<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/F4zgszH.jpg?1)</div>Dean was luckier than he was smart. There was virtually no chance he knew what he was doing when he diverted the Greater Shadow into the half-circles of metal that had been Aza's neckpiece, but it was probably one of the only methods that ensured the success for which he was hoping and, just coincidentally, their survival.<br/><br/>A few of the little charms Zozo had set upon the collar ceased to function once it'd been pried from Aza's neck, but by and large the foxgirl and the collar were still in magical accord, which was why it'd continued to shine even when carried upon Donovan's person. It'd mainly been constructed as a sort of magical storage-slash-amplification device, meant to catch and contain the energies that almost constantly moved through the finicky little fox.<em>Through</em>was the operative term there; Aza was not the source, merely the path. A cute but captious gateway to the infinite gulf of elemental force that lain between the levels of all the worlds. Or wherever.<br/><br/>It served to reason that if energy came<em>from</em>that side<em>to</em>this one through her, energy could also flow back the other way. But it'd never been tried, because who in the hell ever had precious, hard-won magic in such grand overabundance that they needed to<em>throw it away...?</em><br/><br/>Dean's impulsive, harebrained scheme worked, anyway. Aza had been so determined to nap, and sweet slumber in a cloud of silk and sandalwood incense was finally upon her... when the whole damn world went berserk, again. There was Don's radiant, pristine swell of protection, immediately followed by a seemingly endless outpouring of... well, the opposite. Dean.<br/><br/>Time got a little wonky for the fox at that point. Maybe if Dean had tried to pass off the Greater Shadow directly to Aza and therefore into the void, all that unchaste calignosity would have been harmlessly swallowed up with no noticeable aftereffects. The power of a Greater Shadow was infinitesimal compared to what simmered on the other side, after all. But Dean went for the collar, which still had those few working magics of its own, and it was probably the amplifier properties that did it...<br/><br/>Aza wasn't quite asleep when Methuseld stalked in, footfalls muffled by the many carpets, and barked her name like the girl'd been caught daydreaming at her lessons. Aza's head turned, and when her eyes opened the irises reflected back a burnished silver gleam. "General," she said, her sweet voice husky, and let the sheets slip away as she rose up. Her loose tumble of long hair -- now a pale, almost wintry blue, not that Aza had ever suffered a winter -- covered far more of her than the skimpy slave-girl getup, which was either quite meager or incredibly generous, depending on one's point of view. "You live," she noted, shiny gaze flickering over the other, much taller woman, who was not just alive but somehow looking remarkably less irascible.<br/><br/>She slunk in a crawl to the edge of the bed, accompanied by the metallic tinkling of all the little slave-bells, as the General approached. "We ssshould ssscelebrate," proclaimed Aza, hissing softly on the sibilants through a tiny fanged grin as she came up on her knees and reached for the blonde. Fingertips skirted down the other woman's breastplate to its bottom edge, hooking there and dragging Methuseld forward another step right up against the side of the bed, with more strength than something so small ought to have. Unless that small thing was currently possessed by the residual influence of one Dean-endorsed, voraciously lusty Greater Shadow, of course. Donovan had managed to evade the girl's everyday charms; with all the shadowy stuff at play, Methuseld might not be so fortunate...<br/><br/>The General did have on all that stupid armor, though. That much metal knew how to really kill a mood. "Pleasssse...?" Aza murmured, not letting go, leaning up and into Methuseld to press plenty of warm, nearly naked flesh against cold, polished enamel, head tilted to put glossy lips practically upon the blonde's elegant, less-protected throat.