"Speech"

Todd was happy today.

His fur was soft and luscious as it'd ever been. His eyes were bright and his ears were pricked. But he wasn't quite sure why he felt like this. Perhaps it had just been a good day. New people and new places which he liked to think he'd found first always made him feel new and excited and... better. He liked to feel like he was above others, not that he didn't anyway. It felt good, and Todd was too innocent to see it as wrong or impolite. He hadn't even considered it before.

He hadn't considered that there was a difference between what was right and what was wrong. In the end, it was all just things that happened.

The older Todd got, the more that feeling seemed to grow.

As he wandered in Polaris, admiring and jumping for the lights as he always did, Todd felt his stomach begin to hurt. He knew what this meant now, and as he considered it his mouth began to water. His ears laid back as he realized that there was no-one to hunt for him this time.

But... it seemed the fox cub was in luck, as he heard a soft scrabbling from nearby. It wasn't long before the source of the sound revealed the familiar face of a cave rat. And this one was moving. Todd stared at it for quite some time before he made any sort of move. Having never hunted for himself before, the cub bunched himself up and leaped at it with all his claws outstretched as he aimed to dispatch the sorry creature with his only focus being on filling his hungry belly.

Growing older had made Gracie only slightly more wiser. Her existence had been relatively solitary since the day 8 cycles ago she emerged from her stone shell. All her knowledge came in small series of self taught episodes. Mainly mistakes. What better to learn from than failures, pain, and other misfortunes? Traveling had become a new passion of hers, in the panda's youth she preferred to stick to one corner of the world. Now she rarely visited home, there was far more things to do with just a few day days travel.

This room was bright. Gracie squinted against the light of the towering crystal beams that shot up from the ground. The way this place made her feel... was hard to describe. She felt good, that's all she could say. Staggering along the brown trail and peacefully enjoying the scenery, her small round ears caught the sound of a struggle. It piqued her childlike curiosity, and her direction changed to approach the noise.

A tiny silver fox scampered along the floor chasing after something that zoomed past her paws in a blur of black fur. She squeaked in surprise, and reared up to let the two dart past. "Ayyyye!" she called, falling forward back on all fours--gracefully for her size. "What you doing, little gembound?" Her sing-song voice was soft, in case the young fox was easily startled by bigger company. Gracie's nativity had lead her to forget certain animals needed to eat others for substance... the chase seemed like a playful game to her. Not a life or death struggle to survive.

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@Todd

"Speech" @Gracie

Todd raced after the little creature, feeling annoyed and cheated that it had escaped even though it was his own fault, obviously enough to any onlooker. Without thinking about it, he took off after the rat and threw himself at it again, his fur on end and brow creased in determination. Again he failed, tumbling down head over heels this time, only to sigh and watch as the creature he was chasing vanished amongst some very convenient rocks.

The little fox wasn't amused by this one bit, and it was plain to see he wasn't happy at all that he'd lost the little game that he'd started. His ears pricked up, however, to a new and familiar sound. A voice! Todd perked up immediately and turned towards the source, seeing a big, biiig black and white creature stood there, huge! Moments passed before it shrank back down onto all fours, and Todd was fascinated, forgetting aout his rumbling stomach for an instant. "Wooow!" he exclaimed, hopping up and down on the spot. "How did you do that!?"

As he listened to their gentle and happy voice again, Todd remembered his previous endeavor and cast a betrayed glance at the rocks which his prey had disappeared into. "Was trying to catch some food," he declared proudly. "But, uh, food didn't wanna be caught..." Of course, it wasn't his fault. He thought the 'food' animal to be annoying and even a little bratty. It didn't talk or anything, how was he to know that it was even another creature?

Gracie's face lit up in fascination with the little guy's reaction to her circus act. Was it really that impressive or was he just trying to flatter her? She would prefer the first option, in fact the second didn't resonate with the cheerful panda one bit. Trying to act nonchalant and cool, she swung back onto her back feet and waved a paw at him down on the stone floor. "This?" she quizzed, lips twitching in a full smile. It was an easy, fluid motion for the bear. "Can you not do this? Just... it's just like walking on four but you balance on two instead!"

Crouching down to rest on her rump, but front end still up in a relaxed seated position Gracie pondered a thought. Food? Did that mean he ate others like... like... She couldn't focus on names anymore. It'd been too long since she last met with any of her friends. Trying to remember faces and names made the girl feel awfully lonely. "You were trying to eat that?" Scrunching her maw in obvious distaste, Gracie scolded the fox for his nature. "Who taught you that! Have you tried to eat something else?" It was a long shot, but she hoped maybe, just maybe she could be a force of good in the world. Eating others with thoughts... and feelings just seemed... morbid and heinous.

