A shadow came rippling across the jagged floor of the bone cave.

She had not retreated into her chrysalis, like she led so many to believe. She had not been tattered and torn apart, like the rumors she spread seemed to have promised. There was no world-ending battle between her and a dragon, no evidence of claws that scathed her skin and ripped her feathers from their follicles. Even though that was what she would have wanted you to believe about Liora, daughter of Aza'zel and Princess of the Bonebound. That she was dead.

It was a fit of adolescent anger that sent Liora on her rampage through the caves so many cycles ago, telling others about the death of the Bonebound King and the subsequent, glorious demises of his children. To be honest, she only knew about her father; she hadn't even seen Ashtoreth since then, so her sister was as good as dead anyway. It didn't make it hurt any less, though. That everyone was gone. Aza'zel, Krakarak, Ashtoreth - anybody that would have mattered to her. She would have been better off dead too, at least then she could be with them. And yet Liora, ever bold, ever brass, was ever the coward. Taking her own life - that was an extreme even she couldn't sink to, even in her anguish.

Yet, somehow, she did - and then she fled Canis. Liora told herself she wouldn't return, ever. And she had done well in upholding that promise. She spent all that time exploring the other caves. Hunting, for fun; eating, sleeping, tormenting the lesser gembounds. She had learned a lot about golems. And a lot about others, by observing. And through all of that, she felt the need to reintegrate herself begin to bite. Her anger had long since subsided; it was her stubbornness that kept her away.

But today, she swallowed it down. On broad wings, she flew through the tunnels and into the cavern she once called home. Entering the room, she felt a sudden surge of possessive pride revoke a loud caw from her gleaming amethyst beak, a sound that bellowed through the cavern - an announcement of her arrival. To who, she didn't care. All that needed to be known was that the Bonebound Princess had returned.

Chortling deep in her throat, Liora landed on the rocky floor and appraised the room, eager to see what changes had taken place in her absence.

Bones! Dead things! Gems everywhere! Glory didn't really know how he was going to make it through this room. He was small and many of the bones were quite big. He wasn't quite sure why he felt the need to go through here, but he had, after all, made it here all the way from Polaris. He couldn't stop now!

Jumped forward, he tried to clamber of the bones, one after another, but he continued to flop over on his face. At one point, he tried to let out a frustrated blast of super-hot air but the magic caught in his throat and burned him and he instead went stumbling forward with pain, coughing and retching as heat stung at the inside of his beak.

He shook his head with a small squeak, trying to clear the heat, but now he just continued on angrily instead. He wanted so much to get out of this room, but he was so far in! He had to discover something before he left!

_______________________________________________________

"I speak!"
I think.

tags: @Liora
notes:

Liora narrowed her eyes, expecting some form of creature to come out of the woodwork at her specious arrival. She half wondered if anybody who once ran with the Bonebound still lived here - did the strange hyena or her splotchy-furred dog child? Had her sister been hiding here the whole time? It was hard to say. She was tempted to call out to them, to seek them out. To demand them to confront her.

It was the clattering of bones that caught her attention then. Liora craned her long neck, searching for the source - and locating it within moments. A young bird was attempting to clamber up the mountains of bone and stone. Liora hopped closer, watching him silently. She almost laughed when she saw him stumble and fall, and then really did utter a chortle at his display of utmost failure, coughing smoke as he tumbled down the mountain.

"RAKAKAKAK! Dumb baby!" she crowed meanly, lifting to the air and fluttering toward the mountain of bones. Liora landed hard on the mountain above him, using her powerful legs to disturb the careful collection and send a few of them tumbling down his way. Her wings flared to make for an intimidating silhouette as she turned and watched, hoping the bones would take the young bird down with them.

Glory heard the loud screech in his ears and his feathers flared up angrily. Who on earth was being so rude? Who dared to call him a dumb baby? He knew they had probably seen his embarrassing display and he looked up. A big bird, floating above him, coming down on the bones above. They must think themselves big and wonderful. Well, they weren't! Pride wounded, he stood to his feet and made himself as tall as possible. "Who are you calling a dumb baby?! I am Glory! I'll show you!"

He was about to climb the mountain after them when a number of bones began to clatter down towards him. Being so small, many of them were quite big and could easily crush him. With a screech, he dove to the side, hoping that he could get out of the way quick enough. He managed to avoid them and watched them fall to the bottom after him.

Seething, he turned back to the bird and screeched, "HEY!! That was rude! Watch where your throwing your bones!"

_______________________________________________________

"I speak!"
I think.

tags: @Liore
notes:

The bird fluttered her wings, chortling at the young bird's response. He was glory? That was syntactically incorrect! One cannot be glory! One could, however, be glorious... which was what Liora was. However, she wasn't about to correct him. Liora had no place correcting people when she herself didn't bother to articulate correctly. She considered it an homage to her father - one of her fathers.

"KRAW! Show Liora what? Show! Show!" she goaded him, and if birds could grin, then she would - as it was, her beak merely cracked open, her amethyst gem catching the light with zeal. She watched him evade the bones, but it wasn't that impressive - it was hardly much of a bone-valanche at all! She'd have to give him something a little more difficult to get past!

"Watch? Watch this!" she crowed, lifting to the air and lunging at the small bird, massive clawed feet arched and poised to grab at the eagle and dislodge him herself. The moment she intended to make contact with him, she would tighten her grip, then release - hoping it would be enough to send him tumbling down the bone hill to the floor below.

