ORIGIN

The Titanite considered.

"Family... I have... family. I do not... see them, often." It was said in a slow rumble. Titanite had met its sibling exactly once--and that had been to be pitted in a fight against it by their parent, an Overseer. There was no warmth, there, though perhaps Titanite might have had it otherwise, if it could; no social interaction whatsoever. Simply orders, and tests, from time to time.

Did it want a-... friend, then? He felt as though his light should flicker back up, at all of this, but it remained dark.

Hmm.

"I will be... your friend, yes. We will be... friends," it decided, at length, voice wheezing this out only gradually, as if still mulling the concept over. After a pause, perhaps for more thought, the tree-beast continued. "You say... that friends do... things together. What... things... do we do?"

Concepts such as "adventure" were foreign to it. It had remained where it had been placed--here in Eridanus--simply enjoying the forest and awaiting instruction; it had never really taken initiative, or had it suggested to it in the past.

But it felt that this could be... interesting.

@James

"Er... I don't know,", James said, and rolled back over, "Things! Friends do things. Like... playing? They play and have adventures and talk and... um... Hm. I don't know much else."

He stood up and shook himself out with a soft grunt, and flicked his tail out before looking around for something to do, "Ah... how about something fun? Like... a race!!"

James knew in his blood that he was built for speed. To run and race, his legs pounding on the dirt, the wind blowing his mane around. He grinned and turned around, and butted Titanite with his head, "Yes, a race. It's where you run as fast as you can from one point to another, and whoever gets there first wins. You're big, so I can bet that if you get moving, you're fast!"

He backed up a bit, drawing a line, and pointed at it with a hoof, "We can start here! There's a stream down that trail, and that will be our finish line, where we run to. Whoever gets there first... hm. The winner gets a title! Like... Windmane..."

James mulled it over and shook his head, "We can pick the name if we win. Okay?"

@Titanite

"Play..? Race... A... test?" Titanite hazarded.

It hauled itself up, pushing upright. It knew that it was fast if it wanted to be, on all fours; its gradual snail-like movement was mostly a matter of attitude. But it was still making a few assumptions.

Titanite lifted one hand, concentrating for a moment--and a few of the vines lifted, attempting to ensnare James' legs, just above the hooves. "I think... I will win..?" it suggested--but to its credit, it hesitated, not running off yet.

Somehow, despite how it'd been (briefly) taught, it felt that this was... not right, somehow. Sure, it didn't quite grasp that there were rules, and cheating; but this magic somehow felt like it wasn't in the spirit of James' challenge.

"This iss... right?" it asked, at length, uncertain.

@James

"Ah- er-", James stuttered, kicking off the vines quickly before he got too stuck, "We don't use magic in a race to try to stop each other- we run and we run as fast as we can and if we're fast enough, we win! But first, we line up behind the line, okay? And when I say, 'go', then we start!"

James got the will o' wisp to float above his head instead, giving him better visibility as he ran, ensuring he didn't trip over anything. He felt his heart pumping, adrenaline flowing in his veins.

He stood behind his drawn line and looked up, "Are you ready? Remember, don't use magic to stop be, just try to be faster, okay?"

James readied each of his feet, tail flicking in excitement, "Okay... GO!"

James bolted like a rocket, head held high before leveling out, hooves pounding against the dirt as he took off down the path. He leaped over logs and rocks, the obstacles barely hindering his speed, and he let lose a joyous laugh as he kept running, so fast he felt like he could fly.

@Titanite

Titanite waited, listening to James' explanation as the foal kicked free his hooves. He then looked ahead, peering at the line, and then toward the distant gurgle of the stream.

Okay, then... run? He could--run, he supposed.

"All right," he rasped, slowly, uncertain. It seemed a little too like a test, to him; he wasn't quite sure what the point of it was. But when the foal cried "Go!" and bolted, he did so obediently.

He was larger, of course, and he was swift, though somewhat hampered by the undergrowth, given his greater size. He also wasn't sure why James was... laughing. Titanite did not find much to be funny about running, but he mentally shrugged it off and powered forward.

