While Tzirret's eyes were closed, he could smell Ma'tanza in front of himself, so he wasn't upset when she pecked him on the snout. He simply smiled inwardly. What he didn't expect was to be tackled. His eyes shot open and he bent backwards to compensate for Ma'tanza's momentum as she threw her arms around him. Tzirret wasn't quite toppled over, as he was able bring one arm back to support his upper body. Once he had processed what happened, Tzirret sat up again and put his arms around Ma'tanza, nuzzling the side of her head with his snout.

The playfulness not only interrupted Tzirret's attempts at transforming back, but encouraged his beast spirit to play as well. He perked his ears and suddenly rolled off to one side with a higher pitched, friendly growl, taking Ma'tanza with him. Tzirret's rolling stopped as he let Ma'tanza go while he was on top of her, but lifted his body up so he wouldn't crush her. He then licked her face and neck a couple of times, before lifting his head and sounding a tiny, muffled bark, waiting for her to do something else.

[hr]
While Gallus had seen werebears before, he had seldom been so close to one, and never confronted one so large. He flinched as Ri'vashi sprung upon the scamp, but as the confused beast sniffed and searched for its kill, Gallus let out a chuckle. They really did have to submit to their instincts. Rather than risk enraging Ri'vashi, Gallus swiftly tossed the half-carcass out in front of her and stepped back to allow her to feed.

Gallus didn't quite know if Ri'vashi understood what she was saying in her form, but he asked anyway. "You mentioned that some people fight before killing to also satisfy their instincts, but who is this La'tahne you speak of? Does she fight a bit too hard?" Gallus was willing to repeat the question after Ri'vashi was done if it didn't seem like she was listening.