ORIGIN

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Pride's mink link would latch onto Reseda's mind without her noticing - she was a little distracted after all. On the surface, she was hyper focused on the events happening at that moment. Rolling the words everyone said, the body language they showed, the possibilities for the future, she had them all together and kept them in mind.

If Pride delved deeper, he would be able to feel a hunger. An insatiable thirst that was reaching out greedily and impatiently, as if it had been waiting for this for so long. And the memory of her meeting with the Collector was all too apparent. His words drifting through her subconscious. "Power... Strength. It isn't something the weasel has very much of, now is it?" And the fight with the moose, the memory of his antlers stabbing into her stomach was also there prominently, since she still, after all, was in a bit of danger from the wound. And the tiny bone bullet going right through his head.

That was what was on Reseda's mind.

She glanced towards the throne, already knowing that the huge gem was there and frowned. "Wait, you stole from the dragon? The dragon that helped protect our party? Why would you do that?" She knew that showing and feigning emotion wouldn't help so she instead looked at Envy and Dread with confusion. "Yes, you can't carry it yourself but how did it get up there? Isn't the Throne yours?"

But as for the body, Reseda personally didn't want to give it up - she still needed the gemstone after all to give to the Collector. But there was good reason, at least, for destroying the evidence. She nodded towards Pride slowly. "Yes, I think that would be the best idea. We have no need to send them a message."

@Baneberry @Dread

M FOR MATURE WARNING - mild gore

"There was green fur on it! Don't touch my shinies, they're mine!"

The dragon didn't wait two seconds after being given permission, and no longer seemed agitated--he was distracted by the prospect of a meal, and his warning had now been fairly given. It took him a moment of hauling the large crystal with his talons before managing to take clumsy flight, and then he landed--equally clumsy, one foot clattering and stumbling over his prize--with spread wings over Blueberry's inert form. There he perched, mantling over the dead moose, one foot still pressed down over the chiming crystal with its inocuous song.

With hungry jaws and even hungrier eyes Dread set to work on his meal, not speaking; he offered only the sounds of his feeding, and the shifting of his scales and leathery wings as he ate. To the dragon, there was nothing terrible in this--he had no idea who Blueberry was, or even that it had been a Greater Gembound at one point. He only saw a deer-like meal--and a large one--and treated it as such.

He did not touch the head or antlers, or the gem that lay between them; too bony, and the rock was hardly appetizing. Undoubtedly he'd do as instructed and burn the remains, but it would be some minutes before he could consume his fill of a fully-grown bull moose.

Pride glanced at Reseda. It didn't escape him that she held the same magic he did, and so he did his best not to think too deeply on what she was thinking--if she were to suddenly decide to establish a link with him, and hear her own thoughts echoed back at her, it might be disastrous.

He could make little out from what she was thinking, regardless--though he heard, quite distinctly, a male voice in her thoughts, in her memories, speaking of what he could only assume was Envy. Whose voice? The dead moose's, perhaps? Maybe it had taunted her about Envy's weakness. He could see nothing of betrayal--her ambition was powerful, granted, but he'd known that already. Yet that sensation... of having waited for this very moment. Why? Did she intend to use her kill as leverage, to prove her power?

...She had a point with it.

Quick to diplomacy--and with a glance showing him that the dragon was, for now, distracted--he stepped forward very slightly and inclined his head toward Reseda.

"I can assure you I did not move it myself, either. Stolen by another, or misplaced, perhaps. This is an impressive kill, Greed--he must be five times your size. Surely the King ought to reward you for your heroism? A prize, perhaps, of some kind..?" Silver eyes flashed, cutting to Envy, watching them.

This was the weasel's chance--should they take the opening he was presenting--of trying to regain control, to reassert authority, to praise Reseda for her work and in so doing, appear at least a shred less fucking incompetent by comparison. On impulse, he did his best to snap open a link with the weasel, to give them a short few words--hoping that Reseda wasn't listening in on this, at least.

