He'd worked out a system, one where he could relieve the beast within himself without hurting others. He just had to vent on the lesser gembounds that lurked in the shadows and when he did that he would have to make sure he did it far away from any sentient creatures. He didn't want anyone to be caught in the crossfires of his Bloodlust. There didn't need to be any repeats of his youth where he continuously hurt others and could do nothing about it except feverishly apologize after the fact. But what was an apology? It meant nothing in the long run because the lives he'd hurt were still shattered. For all that it mattered he could keep the apologies to himself and nothing would have even changed...

The dragon growled to himself as he stalked to the far corners of Eridanus, he could smell smoke in the distance and remembered what Equinox told him of burning down half of the forest. Silently he thanked her for this half of the forest should be virtually uninhabited, after all, who would want to come to a smoky burned down forest?

The dragon lowered his head, sniffing for the scents of cave deer. He caught wind of a herd not too far away and after outlining a plan in his head he turned and rounded behind them. His goal was to steer them straight towards the burned down portion of the forest where he could wreak havoc, alone, and sate the Bloodlust he was about to let out. Here, he could be a feral beast and hopefully no one would wander upon him. May the First Dragon help them, if they do. He closed his eyes, inhaled, and then let out a thundering roar from before he burst out behind the cave deer herd. The petrified beasts turned as one and darted straight where he wanted them too. The dragon made sure to stay back but close enough that he could lunge at a deer should it start turning in a different direction. In this way they made it to the burned out clearing where he finally allowed himself to let go...

With an earth-shattering roar he picked up speed, easily overtaking the panicked deer with his longer strides and then he took his first victim.

His pointed fangs sank into the hide of a woolly deer, blood erupting from around his mouth and coating his tongue. The smell and taste of the scarlet liquid set him off. If he was around others he would have fought it but now where he thought he was alone, he allowed it to fully take him without resistance. His eyes turned from their normal pink to a deep shade of crimson while his vision became a hazy red, painting the deer in a delightful scarlet. Yes. Feast. A voice whispered in his mind... And so...

He did.

He was a beast among the deer, slicing with his claws and shredding anything that came into contact with his maw. His white coat was splattered with red while he raided the herd like a dog loose among a coop of hens. It was a scene of absolute carnage and yet... it was necessary. Woe be to any that happened upon the carnivore.

---

546
@Leon @Aries
---
7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

we burn the brightest

in the dark

Wary hoof steps threaded the blacked ground. The scorched tree trunks towered over him, like menacing claws. Everything about this place was foreboding, from its flame ravaged trees, to its deathly loneliness. Still, Aries carried on, despite the growing feelings of uneasiness. When he had wandered from the forest's viridian sanctuary, the change in scenery was drastic. This place was not like the Eridanis he explored, yet, he wondered if it was still apart of it.

Aries' little mind wondered what kind of force could have destroyed such a place, if it was even destroyed at all. Curiosity began to tug at him, drawing him towards a gnarled tree. The blacken giant had collapsed, pulling up the sooty earth with it. He circled the strange phenomenon, exploring the many cracks and crevices it had birthed. Aries could not help but to sniff the trunk. Oddly, it had a pleasant scent to it, not sweet, or delicious, just pleasant, like smell of warmth. He bit into its charred bark, tearing of a piece. It was nothing like how he imagined it to be. It tasted horrible, like bitter dirt and it was very brittle, breaking off in his mouth and smothering his tongue, like ash. Shriveling his nose in disgust, he spat out all he could of the terrible bark and smacked his lips, very displeased. The nasty taste still lingered in his mouth.

Suddenly, the silence was broken. A monstrous roar echoed through out the emptiness.

Aries shot up his head. His ears pressed forward into the stillness. But only sound he heard was the fast paced beating of his own heart. His anxious mind raced with questions. What was that? What should he do? Where can he go? Only one thing was clear to him. He shouldn't be here.

