ORIGIN - I believe I can fly

Talion made slow progress on foot as he picked his way away from Tunnel H, and into Eridanus. The gusty air of the tunnel was swallowed by a thick, humid air, a kind that weighed down on the newborn's feathers. He ignored the uncomfortable, pressing weight as best he could, and continued on silently, bent on getting as far away as he possibly could from the tiny Gembound known as Tuck. The marmoset has threatened, and shamed, the young owl right after he emerged from his chrysalis, and it had put him into quite a rage. Now, even as he put more and more distance between himself and Tuck, he felt the anger boiling inside him, bubbling just under his skin. He felt it more strongly than he'd felt anything else in life so, and it awakened a whole new side of him.

The melanistic barn owl's brooding came to a sudden end when he reached the edge of the earth, or so it appeared for a moment. After leaning over and looking down though, Talion figured out it was just some kind of scar in the ground, and there was more ground down below. Cocking his braincase to the side curiously, he unfurled his wings and stretched them out. Perhaps he could use his wings like he had against Tuck? This time, he could beat his wings towards the ground though, and let the air he created glide down. The idea seemed like a good one, but just like with the other Gembound, things didn't turn out as he imagined.

Without much hesitation, the Gemling stretched his wings out and then launched himself off the side of the trench. At first, he glided down pretty well, but then he needed to turn, and when he leaned to the side, he went too far and sent himself spiraling. Somehow, Talion righted himself, and just in time for him to pull himself back before hitting the other side of the trench. Dropping downward, the owl landed on his feet, but not without some impact and few deep breaths.
He had landed on a short, narrow ledge just a few feet above the bottom of the trench floor, well within sight of anyone else down there. In fact, being so new to the world, he easily forgot that he needed to look around, and instead immediately focused on himself. Talion bent his beak to his chest feathers, and began to smooth them, before moving on to his shoulders, and then his wings. He felt okay, but he wanted to make sure, he was still new at being alive and having to move his body parts and all.

@Rinaotei

Hm, the energy feels a little renewed now that Rina has had her fill for the first time in a while, she is grateful to the lioness for sharing some of hers, Rina really prefers to not hunt, only fish and even then she doesn't have that many so often, so she doesn't have deer that much, while it was nice and she does feel revitalised Rina still doesn't see herself hunting for deer as a daily thing just for the sake of satiating a desire any time soon, she can restrain herself. She'd much rather spend using that energy to take more time in exploring as extra time anyway, than chasing a deer down.

Speaking of exploring she has been frequenting the Tunnel H quite often, it's nice to have a Tunnel that has so many different directional paths in it, especially from how drastically different their environments all are from each other when you look into them, almost like the Tunnel paths to them all are actually portals to different worlds that are completely isolated from the other parts of the cave. Rinaotei personally exited from Cetus, she does need water and the water in Cetus is rather less than desirable. Hmmmm let's see, Polaris... Maybe later, she just came from Cetus and she thinks she has already seen all there is to see of her birthplace Pisces she thinks. Well in that then it's this one, where from here Rinaotei is only seeing the thick of green from this distance and perspective, a one she actually has yet to enter. Proceeding to go forth in this path Rinaotei starts to walk with an alert gait in anticipation of what lies ahead here feeling pretty actuated to explore this part but also in case of any dangers she still needs to ensure she isn't attacked, with a poised posture, her tail was still, aside from bouncing up a little from each step.

Getting through the actual entrance of this part, passing through the adit at the end of Tunnel H that lead to it and was blocking quite a bit of her view to this new location and so she now is getting a clear view. Looking down she now sees it, the appearance of a forest for it was filled with foliage everywhere the eye can see, and not just trees like in Cetus no. There was more than that, from what she sees from here there's... Trees of course like she thought a second ago, logs, brushes, fern and lastly... Moss, this area is painted with the green of moss everywhere. And this is what she sees in the entrance, she does believe she can see other things from afar but the distance is making it hard for her to see.

First location to inspect while perhaps getting a better view of the other things she can't see is the middle of it with all the ferns. She idly purrs as she jumps down to the middle trenches of the area with all the ferns to inspect it a little closer, her steps as her limbs carried her towards these trenches, leaving dent markings on the moss in the ground while her claws where trailing against the moss too, making them be stained with green, easily washed off by water though... Well she'll inspect the surroundings here, she'll look around more when she has gotten herself out the trench. Well there's mostly fern here, fern towers and fern brushes... They do look fairly nice, especially if she looks up above where the top of the fern towers is whilst seeing the ceiling, the trench looks empty, empty as it appears no one else is here, she likes the large amount of space and the alone time the solitude is nice, so she lets herself lie down on one of the ferns, to take a break and having the space all to herself.