For better or worse, the link did not open, and Pride was left hoping that Envy could take the cue "manually," as it were. He added, verbally--glancing back over at the lizard as he did so: "You have certainly made all of the caves a safer place."

@Baneberry @Envy

Envy shot a glare at Reseda- the damned warmonger clearly trying her hardest just to make them look bad. "Of course I didn't steal from the dragon. Do you think I'm crazy? What reason would I have to take a gem that I can't even carry from something that helped us, and put it in a place which would make it obvious? Why would I do that?" The small green creature sucked in a cold breath of air between its teeth, trying to soothe its frayed nerves.

"I was... With Pride... when it appeared." the weasel said, glancing sideways at the stag, and hoping that he would back them up. Surely Pride knew that they would never do something of the sort. Finally they looked up at Dread. "Could you smell anything on it? Maybe someone did something. You believe that it wasn't me, right? Look at me!" They looked pleadingly at the dragon at first, before abruptly tuning away as it began to eat, nausea rising sharply in their throat.

As the stag spoke of the kill being... impressive. They looked from Pride to Reseda once again, and though they immediately knew what he was expecting of them, they found their insides roiling at the thought. She had plunged them into danger when Envy wanted to keep as far from the stupid berries as possible. Envy couldn't think of anything worse. But they were in front of almost their whole kingdom here, and Dread. They couldn't show cowardice here. They cleared their throat, raising themselves up as far as they could.

"...Yes," they forced out through gritted teeth. "...Heroism. You will be rewarded. What prize would you... seek?" They paused, gaze wholly fixated upon her. "Within reason." They paused, before finally turning back towards Pride. "With this one dead, the caves will become more dangerous than they were before. The others will kill everything in their way to get to m-to us.. They're mad! Every single one of them."

Speech. Thought.

@Reseda

May be M for slight gore and also not m, but she pukes which is gross

Bane quietly watched as they discussed, not able to hear much of what they were saying, but she did see what happened. The dragon that had dove towards her earlier hunched over Father, and at first she thought that he was going to move him, but no, a few moments later she heard the crunching of bones and saw the blood. She held back an anguished cry of anger, lest she be found and killed.

Instead, a spray of vomit shot up and spewed forward as tears streamed down her face. He was eating Father. How could they allow it? How cruel could they be? Baneberry was infuriated and disgusted and terrified. Bile rose again, and she allowed it to spill. And then she turned trail and tried to scramble away, certain they would have heard her and her violent vomiting. Or smelled its putrid stench.

Reseda watched the dragon devour the moose without flinching. Behind the loud munching of the beast and the stench of blood she didn't notice Baneberry's vomiting at all. She just watched with a cold glare as the beast was destroyed.

She turned to Pride and Envy and narrowed her eyes with disbelief. Well, she knew that they hadn't stolen the gem, but she still looked suspicious. "Its an awful coincidence that it ended on the throne, though...and green hair in the dragon's den?" She shook her head, as if she couldn't really believe it. "I don't require any prize. It was self defense. But..."

Her expression harden as she glared at Envy. "This wouldn't have happened if you weren't so scared of them. We have fighters here, we are strong! When you first started this kingdom you said that we'd be stronger then anyone! Pride and I are fighters and you have your powerful magic. Wrath has venom and I'm sure Reign could put up a good fight as well! You obviously have no faith in our kingdom." She took a moment to make it look like she was cooling down in which she looked away and took a deep breath.

"Look, I'm not trying to start a war. But they're obviously growing bolder if they would attack me out of nowhere. They're coming for us and we need a strong leader if we're going to survive." She glanced around, looking for the rest of the Seven. Why weren't they here to support her?

@Dread

The dragon tore at the body until he had eaten his fill, whilst the others spoke. No one, it seemed, would interrupt his feast; he didn't notice the distant sound of vomit over the close-up tearing of meat and bone. When he was done, he backed up, dutifully inhaling. His nostrils flared with a bright ember glow as he inflamed his magicka with pure fire.

