ORIGIN

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It seemed that everyone was trying now. Everyone except for the cat. Fallah grit her teeth, the mix match of the blue lower jaw on her upper white teeth. The other now warned the cat to get out of the water, but she had been saying that the whole time. Shooting a narrow look at the hyena as she went in then out of the water. Obviously, they couldn't just get her out or they would freeze. Fallah ran around to the side, muttering unintelligible things under her breath. If she had known curse words, she would have used them. This was stupid. If the cat wouldn't listen, Fallah couldn't go risking herself to save her. The lynx did have another idea, though, "You're her friends, right? We have to get her out so-" Fallah took a breath in, crouching and tilting her head to get the best angle across the water's surface. Her eyes and stone began to glow, a similar light peering through the white portions of her fur, "CATCH!" Fallah blasted water right before the cat, aiming to knock her up and back out of the water.

With Dovefeather pushed from the water, she will be ice cold to the touch. She will be overcome by violent shivers. The Gembounds better find a way to warm her up, and fast.

DOVEFEATHER

swim with the current and float away, down by the river everyday

Dovefeather was just one, innocent, naive kitten. She thought, she swore, that if she just stayed in, she could escape-- and her mind churned with thoughts, deadly ones, ones that drifted her attention from the numbing in her paws. Had it not been for the others, she surely would have drowned, a kitten too obsessed for her own good.

Disrupting her thoughts, a sudden surge of water lifted and dumped her on the ground, the cold sting of the air finally drawing her attention away. She struggled to move, stiffness in her paws, and blinked around blearily, trying to comprehend all that had happened.

"B-booker..."

She searched, straining her neck, her pale eyes wide as her body shook, trembling from the cold. Her whole body lay on the cold stone, all of the heat left her body.

"Ow-Owl-... B-blackfeather..."

Finally, the kitten remembered Giggle, her dull eyes spotting the hyena, her ragged breaths inhaling her fungi-crusted scent.

"I c-couldn't... I'm sorry... Sorry... Sorry..."

There had been no sign, just unending coldness. It reminded her of the place of mist and mud, the place where birds had attacked her, had tried to peck out her eyes-- where the maggots had writhed, tried to take her too. It was a frightening memory, but it was all she could focus on was the deathly cold-- it was hard to think, hard to speak, and impossible to move much except shiver.

words:......... nyah
tagged:....... @Giggle
ooc:............ heck yea
muse:......... 9/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Sadie had been grazing in one the far corners of the cavern when the screech tore through Eridanus. The horrible sound caused her to freeze in place, from surprise and fear, before she spun to gaze in the direction the scream was coming from. What part of her home was it coming from, she wondered. The twin pools? The scream faded away, but it wasn't the only sound that disappeared.

All of the forest sounds that she was used to were gone--the rustle of leaves, the occasional chirp of a bird, the gurgling of the nearby streams--all gone, as if the very cave itself had been shocked into silence. And then Sadie noticed the smell, an unfamiliar metallic scent that made her feel sick. There was no doubt about it. Something was seriously wrong here. She just needed to know exactly what that something was.

With the stench that was clogging her nostrils, it wasn't hard at all to find the Eyes. The worse it got, the more it meant she was going the right way. The sound of several voices reached her ears as she got nearer. Evidently, Sadie was not the only to have heard that awful shriek. Sadie paused when realized that. It had been...quite a while since she had spoken to another Gembound. Her isolation hadn't been intentional, but somehow, she had become isolated, and the thought of meeting so many here in one place made her feel nervous. But she needed to see what was wrong with Eridanus, so she trotted into the open anyway.

A familiar voice alleviated any anxiety Sadie had had. Fallah! Sadie's feline friend had disappeared for a much longer time than usual, and she had been starting to get a little worried. But there she was, standing at the edge of one the pools, as normal as ever, and it seemed that Sadie's concerns had been unfounded. But now was not the time to speak to speak to her friend. The lynx, and several other Gembounds crowding around the pool's edge, yelling for someone--a kitten, Sadie soon saw--to get out of the water. Was there something wrong with the water? This was the place the scream had come from, so there must be. The ginger cow hurried over to help, but by the time she reached the water's edge, Fallah had already solved the problem with her magic, depositing the kitten on dry land.

The poor thing was shivering, and she seemed to be having trouble moving. Sadie lowered her head, and gently touched her nose to the icy body. "She's too cold." She was aware that she was stating the obvious, but she wasn't sure that she actually could do to help the kitten. Unless...Following some instinct that was buried within her, Sadie began to lick the kitten briskly, rubbing her fur the wrong way, causing it to stick up in spikes. Hopefully this would help and not just make things worse.

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

He was so focused now, silently watching the water. He couldn't hear a thing, nature would not speak to him. It was quiet, his thoughts unmoving as he stood there. Oblivious to the gembounds around him and what events were unfolding. That was until Booker grabbed his hand. Saying something along the lines of 'dont what ya to fall in now'.

He decided it was better to listen and stay by the numbat's side. Only to watch in somewhat horror as a cat had fallen in the one they called Dove. The water practically looked lifeless, if that made sense in any way. It looked so cold, so dull. What was wrong with it? Before Diot could scramble together cohesive thoughts and hep the cat, someone already had. He was thankful that the cat had been saved, but a bit upset at himself for not being fast enough to be the one to help.

