crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

He'd stopped for a while to nibble on some of the tough weeds that grew through cracks in the rocks and some of the dry mosses that existed in Orion. It wasn't much, but he'd been wandering for a while and it was about time to stop and rest - his legs felt like jelly under him from the long, long walk that made up his daily wander and here was at least better then that dusty, musty room of bones.

Folding his legs beneath him, he sat, a relatively peaceful looking sight of the young fawn, horn-gem glittering in the starlight. He closed his eyes and fell into a sort of restful peace, thinking lightly of the past couple weeks that he'd been alive. Excitement, anger, and then boredom. Boredom, wandering, with nothing in between it all to break up the monotony of day-to-day life. He almost remembered with fondness the adrenaline-pumping, anger-inducing, drug-enhanced experience of his hatching day. Now that had been the kind of excitement he lived for! Although he could do without the smug lecturing.

Not five minutes after sitting down, the fawn bounced right back up, snatched up a couple more mouthfulls of dry, flavorless moss before trotting forward, feeling too antsy and impatient to rest for much longer.

september

@Arsu

The soft click of Arsu's hooves was likely visible before he was. He wasn't trying to hide his approach, in part because he had no idea anyone was there, and in part because he was lost in his own thoughts. He wore melancholy like a cloak: shrouding him, but lightly, as though he'd become used to its presence. It did not, at least, stain the features of his face.

Those features, instead, twisted up in surprise when he noticed the auburn fawn. He nearly stumbled mid-step, and apology then framed the entirety of his unspoken communication. Ears swept back, head dipping down, silver eyes springing wide. "Ahh--sorry. I didn't mean to disturb," he said, and looked back up.

It took him a moment to actually register September's appearance. He'd seen a stranger, and the flash of a gemstone, but he hadn't even fully grasped if they were a Greater or a Lesser. But September... he looked like him.

Like Azizos.

The fawn was full of lively, earthen hues, with a streak of flame as his gemstone, but he bore the same shape, even the same size, as Arsu remembered from so many cycles back. Would he grow a mane-? A long tassel to tip his tail? "Is he a relative-?" Arsu wondered, stomach souring at the thought that his father might have attempted to replace the lost son, and without telling him, at that!

But he found he couldn't form the words, or more accurately even the thoughts, to express any of these questions with anything resembling grace. His mouth and throat were dry, with a lump he couldn't swallow past. He tried, and stood stupidly, struggling to find something appropriate to say.

Like... 'hello,' maybe.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

The sound of an approaching gembound at first had September on the alert - it could be some asshat like Doru again to push him around. But it wasn't a repellent, in fact he found himself turning towards where the other approached out of a curious thrill. And it was a nice surprise to find someone that didn't look too different from himself. In shape, at least, there were noticeable difference that he clocked right away. The long mane, the tail, the color. But grey-gold eyes quickly flicked to the diamond horn that sprouted from his forehead and he felt a rush of something strange at the familiar sight. Just like me! For a moment he wasn't sure if he should be upset that his stone wasn't as unique as he'd thought it was or happy he'd found someone that looked so similar.

Right, he'd said something! The fawn stood up a little straighter, shifting a bit back. "No problem, you're not disturbing me." He continued to observe the other for a moment as he waited for a response, but the moment stretched longer then he'd anticipated and he quickly shifted to confusion at the shell-shocked look in the other's eyes. He quickly did a mental check over himself, wondering if he'd stepped in something weird or if there was blood on him from something or what. But from what he could tell, he was perfectly fine. It felt like there might be like a stray piece of moss on his chin, but that wasn't too out of the ordinary. Not enough to get this kind of a reaction.

He tilted his head, frowning as much as a deer could frown after the silence had grown almost awkward. "Uh, are you okay?" He'd gone from a totally unnecessary apology to just staring in a few moments. Maybe he was just crazy.

september

@Arsu

Arsu blinked, shocked out of his frozen state by the fawn's speech. The fact that September didn't sound like he, or his twin, helped his brain to scramble to catch up to the fact that this was in fact a stranger. He shook himself, blinking, and hastened to apologize.

"No! No, I--sorry." He gave a half-broken little laugh and hurried past it. "I--you just looked like... family, that's all."

