ORIGIN

This was no more than a standard visit to Eridanus, as was the usual path he took between Pisces and the jungle room on his steadily more regularly scheduled scouting missions. Eridanus seemed quite abundant with life and Leon was eager to meet other Gembounds and prove his worth even more by potentially bringing them back to Maji Walezi. They would all see that Leon was a useful member of the group and not just some temperamental bear ruled by fury. Most of him was bitter that the newer members of the group had all joined during his absence - they hadn't even seen him as one of the group's original founding members. He felt cheated out of his rank, especially with the jury deciding to strip him off it when none of them were even a part of Maji Walezi. But that was no matter. Soon, he would dispel the misconception of his shameful acts and prove that he was valuable.

Leon had entered the room, but this time he decided to venture down into the deep trench he had only seen in passing. Low, broad ferns covered the floor of the trench, but Leon was large enough that he could wade through the foliage and still see above the ocean of green. The obsidian point on his shoulder in particular stood out, parting any larger vegetation as he made his way through. There wasn't really anything interesting here - anything that could be of interest was likely hidden beneath the leaves, but every now and then there would be a part in the ferns and he would see the loamy soil below.

It wasn't until he had spotted something shiny in the soil that Leon finally stopped, tilting his head. It was a shard, just a tiny, small chunk of opal - reminiscent of the opal embedded in Arkrael's chest. The bear leaned back onto his haunches, gently plucking the shard from the soil and examining it. He had always wanted to try out a different kind of magic... one he'd only ever seen other Gembounds perform. But maybe if he focused, he'd be able to... Leon closed his eyes and clutched the shard, trying to draw his warmth to his paws.

Post-Roll Edit:
When he next opened up his paws, the opal shard lay among his leathery pads with a soft yellow glow to it. The light emitted from the shard flickered and wavered, similar to the consistency of fire in the air. Leon stared at the object, startled and ecstatic at what he'd just done. "I can't believe it!" He exclaimed, laughing to himself. He'd never been able to do anything like this before!

The dragon was growing rapidly in size. From the week of being within Eridanus he had doubled in size once more and now towered even more over his little brother and their other charge. He was about the size of a large bear with additional height given with his long neck and huge wings. While it made him look rather impressive it did nothing for his ego. He stalked through the forest-like area, confident that no one would be able to challenge him. He still felt guilty about the rampage he'd gone on but he tried to put it out of his mind and make up for it with constant patrolling. Booker was in the area with him and if he kept threats out then everything would be fine. The only thing he knew about here was his tiny family, the wolf, and those weird cats that the numbat had told him about. Strange creatures worshiping the mushroom. Seemed stupid to him but he wouldn't spoil Booker's fun. If they wanted to ogle at a dumb mushroom then let them, he had other things to do.

Other things to do like following the scent of a new creature in the area. It was a deep, musky scent that intrigued him. Would he be getting into a fight? Which, honestly --as much as he didn't want to admit-- didn't appeal to him because of his recent rampage. Wanting to be taken by the Bloodlust was the last thing that he wanted. So, when in the distance he saw the lumbering bear stop to dig at a gem and play with it he was a little glad. This one seemed peace-loving enough. Good. Perhaps he could just walk away and be on his own.

He was going to leave but something about this bear... That piece of obsidian from his shoulder, those scars... Baratheon's eyes narrowed and he walked closer though he was still hidden within the ferns. He knew this bear... but form where? He watched as the creature made a piece of gem glow and it was then that he decided to make his approach. He stepped out of the ferns and walked right up to the large bear fearlessly with his head raised and eyes looking down at him. Pink smoke billowed out of his nose while he put on a wry grin. He motioned towards the shining gem with his nose horn as his voice rumbled deep and low from his throat, "Neat little trick, can you teach it to me?" He gave a light chuckle.

With a shake of his head that sent his ears shaking comically against his head he gave another rumble, "Do I know you from somewhere?" He turned his head to the size, fixing the bear with one bright pink eye.

---

The bear held the shard up between his claws, looking at it in the light of the lamps strung along the ceiling and wall. The shard itself had to it a warm glow, and so he brought it in close to his chest, using his other arm to cast darkness over the rock. He stuck his nose into the little space of void he'd created, watching as the illuminated shard lit up the space with the light he had somehow given it. Leon didn't know how the light had happened - was it a result of fire, or something else? What kind of magic was this, anyways? As he stared at the shard, he tried to think if he had seen magic like that before. Only he really couldn't remember. It was possible that some Gembounds he had met before could do the same, but he'd never seen it. In any case, he made a mental note to try again later so that he could study the phenomenon further.

