He could hardly believe it. No fighting. No hurt feelings. He wasn't used to it anymore. Niru looked to him with awe and wonder, inspiration, but Cancer had grown so used to being either hated or distrusted... it felt strange to be cared for like this. It felt... alien. From Amaria, maybe, he'd learned to expect some affection, but from Bevy... the bird who, for the longest time, feared touching more than his horns lest she infect him. It was almost bizarre, but the leopard dearly loved both attending females. Loved them very much, in fact. He sighed into Amaria's fur, legs numb, cold, but his heart pumping a mile a minute.

He hoped, for a brief moment, that they'd never leave.

"...please don't go away again." His voice sounded so young for a moment, his tone that of a lost child. His mind slipped, eyes closing slowly- he fought to stay awake. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

(Amaria should do the stoney thing next post, if for no other reason, make it an accident? XD)

@Amaria @Bevy

A soft purr escaped the clouded leopard, leaning into Cancer as he seemed to do the same as Enna worked to heal his legs. His words soon reached her ears and she smiled. "I'm not going anywhere..." She hummed as she curled her tail around her side.

A sensation suddenly welled up within her. Something she had never felt before and within a split second there was a sharp clink sound before something that sounded like a gem clattered against the ground. Her head pulled away from Cancer and she turned her gaze towards her side. Seeing the chipped turquoise that rested calmly next to her. "What...?!" She nearly panicked as she quickly looked at her tail to indeed see that her stone had for some reason chipped a piece off...

"Speech."
____________________________________________________________________________
Tags: @Cancer
OoC:

Amaria promised not to leave. He didn't believe it. Not for a second. But, she was there now. She wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and that... that was good enough. He pressed his face into her fur and didn't even notice when Amaria's stone cleaved off. Not until she voiced her reaction did he lift his head and with soaked eyes, look. There, on the floor, a tiny blue shard. So tiny and precious. He narrowed his gaze at it. Just like the ones he had from Leon and from Bevy...

For some reason, the sight of it scared him. For some weird reason, he felt sickened by the sight, the thought of tiny shards like it. No, not the shard. No, that wasn't it. His stomach turned, violently. He suddenly didn't care about the pain in his legs. He wrenched away from the two of them and in his movement, flung the tiny shard against the back wall with a clang. Not quick enough. He stopped half-way to his feet and keeled over, expelling the contents of his stomach across the stone in one foul noise. As soon as his stomach stilled, he crawled after the shard he'd sent flying, legs all a quiver, vision unclear. He didn't know what he was doing. He just couldn't stay still.

@Amaria @Bevy

@Amaria @Bevy
Can we please finish this up so that we can all enjoy awesome babies???

Cancer's reaction to the cleaved piece of gem from her tail startled her enough to send her flying right up to her paws, back arching just the slightest. She flinched when he flung her gem shard against the far wall before every content that had been in his stomach came lurching out of him. "Cancer?" She called out to him in confusion as he crawled towards her gem shard and she took no more hesitation to go over to him. "Cancer what's wrong?" She dipped her head down to try and look at his face as well as try to see a glimpse of the gem as well.

@Cancer

enna
sweet and soft
ooc ;; sorry for the delay

Bevy watched, stunned, heart pounding in her chest. She watched the bacteria swim and swell in the area, a hot, angry swab of disease crawling through Cancer's legs. He was strong, and he could fight it off, she was sure... But it was so hard, not to promise him she would stay until he was well. She had too much else to do, so many important things to tend to.

It was as her mind wandered back to Pisces that Cancer began to vomit, his body rejecting whatever he had most recently eaten. She stared, quietly, listening to Amaria's voice as though it was carried to her by the winds from many miles away. The tiny pitohui took a long moment to focus, her magic swelling in her chest.

The bacteria swelled before her eyes, moving and revolting against the touch of her magic. She couldn't so much as pull the sickness from his blood as take the health from her own body and give it to him. It filled her with a horrible sensation, her feathers trembling from her crown to her tail, wishing so dearly that she could do something other than just stand by and watch as Cancer struggled and Ammy cried.

It was something of a hell for her. After just a few moment of trying her magic, she wanted to run away and hide, ashamed that she had failed the kitten who she had watched grow up before her very eyes like her own brother.. or something more.

we made our goodbyes
and now he's settled down in the city
where he doesn't have to be himself

It was some sort of instinct. Carcino pulled himself across the stone floor, pushing himself as his front legs, bloodied and raw, gave out time and again beneath him. There, against the back wall, hidden from the view of the main cave, he settled to the floor and closed his eyes, tucked around the tiny shard of blue Amaria had shed. There, he breathed, quiet, sobered. There, with eyes closed tight, he felt a pulse of a feeling, a bursting sensation in his chest. He'd messed up time and time again- and for that incoherent moment of weakness, he wished only to make things right. A soothing cherry-red glow surrounded him, and with a whispered vow, the shards around his neck, the shard on the ground as well, glowed with him. A second later, a new sound of fear blurted from his mouth.

