The water gurgled and, for all intents and purposes, Kala was happy-- or at least as happy as an emotionally stunted swamp monster could be.

It paddled leisurely in the water; lazily approaching the shore where the tunnel to Eridanus lay just beyond. Sometimes, when Kala was feeling particularly adventurous, it would come here just to feel the distant heat that flooded in from Eridanus.

There was no real desire to go there. It was only interested by the faint warmth-- a commodity which felt a little rare in Cetus.

Kala surfaced from the water; a good solid week or so of swamp-gunk streaming down its hair and dribbling back into the marsh. It barely lifted up to walk; silently crawling along sunken grass and muddy dirt akin to an alligator and falling still as soon as the warmer air rolled across its snout.

It did not move further. Kala was happy enough here, getting increasingly dirtier as the seconds ticked by.

@Erebos @Brandle

IT'S RUUSTYYYYYY

Erebos was wandering. It was something it was prone to do- particularly, it'd come this way specifically because it knew its father wouldn't trample in here and bother it.

Yes, it paid attention to some things. Mostly about how it could piss off people, though, it seemed.

Erebos stood out like a sore thumb in here. It seemed more suited to Ursa with its cold, but this was nice and wet, with a lot of mud to cover itself in. Or, really, it liked wherever it could be alone in. So, it had curled itself by the entrance, sequestered in some crack in the wall with a mud-caked hide faced back to the world.

One ear flicked at the sound of faint sloshing, then quiet, and Erebos turned its head down to look. What was there? Searching out over the area, it saw a shape much closer than it'd liked- while not in personal space, it was far enough to reach of Erebos stretched out its entire body, and that was close enough.

Its throat moved in alien ridges, a guttural hiss underlaid with a deep-throated snarl escaped it, its shark-ooth mouth baring all of its teeth. Slowly, it slid around like a python to face Kala, carapace puffing up and quills raising underneath the muck.

'Too close,' said the growl. And, by its body language, it was determined not to move.

Brandle was exploring, and, luckily enough for him, he'd managed to leave Skein behind. Not that he didn't love his sibling, but he found it was simply easier to explore alone. It was made easier by the fact Dragon has been keeping a closer eye on Skein lately. An overheard lecture about how 'not everyone outside the children of rot is an intruder' and 'please don't drown other smaller children in mud.' Brandle wasn't entirely sure what that was all about, other than it had something to do with the 'intruder' Skein had warned him about.

The thing about Cetus is that not many wanted to wander through here in the first place. Brandle has no idea why- the mud was so squishy, and it was fun to swim around all the big trees! So, when he heard massive sloshing sound and saw someone huge rising from the murky water some distance away, he just HAD to check it out. Common sense told him that this was probably the exact kind of gembound Skein had warned him about, but Skein had gotten (kind of) in trouble! That meant he could completely disregard that bit of advice, right?

So, like a scuttling little creetur, he rapidly approached, slithering while using his arms to push off of random objects to gain Maximum Speed. Eventually he got within talking distance of the creature, and... "WOAHH!! You're so tall!!!!" He stared a moment, eyes wide, before realizing that he should be a little more polite, "Oh! I'm Brandle! Hi!! I live here! Do you live here? I haven't seen you before!"

He'd only now seem to notice Erebos, jolting and sort of scramble-flailing a distance away from the clearly grumpy looking gembound. Still, it'd be rude to not say hi to them, too. "Uh- hi! Didn't see ya there!"
@Kala

Kala, largely, didn't care.

It didn't care when Erebos got in its space and it didn't care when Brandle began talking to it. Its snout inclined upwards to the pale hybrid first, masked face watching Erebos's display and calculating it with the same intensity a cat would when staring at a fly on the window.

To boot, a deep-bass clicking sound rose in its throat, followed by a tired sigh.

Its head then slowly swung around to Brandle, studying him next-- and that was when a new revelation clicked in Kala's little brain. It knew of children and it knew that they were little and should be protected. It knew, based on the size and the excitement and the volume of this one, it was a child.

It knew the other would kill it for being too close, if Kala didn't do anything about it. Kala knew, in some instinctive, animalistic way, this was bad.

"My space," it snarled from deep within its lungs. It was a response to Brandle's question and, simultaneously, a stern threat to Erebos-- but this was also the only warning either of them got before Kala was lunging.

Mud went flying as the creature sprang from its hind legs and latched its jaws onto the only vulnerable body part it could see-- Erebos's face. Tail lashing, teeth and claws alike started trying to rip flesh from bone with a series of hideous, guttural growls coming from its throat.

Its weight pushed back onto its hind legs to keep itself upright while it clawed and gnawed at whatever it could find, teeth clacking like gunshots whenever its jaws struck air on its way to Erebos's head.

round 1/??
attempt: just fucking tear up erebos by any means possible
injuries: none

@Erebos

Erebos squinted to the beast as it slowly pulled around, eyes flicking towards the child for a moment. It offered a weak, aborted hiss to Brandle, too- not full aggression, and yet simple acknowledgement, a 'I see you there.' Pinpoint, lightning-blue eyes searched over the mask (a gem?) as 'eye' contact was made.