Are you? he wondered again.

"I don't suppose you are-? It is a large family, and I don't always meet everyone, at first." He shifted in place a little, the soft click of hooves punctuating his words. "I am Arsu, and my family would be... Pride, Mercy and them? If you know them. " Then he fell a little awkwardly silent.

If this had been anyone else he'd have immediately engaged them in light conversation, asking what they were up to and if they wanted help, or company, but... he needed a few moments for his poor head to catch up.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

Thankfully, the crazy town idea was quickly put aside in favor of "nah he's just surprised". The tension he hadn't even noticed had been growing in his shoulders quickly relaxed and he let himself chuckle a bit as well. "Oh, that makes sense." His eyes glanced over Arsu again. "I'm not surprised. We, uh, look kinda similar, huh." He wondered if his antlers would look like that some day and it began to follow along lines of thought that were surprisingly similar to Arsu's own. Would his tail grow out like that? Would his mane grow thick and glorious like his? Would his antlers branch in the same way?

He frowned and thought back the last few weeks. "I don't...think so? I don't know them, at least. Uh, I did meet one guy with antlers." His face soured as he turned to look towards the cave that led towards Canis. "Didn't get his name. Stood on two legs, wings. Dark blue with yellow streaks, yellow hair. Had antlers a lot like yours. He one of yours?" He turned back with a snort, remembering his unfortunate hatching day and feeling that boiling anger leftover from the open thread left by Doru when he left a child hurt, drugged, and blind on the floor of a bone cave. Hm, yeah, not a great first day.

"Oh! Right, I'm September." It had taken him a moment to remember that Arsu had introduced himself. He gave a polite nod of his head - there, not strangers anymore.

september

@Arsu

Arsu's response was telling: a blank stare, then a self-deprecating laugh that erupted (good-naturedly) despite his otherwise elegant demeanor. It was almost a loud snort, though it went on for a moment before he shook his head.

"Ahh--it's a large family," he half-admitted, half-repeated; "So... it could be?" His expession was as close to "sheepish grin" as a stag-lion could manage, and after a moment he shook his head again.

"I travel, and I haven't met everybody. It seems every time I visit home there's new nieces and nephews to meet." He thought about that for a moment, then turned his attention back to September with a nod of acknowledgment, polite. "It's good to meet you, September. Were you just grazing, here?"

He wasn't sure, but he thought that's what the stranger'd been doing when he'd walked up. Before the bounding over and talking and all that. He turned his expression to the wisps of dried, rather wretched grass. "There's much nicer grass in Eridanus, if you'd like--if you don't know of it? Although the Hive's influence is still there," he mused. His gaze flicked from the grass back to September, and he blinked. Would he even know of the Hive? He pushed the thought aside. "Or there's a garden, if you'd like me to show you-? Again, if you don't already know of it, of course. Closer to the Throne."

It was a gently polite offer, and honestly he wouldn't mind the company. Now that the initial shock of September's similarities had worn off, the differences were just as clear. It was easy enough to focus on the brown fur and outgoing youthfulness rather than dwelling on the antlers, the horn, the hooves. And anyway, showing September a better place to eat was the least he could do for his initial impolite stares.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

It was pretty wild to try and understand how one could not know all their family members. "Sounds confusing." Although September wasn't exactly the expert in what a family even was, so he instantly assumed that was what a lot of families were like. Big and confusing and maybe you dont really know everyone. It sounded weird to him, but who was he to judge?

He glanced back at the pitiful little grass and moss he'd been munching on and shrugged. "Just a snack. Not much else here." He looked back as Arsu began spouting out a bunch of words that he had never heard before nor had any inkling of what their meaning might be. Eridanus? Hive? Throne? Each of those stuck in his head like pins - alright knowing what those are and seeing them up close were now on his quickly expanding to-do list. "Uh no, don't know it, never been. What's Hive? Some guy?" Some asshole like the dragon deer person that made his first few minutes incredibly unpleasant?

His head tilted. "Oh, I don't know the throne either. But a garden? Here? I'd like to see that." Thankfully, this guy was much nicer then the last two unfortunate encounters he'd had and he was grateful for it. What a relief to talk to someone reasonable and definitely not crazy. "Thank you," he added on the end, before he forgot to be at least a little polite. Respect garnered respect, after all.

september

@Arsu

Confusing-? Arsu nodded, with feeling. "It is," he assured the fawn.

