ORIGIN - Littlest Tea Shop

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Forgraves would turn and give another warm smile before he went back to trying to light the fire.

he would yelp as, with a big spark that nearly caught him in the eye and burned his finger, the fire would light, spreading to the firewood with a speed that rivaled the spark itself.

he huffed. "well, there we go!"

he stood up, brushing his knees. "Ah, favorite? that would be these!" he said, picking up a bowl of rose petals. as he put it down he began taking flowers out of his basket, restocking it seems. "I Don't know the names of all of them, but those i believe are rose petals. as for the others? anyones guess. i don't think anyones made the effort to catalogue a majority. the caves are big and full of variety, it'd take forever!" he hummed with a chuckle. "though youre free to pick one out to taste, i can assure theyre all edible and, atleast in my opinion, all delicious."

as the water boiled, he set out his tea set, placing cups on opposite sides of the table.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you end up in the caves? not every day a gembound comes up and says theyre from the surface, yknow. I didn't even know there was a way OUT, let alone in." he asks gently, an air of humor to it alongside a painfully obvious amount of curiosity.

@Eleanora

"Speech." Thoughts.

Elleanora ran her finger along the many glasses and bowls containing a variety of herbs and flowers. Some she recognized - there was some chamomile, that one was lavender and the bowl that Forgraves picked up - "Yes, those are rose petals. Those weren't...very common where I lived, but I've had them once or twice. They're nice." Not her favorite, personally, but then again she never really chose favorites. They were all good, for different reasons. Some were nice and sweet, some tart, some delightfully bitter. And some held memories that she cherished dearly.

She jumped a little at Forgraves' yelp, knocking over a small container of herbs when she flinched. "Oops!" She hastily bent down, gathering all she could of what had spilled back into the jar before she held it up and really took a look at it. The leaves were almost a mint-green color, with bright pink banding. "Well...why don't we try this one? I don't reocgnize it at all."

She turned and handed the herb to Forgraves before taking a seat at the table - a little low, for her long human legs, but she made do by crossing them in front of her.

She was expecting the question, of course - many Gembound didn't even know there was a surface in the first place. She smiled and fiddled carefully with the teacup in front of her. "There isn't, really. Not a way that most of us can travel, at least. I had to ask someone that does have that power. It wasn't...pleasant." She shuddered at the memory, but chuckled at the same time. "One moment I'm standing in his hut at sunset, the next, everything is dark and everything hurts but I couldn't feel my body. And then...I woke up here, in a chrysalis." She shrugged. "I can't say I understand what happened - magic like that is forbidden among the witches. But it worked, and that's all that's important, I think."

@Forgraves

Forgraves turned his head up in concern at the commotion, "are you okay?" , but calmed when he saw it was just one of the bowls.

he took it in his hands, sniffing the contents and smiling. "ohoho, good choice!! These are my friend Bebby's favorite. they're floral, but quite sweet, if you don't mind that. i'll put em in once the water boils." he hums, setting them close to him on the counter.

He listened to her as he leaned against the counter, not quite staring but also not NOT staring either, utterly fascinated. though that did intrigue him.

"Aside from some of the lesser animals in these caves, i wasn't aware there were people who DIDN'T come from chrysalis, really, let alone other gembound, which is what you must be if you could go into chrysalis at all, right? that's sort of where all of us come from or go to when we're hurt. Though, truth be told, i don't know what a witch is either, so.. i get the impression theres alot i don't know, huh?" he mused, hand brushing the scruffier fluff of fur beneath his chin in thought.

"Do you like it here? We haven't had much a choice on where we come from, so i don't even know if someone like me would like the surface if i went, although.." a pause, "I would like to see the stars, if ever possible. for myself."

@Eleanora
"Speech." Thoughts.

She leaned back in the seat a little bit, arms folded neatly in her lap as she listened to Forgraves. She tilted her head, almost inguisitive at his first comment. "Interesting. So there are no...gemless creatures here, then? Everyone in these caves has a gemstone? Or, at least, all thinking creatures?" Although the way she phrased it, to herself that was implying that humans could think. She was convinced, at this point, that they did not, with their silly wars and senseless violence.

