ORIGIN - looming

Eve had been fluttering around the caves for a good few hours now, shrieking at whoever would listen. She was looking for leaders, specifically, but nobody told her that Maji Walezi had, apparently, disbanded some time ago. Or so Eve had concluded.

Her spell to find Leon had failed, but it didn't stop her from careening this way and that, hollering "BEAR. LEON," to absolutely no response. Eventually, the baubled lantern she was carrying grew too heavy, and Eve grew too tired. She settled herself down, orb clinking gently against the cave floor, and landed by a pond.

It was tough work, being a messenger. The crow leaned in, taking a long drink of water, and slowly shut her eyes. To boot, she hadn't found an arcane-user for Dragon, either-- or any stones, for that matter. At least she'd already spoken to the other leaders, and she could piss off back to her nest when she got the chance.

@Nassir

For a while, Nassir thought that he had, well and truly, died.

After another while, though, he thought, would I be able to think in death?

Cycles later, though, the dark leopard would stagger back out from a long --- peaceful --- sleep, pushing free of quartz yet again. This was his third awakening, now. Third time is the charm, they say.

Nassir stepped into the cold air of Pisces tentatively, nostrils flaring and eyes peering across the pond with clarity he hadn't known in ages. They were still yet clouded over with cataracts; he could see relatively clearly, compared to the past. His lungs did not burn with the labors of breathing and his throat didn't have the residual tang of bile. An appetite --- foreign --- gnawed at his stomach.

A bird called out overhead, for some bear, some Leon. His ears flicked back, wholly focused on the sword that had pierced both his heart and mind-fog. It had long-since melted, but... he was grateful. He approached the icy pond, starry-white eyes glancing down at the bottom. "Tenzin, thank you." He rumbled softly, before casting a cursory glance toward the chrysalis shards. No need to draw golems, if they even came this far from the Core.

For the first time in cycles, his magicka buzzed, pulsing through his lifeblood and working its--- well, magic. Nassir gathered up some of the quartz shards in his mouth, striding over to the nearest pond in order to dump them in. Some others trailed after him, as if drawn by an invisible tether. The progress was slow, but soon they plonked into the waters. Then, absolutely parched, the leopard knelt down and took a sip.

Where's Oliver? How long have I been gone...?

@Eve

Eve stopped drinking when she noticed a cat-- who looked suspiciously like Viktor, sans teeth --dropping shinies into the water.

Shinies, of course, were a precious thing, and should not be wasted. And who else a better advocate for the fair treatment of shinies than the all-lover of them herself, Eve?

The crow shot through the air like a black dart, wings unfurling in a matter of seconds to take her flying towards Nassir and the shards of quartz. She went almost spiralling, careening towards it, and then snatched a shard in her beak and landed next to the panther, dropping the white gem down with a rattle.

"WHAT are you doing," she hollered. "You're WASTING it! Don't you know the POTENTIAL here?" Fucking idiot cats, man. They never know what's what.

There was a pause as Eve placed a talon over the shard, her own gemstone clinking against it. "What are you doing here anyway? Where's Maji Walezi?"

@Nassir

Just as he was about to lap up some good, crisp-cold water, some black thing shuttered in and out of his periphery with a clicking sound. Nassir's ears flickered back, tail immediately bushy and arched high in defensive posture. Such a sudden movement could only serve to shock a newly-reemerged leopard previously plagued by visions of fae tearing at his bones and his flesh— no, not now. Seeing that it was but a bird — not a stilted horror — he forced himself to smooth down his pricked fur.

The bird… was angry about something…? Is it disposing of my chrysalis…? His slight hold on the remaining white quartz was relinquished. Milky-white eyes peered down at the crow, brow furrowed in confusion. "You… can have those, if you'd like. T-they're just shards from my — um, shell," Nassir stuttered out quietly. He would have turned to face this stranger right away, but he was really parched. Clearing his throat, he interjected, "one moment." Sip. The leopard shifted to fully look at Eve, brows furrowed again.

"What's this… Ma-hi Wal-eeh-zi?" Was it a place? A person? A… group?

@Eve

"Yeah, and they're shiny," Eve immediately squawked in return. "And you're wasting them! Yeesh," her talons extended forward, tapping the quartz a few times. The white stone was infused and began to light up white-gold, sparkling against the cave floor.

Eve inspected it intensely for a moment, rapping her beak against it testingly, before shoving it back towards Nassir and puffing her feathers up haughtily. "You see? Now it's even more shiny, and pretty, and good. If it's dark it'll make it a little bit not-dark anymore don't-fucking-touch-it," she spoke about a mile a minute, restlessly, wings fluttering along as she hobbled back and forth along the pool.

"Maji Walezi," she loudly corrected. "Was a group that lived here a bunch of cycles ago, but they seem to have cleared out now. I was looking for them because I'm on a very important mission but if they're all dead or gone or hibernating or whatever then it doesn't really matter. Just gotta move on."

Life, Eve found, always moved on when you didn't want it to.

"So what's your deal, cat?" She squabbled, returning to her glass bauble and yanking the string up with her beak, bringing it over before somebody else took it for their own. "You're not exactly a child or anything, I don't think it's the first time you've been in that shit. Why are you getting rid of the pieces?"

@Nassir

Nassir watched mutely as the little crow seemed to imbue part of his chrysalis with a beautiful white-gold glow. Milky-white eyes followed its path toward his paws, not at all interested in touching the rock. It's still not very useful, he mused, thankfully in his thoughts. Who knew how this bird would react to such a --- quote, unquote --- blasphemous statement.

Feathers fluttered again, moving to some glowing sphere thing. A lantern, the leopard, he supposed. "I may have... seen them in the past, but--- they're gone now, I think. I've been asleep for a while a-and, my memories are a little---" Nassir's tail swayed as he furrowed his brow, searching for a word to describe the fog enveloping his mind, "cloudy." The quartz tip clinked softly against the floor, causing him to wince at the sudden sharpness of the sound.

With a slight flare of magic, he subconsciously hoped to move the glowing piece of chrysalis toward the crow, "I've b-been in my chrys-salis three times n-now, I think." Gemstone ground against the floor, shifting toward Eve and eliciting a surprised murrp? from Nassir. He had forgotten about his magic, but chose to ignore it in favor of continuing, "I-I don't have a use for my shards." Milky eyes peered at the crow, again, ears flicking back.

"Wuh-what mission are you on?"

@Eve