ORIGIN

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Red had recently discovered a new sensation, something that did not feel like Magic or warmth or coldness. It was a rumbling in her stomach that did not go away and only grew progressively worse the more she ignored it. Soon, instinct kicked in and told her that she was hungry. But being a cycle old, she did not know the first thing about hunting, or even foraging for fruit. As a coywolf, she would eat both meat and vegetation, though meat would make up most of her diet. None of this mattered, however, if she did not learn to hunt.

Being a Gembound meant that her Magic came more instinctually to her than regular hunting skills. She would need both, of course, but the Magic came first. Knowing that locating an animal smaller than herself was the first step, she tried to call the Magic to her that let her hear-feel other creatures’ heartbeats. It came to her, but weakly. She could hardly sense any beat besides her own and had to concentrate hard to keep the sensation. Slowly, she angled her body in the direction of the closest prey, something small whose heartbeat was much faster than hers, more like a hum than a series of individual beats.

Trying to be quiet and careful, she made her way forward.

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem
[Image: NVHk2bm.gif]

Envy was lounging, their long body spread out across a rock, and their eyes closed as they dozed. Their side slowly rose and fell, ears occasionally twitching. Magic coursed through their fur like warmth from a campfire, contentment rolling off of them in waves. They were completely oblivious to the threat that lurked so close, and had unintentionally selected them as its target.

Absorbed in their spell as they let light soak into them like a sponge, feeding them and filling them with energy, they seemed oblivious to much of the world. They were just resting, so content and still. It was very much out of character for them, always twisting and bouncing or thrashing or otherwise just being bitter about something. But this moment was a good one. Now was a time for them to just relax... and soak up as much lamplight as possible.

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

@Red

Red had found her prey… and they were sleeping! Oh good, maybe this would be easy. Something about the idea of kicking an animal when they were down seemed… wrong. But Red had never hunted anything before and she was hungry. She needed to eat, and her instincts as a predatory Gembound told her that this was just how life was. She would be sure not to waste any of the meat. Besides, this furry creature wasn’t very big anyways, so she was sure she’d be able to eat it all if she did manage to kill it. Gulping down her nervousness, she crouched in the grass in front of the weasel and then pounced, more like a cat than a coywolf…

@Envy -- leaving this vague to give Envy a chance to roll for a dodge or whatever you want to do!

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem
[Image: NVHk2bm.gif]

Perhaps it was a prickle down their spine. perhaps it was a bad feeling. Perhaps they knew they were being watched. But something roused the weasel. Lilac eyes flitted open and their ears twitched uneasily, their magic fading to be replaced by a faint hunger pang through their emaciated belly.

Then something- something big and furry- lurched out of the undergrowth, and Envy let out a shrill squeal of shock and rage. They froze in place, lilac eyes wide as for the first time in their life, their life flashed before their eyes. Words escaped them for a while as suddenly they were in the puppy's jaws, thrashing and squalling with rage, every inch of fur on their body puffing out and body writhing like a worm's, and just as slippery.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" they screeched, flailing in a last-ditch effort to sink claws or fangs into the coywolf's muzzle.

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

Red was actually kind of shocked to find a Gembound’s head in her mouth, despite the fact that that was kind of the point of hunting. What shocked her even more, down to her core, was that she could hear muffled, screamed words come out of her prey’s mouth. Cold dread flooded her system, temporarily shutting down her brain. She had almost killed a talking Gembound, like her, like Asimona. Quickly coming back to her senses, partially due to the fact that the weasel was scratching the hell out of her muzzle, she released its head and backed up so fast that she tripped over the thick grass she’d been hiding in and fell over backwards, landing on her back.

She scrambled back to her paws and then didn’t know what to do. Feeling incredibly horrible for almost eating a talking creature, she slowly peeked out of the grass at them. “I… I’m so sorry,” she said, hanging her head in shame. “I thought you were… I didn’t know you were a talking Gembound. I — I was hungry, so I tried to go hunting, but…” She pursed her lips to keep from rambling. Whatever the weasel had to say, Red probably deserved it. She’d be angry too if someone had almost eaten her.

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem
[Image: NVHk2bm.gif]

Envy could hardly believe their luck as the canid let them go immediately, but relief quickly gave way to nausea. Envy's remaining nervous energy manifested itself in a fit of twisting and bouncing, before they finally halted, hunched with their back arched high above them, and eyes narrowed dramatically. They swallowed, feeling the cold marble in their throat, a burning sensation in their chest indicating a narrow miss from another bout of vomiting.

