ORIGIN

Tuck was sad because the lights in the cave had gone out again. It had been some time since that had happened, but he was really in a mood for a pick-me-up. It wasn’t too bad in Eridanus because there were some glowing mushrooms dotted about, but he was happy that he had learned some Light Magic a while back. He wanted a new project to do, so he decided he’d grow some more plants. He didn’t have a backpack anymore, but he still had seeds in the space between the roots of the tree he called home, so went and grabbed as many seeds as he could carry and then found a relatively flat space to work in.

He cast a Light spell, so that he could better see what he was working with, but the cast was weak. It gave off a warm, yellow light, but he would need to try again if he wanted to have enough light to work with…

Ah, this time it worked much better! The orb suddenly lit up like a little sun, illuminating the surrounding area quite well. Tuck rubbed his little paws together, thinking about what he wanted to do. Maybe something small to start, like some flowers or something. Maybe he could make something like a garden, little rows of flowers for others to enjoy… It wasn’t much like him to be so nice, since he was a marmoset who did things for himself, and not for others, but he was in a good mood today. Or, perhaps… a hopeful mood. Now, of course, no one would really be able to see the flowers until the lights came back on, but… well, at least it would be a surprise that way!

Tuck poked a seed into the ground, knowing from all of his experience with plants that this seed would yield a bright and cheery red-colored flower with a yellow center. Perfect for the when the lights came back on and the Gembounds needed something to look at! He sat back after making sure it was snug in its new home, and then stared intently at the spot and concentrated… Soon, a little green shoot rose from the ground, and a bud expanded on the tip of it, ready to bloom. Tuck smiled. “Still got it,” he said to himself happily. Now to make it grow some more!

This flower needed petals now that he’d gotten it to emerge from the ground. He stared at it some more, which would have looked funny if anyone could have seen him doing it, and concentrated on imagining the green bud sprouting red petals. And soon, it was happening. Now in front of him was a fully mature flower. He sat back to enjoy his handiwork, but he knew he had a lot more to do. Problem was, he didn’t want to exhaust himself too much. He’d have to take breaks between flowers and he’d need something to do while resting… Hmm…

There wasn’t really much to do, unfortunately, with the lights out. And speaking of lights, Tuck’s floating ball of light had gone out just now, as he had stopped concentrating on Magic. Well, that was fine. He’d just have to keep bringing it back when he wanted to plant more flowers. He lay back, feeling oddly safe despite being out in the open and not in a tree. The only sad thing was that he still didn’t know what had ever become of Garmer… and he hadn’t even really seen any Kytes around since then. Probably because he purposefully didn’t look for them. He knew in the back of his mind that Garmer would not remember him now. Their connection had been broken which meant that Garmer was back to being a lesser creature without the capability to think like he could.

Well… Sure, Tuck was sad about it, but there were probably hundreds of Kytes in the caves. He wasn’t going to go looking for his old friend. He’d decided a long time ago to give that up. Still… it saddened him.

Tuck sat up, deciding he’d spent enough time resting. He picked out another seed, one identical to the seed he had just put into the ground a few minutes ago. He was thinking maybe five red flowers, then he might go on to something bigger. He’d never tried a whole tree before, and the idea kind of scared him, considering how small he was, but it was right up his alley. Always trying to outdo everyone — including himself. He’d have to see how he felt after the flowers though. He dug a little hole into the ground next to the previous flower and poked the seed into the ground, covering it back up with soil. Now to try another spell.

Well, the spell worked. Tuck could tell from the feeling in his bloodstone gem. The problem was that he’d stupidly forgotten to cast another Light spell first, so he couldn’t see his handiwork. He sighed. He’d been so busy thinking about Garmer that he’d gotten his routine all messed up. It didn’t really matter what ordered he went in, he supposed, but he needed to see how he was doing with the plants and he couldn’t do that in the dark. He really wished the lights in the cave would turn on soon. It felt like it had been forever since he’d really been in a bright cave. He’d fallen into hibernation when the lights had turned back on, but before that, they’d been off for… cycles. He’d just gotten used to having them back on again and then they’d turned off once more. He shook his head, knowing there wasn’t much he could do about it at this point. Instead, he focused on the flowers.

Tuck was impressed with himself today. His casts had all succeeded so far, and been quite strong. Warm yellow light flooded the area once more, and he could see the small green sapling poking out of the ground next to its “sibling.” He smiled down at it, feeling like a proper gardener. He should have done something like this a long time ago. He was reminded of when he had made his satchel all those cycles ago, to carry supplies in. He’d never made a replacement after waking up in the tower in Orion. It had disintegrated into rotting mulch while he’d Slept, due to his Magic cutting off in the chrysalis. He supposed he should go about making a new one, but after losing Garmer, such things didn’t matter so much to him anymore.

Tuck waited around a bit after casting the Light spell for his Magicka to regenerate. He vaguely remembered a time a long while ago in which he had exhausted himself completely of his Magicka and passed out. He was not too keen on ever doing that again. At least this part of Eridanus had not been affected by the fire all those cycles ago. And what would have happened if it had been his Tree? He might have literally cried if he’d come home only to find his magnificent Tree burnt to a crisp. He shuddered at the thought and suddenly very much wanted to grow some more flowers.

Tuck frowned. This was the first time since he’d started growing this little garden that his Magic had straight-up failed him. He concentrated on making the sapling sprout a red flower but nothing happened. He sighed and released the spell, sitting back and frowning some more into the darkness at the edges of the light cast by the glowing orb. He’d have to try again in a second. He laughed a bit as he remembered trying to make his pack, and how many times he’d failed or only barely managed to get the Magic to work with him. How irritating that had been.