While collecting the stars, I connected the dots.
I don’t know who I am, but now I know who I’m not.
I’m just a curious speck that got caught up in orbit.
Like a magnet it beckoned my metals toward it.

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

It had been like waking up into a nightmare. The massive canine awoke with a start, a foreign sense of urgency imprinted upon him. Canis was still and silent, something from outside creeping in with a hissing groan-- not something he heard, but rather something he felt.

It was as if the Caves themselves were sick.

Slowly the mammoth cerberus rose to his paws, vibrant red eyes flashing through the shadows. Canis was dark, though flickering lights signaled that it was only the time of sleep, not the oppressive darkness of before. Yet something spoke to him in tongues he didn't understand, and he found his paws carrying him from his makeshift den towards the thin pools of water where the Bonebound could drink.

Something was wrong-- the sense of impending horror squirmed under his skin like maggots, and there was no sign of the regal Bone King in the skies, nor his family. Only silence accompanied him to his destination.

Waddle waddle, slap slap... the sounds of her flat feet on stone were the only things she'd heard in a long while, and not only that but she was starting to feel the aching pain of a long walk, and the burn of going a long time without water. For the first time, the little platypus almost regretted leaving her watery hideout in Polaris, but she'd grown lonely, lonely as hell, and she figured that a walk might take her mind off of the migraines that kept plaguing her, as though her skull was about to split.

She wondered how long it would be.

The walking helped, a little; although she stopped once or twice, she optimistically thought that a change of scenery was just the thing she needed. Maybe she'd find some nice herbs, and all the pain would magically go away.

Her spirits lifted slightly and she opened her bill into a smile. She hadn't been paying much attention to where she'd been going for a while but snapped back to her senses as her webbed paw contacted something hard, and a bone skittered away from her. "Oh," she called, oh-so embarrassed and ashamed for disturbing someone's peaceful, infinite rest. "I'm sorry, such a klutz... Did I disturb you?"

As expected, there was no response.

But she was only being polite, and after a cheerily mumbled farewell the little creature moved on, before eventually coming to a halt. her vision wasn't what it used to be, but she could see a blurred shape, vaguely moving, perhaps. she couldn't tell what it was from this distance but she made a beeline for it. She lifted her head slightly, peering out from beneath a little flower crown that was still far too big for her. Many tiny needles of opal glinted in the light of Canis, but the velvety fur around each needle was stained dark.

@Kerberos

By the waters, a strange creature rested. The air had grown stale, and hunger had crawled into his stomach and made a cozy home. The creature himself almost seemed like a corpse-- a pile of white fur and red feathers, only broken by a giant shard of stone growing from his spine. He breathed slowly, watching the water ripple from his breath. It was hot as always in Canis, but it was getting harder to care.

He could not remember the last time someone had stopped by to say hello. Bugs were tasty, but he had grown too large to survive on such things. His limbs were weak, his muscles deteriorated. Infinity was a long time to wait, but it seemed that his magic had allowed him to survive despite this.

Indeed, the strange creature had managed to pull through despite being abandoned. A noise caught his attention, but he did not move to greet the thing. He could not seem to find the point in such things. At least by the pools, he wasn't going to die of hydration. The caves provided him this much.

Truthfully, he wasn't in as dire a straight as he let himself believe. It was just so infinitely frustrating to be trapped, to be unable to move about as everyone else seemed able to. He felt weak, and this alone is what made him feel as though he was little more than a slowly dying chunk of meat.

While collecting the stars, I connected the dots.
I don’t know who I am, but now I know who I’m not.
I’m just a curious speck that got caught up in orbit.
Like a magnet it beckoned my metals toward it.

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos had been drawing close, he could smell the scent in the air, he could taste the familiar heat on his tongue. The creature was here, the one he had been told about. He had not been told much about the creature, and truthfully, he had been afraid of the idea: he had created something that was half of his spirit, and half of the vicious bird who had attacked Remedy. Kerberos had been irresponsible-- but...

A sound cracked through the air and distracted the dog. With a sharp whine, he turned his head towards the rattling bones, and immediately felt silly. It seemed some sort of... Odd creature had been passing through Canis. Puffing up his chest, the massive canine plodded over to the tiny platypus, woofing out a friendly greeting.

"Hello there!" He woofed, sliding to a stop before the mammal-with-a-beak. "I am Kerberos!" A large snaking tail behind him wagged strongly, knocking about the bones behind him.

