[center][h2][color=F0E68C]Asteria[/color][/h2][/center][hr][hr]
Asteria sent a telepathic message of relief and welcome as Mother rat recovered, then huffed a laugh at her worry over Ed. [color=F0E68C]“He’s just asleep,”[/color] she muttered, leaning a head closer to him to listen to his breathing and heart-beat – just in case, and also to show Mother how she could ensure his wellbeing on her own. 

Asteria knew her fellow human needed his rest, but they needed to move as well. It was possible the explosion had confused and deterred the ants as well as it had the humans, but they couldn’t count on that. And when the humans regained their wits, they might come back – if nothing else, to dispose of their corpses, perhaps. With that in mind, Asteria moved to the den, ruffling among their belongings. An item in there might turn out to be helpful on the situation, and if not…she had another idea as well. Firstly, she inspected Ed’s belongings, mainly the crystals that she had up until then not inspected yet. Though she doubted they’d be useful for this situation, she wasn’t entirely certain [i]when[/i] and [i]for what[/i] they could come in handy, and she could certainly remedy that. So, she used magic analysis on both a tainted crystal and the flame touched crystal. 

With a quiet [color=F0E68C]“Hmm,”[/color] she moved on to her own items. The jarful or antlers, an eye, and the leather was largely an unknown. Seeing as all the things were technically parts of the monsters, she used Monster analysis on each. She also unfurled the leather scroll, examining its length and width, then put it all back into the clay jar when she was finished. She realized the move would be easier if Ed were awake for it but…How to wake him up? And moreover, they still needed food – which they had in form of insects – and water, which was rather scarcer than she’d prefer. Making her way to the insects, Asteria used Mana drain on both to refill her mana, and also ate some of their flesh to satiate her hunger. As for the water…she could attempt to dissect one of the Myrmidors, but the worker had a poison gland somewhere in there, and while it could be precious to get…[color=F0E68C][i]Well, if Ed doesn’t wake up, I’ll have nothing better to do, will I.[/i][/color]

But she did want to at least make an attempt to accelerate his resting, if nothing else. Approaching, she held a paw on his head, closed her eyes, and concentrated. She established a thin, unobtrusive telepathic link. Carefully, she fed a sensation of peace, rest, pleasantness, and passage of time over the link alongside miniscule amount of mana. As she did so, she breathed deeply, meditating, focusing on a calming sensation. Convincing another’s brain that it was resting sufficiently would, if nothing else, require her to feel at peace and detached from time. So, she focused on her breath, and kept the telepathic link up until she almost ran out of mana. Then, she slowly opened her eyes, inspecting Ed. Unsure if he was waking up yet or not, she moved to her next task – recovering back the mana she’d lost, and then dismantling the ants. For the former, she closed her eyes, and focused much the same as she had when she’d tried to speed up Ed’s rest. She knew meditating was a skill, and she’d bite her own tail if that skill didn’t help in recovering mana. Using the miniscule amount of remaining mana she had from her experiment with Ed, she also used Mana Drain to draw some energy in from the surroundings; something that had worked in the past, if not exactly effectively.

When that was done, she took a moment to listen to their surroundings, trying to ascertain whether the humans – or something else – would approach them. Regardless, Ed did have to wake up first, and so she took the hatched, a rock, and moved to a Scout. She used her own claws to attempt prying off the most damaged part of its exoskeleton first. Only if that would not work would she use the hatched – carefully, as she did not want it destroyed so soon. Her target was its abdomen. She took time and care to study it as she opened it up. The abdomen was where most of its organs would be. It might hold half-digested food. What she was really after was any sort of liquid. The hemolymph should theoretically suffice for now, should it not? And, by dismantling a Scout, she would learn enough to hopefully safely remove the poison gland the worker possessed.

[hider=Action summary]
Uses Telepathy to celebrate MR’s recovery.
Reassures MR Ed is sleeping; shows her how to listen to his breath and heart-beat.
Uses Magic analysis on the Flame touched crystal and the Tainted crystal.
Uses Monster analysis on the antlers, eye, and leather inside the clay jar.
Unrolls the leather to check its size, then rolls and stores it back.
Eats from the insects and uses Mana Drain to top her mana off.
Establishes a telepathic link with sleeping Ed, attempts to convince his brain that he’s been resting well and for longer than he has been. Feeds some mana to him as well.
Stops when she has only a spec of mana left.
Rests, attempting to recover mana, also using Mana Drain to draw in the surrounding natural energies.
Listens to the surroundings with Beast Senses II.
Takes the hatchet and rock, uses it alongside claws to begin dismantling the dead ant Scout.
Opens up its abdomen. Pokes around. Tries to get at some of its hemolymph for a refreshing drink. Mm.
[/hider]