ORIGIN - yuck

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Attikias had woken with a start, that day. Granted, that day started about twenty minutes ago, when his consciousness returned with a few cracks sounding from suspiciously too close to the camp. Perhaps it was nothing- there wasn't the telltale continuous crackling of a fire, nor were there any unnatural colors, so it should be fine. Right? Fire didn't just go silent.

Of course, if there had been a fire, the hut would probably've been burnt down by now. Ah, well. He'd shoved up and out, stretched, began his morning routine, until the second startling sound of the day came right from the direction of Vivilene's little garden.

Now that got him going. Stand straight like a watchdog, Attikias had gone stiff when he twisted in that direction. Vivilene? She was in her chrysalis- had she hatched? Re-hatched? Emerged? Semantics aside, Attikias had been spurred into motion, his nerves firing faster than his brain. Some inner part of him had wanted to welcome her back with something special. A nice fruit, maybe, or just a carving would do. Nothing stuck out, though. In the time that it took for things to (probably) settle, he'd come up with nothing but his own spear to grab and poke at the various urns with.

Nothing. He'd eventually grown fed up with his gift idea, giving it up to trudge his way closer to the garden. There were the tail ends of conversations that he'd begun to pick up, and he sped along, pushing overgrown plants out of the old pathway that was developing. Someone found her before him? He did delay a bit, trying to get something, but-

He pushed through a few ferns, stepping into the clearing with warmth on his face. Just the sight of seeing his daughter again spurred his heart into action. It'd been so long since he'd seen her. (Nevermind the fact that 'so long' would consist of just a few weeks for Attikias- just seeing her in general could lift his spirits if she was happy.) All he could manage was a soft "Vivilene?" as he laid the spear down on the ground.

He took a step forward, then froze. There was another being here, to who he slowly dragged his gaze to. The smile that'd found its way onto him had been turned to Annie as he knelt down to get closer to her level. "Hi," he offered. His voice was quiet, and he rested his hands on his legs, fingers curling around one another as he glanced between the two. A faint nervous swallow, then he leaned to Vivilene, eyes wide. "Uh- are you okay? I don't mean to interrupt anything."

His eyes glanced to the broken moonstone. It looked like- to him- that she had already gone to work with her garden. A hand briefly came up to hover in the flowers' general direction- a silent offer to help, a look up at Vivilene with a faint head tilt.

Vivilene was, shockingly, quiet. She was becoming increasingly unsure if she had any friends outside of her own family-- Attikias and her siblings, Elspet and Ayr, and Pride were all her family. There was, at least, Orthoclase-Alpha and Azure, but she hadn't seen them in a very long time.

She thought.

How long had she slept for?

She blinked down to Annie a bit, who was talking a lot faster than Vivilene could really keep up with. Instead, politely, she was nodding along with blank, thoughtless eyes, entirely head empty-- Two names? Like Elenya? --but, gently, she tried her best.

And when Annie fell silent again, Vivilene was still nodding a little, albeit more to herself, this time. A few beats passed before, out of pure instinct, Vivilene offered her fist out with a padded thumb sticking out. This seemed right. The cerivtaur started to turn around to her plants again, lifting a little twig, before the ferns rustled.

Within a second, before Attikias had even finished sounding out her name, Vivilene had sprang up to all fours again. With a quiet little bleat she trotted and bounced around Attikias in circles, before settling down next to her father as he knelt.

She didn't say anything. She didn't have to! Attikias always made her feel more comfortable, even when she felt worse than the dirt. She didn't have to think about casting or trying to explain around him because-- well, he was her father, and fathers knew everything, including what their kids were thinking.

This theory was furthered when Attikias gestured to the flowers. She nodded a few times and went skittering back to the flowerbed, ushering the elf along to show him her process; picking up some twine from the camp and a twig and carefully burying it into the dirt, tying them together gently but firmly as not to let the broken chamomile topple over.

Vivilene, now, was in her element. And she was happy.

