ORIGIN - how's the weather down there?

Oh, Elyon had been awake for a little while. There was a whole affair with her father giving her a name and showing her the ropes. But her hooves were impatient and kind of done with pacing around the bone room. Dad had given her the go-ahead to run around the caves, though, and the odd centaur had been absolutely ecstatic. As any normal child would, she sprinted from Canis to Polaris in about a week, shuffled around in Polaris for a bit, and now was met by her greatest challenge yet: stairs.

"Let me up!" She hollered to the stairs, as if they were sentient. These things weren't meant for rather inflexible things with four legs. Elyon couldn't figure out how to balance herself well enough and where to put all of her legs. Experimentally, at the bottom of the steps, the odd hybrid placed one hoofed foot on the step furthest from herself. Then, another foot landed on a closer step. So far, so good. Like an overly cautious puppy, the gangly child lifted her right hind leg with a swish of her tails. A small click sounded as it landed on the step. This was already going so much better! Lifting a hand to steady herself on the wall, Elyon placed her final foot on another step, leaning forwards slightly. Then, carefully, a step up.

"Fuck yes."

But just when she thought she had conquered the menace of steps, the child leaned back just too far and was sent tumbling backwards down the steps and onto her side. Mistake.

@Pallas

PALLAS
they say it started with a big bang

Pallas, in the meantime, had been sort of slowly meandering about the cave systems. He still wasn't entirely sure about everything and hid from everything to the best of his abilities, but something inside of him stirred him to explore.

He didn't recognize when he had came to a different location altogether. Other caves were still a concept to him, so when he came to the tunnel, he simply thought it was an extension of Polaris. The intricate carvings fascinated him. It gave his brain something to work over as it craved more intelligence, especially with how quickly he had matured.

He didn't expect to hear something else, though.

At the yelling, Pallas shivered and frantically looked around. The sides of the walls were smooth, too smooth for him to hide in or climb, and no vegetation was around. Gulping, he glanced back behind him. Could he run? No, whatever was there was sure to be able to outrun him for miles. Taking in a deep breath and putting on his most courageous face (which wasn't very courageous at all), the linsang slowly scooted forward, following the sounds of tapping in the echoing hall.

Pallas soon came to the scene. Whatever was there was extremely alien to the little critter (though most things were alien), but still he was compelled to investigate. What if this was like Zevruu? It had spoken, so it must be. He approached as softly as he could, his padded paws barely making a sound on the rock below. Slowly and surely, he got as close to it as he could, his nose quivering as it continued up the oddly shaped floor.

What was this floor, anyways? His attention was brought to it for a brief moment before his thoughts were interrupted. The creature was falling. And it looked like it was going to fall on top of him! Squeaking, Pallas jumped back, scrambling away before realizing there would be no cover. He only got about a foot before realizing this and curled around himself. Well, if this thing was going to be angry, let it! His sharp claws flexed out of his paws as he hissed, dark pupils drawn to slits.

@Elyon

Her little blink of life flashed before her eyes as she tumbled backwards down the stairs, her two steps of progress washed away in one fell swoop. Elyon's arms flailed out, hoping to brace herself against the steps. As soon as chitin met rock, there was a perceptible grating noise as she dug her rather sharp fingertips into the stone. Yelping, the hybrid just barely managed to scrape a little rut into the staircase and get a grip, landing with one hoof-claw-thing just shy of the poor linsang. Her tails swished this way and that irritably as Elyon clambered to her feet.

"Dumbass stairs!" The centaur's beak clicked with every syllable, mane of feather-fur puffed out to its fullest extent. Adjusting herself so she stood sideways on the staircase and perpendicular to the wall, Elyon narrowed her eyes. She was about to start screaming at the wall and possibly punching it into submission when the tiniest little growl was finally noticed.

Whirling about and nearly falling down the stairs again, the butch baby searched for the source. She looked everywhere but down, bright eyes slipping up to the ceiling and to the walls. Finally, at the end of her confused search, Elyon looked down. Oh, small!!! Immediately, all of her anger was forgotten and she leaned down carefully, as much as she could. "Oh, hello! Did I almost fall on you? Real fuckin' sorry for that!"

@Pallas

PALLAS
they say it started with a big bang

Pallas squeaked again and untangled himself to jump back once more, his back and fur spiking up. The way the creature's claw slammed into the ground made Pallas want to absolutely bolt, but somehow he managed to steel himself against it, hissing again louder.

When whatever it was moved, however, he ducked away and his mind panicked. It was going to hurt him! He trembled as it leaned down to him. Defiantly, he gritted his teeth and hissed despite the obvious fear in his eyes.

When the creature spoke, however, his back relaxed and his face softened. Why did it suddenly lose its anger? It seemed to be careful in its movements; was it planning something? Pallas's breath hitched in his throat and he took a single step back, moving his stance from defensive to ready to sprint. His head pulled back to his chest slightly as he hissed out a simple "Yes..."

Looking over this thing, he straightened out his neck and tried to look braver than he was. "Will you fall again?"He questioned bluntly.

