ORIGIN - The Places I'll Go

The lights had gone out in the cavern that housed his chrysalis, flickering and dimming before shuddering into oblivion at last. The darkness wasn't complete, however, as the glowing crystals and mosses that dotted the cairns of stone and walls of the cave gave off a generous light and allowed Morthos to see well enough - apparently his species was one that was comfortable with seeing in relative darkness. It had been a relief, truly, to find that he wasn't completely blind to his surroundings; the prospect of bumbling about in the light was intimidating enough, and while the lad trusted his senses somewhat, they were far from developed enough to guide him through a blanket of black.

So the fawn had raised his head and taken a deep breath, walking upon legs that had been steadily strengthening toward a source of light that seemed to emanate from a crack in the wall on the far side of the cavern. As he neared, Morthos had been pleasantly surprised to find that the crack in the wall was not a crack at all, rather a fissure that had widened enough to be called a tunnel. With a grin and a glimmer in those obsidian eyes, the gemling had stepped into the hazy glow of the tunnel, leaving behind the cavernous womb of Polaris.

Awe enveloped the lad from the moment he immersed himself in the tunnel - awe and curiosity. Tilting his head toward a cluster of glowing mosses that grew near the floor of the passage, Morthos silently commanded his body to lower his rump to the earth without injury...

tags: Open to anyone!
notes: <333

With a sigh, the lad lowered his rump to the stone floor of the cave, relieved to find that he had not misplaced his newfound trust in his coordination. Not yet, anyway, he thought wryly to himself, it seemed through the experiments he had conducted in his short life that the more one worked at something - such as coordination - the less likely it was that performing the action would end in injury. Moving his front legs outward so that they were splayed to each side of the moss grouping, Morthos lowered his head to study the glowing flora.

Questions flooded the lad's mind - was the plant itself the source of the light? Was it a natural occurrence or had an outside source facilitated the ability to glow? Was the light good for the moss? Was it harmful or was it entirely neutral? Was it spreadable?

The last question stood out in Morthos' skull, pulling itself to the forefront of his thoughts due to the ease with which he could find out, the fawn moved his nose closer, giving the mosses a tentative sniff. There was no discernible odor outside of the earthy scent of plant life and the youth could not detect any insects or materials separate from the moss that could be giving off the glow. Taking a breath and holding it - not wanting to stir the mosses with his exhale upon contact - Morthos attempted to rub his nose and lips gently against the spongy surface of the plant...

tags: Open to anyone!
notes: <333

The first thought that flew threw Morthos' head as he choked on moss spores and smashed his nose painfully into the plant was that he should really consider re-doing his experiment concerning practice of an ability and it's outcome.

The second thought was a resounding Ouch.

The third was an overwhelming feeling of remorse and guilt.

While the lad wasn't entirely clear on the concepts of life and death, he knew what pain was and he knew that things that were alive tended to feel pain. He also knew that plants grew like he did - his own abilities concerning plant life had been enough to teach him that - and it was enough to surmise that plants were alive. Maybe the beautiful rooted things weren't alive in the same ways that he or Fortune or Hael were, but they were alive all the same.

A cry burst from his lips as his nose collided with the hard stone beneath the moss, the momentum of his fall scraping his muzzle painfully against the floor of the tunnel and effectively tearing the glowing moss from it's place upon the wall. Recoiling as quickly as he could, coughing from the inhaled bits of dirt and moss, Morthos felt tears well up within his eyes and resisted the urge to let them fall.

What had he done?

tags: Open to anyone!
notes: <333

Yuma

Hidden within the recesses of a ledge above a lone figure stalked the deer below. Darkness had come to the cave, and for many days it had claimed the rule that light had held before it. With his large eyes and knowledge of the cave system Yuma had little trouble with keeping himself oriented throughout the cave systems. Some rooms were harder to navigate than others, yes, but near the core there was plenty of ambient light left still clinging to existence.

