ORIGIN

bored... bored... haruo was bored! he had grown a little since hatching in polaris, and he hadn't made any lasting friends there, and he was bored! his legs longed to run and bound and explore what must inevitably lie beyond the bright room of his birth. he'd seen gembounds going in and out of holes that lead into his birthplace, and it was high-time he branch out a little!

the fawn skipped his way along the tunnels, admiring the hard white substances lining the walls and peaking from the ceiling with curiosity. he had never seen anything like them before... they looked interesting, but something told him they wouldn't be all that fun to come into contact with. perhaps it was those sharp edges. were they perhaps a part of another gemboud? was he... inside of another gembound right now?

"AAAAAH!" oh no!! he had made a big mistake!! he was inside another gembound right now, he'd just walked into its maw!! haruo started running. he looked behind him for a second to see if maybe he could just run right back out where he'd came, but there were so many different, winding paths, he had no idea where he was!

"AAAAA--NA--AAAHHHH!" the little buck's screaming turned into a very real shriek as one of his hooves slipped on some oddly smooth stone beneath him, and his whole front went falling forward. his knees collided from the ground and it only made him cry more from pain, even as the back of his body failed too and his four limbs went stretching out away from his body in a way only a fawn's could bend.

cold! it was cold! death's cold embrace had him now! his front knees hurt! he kept screaming! why was his belly so cold!!

a chilly gust rustled his fur. uh, wait, he shouldn't have been able to feel anything if he was dead, right?

"hover for translations."
others' speech.

a voice called out to him... was the creature speaking from him from outside of its body? oh... he hated this.

"stop!! do not eat!!" he didn't want to die yet!! he wished he could have pleaded against his own death and maybe got some pity and maybe that'd make the monster let him go but he didn't know how to say it!! “ 僕は死にたくない！！" maybe it knew his language?

silence for a little bit, and haruo peeked through his eyes just a little. he wasn't... smashed yet?

the big pawed creature wasn't much more reassuring but maybe it was also stuck in here... maybe... it seemed to have difficulty walking on the slippery ground, too, so he couldn't imagine it lived here. haruo was quiet with fear and confusion as the massive feline slowly approached. he hoped it wasn't going to bite him, wow it was breathing really loud and heavy, oooooh no, death was coming again maybe?

but it just nudged him and spoke in a mild, maybe a little irritated voice. "fell," haruo repeated more calmly after a second of nudging, testing the word he had never used before. he began to lift his hind legs instinctively as the larger gembound nudged at them urgingly. "i fell." he slipped again trying to set his hooves on the ice, and tried to lean against the stranger for support. he seemed focused on the ice beneath him, trying to figure out which parts were safe to walk on.

"where stone?" he asked, though his voice was quite shaky with lingering tension as well as focus on the task at hand--not falling again.

"hover for translations."
others' speech.

little fawn... not hurt... haruo could make out enough of what the cat was saying to relax. he leaned onto the adult gembound for long enough to get settled on his feet, but shockingly (even to himself), seemed to quickly adjust to standing on his own hooves. he tested the slippery ground a little bit more, looking down at his feet even as sebastian spoke to him, curious as to what exactly he was walking on.

but the cat was confused by what he'd said? pfft, really? haruo looked up at the big cat once he realized what he'd said, and then stuck a forehoof out to jab at a spot of pale-gray stone between the ice. further on through the tunnel ice covered the ground almost completely, but here there were a few open spots. "stone!" he asserted, as though it were obvious what he'd meant. obviously, he didn't need the help anymore.

feeling righteous, haruo turned his rump away from the feline. "i'm haruo, i'm shika deer. what are you?" he introduced himself, and then looked pointedly down at the transleuscent slippery floor beneath them, and back up at sebastian. "what are this?"

"hover for translations."
others' speech.