The basking didn't last long, as Dorian's eyes quickly peeled open just as Flauros in his leopard form leapt up onto the bench and loudly announced himself. Had it been six months earlier, before the bulk of Dorian's training and Sydonai's handy bandages, not only would the mummy have shrieked in absolute terror and "run", but he would have probably lost his jaw and some fingers in the process. As luck would have it, he encountered this leopard not after one, but two treacherous talisman quests.
And so, following the great holler of terror that tore from his mouth, Dorian did something that, perhaps, no one would have expected. Rearing an arm back, he shrieked: "B-Bad kitty!" and socked Flauros in the face. Granted, for a dead being, it wasn't a particularly powerful attack, but Dorian had hoped it had, to some extent, gotten the point across. After all, he'd encountered an owl that morphed into a naked wood nymph and Schroedinger. He was not unaccustomed to animal terrors. And at this point, it didn't matter if this leopard was from Niflheim or not. He could slip a marble in quickly and fight him off, if that was what needed to be done. He probably wouldn't survive it, but he knew it was better to fight than to run away.