He was stifling laughter at the 'some guy?' when September expressed interest in the garden. Arsu nodded off in the garden's direction and turned, hooves clicking as he led the way. September thanked him, too--quite polite, he thought. A lot of children, particularly those with no parents to teach them, seemed... lacking in that department, at first. No fault of their own, obviously. But this one? Politeness seemed innate.

"You're more than welcome. It's my father's garden; he grows and tends it, but you're free to graze there if you wish. If he turns up don't be afraid--he's a white lion, ahh--a predator, but he's harmless. Friendly," he clarified.

He picked up the pace a little as he headed up a slope, loose rubble skittering out from underfoot.

"The Hive is... it's Order magic. From what I know it sort of assimilates anyone who inhales these white threads, this mold. Or eats it, or some such. And it turns them into slaves. The stuff's all over Eridanus, at the moment." 'Some guy' indeed.

"So, is this where you hatched? This cave?" he asked, trying to make idle conversation as they walked.

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September turned to follow Arsu, keeping pace, doubling the light clicking sound of hooves against rock. As Arsu spoke, he took in the sights of Orion - the sparkling far-away roof, the distant broken city, a tower in the distance. How strange it was, like all were ruins. He had emerged in a cave of bones and now he was in a cave of ruins. There was probably some interesting history here, lots to learn.

If he had the patience to listen to all of it.

He didn't seem particularly scared of encountering a white lion, apparently, as he simply nodded. If it had been dangerous, well, he had weapons at its disposal to protect him. He'd beat the lion right up! The sound of the Hive, though, that was worrying. He frowned and paused for a second. "Oh, well...I hatched in that room full of bones. There was white shit all over the place. That was Hive?" It was a very good thing that he had good instincts, then, and hadn't tried sampling it.

He continued forward after the momentary stop, picking his way over small inclines and bits of ruin. "It seemed like kind of a crappy place to live anyways. Eridanus sounds nice, though. That's a shame."

september

@Arsu

Arsu winced at September's profanity, though thankfully he doubted the other would notice from partway behind him. But 'shit,' 'crappy'--it was vulgar, smashing into his sensibilities with a jarring sense of unease. Why was such a young fawn speaking this way?

He'd not really met Pride's child, his own sibling, Acheron and that was for the best: she would likely have gotten on better with September and his fairly foul mouth. Outdone him, even, but he didn't really know her to recommend her.

"Canis-? The--room of bones," Arsu clarified, glancing back. There was a solemnity tempering the polite cheer he'd just been showing, now. "Yes, I think so. You didn't eat any of it-?" he asked. Best to double-check. "As far as its suitability as a place to live, yes, I think it's... lacking," he agreed, letting out a short little laugh. "Even Orion is not your best option, I'd say--oh! You'd love Pegasus, I'd imagine!" His eyes widened at the thought, so much so that he stumbled as he walked. "If you can picture vast fields, forests at its mountain edges, a great river running through it... Plenty for one of our kind to eat, and fresh water, bright light. This place is... dim, and dead, by comparison. Orion and Canis both, they are like crypts," he mused.

He stepped over a pile of rubble, nodding up ahead. "Mercy's garden is just up here. Don't eat it all, but you're welcome to your fill for now. He tends to offer hospitality to anyone--he's a good person." Again, a touch of sorrow struck him. Mercy was a good father, but one who'd recently found out that he'd lost a son.

Arsu turned away from those thoughts, for now, or tried to; as it was he tried to focus on September, who he was now beginning to think of as his guest. "I could take you to Pegasus if you liked. There's another cave near there, too, with fields and trees, and rivers, but it's more... manicured. Less wild, less that's... Polite, I suppose, to eat. Gardens, instead of wilderness. But it is pretty to visit; there's a palace there, too." He didn't know enough about the palace to say more, really. Only its existence. He'd never been inside it.

He stepped aside as they came up on the garden: tangled and somewhat overgrown, but in a good way, with myriad different plants growing beneath the baubled gemstones strung up at its edges.

@September