This tunnel felt as though it lay derelict: abandoned, untouched, unlived in. He saw no plants in view. The air felt thick with fever, damp, chilling despite its vague sense of warmth.

This fascinated Wicker.

It felt to him like a disease: like illness had settled into the walls, here. He turned this way and that, plodding softly along the center of the tunnel, or at times drifting off to one side or the other to inspect the rock. He'd been searching for some source of the strange sensation--any sign of anything unusual, really.

So far, however, everything looked almost dissapointingly normal.

"How strange," he mused aloud, a bass rumble of a voice--and reached his rigid nose out to prod one cave wall.

@Kass

In his constant wandering and learning, Kass found himself travelling frequently around Polaris. A central hub cave, of course, passing to a number of interesting sites that he liked to explore. Occasional touches of magic showed him bits of history, but not enough to make any kind of coherent story. It was like fragments all floating around. Frustratingly difficult to control.

He passed through the tunnel, wondering if Pisces had any secrets he was looking for (but what was he looking for? He didn't really know) and stopped when a dark shape came into view. He blinked, squinting, trying to make it out. Four legged, not unlike Rezik, and that initially sent a thread of uneasiness through him, but then he noticed the lack of antlers and the warmer green tones instead of deep blue. Someone else then, that was good.

He approached, intending on striking up some kind of conversation - get a measure on them and maybe pick their brain a bit - but as he got closer and the shape slowly began to grow detail, haziness gave way to lines, and he stopped a couple of feet away. He couldn't make all of it out but...was that creature made of bones?

Kass stared, wondering if he was seeing things or something. But, no - that was definitely a skeletal head. Ears swiveled back, nervous, but it was too late to just turn and walk away. He would definitely have been noticed by now.

"Uhm," he fumbled, not really knowing what to do now. "Are you...a skeleton?"

@Wicker

Wicker took a step back from the wall, turning toward the new voice and blinking in surprise as he found it virtually beneath him. His laugh--a deeply bass, good-natured rumble--echoed through the tunnel. "No, no. Well--in a sense?" and here he tipped his head, peering at Kass. The tone of his voice suggested he'd have been smiling, had he the means to do so. "I hadn't considered... does the wood count as a 'skeleton'?"

Greasy tail swished behind him and he turned, plodding amiably the last couple feet closer, head bobbing in a very typical horselike fashion as he did so. "Look," he offered, lowering his head nearly to the ground for Kass to examine: the grain of the 'skull' indeed quite wooden, if oddly pale, and twining into roots and vines where the muscles also lay along his neck. This close, too, the scent of petrichor was strong, organic and wet but more plant than animal. "The caves are such a wonderful place, don't you agree-? So many different shapes and forms to celebrate. Take your own--your fur is a beautiful hue. Did you know-?" he asked, quite cheerfully. This was, he gauged, a child. Had Kass ever seen his own reflection? "And such bright eyes! But I am not dead, I promise you. I am Wicker. My father is a tree," he explained. Well, 'explained' might be a strong word, in this case. "And who might you be-? Are you lost?" he asked, and something about this seemed as jovial as anything else he'd said.

@Kass

The friendly laugh in his voice made Kass deflate a little bit from his tension. At least he wasn't trying to kill him on sight, which was nice. And the word 'wood' made Kass squint, unsure. A creature...made of wood? Was that even possible?

The invitation to look closer was accepted and Kass made to lean forward, nose twitching curiously as he inspected the grain of Wicker's head, much more obvious at a close look, even reaching out a paw to touch the surface. Huh, that was strange - it really was wood. The touch held magic as well, his curiosity not contained to the present. Would he see the parent of this creature? Siblings? Other creatures like it? Were there a number of wood-made creatures trotting across the caves?

He pulled back after a second, fascinated. "Wow," he breathed, truly interested and amazed. "I had no idea that was even possible, being made out of wood. I suppose you have to be careful around fire, huh." The words came both with a light joking tone but also an actual anxiety that something horrible could befall this creature if only a single spark met its very very flammable body. Being made of wood was interesting but Kass could see how many weaknesses it had.

The compliment made him immediately turn around to look at his fur. "I dunno, it's just. Brown." His eyes, though, he had never seen before. An ear twitched and he had to stop himself from crossing his eyes, as if he'd be able to see them from the other side. "Huh? What color are they?"

He decided that he liked Wicker. Despite the rather intimidating apearance, with the skeletal figure and the glowing white-green eyes, he was friendly and had a good spirit to him. Kass didn't need good eyesight to see that. "I'm Kestrel - or Kass, if you prefer. And no, I'm not lost. Just wandering. I'm learning," he added, helpfully.

