ORIGIN

The burrow at the bottom of the tree, well-worn with time and activity, was, for once, near-empty. It seemed that there was always a stranger or two sleeping their troubles away, but today, the den was only occupied by one. Priest hummed as he ambled through twisting corridors, one paw running along the walls, the other clutching his trusty cane. Tiny rooms connected to larger living quarters, all connected to the main hub, and out into the world. Ducking under a half-collapsed section of gravel, the numbat finally returned to what he'd dubbed the home's 'living room,' though in truth it was mostly just a pit in the ground under an almost incredibly tall tree, filled with bits of things and strange herbs.

Priest tap tap tapped from one corridor to the next, covering them up with leaves, hiding them away until the next visitor came. Work done, he hefted the bird's gift, a shining rock, into the center of the room, bathing it in a gentle orange-gold glow. There he sat, palms just warm enough to keep his cup of tea hot, watching steam curl up from the top and watching the entrance of the den for movement. The Mother worked in mysterious ways, after all - perhaps She would send him someone in need, given his home's emptiness. Humming softly to himself, a seamless, unending melody with no real tune, Priest waited, tail curling around his waist like a built-in blanket, looking for all the world like a rather flustered innkeeper.

@Quintus

lately it seemed that quintus had been adopted back into the rogue lifestyle, after leaving pisces he had decided not to return back to polaris ranch for the sadness he was feeling would not allow him to, i will not allow anyone to see such weakness. instead the lion would roam around origin cave without a destination in mind, the only thing he could even think of was the chain of events that had transpired in pisces which had left him in a status of high fermentation; she's gone. his mentor's death had been something he was trying to completely eradicate from his mind for no matter how much he wanted to cultivate a want of revenge and feeling of anger for the culprit, all it managed to do was depress him even further. the brute's sour mood was evident in the sluggish manner he was walking, it was as if he was having trouble commanding his limbs to go forward and the abundant amount of life usually seen inside his blue eyes seemed to have completely vanished.

what remained was nothing but a mere shadow of what quintus once was and despite the fact that he was aware of his current status, he continued to prance on without a care for himself or anything around him. origin cave is going to shit, the negative thoughts continued to pile up and fill all the space inside his large noggin until that's seemed to be all that remained, only managing to halt as soon as the smell of steam would catch his nose. stopping in his tracks, he would slowly turn to the side to view what the source of the smell was but all he saw was a burrow at the bottom of the tree, what's in there? instead of going to investigate, the lion would merely sit on his haunches in exhaustion whilst summoning up magic before breaking the silence with speech,

" anyone there? "

The numbat had almost fallen asleep, hunched over the teacup, chin resting on its edge, when the heavy sound of footsteps startled him awake. Whistling out a breath through his nose, Priest blinked bleary eyes down at his tea, moving it aside with his cane after a sip and slowly rising, wooden support digging into the earth. Sure enough, a voice accompanied the weight of another Gembound outside, and rounded ears pitched forward to catch the stranger's words. Anyone there?

Well, they sounded nice enough, at least, and he'd promised himself more than anyone else to make sure Eridanus was, out of all the caves, at least marginally more peaceful. Priest made his way to the entrance of the burrow, a hole bordered by twisting roots and seemingly randomly placed flowers, as if in offering to the tree that rose above, forming the home's roof. The pathway inside was well worn by feet and the cane itself, which created new divots as the numbat went, finally reaching the top of the incline and blinking in surprise at the sight of... yeah, that was definitely a lion.

"Hark, my child," he called up to the beast, raising his free hand in greeting, spreading the nearly webbed fingers, pale pink scars stark against brown fur. The lion was, obviously, a concern, considering it was both decidedly not a young Gembound and could turn out to be as aggressive as Vicktor before him, but Priest was one to chat, then judge. "I am the priest of this forest. Are you in need of assistance?"

The stranger did look a bit under the weather, though they didn't seem to be dying at this very moment, so the numbat held back his instinctual overprotective instincts and simply hummed to himself, tail twitching. "I also have fresh tea brewing, if you'd prefer that to a wellness check," he offered, smiling cheerily at his own humor.

@Quintus

quintus would look on as he would wait for someone to wander out the entrance of the crypt or at least respond to his words. eventually his ocean blue eyes would catch the petite frame of a gembound and instantly the lion would mistake the smaller creature for one of the lesser gembounds, i do happen to be hungry, then again lesser gembounds could not really speak the common tongue.

an exhale of disappointment would be released from the beast's mouth in quite the sluggish manner and just as he was about to express his disappointment by continuing on his aimless voyage the voice of the numbat would catch his attention. child? eyes would narrow at the sight of the smaller gembound to display the aggravated feeling the lion was currently in, " hey... " without quintus even asking who he was, the numbat would go on to tell him what he was all about causing the lion to chuckle at the question as to whether he needed assistance.

" can't you tell? " sarcasm would drip out his mouth in hopes that the fellow gembound noticed it, happy bastard. although the numbat's offer would cause quintus's temper to pipe down, the brute looking down to his paws in shame of how he was talking to the hospitable individual,

" y-yeah, i would like that. "

Booker

Quintus

Booker

Quintus

Booker