Huckleberry really wasn't sure how to respond to this creature. He was so composed, so calm. So opposite from the rest of their family that it was actually a refreshing change. Despite knowing that this was an enemy of everything they had been taught, they felt themselves relaxing a bit. It would obviously be a lot easier to talk to Pride then anyone else in the family.

They looked up at the stag from where they were on the ground and their ears raised a little bit. Hearing a description of their family aloud was really something that gave them a little perspective. All the talk of blood and violence and death had been so normalized in their life now that Huckleberry was a little surprised to realize that they were that much different. Now that they thought about it, if anyone else had encountered Pride like this, they would have certainly attacked. Probably. Huckleberry realized that they didn't really know how the rest of the family thought. Although that could have just been an inability to understand on their part.

But at his question, they looked down, awkwardly trailing their claws on the stone. To be honest, they couldn't quite remember what had brought them here in the first place. All the sudden emotions had driven it from their mind, whatever reason had been floating around in the first place. "Um, I don't know. I guess...I just need some time out? From the nest?" They thought of the sapphire gleaming among Mama's nest and they shook their head, trying to forget about that for now. "No, no, can't think about it. It'll just make me sad." For a moment they had ceased to talk to Pride and were only trying to chase away that memory. If they wanted to survive Clouberry's upbringing they had to learn to cope with the fact that they couldn't be near them.

@Pride

Pride listened, offering a long, polite pause in which he waited to see if the hybrid would speak further. When he did not, Pride gave a faint nod. He found himself faintly suspicious at the explanation, but rather than pursue it he filed it away in his mind as possibly-useful information. They claim to have wandered here, into the heart of enemy territory, simply by chance? --But then, they don't know it's our home, do they?

"Well," he responded smoothly, "it is by good chance, then, that we have met. I do spend some time in this cave, among others." Also true, though he did not bother (or risk) listing which others. He hardly wanted a report back and an ambush set.

Pride eyed Huckleberry up and down. This one had used magic--backfired, or not, Pride was still fairly certain that it had been a spell. "You use magic, do you not?" he asked, tone still mild--conversational. "That is odd, is it not, compared to your family? It sets you apart?" He tilted his head curiously. "I wondered why the goose, at least, did not utilize it. But you do. They do not judge you for this, as well, do they?"

Pride had no idea how to progress, just yet--even for mere conversation. He did not yet know Huckleberry very well--certainly not enough to know how to direct the topics, if the other was distressed. He'd have to just feel around until he struck on something. And, he realized, I think this one is young. The speech patterns, the cringing--perhaps they were still a child, in a sense... or perhaps they were merely abused into their behavior by the Bloodberries. Pride did not know.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry listened, uninterested for a moment. Yeah, he had faintly smelled Pride's scent, although he hadn't recognized it as such earlier. But now that they had met, that had definitely been his. He wondered if there were others that hung out with him. There had been other scents he didn't recognize. This is what interested him and he couldn't help but ask. "But...there's more of you, right? That spend time around here?"

He would have continued but Pride then mentioned his magic and all of his sorrows and insecurities were forgotten. He leaped to his feet, suddenly very excited. "Oh, yes! I use magic! I do, I do! I love my magic! Papa uses magic sometimes but not as much as me! Jayberry does too - she likes to make her enemies afraid. Oh, but I don't do that as much. Watch this!" Suddenly very eager to show off his own magic, the magic he had worked so hard for, he turned away from Pride and summoned as much magic as he could. Visible sparks shot from his gem as he began to accumulate energy from high up near the ceiling. There were some cracklings as the energy began to move quicker and, suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck not far from where the two were standing. A second's pause and another. The third, however, came so close to Huckleberry that they shrieked and jumped away. The spell cut off and the charged air dissipated.

He turned towards Pride, any kind of fear he had just experienced wiped clean. "What do you think? Wasn't that super cool?!"

@Pride

Pride was just wondering how he could possibly slip out of answering any question that might give the Bloodberries an unintended edge--information and so forth--when the young-seeming Gembound offered a reason of his own.

He was excited, clearly, as he summoned his magicka, and Pride watched the hurtling storm slam a bolt down with a thundrous crash. He himself leapt back and scrambled a few paces away, his fur bristling some, grey eyes widening. Well that could have been a nasty sneak attack. Genuinely impressed, he looked to Huckleberry and nodded his head.

"That is--err--super cool, yes," he agreed, and his tone was genuine.

A flick of his tail and he calmed himself, wandering over toward where the rock had been struck, sniffing over the powerful odor of ozone. "Did you teach yourself this?" he asked after a moment, lifting his head to peer back toward Huckleberry. "It is a magic I have seen only once before, and this is a far more powerful version." He remembered the thunder-gorilla he had met--only a youth. They had briefly sparred together, and he had rather liked her, but he had never met anyone else (so far as he could remember) who used this sort of spell.

