For the first few minutes, hours maybe, of his life the little kitten had clung to the fur of his new and first friend, the three-headed dog. He learned rudimentary speech patterns and found that he quite enjoyed talking and expressing himself, but he also found that it had a tendency to incite a rather adoring response. It wasn't that Bartos liked to take advantage of suckers who thought he was cute, just... Well, maybe he did. Eventually though he had grown bored, and was eager to explore while testing out sounds on his tongue. This room was pretty safe so far - there didn't seem to be any risk of talking out loud, so Bartos had all but shattered the silence.
"Mow mow mow, ma-mow, mow, my name is Bartos and I'm a cat, and I like the up, I like the way it sparkles! I want a piece of the sparkle, but how do I get it? Hm hm mow mow mow, I am a cat, this is how I walk!" He sang out, prancing along the edge of the forum. Wide eyes would occassionally flicker up to the ceiling, briefly distracted by its gleaming before he continued exploring and poking around. He wanted to know what other Gembounds lived here, just like the dog. "Kerrrrbyyyy! Hello, hello, is anyone here?" His boyish voice called out. He could remember being told that if he wanted to do something, he should try to use his magic. Everybody had magic in them, so Bartos figured he'd give that a shot. Pausing on the edge of the stone bench, the kitten squeezed his eyes shut and focused.
Sure enough, the benitoite lodged in his chest began to grow warm and fuzzy, emitting a dull, dark blue glow. Behind his closed eyes he could feel a tug, and see a distant glow. Barty opened his eyes again and looked out, trying to pinpoint the direction from which he sensed it. Along with the pulling of another Gembound, he could also feel the presence of crystals and other non-life harboring rocks. Bartos danced on his toes, indecisive about what he wanted to investigate first.
Maevmora felt the pull of Orion from a tunnel away. There were so many crystals in the ceiling here that it was almost as if their presence were dragging her towards them. From birth, the bear had been very attached to her Element, traveling wherever and whenever to find new rocks or gems. The Spire was still the most impressive, but when she entered the room of crystals and looked up at them all, twinkling from the ceiling, she couldn’t help but feel that she had finally found something more impressive. Though she did not have the same Gem Sense spell as the kitten in the room, some instinctual part of her could feel them all buzzing in the Stone near her tail. It was a fuzzy sensation, and she could not sense the presence of the other Gembound. Rather, she simply felt a lot of deep energy flowing through her body from coming into a room full of so many crystals.
The feeling was almost intoxicating. She moved slowly – oh so slowly – on lumbering paws. Sometimes she would stop and sit, and meditate in the feeling the room gave her. She felt grounded, yet also as if she were floating. This was almost a feeling of high, except without any dire consequences. She lifted herself to her paws again, taking slow step after slow step, until she entered a building and came across the kitten. She sat down in the doorway, saying nothing, doing nothing, wondering what would happen now. As always, she was silent as stone. It was not in her to speak. She was here to listen – to observe – to feel the Earth and the Cave and the emotions of those within. Nothing more. And she took her role very seriously.
She knew that she was a big and imposing creature, so she lay down quietly, placing her head on the floor between her front paws. Her forest-green eyes stared calmly up at the kitten from his perch on the bench. Now it was his move. If he did nothing, she would do nothing. It was up to him.
His tiny fuzzy tail shot up behind him as he lingered on the edge of the bench, staring down. The glowing and warm feeling of his gem pulled him down towards the center of the forum - there in the central platform were a few outcroppings of the familiar blue crystals that seemed to grow out of the ground throughout the room. Not like his chrysalis though, it was a darker navy blue. He'd wanted to carry a shard of it around with him but it was too big and cumbersome for the little kitten. For now, at least. So he left them by the puddle, stowing some shards away in among the rocks so he could go back and find them later.
Before he knew it, the stronger pull - a living gem - suddenly alerted him to the presence of another creature. Her heavy footsteps were slow, and Bartos whirled around to wait and watch. Soon enough the beast appeared and stared at him. Boy, she was a big one! The cat blinked and stared back at her for a moment before she laid down. The kitten grinned and bounced over to her. "Hi! Hello! Did you come because I used my magic? I felt you around and there are some other rocks down there! Its nice to meet you! My names Bartos! Do you know Kerby? I'm a cat!" He chattered excitedly as he scampered over to her, eager to make a new friend.
The more Gembounds Maevmora came into contact with, the more she wondered why speaking was such a big deal. What she wouldn’t give to find another like her – someone who remained silent in order to better hear the Earth. It was not up to her to decide for someone else whether or not they spoke, however, so she shrugged inwardly and let the thought go. This small, fuzzy Gembound was certainly excited to see her, it seemed. Though she did not speak, or in any way answer his questions, really, she at least lifted the muscles of her face into a happy expression. She tried not to bare her teeth at the tiny kitten. Even so young, she knew that seeing a giant animal’s teeth would be pretty frightening for her, so she figured she should spare her new friend.
