This takes place after the party

It did, in fact, take Reseda a while to get back to the Throne and by that time her head was beginning to spin from the strain of carrying the moose with her magic. Her wounds were really beginning to throb and the holes on her stomach were bleeding more then they had when she had gotten them. It went slower and slower and slower until, finally, she arrived in the center of the Sinful Seven's kingdom.

She let go of a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and slumped forward. The moose's corpse fell to the ground in front of her with a loud thud that would surely attract the attention of anyone nearby. Reseda lay on the ground, panting and trying to stay conscious. She had to be conscious. She had to stay awake and well for the others to see, so she could tell her story. She let some of her magic roll through her body to at least revive her a bit, but not too much. They needed to see her wounds and that she had fought.

OOC: Quick School post

Baneberry had been in the room of stars. Flying quietly above the ruins was peaceful to her, as were the glowing lights above. She had tried to think of what to call them, and the only word that came to mind was stars. They were very pretty.

However, this light was stopped by the stench of death. She swooped down to the top of a tall tower, landing quietly. Her curiosity compelled her to investigate, but she didn't want to be harmed either. She peered down, watching as a Komodo Dragon dropped a dark lump of something. Another Gembound, maybe? She couldn't tell from here. Just that it was big and had large antlers. It could be a deer, she told herself.

Bane carefully launched off of the tall tower and glided down to the next one, this one significantly shorter but still tall enough to where she hopefully wouldn't be seen. As she looked over the edge of the tower, she began to make out more features of the lump. It battered and broken, and definitely dead. It had large antlers, like a moose. It's fur, though bloodied terribly, was still a dark shade of brown.

Father!

The sickening realization hit her like a bag of rocks. She held back a cry. If this monster had killed Father, it probably wouldn't hesitate to kill her either. So, she kept quiet, letting tears stream silently down her face as she grieved. She had to figure out what the evil creature was doing. She had to get Father;s gem, to find someone to give it life. She needed father. She needed his more than she needed anyone else. He was there for her, always. Even when she had left, he had wandered too, and sometimes they spent days together, just being a careless father and daughter.

So, Baneberry watched silently, a new fire within her. She must avenge Father.

Someone had taken his shiny.

His best shiny.

They had taken it, and they had left green fur scattered in his den. He wasn't sure whose fur it might be, but he knew only one green-furred creature--and that was Envy.

He swept in silently, wings arcing around him as he beat to a halt to land atop the throne, his magicka already flaring to look for the tiny weasel with more than mere eyes.

Almost immediately he lifted back up again with an earth-shattering roar of pain, tail lashing behind him as a splitting headache engulfed him instead.

The dragon began to circle higher and outward in chaotic fashion, unfortunately straight toward Baneberry as he did so.

"MY SHINY!" he bellowed. Where was it?! ...Where was anything?

Pride watched quietly as the lizard approached the throne, her oversized prey dragged before her. At first he was a little insulted--disgusted, even--thinking that Reseda (no, Greed now, he corrected himself) had merely caught a large meal and was showing off her prowess. He'd made it known, at least to a few, that he despised seeing deer-like creatures torn apart before him. It wasn't a fear for his own life, or the like--it was the bond he'd formed with a few lesser deer in Eridanus, and his sympathy for their plight as mindless food, doomed to death.

But, as the moose was dragged ever closer, he found himself tensing. He'd seen Blueberry only once--and that, briefly. It had threatened him--and it had been among those that had forced Envy into mutation.

"Is that--" he began, but was promptly interrupted by the sound of sweeping wings, and talons on dusty stone. As he turned to peer back, an ear-splitting roar shattered his calm. Instincts screamed along primitive nerves, and he bolted, ears flattening back and pupils dilating with fear. A few leaping bounds and he turned, snorting, wide-eyed to face this enemy--but realized at once that it was the dragon that had protected them once before, or had claimed to.

It was bellowing about--a shiny object, and he turned at once to Reseda, assuming that their fortuitously-timed arrivals must be somehow related.

"What is going on? Did you two catch that--thing? That is one of those malignant 'berries,' is it not?"

