ORIGIN - cry for return of the winter

The chill and ice of this tunnel made him feel homesick. Ursa wasn't a cave that he could tolerate longterm, as frigid and barren and hard to traverse as it was. And it was such a deep shame, that he had to keep such distance from Mother and his more cold-adapted siblings. Not that that distance truly meant anything, when they were all intertwined. And he found great satisfaction in patrolling Eridanus and defending against encroaching chaos, protecting the weak as he always has. Truly, he was happy.

Footsteps farther down the tunnel caught his attention, and he could spot a distant figure slowly approaching. If one watched closely, they could see as the fogginess clear from his gaze as Mother's presence receded into the background, still omnipresent but quieter. Giving him room to think, to speak to this potential new ally.

"Hello?" He called out. There was a faint rasp to the edge of his voice- it'd been a while since his last conversation.

@Eleanora

To be honest, she wasn't sure where to start with this contract. She didn't really know any other gembound very well, much less one that wished to create children. So she was in a bit of a hard place at the moment. Where should she start besides aimless wandering?

Her feet took her around Orion and to the connecting tunnels. Taking the tunnel that connected to many caves to maybe get an idea, she bundled her fur cloak tighter, disliking the chill in the air. It wasn't the chill of the mountains, but the cold of winter, setting into the bones instead of crisp on the skin.

She paused at the sound of a voice, looking up. She hadn't really been looking. But she found herself staring at a bipedal thing that she initially mistook as a soldier.

Initially, her mind flew to panic. The last time she had seen someone wearing armor was during one of the Empire's hunts, soldiers and their warhounds racing through the Vaa looking for Witches to kill. Adam had fended them off, then, but Ellie had seen them from the hilltops where she had led those that couldn't fight away, in case they found the village.

She had seen them up close, too, during the war. She had hoped she would never see them again.

But the panic relaxed a moment later as she looked at its face. This was NOT a soldier of the Verinen empire. This was a gembound.

She sighed, her hand reaching up to touch her racing heart. "Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." Eleanora calmed herself. "I hope I didn't disturb you?"

@Cyneweard

He takes a step back as he sees the other's panic. "Please calm down. I mean no harm." His sword hangs awkwardly at his side- he has no way to sheathe it, because he never NEEDS to sheathe it, typically. But in the moment he wishes he had some way of appearing more nonthreatening.

And he was obviously a gembound, but the organic-crystalline armor and pure-white coloration might be ringing alarm bells for anyone even distantly aware of The Hive and it's drones. He wasn't quite acting like a mindless drone, but there was a certain... distance, in the way he spoke, even now.

"I should be the one apologizing. I am sorry for frightening you." He smiles, partially obscured by his facial plating. "What brings you here? This is not a tunnel that many choose to traverse."

@Eleanora

The white coloration, perhaps, struck her as familiar to what was currently all over Eridanus and Gemini, reinforced by the figure of the helmet, but Eleanora had yet to encounter the Hive proper. There was no recognition there, or fear for what he is and what he represented - Tamulus had not warned her against this, and so she did not fear him for that.

She waved a hand. "Oh, don't worry about it, I frightened myself, really." It really had been an instinctual panic at the sight of the knight, because even seconds after her realization she acknowledged how foolish it had been to think she was facing Verinen soldiers. When their armor was smoky black and metallic, and they stank of blood, sweat, and ash.

Here, she could only smell snowmelt. Familiar to her.

"I'm not sure, honestly. Wandering, I guess." She could be back at home, helping Lilith tend to her garden, befriending the local wildlife some more. She shrugged. "I grow restless sometimes. And what about you? Do you live here, or just travelling?"

Oh. Right. Introductions. It was more instinct then anything, greeting as she would another witch, she held out a hand to offer Cyneweard a friendly shake. "I'm Eleanora, by the way."

@Cyneweard

The smile dropped into a small frown. He was aware of others who had.. less stellar interactions with his siblings, whether attacking out or misguided aggression or simply caught in the crossfire as they fought to purge Chaos's defiling influence from these caves. But her fear faded so quickly- it didn't seem like she recognized him as a Drone. That was good- it was easier to made a good impression without fighting all the misconceptions.

Or... had she recognized him as a different kind of knight? He.. hadn't really encountered any of those, outside of the books he'd read in Cepheus. Protectors of all kinds existed everywhere, sure, but his specific form seemed to be a rarity.

He'd hum, "I used to wander, before I settled in Eridanus. I still wander but.. less often, now." Where exactly had he been heading? A helpful hum in the back of his brain reminded him, "I was heading to Pisces to fish. The water there is always cool and refreshing. Do you eat fish?" There was a slight invitational lilt to his voice. A shared task always made companionship easier. Its simplest to hide Her mold in food.

It wasn't a greeting he was familiar with, but a whisper urged him to take her hand and shake it firmly. The top of his hand was armored but the palm was still soft, lightly furred skin. "You may call me Cyneweard."

@Eleanora

It was odd, feeling his hand. It wasn't paricularly warm despite the fur and skin. It wasn't deathly cold, but it struck her as odd for a moment. But she quickly shoved the thought off, setting it next to all the other "oddities" of the caves that she still, after a few years of being here, had not quite gotten used to.

"Mmm, I'm still getting used to wandering again. I had settled for a while, after I had my son." It was odd to speak of him - it had once been too painful to remember her beloved child that she would never see again, but with Lilith around it had gotten easier. She had enjoyed that settled life, for a while. "But I guess I got restless." A little more then restless, really.

Pisces, though? She thought for a moment and then gave a light shrug. "I don't mind fish. I like that cave, though I can't say I'm a very good fisher." There hadn't been too many opportunities to practice in her part of the mountains. "But if you're better then me, perhaps I could pick up a few tricks?" The invitation was accepted, apparently, and she smiled a little playfully - perhaps to make up for her initial fright that she was now feeling a bit of guilt over. This gembound, after all, was nice.

@Cyneweard