Imperia Not again

The coyote seemed to understand her frustration, which Imperia found herself grateful for. She looked down at her gem, the pink claws. She moved them a bit, retracting them and putting them out. She closed her eyes again and focused on the gem, hoping it would help.

And, yet again, nothing happened. Imperia scowled in frustration. Why didn't it work? She wanted to see what magic she had! See if she could use it to help her gain power! But how would she know if it did if it wouldn't work? She growled and glared up at Macawi, as if blaming her. She tried to appear intimidating, but given their size difference, it likely didn't work very well.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

@Macawi

For the second time, Macawi witnessed Imperia fail a spell attempt. “Hmm…” she hummed, when the caracal looked up at her angrily. “Well… Sometimes spells fail for a reason. It is is best not to let such things bother you.” She looked down at the cat, knowing that her words probably wouldn’t help the Gembound much. She had a feeling this particular little one was going to be frustrated a lot in life… which was rather unfortunate. “Perhaps you ought to have a break for a while. You can always try again later. Your Magic will always be with you, even if it doesn’t want to come out sometimes.”

Macawi wagged her tail a little, trying to get Imperia to see the bright side. “Oh! Macawi knows what we should do in the meantime!” She gestured to the bag slung across her side. “Would Imperia like her fortune told? It is quite simple, really! Macawi has many things in her bag of all shapes and sizes and textures. All This One must do is feel around in the bag for something that she likes — but no peeking! How does that sound? Then when she takes it out of the bag, Macawi will tell her something about herself based on the item.”

Imperia could choose to completely disregard such an idea, and the coyote would be alright with it if she did. Not everyone believed in fortune telling, after all. Macawi was just throwing the idea out there.

"Speech"

Words: 247 @Imperia

Imperia Fortune telling?

Imperia grunted at the coyote's words. Not bother her? What if she really needed her magic at a particular time, but it didn't come? The thought infuriated her. She then blinked. Take a break? How could she take a break? She had to know what her spells were! She was about to object to the idea of taking a break when the coyote said something else. Fortune...telling? She looked at the bag.

"Fortune telling?" It was such a ludicrous idea, but it intrigued Imperia. "Alright, fine. I'll do your stupid fortune telling thing." She mostly didn't care, but a part of her wondered what her fortune would be.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

@Macawi

Macawi chuckled to herself when Imperia called her fortune telling “stupid.” She could think what she wanted. She’d still agreed to do it, and that was good enough for the coyote. (Tangak wasn’t very happy about Imperia’s word choice, however, and he gave an angry little warble atop Macawi’s head before settling back down again.) Macawi wiggled her satchel off, upsetting Tangak again, and he fluttered to the ground with angry little peeps. “Hush, Tangak,” she chastised. “If you stopped sitting on Macawi’s head all the time you wouldn’t have to be so indignant every time Macawi took off the satchel. You bring it on yourself, you know, little Rainbow Spinner.”

Tangak peeped once, and then fell silent and settled down on the wet ground of Cetus to watch the goings on.

Macawi grinned at her Lesser Gembound companion, and then turned back to Imperia. “Tangak can get a little cranky. We will ignore him, yes? Yes. Alright!” She nudged the opening of the bag towards the caracal. “Remember, no peeking! Feel around for anything you like, and pull it out. That’s all you have to do.”

"Speech"

Words: 187 @Imperia

Imperia So, what's my fortune?

Imperia stared at the strange creature that rested on Macawi's head. She scowled at him. She watched as the coyote set the bag down, upsetting the little one again. She looked at the bag and crouched in front of it. She was tempted to look inside, but decided against it upon hearing Macawi's words.