Though now there was another dilemma on their hands. They had to warm Dove up, and fast. Eyes wide with thought all he could think to do was to hug the strange cat. Maybe this would help? His fluffy fur kept him more than warm at times.

As Diot wrapped his arms around his new acquaintance he watched a new gembound lick them as well. A cow? Well the more the merrier he mused! They would need all the help they can get!

"Speech"

"Thought"

She was apologizing, the little wet cat--over and over, and Giggle grimaced.

"Hush," she snapped, "and be still." Her tone was harsh, a tone that was the timeless born-of-fear voice of any mother.

She stepped from the water, flicking her paws off like a cat, and before she could get all the way to Dovefeather, there were Gembound she didn't know all over her. A large, shaggy bovine--beautiful in her own way, Giggle thought--and a tiny... lemur? Monkey?

I didn't realize the little prophet was so popular, she mused, amused by the thought. Perhaps Dovefeather played Giggle's role in Eridanus? Advisor, seer, mother...?

Giggle stepped toward them, glancing at Fallah as she did so. She gave her only a curt nod of thanks; at least someone had managed... and she had to admit, the method has been rather spectacular.

The hyena turned her attention back to Dovefeather as she reached her, and shamelessly flopped in the dirt, curling herself around Diot and the cat. She was careful not to get in Sadie's way; she just made herself available as a big, slightly-fat source of warmth and thick fur. Her belly was damp, her legs moreso, so she laid somewhat on her belly and gave them her side.

She glanced over at the water, mind shimmering with knowledge that lurked just beneath the surface of Eridanus.

It has returned. The water ebbs, and it flows. The tide has come in.

Giggle blinked, peering out at the water, tensing, her hackles rising slightly. It was her own madness, perhaps, or the fungus that spoke to her. She tilted her head, staring.

"Something has arrived," she whispered hoarsely--and then, in a louder voice, a tone of warning, she called it out.

"Something has arrived!"

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Fallah was not interested in the dove cat. At all. She was kind of grumble and tired and she really just wanted to go and sleep, but she knew something was up and she knew she had to get to the end of it. The hyena nodded at her and Fallah simply nodded back and turned her attention back to the water. The others seemed content with helping the cat, so she didn't need to be there. Fallah noticed Sadie, but the moo friend was busy with the little cat, so their reunion cold wait. The lynx stood a small distance away from the water now, fairly sure there had to be a dragon or something in it. It should have come out by now, if Fallah remembered how these things usually went. Her eyes narrowing, Fallah picked up a small limb, tossing it in the direction of the water. If there was something in there, it better come out before she froze the hole over.

Dovefeather will slowly warm up, but is alright and has not suffered from hypothermia. The ripples from Fallah's thrown stick show nothing, not even reflections of themselves or the shimmering of light on the crests. The surface of the water had taken on a matte appearance. Suddenly, a liquid-like substance dropped from above onto Giggle's shoulder. It was darker than any black they had seen before. Oddly, it was neither warm nor cold. It stuck to her fur like sap.

The same shriek tore through her mind but the Eyes would not let her see the terror it had witnessed for there lay only darkness then. Her eyes shot open and confusion etched itself along furrowed brows as Delphine spoke, her hushed voice directed to no one in particular. "I could not see." Whatever had come to transpire here was a horror that would not be pried apart. The cave sought to protect its inhabitants and protect it would.

The young mare did nothing as the Gembounds hustled about trying to dissect and better understand exactly what had caused the Eyes to close. Even when the cat submerged herself within its murky, unseeing depths, she would only observe the frantic struggle to save and warm the feline. It was like she was there but not, wanting to help but uncertain how she could go about doing so. The only thing to jerk the equine from her half-state of mind was the hyena's words of warning before a singular, black liquid dropped from above and landed on her shoulder. Her glance shifted between the now matte-surface of the waters to the sap-like substance on the hyena and slowly she sauntered forward, lowering her head to demonstrate that she meant no harm as her neck extended forth so to better catch scent of the strange substance. First she sniffed and then she dared to press her muzzle briefly and lightly against the ichor before her emerald eyes darted heavenward to seek the source of the droplet.

"What has come...?" Came her inquiry for it were true that she felt the foreboding straight to her bones.

The hyena, already tense and nervous, felt a faint plop on her shoulder. For a moment she didn't really notice; there was a cow standing half-over them, after all. When she glanced absently at it she did a double-take, realizing there was black something on her that hadn't been there before.

She let out a very undignified cackling shriek, leaping up and away from Dovefeather and the others and dancing away in a galloping circle, snarling at her own shoulder. It occurred to her, briefly, that it might be something trying to communicate with her--to speak with her, the Seer of Canis--but her arrogance, her self-importance, wasn't enough to get her killed. Or rather, risk getting her killed.

She reacted instinctively, her magic welling up within, trying to coat herself with the sticky black fungus that might grow beneath the goo--and, just as sticky and sap-like, push it away from underneath. It took effort, though, and didn't cover as much as her as she'd have liked--only just beneath the sap, pressing at it as if to form a barrier between her pelt and the weird ichor.

Meanwhile, though, she had stopped galloping off, instead turning to stare upward, up over where she had been laying.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

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Fallah

Game Master CJ

Dovefeather

Sadie

Diot

Giggle

Fallah

Game Master CJ

Delphine

Giggle