As Aaliyah drank, she could already feel strength returning to her limbs. She got up slowly until she was fully sitting, facing the creature. She listened as he spoke and flicked an ear. She would hunt later. It would have to be soon, though. She was very hungry, and feared her boost of strength would not last long.

She began to lick one of her paws and clean some of the blood on her face. She could still taste some of it in her mouth, and it left a coppery tang she wasn't very fond of. When most of it was gone, she addressed the questions the creature asked.

"Danger...no. Not anymore. What happened to me...I..." She stopped. Did she really want to tell this creature what happened? She had just met it! Still, he did save her life. And it's not like telling him would really hurt much. And it's not like she had to tell him everything. "Growing up I was...constantly fighting. My parent would make me fight all the time. I never won a fight against them, though. Eventually, they asked me to do something I...couldn't do, and I fought against them. I lost, of course, but I still left. This was...the aftermath of that. I've never, uh, been by myself for this long." Near the end, her voice was starting to get raspy again, so she quickly coughed a few times.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Amras
notes: here

Amras Amras waited patiently for the feline to recover. Now that she was no longer in danger of dying he had time to note how strange it was not only to see another sentient life, but to see one whose form was so different than his own. He'd been alone for so long he had begun to categorize knowledge of other greater gembounds as a passing fancy from before emerging into the world. Even his own name, the title of Amras, he had begun to think of as a useless construct created only as a self-indulgence. Knowing now for sure that he was not alone, and hearing that there were definitely others aside from the wounded one before him, having a word to use to describe himself didn't seem so silly after all. "I cannot imagine what it must have been like to live one's life under the influence of another. You must be strong to have been able to break free of a system of enforced violence, going out into the unknown." he spoke with a clear and smooth voice, a coo of sincere flattery permeating the undertones. The gryphon sat down, mirroring the much smaller creature's position. She seemed uneasy, though that much was to be expected given her condition. It would have been simple for him to strike a killing blow before, and had it not been for the power of language he might have done so without realizing what an opportunity had passed by. He felt fortunate to have stumbled upon this one, and even more so to be able to put the theoretical skill of speech to practice in so hasty a manner. "Truth be told, I have no way to even begin to understand your troubles. Never before in my existence have I encountered another creature whose thoughts rose higher than base instinct. I have lived out my life content to stay in a single state of existence burrowing into the stone with nothing but the deadly winds above keeping me company and the occasional lesser one keeping me alive." Realizing that his curious gaze might be disconcerting the blue gryphon allowed himself to relax, his vision now darting every so often to objects in the distance or the stars above. "That said, long ago I seem to have started referring to myself as Amras. Do you have a similar means of referral or do you simply think of yourself as a cat?" Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" Tags: @Aaliyah

Aaliyah flicked her ears. "Strong? Hardly. I had no idea what I was doing. It was rather idiotic, really. I had known there was no way I would win the battle. I'm surprised they even let me go. But there was no way I could do what they wanted me to. Not after seeing..," her voice faltered. She quickly coughed, but said no more.

She listened as he spoke again, and blinked. "I haven't met many others. There are a few who I have fought, and even one who they had fought. Not for the first time, it had seemed. I later saw them again, though not for long. There was also the one I came across. Or, rather, they came across me, as I was in no condition to...look for anyone at the time. They helped me separate from my parent, in a way."

She was silent for a moment, eyes watching the creature. She noticed how he seemed to relax, and that caused her to relax as well. She hadn't even realized how much tension she was holding until she let it go. Her gaze drifted away for a moment before darting back as he spoke. "Amras," she murmured quietly, testing the name on her tongue. It had been so long since she last spoke a name, something that wasn't Imperia. It had also been a long time since she said her own name. She still knew what it was, of course. The sound of Imperia harshly saying her name would always resonate within her.

"My name is..." She almost said Aaliyah, but changed her mind. The name Aaliyah was behind her. That was what Imperia had called her, and always in a very unpleasant way. She wanted something else. "Call me Li."

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Amras
notes: here

Amras The more this other spoke the more it was apparent just how sheltered he had been in his own little corner. Compared to what he had expected the cave was absolutely teeming with life... yet somehow he had never known. Perhaps that was for the best if there was as much fighting as she described; he had not always been as physically or magically strong as he was now. "It is good to meet you, Li." he replied with as much corduality as before. "It sounds like you have come through many trials to get here. Are you going to be okay?" Perhaps he was being overly curious, but it would be a shame for Li to come this far just to waste away from hunger or something of that sort. There was also the threat of others who she had fought before, that that might find her now that light had appeared in the caves. He couldn't quite discern why but the concept of facing off against another appealed to him now tha the knew there were others to face off against. Was that why there was fighting? Was the drive for competition something inherent to the greater gembounds? Amras's face showed no change of expression at these thoughts. After all that Li had been through he was certain that even entertaining the concept of fighting for the fun and novelty of it would mark him as an enemy in her eyes. "Aside from learning more about this place I have nothing that needs to be done right now. My dwelling is sufficient and I have some time before my hunger becomes intolerable." Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" Tags: @Aaliyah

Li flicked an ear. "It's good to meet you as well, I suppose." She began to lick her paws before wincing slightly. There were still burns on her paws from the times she used her spells. She hadn't noticed it before, but now that she had, she never wanted to look at her paws again. She quickly set it down and looked away, hoping Amras hadn't noticed her rush.

