The only reason Vieri was out in this middle of nowhere hunk of rock and trees was because he’d heard there’d been some mage activity here. Some concerned peasant was complaining to some mage in local clothes about an unusually large and hot fire over the mountain like talking bad about mages was going to make them go away. He’d picked it up in one of his combat classes when said mage went around trying to pair fire powers with any and all mages to find the culprit for justice or a stern talking to or something; he didn’t know, and he didn’t care. All he knew was that if this wannabe hero was going to go around doing the thought equivalent of shouting at the top of their lungs, he may as well get something out of it.

So he was trudging through the forest, looking for this spot of burnt mountain so he could put samples in plastic bags and glass vials and chuck machines and chemicals at them later. It was dirty and a lot of walking, but at least he had canvas pants and a sleeveless shirt for the job. And the wool makers in Florence thought they were all that with their shirts and pants; why it took humanity thousands of years to come up with these things, he had no idea.

He was picking up some non-foliage living beings a little ways off to his side. One was an animal, going by its size, but the other… a mage, in all likelihood, going but their size. Last he checked animals weren’t supposed to get that big around here, so like all unexplainable phenomenon, it was probably the cause of a mage.

He was headed in their general direction, but didn’t see any reason to change course. The stream he was going along had taken him half an hour of kicking his way through branches and shrubs to find, and he wasn’t about to give it up because someone else was in this neck of the woods. If they had a problem with him going this way, what were they going do? Pick a fight? He pushed their presence out of his mind and kept right on his way.

As he was nearing, however, the animal they were with did another equivalent of mentally shouting. A burst of fear shot through the… pup, wolf pup, he was realizing, and he found his course changing; a little to the right, and a fair bit faster.

A few thumping steps through the underbrush brought him to the pair, teeth clenched and hands preemptively balled. He knew whatever they were was big, but actually seeing them, scaly black and who knows how long, Vieri hesitated.

Just for a moment, but plenty long enough for his stomach to come back with a burning kick. His anger flared. So what if they were the biggest snake he’d ever seen? What, did they breath fire too? Some giant-ass snake with legs and teeth didn’t scare him, and he couldn’t let them just go around hurting wild animals. People were one thing, but animals didn’t cause anyone any harm. If they thought their magic transformation powers gave them the right to pick on animals, especially pups, he wasn’t about to just keep on walking.

“Hey you oversized eguana.” He growled, just short of shouting. Blue and purple electricity began to jump between the backs and sides of his hands to his forearms, one arc making it around his back to the other arm. Static was lifting his hair up until it stood on end, and his burning gaze was leveled on the gigantic beast. “Leave the pup alone. You so much as put a scratch on it, and you’re going to have hell to pay.”

“Huh?!” He recoiled in an angry sort of surprise before bringing his glare back in full and taking a hard step forward. Several branches cracked under his foot.

The wolf thankfully appeared to have a degree of common sense, as animals tended to, and got out of there right quick. Based on its electrical signal, it kept on running even after the mage gave up their short chase and dove into a small nook between tree roots once out of sight. Smart creature, probably hoping any large, likely faster predators would pass it by.

The effort would go in vain, though; by the sounds of it, the huge snake trying to catch it wasn’t in fact trying to hurt it, unless this mage was operating under a really weird definition of saving something. Given their tactic, he could half believe it. They did sound genuinely worried about the wolf, though, and obviously knew enough to give some official-sounding name, enough so that he was willing to accept that was their actual intentions. What he couldn’t stand by was now they were blaming the wolf running from what looked a hell of a lot like a predator with claws on him.

“You think this is my fault?! You’re the one who was freaking it out! And save it from what, huh? It’s home? Yeah, sure looks dangerous out here, with all the nature and gigantic toothy monsters running around.”

His shouting was enough to scare off a bird a couple of trees down. He clicked his tongue as he began marching forward towards the mage, only stopping once me was about a meter away.

“Hurt me, is that what you said, you lump of scales? What, you think I’m afraid of you or something?” Both his gaze and voice were low. If that hadn’t been a threat before, his raised hand, held upwards in a cup and crackling with electricity was likely to give that impression. It made large enough arcs off his hand, arm, and shoulder to catch an unfortunately close tree branch on fire. If they wanted a fight, they’d have one, and they’d definitely be regretting it back in the academy nurse’s office. The thought that he might cause another patch of burnt mountain wasn’t really on his mind.

Vieri gnashed his teeth. His shoulders were tensed enough that, along with his lowered head, he looked something along the lines of a jack in the box, one turn from popping. The bolts arcing off his arms were growing larger and louder with the sound of static. He had no idea what the mage did, but the air smelt weird and was catching fire much easier than it should. Not that it mattered. This mage, they thought he was scared of him just because they were several times his size or whatever weird dragon breath they had? Getting all close like this, trying to be all intimidating like this- it annoyed him to no end, and even more that he felt a chill run down his spine with that last word of hers and the breath that filled the air.