@Envy

Envy was on the Throne when Reseda brought before them her gruesome prize, and for a long while the weasel could only stare, their mind reeling, their blood white-hot with disbelief. They struggled to keep down their quills, to retain a well-practised facade of calm. But they knew the body- they'd seen him before, when they'd hid so close, gathering information on their enemies for Pride. But the weasel had never expected this.

And they knew what it meant. The weasel could feel their stomach turning, their head spinning, everything inside of them dropping. They felt as though they were falling. They held down a retch- the first in cycles.

It wasn't just a hunk of lifeless meat lyng on the ground before them- it was a turning point.

The goose would not be happy. Who knows what she would do? Who knows what they'd all do?

And then there was the gem- the gem that was sitting beside them on the throneright now, bigger than they were, and impossible to move. there was nothing they could do about it- they'd already tried. straining, heaving, shoving with their entire tiny weight would do nothing- so it sat here like some sort of beacon, confusing- and they had no idea who'd put it there or why.

Envy was brought spinning back into consciousness as the sound of a roar filled the air- awfully close, and so awfully loud. Dread was back, and he was screaming about something- some 'shiny'- Envy looked around, baffled, but soon their gaze alighted once again on Reseda. They felt themselves growing cold. Uncertainty rattled their quills and a cold trickle ran down their spine. They put two and two together, their eyes narrowing slightly, and they turned their gaze helplessly towards Pride- surely he'd have thought the same. Finally they raised themselves up onto their hindpaws, trying to look the part of a strong and confident king who had everything under control.

"Yes, it is," they answered Pride shortly, before turning their attention back on the komodo dragon. Fear turned to righteous anger. "You shouldn't have brought it here, you'll lead them right to us! You should have left it there! As a message!"

But even they knew it was too late.

Speech. Thought.

@Greed

The blood seeping from Reseda's wounds was starting to pool a little bit around her. She was losing a lot more then she thought she had been losing, but she felt nothing of it. There were more important things to do. However, there was still a rational part of her head that said if she didn't patch herself up now she would die. And that part ran over the stubbornness.

Her eyes fogged as she concentrated. She sucked in a breath, gathering as much magic as she could, and then released as much as she could in a single burst. She cringed as it wrapped around the stab wounds in her stomach, stitching the skin together, healing the vessels that had been ruptured inside, stopping the bleeding as much as she could. Her strength was wearing thinner and thinner and, finally, she couldn't hold it any longer and the magic stopped. Her breath released and she panted from the effort, the energy drained from her body. The wound had been partially healed - even a spell that strong couldn't fully heal what Blueberry had inflicted on her, but she was no longer in danger of losing all of her blood.

She took a moment to collect herself and then turned her head towards Pride. "It is. It is the father, Blueberry." She looked up towards the roaring dragon with a grimace on her face. "I don't know what he's doing here but I don't think it's good."

She then turned and addressed Envy, knowing that these next few minutes might decide the future of both her position and the entire Sinful Seven. "I am not foolish enough to walk into that accursed nest alone. No, he attacked me. I was travelling from Canis with more bones and he ambushed me. So I killed him. I sent a bone into his brain. Do you think that leaving the body of that family's father would have sent a very good message? That would have led them right to us. They don't know he's gone yet. We have time to plan."

She took a moment to pant again, the effort of speaking so much hurting the not-fully-healed wound in her stomach. "But what is that dragon roaring about?"

She turned her head upwards, hoping that this would all work out the way she wanted it to. She sucked in a breath and yelled as loud as she could, "WHAT IS WRONG, DRAGON?" She coughed as she finished, pain flaring in her stomach from the volume of her voice.

@Dread @Pride @Envy @Baneberry

Baneberry heard the roar of a creature above, another flying thing. It screamed about something shiny as it dove straight toward her hiding spot, and she had hardly any time to react. Bane turned the opposite direction of the monstrous dragon and the ground of Gembounds that had Father's body and tried to glide to ground level.

As she hurriedly made her way toward's the edge of the ruined structure, a stone came loose and sent a small portion of the wall tumbling rather loudly to the ground. SHe hoped that maybe the other Gembound's wouldn't notice it as she let herself quietly descend further into the shadows.