He leaned back, neck arching--then thrust forward and low, flames billowing from his jaws. They engulfed the remaining moose, but had trouble incinerating it completely--so that Dread was forced to spend a rather long few moments breathing in and then exhaling flame, focused on his dragon's magic.

Smoke began to pour upward from the hide and meat--the stench would undoubtedly be atrocious. The bones would be charred, but not disintegrated; the stone, in the ashes, would almost certainly survive.

Dread seemingly remained indifferent, throughout, to the arguing. He didn't care; and his talons were still clasped firmly over the singing crystal.

Pride tilted his head, peering at Envy.

"Well, yes, most likely," he began, as if he wasn't quite sure what the point of where they'd been was. "But there is no way of knowing exactly when it turned up."

And then Reseda was speaking--but Pride's sensitive hearing had him turning toward the other ruins, silver eyes searching the darkness. He'd heard-... something, up there; he wasn't sure what. And--... Ahh. There was a scrambling, a movement, and suddenly--while the others were still speaking, and while the dragon was still inhaling his flaming breath--the white stag trotted swiftly away. He moved toward the sound, head tilted, and reached out with his magicka.

If Reseda was betraying them--if she'd brought one or more of those damned Bloodberries here to watch her, as proof--he would do his best to drag them kicking and screaming from the darkness. He thought he saw movement, felt it--and tried to snare it, and drag it out and into the light, as close to the throne as he could.

If possible, Pride would latch onto Baneberry by faint vision and distant sound, and use his mind's magic to carry her swiftly through the air--and deposit her near the Throne, near Envy, Reseda and the dragon.

@Envy @Baneberry

"Res- I mean, Greed, I'm your King. I'm not an idiot," they gritted their teeth. "I've been set up, and unless you want to be my main suspect, I think you should stop accusing me as well." The weasel stomped a hind paw and folded their paws against their chest, hoping that that would be the conversation over.

And then she was accusing them of fear, the quills along their spine quivered and stood on end, rattling, temper flaring and tail twitching with rage. They tried to remain calm but they could feel the tension mounting. "Greed- they outnumber us three to one. They've spent their lives killing and torturing and they have zero sense of morality. Our 'fighters' are barely trained. Wrath was wounded before the celebration, and Reign wouldn't take training seriously. And do you really want to put Gluttony on the front lines? What do you want to give them, an entree? Stop trying to pretend we'd win!"

The little weasel's ears perked, and they'd heard it too. A quick glance at Pride heightened their suspicions, and a thrill of fear ran through them. Cautiously they reached out with their magic. It took a moment of reaching before the familiar pins-and-needles feeling flushed through their fur. But then they heard it- the heartbeat of something- something that hid just out of sight.

The weasel's heart was hammering, but in a state of barely-contained calm they turned to the dragon. They gestured with their head, unaware of Pride's efforts to drag them nearer.

"Dread, there's someone over there. Can you bring it to me?" They realized then that the dragon might not want to listen to them after the whole crystal fiasco. "If it's one of our enemies, I'll give you more gold things- and you can eat it."

Speech. Thought.

Baneberry heard the hooves, and she tried to scramble away. She heard the faint threat of a weasel. She panicked, trying to scramble through a pile of bricks, but with her useless hind legs, all she managed to do was make more of a commotion before she felt a tug. What was it? She was sure it was magick, because the next thing that she knew, she was next to the throne and the dragon that had eaten and now burnt Father, and a giant lizard and an odd looking green weasel thing.

"Please don't hurt me. I only wanted to see what the commotion was and then I saw Father and then the beat ate Father and I don't want to be eaten to I just want to have Father's ash and go to my tower and mourn and sleep." She begged, tears streaming down her face. She had already seen Father being eaten, and she just wanted to take his remains and mourn him. She wanted to grieve. The thoughts of Mama didn't cross her mind once.

@Reseda

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Reseda

Dread

Pride

Livius

Baneberry

Reseda

Dread

Pride

Livius

Baneberry