ORIGIN - a streak against the stark white

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Tyr, in truth, really hadn't been anywhere except Polaris. There was just so much to do there; so much to explore. But, when he came to this room of bones, it set all his senses on fire. Desperate to take in all he could, he'd turn over every skeleton if he could, finding ample food in the rats darting to and fro about the remains.

The looming entrance to more caught his attention more. Heat blasted through the tunnel as he stood valiantly at its entrance, his chest shoved forward as he examined the surroundings. Many shinies- metal, his mind supplied- laid strewn about, abandoned by the skeletons beside them. They reminded him of the metal hunk standing in the middle of the river he so often visited, some rusted to no end while others caught dust over their surface.

Curious, Tyr reached down with a talon and swiped away the red dirt from a particularly straight pole, digging through the deep, caked on surface to see a vague reflection of pink and white. Interesting. Blinking fast, the scrub jay's head twisted this way and that as he hopped around the specimen, dark eyes looking down as he brushed away more and more. Whatever it was, it was tall, partially buried in the dirt with the exposed end much longer than he. An experimental tug revealed it was definitely stuck.

Ah, well. Tyr let out a disappointed sigh, fluttering back to look out over the rest of the debris. If only there was some way to pick that one up and see what it was- wait! Magic, that was it! He'd been practicing this spell for a while- finally, he had a chance to use it! Squinting his eyes, he drew deep into the gem at his keel, taking in a deep breath through his beak before reaching forward with his wings. He didn't need to do the physical action, but- it helped him get into the mindset.

Thankfully, it worked. Holding his breath, the dirt about the pole crumbled as it shuddered and rose, wrenching itself free from its confines. Pride swelled in Tyr- HE did this! Lost in his excitement, his eyes shut and the connection faded, Tyr not realizing until a sharp clatter brought him out of his celebration. In an instant, Tyr's feathers poofed up. The little bird bolted into action. Who was there- what was that? A few frantic glances around revealed it was just him- the pole, now fully freed from the dirt, had fell onto a minorly bent (and now dented) piece of rusted iron.

Well, at least there wasn't anybody around to witness that.

@Nameless

The room of bones was vaguely familiar to her and that gave her a bit of comfort from the feeling of being utterly lost that she'd suffered from right after hatching from her gemstone again. Still, the goose found herself drifting back towards that tunnel occasionally, as if it held answers for the many questions she had in her head - who was she before? Where had she come from? Why had she been in that tunnel and why had she forgotten everything?

Although some of those questions could be answered if she had, indeed, been there for a while. She had simply been the same person before and she'd forgotten it through the many cycles. There were a whole host of reasons for why she'd been there, but she wasn't in a hurry to find them out. The answers would come to her eventually. For now, she'd just live.

She stopped herself, then, from walking any close to the tunnel. She didn't have any reason to go back. She should turn away and explore some more, find other places that held familiarity to her - perhaps Polaris or Orion - and rediscover them again. She nodded and turned, to waddle off to a different cave when a loud crash stopped her in her tracks. Without hesitation, she turned and sprinted into the tunnel holding on tight to the woven basket she held in her bill.

She came upon a smaller bird, looking around frantically, with a large pole resting in the ground. She set the basket down carefully before approaching, but she slowed quickly when she didn't spot any danger. She blinked with confusion and ruffled her feathers. "Hey, are you okay? I heard a loud noise and came running. What happened?"

@Tyr

Well- Someone wasn't around to witness it visually, but audibly, Tyr was out of luck. Grumbling, he shook his body and patted down loose feathers that had become frazzled in the surprise. Blech. Everything's fine- it's fine.

He nearly missed the approaching avian if it weren't for the sheer speed she approached with. Startled, Tyr hopped back, wings drawn tight to his sides as he raised his head. "Oh- uh-" His brain defaulted, eyes going wide as he nearly stumbled over the very object he'd uncovered. "No, yeah, I'm fine!" came the quick chirp. He found his footing fast, a wing flaring out to point to the object (pole? he wasn't sure what it was- it had some sort of pointy end on it). "It was just the metal- it could've fallen on me, though, so thanks for checking." He cleared his throat, retreating the limb to brush over the stray feathers by his gem.