(I'M SORRY SHE'S SO MEAN 8( ) @Glory

Glory was about to take in a deep breath to show Liora his very impressive ability, when talons were suddenly descending in front of his face. He didn't have time to run away, the bigger bird's talons were suddenly gripping his small, white-feathered body. He squealed loudly as he was dropped, opening his beak and spitting out superhot bile straight towards the retreating Liora. He smacked onto the bones and went tumbling back down the mountain.

As soon as he was at the bottom, he snapped himself right back onto his feet, equally embarrassed and absolutely furious. He felt small next to this thing and he hated that feeling. He wanted to feel big, wonderful, glorious! "Why are you being so mean," he spat. "What did I ever do to you?"

_______________________________________________________

"I speak!"
I think.

tags: @Liora
notes:

The hybrid felt a sense of pride fill her chest as she made contact with the bird, tossing him off the mountain and uttering a loud cackle as she did so. Broad wings spread at her sides as she soared overhead, the warmth spreading from her chest all throughout her body - it had been too long since she'd had a good fight! And yet... the warmth suddenly felt... too warm. In the blink of an eye, she felt searing fire rip across her belly, her already black feathers now scorched from the impact of magma against her underside. Liora shrieked, faltering in flight. With one, two frantic flaps, she circled overhead and landed hard on the mound of bones, sending a few more clattering to the ground at the impact.

Her wild eyes snapped back to the youngster. How dare he defy her so!

"Mean?!" Liora echoed, puffing her feathers up. Her abdomen stung from the heat. "Liora is not mean! Liora is PRINCESS OF CANIS! SURVIVOR OF RAHEERAH! BACK FROM THE DEAD!"

Obviously. Dumb baby.

"This is Liora's mountain!" she crowed, and then swung her head to gesture to the next nearest mountain, "And that one!" And then the next, "And that one too!!"

She reeled her head back, chortling with pride. "KRAKAKAK! If you want to climb bone mountains, you must beg permission from Princess Liora with an offering!"

@Glory

Glory glared up at Liora. If she wasn't being mean, then he was a fish. She could call herself a princess all she wanted, but he knew she was lying. There were no such thing and if there were, they'd be much nicer then that. Much more honorable. "I don't answer to any Princess as rude as you," he cried. "Maybe if you were a little NICER or maybe if you treated others with RESPECT then they would respect YOU!"

He sniffed and turned his head away, as if he had smelled carrion. The words of this bird were so disgusting, so terrible that he almost felt ready to leave. But not until this bird learned her lesson. "I'll bring you no offering, go get it yourself. Or are you too lazy or too high to get your own things?"

_______________________________________________________

"I speak!"
I think.

tags: @Liora
notes:

Liora observed the tiny birb for a moment, feeling smug at her proclamation. Honestly, who was going to contest her? Everyone she ever knew was gone. Her fathers, her sister, even Giggle - then again, she didn't really spend a lot of time looking for the old hyena. As far as she was concerned, her words were as good as true. She really had fought Raheerah, died, and come back to life. Other gembounds did it all the time. Only Liora didn't need to be changed. She was perfect the way she was.

Her head cocked, beak gaping an inch as the gemling defied her. Because she was rude! Well... okay, Liora wasn't going to argue it this time. She was a little rude, but only because she had to be. Nobody would listen to her if she was a pushover. Was that why Aza'zel had died? Being a pushover. Or - no - it was because he had been pushed over. Haha!

Oh, wow. Liora really was messed up.

She hissed, fluttering her wings at the baby as she hopped down the mountain at him. "Lazy?! Watch your tongue, you ungrateful twerp!"

Gaining speed in her descent, she suddenly launched into the air again, aiming for the baby. This time, to do some real harm. She was going to teach him a little something about respect.

Her talons arched for the youngster, intending to barrel into him. Liora would have liked to pin him under her feet, but she was moving too fast, and admittedly, she was a little too enthusiastic to have complete control over what she was doing. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she made contact - and bowled him over in the process.

Round: 1/5?
Attack: Flying tackle at Glory!
Defenses: None
Injuries: None

you really thought i was joking about liora picking a fight with a baby @Glory

Glory glared at Liora. What on earth should he be grateful for? He had never met her before, she had never done anything for him, nor the other way around. He didn't understand how this bird thought and was going to turn and leave, noting this as a lost cause. This room was gross anyways.

But then the huge bird was flying towards him, talons out. It took Glory a moment to realize that he was being attacked, and for real this time. It was kind of amazing to him that she would, considering how much bigger and older she was. Glory would never - never! - attack someone as young as him if he was her size!

His eyes blazed with fury. No honor! No conscious! He didn't care that he was about to get destroyed by this huge bird, he would fight back as best he could! "Have you no sense of pride? Attacking someone so much younger then you? You should be ashamed!"

He let himself be knocked over, glaring at her all the way as she got closer. Once she was in front of him, he spat some more superhot bile at her chest while her talons connected with his soft belly. With an 'oof' he was knocked away and went tumbling through the bones.

Round: 1
Attempt: Spitfire at Liora's chest
Defense: none
Injuries: a couple of small bruises?

_______________________________________________________

"I speak!"
I think.

tags: @Liora
notes: