ORIGIN - you ain't never had a friend like me!

James walked through the familiar green overgrowth with uncertain strides, his brows furrowed and his ears down. His feathers reflected his turmoil, some bent from the journey through the trees, others falling off. He found himself over-grooming, plucking one too many feathers when he preened himself and pulled broken or damaged ones out. It was difficult to rein himself in, but so far he hadn't caused too much harm, and his feathers were still shiny for now.

He'd been told of a 'garden', should his wanders not bring anything up, and searched for it, his brows furrowed with worry. What was he supposed to do when he met Mercurius? He didn't know him at all, and it would be weird to show up in emotional turmoil for a first visit. Though really, that's exactly why he was here.

"Mercurius?", he called out, head looking back and forth.

He stepped forward and squeezed between two trees, stumbling out into a garden. He looked up and around, blinking as he observed the plants, most overgrown. What order there had been was nearly gone, with lesser birds flitting about and butterflies and moths fluttering past. It was still beautiful, in it's own way.

"Murcurius? Mercy?", he called out, feeling rather stupid.

He looked over to his companion, uncertainty in his eyes, "He's here, right?"

@Mercurius @Pride

Pride moved sedately through the underbrush, his diamond armor glistening in the forest's dew. His mind was distant, pensive, his senses on high alert, a counterpoint to his graceful movements--movements that seemed practiced and without care.

James' question had him glancing his way, silvery eyes catching the light. "I don't know," he answered, softly; "but I'd certainly not lead you all the way here if I didn't think so, at least." It was gently-said, amused, and Pride definitely hoped that Mercy would be close. "Mercurius?" he called out, his voice a quiet flute, as they approached the lion's grove.

Leaves parted, and Pride reached out his mind, first. I'm here, he thought, towawrd the lion, even as the first glimpse of white pelt came through the trees. There was a quiet urgency to his mental briefing. I'm bringing James. A young... impressionable, member of the Seven. He's in a relationship, of sorts--a friendship, I think--with another lion named Aristotle. I fear-... -and here Pride's magic flickered, faltering. It picked back up a moment later with the stag unaware of any failure in it. ...want him to see what a healthy friendship is like. A kind lion, and you certainly epitomize that, and there was the musing flattery.

Then came voice. "-Mercurius? I apologize, if we are interrupting?" Head tilted, eyes searching over the lion's broad form as Pride came to rest just outside the grove. "This is James. He is one of the newer of the Seven. He has been through a great deal lately, and he has some current... situations, that I am uncertain I'm particularly qualified to handle, though whether he wishes to speak of those is another story entirely. I was hoping you'd be willing to speak to him, nonetheless, if you have the time-? James, this is Mercurius. He is the lion I told you about--kind, gentle, and understanding." Pride glanced at Mercurius, again--a meaningful look. Tell him; show him, that look said, what a good person is like.

Please.

A baseline normalcy would be good for James to understand: a reference point, before they spoke with Aristotle.

Pride offered Mercurius a gentle, affectionate nose-to-nose nudge, and then stepped back with a bow of silvered tines, to allow the two to speak. He waited, there, patient--ready to answer questions, but also to allow them to interact for as long as they wished.

@Mercurius

Oh? Mercurius's thoughts brushed back against the welcome visitor's, knowing that Pride was listening. There'd been a lapse in it, but the lion thought nothing of it. He'd learn what was missing soon enough. The neighbors were calling, and he had to answer.

Turning away from the overgrown brush he'd been tending to - bah, they all were growing too quickly for him to keep up with moving between Monoceros and here, these days - the storyteller called softly, "ah, I'm coming. No need to keep calling." Inky lips quirked in a gentle smile, not a single tooth shown. His head immediately dipped to the arriving horse and regarded all the introductions with a relaxed squint of the eyes. "It's a pleasure. James, hm?" Moonlit eyes turned to regard Pride, seemingly just as baffled by the compliments as he was every other time the stag offered them, however indirectly.

Whether or not it was acknowledgement, too, of the pointed look offered, no one could say. Mercy simply returned the nudge and indicated toward the bed of soft grasses he kept at the ready. "Rest, at least." Ah, that's what he was often told before - and a pang of pity stole through his face.

