There they stand at The Door of Life.

Hop.

If they knew it had such a name, they'd possibly be a bit more respectful.

Hop.

Or...

Hop!

Not.

Hop!

They're hopping back and forth in the threshold, seeing how the light refracts on their white. blue and black feathering, opening their massive wings to catch the shine and play with the shadows.

Small, almost five feet at the top of their head, they have a massive wingspan at almost thirty feet to carry their densely muscled body on cold air and thermals, cheery yellow scaling on their hands and feet belying the deadly claws just beyond the color tipping each digit.

Hop.

They'd set their bundle of sticks and rope on the Right Color side of the doorway, and they continue to hop back and forth every few seconds or so.

"When I speak"
When I think

@V-Onyx-Three

Renasci had been too big to miss. Even from within Draco, V-Onyx-Three had caught sight of a gembound just outside the entrance of Draco. And of course, he had asked permission to go spar with them. It wasn't often other gembound came by here. This was a good training opportunity!

Approaching on a four legged gait, their eyes eventually came to see that they were of a medium size. Larger than he was, but not as big as his parents. "Hello." V-Onyx-Three stopped a few feet away from them, a slightly confused look on his face as he watched them hop from side to side. "Are you practicing? Your agility?" that was the only explanation he could come up with. Nimble feet, he supposed, needed to be quick in moving from side to side. That was useful for fighting.

"I am Onyx-Three." he added upon realizing it was necessary to introduce yourself, "Are you here to spar?" Their eyes caught sight of the bundle of items they had brought with them, which he assumed to be weapons. Though he preferred rocks and such things himself.

@Renasci

Renasci freezes when the... what is it? It's not upright, like them, but.. fuzzy and pointy like a cat. In any case the harpy goes completely still, watching the new Gembound with sharp gold eyes as they talk.

Spar- wh? I don't even know them. They look like they're fresh from the stone...
A bit of blinking, clear confusion, slightly hidden worry, and they relax their wings to rest the wrist joints against the floor, but not fold them away.

"H-" They cough a few times, voice rough and clearly unused before they try again. "I'm playing with the light. I's odd, makes feathers look neat."

An awkward shuffle shuffle... and they seem to realize something. "M'names Renasci." It's a bit airy in the beginning, and the end is almost hissed through teeth, but it's said with the idea to invoke wind.


"When I speak"
When I think

@V-Onyx-Three

V-Onyx-Three doesn't notice the confusion, instead focused on sizing up the harpy. He saw now that they weren't incredibly different in size- it had been the wings which gave the illusion of a much larger gembound. This made him decidedly more relaxed. Though not by much. It was still clear Ren was fully grown, unlike Onyx-Three who still had a few cycles to reach full maturity.

They are brought back to attention by the coughing. The rough voice reminds him vaguely of The Sentinel's, though he would never be able to mistake one for the other. They were... playing with the light? A confused expression flitted across his face. He had never thought of the Voidlight as 'odd', probably because he lived in Draco and almost never left.

"Renasci." he paused here, a confirmation of the name. But more was soon added on. "You are corrupted?" the strange way in which they pronounced their words made V-Onyx-Three think that they must've been, especially since his own parent was. A cautious step was taken forward, nose raised to sniff the harpy. There was a distinct smell that birds or feathered creatures had, but seeing as to how there were no birds in Draco, it was an entirely new scent. "You smell weird." this was not meant as an insult. It was stated more like a fact.

@Renasci

They watch the other in turn- Absolutely young, it's feet look too big... but a number in it's name? There are more like it?
Feeling eyes size them up, though, they respond instinctively- the feathers along their spine and on their wings lifting, seemingly doubling their size for a moment. Really they look more like a Pomeranian with static issues... and they step back into the regular light of the other side of the Gate, showing how the color changes in that light instead of Voidlight.

"Am not corrupted." Their face crinkles in mild confusion and some offense. "Whatever that means. H'n I smell like me, fire, and deer. You smell weird."

