"The mud," she murmured, turning to glance down as she lifted one feathered ankle from the moss. Veil was right about that, at least. She looked back to him. "...I can feel myself breathing," she agreed, though wariness lingered. Not of Veil, no; even his closer presence and oddly sweet breath was met with total neutrality on her part. She was too distracted by the idea that she might not, somehow, be real.

"...We must be real, then. Right?" she asked, hesitating. "Let's, ah--let's try this. Where did you come from? Where have you lived your life, and how long have you been alive? What do you eat?"

Surely, if they both had histories--if they had memories!--then they hadn't just sprung up out of nowhere. And, it struck her, they were good questions to get to know a stranger! She'd have to remember them, for later.

@Veil

Veil considered that question for a moment. he was born in darkness. it WAS darkness, it was the void.

even it could not remember where it was born anymore. but it liked to think orion. full of stars. that was the first place he could remember, could identify. he didn't think the answer of nothing would be comforting.

"Veil thinks it was born in the starry cave, yes, yes... it was dark, but then it was not dark. veil existed." they answered.

they looked to Kai, tongue drooping from their mouth in thought. "what about Kai? what does it- what do YOU remember? does kai remember where they were born?" they asked, listening intently, empty sockets somehow looking more and more like puppydog eyes.

@Kai

She was trying to ponder the concept of it being dark, and then not-dark; it seemed, to her, that this might have been emergence from a gemstone but she couldn't quite be sure. Veil, however, was moving on to his own questions before she could quite parse this, and she blinked as she tried to find an answer.

Where was I born? she asked herself, blinking as she tried to cast her mind that far back. Her first memory was... yes--falling out of a bright green crystal, right here in Pisces, she thought. There--oh, but it was rude not to speak. "...Here, I think," she said, head tilting a little. "I remember... a pile of shining stones, and a--princess?" She studied Veil, for a moment, her beak clicking softly.

"Are you a Prince?" she decided to ask, half-hopeful. She wasn't quite sure how she'd come to this question, but it seemed like it'd be a nice thing for someone to be; a Prince. It had a nice ring to it? "Veil, the Prince of Void," she mused, and then nodded, a little. That sounded good.

Really, she hadn't come all that far, personality-wise, from her day of hatching--the day she'd seen a platypus and assured it, as her Princess, that she would rescue it. She couldn't remember what had happened next (she'd been only a new hatchling, after all) but her declaration of Veil as a (maybe) Prince was much the same: a flight of whimsical fancy that she had no reason not to state aloud.

@Veil

Veil nodded along, and paused.

"is it? is the veil a prince?..." he asked himself. he looked up to kai. "can it be one now, if it wasn't before?? Prince of the void... it likes that. it sounds good. does that make kai a princess? princess of what?" he asked, newfound excitement in his tone, thoughts of unreality or reality forgotten in a blink.

"The Veil doesn't know much about princes and princesses. only that they are good. we are good, right?" he pondered.

he thought. that only made sense, didn't it? surely the reason for them not being able to make friends wasn't because they were scary (oh how they hoped it wasn't because of that), but because maybe they were a prince, and maybe being friends with a prince wasn't done alot! that only made sense. not everyone is a prince (are they?) but he is. he might be. maybe thats what makes him so different?

"kai is nice to The void. It thinks that is worthy of being a princess." he stated with confidence.

@Kai

Kai considered. She had picked her way fully from the mud, now, and was idly brushing mud from each ankle with the opposite hoof, one at a time, but her gaze lay on Veil. "It," she decided firmly, "can be a Prince, if it wants to." Who was going to stop him-? She'd been Astraea, after all. "Kai is..." (And he had her speaking in third person, now.)

She thought about this. Her mind went back, back to her hatching, when she'd declared the platypus Princess. She hadn't been Prince, nor Princess--no; she saved Princesses. Protected them. "...a Knight," she settled on, pleased. But--a Knight of what?

