Bassa was in a climbing mood today. Still intent upon exploring Orion to its fullest, he hadn't left yet. Now he was somewhere he had never been before: the Cliffs. He stared up at them in awe, and his cat instincts immediately kicked in as he decided right then and there that he was going to somehow climb up them. He didn’t know how well this was going to end up working out, but he didn’t care. He was a headstrong little cat and it was probably going to get him hurt every now and then. But, no pain, no gain, right? At least, that was how he viewed the world.

A particularly large rock jutted from one of the cliff faces, and he bunched his muscles together, ready to spring for it… With one big leap, he landed easily on top of the rock, and looked down at the ground below, feeling particularly vain and proud of himself. He looked around for the next place to jump, unconcerned with the fact that he might very well get himself stuck up there on the cliffs. He was too busy purring at his accomplishment to care about things like logic. Pfft! He was Ji’bassa, the greatest cliff climber in the world!

After the Delilah had left, she still very much enjoyed being in this glittering stone room, with its many buildings. There was so much to see, to find, to hide behind, to daydream about. What kind of creatures used to live here? Were they like the Wolf? The Vazi? Were they entirely populated with creatures like her? That didn't seem too far-fetched, considering how many deer-kin she had met all at once, here.

This place was probably among her favorite, she thought. There was her home, with all of its comforts and leafy greens, which she would always come back to, but...this place called to her, for some reason. She didn't really want to leave.

At the edge of the city, she felt dizzy looking up to the high steep walls, rough and tough and unforgiving, wondering if the high cliff face led to a wonderful view. To be above everything, to 'see' everything that went on in the quiet city, to dream about its dead history and dance the puppet dance with their invisible ghosts - she grew excited just thinking about it, her shoulders bristling like always at the thought of it, but....

Those cliffs were incredibly intimidating. At some parts, she didn't even see an obvious way up, and without anything to grip with, like the Beau or the Wolf, she doubted she'd even make it up there.

But as she was staring at the rock face, a dark, graceful motion caught her attention. A small thing was jumping up the cliff, so fast and fluid that she had nothing but awe and admiration. So, it was possible! The new thing made it look so effortless!

"Aah!" She said, hurrying over to the rock where it had jumped onto. "Haah-how did you d-do that?"

Ji’bassa was just about to jump up onto the next ledge, when he heard a voice below him. It asked him how he had done… that. Done what? How was Bassa supposed to know what someone else was thinking? He sighed and turned carefully around to face whoever it was that stood below him. It was a deer-thing. Like the other deer-thing he had tried hunting once. But this one was very white and somehow looked much more delicate. He gave her a Cheshire Cat grin, tail twitching back and forth. And then he was annoyed again. “What are you talking about, Deer Thing? How did Ji’bassa do what?”

He sat down on his little ledge, lifting a paw to begin licking it as he waited for her answer. His tail continued to twitch a bit, letting any self-respecting Gembound know that he was in some sort of… mood. Generally tail-twitching was then followed up by an insane amount of random running around and meowing loudly, before catching the first small non-Gembound creature he could find and happily eating it. He wasn’t sure what had brought about this mood… Perhaps it was his ego kicking in after having successfully climbed the first rock. He couldn’t know.

The quick shadow turned around to face her, and the only thing she could see of its expression were its mischievous amber eyes and its quickly flashing teeth, changing moods like they were going out of style. The shadow was incredibly mercurial, and utterly fascinating. Was her shadow just as interesting? She would have to find out one of these days, and strike up a conversation.

Was her shadow called Ji'Bassa too? That didn't sound quite right. She rather thought her shadow had a different name, and she wished she knew what to call it...or even herself. She didn't know the names of anything, and it was utterly frustrating.

When the shadow named Ji'Bassa spoke, her ears flickered, and she felt a fluttering of nerves, for the shadow's voice sounded very demanding. She spoke softly and carefully, for she was ashamed of her own speech and how everyone else she'd met had spoken with such ease. "J-jummp! How did y-you jump?" Then a thought occurred. She wanted to reach the top of the cliffs, and the shadow could do so, so maybe...! "C-cooou-cou-could you tt-" She huffed. "T-teee-teach! Teach me? My ssh-shhad-shadooohh-shadow is quu-quiet."

