ORIGIN - to leaf and let leaf

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Marrow
flowers growing in my lungs

The loamy smell of twigs and earth, of grass and plants—more plants than she's ever seen in her life—nearly overwhelms her. Her strides are slow and hesitant, head tilted back and pointed up in the air as the nose beneath her gemstone sniffs away, leaves crunching beneath her hooves.

Never—never in her life did she ever think there could be this many plants in one room. The vibrant greens of leaves, ferns, and lichens, the darker tones of moss climbing up tree trunks; it's almost overwhelming, compared to her home cave. She's aware that the cave of bones is barren, deathly compared to other places, where more often than not her magic will fail her not because of any fault on her part, but simply because of the lack of seeds to grow between the cracks… but this is something else entirely.

Light from above peers through the treetop canopy, motes of light glinting off of her reflective skull; a few times, Marrow gets an errant beam in her eyes, and has to blink the spots away, unused to the brightness after so long spent in the dim, shallow cave of Canis.

The cave is massive. Winding paths snake out all ahead of her, and Marrow has no idea where to start.

Perhaps with a little test…?

Marrow's eyes flutter shut. Her breathing slows, becoming shallow; as she draws on the magic at her core, she begins to sway.

And, the plants? In a small circle around her, bordering the little path she's decided to walk down—they begin to sway as well. Dancing alongside her in an invisible breeze, ferns and herbs moving in tune to the beat of a silent song.

Then, just like that, Marrow opens her eyes, and they stop.

A smile comes to her face, fangs and all.

She thinks she likes this place.

She can't let the wonder of this place—the newness of it all, the smell of sap and dew and fresh leaves—distract her from what she's here for, however.

She's here for materials. As much as she had searched and searched and searched, Canis simply wasn't the place to go for anything flexible. She needs something thick, yet pliable enough to shape without having to resort to unsteady, new magic. She needs leaves. Big leaves.

But as she walks beneath the forest canopy, she quickly comes to the realization that she is simply a little deer, and the leaves she wants, fresh and new, are far, far above her.

Marrow lets herself step off the path and circles the base of a particularly promising tree, humming to herself in quiet thought. Now, how is she going to figure this one out?

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void
[Image: l87nhNk.gif]

It seemed wandering Eridanus was becoming more and more common for the bear as she found herself snacking on the tasty leaves and wondering paths that had slowly been becoming more and more ingrained in her memory. She hoped one day soon she'd be comfortable enough in Cetus to stay long enough to memorize the area there, but for now she was content to continue her explorations of the green place that was Eridanus.

Now, the path she had known. The pressed dirt that was packed too tightly for plants to grow on, the plants on the outskirts of it that leaned towards it, reaching their leaves out as if to mourn the lack of space for expansion. Plants were always looking to grow after all, to find the best angle for light-grabbing and to pull the best nutrients from the soil.

But they never swayed when the breeze was calm, so what was this... magic? The realization came without conscious thought to it, but Tema was a plant magic wielder. It didn't take much for her to realize why exactly she knew- she'd been studying and connecting with the plants without actively trying to. She did frequent the cave enough that she supposed it was possible.

She continued to walk once the plants froze, returning to their original position and once more reaching for the path. It didn't take her much more walking before she spotted the deer looking up into the tree, eyes ever so slightly squinted.

"Is something wrong? Maybe I can help?" The bear called from a few steps away, not wanting to startle the new creature. Although, to be fair, the deer's appearance was probably more startling to Tema than Tema was to the deer. With a visible skull made of what Tema assumed to be their gemstone, she wondered how the creature could even hold their head so high. It must be heavy.

OOC Notes:

Marrow
flowers growing in my lungs

Perhaps she could fashion a ladder or other method of getting up there with her magic? Most likely not—she can grow seeds into little vines, for use in wrapping bones together or otherwise, but something of that scale seems beyond her without completely exhausting herself.

Maybe there is a smaller tree in the area? Marrow turns—and sees a rather large creature on the path, more than twice the size of her and with the bulk to match. Not as large as she's seen—being greeted by something she's now since learned was alien in nature and which towered over her newborn self to the point that she barely reached its ankle upon hatching has long since dulled whatever sense of size she might have had.

Still, this new creature is something she hasn't seen before; how fascinating! Those claws tipping her paws, the sharp teeth lining her mouth as she speaks—

—oh, she spoke. Marrow blinks in surprise, caught up in the reverie of learning the anatomy of a new animal. "Mm? Oh, yes, you look like you're tall enough to help!"

What luck!

She turns, rearing up to put two hooves on the trunk of the tree before her. "I'm looking for materials to make a satchel out of. The leaves up there would be perfect, but I'm not nearly tall enough to reach."

Once again, she turns back to the other creature, tilting her head in thought. "I could fashion a satchel for you in return for your help, if you'd like?"

She'll leap at any opportunity to test the design she has in mind out—and especially for a creature like this!