Just when Aries was about to turn his hooves away, a mysterious rumble began to shake the ground. He stared down at his hooves. A look of confusion spread across his face, then, a crack from a branch alerted him from behind. Three cave deer came out of know where, sprinting madly like their life depended on it. Aries gasped and scrambled away, taking cover under the fallen tree's roots. They raced past him, not noticing his presence. Then a stampede of them erupted from the blackened wood.

A terrifying beast tore through them, its piercing eyes were wild and scarlet like the blood it spilt. Aries watched in utter horror as it ripped apart the cave deer. The sour stench of blood and guts flooded his nostrils. He flinched at the sickly cracking of bones. Frozen in terror, all Aries could do was stare back from under the roots with wide, yellow, horrified eyes. His mind was at a complete and utter stand still. It was not until the severed head of a deer rolled down into his makeshift sanctuary did his stir into action. The sight of its dead eyes staring back at him was the last straw. Aries whimpered, and stood on his trembling legs. The lamb felt sick to his stomach. He gave into the instinct of flight and leaped from the upturned roots. Suddenly, his hind leg snagged on the very gnarled tendrils that once hid him, tripping the poor lamb. He let out a startled bleat, believing that the monster had caught him. Aries was relieved that it was only the roots, but his relief was short lived as he soon came to the grim realization that his leg was stuck. He pulled and pulled, but he was not strong enough to free himself.

Tears began to swell up in his eyes as he scrambled at the dirt pathetically with his free hooves. He wanted out, he wanted to leave. He wanted to get far, far away from this vile beast as possible, but this was nightmare he could not escape. Aries felt so helpless against the grim clutch of fate.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Baratheon @Leon // OOC:

The monstrous beast turned his fangs on one deer after another, ripping them into pieces before swallowing what he could. The herd had been absolutely decimated and normally it would be now that his bloodlust would begin to end. When he'd destroyed a mass number of lesser gembounds and consumed a great amount of blood but today would be different.

As he began to calm he tracked down one of the cave deer and bowled it over. It bleated once before he bit into its head and ended its life. The dragon placed one massive paw on top of his victim, the headless corpse was torn partly in half but this would suffice as a meal. To steak his claim the beast lifted his head to let out a massive roar. Then, after finding no disputes to his claim the white and red beast dipped his maw down to rip off a chunk of meat to swallow whole. As far as he knew the herd was completely gone, ripped to shreds by his claws and fangs... but as fate would just so have it, he saw something else moving at the corner of his vision. In the hazy red of his vision he saw the struggling form of what he thought was another cave deer. The predator in him locked on, fueled further by the fact that there was helpless prey for him to hunt.

All at once he stilled, his head snapping towards the struggling lamb as he stared it down. The bloodstained lips lifted to expose his needle-sharp fangs... then he began to stalk towards the struggling babe. His head was low, ears back, and eyes narrowed with predatory intent. He started off slow but then broke into a sprint with a snarl in his throat as it became clear what he intended on doing to the young gembound. Moment by terrible moment he drew near, excitement was building in his chest as he anticipated tearing into this new bit of prey. He would rip into it like the others and then swallow it whole. Then... maybe then... he would be done.

He was only a few yards away now, easy leaping distance for the great beast. In the end he did so with a gusto, wings propelling him into the air as he lunged with fangs bared and red eyes locked onto his prey. It would all be over in an instant if no one intervened for the poor child.

---

413
@Leon @Aries
We need you papa bear ;.;
7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Eridanus was a place he didn't often visit. It seemed almost alien compared to the part of the cave that he had spent most of his life living in; Pisces, which was cold, stony and bleak, never lonely with the distant din of the waterfall echoing against its walls. Eridanus was its polar: humid, misty and green, full of lush life and vibrancy. Neither room was his environment, but something about Pisces just always rang like home. Perhaps it was the fact that it was the first place he called home. The place where he had helped to form Maji Walezi, lived in a den with his wife, raised children. Maybe it was the distant sound of that waterfall, gentle aquatic lullabies humming outside his head, the smothered symphony of underwater. That sound that made him feel home.

