ORIGIN - while you keep running your ship aground

for midas! <3

Since his run-in with the golems and the collection of Gembounds, Ghanyarah had been mindful not to let himself slip up like that again. It could have been the death of him - especially if they were anything like that awful primate he'd encountered in the tunnels. He'd learned that, at this point, he was still a prey animal. He was easily mistaken for somebody's lunch, and what was worse was that the prize upon his head seemed so enticing that it had nearly been stolen, and thus would have ended his short and tragic life. Thankfully, Ghanyarah had escaped before it was too late, but now he was leery.

The dragon decided that the safest place for him, now, would be the trees. Lingering on the ground made him vulnerable to being trampled or discovered or flushed out, and he didn't want to risk that again. He discovered he was actually quite adept at climbing trees, the long claws tipping his digits capable of clinging to the bark with ease. He had found himself a pretty good tree, and now hid himself among the foliage, stretching his long body along the length of one of the tree's branches. From this vantage point he could observe all that went on around him, from the slightest ripple in the black water below to the rustling of vegetation nearby. This time, he would not be caught unawares.

The serpent was drawn further and further from the place he called his waterfall-y home. There had to be more beyond rocks, water, warrens, and more rocks. After some slithering about in a tunnel or two, some rooms, and lots of wierd green stuff, Midas had found himself a nice little place. It was super foggy and such, but it was cool. The fog stayed away from the green stuff on the floor, and since the young anaconda had such a low sight line, he could see quite clearly. He hadn't noticed, but he was shedding a lot, as well. Every day, he grew bigger, stronger, and better. Sometimes he grew a bit smarter as well! Nowadays, Midas was about five feet long, and still growing. He didn't think it, but he had a long ways to go before he was full-size. Others feared the long and already mighty snake king, but he didn't mind it. As long as his friends in Maji Walezi were okay with him, he'd still stick around. He liked to catch fish and food for them, since he could swim through the liquid of Pisces easily, and it felt natural.

Anyways, here was Midas Gildenleaf, wandering a bit aimlessly about this strange room with tall green things stuck in the ground with brown snakes at the bottoms. Once or twice, he'd stopped to talk to the snakes, but they never said anything back. Much to the child's dismay. He would then see something new. It was a big rock. And it was moving! It had a pink rock on it as well! Maybe it was a rock like him! With a rock on his head! Excited, the golden prince would slither between blades of gras toward this strange new critter. But then it went up one of the green things, clawing at his brown snake friends. Saddened by this, the snake lifted his head from the earth and began to try and scale the tree. He kept slipping and sliding on the loamy bark, giving many a grunt and squeak as he attempted. Finally, the serpent coiled tightly about the base, carefully slithering forward and up the tree over coils of his body. A dark tongue slithered out from his lips, and the anaconda gave a friendly little hiss, staring up the trunk and right at this strange rock. "Hi!"

True as his eyes could be, he spotted the snake from afar. Ghanyarah watched him silently, unmoving from his branch. He believed that he would be safe up here from the long, slithering monster; that was, until the reptile had decided to try and climb the tree too. Ghanyarah immediately straightened up and turned around to face the trunk of the tree, where the constrictor had begun to climb. He watched still, unmoving, until the snake offered a friendly hiss and greeted him. Ghanyarah tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, uncertain of what to do. He thought he'd be safe up here, but apparently that wasn't the case. For a moment, he remained there, waffling over whether or not it would be wise to turn and flee. Maybe the snake was friendly. Maybe he would provide some insights on staying safe here in this room, or at all. After all, the other reptile wasn't very large either.

Ghanyarah inched closer to the trunk of the tree, still held aloft on the limb that stretched out. His tail hung lazily off to one side, but it would occasionally thump against the bark and vibrate with agitation while Ghanyarah tried to think of his next course of action. In the mean time, he felt energy within him nervously begin to coalesce. He was preparing himself to flee, fear of this potential threat prompting another bout of water retention. Closer and closer still he moved until he was right next to the trunk of the tree, staring down at the snake. "What you want?" Ghanyarah hissed down at him, wary. He hadn't a complete grasp on language yet, considering he tried to speak as little as possible. If the snake made any wrong moves, Ghanyarah was ready to flee.

The constrictor made his way up the tree carefully and slowly, unsure about slithering up on his brown snake friend. But then again, it didn't feel like this was a snake. It was really rough and spiny, and as far as Midas was concerned, he knew that snakes only had smooth and malleable scales on their bodies. Shaking his head to himself, the prince knew he had been thinking wrongly. With more assurance, now, the reptile would slither up the trunk faster, tongue slithering from scaley lips every once in a while to taste the air for any danger.