Other adults might have let the child win deliberately, but Titanite was oblivious. To him this was a test--he wasn't quite sure why--and he performed as best he could.

His leaps and bounds were longer, higher, but he had to pause now and then to pull loose from the vines, or slow down to shove through a gap in the growth that let James through more easily than he.

@James

James stopped laughing as he heard Titanite catching up, and grinned, before picking up speed. He ducked under a log and took off into a clearing, the stream in his sight.

The foal's chest was pumping, heart beating, legs carrying him faster and faster towards the sound of the stream. Everything went quiet...

One last leap... and he'd cross the finish line.

(After roll.)

His hooves landed and he bolted across the stream, his legs numb as he struggled to slow down, stumbling all over himself before tripping and falling, tumbling across the ground. He lifted his head, panting hard, and turned, eyes wide.

"... Wow,", he said with a grin, "Wow- that was- that was awesome!! I've never gone that fast before- I wasn't even scared!"

James jumped to his feet and stood there, slightly shaky, a huge smile on his face, "... That was awesome."

@Titanite

Titanite still did not grasp the appeal of all of this, but James seemed to be enjoying himself, at least. He crashed past a tree trunk, half bouncing off it, and arrived a few seconds later.

The tree-beast slowed to a halt, and then slowly turned back, plodding back into the stream and settling himself down, seeming almost to plant himself there. Ahh-... this was nice: earth, water, and light, all in one. The way the orb-light shafted down into the clearing was perfect for him.

He turned his attention to James.

"That was... a test. And testing is... play?" it hazarded. "James was created... for speed?"

It could feel its roots reaching down, the 'toes' of wood drinking in nourishment from below, the hosted plants pulling in energy from above. It lounged there, content--hoping Vargas wasn't lurking nearby to see it fail, but not sure what he was supposed to do about it, if he was.

@James

"Well... it's mostly for fun. We set rules and deem a winner or a loser... I don't think either of us won or lost, did we?", he asked, "Though... I'm biased as the winner. I won't take the title if you want. It wasn't serious. For fun! Fun is doing something for entertainment."

James paused as he watched Titanite plant himself, blinking in shock. He watched, enraptured, before sitting down beside the ent and flopping down against his side.

"I guess I am,", James agreed, "I love running... when I'm scared, I run. When I'm excited, I run... any excuse I can find to run, I'll take it."

The foal set his head down and curled up a bit, getting comfortable, "Do you want to do anything else? I'm a bit bored, but we don't have to do anything."

@Titanite

"For fun..."

Titanite mulled this over for awhile.

...Nope. He couldn't see it.

He looked down at the foal, and then down at the water around them, and considered. A slight shift parted the course of the stream around his taloned fingers and he watched the ripples. "For fun. I do not... understand, I think... I have run... to escape." A brief memory of Orthoclase-Alpha hurtling for him: he'd darted out of the way, then, swift as could be, but it wasn't a pace he tended to stick to. "Do... I do not know? I do not... do much. I listen... to the leaves. I watch--the light. The water... I taste the soil. The birds call. They sing..." A slow, rattling sound--an inhale, perhaps, or just a noise of thoughtfulness.

"I do not think... I have earned... any title." The Titanite wasn't sure how that worked, and anyway it was rather concerned at what the Overseer might think. It didn't think any titles would be valid unless Vargas himself bestowed them--and it didn't want to disappoint, or anger, its parent.

A thought struck it, and it peered down at James. "What do you do... when you do not... run? What... other things... are fun?"

@James

James sat up and listened carefully, brows furrowing, "... You..."

He went silent, and gently nosed the other, trying to provide some sort of comfort, "Well... we can play with my wisp."

He stood up and focused on it, watching it fall to the ground and bounce. He kicked it and managed to get it up into the air, and balanced it on his nose carefully, "We can play with this! Let's try and bounce it to each other. Just for fun, okay? Try not to let it touch the ground."

He bunched up and bounced it over to Titanite... only for it to fall short, falling to the ground.

"... Oops,", he mumbled, "Um, try and get it, and bounce it to me, not like how I did it."

He grinned sheepishly, a bit embarrassed.

@Titanite.