He must've developed a bit of a soft spot for the small dark haired girl, the apparent "trainer" of the branch-y dragon, as he'd grown partially concerned over her state—she looked as if she was about to collapse.
A grin crept across his features. Perhaps he could interfere, get into her and the dandy's good books (perhaps ask for some compensation for the next time they meet) and give himself the opportunity to mess with Red (something he'd been meaning to do all game)...
Clovis, now with his arms on Odette to keep her from falling over, watched in surprise as Altair soared over to land on Red's head as Odile pulled away from him to attack for the second time.
"Call Venira back," he said to Odette.
She turned to him with a disagreeing look, clear even through the film of goo all over her. What was also apparent was how pale she'd become. "Why should I--"
"Call her back," he urged.
Odette reluctantly faced the fight again and raised her hand out in front of her and dig her nails into her palm.
"Odile,
fall back," she commanded in the loudest voice she could muster, which wasn't very loud at all. However it was clear Odile heard it anyway, because the tenseness left her wings. However, her gaze was still locked on Altair.
"̸̢̗͍͍̼̰̦̣̇͆͘̕T̸̨̼̤̤̘̭̔͗̄̈́̚ḧ̶͔̰̘̦̙̣̬́͗̔̀̈̾̽̏̔͜i̴͍̱̻̱̙͖̭̰͊̓́̄̈́̚s̸͇̯͍̉͌̀̚ ̶͈̜̻͓͒̂̀͒̏i̸̡̝̟̦͍̦̣̊s̴̨̢̼̣̦̮̝̬̠̃ ̵̫̗̭̖̳̀̒̈̐L̵̘͋͌̆A̴̡̭͍̖̜̝̍͂͜M̴̩̯͓̺͎̭͛̔̓̌̈́͝͝͝Ė̶̡͉̠̭͎̫̳͈̲̑̋,̷̧̢̡̥̬͈͇͉̈́̓̒̑͑"̴̰̠̤͉̑̏̂͒̐̿ ̴͙̙̟͈̻̦̓̎̀
In an instant, Altair left his resting place and leapt onto the worm-beast's "head", wings spread wide. "That's enough," he whispered. "We wouldn't want an incident, now do we?" Altair felt himself sifting away the creature's energy, not enough to kill but enough to incapacitate. As he did, he felt the the creature beneath his talons shrink; spines, extra limbs, and thick protective plating receding back into its body. In its stead came the features of a human being; hair, eyes, ears—the ring of tentacles embellishing its mouth sealed together to form lips. It was a slow and gruelling process but Altair had saw it through to the very end. With his work done, Altair let go of the back of Red's head. Where once was a worm-creature laid a human, face down on the tiles.
However, she watched with a flat expression as Altair drained Red back down to his normal human size. When all that was left was Red's original body, she chuffed in annoyance as she crouched to the floor.
"̴I̵ ̵h̷a̶a̷a̴a̴a̴a̴a̶a̶a̴d̸ ̶h̸i̴m̶,̸ ̸I̴ ̷d̵o̵n̴'̵t̶ ̵k̸n̴o̷w̸ ̸w̷h̷y̶ ̷t̷h̸a̶t̵ ̶w̶a̷s̶ ̵n̵e̵c̶e̶s̵s̵a̴r̵y̶.̴ ̷N̸o̵ ̸f̸u̶n̵,̸"̵ she whined. Her eyes cut to where Odette and Clovis were standing near the portal, and she was somewhat elated to see that by deescalating Red, the effects of the worm goo had fallen off of them too. However, now Odile could see that her vessel was looking pallor and wobbly.
"̸O̵h̵ ̴d̸a̵r̶n̷ ̷o̶h̷ ̴d̷a̴r̵n̴ ̸o̸h̸ ̸d̶a̴r̶n̶ ̴o̸h̷ ̶d̵a̸r̵n̴,̷"̸ ̸ she said as she faded back down to that human form and rushed past Red and Altair, just in time to watch Clovis pick Odette up again.
"Stop, I can walk," Odette insisted.
"You're white as a sheet, don't start with me," Clovis snapped back.
"̵I̸'̵m̵ ̵s̸o̷o̷o̴o̶o̸r̷r̴r̴r̶r̶r̵r̷r̶r̶r̷r̷r̸y̸y̷y̶y̶y̴y̷y̸y̵y̷y̶y̴y̵y̶y̸y̸y̸y̷y̶,̴ ̴d̷i̵d̸ ̶w̶e̵ ̴o̴v̴e̶r̴d̶o̸ ̵i̶t̷?̸"̷ she asked, poking her fingers together.
"I might have," Odette replied, bringing her near-colorless hand to her head. "You were pretty awesome, though."
Odile beamed.
"̷I̶ ̵w̸a̴s̶ ̸w̷a̸s̷n̸'̷t̵ ̷I̷!̶ ̷B̴u̸t̷.̶.̸.̴w̵e̷ ̶s̴h̸o̶u̴l̸d̶ ̶g̶o̵.̷ ̶I̶ ̷s̸t̴i̶l̸l̶ ̸t̵h̶i̵n̵k̷ ̷I̵ ̵t̵o̶o̵k̷ ̴t̸o̷o̸ ̷m̵u̵c̷h̴.̴.̷.̴"̷
Odette shook her head slowly, tiredly. "Nah. Who needs a full 5 liters of blood in their system? I don't."
