as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Thothaga jolted awake. She spun around frantically, searching for any sign of the creature or its shadows, but it all appeared normal. There was no way it had been a dream, absolutely no way. It was real, some of the magick latched on to her, and its darkness would linger around her for awhile.

Stroking her fangs for comfort, Thothaga saw the others and shuffled her pedipalps. She no longer seethed anger at them, but spider gave them all cold looks.
"T'was nice teamwork back there, against that unknown magick." She said with a sarcastic bite."Now, I hope to never see you all again."

Without another word, the spider simply turned and began crawling towards Orion's entrance. Kra'raum's magick kept running through her her head. What was it? How did he make it appear as a dream? Perhaps the Collector had answers.

-exit Thothaga-

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

Pride lay unconscious. For a solid few minutes he lay murmuring and lightly kicking on the floor of the tunnel.

He, for one, was trapped in nightmares. In those visions of falling; in the darkness rising to consume him. In the purple eyes, in the darkness. At last he kicked more sharply, hitting nothing but air, and woke. Terror and instinct drove him to clatter up to his feet, looking disjointedly around, blinking. His ears swivelled; his head was low, weary.

There was no sign of Kra'raum. No sign, either, of its gem. But-... they were alive, at least. The spider, her tirade he'd remained asleep for--he had no idea that she had mocked them, and even if he'd heard, he'd not have understood why. Certainly he had done his part in fighting the creature off. And certainly he himself had not wanted to chase it, after.

He looked to Huckleberry. "Are you--all right?" he managed, pushing past the horrors.

What if he were still asleep..? What if this were all a dream--a nightmare? What if it would all fall apart again, and again... forever?

Jayberry came to consciousness in fits and bursts.

Her paws twitched, and low whines huffed in her throat. Her muscles spasm-ed, old aches and pains clawing for her attention. The Eagle was tearing at her again, flames searing her skin. The raven was torturing Mother and her Kin. She was stuck atop a pike, crying for help that would never come.

And then she was awake, lurching to her feet with a strangled whine. As her head snapped around, the shadows at the edge of her vision seemed to dance and writhe, but she was too busy taking account of everyone.

As she watched, the spider snapped at them, and scurried away. She whined, quietly, and picked up Galactic by the wing, setting the groggy owl on his feet as she approached her Kin.

"Huckle... Pride," she added the name hesitantly, "are you both alright?"

"She speaks." 'She thinks.' She does.

Huckleberry thought he'd tripped on something but he hadn't. He was just falling. Falling to nothingness. He didn't realize, he didn't know, until the darkness pushed the breath out of his body, until he kept falling. He waved his claws and screamed for help. He screamed for Blackberry and Blueberry and for Pride and Kin-Kin. But there was no one, he was alone.

He woke with a jolt and cried out with horror, but stopped when he found everything around him to be normal. He lay sprawled on the ground, tears streaks obvious in his eyes. At the sound of Pride's voice, he whipped his head towards the deer, eyes wide and ears flat. He hesitated for a moment before he burst into tears.

"WAHH, Pride, that was so scary!! I thought I was going to die!"

@Pride @Jayberry

Pride's mind and heart will still racing with fear, but almost at once his guard rose a notch as Jayberry spoke to him. It wasn't fear of her--yes, she had long fangs and a fierce growl, but she did not seem inclined to attack after their shared combat.

It was more that he remembered her, and her mindless savagery. Remembered that she was one of those who'd near-killed Envy. Goaded on by their insane and possessive mother. Perhaps they merely need a better example. He eyed her, and was opening his mouth to respond when Huckleberry woke--and a moment later, burst into tears. The stag startled, and quickly stepped over to offer him a few reassuring nudges.

"We are fine-... Huckleberry, you're all right. We all are, I think. But-... yes, it was scary. I was scared too," he admitted in as soothing a voice as he could muster. "Was" scared was certainly a lie--he was still trembling, nostrils flared and pupils dilated. But for Huckleberry's sake, he pretended.

"You had it, hmm? Your magic harmed it a great deal; it would never have found you easy prey. And we all helped one another, yes? That's what good Gembound do." This last was meant as a little lesson, of sorts--something for Jayberry to think on, in her future. Maybe there was hope for her yet. If not, that wasn't his problem; he wasn't about to start a fight after what they'd just been through, but what lay ahead was of course quite uncertain.

"Come on--we ought to get out of here, somewhere safe. Do you want me to carry the owl on my back? What's your name?" he asked it, glancing over--he was fairly certain, by the shimmer of its gemstone eyes, that it must be blind. No wonder it had been flailing so helplessly-... damn. It must be terrified, he thought, a little sadly, and his heart fell.

(pride exits due to inactivity)

@Jayberry @Galactic