Seeing Ramsas's outstretched hand, he reached out and grabbed it gently and gave some soft shakes. He returned Ramsas laughter with a somewhat confused grin. Ramsas seemed to be talking about his outfit, more specifically directly laughing at him because of it! He looked down at his outfit, but could really only see the collar looking down at himself. Glancing back up at Ramsas, he shrugged.
"It is quite... colorful to be sure. But this is what nobles wear isn't it? The shopkeeper said it was the perfect fit for someone in a noble role." As Ramsas laughed, the music continued to play and people were having the time of their lives dancing with loved ones both old and new. Despite his friend's reaction and his silly outfit, Birch could do nothing, but enjoy the moment for what it was. A moment of perfect cheer and joy for all involved. Birch smiled from the bottom of his heart. Then, he heard the sound of ripping and felt some of the weight shift at his back. The world froze and shattered all at once. The orcs had come. A flash of Aspen's face forced itself into his mind.
Birch reacted by reaching into the fire that raged in the core of his stomach. There was no time for thought only pure muscle memory born from thousands of fights, constant danger and violence. There was only the one rule his body would follow: survive! The fire greedily devoured him, first his chest, this his arms and legs, and finally his mind. The fire demanded all of him in tribute to its fierce power to not only survive, but to destroy the threat before him. The music was drowned out by the pounding his heart made against his rib cage sending out more flames through his body. The veins on his face bulged out a deep, purple color and several of the small veins near his eyes burst tinting them a dark red. His muscles bulged outward causing the tight fabric constrict his arms to burst and fall off in tatters. His mouth opened and the smallest amount of steam leaked out lazily. His body moved at lightning speed spinning to confront his foe. His eyes darted through the crowd wildly until he locked onto a figure slipping through the crowd of obstacles away from him. His lungs took in a huge amount of air and his voice bellowed out from his throat shouting out one word.
"ORCS!"No time for his axe, too many obstacles, and his foe was escaping! His foot slammed into the ground behind him with such force it created an indent into the stone below him. His leg pushed off this makeshift starting block to launch Birch's body forward with the force like a cannon. His hands stretched out to the ground below and his body began to sprint forth on all fours towards the retreating figure knocking the dancing obstacles out of the way from the power of his animalistic charge. His face was stuck in an expression of pure battle-rage and his eyes remained locked onto his target.
Eris heard the commotion behind her and turned just in time to see the man begin to sprint towards her on all fours.
"Oh crap." She exclaimed, her eye widening before she turned taking off in a sprint. It was just her luck, to have all she has now and be noticed by someone and someone who believes she is an orc? Yeah that part confused the girl but right now she was looking to continue her life as it was.
Pushing people out of the way and cursing now being in a crowded area, preventing her from using any of her inherited magic to help with the get away, Eris went towards her closests set out escape route. Running and jumping up on a box then onto the top of a stand, she ignored the commotion as she ran across the top of the stand and jumped to the next, thankful these stands had those wooden tops. Pulling a bunch of small marbles from a small bag on her waist she threw them down at her chaser, hoping it would slow him down so she could slip away easier. She grabbed her hood and pulled it forward more as it had begun to slip slightly, she didn't need that happening right now as well. With the end of the stands in sight, Eris looked to the alley blocked off by a stand, the last stand to be exact. Reaching it, she jumped in the alley and ran in, knowing full well the man would follow in not too long. Looking for the place she had scouted out she went up to it and quickly scaled the building where she sat at the top and awaited the man to come. Was it smart to await him and practically taunt him by sitting there. No. But she was curious about him mainly cause he called her an orc.
Spotting his foe jumping from stand to stand and continue to sprint forward on his arms and legs alongside the stands rather than following her exact route. His mind attempted to scout out places he could overtake it, but saw none. The figure jumped into an alley with a surity in its movements that meant they knew exactly where they were heading. His mind considered briefly that he was heading into an orcish ambush spot, but his battle-rage merely welcomed the chance to confront his foes. The figure climbed quickly up a building and then sat passively waiting for him. With a roar, Birch leapt forward and onto the wall. His strong arms, with the experienced hands of someone who had to climb parts of his mountain every day, found purchase in the building and where there was none slammed his hand into the wall to make one. With a burst of barbarian rage-fueled strength, he flung himself from the wall onto the top of the building, his body rolling to recover and then bellowed wordlessly at hooded figure watching him.
