ORIGIN - To Learn is to Grow

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Tacitus
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He found himself alone once more in the dark caves, large eyes taking in what they could with the aid of the glowing fungi and plants along with his natural ability to see in the dark. It was as he wandered that the thought back over all that he'd learned in the past few days from studying the innards of creatures to the knowledge that those that were dead could be brought back to life. He walked with head low, eyes staring at the ground, while his trembling talons lead him onwards. It had been a decent while since he'd last eaten and he could feel weariness weighing him down. However, he didn't want to stop to eat, what he wanted was to do something about the growing itch within him. The one that urged him to jot down what he'd learned so that he wouldn't lose even an inch of it to tell his older brother.

He stopped walking, eyes turning towards a blueberry bush. Carefully he lifted up a talon and delicately plucked one of the small fruits. He was certain these held no medicinal properties but perhaps they could be put to use in other ways. He'd seen smushed berries before, they left behind a residue that stained whatever they touched. He wondered if they could be used for the purpose that he sought.

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227 | Sorry, this is gonna be a selfie thread where Tac can learn writing/flying/anything else that I'd like to get done. | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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With the berry clasped betwixt his sharp talons he didn't realize how tightly he was holding it until he accidentally pierced the thing, getting dark juice on his talons and rendering the fruit absolutely useless. With a "tsk" he scraped his foot in the dirt and wiped the offending liquid away, no matter, he would have other things to learn and do. There should be other ways for him to jot down what he needed to learn, he just had to figure out the ways.

So, the owlet continued onwards, wandering talons bringing him to a grand white structure. He could tell that it was a mushroom, the very thing that the had found his own element to be connected to. Even now he could feel the element bubbling up within him and on a whim he decided to try and tap into it. Too long had he gone without practicing his own magick, he needed to temper his element and to learn just what it was all about. Perhaps there were things he had yet to do because he simply had not allowed himself the time to observe what he was capable of.

He closed his eyes and within his body he could sense... things... growths, alive and dead all around. The strongest was the mushroom before him but all around him he could faintly feel... everything. The bugs crawling in the soil, tiny gembounds scuffling around, dead ones that now had things feeding on them. It was quite astonishing that he held this power within his talons and never even knew it.

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264 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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He could sit and gaze at the world around him all day but he knew there were things that needed to be done, so with a reluctant sigh he cut his connection. At least he knew now that he held such a thing at his disposal.

His startling blue eyes snapped open as he looked around, eyes focusing on nothing at first but then noticing a large stone that sat a few feet away. He hopped over, using his wings to help reach the item much quicker as he sat and stared at it for a moment. He was thinking now of the drawings on the wall where he'd met Septiezal. Those pictures had been used to tell of something what something that was he knew not but that was not important. What was important was the purpose of the drawings which was to leave behind information. He wanted to do the same thing, to leave behind information for himself for later or even for his brother to find. What if he wanted to show Gabriel something but he wasn't physically around to do it. He could leave his own writings on a stone or perhaps something else. He began to scratch at the stone with his talons, a task that hurt his poor claws a bit but was worth it in his eyes if he succeeded.

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227 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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But it seemed as if fate would have other plans, after a while of scratching he seemed not to be even making a dent on the rock. After a few more minutes of trying he stopped. He needed to re-evaluate how he was going about this. There had to be an easier way that wouldn't blunt his talons and would, more importantly, get the results that he wanted. The young owlet cast about again, looking for the berries that he'd found earlier but instead found a different sort of bush, one full of red berries. He decided to pluck one of these and instead of spearing it he very delicately grabbed it and after a moment of examination turned to mush it against the stone... which of course smeared a small blob of red on it.

That was... something...

Tacitus stared at it for a moment before raising a claw and attempted to track it through the berry mush.

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159 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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It did... something. It left a very thin track but it was not exactly the result he was looking for. He needed more berries and something to make it easier to spread. Maybe not exactly a stone but something else to write on... Something softer, perhaps? He pondered for a moment before heading back to the bush and plucking several of the berries which he mushed together into the ground and formed a sort of reddish-brown paste. Better.

Now, something softer to write on... Ah ha! A fallen leaf. That would do quite nicely. He snatched the fallen plant up and then dabbed a claw into the paste, then, he attempted to smear it across the leaf to see if he held more control and better abilities than doing it with the rock.

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133 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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Much to his joy it appeared that this tactic worked much better. His claw slid over the leaf with ease and so long as he didn't press down too hard he found that he could leave trails along the leaf in the reddish-brown paste. "Eureka!" He shouted, in a moment of pure ecstasy at his own genius. Just wait till he showed this off!

