ORIGIN - Grave of Roses

It would be an understatement to say Cyneweard was having a bad time. For one, apparently he had died.

Not 'die' in the dramatic sense, at least, but in the sense that his body had given out and forced itself back to the beginning. His chrysalis. He couldn't remember what had caused this, though. Not quite. Some horrific nightmarish blur of teeth and pain before cutting to abrupt nothing. Half of him hoped it stayed that way. The other half desperately wanted to know who had done it.

These thoughts came drifting and dream-like, however. He was still within that chrysalis- flat against the ground, lying on his back and surrounded by a shell of transparent blue. He was still in stasis. Calm, perfect, preserved. Almost another decoration for the garden.

But then he was too horrifically aware of the constricting pressure on all sides, and the fluid filling up every single gap- even his ears. Even his nose. He punched up, fighting instinctual against this drowning suffocation. There wasn't a lot of room to move, but the crystal cracked readily with barely any pressure. As soon as a hole of vivid color was cut through the blue-washed glass shell he shattered through it, sitting in the remaining half-shell. Cyneweard hunched over, coughing, unaware of anything else but the overwhelming relief of air in his lungs.

Once the panic abated and afforded him some awareness of thought, he noted several things.

1.Ow. Apparently chrysalis shards were sharp. He had cuts across either palm from pressing too hard along the sharp edge when he had sat up. Better find somewhere to clean up, then. Chrysalis goop probably wasn't TOO great in an open wound.

2. Where wa- Oh yeah, the gardens. It was impossible for him to tell how long he had been here- flowers were trimmed the exact same as they had been before, except for where his chrysalis had messed things up. He must've croaked right in the middle of a flower bed or something, because he was surrounded by flowers. Bright, warm flowers colored red and orange and pink, with layered petals like scales. Tall, thin-stalked plants with button-like flowers fought for dominance, growing closest to his chrysalis. He had a feeling that they weren't meant to be here, though.

3. His body didn't feel right. Not in any big way, and it took him a while to figure out why. He was big. Like, a whole entire adult. However long he'd been out, he hadn't stopped aging during then. That was kind of terrifying, so he decided to not think about it too much right now.

Cyneweard would stand up, stumbling out of the crystal-littered shrubbery, pausing to squat [standing felt too tall] at the edge. Sheltering along the edges of the larger flowering bush, he spotted shorter flowers. Clusters of purple star-shaped flowers in short towers. He wasn't normally one to 'stop and smell the roses' as they say, but the flowers were quite pretty.

When he felt he was really, Cyneweard would stand up to his full height, practically LOOMING over everything [Well, Okay, he was only six feet tall. But it felt like looming.] He would walk through the garden's neat paths, feeling vague and lost. There was something he was thinking of that he couldn't place a finger on right now, but mostly he just REALLY wanted to get cleaned up.

((The flowers specifically are Zinnas, Tansy, and Hyacinth. Yes, this is important.))

It was at this moment that Eden was practicing walking.

This was a very important thing to practice. She knew how to walk, of course she did—and trot, and run, and pounce, which were all important things in their own right. But she had been pacing by the river lately (ignoring the small shiver of unease which being there gave her), watching her own reflection, and she had come to the conclusion that she could stand to be walking better.

Like the deer. The deer were elegant as they always were, pretty, soft animals that moved like they knew exactly what they were doing. The effect was stunning.

She wanted to be like the deer, too. So here she was, pacing past the lengths of the garden beds, practicing how to walk.

She had seen the chrysalis before. It was hard not to; it had been there ever since she had woken up herself. It was a shining shade of blue that caught the light in a gorgeous kind of way, and she had spent some time looking at both it and how the crystal distorted her reflection. She had passed it off as just another decoration.

And then she heard a crack, and the decoration started to crumble.

Her first reaction was a sort of shocked silence, like the kind a kid would take after accidentally knocking their mother's favorite vase. She stood there, tail held high and anxious, wondering if she should run and watch from a distance or just... keep an eye on it.

Eventually, the decoration decided for her, as the sharp fragments of the chrysalis began to shift and something within stood up.

