It had taken Mjadhi some time to find an exit from Eridanus, but he’d done so eventually. And now he was here, in this tunnel, and he felt so very far from home already. He often turned to look back at the entrance into Eridanus, dark as it was with overgrown plants. Eventually, though, he was too far away to see it clearly, and he lay down and curled up in fear. He put his little paws over his eyes, but remembered then the Darkness that had nearly choked him to death inside his chrysalis, and he quickly opened his eyes again.

He wished Dovefeather were here so he could ask her what to do now. There were two paths ahead, and he didn’t know which one to take. And both were still far away. Either way, he’d still have lots of walking ahead of him. He wanted to sleep, and he was very hungry. He sniffed around for any food, but the only plant-life he could detect was that behind him, back in Eridanus. A large part of himself wanted to turn around and go back, curl up and fall asleep in the Fern Trench — the place where he had been born. But then he remembered Dovefeather’s advice again. That he needed to go explore the world outside the forest. What would Dovefeather think of him if he just gave up right away? No, he had to keep going.

Rising on shaky legs, low to the ground, he slunk farther into the tunnel, looking around warily, ever watchful for dangers — and food.

Words: 264

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Exploring was a lot of fun. He'd checked out just about every single nook and cranny in Orion, and now he was hoping to find a new place to explore If only it wasn't so terribly dark in these tunnels. He found himself missing the brilliant stars that always glittered overhead in Orion. It made him... sad, and made him want to go home too. But no, he was going to explore today. He'd go home later. If only he could see a little better... Wait, he could do something about that! He focused his mind on lights, and hoped the magic would work.

A burst of rainbow sparkles shot up from his back and rained down around him. He yelped happily, wagging his tail. "Yay!" he crowed, "All of the colors!" As he danced on stilty legs, he suddenly noticed movement just at the edge of his vision. "Hello? Hey, is anyone there?"

"Words."

@Mjadhi

Mjadhi was a very cautious little creature, which was understandable. He had no one to look after him, so he had to do that himself. And this tunnel was big and scary, and all too soon, he realized he was not alone inside it. Still, he decided it was better to be brave than to cower in a corner. Dovefeather had been nice to him, after all. His brown-black eyes landed curiously on the pastel-colored… Gembound. But what kind of Gembound was it? It looked sort of… dog-like. But it had very big ears. And it was bigger than he was.

He managed to keep his natural fear in check, and when it called to him, he came out of the shadows with his head held high, and a cautious smile on his face. “H-hello,” he said shyly, hoping beyond hope that this Gembound was nice like Dovefeather. His dorsal crest bristled just a little bit, giving away his tinge of fear, but he swallowed and kept approaching the dog. How was he going to explore the whole world if he hid in a corner all the time? He had to make friends with people! But he also needed to be careful. His instincts told him he needed to be careful all the time.

Words: 218 @Orion

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Orion wagged his tail happily as the Gembound, and yes, it was another Gembound, lurking in the shadows decided to approach him. He noticed the smaller creature seemed a little upset, or maybe he was afraid? He wondered why anyone would be afraid of him. Sure, maybe he was a little bit bigger than the funny striped and spotted little long-tail, but he was Orion! He only existed to have fun, and to explore! Maybe though, he could start by making the little one feel better?

He crouched down on his belly, making himself smaller, his tail still wagging behind him. "So hi there!" he said as cheerfully as possible. "Are you exploring too? That's what I'm doing. I got so used to everything in Orion where I was staying, that I decided to find a new place. And then I cam here, and it was dark, so I tried a spell, and it hasn't really been working before, but this time, it DID! And then, I saw you!"

He realized he was starting to bounce with excitement, and tried to contain himself and return to hugging the cave floor. "Anyways, what's your name? I've never seen anything like you around before. My name is Orion, like the room of stars! How are you doing?"

"Words."

@Mjadhi

Mjadhi was rather taken aback by this Gembound’s overabundance of joy and excitement. He seemed to have zero caution about anyone or anything, and the little civet had no idea what to think of that. He was so careful by nature that this sort of behavior didn’t make any sense to him. He sort of blinked up at the dog, listening to his words and trying to make sense of all of them. He had picked up on language fairly quickly with Dovefeather, but he hadn’t spoke to anyone since then, so his vocabulary was still rather limited. He put everything together in his mind, and then tried to answer everything he’d been asked, and respond to all the things that weren’t questions.

