This place was weird. Tobias reached out and placed one very human hand on the wall, rubbing his non-hoofish fingertips over the rough surface. He didn't want to think too hard about what had happened, about how he woke up in a very cramped box-like see-through coffin in the shape of something that wasn't human. He remembered being able to clip-clop, forced to stare up at a lady with wings made out of white and --

Tobias reached up, removing his hand from the wall to place against his temple. He closed his eyes, concentrating. Blip. Clink. Kashunk. There. Now the memory was locked away and -- wait. Plop. Sealed, locked, shuttered, and dropped in a mental well of forgetfulness.

The teenager felt marginally better as he dropped his hand to his side and descended the stairs, his hand reaching out to steady himself against the wall once again. He wouldn't think about it, wouldn't wonder how he got into that particular state or how it felt to be a --

No! Drat it, he somehow pulled the memory up from the well he dropped it in. Tobias began to count the stairs, each step representing another mental nail he used to fully cover up the well he refused to dredge that memory up from again. He could always mentally dig up another one.

But yes. Here. Where was he and what was he doing again? He vaguely recalled being told something about going down the stairs and... Picking something up, was it? The person he stopped to ask questions only pointed him in the right direction and didn't give him much more to go off of. Or maybe he wasn't paying attention considering he was recently turned into a reindeer and --

"Damnit!" Tobias shouted, smacking his palm against his forehead. The teenager froze as his curse bounced off of the empty walls around him, inadvertently shrinking back against the wall.

...What was he doing again? Tobias felt rather silly as he huffed, straightening his hat as he squared his shoulders. If anyone asked he tri- no that was stupid. He bit his tongue? Worse. Then again, who would even ask? Why were they watching him in the first place? Creepers.

Tobias dropped his thoughts at once upon entering the small room at the bottom of the stairs. The guttering light of the torch gave a certain mystique to the room as he spied the glowing... wallpaper? What the hell.

Wait. The wall was covered in tiny scales, each scale decorated with a glowing symbol. There was something unsettling about the thought, something that didn't make it quite right. He stepped closer and reached out, touching one that looked like a gun. The texture beneath his fingers surprised him: it was rough like stone, yet there was the hiss and crackle of fire. Tobias snatched his hand back, frowning.

He tried again. This one looked like a spear. It too was a stone. There was a low, mocking chuckle along with the impression that he didn't know what he was doing.

Tobias scowled as he drew his hand back. He knew fully well what he was doing. In fact, he was already eying the possibility of picking the tablet up and dropping it against the ground and stomping on it. That would show it!

He reached out, his hand instead brushing up against the one next to it. A loud noise, half-bark, half-snap, and all parts malicious made him yelp and jump back in surprise. His foot caught on his other boot, sending him stumbling backwards and crashing into the wall behind him. A cacophony of sound overwhelmed him, forcing him to push away from the wall and clutch his head at the silence that overtook him.

Tobias didn't know how long he remained there, hunched over on his knees as he held his head as if he could push and hold it together after the voices threatened to split it apart. He was foolish to try it. Clumsy. Weak. Stupid. He was thinking thoughts that didn't fully belong to him, yet he couldn't deny it. If anything, he was stupid for trying to pick a fight with a rock anyway.

That didn't seem to satisfy him. He wanted to do something. He needed to... pick it up?

He looked towards the rock that started it all, frowning as bitterness bubbled up within him. That wasn't it. It was... over... There?

Tobias pushed himself to his feet, moving towards the wall. He could feel his anger growing and ebbing as he moved, following it until the anger gave way to a pleasant surprise upon touching a symbol that looked like a circle with two lines out of it.

He picked it up, holding it carefully with both hands. There was something... right about it. There was irritation, yes. And anger. That resentment he could relate to. Now if only he had something to use against that p***k of a stone, something like a weapon --

The stone tablet began to glow. It was a harsh, deep red that shimmered and expanded, the weight seeming to increase yet also decrease as two sharp lines suddenly shot out from the glow, disappearing to reveal --

"A shield?" Tobias stared at it incredulously. "Seriously? What about a weapon do you not --" His words ended abruptly as his gaze was drawn to the two incredibly long horn-like metal fixture. The shaft of it wasn't smooth. The fact that it had various bumps and dips and peaks wouldn't be pleasant to feel if it, no, she got in far enough. And the smooth metal ends would ensure that. And if he needed something shorter, there was always the spike in the middle.

The shield itself wasn't that large, just barely large enough to fit over his hand. He tightened his grip and raised her, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Yes," he whispered quietly, "I think I see now. Let's show them. Let's show them all."