ORIGIN - Hard at work

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Erzu came into Canis to check on one of her deep tunnels she had made. She had been very brisk when making her tunnels. Each tunnel she had made were deep with multiple underground rooms, or spaces if you will. Currently she had underground homes in four of the rooms. These rooms were Polaris, Eridanus, Canis, and Orion. The aardvark had been working very hard to establish her underground homes. Plus, if she ever needed places to escape, these tunnels were it. Cetus was the only place she knew was not suitable for making tunnels. It was all muddy and watery, not to mention gross. Once she had checked out her tunnel, she exited it, finding a termite mound nearby. She started to dig it up, eating the termite delicacies and larvae inside. She ate happily and noisily, after all bugs were her favorite and only food.

@Lyra

Crouched in the corner of the room, staring blankly ahead, Lyra shivered. She couldn't get the memory out of her head of what had just happened. She couldn't get the taste of blood out of her mouth. The agate chrysalis was sitting next to her, almost traitorous in its innocence. She couldn't just leave it alone but...she knew she would have to leave soon.

Her nose twitched, more out of nerves then anything else, and she faintly caught a scent. Someone nearby? Someone approaching? Curiosity was one of her weaknesses. It was probably the reason she had collected a fair few scars over the cycles, but she couldn't help herself. And, besides, she couldn't just sit her and mope. She'd done what was necessary - if she stayed here, she'd go crazy.

Giving the gemstone one last touch with her muzzle, she stepped out, following the scent until she caught sight of a small creature digging through the ground. Eating? She tilted her head as she approached. "What are you doing?"

@Erzu

Erzu could hear someone's voice nearby, asking her what she was doing. She lifted her head from the mound for a moment to respond. "I am eating termites. I'm an aardvark, that's what we eat. Aardvarks eat ants, termites, and larvae. It makes up one-hundred percent of out diet. My name is Erzu. What's your name?" The aardvark would take up another slurp of termites with her tongue as she waited for the hybrid to speak. From the smell, it seemed this hybrid was a mix of three creatures. With her strong sense of smell, Erzu could tell a lot from a creature. "You look like a mix of a wolf, a peacock, and a snake. A cobra, maybe?" She also took clues from her appearance.

@Lyra

Termites? Lyra shivered. That was kinda gross. She didn't really like bugs at all - spiders and all that grossed her out a little bit. They were too small and they had too many legs. And she'd spent enough time in Eridanus to know that it wasn't pleasant when they started crawling all over you. But she wasn't rude, so instead of voicing this opinion, she instead offered, "Oh, that's pretty cool!"

Her tail swished behind her. "That's a nice name. I'm Lyra. Did someone name you too or did you just come up with it yourself?" She wasn't naive enough to know that everyone had parents - she was lucky to have such a loving family behind her, but most gembound just...emerged. Like that. It was kinda weird, honestly, and Lyra couldn't help but be curious about how that was possible, but, whatever.

Her eyes widened a bit. Dang, was this kid observant! "Oh, how did you know that?" She looked back at herself and realized...well, it wasn't exactly a secret. Her face was wolfish, she had scales, and her tail was literally just a peacock tail. But the cobra bit..."How did you know about the cobra part?"

@Erzu

Erzu could see that this hybrid had a very bright personality. Well, bright was good. "I already knew my name when I hatched. I like my name a lot. I hatched by myself. Nobody made me." When she asked how she knew of her species types, the answer was simple. "Well, that's another thing about aardvarks. We have an amazing sense of smell. We can pick up tons of things just from smell, even emotions. I could tell your species from scent." With that, she took up some more slurps termites from the mound. The creature seemed very pretty. She did not mind teaching Lyra about her species. Aardvarks were unique animals after all.

@Lyra

Lyra nodded, interested. Well, at least, she made herself interested. It was a good distraction, listening to someone else talk about themselves. A streak of self-consciousness pressed against her mind and she licked her lips, a lingering metallic taste still clutching to her taste buds. Her stomach turned at the thought, but she pushed it down. "It's a good name! My mother named me." She said it without thinking and even just saying the word made her insides seize up. And she only grew colder when Erzu said something about...smelling emotions?! That was...incredible was her first reaction. She had some of that ability as well, but only when it was really strong emotions - fear, for example. But that also meant that Erzu might be able to smell the lingering sense of horror and disgust that she just couldn't push away.

Quick! Steer the conversation away!

Desperately, her eyes moved with Erzu to stare at the mound she was eating from. "Can I try?" she blurted out suddenly. To be honest, she didn't really want to, but it was, well, a new experience. And no matter what, it would certainly be a good distraction.

@Erzu

Erzu's eyes widened at the Lyra's request. She could smell hints of horror and disgust coming off from the hybrid. Suddenly, the aardvark understood. Lyra wanted to try the termites as to not be rude. She decided not to mention it as to not make Lyra feel bad. "Sure. But be careful. They bite. They don't bother me at all because aardvarks have thick skin, so I can't even feel them. To my kind, they're very tasty. I don't know how they are to other species though." She backed off as the termites spilled and crawled all over the mound. Maybe this would be funny. A wolf hybrid eating insects? She would love to see this scenario.

@Lyra

Lyra stepped forward, legs feeling a little stiff. Aw shit, was she really doing this? Well, no turning back now. Plus, she was interested.

She leaned over the mound, sniffing curiously before sticking her tongue right into the ground. She felt something touch her tongue - a lot of somethings - and she yelped, quickly retracting it into her mouth, despite all of her instincts screaming at her to do otherwise. She swallowed, but it wasn't before she felt stinging sensations all over her tongue as the termites bit her. She flinched back, letting out a disgusted bark. "Ow!" She licked her lips to try and get rid of that sensation, swallowing over and over to wash down the disgusting taste.

She shook her head frantically. "Oh, oh man I'm not doing that again. You can have all the termites if you want." She coughed, spitting and constantly scratching at her tongue with her teeth. Yeah...she wasn't doing that again.

@Erzu

Erzu let out a chuckle as Lyra spit out the termites. Well, she warned her. She went back to the mound and slurped up more of the termites. They tasted so delicious. She took a break as to speak to Lyra again. "It's ok. All species have different tastes pertaining to their diet. Aardvarks like bugs, wolves like meat, horses like grass. All gembounds are different." Deciding she had enough termites, she decided to go check up on her other underground homes. She also wanted to look for honey ants. Those were the best. Before leaving, she gave Lyra a goodbye. "See you around Lyra. Nice to meet you." Erzu then walked off to look for honey ants and to check up on her other homes.

-Exit Erzu

@Lyra

Lyra nodded, still licking her teeth with her tongue to try and scratch at those painful bites. "Yeah, I know. I usually just eat whatever - not bugs, though." Eventually, she gave up and just swallowed again, cringing. "Yeah, mice taste better then this. And leaves. I like raspberries," she added as an afterthought, as if chasing conversation.

She looked up and blinked with surprise when Erzu all of a sudden just turned around and left. "Uh, yeah. See you." She watched the aardvark leave, a little concerned. Why would she leave in the middle of a conversation like that?

She turned in the opposite direction, quickly pushing the kid to the back of her mind. She needed something to eat. Quickly, before that taste drove her crazy. She could taste mouse on the air and strode forward, slowing down as she approached where the scent was coming from. She crouched and eyed the place until she saw a little brown body.

With a quick leap, she landed on top of it and dispatched it quickly, eating it down before the taste of blood brought back that memory again. But it worked - she couldn't taste the termites anymore, only the mouse.

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