Tynova was so deliciously scenic: Such incredibly clean streets, endless multitudes of vegetation and greenery, and smooth buildings with precise architecture. Sephnia Neifate always managed to make up an excuse to come and visit Mars, and if she couldn't think of one, one of her esteemed aides were more than happy to come up with one in her stead. Today's trip was actually legitimate, a 'freebie' as Daniel sometimes called it, because, due to some unfortunate recent events, they required a new subject.
And it was good to have friends like Venrog Sathug, whose moonlighting could help in that regard. Venrog was an Ogre, and as such, was nine-and-a-half feet tall, had a powerhouse frame of nothing but muscle, was bald, and had two small fangs poking out from the bottom of his mouth. He was light-skinned like most humans, had a noble but subtlely fierce face, and wore dark paramilitary attire, given that he was a Mordecai and in Edanith's military.
Sephnia smiled evilly when he walked up to her, greeting him, "Mordecai Venrog Sathug, are you doing well today...?" Her right hand detached itself from her arm and floated up to Venrog's level, the clicking and beeping of the nanomachines that comprised the hand now a little more audible.
"Good enough." He replied, then frowned in a creeped-out manner when the disembodied hand was presented to him. He hesitantly shook her floating hand, and it shook back. Venrog, despite himself, shivered for a second. When the hand floated back down and re-attached itself seamlessly to her arm, Venrog remarked, "Don't do that. It messes with me."
Disregarding his last comment, Sephnia started talking as they walked down the sparsely populated street, "Oh, you must know that I have been absolutely dying to see you once again...! My aides and I have been working on an intriguing and very promising new serum, but, alas, it seems that the medicinal mixture is slightly off balance... Though I feel compelled to mention that the latest concoctive combination produced some very peculiar results, such as an uncontrollable urge to grossly over-salivate and-"
Venrog raised one of his big hands to spare himself the details. "So you need some new subjects?"
Sephnia pointed an index finger at him, and even tapped him on the side of his leg with it. "Precisely...! Of course, any that you could spare would always be appreciated by-"
"Hold on. I need to get my mage," Venrog interrupted. They stopped at an intersection, and Venrog turned to his left, simply calling down that street, "Warder!!"
Both of them heard a couple crashing noises, then a large brown bear came out of a local shop with a fish in his mouth. As the bear happily and hurriedly shambled up to Venrog on all fours, the shop owner yelled after him from inside the shop, "Hey! Gimme that fish!"
Sephnia looked visibly perplexed, but also curious. She tapped her chin with her index finger several times before asking, "Oh my... is that ursine specimen there your mage, Venrog?"
He nodded, replying as he dropped down to one knee in front of the bear. "Yes. It's not uncommon for animals to have magical potential." Then he told the bear to return the fish to the store, which he obediently set out to do, prompting the store owner to cry out, "Ohmigod! It's coming back!"
Sephnia had a hard time remembering that certain animals had magical properties or could use magic. Over the years, while she managed to keep her life force intact through necromancy and other means, her memory wasn't quite what it used to be. She finally snapped her fingers, saying excitedly, "Ah yes...! Fascinating...! Similar to dragons and certain lupines... Allow me to write this down before I forget again..."
