Though they had returned to Monoceros to tend to her Fire's new child, and to plant the twin seeds of Louie's brood, they didn't stay rooted there for long. They spent as much time as they needed readjusting to Monoceros as their home - having spent upwards of a cycle camping out in the tunnel connecting to Polaris, Magdalena had to reacquaint herself with the path up to her own den and then to Nemesis'. Granted, Magdalena spent very little time in her den. She lacked many material treasures. Such things were of little use to her. She couldn't admire them, and she had no use for them; if anything, they would only serve as memories, and Magdalena found no benefit in memories. She remained intimate with the moment. She only used the past to learn, but once she'd learned all she could, she was most inclined to discard whatever was still left behind.
They wove down through the ledges of Monoceros, back through the tunnels and into a room Magdalena was unsure of whether or not she'd been before. She couldn't necessarily remember, though it was possible she had - far in the past that she'd long forgotten. Her straw eyes lifted up to the ceiling, unseeing for now, as she wandered alongside the rhino. Hestia would be safe back in Monoceros she was certain, though it wasn't necessarily Magdalena fretting over it as it seemed to be Nemesis. She assured her Fire that they wouldn't be gone for long.
She had to erase the guilt of a savage murder from her paws. She had to wash the blood, invisible as it was, she still felt it, from her coat. She still felt his sickness clinging to her, chasing her, haunting her. Of all the crimes she could have committed, it had to be slaughter. Yet it wasn't so much guilt as it was just a feeling of uncleanliness. A feeling brought on not by an unintended death, but an unanticipated failure. Again she had failed, and again it proved her weak. She hadn't told anybody except for Nemesis. She felt dirty. She felt wrong. But he was nothing to the rest of them. Lost down there in the gorge, wallowing in his own disdain. It seemed the only thing that fed him was his hatred and arrogance. The cave was better off without him. Still, she couldn't help but feel that she had fallen short again.
So they went to Orion to become clean. Her folded ears twitched and she listened carefully, probing the air for the sound of rushing water. There had to be some here, there was water everywhere. But the water in Monoceros was dry and dusty and she found that it had tasted of copper, it smelled of copper, and she feared that as she bathed in it she bathed in blood. She swung her head away from Nemesis and parted her jaw, breathing in, searching for the pull that would anchor itself deep in her gut. All around her she could feel pulsating life in structures she hadn't known before. They were angular and decrepit, they were walls all around her, they were crawling on the uneven ground beneath her, they towered high above, but most of all, they moved in gentle pace at a distance that just escaped her honed ears. "Water nearby." Magdalena whispered. But that was as far as she could go. All she could do now was follow the pull, so she did; her paws dragging across the ground as though she were but a dreamer in the waking world.
@Nemesis @Feverfew @Deadnettle @Hestia ?? ??? Pinging Kay and Sparrow just in case they wanna join ;)
Both Fever and Nettle had been told by Papa that he was going away on a very important mission against the carnivores and he had to leave for a little while. They had to stick together and stay in Orion, and keep on the watch for any treacherous evil backstabbing villains that might show their sly faces around, but since they were strong and brave, they would be okay.
For a while, they stayed near the place they had woken up, their shattered shells still sitting under the building rubble, staying put like obedient children, but soon she had gotten incredibly bored. Waiting was boring! She wanted to explore! Nettle had given her a look, but she laughed it off. What could harm them? They had skin like adamatium, they were invincible! Well, Nettle wasn't' really, with his broken tail and hurt hips, but that was different, that was a whole building!
So she had tagged her brother and toddled away as quickly as she could with her little legs, laughing and looking back to check and see whether or not he was still there. She ran and ran, and when she lost sight of him, he appeared in front of her, having snuck around! He tagged her and grinned, his dark eyes glinting with mischief, and he toddled off as well, hiding in the shadows of the building.