She stuck her paw in and felt around a bit. There were different things in there, some smooth, some rough. After some time of searching and feeling around, one of her claws snagged on something. Instead of trying to get it unstuck, she dragged it out and inspected it. It was an acorn. It was smooth on the bottom, with a rough cap on top. She set it down on the ground and nudged it toward Macawi, hoping she was able to see it. She stared up at her, wondering what this nut could tell about her fortune.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

@Macawi

Macawi watched as Imperia rooted around in the bag, reaching her tiny paw in and eventually pulling out an acorn, which was stuck to her claw. The caracal managed to get it off, studied it for a moment, and then nudged it toward the coyote and looked at her expectantly. Macawi smiled at Imperia, and then studied the acorn for herself. It was just a regular old brown acorn, smooth on the sides and with a little hat-like cap. The coyote paused to gather her thoughts before beginning her explanation, bringing together the culmination of things she had learned about life in the Caves, and the meanings of things…

“An acorn. Good. Acorns are seeds, fallen from trees to be replanted later and grow into more trees. They represent both physical and emotional or spiritual growth. The fact that you pulled an acorn from the bag means that the Universe is telling you that you have a lot of soul searching to do. You have a lot of growth ahead of you. Not just because you are small and young, but because you have much to learn about the world and life in general. Acorns also represent innocence because they are seedlings, not yet wary of the world.”

Macawi smiled at the acorn, and then at Imperia. “Truly, you picked an object that fully represents you as a Gembound. This acorn is a reminder to always be finding yourself, even when you stop growing physically. Always learn more, do more, keep growing emotionally, keep doing new things. It is a sign of hope, and of things to come.”

She was done now, and quieted down for a quite a while to give the caracal time to think her fortune over. When many long moments of silence had passed, she said, “Would Imperia like Macawi to Bauble her acorn for her? It will make it glow, and then This One can keep it if she wishes, or Macawi will just let it live here from now on. Either way.”

"Speech"

Words: 339 @Imperia

Imperia Alright then

Imperia listened to the coyote as she told her her fortune. It didn't make much sense to the caracal, but she didn't say anything until she had finished. A lot of growing to do? Well, she had just hatched not too long ago, so she supposed that made sense. Soul searching? What did that mean? And...to keep doing more things? Like what? And a sign of hope? She grunted. It seemed all stupid to her. Bauble the acorn? Eh, sure, why not? She nodded. She didn't really intend to keep it, but it couldn't hurt to have it baubled.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

@Macawi

Macawi noted that the caracal seemed to want the acorn Baubled, so she bent down and pressed it with her nose, closing her eyes in concentration and feeling that familiar tingle in her cheek that told her that her Magic was working. She felt a little bad that her Magic worked and the cat’s didn’t, but… After a moment, she pulled away and saw that the acorn was glowing faintly orange. She smiled and pushed it towards Imperia with a paw, saying nothing. She wondered what would happen now. Would Imperia accept it, or leave to perhaps grow a new tree here in Cetus?

"Speech"

Words: 104 @Imperia

Imperia Let's try this again

Imperia watched as Macawi did her spell. It filled the little caracal with jealousy that she had done her spell, but Imperia couldn't. She gave her head a brief shake, as if chasing the thoughts away. She was not jealous, not at all. Why would she be jealous? She could try her spell again and she'd get it right. Definitely.

She glanced down at the now baubled acorn. She didn't really want to keep it. It would just get in the way. So she nudged it away from her, disregarding it without saying anything. She then sat for a moment, unsure of what to do or say now before sighing. She may as well try her spell now. "I'm going to try my spell again," she murmured.

Imperia closed her eyes and focused on her gem, on the pink claws that always poked out. She tried to concentrate as best as possible. At first, nothing happened and she was about to growl in frustration. And then, suddenly, her paws began to feel very hot and she yelped in surprise. It hurt, but she wasn't going to show that it did. She lifted a paw up and looked at it for a moment. Heat was emanating from it, and as she brought it closer to her she could feel the heat on her face.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

@Macawi

Macawi nodded at Imperia’s words, curious to see if the little Gembound would get her spell this time. And, in fact, she seemed to, though it was hard to tell. Macawi leaned forward a bit when Imperia yelped. She wondered what about the cat’s paw made Imperia look at it. Had it changed colors? Did it hurt? It must have if she had yelped like that. That was concerning. None of Macawi’s own Magic ever hurt her, as far as she remembered… “What happened?” she asked. “Did This One’s spell work?” Maybe Imperia had just been surprised. Even Tangak became curious and fluttered back onto Macawi’s head to get a better look at what was going on.

"Speech"

Words: 117 @Imperia -- sorry for short posts.