ORIGIN - passion's overrated

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Pale had suggested exploring, so that was just about what Jay was prepared to do. She'd discovered, in her short time of being alive, that the caves were a strange place. Not that she had a whole lot of reference to go by, but she did think for a while that cats and mice were all that the caves had to offer.

Not by a long shot, of course. Orion yawned into a tunnel with staircases that lead to nowhere and carvings on the wall, but Jay didn't have any particular interest in that for now-- her eyes were on what lay beyond it, the flickering blue and yellow lights beyond. The hulking kitten paced along the tunnel until she was at the entrance to Polaris, sticking her broad head around the edge.

It looked like Orion, but brighter. More colourful. Whereas the quartz in Orion looked pretty and glimmered, the crystals in Polaris were different colours and supplied light to the room. Not to mention that there was a strange blue, crackling thing nearby.

A white tail-tip gestured towards it, but she didn't turn back to see if Pale had actually followed her or not. "What is that?" She asked, knowing fine well that Pale likely knew as well as she did. Which is, to say, not a clue. Slowly, however, the cat began to slink into the room, turning her head to sniff the air.

It smelled... different, to Orion. And it felt different. She'd felt as though she'd just taken a particularly long nap-- energized, ready to go, ready to hunt and play and what-have-you. Whatever her purpose was meant to be, which was yet to be explained to her, if ever.

@Palefur

Pale followed Jay through Orion and through the tunnel - even if she hadn't wanted to explore her home she wasn't going to let Jay off on her own. That would probably just turn out to be a mess in the future if they ever wanted to find each other again. Might as well keep her in her sight.

But, of course, she was also curious to see what was beyond the cave they'd hatched in. And this new one was certainly a sight to see - much more colorful, much more bright. With a big crackling thing that was distant but plainly visible. Her ears twitched curiously at the sight of it. She narrowed her eyes and tried to get some kind of reading on it. If it was alive, if it was food or maybe an enemy. But there was nothing sides the faint heartbeats of other things between them and the great crystal. She would have noticed if it had a sort of heartbeat, considering its size. It wouldn't exactly be easy to miss.

"I don't know. It is not alive," she pointed out. Although it might have been quite obvious to not be alive, it was a little bit of a relief to Pale to know for sure that no true life coursed within it. Although she had no idea what else it could be.

@Jaysong

Jay paused, for a moment, as she half-stepped into Polaris, lamplike eyes trailing the crackling spire in the distance. "No," she said quietly, in response. She hadn't thought it was alive, rather-- "I think it's--" There was another pause as the kitten tried to find the words. "--Another," she decided.

Another pause later and the black cat began trying to elaborate. "Another trying to break out," she said as she started padding into the room, the light turning her pelt a pale grey-blue. "It might be hatching soon. It'll be big."

Obviously, it would be big.

It wouldn't be a tiny thing coming out of a stone that big.

Jay stalked along the cave floor until she came to the base of the spire, staring up. The electricity sparking around the blue crystal caused the fur along the back of her spine to bristle and rise, but she made an attempt to brush it off.

She sat back on her haunches and, for a moment, just watched the spire. A pink tongue drew across her jowls before she turned her broad head back towards Pale, thoughtful.

"Maybe," she considered. "It's a-- thing." This suggestion might seem out of place out loud, especially since it took the kitten a few moments longer to find, again, the words to elaborate.

"We came out by a thing like it," she eventually said. "But it was dark, and still, and didn't make noises," she nodded up at the Spire. "Maybe it's like that, but different."

@Palefur

Pale glared at the Spire with mistrust. She admittedly didn't want to get any closer. It's energy was chaotic, destructive, and she could tell, even from here, that it was out of control. She didn't like that. Not at all. It was unpredictable and that made her fear. Her ears flattened against her head and she was going to protest when Jay started towards the great crystal, but she thought differently and instead followed her.

"It must be very big," she commented. "And powerful. We didn't hatch with so much color and light." Once they were close, Pale felt that same surge of energy causing all of the fur on her to stand on end. Her crimson eyes widened and she crouched, a hiss escaping her muzzle. She was right - this thing was chaos, pure unlimited chaos. Unbound, uncontrollable. She hated the feeling of being so close, feeling that stirring of insanity in her chest, of the need to run and play and be as wild as the crystal's electricity. She shook her head. This was not good. "I don't like it," she complained. "It's a lot. A lot of things. It shouldn't be like that." She much preferred the other thing they'd hatched by, a sturdy thing without so much energy and noise and chaos.

She glanced towards Jay. Was she not being affected in the same way? She was different from Pale after all - she showed her emotions, she let them loose. She was animated and alive while Pale...she was stoic, serious, orderly. This crystal was the antithesis of all she was. But not so much for Jay.

@Jaysong

Jay seemed entirely undeterred by the Spire-- perhaps foolishly so. Instinct would tell anyone to turn tail and get away from it. It was very obviously dangerous, if the cracks of lightning were anything to go by. Yet, there the kitten was, her head inching ever-closer to the Spire, sniffing.

"Mine was the same colour," she pointed out coolly. "Not glowing. But it was blue." Perhaps they were something in the same? Jay was unsure, and she thought, perhaps, Pale was overreacting with her caution towards the thing.

"But it is like that," she said, and then, gently, pushed her nose against the crystal.