Looking around she still saw mostly green... Wait... Like she had seen some unnatural metal that shone a light from mirroring the sun rays that could been seen as a small speck from afar she believed she saw a different shade of colour that wasn't green like a glimmer of... Russet perhaps? No seems there's a mixture of different shades of brown such as dark brown. More curious she stood back up and moved closer to the speck of colour and moved her gaze further up with tilting her head more upwards in correlation of each step she takes, to keep it in her line of vision, her movement is alert again her tail still keeping still. Now up close she sees it, a bird, second bird she has met although the anatomy of this one is very much different to the last bird she has met a shorter beak for example. It doesn't seem to be paying anything in mind, and Rina is unaware that it may need assistance as it seems completely poised, so she'll let it be, Rina is not really one for starting sudden conversations herself and she does feel a little disappointed that she isn't alone in this large space. Just a little disappointed, not annoyed or angered or anything no it's petty to feel those emotions over something like this and can be easily fixed with a logical solution, probably just move a little further away for more space, and so she calmly turns away and walks along to find a spot with enough space letting the bird tend to their own devices.

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words| 925
tagged| @Talion
ooc| ---
muse| 8/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Talion took the time to smooth down each and every ruffled feather that he could find. He told himself it was to check that he was okay, and it was, partially. The other part, the thoughts he didn't let himself think, was that the feeling and the motions soothed away the fear. From the second that his feet had left the ground, his heart had been pounding so hard in his chest, that he could hear it in his earholes and feel from the tips of his wings to the tips of his talons. The young Gembound hadn't known that he was going to make it, he'd just taken a chance and it had turned out well. As he ran his beak over and through his feathers, he began to wonder what would have happened if it hadn't work though.

It took several minutes of grooming for Talion's heart to slow back to a somewhat normal pace. Thoughts of what could've happened still plagued him, but he tried to push them to the back of his head by focusing on his surroundings. His large, inky orbs turned upward, away from himself, and immediately caught sight of another creature. At least, he thought it was like him, and Tuck. It seemed much larger, but it was hard to see in the shadows of the trench. It must be dark colored too, the young owl thought as he squinted at the retreating figure. As if to follow, he took a step forward, but he immediately came upon the edge of his ledge, and the stranger was quickly going even more out of sight.

Had Talion been paying even the least bit of attention to anything but the receding back of the stranger, he would have noticed the flash of light that came from the gemstone on his chest. Instead, he was so focused on the other Gembound, that all he knew was one moment, everything was dark, and then after he blinked, he could see. The creature loped away on four, long limbs, and the white stripes ran from the sides of its head all the way down its sides. It was quite a bit larger than he was, but that didn't scare him. He was too focused on being able to see the other being, that he forgot to exhibit any sort of caution.

It was almost...magical, how he had suddenly been able to see in the dark, Talion thought suddenly. Then he remembered that he wanted to know why the creature was walking away, and his attention focused on the figure once more. Glancing down to see how high up he was, the barn owl suddenly lost his concentration, and the ability to see in the dark trench suddenly vanished. Thankfully, he'd judged the distance to the ground enough to let him glide, so he pushed off the edge and glided toward the striped back.
He soared through the air much faster than the other Gembound loped, so that within seconds, he swooped down to land suddenly land beside it. "Hey! He hooted at the stranger indignantly, "Where are you going?"

@Rinaotei

She is still taking herself to somewhere in this trench that is spacious enough for her to relax, whilst being at an angle and perspective where others won't see her and thus being able to enjoy her alone time and space. Wandering deeper into this trench of Eridanus, jogging her legs in a calm & steady pace to go over in her inspection for a good spot. She's inspecting this part fairly anonymously due to being so quiet and so she'll be a bit hard to be seen, especially since the black parts of her coat blend in with the shadows of this part, which is good she just wants to be left alone for a bit. Ignoring the parts where the marks of paw pads that were deprived from the paint of moss that is everywhere on the mossy ground since they show parts where she has already checked out.

She thinks she has found a good spot, while Rina isn't very vain of sorts, but she'd rather not lie down and have her whole underbelly fur stained with green from the moss either. So this spot she sees from afar looks nice for the pile of leaves that are in this green forest, not to add they just look so comfortable to her, warm & snugly, almost like it was nature's own plush carpet. Yes... That'll be perfect, lots of space and she thinks others won't see her so easily, the comfy leaves are a nice bonus that have won over Rina.

Walking over to this spot, she suddenly heard some change of sounds in the air, like the normal wind current was being suddenly readjusted by something whipping against it which immediately made her more alert than before for she realises that she wasn't actually alone. Her ears begun to twitch, turning and twirling around as Rina realises the sounds were coming closer, taking over most of what she could hear and that it was coming from behind.