He often wondered what it might be like to live in a room of fire, but the closest he'd gotten to that was Fornax, which was a room filled with water - only, it was hot. Eridanus was the next best thing. The activity that buzzed in this jungle room was like it was filled with a different kind of warmth. It made him sink back to his memories. But Leon never stayed long. He was a curious beast, and sooner or later, he'd find himself following another path, sniffing out an exotic snack, something different than fish. He even made a list of what flowers to go back and collect for Makyna when he was done.

So when the sound of violence arced through the air above the trees, Leon stopped and sought out the source. Strange - it had been so long since he'd encountered violence. Or maybe it was just that the caves had been dormant for some time. He'd slept so long, too, he had started to think that the nature of the Gembounds had changed. No more strife in such low numbers.

He charged towards the noise, orange eyes searching - and quick to fix on the gargantuan white titan knocking through a herd of cave deer. Leon pulled back, keeping among the trees as he observed. White fur marred with crimson blood, and a pair of unnatural, cotton candy pink eyes blazing with hunger. He almost didn't recognize the creature as he fixated on a young goat with its leg stuck among the roots, but there was no mistaking the familiarity in his mere form. How the cycles must have warped him.

Leon hesitated, unsure if it would be wiser to leave him be. He glanced back at the lamb again, swallowing - who was he to interrupt the feral dragon from feeding - but just as quickly caught the flash of bloodstone on his muzzle. That wasn't a cave deer. It was another Gembound.

"Hey! Stop!" Leon blurted, bursting through the foliage and out into the clearing where the goat's leg was twisted in the roots. What fate had caused Baratheon to attack the babe? What poisoner had malformed the dragon's mind? Skidding out to meet Baratheon head-on, Leon reared onto his hind legs and summoned forth his magic, using everything he had to try and stop the beast. In an instant, hot, burning magic rippled through his chest and up his throat, erupting in a sizzling explosion of light focused on the dragon, hoping to throw him off his course long enough for Leon to talk some sense into him.

Round: 1/6
Attempt: Running between Aries and Baratheon, standing up and shooting a blinding beam of light from his mouth at Baratheon
Defense: None
Injuries: None

He drew in, it was almost like time slowed down as his slavering jaws opened to grab for the babe. The only thing keeping him from his prize was the sudden appearance of a bear. The creature wedged itself between the great white beast and the tiny lamb, yelling words and unleashing a blinding light. The force of the beam caught the dragon full in the face, painfully blinding him and forcing his red orbs to close. His wings flapped furiously, kicking up dust and ashes as he maneuvered backwards and away from the pair of gembounds.

The best landed heavily on the ground with his head lowered and snarling like some sort of angered canine. For a moment he was staved away by the blinding light, eyes blinked rapidly to try and clear the pulsing light still flickering in his eyes. When his vision finally cleared his head slowly turned towards the bear, scarlet eyes narrowing as he let out a vicious roar. It was one of challenge for in his feral mind this bear was challenging him for the rights to his kill and that was unacceptable. He was the top predator here and he would kill to prove it.

Destroy. It was whispered in his feral mind like a prayer. Prey-stealer. His lips lifted to uncover his fangs as he swung his body around to face the challenger. Rip. Him. Apart. He let out a screaming roar and thundered forward, intent on doing as much damage as possible. His head lifted and then darted downwards with mouth splayed in an attempt to grab the bear by the neck and then throw him. He wanted him away from the lamb and he wanted to sink his teeth into something for just a taste of the blood.

Round I of VI
Attacks: Grab Leon's neck and throw him.
Defenses: None!
Injuries: Eyes sore.

---

298
@Leon @Aries
---
7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

As he hit his mark, Leon rumbled and dropped his front paws back to the ground. His fur was thick and coarse, but if it was lighter, one could see it rise along his neck and spine as he eyed the dragon. The very same dragon he had met here in Eridanus long ago. It might have been countless cycles, but Leon never forgot a face, especially not one like Baratheon's - but he had never known Baratheon to be so violent. What had twisted him? Had something truly damaged him in the span of time that he'd been in his chrysalis?