He was stuck. He couldn't lift his head and the glow disappeared instantly in turn. He howled his resentment, his panic, and with a mighty heave, broke himself free of his unidentified restraints. The cat snapped backwards and away from the shards, the leather lace around his neck breaking, sending shards flying in all directions- save for two. Amaria's, and Bevy's. Red, blue and green sat together, fused to the floor, like twin glimmering points against the smooth black stone.

He lay gasping nearby, shaking, sobbing, crying. A mess. There, tired and unknowing, he fell into unconsciousness. In some many hours, he'd wake. He'd learn a lesson, one of life and birth. He'd learn that magic and shards were not simply tools of trade and tech, but served also to give them all life anew. He would find Bevy, find Amaria, should either wander off in his time asleep, and inform each of their new life... and then, his life would change forever- but for now, for this quiet, tense moment, the King in Exile slept, crippled by his plight- ruined, but not forsaken.

-exit cancer-

@Amaria @Bevy

Brows furrowed as all she could do was watch Cancer as he curled himself at the back of the wall. The glow that began around his body concerned her and for a moment she fell tense. Was it that blood hold again? Was his magic getting the better of him once more? Though, the reaction that happened after that glow started the clouded leopard more than Cancer's magic had ever done. Eyes widened as she watched the gems he had respond to the magic and within moments Cancer was scrambling and shouting, trying to pull himself free from the gems that were slowly starting to form and fuse to the floor.

"Wha..." She awed as she took a tentative step closer before looking back to Bevy in sheer confusion. Turning her gaze to Cancer she watched as his sobs caught her entire attention. Brows furrowed as she felt her chest constrict once again. It seemed as of late, that is how she found him. Upset, hurt, some how in pain. It tore at her and she wished she could do something to ease him. She moved over to him, nuzzling into his shoulder while very mindful of his injured legs as he fell into his unconscious state. Slowly she lowered herself to lay next to him, snuggled as close as she could without hurting his wounded legs. "Bevy..." She called to the bird, seeing her distress in her eyes. She wasn't sure what exactly to say to her to help alleviate her distress, but maybe she could convince her to stay just a bit longer to tend to Cancer's legs....






OoC: -Exit Ammy- Even though that's kind of just leaving it open..

enna
sweet and soft
ooc ;; sorry for the delay

The mother bird was frightened out of her feathers. She wanted to flee, like a prey-thing, away from the two carnivores, disappear into the shadows and never return. She owed it to Cancer, however, and her groupmate, Amaria, to stay just a bit longer. Despite this, if it wasn't for the leopard's last quiet plea, a call of her name, the healer would have likely fled, afraid to injure her precious best friend. Amaria gave her a sense of urgency, of desperate need for the skills only she had-- and so, she steeled herself.

"Ammy, call me Enna-Bevy-- Enna," she peeped softly, sweetly, as she drew closer, finding her strength in that moment. The magic refused to work, her control over bacteria failing her at every turn, but she could heal manually without it. Delicately, she tugged out a few vines from her wings, and scrapping off some moss from the walls of the abandoned ruins, she went to work to fix Cancer-- now that he was still. Her eyes fell upon the stone she had given the black boy and the newest to his collection, the bright blue. She could feel, distantly, a stirring in her heart, an urge to build a nest for those stones, to watch them.

Quietly, she wondered if Amaria had any idea what Cancer had just done. She wondered if any other gembound knew the potential of infusing magic into others' shards. It felt bizarre, knowing there was a chance that this confused state of his might have just created a pair of children... And yet, she didn't even know how true it was. Would the gems be too small, and turn out like broken, ruined eggs, or would they end up flourishing into... Into...

As she nudged moss against Cancer's legs and wrapped his wounds, she considered, quietly. Her crimson eyes occasionally flashed to the beautiful Amaria. Her white fur, patchmarked with beautiful tan and deep, rich chocolate markings, her body made perfectly to snuggle up to the leopard boy beside her. Together, they would have a beautiful child, she thought, her heart aching. What would become of her gem? Would it simply fail to produce anything-- or would it grow, as Teyouma's gem had, into a crystalline shell that held real potential?

She was so very afraid to know. Surely Cancer would reject whatever monstrosity came forth, when presented with just a lovely, perfect pairing between himself and his rather obvious soulmate. It was all she could bare to finish wrapping his paws before she felt the sorrow whelm up to her breaking point. A sob nearly escaped her throat as she whispered one soft birdsong to the beautiful cream lady beside her love, "He'll be okay. If anyone asks where you are back home, I'll let them know you're off on an important mission. Keep an eye on him, for me.. I'll, I'll see you later, Ammy."

With that said, the bird of red and black, flew off towards the starlit ceiling, diving down into the hole that led to Pisces once more. Not once did she look back. Nor would she be able to even if she wanted.

;; bevy exit

we made our goodbyes
and now he's settled down in the city
where he doesn't have to be himself