@Tema

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void
[Image: l87nhNk.gif]

Tema stood silent as the deer looked her over, feeling almost... exposed. Like they were looking through her rather than at her, analyzing her core. What a strange thought that was.

Tema gave herself a mental shake as she took in what information she was offered, following the deer's gaze into the tree. They seemed friendly enough both in speech and the offer, pushing Tema's previous concern about their looks out of her mind. It was rude, she thought, to judge someone like that. And now noticing their size difference, Tema realized that the deer probably should have been more wary of her than she should have been of them! Not that she'd even hurt a fly if it was not necessary of course.

Right- help!

"Alright, then. I could always use a more reliable source of item-carrying than magic." She spoke partially to herself, solidifying her loyalty towards the cause. It seemed like it might prove useful to watch the deer create such a thing, especially if she was to gain one from the experience as well. It wasn't like it was any trouble to her to reach up and pluck some leaves after all.

And she did just that, climbing the tree with her front two paws to stand upright as opposed to standing herself up relying on only her balance. It might have seemed strange to watch, but it helped prevent the almost full grown bear from toppling over at the slightest wobble on two legs. So she used the tree to stand, stretching herself vertically along its trunk until she was standing at her full height. She twisted away from the trunk to pick a few pawfuls of leaves, trying her best not to tear them. Of course not all of them would turn out perfect; her paws were meant for slashing, not plucking.

"Would these be alright or should I make an attempt at climbing..." She tried to seek out a nickname for the deer as she had done so often before for Gembounds that had yet to offer their titles to her, but when it came to this deer, her mind drew a blank. Gem-skull made her seem stubborn and brash which she was not. Tema had not met a deer before either, so she could not compare her to another gembound... "Leaf-Weaver?" She finally finished her question, content with the name.

OOC Notes:

@Marrow

Marrow
flowers growing in my lungs

Marrow paces around the bear as she watches her work, hooves stepping softly among the leaves and twigs below her as she examines not only the process of gathering the leaves themselves, but also just how tall the bear could stand. She watches the movement of her muscles beneath her pelt and listens to the sound of shredding and pulling on the foliage up above.

There are skeletons of her size in her home cave, are there not? Larger collections of bone; some shattered, some charred by a long-passed fire, all potentially suitable for a replication… even if she doesn't have the materials on hand to make something of this side, perhaps it would be worth the attempt at reconstructing a skeleton for learning purposes?

Ah, but that's a project for another time. She trots towards the bear with veiled excitement in her eyes, nose sniffing away once again as she examines the fresh-plucked leaves. She'll have to stitch some of these together, the way they've torn, but they're clean cuts—far better material than anything she's worked with in Canis!

"These will work just fine…"" she says; trailing off at the introduction of a new title.

Leaf-Weaver? She's never been called that before—but she thinks she appreciates the name.

She is a weaver of leaves, after all; and other things, too. "...Bark-Climber," she replies, amusement in her tone. "Although I believe I need a little more than this for more than one satchel."

Well, it's only fair to give her a nickname in kind, hm?

Marrow paws at the ground with one hoof, brushing away foliage and undergrowth and revealing a bare patch of dirt, before taking the leaves ever-so-gently—careful not to break them—in her mouth, laying them out on her makeshift workspace.

Hm; she's never worked with something so delicate before. Perhaps another cast of her magic would do better than bare hoof for shaping these?

She concentrates, tilting her head—the magic takes form, begins to reach for the leaves, and... slips away.

A shame, really, but she can work with her hooves, too. She just has to be a little more gentle about this sort of thing.

With eyes narrowed slightly and ears tilted back in focus, she leans down and begins folding three of the largest leaves together, to prepare the body of the bag.

@Tema

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void
[Image: l87nhNk.gif]

Tema couldn't help but let out a short giggle as the Leaf-Weaver twitched her nose. She wasn't able to pinpoint why it was amusing to her, but she supposed it was... cute? The word seemed appropriate despite her slightly eerie skull.

She let out another pleased sound at her own nickname, clearly taking a liking to the deer. She wondered if they'd meet again sometime... deer were bound to frequent Eridanus too; it was a bountiful food source for a herbivore.

"I'll collect some more while you work then." She nodded before hopping her back legs up slightly to try and get a grip on the bark.

She managed to shimmy up, just barely holding on as she maneuvered around some.of the branches in her way. She slipped a few times but just barely managed to catch herself before she finally reached a good spot and very carefully started pulling more leaves. The ones up here were healthy, having been untouched by anything other than the light that fed them.

One of her paws slipped and she scrambled to right herself again, digging all of her claws deep in the bark and squeezing her eyes shut until she stopped sliding. It wasn't a particularly smart idea, but the bear hadn't actually climbed a tree before.

Now... how to get down? That was a whole other story... so for now she would catch her breath while her claws held her steady.

"H-how's it going down there?"

Turns out, she didn't like heights.