In the mean time, Leon opened up the space he made with his arm, just in time to see a massive white creature rise up from the ferns. His sudden approach had caused Leon to jump, nearly springing to his paws - but he recognized that face, and the dragon didn't appear to be hostile. So the bear remained where he was, orange eyes unmoving from the dragon as he slowly approached and commented on the magic he had just performed. Leon furrowed his brow slightly and looked at the shard in the claws again, before clutching it in a fist and shifting his attention completely to the dragon.

Do I know you from somewhere?

The bear's eyes narrowed slightly and he tilted his head. It was one thing to knowingly condemn someone to punishment - to know that they were stripping him of his name. But to not even remember the one he damned? That was a new low. "You were at the trial." He said stiffly, and began to root around the vegetation in front of him, using his claws to dig at the soil in an attempt to unearth the roots of a nearby plant. "I'm Leon. The one you agreed to have demoted." His answer was mildly dismissive, his agitation towards the dragon's negligent brain prompting him to focus more on digging up a root instead of making conversation.

Baratheon took note of the narrowed eyes and stiff reply but he dismissed it. They weren't threats and in his opinion weren't anything to get his fur ruffled over. Besides, the reply was far more interesting. "Ah yes.... Leon. I remember now." The bear still seemed to be a bit sore over the demotion. For the life of him Baratheon couldn't see why. It was just a silly rank, he'd earn it back eventually. As solitary as he was the idea of community and ranks was actually a bit of a foreign concept to him and thus he couldn't feel complete sympathy. "At least you didn't get banished like that other guy... uh, Carcino, I think?" He smiled knowingly. "But he got off far worse because of his obvious crime and his lack of injuries... Fair, I think." While he had voted that both initially get demoted he was sure that their punishments had been fair. After all he had started the fight. It didn't matter if you protected the ones you loved, it didn't excuse you from the actions that you committed as justifiable as they were.

For a moment Baratheon sat silently, watching as the bear attempted to uproot some plants or whatever it was that bears uprooted. As he watched he couldn't help but think back to the lioness that the pair had apparently been fighting over. Even though he condemned the bear he could now sympathize with him, especially since he had someone to protect himself. "You probably don't believe me... But I understand what you did. Probably... no. I would have done it myself had I been in your paws. Hell, I wouldn't have stopped myself. I would have killed the leopard without hesitation." He imagined someone yelling or wronging Booker and even the mere thought made his skin crawl. He'd destroy anyone that hurt his little brother with no hesitation. The bear had at least stopped in his pursuits, or so the story went, but the dragon would not have.

---

One plant in particular seemed to have a collection of roots that dove deep into the loam. With his free paw, he burrowed into the dirt and displaced it, revealing thick roots that would eventually taper into thin strands that wove through the dirt and amongst themselves, stretching far from the plant in search of nutrients. He listened idly as the dragon finally recalled the identity of the bear, claiming that he could remember now. Leon wasn't all too interested in what he had to say, at least at first; he was busy digging through the dirt and trying to free up the root as the dragon went on trying to reassure him that at least he didn't get banished, and that the leopard definitely got it worse. Well, yeah, that was the point of the trial. To punish Cancer for trying to murder Leon. Leon's own murderous intent aside.

All he did was cast an unimpressed look over at the dragon, his lips pursed into a grim line before his gaze again returned to the plant. He was making significant progress in freeing it up from the ground, brushing away the dirt that clung to the rhizomes and following them as they stretched on. All he needed was a good, strong length of root, and once he had uprooted enough, the bear started to slice into it with his claws. There was a long silence between them while Leon worked away, eventually freeing up a foot and a half of root.

Baratheon started to speak again and for the first few words, the bear refrained from even acknowledging his voice, still trying to figure out how he was going to secure the shard with the root. But the dragon's admission had gradually roused Leon's attention, and the bear lifted his gaze to the large Gembound, still silent with contemplation. It was only mildly reassuring to hear that he wasn't the only one who would have attacked and killed Cancer in that situation - even if the killing part was a little questionable. That was all that he'd wanted during the trial, for somebody to empathize for him and to know what he'd been feeling at that time. Had he a rational mind, perhaps he wouldn't have attacked Cancer. But the bear was foolishly ruled by his emotions; his furied heart wouldn't have allowed anything less.

Would he admit that he'd felt the same? Would it incriminate him any further to say that he'd intended to destroy Cancer at first? The trial had already come and gone, but there was nothing stopping the dragon from changing his opinion of the bear. "It was the last straw." He answered lowly, averting his gaze. "There was a lot of bad blood between us. What happened was just... all of it culminating into something I couldn't control." Leon huffed in a short breath. Especially since having found Cancer again, Leon didn't know what to think of the whole affair. He remained angry at the jury, unbiased yes, but ignorant to the truth behind the lives of those in Maji Walezi. He regretted having lost his temper so badly at Cancer, he regretted leaving Maji Walezi in the first place. He never should have let him hurt Makyna at all.

