ORIGIN - play pretend

Kimera crept along the ground, scuttling to and fro as she dove behind a rock, peeking her head up. Her eyes were wide as she set her eyes on the treasure. It was a rock, but in her mind, it was a statue.

She ran forward through the 'crypt' that was simply the edge of Polaris, making soft noises as she dove and rolled about, skidding to a stop in front of the statue. She stood on her hind legs and picked up a rock, putting a hand on the statue and bringing the rock closer, rapidly switching them out.

Her tail whipped forward to knock over a branch that held a rock up, gasping and taking off, the rock rolling down the incline, though she saw a massive boulder, and no way to escape!

She ran and ran, diving under a few crystals, reaching back to grab the 'statue' before it was crushed. She lifted it in her hands and let out a cheer of victory, tail lashing happily.

"The great Kimera gets it done aagin!", she cried in triumph, giggling happily.

Kimera continued to play, acting out different scenarios by herself, a smile on her face.

@Comet

Comet had no idea why she was even in this part of Polaris. It was far away from Pegasus, where she should be helping James build their new house. Should. But she wasn't, since there wasn't much she could help with anyway. Water magic wasn't as useful as arcane magic for lifting logs and all. As she walked towards the snowy part of Polaris, she heard a sound. Someone was there.

Diving behind a lump of snow, she poked out her head to see what was happening. A weird creature, who looked like a mix of many animals was... being crazy? Now this was someone she wanted to play with. But she stayed behind the lump of snow, trying to comprehend what was happening. Eventually she came to the conclusion that it was like adventuring, without the adventure. Acting out exploring was very different from actually exploring, since it had no danger, or very exciting component to it at all. But she got into too many dangerous situations anyway, so perhaps it would be okay to do something that wasn't crazy for once.

Comet waited for the animal to come to a point where she had almost reached the treasure, before jumping out from behind her lump of snow. "And a great MONSTER appears!" declared the pup, joining in the play. Summoning her magic, she even started the added effect of the sky starting to rain.

@Kimera

Kimera shrieked when Comet appeared, her paws skidding on a patch of ice and sending her sprawling before she tore off, ears pinned as she dove behind a rock, chest heaving as she pressed herself flat against it. She lifted her head, big yellow eyes peering up over it, staring at Comet.

"A monster...?", she said timidly, the rock gone, having been dropped in front of Comet. Kimera's eyes widened and she jumped onto the rock, tail lashing, "You'll never have my treasure, monster! I found it, it's rightfully mine!"

Finder's keeper, loser's weepers. Obviously.

She darted forward, back arched like an angry cat's, trying to grab the 'statue'.

@Comet

Comet wasn't sure if the whole shrieking and diving behind a rock part was just part of their play, or if it was a genuine reaction. She couldn't be that scary, right? Either way, Kimera couldn't keep winning round after round of stealing the treasure. And even if she failed stopping her this time, at least it would be an added challenge. After all when you were adventuring for real, you failed. A lot.

Comet briefly wondered if Kimera would even try to steal the rock due to their current state. But the animal gathered up her courage again quickly, and jumped on top of the rock. The pup moved the statue behind her, and out of Kimera's way. "Not so fast! You'll have to get past me first!" With a large abundance of water now, she tried shooting a jet of it at Kimera. Not too hard though, she didn't want to hurt her!

@Kimera

Kimera was splashed right in the face with the water, and totally drenched. She sputtered and shook herself off, immediately shivering, teeth chattering.

"H-hey!!", she said, "I-It's cold!!"

She didn't like this- this is why she didn't like people. So physical and using their magic to hurt each other like the stories daddy told her about (people fighting monsters, people fighting people, etc). She shook herself out more and wished she was back home where it was safe and warm.

Kimera pawed at her eyes and glared, ears down. She didn't like this monster.

She growled and launched herself forward, her rat feet extended to grab and shove down.

@Comet

Comet realized her mistake, and allowed Kimera to tackle her onto the ground. "Sorry about that." she shook her fur, and tried to push her off. "Why don't we do something else?" she suggested. This kind of fake adventuring was not working out very well. It wasn't even real!

@Kimera

"You don't play the game like that!", she said, ignoring the other, "You play the game like... this!"

Kimera backed up and looked around, pointing at the rock again, "This is a... a baby! This entire place is on fire and we have to try to get out!! If you touch the snow or the ice, you're burned, and you're out! Whoever gets the baby out first wins!"

She promptly snatched up the rock and took off running, dodging patches of ice and snow, eyes on the ground.

@Comet