ORIGIN - A New Day

MAKYNA

"life is precious"

All was peaceful quiet and cool. The air was crisp and smelled of frost in the darkness. If one traveled a little bit further than the main tunnel they could see something filtering through the darkness. Slivers of light that fell upon the cave floor and if one were a bit more attentive they could see that the light fell upon a strange dark shape. If you were observant enough you would notice that the strange dark shape was unlike that of the cave floor, it was smoother and every so often it would shake as if something inside were ready to release itself.

The shaking became more frequent until finally the end of the shape shattered and a tiny paw burst through. The paw was followed by another and then a tiny tufted tail. For a moment the two paws and the tail remained still as the cool air of the tunnel rushed onto it. The next movement was the tiny body parts trying to squeeze back into the chrysalis but the result was just for the rest of it to shatter and release a tiny lion cub. The little creature covered it's new eyes with both of its paws, attempting to hide from the harsh light of the world. Why was the light so bright and the world so cold?

Slowly the cub uncovered her eyes as they grew accustomed to the light, she actually believed it to be quite pretty. So, she lay there on her back staring up at the cave and the light and the creatures flitting by overhead. The tiny critter was content to watch and observe and put things together in her currently unexpanded mind. Still, it was growing a bit cold now... Her back was lying in the frost with her newly developed and short fur.

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words: 304
tagged: Open
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

i'm assuming this happens before part 2 of the cetus quest :'D

Leon was beginning to venture further and further away from his home. Ever since the embarrassing accident that left him sobbing hysterically on the ground (for anybody that missed it, little Leon fell off the near top of the magical spire - quite the accident indeed) he was a little more hesitant to linger, for fear that somebody else had seen besides the two creatures that were already there. It wasn't like the bear was going to die of embarrassment or anything, but maybe he'd like to wait until it was no more than a distant memory to some, and the wound wasn't so fresh. The mental wound, that is. Leon's scrapes had healed quite nicely with the help of the fox, to which Leon was incredibly grateful.

First, he had returned to Orion. He'd been there before, when he saw the tiger emerging from its chrysalis. He hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings. Of course, the room was lovely, but Leon was so very easily distracted. His second run through the room had offered him more time to investigate it, and he found himself very easily drawn in by the glittering ceiling. Eventually, Leon moved on. Instead of venturing into one of the more obvious tunnels, he had found a narrow slit in the wall that nearly didn't accommodate his large size. Still lacking any fear of the unknown, Leon of course had to bust right in.

The first thing he saw was a chrysalis. It was smooth and pale blue, and almost immediately, he saw it rock and tremble until a pair of paws burst through. Very shortly after, the entire chrysalis shattered, revealing a small feline. Leon, with his hind end still outside the entrance, had paused and fell still, watching the emergence. A few times he'd watched another emerge, but during those times he was usually distracted and didn't care to remember it. This time, bathed in the silver light of Orion, Leon found himself rather enthralled.

The bear blinked. Once the cub was free from her chamber, he tilted his head and slowly edged forward. It lay in the snow, and encountering the snow and ice on his paws, he realized that she must be cold, so suddenly exposed to the tunnel. Very carefully, the bear inched towards it, sniffing. Once he was near enough, he craned his neck to look at it. "Pssst... hey... hi! Are you... are you cold?" He asked, laying on his stomach and looking over the little cub.

MAKYNA

"life is precious"

The more she lay there the more she felt cold. The sensation was easy to ignore at first but then it just kept getting colder and colder and colder. The tiny lioness shivered and after a few more moments she couldn't take it anymore. "Mraaaaar!" A shrill little mewl of protest escaped her mouth as she crunched her eyes together, a grimace of discomfort. Because she was so intent on mewling out her protest she didn't notice when the other creature made his way over to her. It wasn't until the other spoke did she stop her mewling and open her clear blue eyes to see the large brown thing above her.

Rather than fear she felt only curiosity. What was this thing? Now she wondered again... What was she? Also... what were those strange sounds coming out of its mouth? They were like her own mouth-sounds but different. They seemed to have some sort of meaning... but what meaning? The lioness' mouth opened as she tried to mimic his words, "Mrow?" No... That wasn't right. Still on her back the snow grew ever colder, a grimace was on her countenance again as she wriggled and squirmed around. No more! She wanted no more of this!

