A smoky, russet colored quartz, approximately a foot in height and width, stood amongst the lush green mosses that grew around the Eridanus Entrance in Tunnel H. A figure could be seen within in the chrysalis, its body pressing up against the sides so tightly that it almost made it seem as if the inside was straight gemstone. As if to chase away such a notion, the neonate within stirred, moving just enough to be noticed should anyone be watching. Several moments passed before it moved again, and once it started moving, it did not stop. It was ready to be out, to be released, and yet, it was not conscious and so could do make the emerging process happen. Eventually, after several minutes of struggling, the Gembound finally gathered its and then pushed with its whole body to shatter the chrysalis around him.

Rosy brown shards went flying as the barn owl literally burst forth from his chrysalis. He spread his wings, and breathed in his first breath, for the first time ever. A second later, a gust of wind blew past that ruffled his smoky hued feathers. The feeling awakened him fully, causing the newly emerged Gembound's inky orbs to snap open, and his rounded cranium to tilt from side to side as sounds flooded his ear holes. Not many sounds, but certainly more than the constant silence that he had known until now. He didn't, and for some reason as more seconds passed couldn't, remember much of his time in the gem. As his gaze passed over the surrounding vegetation, he forgot about his chrysalis completely, and instead, focused on taking his first step.

The owl's thin, long legs were inexperienced, and his steps uncertain, but he didn't fall as he carefully picked his way forward. One step on the sharp, shattered remains of his chrysalis taught the youngster not to do that again. He passed the shards quickly though, and stood nearly under the archway to Eridanus when he stood after a few moments. With walking down, at least at a slow pace, he supposed he could do on forever. See everything, but he didn't really want to. He wanted to understand what was going on, where he was, why he was here, and how he'd gotten inside the gem. All of those things, and dozens of other questions, suddenly occurred to the newly emerged Gembound, and caused him to stand, frozen and confused, in the middle of the tunnel.

Tuck was once again exploring outside of his home of Eridanus. Today, though, he hardly got past the tunnel entrance when he ran into another Gembound! The Cave was full of others, and this always made him excited. The more Gembounds he met, the more spells he would learn! He didn’t actually see the owl at first, instead hearing the shattering noise that he was slowly learning to associate with the birth of a Gemling. He ran-hopped forward, farther into the tunnel, looking for the newly-emerged creature. He came across the fragmented remains of the chrysalis first, and then farther up ahead, he actually saw the owl.

“Oh!” he said. “Hullo!” The Gemling seemed to have a little trouble walking, which was understandable. He’d only just been born. “Are you alright, there? You’ve got it, I think!” Tuck hopped a few steps closer, in case the little one needed any help.

Words: 153 @Talion

The sudden noise, perfectly clear unlike the faded sounds of dripping and the slight stir of plants in a gust, startled the newly emerged Gembound so bad that he fell face forward. Thankfully, he fell into the abundance of soft moss, cushioning his fall, and allowing him to roll over without any harm down. Unfortunately, it took his a few minutes to figure out how to get up from this new position, and the fact that there was some stranger near by only increased his anxiety. He ended up rolling over again, and somehow finding his thin legs under him. Any success he might have revelled in was chased away by the sight of the creature before him.

The melanistic barn owl looked down at the hairy, albeit friendly, looking stranger with blank, inky orbs. He blinked slowly as the other Gembound spoke some more, and hopped a bit closer. The words seemed to have some sort of meaning, but whatever it was alluded the youngster for now. The only reaction he gaze the little explorer was a narrow of the eyes after a moment of them staring at each other. What does it want? The avian wondered, before finally breaking the stare to glance up at the adit to a room beyond. Seeing an escape route, the young Gembound began to slowly shuffle to the side, as if his company wouldn't notice.