She hoped he didn’t mind that she was silent. Others had seemed confused by it, but there was nothing she would do to stop that sort of thing. She didn’t plan on breaking her silence any time soon. If one couldn’t make friends except through speech, then one was not a very good friend to begin with. At least, that’s what she thought. She worked her eyes into an expression of curiosity, dipping her brows but maintaining her friendly face so as not to look angry instead. What would happen now? It seemed each new Gembound had some different form of fun than the last. It’s part of what made listening and watching so interesting. Everyone was so unique!
She didn't say much. In fact, the big bear didn't say much at all. At first, the kitten was confused and a little concerned that maybe she didn't want to talk to him. But that feeling soon faded away as Bartos reasoned that of course she would, there was no reason proving otherwise. Thankfully his assumptions were proven correct when the bear merely smiled and lowered her head against the ground. Right! "I'm Bartos." He repeated, wide eyes as he lingered in front of her. "Do you have a name? What are you even? My friend Kerby is a big dog, he has three heads! How many heads do most people have? I wonder what it would be like to have three, no, FIVE heads!" The kitten chattered, bouncing around the bear.
He'd gotten distracted when he noticed something shiny on the bear's lower back. Something gleaming, catching the light, like the dark blue crystals of his chrysalis. "What's THAT?" Bartos gasped and whipped his little tail back and forth in immense curiosity. He came around to her flank and launched himself at the bear, using his tiny claws to hang on and climb his way up her haunch before landing on her back. There the lodestone gleamed, beautiful and strange to the kitten. "What's this? Is it yours? Can I have it?" He asked, sniffing at it before pawing at the stone. He attempted to grip it with his claws and tug it away, the stone was lodged firmly in the bear's back. He decided to go at it from a different angle and gnaw at it.
(Fira has stated she is no longer interested in playing Maevmora, so I'm going to turn this thread into a short selfie thread.)
The bear failed to respond to him at all - maybe a little shifting here and there, but it seemed she wasn't very enthusiastic about the little kitten playing with her stone. That was fine, Bartos was perfectly amused grinding his teeth against the stone and trying to tug it off the bear. He'd gotten so immersed in his playing that, without him realizing it, the magic within his chest began to swell - and unbeknownst to the kitten, he reached out to the world around them. Before he knew it, he was receiving feedback from the surrounding area, including the hall containing the bear. He could feel her own presence glowing and living and thriving beneath him, but there was something else out there. Something lingering just beyond his vision, out in the heart of the circular forum.
Bartos couldn't deny his curiosity, and the bear, frankly, was a little too quiet (and probably dumb) for his liking. Too boring. The kitten huffed after deciding he couldn't dislodge her stone and jumped off her back onto the ground. He glanced back at her and twitched his whiskers. "Well it was nice meeting you! Bye!" Bartos said quickly, more than eager to get going. He turned away from her and bolted down the hallway as fast as his little paws could take him.
The kitten scampered out of the hall and into the light of the gleaming orbs adorning the walls and hanging from the ceilings above. He barely paid any mind to the glistening globes - his attention was fully and completely on the gem that he had sensed out here. The seats arranged in a wide arc around the forum, and in the center, the stage was raised off the ground as if all were meant to turn their eyes to it. From where the hall opened up, a wide staircase would lead down the stadium to the edge, stopping at a wall that stood several feet above the ground in the center. The crumbling stone seats extended all around it. Bartos barreled down the stairs first, tripping over his own paws several times before ending up at the wall and realizing that he couldn't see over it. The kitten whimpered and mewled, scratching at the wall before his frustration caused him to turn around and seek an alternative.
The seats! They were raised up, hopefully high enough that he could look over the wall. Bartos ran back up the stairs again - it took longer this time as the cat had to pull himself up the stairs - and decided on one row of seats near the middle of the rise. Dropping to a crouch, Bartos wiggled his butt before launching himself up and scrambling onto the stone seat. He purred to himself for a second before bounding down the row of seats and turning his eyes to analyze the center of the forum - what would he be able to see?
There were many obvious pock marks in the rock that made up the bottom of the central rise - the "stage", as it were. Bartos stared wide-eyed at it, absorbing its details. Small rocks were scattered about; there were deep scrapes in it, created by the edge of what was possibly a blade, but Bartos wouldn't be able to tell. He snaked his tail behind him as he inched towards the edge of the seat, peering down at the stage. However, the crystal he had detected earlier still wasn't visible from here. So where was it? The kitten huffed and puffed to himself, surveying the seats before deciding that even from here, he wouldn't be able to find it. But he just had to! So, with a deep breath, he attempted to summon his skills of detection once again.
