ORIGIN - Out There

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Her suggestion wasn't completely unfounded, at least not to the baby okapi. Granted, the threat of falling loomed before her, compelling the young one into a complacent form of stagnation, but then a cold breeze whipped against her still damp pelt, and she shivered, crying pitifully.

"If stand, we leave?" She didn't move until the shadow nodded, and then with a heaving, effort-filled sigh, she straightened her legs out in front of her. Careful not to press on her gem, she rocked back and forth, trying to gain the momentum she needed to stand.

Her tongue sticking out between her velvet lips in concentration, she pushed herself forward and tumbled straight back down. Yelping with pain as her jaw hit the stone floor with an audible click of her teeth, she wailed, distraught and full of shame.

Almost too eagerly, Delphine was nodding to the gentle inquiry. She knew she shouldn't have seemed so enthusiastic but to finally make headway past the notion of simply sitting there seemed such a momentous step forward that the young mare lost herself in the moment. Wide-eyed and breath caught in silent anticipation, she watched as the child made her first attempt at standing, one that was too soon brought to a face-meet-floor catastrophe. A gasp ripped through her throat and all too suddenly, Delphine was startled into action as she rushed forward to the child's behest.

"Oh, oh no, oh, are you alright?" Guiltily she brushed her muzzle against the child's smaller features, her tongue occasionally flicking out to lick her jaw where she'd hit the floor. "Does it hurt? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you." Shifting to stand beside her, Delphine lowered so that her body would act as a support where the okapi's gemmed hoof was. She prayed desperately that her failure would not deter her from future attempts though she certainly did attribute some blame to herself for rushing the young Gembound in her attempts. Perhaps she would not have fallen if she hadn't pushed. Her ears pressed flat against her crown and her gaze worriedly scoured that of the newborn to ensure she hadn't hurt herself elsewhere. "Or maybe we can rest, we don't have to go."

This world was cruel. Cold, hard, and unforgiving, a bitter sense of loathing bubbled in the pit of her stomach as her jaw clattered on the cave floor. Whimpering, she made no move to get up or right herself, too defeated to make the effort. Delphine's murmured apologies and her soft, gentle caresses didn't make her shame any easier to bear, but Tillie took comfort in the fact that at least she wasn't alone.

Her counterpart suggested they rest. Twitching her nose, she finally pulled herself up off the floor back into a relatively composed sitting position. "I try one more. Just one." Sighing, she narrowed her eyes, and made another attempt.

Her legs slid and for a dreadful moment she thought she'd fall again, but Delphine's weight made balancing easy. Righting herself on trembling limbs, a small, triumphant smile spread across her muzzle and put a twinkle in her eye. "I do!"

She came to realize, surely but slowly, that being in the presence of Tillie would constitute a number of things and one of them was to accept that she would endure a number of fairly shameful desires that was perhaps counter to the child's own goals. Even as the okapi made the decision to make one final attempt at standing, Delphine could not deny the absolute elation in her heart at the prospect. She could not imagine simply sitting here in Pisces waiting for the Gembound to accomplish her each and every hurdle at a pace even she could not fathom. It was unrealistic, even for a soul as relenting and maternal as her own. But that second in which she allowed herself to work through her own thoughts, Tillie attempted successfully to right herself and if the mare had any doubts or reservations before about her own short patience, it was all completely and totally thrown to the wayside.

"Oh Tillie! You did it!" She exclaimed and nearly jumped from where she stood if not for the fact that her own weight was supporting that of the child's. She settled for a squirm and wriggle to express her elation and pride. "You're standing. I am so proud." Delphine lightly nipped at the child's large ear, the gesture meant with good-hearted affection. "Alright, do you think you want to try a few steps? I'll walk with you so that you won't fall." She asserted, feeling perhaps slightly more encouraged and confident that they could do at least that much. How easily she forgot the taste of potential failure and rejection.

She shared in the Shadow's elation, though she did not possess the need to dance about it. She waited for the bouncing to stop, flicking her ears as Delphine tried to nibble them. "Yes. I do." She said, confirming her success.

Still, as she was beginning to find out, (much to her immense disappointment), this new world was an endless series of challenges, and she was now expected to move on from one to the other as if it was her duty.