When he'd offer a friendly greeting, he seemed to get a nervous reaction. Why? Who didn't love having friends? Especially ones that were like you! Well. Okay, this strange rock-looking thing did seem like a snake but it had four legs. Midas didn't have four legs, so he couldn't be a snake. But what was he? When the Gembound spoke, Midas discovered that it was a he! But what was he? That was the real question! But first, he had to answer this guy's question. He'd seem pretty upset that the serpent was around, even if they were about the same size as one another, Midas maybe a little smaller. "I want a friend. You look like me, but you have legs!" The Gildenleaf squeaked, slithering up higher on the tree than the snake-with-legs, curling around a different branch so he could look down at his new possible friend. Once all five feet of him was curled about the branch, he nestled his head and crown atop a lump of his body, gazing at the komodo dragon below.

The dragon relented, unmoving still upon his branch. Even as the snake spoke, Ghanyarah didn't move. He did, however, tilt his head slightly and mulled over the words. A friend. Ghanyarah didn't really make friends. He wanted to be alone all the time. He wanted his solitude - the time he spent incubating in his chrysalis, as soon as he could feel and sense, those were his times of greatest comfort. He yearned for the quiet warmth of his chrysalis again, but had come to realize that he would never achieve that again. No matter. If he couldn't relish that lonely warmth then maybe he could find comfort in the brisk coolness in the outer realm. Maybe he could find comfort in someone who was like him, too.

His head tilted up as he watched the snake ascend the tree and situate himself on a higher branch, folding over it. He had such a long, wiggly body - how could they be alike if Ghanyarah couldn't do that? "I don't look like you." Ghanyarah countered, narrowing his eyes. "How come you do that? Where your legs?" He asked again, gesturing with his nose at the snake's obvious lack of appendages.

It felt so natural and perfect to be coiled tightly about his little branch, rooted to the spot and unmoving. Midas felt as if he were king of the world on the branch... or at least prince of the world! His little pyrite gem shimmered in the dim artificial light, lime green eyes flickering down at the monitor beneath him. What he focused on was the gem atop his head. It was two towers of pink, like his own crown atop his head. How was that not a similarity? "Well, kind of. You have a stone on your head. It looks like a crown. Like me. Or. I'm like you." Was that right? It was definite that the lizard had been around for longer than the Gildenleaf had, but either way... they had similarities.

The rocky-colored lizard blinked and asked another question of where his legs were, and that caused Midas to uncoil from the tree branch a little bit to move his head about his body, inspecting it. Where were his legs? Everything else in this place had legs, or at least two. Most had four of them and a tail. He knew he had a tail, but no legs. What if they were super tiny? No... he would feel them moving, right? Or he would have ripped them off, since he'd gone over super rough terrain. "Um... I don't think I have legs. I just wiggle. Can you wiggle?" Why wouldn't this lizard be able to? He had a long body and a big tail. Wiggling wasn't that hard, right?

Ghanyarah tilted his head. The snake was right - they both had stones atop their heads that looked pretty similar, save for their different colours. While the snake's stone looked like a gleaming yellow crown, Ghanyarah's was twin points that looked more like head spikes. He supposed, then, that meant they were alike. There was still the issue with the legs, though. He silently watched as the constrictor unfurled and examined himself. That was definitely not something Ghanyarah could do. In a way, he admired the other reptile's mobility. Could he wiggle, though? That was the question.

The dragon inched backwards on the limb, glancing down at his own appendages. In order to wiggle, he needed to not use his legs. Instead, he had to move with his body. His whole body. He had to be able to use his tail to grab things like the snake did. The reptile tucked his hind legs against his body, and then slowly his front legs - in doing so, he relinquished his grip on the bark, causing him to wobble slightly. Ghanyarah quickly grabbed the branch again, then more slowly this time he tucked his arms in. Once he was balanced on the branch, he tried to wiggle his body across the bark - only to nearly fall off again. "No." The lizard squeaked as he grabbed the branch once more, righting himself. "I can not wiggle."

That was no problem. So, they weren't entirely completely similar. But they did both have stones on their head, and they both looked scaly and they were both small. That was good enough evidence for Ghanyarah that this creature wasn't a threat. "Do you still want to be friend?" He asked quietly.

Midas would gaze upon the creature’s head, taking in his almost draconic features, most prominently, the gemstone atop his skull. It was magnificent. It glimmered like a million little stars, even if it was a dull and somewhat raw stone. Both he and this lizard had glorious crowns atop their heads. Feeling the monitor’s gaze on his body, the snake cocked an eyebrow, tongue flicking out of his mouth out of instinct. Yes, he definitely had no legs. But this critter did.

