Kira

You Broke Me First

Could you tell me, where'd you get the nerve?

Kira followed Arsu and watched as he made a patch of green stuff come up out of the ground. Huh, she would have to ask what that was at some point. She wondered if all creatures could do that too. As he settled himself down into the soft patch of....stuff she moved closer and curled up a few paces from him, ready to listen and learn. She listened with wide eyes full of wonder at all Arsu described. There were more caves for her to discover. She didn't know what snow was, but she could not wait to find out. She paid special attention to the caves Arsu told her to avoid. If he said they were not good places, she did not want to go to them, not until she was older anyway. She processed all the information she could and tried not to interrupt him. She wanted to hear more about magic and the other caves. Maybe he knew of someone like her that could teach her how to hunt bigger things and would be able to show her things that he couldn't.

Once he finished all his explanations he asked her if she had any questions for him, and boy did she! She had so many thoughts going through her head she didn't quite know where to begin. "Well, you said that many of our kind have magic, how would I know if I had it? And how do I get to the other caves? Do you know others like me? What is that green stuff that you are laying on? Was that magic when you made it grow? How will I know if someone is to be trusted or not? Kira rattled these questions off one after the other, but towards the end she started to yawn. She was getting a little sleepy, it had been a big day for her, but she wanted to know the answers to all these questions. She looked at Arsu, he was being so kind and patient with her, she hoped she wasn't bothering him. "Arsu...if there are other things you need to be doing, you don't have to stay and answer my questions. I have taken up a lot of your time as it is." She lowered her head an rested it on her paws while looking at him with her large round eyes.

@Arsu

He lay quiet, listening to her questions and gathering his own breath and thoughts. He found himself oddly content in the moment: mostly fed, full on water, warm enough on his little bed of grass sprouts, and with friendly company.

Arsu glanced to Kira, and started to gather up some more answers for her, as best he could--it was a little worrying, as once again he reflected that he'd never really done this before. And fretted, too, at somehow messing it all up for the poor kid.

"Well... almost everyone has magic, I think. Except one Gembound I know of who went into the Spire--that's the giant glowing crystal, over there. Don't touch it," he added, in warning; "It almost killed him, and it took away his magic. As for how to find your own..? You could try focusing on different things. Magic's like..."

...How do I describe this? he thought, pausing to mull it over for a moment. "It's like combining your concentration, with a sort of... hidden inner power, to make something happen that you want to. My father says it can take any form--anything you try to do, with practice, you can make it happen." He glanced over the cub, then, looking for any sign of a gemstone. "A lot of us think it stems from the gemstone in you--you have one, yes? Somewhere?" he asked. "So it might--maybe?--help to focus a bit on that." Arsu gave it another moment's silent thought before continuing.

"A lot of us have, hmm... an affinity with one thing or another. With fire, or rock, or destruction, or magic of the mind, or ice and water; light and dark, things like that. If you feel a pull toward a... a theme, I guess? A certain... subject? That might be your magic. Mine is... growing things, I think; making light and making plants grow. My other father--Mercy--that's his magic, too," Arsu explained. He wasn't exactly correct on all of this, but it was guesswork on his part, and it was the best that he could do--even if he was repeating himself a little from before.

The kid's questions had been a torrent, though, and dutifully (but contentedly enough) he turned his mind to the next one.

"The green stuff's grass. It's a kind of plant. A lot of us eat plants, not meat. It was magic, yes--my magic," he clarified, with a kindly nod.

"As for who not to trust..? That's a harder question," he said, and considered. "Just... be careful what you agree to. Always know that someone might be wanting to get close enough to attack you. Not everyone--not even most Gembounds. But it's happened before," he added. "You can try and gauge, I suppose, based on their behavior--but it won't always be obvious. I prefer to try and trust others, but I'm aware they might not all be trustworthy." He didn't go into the horrid details--of the "untrustworthy" Gembounds that had roamed the caves in other cycles, and who likely still did. Some killed anyone they could find, others were simply combatative or violent, others still manipulative--or worse, a combination of the traits. But Arsu didn't want to scare the kid, and anyway he didn't have much personal experience with any of that: only anecdotes, like those that he now offered. Hopefully it'd be enough to help her protect herself, without scaring her off interaction with others.

Kira's assurance that she didn't want to keep him made him glance at her in some surprise, and he took a breath before answering. "Oh no, it's--I'm in no rush. I just-... I've never really run into a fresh-hatched kid before. I'll be honest, I'm afraid I won't give you the right advice, or... I'll miss something, you know? I don't want to ruin your chances. And I'm not sure if I should just... leave you here, or show you a safer place, maybe--there's better caves for you to live in, like Eridanus. You asked if I know others like you? There's at least two I've seen who've looked like you. One lives in Eridanus--or did. I'm not sure if he still does," he went on; nobody, so far as he knew, had heard of Sebastian being around for many cycles, now.

