ORIGIN - like birds of a feather

The crow's frantic wings tried to keep her lifted away from the cold ground of tunnel H. The caves has turn unnaturally cold and it hurt to even touch the shinies in her nest, she didn't even want to think about hobbling over on the snow of this damned tunnel.

She had been making frequent trips to Polaris to visit her daughter now, she was generally happy to see the little hybrid and, the hybrid was usually happy to see her, too. Life was pretty great for the tiny crow - what, with her kids around and Aquarian's children around, too, it was pretty impossible for her to be upset. As the crow entered Polaris she immediately headed towards the Spire.

Her talons touched the giant glowing rock with a soft click of her gemstone talon hitting it. The gemstone had long lost the nail, as if it had been simply clipped, and was now fused into the chest of White. She didn't mind it, really, but she found it strange that it had grown so much since she shed the stone.

Regardless, she glanced down, but her daughter wasn't there. With disappointment filling the crow's chest, she hobbled down onto the ground, only briefly wincing as her talons hit the cold ground and looked around. No doubt Black would be where ever White was - which meant for her, that Polaris was practically empty.

This wasn't a bad thing. Oh, not at all.

Fluffing up her feathers from the cold, the crow began to chortle to herself contentedly. Polaris was home all sorts of shinies - there were so many to go around that she could find tons for Aquarian, and then a couple more to line her nest with.

The crow began to make her way searching Polaris, searching every rock and nook and cranny for some pretty things to take back home with her.

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@Booker

This was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea, but he couldn't get the danburite out of his head, had to make sure it was safe, not locked up somewhere being used as a weapon like his brother had been. Barnett slunk through Polaris, gem glinting in the light of the crystals. The place seemed deserted, which was... good. Great, even. There was no-one to talk him out of this, make him pause to think about all the ways it could go wrong - because Louie had left, and people who left him generally didn't want to see him again.

Too bad. He'd be damned if another kid got snatched like he'd been. He didn't doubt the fox would do that to his own kin, not after everything he'd done.

And so he carried on, a memory niggling at the back of his head - a melody. One of many, but this one reminded him of Monoceros. Not good travelling music, then. Another hit, and the scribe started to hum, eye sternly forward, not even glancing towards his old home, focused first on the spire - it would help him find the exits, at least.

"You never know if you could doubt it, I can't believe they're gone." The song slowly curled through the air, low and mumbled, more to distract him from just how terrible his plan was than to entertain. "You don't even know what side you're on." The numbat idly batted at a pebble, watched as it skipped and rolled through the dust that covered Polaris. "Don't want to talk or joke about it, now it's been far too long. You don't even know what side you're on."

As he rounded the next corner, the song stopped, abrupt and sudden. There was... a bird? A black bird, searching along the ground, and Barn stared, finally picking up another pebble and bouncing it off of the floor to catch its attention. "Hey. Looking for something, friend?" His tone was casual, stance loose - birds he could deal with.

@Eve

The crow poked and tapped around the spire. It was hard to see what could be especially unique when everything was flooded with that blue light, but regardless she nudged over every rock, upturning everything she came across and even pecked at a few worms while she was at it.

Insects weren't her idea of a great meal - hell, they weren't even a great snack, but they did well for when starvation loomed. For a moment, she didn't notice the other voice singing until it grew unnaturally close to her and the crow's feathers abruptly flattened against her skin.

She turned, searching for the source of the sound. A pebble seemingly clattered on it's own, somewhere in the distance. Had she gone blind? Was she being hunted? The crow croaked, disgruntled, and turned to continue picking at rocks and insects.

The sound didn't relent - some sort of song being sung in the caves. She didn't recognize the melody, or the words, but she supposed she liked it anyway. She hobbled over a few boulders, wings flapping briefly to help her over, to continue looking at rocks.

Seemingly, she had found the perfect one. She eyed it up and nudged it carefully with her beak before a talon extended out carefully, talon glimmering for only a second before the sound of a rock being thrown startled her, the rock remaining pretty much the same.

She squawked and turned, ready to cuss out whoever would dare disturb her, but she was taken aback by how small the thing talking to her was. It had something sticking out from it's eye - a shiny - which almost reminded her of Tal'at, only she could see at least half of this thing's face.

Ah, right. It was talking to her.

She cleared her throat, chest puffing up. "Shinies!" she declared proudly, and then immediately lowered somewhat. "...and my daughter, but she doesn't seem to be around." She shifted, perhaps uncomfortably, but then seemingly shrugged it off.

