ORIGIN

With Canis too much of a risk, Algol had--in the end--chosen Monoceros. It wasn't far--and it was equally as dry and eerie, at least when one bothered to find the bones of the long-dead and pile them around, as he had. He'd made it look haphazard, but it was a careful construction.

Ahh, a microcosm.

That aside, he was now whipping out stone after stone, planting them delicately and warily in the places that he'd chosen. He'd watch them--diligently, relentlessly--and when they were ready, he'd raise and train them as his own. It was a diversion, really. Boredom. Curiosity. Call it what one wished. But he betted that, at the very least, he could cause a little fun.

Wreak a little havoc, if he were lucky.

The Rutilated Quartz, imbued with Pressure, he settled beneath an overhang--this one would be smaller, and he wanted to ensure it was kept safe. Next the Argonite, already growing and promising enormous size, touched by Light; this he set out in the open, with plenty of room to expand. The smaller Yellow Jade chip, imbued with prokaryotic power, he put in the shadow of a boulder, to keep it safe. Another piece of quartz, again touched with Pressure but far larger, was placed beside the Argonite, with space between them. Each of these, he touched with his own magic--a personalized brush of power, though it wouldn't do much. Call it customization, if you will.

And then--the final three, the ones that hadn't been given life at all, he granted them this gift now, all his Earthen element: the small and final quartz, and two chunks of matching, ridiculously flashy Angel Aura quartz. These would be... fun, and he wondered what stupidity might pop out.

The Collector then stood back, brushing his hands across his robes, staring down at his new collection with satisfaction in his crimson eyes.

"Ahhh, my children," he crooned, and imagined what it might be like to address them too once they were truly hatched; "here you will grow, beneath my watchful eye... and here you will learn the world, and here... you will learn to serve me."

He bowed to the stones, hilarity ever in his heart, and set about his work.

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The previously described gemstones are up for adoption. See this thread for details.

Addendum.

He kept watch, but it was a thoughtful sort. Would this be enough? Somehow, it felt like something would be... missed out on, and eventually he returned with two more stones. One, a red diamond plucked from abandoned rock, a stray feather the only indication of what it might once have been; the other, an ivory-white nephrite taken from a strange white Cave Crawler bat; he'd held onto that one for quite some time.

Magic was granted its flow into the stones, the power of earth joining with them--and these he set to incubate alongside the rest. They would hatch a week later, he judged--but that would give their older siblings time to learn to babysit.