The blinding beam didn't last long as Baratheon soon regained his balance and fixated that blazing pink gaze on him. The bear drew back his lips, legs stiffening at the look of fury in his acquaintance's eyes. What would drive him to attack a helpless Gembound? Leon had time enough only to steal a glance back at the young ram before Baratheon's roar shook the ground and pierced his ears. He snapped his eyes back to the dragon, watching him charge forward. Hopefully the lamb would take this opportunity to flee. Leon, though, he decided he'd have to fight this out until he could knock Baratheon to his senses.

It wasn't often that Leon had to fight something larger than him, but he intuited that he'd have to use the same tactics his prey might try to use to escape him. When Baratheon came in to grip him, Leon slacked, knowing that resistance would only cause more damage. Thankfully, Baratheon didn't seem to think to injure him further beyond taking hold of him and tossing him, so Leon allowed his body to be carried. As he was airborne, he tucked his legs in and hit the ground with a percussive oof, rolling, and then attempting to leap back to his paws with fire brewing in his lungs.

When he righted himself, Leon sucked in a breath and exhaled, a hot tongue of flame erupting from his jaws. Maybe a singed rear end would slow Baratheon down.

Round: 2/6
Attacks: Breathing fire on Baratheon's butt/from behind/slightly to the side?
Defenses: Tucking legs when rolling
Injuries: Some potential bruising on his sides

@Baratheon

His teeth met thick fur on the grizzly's neck, doing nothing more than latching and on giving the dragon leverage to throw the ursine. His move worked and the bear was thrown from his kill. The dragon could have left it there and gone back for the baby lamb but something forced his attention away again. A hot something that gave a searing blow to his side and scorched the skin underneath his fur. There was only superficial damage as his flame retardant coat managed to absorb most of the damage, but it still hurt, and it still pissed him off even more.

If only he were able to regain his senses and remember who exactly it was that he was attacking but in his red hazy vision he could recognize no one save for prey and fellow predator. The feral beast that ruled his mind cared not for bonds, it only cared for the blood that would sate its appetite and right now the bear was standing in the way of that release.

The dragon's massive head turned to stare at the bear, his fangs bared as he snarled. If the bear had wanted his attention then he had it fully again. Baratheon's tail swayed behind him like a giant balance, helping him as thundered forward once more but his time he didn't try to grab the bear with his fangs. Instead when he was within clawing distance of the creature he rose onto his hind paws, his tail was on the ground and helped him stay elevated in such a way while his wings flared slightly for an extra aid. Then, in one swift motion he would attempt to bring his left paw down with pink claws bared in such a way to slash the creature. His magicka bubbled within him subconsciously, giving him an extra powerful swing in hopes of knocking the bear down and dealing extra damage with his claws.


Round II of VI
Attacks: Claw swipe with extra force behind it.
Defenses: Tail outstretched on the ground and wings slightly flared for balance.
Injuries: Scorched booty.

---

324
@Leon @Aries
---
7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

His move worked - slightly. Well, it wasn't like Leon was hoping to burn him up alive, but he had been hoping that the fire would be enough to bring Baratheon out of whatever stupor had caused him to attack the babe. Instead, Baratheon turned back to him with fury in his eyes, and Leon felt his heart began to sink. He'd already hit Baratheon twice and it didn't bring him back. He was in no way trying to start a fight with the dragon, but it seemed like that would be his only option as he tried to protect the baby Gembound from the enraged beast. Leon stepped back as he watched Baratheon charge towards him a second time.

Expecting to be picked up and tossed again, Leon tried to hunch his shoulders and stiffen his legs, intending to remain balled up as he was thrown. Instead, Baratheon stopped and reared up, causing Leon to peer up - then be smacked in the side of his face with unusual force, flying off to the side. He rolled again, truly caught off guard by the strength of the dragon's strike, and when he stood back up he winced as he felt a dampness among the thick fur of the side of his head. Cutting pain. He must have sliced through the skin. A familiar anger was beginning to burn deep in his chest, unable to understand why Baratheon was behaving so primitively, so aggressively. "Stop!" He snarled.

