ORIGIN

Each time he ventured further and further from the Core, some part of him feared that he wouldn't find his way back again. But he attributed that to Rohan's careful nature, something that very easily rubbed off on the ever impressionable child. He would remind himself that Rohan was the careful one, and Leon didn't have to worry because Rohan would find him again. He was sure of it. Eventually, he summed up the courage to sneak away from the Core and investigate one of the closer rooms. It was accompanied by the ever present sound of falling water. From a distance, it was a low tinkling against the silent rocks. It was the sound of movement and activity, drawing his attention. And it got louder, and louder, until he had entered the room and all around him he could see falling water. Even the air felt thick like water.

He shuddered, fighting back the chill. Leon considered trying to summon the heat to his paws to warm himself, but second guessed himself. Maybe if he just moved more he would warm up. Maybe if he distracted himself, too, he wouldn't notice it too much. The bear liked that idea. He delved into his memories and dredged up whatever he could remember enjoying, and found his voice in a low hum. A song, lacking harmony or beat, was birthed from his childish voice. It was wordless, but soon nonsensical lyrics began to accompany the song, and he began to idly sing about whatever came to mind as he walked.

Leon was content to think of himself as alone while he explored, until the sound of a loud crack had stopped him in his tracks. The bear froze rigid and narrowed his eyes, turning his ears to try and pinpoint its location. Ears were hardly as useful as his nose, though. So he shoved his nose up and breathed in the brisk, thick air. It was filled with the scent of plants and wet rock, but also something more. Something fresh. The bear loped after the smell until it led him to a newly emerged child laying vulnerable among the mosses. "Hey!" He called eagerly, and ever so curiously. "Hey, are you awake? Can you talk? Did you just come out?" Leon went a mile a minute, loudly thumping his way over to the babe.

hey. a single sound, loud and cacophonous. it told him to lift his head, to roll his weight. it told him, to move. the shuffle-stagger-lumber-approach sounds grew louder, as the thing's voice reached for him again. the flesh between his jaws seemed tangled, the tongue lazy and unsure how to move, how to offer these things back. he'd try, a strangled sound jumbled. an ill choir of bent syllables.

"oww" and he'd frown, bewildered at the work behind the mimicry. he'd try again, propping himself up to rest on his forelimbs. "owwt!" half-bray, half-yodel. it is a sound borne from innate fear of this unknown smell, unknown scent. the suspicious musk filled his lungs, throttling his heart and urging a feeling of.. what, what is this? fear? in his mind, there was nothing there to give it a name. nothing, previously lent to such ideas. but deep down inside, he gathered this much: it was different, and different did not always mean good.

while these were cast adrift in the recesses of his mind, there would be no articulation. his limbs had not yet found the instinct to lift his weight. the gembound colt instead rocked forward, and then back: not yet realizing how the four appendages needed to work, needed to lift. stuck: trapped by his immature processes of thought, he'd rock. his knees pressed into the moss, yet not enough to maneuver his hoofs from beneath him. in the darkness, he'd blink once more: seeking the face of the strange-different from the bleakness of Pisces's hall. he knew he needed to rise, then. an instinct for flight had began to take hold.

the word seemed to become focused, clear. giant black lettering on a bright white screen: "out!" he'd call again, panic finding footing in the colt's deep voice. a command, to himself more than the strange-different, the one who called himself: leon.

When he got closer, he saw the child shift slightly and emit an incomprehensible bleat. It caused Leon to slow, coming to a halt still some distance away from the colt. He slowly inched forward another foot or so, but allowed about five or six feet between them. He hadn't seen a creature that looked like this yet. Its anatomy was entirely different, although looking at it closer, he felt it somewhat resembled... Tamelyn. Yes! It looked like his friend Tamelyn, the deer. It looked like the big deer too, but Leon had yet to make the connection that Tamelyn and the big deer were the same thing. The babe continued to cry out, and Leon found himself amused at its inability to speak. He broke into a laugh, giggling at the horse.

Until it had finally managed to speak a word that he knew. Out. Leon's laughter died down, and the bear frowned slightly. He looked around, unable to see anybody else. So, what did the child mean by that? Out? Did he want to go out? Did he want Leon to leave? Suddenly, the bear felt a little self conscious. Did the colt want him to get out of the room? "Uhh... do you want me to go away or something?" He furrowed his brow, feeling a little hurt having to ask the question. It was more than likely a matter of his own misinterpretation, but Leon wasn't smart enough to consider that.

laughter was something strange. the bear-boy's noise was a chortle, and it intrigued him. it took ecthelon far more than a second to realize what it meant. leon was laughing at him! while the concept wasn't that heart to grasp, it did seem odd he felt embarrassed by this sound directed at him. it was not the warmth before, it was not helpful. or was it? perhaps he needed to try, and try he did. the laugh boomed from his mouth. echoing back to the bear-boy. was that communicating? it must be.

he spoke more words, the question not yet taking hold. but, there was something to be said about this trying thing. and with a lopsided smile, and the tilt of his head, the stolid little colt gave it another shot. "soooome?" go away. now that sounded like something he should know. and with the furrow of his brow he'd tried it silently, in his mind. truth be told, he didn't know what he wanted. to be frank, what did he know?