@Annie

Annie peered at the fist and smiled, reaching her hand out to put her small claws on it, not really knowing what else to do or what it was meant to be. But she appreciated it!

A voice made her ears perk up and she turned, brows flying up at the appearance of a new person. She watched Vivilene get up and start trotting around Attikas and, in the spirit of things, followed along happily, giggling up a storm as she chased the cervitaur's tail, little claws reaching up to try and grab it. Of course, being six inches tall, she missed, and tumbled to the ground, rolling to a stop.

Upside-down, she looked up at Attikas and waved, her boundless enthusiasm unwavering.

"Hi!!", she said, rolling onto her belly and pushing herself up, shaking out her white feathers and turning to brush dirt off of herself before staring at him, eyes narrowed.

"Waaaait a minute,", she said, looking at him and then to Vivilene, then back to Attikas, "You look like her! Are you her dad or her brother? Or something?"

Annie followed Vivilene excitedly as she returned to the garden, hopping over pebbles and rocks and fluttering around the garden like a hummingbird, excited to see a new person and even more excited at the prospect of Attikas being Vivilene's family too.

@Attikas @Vivilene

The elf gave a huff of a laugh through his nose as the two approached (or, rather, when Annie fell right over), offering a slight nudge of his head into Vivilene's shoulder. It was slow enough if she wanted to back away, of course, but easier than crowding with a side-hug with someone else about.

Annie reminded him starkly of Fisher's children- tiny, playful, and- ope! So clumsy. He laughed out a little more this time, offering his hand for Annie to grab onto if she wanted to roll over with a bit of help.

That done, he scooted forward, turning his knees to Annie. "Sure am. Father- ah, not brother. I'm Attikias." He dipped his head quickly to Annie before letting his attention move to the garden. "Do you come around here often?" He regarded the little griffin creature warmly before watching Vivilene set up another plant. His tail thumped several times behind him as he got the picture. A few ties? He could do that.

A few shuffles later and Attikias could crane over the small plants, reverently holding his hands above them. He'd avoided messing with his daughter's place. This was her's, and he was afraid of breaking the delicacy she set up so long ago. Even if some of it was overgrown.

Carefully, Attikias got to work picking out the smaller shards of moonstone and placing them into a pile. One, a larger piece, revealed one of the broken stems, and he sighed down to the presented problem. Right. He needed a piece of twine ("ah, this bit's a bit long," he'd mumble before cutting the long, long string into half with a stone knife) and a twig (which was announced with a breathy "and a twig..." as if he was making some sort of grocery list). Stick in place? Good, then the twine. He made a few gentle loops, and soon the broken flower was standing upright.

He leaned back onto his feet with a satisfied sigh. "There we go," was his last addition, before turning to the rest of the garden. "We may have our work cut out for us, Viv." He gave a gentle smile to his daughter. If it took them all day to fix these flowers, then, well, he'd sit here and help with all the love he could.

@Vivilene

There was something just a little bit discomforting about someone trying to grab your tail-- no matter how small or how fluffy they were. Her body caved into the slightest of grimaces as she held her tail high and shifted away anxiously.

But, flowers. Flowers was where she could shine. After a little nudge returned to Attikias (antlers angled carefully to not gore him), she returned to her garden and went right to work.

It was important to her, after all-- you don't just leave friends broken and dying, even if they were small and couldn't talk or move. A time was spent sticking little twigs into the dirt and carefully wrapping them up, right up until Attikias revealed more.

They definitely didn't have enough twigs and twine for that.

Vivilene passed a sad little bleat in response to her father. They would have their work cut out for them-- but maybe Vivilene could somehow help in another way? Pride did say she seemed good with magic, and talking with magic worked most of the time.

The cervitaur leaned over and planted her hands into the ground, next to a cluster of drooping, half-crushed chamomile. With a long, steady breath and a glance to her father (for security), she began to cast, quietly focusing into what her hands were doing.

Which didn't seem like much, until thin little roots crept out of the moss. They sprawled upwards, crawling up the stem until sinking themselves inside and sewing the damaged filaments from the inside. The little white flowers rose, perking up, supported by the roots inside.

