It was going to go to Polaris inevitably, at least — it took the encouragement very plainly.

"I know that," Alpha grumbled in response to the whole thing of gemstone. "What is a — gift? A type of stone?" (Sad.)

Eyes narrowed away from the figurine, grunting a brief, almost childish, "no, you aren't." Nothing was untouchable. Especially not this toothpick-limbed little thing.

The orthoclase set its icon down, considering. "What do you do with… gems of yourself?"

@Pride

Pride gave a gentle shrug.

"You are welcome to test it," he offered, mildly, "but it may harm you. Successive strikes only increase the magic's power." Just in case it decided to punch him twice, or something. Theoretically--and he'd only tested it with telekinesis and rocks, so far--it was essentially a stored vacuum spell. He wasn't insistent on Orthoclase-Alpha harming itself, but if it genuinely thought him somehow immortal--and brought that information back to its overseer--it could only benefit the Seven.

"A gift-?" surprise struck him, belatedly. "A gift is when you give something to others, as a kindness. Or a sign of friendship." He paused, briefly, to consider the implications of a creature not knowing this. Anger, brief but simmering, rose at whoever had done this to it--whoever had chosen to raise a monster and not teach it anything of kindness. He thought, distantly, of the female creature he had seen in Polaris--the one who had reduced Raheerah to goop, who had slain two masters in an instant. This reeked of her sort of thing, he thought: brutal, cold, a relict of another era far more savage and violent than this one had ever been.

He shook the thought away with a brief, brow-furrowed toss of his head. "You may do whatever you wish with it. Keep it. Put it someplace to look at it, from time to time. Destory it. Leave it behind. It is yours."

And this, at least, was said with kindness.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

With Pride egging it on, it was inevitable that the orthoclase would try out this theory of invulnerability — but, it'd be scientific about it. For one, not go whole-hog on the first hit, in case of too much recoil. The stag'd basically explained what it was. Acidic eyes narrowed into a squint, and Alpha shuffled forwards. Back arched a bit like a wary cat, it aimed a brief swat at his shoulder.

The kickback was instantaneous, sending it stumbling back on four limbs with a harsh yelp. Glowing eyes stared wide-eyed, searching the stag's form and then staring at its own claws. "How?" it barked, turning its hand over and again.

Alpha, at least, could attach the concept of gifts to one thing — ironically, it was this creature's granddaughter. Was… fruit a gift? Did Vivilene seek friendship in it? What —

It shook its head, staring down at its gemself with guarded curiosity. It was… its. Its only. Any of those options seemed equally appealing, if only… some bore sentimentality it didn't particularly have.

Slowly, the orthoclase slid it across the ground, so it lay next to the bag of popcorn. It'd… do something with it, at least.

@Pride

Despite the fact that it wasn't a full-on attack coming, Pride had to admit that for a moment, time seemed to stop. There was a thrill in it, a breathless sort of adrenaline anticipation--in case he was right. And fear, very real fear, in case he wasn't. The Orthoclase suddenly seemed... larger, more looming, the toxic fangs and quills more frightening.

But-

Thwap.

It was over in an instant, and the rush of relief and cheer fought for control against the forced calm on his face. He tried not to sound too giddy, but impish glee swept his words away from him nonetheless. "I'm just that magical," he answered, with an intense, knowing gaze, one full of humor.

What the hell did I just say-

The white stag cleared his throat, and nodded to the gemstone, focusing as he did so on his innate magic--to reapply it, on the horrific off-chance that Orthoclase-Alpha chose to have a second go. "Will there be anything more, then? Or did you wish to stay and--socialize?" He had to struggle to keep that giddiness down, that 'I'm-still-alive' idiocy... but it was hard.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

It was times like this that Navy wished Alpha's tail was more mobile, since it would be flagged up high and lashing. Pride's giddy coyness put a squint on its face, eyes narrowing across the way — this was… a challenge to unravel. Invulnerability to damage would be a powerful and limitlessly useful skill to have. Because, of course, the orthoclase needed to have another layer of protection.

"How?" it pressed again, keeping its distance this time. Yet, it was zeroing in on the stag's stone. If it was magic — it could disrupt that. "You can't be… untouchable." To varying degrees of success, but regardless… burning ozone-scent wafted into its nostrils as it shot a lancing bolt of magicka at Pride.

Alpha watched carefully for a reason, and otherwise hunched down on the spot, and asked much quieter — "weren't we… just socializing?" Talking wasn't enough?

@Pride

He felt a brief, strange flicker--a jolt, of sorts--but the Orthoclase showed no signs of having done anything. Puzzled, the stag tried again. Had his magic... fizzled? He'd had it fail, and outright backfire, but he'd never had magic shock at him, before.

Strange.

He thought little of it, instead tilting his head and pressing on with conversation.

"Perhaps from using so much magic, for so long? I really could not say," he said, tone idly flippant, shoulders offering a brief shrug.

Weren't we... just socializing? ...It has no idea what socializing is, does it?