After he'd fully marked up the leaf with swirls and lines and circles for practice he grabbed up another leaf to which he could write on. He found that he kept having to soak his talon in the muddy mixture but this was a small sacrifice, so long as he had a supply of dye on tap he could write things indefinitely. The problem was now though trying convey his thoughts with symbols. He knew the sounds that they made had no way of being conveyed with writing or drawing so it would be up to him and his brethren to come up with a way to convey it. Drawing, at the moment, seemed the easiest. He could make pictures of those that he'd met and places he'd been. He could even draw to show what was on the inside of the lesser gembounds he dissected. Ah, the possibilities were endless!

But first... He needed to try to accurately represent... something. He looked around and found that there seemed to be some sort of skull lying beneath the great white mushroom. The bleach white thing stood out stark against the dark soil and he decided he could try to represent that... Or perhaps draw on it or keep it for himself... Perhaps all three.

He clacked his beak together with joy. First thing was first, draw and then he would investigate. So, without further ado he grabbed up another leaf, dabbed his claw in the paste and began attempting to sketch out the skull.

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318 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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It was slow going at first as he tried to get the details right and make his shaky talons sketch out the skull but after a while he managed to get a good groove going. The reddish colored dye showed up well against the green background of the leaf and soon he had a representation of the smiling skull near the Monarch. It wasn't perfect, nor was it really "good" but it showed well enough what it was supposed to represent. The owl nodded to himself, yes, this he could show to Gabriel and get across the idea of his symbols and drawings. Hopefully the canine would see just as he did and help him along with the idea.

Now... The skull...

The owlet hopped forward, body coming to rest just in front of the gleaming thing. What sort of creature did it belong to? He had no idea but the X-shaped cavity in the front of its face... well... That made him believe that there was once a stone set there and if there was a stone like that he believed it was a greater gembound. Was the stone still here? Had someone taken it?

Only one way to find out.

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202 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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It seemed like he was searching around for a while, hopping this way and that before he became exasperated and stopped. Where, oh where, could it be? Tacitus finally stopped his mad hopping about, exhausted by his efforts, so that he could catch his breathe. He seemed to sag in on himself as he tried to regain his energy, he could feel himself getting lightheaded and decided that perhaps he should find something to eat, if he killed himself how would he relay any information back to anyone?

It was then that he noticed something sparkling from the ground beneath him. Intrigued he scraped a talon over the sparkling something and just so happened to unearth a green gemstone. He began to slowly scrape earth away from it until finally an X-shaped piece of green gem was completely exposed. Carefully he picked it up in his talon and hopped back over to the skull where he carefully placed it.

Ah... A perfect fit.

So, this was this creature's gemstone. Fascinating.

He couldn't wait to see what sort of creature this gem would birth. Small it would be by the size of the skull but he knew that size only accounted for so much. What sort of gembound had this been in life? He could only guess. He could only ponder as he paced over to pick up his leaf with the sketch and place it next to the skull.

He had his trophies, now it was time to eat.

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249 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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He wandered away from the Monarch, small feet carrying him across the ground as he attempted to think on what exactly he would catch. The easy answer was digging up a bug or two but he briefly thought on catching something larger... a mouse, perhaps. This made him glance towards his wings, small wings... but they didn't seem to be as small as before. In fact, he felt as if he wasn't as small as before. He knew that he was a young owl and hadn't quite reached his full size but what did that entail? Was his body growing and opening up new avenues to him? Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was time for him to test himself.

He spread his wings, eyeing the new feathers that seemed to have grown and the new length that they seemed to have obtained. Hmm... He glanced around, blue eyes landing on a large tree which had a tree root twisting from the ground. He hopped over to it and perched onto it with wings spread as he looked down at the ground below and then up at the darkened sky. He didn't know exactly how he was going to do this... but he had to try.

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205 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

Tacitus
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He flapped his wings, hovering briefly from the tree root and then he tried to launch himself forward. Comically he floated in the air for a few moments before falling back to the earth on his belly. He was uninjured but he was a bit miffed that he was unable to keep himself in the air for very long. There was no way that he was going to let this opportunity slip! He was going to use his wings and he was going to teach himself to fly! Not only would it aid him in securing a meal but being able to fly would allow him to traverse the tunnels far more quickly which would help with his research. There was only good that could come from this!

So, he picked himself up off the ground and turned back to the tree root. Quickly he made his way up again, spread his wings once more and flapped his wings as he hopped from the root, determination and stubbornness taking a hold on him.

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273 | --- | @Tacitus

"Speaking"
Thinking...

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