Pollen didn't really do much anymore.

Well, that was a lie. There was always something to do in the Palace, something to take care of, a duty that she followed closely and lost herself in. She'd grown anxious to be away from it for too long, that adventuring spirit diminished, because what if the garden got hurt? What about the Palace itself? Like a knight guarding her castle, Pollen roamed the grounds more often than roaming the caves, doing her self-assigned duty of being a good gardener.

Sure, she went for walks, but she hadn't left the Palace grounds in countless cycles. Why do that when she'd leave it... not defenseless, but some sort of equivalent? It was her home. She didn't need to leave her home if she'd miss it too much.

Going out through Cepheus was rare for her anymore. What would the other residents think? Would they miss her? She'd always be there, hypersensitive to anyone's needs, the little errand girl... Her muzzle twisted into a distant smile, warmly amused by the thought. The others there praised her for her work, *especially* Lady Aethril, who'd she'd known for so long.

Funny now that she heard a soft crunch beneath her paws, something unlike the rest of the leaf litter around the place.

"Mm?" Pollen lifted her leg and stepped back for a moment, golden eyes searching underneath. 'That's a weird plant.' Nudging her paw around, Pollen kicked up some of the dirt to try and uncover just what it was she stepped on.

Oh. Not a plant. That honey-colored shine in the dirt was achingly familiar. A soft gasp flowed through her when she squatted and started plucking through the dirt with her hands, curling her head to get a better look.

What was underneath all that was a thick, amber shard, broken by her stepping on it. "No way." Teeth bore in a grin as she planted one hand down and hurriedly brushed off the dirt from the rest of the pile, just like she'd left it four years ago.

That's her chrysalis.

That's her's. Who else would've stacked it just like that? And there's the little chunks of plant inside too, broken expanses where the insides decomposed. "Wow..." She's breathless. Holding a piece of her chrysalis up to judge the thickness, Pollen marveled at the structure, at the thought of how small she was. She really came out of that, didn't she? It's so fragile.

Stirring up dirt with her wagging tail, Pollen gathered as much of the amber as she could and started gently placing them in her overall's pocket without a second thought. Wouldn't it be neat to show the others? Even if everyone else had their chrysalis, to come across something she might've lost forever was truly astounding. Maybe she could make something out of it. Wouldn't that be nice?

Mocha

'Cause I'm having a good time

Mocha didn't know how he got to most caves, letting the underground waterways take him this way and that. It was harder now with a familiar who couldn't swim, much less breathe in said water, but they always found each other again eventually. On this particular day, Nori had found himself a nice napping spot beneath a thorny bush of bright flowers and Mocha had been lounging about in one of the garden's many water features, a fountain. It had a basin just big enough for the strange combination of fish and dog, resulting in a rather unseemly puddle of mud forming around the carved stone base.

Another's voice was enough to rouse him, study legs struggling to flip himself upright -- the space was the perfect size to get in, it seemed, but not out. Woops! "Wow what?" He called, chirping past the bush that obscured Pollen from his view. "Can I see?" More splashing, wiggling, struggling... SPLAT!

There was silence then, if only a moment of it, following by the quick plodding of squishy feet before a muddy Mocha poked his head around one of the many colourful plants the garden had to offer.

@Pollen

One ear perked, then the other, Pollen's head lifting as she adjusted her focus. Her jaw clicked shut with brief alarm, before, ah. 'Just a voice.' Relaxing visibly, she rocked back to sit on her haunches, tail still gently thumping on the forest floor. Heck, there's even a warm, chime-like laugh when he splatters mud everywhere in his fall.

Can he see? "Sure!" Pollen offered the chunk of amber chrysalis in her paw, placing it in front of the stranger before rummaging for another. "Some of these still have rose leaves in them. It's my chrysalis." Ah, there's a good, big piece, thick enough to have a couple of petals still floating inside.

This is also held down for him to inspect, not placed like the other. "It's been uhh..." 'Quick math, quick math... Huh.' "Four years since I've seen it— oops, I mean forty-eight cycles, I think?" Was this gembound young or just cute? Nevertheless, Pollen chirped her words eagerly, smiling openly to him.

"My name's Pollen. I... don't think I can use all of this, if you want that piece. Do you like making things?" Hm... those aren't really handy paws. He might need help carrying it? The guy's clumsy and the amber is fragile. Pulling the rose-petaled shard back, Amber held it close and ran her thumb over it a few times, mulling over the thought of making and carrying. "I might make a stand for one. Or... Would it be nice to make a necklace..? Can't be too hard. What do you think?"

@Mocha