The family was so noisy, so loud! Always talking always teaching always eating and playing with the bones. And mama was always pacing and the siblings always sparring. Sometimes it drove Huckleberry mad! They had to leave sometimes, times like these, when quietness and loneliness were easier to bear. When thoughts were not so wild in their head and they could calm, even for just a moment.

They sat on the ground and folded back their wings, taking a few deep breaths. Their heart was racing! Why? Who cared! It just was! Calm the heartbeat, control. His magic surged from his gem to his heart, gently lowering the furious beating to a calm rhythm. Now he could breath, now he could think. But could he? Even with his heart calm, there were so many things buzzing around. He tried to sift through them, to make sense, but they disappeared and were lost in the mess every time he tried.

And, suddenly, anger rolled forth. A sickening twist in her gut. Why was she like this? Nobody else had so much trouble sorting thoughts! Why, why WHY! She jumped to her feet and shook out her pelt as if she were shaking away the frustration. But nothing changed, nothing at all! She couldn't think of anything! She trembled with fury at herself, hatred for the creature she was and how utterly messed up her own mind made her. Unable to contain this anger, she threw her head back and let out an absolutely horrifying noise, a cross between a moose's roar and a goose's honk. She hated herself, she hated the world! No wonder Mama wanted to destroy everything and kill everyone. She hated them! Well now Huckleberry hated them too!

@Eve

A sudden booming voice snapped Huckleberry immediately out of their hatred. They quite literally leaped with surprise at the suddenness of the voice. So loud and powerful that they became quite envious of it. Nobody in their family had a voice like that. Mama's voice was scratchy and hoarse, Papa's voice low and deep. Perhaps Baneberry could reach levels like that, but she certainly did not have the awesome tone that this one had.

They shuffled their talons, looking around for who had made the noise, as if to ask them how they had done it or maybe just to see the person behind the voice. Their eyes raked the cave, up and down and they twisted around, trying to find them. But the voice had seemingly come from everywhere. Oh, how this was difficult! Whatever creature it was, they certainly knew how to stay out of sight! If only they knew how to do it too.

But then his eyes went up to a certain spot and just barely spotted something over there, a little thing on top of a rock. That couldn't be it, could it? A tiny little bird? Huckleberry narrowed their eyes, trying to see closer, and realized that it was, in fact, a bird. Well, even if it wasn't the thing that made the noise, he was curious to see. He knew that it could be dangerous, though, Mama had always warned him to be careful around strangers as many would prey on little things like him, even other little things. But he was suddenly feeling very very brave and wanted to see the bird.

He opened his wings and clumsily hopped into the air, beating his wings as strong as he could for a new flier, aiming for the spot on the rock where the bird was sitting. "What was that? Who are you? Did you hear that voice, was that you was that you? No, no, you are small! Very small, yes very small little thing. Who are you? That voice couldn't be you."

@Eve

Huckleberry was upset when the bird fluttered away from them. Pouting, they landed on the rock that the crow had been on previously and looked up at them, their tail waving. They frowned with disappointment. They had wanted to talk to them, hadn't they? What had they done to make the bird go so far away? "H-hey, I just wanted to talk, yes to talk, that's what I want!" Their chirp wasn't very loud as they were struggling to hold back tears. Did they do something wrong? Were they ugly or something?!

But then the bird roared, a sound that Huckleberry had not expected to come from something so small. But, having already been startled by a loud noise, the hybrid was not quite as surprised by this one and their only visible reaction was their ears twitching back to cover themselves against the extremely loud noise. Hadn't they said at some point that they didn't like loud noises? Well, then again, they did scream and screech sometimes themselves, but this was something else!

Sudden affection for the bird sprung into her heart and, once the loud sound was over, her ears perked up and her face lit into a huge grin. This bird, they were amazing! She wanted to try and get close to talk some more, but she was scared that the bird would fly away again. She didn't want that, no, she wanted to keep it close. Maybe try to impress it? "Wow, wow, you can be loud! Super cool! Wow, it's an honor to meet you, bird! I'm Huckleberry! I can make loud noises too!" There was a faint flash of light in her gem as electricity built up within and then, suddenly, it was released into the air, violently and a huge clap of thunder blasted throughout the room, causing many pebbles to clatter from high places. Once again, Huckleberry moved her ears back to cover them as best she could. Once the loud sound was over, she impatiently pawed at the ground as she gave the bird another large grin. "I'm Huckleberry!"

@Eve

Huckleberry prepared himself for another loud sound to come from the bird, but there was nothing. And then a voice, a voice that surprised him a little. It was still loud, but a lot quieter then it had been before. A little disappointing, but worse things have happened. He didn't feel crushed, but still happy that the bird still had a voice left after all of that. Even a quiet one.

But Eve's question confused her. Made her? Nobody made her. At least as far as she knew. She did not understand the creation of life nor how her parents have created her and her siblings with stone and life. She would not come to understand this for some time, so she did not elect to answer the first question. But the second she happily replied! "Oh, yes! I have wonderful parents! And a whole family as well!" She loved to talk about her family because she loved her family! It was one of the cored ideals Mama had pounded into her head: protect and love the family. So that was what she did. "Yes, there's me, Huckleberry, and also Baneberry and Elderberry and Mulberry and Jayberry and our Mama, Blackberry and our Papa, Blueberry! Do you have a family like my family?"

@Eve

Huckleberry listened, wide-eyed, to Eve's ramble about her own family. Something they had in common, a fact that Huckleberry did not ignore. They had always thought that family was the only thing that mattered, that only family would be her friends. But this commonality seemed to give Huckleberry a vague concept of understanding. And this calmed the heartbeat that had begun to race again.

He nodded along with all of Eve's names, committing them to memory, even though he would absolutely forget them within a few moments. "Moose," he corrected. "And goose. Mama's a goose...kind of and Papa's a moose." But he didn't know what a Dragon was. He wondered if they could fly, like Eve said. Did that mean they were small, too? "Are you loud because Aquarian is loud?"

But once Eve's rant was over, Huckleberry raised her head, ready to start her own talk about her own family. "Our last names are berry because that's what Mama said! Mama and Papa were both called berry so they named their children berry as well! Mama is super strong! She's got a necklace of all sorts of pretty things like gems and feathers and talons that she said she'd gotten from enemies she's defeated! Papa's really big and gentle and I like to ride on his back. Baneberry is really big too and he's got wings on his arms and antlers like papa. And Elderberry is really quiet and has a funny long neck and wobbly legs. Mulberry and Jayberry look weird, though, they've got a lot of fur and no wings or feathers. But they're still awesome too!" Huckleberry would have sat to get comfortable as well, but she was just too excited now about her family and how much she loved them that she couldn't sit still. She flexed her talons and gave light stomps to the rocks, her wings twitching with excitement. "We're called the Bloodberries! Yes, that's our name! Our name!"

@Eve