@Elyon

The chitinous centaur blinked down at the tiny creature, halfway between marveling at how small it was and bursting with excitement at the possibility of this being a new friend. Well, hopefully. They would have to get past the enormous gap in size, first. "Again, I'm super sorry! I didn't think I'd fuck up that bad, but that's just life, I guess." Yep, things going tits-up was definitely the epitome, the peak of living. What was it without the spice of failure, sometimes? Kind of like pumpkin pie without nutmeg: sad, lifeless.

"I hope I don't fuckin' fall again, dude. Actually---" Elyon paused, carefully shimmying closer to the wall so that she could brace both of her hands against it. Ever mindful of the placement of her hooves, the alien side-stepped down the stairs and found herself on solid ground. She took a moment to appreciate the throng of age-old carvings before gently falling onto her knees and lying down. Centaur loaf. "My name's Elyon! And you?"

@Pallas

PALLAS
they say it started with a big bang

Pallas huffed, his tiny claws sheathing themselves. It seems like this lumbering thing was more of a danger to himself than him. Shaking his coat, he tried to get his nervousness out of his system. While he wasn’t sure why she said ‘fuck’ so much, or what that even meant, he figured it was best to not ask and let his brain mull it over like he’s been letting it do recently. Instead, he turned his body somewhat and sat down on his haunches, watching the creature reposition itself so she didn’t manage to smoosh him. His long tail flicked unhappily against the cave floor. “I hope you don’t either.”

When she sat before him, he sniffed at her curiously, trying to place a scent to her to remember her by if he ever even managed to forget how she looked. Shuffling on his paws, Pallas tilted his head. “I am Pallas.” He glanced around the room before pointing a paw to the stairs. “What are those, and why can you not step on them?” He was rather pointed in his questions, mostly trying to get to the point with the conversation- who knew if there was some kind of monster that could come around the corner for the two of them. Though, in that case, Pallas could easily hide behind Elyon...

@Elyon

The unbelievably tiny linsang was absolutely correct in his assumption that Elyon was more dangerous to herself than others. Despite having two --- or so --- weeks to acclimate herself to her own body, the centaur was still clumsier than a colt still wet from birth. Someday, she would be the master of land (and sea, unbeknownst to her.) At least they both hoped to avoid any future falls, which was something to be friends about.

As Pallas scooted forward to sniff at her, the centaur dared not even move, lest she spook her potential new best friend. "Hey Pallas! Nice to meet you." Not that she could particularly stoop down to his itty bitty level, anyways. Her upper back wasn't flexible enough for that sort of thing. At best, the alien could offer answers to the little dude's very valid questions. Her gaze trailed from the striped noodle to the stairs, narrowing perceptibly. "I have no clue what those are, but it's hard for me to balance. I keep fuckin' leaning just too far and winding up with my ass bruised."

Ugh, that was no fun.

@Pallas

PALLAS
they say it started with a big bang

The tiny bean snorted after sniffing enough, backing off and laying down. He wiggled a little to get comfortable. Staring down the mysterious ground cliffs, Pallas’s mind ran over itself trying to give a name to it. Mini-cliffs? That worked, but it was a little confusing. Huffing, he tucked his paws below himself. “They are…” He stalled, unsure of what to call them. “New.”

He huffed again. ‘New’ wasn’t the best way to describe how he felt about them, but he didn’t entirely have the word for it. This talking stuff was still fairly new to him. His mind mulled over some remnant questions in his head- he finally had someone to talk to, but he had no way to formulate his ideas well enough to convey them. Perhaps the best place to start was with Elyon. She would know most about herself, and she seemed to be clueless like he was about the world. So, grumbling, he raised his head, craning it up to try and look at her head. “What does fucking mean?” The foreign word was stilted on his tongue, especially as he wasn’t sure how to pronounce it with the gem at the base of it. “Why do you say it a lot?” His head tilted curiously.

@Elyon

A snort was good, right? Elyon blinked down at the linsang for a moment before lifting her own hand to sniff at it. Apparently, she smelled sort of like fish and dirt. Interesting. Sparing a quick lick, the centaur definitely confirmed her not-deliciousness. As Pallas spoke and gestured towards the stairs, she crossed her arms and pouted. "Yeah, I don't like them." Fuck stairs for not being easy to navigate. She could scale a cliff that was practically vertical, but not these stupid mini-cliffs from whatever the bad afterlife was.

Oh, brain wave! Instead of having to break her neck looking down at the little dude and vice versa, the centaur carefully shifted onto her side. This solved every flexibility struggle and issue with neck problems in the future. Elyon smirked, resting her cheek on her own shoulder. Absolute genius in the making, right here. Her wagging tails showcased her glee quite clearly.

Elyon's free hand came up to her chin, deep in thought. What did fucking mean? "I don't know. My Dad was there when I hatched and taught me how to hunt and stuff, and he said it a lot so I do, too." Monkey hear, monkey do. "I could ask him."

@Pallas