ORIGIN - come daydream with me

She stood as she always did, a sillouette against the glowing lights of Polaris, a lull in her schedule of thought and wondering, boredom as always taking hold of her by the throat and squeezing tight. She was swiftly exhausting the limited things she could do once again, returning back to drifting off to sleep over and over as she tries to think of new things to think about, new spells to try...but its all in vain because there is simply nothing to do. Daydreaming helped, but she slowly exhausted even her own imagination, limited knowledge making for limited wondering. Nobody had visited her in some time...

Ah, well...she could always turn to her own body in times like this. Making sure her health was in order, to keep herself going as she always did. She felt pretty tired and sluggish, low on energy, stomach growling angrily. Which meant it was probably time to eat once again. She took a deep breath and closer her eyes, pulling in nutrients from the raw magic of the air around her. It was unpleasant - the same thing over and over again, the same meal that had, at this point, become close to disgusting to her. It didn't have a taste just...a feeling as it settled in her body, filling her with the energy she needed to keep going. She took quite a bit this time, feeling herself completely rejuvenated as she feasted on magic, but, when it faded away, she sighed. If only she could eat, like she had when Attikias had visited her and when she'd managed to create bananas, but the consequences of that had been...

Well, absorbing nutrients like this was preferable.

With her body satisfied, she settled herself again to gaze out into Polaris, eyes going cloudy as she stared off into space, facing another day of nothing but thought.

@Pride

Pride was merely passing through, at least at first--here to look over the rumors of snow and of caves newly-opened. He was feeling grimmer than usual, on the one hand: the aching echo where his friends had once been lingered with him. Yet there had been some catharsis, at least, in retrieving their stones, though the daily reminder of their loss in the form of the little shrine he had made kept hammering the memory in. They're dead, that glimpse would say; remember, they're lost forever now.

It had taken him a few days, then, to find the energy--to feel he'd mourned again, enough--to move on to other things. And he still planned to return to Orion; but for now, there was Polaris, and whatever lay beyond, to investigate.

The glint of amethyst in the distance caught his eye, however, and after a brief hesitation and the flick of one ear, he veered off-course to angle for it. The closer he got the more he realized how strange it was, what he was seeing: a statue-like shape, like a Gembound, but pure gemstone. And-...

Pride blinked, coming to an abrupt halt a few paces away with the soft clicking of cloven hooves. Alive, he realized, with a shock. Sour taste on his tongue, the lift of heartbeat to a shuttering speed--who was this; how had they become so trapped? It looks like Nassir-
"Are you all right?" he asked, alarmed, quickly lurching back into motion to move around to Seshat's front. His eyes were wide with worry, ears swept forward, as he looked her over.

@Seshat

Ah, but it seemed that she would not be alone today, that it may be a little less boring now that someone was approaching. She didn't see him until he entered her line of sight and the sight of him had her pausing for a moment. A soft gasp escaped her lips at the sight of perfect, pristine white, like a diamond given form and flesh, delicate legs yet a powerful body, graceful antlers like a crown upon its head...

"Beautiful," she whispered softly before she snapped out of it and realized that he'd asked her something. She hadn't heard it, but she didn't have to - his expression and the way he was looking her over made it easy to guess what he'd asked her. "Oh, I'm sorry...yes, yes I'm fine." She smiled warmly as she calmed down, her awe fading away and replace with a faint sense of familiarity. He was beautiful, yes, but hadn't she seen him before? From a distance, of course - he had never seen her. But at the strange doorway where everyone cast magic, returning there some time later, and even just wandering Polaris every so often, his marble white glowing in the Spire-light.

Eyes glanced over him just as he looked over her. "I've seen you before," she whispered softly. "Only briefly and only ever from here. Who are you?" Ears flicked forward with interest. Her gaze shifted to his eyes, looking deep into those silver windows. Wisdom, power, magic, knowledge...she had become versed in taking apart those she looked at with just a gaze. Eyes held so many secrets, but never any answer - only questions.