Eye wide once again Eris stood up when he was on top of the building. She was not expecting him to be able to do that and now she was cornered. She could jump off the building but it was a bit too high for her to land without hurting something. Her only option was to try and fight if it came to it. Luckily no one else was around but them so using her inherited magic wouldn't do too much harm in spilling her secret, although she'd rather not if she didn't have to.
"Look, whoever you are. I'm no orc so if you don't mind just leaving and such then we can both go our seperate way." That was her first tactic, try and talk to him to reason with him.
In response, Birch's throat let out a low growl, a small bit of steam escaping through his clenched teeth. His hand reached behind him and grasped his well-worn axe. Despite the size of the weapon, he wielded it in one hand. His legs sent him rocketing forward at Eris. No time for talking, only destroying his foes. He grabbed the figure by the front of its cloak, lifted her and threw her across the roof to the opposite end, knocking her prone. His other hand raised his axe above him preparing to deliver the final attack to end his foes life. Then, he saw her hood had fallen and beneath the hood was not the green skinned face of Orc in battle, but the face of a woman with skin white as the fresh snow on Mt. Frostswallow. The small voice that had been noting several alarming details that didn't quite add up now increased in volume to a maelstrom of sound, overwhelming his rage-addled mind. His axe clattered to the ground and he stared at her.
"You... you are no Orc. Oh. Oh gods! I can't believe I almost... oh god are you okay? I am so sorry!" The veins bulging out his body relaxed and his arms shrank back down to their normal size, muscles trembling at the exertion they had just been through.
"I think I have some bandages in my bag!" He scrambled to grab his bag, shoving his hand in and searching then stopping and glancing down
"Ah. It is empty..." He grabbed the red ripped cloth that had been his sleeves and pulled it the rest of the way off
"Will this work?"Eris lay there shocked for a second, processing all that had happened. She blinked as she stared up at the sky listening to him ask if she was okay then go on about bandages then his bag being empty. She looked at him with her single exposed eye as he held out some ripped of cloth from what he had been wearing. That is when she really took his appearance in. He seemed smaller than before and it appeared his muscles were trembling, his eyes appeared sincere with their worry. She didn't feel any need for bandages as she only felt sore as she sat up so she simply waved him off.
That is when her senses finally kicked in. Her face was exposed meaning her hood was down which meant... the breeze felt by her horns atop her head confirmed it. Scrambling up she quickly pulled the hood back over her head quickly covering her horns from sight. Standing there she noticed a few things had fallen from her bag when she'd been thrown. Scrambling around she picked them up, hoping the man didn't notice the few items that had been from his bag that she was putting in her bag. They were small but she was afraid he'd put two and two together. It was bad enough he'd seen her horns.
Birch looked down a familiar large roll of pure white fur rolled near his feet and picked it up gently off the ground. It was definitely one of the items from his bag. His mind finally locked down what the noise had been that had surprised him so badly earlier. The white skinned woman had thrown her hood up concealing her face again. He had probably terrified the poor woman and from the bandage on her eye, she was just trying to survive just like the rest of them. He gently tossed the bundle of white fur in front of her.
"I uh think you dropped that just now." He put his hands atop his head in a non threatening, somewhat silly looking pose and took a couple steps back.
The white fur landed infront of her and she stared at it for a second before reaching down and gingerly picking it up, slipping it under her cloak and into her bag.
"Thanks." Is all she said before she quickly ran off and jumped to the next roof, quickly making her escape. She jumped off a roof when it was safe and slipped from the alley back into the crowd, hoping he didn't follow this time. If he didn't she would easily disappear once again into the crowd like normal.
Birch did not follow after the strange woman, merely turning, picking up his axe, and slowly climbing back down the way he had come to apologize to the people he had knocked over. As he did, guilt streamed in from every part of his body. He was about to hurt someone, possibly lethally for no other crime than trying to survive. He had left holes in building and the ground below and had acted like a savage, wild animal. His good mood earlier was ruined from his own actions as regret took him fully.
