ORIGIN - Wouldn't you know it

(set before the golem attack in polaris)
She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to replay the memories she'd made here, but she was running low on blue leaves and honey, especially, and she didn't know where else to get them. She walked the path that was growing tiny little shoots of grass, telling her quietly that it had been a while since she was last here, and her mouth twisted and she kept her eyes from the ground. But that didn't help either, because at certain points, like that tree over there or that clearing past the bushes, she remembered when she had to run to her friends who needed her, whose lives were in danger.

She didn't want to resent the memories, she would never say that she didn't want them to need her help - but she was tormented with the endless images of her friends in pain, with nothing to help them go down, no sugar to the sludge. She was stressed out, and nothing she knew was helping her.

She made a mental note to go to Polaris again to check for Tenn after she collected what she needed. He might not even be there, like all the times she'd tried before, but she could at least try. And for the duration of the trip there...she could hope.

Let the crashing despair of seeing him not there come later. She would push it away for the future version of herself to handle.

@Diot

A simple smile on the tamarin's face he gathered herbs. Observing each leaf of the respective plant before picking only the finest and ready. Waddling over to a rather small sprout he reached out to it. Touching the brittle leafs and letting out a sigh. Poor thing was being smothered in just a flourishing environment. It was rather ironic in all honesty. All the prospective nutrients and yet it was still dying.

A smirk formed as he would lend it some tender love. He would reach out into nature, pull from the very magic around to let this small plant live. Yet, it didn't always go as planned. Diot's opal glimmered faintly as it always did. The plant even grew, but only by an inch or two before wilting into a thick viscous rot. Tear formed in the corners of his eyes as he quietly sobbed. Frowning as he buried the rot into the soil below. A faint whisper of sorry. It just wasn't meant to be he mused.

"Speech"

@Cayenne

The sound of sobbing hit her ears and her head snapped up and fear lurched in her chest, making her stomach tighten. The memory of Isi crying over her father's unmoving body came into stark clarity, and she couldn't breath for the duration of it, until she forcefully pushed it out of her mind by clenching her fists and feeling her sharp gem cut into her hand.

So she hurried to the sound and came across a lone gembound in her path, the same size as her with the same red fur Tenn had. She frowned and hesitated - was he another deformed cat-sibling? If he was, he was even more twisted than she was, with no fur on his face or his hands.

She walked over, still on edge, looking for any other gembound that might be hurt, and she reached out a put a hand on the cat-brother's shoulder. "Are you okay...?" She said softly with her raspy voice. "Are you hurt?"

The gem finger on his shoulder glowed softly. She sent a calming wave of magick through him, very small as to be almost unnoticeable, but she hoped it would relax him somewhat.

@Diot

At first Diot thought he was alone; until the calming presence of another approached. Their hand on his shoulder they spoke up. Voice soft and raspy, asking if he was hurt. Oh no, he wasn't hurt...at least not physically. Emotionally of course, having not been able to assist the young plant's chances at life. But there was nothing he could do now, slowly green eyes met the stranger's.

She was a black cat type thing...seemed rather young too, or at least younger than him despite their differences in height. But her tail, it was just as long as his! What could she be? Who was she? A gentle breeze whispered past, a single word resting in his thoughts. Lemur. Ah, something he had yet to see, let alone had the pleasure of meeting.

"Oh no I am fine...just upset I couldn't save the young plant...it never had a chance really."
Diot mused to himself, observing the individual a little longer before exchanging pleasantries.

"But it is awfully nice of you to come rushing to my aid! Thank you!... My name is Diot! What is yours?...or have you yet to locate one?"

A warm feeling washed over him, perhaps it was her magic that helped him relax. Allowing him to unknowingly call up foreign plants that sprouted from the ground around them. Glowing ever slightly with their blue bioluminescence.

"Speech"

@Cayenne

She raised her brows at that, mildly surprised. Another plant affinity?

"I'm sure it'll be okay. Its nutrients will spur on a new life. It won't go to waste." She said, trying to comfort him. At the very least, he wasn't crying because someone was dying, and that was enough for her. She exhaled long and silent, telling herself to calm down. Not everyone was constantly on the verge of death after all.

"I'm Cayenne," she replied with a quick and shallow smile. How thoughtful of him to allow for her perhaps not having a name. "Thank you."

Then, without a word, she felt his magic and saw the gem on his forehead glow, and many beautiful blue flowers sprouted all around them, reaching towards Diot greedily, responding to his spell. She didn't know there were so many magicka flower seeds under the ground here, and she grinned honestly now, touching the petals of one of them.

"You know, I grew a flower once, and used a spell to preserve it indefinitely for a friend of mine," She said quietly. "It was in Pisces, where there aren't many things growing there but grass. I suppose here in the forest that sort of thing would be selfish, but..." She looked at him. "It's a thought."

@Diot

Cayenne's kind and reassuring words helped pull Diot from his rut, though he knew how nature worked he still got caught up in the raw emotion of such things. In all death new life will come forth and replace. Though when she spoke up of her name he mused about it, allowing her to talk about the flowers, he didn't want to interrupt her; that would be rather rude! She too had preserved a flower for a good friend? Why he had done the same for his father!

"Cayenne...such a beautiful name, very fitting for one of equal beauty such as yourself. And that is wonderful! I had done the same thing for my father! It was a gift to aid his trouble thoughts."

He thought about what she said, how it could be taken as selfish to do it in this sort of thing in a forest such as this. He simply shook his head.

"I don't think that sort of thing is selfish. Especially for one who gives all they have. Taking care of others and the world around them. It can get taxing...So its nice to do a thing here and there...whether its for yourself or another! As long as it brings joy."

Reaching out he gently placed a hand on her shoulder; he knew she was a healer. Such things were obvious, never mind the wind which told him with such enthusiasm. She was another plant affinity after all.

"Speech"

@Cayenne

Cayenne kept her face neutral when he showered compliments on her about her name and her appearance. It was kind of him to think her any sort of beautiful, even if he was lying like a rug. She was as ugly as he was, as Tenn was, but to point that out wouldn't do any sort of good. They were all malformed cats, twisted at birth, but at least she wasn't alone in that.

She nodded when he said he used the same spell, wondering what kind of scenario his was to spur on the gift. It must've been a gift, just as hers was, the only way that spell should be used.

But his response to her comment spurred on a sense of debate in her, the quiet philosophical side of her. The part where he mentioned 'for one who gives all they have' went straight over her head entirely.

"I agree with you of course, to do nice things for oneself or for another, to help out the plants, to bring some joy...But the matter isn't the magic, just the place. Of course bringing in new life isn't selfish," She replied, trying to explain her statement, "But doing so in a forest so intensely rich like one is - when a life brought on by our own will might crowd out something that was already blooming of its own accord - perhaps its best to leave well enough alone. A forest isn't our garden, nor our responsibility. It's not our job to take care of..." She waved a vague hand, "All of this.

She shrugged. "My point is, to do such in a different environment where plants are not as abundant as this place, such an act wouldn't be as inherently selfish. To create an oasis in a desert, or to plant trees in a dusty plain, etc."

She felt the hand on her shoulder. "So, in my opinion to be a caretaker would be selfish. To be a...how to put it...a revitalizing first aid when a life is in danger is more to my tastes." She smiled humorlessly. "And to bring joy is not necessarily my job, either. I...eliminate anguish and pain, I don't being joy."

She paused.

"I would...appreciate hearing your opinion on such matters." She said quietly. He did appear to be older than her, by the looks of things.

@Diot