It had been a while since the little Coyote had been here, in this place of moist, hot air and green plants all over the place. To be honest, it wasn’t quite her cup of tea. She much preferred Orion to anywhere else in the Caves, but she was a nomad, not content to settle in one place forever. Therefore, she was back here, where she had once met a little fossa, whom she’d gifted a pebble. She hadn’t seen the little creature since, but she was used to not seeing others for long periods. If she was wont to randomly disappear, then she couldn’t fault others for doing the same.

However, she did often wonder about those she had come across before. Like her friend, Dragon. That probably wasn’t his name, but she’d taken to calling him that for lack of his actual title. Come to think of it, she now wondered how anyone even got their names. There had been no one around when she’d burst from her black opal chrysalis. There had been her Big Pig friend, of course, but he hadn’t named her. She’d come out of her cocoon already knowing her name. So… how did that work?

She settled into a little grassy nest beside a tree covered in vines, and then rolled over onto her back, which she did a lot. For some reason, her stomach just wasn’t as comfortable, and having her chin on her paws made it difficult to look around. Besides, she liked looking up at the ceiling, the “sky.” Sometimes she wondered if there was anything beyond the walls of the cave… Of course, she wasn’t supposed to know about such things, but being insane had its advantages… She chuckled to herself as she got comfortable, wondering who would come along to interrupt her nap. Someone always did…

"Speech"

Words: 308
@Baratheon

BARATHEON

"the world is mine for the taking"

It was strange being back at Eridanus. For most of the few months that he hadn't had his mind he stayed in Pisces. The water was quite calming to him and there had always been plenty of room to stretch his wings. Now however he found comfort in the trees and the closeness of his brother. He was back to his old duty of protecting the numbat and as such it didn't leave much room for much exploring. He didn't mind though. He knew he had to take his duty seriously now and he would be damned if he did something stupid like letting himself get nearly killed again.

The large dragon now lay nested atop the Monarch. He enjoyed the vantage point quite a lot. There may have been a thousand trees around but if he peered close enough --very close now that he only had one eye-- he could see things moving within. Like the cave deer herd to the east. One of the cult cats below him. And... Hmm... Something new to the north. He turned his head to the side and stared intently but sure enough this new thing wasn't ingrained in his memory like the shape of other things. Could it be something new and threatening? He didn't want to wait to find out. Booker was here and he would protect his Bonded.

Baratheon raised his wings and with a single flap, glided down towards the new shape. He dropped down about ten feet away and crouched while he tried to study it. His nostrils flared and pink eye opened to try to take in more information... And what he finally was able to decipher had his tail swaying joyfully back and forth. Macawi! She was the one who'd given him the baubled stone he now wore around his intact horn. He couldn't believe that she was here!

Joyfully the dragon gave out a hoarse bark --something that he couldn't seem to shake from his time with Rauslin-- and bounded straight towards her. It might scare some to have a nearly ten thousand pound beast coming straight at them but he was certain that Macawi would remember him. So much so that he opened his mouth when he reached her and gave her a huge kiss with his very long tongue. He bathed her with his dragon slobber until he was certain that she was completely soaked then he lay down on the ground and stared at her with his joyful gaze.

"Macawi..." He purred. "I'm so happy to see you. Have you been well? Do you need anything? Can I help you at all?" He certainly felt indebted to her. Without the coyote he never would have been able to manage his memories or even want to go back to the way he had been before.

472
@Macawi
---
7/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Macawi was just about drifting off into dreamland when something big swooped down no further than ten feet away from her. The fur on her nape stood up in alarm, but she lazily opened one eye to see who it was. Ah! Dragon! And she’d just been thinking about him, too! Funny how those things worked… She opened her mouth to give him a jovial greeting, but then she noticed the look on his face, like the cogs in his mind were spinning oh-so-slowly. He didn’t remember her, it seemed… At least, not right away. She flashed a smile, and would have winked at him with her gem, but he wasn’t on the correct side to do that. So, she just went back to closing her eyes, front paws tucked against her chest, and waited…

The ground shook and branches snapped when the big fluffy dragon finally realized who she was. She opened her eyes again just in time to see a long blue tongue come snaking out of his giant maw and run itself all over her body. She squealed in surprise, then began yipping happily, wriggling around on the ground, tail wagging beneath her like it was run on a motor. Basically, she was being super cute. When he finally pulled away from her, she was covered head-to-paws in slobber, just as she should be!

