OOC: Pardon the late reply! Wasn’t on Origin for the past couple of days!

The young critter’s eyes grew wide and he clapped his paws together as Quix described Maji Walezi. The girl instantaneously felt her heart grow fonder tenfold with his cute little gesture and utterly yielding, gentle personality. The fox brought her head down near parallel to her paws to peer at him. Her nose was almost as large as his head and she gave him a little, playful snuff to ruffle up his fur with that little gust of wind. ”I…yes, two of the tribes gembounds found me and brought me home. I hatched in Polaris though,” she smiled, feeling a certain kinship with the other forming slowly, but steadily. ”Polaris is lovely,” she continued with an approving nod at Booker’s choice of home.

He continued chattering much to her delight, and talked about his abilities. Immediately she perked up and nodded furiously upon him mentioning that their friends were friends. ”Yes yes, friends!” she affirmed him keenly. When Booker offered to show her some nice mushrooms, the girl felt extremely excited. Once Booker left her paws, she got to her feet and wagged her tail eagerly. He was quick and so was she, scampering after him with clicking paws trilling against the ground. He disappeared into a crack in the wall then, and Quix had to fall back on her haunches and wait albeit impatiently. ”See anything Booker?” she called out, her feminine voice echoing along the crack. A moment paused with nothing but shuffling sounds and then, ” There's a bunch of tasty ones through here!" Excited, he let forth a couple of yips and danced on her little paws. A broad smile, eager and lovely at the same time, appeared on her petite features. ”Lets get em!” she crowed from outside the crack in the wall, using the word “lets” even though Booker would have to be the one who did the hard work of retrieving all the said mushrooms.

Booker, ensconced in a tiny alcove that was hidden behind the wall, heard Quix's voice as if through water, and took a moment to decipher what she was saying. At her excitement, he grinned, chittering back and taking a moment to let his working eye adjust to the change in light. The tiny, enclosed space was dark and musty, the air filled with spores. The ground was spongy and absolutely carpeted with mushrooms, but his prize lay at the back of the space, clinging to the damp cave walls. The bunch, ruffled at the edges, with large, shelf-like caps and cream stalks, he knew to be quite tasty, as some of the bitten-off stalks could attest.

The numbat metaphorically rolled up his (also metaphorical) sleeves and got to work, tiny paws and even smaller teeth gnawing and clawing at the stalks of the fungi. Finally, with a tiny yelp, he darted out of the way as three of smaller mushrooms fell to the ground, and he grinned, making his way back towards the room's opening. "I'm comin' out," he yelled in warning, scurrying back to his prize and shoving the mushrooms through the tiny hallway one by one, finally pushing the last one out with a triumphant chirp, tumbling out behind the fungi.

Getting up from his sprawl on the ground, Book grinned up at Quix, pointing to the odd-looking food exuberantly. "They're real good, prom-ice!" After the announcement, he hesitated, before nervously asking a question in response to their earlier discussions. "If your home is Maj... Maji W-walezi," he stuttered, trying to work the long, complex sounds, "why'dja come back to Polaris?"

She waited beyond the hole eagerly and occasionally tried to angle her head to peer into the little alcove. Darkness enveloped her vision though and she could barely make out any shape, so she soon withdrew and waited impatiently. After a little while, the numbat called out to her that he was coming out. “Yay!” she exclaimed with a wag of her tail. It was so exciting! Mushrooms were new to her. She wondered how they’d taste well on her tongue! Would they go nicely with worms wrapped in them? Then, one mushroom popped out, and a series of little mushrooms soon followed in a similar manner. Quix blinked and lifted a paw in surprise, then brought her furry head down to sniff at them. They smelt of fungi – she couldn’t pick up any hint of delicious in it. Perhaps Booker had a better idea. Pastel hued eyes turned towards the cute numbat as he extracted himself in a rather ungainly manner, tumbling out just like the mushrooms had. She giggled and stretched out a paw to shield him from tumbling further and waited for him to pick himself up.

“But…they smell normal. Cold and kind of rancid.” she replied curiously but even then, she leaned over and took one into her mouth. Sand, some rubble and…mmmm….she crunched onto the mushroom. A sweet, flavourful sensation burst through her mouth! The fox quickly munched on the remaining and swallowed it. “Oh it’s nice, Booker!” she yipped with a huge grin, still feeling the oh-so-unique taste on her tongue. “Have the rest!” she told the numbat with outstretched paw pointing to the remaining loots. After all, Booker had been the one to find it and growing gembounds needed their nutrition! As the numbat asked her about her home, the fox tilted her head, trying to comprehend him, and then it struck him – Leon, Makyna, Cancer, Bevy…everything whirled together. “I…uh…” she stammered and looked away from the numbat, trying to focus her attention and emotions onto the blank well ahead. “There were two boys with special feelings for a girl, but the girl chose one of them and…and...the other boy was sad. Boy fight. Quix sad, because the boy who wasn’t chosen by the girl is my Daddy. And the girl is…my Mum.” It was hard trying to come up with a decent explanation but, how could she even comprehend the fight? So many scars and wounds covered Leon and she had yet to see Cancer. With a sniff, she turned back to face Booker with a grin though her heart felt laden with stone. “Lets..lets find something fun to do,” she offered and chuckled, overcoming the negative emotions that had begun to flood back even after eating these delicious mushrooms. “Booker, do you want a home?” she asked, “Maji Walezi is still family after all.”

