He continues to shield the fallen man, manipulating Nadya's power with ease, attempting to force the female panther to back down as his paws scrape across the ring, dragging the man with him as he does. The girls challenge results in little more than the hiss and spit of his own response, tail lashing in disdain and yet of these rules Tobias is assured. He understands how the ring is run, Tetradore having gone over and over such things until the boy comprehended entirely. There are times indeed when instinct gets away from him, the bloodlust in the Leopard is a truly potent thing and yet it is rare for him to fight without Tetradore beside him or the man lingering close by- Tobias a creature of habit if nothing else, his adrenaline given to rise and fall on the cue of his companion and yet even he has never killed within the ring. Even he understands the rules the girl has broken. The Leopard is aware of Tetradore's approach well before the swirling darkness, some part of the feline near constantly aware of Tetra in all things before the man himself appears. A rumble of greeting rises somewhere within the Leopards throat before he breaks his golden gaze at last from Nadya's own, jaws parting to grasp the arm of the fallen man, stepping off him now to haul him fully and easily backward and to the edge of the ring and into the arms of Jackel and his nervous companion. Tetra's words see his own dark rimmed ears flick, though much of them are lost upon him, the man unable to perceive entirely what is said though the tone of it sees his own form flatten slightly.

He hardly needs knowledge of the words to understand his chosen companion's displeasure as he paces forward now to close the distance between Tetradore, Nadya and himself, the girl rapidly rolling upon her side as Tobias allows his own animalistic form to drop, the cat replaced with the man as he merely comes to stand beside Tetra now. For a moment dark eyes merely rest upon the panther at his feet, watching her beneath lashings of equally dark hair, attention shifting briefly to the other man- Tobias moving to rearrange much of his facial features until he mimics Tetradore near entirely, understanding only that such a response must surely be correct for the situation. He understands, after all, that Nadya had broken the rules of the game, his own displeasure at the girl simmering somewhere beneath that façade he wore. That Nadya perhaps blames himself for fooling her into the ring remains unknown, Tobias utterly incapable of this level of realisation and even so, his mentality is hardly given to find he cares for any of the myriad of things so often declared to be his fault. The boy assured he is blamed far more than necessary and yet his dark gaze avoids Tetradore's own, unwilling to offer any challenge by meeting, content to merely.....test perhaps, how tolerable the man is of himself. Instinct, after all, is a potent thing within the boy, his animalistic instincts far more readily observed then those of any human and as such he seeks no more to press upon Tetradore's space until he is assured the man will tolerate him, that his irritation is directed at Nadya alone- as it should be.

"Not allowed to.....use powers. Ring is.....not for killing."

He words merely add to Tetradore's own, as if seeking to inform the girl why she has been banned, reiterating the words told to himself over and over. He does not understand her rage of late, her insecurity, cannot comprehend how she misses the children he seems to have forgotten exist (a blessing perhaps, with a mind such as his own to so easily wipe away such things)- and yet there is little of Nadya the boy has ever understood....

madness, as you know, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push