"I regret what I did. I never would have killed him." The bear grumbled as he fiddled with the root. Guilt and anger were quick to build up in him again; the topic clearly wasn't among his favorites to discuss, especially with this stranger.

It seemed like that bear was intent on digging about for his roots or what-have-you. Baratheon would never understand a creature's want to eat roots and grass. Berries, eh, maybe. They had a nice sweet flavor to counter the awful texture but roots? That just seemed about as bad as grass. He knew that different animals ate different things but the bear had fangs just like... or almost like, he did. It made no sense but who was he to judge?

He shook his head to himself, completely uncomprehending of his dietary habits. Ah well, his patrol was possibly ruined now by some strange curiosity he held in this "criminal" bear. He might as well get comfortable while they sat and chatted. Baratheon laid down and reclined onto his side with his forelegs crossed on top of each other and his rear legs stretched out to the side. He lifted one wing and began to nibble at the fur on the large wing, cleaning away any dirt that was on it.

He was still nibbling at the wing when the bear began to speak. He didn't stop preening his fur, only tilted an ear towards's the bear to let him know he was listening. "Don't have to explain it to me." He stopped nibbling to inspect the now cleaned flight arm. "You mix someone you don't like with a person you love and boom, you get a fight. Totally understand, man." And really, he did.

He turned his pink gaze onto the bear now, a half-smile on his face. "You're a better man than me. I would have killed him, no doubt about it." Not that he would have had much of a choice if his Bloodlust had taken over but he was still able to admit it. Did he feel guilty about that? No. If someone was hurting a loved one... He'd feel no remorse about killing the offender. It was just the way he was.

"I suppose that's why I've got myself out here away from most others. Usually don't have to worry about murdering everyone when you're not in a huge group." He gave a wry laugh as he grinned at the bear. "But I'm sure you don't have that problem." Almost murdering one leopard sort of paled when compared to the maiming and killing he'd done.

---

His lips pursed as his claws fiddled with the length of root he had unearthed. Discussing the subject had left a rather sour taste in his mouth, and he wasn't too keen on talking about it more, but the dragon seemed to have other ideas. It was an attempt at empathizing, he was sure, but Leon's already wounded pride made it difficult for him to accept the attempt as anything more than a constant reminder of his failure. His attention divided between listening to the dragon tell his story and attempting to secure the root around the glowing shard. First, he lay the length of the root in the dirt and placed the shard on top of it, then tried to tie a knot around the shard. At first, it hadn't worked; the root slipped from his grasp, or tore where he pulled it, or simply didn't tighten enough. Eventually though he managed to secure the knot in a notch in the root and after pulling it gently a few times, was pleased to see it fail to come loose.

Meanwhile, Baratheon was talking about it made sense, at least to him, what Leon had done - when somebody you hated tangoed with somebody you loved. It was basically a recipe for disaster, especially for somebody who really tried to avoid such conflicts. He could make exception of the offender wasn't the leader of his own home group, but with Cancer... it had been different. His actions were shameful, and Leon couldn't feel proud or accept what he'd done no matter what way he thought of it. Leon's lips tightened into a grim line as he continued to work with the root, now trying to tie a loose knot near the ends of it to form a small bracelet.

His ears twitched towards the dragon, and his gaze flickered up towards the furry white beast as he mentioned murdering everybody and straight up killing whoever opposed him. It was a little concerning. "No. My morals are fairly sound." He answered coolly. "Which makes me wonder how somebody like you ended up on the jury in the first place." Leon added, turning his gaze back to the bracelet as he continued to adjust it.

The more Baratheon studied the bear's movements the more he began to realize that the bear wasn't trying to eat the roots at all. He was doing something with the shard and the roots... Strange. Was he trying to tie it into a knot? Baratheon's head tilted slightly to the side as he studied the bear's movements. The more he studied the more a smile began to grow on his face. "Wouldn't doing that be easier with these?" He lifted a paw to show off the extra appendage slightly to the side. His "thumbs" if you could call them that. He would have no trouble helping out the bear but only if he was asked. For now he would simply sit back and watch while he fumbled with his not-so-dexterous paws.

At the bear's next comment he couldn't help but grin and give out a humor-filled laugh. If he was trying to insult the dragon then he might be a bit disappointed. "It's not exactly as if they gave us a cross-examination," He said after his sounds of merriment had died down. "Though I can see your concern. I suppose I should say... I don't intentionally murder people. Better?" He gave a cheeky, toothy grin at the bear. "I mean, if I wanted to murder everyone in sight you'd have been in trouble, fuzzy." He chortled, releasing a puff of pink smoke out of his nostrils. "Fuzzy... As if I'm not just as fuzzy as you." He didn't laugh again but the look on his face said that he certainly wanted to.

