ORIGIN - Starting Over

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Tuck listened to Equinox with a kind of blank expression on his face, as he had nothing more to contribute to their conversation at the moment. He learned her name, finally. He couldn’t really remember if they had talked much after Garmer had rescued her those few cycles back. That had been pretty much right before the Hibernation, if he recalled correctly. So her name was Nox. He liked that named. It was short and sweet and didn’t sound very fancy. He hated names that were long or weird or complicated. His own name, for example, had no meaning that he knew of, but it was short and easy to remember and that was why he liked it.

When Nox told him he could come closer to her if he wanted — but not to touch her — his Healer side came out full-blast, and he hopped slowly towards her, examining her with the care of some kind of scientist. “Do you know what this slime is? Is it dangerous?” He paused, looking at the oozing pile of black tarry stuff that was pooling beneath her body. “I wonder what would happen if someone ate it…”

Just then, Garmer opened one pale green eye and Tuck heard his voice in his head: ’That would not be a good idea, little Gembound.’ Then with a soft, tired, groaning rumble from somewhere in his chest, the kyte fell back asleep, lazily drifting his gaze over towards Nox for a moment or two, and then his slate-grey eyelid closed and he was snoring again.

Words: 261 @Equinox

"I...." she hesitated, racking her brains for the words, and some form of understanding. Her beak lingered open for a moment, but the eye inside was unfocused. She tried in vain to explain even to herself, but was unable to. "...Don't know. Don't know why it's there, but there's never a moment where it isssn't." The creature seemed nervous, and it was obvious that although she'd grown used to the slime, she wasn't fond of it. From her standpoint, it was just a wall between her and making friends. "I jussst remember a long time ago. I made a friend. They made a pretty flower. Then they told me to do the sssame. But when I tried, the flower bussst into flame. Boom." she raised her head and flicked a few droplets for effect. "I never made a flower," she added sadly.

As Tukluk even considered eating it, her mouth snapped open and fixed the small creature with a cold, hard crimson stare. Her eye almost glowed with the sheer force of that glare. She wouldn't let him. "I think it wouldn't be fun. Pleasse don't do that. I won't let you." Nox's drawling voice was firm. She didn't want to end up losing another friend. If anyone was hurt by her slime, it would all come back down to her. She was already painfully aware of the many slime trails that lingered throughout the caves as it was, and the further she traveled, the more there would be. What if even her footprints lead to disaster one day? Equinox kept her unblinking gaze focused on Tukluk. Her eye being encased in gemstone meant she never needed to blink, so her stare was eternally unwavering.

She didn't mean to be harsh. In fact, a few moments later, the creature slightly closed her beak, wishing that she'd put her feelings out there more gently. "...Sssorry," she offered, yet again.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here

Tuck listened to Nox’s tale about the flower, and frowned slightly to himself at the end of it. It was no fun having stuff like that happen… “One time I joined a competition with a bunch of other Gembounds where we were competing to see who could do the best spells. I failed all three of my tries and ran away crying. So yeah… I know what failing horribly at spells feels like… Setting the flower on fire sounds like it sucked.” He said all this rather quietly, without looking up into Nox’s face/eye, still concentrating on the gross weird black sludge oozing off of her body.

Except then she kinda snapped at him not to eat it, and when he looked up at her, she was like… glaring at him. “Uh. Sorry.” He shuffled backwards a bit. “I mean, I wasn’t gonna actually eat it. I was just… ya know, thinking out loud.” He smiled at her in encouragement after she apologized. “Nah, it’s fine.” He stopped talking after this, unsure of what else to say, his mind suddenly wandering back to what he had been planning to do before Nox had shown up: making a saddle for Garmer… He sort of stared off into nothing as he tried to think of ways to get that to work. It seemed difficult. The bag he’d made had been hard enough, but now he had to make something fifty times bigger than that (or whatever the right number there was). Sigh. This would be annoying.

Words: 255 @Equinox

Equinox listened patiently to Tukluk's story of entering a competition amidst a host of other Gembounds. Having not spent a lot of time amongst large groups, she had to admire the tiny creature's boldness. Equinox didn't think she'd want to chance it, even if she did manage to get over herself enough to actually go out and make friends. One person at a time. "Well... I think that'sss really brave," Equinox said admiringly. She wouldn't even have the guts to chance it, anyway... in her humble opinion, slime and fire was a very, very bad idea. "Yesss. I'm not their friend anymore. I sssaid sssorry, but it... didn't work."