@Destiny

The little platypus heard the sound of distant, heavy pawsteps, and kept moving, soon finding the soft swill of water around her flat little feet. Her heart leaped but, no sooner had she lowered her bill for a drink that there was someone above her. High, high above her. They were so big!

Her little face was full of awe.

"Oh, hallo!" she called, craning her neck as she wiggled her body excitedly, tapping her paws each in turn with tiny splashes. "K-K-Kerberos? What a wonderful name!" she stammered with excitement, beaming with her rainbow eyes ablaze with lights. She noticed that the big creature's tail disturbed the bones all around, and worried for a moment that they would disturb their rest. But the flickering thought lingered for only a moment, because she was with the living now. "I'm Dest'ny!"

Happiness made her heart pound.

"You're so, so huge!"

Still, there was an ever-impending feeling here that they weren't quite alone. A feeling, maybe a little tingle in her bill, felt as though they were being watched. But maybe not watched. She didn't know. Destiny was excited by the prospect that all of a sudden, there were so many more friends to be had. Any foreboding feeling was lost on her. Going silent for a minute, the platypus pushed the little flower crown up from where it had fallen over her eyes. From there, she looked around. Through blurred eyes she searched, searched... blurred shapes made only vague sense. But there was a shape nearby, one that she had taken for a pile of bones... but it was smooth, too smooth. and... it had red on it!

"Kerberos, I'm going over here!" she offered a brisk explanation, happily, as she waddled over to the hunched shape. As she drew closer she could gradually begin to see that it was indeed someone else. They weren't going very far though. As she approached, she slowed and lowered her voice, because she didn't wanna scare them. "Hallo! Are you okay?" she called, softly and kindly. Then she waited, ever patient.

@Kerberos @Scarborough

Conversation flickered at the edges of Scarborough's attention, the noise a minor, distracting buzz for a moment. Water splashed about near him, a round ear twitching at the sound, thought humming through his mind. Some were about, and near by. Had they noticed him yet? Slowly, he opened two left eyes, violent crimson flashing like a storm beneath the solid color.

A strange creature had approached him, speaking in a hushed, gentle tone. "I am as I ever was," the being replied in turn, the hint of a smile breaking on to his muzzle. Who was this gembound, with their strange bill and furry body? Were they like him, perhaps? With a groan, the polar bear like creature pushed against the ground with his forelimbs, raising his chest and his head, turning to face the platypus. His feathered wings at the end of his body ruffled, an ache coming to the delicate bones.

"My name is Scarborough, who..." He began to introduce himself, starting to ask who the stranger was-- they most certainly were not Bonebound, no, they hardly appeared to belong here. Unfortunately, his sentence trailed off as his four ruby eyes took note of the huge cerberos tromping after her, approaching him with a curious mixture of expressions on all three of his faces.

This was Kerberos. His kin, something like Remedy. He had heard the gembound's name, had watched him always from afar. It had been strange, to him, that he had met so many gembounds who knew of the massive hellhound who had given life to his stone, but never the creature himself. A puzzling frown receded into his expressions and he slumped down slightly, let his form be buried under thick fur, finding it uncomfortable to sit up for too long.

He found it quite hard to find the words to say to the huge dog.

While collecting the stars, I connected the dots.
I don’t know who I am, but now I know who I’m not.
I’m just a curious speck that got caught up in orbit.
Like a magnet it beckoned my metals toward it.

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

The platypus was quite friendly, and Kerberos' whole body squirmed with joy. Her voice seemed to be struggling with words still, implying to him that she was either young or unused to speaking to others-- but that only made him more fond of her. "It's nice to meet you, Dest'ny!" His center, scarred head woofed to her, lowering all three heads to put himself more at eye level, even though he still towered over her.

"Yes, I'm big!" He agreed, pride piercing through his words. He was one of the biggest gembounds in the caves, and he was quite proud of the fact. "I protect Canis so I have to be big and strong."

Something else had caught Destiny's attention, however, and he blinked as she excused herself and waddled away. Eager to see what she was up to, the massive canine followed after her, his eyes focused mostly on her. It had been a long time since he had met someone new, someone who didn't think him awful or anything.

Kerberos was excited to have a new friend... But for all that he was easily distracted, when he caught wind of where the tiny gembound was going, it all came crashing back to him. Six pink eyes met four rich red eyes, and he drew to an awkward stop, finally face to face with the gembound he had accidentally created.

They both knew of one another, but neither had interacted before. There was an awkward pause between them, Kerberos' tail dropping to the floor with a sad plop, his heads exchanging nervous glances. It felt like so many of the Bonebound had disappeared, but yet this one remained. If he was even Bonebound at all.