Ji’bassa, who was a little bit mean sometimes, laughed when the Deer Thing asked if he could teach her to jump. “Teach Deer Thing to jump? Ji’bassa doesn’t think so! Deer Thing is built all wrong. Too tall. Not enough muscle. Knobby legs. Deer Thing would break itself trying to jump like Ji’bassa!” He stared down at her like an asshole from his perch high above, tail twitching as he grinned some more. Deer Thing was amusing if nothing else. Maybe he’d chase her some. He hadn’t gotten very far with that Nyx, but he could try again. Maybe if he landed on her from above, she’d have no chance to escape…

“What is Deer Thing’s name?” Ji’bassa asked, as he slowly moved himself into position to attack the creature from above. But he had to get her to trust him first. His tail continued to twitch as he went into Stalk Mode, muscles slowly rippling beneath his long black fur. “Deer Thing is pretty – a pretty pearly white.” He couldn’t be blamed for wanting to attack poor Clover. He was a predator, after all. But if he didn’t land on her exactly right, he was going to possibly injure himself falling from that height… Hopefully this went well…

The shadow said that she could jump? "O-oh...." She said, her head hanging in disappointment. So she couldn't reach the tops of the cliff after all...and if she tried she would break! She didn't know exactly what would happen were she to break, but she regardless didn't want to try. “What is Deer Thing’s name?” The shadow asked, and she sighed. "I...I d-don't haa-haave one. She looked up, watching the shadow's tail move back and forth. "I caa-caan't see-seem to ff-ffind it." The shadow was looking at her intensely, looking at her up and down, and she felt nervous for some reason. “Deer Thing is pretty – a pretty pearly white.” She smiled a little bit, tilting her head. Pearl, could that be her name? No, that didn't sound quite right. It was a pretty word, certainly, but it wasn't her's. "I c-can be eee-eeven pre-preeetty-prettier, i-if you'd lll-liiike to see," she said sweetly, for she wanted to show the shadow her pretty light. Would the shadow like it? She hoped so. The Wolf seemed to like it very much, so everyone else must like it too! Edit for spell She called her light incredibly easily, as easy as breathing, and suddenly all of her shone brilliantly and brightly, casting the shadow into stark relief. It really wasn't a shadow after all was it? More like a small little wolf-ling. She rather liked the way the Ji'Bassa shadow looked. "Whhaa-whaat do y-you thhink?" She asked, hoping the little thing liked it. ----- "This is how I speak."

OOC: Sorry. XD

Ji’bassa listened with half an ear as the Deer Thing without a name kept stuttering at him. He was now wondering if eating her was worth it. She was so huge, she could fill the stomach of a hundred Ji’bassas! Well, maybe. He sort of let his mind go blank, tail no longer twitching. He didn’t much care for the conversation at this point. He was a cat. Cats grew bored of things quite quickly, and the black Maine Coon was no exception. He lay down on his perch and closed his eyes just in time to witness the flash of her Glow, eyes snapping open again in surprise.

He stared down at her, in awe of the Glow. If you’ve ever seen a cat chasing a flashlight’s shine, or a red laser dot on the ground, you’ll know exactly the sort of face he was making in this moment. Suddenly, Clover had become a giant toy. And Ji’bassa’s want to chase her around was renewed tenfold. Without a word, he got to his paws, wiggled his butt a little bit as all cats do when they’re about to go after something, and leaped --

And just like a cat, he landed on his four paws, on top of her. Of course, she wasn’t really a very stable thing to land on, back being sloped and all, and he immediately fell off onto the ground. Suddenly he was reminded of Juniper, whom he was afraid had disappeared from the Origin Cave some time ago, and he didn’t have the heart to chase the poor deer. He got up and shook himself, and then studied the girl for a while. Then he said, “Ji’bassa would like to be Deer Thing’s friend. Ji’bassa will call her Pearl.” He gave a toothy grin.

She looked at the shadow's expression, its eyes wide and fixated, tail swishing back and forth and she felt a wave of bubbly pride. The shadow liked her pretty glow after all! Maybe she could-- The shadow jumped as a dark blur and onto her back, and immediately her mind went blank, and she screamed and bucked in terror, feeling the shadow's claws dig into her skin. When the shadow fell off, she skittered away and fell, breathing shallowly and erratically, her shoulders bristled, her eye wide. She watched the shadow be completely calm, even grooming itself a little, staring intensely, while her mind was racing. “Ji’bassa would like to be Deer Thing’s friend. Ji’bassa will call her Pearl.” It said, and she just stared. "F-ffriends d-don't do ttthhaat!" She blurted out. "Fffriends aaa-are nice and kind and give kkk-kisses and ggifts, no outri-right att-attt-attack them!" She hesitated. "Tt-thhough Pearl ss-sounds nice." "This is how I speak."