Booker watched and waited, eagerly digging into the offered mushrooms, pleased that he'd found someone else who could appreciate his fungal friends. Quix's story was easy to follow, but it seemed to put shadows in her eyes, like she'd had when the numbat had wandered across her initially, and while he felt a bit guilty for bringing it up, he was a very conversation-centric creature. With something so obviously painful gummed up inside of his companion, it was no wonder she'd been crying, and he shuffled a little closer, nudging one of her paws with his snout in solidarity. While he had no idea what "special feelings" meant, he knew what a Dad and a Mum where, and it had to be awful for them to be fighting, with her seemingly stuck in the middle.

"Book-er is sorry Quix is sad," he offered at her sniff, not knowing what else to do. Her grin made him perk up a bit, and he smiled back, satisfied. Book-er knew talking would help, he thought, confident that he'd at least started the ball rolling on un-gumming-up his friend. At the offer of fun, the numbat chirped in agreement, thinking of what he did for fun. "Well, flying is fun," he murmured, thinking of Baratheon, "but we can't do that unless we find Bara, and I dunno when he'll be back." Quix didn't strike him as a Gembound who'd particularly enjoy hunting for more mushrooms, and most of his hideouts were too small for her to fit into. Giving up, he huffed. "What do you wanna do?"

He perked up at the mention of a home, and his whiskers twitched at the term family. "Well... I do want a fam-ill-ee," he offered hesitantly, uncertainty holding him back from accepting outright, "but... what about Bara? He and Mag-da found me, when I hatched," he explained. "I dunno if he'd still take me on ad-ven-chures if I lived with you and your family." Shy now at the admission, the numbat's tail twitched, and he washed at his whiskers, a nervous tick. "M-maybe I could visit, first?" It was his way of buying time, for while having a place to truly call home, instead of multiple bolt-holes spread out over Polaris, he wasn't willing to give up the dragon he considered his brother.

The fennec fox was thoroughly enjoying Booker’s company. It was nice being in the presence of someone smaller than her, for a change. How should she put it. There was a certain gentleness and non-threatening aura that smaller creatures had and it soothed her soul thoroughly as much as she enjoyed talking to grown-ups, perhaps more. The numbat was very wise and compassionate to her cause as well. She bopped her head and leaned over to nuzzle the top of his little head in the right direction, smoothing down the fur downwards in friendly affection. He then voiced his take on Maji Walezi to which she replied eagerly. “Sure! We have had visitors. I brought a sheep back too,” she exclaimed happily. “We treat visitors very well too,” she grinned. Even if no one did, she’d be sure to bring Booker on an adventure of her home and let him experience the glory of living within the walls of Pisces even though the family was shredded now, with everyone having their own motivations. Quix knew that she was pure though, and to do her best for her home well, that was her personal motto.

Brushing the thought aside, she stood up and offered a limb towards the numbat, indicating that he should climb it and onto her back. “Shall we go then? I’d like to go home,” she smiled. A friend would be nice, it’d fill up the empty holes where Cancer was missing and she could re-create happy memories within her lovely home. Then, her mind switched back to this “Bara” that Booker kept talking about. “Bara? Mag-da? Never heard of ‘em. But you’ll get to see them soon,” she assured him. The tunnels always led friends back to one another. Once the numbat was on, she’d lead the way back to Pisces and show him the wonder of the place.

-Exit Quix-

A sheep? Hm. Maybe a weird mush-room, Booker thought absently, giggling at the show of affection. It was rare for other Gembounds to actually touch the tiny numbat - probably afraid they'd accidentally squash him - and he lavished the attention, the fox reminding him again of Baratheon. Except a girl. And a lot smaller. Focusing back on his companion, Book grinned at the mention of visitors, visions of going on an adventure to far-off lands filling his head.

At the offering of a slim beige leg, he chirped in excitement, scurrying up the limb and hoisting himself up onto Quix's back, settling into the short fur between her shoulder blades. The assurances that he'd see his friends again helped to calm his remaining anxieties about the trip, and Book moved to hang his head over her shoulder, getting a better angle to converse with the fox. "Then what're we waitin' for? Let's go!" He grinned and held on as his new friend took off, eager to visit the place she called home, and the Gembounds she called family.

[ Exit Booker ]