And this time, there was nothing. It was like peering into dead space, or listening to static from a radio; there was nothing of use and what feedback he did receive was foggy at best. Did that mean the crystal had suddenly vanished? Or was it just hiding really well? Maybe his magic didn't actually work this time around... Bartos grumbled and continued to travel the circumference of the seats, every so often glancing out to the stage. There was no obvious change before him, but maybe from a different angle he could sense something. So off he went, intent on finding this precious crystal.
From a different angle, Bartos had paused on the edge of a seat. The hallway he had entered from - and where the bear presumably still was - stood at nearly a ninety degree angle from where he sat now. He was beginning to feel the drain of such adventure, but the cat wasn't willing to give up quite yet. He wouldn't give up until he found this crystal! So holding his breath, he made an attempt to call out one more time.
This time he could feel it. It was a definite presence, a tugging, a pulling, a summoning in the cobalt blue gem that was embedded in his chest. Almost as if he was magnetically attracted to the object he sought. The cat's wide ears swiveled towards the source of the pulling and he stared wide-eyed - it was a few dozen meters away, a little higher up in the stands from where Bartos stood now. The cat purred quietly to himself, pleased with his success. Only now, he'd have to turn around and make his way back to the break in the seats, because climbing up the rows themselves was going to be a real hassle. Still, he made a mental note of where he'd detected the crystal and turned around, running down the seats back towards the stairs.
Reaching them, he dropped off and ran up the stairs. His heart was pounding with excitement, the rush of blood nearly deafening him as he bolted up. What row? Yes, he remembered - this one! Bartos sniffed and closed his eyes, and he could remember the sensation - this was definitely it. So he jumped up onto the seat and ran down it again. It took him longer this time, as the crystal he detected was a little further then where he'd been before, but after a minute of hopping across the seats the cat did eventually make it to his destination. The summoning feeling, the presence of the crystal, was hiding around here somewhere... he just needed to find the actual crystal now!
The cat hummed to himself as he flattened himself against the seat and stuck his head down to look underneath. "Wheerrrreee aarrre yoouuu! I know you're here, I can feel you, so where are you? Don't hide, I want to be your friend!" Bartos sang to himself, whipping his tail back and forth as he peered into the shadow beneath the seats. He wondered what it would look like when he found it - what kind of colour, what shape, what surface detail would it have? Would it be anything like his or would it be totally different? Would there be another new Gembound just emerging from its shards? Who knew!
Bartos hobbled along the seats, looking beneath every single one he could find - except, when he finally caught sight of a discrepancy in the tawny colour of the crumbling rocks, it happened to be on a floor just in front of the seat - where presumably one's feet would sit. That didn't matter though. As soon as he saw the gleaming crystal, Bartos had forgotten all about the difficulty of his endeavors and all attention was on his prize. With eyes wide as saucers, as he bounced along the seats towards it, taking it all in.
It was a cluster of dull pink crystals laying idle on the ground. Several points stuck out from a common joint, and they were covered in a layer of thick dust. They weren't alone, however; something else shiny sat next to them. Bartos sniffed and jumped onto the floor, poking his nose at them. They were rimmed with something gold, it looked like a gem but it wasn't really a rock, it was... metallic. The insides though, they definitely looked crystal. A clear surface that was only slightly scratched and chipped. The kitten dropped to his stomach and analyzed them, only to find that looking through the glass made the ground on the other side look a lot bigger. For a second, Bartos withdrew and blinked, wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes. No, he could see just fine. What was the deal?
He looked again, and again, and found the results were consistent. He could see normal when he wasn't looking through them, but he could see things a lot better up close through the glass. That... that could be kind of helpful, now couldn't it? Bartos tilted his head, pawing at the glasses. He had to find a way to get them onto his face... then maybe he could take a closer look at the dull pink crystal!
First, the cat fumbled with them, padding at the glasses and pushing them around on the ground. He managed to hold one of the arms down and then push it over with his paw. Upon discovering how easily he could manipulate them, Bartos tried to pick them up with his paws, but they quickly clattered to the ground, causing the cat to flatten his ears and flinch. Okay, new approach. Bartos huffed and flopped down onto his side, reaching out towards the glasses. He simultaneously wiggled his body and pulled the glasses towards him until he had fitted them onto his face. With them feeling secure, Bartos rolled back onto his stomach, but as soon as he moved his head the glasses fell off again. Well, this definitely wasn't easy.
Bartos groaned loudly and thumped his chin on the ground. This time, he reached out and pulled the glasses closer again. He shoved his nose between the two round lenses, and used his paws to push the arms up over his ears. Carefully Bartos lifted his head, and was satisfied to find the glasses remaining in place. He quickly discovered that moving his head too much would disorient the glasses, but if he was careful, he wouldn't disturb them from their position too much. Great! Now he could take a better look at that rock!