@Dread

Dread hurtled into the walls, wings slamming into the stone rubble hard enough to scratch his hard-scaled flesh. Another, indignant shriek rang out as he gained his footing, balancing for a precarious moment with a sharp-edged tail lashing behind him.

He didn't notice the tumbling rock, likely assuming his own careening crash to have caused it, and instead turned back toward Envy. His tantrum was in full swing, and the moment he stopped wailing for two seconds, it was long enough to notice the large and chiming crystal still sat atop the Throne.

Without another word, and without so much as a glance back toward Baneberry, he swept down to the stone, landing in another clumsy series of slams and scratches on the awkward structure. His wing-claws scuttled the huge singing crystals beneath his feet, where his talons curled protectively around it. Ember eyes narrowed suspiciously at Envy, oblivious to all else--oblivious to the others present, to the dead moose (at least for another two seconds) and to Reseda, for now.

"WHY DID YOU TAKE MY SHINY?!" he demanded in a full-throated roar. And then, with a glance down at Blueberry's corpse--"I WANT THAT!"

Pride stood stock-still, staring with thinly-veiled irritation off into the middle distance as the diva dragon ranted about its crystal. When he demanded, too, the corpse, Pride remembered him devouring the dead deer the last time they'd all been here, right in front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing out a slow exhale, his aggravation levels swiftly rising.

At length he opened them again, and looked to Reseda, his words coming clipped and sternly dull. He seemed, however, to be advising Envy, despite the direction of his gaze--rather than giving any sort of direct orders, or the like. "Just burn the thing. Or let the dragon eat his fill, and then burn it. Leave nothing for them to find, and they'll never know." So far as he was concerned, it was better if they were all dead--all of the Bloodberries--but there wasn't any need to taunt them out or to broadcast the Seven's successes.

He had to admit, though, he was glad. He deeply detested them, their arrogance and their sadism and their stupid damn name, and he was glad that someone had finally taken one of them down.

Even if it had been Reseda, and not their King. Pride could not help the faint feelings of resentment that flickered in him--yes, Envy had aided him against them, but ever since then, they'd done absolutely nothing toward the threat. Well, it seemed that something was getting done now, at least.

The white stag flicked his gaze to Reseda, and with idle curiosity he tried to listen in on her mind. He knew that so long as he kept his own thoughts shielded, she'd not know of his eavesdropping... and beyond that, he had been very, very careful to keep this ability hidden from her. Only Envy, and a few outside the Seven, knew that he could do it--for this very reason. He found himself morbidly curious about the fight--and also wondering, vaguely, if this were not potentially some kind of a trap. He distrusted Reseda, and had done since they'd met, and he could not help but think that perhaps Blueberry had died some other way, and the lizard were perhaps working with the Bloodberries--somehow--and intending to betray them all for some other price.

@Envy
@Greed

Envy realized in a jolt what was going on with ice-cold clarity as the dragon alighted in the throne room in a clattering of falling rocks and dislodged rubble, and came thundering towards them. The weasel felt every inch of their body twitching with the urge to run, surging with fiery adrenaline, but with all of their willpower they stayed rooted to the spot, grasping desperately at their chest fur and running their claws through it. They stared down the dragon as evenly as they could, sucking at the air and feeling the cold, hard marble catching in their throat.

They listened to Reseda's protests, staring her down, but said nothing, and... they didn't believe her. There was too much going on at once. Who'd put the crystal here? And why? It was all too sudden, too awfully convenient to be pure coincidence. They looked to Pride as Reseda spoke, their quills prickling.

"I have no idea what it's doing here! Take it! Do you really think that I could carry something like that!?" the weasel shrilled, quills rising up and down in sheer panic. Of course, they would have liked to say they could have, but they weren't about to face the dragon's wrath for a sliver of pride. They watched as the dragon took back the cursed object, and only then did they relax slightly, though their heart was still hammering, their rush of blood a low buzz in their ears. "I have no idea who put it there!"

As the dragon motioned towards the dead thing, Envy gave a vigorous nod. "Please do!" they echoed pride's sentiment, looking at the stag with relief. "Yes, yes! Like Pride said- eat it, then burn it out of existence!"

Speech. Thought.