After a fair bit of flailing around she managed to right herself and lay on her belly instead. Now the brown creature was no longer upside-down and now her head lifted so she could get a better view. Her back was no longer cold, instead it was her belly but the feeling was less intense now. Since she was no longer so cold she could focus again on the brown thing and its strange mouth-sounds. What had it said? "Heeeeee.... Hiiiiiiii...." That sounded much more right than her former mouth-sound. Now for a new one. "Coooooooollllldddd..." Cold... Cold! She was cold! The floor was cold... This white stuff was cold. Was the bear cold? All in one fell swoop the words began to make sense and a light seemed to come on in her eyes as she lay there before the bear. "Is cold. Am cold. Yes. Am cold." The mouth-sounds were fun! They made her throat and mouth feel funny.

Now she tilted her head to the side and studied the creature before her. "Is you cold?" It would have sounded like she was questioning him to see if the snow was making him cold too but she wasn't. The tiny cub wanted warmth and she sensed that this little brown thing could give it. Not waiting for an answer she began scooting towards him by moving her strange limbs. They were foreign to her but slowly and surely she began to get the hang of it and then she was over to his side. He certainly was warm! He had long fur and heat coming from inside of him! The little cub smiled without knowing she was doing it and snuggled closer to his side. "You is not cold! You is..." What word for that? She didn't know and for a moment she paused in her snuggling to think... He wasn't cold he was...?

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words: 522
tagged: Leon
ooc: Lol yeah XD I posted this before it was a thing.
muse:
6/10
"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

The tiny cub made a most pitiful noise, prompting Leon to cock his head and stare at her with awe. But some part of that noise was... adorable? It was a sound that made him heart melt. He found himself grinning and watching her, amused and intrigued. Eventually she had noticed him, and Leon fell still, not wanting to startle her. He realized that not everybody was as big as him, and sometimes when he ran up to them, he scared them. He definitely didn't want to scare this little one! But thankfully, she didn't seem scared of him. Rather she seemed... curious! He tilted his head to the other side and sniffed loudly at her again, nostrils flaring in hopes of taking up as much as her fresh, newborn scent as possible. It was the easiest way for him to identify other Gembounds, since their smells were so unique.

Before long, she was trying to mimic the sounds he made, just like when he tried to mimic Rohan. Leon let loose a quiet giggle, smiling with encouragement. He was right! She was cold! Well, no duh, she was laying in the snow! And as far as he knew, this snow was very cold. It wasn't so bad for him though because his fur was a lot longer and thicker. Was it always this thick? In a brief moment of distraction, he looked down, examining his pelt to see if he could remember. ....Nope, no, he really couldn't. But when he looked back up, the cub was already beginning to crawl towards him.

Leon didn't move, watching her carefully until finally she found a place against his side. She nestled herself in the warmth of his fur, happily exclaiming that he was not cold. He was something else. Delighted, Leon giggled again and flopped onto his side. He used one of his paws to scoop the cub closer to him, effectively hugging her. His happiness blossomed within him, and with it, the warmth of his element began to accumulate in his paws as well.

MAKYNA

"life is precious"

Not cold... Not cold... What was not cold? What was the thing that would be the opposite of not cold. It was on the tip of her tongue. The larger creature rolled onto his side and the lioness peered up curiosly at him. What was wrong? And what was this new sound he was making? It was a curious one but one that made her happy. She even began to emit the same sound from her mouth! It made a happy feeling inside of her! She felt even happier when he scooped her up with a paw and hugged her. The cub let out a happy little mewl and rubbed her head underneath his chin.

Oh! He felt even warmer now! "Warm!" She exclaimed excitedly. That was the word she was looking for! "You is warm! I is warm! We is warm!" These words were so fun! She loved to say them! She loved them almost as much as she loved snuggling into the creature's warm fur. What other new things and new words were out in the world for her to explore? She couldn't wait to go investigate them... Just not yet. For now she was content to just be hugged.

But again... the question popped into her head. What was she? Perhaps this one could answer her question... "Who is you?" Her clear blue eyes looked up at the bear curiously. The little girl was always eager to learn. "Who is I?" Was her follow up question. "Why is you so warm?" So much knowledge in the world and she didn't know any of it yet! She would learn eventually... but eventually wouldn't come soon enough for her.

