ORIGIN - Flowers Taste Good

Yellow sat on a branch, plucking and eating nearby flowers. They were yellow too, a nice, happy color. They were big, but to be honest they didn't have much flavor. The texture was certainly nice, although he wasn't sure how much actual nutrition he was getting from them. He could move and find some nice leaves or fruit, or he could stay here and eat flowers. So Yellow stayed where he was and ate flowers. One yellow flower by one yellow flower until before he knew it, he was full and there was only one flower left. He ate that one for dessert.

Sighing contentedly, he found a nice place between two thick branches and made himself comfortable, patting his full belly. A satisfied vibration filled the nearby air, a low, constant hum.

@Imperia

After the wrestling competition - that they had won, of course - Imperia wasn't sure what to do. It had been so nice being in a battle, even if they couldn't actually injure their opponent. Some time had passed, and their paws were itching to actually hurt someone. To get in a proper battle and just go all out. It had been so many cycles since that last happened.

It doesn't even have to be a fight. There were plenty young gembounds who couldn't put up a fight, surely. Normally, they wouldn't bother - but these weren't normal circumstances. They were bored. And others seemed to have stopped fearing them. They've heard talk of a group of gembounds, a goose, a moose, and their children, going around and injuring and killing lots. It filled them with jealousy and resentment - they were doing exactly what they always wanted. And they were more successful than Imperia ever was.

For now, they walked through Eridanus. They hadn't been here in a long, long time. Still, they remembered this place as the one they first learned their love of fire in. Oh, how they wanted to burn it down. But that probably wouldn't be that good of a idea, much to their disappointment. Maybe one day.

They walked along, eyes narrowed and looking around for something or, even better, someone, when they heard something nearby. It was a low and constant sound, a vibration. They really didn't like it, but followed it anyway until they managed to spot a gembound, perched between two thick branches. They grunted. "Hey! You there! Are you the cause of that hum?"

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Yellow
notes: here

Yellow was greeted by a new voice, from a Gembound who kind of looked like the black puma from earlier, except less black and less big. Excited at the prospect of meeting someone new, the hum dipped lower, then rose before settling into its original pitch. "Hey!" he called, completely unaware of any evil thoughts going through the cat's braincase. "Yeah, I am! It's cool, isn't it?" He beamed at the cat, proud of his awesome magic or whatever it was that made the hum.

They jumped down from their perch, eager to get a closer look at their new friend. "I'm Yellow, by the way. What's your name? Oh, speaking of Yellow, I just ate some yellow flowers. They had a nice texture. I finished them all, though..." Their head drooped for a moment, before they brightened again. "I can go look for more, though! Wanna come with me? We can explore this place together or something while we're at it"!

@Imperia

As soon as the gembound started to speak, Imperia already hated them. This was not helped by the hum's pitch changing.

They scowled up at him. "It is not cool. It is annoying and I hate it. And it is nothing compared to what I can do." They were prepared to show off when the creature jumped down in front of them.

Yellow? What kind of name was that? They grunted before answering his questions. "I am Imperia. You'd do best not to forget it." Yellow flowers? Who eats yellow flowers? Their dislike, their hatred, for Yellow grew even further. "I do not want your yellow flowers. I do not want anything you wish. I will not explore this place with you. Why should I? I know this place. I've been here before." It had been many cycles since then, but Yellow didn't need to know that.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Yellow
notes: here

"It's annoying? You HATE it?!" Yellow cried, dismayed, and the hum fell away, to be replaced with normal, non-magical Eridanus sounds. Plus the sound of the two of them speaking, of course. "But why? It's magic and it's amazing!" She waved her arms for emphasis, but stopped as the cat began speaking again.

"Well, uh, nice to meet you, Imperia! And it's okay if you don't like flowers. They're pretty flavorless, unless you get the ones with nectar. I just like the texture of them." They were quick to cheer up again as Imperia mentioned being here before and knowing the place already. "Wow, really? That is, like, so cool! Tell me all about it! Oh, oh, when I came out of my rock I saw two really pretty pools! Tell me about them too!" In their excitement, they'd forgotten to say 'please', but even if they had realized surely it would be fine! Imperia seemed like a nice cat.

@Imperia

Imperia scowled at Yellow's reaction to them saying they hated their magic. "Magic is fine. It can be very useful," they thought of Kin-kin and how the wolf had made a sword for herself out of magic, "though it can also be a waste of time. Your particular magic is that of the latter."

They listened as Yellow spoke, not really paying much attention. Flowers were practically useless. As they perked up, Imperia narrowed their eyes. They contemplated just telling the creature to go away and then continue their search for someone to fight. Though maybe they could do something with this creature...Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to stick around a little longer.

"You want to know about this place? Very well." Their voice took on a bit of a sweeter tone at the end, and they flicked their small tail before sitting down. "This is a very special place to me. I hold it near and dear to my heart." They began to look around for something they could burn. Luckily, a plant was nearby. It was small, and not connected to much else. It was perfect.

"Eridanus, the name of this cave, was where I first practiced my own magic. Here, I'll give a little demonstration." They attempted to summon their magic, something they hadn't done in a while. It came easily, something that surprised them though they'd never show it. Heat began to emanate from their paws and other areas. Normally, such heat would burn them - but they had used this spell so much it made no effect on them. Their paws were already burnt beyond saving. They pressed their paws to the plant and almost immediately it crumbled into ash. They turned to Yellow and grinned.

"This magic is far more useful than whatever you have."

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Yellow
notes: here

Yellow nearly scowled. Their magic wasn't a waste of time! It was a beautiful sound; it was music to their ears! As if proving a point, the hum started up again, more insistent than it had been before. The lemur closed their eyes and hummed along. See, wasn't that fun?

They forgot all of that, however, as Imperia started talking again. "WOW! Does every cave have a name? Big Brother Sebby told me about Posarlis and Oroyon, which are both beautiful names, but Eridanus is really pretty as well! Who named them?" They watched in awe as heat started emerging from the cat and the plant crumbled to ashes when touched by Imperia's paws. "You sure know a lot of stuff!"

However, they didn't see how making green leaves turn into limp grey dust was useful at all, let alone how it was more useful compared to their hum. But Imperia knew so much about everything! Surely they'd be able to explain. "Can you tell me how it would be more useful? I don't see any uses for it other than for entertainment, and wouldn't doing the same thing over and over get boring anyway?"

@Imperia