Hellberry's deep red eyes snapped open. His eyes roamed quickly around the Chrysalis before his jaw opened in a yawn. Then, the jaws snapped shut. Hellberry jabbed his jaws through the Chrysalis and and quickly took hold with his teeth, with a quick twist of his jaw, the shell ripped open and Hellberry was free. Hellberry stepped out slowly, his tiny beady eyes looked around the cave. It seemed he was in some sort of tunnel. In the corner of his eyes, he saw flickering lights but when he tried to focus on it, the flickering stopped. Strange. 'Where....am I?' He looked around some more before starting to slowly wander around. Hellberry was still quite small compared to his full size, he had a lot of room to grow yet.

Speech Here
Thoughts Here

Blackberry heard the crack from the nest and lifted her head from her sleep. Was there yet another child hatching in their home cave? Was this to be her fate, to find the young given to her and raise them to be one of the family? To be honest, that didn't seem so bad. She enjoyed her children, she loved them with all her heart. Like Blueberry had said, the family always needed to grow. And each new gembound made them stronger - this was all the reason she needed to get up from her spot and go to investigate the newly hatched.

From some distance away she saw the reptile and her heart almost stopped. Even though it was small now, Blackberry knew that it would grow. It would be big, monstrous. Huge teeth, thick hide, all the makings of a fighter and a killer. In that instant, she knew that she had to make them a part of her family. She had to.

Blackberry padded up to the lizard and leaned down, her long neck arching so that her eyes were level with the creature. "Another child, I see. Do you have any desires?"

@Hellberry

Jay had been dozing near mother.

She had taken up guard near the gemstone, which seemed to be nearing hatching, and the wolf didn't want to miss it.

But the sound of a crack made her ears twitched, and the wolf raised her head with a yawn. Looking to mother for guidance, she rose to her feet and trotted after her mutant mother.

It didn't take them long to find the hatchling. It was small, ridiculously so, but she could see the promise of a monster in it. Tough hide, reptilian eyes, already sharp teeth.

However, she left it to mother to start this.

@Hellberry

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Hellberry stopped when a creature came over to him and asked him if he had any desires. He gave a hard stare to the creature before another one came. He looked to them both before focusing his blood red eyes on the first creature.

”Any desires? Yes, I want answers. Who are you two? Where am I?”

Hellberry laid his deep red eyes on Jay for a moment, staring at him.

”I am Hellberry!”

He stopped and looked back to Jayberry. He lifted his head up high and stood proudly.


Speech Here
Thoughts Here

Blackberry stared at the croc with pure shock. The utterance of its name had thrown her off guard. Was it possible that this child somehow knew of their existance here? The they knew of the family name? Perhaps it had merely crawled into hibernation at some point. But no, it didn't seem that way. It seemed new-hatched.

But then this was meant to be, apparently. Her eyes gleamed with approval and she stood taller. "I am Blackberry and this is Jayberry." She narrowed her eyes, the claws on her stomach twitching. "Your name proves that you were meant to be one of us. Where are you? You are in the middle of the Bloodberries' nest! The most fearsome fighters in the caves, the bloodthirsty family of murderers."

@Jayberry

Jayberry observed the crocodile, waiting to see mother's judgement. She had the final say, and Jayberry was quite content to allow mother to take the lead. She was no Alpha, no leader. Jay was most definitely a follower.

A smirk crawled across the wolf's features, hearing its name. She was not one for fate or destiny, but she knew this crocodile would soon be one of them. Under herself, and Mother's, teachings, it would prove to be great.

"If you allow us," Jayberry spoke up when mother had finished speaking, "We can make you as great as we are."

@Hellberry

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

'Murderers?' Hellberry's head tilted a little then he looked to Jayberry. His blood red eyes stared at him, it was as if they were staring right through him looking at his soul. Hellberry slowly looked away then looked to the obvious leader, Blackberry. This group, Bloodberries. They were offering him in their little home.

"You want to help me get stronger? Fine, I can work with that. I like the idea of getting stronger."

Hellberry rose himself up as much as he could and looked at Blackberry right in the eyes. He stared at her intensely with a big toothy grin. He didn't mean to look so threatening, but with all those tiny daggers showing, it could certainly come across that way.

Speech Here
Thoughts Here

Blackberry clacked her beak with approval. That was easy. Extremely easy. She was impressed with her recruitment abilities as of late - first a bear now a crocodile. Their family would become stronger every day! She looked over at Jayberry and then back at Hellberry and sized them up. It would be a good introduction to combat for the little croc and it would be good exercise for her daughter.

She nodded to herself and then directed her attention to her new child. "Then we will welcome you as part of the family...my son." She stepped forward and leaned down, resting her head on Hellberry, one of her wings coming around to give him what she would call and embrace. A mother's way of welcoming yet another member into the family.

She let this moment last for a second more before she stepped back and stood next to Jayberry again. "We will train you to be a fighter and a killer, Hellberry, but know this - if you intentionally bring harm to our family, whether physical or not, you will be punished most severely." Her eyes grew cold as a wing came up to touch her necklace. She eyed the gem tooth sticking out of his mouth. "Betray this family and your gem may end up alongside my other trophies."

She let this threat hang in the air for a moment before she stepped back, her expression lightening. "I would like to get a measure of your strength, it you will. Jayberry here will be your opponent. Do not mortally wound each other." She nodded to Jayberry. "I trust you to test his skills."

@Jayberry

Jayberry smirked, baring her fangs when he accepted their offer to be trained. Yes, he would make a wonderful member of their family. She met his gaze strongly, twitching her ears dismissively.

She would have found the little reptile intimidating if it wasn't so, well, little. But, as mother ordered her to, she nodded and bared her fangs, bristling her fur and waiting for Hell to make the first move.

@Hellberry
@Blackberry

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Hellberry listened to Blackberry as she welcomed him to the family by embracing him. He sneered a little, he didn’t like her embrace but he ignored it for the most part. He then listened to her threat and gently licked at his gem tooth. Now he was to test his skills on an enemy far bigger than him. Oh, this was going to be Hell.

”Well then, Jayberry. Are you ready to have a Hell of a time?”
He gave his big toothy smile then launched forward quickly in an attempt to grab Jayberry’s front left leg and sink his teeth in so he could quickly yank him. Hellberry successfully dug his dagger like teeth in Jay’s leg and quickly yanked it as hard as he could.

Round 1 of Combat:
Attempt: Attempting to bite Jayberry’s front left leg and yank him.
Defences: Scales.
Injuries: None

Speech Here
Thoughts Here