Okay, he had no damnest idea why he was here but he was back at Cetus. Usui rolled his eyes at himself as he plodded on. The youth had bulked over the past couple of days and tufts of mane sprouted from the top of his head almost like a Mohawk. Muscles fuelled the beast and it rippled under his pale, tawny pelt. Strong whip of a tail flicked behind him as he plodded through the dank area, not sure if what he was finding. The mist rolled thick, blocking most of his vision. Then he saw several sparkling lights. The lion blinked. This was definitely new and alerted him. With a low chuff, he jogged forward, broad shoulder brushing past the foliage that infiltrated the entire tunnel. It was then that he came upon a deer whose stone protruded from one eye. He winced involuntarily as he came to a stop near her. His eyes went to the flickering lights she had created. They were very beautiful. Usui then looked back at her questioningly. “Setting up some decorations here? Need help?” He then channelled his magic and his gem began to glow a ghastly black as he summoned gems to come towards him. Alas his magic cracked up. Tons of blue, green and red gems zoomed in onto his body, encasing him entirely, all but his face. "Oh dear, help!" he shrieked as he attempted to bulge his body from within the gem lattice he had created but to no avail.

It didn't hurt though. He cast a sheepish glance at the deer and managed a, "I was intending to create gems. Nice ones to give your lights a colourful glow and amplify it, not make myself a decoration you know what I'm saying? Oh dear I'm so sorry. I guess...I've made myself into a permanent piece of decoration myself unless you're able to help me get out of this."

He promised Quix that he wouldn't practice flying in Pisces again so he was holding to that promise. In the swampy area he made it a goal to keep himself from getting muddy by climbing up to the first tree he found and from there he would leap, glide, and flap to every other tree thus giving his young wings a workout. It would also give his claws and legs a nice workout as well. A perfect exercise for the day.

He managed to climb up his first tree and easily made it halfway up, from there he went leaped and glided to the next one and stuck his claws into that trunk. On and on he went in this way and after a fair amount of trees he noticed something in the distance. Dancing lights, they were very pretty. Bara's legs were starting to burn from the exertion but his wings still felt fine so this lead him to try his next plan.

He leaped and this time caught himself in the air and powered himself upwards. He flapped and flapped high above what he could now see as Usui and a white doe until he landed --a little heavily-- on a branch a few feet up. He peered down at the peer and after a moment gave a loud, hearty laugh. "Well well, did you give yourself that new hairdo to compliment those lovely gems all over your body, Usui?" He laughed again and because he was so amused din't notice his branch creaking until it lurched. "Whoa!" It pitched and sent him falling. For a moment he managed to catch himself on the limb by his tail. He hung upside-down that way for a few seconds, breathing a silent sigh of relief before his weight brought the branch down the rest of the way. "AAAAGGGHH!" He yelled until he hit the mud with a loud SQUELCH. So much for his goal of keeping his fur clean.

The now brown and white dragon sat up, looking sheepishly at Usui and then at the doe. "Heheh, whoops. Hi, guys." He waved at them with one of his large wings before he decided that perhaps he should help the lion out since he'd previously laughed at him and gotten a dose of immediate karma. He stood up, shook off his coat and walked over to the lion where he stood up on his hind legs, using his tail as a balance, and began to pick off the gems with his forepaws. To the deer he asked, "So, what's with the light show? Something happening?" He was honestly curious about what was going on since Usui had decided to decorate himself for the occasion.

---

Post-rambling, the doe-eyed girl came over and looked over his situation, saying that she had never seen anything like this. “It’s probably something I need to fix on my own,” he admitted. “Thanks though! Now let me give it a try” and so Usui would attempt to gather the magic from within him if only to make a last ditch effort at this powerful, ancient magic which was extremely energy consuming. Then, he heard a loud flapping overhead. His concentration broke and the magic fled from his paws. Curiously, he attempted to twist his head around but was unable to do so. The voice that came forth was all too familiar though. It was a taunt, to which the pale green eyed gembound felt huge irritation towards. “Get down fat dragon.” His features didn’t shift much but one might have caught a glimmer of angst in his eyes. Suddenly, there was a loud crack and a sharp woahh and a temporary moment of relief before another crack sounded and the huge dragon landed onto the muddy ground. Usui caught himself half-hoping that the nasty dragon had landed face first.

Pale green eyes gave Baratheon a passive-aggressive stare as he picked his muddy body from the ground. “That was funny,” he commented dryly. At least he came forward and attempted to pick off the gems. “Look the pieces have fused into one another, you can’t do it this way.” Concentrating, Usui attempted to cast his magic again. Hopefully, he could get himself out of this mess. His magic sputtered for a moment, probably due to his gem being stifled in the inhospitable mass of gems. Then, his magic flickered and Usui concentrated curving the gems away from his body. He was successful in pushing the gems near his belly towards the ground, while the gems on either side expanded. Worn out, he couldn’t do more. Usui heaved against his forepaws and extracted himself from the colourful gem statue. He looked at it almost with a chuckle. “Hey,” he nodded towards the white deer, “How about this for a decoration? It has a lion body I think a dragon’s head would look nice on it. You could even make it glow.” He then nudged Baratheon who was almost his height, on the shoulder, with a grin. He’d forgiven the impish youth. “Thanks for helping me break out.”

The dragon attempted to move the gems away with his dexterous paws but to no avail. They were locked on tight and Usui's words proved to be true. Actually he could probably dislodge the gems with his Dispell magic but he doubted Usui would appreciate it so he relented. The young dragon shuffled backwards and way from the lion and dropped down onto all fours. Perhaps Usui could deal with it better himself without the dragon handing over him.

Sure enough, the lion was able to cast another spell to mold the gems away so that he could step out of the cast. Good. "A-a story?" His long tail began to sweep over the ground as he wagged it excitedly. "I've never gotten to hear a story before!" Really he hadn't but getting to listen to one now filled him with a sort of childish excitement. He felt the bump on his shoulder from Usui and he turned a cheeky grin on the older gem. "No problem! Couldn't just sit around while you smothered yourself in gems... No matter how stylish you looked." He chuckled before turning to Clover.

He trotted over and plopped himself down on the mud, tail still wagging behind him and sloshing mud all over the place. "I'd love to hear a story! Oh! What's it about? Tell me, tell me!" His tail wagged even harder as he waited to hear what exciting story the doe would tell. He had no way to contain his want for hearing his first ever story.

---

The white deer spoke up, telling them that it was her second story session. Usui's eyes immediately lit up and he felt immensely glad that she was there for they shared a similar interest. "Yes, stories are one of the most delicate, refined arts around." He then turned his interest to chatty Baratheon and smirked. Stylish was not exactly how he would have described himself when encased in a cast of gems but...he had to admit, the statue he had unwittingly created was quite the pretty thing. The white deer then made herself busy. Usui looked on curiously as she gathered pine needles, made a mat of sorts and gestured for him to rest on it. Although Usui was feeling alright physically, his use of higher magic had drained him inside. He could not decline her then. "Thank you...uh, what's your name? You're very kind. I'm Usui." The lion plodded over to the makeshift pine needle bed and lay on it, paws stretched in front of him while hindlegs were kept to the side. His tail with its bright tuft waved around behind him in excitement. Baratheon sat not too far away and started splashing mud everywhere! Some of it flicked onto his pelt. "Hey stop doing that. You can share this mat with me if you want to," he spoke calmly. He wasn't bothered by mud - after all, it was part of his element. Still, the youth figured he wouldn't really like mud-flicking Baratheon action ruining his experience here. "Do tell us your story," he spoke kindly with a hint of eagerness in his voice as he waited to hear this tale the white deer would spin.