welcome to the new age - Printable Version

This wasn't home. This would never be home. But as Blackberry stepped into the tunnel, a cold shiver going down her back, she knew that it was the only place left. Few knew about it - her and Jayberry were the only left alive of those that did. Blueberry, of course, knew, as did Elderberry. The ones she could trust the most. They knew about this place so that if anything ever happened to split the family apart, they would come here to regroup and gather.

She'd been avoiding it for some time now. Since the fight, she had been broken. Since her supposed 'death' she had been terrified. And now she was apprehensive of what awaited her. She didn't know if Jayberry was even still alive. She had no idea if any of the family besides her had made it out safely. Huckleberry, Yewberry, and Cloudberry were most likely Rift's prisoners. When Wilder had went out for information, she had not brought her this news.

She could not rely on Wilder anymore. The cat had helped her and everything was worse because of it. She was grateful beyond belief for what the kitten had done, but this was her problem now, her family and her life in crisis. Something needed to be done, at least so that she could know if her family was safe. She wouldn't build a new one, no, but hold tight to what little she had left and make amends for what could be forgiven.

As she stepped through the tunnel, she occasionally glanced behind her, making sure she wasn't being followed. Paranoia followed her every step. Someone had moved her chrysalis to Fornax. A friend? Or someone that wanted to keep an eye on her? Someone that wanted to know where the rest of her family was? Who knows.

She was nearing the place where her family would most likely be - she had shown them many cycles ago - and she paused. "Hello?" she called hesitantly, not daring to use her daughter's name. As soon as she called, she dove into a small hole in the wall, watching out from the shadows for whoever would appear, whether Jayberry or someone else.

There was someone in the Tunnel.

The she-wolf's head jolted up, ears pricking as she took in the sound of feet on rock. No one had been in the Tunnel since she had made it Home, since she had given life to her beloved Gojiberry and Shimmerberry and Nettleberry, since they had Hatched. A snarl rumbled low in her throat--Shimmerberry and Nettleberry were in the tunnel, but on the far end, and she wasn't sure where Gojiberry had gone.

Her fangs flicked down as she began to cast her magic, fearful that the Stag or the Cat or the Weasel had found them, making sure they weren't using Magic of their own, but she sensed nothing, no Magic in the air aside from the ambient one of the cave. The she-wolf returned her fangs to their hiding place, licking her lips angrily, a growl building in her chest.

If someone thought they could harm her pups, they'd have to kill her first.

Leaping to her feet, snarling, she began to rush down the tunnel, magic singing in her veins. Her Magic could hurt, now, could do more than disable and distract. She would be able to fight the Stag from a distance, if she had to.

"Hello?"

That voice... that voice! She'd never heard it sound so hesitant, but she'd know that voice anywhere. Jayberry stumbled, snarl cutting off abruptly, eyes wide as she caught the scent of 'goose' and 'Mother' and 'family', feeling nothing less than pure glee.

Jayberry dug in her claws, haunches hitting the ground as she skidded to a stop. A sob built in her chest as she looked around, calling out "Mother? Mother?"

@Blackberry

They'd taken to sitting in the corner, away from their family that reeked of weakness and loneliness. They hated being here, they hated their mother, their dumb, quiet siblings. They were all boring and serious and so, so annoying. From the day Gojiberry had hatched, they'd argued everything, disobeyed every single command, spit in the face of every compliment, encouragement, and motivational speech that Jayberry sang to them. Nettleberry might lap it up like a thirsty dog, but not them! Not Gojiberry! Fuck that.

The one good thing about them was that it was easy to hide. Being completely covered with black and such an unrecognizable shape made it easy to blend into the shadows. So when someone called through the tunnel, their ears perked and they looked up to watch (or, really, listen - they were too far away to see clearly) and no one would be able to see them.

Unless Jayberry used that dumb, annoying spell that she used as a baby monitor.

But one look at their mother and how happy she was made sure that she was distracted for now. Gojiberry could listen, for now, and maybe learn something fucking useful for once.

