ORIGIN

Cardan had met the other strange pup, one with a curved tail, shortly after he woken up. Then they traveled down the tunnel. He decided to move forward with caution. Water rushed down from the opening of the cavern. With a limp, the brown pup sniffed about. Every step was placed with caution.

He rested his eyes for a moment to see if he could sense anything. To hear or touch. A jolt backwards. Ears pinned to his thick skull. The roaring water full, every droplet that clung to his fur. The sounds of hearts pounding. Cardan's breath shook, felt his chest tighten. Trying to use his front paws to shake off the sounds. A whine emerged from his jaws.

"Stop! Make it stop!"

The pup backed against the cavern, letting out a sharp but panicked whimper. It was all too LOUD. Why was it so loud? Cardan had curled himself however he could, around his stiff side. His body trembled, his breath hitching. The sounds didn't stop. Why wouldn't they stop?

"Speaking"

In his throes of his agitation, another sound would most likely fall into Cardan's radar. There were plenty of small hearts to hear in this cave of water - fish in the lagoon, bats against the walls, small lessers gathering around the clear water's edge - but they all paled in comparison to the one that was steadily getting closer now. No creature in Pisces could hold a candle to the massive drumbeat that is the heart of the massive dinosaur slowly making her way across the cave.

She'd seen him - heard him too - from where she had been basking in one of the smaller pools. She did not often go up to strangers but this one seemed distress. That was not good. Distress she might be able to help with.

Droplets of cold water dripped from her feathers as she approached, shaking off some of them preemptively so that she didn't soak the poor kid. "Hey," she rumbled as she approached, arching her head down so that it was on the same level as the pup. Goodness, he was so small - smaller then her head! "Are you okay, little one?" Oh, she wanted to reach out and gently pat the poor thing but she feared she would hurt him. She was good with her claws but she didn't want to risk it at all.

@Cardan

Thump, thump, thump.

Sounds echoed in his ears, he kept trying to back up. To hide himself from whatever loud noise was around. The sounds of beating hearts ran through his skull. Even the droplets that dripped off the feathers echoed in his mind.

His eyes reopened to see a large creature in front of him. A feathery thing, an anxious whine muttered from his maw. Bright eyes dilated towards them, he had never.. never seen such a. creature. What? The claws.. The claws looked so dangerous to him. Although they didn't lash at him, not right away. Which.. was good right?

"It's so loud! Why's it so loud!"

His heart beat hard in his chest, a tremble to his body. Yet his voice rose as if he was trying to reach higher than the noise he was hearing.

"Speaking"

Itzel was confused. The pup did not seem to be in any immediate danger, nor did it look unharmed in any way, yet it curled in, distressed, crying. What was loud? Itzel turned her head around but could see nobody else nearby, nor could she hear anything but the distant sound of the waterfall. I mean, that was loud, certainly, but it wasn't overbearing or deafening, especially this far from it.

She turned back to the pup and this time she did very very gently nudge him with a claw. It was the softest touch she could manage, some attempt at comfort, perhaps. "I do not understand," she murmured as she began to settled herself down, almost bird-like in the way she sat atop her legs and the wet feathers of her stomach fanned out against the ground. "But I will sit with you until it passes." That seemed like the right thing to do. This was obviously some kind of neurological episode (big word there, Itzel!) or mental breakdown or hysteria. When she was upset, she knew she would like physical comfort, so she offered what she could.

She was too wet to properly sit in the way she wanted, just over top with her feathers a soft cushion around him, keeping her weight on her legs so that she didn't crush. So, instead, she settled next to him and laid all the way down against the stone floor and curled her head around his body. The fluffy feathers at the base of her neck hadn't been soaked by the pool and were warm and soft and would most certainly be more then enough to cover the young gembound like a blanket. She didn't really know if there was anything else she could do but provide some physical comfort and perhaps a muffle to whatever it was he was hearing.

@Cardan

Thump, thump, thump.

The sounds of heartbeat faded. What remained was the rushing roar of the waterfall. The drip, drip, from the water nearby. The tiny pup had remained curled. Confusion embedded in his face. His paws ever so slightly moved from his face.

Bright pure purple eyes turned around, as if he was looking for the source. But there was none he could place his paw onto. His gaze turned to the large creature before him. Who had protectively curled around him. She was massive. His size didn't even begin to come close to the size of her head!

"Is.. Is gone now?"

Tiny paws moved, with a stiffened limp of his hind legs, moved towards her. Cardan went and buried himself among her feathers. Terrified as he was, he thought if she was going to hurt him. She would have done it? Or maybe because he's a baby they don't. Cardan didn't know.

"Speaking"

Itzel stayed as she was, curled protectively around the pup, as he rode out the last of his...what was it, a fit? An episode? Magic gone wrong? Whatever it was, Itzel was a shield against the storm - at least, she liked to think of herself like that.

She was fully rested on the ground, relaxed, and only lifted her head again when he seemed to come a little bit back to his senses. She turned her head so that she could see him properly through one of her eyes. "Gone now? Sure. I don't know what you were hearing. But if you are better now, that is good."

She didn't move, still offering the comfort of her feathers if the hatchling needed it. And he did. There was a soft rumbling in her chest, almost purr-like in its tone. "You are safe here. Are you alright?"

@Cardan

"I dunno, it sounded like heavy thumping. So many of them… It was.. so so loud! I.. I heard it before but it was quieter.."

His voice was laced with edge. Ears flickering back and forth, as if he was still searching for the noise. But it had gone away! Dissipated within moments. Like it never was there. It was!

"It sounds crazy! But I heard it!"

Cardan would use his paws, in trying to get her to believe him. Fearing she’d think otherwise. A gentle sigh of his own jaws as he moved to prop himself on his paws, his back leg stiff. There couldn't have been anymore than a move from his knee before a gentle whine under his jaw.

"I.. I don't think I'm hurt.. But.. But it was a lot of noises. I didn't know how to turn it off! I don't know what I did. I'm sorry!"

His eyes could barely meet hers. She had such a large eye, he didn't know where to place his to meet her properly. Dark ears cupped forward, flickering of his tail. Yet instinctively he kept his posture close to her. Someone so large.. meant he couldn't be hurt? Yeah?

"Speaking"

@Itzel

Itzel watched, thoughtful. She did not often have to think too hard. Living, surviving, oh it was easy. Existing was a simple, mindless task - find food, find shelter, move around to stave off the boredom. But interacting, what a pleasant conundrum, to understand and empathize. It wasn't that she had no empathy, she simply hadn't seen fit to use it in a long time.

She hummed, her voice deep and warm. "I do not know of this thumping sound. I did not hear it. Do you hear it often? Or do you perhaps have magic that had gone strangely wrong?" She did not know magic very well. At all, really. She could make bubbles. That was the extent of Itzel's magical experience.

"No need to apologize, little one," she rumbled, a tinge of humor in her voice. "I am glad you are safe and that the thumping is gone." She shifted, just a little bit, seeing his mild discomfort, and moved her head away a bit so she was not so overbearing. He was so little.

@Cardan