Upon wandering into Polaris, the kitten almost immediately gravitated towards the river. Specifically, the generator churning in the middle of the river. They sat just before the riverbank began to steeply slope into the water, trying to decipher what this great big thing in the middle of the river was.

It was, well, big. It rumbled with the force of the water running through it. The lights here seemed extra bright, but they weren't sure whether that was actually the case or just because of all the glowy crystals and moss and fungi, and what any of that had to do with the thing in the middle of the river.

Cries of "COLD!" and "GROSS!" quickly caught their attention. Quickly turning towards the source of the noise, they spotted a slimy-looking black and white.. creature. "Puppy" their mind supplied, ever helpfully.

As the puppy wobbled towards the river, the kitten zipped over to their side, curiously peering at the puppy with eerie yellow eyes. "Hello!" They chirped. A brief pause, and then with somewhat narrowed eyes "What's wrong with your face?" Because obviously something was wrong. Everyone else they had met (a grand total of one other gembound) had a face with a rock on it. So why didn't this puppy?

Their initial scrutiny of the puppy gave way to happiness- the puppy's excitement was quite infectious, as was the delight of making a new friend. "All faces are supposed to have rocks on them!" A bold claim for someone a few days old at most "I have one on my face, and so does my twin! Yours is.. weird."

Karyo shivered, and Assistant's immediately knew what that meant, "Oh! You're cold!" They mewed, though they offered no solution to the problem. They just trotted a couple paces behind the puppy, curious to see where they were going.

Which, apparently, ended up being the river they had just been observing.

"In the river?" In typical cat-like fashion they gave the river a suspicious, distasteful look. Both because of the presence of water and the mysterious contraption they had been eyeing. They didn't stop the puppy, though they paused at the bank if Karyo decided to enter the river. "Im not leaving!" They assured their new friend, "But the river is.. Gross. And there's a big weird thing in the middle!"

"Yeah! Gross! But wait.." They'd look to Karyo, then at the water, and back again. "Maybe the two grosses will cancel out, and you won't be gross anymore?" Their head tilted, pondering the dilemma."Or you can use your tongue! That's what I do!" As an example the kitten gave their chest a few quick licks.

"Oh uh! I don't know.." The kitten paused once again, something they seemed to do often when thinking. "My chrysalis didn't have a lot of goop! But the tunnel was cold, and wet.." They stuck out their tongue, their expression looking like how they did when Karyo had mentioned the river.

Assistant seemed somewhat overwhelmed by their new friend's excitement. Their twin was far more calm and collected. And not nearly as big, either. Assistant scooched a couple inches away from the jumping, overexcited pup, waiting for their enthusiasm to calm down into something more manageable.

"It's not alive! But I think it does something." They told Karyo, "The lights around here are extra bright! I'm not sure why, though."

"How else are you supposed to clean?" this was said like a legitimate question, as if the literal newborn puppy would have more of an idea than themself. Admittedly, they were only barely older than Karyo. "My twin uses her paws to pick off gross stuff, but she has weird looking paws. All the toes are too long and wiggly!" Evidently, for how smart Assistant liked to think they were, they did not know what the word 'hand' was.

"Break it?" They echoed, eyeing the thing ahead. What the puppy said did make sense- they'd be able to note the changes and go from there. The one problem, though, was "How? I mean it's so big.." At that, their magic sparked, reaching for a pebble they idly fidgeted with in their paws. The magic lept into the pebble, imbuing it with a zap that they were the unlucky first recipient of. They squeaked, backing off to stare at the stone they'd enchanted. Already, they were getting ideas.

"I did something to that stone! I made it.. zappier." Bright eyes looked to Karyo, exciting rising as the idea began to fully form, "If I do this to the big thing in the river, it might break! or do something! But.. I have to get there." They gave the water a distasteful look. They did not want to get anywhere near that, but... anything for science, right?

They'd nod, looking down at their own paws. "She's super good at climbing! And grabbing things! It's cool!" They'd grin, hidden by their stone 'mask.'

The domino effect of panic caused by their little zappy stone would likely be absolutely hilarious to any outsider observer. To Assistant, though, they only felt bad for accidentally scaring this new friend. They smiled apologetically (again, hidden by their stone), tail lightly tapping against Karyo's back in a comforting gesture.

"My twin is small! Smaller than me!" They'd frown, scrutinizing the spinny thing in the river. "I think we'll have to jump. Or get in the gross stuff." They'd grimace, ears flicking back. "Unless we can find a way around it."