And then something rather miraculous happened. Her big silent Dragon friend spoke. She rolled over and onto her paws, sitting up and raising an eyebrow in curiosity and surprise. He seemed eager to speak, to ask her things about herself, wanting to know how she was and if he could help her in any way. She chuckled at his enthusiasm and waited until she was certain he was done with the flow of words before speaking herself. “My friend,” she said, smiling when she noticed that he still wore the Baubled stone on his horn. “Just tell Macawi one thing: Does Dragon have a name other than Dragon? What shall Coyote call you?”

"Speech"

Words: 340
@Baratheon

Baratheon was quite pleased to see that his coyote friend enjoyed his affections. Her tail was wagging a mile a minute and if his own wasn't so large it would probably be wagging just as fast. However, the slow sway it had was probably enough to show his joy if the licking tongue or wide smile wasn't. His ears were raised fully on his head, turned towards the coyote eagerly. He chuckled himself at her question and replied with a hint of humor in his voice. "Yes, Dragon has a name. Dragon's name is Baratheon." Ah, but it was nice to be able to remember himself again. For a long while it felt like his brain was rotting carrion, just waiting to be eaten up by time. Now though he felt almost completely back to himself.

"Coyote can call Baratheon, Bara or Theon or even still Dragon if she prefers." As far as all the gembounds went in the cave, Macawi was one of the ones who could get away with a lot around the large noodle. He lowered his head down to her so he could peer at her with his single pink eye up close. Her stone seemed to glimmer with pink light when he was this close. "I don't know if I ever thanked you but... thank-you for helping me. I'm not sure if I would have found myself again if not for you." Really, he felt indebted to her for all that she had done. That pretty rock that sat on his horn had really helped him out as had her words.

---

266
@Macawi
---
5/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

“Baratheon…” Macawi repeated, testing the name out on her tongue. She immediately liked it. “Baratheon is a good name for This One,” she said, staring up at her dragon friend and admiring his bulk as she always had. “It is good and strong and emits power.” She studied his fur and the muscles that rippled underneath… He was quite… attractive. Hmm. She’d have to file away these thoughts to study later. Why was it that every time she found herself in his company, she always noticed his form? Generally, she didn’t care at all about how someone looked. But Dragon – Baratheon – was different… somehow.

She forced herself back to the present in time to hear his next words. “Macawi will call you Baratheon. Or… sometimes she might forget and call you Dragon still.” Her too-large ears swiveled on her head and she listened to him again. He thanked her for helping him, and she felt her tail begin to wag again. “It was no trouble, my friend. Macawi helps all those she can. She is just glad that Baratheon accepted her help. Macawi knows she is, as some would say, crazy. Not all those she has met have been as kind to her as you. Not that she cares about what others think. Only, it is nice to have a friend.”

The little coyote looked around Eridanus for a moment, letting her mind wander. “So, what is Baratheon doing here?” she asked. Then she rolled over onto her back again and got comfortable. Whether he stayed long or not was up to him, but she intended to lay down either way.

"Speech"

Words: 271
@Baratheon -- so... Macawi has decided without my input that she has a crush on Bara... Idk when this happened, but it now, apparently, a thing. XD Where this goes, if anywhere, is up to you. Macawi writes herself so this was a total curveball for me.

