( Note: This is a self-thread. )

The young cockatiel's explorations after they had met Envy the weasel had lead them to Orion, the room of stars. And what a room it was. They had been struck speechless with amazement when they first entered Orion, had first looked up and seen the beautiful stars covering the ceiling. They had stayed staring upwards for quite some time, before finally snapping out of their reverie and beginning to explore.

It was not long before they came upon the cliffs. Looking upwards at the jagged rock slabs jutting out from the steep walls, the Gembound wondered how, exactly, they would get up there. The wall nearest the cliffs were definitely too steep for them to climb, and there was no other visible way up.

Except... They looked back at their wings, recalling the way they glided on the air when they first fell out of their chrysalis. They quickly reached the conclusion that wings = flight. With wings, they could get up to the cliffs. The cockatiel searched for something that they could jump off of in an attempt to fly. Spotting the ruins of what once was a wall, they walked over to it, using their beak to pull themselves up onto the broken wall. They climbed to its highest point, and then jumped, spreading their wings and letting instinct take over.

They began rapidly flapping, gaining height with every downstroke, until they were high above the ruins. They sang trimphantly as they began to dive downwards for a landing. There was just one problem. They didn't know how to land. With the ground rapidly approaching, and no plans for landing, they swerved, attempting to land on a patch of ground with no ruins. They roughly landed on the stone, thankfully having been able to slow their descent enough that they were uninjured, only with ruffled feathers. They began to flap their wings in excitement, before walking back to the wall they had just used to attempt another takeoff.

They arrived at the wall a few moments later- it wasn't like they had flown very far. The cockatiel spread their wings yet again, preparing to leap off and take flight yet again. They looked up at the cliffs, mentally marking them as their intended destination. The thrill of flight the first time around had distracted them, but this time they would make it up there, and see what exactly was up there. Their curiosity demanded it. Taking a deep breath, they spread their wings and leaped off of the wall

Instead of the ascent they expected, instead, there was a sudden fall as the cockatiel failed to gain enough height and hit another broken wall. They saw stars for a few moments, rubbing their head with a wing and wincing. Ow. That hurt.

They puffed their feathers up. A simple fall wouldn't stop them! Determined to make it up to the cliffs, they made their way back over to the wall. From there, it was a simple matter of just jumping off and spreading their wings- simple routine at this point. It was also apparently now simple routine to be unable to fly yet again. They pouted. It was so simple the first time, why wasn't it working the second and third? They were flapping their wings and everything!

They decided to try one more time before moving on to something else. Walking back over to the wall they had been using as an impromptu launchpad, they spread their wings, jumping off and flapping frantically. To their delighted surprise, they began to rise into the air. They flapped harder, gaining altitude as they soared higher and higher upwards, making their way towards the cliffs. A rush of excitement and adrenaline pumped through them as they reveled in the feeling of air beneath their wings as they soared higher.

Eventually, the young Gembound reached the cliffs. Their second ever landing was not as rough as the first, but still kicked up quite a bit of dust. Still, that was not enough to quell their excitement. "I did it! I made it!" they exclaimed triumphantly, even though there was nobody else there to witness their victory.

Their immediate goal complete, they turned their thoughts to other things to do. A rumbling in their stomach alerted the young cockatiel of their need for food. Well, it wouldn't hurt to test these wings in the search for food, right?

With their newest goal in mind, they stretched their wings and began to glide off of the cliffs. Now that they had taken off a couple of times it was far easier to complete the act of flight, even if fatigue had begun to seep into the young Gembound's wings. They dived downwards, pulling up once they were close enough to the ground, beginning to fly in long, lazy loops in search of insects.

Either they were too high to see any food, or there simply wasn't any in the area- either way, they didn't spot any of the bugs their instincts said were both tasty and nutritional. The cockatiel decided to land and search the ground on foot. It would be easier to find bugs on the ground, after all.

Deciding that it would be a waste of time to search in this immediate area, they walked for a few feet, before growing bored of walking and deciding that it would be best to continue the search for insects here. This search was better than the last one, but not by much. They found a cluster of tiny, beetle-like bugs in a corner of one of the ruins, and easily snapped them all up in their beak. Still, such a small find wasn't much in the way of satiating the young cockatiel's hunger, and so, they took off again, making sure to ascend above the ruins before continuing the search for food. The Gembound didn't trust their ability to dodge the stone ruins- even though they could fly, they couldn't easily turn to dodge something in the air.

This time, they decided to search for something else besides bugs. After all, they could eat other foods, right?

Riiiight.

As unlikely as that was in this section of the caves, they began to fly in large circles yet again, searching for any speck of green in the area directly below them, a task that was, they hoped, a lot easier than searching for insects.

It was. They easily spotted greenery among the drab greys of Orion’s floor. They dove downwards, flapping their wings as they drew closer to the ground to slow themselves. This time, the young cockatiel managed to land on their feet, although they still fell over after they landed on the ground.

Once they got back upright, the young Gembound turned their attention back to the plant they had spotted. It was a dark green weed with a small white puffball atop its stem. However, they noticed, some of the puffball had been disturbed by their rough landing. Intrigued, they took a deep breath, blowing with all their might at the puffball. It split apart, white pieces floating this way and that. They chirped happily. That was fun! They looked around for any other puffballs to split apart. Finding just one other, they did the same to that one, watching the cloud of white seeds disperse into the air. A rumble in their stomach reminded them why they had landed there in the first place.

They quickly set upon devouring the two weeds. Tilting their head, they broke open the stem of the first plant, breaking it apart and eating the upper half. They coughed loudly, hacking the stem back up and spitting it out onto the ground. They screwed up their face as they continued coughing. Re-examining the plant, they found that a milky white substance was leaking out of the bottom half of the stem that they just devoured. They cautiously leaned forward, taking a small taste of the sap. Then promptly burst out into another round of coughing.

Nope. Still bitter.

Maybe the leaves were better? They leaned forward, taking a hestiant nibble of the weed's leaves. They chewed for a bit, pleasantly surprised to find that they tasted far better than the stem and sap. The rest of the greens didn't last long as the Gembound satisfied their hunger with them.

Their hunger satiated, they took to the air, flying off to another destination.

Exit thread.