ORIGIN

Fisher's slim body was exploring the vastly changed surface of Polaris. At first, he was looking for Arkrael, hoping that she was somewhere among the energized room, but the more he looked the more he was sure that she had high tailed it out of here. Still, as he padded up to the Generator, buzzing with life, he couldn't help but remember his fateful meeting with many gembounds in the wonder of Polaris in his youth. It had been a wonderful time, even when the caves were constantly trying to kill him.

The noodle let out a sharp bark of warning to anyone who might be around-- a wordless greeting, so that he wouldn't spook them-- and then tried to clamber up on top of the generator. Black was busy with his whatever-it-was and Fallah was being a cat, but he felt confident enough to leave their sides for a spell. He wasn't too far from them anyway, and his body had recovered from the fight with Raheerah.

Fisher had never felt more alive as he clawed his way on top of the power source of the entire Cave, copper eyes shimmering as he looked over the flowing river he had once nearly drowned in. His tail swished as he went over countless memories, watching golems slowly work on the once-dam in quiet synchronicity. Despite everything, he loved being alive, being here in this precise moment. He felt actually wonderful, almost like he had reclaimed his childhood youth.

Nothing could ruin this moment for him, surely.

The noodle's ears perked at a familiar buzz. It had been faint, and just for a moment-- for a second, he thought he had imagined it... But it reminded him of his childhood even more, of the sound of his youth in Cetus, of the buzzing of the swamp. It seemed out of place, here in Polaris, but it pricked his curiosity and he tried to mimic it with his magic.

His gem reacted immediately, small sparks flitting over the cracked, once rounded surface. He focused on making quick, short sparks, trying to get it to sound like buzzing in return. He even made a soft little humming sound under his breath as he glanced around, trying to catch a peek of the source. Was it true, then? Was Nemean here? He had heard so much about the fabled buzzing creature, but he had missed her debut and had no clue what she was really like.

"Hello?" He woofed softly, tail swishing as he got down the buzzing of electricity just about right. A grin drew across his muzzle as he tried to look as friendly as possible, ears perked alert and he even-- just for good measure-- did a play bow just like his canine friends. "Is someone there?"

Fisher waited politely for the sound of the buzz to return, but he only heard his own sparky, electric hum for a while. He kept his eyes open, but even as a voice rang out he couldn't pinpoint it. The noise was almost unbelievable: an echo of his own voice, crystal clear and intermittent, hardly faded by the seconds past.

It sounded precisely like whatever gembound was around was mimicking him. It took his breath away, the perfected nature of whatever magic the creature must have been using. "Are you copying me?" He wondered aloud in a quiet whisper, tail swishing behind his raised behind, shifting his playful posture to a different angle, glancing along the other side of the riverbed. Where was the owner of this magic?

"Wow! You're a lot better at this than me!" He praised in a loud bark, tail wagging eagerly, copper eyes shining brightly in the blue light of the spire in the distance. "How are you doing that, and... Where are you?" He asked, quietly shifting his magic away from his natural impulses of electricity. He wanted to feel the heartbeat of the magic user, and although he wasn't well practiced at it, perhaps if he just focused...

Fisher was oblivious to the danger until he was suddenly blinded. The electrodes on his back sparked and yet even then he did not see a light-- but he could feel the heart beat of another, he knew that someone was there and that... That this just had to be a trick, right? Fear hit his heart despite everything and he pressed down to the cold metal of the generator, tail prickling. This is why he wanted that armor-- if he was in for a fight with someone, especially as great an enemy as Nemean-- well... He was going to be in trouble, wasn't he?

The noodle grit his teeth and reached out towards the heartbeat, forcing his magic to align with the beat of that pulse, trying to connect himself, if only a moment, to the controller of the shadows. He had to know if this was a trick or an act of violence-- he had to be ready to fight, which meant he had to know what this strange gembound was up to.

At the same time, he called out towards the blackness above him, "Come on now-- I'm not going to hurt you," he grasped for some reasoning, some way to make this end peacefully. He was past fighting every gembound who showed him any sort of distrust. "We can be friends!"

Fisher had no idea what to expect, but as he felt the rush of rage fill his blood, a drop of fear fell into his guts. For a moment, he held his breath, waiting at the bit for an answer-- and then he felt that all too bizarre sensation of pleasure. A shiver ran up his spine as the lights came back on and he saw before him...

Well, how else would one describe Nemean?

To Fisher, she was an absolute angel. The sparkles of her wings caught in his eyes as she patted his cheeks, still trying to figure out if he had died and gone to Fisher Heaven because he had quite literally never seen something so completely precious and beautiful in his entire life. What was she?

... And then, of all things, Nemean spun around him and with her sweet southernly, honeydew drop voice echoing all around him-- and... And she said she was impressed. He had impressed this literal angel from the sky and he didn't know how to react. His first instinct was to be as immodest as possible, to boast and smirk and act like a cocky dimwit, but his words failed him. She dropped down in front of him again, her huge shimmering eyes trapping his gaze, and for a moment, he just stammered.

"O-oh-oh thank you," he managed to get out, his instincts kicking him into woo this pretty lady into your arms before she slips away on ya mode. She had made his heart stop and so he reached out with his own magic and tried oh-so-subtly to make her heart skip a beat in return. Girls loved that kinda thing. Okay, so Fisher had only ever tried it on like, Cancer, and Cancer had yelled at him not to do that, but still.

"Well, my lovely little lady I'm glad I did find you," he gushed immediately, floundering for words to grace her presence with. "Where did you come from-- you're certainly not from this realm, no, you must be from somewhere so much more wonderful than this dank old cave. Why, did someone trap you here?"

And Fisher's muzzle stretched into a wide grin as he stepped closer to her, puffing out his chest and stretching out his long, mustelid body. Oh, she was just-- she was just purrrfect. It was his lucky day.

"Someone as beautiful as you deserves the stuff of dreams, why, if I didn't know any better-- I'd say, well, I'd say I must be dreaming right now."