This was Acheron's first glimpse of a sky.

She moved along the bank of a creek, passing by a beautiful, pale bridge. And she moved like a dog-deer: lowering her head to sniff along the ground, hound-like, before suddenly springing up and bounding excitedly forward like a deer. There wasn't anything she was bounding toward, or away from. She was just overjoyed at... all of this.

The air was fresh in a way she'd never experienced it within the caves, and it smelled different, too. The vast disc of a planet in the sky above made her wonder; the clouds sailing through the blue sky looked impossibly far away. It wasn't that the caves were small: it was that the surface seemed almost endless.

She slowed and turned toward the water, dipping her head down and flicking an ear before lapping at it like a dog. She'd worn herself out a little with the bounding, and needed a few minutes--a few minutes that she'd spend laying on the bank, gazing at the trees and sky in wonder.

The white raven is... lost. That's his best word for it. He has no idea how he got here, what he's looking for... other than someone else, and possibly water to clean the blasted dirt out of his feathers.

Finding what seems to be a new gembound... was not on his list. But, they came with the finding of water.

Winging down to settle near at least some sort of known quality, sky too high for his comfort and horizon too wide, he begins to clean himself in the water a few lengths away.

"Hello. You seem... familiar with all of this?"

@Acheron

Acheron blinked up, watching the bird for a moment: one she mistook as a Hallowed Caller with funky eyes until he spoke. "Oh! Hey!" she greeted cheerfully, then shook her head. "Naw, it's my first time up here! It's great, isn't it? Man, it must be amazing to be able to fly up there! -And a little scary," she guessed. The expanse above seemed infinite--couldn't one get lost really easy up there?

"Acheron," she added, dismissing the vast vision of sky in favor of looking back at her new companion. "That's me, I mean. Is it your first time here? -You're from the caves, right?" she asked.

@Not

A pause as he listens to her, head tilting to the left.

“I have not gone higher than what may be a leap for you. The winds are different.” He addresses first, gaze flickering up to the Too Much Too Wide- and then back to the other. “I am indeed from the caves. You are as well?”

Well. Instead of saying you-

“I am known as Not. I remain towards the more frozen caves and tunnels. Where do you linger?”





@acheron

She lifted a hind leg, scratching behind one ear with a cloven hoof. "Is that because it's--you know--huge?" she asked, glancing up at the sky. She could get that. It felt overwhelming even for her, with no wings. She couldn't imagine flying up there and just... there was so much SPACE!

Not had, she was noticing, a sort of... archaic? Or overly formal, maybe, speech pattern. She found herself kinda pausing, puzzling over it and wondering if she should imitate it to be polite. Did he expect response in kind? That wasn't really the crux of the conversation, though, so she set that thought aside. "I live in Orion, mostly! With my family. Frozen places? -Is it to match your feathers?" she guessed, curious. Maybe Not liked to stay camouflaged-? He was pretty small, after all.

"It's nice to meet you. What do you think of all this so far?" she asked, looking around again, her excitement and enthusiasm showing through.

@Not