By all accounts, Merrow should have been in a big, stinky swamp somewhere, devouring fish as fast as she could stomach to and otherwise laying contently under one of the bright cave lights.

Instead, she was tearing her way through the back stage, scarfing down everything in her path. She was fat with junk food by the time Nemean's voice screeched for her:

"NEXT UP, WE HAVE MERROW, THE BONE GUZZLING DEVOURER!"

Merrow was not a mindless gembound, despite her violent and seemingly careless actions. She knew what this was, as Nemean had described it. It was a free-for-all, kill-or-be-killed competition where combatants could literally tear each other limb from limb.

And when her name was called, she slithered across the flour, wing arms scrambling through the underground passage toward the chamber she had seen previous contestants go out of. She hissed as she thrashed her way into the massive arena, the stench of blood awoke a second wave of hunger in her.

Yes, her belly may have been full of popcorn and meat product, but her body ached for chaos, for destruction, for BLOODSHED. She let out a low, rattling draconic roar like her father often did, and her beady little eyes waited for her opponent to appear.

@Firenze

Firenze was up before his best bud, which brought a hint of sadness to him but- hey at least they'll be able to watch each other if everything goes well! Aside from that, he was pacing backstage, he needed to focus. He wanted to place and maybe even win of course! All to make his gal and best bro super proud! He was sure they were proud of him regardless, he was the one who suggested this little familial trip!

"NEXT UP, WE HAVE MERROW, THE BONE GUZZLING DEVOURER!"

The what- the BONE GUZZLING DEVOURER!? Excuse me!? Firenze froze, ruddy pelt bristling, though only momentarily as it smoothed out again with his nerves. Oh yeah, the titles! Its gotta be BIG and extravagant for the audience! Don't want someone just walking into the area with the name Bobby The Third, and nothing else!

He couldn't wait to see who or what he was up against, there were a lot of new faces in the crowd and stands tonight, and truth be told he didn't want to go up against a few of em. Especially that big purple guy. but anyway it was time to focus and get his head in the game as it was his turn to arrive on the scene.

"AND NOW WE HAVE FIRENZE! HEART OF FIRE AND THE WARMEST LOVER BOY AROUND!"

Oh yeah, that sounded perfect! It was just as he had asked to! The doors opened up before him and he sauntered out, prancing almost, giving his patterned smolder to the crowd- well to Lavonia but the crowd was there too yknow. Bright red explosions went off along the sides of his path, fireworks galore- only there seemed to be glitter in these. Covering his red pelt with a plethora of orange, yellows, and pinks. This wasn't a part of the plan but- hey! Some were heart-shaped! He really was a lover boy now! This Nemean was a riot!

He show-ponied around the arena for a few more moments, giving the audience exactly what he wanted. Cause c'mon you gotta make a statement with your entrance! And he was serving looks! Though he maybe came to an early stop once he laid eyes upon his opponent. What...exactly was his opponent? They were as large as him, if not even larger- and a hybrid of sorts? Almost like some...winged alligator...bat...huh they looked hungry too.

Firenze swallowed, inhaling sharply.

"Lets give em a show!"

This would be interesting to say the least!




"Speech"

@Merrow

”Woo! Go Firenze!!”, Juniper shouted, her tail wagging as she looked down at the reddish brown wolf below. Or what she thought was a wolf, at least.

She peered at the other gembound below, a strange two-legged bat with an alligator tail. Not the strangest gembound in the caves seeing as there were all these weird monsters walking around, but certainly strange enough for her curiosity to flare up.

Just because she didn't hear anyone cheering for them initially, she decided to do so herself.

”You can do it Merrow!!”, she yelped, shifting to take a bite of her popcorn, eyes wide with excitement.

Merrow quieted as Nemean announced her opponent, only for a... mangy dog to come out of the doorway. She had seen plenty of dogs in her time, and this one looked...

Well, not as tasty was the corn dogs in the back, that's for sure. He pranced about, ignorant of what this was supposed to be. She squinted at him, a low rumble in the back of her throat.

"I'm going to rip off all of your limbs and beat you to death with them!" Merrow declared in a vicious snarl, as she scrambled forward, wings smacking the dusty earth and kicking up a cloud behind her until she managed to get enough lift to lunge, springing into the air face first at Firenze.

Her maw parted, and throwing her body at him, she snapped her jaws to snatch any part of the mutt that she could get ahold of.

ROUND 1/5

ATTEMPT: lunging to bite!
DEFENSE: nah lol
INJURIES: a bit full on snacks

@Firenze

"Heck YEAH give us a show."

Big eyes remained wide, Nemean's grin plastered from ear to ear. Firenze had some showmanship, then! But Merrow's line--oh, damn! that was even better!

Nemean cackled, her laughter ringing across the arena floor and into the stands. Her chant followed, with a loud rhythm that invited onlookers to join along:

"RIP THEM OFF! BEAT HIM TO DEATH! RIP THEM OFF! BEAT HIM TO DEATH!"

