Her wounds healing now, Huckleberry had dared to wander from the nest for a while. Mama had gone off for now and she had been left alone with the gem that would become Cloudberry. But simply staring at the gem of a creature she'd killed had been too much. She needed some air. Think about some things.

It seemed that whatever clarity brought by the fight between her and her mother had gone now, replaced by her usual jumbled, shifting thoughts that drove her crazy - but she usually didn't remember it anyways. Once a thought had passed, it was gone and Huckleberry didn't even try to remember it. How could they even care about something they'd forgotten?

They hobbled along the edge of the river, lifting their feet high and stomping along letting out a small giggle every so often before their face drooped. Whatever was going on in their head, even she didn't know, she didn't even remember. At one standpoint she stopped suddenly and sat down at the river. She stared, unblinking into the river before focusing on a particular fish. With a single burst of magic, its heart stopped and it floated to the surface, stone dead. It was easy to stop the lives of small animals like fish. Their hearts were weak.

Before it could be swept away, Huckleberry nabbed it and pulled it onto the shore, digging into it with large, ravenous bites, creating a horrible mess all over the place. They made strange, satisfied noises between each bite, their muzzle stained red with blood. They would regret this later, but how could they know?

Polaris was where Paige had hatched, and now she was returning to it. She trotted across the room, twisting her head to look at the glowing crystals and the towering Spire. It was truly an awe-inspiring place. Slowing her pace to a walk, Paige paused on the shore of the Crystal River and lowered her head for a drink. There were fish in the river - she stared at one, wondering whether it was worth the effort to catch one. No, she decided, although a snack would be nice, she wasn't too hungry right now.

A crunching sound drew her attention and she turned to see a winged... uh... a winged Gembound digging into a fish. Their eating habits were execrable, but perhaps they just didn't know? "Hey there," she called, trotting closer. "You're making a pretty big mess there. If you eat a bit more carefully, you can actually eat more of your prey, because there won't be bits of food all over the place. Isn't that nice?"

Tilting her head at the water, Paige leaped at a fish, bringing it closer with her paws and biting it before it could get away. It was smaller than the one the other Gembound had caught, but oh well. She took a few neat bites out of it as a demonstration. "See, this way you don't make a mess. If you're careful, you can also get meat off the bones, and eat the meat on the head without accidentally getting a bone!" She beamed at the other Gembound, always glad to offer advice. "Wanna share this one?"

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry jerked up at the sound of the voice, a few bloody pieces of fish dropping from their mouth. They stared wide-eyed at the fox approaching and many thoughts ran through their head. The first - run away. They didn't want to start another issue with Mama. The second, stay there and figure out what they want. The third, be friendly and do what they say. The last, kill. There were some other various things scattered in there, lost, forgotten. It took Huckleberry a few moments to finally settle on mildly perturbed, giving them a scathing look before turning back to their fish.

"As if me, me!, Huckleberry doesn't know how to eat. I've eaten more fish then you've caught mice." They paused to lick their lips and stare at the fox again, wrinkling their nose at the way they ate. "Why? Why why why? You don't eat the bones? The marrow, the marrow! It's yummy. And it crunches. I like the crunch of bones. Only prey bones." As if to prove their point, Huckleberry reached forward and held down the fish with their talons and grabbed the spine with their teeth. With a single tug, they wrenched the spine out of the fish's body, creating a snapping noise as it disconnected from the body.

They crunched down on the spine and gobbled it up, relishing the cracking of the bones under their teeth. Was this what Mama talked about when she liked killing? But this was a fish, a dead one, not something that could think like Huckleberry. No, Huckleberry liked to eat, not kill for fun. As if they had forgotten the fox was there, which they had, Huckleberry lunged forward and continued to devour the fish.

@Paige

"Sometimes I eat bones. But not fish bones; they're too prickly for me. Sharp little things that hurt my tongue." Paige didn't bother getting mad at the other Gembound for boasting about the fish they'd caught. It was probably true, anyway. She'd gone into her chrysalis again shortly after she hatched, so she hadn't hunted much. Why she'd had to sleep for so many cycles, she didn't know. She was pretty sure other Gembounds didn't have to sleep in their chrysalis to grow. Maybe it was because of her gem, which had grown from a ring around her eye to a small dome covering it. Or maybe she'd never find out.

