His name was being called from the center of quite an audience - not with that much panic or anything to imply an emergency, but everybody was there. It wasn't much of an exaggeration, either. He glided into view, too many figures below him to count - but he recognized just about everyone present.

Even Rezik.

The snooty being was in the background, though, like the others; they were gathered around Kalama, the spitfire he hadn't seen hide or tail? of in cycles.

Aure alighted, ears flickering to and fro - another sweep of the faces around him. He looked at the chicken again, a confused sound chirping out of him: "what's - um, what's going on, Kalama?"

Quietly, he searched her for fungus - what? The bird disappears for cycles on end, and he's not supposed to be suspicious? Nothing. His shoulders relaxed visibly, and he asked, "where've you been?"

Eythan came into view, settling on the outskirts with a default expression of confusion and - is that worry? Navy doesn't want to post three whole sentences of him, but he's here, too.

@Kalama

Masquerade

Masquerade has learned one thing in his meagre two cycles of existence.

Well, many things, actually, like what the little fluttering things are called (moths), what his unofficial-big-sister is called (Damask), and much more about general life in the caves.

But he’s learned one big thing in his meagre two cycles of existence:

Whenever there’s a lot of commotion, that’s absolutely the place to be.

So of course, the gathering crowd in Canis catches the little bird’s attention. He may be about the size of most of the gathered gembound’s feet, and he may be too tiny to attract anyone else’s attention—but, really, that’s all for the better, isn’t it?

It means he can find a place to curl away and watch this fight without disturbing the chaos. (Not like his presence would elicit much of anything besides ‘oh hey another bystander’ and maybe a vague ‘who are you’, but Masquerade likes to think he’s important.)

So, doing his best impression of stealth, (which, that is to say, barely any at all, because ‘stealth’ is literally not on this child’s vocabulary list) he picks his way through the gathered crowd, between feet and legs and otherwise, and ends up at the front of the crowd, settled in a metaphorical front-row seat as a round, runty ball of feathers.

Because no matter what this bird tries to think about himself, he’s still barely only two cycles old.

But enough of that—the show is starting!

Gembound began to show up. Kalama didnt recognize them all. Didn't see them all. Didn't have the thought to try. And then, finally, Aure showed up. Her gaze was locked onto him. It was easy for Kalama to vilify him. The leader of the group of gembound she rightfully deserved to lead. Her replacement nemesis for whenever she epic owned Imp. She didn't notice Aure's probing magic. Her focus was zero'd in on the gembound himself. She shifted, clacking a foot against bone.

"Aure!" She called. Kalama puffed her ruff of feathers up. Kalama was filled with tension. She'd prepared this speech. Practiced it since she left her chrysalis. Kalama took a step forward. She was full of energy.

"You've been leading the Bonebound wrong. They are cowardly." She paused. She couldn't remember the rest of the speech. Oh no,no no. Kalama took a step forward. She couldn't be seen messing up like this. Not in front of this many gems. She'd distract them somehow. Kalama patted the ground with her foot, testing for a solid rock. She kept her gaze firmly locked on Aure. She found one. Another step, positioning herself. She raised her left leg. And brought the spur crashing down on the stone. Sparks shot out behind her. A shower of orange and red. It gave her enough time to think up more lines to her speech. "Today, the cowardice ends. Today, it changes. Aure, I invoke my right to trial by combat!"

Kalama spread her wings, fluttering the feathers. "When I win, the Bonebound will change. No more sniffing bones. No more cowardice. We train every day. We become a group to be feared. To be respected. Theres no backing out. Not now." Kalama's eyes were steely, but her tail whipped behind her, betraying her excitement.

She flicked her eyes around, noting the gembound once more. Kalama had to work fast. If someone thought to interfere, if Aure tried to reject her bloodborne right, then she would lose her moment. Who knew when she'd have another chance like this. She felt nervous. Kalama had to move now. But it would all be worth it. She couldn't imagine how proud Eythan would be once she beat Aure. Turned the Bonebound into the group they deserved to be.

"We begin now!"

With no other warning, Kalama charged for Aure.

think "speak"

Round: 1/?
Attempt: Charge like usual
Defense: whats that
Injuries: n/a

The outflow of Gembound--and other beasts?!--from all over the place was surprising, and the cluster of so many in one spot was... worrying. Giggle's mind warned her--too many, too much--and the stress of the gathering immediately began to wear on her.

But she stood back, and she watched, puzzled--until the chicken, the stranger (or had she met her before..? Faint memory stirred, but she could not quite place it) charged her son.

And insulted... the Bonebound. Rage swept over her; this stranger dared to insult all they'd built, over the cycles? All they'd done?! She nearly charged in herself, to tear chicken head from neck, but instead she held back, and called out.

"Aure, if you want me to kill it, let me know. BIRD, I don't know who you think you are, but fighting him won't make you our leader. We don't do 'trial by combat,' idiot. We'd kill you before that happened," she called out, bluntly. And then, as an afterthought--"I'm going to hurt you myself for calling us cowardly." She had no idea what they'd been through.

The memories of it all swam dark at the edges of her mind, and anger grew, and disbelief. Deaths, and war. Battles. Betrayal.

And beyond all that-... Who the hell had told it that "trial by combat" was even a thing..?

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Ischium

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. As the chicken flew at Auré, the hellhound bolted to his feet. He began to summon his magic, but it sputtered out short at a shout that cut across the clearing. Were it not for his mother's words calling out, calling for their leader's word before diving in.

