ORIGIN - Fishing for finger food...

Leaving his armor behind with the growing chrysalis of Deus-- who seemed bigger by the day, though it was starting to feel like an eternity-- the best Fisher known to the caves crept through the buzzy, electric room. His first priority was a visit to the regal Spire, which continued to tower over head no matter what was going on. With a confident huff, he hauled himself up on to the smaller clusters of crystals and started to use his snout and his powers, to locate some grub.

Immediately he felt the tug of some creatures hiding among the shards, their tiny heartbeats lighting up like pinpricks on his magickal sense. With a toothy grin, the mustelid snaked down the crystalline formations and snuck up on the prey he had found. It seemed like a bunch of lizards had taken refuge from the caves here... Which meant it was time for Fisher to gobble up a few.

Without a sound he bolted forward like the lightning he seemed to be made of, teeth snapping down on a lizard's tail. The thing made a squealing noise as it peeled away, tail detatching, and the rest began to scramble. With a snarl, Fisher knew that getting more than a tiny tail licking would be more difficult that he had first assumed.

"Booker Speech" "Louie Speech"

Things had slowed down, it was as though the caves had been put into a slumber. How or why this was happening the fox couldn't say. Quietly, he walked towards Polaris. A lot had changed since he had regained his sight. Now, he was able to connect on a deeper level with others. A more emotional, more controlling level. It was hard work keeping the connection taut, using it to his advantage, but he wasn't about to be put off of fully exercising this ability.

However, in the quietness he had been left to his own thoughts. After his conversation with Magdalena and Nemesis, Louie had chosen to abandon the last person who loved him. Who cared about who he was and saw the goodness that he had tried so hard to blot out. Only in doing this could he move forwards and continue with his journey of creating the strongest group in Origin. Pacing through Polaris, his eyes fell upon the glittering spectacle of the Spire that lay a few feet away. His attention didn't remain focused, as he heard the snarl of a fellow carnivore hunting.

A darting lizard caught his attention first, behind it the ball of fire and electricity that composed of Fisher. Quirking his eyebrow, this was the first time they had met since his break down. Now he had gained an eye, and gained a sense of purpose. To an extent. "Been a long time Fisher. Can't say you were the first person I expected to meet."

SO sorry this is so rusty
@Fisher

Fisher was about to call upon his magicks once more when a voice cut across the tense, energy-charged air and distracted him from his hunt. Blinking, the noodle went upright, copper eyes flashing across the landscape of blue until he spotted a bizarrely familiar sight. A fox-- one that knew his name-- with a scar, but also with a brand new eye.

This hardly seemed to surprise Fisher. In fact, he took it in stride, finding relief in the fact that the vulpine had remembered who he was this time. He twisted and bounded towards the fox, stopping just short of launching himself into the ball of bright orange fur.

"Lou! You got your head back on your shoulders! Good to see you," he teased gently, his whole body squirming with friendly affection-- his tail going a few miles an hour like he was a dog. He grinned, baring glistening white teeth, and his cracked gem sparked behind his neck, joy rippling through his coat.

Even though it had been an infinite amount of time since they had last met, Fisher hardly skipped a beat, breaking right into familiar conversation, "How've you been, friend?"

@Louie

"Louie Speech"
"Penelope Connection"

Although he wasn't entirely sure how he felt in seeing Fisher, the joy that the mustelid was exuding was infectious. Louie let a smirk split his features and he nodded his head absently in appreciation of the affection. Last they had met, he certainly hadn't been the man he was now. So much had changed in such a short period of time and it was odd to be picking up where they had left off.

His tail was swaying behind him now, again as a side effect of Fisher's endless happiness, "It's good to see you as well." Awkwardly, he tried to smile and relax as easily as the brown coated one had but it wasn't doable and he found his scowl returning once again at his question. Vowing to remain estranged from someone you held deep feelings for wasn't his idea of a picnic. But he had to do it.

"Fine. I've gotten my eye back but I mean, I guess that's visible right?" A roll of his shoulders in a shrug. "Pulling together the remnants of the Merry Men is going to be a task and a half, though I hope it won't be too difficult in the long run." Really he wasn't sure how the other groups were faring either. How many were there now? 3? 4? Either way that would also be chalked up to the pulling together of the Merry Men numbers. Figuring out how everyone else is going.

@Fisher

Fisher beamed twice as hard as a tiny smile crept on to Louie's face, his tail swishing behind him furiously. It was so good to hear that Louie was back to how he had been when they had first met-- kinda aloof, scowling despite himself, but still a clever, great gem under it all. Fisher put more faith and trust into Louie than anyone probably should, but being an old gem meant clinging to those who you had first met since so many of them had succumb to the caves, never to be seen again.

Every friend was precious. "Quite a feat, getting your eye back... Did you have to crystallize, or is there another way...?" He wondered, knowing full well that Lou had the answer, but it was up to the fox whether he wanted to comment on the process. Learning about what it meant to be a gembound was as slow a process as the caves forming themselves, he was sure of it.

"Oh yes, the Merrymen! How is your Queen of Thieves doing, Fang? I haven't seen her in cycles!" He barked a laugh, clearly excited to hear how Fang had been doing. Unfortunately, the little noodle had no idea that his sensual lady-noodle friend hadn't been seen by anyone in cycles. He just assumed she had been off in Monoceros, and he simply hadn't the time to visit her.

It was a shame, too, because Fisher quite enjoyed her company.

@Louie