Tourmaline had been forced to take it easy, after the extertion that was her attempt to prove herself to Emuh. Success or not, it had been rather embarrasing, how her magic lashed back time and time again.

She'd wandered to Pegasus first, maybe to catch sight of V-Onyx-Three. Their spar had been a great learning experience, and she hoped he was doing well. Then her mind wandered to September - still just a face and not a name. They were both reasons she'd pushed on.

Her cuts had healed some - enough to not be so painful. Perhaps she'd go back to practicing her magic. Tourmaline clearly needed it.

So she'd turned towards Andromeda, its calming silence perhaps a good place to recollect her thoughts. But the blooming flowers of the intervening tunnel caught her attention first. The trees wept petals, drifting down through the air. But one of them had not yet bloomed, dark buds waiting for something.

Her mind flickers to knowledge that was given to her, of a spell she hadn't practiced much before. "Well, here goes nothing," she sighs to herself, more than loud enough for passerby to hear. A paw placed on the trunk and a nudge of her magic caused the tree's flowers to unfurl one by one, so it matched all the others.

A grin spread across her face. I've still got it.

@Warp

It'd been a couple of days or so since Warp had hatched, the lanky wolf picking up how life works fairly well so far. Eat the things that don't talk, don't eat the things that do talk - the usual. What it hadn't got the hang of yet was it's own magic, or it's own body, for that matter.

Instinct tells it to go back to its hatching place - to go find somewhere which will help with its strange magic. Warp chooses to ignore it for now, even as the Void takes over its vision underfoot. It can go find that place later - after it explores a little bit.

And then it sees a tree sprout from nothing. What is that? Warp eventually comes across a stranger. It's seen a few here and there, but haven't approached anyone until now.

"How did you do that?" It questions, apparently already good with words.

Her ears flick at the sound of voice, and she turns her head to see Warp approaching. It had the gangly, awkward limbs of someone either not used to or just bad at walking for one thing. Tourmaline wonders idly how old it is, but she decides not to pry.

Instead she smiles, "I did this with my magic. Have you tried before?" It looks like it has it pretty potently, with how that dark smog rolls off of it - but maybe it is young, if it has no idea. "Magic can do different things, but you are born with an affinity for a specific type. So don't feel bad if yours doesn't work on plants like this."

She'd take a step away from the tree, sitting on the ground. Blossoms fall around her, and her tail brushes some into a pile. "You just have to... feel for it."

@Warp

Magic... Is that what Warp has been feeling? Is magic the strange pull it feels? The voidwolf hadn't considered that an option - and it still feels strange to think about it. "I... Have not." Warp feels stunned.

Warp definitely looks older than it is - bigger than the average wolf pup, with longer features. A gangly little thing who won't ever grow into it's features, but Warp doesn't know that yet.

It stares into the new growth Tourmaline has sprouted, and wonders if it can do that too.

Warp sits there for a few moments, feeling something sparking inside. When the magic comes out, something goes horribly wrong. For Tourmaline, Warp simply vanishes into a waving portal of black. For Warp, it's forcefully pulled through it and thrown into a black expanse of nothing.

It stands up and looks around. "Hello?" Nothing answers back. If Warp were older, it might've put two and two together and noticed that the Void is the same thing its fur is made of - but instead a wave of panic hits as Warp tries to run but is stuck in place.

Its limbs move but it does not move forward, like being suspended in air. "Is anyone here? Hello? Kitty cat?" The poor pup is shouting now.

Before the pup begins to wail, its thrusted back outside the darkness into the real world. It falls out in a pile of fur and limbs, shaking as its nose hides under its paws.

She'd smile with a chuckle, "That's alright, there's a first time for everything!" Tourmaline's chipper attitude wouldn't last long though.

Her warm calm would flip to surprise as Warp just. Vanished. Pulled through to some dark wavering pocket. But then the horror would set in, as the whispers she'd heard in her spar with Onyx come back full force, spurred to life by the crackling corruption in front of her. "This is your fault. Magic is dangerous, you know this. It cannot be controlled!" that mocking chaos howls in her ears.

Frozen in place, she stares at that twisting Void, unsure what to do. She wants, needs to help. But that magic, she knows, will only harm her too if she gets too close.

She reaches out with her magic, to maybe see if she can sense the thing on the other side, the pulse of its stone - but she's left with nothing. Nothing at all. Her magic refused.

After a terrible eternity, Warp is dumped back out into the waking world, sobbing and wailing. Tourmaline's paws move before she tells them too, and she's standing over the voidwolf in an instant. "Are you okay!? Please be okay! I'm still here! I didn't leave you!" Tourmaline screams, desperate.

@Warp

Thankfully for both Tourmaline and Warp the portal did not hurt Warp. If anything, the pup fit right in with the same Void wafting off of its fur. It's only when Tourmaline speaks does Warp realize it's back within the real world, body touching the soft ground.

