ORIGIN

Pride flicked an ear at the nuzzle, brief appreciation of the affection leaving a faint warmth of its own. It was hardly any sort of romantic notion; he was but a fawn, after all, and he held affection for several he had met, now. But the closeness of others, he was finding, was not wholly unwelcome.

At her words, however, he glanced to her, taking full note that she had not addressed her own needs. He spoke questioningly.

"And of--thirst? Hunger? I do not know how to... pass the time, if you are neither. Mere... speaking, perhaps. I do not think it would be--smart? To practice more magic now." A brief memory of the screaming, writhing dog flicked through his mind, and was gone. "Where did you come from?" he asked, pushing the thought out of his mind.

Perhaps he could invent a game, of some kind--but games, at the moment, were unknown to him. He was not bored, exactly--he had just woken up--but he was a busy sort, and it felt strange to simply lie about while Aster was injured. Surely they should be taking some sort of precaution? He could stockpile food, but that might draw the nose of predators. And he could not, try as he might, figure out a way to stockpile water.

Aster stared off for a moment, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. "I.. do not know how to pass time," she said, staring through Pride for a moment with wide eyes.

Hungry-- her gut was empty, yes, and she supposed that the burning in her belly was what could be classified as 'hunger.' "I.. am thirsty," she also then decided, though she was fairly unsure if dry-mouth was just a normal thing that was supposed to happen or not.

"There are... rats, somewhere, I'm sure. Are.. do you need a.. plant?" The dog asked a little hesitantly, pale eyes shifting to focus back onto Pride for a moment.

Where she had come from-- a dark place not far from Polaris, though she wasn't entirely sure. "There... was another place, like this one," Aster explained quietly, words rolling unnaturally off her tongue. "Dark, but.. glowing. White. Instead of blue. There were... things, all around. Dark things-- shelter. There was lots of.. of shelter, made from dark rock. I came from a shelter that was... very tall, and..."

She paused for a long moment, frowning, concentrating. She reached out to Pride for a moment, gently, carefully, to share the image in his own mind. The Tower in Orion-- tall and dark and forboding, standing tall and seemingly reaching out to touch the white quartz embedded into the ceiling.

The dog showed him a memory of where, exactly, she had come from-- a chrysalis that had been tucked right next to the staircase inside the tower, though it lay shattered once Aster herself managed to see it. She did not linger in his mind for very long, only sharing this image before breaking the link.

"There was.. another, too, outside... a thing that looked like me, but he did not see. He can't see anything at all, not even... what was in front of him," she continued after a moment, turning her head back out to Polaris. "I don't.. know where he is. Where did... you come from?"

Pride let out a soft snort of amusement, of surprise, at Aster's birthplace. He did not bother to click their minds back into place--Aster's link still held, for now, and regardless he still felt drained and weary. It would be better to save his magicka, his energy, for if they were attacked, or needed food or water.

"I do not need--a plant. I will find some soon, and let me-... create more water. To hide us and to drink." He concentrated on this, calm, relatively peaceful--though now that she mentioned it, his stomach was aching just that little bit. He'd need to find somewhere to graze soon enough.

"I came forth in the same place. Not in the tower, but along... the walls, outside of it. My gem was bright, clear, like the one at my throat." He had seen it several times in his reflection; he knew it was there, and he wondered, briefly, if Aster's chrysalis had likewise been so beautifully blue, as the gems atop her head. "Have you seen your--reflection?" he asked, turning to her curiously. "You have blue stones on your head. Was your--hatching, from blue?"

The mist, meanwhile, was forming around them--faint, but there. He began to lick moisture from the stones, hoping that the magic continued to shroud them from notice.

"Tower," Aster repeated in a wonderous whisper, testing the word for a moment. "I think... there might be many that.. also came from there."

She turned back to Pride when he mentioned her reflection, nodding faintly. "You showed me," the dog said, "I have seen myself." Watching for a moment, Aster turned her head to a rock and began licking the water off it as well, mimicing Pride's movements. It supplied better hydration than snapping her jaws at the air, at least.

"It was blue," she said quietly. "Like the stones on my head, and like the.. big stone, near by." She gestured towards the Spire-- though through the mist and the shelter, she had no idea what direction that even was. Regardless, she nodded towards where it might be and hoped that Pride would understand anyway.

"There.. was another," she added quietly. "Someone hatched, very close to here, too. She had a.. purple stone, on her back, and she came out of.. a larger purple stone. What.. do you think it means...?"

Pride thought about this, tilting his head a bit to one side, pausing in his rock-licking to consider.

"If we come from the same stone that is on our body? Then I suppose it... leaves a part of it in us. Or... We grow in it, and it is a... link, maybe. To the magic? Do you think all the stones are magic?" He glanced at Aster, curious. What if all the gemstones were conduits to the cave's magic, and the stone left embedded in their body, the link to their stones?