If Bara's ego hadn't been as big as all the caves already then the coyote certainly helped boost it with her comments about his name. The dragon smiled and let a pleased rumble out from his throat. "Thank-you." He couldn't have known about her studying his fur and build but perhaps if he had he would have shown off more. As it was though, the dragon simply leaned back and began to groom the scales on his belly. His ears were still pricked towards Macawi so he heard her words quite clearly. "I agree." His eye locked onto her again as he responded. "Well, not about the crazy part. You don't seem very crazy to me especially not since you were able to help me. Although, perhaps it was your craziness that allowed you to help a huge dragon and actually give him a remedy that worked." He hummed thoughtfully to himself. "If you are crazy then perhaps we all need to have a part of you in ourselves... It might make the caves a better place... If I'm making sense." He shook his head, he was just rambling now but his words made sense in his own mind but he didn't expect everyone to understand a weird dragon's musings.

He blinked and focused back down at her, smile curving at his lips at her question. "Baratheon--er, I am here because my brother is here." He extended his mind towards hers and showed her a picture of the tiny numbat. 'He is my Rider and I am his Dragon so it is my duty to protect my Bonded.' He showed her a sort of visual picture and feel of the link he had with the numbat to give her a taste of what it was they had. Then after a few moments he allowed the link to her mind to evaporate.

After a moment of deliberation he laid down beside her, massive body curling into a half circle while his wings tucked into his side. He had been resting anyway so why not lay down now? He should get his moments of peace while he could and while he was with a friend. "What about you, my friend? Why is Macawi here?" He asked with a grin.

---

379
@Macawi
LOL, a crush on ace Baratheon? ..Why am I finding amusement with this? XD
6/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Macawi chuckled at Baratheon’s words. He worried he wasn’t making sense? “My friend, you always make sense. Do not worry! Macawi understands most everybody quite perfectly. She is not sure why, but she does.” The funny thing was, she had boosted his ego with the comments about his name. He was now boosting hers with comments about how everyone should have a little of herself in them. “Macawi herself has always thought this,” she admitted. “Sometimes the Gembounds here… they seem so uptight, do they not? If one is just a bit crazy, one will find that nothing bothers one anymore!”

The little coyote was silent when her friend explained why he was here… So he had a brother, did he? And they were – oh! Bonded! Such an odd feeling, having someone else in her mind. Of course, she was too crazy to feel like her privacy was being violated. She was like a one-way mirror sometimes. She would never enter another’s mind without their permission, but if someone tried to, say, ‘break’ her by forcibly entering her thoughts, it would never work because she’d just let them right in. She had nothing to hide! Anyways, this Bond. It was… strange to her. She couldn’t imagine being Bonded to another Gembound like that. Little did she know she would soon be Bonded to a little Rainbow Spinner named Tangakwunu… But for now, she was happily ‘single.’

“Macawi does not think she would enjoy being permanently Bonded to another Gembound,” she said, as her Dragon Friend laid down. Then he asked why she was in Eridanus. “Coyote?” She gave another chuckle. “Coyote is here because she can be. Coyote moves, travels from place to place. The idea of staying in one area too long… She cannot even think of it! She looks for adventure, excitement! Do you see? And so, she must travel. This is the life Macawi has chosen.”

"Speech"

Words: 319
@Baratheon

The dragon let out an appreciative rumble at her words. He didn't know about always making sense but he appreciated her words anyhow. In her way she was a wise one. "Perhaps that is just a part of your wisdom, Coyote." He grinned at her, his words truthful to what he believed. The dragon's head tilted ever so slightly at her next words, the jewel around his horn gently sliding along his pink horn. "I agree. We could all use a dose of it." Even himself.

The dragon chuckled, "It's not so bad once you get used to it." He said in the brief interlude in their conversation. Macawi went on to explain that she was a wanderer, moving from place to place. The dragon could remember a time when he himself was a wanderer, those had been nice days. Meeting new gembounds and getting into all sorts of trouble. "What a good life it must be. I used to do the same as you, traveling around and poking my nose into whatever I could. Then again, I wasn't nearly as big as I am now." He chuckled but in his words and tone he almost sounded rueful. He missed those days and wouldn't much mind going about again... at least for a little bit. These days it seemed that his numbat brother was pretty good at handling himself. The bond remained closed off for most of the time, anyway.

