Cavallys has begun to inspect the cave that it calls home. Draco looks odd, but the foal has never experienced anything different. It is both too loud and too quiet, too dark and too light, all at the same time. Cavallys will get used to it with time, but its new eyes still find the area around it sensitive in more ways than one. The sound of moving gemstones has already given it a headache once before.

The exploration is both to curb its curiosity and to get away from its family - the competitive Fenmyre, the strange Draconua. Cavallys isn't sure it will get used to either of them, and yet still calls them family. Mother says strange things that it does not understand, and Fenmyre has said nothing notable to Cavallys since their escape from the oil.

It shudders thinking about it.

Thankfully there is no more oil to escape. Just Cavallys, standing alone gazing up at the odd jutting crystals coming from every crevice.

@Gravedigger

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

The Gravedigger's own explorations of its hatch-cave was fruitful - spars, short conversations, food, what more could it ask for? Physical destruction. Easy answer. It just...hadn't gotten to that one just yet and it didn't think Master Vargas would approve. But it could feel itself growing closer to the day it needed to be released. Not that "released upon the world above" thing, but a momentary release of the energy store and the chaos it fed upon. A volcanic eruption and woe be to those that were close by when it did so.

Right now, though, it was chilling. Literally. Resting in a dip in the rocks a ways away from the Black Spire. A flash of movement caught its attention, trailing away from the Creator's monument and wandering further into the cave. Something it did not recognize and that made it interested enough to follow.

It wasn't a quiet beast, but it did come up to Cavallys from behind. "I don't recognize you," it rumbled, but it held no accusation, only curiosity. Its head tilted to the side. "Did Master Vargas make you? Will we go destroy together?" So casual was its suggestion, like it was asking if they were meant to go play baseball together instead of crush civilizations beneath their feet.

buried under broken bones

@Cavallys

A new stranger approaches, Cavallys does not know this one. It's bigger than Cavallys, that's for sure. A little bit scary looking, with all of the glowy bits. When he speaks, the foal stares at him with a dead stare. This one wants to destroy? Were all of them born to do that? Or just the ones Cavallys has met before?

It doesn't have a lot to work from, right now. Cavallys also isn't sure what a 'Master Vargas' looks like. It pauses, scratching at the rocks with its claws. "I do not want to destroy..."

Being willed into action by its own Mother was enough, it thinks. Without her, though, Cavallys might've just melted into the bubbling oil under the Spire. Thankfully, Cavallys escaped - and beat its more competitive sibling. A two-for-one, really.

"I came from under that thing." It points to the Spire in the distance, misshapen and visible even through the color-shifted cave. Its sibling did too, and Mother seems to be around it all the time. Being a child Cavallys' attention easily shifts back to the first thing Gravedigger said. "Why do you want to destroy?" Speaking freely here, without the guise of Draconua.

Cavallys would rather lay on the rocks, watching the others drift by.

@Gravedigger

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

He was weirdly a little disappointed when the horse-thing shot down his idea, but he didn't argue. He shrugged, instead. "Okay, that's fine." Apparently not everyone in here wanted destruction, he was finding out quickly. Or they craved destruction in different ways, maybe? It was a little hard to think about anything else when the Black Spire existed right there and was constantly basking them all in the radiation of chaos.

Maybe some were more resilient then others.

It made sense to Gravedigger, then, that this one was hatched under it. He looked in that direction, surprised that there was even room under that thing, but maybe since it had grown in its presence, it was more...used to it? Resistant? That didn't sound fair, considering it had hatched next to it, but whatever. "Oh that's cool. I came from...next to it. We were close to each other, then?" Phrased like a question, but he looked like he certainly didn't need an answer. They had grown right next to each other, basically. Neighbors.

The question did catch it off guard, though - why? Why did it want to destroy? The Gravedigger was quiet for a moment, blinking as it thought through its own mind. "Uh. I'm not sure. It's fun, I guess. I like to break things." Another shrug. "Also Master Vargas told me I will wreak chaos through existence. I'm seeing if anyone else is going with me."

buried under broken bones

@Cavallys

Cavallys can't say she's seen this one before - big and glowy, she's sure she'd remember it. Then again, maybe it was too focused on figuring out her strange home to think about it. Or to look at anyone else, really. If Gravedigger hatched next to it, then they must've been close.

"Yeah!" It feels good to talk with someone so different from the family.

Well, different in some ways. Cavallys can't forget that this one lives for the destruction. Cavallys would rather not.