She watched like that for a while. She watched like that until the creature within—and what a creature he was, so tall!—stood, and began to move, and began to walk the same paths through the garden that she had, just a few minutes ago.

She wondered if she should say hi. He was quite striking. She had never seen anyone that walked on two legs before him. (That didn't mean much. She hadn't seen very many Gembound in her life at all, so far.)

Before her own nervousness at being around and approaching someone so much bigger than her got the best of her, she decided to do it, padding out from behind a large bush on her little puppy paws to trail awkwardly behind him.

"Um..." That wouldn't do. "...hello. You're very tall. Who are you?"

@Cyneweard

He hadn't noticed the pup at first, not until he just about tripped over her. He would yelp something vaguely resembling a 'sorry' as he backpedaled on legs still remembering how to walk. He would've fallen on his butt if he hadn't had a muscular kangaroo tail, which he was able to catch himself with. He would stare at Eden for a bewildered moment, not comprehending what she said at first.

"Oh. Uh- Hi!" He would drop into a squat to appear less tall- but still tall compared to the pup. He would wave a hand, still with a streak of red down the center of his palm. "My name's Cyneweard. I'm uh- a knight?" Was he even a knight if he didn't know where his prince was?

Oh.

That's what he'd been forgetting.

He had absolutely no idea where Prince Ruvaen could be, though. Maybe in the palace? He would've liked to think The Prince would've been waiting for him, but obviously he couldn't be there all the time. Maybe this was just a unlucky moment for him to hatch. Or maybe. another part of him thought. You were gone so long he thought you'd never come back.

Something stabbed his guts.

He blinked, abruptly remembered that he was talking to someone. He would smile an awkward apology. "A knight protects people and stuff. I protect everyone who deserves it, but there's one person in particular who I'm supposed to protect. I don't know where he is, though..." He'd frown at that. "His name is Ruvaen, he's uh.. got two legs like me, but no fur or nothing, 'cept the top of his head. He lives around here, you might've seen him." He hoped she'd know something, but the newness he sensed coming off her made him doubt it.

@Eden

The near-collision of Eden with the Gembound she was following would get a sharp eep! out of her as she quickly backpedaled, claws scrabbling against the dirt for space. See—see, this was why she usually kept her distance from creatures that were much larger than her. See!

That thought was quickly forgotten, however, as the Gembound began to speak. Curiosity wins out over her brief panic as the Gembound lowers himself to as near an eye level as someone so tall could reach with someone so very small.

His name is Cyneweard. It's pretty, like him. His hand is streaked red, though, and she frowns, tilting her head at the sight. It's a pretty color, sure, she likes red, it's like her gemstone, but—isn't that supposed to be bad? She remembers vaguely the sight of that same red tipping claws latching onto a swan's neck, carrying it away.

But he doesn't seem to be so concerned about it, and soon she forgets to worry about that too, because he introduces himself as a knight and she has to wonder what that is. Does it have to do with why he was a garden decoration for so long?

A knight, apparently, is someone who protects people. That makes sense. If there are dragons out there who can snatch swans, then maybe there are dragons out there who can take people away, too. She nods to herself. Being a knight sounds very important. Like being a pretty deer out in the grass.

She shakes her head just a little bit when he mentions the name 'Ruvaen'. It doesn't seem very important next to the thoughts of knights and blood-red things and stuff, but Cyneweard is asking about it, so it must be at least a little important. Tall people like him must have equally as tall and important things to do. "No, sorry," she says. "The only one I've seen with two legs is you."

"I saw a dragon yesterday," she continues, thinking of everyone she's seen on the palace grounds so far (which aren't very many people at all, so she remembers each one!) "He was a very pretty shade of orange. Very bright. He flew down and stole one of the swans."

The swans seemed very mad about that. She can't help but think about them, screaming and calling as they chased after the dragon in a vicious flock of teeth. What would have happened if they caught him? Would there have been more blood?

@Cyneweard

He felt bad for scary the littler creature- and nearly stepping on her, for that matter. He really should pay more attention to his surroundings. But at the moment there seemed to be dozens of thoughts demanding his attention, and they only multiple with every passing moment. He would try to focus on the conversation here and now, as hard as that seemed to be.