This, she realised, was a very stupid idea.

With a loud crackle and a crash of electricity, the Spire zapped her right on the nose, sending the burly kitten barrelling instinctively backwards, fur on end and hissing. For a moment she simply stood with a lashing tail and crinkled muzzle, expecting to be hit again. But she wasn't.

There was a pause. "It doesn't want to be touched," she concluded, sitting herself down and beginning to groom her fur to smooth it back out again.

@Palefur

Pale frowned, confused by Jay's complete disregard for all the dangers that the Spire obviously showed them. Perhaps is was bravery, but Pale personally thought that there was a difference, quite a difference, between bravery and stupidity. And Jay was being the latter.

"But it should't be," she argued back weakly. "It's unnatural! We should leave." And then, of course, the black kitten had to do the dumbest thing she could possibly have done. Pale's heart skipped a beat when Jay pressed her nose against the spire. "No!" she cried out but it was too late.

The crack of lightning caused Pale to leap with fear, her fur puffed out all on end. She hissed as well, jumping after Jay, looking much more alive then she had been before. She raced towards her friend and immediately began sniffing all over her, looking for any wounds or burns. "Why did you do that?" she cried as she began to frantically lick Jay's fur down. "Don't do it again! What if it hurts you really bad? What if you're hurt so bad you don't get up?"

@Jaysong

Jay shook herself out a bit, licking the fur along her shoulders. Her heart was racing, but the methodical pace of grooming-- from both herself and Pale --was enough to settle her down again. It wasn't the Spire's fault. It was her own. A warning.

Likely evident that her face, although it stung, was mostly untouched. Only shocked. "It's not unnatural," she said, gesturing upwards. "It wouldn't be there if it was unnatural, right?" This was logic at it's finest, of course, but Jay took a moment to sit back down, watching the Spire.

Her ears rotated in response for a moment. What if she hadn't gotten back up? Like the mice? What would happen then, would the Spire eat her? "Of course I would have gotten back up," she decided. "A big rock's not gonna hurt me so bad that I fall down and stuff."

Jay stared at the Spire for a moment longer before she pushed herself back to her paws. "It's fine," she said, crinkling her nose. "I'm not hurt but I think it wants to be left alone." She turned her gaze out towards the rest of Polaris, catching the scent of running water and hobbling idly towards it. "Let's go this way."

@Palefur

Pale stepped away once the fur on the black kitten was mostly flat and turned to lick down the fur on her own flank, which was still bristling with fear. She hadn't meant to be so dramatic and emotional, but Jay had really scared her there for a moment. "I don't know...it just doesn't feel right. I think we should leave." And, thankfully, it seemed that Jay had the same idea.

Pale sighed. Her friend was showing to be a bit reckless, at least the way she saw it. Just because she didn't think a rock could do anything to her didn't mean it couldn't She was a little frustrated by Jay's stubbornness but she didn't comment on it. Just shook her head and lead the way this time, determined to get far away from the glowing rock.

She followed the sound of water and after a while, it began to grow louder until it was pounding in her ears. There was a drop ahead, a drop that fell into a huge stream of crystal clear water rushing past with ferocity. She sighed. She was liking this cave less and less. Everything in it seemed unpredictable. Even the water, which roared past without stopping. "We should be careful," she yowled over the sound of the water. "We don't want to fall in!"

@Jaysong

The broad kitten offered a vague shrug in response. She didn't think the Spire was that bad and certainly not a thing that meant any harm. Jay had merely learned a lesson-- don't touch something, or someone, without asking them first. Or you'll get electricity in your face.

She turned to follow Pale, flanking behind her. She knew the scent of water but she didn't know the sound of it, particularly when it was running rapidly down a river. The pools of water she'd seen in Orion had been still and near-stagnant, silent except for the gentle splashes it made when Jay drank from it.

The water here, though, was different.

She barely even heard Pale over the sound of roaring water as it raced past the crevice in the cave floor, spiralling down into a pool below. Jay, at least, as stubborn and as reckless as she was, couldn't deny that it seemed dangerous, however.

She moved to the drop-- on land, of course, sniffing it out to study the deep incline that it fell at. "How do we get down?" she asked, tilting her head up to face Pale again. "Or-- where do we go from here? We can't drink it."

This much was obvious, at least-- even from where Jay was standing, droplets of water were rippling onto her fur. Sticking your head down there to try to drink was potentially an even worse idea than touching the Spire.

@Palefur

Palefur's tail flicked thoughtfully. Jay was talking as if they were trying to get to the river. As if she wanted to set a single paw in there. As if she wanted to get any closer. The water droplets were spraying her from where she stood so she couldn't imagine what it was like getting any closer.

She was at least thankful that Jay wasn't trying to immediately hop into the waves for whatever stupid idea she had. But then what else was the point of sticking around here?

Curious, she cast her senses forward and, to her surprise, found a very large number of heartbeats emanating from the water. They were similar to the ones of the mice but...not. Bigger. And just different. They had a different sort of rhythm and nature and for a wild second, she wondered if the river was alive with thousands of hearts.

"There are things in there," she blurted out. "Lots of things. Living things. Like mice but not. They might be food. But I don't know if we should go for them." Better not, really. To try and get one of the things out of the water would be just as bad as launching themselves right on in.

@Jaysong

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