For Saudade/Atlas, but anyone else is welcome to join
//set before Fisher decided to piss off the Spire
A giant diamond chrysalis lay at the foot of The Spire, glowing in the blue, crackling light. Light… The elk inside the glimmering egg could sense the light, for he was in tune with all light, and the absence of it. He wanted to break free of the only shelter he had ever known. Before this moment he had not been yet conscious, having still been forming, but now he was awake and ready for the world. And the light. Still inside his chrysalis, even before it began to shatter, his Magic was accessed subconsciously. So ready for the light was he that his own Light wanted to shine…
Alas, it was not meant to be. The elk was not yet experienced enough with Magic to access it properly. He didn’t even fizzle for a moment. No Light emanated from his body, and that only made him want to escape his shelter more. Because the only light he was going to find in that moment was outside. It was as if that thought alone reached his diamond home, for it was only then that it began to crack open. Its surface was slowly spreading with spidery fissures, and the jagged edges caught more light than the rest of its faceted surface. It was a gorgeous chrysalis, and, had the elk been older and witnessing from afar, he would have been a bit saddened that it was being broken open so shamelessly.
Finally, the twinkling egg shattered with a sound like glass breaking against a hard surface. It was a frighteningly loud sound, but there was something delicate and beautiful about it. The same way that light could be harsh and blinding, yet also soft and glowing. Lucifer, for that was the elk’s name, lay on the moss below the Spire, blinking slowly and observing his surroundings. Broken shards of diamond lay scattered around his body, and he smiled at the way they caught the light. Light… it was what he lived for.
Others might be sad to see something so beautiful destroyed.
He, however, couldn't help the words that fell from his lips.
"Wabi sabi," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. His eyes twinkled in the dark, little gems themselves that captured the bare minimum and reflected it outward. The wolf seemed a little different, a little more matured despite being a child still. Finding his name had done more than just given him a proper moniker - it had aged and enlightened him.
There was beauty in destruction, disaster, despair, fear, and misery. In death there was a certain loveliness, just as there was in life. The Light was not all there was to the world and the darkness was not by any means a perturbation. It was an invitation. And he had taken the invitation the shades had offered contently enough.
But others, like plants, grew towards things that shined. Being content with the darkness was an acquired taste, he knew, and he forgave them for their preference. It couldn't be helped.
Having sat and watched the unveiling of the new gembound, Saudade examined what the infant did first. First he looked around, gazing and staring and smiling in the cutest way a person could fathom. His eyes were naive, his spirit only just unfurling into what would become his life and living. The innocence was sweet, even to Saudade, as he tilted his head and turned an ear towards the large creature. He was bigger than Saudade by quite a measure...
"Time to rise." He told the critter, the one that looked like a massive deer. Standing upon his own long, spindly legs he came closer to the infant titan, circling him before nudging his broad rump with a wet nose. It was time to get up, to move, to begin.
Lucifer’s senses slowly grew more used to their surroundings. He began to differentiate between the green of the moss he was lying on, from the green of the ferns and grasses and leaves. There were other colors, too. The Spire was a crackling neon-blue. The sky ceiling of the cave was dotted with white from many hundreds of mushrooms and other fungi. The rocks were purple and the floor was a tawny brown. There were so many colors, and all of them were beautiful. Lucifer wanted to experience them all. He wanted to know if there were any more colors, and what those might look like.
Speaking of colors, there was a blob of different colors moving toward him. A tall-ish brown thing with four long black things attached to it was teetering in his direction. He blinked at it, unafraid and curious, and turned his head to watch its progress. Eventually, the… creature (for it was surely alive) made its way all the way over to him. “Time to rise,” the creature said. Lucifer didn’t yet understand words, and only blinked some more, before turning his head as far as it would go in an attempt to continue watching the creature, who was now moving behind him. Suddenly, Lucifer was being nudged in the behind with a cold, wet snout. He jumped a little bit, having never felt cold or wet before. Somehow, though, he understood.
He slowly stood upon unsteady legs, feeling a little awkward. He wasn’t really sure what to do now, standing still, long legs spread out like a tripod (with one extra leg) for balance. The creature who had nudged him up had made it look so easy. Slowly, hesitantly, he took a step forward... Well, this wasn’t as bad as he thought it might be! His legs shook a little, but eventually he was walking around just fine. He let out a happy bleat, smiling at the tall-ish creature, which looked rather small now that Lucifer was no longer lying down. The only question now was… Now what?
She rounded a corner and came again upon Wolf and the newly hatched thing that looked much like her, but not quite. She made a disgruntled sound, having something in her mouth, quite upset that she had missed the entire thing. Wolf had invited her to witness and welcome the newcomer, and here she was, late.
