ORIGIN

He liked tunnels. They were dark and winding just like he was. He hadn't seen many-- not yet --he had only just arrived recently, but they appealed to him. The tunnel he had just left wasn't as long, but it lead to a place he hadn't been to before.

Things were brighter here, but not so bright that the creature felt uncomfortable. It was bright enough, at least, to warrant Veil to have the urge to hide and cling to darkness. He focused, silent, head staring blindly forward while his twelve eyes darted around the room, drinking information.

His gem flickered, and that was the last light that came from his body as shadows blanketed his crooked form. The star-like patterns on his pelt blinked out and his staring eyes faded into blackness. Content, the creature continued stalking along.

Moving along the walls, eyes staring out, he observed the ledges and the rats off elsewhere, scurrying and diving into burrows. He liked it here, decidedly, as much as he liked the tunnels. A little less than he liked the tunnels, perhaps.

He reared back on his strong legs as he saw a ledge just above him and leapt onto it. There was a brief scratching of claws as he pulled himself up onto it, then sprawled his lanky, hidden body out on the rock. His blind head slumped onto the stone between his claws while his eyes darted and shifted, searching for something unseen.

Fira was slinking about Polaris, despite the storm still being around, because she couldn’t quite let go of her old home. She wanted so badly to just go live in Eridanus and meet new Gembounds but she’d been in this section of the cave so long that it wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped it would be. Besides, it wasn’t just her dead mate, Destiny’s, memory that was bringing her back. It was the storm, the problem with the Generator… all of that. Since this had been home for so long, now that Polaris was seemingly threatened, she didn’t feel right running away from it.

As she walked along, keeping her head down and glancing at the storm above, she wondered in the back of her mind where exactly she thought she was going… She stopped, then, right below the spot where a certain shadowy Gembound was lying on a rock above her, and stared out across Polaris. She sighed.

There was a something approaching. Veil shifted on his ledge so that he could see it, neck stretching out so that two eyes could stare down. It came over, walking and walking. The creature half-pushed itself up, intrigued, ready to follow, but the thing stopped and stared off elsewhere.

Was it also watching? Observing? Was it like he was, and it would fade out and become blackness? Or was it something else, a something that could see what he could not?

He didn't know. He had to know before the questions ate away at his mind. He crept to the very edge of the ledge and then hopped down with a soft thump, followed by the clicking of nails and the soft sliding of his tail as it dragged along the cave floor.

The creature moved in front of the leopard first, inspecting closer, hissing quietly. "What does it see?" he asked in a soft whisper, hissing quietly. "Where did it come from?"

He did not seem to realise that he was still entirely in the shadows, unseen and nothing more than a softly-speaking voice in the darkness. "A thing of spots and gold and green," he continued thoughtfully. "It comes to watch, to guard something unseen, perhaps?"

Unaware of how much someone might not want to be interrupted while reminiscing bittersweet memories, Veil slowly stalked in wide circles around the leopard, keeping a distance, but each of his twelve eyes had stopped searching Polaris and were all focused on the cat, watching and staring and taking notes of her appearance and where she was staring off to, only to see nothing in the direction she stared.

Filled with almost child-like excitement and admiration, Veil twisted his massive, eyeless head to also stare unseeing at the leopard, teeth chattering quietly in the blackness.

Fira heard the soft click of nails and a swishing sound of some kind behind her, and turned her head to look. But she saw nothing… not at first anyway. The fur on the back of her neck stood up, but nothing had attacked her yet, so she kept calm. She wasn’t one to flip out, regardless. It had moved from behind her, and she tried to track it, but saw only a strange shadowy form. She tapped into her Magic then, her maw-sit-sit gem glowing green as she attempted to feel out a heartbeat in the shadows… There was definitely something alive in there. She could feel its heart, faintly, and it seemed to be moving around her in circles. Stalking her?