At his next words, she looked over at him. "Am I going to be okay..?" That one made her pause. She was still starving, although she could hardly feel it now. She was so used to being starving that she hardly felt it. But now that she had brought her attention to it, she felt a sharp pang in her stomach. She also had some scratches and dried blood. But would she be okay?

Yes. She would be. She was away from Imperia, and hopefully, she'd never see them again. She lifted her head, for she had lowered it earlier while thinking, and looked at the creature once more. "Yes, I believe I will be okay."

She began to lick her right shoulder, as there was a scratch there with dried blood. She pointedly ignored looking at her paws, and focused all of her attention on her shoulder. Licking it caused it to open slightly and fresh blood dripped down, but she quickly licked it clean, wincing at the taste. She never liked the taste of blood, but from cycles of licking her wounds after fighting Imperia, she had gotten used to it.

Li finished just as Amras spoke again. She turned to him and listened before humming. "Well, I will admit I am still very much starving. Any idea where some food is around here?"

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Amras
notes: here

Amras Amras breathed in deeply, exhaling as tension seemed to flow from his body. His newfound acquaintance was indeed looking better and better by the moment, and he was inclined to believe it when they indicated that they would be okay. Obviously they were still hurt, still think, still hungry, but their speech came easier and some life seemed to have returned to their face. "I'm honestly not extremely familiar with this area, unfortunately." he explained with a vaguely embarrassed look, lifting his left talon and pointing into the direction he had originally come from. "Usually whenever I'm hunting I sit on top of one of those structures next to the tunnel leading to my part of the cave. More often than not some creature large enough to fill me up will make noise in the brush below within a few hours and I have the chance to use magic to stun it." The gryphon paused as his ears focused in around them. Any life that might have been hanging about had probably moved away as they were talking. They would almost certainly have to move somewhere else in the room to find anything. "I did see some tracks from something large back where I found the box for the water. Perhaps a lesser one has created a nest there?" Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" Tags:

Li flicked an ear. She was the most familiar with this place than any, though she hadn't been here in a while. She tried to think back to when Imperia and her would hunt, and found herself flinching lightly at the memory. She quickly shook her head though, clearing her mind from any bad thoughts, and focused on where they used to hunt. Her mind was hazy, and she had trouble thinking of where they hunted. Her mind was instead filled with thoughts of Imperia, and she soon stopped thinking about it.

At the thought of using her magic to hunt, she stiffened slightly. She could most certainly use her magic to hunt, though she knew she wouldn't. Not now. Maybe not ever. "I will not use magic to hunt," she said, voice firm for once.

At Amras' next words, she flicked an ear. It was likely the best choice, but she wasn't sure she could anything large yet. She supposed she may as well try, though. She was starving, and needed to eat something. Maybe she'd come across something on the way there to at least get her something. She nodded to the large creature. "Alright. May as well see what it is. Lead the way." She rose fully this time, swaying on her paws slightly, before managing to get a decent grip and not fall. She would not fall in front of Amras. No way. She took a step forward.

...And then she fell. Just slightly. She stumbled a little, one of her paws giving out on her, causing her to trip. She grunted, and soon lifted herself up again, testing each paw. Once she was satisfied she wasn't going to fall again, she looked back at Amras. Her ears were lowered in embarassment, but her head was raised. As long as she didn't fall again, she'd be fine. She hadn't walked in a while, not since she collapsed. She wasn't used to walking again. Yeah. That's it. That's why she fell.


"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Amras
notes: here

Amras Amras nodded solemnly at the feline's firm declaration that she would not use her magic. Though energy magic had been an important component in his survival thus far, she had obviously come from a much darker background. No doubt it would take some time before she engaged in anything that would remind her of those times, if she ever would again. "I hope you will not take offense to me using my own in the hunt in that case. While I may be larger than most of the prey around here I haven't yet tried catching it through physical force alone." With wings folded the gryphon stood up, his taloned forelimbs gripping the ground before him as he lightly stretched out. Li hadn't had quite so much luck with her ascent, but the fact that she was standing at all was a victory in itself in his mind. With head raised high to keep himself oriented he padded forward, first moving beside her and then with a nod taking the lead. Surely they would be able to find something before too long, and then he'd be able to continue his journey exploring this new land of light. -Exit Amras- Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" Tags: @Aaliyah

Aaliyah flicked an ear. "Very well. Feel free to use your own magic." Hopefully he didn't have fire magic. It didn't look like he did; she couldn't see any burns or other signs of fire magic having been used.

As he rose on his hind legs, she watched. It seemed...impractical, but maybe it worked better for him. She had never tried it, and was sure she'd only fall if she did, especially while like this. As he walked in front of her, she started to follow, walking slowly as she got used to it. When her paws weren't so shaky, she moved more quickly, paws now sure of what they were doing.

She hoped it wouldn't take too long to find food. She's lived this far, but without food, there was no telling how much longer she'd live.

-exit Aaliyah-


"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: here
notes: here