Pride peered down at the charred spot, and with a sudden impulse of kindness, he summoned his own magicka. His thought was to try and call up a gem that recalled lightning--as a gift, of sorts, for the near-enemy. To solidify a tentative friendship, perhaps--or simply to be nice.

He had intended the gem to be large, but the Tiger's Eye that cracked up from the stone was small--something, perhaps, that could be hung on a pendant, but certainly not a big trophy to display, as he'd intended.

Ahh, well.

It was smooth and small, dark brown-black with a shining, branching bolt of yellow arcing through it, and he turned and nudged this toward Huckleberry. "Calling up stones is one of the magics that I can do. Here; a lightning stone for you, to celebrate your own powers. It holds no magic, I think, but it is pretty to look at, no?"

He peered at the moose hybrid, blinking his pale eyes, back to being composed and detached now that the shock (no pun intended) of the lightning strike had passed.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry raised their head proudly. Nobody ever complimented them on their magic. They either ignored them, scolded them for putting the family in danger, or ran in fear. It was refreshing and a huge boost to their self-esteem to hear praise coming from anyone, even if it was someone that had been marked an enemy. But Pride wasn't an enemy to Huckleberry. Why would he be?

They nodded fervently at his question. "Yeah! Apparently its Mama's magic and she's really impressed that I learned it! No one else in the family is as good as me at magic!" Their ears flicked proudly and their eyes gleamed at finally being able to talk about something that not only made them comfortable but made them happy. Maybe they didn't like fighting like Mama, scratching and biting and punching, but they certainly liked using magic.

Pride had gone quiet for a moment and Huckleberry followed his gaze and their eyes widened with surprise as a gem appeared on the spot where their spell had hit. It was like a little lightning bolt in a gem. They lunged forward and belly flopped on the ground in front of it, moving his head so that one of his eyes was right in front of it. Squeezing his other eye shut so that he could see better, he stared at the tiger's eye happily. Once his observation was satisfied, he sat up and gathered his close. "So pretty! Thank you, thank you so much! So pretty!" He hummed softly as he held the gem in his claws.

After a moment, they had a thought which caused their entire body to freeze. Perhaps...perhaps if they brought the gem to Mama, they could tell her that they had killed someone and taken their gem. She would be impressed that they had finally taken a life on their own accord.

But would it work? If she tried to give it life, it would probably ruin any chances. And could she tell a real gembound's gem from one made from magic? He looked up at Pride, wondering if he knew any kind of answer that would help. His face was level and guarded, thoughtful and much calmer then it had been seconds ago. "Do you think...do you think that this could pass for a gembound's gem?" He looked back down at the thing and thought that it was possible - they came in all different shapes and sizes. But perhaps there was something that set them apart. He would rather have nothing to show then show one obviously false.

@Pride

Pride watched the hybrid bellyflop, watched and listened as he spoke with eagerness and eyed the gem with gratitude. Even the white stag's aloofly distant heart warmed, despite the fact that this was, ostensibly, a foe.
Perhaps this one is not so bad, after all.

"You're most welcome," he said kindly.

But then Huckleberry's mental tack seemed to shift course entirely, and the blinking deer had to hurry his own thoughts on to try and catch up.

"A--gembound's gem..?" he asked quizzically. Normally he'd think it bad form to parrot someone's words back at them, rather than offer anything remotely useful--but he was quite bewildered by the question. "I do not know. I know little of them--why do you ask?"

He peered at Huckleberry, and then the "lightning"-etched tiger's eye, rather quizzically. Pride rapidly ran through, in his mind, what little he knew of gembounds and their gems--he had heard that separating a stone from the bearer would kill them, that they could be infused with magic to revive another one, but--... Did that apply, too, to any gemstone? He had never attempted to give life to a stone before. He also had no idea if there were other differences--in the magic of the rocks, perhaps, or some other quality--that set them further apart from summoned gemstones.

Quickly considering his prior response, he felt satisfied that he had nothing more to add, nothing he had missed in his response to Huckleberry--he knew, simply put, little of them.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry stared at Pride for a moment, disappointed that he knew just about as much as they did. After a few seconds, they blinked and flinched, as if suddenly waking up from a trance. They looked back down at the gem and clutched it tight in their claws. They were going to do it. But this wasn't Pride's business. This was family business. They looked away bashfully, their ears tilting back, ever so slightly. "Uh, no reason. Um...anyways..."