Tuck winced when the poor thing fell face-first to the ground, apparently having been startled by something. He hadn’t caused that, had he? He wasn’t quite as mean as he used to be, but he did have to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at the owl, who was now belly-up and wiggling his stick-legs about, trying to stand back up. “Um,” Tuck said, trying to stifle a cackle, “are you okay?” But the owl seemed to have no intention of sticking around here. It gave him what looked to be a glare, and then began to sidle away down the tunnel. Tuck watched bemusedly for a moment. Then he seemed to find his words again.

“Hey, where ya goin’?” he asked, slowly following the owl. “I won’t hurt you.” Tuck just wanted to make friends! Hmm — Oh! Tuck knew what he could do! He would distract the Gemling from leaving by growing a flower for him! Ever since his utter failure at the Magicka Competition, he’d been a bit leery about doing Magic, but… how was he ever going to get past the failure if he gave up completely? He had to keep practicing! He concentrated on the back of his right hand, and a small pink flower began to grow.

He thrust his hand out towards the owl. “Look! See? This is for you!”

Words: 230 @Talion

The hairy little critter followed the owl, continually speaking as if that would help him like it more. In fact, it did the opposite, and it made him hasten his pace a bit as if he meant to out run it. But then the strangest, most amazing, unbelievable thing happened. Thrusting his tiny limb out, the stranger offered it, and a pink flower that grew on it, to him. Having seen his hands a moment before, the newly emerged Gembound knew that the flower had not been there, and he couldn't deny watching it bud, and blossom, right before his large, inky eyes. He didn't know how it happened, and his need to know finally prompted some speech from his beak.

"Talion! He said unexpectedly, surprising himself with the sound of his voice as it bounced off the tunnel walls and echoed back at him. After looking around wearily, the young owl focused back on the flower wielding monkey. "Talion." He said again, more firmly this time, and with a nod of acknowledgement. Somehow, he knew that was his name, and that the being before him needed to know that. As soon as that was accomplished though, he focused back on the tiny, pink flower. Without any thought to the fact that grew from the little guy's own flesh, Talion nipped at the stem of the flower.

Talion's newborn beak, and inexperienced coordination, caused him to miss the stem of the flower, and rip off only a single petal. After chomping on it curiously, the owl dropped it and stared intently at the flower again, his gaze giving away his thoughts.

@Tukluk

Tuck couldn’t help but laugh at the adorable Gemling. Remembering his bad experience with the snake Septiezal and how that plant extraction had gone, he flinched visibly and squeezed his eyes shut when the owl lurched forward to grab the plant off of his hand. But when he didn’t feel horrible pain, he warily opened his eyes again and witnessed his acquaintance chomping on a petal. He cracked a grin and watched the soggy pink petal fall from the Gembound’s mouth, noting that it had said the word ‘Talion’ twice now.

“Is… Is that your name?” he asked the young one. “Talion? I’m Tukluk. Well… You can call me Tuck, though. Did you like the flower? You don’t… You don’t look like you’d be a plant eater. Maybe that’s why you spit it out. I can’t grow meat for you, though. Sorry.” He had no idea if the little owl could understand a word he was saying, but it didn’t matter. He just wanted the Gemling to feel at home.

Words: 170 @Talion

The insistent noise making of the smaller Gembound annoyed Talion, until he heard it say his name. He liked, and instinctively turned to, the sound of his name, and he watched with wide, inky eyes as the thing introduced itself. Somehow, the other Gembound saying his name after Talion's, as if purposely in alphabetical order, made him understand that that was his name. Tuck. It seemed fitting for the tiny, hairy creature, since it was in no way grand or complicated. If Tuck expected any sort of response though, he would have been disappointed. The only thing that he had going for him so far that was worth Talion's attention, was the pink flower that continued to stand upon his hand. As the monkey rambled on, the owl stared at the vegetation that had literally sprouted from the his flesh. Finally, a couple of minutes after Tuck finished speaking, and the silence had settled in, the newly emerged Gembound tried out his voice.

