ORIGIN

All things considered, this cave wasn't too bad. Yet. There had been many caves and alcoves in the wall near the tunnel entrance, and Mosaic thought she could probably make one of them into a den. The abundance of reflective crystals might prove to be a double-edged sword for hunting, allowing her to find hiding prey easier but also completely ruining her non-magical camouflage, but that remained to be seen.

Mosaic lowered her head to lap at the pool beneath the waterfall, but a movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention and she trotted over to stare at it. At first, she'd thought it might have been some kind of animal hiding in an alcove, but... it was this thing. Clearly magical, it swirled with a multitude of colors and gave off a soft whirring sound. She'd missed that noise before, thinking that it was from the waterfall.

Could she look like that rift? Mosaic concentrated, imagining the patches of white and orange on her pelt to melt into swirls of color, but no change happened outside of her imagination. What she got instead was a persistent itch behind her ear, which she lifted a leg to scratch at. "Stupid magic," she muttered. She just wanted to having moving colors and be cool!

With a dramatic sigh, Mosaic lowered her head again to drink from the pool. It was not meant to be. But this cave could still be worthwhile. Her thirst quenched, Mosaic sat back and closed her eyes, listening closely for nearby heartbeats.

She sat in the same position for a while, her ears swiveling back and forth. Occasionally, she thought she'd detected something, but it was so indistinct that she couldn't tell if it was a foreign heartbeat or the sound of her own blood pulsing through her ears. Eventually, Mosaic decided that she couldn't just sit here forever. Picking out a random signal as best she could, she headed in its general direction. A Greater Gembound to annoy/be annoyed by? A Lesser meal? Something to run away from really fast? Who knew?

Suddenly, Mosaic remembered something. Mirrors! Of course! She'd need to disguise herself long before whatever she'd sensed came into her direct line of sight. Otherwise, the mirror-crystals might reveal her presence to the prey and give it an unoutrunnable head start. She looked around: most of the crystals were a pale, slightly bluish-purple color. Translucent, too.

Mosaic frowned. She thought she might be too thick to be translucent, but... she could try anyway? Magic, right? She could do whatever she wanted with magic. Besides, the crystals were plenty thick. (They also didn't have any internal organs, but far be it from Mosaic to think of that.)

Lavender rippled across her fur, but Mosaic did not turn translucent. The white patches, too, stayed, but at least she was semi-crystalline now. She could possibly, to a Lesser on the stupid side, pass as an imperfectly formed geode... but Mosaic didn't want to be imperfect, dammit. She wanted to be a perfect beautiful crystal!

... maybe this cave wasn't such a good fit after all. She didn't want to be around such perfect things all the time. It made her feel inferior.

Her interest in whatever prey animal there was lost, Mosaic left with her head hung low.

--exit