ORIGIN - • —of meeting for a moment

Nothing was known of stars; yet gazing up provided profound wonderment. Dark eyes were filled with the glittering points of reference - flickering from far away. Curiosity settled thick at the back of throat and raised the hairs upon back in reverence. The toddling little beastie had never beheld such a sight; and for a moment was overwhelmed. (It was the first time that Morn had ever felt so small, lost and overshadowed by the ceiling that hung over head.) Fingers reached out as though to seize the points - as though she could capture the bright pinpricks and smuggle them close ...

Nose twitched. Pointed face followed, forcing eyes away from the constellation map that unfolded so above. Within chest, heart beat fast - one, two. No terminus was known. Destination was an abstract concept, for she only had the urge to keep moving. There was much to be seen. Amongst the quartz that daggered upwards from below, she wound; gait unbreaking. Hands smoothed along as quietly, Morn walked through Orion with a quizzical sort of fixation. To where? For why? Keep moving, her mind demanded - for it seemed there was much to be seen yet in this life.

Claws curled around a piece of quartz and experimentally hefted it. The smooth facets were appreciated; texture, size. Then, she moved on to another ... then another. Arranging them from smallest to largest piece. As though to inspect every piece that could be seized. (She had done much similar in the Maw of Mosses.) Head raised periodically to espy the stars.

@GLAIVE

Glaive knew no more about stars than a certain little beastie. She hadn't been fortunate enough to have her mind filled with fantasies of vast skies and an untouchable horizon, to hear such stories; the only hint was the Kings' words and their mentioning of distant planets and galaxies - both incomprehensibly large things. How was she supposed to know that there was the possibility of more than one nest... ? Beings from other worlds?

That was all beyond her: a fisher-dragon intent on living her own best life. Presently, that entailed scouring the vault for any hidden treasures - with an equal amount of hyperfixation as the marsupial she was gravitating towards.

Her senses had worked just swell so far, but abruptly fizzled into unsustainability at her next cast. Each marker on her interface glowed white-hot, exploding outward with a lancing pain. The whelp cried harshly, baby blues screwing shut for a moment. Bolts shot through her conscious. She paused a few meters off, head tilting down. Somehow, the motion managed to allow the pain to coalesce as pressure at the forefront of her skull, directly between her eyes. If she could reach up there, Glaive would've massaged the spot.

Yet... she could distract herself and bounce back in the way that most children were wont to do. The curtains peeled back, and her eyes fixed on the aberration in Orion's landscape. A monochromatic smear in an otherwise dazzling-blue world. Trundling towards them, about nine feet tall at the top of her sail, Glaive chirruped in quiet greeting, "hey - hey, oh, are those gems?" Immediately distracted (and enthralled) by the organized line of quartz, she tapped a quiet rhythm on the ground. "Did you find those here? They're really cool... - are you a rat?"

@Morn

A mighty tremble in the incomplete dark; the air seemed to shudder. With pointed nose aimed down upon the ponderous task before her, Morn might scarcely have noticed this detectable change in atmosphere if not for the shadow that crawled out to reach her. Something loomed. Hair prickled on nape, raising upon end as head turned. Little dark eyes looked up to espy the great wondrous creature that had joined her there. Fingers were poised over the shards of quartz, pausing from their organization to consider. Oh, this gembound was greatly tall. Sharp in edges! Toothy in mouth.

Questions! Morn (at first) only chattered a hastily reply; a pleased garbling of hissing noise at the notice that had been taken to the gems that she had arranged. Then, the opossum turned to regard the other creature with curiosity unveiled. How strange, how great! "All around here," Morn answered, voice low and quiet - a mere squeak unto the void of the surroundings. Fingers gestured to the pinnacles of quartz that hung about them. "Gathering." Clever fingers stretched before again regarding the other with wonderment.

"Rat? Maybe." Morn did not well know what she could be; trash cat, trash rat, garbage monger, guttersnipe? Step was taken experimentally toward the towering figure of tooth and claw. "Are you a rat?" The question mirrored, although the beastie could assume that this mightily looming shadow was indeed - not - a rat. Better safe to ask.

Fingers seized a chunk of quartz and hefted it - reaching to offer it to the other gembound to likewise inspect. An olive branch, perhaps - or just wishing to have another set of eyes behold the way it captured those stars. (An adit, then?)

@GLAIVE