"My father recently had a child, too--one who looks a lot like you, actually. They've got antlers sprouting, but their stone-giver was really similar to you," he added, looking Kira over more thoughtfully. Temperance had come from Nassir: a black leopard who had passed away some time ago, and whose stone had been revived by Arsu's own stone-giver.

"...I could take you to meet them, if you want?" Arsu didn't know Temperance much--the stag-lion was a dreamy sort, himself, passing through the caves and forgetting how much time had slipped by in the meantime. He'd mostly missed the growth of his half-siblings. But he knew where to find them, at least.

"If you want either of those things, uh--Eridanus is full of plants, but also full of food you can find. It's soft, full of birds, water--it's not like Polaris, here. But Temperance, my family--they're in Orion, if you wanted to try and meet someone like yourself. Maybe they could teach you a little better than I could," he added, with a thoughtful shrug.

"Or you can go your own way, of course; many of us do. It's all up to you," he finished, with what passed for a deerlike smile.

@Kira

Kira

You Broke Me First

Could you tell me, where'd you get the nerve?

At Arsu's mention of possibly taking her to see other caves and possibly meet others like her she picked her head up and pricked her ears forward. "Yes, I think I should like to go see other caves, if you really don't mind taking me. I think I should like to go to Eridanus first. Even if we do not find someone like me right away I may run into others at some point. And I should be able to be ok on my own if there is plenty of food. How far is it from here?

Eagerness shone in her eyes at the prospect of seeing another cave and a new adventures. "Then maybe, after a time, if no one is there that can teach me to be...well more than what I am now, we can go find those you are related too. This will be a rather nice adventure, and I can learn things along the way. Just then Kira yawned, she had been so enraptured with everything that Arsu was telling her and teaching her that she did not realize how much energy she was expending and how tired she had grown.

She forced herself to keep her head up though, wanting to listen to anything else Arsu had to say. And then maybe while they were traveling to the other caves he was talking about she could try and see if she had any magic in her. He had asked earlier about her gemstone and she moved her paw up to her chest to reveal a light stone that held a midride of colors almost like the roof of the cave above them. Her thick child coat had kept it hidden for the most part, but as she grew it would most likely become more visible. So this is what she had to focus on to see if she had any power. She couldn't wait to give it a try.

@Arsu

Arsu listened, and then dipped his head in a little nod.

"That sounds wise," he agreed, and started to push to his feet--and then stopped, settling back into the grass. He peered at the yawning cub, thoughtful.

"You know, it's quite the walk--the caves are very large, and it can take hours to move between them." Does she even have the framework of experience needed to know what 'hours' are? he wondered. But he nodded his snout to his back, thinking of the way his father carried his familiar around at times, when the little hare's legs couldn't keep up with their travels. "But if you wanted, you could climb onto my back. I can carry you, then, and you can rest--if you fall asleep, I can wake you up when we get there? To Eridanus, that is," he explained.

She seemed intelligent, well-spoken, more so than he'd expected. He found himself treating her as a being capable of shaping her own future, making her own decisions, and that was a relief: for the idea of taking on a child's well-being as his own responsibility had been a hard one.

@Kira

(If Kira accepts, she can climb on and--if you like?--we can do another thread in Eridanus with the two?)

Kira

You Broke Me First

Could you tell me, where'd you get the nerve?

Kira eyed his back then slowly walked over, feet dragging with drowsiness, and climbed onto his offered back. She stretched her legs out and in the same graceful movement gently kneaded his soft fur. She curled up in a little ball and murmured "Thank you. I should like that very much. I just got tired all of a sudden. If I get too heavy you can ask me to get off, I would love to see the way we go and how to get there, but I may just rest my eyes for a little bit."

All the excitement since she hatched took all the energy out of her, but she was glad the stag stopped to help her however he could and she was not left on her own. This was going to be great adventure. She hoped to meet new animals and make new friends. Though she was a little worried about the bad ones she may encounter. Hopefully she would not meet any of them until she was old enough to fend for herself. She could only imagine what lie ahead of her.

Within moments of shutting her eyes her breathing slowed into the peaceful rhythm of someone sleeping. And so her journey began.

@Arsu

Continuing this in Eridanus sounds great

"Oh, you're very welcome--rest, then," he suggested.

The stag-lion waited patiently, and once Kira was settled on his back, he set slowly off. It was a strange feeling, having a... a passenger? A rider? He'd not done this very often, least of all with someone asleep, back there.

It wasn't a bad thing, necessarily. But he was very careful to place his hooves quietly,

They had a ways to go, and Eridanus awaited them.

exit Arsu