OOC Notes:

Marrow
flowers growing in my lungs

Marrow hums to herself as she works, singing a slow tune like the whistling of wind under her breath as she wraps leaves around each other, shaping it into something big enough to hold a good few bones. She's been experimenting, lately, with a paste of sap and crushed bones—something that binds together the materials she works with—and although she sadly doesn't have any bones on her, nor in the area…

...there is plenty of sap to go around.

She shifts, using one hoof to hold the half-finished satchel in place, while the other roots around in the undergrowth for a bit, digging in the dirt to find a new shoot to crush up.

Halfway through the process, she hears the scraping of claw against bark above her, and looks up, curious. The bear is higher up in the tree than Marrow expected for one of her size—she tilts her head and watches with idle interest as she clings to the trunk.

"It's going well," she responds, sounding quite pleased with how this first bag is shaping up. "Are you alright up there, Bark-Climber?"

Fear is unfamiliar to her as an emotion, really. She remembers well a moment from her childhood where a creature had snapped jaws above her skull, as a way to intimidate—to teach the meaning of the word, a lesson that never really came through to her. She still recognizes the stutter in the Bark-Climber's voice, however; tilts her head with concern as she watches the bear hang onto the tree.

She likes this one, despite only knowing her for a few minutes at most. It would be a shame to see her injure herself simply for her sake.

@Tema

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void
[Image: l87nhNk.gif]

"I lost my hold is all... I'll be down shortly." She offered a shaky smile, trying to push herself past the fear that her slip up had brought forward. There wasn't much she had feared before, truly. Almost drowning had certainly brought her a moment of panic, but anyone would be worried in such a situation... So why did adrenaline rush into her veins and her skin heat up so much when just climbing a tree? She had the claws to do it after all.

She gave her head a shake and released one back paw, lowering it a bit and trying to find her grip... all while looking directly at the tree infront of her of course. Looking down made her head spin.

Thankfully, Tema found purchase rather easily and breathed a sign of relief, slowly doing the same with her other back paw... then a front one and another... and that was it!

She slumped against the tree once she hit the ground, giving her aching legs a rest. Holding her weight while standing was much easier than holding it while climbing.

The bear lifted a paw to her face to lick the sap off her claws before noticing that Marrow was using it to help hold the leaves in place. She stopped and offered her front paws forward instead.

"This might save you from having to hold the basket and gather more, yes?" Her voice was infinitely less weak now that she was on solid ground, but she was still breathless. She likely wouldn't be climbing another tree any time soon.

OOC Notes:

@Marrow

Marrow
flowers growing in my lungs

"Do be careful," Marrow says, head still tilted. With hooves still gently placed on the leaves below them to make sure the bag stays in the shape she wants it to, she pauses in her work, choosing to watch the Bark-Climber descend from the tree with caution in her eyes. There wouldn't be anything she could do about it if the bear did fall, of course—she is so much smaller than her, and her magic is gentle and slow—but something in her just wants to make sure she's alright.

One paw lowers after another, after another… Marrow watches her claws dig into the bark with veiled interest, and a half-smile forms on her face as she watches the bear touch ground successfully.

Sap drips from those ivory claws like blood—well, she supposes sap is blood, in a way—and Marrow nods at her offer. "Yes, it would! Thank you," she says, tilting her head and using one fang to gently scrape a bit of sap away from her claw.

"Have you ever climbed a tree before?" Marrow asks as she returns to her work, coating the edge of a leaf with sap and sticking it together. In a few careful folds and more application of sap, gradually, the shape of a bag begins to take form; a few leaves make a vague square shape, while one placed more loosely at its top seems to act as a lid of sorts.

Marrow glances back at the bear's arm, estimating how much vine she'll need to tie the satchel around it. Much more than she'd need for herself, for sure, but—she thinks it's doable in one or two casts.

@Tema

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void
[Image: l87nhNk.gif]

The bear shook her head, calming her breathing before speaking again. It felt weird to her, appearing so weak in front of a gembound who might have been her prey had they not developed a consciousness. There had only been a few instances in which she had felt unworthy in some way or another, but this was different somehow. Something in the back of her head screamed how wrong it was, but another voice (a much stronger one) encouraged her to embrace such a backwards thing. It was chaos, she recognized, turning the tables in every corner of her life.

"Kind of funny, right? A bear who's never climbed a tree?" She chuckled at the idea herself, gathering more sap from the grooves she had dug in the tree. The sap clung to her fur as well, making her frown as she wondered how long it would take for her to wash it out. "At least I can say I've done it now! And for something interesting too." She smiled brightly, all remnants of her nearly failed adventure having dissipated into thin air now that she was safe on the ground again.

She watched the deer work for a bit, trying to make sense of the weaving and glueing. It was almost mesmerising, the repatative motions numbing her constantly thinking mind for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"Is there something else I can do?"

OOC Notes:

@Marrow

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