A low growl in his throats stirred, but he swept his gaze about the crowd. Who was friend, who was foe? Had the bird brought these strangers to even the odds? It was a thought that made his hackles raise.

But he differed to his mother, and to his leader, teeth bared and muscles tense. If a fight was to go down, he'd make some of them think twice. He wasn't going to let anyone think they could destroy the Bonebound so easily.

And, wow, there were a lot of Gembound coming around. The coyote hunched in on himself with a whine, laying down and tucking his muzzle between his paws, feeling very, very overwhelmed. "You okay?" Chatter asked, and the coyote whined, rattling in his ratty pelt.

But he couldn't bolt, not at all, there were far too many Gembound about. If he bolted he'd be noticed! So he stuck close to the somewhat familiar hyena, licking his lips nervously, staring as Aure, another familiar gembound, came into view. He approached the chicken, addressing their summons.

The rooster called him out, wanting to take over the Bonebound apparently, and he flinched as Kalama charged at Aure, his pelt twitching at Giggle's words. "I got ya bro," Chatter hummed, eyes focused on the fight.

He crouched not far from the fight, listening and watching as the bird - did he know it? He did not think he recognized her - step up to the Bone King and demand a trial by combat. Eyes caught sight of a familiar figure. The four-limbs-two-wings...no, Eythan, was here too. He felt the magic beginning to wear off and retreated - not quite in time to stop his dark coat and glowing gemstone from being revealed, but he now crouched near the rock that held Forgraves, watching from a distance. He couldn't hear anymore, but at least he knew what was going on. He could see the fight from here.

He knelt down next to Forgraves. "Do not be afraid. These are the Bonebound - they live in this cave, they are a family of sorts. That one there, the bird-creature with the orange feathers and wings, that is the Bone King. I do not know that chicken one but she is...challenging him to a fight. I will watch this." He knew he owed the Bonebound a lot but there was no way he was admitting that.

His eyes caught on shapes, figures watching over the battle. One, he did not recognize. One was the Collector, who he had met briefly and the last...that was...wait, the blue fur and the antlers...

"Forgraves," he whispered, motioning to the three overseeing the fight. "You see that blue one that walks on four legs? With the antlers? That is Rezik, I believe. From the story I told you. I did not think that I would ever see him." His eyes narrowed as he sat himself down to watch, every so often glancing Rezik's way with mistrust. What was he doing here?

@Forgraves

he nodded, the bonebound sounded nice enough, or atleast not like they were an enemy. no idea why anyone would have to fight anybody though, did the chick do something wrong? did the other one do something? he was always confused with these sort of things, but nodded, shaking a little less, if azzy trusted the bonebound, he didnt have to be too scared...

he gasped lightly at the mention of rezik, ears down. why was the bad guy here? he shimmied closer to azrael, clinging to his arm.

He'd heard the call, but he was leisurely flying along really when it hit his ears. More Bonebound stuff- pfuh. So what?

Wait. That was a voice- and a name- he recognized. It was that Hydra chiken- the reckless one? Yeah, fitting that it'd try to fight someone again. Rolling his eyes, he angled in more towards the arena, taking his time flying towards the call. A swooping being came in- Aure- and Desert lowered down to hover around them, eyes focused on

The stark gathering of Gembound hit his eyes, first, and his modified teeth clacked together in thought. Well, he was around for that other champion fight (champion in both noun and adjective) and came to the easy conclusion to the fact that he might as well stay for this one, too. Not like he had much else to do other than contemplate how fucked up the Sentinels had gotten.

He needed to get that taste out of his mouth. Shaking his head, his ears perked forward as he strained to hear the calling words, now able to see Kalama from this angle. He circled like a vulture as he watched. The Bonebound weren't aggressive- did they really expect to take it over? It sounded like she'd just want a Sentinels... TWO! if you asked him.

There was no thought, and the fight had started, and Desert's teeth flashed in a grin. "Aure! Grab its dick and TWIST IT!!" His voice bellowed, just slightly enhanced by magic flowing through him. It sounded like he called from his normal yelling volume (which, granted, was loud) next to those in the crowd rather than him just being a speck way up high.

Really, he hoped Aure would win, but his eyes were on Kalama. Was that recklessness something to reward? It had braved the trial with both legs broken, and yet here it stood, having refused to perish.

the ooollee dick twist

Kalama - having apparently received enough of her audience - crowed again, puffing up. Sparks quite literally flew, and she - trial by combat? The raptor hissed and spit, posturing all throughout her speech to an extremely confused Aure that was still stuck on the trial by combat thing; too much so to be offended by her calling the entirety the Bonebound cowardly like his mother.

When he did catch up, Giggle was already stepping forwards. The wyvern scrambled, shaking his head, "wait -" (and ignoring the rather crude advice from misleadingly somewhere in the crowd.)

The bird charged for him, and his magic lashed out. He reached out to hold her in place, at first, then lift her a foot or two off the ground. Nothing came to - either through missing or her sheer willpower to charge at him, and he made an attempt to lift into the air entirely too late. "This is a mistake, Kalama! It's not too late to back off - we don't fight for leadership and -" Aure hesitated to make this call, "if you attack me, you'll have to face the rest of the Bonebound."

Round: 1/?
Attempt: Telegrab Kalama and hold her in the air F
Defense: Literally all of the Bonebound
Injuries: n/a

@Kalama