"You didn't think I'd talk!? What made you think that, idiot?! Of course I can talk!" they seethed, voice growing even shriller with indignance, if it were even possible. They finally sat upright and used their paws to try and clean the coywolf's saliva off of their neck and torso region. Disgusting, they thought, making a face, and sticking out their tongue. As they did so, they kept a watchful eye on the pup, just in case she tried anything else. "hungry, huh?" they scoffed, looking up at her, and then rolling their eyes. "Save yourself- and your next victim- the trouble. Just use magic. I haven't eaten in cycles, and look at me now!" they gestured to their emaciated form pointedly, before returning to their frenzied preening.

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

@Red

Red flinched when the weasel started freaking out or whatever they were doing, arching their back and glaring at her. She only flinched harder when they started shouting an extremely shrill voice, her ears pinning back along her head in protest to the loud noise. But instead of complaining about the noise, she simply continued hanging her head, allowing the weasel to berate her.

But then the reprimanding suddenly stopped, and the weasel revealed something about Magic that Red had never thought possible. Stuttering a bit because she wasn’t sure if the tiny creature would be okay with her talking to them, she asked, “Y-you can use Magic to eat?” Still, even as she said it, she couldn’t help but glance across the weasel’s emaciated form and wonder if using Magic for food was actually a good idea.

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem
[Image: NVHk2bm.gif]

Envy seemed pleased by the canine's response, glaring at her for a few seconds longer before finally raising themselves upright, and relaxing their stance slightly. "Pathetic," they muttered sourly, drifting back towards their usual snark with their ears twitching back. They'd make sure not to let that happen again. Now that the excitement was over, there was only annoyance. This little pup wasn't scary. They'd seen scarier. Envy puffed themselves up, trying to look impressive and tall, and recover a bit of their lost pride.

They gave themselves a shake, combing through the fur on their chest with their paws in barely-held composure. "Of course you can. You can do anything with magic. Or, well. I can, at least. I dunno about you." Envy put special emphasis on the last word, the implication scathing. They raised their chin, and looked down their nose at her with a calculating eye, and an impish grin.

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

@Red

Okay. Red could understand why someone would be angry if they were almost eaten. But being called pathetic just because they didn’t know everything about Magic yet since they were like a week old seemed… over the top. One of the coywolf’s eyebrows raised and she stared at the weasel with something like contempt for a moment. She was willing to overlook the insult, though, and smoothed her expression out soon enough. But then a minute later, the weasel was once again insulting her Magical abilities. Her eyebrows now scrunched together more so in confusion than anything else. Being still very young, she couldn’t think of much of a comeback, and besides, she didn’t want to fight meanness with meanness. So without really knowing what else to say in this situation, she merely said, “You’re mean. I know I almost accidentally ate you a few minutes ago but you don’t have to be so mean about it now.”

In truth, Red was not really hurt by the weasel’s words. She almost seemed to be immune to their effects. However, she wasn’t stupid. She knew the tiny Gembound was trying to insult her, and some instinctive part of her personality would not stand for that. Now she came out of the grass entirely, standing before the weasel and looking down at them with an expression like, Is insulting me really the best use of your time?

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem
[Image: NVHk2bm.gif]

Envy met the pup's contempt, with a contemptuous expression of their own, their lilac gaze piercing like a the ghost of medusa. "Have you ever been that close to death? You don't know how it feels," Envy growled, their spine arching and tail thrashing in barely-disguised calm. the fur along their back continued to bristle. "Who cares if I'm mean? You should think about how others feel sometimes after you almost murder them! I don't even know who you are!"

They felt like the coywolf was trying to insult them, a prickle of discomfort running through their fur. They'd been called mean before; what they didn't understand was how no-one admired them for it. It made them strong, didn't it?

They sank down onto all fours with their spine arched above them, small fangs bared with displeasure. The child approached, and Envy didn't even flinch as she looked down at them, although bitterness curled in their belly. So young, and so strong, and so capable. At that age, Envy could barely walk, barely breathe, barely talk. Fully at the mercy of whether their mother decided to come home to them or leave them for the lessers. That might have been better... came a thought, unbidden, causing them to flinch, scowling even harder. But they shook their body violently and forced their attention back to the coywolf.

Are you trying to intimidate me? they thought, glaring daggers. "Don't you have someone else to devour? Preferably one that isn't me."

"Speech."
"Thoughts."
@Red

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