It lifts its head up, eyeing Tourmaline with wide eyes. Clawed paws scrape the soil underneath it. "I-I think i'm okay." It stutters out.

The pup frowns, was that magic? Is it always that dangerous? It didn't look like the plant stuff at all! "What was that?" It felt like magic. Like something inside suddenly became unlocked - but was it supposed to do that? Or is Warp just absurdly bad at it? "It was like... Dark. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Warp feels bad about that for sure. It was worried that it wouldn't be possible to come back, its sure Tourmaline was thinking the same thing. "What is your name? I am Warp!" Its standing up on shaky paws now, curious but still shaken.

Even if her tone was far too frantic to be comforting, Tourmaline is relieved when it seems to ground the distressed little pup. "It's okay. You're here. Does anything hurt?" she frets like a mother hen, sniffing and inspecting Warp all over.

Seems unhurt, she observes, but of course she can't know for certain. Though her eyes wander to the miasma wafting off the other Gembound. It looks so similar to the gap Warp had disappeared into.

Of course, they look up to her for answers, wondering what it had even summoned. For once, the whispers of corruption dancing in her ears prove somewhat helpful. "It is Chaos. It is Corruption. It is Entropy. It is ALL," they declare, snickering.

"...That is... a very wild type of magic. It is Entropy. All magic can refuse to obey... but that one especially." Tourmaline feels somewhat guilty. Should she have warned it about magic lashing out wildly, like it keeps doing under her command? She didn't expect it to happen to the little guy first thing.

She'd push her magic forward again, carefully, in the hopes to make a little treat, but it dies out quickly again. A shame, little Warp probably could've used it. "I'm sorry for not warning you about that sooner. I'm Tourmaline. Hello, Warp," Tourmaline would smile sadly.

@Warp

Warp pauses, stretching out each of its limbs. All accounted for and no pain! "Everything feels normal!" Good, since Warp has no idea how to heal things. This magic stuff seems dangerous! Warp is still stuck on the fact that the place it went to is nothing like Tourmaline's magic at all.

"Entropy.." Warp mutters to itself, looking down to its paws. So this magic is dangerous... It thinks. "Is the magic alive?" If it can choose to disobey, why does it not take its own body instead of Warp's? Warp clearly is made of the magic - its body has the Void wafting off of it all over. But this is Warp's body! Not Entropy's!

It is a lot for a pup to understand. "It's okay. If the magic is unpredictable then there's no way you could know! Can you show me more of your magic?" The pup speaks quickly, curious eyes watching Tourmaline.

She breathes anther sigh of relief. "Good. That's all I could hope for, myself." She couldn't exactly do much in the way of healing, either. Beyond a a shoulder to lean on, at least.

Tourmaline feels a little bad about dumping so much on the poor thing so quickly, but it seems eager to learn. it even keeps asking questions. No, it's fine. It's best Warp learns now, and they want to. Though the cat needs a moment to settle on an answer for that last one. "...I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But it does seem like it - that the magic is alive. Maybe it isn't alive itself, but it gives life. Wild like living..." she ponders herself, half an answer, half her thinking aloud.

A grin starts to appear on her face again. Sure, it's a bit more somber than before, but Tourmaline is beginning to really grow fond of the little guy. And maybe with practice, it could temper its magic. anneal it against the havoc.

"You know how well that has worked for you. What makes you think it would work for one Converted!" the whispers hiss in her ears again. Tourmaline tries to ignore it.

Instead she looks back to Warp. Tourmaline would agree, "Yes, I can show you. I only know a little bit of plant magic. My specialty lies more in the earth." So she would turn back away, standing up, focusing on the stones littering the path.

With the reaching of her magic, a line of them would shatter. Ones further away from that trajectory get knocked aside, bouncing and rolling away. Ta da.

@Warp

The answer Tourmaline gives both is and isn't the answer Warp is looking for. The pup somewhat understands what she's saying - the magic can give life, but isn't alive on its own. Does it resemble life? Or something else-? Clearly Warp is just too young to understand. Maybe it will go look for someone else to ask too.

Warp nods rapidly when Tourmaline decides to show it more of her magic. It's so exciting! Warp wants to see more! It wonders how many types of magic there are. If its own is different from the feline's what does other magic look like? Can Warp learn to use it? Or is it stuck with the unpredictable Entropy.

The rocks become nothing, and some shoot out in different directions. Ooh. It's different from the flowers too. It makes Warp want to try again... But what if the magic works against it once again? The thought is scary... Visions of the deep darkness come to Warp's mind - floating there with no control. Warp will never learn if it does not try! So it tries again.

Concentrating, Warp focuses on one of the rocks that is still intact. After some moments, it is pulled away. The rock disappears into nothing for some time. "I did it!

Then the rock comes back, falling to the ground where it began. A strange power. Warp will have to use it more! "It worked! What else can we do?" Warp turns to stare at Tourmaline, pincer-like teeth in a grin.