The other Gembound lunged forward to eat her fish, and Paige let them. She'd offered to share, after all, so it would be pretty rude to take it away now. She assumed they were pretty hungry, and she'd already had her snack, so why not give it to them? "I'm Paige. What's your name?"

@Huckleberry

As she continued to munch down on the fish, the fox continued to speak and she became aware again that she was there. They paused and looked up for a moment, their eyes staring blankly at the little pup as she continued to think again. Talk to them? Introduce herself? Maybe fight them? She didn't know what to do. Or maybe...

She had a sudden idea. There was a small sparkle in her eyes as she looked back down at the fish and continued to eat. As her teeth connected to the flesh, a little bit of magic flowed into its body. She could feel it working until the meat was statically charged. She wondered if the fox would feel it. Unless they were good at lightning magic, though, probably not.

Huckleberry paused again and licked her lips, stepping away from the fish. "You can have the rest. I'm Huckleberry. Thank you for sharing." They would have pushed the fish forward, but any touch, including her own, would lead to a shock and the spell would be used up. They wanted to save this little prank for Paige.

@Paige

Paige shook her head. "It's all right, I'm not hungry anymore. You can keep eating it." She reached out with a paw to nudge it toward Huckleberry, but the instant she touched it it felt like something small and sharp hit her paw. She'd been zapped! Yelping, she drew her paw back, shaking it and staring at the fish with almost comical confusion. What just happened?

Slowly, she tilted her head at Huckleberry and squinted. "Did you do that?" she asked, in an almost playful tone. The shock wasn't terribly painful, just a sting, and Huckleberry didn't seem mean, so she would assume it was all in good fun. Her mind was already whirling with ideas. Oh, this would be fun! She'd found someone to play with!

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry laughed loudly when the dog yelped and jumped back. She threw back her head, so amused that she had fallen for her little trick that they flopped on their back and waved their wings wildly, their feet kicking in the air. Their laugh was hysterical and booming and lasted for a while before it suddenly cut off and they scrambled to their feet, tears in their eyes.

"Oh wow, you should have saw your face!" She giggled. "Are you going to play with me? Nobody ever plays with me!" She crouched playfully and sent a light spark in the fox's direction, giving a few little hops, still not really realizing that she was quite a large animal.

@Paige

Paige's smile grew as Huckleberry went wild with amusement. The excitement was contagious, and she soon found herself dancing from paw to paw, eager to play. "Of course I'll play with you!" she declared. Why did no one play with Huckleberry? She was such a fun, energetic Gembound. She made a small leap at the spark Huckleberry made, batting it with her paw and watching as her fur stood up. "Oh wow!" she gasped. "Did you see that?"

Huckleberry had such fun spell! She wanted to cast one herself, but she hadn't used magic in such a long time. She could practically feel her magic groaning in protest as it tried to start up again. Well, that didn't matter! They could still have plenty of fun while her magic warmed up.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry watched the fur stand up on Paige's paw and was as excited and amused as her at the display. She wanted to keep doing it, but she had a feeling that some of her other spells would be a bit too much for playing. No, she could find a good one! A good one that would make both of their furs stand up!

She wiggled playfully at Paige, a mischevious glint in her eyes. "Yeah, I saw it! Want me to make it do that again?" With a moment of concentration, Huckleberry cast the spell and static began to build in the air. She could feel the crackling of it against her fur and it stood on end in protest. She giggled as she hopped around joyfully, relishing in the feeling, despite feeling a little dizzy from all the electricity.

@Paige
i totally didn't forget about this thread

"Yeah! Do it again!" Paige cheered as static built up in the air. Her fur began to rise up - oh man, that was the weirdest feeling! She poked at the strands of fur and giggled. Sure, she was a little dizzy and numb-feeling, but that just made it more fun!

"If I turn upside down, do you think my fur would point up or down?" With only the slightest pause for an answer, Paige did a little flop onto her back and burst out laughing as a yellow banana suddenly popped out of nowhere! "That was, like, the randomest thing ever!" Did she do that? Paige couldn't remember having this spell. Then again, the dizziness (from both magic and excitement) might have caused her to spontaneously temporarily forget about it.

She twisted, still on her back, to sniff the banana. It smelled sweet. And magical. Was food conjured by magic also magic? She poked it, but it only felt magical and didn't actually do anything. Oh well, it was still free food! Free magical feeling food! "Wanna share it?"

@Huckleberry
Lol