@Pride

Concerned eyes ranged over crystalline form. Okay? How can it be okay? It's stuck in gemstone-... and his heart sank, a little. Her question, however, had him blinking at her.

"Pride. My name is Pride. You have seen me-? I do come here, from time to time, but I do not remember you." He paused, drawing somewhat closer, still stopping a polite distance off. "Are you, ah-... You cannot move, can you?" Hesitation, for a brief moment. "How did this--happen..?" The question was a hushed one. Pride imagined an accident of magic--a gem formation gone awry. Something horrible, enclosing, terrifying. He was already wondering if there might be some way to help her, something his considerable magic might be able to do.

Then, he blinked again. A bow swept his antlers lower. "Apologies--I haven't asked your name," he added, politely.

@Seshat

The name was at last given to the white creature she had once seen at the doorway. There were so many others she had seen in her time here that she wished would have names as well, but she would settle for this one. It fit him, she thought, as she looked over him. Despite the concern she could see thick in his gaze, he still carried himself with an air of grace and pride. He was well-groomed, pristine in every way, from his coat to his antlers and even his eyes and the gemstone collar. "Only once or twice. And no...I don't think you would have seen me. You were distracted at the time, trying to open a strange door with magic." She smiled a little sadly. "None of the others noticed me either." It was a casual tone she spoke with, and, really, it was no big deal to her at this point. Not when so many had passed by her without ever seeing. How many gembound roamed through this cave without ever seeing the poor little leopard stuck in her own gemstone.

She shook her head - as much as she could at least, which was barely a tremble. "No. I have been trapped to this spot since my hatching day. I came into the world like this - it's my gemstone. It sits on top of my skin, in my exact shape. At least I think it does." It wasn't like she could fully inspect herself ever, but hours of meditation and focus, trying to trace every nerve on her body, mapping out herself with only her mind to air, and the occasional crystal used as a mirror, had given her a conclusion she was fairly certain with.

She was a little surprised by his bow but let out a soft, amused purr. "No need to apologize. I am Seshat." A noble creature such as him bowing to a simple cat trapped in her own gemstone...she certainly did meet interesting creatures every day.

@Pride

His head turned to regard the distant door--laid open since then, and never closed. He blinked at it, and then looked back. "Ahhh, yes. I remember," and felt foolish for even having said it. "In any case, it's good to meet you, Seshat," and his head was tilted in a polite greeting.

Pride resisted the urge to pace around her, to look her over and to confirm her words--that the stone mirrored her shape. Instead he stood in place, exhaling. "May I ask--err, my first instinct is to offer aid. Would that be unwelcome..? There are those I might ask, to find out if they might help." He found himself, too, surprised that she had lived so long, like this. "Does, ah, someone feed you? Care for you?" he asked, confused--"or do you hunt and drink with magic?"

His mind ran through the possibilities. Perhaps Tenzin will know something that can be done. Or Astraea, as much as I hate to ask--I do not trust him, not completely. He knew that Vargas had also become a Master, but whether that entailed an actual increase in power, he had no idea.

Regardless, he'd ask first; if Seshat didn't want his help, as much as he'd regret it, it wasn't his place to try and force it.

@Seshat

She smiled kindly, eyes flicking over to look in the same direction as him, but she couldn't quite see the door from here. "And you as well." She was glad that he was nice. It was always disappointing to get someone that wasn't so nice, although those encounters were rare and few between. She considered his question for a moment, ears flicking forward. "Help is always welcome. I learned long ago that it would be unwise for me to turn down aid when it was offered to me, but I'm afraid there's little I need help with. I care for myself well enough - yes, with magic I can keep myself going. I have some friends that come and go, that keep me company and tell me about their lives."

She wasn't asking, because it had been built into her as a young cub that not everyone had the time to spare to spend in her company, but the plea was there, under her words. She didn't need food or water or physical possession. She had the later and what would she do with the former? No, what she needed was thought. Time. Stories. Those were the things that she could thrive upon, that fed her spirit when things seemed so dark and hopeless .But she was selfless enough not to demand it of anyone should they not be able to stick around - or not want to. After all, she was stuck here forever. Who would want to waste their time with her?