When Vivilene removed her hands from the moss, she was struck with exhaustion. It waved across her, dizzying and almost nauseating. But-- she was proud. They looked good.

With a quiet bleat to Attikias, Vivilene shifted back away from the flowers to rub her eyes.

@Annie

"I live here,", Annie said, "With my dad and my brother. I'm gonna explore this whole cave! And then all the others!!"

She spun around in a circle to demonstrate, "I'm making a spiral out from my dad's nest, so I don't miss a thing!"

The little griffin shook herself out again, her feathers obscuring what shape she had underneath them, only her front legs truly visible, and a dark grey color, like her beak. Big green eyes looked up at Attikas, curious and full of wonder, ever new discovery better than the last.

"My name's Annie,", she said, "Annie-Sora! I'm named after my auntie, she lives in the water cave! Have you ever been?"

She trotted over to Vivilene and tilted her head, watching the plant seem to stitch itself together. Her eyes widened in awe and she settled down beside her, a tiny little puffball among the flowers and the giants next to her.

"That's so amazing!", she cooed, her tail wiggling back and forth, nothing more than a stump with feathers sticking out of it.

She reached out a teeny finger to feel the stem ever-so gently, marveling at how the plant was completely healed, or at least to her eyes.

"I want to learn to do that,", she said, "I can bounce really high though! Do you wanna see?"

She looked at Vivilene with her doll eyes, big and green and taking up most of her head. Her puppy eyes were hard to resist.

@Attikias

The elf watched, curious, as Vivilene joined him, straightening up with pride at his work. It wasn't the greatest, and it didn't seem to be particularly what she needed to cheer up. The noise didn't help his spirits, either- looking out at the flowers, he let out another small sigh. "We can do it," he assured softly, dipping his head.

As they worked, Attik looked to the excitable little griffin, reaching a finger out to brush between her tiny ears. "You've got a long way to explore. If you ever need a break, you can stop by our camp back that way," he offered with a jerk of his head behind himself. His head cocked at the second thing, though, looking to the plants. "I don't think I've been. Fornax, right?" He glanced to Annie. Would she know the cave names? Attik barely remembered them himself.

But soon enough, as he was responding to Annie, Vivilene was looking to him. Unfamiliar with whatever was going on in her mind, Attikias leaned in and cocked his head, his tail curling upwards as he watched. The eye contact was brief. When he held it, though, he nodded supportively to Vivilene, through his eyebrows just faintly furrowed with uncertainty.

Leave it to Vivilene to blow her father out of the water with her magic. She had gotten stronger and stronger at it, and this show was something to be proud of- even if it was just for some little flowers. He wasn't sure what she was doing- but they were getting healthier by the second as he watched with a growing sense of pride. "Good job, Vivi!" Came the praise soon after. He hummed, and sat back, watching as she moved.

Almost immediately, he felt a twinge in his heart at the sheer exhaustion Vivilene displayed. Dipping in closer, Attik offered his arm for her to lean into. He was quieter this time, as he gently (albeit quickly) told her, "Take it easy. C'mere." As excited as he was, familial concern came first, and hit hard like a truck.

At least Annie was happy, too. He quite liked this little being. Was she a kid, maybe? She had that kid excitement. Hesitantly, he made to pet their head some more with his free hand, tilting his head down to her. "Don't hurt yourself," he advised. "Magic's fickle, sometimes." Case in point, Vivilene. Taking back his hand, he made to brush away any of Vivilene's errant hairs into a better shape. "How much have you done? It- ah, can be tiring, for the most part, if you overdo it. Still, it's a good thing to practice. Just make sure not to hurt the flowers."

He watched Annie, head tilting back the other way as he waited for whatever she was going to do. His thumbs went to make small circles on Vivilene's back in the meantime. He didn't need his daughter to tire herself out too badly right after a long stint of hibernation.