If Veil was Prince of the Void, then what did that make her Knight of..?

"Hmm." Emerald eyes picked over the moss, the waters, the plant. "Princess of Pisces" might've had a nice ring to it, but she'd decided on Knight, hadn't she? "The Knight of Flowers," she decided, after thinking it over.

Owlish gaze returned to Veil. "Princess and Princesses are... good, mostly." Let it be said that Kai had no idea. Her imagination was now running wild, and she went with it; guesses became facts, hopes became reality, dreams were given as utter truth. "Some of them can be very dangerous, but most of them need help with things. And Knights help them." She pondered. "Veil is Prince of the Void, so that means that the Void belongs to him, and he has a power over dark things and shadows."

"And Kai is Knight of Flowers, so... the flowers answer to her," she went on, looking down at her hooves. Around them, flowers blossomed up as if on command: the lightest touch of her magic brought pink petals sprouting all around her legs. Pleased, surprised--and a little alarmed--she looked at Veil. "Does the Prince of Void need help from the Knight of Flowers?" she asked, feeling very self-important, now.

@Veil

It made a happy trill at the confirmation that yes, it could be a prince. how lovely!!

it looked to Kai, and something akin to a smile, perhaps, crossed the beats face, mouth agape. "a Knight! Kai, the knight of flowers!! The knight of flowers is a good knight, yes yes."

it listened, thinking of the logistics of princes and princesses and knights. good, evil, scary, helpful. he nodded along, tilting its head when Kai said that knights help princes and princesses. was that true? would veil be a prince-knight, if he wanted to help aswell as rule over darkness?

he breathed in awe at the flowers, clapping, antlers clicking against the stone as he flopped to the floor in excitement. after a bit of wiggling he popped his head up, thinking.

"Does The knight of flowers want to be it's... u-uhm.. MY friend? that would be nice. i do not have many." he asked tentatively. Having a friend would do more to help than kai could realize. it didn't have many, and probably wouldn't for a while. but 1 is a good start. if Kai accepted.

@Kai

"When I speak"
When I think

Kai had sort of lost herself in imagination. She hadn't really been keeping score on the conversation--that is, trying to push toward any sort of end goal of "friendship." It had been more a subconscious thing. She wanted to interact again. She wanted friends again. So when Veil asked, outright--in its gently clumsy way--she was both surprised and overjoyed.

She couldn't show that, of course; Knights had to be, ah... serious. Or something. But! It meant that she'd succeeded! She'd talked to someone, and made a friend--oh, but she had to finalize it all, right?

Kai lifted her head solemnly, standing there with flowers around her muddied hooves, and gave Veil as stern a nod as she could manage. "The Knight of Flowers will be the Prince of the Void's friend," she confirmed. Then, she thought about that.

Where should they go from there..?

After considering, for a moment, she came closer--forgetting any prior nervousness, now that the star-eyed-monster was rolling in the flowers--and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think," she began, deep in concentration, "that means that we need to go on an adventure."

Those were the rules of knights, princes, and friends, right? And knights and princes who were friends?

...It seemed right, anyway.

@Veil

After a time, she straightened up properly; she cleaned her limbs as best she could and dipped into the nearby pool to wash away the last of the muck. Once an "adventure" had been agreed upon, the only step left was to decide where they were to go.

What was a suitable destination for the Prince of the Void, accompanied by the Knight of Flowers? ...Well, there was the issue that Kai didn't really know all that much of the caves; but she did know that--well, best said aloud.

"There were new places, ahh-" Unveiled? That didn't sound right. Especially given Veil's name. She brainstormed for a brief moment, pensive. "...Unblocked? We could see what's there," she offered, with a glance toward the rolling-in-flowers voidbeast.

When no better option was presented, she nodded firmly to herself: and lifting one cloven hoof, prepared to lead the way for her new Prince.

To an adventure.

exit Kai