He was back in Cetus again, after he had been dragged back to apologize to that demon cub. it made him shudder to even remember the blood and guts and gore over that thing as it hunched over the burnt corpse of the exploded rabbit. Apologize to that thing! Hah!

If it was anyone other than the angel to force him to do that...

Well, to be honest, if anything female asked him to, he'd fall off a cliff for them, when he was under his curse. But at least, because of the angel, he understood it a little better. He was braver. All he had to do was close his eyes and he was fine. He wouldn't turn into a flagrant, blithering idiot again. He was okay to actually do what he wanted to do, and explore, and try out his magic.

Speaking of which....

Well, he guessed he still had a ways to go. It didn't even make the gem on his chest glow, like it normally did. Oh well.

He walked carefully in Cetus, avoiding the obvious pits full of murky water, sometimes jumping from one spot to another. He wanted to move to a more pleasant area than this. One with better memories.

@Fallah

Fallah roamed the trees like she always did when she was in Cetus. Below, there was another being. Fallah followed it for a while. Watching. Waiting. she wanted to see what it was doing... which seemed to be nothing. Hopping a few branches, Fallah gained the lead on the gembound. She crouched, turning to where she was facing the oncoming creature. With a small butt-wiggle, Fallah jumped, aiming to land quietly in front of the gembound. She didn't. She had been higher than expected, and she couldn't stick the landing. The lynx landed and stumbled forwards, probably right into the unsuspecting fur friend. She didn't have the words to react with as she tumbled towards him. She didn't fall, but she came pretty close, her eyes wide as she tried to regain her balance. "speak"

Basil heard some sounds up above him, and before he could move his head to look up, a creature came crashing down and tumbled right into him! He made some incoherent sounds of protest, and saw a glimpse of a female, caves forbid, and as he rolled he scrunched his eyes up tight and covered them with his paws.

What he ended up with was a position entirely sprawled over the ground, refusing to see. His determination to not see this girl, and the curiosity as to what this new encounter would be like now that he could skip around his cave-forsaken curse meshed and coalesced. Normally he would've run by now, but he was gripped by this feeling.

His magic came powerfully, and surrounded them both with sound, and without moving his lips, he said, without his usual animosity (or stupidity for that matter), "Who are you? And why did you crash into me?"

He was really rather proud of himself. He wasn't a blathering complimentary ninny! It was working!

@Fallah

Though she wasn't aware immediately, Fallah knocked over the other gembound. As Fallah regained her balance, a voice eminated in her head asking who she was and why she crashed into "me". Fallah returned with, "Who is me?" then she faced him. He was... covering his eyes? Fallah tilted his head, "And why don't you look at me..? Am I frightening?" She came closer to the creature, "My name is Fallah, though. I didn't crash into you on purpose, Me." The feline pulled her face away from the being a bit, tilting it up, "Are you scared of me, Me?"

@basil

Basil audibly sighed, his paws not moving an inch, and still using his magic, not moving his mouth(he was getting used to not actually talking), "I'm not me, I'm Basil. It's just a way of speech to refer to myself as me, like you used just now." Clearly they were younger - he remembered how strange concepts like that in language took to him slowly, but descriptive words had always come to him easily. "Fallah." At least he had a name to a female he could actually talk to, that was nice. This wasn't so bad. It wasn't the abattoir of dignity that it usually was when he saw a woman cross his path.

"I'm not scared of you - I'm just have this curse where I turn into a monster when I see a lady. That's all." His whispers said, matter-of-factly. They were fainter than before, but he didn't mind it much. His magic came and went, and he was used to not being as good at his magic as he would've wanted.

@Fallah

@basil

Fallah sighed, "Okay, Im-not-me-im-basil." Fallah listened to his little rattle. Too many words, she decided. He repeated her name and she looked at him, but he didn't go on to say anything for a while. When he did speak, he said that he was not scared of her, that he was under a curse when he saw a lady. That didn't make sense...

"Why a lady? What, to you, makes a lady? How am I a lady? I am Fallah and a lynx and a cat, but never a lady. Why do you thought talk instead of mouth talk? Part of the curse?" Fallah moved to sit beside the form, "You, are strange, Im-not-me-im-basil." She was teasing him, she knew, though she honestly didn't understand his "lady" spiel. What made her a lady that made him not a lady?

Basil's ears flattened back against his head, frowning under his paws. Im-not-me-Im-Basil. Really.

When she went on this long spiel about what a lady was, he sighed long and loud, with his actual voice.

"Okay, I'm-not-a-lady," He said out loud, his actual voice raw with disuse. He didn't much like the way it sounded, so he pulled at his magic with a quick yank, falling back on it when he felt a little too embarrassed to actually speak.

But his magic didn't like it, and when he pulled at it, it responded by a harsh thunder CLAP that hurt his ears, making every sound replaced with a harsh buzzing, ringing tone. His paws instinctively went from his eyes to his ears, and his eyes flashed open, looking around hastily, and catching on Fallah.

Oh, but how lovely she was! How pure a shining blue her eyes were, even scrunched up in pain, oh! Was that his fault? Could he do anything to remed- okay, that's enough! He scrunched his eyes tight again, refusing to fall into that trap.

@Fallah

Fallah smirked slightly when the other called her I'm-not-a-lady, "Well, I'm not." she murmured. The thing pulled back then and emitted a loud clap. Fallah's ears shot back and her eyes scrunched, "Wha'd you do that for?" she called out over the ringing in her ears, sounding much more like her friend Fisher than herself. Was this kid crazy? "Just cool down!" she called, summoning her fountain to gently douse the other's face and bring him back to his senses, but due to the ringing in her ears, she just couldn't bring her magic to work. She glared at the other intently, her fur stiff and her body on guard. What did he want, anyway?

@basil

"Well it's not as if I did it on purpose," Basil said, after the ringing had stopped. Having his eyes scrunched close, he had no idea that Fallah's gem flashed and she pulled at her own magic in response to his utter failure.

Ignorant of this, he continued,"It was an accident, alright? I...use my whisper magic instead of talking. It's a bad habit of mine." He said softly, getting used to his own voice. He could hear the animosity and anger in her as she told him to cool down, and he could see that this was going to be another attempt at getting to know another gem botched and killed in a gruesome way like every other time he'd tried.

"I'll just leave - sorry to bother you, Fallah-not-lady." He stood, still with his eyes closed, and took a few steps in another direction, feeling down. He had hopes, despite himself, and he had ruined it again.

@Fallah

Very quickly, the other became sad. Fallah tilted her head as he apologized and went to amble off with his eyes still closed. Fallah didn't say bye. As quietly as she could, the lynx scampered up a tree. This boy was entirely too tense. Fallah crept up a branch and then jumped, aiming to again land in front of him, this time, more gracefully than the first. She wasn't graceful. Fallah landed loudly again and tumbled forward towards Basil once more.

@basil