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words: 280
tagged: Leon
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

As if in fateful harmony, the happiness he felt as the cub crawled up to his side brought a tempered warmth to his paws. It didn't hurt. It didn't burn or sting or give him fear. It was... comfortable and welcome. He hadn't even given it a second thought. Leon scooped her up and held her close, delighting in the sensation of her fur and the joy with which she mewled in his arms. It was a wondrous feeling to give somebody else his warmth, and for once it didn't backfire and injure him. Perhaps this was the secret to unlocking his magic. Perhaps this was how he could learn to control it. Happiness - love.

The cub spoke again, finding the word she'd been looking for. Warm! Of course he was warm! He was a big ball of fuzzy fur with fire running through his veins! "Yeah! I couldn't just let you freeze in the snow like that!" He huffed and giggled again; it was inevitable, but he felt the heat rising to his cheeks too, but that probably wasn't magic. Leon stifled the feeling for now, tipping his head down to look at the little lion cub in his arms. With his free paw, he quietly and slowly petted her, examining the near downy softness of her fur. She was so much softer than him or anybody else he knew! At her question, Leon let his paw fall still on the ground beside her. "My name's Leon! I don't know who you are though! Don't you have a name?" He added and furrowed his brow, thoughtful. Most of the time new Gembounds he met just kind of... knew their names. Maybe she just needed some encouragement.

At this point, he decided he was far too restless to keep cuddling on the ground. Leon pulled his other paw out from under her, supporting himself on his front legs then sitting up. She was welcome to continue snuggling against him, though. "I'm warm because I can do this neat stuff with my paws. It makes things hotter sometimes. It's a little hard to do, but I'm getting better." He answered proudly, grinning. "Can you do any cool stuff like that?" Leon wasn't sure if she'd be able to access her magic, being so freshly emerged, but you never knew!

MAKYNA

"life is precious"

Wrapped up in the other cub's paws she felt secure and happy. He was like a huge, fluffy new chrysalis. Actually, he was even better because he talked and she could learn from him and he was happy just like her. "No freeze!" She agreed excitedly. Again she mimicked his giggle and found it just as fun the second time! Today was just a wonderful day!

Makyna could feel a strange rumbling purr building up in her chest when the other gembound started petting her it made her feel good too! She just found out that she liked to be pet! Well, at least by this nice fellow. Everything was just so nice, she quivered excitedly in his paws. Unable to keep still because of her intense joy.

Leon? He was a Leon? "Leeeeeeon! Leon! You is Leon!" She giggled out, playing with the new word. Did she have her own name? The little lioness tapped her head with a paw and her tiny brow furrowed as she thought. A name... A name... A whisper of a sound came to her then. Makyna. That was her name! It had to be! She had one too! She knew who she was now! "Maaaaaaa. Kiiiiiiiii. Naaaaahhhhh. Makyna!" She squeaked joyfully. "I is Makyna!" She gave a toothy grin up at the other gembound. Happy that he had helped her realize that she had her own name.

Makyna couldn't say that she wasn't disappointed that Leon sat her back on the ground but it was fine. The little lion wasn't cold anymore and with a little effort she found she could stand on her four paws. So that's what they were for. Still, she couldn't help but stand right up against his side so that he still shared his body heat. So, apparently he could make even more body heat at will. That's what she got from it. Hmmm... could she do that? The little cub thought about making herself warmer but nothing happened. It didn't seem as if she could do anything... and yet...

Makyna looked up at the bear, a strange light in her eyes as she rose up to her hind legs with both of her forepaws against Leon's arm so she wouldn't fall. Then she reached up carefully with one of her paws and ever so softly and gently touched the bottom of Leon's face. She didn't know why she was doing it, she just felt as if it were the right thing to do.

Post-Roll Edit: Shortly after she touched his face she began to get images in her mind. Unknown to her her eyes and gem had started to softly glow while she saw faint shadows in her mind. Shadows of strange-shaped creatures but one distinct one, Leon. It was like a shadow of Leon and he was speaking and playing with other creatures... What were these other creatures? She wanted to know! Were there others like them?