"I'll be honest, I don't what it is- was," he spoke. "It dropped when I pulled it out to look at it." A simple birdlike shrug rolled his folded wings against his sides. His eyes were still on the metal until he finally glanced up to address whoever'd come running with curiousity, not having gotten a good look at her before explaining himself.

His full interest dove right onto her. Forget the pole- she was so... Devoid of color! His tail feathers flared as he hopped forward, energy surging through his muscles as he reached forward the other wing to her, offering up his wrist for... Well, he wasn't sure why, but the motion felt right. "Ah, I'm Tyr; it's a pleasure to meet you! I hope I didn't interrupt anything?" It hadn't hit him that he would've felt some embarrassment from all that. Everything was washed away by her just pure brilliance in feathers- it took all he had not to just reach forward and run his talons all over them. But, that'd be rude, so. Introductions first.

@Nameless

The goose sighed with relief when the small bird announced that everything was okay. A quick check over the situation confirmed that everything was, in fact, alright for the moment. He didn't look hurt, just a little ruffled. She supposed that she startled him a little bit by approaching too quickly. Whoops.

Her eyes followed his wing and she turned her neck, peering down at it curiously. A metal stick? She stuck out a foot and poked the side, turning it over. It was too big for her to pick up comfortable - perhaps bigger creatures would have an easier time but she couldn't discern its use from a glance. She looked between it and the little bird and was also glad she'd rushed into help. It was big enough to do serious damage if it had, in fact, fallen on him. "Of course," she offered, gently. "I'm glad you're not hurt." And she really was. She didn't know, to be honest, what she would have done if he had been hurt. She didn't know how to heal.

She glanced back down at the pole and a muffled honk rose in her throat. "Perhaps it is some sort of tool, to be used by bigger creatures. But what it would have been used as a tool for, I have no idea. I can't recall ever seeing a creature that would be able to use it properly." Then again, she couldn't remember anyone at all, so this statement meant almost nothing.

She looked down at bird as he extended a wing and stared at it with confusion. Did he expect something from her? Did he want the pole? But she didn't see how he'd be able to pick it up with his wing. What a curious gesture, but she forgot about it for now in favor of a small smile. "It's very nice to meet you as well, Tyr. That's a nice name! And don't worry, I was only wandering when I heard the crash."

@Tyr

Another shrug ran over Tyr's shoulders at the wonder of the tool. "I'd think so, yes! Though, a tool for what..." He could only shake his head, finding himself in agreeance with this avian's ponderings. "Neither have I, really. I couldn't barely magic it out- maybe it was held that way?" It was a start.

Though, at the- wing shake? That must be what he was trying to do. He thought he gave up on that idea a while back. Wordlessly, he pulled the wrist back to his side, watching the goose with enthusiasm as he received the compliment. If only his beak could grin! "Well, thank you, and thank you for coming, indeed! It's not often I get to talk to others."

Great, now he just sounded lonely. That's not what he wanted. Clearing his mind, Tyr hopped back (and away from his fixation on her feathers) to turn his attention back to the pile of objects strewn about, glancing over the other dirt-covered items and debris. "You don't happen to know anything about this, do you?" A wing billowed out to gesture to their surroundings. True; not a lot knew much of anything, but the history behind it all just seemed so fascinating to the little scrub jay. Who knew what others didn't!

@Nameless

The goose nodded, but she wasn't quite as interested in the tool as the bird. She could not lift it or use it, so it really wasn't of importance to her. It looks like it had been lying here for quite some time, so unless she wanted the knowledge of the ancient past (which she did not (unless Oliver was right and she was from the ancient past)) then it didn't concern her.

She inspected it a bit more, however, but her head whipped up with surprise as he spoke of using magic to get it out of the ground. It hadn't occurred to her a moment ago that that there needed to be a way for this tiny bird to get the huge pole out of the ground, but if it could be done with magic, it made a lot more sense! "Oh, you know how to use magic? That's amazing!" She beamed. Magic really was amazing, wasn't it! She could conjure bananas like Oliver, sure, but she could never imagine herself being able to lift things without touching them.

