ORIGIN

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Warmth spread through the large cavern as the heat vents again expelled another bout of warm gasses. Mist rose off the lake and the sounds of a waterfall created a white noise that soothed the soul. The smell that surrounded the area was that of a fresh rain that added to the aura of the room.

Tucked carefully in the crevasse between the wall and the floor of the cavern sat an opal, somewhat translucent in its blue and green colors. Beneath the surface was a blinding white, untouched by the dirt of the ground or the blood of prey. No stripes were pressed upon the white fur making any who glanced briefly suspect a wolf pup.

But for those who kept their gaze long enough to care noticed the creature's patterned face, gracefully strong brown lines that framed the opal that sat upon the brow like a crown jewel. The lines traveled in waves across the fluff of the cheeks and made delicate freckles that started halfway across the under eye.

The opal that the unborn possessed was shaped in a slender triangle, the tip of it pointing down to the pink nose that flared with each breath out. And so it was like this for many cycles as the small gembound grew within the translucent opal shell.

He certainly took longer than most did, but the fact was- he was happy to sleep, to stay warmed by the room's vents and be lulled to sleep by the aromas and sound of the waterfall. So much so he pulled himself closer to himself so that his body didn't hurt pressing against the hard shell!

But this only lasted for a day as he didn't have the strength to keep himself contorted. So as he expanded his small little lungs he pushed upwards with his upper back and pushed through the shell. With a large crack the opal burst open, creaking in apparent relief that it no longer held the growing cub.

The cub spilled out onto the moss, the temperature only slightly different but causing him to shiver. Putting his oversized paws under him he staggered back into the open opal and curled up, his aqua and green eyes watching the steam rise from the water and the vents.

He had no desire to move, so he lay there, waiting for anyone or anything to saunter by.

"I speak" | 'I Think' | I move

how terribly boring

He was, as ever, eating. Heavy paws shuffled along the gravelly shores, sending loose pebbles skittering. Jaws picked apart shellfish in the shallows, and every now and then the thick brown pelt would wade into the breakers, jaw thrusting beneath the foamy surface to pluck out a fish. Silvered scales littered the shoreline behind him, but little else was left behind.

Sergei followed food. He had followed it to Fornax. He followed it along the beach, into the sea, and back onto land. When he first caught the strange scent ahead, he thought little of it--it was faint, beneath the smell of tide and fish, and it didn't immediately strike him as edible. But when he spotted the cat, his pace quickened, his gaze fixed on it. Is that food?

As he drew closer, he felt doubtful. It looked alive, but something told him it wasn't just food, wasn't like the fish or the rabbits and rats. He came to a shuffling halt some yards away, staring for awhile at Almos.

Still unable to make heads or tails of this creature--of its pretty head-stone, and its shining white pelt--he spoke. His voice was rumblingly bass, and his words came slowly, like very distant, lazy thunder.

"...Are you food?" he asked, shuffling a few paces closer to smell the thing, though keeping a few feet of distance.

It smelled wet. It smelled new.

Just what was it?

@Almos

Almos honestly didn't expect anything to walk by. But alas the brown "thing" did. It was much larger than him, gigantic in many aspects. It lumbered slowly, digging around for something.

What a great big oaf Almos thought rolling his opal toned eyes.

It seemed that the brown thing was eating, and eating. In fact the only thing it seemed to be driven by was food. Though when it lumbered closer the tiger cub let out a warning growl.

'Am I food?!' Almos was insulted at the thought, 'This creature is dull-'

While the thoughts in his head were mostly coherent he found speaking difficult to manage.

"I'm...." He knew the word in his mind but his mouth and tongue refused to shape the word into exsistance, "not food...."

Almos flattened his ears as the creature neared and swatted at the creature's nose. He was not going to be treated like a foreign object. He was Almos, Prince of the Lake.

The cub inwardly smiled, he liked the sound of Prince. What else would be so pure in color like him? Nothing below a prince of course.

"Stay..." Almos growled at the creature, it's large size intimidating the cub.

"I speak" | 'I Think' | I move

how terribly boring

@Sergei

Sergei--still several feet away--watched with his dull stare as the cub swatted at the empty air between them. It seemed, paired with the creature's warning, to be a threat of some kind. His mind churned this over, and he watched for a moment longer. Not food.

Almost immediately he began to lose interest, and turned, plodding off back to the shoreline. He stood in the shallows, watching for fish, though he glanced over his shoulder periodically at the cub.

He hadn't ever seen anything like it. He'd met those that could speak, but not that many. There'd been one creature so white, but after some study, Sergei concluded that Almos was not, in fact, a snake.

Back and forth his gaze went--one moment he would be watching the water, and the next, peering back at the cub. Eventually some fish drew near the shore, and the bear thrust one clawed paw down, and then his muzzle after it, aiming to snag it from the sea. He felt jaws close around its cold slickness, and then, past the wriggling, the taste of meat as he bit down. Quickly he backed up, turning and stripping the fish of its skin.

He didn't seem liable to speak again, for the moment, and now appeared wholly absorbed in his meal.

@Almos

The large animal watched Almos for a moment later before moving back to the waters. The young self proclaimed prince watched only for a moment before deciding he was above such things and found interest in his tiny needle like claws.