you could call him jon snow: he knew nothing.

his heart continued to flutter, incapable of true, placid relief despite this new game. he needed be up. he needed to, well "go?" he needed to stand. from beneath him, the rocking seemed to dislodge his legs from beneath the rest of his body. yes, this was good he found. and with the poor strange-different watching him (and his own flavour of self-consciousness still rooted in mind), he'd try to stand. and probably flee. flight wasn't exactly the goal, but it seemed to be the way his legs decided to go. beneath them, and unsteady as a newborn calf, they'd prodded the moss, propelling him forward at a pace they really shouldn't have. but he thought he was doing well, and so happily, he'd chirp it once more. "gooooo!" ungraceful, i believe that's the word we're looking for here.

this was all making for a very less-than-elegant first day in origin cave, wasn't it?

as one might expect, after a few strides, he'd pitch forward. his hoof seemed to catch itself against a renegade (rock, stick? who know's. he's a baby, and let's see you do this well seconds after birth!) something, and sent him soaring.

back in the dirt (moss), the gembound had one clear thought: he wanted back into that chrysalis.

Or maybe, the little colt was just trying to mimic what Leon was saying. The bear straightened up slightly and curled his ears towards him, trying to listen, to understand what the colt was trying to say. His words were drawn out and experimental, but he could recognize elements of what he himself had said before. As he managed to speak, sooooome, Leon's grin returned. His paws clapped together again with amusement, realizing that yes, the child was probably only trying to say what Leon had been saying earlier. It was classic baby behavior, something that Leon was now coming to realize. The baby spoke again and this time, Leon tilted his head and giggled. "Where do you wanna go?" He asked, wondering if maybe he could help the younger one.

Of course, Leon's ability to help him extended only so far as the babe's inabilities. When he suddenly rose to wobbly legs, Leon stopped clapping and giggling, surprised at his quick development. Then, without warning, the colt bolted away. "Wh-wait!" Leon scrambled onto his paws and chased after the horse, who sang his success with a cheerful Gooooooo! Leon wasn't sure how far he'd be able to go but he didn't want to risk letting the horse run away and get himself into trouble. Then again, the only trouble Leon had encountered so far was totally self-inflicted. Maybe the colt would be okay.

Then he tripped, stumbled, and fell down.

Leon squeaked his concern and quickened his clumsy jog until he reached the horse again, coming up behind him then around to face the babe. "Oh no! You have to be careful! You can't just go running around like that when you don't know how to use your legs!" He scolded, frowning at the little pony. Without a second thought (or consideration for the younger one, really), Leon rose to his hind legs and shuffled towards the child, trying to wrap his arms around the colt's torso and stand him up again.

now, this was a confusing matter. laying in the moss, his options were presented. he could try and stand again, and continue to attempt this whole "go" matter. it seemed like the safer option to remain where he was. maybe if he'd pretended hard enough the stone would wall around him once more, coddle him in it's rocky embrace. something told him that was unlikely. very unlikely. it wouldn't matter, in any case. soon enough leon was on his feet and wide-eyed ecthelon (wait, was that what he was called?) watched. watched, and then soon felt the strength of the bear's arms envelop his torso. he'd squealed, feeling the weight against his tender middle.

of course, was he in for the surprise of his life when the bear began to lift.

"wh-whoah!" and it's not that he'd meant to do it on purpose, but as the bear-thing helped him to his feet, they seemed to flail. uncoordinated, and fidgety. much like one could imagine a toddler would do. well, in a manner of speaking: i suppose he was one. the sight it must have made, the gangly colt flailing with his forelimbs, but with his hinds having found the footing, it must not have made for a great fit. in ecthelon's mind, it seemed ill-suited. but, if the bear could do it, certainly that must mean he was intended to stand like that also.

"n-n-no-no." the stammer was quick, already feeling gravity lean him towards a second tumble.

ooc: you can ignore the attempt, not sure why i clicked that xD

Despite all his best efforts, it seemed the bear still wasn't coordinated enough to help the pony stand up, and nor was the pony enough to continue standing with Leon's help. Eventually he lost his grip on the youth again, causing him to tumble back and land on his rump with an "Oof!" Leon shook his head, gathered his bearings and clambered back onto his paws. "Its okay! I'm going to teach you how to stand up! Even with your big long wobbly legs. You can do it!" He encouraged the colt and lumbered back over the babe, standing next to him. This was going to be a very important lesson. It was absolutely critical - how else was the colt supposed to move and get around anywhere if he couldn't even stand?

Leon sucked in a breath and tightened his lips, extending all four legs so that he stood as tall as he could. The rigidness of his legs were what was important. With wobbly spaghetti legs, the pony would have no hopes of ever standing. "Okay! Make your legs tough and strong. Stand like this. Don't fall over! If you feel like you're gonna fall over, move your legs so that you don't. Its really easy. But you gotta focus." He instructed, and looked back at his own legs. Yep, they looked pretty sturdy alright. Leon looked back to the colt, furrowing his brow slightly. He had weird legs. But Leon was confident. He was a pretty good teacher, he thought.