@Pride

Pride studied her, brow furrowed and heart breaking. Kind, but... stuck here. Stuck. He knew nothing of her desire for stories, or he'd have offered them in trails of dancing light. But her stone reminded him of home--of Orion--and with tilted head he spoke of it.

"Your gemstone reminds me of the crystals in Orion--have you been there? They are embedded throughout the ceiling, the walls, and they glint in the light. Are you able to travel?" A pause, as he considered, and then an offer: "I could take you, perhaps?" He was unsure if she was... stuck, where she was. "If you aren't stuck to the stone beneath-? I can lift things, with my magic--carry them," he explained. "But there are beings of immense power in this cave, and it may be possible to... free you, from your stone."

Half of him was struck with worried urgency. He was not claustrophobic, but it didn't escape him that she was damn near helpless in her own stone. His mind was racing once again between Tenzin and Astraea, hopeful, worried--but nor did he wish to simply rush off and leave her here.

How long had she been like this..? She was an adult, at the very least. Would it be too rude to ask-?

Pride fidgeted, worriedly. This... this wasn't right. This poor damn cat, he thought, with grief.

@Seshat

Again, she shook her head, the tiniest bit that she could. "No. I have heard stories about it, though. The ruined city and the crystals on the ceiling." She wanted to laugh at Pride's question and did, actually, a soft chuckle, in his pause. "Travel? No. I would if I could." But then he was continuing on and her ears pulled up, just a bit. Interest. Disbelief. Curiosity. Fear. Many things came to her then, just from a simple proposal. "Yes, I can lift things as well but...I always assumed I was too heavy to lift. Nobody has ever offered before." But, then again, she didn't know if anyone she had met had also that very same power. She would never know, perhaps.

The concept of being freed from her stone...actually scared her. Always she'd dreamed of racing free of her amethyst prison, legs strong to carry her through the caves and see all the worlds she could never see while sitting here, but now thinking about it, thinking about standing and leaving and being exposed and out in the open, to do what she wished, to go where she wanted, it was almost too much to think about. But it would be worth it. At least she hoped.

"I...to be free? I don't know if that's even possible. If it is...I don't know. I mean, yes, I'd like to be free but..." her brow furrowed. "I wouldn't know how to do anything. How to stand or walk or how to even turn my own head. At least like this I have magic. It won't be the same without my stone, I'm sure." Because she could always feel the magic in the amethyst around her, she could feel it pulsing when she lifted stones or cast her mind adrift in another's thoughts. But still... "But if it's possible then...yes. Yes, I'd like to be free."

@Pride

"Heavy? Ahh--let me try," Pride said quietly. He knew it'd be difficult; lighter things were certainly easier and such a large rock must be quite heavy indeed, but it was not as though he'd have to lift her far. It occurred to him, too, that there were other magics... "There are ways to lift yourself, as well. It is not easy but I have magic to--float; perhaps at the very least I can teach you that?"

He took two steps back, head raised, and concentrated: and then the amethyst was up. Not far, but... hovering, just an inch or so off the ground and even this was straining; but Pride didn't dare lift it any higher for fear of dropping it and... and shattering her.

When he set her down, several inches away, it was very gently indeed. "So you can be moved, at least," he managed, with an exhale. "But it isn't easy. My apologies; I don't mean to, ah, dwell on this. But you're the first I've met who is--like this. Ah, and--you would still need your stone, I think, but... I do not know how it would work. I will need to try and find a Master, and ask." Tenzin first, then, perhaps; at the very least Pride could trust him to be honest.

"You can defend yourself, I hope?" he asked then, glancing around the cave. He'd met enough Gembound with sinister motivations that he would hate to see this one trapped, caught like a Lesser in a snare.

@Seshat