Every so often he would glance up at the brown fluffy thing and study his motions. On occasion he found the thing looking back. It was when the creature brought up a flailing slimy looking thing in his mouth that Almos perked up

'How did it do that?'

A low groan let out from under the young prince and with a sudden snap the opal throne he sat upon crumbled below him leaving him on the cold muddy ground.

'Ugh! How sickening!' The cub was quick to pick himself up and remove as much dirt from his pristine coat as he could. He licked and spat out hunks of mud, sand and shells that came from his white fur.

Disgusted by the state of himself he strutted over to the waters and dipped into the freezing shallows. Almos watched with veiled interest as the dirt washed away. A movement caught his eye and he suddenly saw the fish swimming lazily in the current.

Glancing back at the feasting bear Almos thought to do what the bear had, ignoring the fact that the fish was as large if not larger than himself. Mouth open and small shining teeth shown Almos plunged his head down into the water.

Only he didn't bite down. He expected the creature to swim in and allow itself to be caught. How else did the large bumbling creature behind him catch the food? When Almos could keep his face under water no longer he broke the surface of the water; his face turned up in annoyance.

'Perhaps the oaf will share? Catching my own food is too exhausting.'

Almos turned, his pelt clean and his pride shown in his walk and demeanor. He got as close as he dared from the large creature and looked down his snout at the animal.

"Give!" Almos demanded, wanting the food.

"I speak" | 'I Think' | I move

how terribly boring

@Sergei

Sergei half-turned as the cub did its best to hunt. By the time it got to him, he had very little left--but its demand brought his full attention to bear on Almos.

His little rounded ears pressed forward, and his upper body swivelled slowly to face the tiny thing. Was it aggressive? Why was it demanding? Even had Almos asked nicely, the hungry bear was unlikely to ever give his food away.

Instead, he dropped his lower lip, raised his upper, and with bared thick fangs, he roared. Then, as if losing interest again, he answered loudly--"NO." ...And, one clawed foot pressed down over what little of the fish remained, so that it couldn't be snatched and run off with, he shoved his face down to continue quickly eating it.

@Almos

As the bear turned to Almos he halfway thought the creature would do as he commanded. But when the creature parted its maws it let out a large terrifying noise. A part of Almos wanted to run, but he stood his ground letting the creature finish its obvious rejection to the cub's demand.

'I'll show him!' The small cub thought audits folding back and leaping at the large thing's arm.

While his small body merely bounced off the large bear's figure Almos tried one or two more times, before he stopped. Almos's tail flicked angerly back and forward. as he glared at the creature. His chest heaved from the exertion and his stomach growled for food.

"I'm Hungry!" Almos pouted as the bear ate the last of the food.

"I speak" | 'I Think' | I move

how terribly boring

@Sergei

When the cub leaped at him mid-meal, the bear reacted... perhaps predictably. He lashed one forepaw out toward him, in a gesture probably meant to backhand the cub away--not dangerously violent, but to clearly make a point.

The bear, however, missed.

In fact, he missed, and finding himself abruptly on three legs and with exactly no experience in athletics or even combat, he stumbled heavily. He landed on the rock with a heavy grunt. It took him a moment of scrabbling on stone before Sergei managed to pull himself back up, and then he quickly nosed around for his meal.

He had, however, eaten it all. With a grumble he glanced sullenly at the cub, and huffed aggressively before turning back to the water. Food was already distracting him again, and he lumbered to the edge of the lapping sea, peering in. His rounded ears rotated about as he watched the water, as if fish would possibly make a noise--and at length, he looked back at the cub.

Then, to the water again. "Fish are in water," he explained slowly, as if having forgotten his prior irritation. He slapped at one, but missed, making a loud splash but little else.

@Almos

The cub stepped back the large paw rounding near them before it was followed with the large animal falling onto a rock. Almos's flattened ears watched as the bear searched for the eaten fish before turning and moving back to the water.

Not wanting to get too close to the bear Almos scampered up the rock the bear had fallen on and sat regally, watching the animal carefully.

"They didn't..." Almos thought for a second scrunching his face up, "Hop into my mouth."

Almos didn't really understand why the fish had to be in water but neither did he really care. He just wanted food, and he wasn't going to get wet again now that he was somewhat dry.

"I speak" | 'I Think' | I move

how terribly boring

@Sergei

The bear glanced at the cub, then to the water.

"You have to catch them," he at last rumbled, gradually. He stepped in further, and stood there in silence for a time.

It was clear that the big bear wasn't actively seeking out his prey. He was waiting, and as the silvery shapes danced into the shallowed again, he plunged his head--jaws open--into the foam. There was a thrashing beneath the water, and Sergei held down for a moment, shifting his jaws to adjust his grip. When he pulled back in a violent spray, he had a flailing fish half-hanging from his black lips. He turned away from Almos at once, ever protective of his food, and set it down. Only after it was carefully pinned beneath one paw, to prevent it flopping back into the water, did he speak.

"They are silver. Light. Easy to see. Wait, they will come close. Then you bite. Or use paws. Claws." Each word was slowly-rumbled, but it was explanation, at least, of a sort. He turned and peered at Almos from beneath heavy, dripping brows, waiting to see if the cub would make his own attempt.

@Almos

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