From her hiding spot, she heard a deep-throated growl, followed by movement. It could be anyone - Pride could be here, hiding, waiting for her. He could have found out about this place somehow. Or it could be someone else, someone she didn't know, someong dangerous. For all she knew, Jayberry had perished as well. And all hope for her would be gone.

But then somehow, impossibly, a creature burst into her field of vision. At first she didn't recognize them, but then...the black fur, the amber eyes, the tooth in her jaws, and her voice as she called out for her...her family was still alive. They were still here. There was hope. For her and for them.

She hadn't lost another child to her stupidity.

Without hesitation, she stepped out of the shadow, eyes wide and quivering softly. "J-Jayberry...it's you. You're...you're alive!" But she hadn't been. At some point she had died because this change could not have come naturally. A gembound didn't just grow horns or change their entire body shape so drastically. She might as well have killed her completely. No, she scolded herself. That wasn't right. If she was breathing, if her heart was beating, if she was here, standing in front of her, healthy and living, then she had never died at all.

She wanted to throw her wings around her daughter's head, she wanted to push her head against her neck, but the new appearance of her daughter had completely caught her off guard and she simply stood, staring at her, trembling with emotion and frozen to the spot.

Mother stepped out from a crack in the wall, and Jayberry could have cried.

"Mother," she gasped again, as though she feared she was hallucinating, just imagining the goose before her. Too many times she had dreamt of their family together again, happy and whole in a way they never had been, only to wake up to find herself alone.

She danced in place for a moment, shifting as though she weren't quite sure what to do with herself, before moving forward to circle around the goose, "I thought... I thought you'd gone, too, died or disappeared," her voice was a whine, and as she looped around Blackberry again she pressed her nose to her wing, "I missed you," breathing as deeply as she could as though to confirm that Mother was there, flesh and blood, not some hallucination brought on by an anxious mind, but her nose pressed against feathers, bent and tangled, but real.

But it was impossible to miss the change in Mother's wings, and she pulled back, baring her teeth and snarling as she asked, "What happened, who did this?"

Did Gojiberry hear that right? Did Jayberry just call that creature mother? When She'd told the family about Blackberry, Gojiberry had imagined some terrifying, impressive figure, a strong leader, someone that they could look up to. Not...this. A goose covered in scars and whatever the fuck else she was covered with, looking more terrified then a mouse under their paws. Their mouth gaped open with surprise, shock, and they almost growled with disappointment.

No way.

No fucking way.

This was not how it was supposed to be. This could not be their legacy. They were descended from this monstrosity. This weak piece of shit bird that they could probably tear apart in a few seconds, as awful as they were at it. She shivered with fury, but stayed silent, kept their ears open to listen to the conversation ahead.

Jayberry speaking again reaffirmed that she was right - this wasn't just another nightmare, this wasn't a trick - Jayberry was there, right in front of her, whole and healthy, despite all of her changes. When she pressed up against her wing, Blackberry at first cringed as the soreness spiked to pain but then she sighed out and relaxed. "I missed you too," she quivered, leaning over to press the smooth part of her beak against the top of her head.

She wanted to just stay here. Fuck the world, fuck all of her enemies - she had one daughter back. One of the first of her family. The rest were gone - Baneberry and Huckleberry captured, Mulberry lost, Elderberry and Blueberry dead, it was only Jayberry now. Before she could stop herself, she began to cry. It wasn't like the sobbing that had taken her upon losing Elderberry nor the silent, horrified tears that she'd shed after hearing of Blueberry, it was pure joy, wails of happiness and relief.

Perhaps it was a little soft for Blackberry to be sobbing and crying, but she didn't care. She wasn't the same Blackberry that Jayberry knew. She wasn't the same miserable, hopeless Blackberry that Wilder had found in a cave. She was something else. She was full of hope, fury, and the desperate desire for things to be normal.

When Jayberry mentioned her wing, she instinctively pulled away, trying to push the twisted, incorrectly healed wing back into place but it was impossible. It was stuck where it was. She shook her head, a small hiss coming from her throat. "It's nothing. It's what I deserve. Don't worry about it."