And then Kala lunged.

Erebos screamed with fury, hands raising to block the incoming attack fruitlessly. There would be nothing stopping the utter truck of Kala. Deep in Erebos's core, it recognized this thoughtlessly, and screamed out louder as pain exploded across its face. Its vision went black- not until its flesh split, mangled by the attack. The tearing brought it to base instincts- no higher thought remained as it pulled back, strips of blue blood flying from his attacker's teeth, a snarling noise rising with its hands. Acute pain struck out over its entire torso, and it could feel hot blood dripping down, its vision nearly blinded by the blue.

Struggling with muscled arms, Erebos aimed to dig in its claws into Kala's face and throw all its weight into a shove, pushing in with its thick tail and heavy muscles. It may not get far, but its intent was there- angle Kala's face away from its, if it can help it.

round 1/??
attempt: twist kala off (more as a 'get tf away holy shit')
defense: arms up?? not like that'll stop them
injuries: face & torso mauled

@Brandle

He was not so naive as to not notice the obvious signs of aggression from these two new 'friends,' but he was naive enough to be confused nonetheless. What had happened? Had he said something wrong? Or were they just naturally grumpy? Nonetheless, he began to pull back, sensing that it'd probably be a bad idea to stick around.

The only warning he'd got was a pair of growled words before the big blue one lunged at the big silver one. The hiss that tore from his throat was that of a terrified cat or startled snake. Having neither desire or ability to fight, the only thing he could do is run.

Had there always been this many sticks and stones? He scrambled away the best he could, dodging obstacles (namely, the two thrashing, fighting beasts), just barely managing to get to a (hopefully) safe spot by the roots of a towering tree.

Round 1/?? (does he count?? not really fighting)
Attempt: runrunrunrRUN
Defense: Running away, also small(?)
Injuries: None, somehow

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

It knew the metallic tang of blood in its mouth and Kala, in the back of its mind, made a note to grab something to eat later if it survived. It felt weight underneath it twisting and for a split second it reached out to grab a closer hold of Erebos's torso, but struck nothing but air.

Talons tore through the fur on its jaw and ripped upwards; tearing through the thin wood on its face and driving into one of its eyesockets. The squishy orb was wrenched out with it, sending a spray of fluorescent blue blood pouring down its face, pluming out like a flower onto the marsh.

Kala screamed, dry and rasping and bellowing with pain. It could see too much now that all its eyes were exposed; even if it were partially blue, with either its own or Erebos's blood-- it could not tell. The hybrid pushed it off themselves and Kala hit the marsh with an inward splash and a furious roar.

Out the corner of one of its eyes it saw Brandle running-- but it sure as hell didn't stop him. Instead, it started snapping at Erebos's tail with blood still gushing down its face, matting the filthy fur with its touch, jaws clacking loudly as they clenched in the air.

round 2/??
attempt: trying to bite erebos's tail (partially just trying to chase it off)
defense: none
injuries: face torn, missing an eye

@Erebos

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

The little hybrid was all but forgotten as Erebos could feel something tear. A wicked, savage snarl came over its face as that mask was gone, all wild eyes revealed, and it grinned when it saw the wound.

It couldn't ignore the pain on its face. One hand flew up to cover its pierced eye as blood spilled about its features, a guttural hiss at the mix of the toss and the clutching of its head. But, as it held on, it wheeled back- tense, it swung its tail away as Kala snapped towards it. Letting go of its cheek, it let out a furious, high-pitched screech as its spine rolled back, humanoid torso leaning into the mud and staining it with its own duller purple.

It had to roll its hips to try this, but with its tail closer to Kala than the rest of it, it may work. Like a whip, Erebos's tail curled back and aimed right for Kala's exposed face, aiming to drag its bristles down the beast's skin once it used the full force of its heavy weight.

round 2/??
attempt: smack kala by rolling back and using its tail
defense: none
injuries: face & torso mauled- eye pierced

@Brandle (oh god im so sorry kid)

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

For a while he was frozen, hidden a (hopefully) safe distance away, smelling the sickening stench of blood as splashes of the neon blue stuff splattered onto the mud. It was all a blur of claws and teeth until he blinked and suddenly the darker blue one, the one that had started the fight, suddenly had many, many eyes, one of which was punctured, dripping bl-

Were they just going to fight until one of them died? They were down an eye each, how much more would it take? Brandle was fully aware that at his current size and magical skill he couldn't do much, but maybe...

Grabbing the nearest mud-slicked stone, he slithered out just enough to have a good chance of hitting either of the fighting gembound. Distract them, hopefully. The stone would find it's mark, hitting some section of Erebos's long tail. But would it even notice, with a monster literally tearing it apart? Brandle slithered back into the roots, hoping that, if anything, they wouldn't notice him.


Round 2/??
Attempt: Throw rock! (and hopefully get them to stop)
Defense: Small, currently hiding in some tree roots
Injuries: None, somehow

@Kala @Erebos (vis)