ORIGIN

Trips outside of Maji Walezi were beginning to grow more infrequent, but Leon tried to keep at least some excitement to his life, and every now and then he would veer off into a tunnel for a walk that would clear his mind. It was becoming more difficult lately to focus, ever since Bevy's murder he'd been worried sick over the return of the Bonebound to their cave. He feared what would come of it, if Kerberos would come back and take the rest of them out, or if Aza'zel would blame them for attacking the three headed dog after he'd murdered their leader. They were just in their response, were they not? If anything, they should be marching up to Canis... but the bear was indecisive. He didn't know what to do. He was trapped between the desire for vengeance and the unspoken alliance between them, and most of all his confusion: betrayal by one he once thought to be a harmless friend.

The snow had left Eridanus chillier than usual, but patches of the cool white were beginning to melt, remaining only in places cast in shadow. Leon moved casually through the jungle room, his mind skipping over the recent events of the meeting, when they'd been interrupted by the sound of chirping. He furrowed his brow and cast his gaze out in search of the sound, quick to find a shattered chrysalis - and nearby, a small bird covered in soft down, no more than a fledgling. It must have just hatched. The bear quickened, approaching the the eaglet with a chuff. "Hey, hey, it's alright. You're safe." He spoke, easing onto the ground as he came closer to the babe with a small smile. "Did you just hatch?"

Not facing the same problems as Leon, the boy was free to wander throughout Origin without worry for what might happen back at home. He had yet to be integrated into the group that lived in Pisces. But he figured he would meet someone sooner rather than later to ask. This wasn't a place he had been able to travel to yet, his small legs and youthful age had kept him from wandering too far. But today was the day! He had to get to know everywhere first before he could truly begin to get involved in the constant activities of the others.

Alerted by the squawking, the dingo child bounded over to the area, clasped firmly in his teeth was a piece of blue cloth he had happened upon. It was in tatters, obviously remnants of something and dyed with berries. Maybe someone had made it, but he had taken it for himself. He didn't understand consequences and morals just yet. A huge bear lumbered past him and his eyes widened, stopping in his tracks, he followed after it as it took off at right angles to him. Obviously, he had gotten the direction of the sound a bit off.

Following behind, he saw the little fledgling chick as he peeked out from behind Leon. He always seemed to get stuck behind big creatures. In his loud voice, he barked back, "Hiya Stryker!." Looking at Leon, he didn't even come up to his knee, "Who are you?" Puffing up, he snorted, "My name is Jack. I'm the adventurer of these caves!" Unaware that many, many others also held the title...

The bear patiently laid his chest down on the ground, tucking his paws underneath it as he leaned his nose towards the baby bird and sniffed. She had the scent of a freshly hatched Gembound, and he had come to know it well. It was bittersweet and organic, most of the time smelling of the place that it had hatched. In her case, she smelled earthy and fresh, like plants or mud. She chirped at him, delivering an answer that Leon hadn't expected to be so well prepared - at least, for a fresh hatchling, but he didn't know how long she'd been exposed to the world. "Stryker? Is that your name?" He blinked down at her and smiled, only for the dingo behind him to bark out with excitement, greeting the bird all the same. Leon twisted his ears slightly, shooting a glance at the dog as though scolding him for being loud - he didn't want to scare the young one!

"Ah... I'm Leon." The bear answered, withdrawing slightly so that he sat straight, but was still hunched over enough to keep closeness between himself and the baby bird. Only she had started to peck at the dirt, and Leon didn't have time to question the dingo further, finding himself concerned that she was trying to eat mud when clearly mud wasn't adequate for her diet. "H-Hey! Don't eat that! Don't you wanna eat something tasty? Like... oh, what do birds eat...?" The bear fumbled, scratching at his cheek and trying to remember. What did Dark eat, what did Bevy... eat...? Thinking of her had made his brain freeze, and Leon was stuck staring at the eagle, clamoring over his thoughts.

The bear grinned proudly as the eaglet confirmed her name, and then pointed out the names of himself and the little dingo that had joined them. "Right!" Well, at least they established that. Stryker was a pretty cute name, too. "You wanna eat some fish? Oh, man... if we were in Pisces..." He added, bringing his paw up nervously to his maw before clapping them together. "Alright! You should come with me. We can head back to Pisces and I'll catch you something to eat!" Leon nodded with certainty. He was getting ready to roll to his paws when the little bird started to hop up and down, only to quickly deliver her dismay at realizing she couldn't fly. Leon paused and laughed. "I think you might be too young to fly yet. Here, you can climb onto my back." He offered, lowering his front half and extending an arm so that the babe could climb if she wanted.

The bear laughed and rose up to his full height again. He nearly shook out his thick pelt, but resisted - he didn't want to send the little bird flying. (Hah-hah.) "Pisces is where I live. It's a big room with some waterfalls in it. Oh, I don't know if you know what a waterfall is... it's where water falls from a... a hole? Or a ledge. In the wall. It falls into a big lagoon. It's kind of loud, but it's awful pretty, and there's a lot of fish that live in the lagoon. A group of Gembounds live there, they call themselves Maji Walezi." He explained as he went, turning slightly to begin to head back towards Pisces. He had cast a glance over his shoulder, grinning at Jack as an invitation to return with him, though it wasn't all that necessary. He didn't know if the dingo had other intentions.