The image in her head ended and the little cub blinked as she cleared her head and eyes. An excited smile formed on her face as she patted Leon's cheek, not unlike how he had pet her earlier. "Makyna no make herself warm. Makyna use paw to see things! Makyna see Leon play with others!" She lowered herself back down to all four paws. Her clear blue eyes peered up at Leon with glittering excitement as she tilted her head to the side, questioning. "Can Makyna go with Leon to see others?" Oh, the adventures! She would absolutely love to have adventures! Especially with a friend like Leon.
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words: 596
tagged: Leon
ooc: ---
muse: 6/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

When she sang out his name, Leon grinned widely and laughed. "Leeeeeeeeeon! Leeeee-onnnn!" He sang with her, cheerfully illuminating the room with their entwined, sing-song voices. The bear fell silent again when she spoke something else, testing out other sounds, other words. He glanced down at her, wide eyes eager to hear what she would say next. Maaaaaaaah. Keeeeeee. Naahhhhhhh! His grin shot ever wider as he listened to her discover her name. "Makyna!" The boy mimicked proudly. He knew after a little while she'd be able to figure out her name and there it was, Makyna. He liked it. It was fun to say, it resonated well from his lips and bore a harmonic rhythm to it that pleased his ears.

The lion cub again returned to cuddle against him, giving warmth to Leon's cheeks and a fluttery feeling in his stomach. He would be content to sit there with the lioness, except the boy was awfully restless, and the desire to explore further into the caves would nag him after a while. Thankfully it seemed she had more in mind than sitting here and cuddling. He shifted slightly when she got up, watching in quiet awe as she turned and touched his lower face. In that instant, it felt like a part of him was being shared - not severed nor torn from him, but simply lent, observed. He blinked, trying to understand the sensation, but soon enough it was gone again, leaving him confused.

Meanwhile, Makyna appeared completely engulfed in what she had seen. Soon enough she explained what she'd experienced, and Leon raised his brows. "WOAH! That's so cool!" He beamed. She was right - he had played with many others like him during the time he'd been alive thus far. Her abilities were almost like the wolf's, back in Polaris when it touched the machine. Maybe they could do the same thing! "Yeah! Let's go find others to play with! There probably aren't that many down here because its cold, but maybe if we go to one of the other rooms we can find someone." He grinned down at her, first waiting for her response. He would especially like to show her to Rohan, but... some part of him desired only to covet the little cub for himself. Leon dismissed those feelings for now.

MAKYNA

"life is precious"

Unknown to the bear cub his tiny companion had a need to explore as well. Her need was stemmed with curiosity to see the unknown and the strange; it was a need that would forever be with her. Of course, she'd much rather explore it with him. He was so big and he knew a lot of words and she was sure he knew more about the world than she did! He was like the perfect tutor and travel-mate and friend and everything else! He caused a warm glow in her tummy that made her excited and happy all at the same time. It was great!

The glow in her tummy grew when Leon said her power was "cool". She had been cool but she had the feeling that this cool was good. Her tufted tail swished back and forth behind her in a lazy but content fashion. It felt so good to be praised! "Thank-you!" She mewled happily with an even larger smile. "Makyna think Leon power even cooler! But not cool... it warmer!" She giggled at her words. They made her laugh because his paws were the complete opposite of cool. The lioness had made a joke without the knowledge of the term yet.

After his confirmation that they could go find others the little cub bounced up and down on her paws excitedly. "Yay yay! We go find others!" She bumped her head against Leon's leg happily before rubbing herself against it like a friendly cat would. "Makyna follow Leon to other rooms! We go, Leon!" The cub cried excitedly after she finished rubbing herself against his legs. Her innocent blue eyes stared up at Leon's orange ones. She was ready and would certainly follow him anywhere! He was the first person she'd met and she trusted him fully and completely.

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words: 304
tagged: Leon
ooc: We can go start a new thread for them if you like :3 I really like playing them together~
muse: 6/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Ahh - what a clever thing to say! Leon almost blushed when she said his powers weren't cool, but warm. It was funny in that it was true, and so was birthed his introduction to intelligent humor. The bear would probably use a lot of it in the coming days. In fact, he was probably going to steal Makyna's joke and repeat it a few times for extra mileage. She probably wouldn't mind, right? He laughed at her words and leaned forward, standing up on all four paws. His new friend was so excited to meet the others, Leon figured it would probably be cruel to keep her away from everybody. Besides, he liked it when she was happy, it made him happy! So even though he kind of wanted to keep her for himself, he would show her the other Gembounds, just to see her smile.

The bear grinned down at her and shuffled through the snow, movements alive and excitement. His big, clumsy paws did a dance of their own as he led the way from the cold snow tunnel back out to Orion. They would probably look around for somebody there first - maybe they'd find the fire tiger - and if they couldn't find anybody, maybe they would go to Polaris. Or maybe they would go explore in another room. Who knew! Leon was happy just as long as he was exploring the place with Makyna, his new friend.

aaaand exit!