Bartos had been hard at work getting to know everything about his new home. Well, it was his only home, as far as he knew. It was the one he'd been born in, the one he'd found his brother in as well as his countless new friends. And it was the one that was host to all the pretty rocks, the ones embedded in the walls and the ones in linear shapes that created unnatural formations, man-made monuments that stood still in the stagnant dust. A monument to creation.

The little cat didn't know much, but he did know that he was entirely enamored with the rocks and gems he found, especially with the buildings, but everybody he asked seemed to know very little about them. There appeared to be no known origin of the structures, only that they had always been here since the very first Gembounds awoke many, many days ago. That wasn't very helpful to Bartos. So, he had resolved to find out where they had come from. Not only that, but to build them himself. If he could learn how to make structures like the crumbling city buildings, maybe he could learn where they came from. But to do that, he had to learn more about the rocks - a knowledge that would come easy to somebody who already held an immense interest in the subject.

He had grown since his emergence, but was still fairly small; his legs had lengthened in adolescence, and his tail puffed out, wavering behind him. His body was considerably lean, but his paws weren't large and clumsy anymore. The extra toe on each foot even made it easier to walk and grip things. Five claws were a lot better than four. The cat wove his way through the street, a chunk of sandstone gripped firmly between his teeth as he did so. He had been working hard on collecting all the different kinds of rocks he could find, so that he could compare them and see what they might be made of. He collected the crumbs of the fragile buildings as well; the material could give some hints towards the level of structural integrity they were capable of, at least in the days before they were weathered by time. His mind had wandered off to all his plans, knowing fully well what he was going to do as soon as he returned to his lair up in the cliffs.

That was, until he heard a voice sound out through the stillness of the air. The cat froze, twitching his tail and pointing his nose in the direction, nostrils flaring with a few quick inhales. Curiosity very quickly consumed the feline as he wove his way towards her, keeping low to the ground - when he found her, she was easy to pick out against the rubble. Her cream fur gleamed in the light of the starry ceiling, and she spoke gentle, quiet; the cat hid behind a rock and observed in awe of her grace, which promptly ended when she tripped over something and tumbled head over tea kettle into the dust.

Bartos flinched and watched still; she had only spat out a mouthful of dust then turned her eyes to the ceiling. Was she okay? Had she gotten hurt? He found himself worrying for the pretty doe, and before he knew it, the cat had bounced out from behind the rock and was scurrying towards her. A friendly prrrroowww rumbled from his chest before he stopped in front of her and dropped the sandstone, snaking his tail back and forth above his back. "ARE YOU OKAY?" He asked, swooping his nose in real close.

When the doe blinked and laughed, Bartos couldn't help but feel a fizzle of warmth in his chest and a heat rising to his cheeks. Not to mention a butterfly or two that suddenly, inexplicably popped up in his stomach. He pursed his lips and leaned back, plopping down onto his bottom in front of the deer. She explained that she was alright, and the only thing hurt was her dignity - for a brief second, Bartos fretted and scanned her for injury before it clicked that her dignity was just a mental thing. That was like, pride or ego, or something. So she wasn't actually injured. Which was a good thing, because Bartos wouldn't be able to do anything to fix it, really. Tearing him from his thoughts, the doe suddenly pointed out the set of spectacles that sat on the bridge of his nose. Bartos blinked a couple times, having briefly forgotten that he had them on before remembering. "Oh!!! Yeah!! They're my eye-see-ers!" He chattered. "They help me see things up close."

They were helpful for when he was trying to analyze rocks and tell the difference in material and make between them. Especially when some rocks had those cool little flecks of colour or shine to them, and others had just flecks of random other rocks, like an amalgamation of rock. It was easier to tell the difference when he could see them up close. The kitten shifted and nestled his paws together as she went on to introduce herself, a nameless story teller, before asking about the spectacles again. But wait! "Why don't you have a name? Do you want one? I think - I think I have a few rocks that look like you, yes, they're very pretty and light, like you, you remind me of them! It's too bad you don't have a name, because I would name them after you!" He blurted, staring wide-eyed at her and forgetting briefly about her question - also about introducing himself.