He looked to James next, speaking as he padded through the grove, "what sorts of plants do you like to eat? I'm sure I can grow whatever you can name." A wry sort of look twisted his face, but vanished in the next moment where he extended a paw. It barely grazed the patch of shoot grass, urging them to grow. They crackled to their full length, retaining their gleaming lime color and soft freshness. Mercy bowed his head to it, "we might as well get comfortable," and made to lie in his own patch. He blinked like he'd caught something, and added gently, "or no, if you'd prefer to stand. There is plenty of room to do so."

He waited patiently and contentedly for the pegasus to settle down in his place of choice before starting the pleasantries with a soft "with the Seven, are you?" It was rhetorical, of course, so Mercurius continued warmly, gaze not leaving him, "I've always wondered what it'd be like if I'd decided to become a guardian in lieu of a gardener. Perhaps, I'd have been a poet in diamond armor." Here, he flashed a wry smirk at Pride. He held it for a moment, then looked back at James, briefly at a loss for how to continue.

"But... ah," (here we go,) "but, what is it like to be among them? The Seven, I mean." Mercy shifted in his seat, leaning slightly forward onto his forepaws; he tucked them beneath his mane, brows quirked in genuine, disarming curiosity. His stag companion'd always offered his stories, but a different perspective... what a prospect!

@James

James watched Mercurius and seemed all the more uncomfortable and broken as the seconds passed, doubt and uncertainty welling up in his big doe eyes, ones that hid absolutely nothing. His thoughts- his soul were constantly on display, so even when trying to hide his discomfort, his eyes betrayed him.

Because Mercy was too much like his beloved Aristotle, his Aristotle who he'd steal the world for, catch and tame the stars for... and who could possibly be someone truly evil underneath that golden fur, using chicanery to achieve what he wished among those he deceived.

"Ah- yes," he said suddenly, snapping back into reality, "Thank you, it's nice to meet you too, Mercurius."

He slowly lay down in a patch of designated 'laying' grass, finding it a bit amusing before it was wiped away by his own will, "I'm not hungry at the moment, my appetite's been spoiled as of late, I'm afraid."

Stress, worry, fear. None of those things were good for one's stomach.

The stallion nodded gently, affirming his position as one of the Seven. His ears perked up at the notion that perhaps Mercy could have been the one to take him in, rather than Pride. How interesting that might have been.

"Ah- it's a bit complicated," he said with some hesitation, "Originally I came for protection- hopefully I'm not the only one, I don't mean to seem selfish- but I came from Cetus, where I hatched, to Eridanus, then Eridanus to Orion. I came here and settled down for a while, gaining my bearings on how this world worked, learning my magic and my body. Training, growing stronger... I started exploring and traveling, wandering to chase off my own anxieties about strange places and stranger things. So far I've just been a nomad, of sorts, coming back here when I need a break. I've participated in a few... Quests? Sort of. Protected those who've needed it, though it bit me in the ass not too long ago."

With that, his voice grew bitter and his eyes gained an edge of anger, of betrayal.

"Long-story short, someone cast an illusion to trick me to help someone standing on a platform that lead off a cliff, and when I stepped onto it, I fell instead. I was tricked and all that I could hear as I lay broken at the bottom was that whoever it was wanted me for my fur, for my skin," he said, nearly growling, "... But I woke up with wings. So I suppose someone out there is looking out for me."

James looked away and down, mulling over the memory before casting it away and resuming his tired, but relatively content facade, his eyes still agelessly sad as they watched an ant scurry across the ground, running and running to please it's Queen.

@Pride

Pride moved throughout the little grove in silence as the other two introduced themselves, and spoke. His movements were delicate, graceful; each step carefully-placed so as to avoid crushing any of Mercy's lovingly tended plants. Here and there he paused to nose or nibble a leaf, or smell a flower. And when the conversation seemed to wind back to a place that opened for his input, he turned toward them.

"That's what we're there for," he murmured, mildly, to James' remarks about coming to the Seven for protection. His mind searched briefly for a good, neutral topic: something the two could discuss without getting too personal, yet something that would engage the horse. Something... that would showcase Mercurius' kindness, perhaps? Pride hit on it almost at once. "James, you mentioned... a group of others looking to build, what was it, a village here? In Eridanus-? I wondered if perhaps you," and here the stag nodded to Mercurius, "might have any advice to offer them. I don't know details on it; James could tell you more?"

Other than that Pride was quiet, unobtrusive. Guiding the conversation a tad, where he could; but he didn't really interrupt.