She reached the the two, disappointed in herself but ecstatic at seeing the new, shaky life, and set down her gift for the new deer-that's-not-quite-a-deer at Wolf's feet. It was a brilliant, glittering pale crystal that she had found and snapped free, about the size of her own small beauty that wolf had given her when she awoke.
She licked the deer-thing's face in an affectionate hello, smoothing some errant hair that stuck on end, then turned to Wolf and said quietly, "You, or me?" Then she nudged the crystal slightly with her nose, asking if either she or Wolf should imbue it with pretty light for the new deer-ling.
This being was much more quiet than some of the others he had met when they were born. Thinking for a moment back to the dog he had run across not so long ago, the floppy one with all the hair, he took great solace in the more demure nature of this… deer? Giant deer? It seemed as reasonable to him as everything else, he supposed. It might even be that boy deer were just innately this robust... Or that no two creatures in the cave regardless of how similar they were, were ever the same.
But such spindly legs! Why on earth were they made this way? A barrel atop four thin stalks... At least he and she were lithe all the way through. This lad looked silly at best and ill-ly proportioned at worst.
"Good job," Saudade offered as praise, smiling a little to affirm the accomplishment before his attention was drawn away.
She was coming.
He heard the clip of her feet before anything else and turned towards the noise of her approach. The white tip of his tail rocked to and fro in greeting, his figure still quite relaxed as she arrived. And... arrived with a trinket?
His brow knit and his head cocked at the shard she left at his feet. What was this for? 'You, or me?'
Ah. Did she think that... everyone received pretties when they were born? A wry grin came to his lips as he peered at the stone, his paw batting it thoughtfully. He had made two baubles and those were more than enough for his lifetime. They were much too special to become so common. At least, when it came to those he made. Still, he put on a good show of contemplation before shaking his head and meeting her eyes.
"You." He said quietly, removing his paw and glancing to the overgrown child that looked utterly at a loss. 'I am up, I can stand, I can walk, what now?' the expression said and thinking back to his own first few moments of life... Saudade felt a certain kinship... even with the awkwardly large deer.
"I can't do everything for you," he mocked, bumping her playfully as he moved past, leaving the jewel where it lay and examining the youngster further. The wolf had wondered if he had been born deformed when he was made... But now he wondered... Were children from the rocks ever born anything but as they were meant to be?
Lucifer, on still-pretty-shaky legs, turned toward the source of the new sound. It was… someone who looked a little bit like him. Except she was so small! It was definitely a she. It had to be. She was too delicate to be anything but a she. The she in question came toward the two of them, carrying something in her mouth. She put it down in front of his feet, and he curiously bent his down to look at whatever it was. A crystal. It was a beautiful pale crystal, not unlike the diamond that was growing out of his head in the shape of antlers.
As he was studying the small crystal, he felt the she-deer’s tongue licking his face, and instantly smiled. It tickled a little bit, and it was a nice feeling. Then she pulled back and asked the really tall not-deer something that he didn’t understand. Words were still beyond him. Then the not-deer dabbed at the crystal with a not-hoof and looked at it with some very deep concentration. What was he concentrating so hard for? Lucifer wondered. Then the not-deer said something to the she-deer – a very quick sound, like, Yew or, Yoo.
What was going on? He’d have to learn their speech and fast! He felt so lost as they spoke between themselves with such ease! What was the trick? Then the Not-Deer turned and faced him again and said more things. Lucifer could only stand there and stare at him awkwardly, attempting with all of his might to understand!
She frowned and stuck out her tongue at the ridiculous Wolf, huffing at the assumption that she was passing off the responsibility rather than offering the honor of participating in the making of the gift.
Well, if the Wolf simply must be like that, then it would be her gift alone, and that was just fine by her!
She collected the crystal again in her mouth, and called her magic to her, to breathe the light into the gift.
Edit for spell
It was...more difficult than she had anticipated, having never made a little beauty before. it was different than making herself glow, that, that was easy, almost instinctual. She called the light inside her to flow into the crystal like breathing embers into life, gently, with purpose, with patience, little by little, giving her energy and concentration into the act. With each pulse, she grew more and more tired, and she felt more and more empathy for when the Wolf wanted to sleep so quickly after giving her her little beauty. Her eyes grew heavy, and she kneeled and lay down in the process of making the gift, but that was okay, because she wanted to make it the best she could. It was her first, and it would be the best.
With a very long, bone-deep sigh, she set down her gift. Much like her beauty, it shone like an ethereal little star, reminding her of the glistening stone room where she met all those other deer like her. The light shone transparently through the clear crystal, where the glow was trapped inside, and it shone like there were multiple stars captured within it, fading and twinkling in time to its own music. It was a work of art, and the making of it made her incredibly lethargic.