[SE] froze and cons

Deimos's laughter rallied Nina this time, bolstered her wounded pride and drawing a self-satisfied smile to her lips. As another creature rampaged nearby - a maddened elk, by the looks of it - the snow-ursur hobbled before the keeper, seemingly ignored by the training soldiers and left for her to finish off. With that in mind, her whip of fire snaked out again, wrapping around the beast's throat with a sizzle of flame on ice, tightening until the bear's head popped off entirely. Easier, perhaps, given that it was made of frozen water rather than muscle and sinew, but satisfying all the same.

With the snow-monster defeated, Nina allowed her fire whip to dissipate into the air. "Training in this way is amusing," she told Deimos, her gaze flicking over to the soldiers battling the elk. "And useful." With Deimos's magic to drive things, it felt more like a real training scenario as opposed to taking aim at simple, unmoving training dummies. "I thank you for allowing me to participate." However briefly it may have been. Perhaps she would return in the future for more such training, to round out her abilities.

Nina

cover you when the sky comes crashing in

The elk seethed, striving to push past its constituents nearby. Most of the soldiers maneuvered quickly, trying to stay out of its rabid warpath as icy antlers barraged, and then they flung their own incantations. Knowing it wasn’t a real threat certainly helped dispositions, but prepared them for days where the tangible things became those ominous declarations – helped steel the nerves, prepare muscle memory, remember and recall experiences so there was less blundering, panic, and apprehension. They would just do what was required.

Another strike went into the elk’s shoulder and Deimos permitted it to act severely wounded, limping gallantly into a tide of soldiers as they rippled outward. Only then did his focus flick back to Nina, watching as she put mettle into her movements rather than trepidation; command of fire in different capacities. The flame whipped and lofted and sheered, and he let the rumble of amusement carry forth in his chest again as the ice fell into the snow, a sculpture no more. At her speech, he quirked a small smile, but let it chase after the parade of warriors beginning to churn their own fire into the forged animal. “I try to make most trainings that way,” he responded, mostly because he knew how bored and restless he could get when only permitted to slash at dummies all day. “You are welcome any time at the barracks.”

DEIMOS