ORIGIN

Bravo spent his most recent days further from his home in Canis, amongst the dreary bones of unknown specimen. He was no longer a tiny kit of a raccoon but bulking up into a stocky near-adult. No more was he scared to venture around the many cave systems as when he first emerged from his chrysalis shell. With his new found boldness, the fellow found he felt less and less at home with the Bonebounds. It seemed the members of his little group had other things to do than to converse with him, and it made Bravo frustrated and deflated. He struggled to find a meaning to his life, to living in general. The obsession with gems had quickly died down after his little fort was stockpiled full of sharp spheres; very uncomfortable to nap on he promptly found out after a narcoleptic episode.

The longer he spent awake, the more frequent he found himself falling asleep in the most inconvenient places. Bruises were never missing from his body, mainly covered his ribcage making breathing uncomfortable with each expansive breath.

Spending so much time alone these days made his head mad with his own inner chatter. He puffed, laying on his back, legs sprawled out watching the twinkling of faux stars on the cave's ceiling. He took a breather at the edge of a rock slab just above the city's highest building. Not too far up as Bravo wasn't too keen on the trip back down. Getting up was the easy part.

Bravo watched the twinkling ceiling of his prison with faint interest that quickly died down to none at all. He wasn't focused on anything in particular and he could feel himself fading in and out of consciousness. Turquoise eyes began to water after a long moment of staring blankly into space. The sliding of pebbles down below broke his trance and his rounded ears flailed around to gather the sound.

With his recently practiced mind talking, the raccoon tried his best to connect to the other's thoughts to question them. But despite his efforts he couldn't make the connection. Bravo puffed out a breath of air in frustration. What good were magic abilities if they wouldn't work when he needed them to? Sometimes on his travels he'd connect minds with miscellaneous critters along the way, the gemless creatures were simple minded. The only feedback received by them were pictures, pictures of their desires usually. The gemless spent most of their time scurrying about trying to procreate and eat.

After a moment it was apparent he didn't need to reach out to the stranger, the lion cub came to him. Despite the fact that Bravo was nearly full grown now, the cub matched him in size and possibly weight. Eye balling the boy, Bravo brashly rose from his laying position to sit precariously on his haunches, front arms draped over his torso. His face was emotionless... empty. "Catching a breather," he answered monotonously. "Not much to do these days. You?"

Bravo sighed first internally, he's been prone to doing this a lot lately, and then a sigh was drawn and exhaled physically too. His mind hummed a blank tune, like bees were lost deep inside his skull. The noise was maddening and relentless, the only way for it to stop was for the raccoon to direct his attention elsewhere.

Furrowing his brow, Bravo thought about his adventures here in the cave so far. Nothing truly interesting came to mind, it was all bleak and pointless. Everything was just so pointless. The juvenile boy had some depressing thoughts about his existence, indeed, it seemed to get worse by the minute. Another sigh as he thought desperately for what to answer. Was there anything fun to do here? What was fun? Did Bravo know what fun was? "I'm drawing a blank..." He mused aloud, not wanting to seem too stand offish. Bravo really did appreciate the company, but feared he'd soon lose it with his... boring air.

Working up some magical energy the turquoise stone between his eyes gleamed mischievously. For a moment life awoke back into Bravo's dull eyes. "You know any cool magic?" It was his voice that spoke, but it didn't arrise from his throat. His mind had sent the whisper all around them in a disorienting, but understandable, cloud. Finally, a spell that worked for him! Bravo tried very hard to not be too smug over his accomplishment, but his relief of working abilities was eminent.

The raccoon seemed friendly enough and Usui waited patiently for it to reply. “I’m drawing a blank…” it replied to which the lion cub gave a “Oh,” in reply and just plonked himself onto his belly, feeling bored. Then again, times of rest was welcome as well. They could sit together all day, the chubby cub and the raccoon, and watch the world go by if that’s what was needed to keep the other’s physical company/presence.

He twitched his tail languidly and stare into the sky of Orion which dazzled brilliantly, then sighed somewhat contentedly. Just then, a whisper wrapped itself around him, very clearly the raccoon’s voice, yet it had not escaped from the raccoon’s lips but swirled around in an hushed manner. Usui was quick to catch on and grinned at his pal. “Well, yeah.” He concentrated the magic within his paws and decided to call forth blue gems the colour of the racoon’s eyes.

The moment his magic flowed forth, they latched not just onto any green or blue coloured gems, but turquoise gems accurate to Bravo’s own, and not only that, his own rare gemstone as well – a thick chunk of glossy, black jade– and it all zoomed in onto Usui, surrounding him like a dragon might be hauling in its shiny hoard. Immediately, Usui dropped the black jade into his satchel, and then brought the palm-sized piece of turquoise before him and carved it into a bangle that might fit over the upper raccoon’s tail where it connected to its rump. His magic flowed with great ease today and in no time at all, he’d completed his craft and let it clatter before Bravo. The bangle he’d gifted him was a translucent turquoise colour, reflecting the light and with swirling patterns within, mimicking the patterns of its tail. Though it had been a huge success, he was very drained though, for this was a powerful magic. “Here, a gift,” he spoke, and waited to see if the raccoon would like his new trinket.

Bravo watched first with mild interest that grew into a fierce curiosity. He had never seen another do such a magic trick before! And he was indeed very jealous watching the lion cub work his magic. The stones of the cave seemed to mold to his very will, it seemed far superior of a skill than his own mind games.

What really got him going, however, was that this stranger had made a stone appear that was the same as his own plastered between his eyes. And with a whirl of his paw the stone shaped into a hollow, thin circle that clanked with a rhythmic sound on the ground when dropped before him. Bravo snatched it up once it was proclaimed his and twirled it around in his tiny hands, admiring the shine. It reflected the lights on the ceiling in the most mesmerizing way and he was lured into silence for a good minute, just shifting it around wistfully. It reminded him of something... but he couldn't place his thoughts to it.

Putting his arm through the center of the gift, he snorted in dismay as it fell to the dirt. His arm wasn't thick enough to hold it in place. Trying to fit it around his neck proved useless as well, the stone wasn't big enough to fit around his skull. The last thing to attempt was his tail. The plume of fur around it's thickest area was just enough to secure the bangle between his rump and from flying off with movement.

"So awesome, guy!" he said with the most emotion shown that day, he was genuinely stoked for the gift. "Name's Bravo, by the way!" The least he could do was give him his name in return, his magic wouldn't supply any neat gifts.

Bravo fell forward, hands grappling at the stony ledge the two were standing on, and waddled around casting a backward glance at his rump. Twitching his stubby, thick tail this way and that there were stars in his eyes as he admired his newest shiny. Feelings bubbled up in his chest, a foreign feeling he hadn't felt in awhile. Joy. The feeling so bizarre it had him cackling like an idiot and swooshing around the cliffside like a drunkard.

Coming to an abrupt stop, the raccoon directed his turquoise eyes to the lion cub and grinned like an idiot. "No problem, Usui! Your earth magic is real nifty!" Bravo's mood swings were crazy enough to give his newest friend a whiplash.

"I have mind magic," he put rather simply, offering up a demonstration of his skill. The turquoise between his eyes flashed to life and faded just as quick as the spell ended. Magic was getting easy for him to use, it felt. His abilities were coming along nicely, only a hiccup every now and then. What harm was a headache every now and then when he failed?