Today, having eaten his fill on grubs and rather bored, the small aye aye had decided to go back to the fun sport he'd discovered while gathering food for the opal wolf. See, it was easy enough to kill grubs, and relatively straightforward to hunt down small game, even if he wasn't really interested in eating them. The real challenge though was taking down prey much larger than he was. Sometimes he got injured, and sometimes the prey died too quickly to be fun, but in all his hunts he hadn't died once.

The albino figure looked down from his perch as his odd-looking cave deer sat unaware, waiting for jus the perfect moment. Just in time the deer made a clumsy move, smashing into the wall and disorienting itself. Seizing the opportunity the rabbit-sized primate dropped down, aiming to land on the creature's back out of reach of repercussions.

Tags: @Morthos

He hadn't even time to let tears slip before there was a sudden weight upon his back, however slight it was.

Grunting, the fawn twisted his neck about to find that a large-eyed thing was perched upon his spine. Cocking his head to the side, Morthos studied the creature, wondering if it was simply a moss guardian enacting a case of swift justice toward he, The Defiler of Mosses. A frown pulled at the youth's lips and his chin wobbled as those oblivion eyes brimmed with tears once more; didn't they know he didn't mean it? Is this what it had come to? Death by eyeball monster? With a ragged breath, Morthos gave a nod more to himself than the creature, deciding that, yes, he would meet his fate with whatever dignity he had wrenched from his short life.

"Well," his feminine voice echoed off of the glowing walls, as if there was an audience of ghosts mocking what may very well be his last words, "If Eyeball protects moss, Morthos understand... But was accident." As the wretched echoes faded into silence, the fawn decided it would be better for his own psyche if he were to face justice while standing upon his own cloven hooves instead of upon his knees like a mewling babe. Turning his focus to the chunk of moss that he had ripped from the wall, the deer gently picked it up with his ebony lips, craning his head back again to offer the glowing flora to Eyeball.

It was only fair that the moss got to be a part of Morthos' fate as well.

With a deep breath, the youth reigned in his faulty coordination and attempted to stand without causing harm to little Eyeball...
~*~~*~

A wave of relief washed over the youth as he stood slowly and carefully, keeping his back even and steady beneath the slight weight of Eyeball. Despite the morose air of the situation, Morthos' fluffy tail gave a small wag of appreciation - at least he hadn't destroyed yet another thing.
tags: @Yuma
notes: <333

Yuma

Yuma had landed right on mark and began to cling on, ready for the inevitable jolt as his prey would start to flee. The strategy had been simple, effective, and rather amusing in the past. First he'd land on his prey and make sure it started running. Then he'd administer shocks to keep it running. When it collapsed from either exhaustion or too many shocks he'd poke into it for a while until it stopped reacting. Once it stopped entirely he'd just let the wind escape from it and he'd have lots of materials for coming up with craft projects!

This time, however, instead of starting a fun joy ride around the caves his landing resulted in... nothing at all. The creature just sat there and looked back at him, with eyes that looked like the talking creatures in the cave as opposed to the non-talking ones.

His suspicions were confirmed as the not-a-cave-deer-thing spoke a lament of moss. Yuma stared blankly at it as it reached down and grabbed a patch of glowing moss before standing up slowly.

Behind blank expression a feeling of intrigue washed over the small aye aye. He'd been hoping for a good kill to pass the time, but this could be even more fun! Last time he'd played the part of a demon, this time the talking thing was placing him in the role of a moss guardian of some sort named Eyeball.

"Your transgressions are grave." Yuma spoke with theatrical power, "Eyeball sees, and Eyeball judges."

He crept foward on the deer's back toward its head, his claws sharp but not quit piercing the skin. "Even you are beset by ill fate, death still looms over your soul. Tell me, creature, who are you that I should spare you what end you have caused the mosses?"