"I. See..." Cavallys isn't sure what Gravedigger is talking about, but if the glowy thing thinks its good then Cavallys doesn't see any wrong in it. Even if it seems to be a similar reason why she was created.

"Hopefully you find someone." That sounds too scary for Cav's liking. So it's definitely not going to be her. "Are you... Training? To do that?"

@Gravedigger

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

Gravedigger nodded, but he didn't seem too hopeful. He wasn't, considering nobody had come up to him like "hey, Gravedigger, we're going to be going out into the world together!" nor had anyone like Master Vargas or an older valkhound said anything about there being anyone else. And from first impressions of Cavallys, she didn't seem like the type. Certainly the right kind of creation - hatching right next to the Black Spire and all - but her rejection of destruction and chaos probably was a flag that she wasn't suitable.

Well...Gravedigger didn't really like violence or blood or anything. He liked to brawl, and he liked destroying things. Did that make him less qualified? A look of puzzlement crossed his face as he considered - odd, perhaps, as Cavallys hadn't said anything that should be confusing. But it quickly disappeared as he decided if Vargas hadn't mentioned it, and his training was to continue, then it was all fine.

"Yeah. I'm training. Destroying and fighting and stuff. I don't know why." He paused and tilted his head. "Do you have a name? Or just a number. Or a name-number?"

buried under broken bones

@Cavallys

Cavallys stands there a bit dumbfounded when Gravedigger says he's training and doesn't know why. Surely Gravedigger should be told what its training for, right? Subjecting someone to something so dangerous has to be important - it's not the same as Cavallys and Fenmyre climbing out of the boiling Oil. That was to see if they'd live - this feels different.

"I hope they tell you soon." Cavallys can't handle not knowing why. Mother had praised her for it, but Cavallys is still left with more questions than answers. "I'm Cavallys!"

Its a good name if she says so herself. Cavallys likes her name. "What is yours?"

@Gravedigger

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

Gravedigger nodded. "Knowing would be nice." The whole "you will wreak chaos throughout creation" sounded awesome but it was also quite vague and left him with a whole lot more questions then answers about his purpose, but Vargas hadn't elaborated too much.

He would be leaving. That's what he knew. And he didn't have long to train for that day.

"Hi, Cavallys," he rumbled, brightly, completely disguising any misgivings (if there really were any at all). "I'm V-Chaos-F...F....Fifteen." He had to pause for a moment to remember exactly which "f" number it was. "Gravedigger." Much easier. "So, are we going to train together, then?" It was with much more of a hopeful tilt of his voice then the fairly flat questions before. After all, its really what he'd been raised on. Training meant they were allies. Friends, maybe? Someone to trust. Gravedigger liked having people he could trust.

buried under broken bones

@Cavallys

Cavallys decides she likes this one. Being created for destruction would be hard for Cavallys to come to terms with, she thinks, but he seems to be taking it well enough. That must be the difference between Cavallys and everyone else, even Fenmyre has taken better to the caves than Cavallys has.

"Hi Gravedigger!" Cavallys replies doing her best impression of a grin. Hard with the face situation going on.

Training sounds scary. Would Mother be proud of her if she learned how to fight on her own? Her eyes gaze over to where the Spire stands tall, watching over Draco. Maybe some training would be good... Cavallys will probably need to learn eventually. Plus, she thinks Gravedigger is pretty cool. Maybe they can be friends!

"Um. Okay, yeah we can." Her long tail swishes with anxiety. At least Cavallys will be able to say she tried.

@Gravedigger

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

He perked up at the acceptance, already growing a little excited. "Thank you. I won't hurt you." He was empathetic enough to see that it made the other hound nervous, so an offering promise was given. Of course, it wasn't fully honest, any spar would hurt a little bit, but as he was referring more to no permanent or lasting damage, it felt okay to say.

"Okay. Spar, then. Get ready." And he would give Cavallys a moment to prepare herself (and himself to swallow back any acid that had gathered in his mouth and clamp it shut) before giving a scrap at the ground to announce his first attack.

He lunged and charged forward, slow, a little awkward, but he came in like a battering ram, throwing himself straight at Cavallys to start their fight off strong, flinging his entire low-set body towards the bottom half of the horse-like hound and bowl her over.

buried under broken bones

ROUND 1/?

ATTEMPT: straight in for a body slam
DEFENSE: n/a
INJURIES: n/a

@Cavallys