@Vivilene

Vivilene didn't feel very well at all. A headache began in the base of her skull that blossomed all around, like a laurel crown. Bile rose in her throat and there was talking and she couldn't stand it. Her ears craned downwards to try to block it out, but there was an overwhelming sense of wanting to go and lie down somewhere quiet and dark and sleep.

'Take it easy,' Attikias said. Leave it to dad to know how to comfort his daughter. The cervitaur carefully lowered a trembling hand from her eye and, upon seeing the extended arm, shuffled on in. Despite looking like an adult she could have been newborn again in that moment, thin legs looking just a bit too long as she rest her head on Attikias's shoulder, eyes squeezing shut.

This was better. This was good. They were still talking, but Vivilene could handle it, now, because she was with her father. It didn't matter very much how proud she was of herself anymore-- the exhaustion drained all of that away and all Vivilene wanted to do now was sleep.

But she knew the impending few seconds of silence meant that she was being talked to.

The hybrid shifted a little next to Attikias, eyes opening into thin, silvery slits to look at Annie. Her initial thought-- specifically to Annie wanting to do what she just did --was no, you don't. She felt terrible. Maybe it was what dying felt like-- but it wasn't something Vivilene would wish on even the most scary and evil of monsters.

Bouncing wasn't a spell she'd heard of before, though, even in Vivilene's limited repertoire of spells. She knew of mind-magic and light-magic and making things glow, or making plants grow and preserving them, and of using water to look at things that are far away, and how to heal and sterilize. Bouncing didn't seem... right. Vivilene wasn't sure if it was magic.

But if there was anything that Pride had passed down, from his sons to her, it was the thirst to know more. The curiosity and the desire to study magic, to use it to the best of her abilities. She wanted to make him proud by knowing more.

Silently, but with the distinct bleariness of someone about to throw up and sleep, she nodded.

@Annie

Annie arched up into the affection like a cat, her eyes closing as she trilled, wings raising and flapping a few times. She looked up and over at Vivilene, at Attikias, her ears and wings lowering.

"Is she okay?", she whispered loudly, kind of defeating the point, but she was so small that a whisper wouldn't have been heard anyway.

But as soon as she had the affirmative she was off like a rocket, scuttling across the ground to a patch of ground where there wasn't a garden, fluffing out her feathers and crouching down, wiggling her butt as she prepared to jump.

"Don't worry!", she crowed happily, "I'll cheer you up. Watch this!!"

She jumped as high as she could and flapped her wings, only getting a few inches off the ground before falling right back down and flopping forward, the air rushing out of her and making her sound like a squeezed rubber duck. She lifted her head and put her chin on the ground, limbs sprawled in all directions.

"I can bounce really high!", she insisted, pouting, "Why didn't it work? It worked before..."

Annie flopped her head down, her big green eyes growing just a bit watery. She picked herself up off the ground and brushed dirt and dust off herself, picking a leaf out from within her feathers.

"I'll try again,", she said, "This time it'll work!"

@Attikias

"She'll be okay," Attikias mustered as he kept rubbing his thumb along his daughter's spine. He watched with a careful eye- one that turned to Annie as she bounced about.

All that energy wasn't Vivilene's forte, he knew, but he wasn't one to dishearten any kid. Just- as long as Annie was considerate about that, maybe? Shuffling about, Attik turned to watch, curling his tail in closer.

Nothing happened. Annie fell, and the elf found himself shuffling even more, watching her. He hesitated before saying anything. "Magic doesn't always work," he gently lessoned Annie, leaning down to the little griffin. Carefully, he offered his hand to pet her cheek comfortingly. "I think- ah." His gaze flicked to the exhausted Vivilene, briefly, before he made to pull both himself and his daughter to their feet. "I think Vivilene needs to go home. We could try there? Away from the garden."

The deertuar certainly looked out of it He wanted the best for his daughter, after all, and the best right now was a good and honest nap. "I can carry you," he offered to Annie after a moment. Making sure Vivilene was okay as he moved, Attikias leaned down to offer his hand for the little griffin to take.

@Vivilene

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