Tags: @Morthos

Oblivion eyes widened in horror, a sliver of white threaded with ruby blood peeking out along the iris. What cruel god had he awakened? What sort of sin had he borne upon his thin shoulders? Morthos resisted the temptation to shudder at the feeling of needle-like claws gripping along his spine and sidling up toward his neck - it would only serve to insult Eyeball further. As words continued to slither from the creature's lips, the fawn couldn't help but lower his head the slightest bit, shame pressing against his scholar's heart and snuffing out what inquisitive nature he had developed.

"New," the lad whispered, hoping that expressing his inexperience in this world could wrest some mercy from Eyeball's clawed paws, "New to this place. Don't know how do... anything." The admission hurt his shaky pride and slashed away at the small successes that he had achieved thus far, but still he felt his truth spill from his mouth, the little things he had began to discover about who he was, "Want to learn, want to see and hear and feel. Want to know things."

Shifting on cloven hooves, the gemling turned his attention to the thin layer of soil that was pressed to the wall where the clump of moss had been only moments earlier, the fawn had an idea - not a way to fix what he had done, but to be sure that his actions would have no echo, that his mistakes would not define him. Squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath, the youth focused on that thin layer of soil, a tiny crease forming between his brows as he reached into what he knew to be his soul...

~*~*~
ATTEMPT 1

tags: Yuma
notes: <333

But... there. The flickering light was not where it had been, not sparkling and crackling in the deep dark, but instead absent, with only a whisper of it's existence. Morthos' face fell, disappointment crawling over his hide just like Eyeball. Maybe he had tried again too soon... or maybe the sparkling light that allowed him to bring forth plants and nurture them was something he had to work a little harder for.

Awash with a surge of newfound determination, the gemling stared as hard as he might at the little patch of soil, the crease between his brows deepening and a mantra spilling into his train of thought; I know you're there, listen to me. I know you're there, listen to me...

And with that, the lanky child dove once more into himself.

~*~~*~

With determination and faith limning his purpose in a rush of golden scrollwork and glowing light, Morthos found that beautiful light almost instantly. Cupping the source of his magic close, reveling in the heat and majesty of it, the fawn dared breathe it in, absorbing just enough of it's burning energy to perform the task set before him. Then, as he exhaled, Morthos watched in awe as the spores that lived dormant within the soil slowly unfolded into the spongy surface of a juvenile moss colony. Weariness wrapped the deer within it's embrace, but the pale mammal welcomed it - it meant that he had actually achieved his wishes, it meant that he was capable of whatever he put his heart toward.

He had found another little truth.

Turning his head back toward Eyeball, Morthos gave a grin, "See? Morthos help."
tags: Yuma
notes: <333

Yuma

Yuma's expression stayed stagnant as the little deer pleaded its case. It was young, even newer to this world than he was. Its words of self-depreciation vaguely amused the aye aye as he played the role of a moss guardian, whatever that was.

Then, waiting for his response, or perhaps continuing his plea, the little deer did something quite interesting. It turned its gaze away, perhaps accepting its fate and refusing to look death in the eyes. Or so Yuma thought at first. No, it seemed to be focusing on the ground where there was no moss, concentrating as if to will the situation to change. It took a moment, but with a powerful gust of internal wind its wishes seemed to come to fruition, new life springing out from the soil.

After the creature turned back in victory Yuma narrowed his eyes in feigned consideration. He stayed silent for and uncomfortable amount of time, the digits of his claws applying slight pressure and loosening pressure in sequence as if in thought.

"Forgive me, young master of the mosses." he finally spoke, loosening his grip and hopping off the deer's back onto a nearby ledge. This would be much more diverting than any mere death game. The aye aye lowered his face in apparent reverence and spoke in words much softer than before. "My name is Yuma, eyeball class guardian. I see that despite your youth you have indeed come back to bring life to these caves."

He raised his face again, his gaze still blank, expressionless, but somehow softer in its continence. "What would master have me do to make up for my insolence?"

Tags: @Morthos

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