"When I speak"
When I think

@V-Onyx-Three

He does not like the look of the natural light. If it can be called natural. Voidlight seemed safer to them in a sense, though if asked, they wouldn't be able to explain why. There is a hint of nervousness upon seeing Ren step into the normal light, almost as if he were afraid something would happen. It was irrational he knew. V-Onyx-Three did not know very much about wings, but he knew enough to know that they brought flight. It was rather useful, he thought. Flying would allow one to attack from above and all sorts of angles. It also allowed for an avenue of escape. He knew that all too well from all the insects he tried to catch.

He is unable to read the emotion on their face, though this was true no matter who he meets. Emotion was such a complicated thing really. "Corruption. It is... chaos. Dark. Oil." At this, they glanced down at their own onyx stone, streaked with oil. "Corruption is good. My parent is corrupted. He is very strong." His head turned to the side, ears flopping over their head. From his standpoint, corruption was a good force. He didn't understand the bad associations that came with it, having grown up in the Chaos Forge.

V-Onyx-Three sniffed his arm, trying to discern what about himself smelled weird. Nothing. One got used to their own scent, so his nose was numb to whatever he smelled like. "I do not smell." came the response, one which seemed obvious to him. Maybe Renasci had even stronger smelling abilities than he did! That was amazing. "What is deer?" Deer did not come around Draco, so the idea of smelling like one was weird. "You are a deer?" Perhaps the kind of gembound Renasci was was called 'deer'. He supposed that made sense.

@Renasci

They blink a few times, and then shake their head. "You can't smell yourself, on yourself. It's only on others and things you keep for a long time. Like my rope smells like me," they gesture at the bundle, "Because I've had it for months and worked on it for hours." But then again, their standpoint may be wrong.

Extending a wing, they sort of do a fun half walk back into the Voidlight again, using the massive feathered appendages to swing like one would on crutches for a moment, getting much closer to the other Gembound. From this angle, they have a much better look at the fuzzy Other, and they tilt their head back and forth with a few twitches.

"Whatever Corruption is, it's not me." They finally decide to say. "I am not deer," They start, head tilting aaaaalll the way one way. They let their teeth flash in the Voidlight and fan their feathers around their ears and face. "I'm a bird, but better and more."

"Deer is... are, they have four legs, and usually fur. Sharp feet like one, round claw, and they're fast. Most can't talk, those ones are edible. Sometimes horns of all shapes. If the ground was softer I'd show you. There are others smart like us, that look more like them. Not as many fun colors, or anywhere as many. I'm going to catch and tame some of the Lessers that live around and see if I can ride them."

A moment, and they ask, "Are you a cat?"

That's... a good question to ask. Right? It's fair.

Right?

"When I speak"
When I think

@V-Onyx-Three

He wondered what he smelled like now since he was unable to figure that out himself. Renasci had told him that he smelled weird, which was a start. Their attention locked onto the rope that was mentioned, and it looked like nothing he had ever seen before. Could it be used as a weapon? It did not look sharp like stones or teeth or claws, but perhaps it could be used in some other way. Either way, they were curious about it. "The rope. Can I feel?"

They take a step back as the gembound approaches, but otherwise stays still. They feel a bit self conscious about being stared at. Onyx-Three does not realize that he himself also stares in such a way rather often. Although they were a bit sad to hear that Ren was not, in fact, corrupted, they supposed they weren't corrupted either. It was not easy to achieve. Funny thing was Onyx-Three had also never seen a bird before so what it meant to be more than a bird he also didn't know. But since they seemed to acting rather happy about being a bird-but-better-and-more he supposed that was a good thing.

Listening closely to the description of deer, he tries to recall if he knew anything at all that matches the description. Nope. Would he be able to outrun one? Oh! He wondered how they tasted like. Wait- riding lessers? Why? Onyx-Three looked confused about this part. "Riding lessers. It is useful for hunting? Fighting?" They were still trying to comprehend the idea. It was something they could never have thought of.

Cat! He knew cats. They were soft, had four legs, claws, teeth, and a long tail. And they were really, really good at fighting! Wait- so was he a cat? Onyx-Three had a brain go blank moment as he stared trying to process whether he was or wasn't. Technically, he did fit all of those things except the last part. But he was improving at that! Something told him that no, he wasn't a cat, but another part of him said he literally met the description. Mouth opened. Closed again. Opened. "I think I am a cat. But bigger. And more?" he borrowed from Ren's own description of themselves, and nodded, thinking that was a proper response. Ren was older and more mature than he was, so he assumed if they thought he was a cat then it must be so. It made sense after all.

