rump. He falls with an ungraceful thud, crossbow skidding just a palm’s length away; but staggered as he is, the crossbowman is unable to react right away. The rabbitaur hears another shout from the other crossbowman, and turns a glance to her right to see Beist’s familiar with their jaws snapped into the fallen man’s nose.

She doesn’t want to kill these men… not unless they give her more of a reason to; then again, if they’re responsible for whatever’s happening in the back… maybe it would be better if she did?

Leni-Aura cracks the blunt of her spear into the stone; as soon as she strikes, a flash of light erupts from her fingertips. Lightning arcs from her as its centerpoint, the illumination reflecting off her furrowed gaze like a mirror. ⁽¹⁾ “You…. You all have done enough to these beasts. Leave now and I might let you do so with your life.”

Leni-Aura bristles, spinning her spear around to face her front as she leaps over the crossbowman, and targets the dagger-wielding man holding Pretzels. The man grimaces, releasing his hold on Pretzels to defend himself as Leni-Aura strikes out; metal on metal creates sparks amongst the arcs of electricity surrounding the rabbitaur,

“Gah!” The dagger wielding man is pushed back by the force despite avoiding the blade, a scowl twisting his expression for only a moment; wind fills the space in front of Leni-Aura with a gesture of her hand— and glass around the entrance shatters as a burst of wind blows forth. ⁽²⁾ The man goes skidding out through the open door, cut by shards of broken glass debris left in the wake.

She lowers her ears, turning her eyes to the crossbowmen as Nimbus swoops overhead, landing on her shoulders with an open-mouthed snarl. “Leave. Release him and leave.” She demands, bristling as she spins her spear towards the man still trying to remove Pretzels from his face.

---

^{(1) Lightning Armour
(2) Gust Thrust}

Beist finally got the last cage open, the oozeling's acid making quick work of the locks.

"Thank you, Trashjar." Beist spoke cheerily to the little bottle with the blob of green slime at the bottom and then slipped it back into his pocket.

He couldn't keep his cheeriness up for long though. He was far too worried about what was going on in the other room. Did he hear glass break? What was going on? He still hadn't heard anything from Pretzels either! Perhaps it would be best to get out of here as quickly as possible. The glass shattering had been quite loud. It might draw even more attention to what they were doing here. They had to leave, now!

"Alright everyone, time to leave! Come with me, I'll bring you all somewhere safe." Beist spoke to the animals that were crawling out of the cages. Some needed a little help, and Beist held out a hand to give them a lift. Unexpectedly, all of the animals climbed up onto the beastman.

"Wha-! Ah! No, not there! Ooh!" Beist wiggled and flinched as they crawled over him. Into his robes, onto his shoulders, clinging to his arms. He was suddenly covered in all of the little creatures. Weren't these guys a little too friendly!? He'd hoped they would follow him nicely, but this was a bit much! He sighed in resignation.

"Alright then, let's get going. Hold on, I suppose."

Beist set off, lumbering to the door. The bear-canine hybrid walked behind him as he pushed it open. He carefully ducked through it and saw the chaos in the other room. 

"What is going on in here!?"
"What the hell is that!?"

Beist and one of the strangers shouted at the same time.

---

Bonded to Nature

Just as Leni-Aura’s about to push forth, she hears the door open behind her; quickly, she glances over her shoulder; her ears twist in two separate ways, catching Beist’s surprise in addition to the strangers’ at the sight of him. Even she does a double take when she sees that the beast man is covered head to toe in hundreds of tiny creatures. Her mouth is agape for a moment, before she comes around and shakes her head, “We have to go,” she responds, still keeping the man with Pretzels at spear-point.

Scthnk!

A crossbow bolt snaps into the doorframe next to Beist and the animals, drawing Leni’s attention to the man she’d just pushed out through the window moments before. Blood schlofs from his forearms, brows furrowed behind the mask. The original crossbowman she’d knocked over seems to have gone to him at some point, lingering with his hands clutched over his stomach, and a shocked look in his eyes when he sees the were bear, and the massive bear-canine hybrid lingering behind Beist in the doorway.

He might’ve been the one to cry out.

Leni-Aura plants her paws, pulling back her spear before throwing it towards the two lingering on the outside. As it arcs, lightning crack and snaps, until it’s become a lightning bolt in and of itself; the two bristle, scrambling away as the lightning bolt crashes between them, sending electric webs scattering across the glass-covered ground. ⁽¹⁾

When they wince and pull back, Leni-Aura turns quickly, trying to grab Beist by the hand to usher him and the creatures through the ruined storefront quickly. "Grab Pretzels!"

---

^{(1) Lightning Spear}