She stood up now, feeling a bit more alert. It had begun talking, whispering. Her ears flicked as she caught a word here and there. “If you’re stalking me, you can give it up now,” she said, a bit loudly, just so it would know for sure that she knew it was there. “You can drop the shadows now, whoever you are.” She was hoping they weren’t looking for a fight. She hadn’t been in a fight in many cycles and didn’t want to get into another one now.

Hadn't it heard? Was it incapable of hearing, perhaps? Surely not-- the Thing With Spots and Green and Gold had known he was near. It must have heard something.

"Stalking," he repeated gently, rasping, moving closer to the leopard. "It does not stalk. It watches. It observes. It came to it, by accident, I wonder?" Another rasping breath, and then there was a long pause.

Slowly, but surely, the shadows lifted. One by one, stars returned to a velvet-black hide and a carpet of eyes opened. The creature had since gotten closer to Fira, so that she could hear even the steady rasping breaths of Veil drawing breath into his lungs.

"It is void," he said quietly, as if this explained everything. "It is Darkness and Blackness and Shadow. It is a Veil." Near-whispering still, rasping quietly, a hollow skull stared intently at the leopard.

A dozen eyes did too, for a time, but within time they looked elsewhere, disinterested, with only one focused on the leopard, unblinking. Veil idly lifted a glowing claw near Fira's pelt, but didn't touch. He breathed for a moment. "What did it see, that the Void could not? What does it watch, what does it protect?"

"What does it do?" He continued in a croaking whisper, face close to Fira so she could hear. "What does it seek? Where did it come from and where did it intend to go? Why wander here, I wonder? What called you, Thing With Spots? What brought you to the Thing of Void and Shadow?"

It came closer and Fira could hear it clearly. ’Stalking. It does not stalk. It watches. It observes. It came to it, by accident, I wonder?’

“Hiding in the shadows and watching is sort of stalking,” Fira said, though she felt less alarmed now. The fur on the nape of her neck lay down flat and she sat down again.

And then she saw its form clearly for the first time, watching as the shadows disappeared from its body. It was… well… whatever it was, it was a beautiful Gembound. It had a long, thin body, deep blue in color, almost black, with white dots across its form like stars in a night sky (not that Fira knew what a sky was). What she actually thought of were the crystals hanging from the ceiling in Orion, shining pearly white. It had milky white limbs, a white tail tip, and… an odd sort of face. It looked like it only had a skull, no skin covering it. But the strangest thing of all were its eyes, which were not in their usual spot on the head. There were five eyes on each shoulder and two on either side of its neck. And they were… disconcerting. Fira found herself looking anywhere but directly into any of them.

She wanted to ask, ‘What are you?’ but that seemed rude. Yet, it seemed to guess what she was thinking, anyway.

’It is void. It is Darkness and Blackness and Shadow. It is a Veil.’

Well. Everything about this creature was just making Fira feel more and more creeped out, even if it didn’t seem hostile. It reached towards her with a claw, and she pulled her body away from it, but in a smooth motion. Her body language said, I’d rather you didn’t touch me but I’m fine just talking.

And talk it did, continuing with its monologue, asking her question after question, moving ever closer to her. This time she stood and backed up a few feet, making it clear that it had come close enough. Finally it stopped talking, and the leopard sat down in her new location, eyeing it with some mix of consternation and curiosity. She was not exactly afraid of it, but she’d never met anyone so… odd… before.

Still, she seemed content enough to talk to this thing, whose only purpose was seemingly just to learn. “I was watching the storm,” she said, motioning with her head to the thundering clouds above. “I used to live here so the storm is… worrying. So I guess you could say I’m protecting my old home, though I’m not sure I can do much about a storm. Just watch it, I suppose.” She smiled, thinking of what it had called her. Thing With Spots. “My name is Fira,” she said. “But you can call me whatever you want. Who are you? Do you have an actual name?”

EDITING AN ENDING

But the weird creature did not respond. Fira hung around for a bit, wondering if it would eventually speak to her again, but it didn't. Eventually, she just assumed that it was tired of her, so she left, glancing over her shoulder every now and then until the strange Gembound was no longer visible.

[Exit]