Something in the back of their mind clicked forward as they desperately searched for something to cover up their sudden change of mind. They put down their talon and looked back up at Pride inquisitively. "Um, can I just ask...you said before that I was intruding on 'our' cave...who else lives here besides you?"

@Pride

Pride stared for a beat, grimacing internally but hiding it well enough on the outside. I let that slip, didn't I? I suppose they would have found us regardless, but best not to say too much.

"Many who are not of the... berries," he said, again wincing faintly at the distasteful name. "I call many of Orion's inhabitants my allies and friends, not least of all some of those whom this 'family' of yours has harmed." He paused, watching Huckleberry for a moment, thinking. "I wonder, why do you stay with them? Do you intend to leave, given time, or perhaps to try to sway them away from their... behavior? I would commend such an action, though I do not know if it is possible. The goose is, no offense intended, quite mad."

He paused, his tone that of one sorrowful to have to say such a thing. Then he sighed. "I apologize for saying so. But she is dangerous to others, you know this? Will you do anything about it?" He was curious, but concerned. His tail flicked to and fro and he leaned down, idly snatching up a mouthful of grass and chewing as he looked to Huckleberry.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry lowered their head. They should have guessed that that was the case. There were more gembounds in the cave besides the family and their enemies. There were many more. And they were not the least surprised that some of Pride's allies had been hurt. They wanted to apologize, they really did, but they had no right. None at all.

But they weren't really expecting Pride to ask that question. It was one that Huckleberry had been thinking of a lot lately. Especially now that they had Cloudberry's gem. But still, that wasn't a good enough reason because, as far as the family was concerned, that wasn't their child. But still, Huckleberry knew they couldn't leave until they knew them at least. If they even ever did.

They had to try and explain this, but they couldn't just go and ramble the whole story. Pride wouldn't want to hear it. "Well...they're my family. I...I...I love them. I mean, I have to love them, right? My mama and papa made me and Elderberry and Baneberry. That means we gotta love them, right? And we have to love each other. I just wish..." their eyes squeezed shut and their nostrils flared with disgust, "I wish that there wasn't so much blood involved." Yes, they hated the sight and smell and taste and feel of blood. Just remembering what it felt to have it in their mouth sent shivers down their spine.

And that was another thing. They shuddered at the thought of leaving that gem to mama alone. "And...my life, it lives on with them. I have an offspring of my own that I need to watch over, even if Mama has taken them from me." They shook their head, acknowledging Pride's words. "You don't know how dangerous she is. You've never seen her at her worst. She can be...terrifying. And Jayberry and Blueberry too. Even if I wanted to, trying to do anything to stop them would only get me killed." Without really meaning to, they raised one of their claws and ran it over the scar along their face, a product of their mother's wrath. No, if they ever challenged Blackberry again, they would die. And Cloudberry with them.

@Pride

Pride stared, and though it didn't show past an absent sternness on his features, his heart filled with cold rage. A haze of wrath enveloped him for a moment, so strong and black that his ears buzzed and his vision blurred with it, fury mounting.

He closed his eyes.

He counted, in his mind, and even his whispered thoughts were quiet. One... She has taken-... She is keeping it--... He is not even old enough. Two... three... four. At length, when he felt the worst of it pass--and it was the most angry, he thought, he had ever been--he opened his eyes again. His voice was not hostile in the least, and he quickly voiced the reasoning for his moment of rigid silence.

"She is no mother to you," Pride said, quietly. "She is keeping a hostage, in essence... blackmailing you into 'good' behavior? I have seen her at her worst. We fought. She does not strike me as dangerous, but rather as an uncontrolled, sadistic maniac. I suppose I should have expected that some of you would not be there willingly." A soft sigh escaped him, through his nostrils.

"A mother cares for her young. She does not cause them harm, or fear, except when they are truly a threat to themselves and there is no other choice. A mother loves, and protects. She does not manipulate-... Well, she should not," he added, conceding (if only to himself) that there must certainly be bad mothers out there. "Is your offspring hatched, yet? Would it be possible to... retrieve them, and get both they, and you, to safety? Your loyalty and your love for your family is noble, but I fear it is not reciprocated. I do not think that goose can love, or she would never harm in the way that she does. She would know what it means, to do so."

Idle thoughts, intense but not too serious, flicked through Pride's mind. He wondered if they could somehow secure Huckleberry and his offspring somewhere safe, somewhere out of the Bloodberries' reach. He wondered if Huckleberry would ever even agree to such a thing. He wondered if they were too late--if the goose had already gotten her claws into the young one, and brainwashed it into viciousness.

Pride doubted very much that he would ever hear of this again--but if he did, and if Huckleberry wished the aid, he was already considering possibilities.

@Huckleberry