“Yes, I’m exploring. Dovefeather told me to leave the forest, so I left. And now I’m trying to go everywhere in the whole world! What is Orion? If your name is Orion, then how did you… leave yourself? Are there two Orions? I don’t like the Dark, either. It tried to kill me when I was born. I couldn’t breathe, but I got out okay, and then it wasn’t Dark anymore. My name is Mjadhi. What are stars? I’m okay. I’m better now that I know you’re not gonna hurt me. You… you won’t hurt me, right?”

Okay, so, he couldn’t exactly speak elegantly yet, but at least he was getting somewhere.

Words: 235 @Orion

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The slightly dazed look on the little creatures face finally seemed to sink into him, and he realized his enthusiasm might be a little much. He did his best to calm down, to be still and as non-threatening as possible while he listened to the civet's carefully thought out replies. Even so, he couldn't help pondering some of the things the other told him, perking his curiosity with mentions of new people, and trying to come up with the best answers to the questions posed to him. Once the little one finished speaking, he replied in turn, trying to be a little less.... overwhelming this time.

"Dovefeather is a pretty name. It is a name right, I think it would be, if they told you to leave the forest. But it's a great plan, to try and explore the whole world, it's what I'm trying to do to, at least a little bit at a time." He paused thinking, then settled into a sitting position. Standing was more likely to make him want to dance around, so sitting would be better, he hoped.

"My name is Orion yes, I think it's my name because it was where I came from. There is a place called Orion, so I guess, I guess there are two, just one is me, and the other is a place full of pretty lights everywhere." He reminisced for a moment, the room of sparkling crystals, and the little cat who had hatched with him, his first friend! This little one hadn't had the same luck it seemed. Something bad had already happened to him. No wonder he seemed scared.

"Mjadhi," murmured the dog, "I like that name. It has a good sound, and it's fun to say!" he then mumbled the name to himself a few times, tripping over it once and laughing, but finally getting it right regularly. "There, now I can say, Mjadhi is my friend if anyone asks me. Cause, we are friends, right? And I wouldn't ever hurt a friend." He shook his head vehemently. "Never."

The last question, what were stars. Hadn't Sileas asked the same thing? He nodded to himself. "Stars are made of light! All the light! I can show you? I did it earlier, to light up the tunnel, but I can show you again, where you can see better." He concentrated hard. Magic was still quite new to him, and though he had been successful before, didn't mean he would be this time. But luck was still with him, and a rainbow of sparks rained around them.

"Stars are sort of like those," he said happily. "Only in Orion, they are much higher, and so far away. But one day, one day I'm going to climb up to where they are, and I'm going to find out what they are. What do you think, Mjahdi?"

"Words."

@Mjadhi

Mjadhi was quickly becoming a good listener. He had to be if he wanted to keep up with everyone, and if he wanted to keep asking more questions. To ask questions, you had to have something to work off of, and part of that meant listening. And, boy, did this dog have lots to say! So… he was trying to explore the whole world, too? Maybe they could be exploring buddies! That seemed fun. And Orion was so much bigger than him, maybe the dog could keep him safe. Since the world was still a scary place for the little fuzzy brown civet.

“Where is the place Orion?” Mjadhi asked, filing away the name for later. “I wanna go there and see the stars!” He stared in awe as his new friend shot colorful sparks up into the air. “Stars are pretty…” he said, brown eyes wide as he watched the sparks fade. “Since we’re friends, we should go to Orion together. You were born there, so you can show me things there, right? Maybe we should just explore the whole world together! Being by myself is lonely…” Mjadhi thought back to when he met Dovefeather, right after he fought off the Darkness. Being so young, he had no concept of pride or that showing fear could be embarrassing. He swallowed, and looked up at Orion. “Are you afraid of the Dark, too? When I was born, everything was Dark, and I couldn’t breathe. And I had to push real hard against the Darkness to get out of it, and then I could finally breathe. I don’t like the Dark now…”

[It has been five days. EDITING AN ENDING.]

Orion was very quiet after that, not responding at all to what Mjadhi had just said. The civet ducked his head, thinking maybe he'd said something wrong. "It -- It's okay," he said quietly to the dog. "We can go exploring together later if you want. We don't have to go now..." He gave a smile to his new friend, and then turned and trotted off down the tunnel. At the last minute, he said, "It was nice to meet you!" And then he was gone.

Words: 271+ @Orion