ORIGIN

In the center of Orion, beneath the motionless cascade of false stars, stood a gray horse. Dappled, scarred, one haunch still marred by dried blood, this horse was staring upward as best he could.

He had never been to Orion, before. He had gotten Vee from Hydra, and they would explore. She was... somewhere, close by, and he was glad for it.

Warrior had never really left Hydra--not once in his entire life. And it had been a good life, for the most part, despite edging several times right on the verge of death. But each time the others entered his home, it became a hellhole, a nightmare, and this last one was going to haunt him. All the way through Hydra he'd been deeply upset, alternating sobs and rage, so that he'd had to hide for a few hours and rest before even finding Vee. Now that they'd left he was, for the first time since the Trial, at peace: forgetting the horrors for just a few moments in favor of staring up at the glitter of quartz starlight.

Gatto had been right. It was awe-inspiring to see, and his eyes were wide as he looked it all over. He'd never pictured anything like this. It was cool, dim, and beautiful--without being so dark as to be frightening; and the change was spectacular. Sudden hunger rose in him: a wanderlust, a desire to see more. The forests, the waterfalls--everything that Gatto had laid out.

The cave of bones had been a worry of its own; Warrior had feared that it held portents for the rest of the caves, and he was glad that he was wrong.

The stallion turned again, still staring 'sky'ward, black half-horn glinting in the light--enraptured with Orion.

Warrior turned at the sound of beating wings, taking a moment to blankly identify the creature hopping toward him. He didn't expect it to hit him, and he was in the process of stepping back swiftly when it did; phosphorescent eyes blinked rapidly in surprise.

She was a strange creature, to be sure, and one he hadn't really seen the likes of before.

It was apologizing already, circling, and he turned with some confusion to watch it. "A--rock? No, I'm--I'm a Gembound. I think?" That's what they called living animals, right? "My name is Warrior. I come from Hydra--the desert cave; I'm exploring. I'm sorry, if this is--your place? Ahh, why would you think I'm a rock?" he then asked, brows knitting in minor confusion.

...A rock. He briefly racked his brain but try as he might, he couldn't figure that one out.

Curiosity was getting the better of him, too, and he tilted his head a little. "What sort of creature are you, then? And--oh. You don't--do you have eyes?" he asked, as he realized that perhaps she didn't.

Poor Warrior felt swiftly overwhelmed. He had been moving--he'd have hardly stood still while a thing was flapping and then bounding toward him--but maybe too late for it to notice? And he was trying to commit 'dragon' to memory, and grasp how the creature had no eyes, and--moving rocks? Magic cave? He hesitated, his mind trying--and failing--to keep up with all of this. "Uh-... I'm sorry this is--it's a lot to take in," he admitted, softly. "Do you have a name, or do I just call you--uh, dragon?" And then, impulsively, curiously: "What's that about a--a moving rock, and a magic cave? I hadn't heard of that." There was confusion there, and then he paused again. He had been about to ask how one might navigate without eyes, but then he realized that--perhaps she didn't?

She had bumped into him, after all.

"How do you--get around, if you don't have eyes?" he asked, at last. He remembered that one of the previous Trial-goers had been blind, but that one had vanished halfway through the trial, only to reappear at the very end. He'd never gotten a chance to try and figure that out.
"

Echoes..? Clicks?

Warrior hesitated, unsure. It sounded--unlike anything he'd known, before. Oh--and apparently he'd missed a question. He blinked and shook himself, looking around again. Some vague part of him was hoping it wasn't going to turn into a strange ambush, but she seemed pleasant enough.

"I'm just exploring," he answered softly, and for a moment, wondered about stone-creatures hunting Gembound. How odd! Maybe they were like Sandworms-? "I'm from the desert place--I think I said--and... Oh, I already said I was exploring," he said, confused. Maybe she meant more specifically-? "I've never seen any of these other caves. So I'm just... looking around." His voice was mild, friendly, and he glanced to Haven as he realized she probably had no idea that there was something even worth looking at, here.

"Oh--if you don't know, it's, ahh--beautiful, here. There's... The cave's sort of--dim? Where I'm from it's very bright, very hot. But this place is dim, and there's lots of--um, sort of... bright points on the ceiling up above. They shine down like little points of light. I'm looking at them, because I've never seen anything like it, before." There--that might explain a little better-?

He eyed the dragon-creature, for a moment, and wondered if there were some way he could show her, with magic--but he didn't think so. That was... sad, really.

Warrior watched the 'dancing' dragon-creature bemusedly. "You can... come with me, some, if you like. Oh--I'm not alone, though. Vee is with me, somewhere. She's a snake," he explained. "As long as you're okay travelling with her." He wasn't quite sure where Vee was, though.

And as things stood, Warrior was in no hurry to move on, just yet. He wasn't sure yet what he thought about Haven bounding around him--nor her mention of Electrum, who he knew little to nothing about--but he went back, for now, to trying to stare up at the 'stars.'

"I won't be rushing, though," he told her. "You--all of you, the Gembound who live outside Hydra--it's... crazy to me, that you all live out here. With... the cave full of bones, and the 'masters' with their... games. Why do you do it?" he asked, glancing to her quizzically. "It's--much different, where I come from."