It was Firenze's match well before his own and he hoped his friend would do well. Vicktor after watching a few of the fights so far was feeling a bit unsure about the nature of this sport, but he stayed calm; remembering Firenze's reassurance of this event. So instead of worrying, he would let himself enjoy this time. His pale gaze flickered to Juniper who sat beside him, she cheered the coyote on feverishly one second and then his opponent the next. It made him chuckle, she had spirit and the idea of a fair match in mind.

The opponent Merrow on the other hand had some very interesting and vivid dialogue, wanting to rip Firenze's rips off and beat him to death with them. How quaint! He inhaled as the hybrid took off in a lunge. Vicktor planned to let out a cheer of his own. He too would cheer for both of them, while he certainly wished Firenze the best, Vicktor knew that in any of these matches it was any gembound's win.

"Have fun! Spill some blood! Show everyone why you deserve to win!"


"Clover Speech"
"Vicktor Speech"

Firenze was living up life, listening to Juniper cheer both him and Merrow on! How sweet! Warms the heart! If he wasn't in the arena it might have brought him to tears! Or it almost did at least, until Merrow decided to lead with their imaginative description of what might transpire. It caught him by surprise if he was being honest, but he remained calm, smooth. It was to give the audience what they wanted! A show! Excellent!

Though the moment he could hear Vicktor's own familiar voice, Merrow was already approaching him with jaws wide. Well, they certainly were chomping at the bit haha!-Actually no that's NOT what Firenze wanted- he wanted their teeth nowhere near any of his anything!

He inhaled, brows furrowed he waited as long as he could, throwing himself towards them with his own lips pulled back in a snarl. Hoping to grab onto anything to sink his teeth into. Face to face!


Round: 1/5
Attempt: BITE THEM FACE TO FACE! (ignore the side step on the roll lol)
Defense: Just a squirley boy
Injuries: Cuts across face??
(idk how the whole face vs face gonna be lol so I'll update injuries in later posts)



"Speech"

@Merrow

Firenze opened his mouth and, well, Merrow? She kind of flew right into it, didn't she? Unlike an alligator with long, powerful jaws, her mouth was considerably more squashed, like a sad, pug-like abomination of the same reptile, though she still had plenty of nasty teeth inside her jaws. She snapped down much less effectively on the coyote jowls than he did her: his jaws quite easily snapped around her whole head--

Which was a comical scene for everyone, especially given the sudden unholy screeching that came from her. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," she said, a rough translation between two sets of clamped jaws that clearly translated to panic and pain.

To solve this issue, she cleverly did what any nasty little dragon-esqe creature would do, and began to thrash her limbs about. She only had three to do so: her wings and her powerful tail, which she tried quite hard to smack her assailant with.

She, uh, she was trying her best, really.

ROUND 2/5

ATTEMPT: smack with wings and tail
DEFENSE: nah lol
INJURIES: bite wounds on face

@Firenze

Firenze didn't quite expect for them to come flying right into his mouth if he was being honest, but at least they had both damaged each other. Mutual first blood, granted- Merrow was awkwardly in their mouth, rather their entire head was. He could only growl as they snapped down along his jowls though. That hurt! But- he was also biting them so- they were even he supposed...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,"

Merrow screamed and began to flail and Firenze well- wasn't sure what to do other than to get smacked by the tail they thought they were trying to avoid. But listen perhaps having three limbs let them be a bit more bendable than most. Who knew? Regardless his only plan was rather simple. What was that plan you may ask? Oh yknow, bite down harder. Though with Merrow thrashing and flailing around so much he was doubting his ability to keep them in his grip. He didn't really want to give their mouth another chance to bite. But with all that flailing-well- whose to say what would happen next.

Round: 2/5
Attempt: Bite them HARDER!?
Defense: Just a squirley boy
Injuries: Cut/Partially bitten face + bruising




"Speech"

@Merrow

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Bedlam yelled, adding its adorkable whaley bellow to the cacophony. It liked the flailing! Very dramatic, very chaotic. Like all good DEATHMATCH!es should be.

The eye on its throat blinked down at the half-eaten cornfish (the fishy variant of corndog, a cornbread-wrapped sausage of blended seafood) clutched in its paw, while the others remained eagerly fixated on the fight. Well... it wasn't quite done with this one yet, but it did also have a bucket of fish-churros at the ready and concessions were free...

All right. It made up its mind to chuck the cornfish into the ring, but of course its little gremlin mind couldn't be satisfied with a simple cornfish missile. Of course it had to try to cast the spell it had failed disastrously every. single. time thus far. AGAIN. Bedlam blinked down at the snack in its claws, concentrating...

And then the cornfish elongated, becoming absurdly thin but the length of a full-sized pool noodle in the span of a millisecond. And of course the body part struck by the spiralling, flopping length of cornfish spaghetti was its freshly mutated eye.

Bedlam howled as the greasy thing poked into its eye, slamming all eyelids shut RIGHT NOW and toppling backwards. "FUCK," it screamed again as its head bonked against a seat on the way down. Greenish blood oozed from its throat-eye, which was quickly swelling itself shut. Pain lanced through the back of its head.

It was never fucking casting that spell again.