She explained Pounce to him - he was a new Gembound, just like Bartos. His mind briefly wandered to thoughts of his brother, Faelon; he hadn't seen the lion cub in a while, and some part of him worried that maybe Faelon had gotten lost while exploring. Was it right to blame himself for losing his brother? After all, Bartos did enjoy his solitude - he loved his brother, but it was also very easy for Bartos to isolate himself without a second thought towards others. For now, he shrugged the idea away and nodded about Pounce, and then he found heat rising to his cheeks as she complemented his name, called him clever and said that his nickname was cute. Oh, she was too kind! And she made him feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside.

This would just make it even more exciting for when they reached his home and he could show her all the pretty things he found. He hadn't even considered the sandstone that he'd left behind, having whirled around and zoomed off, far too eager to take her to his home. Even as he stopped every now and then to glance over his shoulder and check that she was following, it didn't register in his brain that she was carrying his treasure. He only cared about reaching his home for now. The cat had a bit of a one-track mind, but such was the life of someone unable to focus on more than one thing at a time. It worked well in his favor for the most part, allowing him to concentrate on the task at hand - unfortunately, it did make him seem like a bit of an airhead.

Bounding away, Bartos would soon lead her to where the wall of the room began to ascend. The slope was gentle at first, making way for several small cliff faces that would climb the rock. His home wasn't too high up, thankfully; he had found a pathway carved into the wall, narrow ledges that he could easily follow and would take him up to the overhang that he'd made his home. He eagerly followed along the path until it would branch off - one path continued to climb the wall, while the other sharply cut into the opposite direction. Bartos had to jump and pull himself up onto the ledge, but he was sure his doe friend would have no problem.

Following that trail would lead them to where the ledge broadened, revealing an alcove in the wall. Several scraps of litter lay spread across the floor; old cloths, pieces of metal and rock, even terracotta shards. His hoard was stashed in a crack in the far wall; for now, Bartos spun around and gazed expectantly at where his deer friend would be following him, grinning. "This is my home! This is where I live and sleep and keep my treasures, I was born here, see, my chrysalis was on the underside of that cliff above-" Bartos gestured with his nose at the overhang above them, where shards of benitoite remained embedded in the rock. "-and I fell into a puddle of water, there-" He then pointed with his paw at a two-foot deep depression in the ground filled with dusty, stagnant water. "-and I swept up all the pieces and I keep them hidden away in my stash, do you want to see? I have lots of pretty things." The cat huffed, looking brightly up at her.

As soon as he settled his eyes on the doe, he realized that she was clutching the sandstone in her mouth. His eyes grew broader, and for a second he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. Where did she get that rock from? It looked a lot like the one he had found. Did she find another one? Maybe she had stolen the one she found? No, she was too nice, she wouldn't steal! Where did his go? Oh, right, he had dropped it when he ran over to talk to her! So did she pick it up then so she could bring it back to him-? His thoughts were interrupted the moment she had placed the sandstone before him, confirming that she had in fact picked up the rock after he dropped it and promptly forgot about it. "Oh gee, thanks! I musta forgot it!" Bartos purred and darted towards it, swiftly scooping it up in his mouth before whirling around and dancing back towards the crevice that held his treasures.

Behind him, she had started talking and he twisted an ear back to listen to her. "You wanna make a story about a clever cat! Boy, do I know one you could talk about!" He laughed and tucked the stone away before turning back to her, waving his tail excitedly behind him. Was she going to tell the story about him? Was he the clever cat? Oh, probably; Bartos didn't really know any other clever cats around here, and besides, his hoard was most impressive - it was definitely worth telling a story about.

Bartos stared at her and blinked a few times before glancing around the little alcove, too. He hadn't realized that it was dark - the cat's reflective eyes made it difficult to discern whether an area was truly dark or not, and it hadn't really bothered him. But if it was too dark for her, then he definitely wanted her to see. "Yeah! Can you do that? I mean, I'd do it, but I don't really know how." He admitted and scratched at his cheek with an extended claw before looking back up at the doe.