He'd expected this sort of answer, but that didn't make it any less disappointing. "..That's alright." He replied, and it wasn't REALLY alright but it certainly wasn't HER thought, and it probably wasn't a big deal. He'd probably be there at the palace. Right after he cleaned up he could-

Oh right. He needed to find some water to clean up.

He would straighten, gesturing for Eden to follow as moved for the closest water feature- an elegant fountain in some sort of artfully organic shape. He would hold his hands under the water, rinsing off the red so that all was left were a couple of neat scabbed over lines across his palms.

The pup was talking- something about a dragon, which caught his interest, because he Knew all about dragons, and that specifically he, as a knight, was meant to defeat them and protect people from them. "Well, if he ever comes back, I'll make sure he doesn't steal anything." He promised.

His fur was still covered in drying chrysalis goop, which he also wanted to wash off but certainly not in a fountain. Instead he'd sit next to the fountain, brushing a hand against the back of his head and flaring up the fur there into silly-looking spikes. Belatedly, he realized he had told her his name, but she hadn't done the same. "Do you have a name, yet?" He'd ask, because she seemed young enough that it was possible she didn't.

@Eden

Eden pads after him with all the unthinking obedience of a kid listening to someone who she thinks is very neat, and very cool.

He's not very much like the deer, she observes as she follows him to a nearby fountain. His fur is not white, and he walks upright, and he has very many sharp teeth. Perhaps he's more like the swans, who also have very many sharp teeth.

As the knight stuck his hands into the fountain to wash them off, Eden would also stick her muzzle into the fountain's water, lapping it up as gently and elegantly as a little wolf-pup like her could possibly do.

She's sitting down and using a paw to wipe the excess water off her muzzle when the knight speaks again. "That's good," she says, absentmindedly. She only saw the dragon at a distance, so she's not very sure if a knight like him would be taller than him, but size doesn't mean anything next to viciousness. He'd just have to get it in the neck.

And then he asks her name.

"Oh!" This is a very important question to Eden, because she has been practicing introductions. With an excited prance of her paws, she leaps to her feet—then stills herself, raising her head and thinking of the deer she has spent hours upon hours observing upon the grass.

With all the grace and elegance she can manage, she lowers herself into a bow. "I am Eden."

And then, just like that, the elegance is broken as she taps-taps-taps her paws against the ground anxiously. "Was that... do you think that was good? I've been watching the deer. I want to be like them some day."

@Cyneweard

Cyneweard isn't really used to interacting with kids- he's used to BEING a kid, actually. It's very weird, actually, that his body continued to grow without him. And he isn't sure he likes it. And he isn't sure why he feels so much more different, other than just being taller. Like he skipped through all the training he was supposed to- but didn't do- and now he's suddenly a full blown Knight, or something. That he should be going on quests and defeating horrible monsters when he couldn't even fight- he could Tussle, but he couldn't Fight-

He balled up his fists in his laps and forcibly pulled himself out of his head. Again.

The wolf pup's reaction to his question surprises him, and he watches her whole little practiced introduction with a mix of amusement and mild confusion. "Y-yeah! That was very good and- elegant! I think you'd fit in with the deer- or the garden." He would point briefly at the elegant crystalline rose replacing one eye. Cyneweard isn't a stranger to formality, but he generally doesn't... think about it, ever. Unless he's with Ruvaen [He needs to find Ruvaen] who thinks a knight should act as noble as a prince. Cyneweard isn't sure about that, or what overly complicated manners have to do with protecting people or dragonslaying.

He also isn't entirely sure why a wolf would want to be like a deer. Maybe she wants to.. blend in and protect them? That was hard to imagine, though- but maybe that was just because she was small.

"You live here, right? Is there anything important that happened... recently? Other than that dragon." It was.. probably very important that he figured out what happened while he was- out. Although there were other people he could ask- Like Prince Ruvaen, where-ever he was.

He.. still wasn't ready for that, though.

@Eden