"You must see a great many things... perhaps that is why you are so wise. You aren't just crazy but you're worldy." He teased gently.

Truth be told, he wouldn't mind being worldly again himself... At least for a little while before coming back.

---

284
@Macawi
LOL, a crush on ace Baratheon? ..Why am I finding amusement with this? XD
5/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Macawi listened with an odd amount of patience to her friend’s next words. She found her patience wavered between that of a doting mother half the time, and that of a bored two-year-old the other half of the time. Whatever triggered one half or the other remained a mystery to her, but she had a feeling it depended on how annoying the other Gembound was being at any given moment. She knew she was crazy, but she tried to be polite, at least. The coyote found that she often lost her temper when others were being rude. She decided that if she ever had children, the one thing she’d definitely teach them was how to be polite.

She laughed aloud at Baratheon’s comment about wandering around when he was smaller, poking his nose into things. “Dragon can still do so. He just needs to learn how to be sneaky, like this little Coyote!” She concentrated for a moment on her Magic, attempting to will the shadows to bend around her body. Unfortunately, it didn’t work at all. She laughed it off. “Well, Macawi will teach Baratheon to be sneaky some other time. Her Magic decided not to work just now.”

Her ears flicked at being called wise for the second or third time during this conversation. “Ahaha… You flatter Macawi. She does not know about being wise. Perhaps you are mistaking her crazy for wisdom? That tends to happen a lot. Coyote is no more wise than any other Gembound in the Caves. Only… because she is a bit… touched by the Spirits, others tend to pay more attention to her than perhaps they should.” Macawi paused in thought for a moment, her brows furrowing as she stared through Baratheon, not really seeing him now. “Gembounds… We tend to place more importance on some people more than others. It makes no sense to Coyote. Why is an adult’s voice stronger than a child’s? Why does a violent Gembound become so shunned from his group that he is forced into loneliness? Perhaps if others would listen, he would not be so violent?”

She let out a breath, seeming to come back to herself, and shrugged. With a small smile she said, “Ahh, but Macawi does not know. She does not have all the answers. But if others listen more and speak less — something Coyote has trouble with, as she speaks too often — they will find answers in the most unexpected of places.”

"Speech"

Words: 419
@Baratheon -- this turned out long because idk... Macawi was like, "LET ME TALK ABOUT STUFF" and I was like "OKAY." XD

Baratheon laughed at her mention of him trying to be sneaky. "Sneaky? I'm not sure if sneaky is something I can do. A whole herd of blind cave deer could see me coming." He said when he was able to rein in his laughter. Although he was intrigued by her offer. Teach him how to be sneaky? How was she going to do that? He peered at her keenly, curious as to what exactly this coyote had planned in the future. "It happens sometimes." Oh, didn't he know that? Magic was such a finicky thing sometimes.

Macawi began to speak once more and in her words he again found her strange wisdom. His head tilted to the side as he listened. He wasn't sure about the whole "touched by Spirits" thing but if it pleased her to believe so. So long as she wasn't going to go on about the "All Mother" like Booker and the crazy cult of felines did then he was a happy dragon. His head straightened as her words began to make sense and he nodded. "Again, you speak truth, my friend." His voice rumbled quietly from within his throat as he addressed her.

"Perhaps..." He mused, "Gembounds have just forgotten how to listen. I think, in the past, when things were simple and the numbers were few that everyone listened to one another." He was thinking in relation to the first gems to awaken in the caves, the first generation who had to stumble around in the darkness or so he had heard. "Then things grew more complicated and forgot, perhaps with all the strife in the caves people are quicker to jump and be violent rather than let another's voice be heard." Baratheon lifted a clawed footpaw and scratched casually at his left ear. Perhaps he was speaking wisdom... or perhaps he was just spouting nonsense. He was but a simple dragon.

---

318
@Macawi
That's good XD 'cause my posts are total crap lol.
5/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...