@Mercurius

He was never one to pick another soul apart - they'd reveal what they wished to him, in time. But, the horse wore his heart on his sleeve, and Mercurius couldn't ignore it. Doe eyes showed every bit of discomfort, from the worrying of a brow to the subtle shifting of weight; something, somewhere, was making James uneasy. That, Mercy couldn't figure out without poking and prodding—he certainly wasn't about to invite himself in with magic.

So, the lion obliged his greeting with a quick bow of the head, and continued as usual.

"That's alright," he said warmly, "I hope that it returns soon." Mercurius knew what it was to go hungry, at times—it'd stunted his own growth and left his body wanting. Punishment affected him even today, what with those bouts of stiffness in his limbs. But, enough thinking about that...

... it was his turn to listen while James spoke, nodding along with his story. He couldn't help but interject once, about "stranger things, hm?" It was a short laugh, mirthful and not teasing in the slightest. "Ah, all things in these Caves seem strange, don't they." Oh, he could empathize with the anxieties. There still lurked a darkness in him, some niggling worry that it might overtake him. Mercy offered as much: "I used to—oh, well, I still am afraid of the dark, at times. That's part of why it's so bright in here. I learned to use light to combat it, even though lights cast shadows." A tad bit poetic, but you see—"I think it's good to act counter to your own worries. It proves that things aren't as bad as they're made out to be."

That being said, his brows furrowed in concern. Fooled... ? There was an optimistic note—the wings—but the rest was bitterly spoken, and the stallion distracted himself with an ant immediately afterwards. "I'm sorry," Mercy offered, and did not press the issue further than that. If it were so raw and new, he shouldn't press.

Pride fed a different topic of conversation, and the storyteller glanced gratefully his way. "Here... ? I've seen nothing of it," he rumbled, but then considered. There'd been a great deal of commotion and chatter not long ago, but things had quieted down again. "Heard, perhaps..." he mused, waiting for James to elaborate.

@James

Stop making others pity you. They don't need to hear your sob story.

James' ear twitched as Pride spoke, but the cold feeling of dread that suddenly doused his head, his chest, making his fur stand on end and his chest contract, it made him deaf for a moment.

When the conversation went quiet he abruptly looked up, flushing under his dark fur in embarrassment as he struggled to figure out what was going on. The Edenfolk? Right! Right.

"I um... I attended a meeting not so long ago," he said, "A cycle or more, at the most. A fairyfly- she was like us and was intelligent though- told some of us that a village was going to be made where Gembound could live and seek refuge in, here in Eridanus. The Edenfolk. I wished to join with Ari and Sun, and my daughter, Comet, but... anyway, they're really only that. I believe they wish to start... farming? Herding lessers to get milk and meat form, for carnivores and creatures of the sort. And to build proper homes, sort of like the stone houses in Orion. Tree houses, things like that. Children to be raised among a community, a group. Sort of like a family."

It was a wonderful idea, one he so desperately wish to contribute to, but not until all of this was over and everything had settled. He still wanted to explore, of course, so this would probably be like what he had in Orion. A place to come home to.

Except for maybe the milk part-

James ended his story and waited for an answer, mulling over Mercy's words.

"It's good to act counter to your own worries."

Like his flying? His care for Comet despite his sudden fear of Ari? Being outgoing and adventurous where he could to counter his own anxiety of even the slightest danger? He was doing that! Why wasn't it working?

@Pride

Pride had come for James. He had intended to gently shift the topic, as James seemed nervous; he had intended to focus on the horse, not to interrupt, interject.

But one thought now stuck in his mind, repeating itself, confused and a little disgusted: Milk-? He knew little about it--only that some Lessers fed babies that way. But why the hell did Gembound want to drink from Lessers' teats?! What was the point of that? That was disgusting!

He tried to refocus--on James, on the description of the village; on Mercurius' words, advice, on his old friend's gentle musings. But the same thought kept cropping up, pressing past all that with vehement confusion: MILK?!

Pride turned away, unobtrusive, nibbling at some greens--staring into the middle distance, trying to banish the word 'milk' and the associated horrified punctuation marks from his mind. At least he wasn't interrupting, now; instead he seemed to be peacefully, subtly minding his own business, as if to let the other two talk.

But... still. Milk...?!

@Mercurius