At his question of wiggling, the lizard seemed to set to work. First, the scaly beast wriggled back on the arm of the tree, gazing down at his legs. The Gembound tucked each one beneath him, and moved his body in a pattern similar to Midas, perhaps. But maybe wiggling wasn’t meant for this dragon. The critter wobbled on the branch precariously, and the Gildenleaf almost dropped from the branch to help, the constrictor hanging his head down and hovering above the lizard. He seemed to ignore him, still focused on his task of wiggling. Once again tucking in his legs, the monitor would try to wiggle, once more wobbling and falling off a little. ”Awww, it’s okay. I guess wiggling isn’t for everyone.” He’d meant that in a reassuring and kind way, but it could possibly come off as an insult.

The legs problem was no big deal, and Midas didn’t mind not having legs. If he grew at least one pair one day, he probably wouldn’t know how to use them! He’d just fall over everywhere. Having lost himself in leggy thought, the snake almost hadn’t noticed that the monitor had asked a question. ”Of course! I want to be friend! My name is Midas Gildenleaf. But just call me Midas…” Proudly, the small snake brought his tail to where his ‘chest’ would be and nodded happily. Hopefully this lizard would return the favor of name-sharing and tell Midas what his name was!

He hadn't noticed the snake swing his head down to keep a closer eye on Ghanyarah, but when the snake suddenly spoke, he jumped slightly and inched backwards, craning his neck back to look at him. Ghanyarah tilted his head at the snake's sympathy - not that he perceived it as such. It was a hard fact that he had learned by wobbling on the tree, and the snake was just reinforcing it. Ghanyarah understood. He wouldn't be able to wiggle like the snake, but that was okay, he didn't need to wiggle. Settling down on the limb, he continued to look up at the snake as he seemed to lose himself in thought, then return with an answer to his question. He did want to be friend, even if Ghanyarah couldn't do the wiggle! That was progress. The dragon had never had a friend before, but he imagine it was much nicer than looking like someone's lunch.

On the subject of names, the lizard hesitated. He glanced to the side, trying to think. A name. He'd never really thought of a name before. That wasn't one of the thing that had occurred to him after hatching, or at all, really. He was just him. He didn't really have something to call himself other than that, but maybe that was easy to confuse with other Gembounds...

Thinking hard on the subject, he hadn't noticed the beginning of a small rupture in his cheek scales. It was minor at first, just a slight shift beneath the skin. Then, the pain hit; a brisk and sudden stinging that tore Ghanyarah away from his thoughts. "Ahh," He blinked, startled by it. He could feel it moving. It was a familiar sensation - he thought he'd gotten rid of it. Suddenly, a small silvery stalk pushed through his wound. The mushrooms! The mushrooms the monkey cursed him with - they were coming back! He thought he had destroyed them after escaping... But why? Why would they come back?

Ghanyarah flicked his eyes to the snake. Maybe it was the snake's fault. They had been gone since he ran away from the monkey, and now suddenly he was talking to this snake, and they were coming back. It was only logical. Ghanyarah's eyes widened as he first backpedaled, further from the trunk. He wasn't going to escape that way. The lizard looked back to the tree, then the snake again. He suddenly made a mad dash for the tree trunk, desperate to escape from both the fungi and the snake. "S-sorry." The reptile stammered as he scurried past Midas, down the trunk, and into the foliage. The leaf litter was moist and humid - a welcome reprieve from the tree, for now. He would have to hide until he could figure this mushroom business out.

(exit Ghanyarah!)

The dragon was relieved at the prospect of being the gold prince's friend, even if he couldn't wiggle! Why wouldn't he wanna be friends with him? Midas never held a prejudice against anyone, regardless of what they'd do. For now, anyways, the serpent was an innocent and naive creature. Maybe something would push him over the edge. He'd remain a cute little 'snek,' like he called himself sometimes, due to lack of proper pronunciation.

But then a little mushroom poked out of the monitor beneath him. Now, wait a minute. A mushroom?! He was instantly intruiged and leaned down to take a closer look, crooning, "Oooo, cool!" As soon as that sentence finished, though, the lizard began to scoot down the tree. The little serpent's eyes dulled and he watched his friend leave. He didn't bother to follow, because he knew there was worry in his new friend's eyes. But he still was sad.

He gave him his name! Maybe Friend didn't have a name. For now, he'd call him 'Friend.' Yes. Back to his sadness. His little crown of pyrite glowed softly as the snake unintentionally shrouded himself in darkness, pulling himself back around the branch of the tree he'd coiled about. He somewhat blended in, but not quite. Looking off mournfully, the small snake closed his eyes. Someday he'd find his friend...