With a few irritable grumbles, Tillie lifted her leg and hopped, her balance kept steady by the Shadow's presence. She hopped again. And again. "See. I walk."

The terseness of the child's response did shock Delphine considering just how much of a struggle it'd been urging her to stand in the first place. Though if she thought on the matter more she imagined that her own over-elation was more attributed to the fact that the task was completed after so much push and pull; it made her feel that much more accomplished. By extension. A brow arched imperiously upon hearing the irritable grumblings from below and she chuckled when the okapi finally attempted to embark upon her first steps forward or rather, her first few hops which were adorable. She forced herself to refrain from fawning, something that she thought the newborn did not particularly enjoy.

"You bounced, walking is more if we move from Point A to Point B. So let's say we're here now, we want to get over there, closer to the warmer, drier place." Delphine nodded toward Eridanus, bobbing her head before returning her attention to Tillie. "I'll go first." Carefully she took a small step forward before stopping to see how the child would fare, if she intended to do so at all. Her volatile nature was unpredictable and attempting to understand the inner cogitations of the newborn was a task in and of itself.

She hopped a few more times, trying her best to gain her bearings. Then, the Shadow abandoned her, leaving her to sway precariously on her own. Tillie's wide-eyed, frightened gaze narrowed, and she huffed at being so unceremoniously discarded. Left without warning. As if she didn't matter at all.

"How far?" The okapi asked, doing her best to keep pace with the Shadow. "I go faster if you stay with me." She said, eager to have her support back. "You no leave. You stay."

Extending her neck, her muzzle pumped into the Shadow's flank, and she nipped at it, trying to make her wait. "Together. Faster."

Never before had Delphine vacillated so wildly between two dichotomies. On the one hand, she wanted nothing more than to care for the child, aid her in her progress through the tunnels. For each of her successes, she felt her own pride rise and swell yet even so, there was a residual kernel of thought that was so opposite her maternal instinct, it was impossible to ignore. On the other hand, the child's demands were clear in the silence that stretched between them, interrupted only by the clop of their hooves against the stone floors. She struggled to work through placing the small voice, almost authoritative against that of the inarguably adorable form of the newborn.

"It's a little ways off but not too far." Delphine replied, slowing her pace just so when she felt the nip along her hindquarters. She could not discount the truth behind Tillie's words but it also seemed counterintuitive to continue acting as a crutch when the child was demonstrating a clear ability to walk, on three legs. But then her gaze settled on the Gembound and her heart was instantaneously felled. She sighed inwardly and stopped altogether, waiting for the child to catch up before matching pace with smaller steps and a mantra to tease her patience. "If you get tired along the way, we can take breaks."

The Shadow seemed compliant enough, and the baby okapi nodded, brimming with the satisfaction of getting her way. Being so young, she didn't know that such generosity of spirit was rare. Delphine represented a series of firsts, and she carried the immense burden of being Tillie's only source of knowledge to the outside world.

If Delphine was this kind and patient, than certainly everyone was this way. It was this reasoning that soiled any thoughts of gratitude in her mind. She shouldn't need to say thank you if Delphine was doing what creatures should. However, Tillie recognized her efforts regardless of whether or not she was fulfilling a duty. "I glad you here. That you come for me. I glad."

Walking with the Shadow, she leaned into her more than she needed to, nuzzling her side as they went along.

If she'd known the implications of her already failed parenting habits — if it could be called that because Delphine surely could not be a mother-figure — then she would have thought better on coddling Tillie. Regardless, these thoughts would do little in the way of changing anything for whenever her gaze shot down to the newborn, her resolve would waver and she would melt into the appreciative words and soft nuzzle along her side. "Me too." She murmured, warmth blooming in her chest as the pair hobbled along the damp floors of Pisces.

Every now and then her attention would drift to the large waterfall, the gaping hole above and the pools of small aquatic life nearby. She knew that the child took no pleasure in the chilled region but she could not help but to wonder if she would revel in the marvels that lay hidden in their world. "There are fish in the waters." She nodded her head toward a small pool near them, the bare organisms swimming about in their microcosmic world. "They cannot breath air like we do and they cannot live long without water." Her low dulcet tones crooned from above, explaining the lives that inhabited this cavern while slowing her pace just so so that the child could see if she so desired.

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