"I eat things that look kinda like..." Placing a black paw down on the ground in a spot that had a little dirt for nourishment, Gracie tried to summon a green friend for example. The glow of her pink diamond barely illuminated the floor with the fierce glow of the Spire drowning it out. With the surge of magic passing through her front leg a scrawny sprout poked out of the earth with life. It looked a bit sad to be brought up in a place of little dirt, Gracie felt a bit guilty for that.

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@Todd

"Speech" @Gracie

Todd beamed and tipped his head back so he could see all the way up to the face of the big panda, his eyes all wide and his sides quivering. "This, this!" he repeated her word, nodding vigorously and watching in sheer admiration and excitement as she made the same motion again, much to his pleasure. "I wanna go! I wanna go!" He'd never even thought about rising up onto two feet rather than four and in an instant he'd crouched down and jumped up with his front paws high as he could.

He was up! The cub wobbled and skittered around for a while, retaining his balance as best he could for as long as he could. His eyes were wide and he felt so... so... Big! The little one gave a little yip of excitement before he finally lost balance and fell sideways. Shakily, he pushed himself onto his foot, still grinning and clearly unhurt.

Still lying on his front he tilted his head and listened to the panda's nice voice and watched her pretty eyes and looked at her gem, before taking the moment to raise his own bejeweled paw in greeting both so she could admire it and so he could show it off. "O-oh? I... I di'nt know. When I came here first they said that's what I hatta do. Do they... do they have to not be moving?" He looked down at the cave floor, looking ashamed, and began to play with the earth at his paws, making cool shapes with sharp labradorite claws. "I tried ta eat soft green stuff once, but I coughed it out. It stuck in my throat and didn't let me eat it..."

Todd watched, still a little offput, as the other's gem glowed and in the place of her paw a little thing began to worm its way out into the open. He knew about magic now, and he was sure that this was magic. One that he'd never seen before. "Magic?" Todd somewhat forgot his upset and watched the tiny sprout intently as it grew. It was tiny and didn't look like anything he'd wanna eat. He looked up at the stranger with big, round eyes and then leaned forward to take a tentative nibble out of a developing leaf. It... didn't really taste of anything, but he swallowed it anyway, looking up to make sure he'd done it right in the eyes of the other one.

A laugh bubbled out of Gracie as she watched the little fox perform a circus act, bouncing around on his hind legs. "Very good!" she encouraged, black nose twitching. She cringed as he fell but was quickly reassured that he wasn't injured at all. He caught sight of her gem and showed off his own, a multicolored and curiously colored stone that replaced the left paw's claws and joined in the center. She cooed at it's beauty, letting him know she thought it was impressive and beautiful.

Frowning, Gracie feared she shouldn't have said anything. While it was a noble thing for a fox to eat only plant life... it could make the young one sick. She chuckled reassuringly, "Maybe it's for the best then, huh? Some green stuff is really sweet! Maybe... maybe it tastes like the moving... things... you usually eat." Gracie wouldn't actually know. The panda bear was a devote vegetarian. While her body could easily digest meat, NEVER would she willingly give it a taste.

After her magic spell grew the sprout she watched the kit try to change his diet. She figured the sprout was just for an instance of example, Gracie didn't mean to suggest he give it a taste. She giggled. It probably didn't taste like anything at all. There was hardly anything there to eat in the first place. Would have been equivalent to her eating a blade of grass for dinner. "You're silly! What do they call you? My name is Gracie!"

Ah, magic. Did he know of it? Was this just an introduction to skills he didn't yet know he possessed? "Magic!" she echoed, curious to see if he said anything more on the matter.

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@Todd

"Speech" @Gracie

Grinning happily as the panda let her appreciation be known, Todd puffed out his chest, feeling unbelievably proud of himself. "I did it!" he droned, fur fluffing out, and closed his eyes so that he was basking in the glory of his feat and the beauty of his gem. "I made myself big and tall like you!" The little one's eyes widened as he looked up towards the cave lanterns. He wanted to know if he could reach them now with his newfound ability, and crouched in preparation to reach.

But he never did, forgetting too quickly in the wake of speech and remaining crouched there.

"Oooaah... Really? Do they never wanna be ate?" Todd considered it. The idea that food wouldn't run away when he approached. That sounded... too good to be true. "Can ya show me?" he asked, eyes pleading, because he'd just remembered how hungry he was, and his stomach gave a little growl to boot, causing the kit to hop in fright. "Never seen green stuff that's nice. Sometimes it's hard to eat cause they never wanna. But... I dun wanna eat things that're mean to your mouth..."