She looked around, trying to find something to distract them from the subject. "Did any of the other family make it?"

Jayberry's breath caught at the feel of Mother's beak against her head, feeling like a pup again, warm and safe and loved. The weight was off her shoulders, Mother was here to take care of them again, she could go back to following like she always had, let Mother keep them all safe.

Mother would know what to do; Mother always knew what to do.

Her glee was quickly replaced by horror as Mother began to sob, having never heard someone cry like that. She didn't understand that Mother was happy, only that she was crying and upset. The she-wolf dropped to her stomach, crawling forward to lick at her feathers, "Mother, Mother, what's wrong?"

But, no, she was quick to disagree, "No! You don't deserve that, you're hurt! What happened?" she demanded, for once arguing with Mother, not taking her word as gospel, talking back.

"Did any of the other family make it?"

Her throat dried, and she blinked rapidly--how would she tell Mother? Tell Mother that she had viciously attacked her own daughter, failed to rescue her family members, that Mother had new Grandchildren? "I... I tried, I'm sorry, I did, but Sylvanberry went with Pride and the weasel, I'm sorry," she had failed she had failed shehadfailed "Yewberry and Huckleberry... I've seen them, they're still in Eridanus and... and I couldn't get them, I'm sorry," she licked her lips anxiously, "I don't know where Cloudberry is but..." she looked around, how to say this? "There's... there's new members. They're mine, Mother."

Perhaps horror was her first response to all the news that Jayberry gave her. Underneath, a sense of relief, at least, that one had gotten out, that two were definitely safe. No word on Baneberry, it seemed, and the rest of the family...who knew where they'd gone? Cloudberry...perhaps she had gone off to live on her own? Perhaps she had went to find the family somewhere? Sylvanberry...she should have never left her in the tunnel alone like that. She should have waited, held off the attack. "Wait, you said she went with them? Willingly? And they took her willingly? They didn't hurt her?" She said all this very fast. It was important. Everything was important. If they had taken her against her will, if she was a prisoner, if they were hurting her, then she would storm the Seven immediately, damn her own life, and she wouldn't stop until Sylvanberry was free. But if it had been her own choice...then Blackberry would let her be.

When Jayberry pressed on about her injury, Blackberry snapped. "Leave it," she snarled, taking a step back. This wasn't important. She wasn't important. It didn't matter if she couldn't use her wings. Not right now, anyway.

She was about to comment on the status of the rest of the family, perhaps to propose a search for Cloudberry, but then...Jayberry said exactly what she had feared underneath it all. That she tried to start it again. That more children were given the cursed name. Her eyes widened and her beak opened with horror. "W-what do you mean there's new members? What, you found more children? Kill more and made them yourself?! Where are they?!"

"Willingly," she confirmed, "Flew from her nook to the stag's back with the weasel." Her ears flattened back, "I tried to get her to run, to come with me, but she wouldn't." her voice was rattled with shame, at having lost another of their family, at having let them go happily with the enemy, at having failed to protect Mother's daughter. "She was fine, from what I could see."

But she was being snapped at then, and she drew back with a whine, dropping her gaze and licking her lips. "Sorry Mother." She shook herself, as though casting aside the thought, although it still stuck at the back of her mind, clinging like a particularly vivacious tick.

The she-wolf was quick to try and soothe Mother's worries, although she worried herself--had she done wrong? She loved her pups, what would Mother think of them? Would she hate them? "N-no," she stuttered, taken off-guard, "I found their stones in Cetus, they all died a long time ago from what I could tell." another lick of her lips, "I've been trying to keep my head down, not be noticed since I...," not sure the right word, she brought her hand-like paw up to gesture at herself. Her fangs flicked forward as she cast out her Magic, seeking the pups, "They're down in the tunnel, in their nests." Despite herself, she perked up--they were her prides and her joys, and she desperately wanted Mother to love them as she loved them.