Truth be told, Kerberos simply didn't know what to do with Scarborough. There was guilt, plain as day, running through his expression-- but also a stirring sickness in his gut. The creature he had created was wrong, damaged in some irreparable way. Kerberos wanted to help him, but simply had no clue where to start, something so frustrating that he had buried his worries and turned his back on his own blood.

It was... A predicament to say the least.

@Destiny

Excited and stunned to be meeting so many new friends today, Destiny couldn't help but tremble with excitement. She was so happy that she didn't seem to notice the awkward silence between them, instead focusing on getting to know her two new friends. "You guard Canis! Oh, wow! That must be so hard and tiring! You must be busy all the time... So brave! I wish I could do that someday!" the little creature chattered, looking first up at Kerberos, and then at Scarborough.

"Scarborough... Never heard a name like that b-b-before. How unique!" she complimented eagerly. Sensing the direction of Scarborough's question as he began to ask, she puffed out her chest and proudly declared "I'm D-D-Dest'ny, an' this is Kerberos!"

She looked from one to the other yet again, seeming only momentarily stunned by the opening of Scarborough's eyes. And she was definitely not repelled, seeming fascinated by every little thing that happened. She tried to shrug the flower crown up onto her forehead again by twitching her brows and flicking her bill, which only caused it to fall down over her eyes. She glanced around, before giving a rattling laugh.

"Do you live here? In this big room?"

Destiny thought it was a curious place to live, what with all the bones. Though maybe they'd make good company when there was no-one around. Polaris in particular, had been very empty and lonely recently.

It seemed that this wander had indeed been just the break she'd needed.

@Scarborough @Kerberos

It was odd, having someone compliment on the uniqueness of his name. It was unique, but he had never known of a gembound to share the same name as another-- were they not all unique? Were there, perhaps, other Destinies, outside of Canis? It was a thought for another time, however. Scarborough dipped his head in a nod, acknowledging and noting Destiny's name for later.

He noted her flower crown and paused in thought, staring at the wildflowers that accented her soft, friendly complexion. Where had they come from? Her question shook him from that train of thoughts briefly, and he spoke softly-- almost privately-- to her, "I know no other place... I have never left, for moving is... Impractical for me." It was the truth, but it bothered him and rubbed him the wrong way to speak about it. His tail twitched, flicking the bushy brush across the dry, dusty floor.

"What... What is that, on your head? It is very beautiful..." There was the occasional weed that grew in Canis, but never had he before seen true plantlife. Even with the petals wilting with time, it was still a breathtaking thing to behold. He didn't know the name of the things, only that he wished he could see more of them.

It was a good distraction from his embarrassingly previously-absent father, who stood only a few feet away. He would take advantage of the platypus' kind company as long as she would tolerate him.

While collecting the stars, I connected the dots.
I don’t know who I am, but now I know who I’m not.
I’m just a curious speck that got caught up in orbit.
Like a magnet it beckoned my metals toward it.

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos grinned with all three toothy faces, beaming his agreement. It was very hard work, and he had to be good and sit at the tunnel entrance and pay close attention for dangerous gems and escaping babies-- he had failed his job once, and he tried not to again-- but it seemed like there were too many things he was needed for. He glanced at Scarborough again, dread dripping in his veins. This was probably one of his most important things to care about, and he had completely neglected it.

He could have cried when he heard Scarborough speak about having never left Canis, having never known about flowers or anything else. His center, scarred face bowed, his left and right head sharing a glance. When Scarborough was younger, he could have carried the boy elsewhere and shown him the world. He might still be able to, but it would be uncomfortable and dangerous...

At the very least, Canis was the safest place in all of Origin. Now, anyway. There had been times when danger had stormed their doors, but the magick in the tunnel was enough to unnerve some gems from coming close. Kerberos inhaled through two sets of teeth and then spoke, firmly-- in three different voices.


"Scarborough--" "I have let you down..........
"I should have done more.....
"You are meant for more than this. I am sorry." The large hellhound bowed his heads to his son, struggling to find the right words to say. It was clear that no amount of words could amend for the time they had lost... But he couldn't just stand there, saying and doing nothing. Scarborough needed to at least hear an apology from him.

It was a bit awkward, stuttering it out in between the pleasant conversation of the platypus and the disabled polar bear hybrid. Still, he had at least tried. That was worth something, wasn't it?

@Destiny