Equinox felt bad when Tukluk stuttered, and she covered her mouth with a paw; perhaps the equivalent of a child hiding their face in shame. "O-okay... I jusst got... Sscared." Equinox was embarrassed. She didn't mean to scare her friend. She was just so scared of herself and what she could do. She didn't know what this slime was, but the one thing she did know was that it was dangerous. "I wouldn't hurt anyone. Not on Purpossse. Do you underssstand?"

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here

Tuck kinda felt bad for this new friend of his. She seemed so unsure of herself. Like… like she was scared she was gonna kill anyone who came close to her. He pursed his lips as he tried to think of what to say to make her feel better. “So, listen. I know… maybe… your past isn’t so happy. And you lost a friend. That sucks. I miss a lot of Gembounds who seemed to have… disappeared from the Caves. So I kinda know what you’re going through. I mean… I didn’t make anyone angry, but… I’ve lost some friends over time.” He paused, losing track of whatever he’d been trying to say.

“I trust you, okay? You don’t seem the type to hurt others on purpose. So just… try to relax a little bit and enjoy life. I used to be super uptight because I was so small and I felt like I had to prove myself to everyone. But then I learned how to relax a little bit and now the world seems a lot friendlier. So maybe you just need to… loosen up.” He shrugged, unsure if his message had gotten through to her — or even if it was the right message to give… I mean, what did he know? He’d been asleep for the last three cycles. But he had to say something, right? He just hoped it was enough.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."
This is Garmer.

tags: @Equinox
notes: here

Words: 234

Equinox closed her jaws in order to listen, as well as being a slightly strained effort to show that she trusted Tuck not to lick her when she wasn't looking. The caves had been quiet, true, but she didn't think that Gembounds had been... disappearing. Had they? Equinox wouldn't know. Perhaps she simply thought the isolation she'd been looking for had come to her.

Listening to her friend's words brought a feeling of comfort, though... as though Tuck was saying exactly the words that she'd needed to hear for quite some time. She nodded vigorously in agreement at his words on her not hurting anyone. "I'd never hurt anyone. N-never." A soft, contemplative gurgle beginning in the depths of her chest, Nox gave another, slow bow of her head. "I guesss I should at leassst try. Everyone will be afraid if no-one knows that I mean no harm." She tried to reason with herself as much as Tukluk.

she smiled slightly.

"Do you think I should go? Try again?" she asked nervously, wanting some encouragement, like a child about to venture out into the world for the very first time. If this tiny being could find their way in the world, surely she could too. Right?

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
Sorry for the slowness ;;

Honestly, Tuck felt like he had out-talked himself, so right now, as Equinox was replying to his words, he just felt an overwhelming sense of tiredness. He nodded to her to show he was listening, but he was all tapped out in terms of having anything else to say. He’d said his piece, and now it was up to her to take it and run with it — or not. He couldn’t make her go out and make friends. She’d just have to do that on her own… Oh man, Tuck’s eyes were drifting shut now, all by themselves. He snapped them open again, but he could feel how heavy they were. He glanced over at the sleeping kyte and realized that their Bond was probably why he was suddenly so tired. If Garmer was asleep, Tuck was usually asleep, too.

“Mm, listen,” he said, stretching his eyes open lazily. “I think Ima… take a nap now. You can do what you want. It was nice talking to you. Come visit me more often. I live here, so I shouldn’t be hard to find…” Tuck hopped over to Garmer and curled his body in the grass nearby. Within seconds, he had passed out…

[Exit Tuck]

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."
This is Garmer.

tags: @Equinox
notes: Sorry the ending is super weird and abrupt. I couldn’t think of another way to end it lmao.
words: 205

Equinox smiled slightly as Tukluk told her that he was to go rest now. It was a shame... she'd enjoyed talking to the little creature after so long and somewhat wished they could keep talking. That being said, she had been talking about going to find someone else anyway. So... what was there to complain about? this was only added incentive, she supposed. But her spirits rose further as the small monkey told her to come visit him again. A texture rippled over her body and she gave her head a small bow of agreement.

"I'll be here," she reassured her friend. "Thisss time it won't be asss long." As Tukluk hopped away, she rose up onto all four paws, slime dripping from her hide with her movements.
She watched him and his companion creature for a moment longer before turning tail and walking away, leaving leaves slick with pitch-black slime.

-exit Nox-

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags:
notes: here

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