The sound stopped then something seemed to have made its presence, Rina moved back to dodge whatever had just landed in preparation of possibly being attacked, now suddenly hearing the very irritated call out at her which boomed through the trench and fern towers, even though she was right in front of them now... Well now... They need to calm down. Looking now, it's the owl that she had just seen, who then demanded to know of where she intends to go, it wasn't a simple quiet request no, he's outright demanding to know of Rina's location. Wow... She leaves him to his own devices, and yet he is butting into her business very strongly... Such a rude owl and a rude question. Sigh... Keep it vague as possible her impatience just wants her to get this over with and so she can relax already. "...Several places where I can spend my days. Hard to name them all." She responded calmly so the opposite of this bird's irritated demand, but has a twinge of sass in it too, right now she wants to be truly alone. Still similar to the avian she met too even if he had some reasons for this attitude, was quite adamantine of 'canines'.

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words| 539
tagged| @Talion
ooc| ---
muse| 8/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Being so new to the world, literally only hours old, and having met only one other Gembound, Talion expected very little of the stranger. In fact, it was because he didn't know what to expect, didn't know how to act, and didn't really know how to get what he wanted, or even needed, that he was so irritable. For some reason, the young owl was certain that the creature had walked within sight of him earlier, and then had turned around. Why doesn't they want to interact with me? He wondered silently, his midnight hue eyes narrowing with mistrust as he waited, and waited, for them to answer. Finally, after a whoosh of breath out of their mouth, the Gembound gave the most vague answer that it could. At least, they thought they did, but since he had never been anywhere else in the caves, he was astounded to hear there more.

The rush of questions that flooded the Gemling was almost too much for him to keep silent. It took every ounce of his barely existent self control to not pour out every question he had. The suspicion, and mistrust, of the striped canine helped him keep silent though. His large, oval shaped eyes only widened with curiosity for a second, before the defensive wall had thrown its back up and he started assessing the stranger again. They seemed only partially paying attention to him, as if they weren't worried at all be him, or like they had somewhere else to be. If they had a lot of places to go, perhaps they were in a hurry, but he couldn't let them just leave, with no idea whatsoever of who they were or where at least one other place was.

"I'm Talion. What's your name?" The melanistic barn owl finally blurted out, his tone, though questioning at the end, was no less blunt or demanding. He expected the stranger to answer, because he had asked. Although he had no notion of a charismatic approach to things, he wouldn't have used it even if he did know about it. That just wasn't who he was. He wanted to know things so that he could be more equal to other Gembounds. Perhaps it would help if he met others his age, but thus far, fate had dictated he only come across more powerful, more experienced beings. Striving so hard to feel safe, and equal, to Tuck had driven the Gemling to aggression, even though he had perceived it as self-defense. Even now, the older Gembound's assumed dismissal of him, and their nonchalant attitude, made his feathers subconsciously poof up to make him appear larger than he actually was.

@Rinaotei

Kudos in not clearly showing that they are young one, however even young ones must learn things about boundaries... Still she'd doubt that the owl has no expectations of things, for if that were the case then he wouldn't be so irritable about the responses they get from others. If there were no expectations they would be apathetic about how things happen or calm like she is, they are acting anything but calm. The reason why she didn’t start the interaction herself is because Rina is someone who never starts the conversations herself, too quiet for something like that, but she didn't mean any harm in not speaking, she believed they wanted to be left to mind their own business, being in an empty trench can indicate one wants to be left alone like she does. She would've went vaguer but since she wanted things out the way with and get to that leaf carpet thing she'd rather not start things. Although she might be willing to speak more in regards to the different places in the caves, she just loves to adventure, she likes to talk about the things she has seen too.

Rinaotei herself is a bit wary of this one too like she is with many other Gembounds, they do seem to have a chip on their shoulder from the way they just spoke to her over how she's going somewhere else. She still is walking away further into the trench in her usual calm pace again to let them tend to their business, it's only right they let her tend to hers too, after all it's true she's got somewhere to be even if it is just a few feet away from them now, quite curious ones though huh? Almost like hers, but hers is controlled... Not as controlled as the strong tight control she has on her emotions though, nothing at all could beat her strong emotional control.

The owl is demanding things again with questions... Well they said their name to her first, that shows some slight politeness in a way so she'll comply this time, she won't give the alias for her name though, that's reserved for the ones who are actually friends, now that she thinks about it... She never had the chance to give that alias of her name to Albeon even though it seems they are friends now... She feels rather bad for that. Pushing that aside but plans to tell him when they meet again, now stopping and turning her head to the other she purrs it out in her calm & harmonious voice "...Rinaotei. I'd be careful who you demand from though, others don't have strong emotional control like I do and won't take kindly to your demands." she had some aloofness in her tone too even if she did purr it out to them. It's funny she as of late has been encountering a lot of young ones herself, first starting with the other wolf pup who was about to be abducted by that other wolf thing that she seems to hate, but not really... She just doesn't care about him. Still the nonchalance is something she has that can come with stoicism and being calm.

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words| 539
tagged| @Talion
ooc| ---
muse| 7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...