ORIGIN

Oliver hesitated, gently, opening his jaws then closing them, recoiling with a slight wince from the weasel's intensity. Maybe... it was different? He didn't know all the magics; maybe not everyone needed to eat, then? He filed this information away for future use, bowing his head a little and nodding.

When asked if he couldn't tell that Envy was all right, he recoiled again, confused and alarmed. He spoke quickly, voice still soft and gentle.

"No? How would I know?! Am I supposed to--know?!" Worried he drew back, glancing around as if the answer might be hiding somewhere in the darkness. "I--I'm Oliver, and--I'll find you a smaller stone," he agreed quickly.

He turned, sniffing around, long-taloned claws raking over the little pebbles of Orion. He chose one quickly, glancing at the weasel--yes, this seemed small enough?--and held it in his bird-like foot for a moment, focusing. He remembered his mother, the crow, gently teaching him the task--and squawking proudly when he managed; he remembered to focus, to breathe and to think.

Then he was holding out, in his unfurling black talons (each nearly as long as the weasel's entire body), a tiny, brightly-glowing, golden-white pebble.

"Is--this okay..?" he asked it quietly.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

Oliver peered, even more bewildered by the tiny stranger's constant flitting between attitudes. Being a simple, honest sort, he addressed it outright, after a moment's hesitation on his phrasing.

"Why are you--angry and then--happy and angry again?" he asked, voice soft and plaintive. He vaguely wondered if he were doing something wrong--upsetting the little one somehow--but surely asking would help...? If he knew what he was doing wrong, eh could change it, or maybe it was a magic thing?

...Could magic make people angry?

He listened closely to everything else that Envy said, and one thing in particular stuck with him, prickling his curiosity once more.

"Duties?" he asked softly.
"What duties? What, uh--are you in charge of?" he asked quietly, again lying down to peer at the little one. He reached out his talon-claws, pulling the larger glow-stone back toward him, leaving Envy the smaller, easier-to-carry one, and waited politely for his answers.

Hopefully, he would not simply end up more confused.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

Oliver stared, and indeed his bewilderment only grew.

Big and strong? But--it's... It's tiny and thin?! Worried, he looked Envy over, wondering a little frantically if there was something horribly obvious that he had missed. At length, he gave up trying to figure this one out, unsure how seeming angry could make one appear larger, and chose to address the next topic, instead.

...With equal confusion.

"I don't--a god? ...King? --Okay?" he said, tone questioning. He had no idea what any of this was all about, at this point--the tiny weasel appearing from the dark, its misery and now its--training?!

But! Then it said something he could relate to. A word that he knew, and his face grew kinder, less confused and more content.

"Oh! A mom? You have a mom too? What--how does she need help? I have a mom," he added, and then--hesitating for a moment--"Err--do you need help with--looking after her..?"

Oh, he hoped the weasel's mother was all right. He wasn't sure how to help if she wasn't!

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

Oliver blinked. Envy had called him stupid! ...Was he stupid? He wasn't sure, but that was a mean thing to say.

"That's a mean thing to say," he said, voice still soft and gentle as before. "You shouldn't call people names like that." But he was not angry, or upset, really--his feelings a little hurt, perhaps. He listened, and the bit about the weasel's mother going missing-...

How would he feel if his mother went missing?

Fear flickered through him, and grief. No! That was terrible!

"I can--help you look, if you want? It's hard to find anything in the dark but I can make light and if you know-... What she looks like--? Can you--describe or or... Do you know where you lost her?"

He was concerned, again, brow furrowed, peering down at Envy with worry. "It must be scary," he said sympathetically, "and that's sad so--I'll help if I can."

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

Oliver listened, quietly attentive, and then he gently shook his head. "Being mean does hurt. It hurts feelings. Like-... If someone called you little or weak wouldn't it hurt? It isn't nice," he said quietly. He listened, though, closely, to the description of Envy's mother, thinking.

And how would he find her? How could he?

"Well, I have a good nose and--I have lights, we can bring them and... look for her that way? You can--sit on me if you want. I'd fly but it's dark and I might hit a wall," he added, matter-of-factly.

"But you can ride on me anyway, if you want? If you show me the way I can--probably walk pretty fast and then we can search together? I don't think there's any streams in this cave but maybe--in one of the others and what color is her fur?"

He lifted his glow-stone into one hand, and waited, gentle, to see what Envy would want to do.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}