“You bastard-” The electricity became much more focused around his hand as he raised and balled his fist- And then, abruptly, all it cut. Even the thin line of static that’d formed around his skin had dispersed like a light switch had been flipped to off.

He’d been too focused on the mage and this infuriating attempt to scare him off or something that he didn’t notice the hawk until it was basically upon him, talons out and proud like it was going to prove to the mage that he still wasn’t the top of the food chain. Vieri made a surprise yell and staggered a flustered step to the side, raising his arms up like he was trying to catch a football while also trying to keep that football from clawing out his eyes. A talon dug into his cheek even as he flinched back and drew a thin line of blood.

And then the hawk went limp. Vieri caught the bird with a grunt in his arms, in a lump of feathers and wings. Quickly, he readjusted his grip on it, cradling its body under his right and trying to adjust the wings so the one wasn’t sticking out awkwardly and the other wasn’t jabbing him in the nose with his left. All signs pointed to the bird still being alive; it was breathing, giving off heat, and all the other things animals normally did short of moving. Nor did it appear to be hurt or in pain in any way; it was almost as though it was sleeping, just with its eyes open.

“What the hell, bird, seriously.” He grumbled, annoyed, but without any of the aggression he’d been directing at the mage. Then his head swivel back towards the dragon mage and every bit of the anger returned to his voice, albeit without the electricity to back it up. “See?! You’re freaking out all the animals! What’re you even trying to do here? Take it home, name it Giovanni, and make it your lap dog?!”

“Of course it’s not dead! I’m not some bloodthirsty lump of deadweight who’d kill an animal just because it attacked me. And whether he likes me or not isn’t important!” He growled, his own feathers just as ruffled as before. He was staring daggers at the dragon as they got closer. He wasn’t a coward and didn’t back away, but with the hawk in his arms, he couldn’t safely attack them either. Damn bird... He was a little afraid of letting it go in case it attacked him, and he didn’t feel really great about turning his back on the mage to set it down an appropriate distance away. He hated it, but for now it was best if he didn’t start any fights.

And then the dragon began to shrink. All he could do was stare at the gradually decreasing form. These were mages so any sense of reality was best crushed, chewed, and spat out the window, but even a year into this, he was still being slapped with new surprises. She was just a kid! Shorter than him too, for all the posturing she did as a giant dragon snake. And she kept yelling, too. It was making him rethink not just taking her out with a punch and being done with it. If not for this kamikaze bird, he would, immediately.

“Oi shorty, you know as well as I do that wolf was scared shitless before I even showed up. Why do you think I bothered coming over here? I swear-” He clicked his tongue in frustration. “I’m here investigating the remnants of some magic. What, you think I was just tromping through the woods to bother people? I’ve got better things to do than interrupting a girl finding her dog. Now if you go hurting the animals, you better be damn sure I’m gonna care, and to me, that’s what it looked like.” At this point, he was holding the hawk almost as much for comfort as its protection. Its feathers, while a little old and worn, were very soft. “What’s your plan here anyway, huh? You just going to take a wolf back to the information age, or worse, the academy, and wish it the best? Calling this the past, I’m guessing you’re from that 2018 time so you’ve got to know; it ain’t exactly safe for wild animals.”

“Idiot, if the mage who turned a chunk of the forest into chars was still around here, we’d know. I don’t know who they were either, that’s part of what I came here to figure out.”

And what he’d be doing right now if not for this interruption. Whatever, he guessed it was a while before the sun went down, and it’s not like he had anything else planned today. If he did, he probably wouldn’t be out in the middle of low-tech nowhere. For the moment, as frustrating as it was, he had a mage who wanted to play cards against extinction and a bird in his hands. Both needed to be taken care of.

“We’ve got three worlds, kid, three. And you and I both know exactly what’s in all of them. How do you plan to find a new one, huh? Do you have portal opening powers on top of dragon snake transformation powers? Sitting around and waiting for the Headmaster to open up some new hole or for Headmaster Junior to come around is a dumbass waste of time if I’ve ever heard one.”

For all the bad placement choices of this forest - thick bushes next to the stream, no clear ways anywhere half the time and rocks right under his feet when there were - the small clearing at least had the presence of mind to have a large rock in it. Pacing over, he set the bird gently down on its surface, taking a moment to ensure its wings would hold it upright. The bird remained motionless even as he stood up and took several steps backwards (glancing once over his shoulder just to make sure Snake Lady wasn’t going to plant a dagger in his back). Then, like it had been snapped awake, it began to stir. Gathering itself and its wings, it stood, shook a little, and dove into the sky, eager to get away.

Vieri sighed through his nose and wiped the thin line of blood running down his face, watching the bird until it vanished over the treeline. “Don’t sit around and wait on someone else to do the work.” He said, turning tiredly to the girl. “You’re a mage. If you really want to help them, use your power to get some land. Stick trees and whatever fluffy animals your heart says you should scoop up and transplant on it. Hire some animal experts. If you don’t know how to do something or how to keep animals alive, get them to help you.” He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. “Geeze, for all their power, mages suck at actually getting stuff done.”