"You have a shiny on your face," the crow observed amazingly; perhaps to forget the fact that Black had stolen her daughter away from her, but regardless the crow turned and resumed poking at the rock. "You can look for shinies too, if you want."

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@Booker

The bird - the crow - turned on a dime, opening its beak in a squawk, and Barnett flinched just a bit, ears flicking in distaste. Thankfully, it started to reply just as quickly - loud noises and frequent panic attacks were not a good combo, even if the screech sounded like it was underwater, thanks to his damaged eardrums. "Shinies?" The numbat blinked, trying to puzzle out what exactly a shiny would be considered - a gem, maybe? Collecting body parts was a little weird, but considering Booker collected glass, he couldn't really judge.

"Ah, your daughter. I'm looking for my... nephew," Barnett guessed, internally wincing - the babe was just as likely to be a niece, but then again, they were likely to be dead or enslaved at this point, so he cut himself some slack. The crow was eyeing the opaline spikes on his face, and the scribe opened his mouth to say - well, something to break the awkward silence, when she started up again.

He blinked.

And blinked some more.

"I need that for life," he finally replied dryly, absently raising a paw to pat at the black spires, as if to check they hadn't been stolen. Thankfully, they were still there, sparking under his touch, and Barnett snorted, amused despite himself. "So you're looking for gems, then?" Again, the whole collecting what were basically souls was odd, but he'd yet to meet a "normal" bird. "Ever found any?"

On an animalistic level, the idea appealed to him. Collecting shards of the fallen, or even gifts, bribes; anyway they were gained, gems were a sign of power.

Hm. Maybe he and Louie were more alike than he'd thought.

The idea made him want to gag, but Booker seemed alright with it. Considering Booker was alright with almost any plan that included the worst ideas possible, Barnett ignored him.

"What's your daughter look like? We could search together, if you wanted help." The or company went unsaid, because Barnett prided himself on being slightly less pathetic than his host.

@Eve

The crow shifted her head up to regard the numbat again, nodding. "Shinies. You know. Shiny stuff." She poked and prodded the rock before reaching out with a glowing talon to touch it. The rock began to glow dimly and the crow nodded again and turned. "A nephew, yeah. I think I have one of those." She nudged the rock towards Barnett with her beak as she spoke, fluffing her feathers up.

"A shiny. You see? Sometimes I find ones that are shiny on their own, but I can make them too. You can have it, if you want," she croaked and stepped past the numbat again, peering at his tail briefly before she turned her attention to more rocks. "We need lots of things for life."

"I guess. I've never found another person's gem, before-- though I had one given to me," she paused. "That's how I got kids, I mean."

She picked up another rock in her beak, poking it with a talon before she dropped it and decided to turn back towards the numbat, croaking slightly. "She's white and looks nothing like me. Unless you look at her talons, I guess. She'll be fine with her father," she said, talon lifting again to scratch the side of her head.

"I'm Eve," she said. "What does your nephew look like?"

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@Booker

Barnett watched, eye widening as the crow poked at a pebble, doing... something to make it glow. His packrat nature kicked in before he responded, picking up the offered "shiny" and grinning, tapping at its gently radiating surface curiously. "Aha! Shinies. Got it," he assured, tongue poking out between his lips in concentration. "How'd ya make it? Is it like... well, like, I can make stuff, but it all comes from stuff that already exists. Mushrooms from spores, fire from anger. That kind of thing."

He juggled the pebble between his paws, resting it in one palm to listen to the bird, eye widening at the offer. "I can? I... thank you," the numbat mumbled, gaze ducking down to the shining rock again, a blush crawling up his neck, hidden by brown-black fur. "Never really gotten given stuff before," he added, glancing back up at Eve with the first genuine smile he'd shown in a good week.

The mention of kids made him pause, wondering. "Huh. I wonder if that's how Lou got his... my nephew's dad, he's this big, gangly-looking fox. Don't know if he found the stone or what," Barnett mused, free hand coming up to scratch at his brow. The thought of Louie actually exchanging stones with someone else did not make him jealous, uncomfortable, angry, or vaguely nauseated. In the slightest.

The bird's words made him refocus, and he hummed. "Eve. Nice to meetcha. I'm Barnett," he offered, beginning to toss the pebble back and forth between his palms again - something of a nervous tick taking on a new form. "He's uh... well. Not sure, really. Could be hatched by now, but last I saw him he was still in his egg, gettin' carried around by Lou. Figured I'd go check on them. Make sure they're alright." His scarred lungs tingled, but he made no mention of exactly why he wanted to go find a potentially dangerous predator and its kid.

@Eve