"No," Pride answered honestly, lifting a hind hoof to scratch an itch behind one ear. It was a strangely contorted, graceful gesture, and when the hoof planted back down he turned back to Alpha. "I was speaking diplomacy, and you were seeking information." Or was it--lying? Pretending no ulterior motives? Pride didn't think so. Unless it were stupider than he'd thought, but... He doubted that. It seemed simple enough, but he had no reason to think it was outright stupid; it was like Dread, in that way, he thought. "Socializing would be if we discussed how one another feel, think. Philosophy, emotion, casual company. It means no ulterior motives, and it is not business, or rivalry. It is... comfortable companionship near someone whose company one enjoys."

...Did that explain it well enough? He hoped so.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

"I really could not say."

Alpha huffed. Unhelpful.

"No," was the stag's next honest response, and it searched him again with that awkward, hitching sort of confusion that signified one thing only: it was now completely out of its element.

Its options were to pack up and leave or — stay? The thought of leaving gave it a weird feeling of dissatisfaction it couldn't place a subject for; perhaps, missing out on trying this... socialization thing. It sat and talked to its hatchmates fairly often, but it was never really a conversation so much as keeping themselves busy. They were fairly impersonal as far comparing them to whatever this was. Would it be... a good use of time to work on its conversational skills?

If it decided it wasn't worthwhile, it'd shove this under the rug, it decided.

The monstrous hybrid shifted its weight from either foot, paced the few steps towards its small collection of Material Things and gave them a brief, casual sniff before sitting down, looking completely at a loss for words.

After yet another long, drawn-out pause, it tested the verbal waters in a clipped, mentally rehearsed sentence: "do you like fruit?" Seemed like a safer topic than talking about its impossible-to-name feelings.

@Pride

Pride waited, half-distracted by his strangely-failing magic, almost not noticing the fidgeting and squirming of Orthoclase-Alpha.

At its question, which at last broached the silence with a sort of hesitant awkwardness, Pride... paused. As Orthoclase's spell had short-circuited his own, the question short-circuited his thoughts; did he... like fruit?

He blinked as his mind caught up.

"Fruit-? ...Ahh, yes. Yes! A little. Ahh, apples are sweet. Peaches--my granddaughter brought me one of those," he added, slowly, kindly trying to make conversation with the giant monster that might try to eat him later.

Best not to think about that.

"Ahh--bananas, too, although I've only ever had the ones conjured up by magic. Do you know them?" he asked, and bent his head to once again touch his nose to the ground.

A fat bunch of bananas, all bright yellow and thickly ripe, appeared in a shimmer of golden light. Pride nudged them forward, and then stepped back politely. "Please, help yourself; I find that with magic, anyone enjoys them, regardless of your normal diet. Ahh--you will shine, for a few minutes, afterward, though."

A long pause.

"So, tell me; what sort of foods do you like?" There it was: an attempt at reciprocation. He wasn't sure what they were getting at, here, but... it seemed to be progress. Of some sort.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

This conversation started on rather unsteady footing but it seemed to be going... relatively alright.

Except for the fact that Alpha realized that even sharing its fruit preferences felt personal and vulnerable. It hesitated throughout the stag's own sharing, taking quiet note of the peaches - since, really, that was the only one on the list it'd recognized.

The orthoclase stared down mutely as bananas manifested from absolutely nothing, jaw going slightly slack as child-like awe consumed it. Teeth clicked shut as it tucked that away - continuing to eye up the fruit. It missed the point of conversational flow and was waiting for Pride to completely finish talking before weighing in.

"I have not seen - fruit made by magic," it admitted, stretching a gangly arm out to snap off exactly one banana from the bunch. Despite never experiencing a banana in its life, Alpha had the foresight to work the skin off with its teeth and peel it down. If only all fruit were so easy to peel. Rather than just chow down on the spot, it held the banana in one hand and added, "I know peaches. A little... - thing with hands gave me one. And other things." (You could hear Alpha mentally grasping for a descriptor of Vivilene before settling on one that was just not helpful at all and kind of derogatory in an unintentional way.)

Its weight shifted again, acidic eyes falling on the banana in its claws. "I eat Lessers," Alpha began, as if that weren't obvious from all the teeth and claws, "but, fruit is... an alternative."

Having avoided saying it outright had a preference for the variety of food, stuck the banana into the side of its mouth, gnawing off a chunk and noisily chewing it. The orthoclase paused for a moment, creased its eyes slightly, and put the rest of it - sans peel - in its mouth. Once that one was done, it didn't go for another with as much eagerness. It peered down, noticing that it had acquired quite a glow. "Hm."

@Pride

A thing with hands-?

Giving out peaches?

Pride squinted, a little. "Did the thing with hands, perhaps, have a body like mine is from the neck down? And violet skin?"

He concentrated, for a moment, on his magicka--in another half-focused attempt to raise the strange little barrier he could maintain. And then he spoke again, tilting his head a little in thought. "I'd imagined you were a carnivore, with those teeth. Do you know, when I was very young, I had a friend. A carnivore, as well, like you." Well--not like you, but... he thought, and shook it away with a brief shake of his head.

"Her magic backfired, and wounded her leg badly, and she could not hunt. I had to hunt for her, to learn to catch and kill the smaller Lessers. It was a tad unpleasant, for an herbivore, but useful training, I should think."

There-... conversation. He paused, trying to give the Orthoclase something to hook its thought into and respond to, something to... engage it. "Do you have a particular preference, then?"

Somehow, wryly, Pride imagined that he'd say "deer."

@Orthoclase-Alpha