A small, good-natured chuckled burst through her bill. "Your welcome. It's nice to talk to someone too. Sometimes wandering aimlessly gets a little boring, you know?" Well, it wasn't really aimless, but she'd certainly be wandering, as if a clue what to do next would pop up in front of her. She pushed away the emptiness that was begging to be noticed, however, in favor of inspecting the nearest pile, using her bill to flip items over or shift them around. "I'm afraid I don't. I'm not sure what they're here for, but it reminds me a little bit of all the stuff in the tunnel that leads to Monoceros."

@Tyr

Tyr watched for her reaction to the pole carefully, eyes shining with interested before the sudden interest in him. A surprised squawk overtook him- though, with her excitement, it was hard for him to not catch it along with it. "Oh- yeah! I don't know too much, but I'm learning." Shoot, was his tail wagging? He hadn't done that before!

Though, at wandering... "Yeah," Tyr chirped, glancing up with a wing to his beak. His tail continued on behind him ever so slightly as he turned his head this way and that to study the being in front of him. "It can, yeah..." His voice held the thinnest lace of dejection in it.

"Hey, though, no problem about not knowing!" With one wing remaining at the chin of his beak, his other flared out to talk with in an expressive movement. "I haven't seen any-"

Wait. Hold the phone. Was that a NAME? Standing nearly on his tiptoes, Tyr's voice raised ever so slightly in volume, his energy slamming right back into him. "Monoceros? Woah, hold up- where's that?" There were already so many tunnels around; he'd definitely have to find this tunnel at his next outing!

@Nameless

The goose nodded enthusiastically. "Still, that's really cool! Is it hard picking things up with your mind? Do you have to concentrate really hard?" It was hard enough making bananas, she couldn't even imagine actually picking something up, especially something as relatively big as the pole! She almost laughed at how expressive the little bird was, though, with a fluttering tail and a wing opening and gesturing wildly. He liked talking and he liked being complimented, it seemed. It was making him happy and that was enough for her.

She was a little startled, though, when he went from mellowing slightly to suddenly bursting at the seams again. Her eyes widened and her head raise a little as he almost exploded with excitement at the mention of Monoceros. "Oh, it's, uh, it's a pretty small cave that leads off from Orion. If you...go back to Orion from Canis, turn right and follow the wall, you'll find the tunnel eventually. It's windy and dry and not a lot of people live there I think, but the tunnel leading to it is filled with junk."

@Tyr

The little bird's eyes went wide as he absorbed the directions to this so-called Monoceros. Orion, Canis- was this Canis? It must be, the way the phrasing was... Hm! Windy and dry... Was there enough life to sustain a lot of people living there? Perhaps not? But he'd definitely have to check it out! He nodded softly to himself as he updated his mental map. Right. Monoceros tunnel, has a lot of this metal stuff around it.

As for his magic- "Hm, it can be!" He chirped, a wing coming up to his beak in thought. "I gotta look at it hard enough and sort of.. Reach out, and it lifts up?" Another shrug rolled across his shoulders. "I.. Oh! I can show you an example? Do.. You know how to do magic? Maybe I can teach you!" Happy chirps rang out of Tyr's beak as he hopped back, tail raised as he watched the goose. She was so fun to talk to; so curious! She reminded him of, well, him. That is, if he were a lot more calmer.

@Nameless

Her eyes widened as she tried to imagine what it was like using magic. She didn't really feel like she'd "reached out" to anything when she'd made a banana for Oliver, only wished that it would appear - a tug at the back of her head and suddenly, it was there in front of her. She nodded enthusiastically at his offer, however. "Oh, yes, I would like to see!" She had no idea what kind of magic existed in the caves and she found herself wanting to see more of it. Perhaps there were powers that could make the sand move, or rattle the rocks beneath their feet. Oh, what about creating light or images in the air? That would be amazing!

"I can do bits of magic, I think," she replied, thoughtfully. In truth, she didn't know what kind of magic she could do, besides make bananas of course, but it was something, at least! She leaned over and touched the ground with her bill, wishing in the way she had wished before, and a sparkling bunch of bananas popped into existence before her eyes. As plump and healthy and wonderful as the ones Oliver had made for her. She let out a small, delightful honk. "That's what I can do with magic. It's not as impressive as making things move, but it's still useful."

@Tyr

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