@Wicker

Wicker was unaware of the magic that would flood Kass's mind with memory--a vision of a woodbound foal staring up into the darker shadows of a cave's low ceiling. By his side was a tiny alligator hatchling, one that stared up, too. 'You can't talk, right?' foal-Wicker asked the shadows; and to his side, the alligator--loud and laser-like--emitted just a piercing beep.

In the here-and-now, a far larger adult Wicker was laughing softly, his bass voice a rumble. "You are more than 'brown,' I promise you. -Can you not see it?" Perhaps this youngster was colorblind, but Wicker found the patches of autumnal hues fascinating. He even cast out his own magic, tentatively checking to see if the colors somehow held different bits of life. "As for your eyes, they are..." He looked around to find a matching color for demonstration purposes, and quickly gave up. "A bright... violet, sort of. Like flowers," he added helpfully, head dipping low again (as if to politely keep at Kass's height). "As for fire--I have not tried." It hadn't even occurred to him, truth be told, though were he ever to put it to practice he'd find he was a bit too wet to be the kindling that Kass believed him to be. "It does not sound like the sort of thing I'd wish to try! But it is good to meet you, Kestrel-... or Kass. I am here, too, to learn. May I ask what it is that you are learning?"

There was no condescension in his tone--nothing to indicate he was talking down to Kass, trying to stay on the child's conversational level on purpose, or the like. Instead there was that jovial humor, as though everything about the situation were fun, or perhaps amusing, for the horse--in a good-natured sort of way.

@Kass

He saw, clearly, the foal of wicker, and a reptilian youngling. No parent in sight but that was quite alright with Kass. Seeing Wicker as a younger version was nice - comforting. It was easier, then, to see him as a gembound and a thinking creature when it was so easy to look at the blurry, expressionless wooden skeleton and think That could not be alive. He wondered who the alligator was, but it may be rude to ask, considering he hadn't asked to see his past in the first place.

Moving away from the vision of past and back into the present of blurred vision and confusion. Kass suddenly felt quite self-conscious, instinctively rolling a shoulder back and giving his chest a quick lick. "I can see it - colors, I mean. My vision isn't the best, though." When he looked at his own pelt he could see the brown tones, sure, and they were nice, he supposed. But he'd woken up and immediately seen a creature with a coat of starlight and another whiter then snow. So, no, he didn't think layers of brown were especially extraordinary. But, then again, he hadn't yet seen the beauty of the forest, where browns weren't dull like stone and were complimented with greens and accented with all sorts of flowery colors. Perhaps he'd see things differently if he had.

Violet eyes, though...? That was unusual. Were those from N'chard as well? Or were they the cause of his half-blindness. He frowned, wishing there was like a pool of water or something so that he could look in and see for himself. "Flowers, huh? That's nice. I like your eyes though. All glowy and greenish. That's cool." He wondered why they glowed. Was there a reason? Or just some aesthetic part of his nature?

"Good to meet you too, Wicker." And thanks for not attacking me," was something he bitterly wanted to add, but Wicker wouldn't understand and he wasn't sure he wanted to unravel the whole thing right out the gate. "I'm learning about...I don't know, anything really. The past, mostly. These caves are really really old and there's been a lot of Gembound that have gone through. I just want to know more about them. And the purposes of everything here." His eyes flicked to the titanite in Wicker's chest and wondered what creatures had lived in that stone's life before. How many lives it had lived. "What about you? Learning anything in particular?"

@Wicker

He listened, perfectly still, his ears pricked forward and ghostlight eyes fixed on his conversational partner. The fact that Kass could not see well made sense; but then again, perhaps their tastes simply varied. Wicker found the browns intriguing. "Thank you," was his response, amused, to Kass's compliment toward his own eyes.

Then he was listening again, and nodding without quite realizing it. "Yes," he agreed, as Kass finished, "that is--rather, those are... interesting things to wonder. The past. Other Gembound and their pasts. Ha! Now I am tempted to abandon my own curious quest and follow you on yours," he added, laughter in his every word. "But... Do you feel how strange this tunnel is?" he asked, lifting his head to look around. "It feels as though one is ill, standing here. Even if one is quite healthy. I find that interesting, and given that sickness is my magic--I wished to find out why. But I've gotten nowhere," he explained, a little sorrowful at this. He'd hoped for some grand revelation, but 'nothing' had been his reward, instead.

Wicker's attention swung back to Kass. "I am not that old, or I would tell you what I know of the past. -Is that how you are seeking? Looking for someone who might have answers?" He didn't suppose there were other ways, but now he wondered if perhaps they might search together.

He settled into content conversation, though one might be forgiven for looking at him and thinking it something more sinister. Truth be told, Wicker was simply pleased to have company.

@Kass

exiting due to inactivity