It didn't really taste of anything. He didn't really have anything to compare it to, except that earthy taste of the moss he'd bitten into in his quest to find the source of the sugary scent in the tunnel. "Silly? What's that?" he asked quizzically, before he declared "Todd!" as if on cue. "My name is Todd! What's yours?" his question was quickly answered, and he trembled excitedly, lifting each paw in turn in a little dance.

"Magic!" he said again. "I can do magic! I can make things jump!"

Todd leaped to his paws and bounded in a circle, looking for something he could demonstrate with. Eventually he spotted an area abundant in pebbles, and came to a halt. He focused on his gem, on the small area of stones, and concentrated deeply on clearing a path. His gem flickered for a moment before emitting a bright flash.

But nothing happened.

Er, well, nothing to the pebbles at least. Todd's eyes opened up in surprise and he yelped as he instead was thrown back. He flipped heels over head and skidded to a halt beside Gracie, shaking as he looked up at her with betrayed little eyes. He was too stunned to find the words to say for a moment but as his shaking stopped, his insides fizzed instead, and he bounded over to the stones, whacking one of them with his paws. It soared a couple of inches high and came to rest about a metre away.

Slowly he turned towards Gracie, as if making sure she hadn't noticed his intervention.

"...I did it!" he mumbled weakly.

Gracie glanced around the room of blaring blue light, looking for a certain kind of plant that would be better suited for the young fox to eat. However, nothing caught her eye in the immediate area. She pondered if berry bushes were even prevalent in this cave, what kind of place didn't have berries? Only a little searching would reveal a fruit bush... She hoped, not wanting to disappoint her small friend who was looking at her with such desperate eyes. The edge in his voice could be symphonious with the rattle in her own stomach, just now did she realize she was feeling a bit peckish. "Well, Todd, we can do a little scavenger search for a delicious plant I know about... You'll love it!"

Todd suggested he held a certain kind of magic Gracie wasn't too familiar with. Made things jump? What could that possibly mean? Mind control? She felt a little wary of that, not so sure it was a good idea for a kit to possess such strong, horrifying magic. Watching him suspiciously, Gracie kept a poised smile on her face. The flicker at his paw signaled the spark of his magic coming to life, and it was just that. A spark. Internally, the panda sighed. She was concerned that the spell would backlash if it HAD failed, because she couldn't visibly see anything happen, but Todd stood frozen for a second before yelping.

His yelp made Gracie yelp as well, she was easily started. And then his little body did the strangest thing, a backwards thrust that sent him heals over head to a skidding stop at her paws. Todd rested there for a second, just as stunned as Gracie. His shaking slowly subsided and the youth was back on his feet looking at the stones on the ground. He kicked one and proclaimed success, voice a little less energetic than before.

Gracie released the hearty breath she'd been holding in a loud laugh. Not laughing at his misfortune in any way, but at the silliness that just played out before her. "Silly. Silly is what you are Todd. The very definition," Gracie fondly approached the fox and patted him on the head. "Now, follow me, we'll see if we can find a snack!"

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@Todd

"Speech" @Gracie

Todd looked at the big panda, sighing softly out though his nose, still feeling slightly winded by his failed attempt at magic. But at the mention of something delicious, and what's more, something she knew he'd like, Todd seemed to perk up, his big ears twitching expectantly. "What does it look like? How'll we know it's there? All the green things look the same to me..." he mourned hungrily, a tremble running over him as he thought about food, and felt his stomach growl again. "Listen to it! It's crying..."

Todd looked up at the panda as she called him silly again. the same funny word. Todd assumed it was another word for nice. It sounded like a nice word, and it was said in a nice voice. As she approached him, he sat down again, curving his bushy tail over his paws and twitching it happily. The fox's ears flattened as she patted him on the head but it was a happy gesture, and a happy face he made.

As soon as she raised her paw from his head, Todd was back on his paws.
"Let's go! Let's go, go, go!" he yipped excitedly hopping again on his paws. He'd already bounded a few feet ahead before she said to follow, and looking a little ashamed the cub chuckled and slunk back to follow. It... it made sense though he supposed. Right now, the little one didn't even know what they were looking for. Something that maybe looked tasty. But now that he thought about it... What did tasty things actually look like?

Sometimes he saw small wiggly things and his mouth started to water. Sometimes he got hungry as he played with a stone. Usually it was the scent, like that sweet smell in the tunnel... Maybe the thing Gracie was going to show him was what made that smell? He sure hoped so... He still wanted to lick whatever made it smell so good.