Hours passed like this, with Nettle cutting corners and running through buildings to catch her, and her making her way through her faster speed. He favored his hips, and winced when they hurt, and when she noticed that, she pretended to ditz around like she forgot what they were doing entirely so he could catch up and tag her. The outraged fake reaction she gave for him when she pretended to remember they were playing tag was fun to do.
Eventually they reached a river, and she really liked splashing through it as quickly as they could through the shallow parts, and she turned to her brother with a great big grin, saying, "Turn back now, villain, before I burn you to a cinder!"
As soon as she said it, heat rose in her stomach, and panic and excitement coursed through her. What has happening? She opened her mouth to say something, but instead of words, searing heat escaped in a blast towards her brother.
He saw her suddenly frown and turn her head in confusion as soon as she said it, and he walked forward to ask what was wrong. She opened her mouth and suddenly he was blasted with unbearable heat, and he cried out, having turned his head away in instinctual avoidance of pain, and he dove into the deeper part of the river, submerging the parts of his skin that had begun to hurt and blister in the heat. He didn't mean to put himself completely into the water, but when he was running into shoulder length water, suddenly the floor gave way in a harsh shelf, and his head slipped under with a cut-off gasp. All of this took perhaps four or five steps into the river.
It hurt it hurt it hurt, he thought blindingly as he sank to the bottom of the river. When did it become so deep? He panicked, thrashing his limbs around, suddenly realizing that he couldn't breathe. As he thrashed, he moved through the water, so he kept doing that, moving them interchangeably to move better and move up.
He almost stopped though, and his limbs faltered when he looked up. He could see his sister's head under the water and making bubbling noises at him, but he couldn't hear it. Past her was the beautiful star ceiling fractured and glittering through, and if he had breath still left, it would've stolen it away.
His head broke through to the surface, and sound hit his ears all at once, sounds of his sister crying from the shallow end, and soft speech from a different direction. Gasping for air, he turned in the water, wondering who was around.
@Magdalena
@Nemesis
Fever had panicked, shouting and shoving her head under the water right at the end of the shelf, water blinding her and rushing into her open mouth, making her pull back and splutter, crying and panicking, and she saw the bubbles rise to the surface from where her brother fell, and her hysteric screams echoed over the river. She was about to dive under the water to find her brother, rastling with the insane desire to drown with him if it came to that, when he came bubbling up, kicking and thrashing around clumsily, his head dipping in and out of the water. He'd looked around, dazed, and when she followed his gaze, tears and cold river water streaming down her face, she'd seen the two other gembounds on the other side of the river, one of them charging to them both, one that looked almost exactly like the two of them, only bigger.
The older gem crashed through the water with concern, blocking the river with her mass so that Nettle could find purchase on the riverbed, and he coughed up water, looking really shaky on his legs. Fever sniffled and ran to him, butting her head against his neck, her voice a broken mess, "I-I-I t'ought you were de-e-e-ad," She sobbed.
Water dribbled from his mouth after he climbed back onto the shelf, and he turned into his sister's embrace, murmuring soft words of comfort to her. She was really really broken up about him slipping and falling into the river, and his shoulder and part of his face still burned from the new blisters there, but what hurt him the most was that he had made her cry. He was just as upset as she was, inside, even if he didn't show it.
He looked up to the big gem that looked like them, blinking, in awe of her calm ferocity and raw power she held in check. Behind so near the two of them was like being surrounded in heat, and that got him thinking.
Was this...was this new gem their Mama? Did she finally find them? Her concern told him that was true, and in his heart, he knew it was, because she was the same as they were. They'd never met anyone else yet that looked just like them.
"Sorry," He murmured softly to the both of them, his voice weak, and he swallowed, tasting the river water.
"Fever...." He nudged her softly. "Look. Mama."
Fever looked up from her sobs, tears glittering, and pain shot through his heart. She looked up at the older gem, and her demeanor changed from frightened sorrow to awe. "...Mama?...."
Then it clicked for her. "Mama! Mama!" She took a step to butt her head into the bigger gems leg, her voice breaking with left over remnants of tears. "
Mama!"
@Nemesis