ORIGIN - Eggrolled (Issue #1)

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The Olympics were over and Azizos was done washing his, erm, hooves of it — not that there was anything to clean off other than the dirt that accumulated on them. Silvery eyes turned away from the crystalline river, careful to step away from its bank lest he wind up falling in. The hybrid could do things, but swimming probably wasn't on that list of things possible. Preoccupied by thoughts of escape, his head naturally tilted ceiling-ward. Shaking out his limbs, Azizos followed — for lack of a better phrase — his heart. Raheerah had escaped through the roof once. The dragon had an advantage of wings, only, over Azizos, as far as he knew.

There were other methods of getting up to Polaris's ceiling, but the hybrid was not one to go out of his way to waste time. Instead, he preferred going out of his way on research-related endeavors. This endeavor was, of course, trying to spot that ceiling-hole.

Kai preferred the cool mist of Pisces to anywhere else-- hence why she remained there for so damn long --but now, she wanted a change. Or, to change. She wanted to get out there, and see the caves, and it's people. And perhaps find her mother-- but that much seemed like a long shot, really.

She heard stories of the caves from gembounds that she quietly listened to while hiding away in the slick alcoves of Pisces, however. Places and other rooms and tunnels, and other gembounds and creatures she couldn't even begin to imagine.

Perhaps the other hybrid standing in the middle of Polaris was one of them.

Kai stared forward for a moment, blinking very slowly at the moonlit shape staring at the ceiling, before she very slowly took the steps to approach. "What are you doing?" She asked in a voice, raspy with disuse.

Azizos squinted at the ceiling as he searched (rather uselessly) and contemplated just hurling a doppelganger up there to get a closer look at some suspicious holes. He wasn't sure if what lay beyond was lit up or if it was dark. His father had said the sky was full of stars, of light and beauty, but was there just more cave up there?

Oh, he'd just have to find ou--- oh, there was company. The stag-lion's head sharply snapped toward the coming footsteps, ears arcing to catch the tail end of the stranger's speech. A quick once-over, and Azizos was certain that this was a deer hybrid of sorts, like him. He paused for a moment, hesitating and tapping his hooves against the cave's floor. How best to explain this... endeavor, of his?

Escape wasn't the most common thing on a Gembound's mind.

"I'm looking for a hole in the ceiling, I believe."

@Kai

Kai narrowed her eyes a little, slowly tilting her head. A hole in the ceiling? He believed? Did he not... know?

The hybrid turned her head upwards, staring at the ceiling. Then she looked around the room, before emerald eyes finally settled back on Azizos. "What?" Was her inital reaction.

And then, elaboration. "What do you mean? Why are you looking for a hole in the ceiling if you're unsure it even exists?"

"What?"

Yeah, so, escape wasn't on the minds of most Gembound. Azizos flicked his ear. Was the outside not common knowledge? "My father told me that there is something called a sky, beyond here. It's like... an endless ceiling, I believe," a hint of whimsical dreaminess entered his voice, here, "and I'd like to see it for myself, if I can."

"Also, it seems that some of the Ancients can come and go as they please. A great black dragon flew through this roof, once, though..." The lion-stag furrowed his brow. "Though, that may have just been a story."

Kai offered a vague squint, and then-- "What?" She repeated.

She listened, but she remained vaguely lost. She was unsure if she liked the sound of a sky but she sure as hell couldn't picture it. "An endless ceiling," she ended up repeating, quietly, tilting her head up to the ceiling in Polaris.

It was tall, but she could certainly see where it would end. What did somewhere that didn't have a ceiling look like? "How do you get out?" Kai asked, curiously looking back to Azisos. "Can I come? I want to see the sky."

Azizos narrowed his eyes, looking back up at the ceiling as well. A hoof tapped against the stone as he thought. "My father didn't show me. I don't think he's seen it either."

As to getting out... his ear flicked again. The hybrid's short tail swayed rather limply as he took a step forward, neck craning higher. "I'm not sure how, but... my father's met some Ancients from outside. He said not to trust them, though." Silvery eyes finally trailed down to peer at the stranger. "Two minds are better than one," he rumbled thoughtfully.

Wistfully about the sky, again, he nodded: "I do, too."

"I guess," Kai offered, meekly, glancing between the ceiling that Azizos kept staring at and at Azizos himself, blinking owlishly. "That's weird," she added.

A dainty hoof clattered against the cave floor, briefly, thoughtfully. "An ancient?" The hybrid asked with a croak. "What's an ancient? Why can't they be trusted?"