@Renasci

A few confused blinks, anmd Ren turns their head to look at their rope and stick stack- and they puff up a bit in pride. "Sure. Let me grab it, you can keep some if you want. You live... down there, right?" and they point further down into Draco. "I've seen others sometimes wander down there. You can show them, but my only rule is that you have to say I made it."

Wandering back to their pile, they continue to talk, wings fidgeting and kicking the occasional bit of debris as they move around. "For... riding. I guess it might work for fighting. But I think I'm not going to do it like that. Hunting, absolutely- for example." Turning with a stick with about six feet of half decent rope tied around it, they come back into the sickly celadon Voidlight and sets it down between where they decide to settle on the floor and V-Onyx-Three. A small frown at how their bright yellow-gold scales are now glazed that odd, sickly green, they sigh. The rope, however, is made of many thin strands of what feels like tree bark and shredded wood, twisted together tightly and occasionally threatening a splinter or two if twisted a certain way. But it seems strong.

Not everything can look good at once, I suppose.

"Hunting. I can fly- have you seen things fly? They're fast in the air, but slow on the ground. Most of the time, I guess. But, I can't use all of my speed to catch things in the denser caves, the ones filled with trees and vines. I hunt best above water, or in the massive tunnels really far from h-here." Something suddenly reminds them in the back of their brain that, if this other is a cat... they're dangerous. They kindly smack that part of their brain with a stick and continue. "So, making the deer I'm riding take me, or my stuff, really fast where I can't fly, means I can get places faster and with less exhaustion on my end. And less pulling twigs out my of feathers."

Ear feathers twitch when the other borrows their phrasing, and they fluff in pride. "Maybe so! Better in any case, you're bigger and have more eyes. Maybe ask your hatchmates, or flock. Erm. Group. I dunno what to call non-bird families." A shrug.



"When I speak"
When I think

@V-Onyx-Three

"Yes." It was hard to imagine living anywhere else. And why wouldn't anyone want to live here? Though seeing how Renasci didn't like the voidlight, he supposed that could be a reason not to. But seeing as his fur was a really dark blue-black anyways, there wasn't much of a difference in his coloring no matter what light he was under. "I can not make rope. You- Renasci made the rope." Onyx-Three didn't know how to make rope, so why would he claim to have made it? Either way he didn't understand the point of lying about such a thing. But then again, he has yet to meet some less than trustworthy gembounds. That was the thing about living in Draco. It was fairly sheltered with the guards and whatnot.

Taking the rope, he unravels a part of it from the stick, feeling the texture with his fingers. It was smooth at first touch, but also contained some rougher qualities. He tugged at it. Strong. "Thank you. The rope is very good." Onyx-Three couldn't wait to show others the discovery of this rope. Would the Sentinel like it? Six feet of rope would be enough to do many things, though he was unsure of the direct application of it to hunting.

He nodded at the mention of flight, though there were no birds in Draco, there were indeed bats. Those things were scary. Though Onyx-Three hadn't been to enough caves to really understand what Renasci was referring to, he tried his best to imagine it. Plants really didn't exist all that much in Draco, so the idea of there being so many that it hinders movement was hard to comprehend. This gembound was smart, being bale to craft rope and now also talking about riding deer. It had so much potential! Preserving stamina, but also making one faster. Would it also give a height advantage in battle? All this information would have to be thoroughly thought over later. With that said, he definitely needed to also practice more hunting. "Riding deer. It is hard? I want to learn."

They smiled, and seemed to stand up just a bit straighter. It was not the same as praise from his parents, but he respected Renasci, and it mattered almost as much. "I hope to grow. Become even bigger." A pause. "Eyes. I will not grow more of." though they hoped they could have more eyes. Then they would be able to have a wider field of view, better for spotting things. It was unfortunate growth did not bring more eyes. At the mention of family, he tilted his head. "Do you have family? More birds-but-better?"

@Renasci