He craned his head back to blink slowly at the Spire. "Imagine, then--if one came from that? If that was its power? It must be very strong."

He felt the burning in his belly, again, and grimaced. "I will need to go, soon, and find myself food. I can bring you back a rat. I will not be gone for very long, when I go."

"I think... something will come from it," Aster replied quietly. "I don't.. know what, but... I wonder, if it has been here for a long time, then... perhaps.. it needs aid, to get out..?"

The dog paused for a moment, at her own words, and then shrugged gently and looked back out. "The.. rats," she said quietly. "They have stones, too, but they.. do not speak, or use magic. Do you.. think they come from stones, the way we do? What... makes them different, and not.. able to speak?"

Why she expected Pride to hold the answer to this, she did not know.

"Be.. careful, when you go," the dog murmured. "Rats can be.. very big, sometimes..."

Pride gazed up, thoughtfully, at the Spire. Was something growing within? Would it be hostile, or benevolent? Would it be able to speak? And Aster had a point; what made them able to communicate, but not the rats?

"Have you tried to speak with them, before?" he asked, curious. Perhaps the rats could speak after all. "If they truly cannot, then--I do not know why. They are very small?" Maybe... small things weren't as intelligent? He wasn't certain.

He had yet to meet a cave deer, one of the non-sapient ones. That would likely come as a shock, should he ever do so.

Slowly, he pushed up, unfurling slender legs and dipping his head to Aster. "Stay, please. I will look for grass and plants, and I will not be gone too long. I will," he reiterated, "bring you a rat, and thank you for the warning. But I would not go too close. I use my magic."

With that he turned, and made his way to the entrance of their makeshift shelter. He stood for a time, listening into the mist in silence, before slowly picking his way out. He then stood awhile longer, cautiously looking around, but when he saw nothing, slipped away into the fog.

The dog nodded, slowly. "I have tried," she confirmed quietly. "Often, they run. If you ask them to wait, they... ignore it, and continue running. If not, then they... hiss, and shriek.. and snap..."

She frowned, thinking. "Perhaps.. they can speak, but.. choose not to.. or perhaps.. they.. speak in a different sort of way, to each other. I.. do not know," the borzoi murmured, brow crinkling a little as it furrowed.

Aster nodded after Pride as he pushed himself up and shifted a bit to give way for him to leave the shelter, grimacing a bit as she moved the injured leg. "Be careful," she reminded him anyway. "I will wait."

And wait she did.

Pride was as careful as he could be. He slipped along the sides of the rocks until he got to the plants and mosses at the edges of the tunnel that led to Orion. Here he grazed, tail flicking, absorbed in stuffing himself as quickly as he could. As soon as the burning in his stomach had subsided, he turned and made his way quickly back through Polaris.

He had no idea how much he was tempting fate by flicking magic all over the place in this cave. He had, thus far, been extraordinarily lucky not to draw unwanted attention.

Nostrils flaring, he crept forward and again began to prowl, wolflike, along the outside of the boulders. He could hear a skittering now and then, a soft squeaking, and again he wondered if perhaps the rats were sentient. For a moment he considered trying to link to one's mind, then decided against it--it was something to tackle another time. For now, Aster had to eat, and he wasn't about to burden himself with the guilt of prior murder as well as starve the dog.

That could wait.

The moment he thought he caught sight of a rat skittering through the shadows he flung forth his magicka like a net, attempting to ensnare it, to haul it back and to slam it into the far stone, hopefully breaking its back swiftly in the process.

There was a squeak, a fling of dark fur and then a crack, and Pride trotted quickly over to inspect his work. The rat was twitching on the stone, and he waited a moment, heedful of Aster's warnings; only when it had wholly stopped moving did he first prod it with a hoof, then lift it in his teeth by the tail, carrying it back toward her.

Some part of him was proud of himself; some part felt faint pity for the puppy's meal.

Either way, he slipped back into the mist and--after a moment's casting about for the entrance to their shielded den--he crept in and dropped the dead prey before the black puppy. "Here," he offered; he'd been gone perhaps an hour. "Do you need water, too?"

For a moment, Aster turned her head and watched Pride as he vanished into the mist and out of sight, listening to hoofbeats against the cave floor before she went back staring unblinkingly elsewhere.

She was tired. Hungry. Still a little thirsty, and her leg hurt. She wondered if rats could speak, why would they bother hiding it from others? What made something a rat, and what made something a dog or a deer?

She had not yet seen the cave deer around-- though that would likely confuse her further. Why would Pride be able to speak, but not one that was hairless and glowing?

These thoughts quickly left her head, however, when she heard the clicking of hooves returning, turning her head back towards the faint outline of Pride. How long he had been gone for and how long she had been staring blankly at nothing, she had no idea.

"Thank you," she murmured as she bent her head down, crunching into the rat. "I.. think so. Yes. Did you... eat, drink?"