She laughed lightly at the way Forgraves stroked his chin. It reminded her very much of one of her village's elders who would always do the same through his long, well-groomed beard. "I don't know how much you know about but if you know nothing of the world outside then yes, I think there is. But the same could be said for me. I've only just begun to learn about these caves and their histories. I don't think I've even been to them all, yet." There were definitely some farther caves she hadn't yet stepped foot in - not out of avoidance, but real necessity to visit them, as she set herself up for survival in Pegasus.

"Yes," she answered immediately, but then hesitated. She tapped her fingers against her hand as she searched for the right words to follow up with. "These caves are much nicer then I thought. I wondered if I was condemning myself to a life trapped in dingy, dark hollows, but these are big and have trees and beautiful things. But...I do miss the sky. I didn't know it was something I'd miss. The feel of the sun on my skin - real light and warmth. The cool winds of the Vaa and - yes, the stars. Things I had always taken for granted are...lost now."

She sighed and stared up at the ceiling of Forgraves' hut. "The stars are...beautiful. Even when they were commonplace, they inspired so much wonder. So many, we could never count them all! There were some days when meteors would fall and the village would gather to watch the shower - meteors, they're streaking lights, like a star falling from the sky." Her eyes had gone a little misty as she was lost in her memories for a moment, a small smile quirked on her lips. "I'll miss them."

@Forgraves

he hummed. "essentially. there are some of the lesser animals, they sometimes have gems, but they don't seem to be any smarter than the others, and i can't seem to find a pattern on what determines one to have one versus another. you'll find entire colonies of the same animal that's a fair mix. ive met a few people who are mixes or larger versions of some of the lessers, but the former seems to be a hybrid situation rather than something naturally occuring. the latter is harder to explain myself, most of the material in the cepheus library doesn't cover it." he said, shrugging.

he tapped his own gemstone, the 3 point jade on his throat, "though of course, sometimes its easier to tell than others. if the gemstones internal rather than external you only know once you start eating it, and then its a matter of not choking or chipping a tooth." he said, with mild humor, as he moved to stir the flowers into the tea.

"Truth be told, i doubt ive been to ever single one either. i've never set foot in hydra or its tunnels myself, and most of the caves i have visited i only visited briefly. believe it or not, this cave along with some others only opened to us relatively recently. theres probably plenty of gembound who've never left the cave they hatched in."

as time passes, he listens to her talk as he puts the fire out, the tea seemingly ready quite quickly, noting with mild amusement the glow these flowers seem to leave behind. hes scooping tea into the pot as she mentions the stars, pausing for a moment, before moving to the table to pour them both a glass.

"I know not much of the outside world, but i do love the stars." he said, voice soft, nodding to her as he filled her cup and sat to grasp his own, muttering to be careful, it's still hot. "There was an occurence a number of cycles back, a magic stone that granted wishes, if you can believe it. it disappeared after a few days, but i had asked it to tell me about this," he paused to briefly lift the small, blue crystal pendant with gold markings, the starmap. "and it had... shown me the stars, albeit a bit different than just looking up at them. it had taken me across the sky, far, far away, a glimpse into the skies of other worlds, far past our own, and lines had drawn across the sky, showing me that once, this amulet was a map, although i have no idea where it came from or who made it. ships and dark figures of people i saw aswell, charting the stars, but of course it was only a vision. i suppose if i lived with that memory and nothing more it'd be enough. however.." he said, pausing again to take the silver locket from his neck.

he opened it, revealing the dark, obsidian layer within it. underneath was the baubled quartz, glowing softly, and the image it imparted was a strikingly realistic depiction of the night sky. to those who knew it, it could likely never compare, but it was still beautifully close, about as close as something like it could get, far more impressive than the ceilings in orion or polaris.

"i had asked for a way to remember it better, incase my mind failed me eventually, and it gave me this."

he held it out, silently offering it to her to hold."Speech." Thoughts.

@Eleanora

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