ORIGIN - (Shengxiao) Dragons In Their Ivory Towers

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Alrik had dawdled back to this room to stay for a while after his adventure. He hadn't really wanted to leave again after he'd returned. Perhaps he was growing kind of fond of it.

Alrik was too small to be able to explore this place fully, and while that bothered him, it also fueled his determination to try with all his might to discover as much as he could. Fortunately for the little kitten, the thing which he was about to stumble upon didn't take keen observance to see.

Very quickly he stumbled upon it; beside a hole in the wall that seemed to lead somewhere new, which was already in and of itself exciting, a giant column loomed, covered in what Alrik supposed could be called "crystals" (although it was better to call them crocks). It was old, who even knew how old, possibly a bona-fide aeonian, but probably not because it didn't look like it had crumbled to smithereens yet. Not that Alrik cared. The only thing Alrik cared about once he spotted it was that it was epic and he wanted to climb it.

Most might look for a kind of entrance and maybe a convenient elevation-device if their goal was to ascend a tower, but not Alrik. No, Alrik wanted a show of force, of extraordinary power! He'd seen someone jump onto the wall of one of these caves, and that creature had likely only possessed about three quarters of the levels of awesomeness Alrik had!

Trying to psyche himself up for what he was about to do, the kitten attempted to use an ability they'd only passively become aware of, to make themselves feel healthier. Feeling healthier always felt good, and feeling good brought confidence, and when one lacked the wings to carry them, confidence was a necessary substitute! And it worked! It didn't really do much at all but make Alrik feel physically better, but that was enough!

With a running start, Alrik tried to jump onto the side of the tower, arms outstretched, with a wild meowl! And... he didn't make it that far. At best, he conked in head and fell to the ground on his bum.

Ouch...

@Shengxiao

He had been out for a stroll, really just looking for shiny things to drag home, being immediately drawn toward the massive tower because crystals = shiny! he had carefuly crawled and twisted over to the area, the crystals immediately making him grin as he marched forward, treasures and chains danging from his horns with small clinks and twinkles as he moved.

as his hand reached out to touch and examine one of them, the meowl and the loud THUMP from the other side of it immediately had him startled away from it. he padded around the corner, tilting his head at the small pallas kitten.

"aye, what are ya doin on the floor, mate?" he chirped

@Alrik

'Aye, what are ya doin on the floor, mate?' a voice popped into Alrik's mind. Who... who was that? Was that his inner conscience? It didn't sound like his inner conscience. If his inner conscience had to ask questions in a voice like that, no way was it Alrik's inner conscience. Honestly, what even was an inner conscience? Was it necessary to have one of those???

Anyways, the child gave a pained mew and tried to roll his eyes around to see if he could spot whoever was talking without having to get up. He didn't want to get up because it hurt. His head was pounding with rage against his brain for being a fool, but Alrik didn't want to listen to his body. His body could deal with it because that plan was great and it should've been fine, it just hadn't been. For no particular reason.

"Hurty... Alrik groaned, not finding the source of the voice yet. He felt like that would explain the situation as much as was necessary.

@Shengxiao

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He looked at the kit, flicking an ear "oh, did ya fall from it? that wasn't a very smart idea, couldve used the stairs!" he beeped, not really intending to make fun of him, just pointing it out. "you need help up, laddy? mighty fall like that for a kitten like you" he asked, tail swishing.

he put down his collection for a moment to pad into the kitten's line of sight, tilting his head, whiskers twitching. "ouhf, you dont look so good, laddy!" he said

The owner of the voice had begun to... to tell Alrik about how not smart his idea was!! WHAT?! The audacity! The gall! The list of other words Alrik didn't yet know the meaning of but would've absolutely felt in this moment!

Now feeling a rush of offense pulse through him, the pallas' cat got up on his paws (with a bit of struggle which he stubbornly refused to acknowledge), and stared in the direction of the voice's source, trying to give it the poutiest face he could muster. "It was smart!" Alrik said defensively. "Don' need help! Alrik 's smart!!" insisted the child.

Not noticing the (very rude) creature's collection, and not feeling great about its comments on his performance, Alrik elected to maintain what little obstinate composure he had left. " 'm GOOD!" he blurted out, directly contradicting his previous statement. Giving the intruder as much stink with his eye as was stored in the stone at the beginning of his tail, Alrik waited to see how it would react to his contrarian whining.

His head was still kind of really hurting though...

@Shengxiao

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He kinda just looked at the kit for a moment. "aye, okay! what were ye even doing? if it was as smart 'n idea as y'were sayin', i might want to try it out myself!" he honked, smiling now, completely oblivious to whatever this child was trying to do. "i've never climbed the thing myself, looks like a mighty challenge if im honest, but your 'falling until ya eventually stick' method sounds like a solid one to me!" he barked.

he looked up at the tower, eyes glimmering at the crystals again before lookin back to alrik "say, whats yer name? alrik? was it alrik? could barely hear ya matey, yer voice sounded a lil funny!" he hissed, possibly referring to his whining

The creature seemed to back off and admit that Alrik's ideology on this sounded worth trying out, which made Alrik satisfied enough to calm down. He felt triumphant, even. "Wa' goin' up da thingy!" Alrik gestured to the tower, now looking very proud and self-assured. "Yes!" Alrik 'barked' back at his fellow's validation of his 'method', whatever that was.

Alrik's name was asked for again, because apparently his voice had sounded a lil' 'funny'-- wait what? Alrik hadn't been trying to be funny! His voice should've sounded... I dunno, scary and wrathful and stuff! Not funny! Well, it was alright, Alrik supposed. Now that this being had admitted its faulty judgement, Alrik could forgive it... maybe this once. "Alrik," he declared. He had been forming the name in his mind for a while now. Sometimes he didn't want to be called that, but this wasn't one of those times, so it was okay.

He then looked at the creature with an expectant gaze, less wanting its name and more wanting it to help him climb the tower if it was so inclined, but honestly the look could be interpreted either way.

@Shengxiao

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He grinned "nice to meet ya, alrik me boy! the names shengxiao, but call me sheng!" he beeped. "i can help ya get up there, matey, if you want me to, 'v got experience with scalin' large wall's to get to stuffs!" he honked, stretching out his back legs, practically prancing in place "so, where did ya jump off again?" he asked, looking around

The creature said its name. Huh. It was far less indecisive than Shane Go had been, it seemed. "Shen...s-ow." That name was hard. Alrik did not understand those sounds, or how to make them. It did sound cool though. Alrik was actually starting to like this... Shen-s-ow person. And it wanted to help!!

Apparently, Shane Go wasn't the only one that could jump onto walls-- at least, that's what Alrik inferred from what Shen... something had said. That was good! Maybe one day, Alrik would be able to do that too, and then he could show everyone he met! That would be impressive! Then Shen, who seemed excited, asked Alrik where he'd jumped off from. Alrik mirrored Shen's enthusiasm by bouncing a little on his own paws and said "Here!" And he glanced down at the ground beneath his paws.

And then he didn't move from where he was standing.

@Shengxiao

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He smiled "okay! we jump from here then!" he beeped happily, going along with this plan 100% with no questions asked other than for instructions. "ya want t' ride on me back, lad? that way we can both get up at the same time" he hissed. he wasnt super tall, but he was definitely a lil long, and he himself trusted that climbing would be less an issue both with a superb headstart with the jumping and the fact he could probably scale it faster too.

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