Halberd in hand, shield close at her side, Elyon panted heavily.
Ahead of her lay a ruined wall, once carefully-constructed, marred with the wounds of a thousand strikes. Okay, maybe not a thousand, but definitely quite a few. Enough to wear out her left arm and let it fall limp at her side. The enormous centaurian hybrid was squared off against the stone, a makeshift training dummy (the winds in Monoceros didn't particularly make it easy to swing a weapon around without being battered, and training there would be entirely too situational, as much as Glory may have wanted to watch it go down.)
Elyon closed her eyes for a moment, as if that would soothe the vague headache she was beginning to nurse from her exertions, and set her weapons away --- the blacksmith had been kind enough to make a leather harness of sorts, perfect for keeping the polearm and shield within arm's reach at all times, while keeping her hands free. She plodded casually toward a pool of water, blindingly bright due to the quartz streaking through its bottom. At its edge, she bowed onto her knees. Dipping clasped palms in and gulping away, the hybrid happened to catch a booming, yet fluting call.
The Seven? Training? Fun?
She didn't reach for her weapons quite yet, but stood and trailed the sound to its source --- a white stag that seemed to shine in Orion's glittering lights. Oh, was that armor? Elyon watched with keen interest, though hid herself (poorly) behind a crumbling building. Even hunched over, most of her head was sticking out past the wall, as well as half of her body. She waited to see if, perhaps, other Gembound would come, and if she wanted in on these training efforts.
Reign
He who is to be a good ruler
must have first been ruled
![[Image: N008Q9U.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/N008Q9U.gif)
Caves, but Pride was loud.
The King Cheetah raised his head from his paws, perking his ears as he listened. They were being summoned again for... fun? He furrowed his brow, and stood, shaking himself off--what on Earth?
But he was curious, and so began to move, trotting down to the Throne. He was stiff, and rolled his shoulders as he went, giving a low rumbling yawn. Pride was a very obvious sight, wearing bright armor, and Reign stood before him, standing tall as he observed the stag. "Greetings, Pride."
Luster
Sometimes you need a second chance
because you weren't quite ready for the first
![[Image: SlzScQt.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/SlzScQt.gif)
Today was one of Luster's good days.
She could never say why she felt the ways she did, could never even guess what her emotion would be. Luster was mercurial, floating from emotion to emotion in moments. Some days she would wake up in a fury, and seclude herself from others so only stones and Lessers bore the brunt of her wrath. Other days she would wake up beaming, floating on a cloud.
Today was a day where she was happy, but not overly so. She was contentedly chewing on a cave spider (what? they were her favorites!) when Pride's call went out, and she raised her head.
Not bothering to spit out the cave-spider, or even clean her face, she began to run his way, losing her balance and rolling to a stop before him. Scrambling to her paws, spider legs still poking out from her mouth, she yelped out as she crunched the exoskeleton, "Hello Mr. Pride! You're very shiny today!" she gave him a toothy, spider-y smile.
@Pride
There were plenty of things, Siren had found, that could be rifled through in Orion. Not as much as the piles of literal garbage that lined tunnel J, but plenty of things regardless-- and very good shiny things, at that.
She was quite busily rifling through a patch of ferns when Pride called, half-digging below the dirt and trying to find whatever was underneath. She paused, lifted her head, and then waded back out of the foliage to wander herself towards the throne. She was Seven, right? A Cave Guardian?
Either way, he said it'd be fun and Serendipity sure did know a few things about fun.
"Hello," she said as she wandered up to the throne, taking an immediate interest in Pride's armour. He did mention he could make it with magic, she was fairly certain, and it did look... protective. "You could use a faceplate," she muttered, more to herself than to Pride.
She looked over the other three gembounds-- two of which looked like run-of-the-mill four-legs with long faces. The other, however, was a creature with six limbs total, and hands, like hers. All at once, she remembered the Collector's lesson-- handshake, specifically --and she marched right over to extend her hand out at Elyon.
You know. Like hand-people do.
Five of them, Pride thought, distractedly.
He'd hoped that there'd be even numbers--for teams--but this would have to do.
"Hello," he greeted them, one by one, nodding to Luster at her own hello. Once they all seemed settled, he continued.
"Today, we shall be trying a little training exercise. In the Coliseum below I've set up a couple gemstone barricades. You will all be tasked with retrieving a red crystal from behind the final barrier, and getting it safely out of the coliseum. But," he added, "I need two volunteers to be defenders, to try and keep anyone from escaping with the red crystal. And those who remain attackers must fight one another, as well. The only real rule is, no truly harming one another. Does anyone wish to volunteer to defend?"
His eyes passed briefly over Elyon. She certainly looked as though she would be a good defender, but he wasn't about to volunteer anyone himself.
Any other S7 members can join at any time.
@Elyon @Narcissus @Siren @Luster @Reign @Zothra
It seemed like she couldn't escape notice --- most certainly not with an odd child marching right up to her with her hand extended. Elyon peered down at the limb, momentarily fixating on the presence of fingers and thumbs. She thought briefly of the Collector, and mentally shook that entire concept away. Not now.
Bright eyes continued to stare at the hand, wondering idly, do they want me to grab it? So, the centaur raised an awkward hand of her own, clasping Serendipity's little hand with all the gentleness she could muster. After a few seconds, she relinquished the hold, and stared at her own hand. "What's that?" Elyon chirped softly, head tilting in a suspiciously bird-like manner.
After whatever conversation occurred and the pale stag began to speak, the centaur found his eyes on her, perhaps insinuating that she should be one of the defenders of the red crystal. It was lost on her, really, but she found herself wanting to volunteer, nonetheless. She could defend well, without harming. Attacking without harming was much harder, especially with these... not-armored Gembound.
In a surprisingly soft voice for her size and general build, she called, "I could be one of the defenders?"
Luster
Sometimes you need a second chance
because you weren't quite ready for the first
Luster beamed as Pride greeted her--she didn't know him well, but Mama liked him and that made him her friend too!--and wagged her tail as more and more showed up. To Siren she gasped, "Hi what are you?" and to Narcissus she offered "Hello you're very colorful!"
But Pride was talking, then, so she pranced in place excitedly, claws clattering against the ground. Oh, this sounded funfunfun! She loved games, and this sounded like the best of games, the type of game where you played with other people! Her tail wagged violently, and she danced where she sat, tongue lolling out. "I can defend if no one else wants to but I don't think I'll be a very good defender." her ears drooped to the sides.