The effort it took to actually form the words that he so effortlessly and silently thought was more than Talion expected. Since he wasn't going for much though, he accomplished an audible and understandable,"How?" After flicking his sable gaze back and forth between Tuck's flower and his eyes, the Gemling settled his gaze on the latter and then stared intently. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to understand the other Gembound's answer, but he was willing to try. Hopefully, Tuck would explain it slowly, or perhaps in simpler, shorter words than he had been using so far. Even if he did all that though, the owl still might not be able to understand him.

@Tukluk

The owl’s inherent silence made Tuck feel awkward. He wasn’t used to excessive silence. He was used to talking or listening to someone else talk. He felt an overwhelming urge to say something to break the quiet, but he couldn’t. Something — some social cue or another, perhaps a lack thereof — prevented him from making any noise come out of his mouth. And then finally, the owl spoke. A single word. How?

Tuck had no idea what he meant for a moment or two, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Then he noticed the Gemling’s gaze traveling from his face to the flower and back again. Tuck looked down at the flower himself, wondering for perhaps the first time exactly how it did grow…

“I… I don’t know,” he admitted to the owl. He lifted his other hand and looked at it, willing an identical pink flower to grow out of the back of it. The familiar tingling itch he associated with the Host Spell was a part of him now. Even the pain that came from roots constantly digging into his skin was familiar and welcome. He watched the little green stem wiggle its way out of his fur and stand up nice and straight before becoming a slightly lighter green bulb. The bulb then opened up and simultaneously sprouted little pink petals.

He stared the whole time, studying the plant-growing process in a way he never had before, and still couldn’t quite figure out how he’d made it happen. “I just ask it to grow in my head, and think of what it is that I want to grow, and it either happens or it doesn’t. That’s… that’s all I know.” He looked back up at Talion with a bit of an apologetic shrug.

Words: 298 @Talion

Talion's didn't need to understand exact words to know that the short, uncertain reply he got from Tuck meant he didn't know. At first, the very possibility that the tiny mammal didn't know how he did what he did seemed impossible. To a newly emerged Gembound, it just didn't make sense that you could do something without knowing or understanding how. As the silence settled between the two males though, and the owl got a real chance to think, he began to see how it would be possible. He didn't understand how he could talk, or how the longer, and the more, his new acquaintance talked, the better he understand what was being said, but it was still happening.

While they both stared at the flower, Tuck brought his other hand up, and began the process of growing another flower, identical to the first, on it. Perhaps it was because he was paying better attention this time, or perhaps it was on purpose, but Talion thought the tiny flora grew slower. When it finally unfurled its head, and let its petals fall free, he straightened up from where he'd been unconsciously leaning forward. Snapping his beak together a few times in irritation, the Gemling glanced back and forth between the flowers and Tuck. His mind was churning to form some sort of reply, to express how badly he wanted to understand magic, until a seemingly perfect idea pushed all other thoughts out of his head.

Without a word to Tuck, Talion unfurled his right wing and held it out in front of him. For a few, tense moments, the owl stared at the middle of his feathered appendage determinedly, trying with all his might to imagine a flower protruding from it. Nothing happened though, and after a while, he gave up in frustration. "I can't," he muttered to the marmoset darkly as he tucked his wing back against his side.

@Tukluk

It was weird. Tuck wasn’t used to feeling bad for other Gembounds, but he had to admit to himself that he felt a little bad for this owl, who so clearly wanted to do Magic like he could. It took him a few moments to realize what Talion was attempting to do, staring at his own wing as if expecting something to pop out of it. “Oh,” he said softly, also watching the bird’s wing. “You’re trying to grow a flower.” He watched with his new friend for a minute, not really expecting anything to come of it. And when nothing did come of it, he shrugged sadly. And then he got an idea.

“Maybe your Magic is different from mine!” he suggested, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it sooner. After all, he’d never met another Gembound who had his affinity for Plant Magic. “Try focusing on your Gem.” Tuck tried to spot the owl’s Gem, but he couldn’t see it, hidden as it was by the feathers over his chest. “Wherever your Stone is, focus on it, and… ask the Magic to work. That’s the best I can come up with.”

Words: 193 @Talion