But if his previous attacks hadn't roused Baratheon, he doubted his words will. Leon anchored himself to the ground this time, bracing his limbs and cracking open his jaws with another hot, wavering exhale of fire.

Round: 3/6
Attacks: Incinerate from Bara's side/front, depending on if Bara faces him
Defenses: Braced legs, all four paws on the ground
Injuries: Bruising on sides, thick cuts on the left side of his head

@Baratheon

His claw met with flesh, slicing easily through the fur and skin while knocking the bear away from him. The blood coated on his claws caused a distraction in the beast. His claws lifted up to his face as his blue tongue snaked out to taste the liquid. A satisfied rumble erupted from his throat as he turned once more to look at the ursine. More of the life-giving liquid dampened the side of the bear's face and it made Baratheon want more. The word he yelled fell on deaf ears, he was far past the ability to comprehend what words were. It held no more meaning than a guttural animal noise to him, probably less because then he would be able to decipher some primitive form of communication.

Regardless, before the dragon could prepare himself to launch once more at the brown creature a flame was thrown at him. How fast the attack came it left the dragon unable to properly defend himself and the beast was caught full on in the chest. A roar of pain erupted from his maw as the force of it made him fall backwards, head over tail. The smell of singed flesh would permeate the area as his pink scales would be completely cooked by the fire. Days later would he be feeling the burns from the injury but now he could feel the beast within himself growing even more angry. Flat on his belly he would lay for a moment, stunned from the pain and the force of the blow. Then, he would recover himself and roar his anger at the bear.

With a scorched chest and painful body he would once more lunge to his paws and thunder after the creature. Pain wouldn't hold him back, not from the prey-stealer, not from the one who'd hurt him so severely! His mouth cranked open but no spell shot from it. No, with his long neck extended the dragon was aiming to sink his fangs into the bear's right flank in hopes of getting to rend and tear to make him bleed and get his teeth wet with red.

Round III of VI
Attacks: Biting into Leon's right flank so he can rip and tear into it.
Defenses: None.
Injuries: Scorched booty. Severe burns on chest.

---

356
@Leon @Aries
---
7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

we burn the brightest

in the dark

For a moment, time seemed to slow down as the great beast lunged for him, eyes wild and jaws stretched open. All that had been Aries' brief life flashed before his horrified eyes. Quickly, lamb flung his forelegs over his head, bracing himself for a violent end, but it never came.

"Hey! Stop!"

He heard the voice as clear as day. Movement shuffled the ground in front and he lifted his head to find a massive ursine standing before him. Awestruck, the lamb froze, his mouth fell agape. Just when he thought the gembound couldn't get more magnificent, a beam of blinding light shot from his mouth. It seemed to have pierced the monster's eyes, and it stopped it dead in its tracks. Aries blinked in amazement. Could this gembound be on his side?

The lamb was dragged back to a terrifying reality when the beast tore his savior away like a cave deer. He gasped in horror and shrunk back. After watching the desolation of the deer herd, it was hard imagining anything to survive a bite from its dreadful maw. Thankfully, the bear seemed sturdier than a cave deer, and quickly grabbed its attention with scorching flames. Once again, the gembound had saved his skin, but Aries knew if he stayed all twisted up in these roots, then he might as well be a piece of shredded meat for that bloodthirsty dragon.

He looked back his strung up limb and eyed the gnarled roots holding it hostage. By the way it knotted around his hock, the task ahead seemed daunting. Aries' tender muscles strained under his brown coat as he used all the strength he could gather to attempt to tear his leg from the tree's tendrils, but it was no use. Exhausted from fear and fruitless pulling, he collapsed back on his belly, heaving. His strength felt hopelessly capped.

His attention snapped back to battling giants before him. He could feel a singeing wave of heat wash over him, stinging his eyes, but white beast's chest took the full force of the flames. Unfortunately, that did not seem to faze it much. Aries felt his body cringe as the monster lunged at his protector with malicious intent.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Baratheon @Leon // OOC: