Mjadhi continued to crouch in the bottom of his chrysalis, the only part that was still somewhat intact. Over the last few seconds, the rest of it had fallen away, and that only made him feel more naked. Naked against the Outside, the Light, the other Gembound. His small round ears twitched, and pressed against his head when she spoke. He realized for the first time that her voice was different than the background noises of birds and water running and wind through leaves. It was louder, more cadenced — easier to pick out and hold onto. Still, he had no idea what she was saying.

There were scattered pieces of hematite all over the ground, and the Gembound Outside bent down and put her nose against one of the pieces. Mjadhi curiously lifted his body and head up so that he could see what she was doing. She didn’t look at him when he stood, so it made him feel a little more at ease. Still, he remained guarded. Had she looked at him, he would have crouched back down into his little hematite cradle to make him feel safer. For now, he just watched her, wondering what she was doing with the rock.

Suddenly, it began to glow, and his brown-black eyes widened in surprise. He stood stock-still in wonderment at the orange glimmer surrounding the hematite. But when she began to roll it towards him, he flinched and flattened himself into his cradle again. He could still see her, for the walls of the broken chrysalis were short now, short and jagged. He watched her with large eyes until she backed away again and he felt his body relax. He let his gaze linger on the glowing stone, wondering what to do with it, if anything.

Finally, he stood, his eyes flicking back up to the cat. He watched her carefully as he slowly descended to the ground. Grass broke under his paws. It was warm and moist and soft, but prickly at the same time. He bent and sniffed at the rock, nudging it with his nose. It maintained its orange glow, and his head turned this way and that in curiosity. He remembered the cat again, and quickly looked up at her to make sure she hadn’t snuck up on him. Then he let out a soft, curious sound. He did not know how to speak, nor did he understand words yet, but all the same he wanted to know why the rock was glowing. He nudged at it with his nose, rolling it towards her, then he tilted his head, brows furrowed, and made the noise again. It was high-pitched, and sounded something like, “Aaa?” like the A in And.
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Words: 458 @Dovefeather -- Long post is long. Feel free to reply with something shorter. I'm like super duper trying to get the whole "child-like" feeling right with this character since I tend to sort of skip that side of character development, so my posts are prob all gonna be pretty long. XD

Dovefeather's whiskers twitched with amusement at the tiny, almost-cat like thing's attempt for words, bowing her head gently to him. He seemed to find interest in the glowing stone, which made the end of her tail twitch with joy.

"The caves can be dark, and I believe you have a long journey ahead of you, little one. If you wish, the light of this stone can guide you when times get difficult."

It was hard to say if he even understood her at all; sometimes these things took time. Dovefeather had been around long enough to learn patience, her soft purring a gentle undertone to the noise of the forest around them.

"Although this place looks lush and beautiful, ever since the All Mother's Sickness, there has been filth crawling its way into This Home. You should leave, see the world, learn for yourself the truths of life."

It was quiet, gentle advice. Her pale eyes blinked with a slow, gentle calm at the child, a smile across her face. Eridanus was hardly her home anymore-- but she found it hard to leave.

"My name is Dovefeather, Daughter of the All Mother. There are not many of us left, but if you see my brothers and sisters, know they will give you shelter and food if you ask."

Quietly, Dovefeather felt a tingle of amusement in her guts. It had been a long time since the words of Her Mother had come so easily to her. She hadn't felt so at easy since she was a kitten; the newborn didn't know it, but he had given her something she hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. A new path for her to walk.

@Mjadhi

Mjadhi, who had come to the conclusion that this creature before him did not mean him harm, sat down in front of the glowing stone. As the Gembound began to speak, he turned his head this way and that, attempting to understand. Certain words he picked out over the course of her monologue — ones she had said multiple times. All Mother. He had no idea what the words meant, but after she fell silent, he decided to test them out on his tongue. His tongue felt thick in his mouth, but after swallowing a few times, he said in a strong voice, “All Mother!” The loudness frightened him and he flattened himself against the ground, looking around for the source of the noise until he realized sheepishly that he had caused it.

“All Mother,” he repeated again, looking at the cat. “Alllllllll Motttttheeeeeeer…” He could feel the vibration in his throat, and he rather liked it. And something about one of the sounds seemed… familiar. “Mmmmm…” he hummed. “Mmmmmm-JUH.” No, that wasn’t right. “Mmmmmm-jaaaahhh-DEE!” Yeah, that was it! “Mmmmm-jahhh-dee.” He grinned at the cat, happily continuing to babble to himself, and to her. He didn’t know how to tell her that that was his name, though.

In an effort to further communicate, he stuck out his chest and said loudly, “Mjadhi!” That’s my name! He spun in a circle, repeating, “Mjadhi! Mjadhi!” See? That’s me! Then he stopped, feeling dizzy, and looked over at his cat friend. “All Mother?” Is that you? Is that your name? The caution he had felt before — the fear — had dissipated. At least around just her. He had established that she was nonthreatening, whoever she was, and let his guard down. Now he was simply a curious, excited child whose eyes were full of wonder. He was wobbly-legged and the thought of swimming would now frighten him for the foreseeable future, but he was bright and full of joy, as any young child is.

Words: 335 @Dovefeather

Dovefeather perked up a bit when the child started to repeat the All Mother's name. She smiled gently, her tail twitching with amusement as she watched him work out what he wanted to say. It was rather precious, and she didn't mind taking the time to understand the child.

"Mjadhi, that's a nice name."

Once he had settled down again, asking about the All Mother once more, she turned her head towards the great mushroom in the distance, past the trees.

"The All Mother is a great spirit who guides the paws of those who follow Her. She knows everything of the forest, and is very powerful.

Her eyes sparkled as she glanced back at the child.

"I am only Her Daughter. A Seer of the All Mother. She gave me this feather-- a dove's feather-- as a sign when I was born, and ever since I have gone by Dovefeather."

@Mjadhi

OOC: Most of this post hinges off the fact that he completely misunderstands what it means to be a Seer.

The cat repeated his name, and in return, Mjadhi gave her a big sloppy grin of joy. She repeated the words All Mother again, and his expression became serious as he tried to understand her like a good little student. Words were slowly starting to make more sense, but in a disconnected sort of way. The term All Mother didn’t click in his head because he had been born from the Cave itself. He had no concept of mothers, or of parents in general. The word ‘all’ meant… everything, right? So… an All Mother was something that was a Mother to everything… Well, okay, so what did Mother mean?

He kept listening, attempting to piece together the puzzle of language, grammar, and the All Mother at the same time. His brows furrowed, and a headache began to form in the center of his forehead. Here was another term he did not know, for it was not something that could be seen or felt or heard physically. What was a spirit? He had no idea, and no amount of guessing could help him determine its meaning. Why were words so hard? The forest. Okay, he knew what that was. That was… that was where they were right now. Right? That was where they were sitting. It was a forest. Perhaps having been conceived here is what had given him such knowledge. He couldn’t know. But he knew what a forest was, for whatever reason.

Powerful. Power…ful… He shrugged mentally at that word, too. Power was an abstract, like spirit. It wasn’t like paws, or forest… He filed another unknown word away in his brain and focused again. A Seer. Well, that was easy. A seer was someone who could, well, see. But what was a daughter? Wait, if this cat was a seer for the All Mother, then the All Mother… couldn’t see? The All Mother sounded more and more like another Gembound. It could make others follow her, and it knew things about the forest. These were things other Gembounds could do, so the All Mother had to be another Gembound, like him.

Wait, did that mean he was a spirit? What was a spirit, then? Okay, focus! A dove’s feather. He knew what that was, because it was something physical, and plus he could see it right there in front of him. A dove was a bird, right? Yeah. So… the All Mother had given this feather to… Dovefeather. Well, at least it made her name easy to remember. Wait… so… the All Mother had given Dovefeather a dove feather as a sign… A sign helped you… to see…? How could a blind Gembound give another Gembound a sign? … He supposed you yourself didn’t need to be able to see to give a sign, but it would make giving a sign a lot harder… right? And he hadn’t been given a sign to find his name. He’d just known it. So how did that work?

He opened his mouth to ask her everything, but there were so many questions inside his little brain that he had no idea where to start. He decided to start with the words he didn’t know. Then he could work from there. “What is a mother? And what is a spirit? And what is a powerful?” And before he knew it, he was asking all the other questions he had. “Am I a spirit? And where is the All Mother? Can I see her? And why is she blind? Why does she need someone to see for her? How does she know so much if she can’t see? And what is a daughter? And how did she give you a sign if she can’t see?”

Words: 622 @Dovefeather -- Um. I'm so sorry. Curious civet is curious.

Dovefeather stared at Mjadhi's barrage of questions and her tail twitched, an overwhelming feeling coming over her. There was a lot to talk about, but she didn't exactly know where to start... That, and she knew, she knew the forest was oh so dangerous. It would be better if the baby just left to explore the world.

"Well, my child, some things are better to discover on your own. There's a whole world outside of this forest... You should go, Seek your own truths."

She obviously didn't want to scare the baby; trauma was something that could easy destroy a gembound. She had seen it happen, practically caused it herself and felt it run through her own veins. She shook the thought off, eyes twinkling with a vibrant golden glisten as she began to wander away.

"Perhaps you best go see what the world holds for you, yes? As long as the All Mother wills it, our paths will cross once more."

It was the best she could do... And like that, she bounded off into the forest, disappearing into the distance. There was something she had to do, before the jungle consumed what little she had left.

@Mjadhi ; exit

Mjadhi was still so confused, but Dovefeather didn’t answer any of his questions! How was he supposed to learn anything now? In fact, she seemed anxious to leave, and he was a little hurt by it all. Had he done something wrong? Was he not supposed to ask questions? Was she bored of him? He hunched his shoulders, but kept his ears perked for her parting advice. He should go seek truth somewhere else… and there was a world outside the forest. Well what was seeking? And why did he need to do that to truth? Truth was easy, right? You didn’t have to do anything to truth, it was just there, right?

Well, at any rate, Dovefeather had left him with a conundrum… Should he stay here in the safety and warmth of Eridanus, or should he seek out new places and go exploring? He sat and thought it over for a time, too young to give it any real thought, and decided in the end that it would be better to go exploring. After all, she had specifically told him to do so, hadn’t she? And he couldn’t ignore her advice. Adults were faultless in his eyes. They could do no wrong — they could not lead him astray. So he felt obligated to do as she had commanded. With a look around, he tried to decide how to get out of the forest in which he had been born.

Maybe he would figure out who and where the All Mother was on his travels.

[Exit Mjadhi]

Words: 256