---

Sure, it was a little frustrating trying to manipulate the root bracelet with his big clumsy paws; his long, curved claws did help a little bit, but when Baratheon suddenly spoke up and pointed out his dexterous thumbs, the bear only sneered and continued his work. There was no way he was going to ask that dragon to help him - besides, Leon had plans for this little treasure of his, and he wasn't about to let this dragon take all the credit for making it. How else was he going to get better at making things if he didn't practice? It didn't take long for him to get it just the way he liked it, anyways. After a few more minutes of adjusting the length and tightness of the knot, he held it up and examined it. The baubled gem shard gleamed as it caught the light of the lamps, holding to it a subtle yellow glow of its own. Perfect!

Storing it would be a whole new problem, but Leon had something in mind for this, too. He furrowed his brow and dropped the bracelet onto the ground before scooping a pawful of it and the mud up onto his chest. For a few seconds, he blocked out the dragon's presence and focused on his magic, hoping to draw heat to his paws.

Post-Roll Edit:
Tongues of smoke billowed out from his paws and heat burned into the mud, drying it into a tough residue and baking it into his fur. The hard, clay-like substance clung stubbornly to him, securing the bracelet within its grip. Leon huffed and leaned back, giving himself a little shake to ensure that the bracelet wouldn't come free. Sure enough, it remained caked onto his fur with the dried mud. Leon allowed a smirk to himself before looking over at Baratheon, listening to his words again despite having missed the first thing he said. Something about a cross-examination. He didn't really care - he'd been away for so long, something must have caused Bevy to change and he wouldn't be surprised if it was for the worse, especially considering Cancer's recent exile.

Baratheon's excuse caused the bear to narrow his eyes slightly. Despite the dragon's attempt to reassure him that he didn't kill people on purpose, Leon still found it a little worrisome that the dragon would go ahead and admit it in the first place, then try to cover his tracks by saying that it was an accident. Or beyond his control. The bear sucked in a short breath. Maybe he was just being hard on the dragon. After all, Leon's own murder-spree had been driven purely by anger and the heat of the moment. Maybe the dragon was the same way. "Let's stop talking about murder." The bear said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. He rolled his shoulders, straightening up and turning so that he could now give his full attention to the dragon. "It's in the past, anyways."

His mind wandered to his brief encounter with Cancer. Leon's eyes lingered in an extended blink before he shoved the thought aside. "So, what, do you live here? What did you say your name was?" He asked after a moment, scratching idly at the wound on his neck. A few dry scabs still clung to his skin, but the injury was pretty much healed by now.

This bear just got more and more interesting. Now he was using his paws to... do what? Baratheon peered closely at them and saw that smoke was rising up from them. Weird. Was he a fire user or something? He sniffed and while he could smell the smoke he couldn't smell any fire. The bear leaned back to show that the mud and root thing were firmly secured to his paw. His head tilted sideways, comically making his ears flop against his head as he stared at the thing on Leon's paw. It was weird looking and he didn't understand it but whatever... It didn't really concern him, now did it?

He couldn't help but agree to the subject change. He'd come to terms with what he'd done before but it didn't change the fact that he'd done them, no matter how cynical he acted about it. "Agreed. The past is the past, where it deserves to be." Unless it became the present too but he wouldn't dwell on that.

He decided to address the second question first as it was the easier one to answer. "I didn't," He said with a yawn but after a moment he grinned and said, "It's Baratheon, though. Or Bara, if ya fancy." Everyone seemed to prefer calling him by the shortened version anyway, not that he minded. Something about his name being too long, the reason no one wanted to use the full version, he supposed. "As for living here..." He looked around and gave a shrug.

"I don't really live anywhere. I usually just go where my paws take me." He remembered when he lived back in Orion with Flafe but that felt like a lifetime ago and when he'd finally left the place he hadn't really went back. He didn't know if the sheep was still there or not. Made him a bit sad that he hadn't seen her in so long but... Again, he couldn't dwell on the past. "Although, I've kind of taken up residence here for a bit. My brother, Booker, he likes it here 'cause of that stupid 'All Mother' crap." He shook his head and would have rolled his eyes but he lacked the package to do so. "No offense to the stupid mushroom but it's just that.... a mushroom. Anyway," He waved a paw dismissively, not really wanting to get into the crazy cats' religion that Booker seemed so invested in. "Whenever Booker wants to leave I'll go too and it'll be back to wondering, I guess." Hopefully, anyway, he didn't mind Eridanus but he was rapidly growing and the trees could be a bit constricting to his wings. He could go to other places but he hated leaving Booker alone for too long.

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