The air surrounding Crystal River was fresh, almost sparkling to the senses. Air that gushed through the area carried the water vapour of the crystal river to form the occasional spray that perked one’s spirits up. Those who wished for tranquillity on the other hand, could fix their eyes upon the deep river and seek solace from within. These two attributes of great liveliness and tranquillity, would become characteristic of one particular Gembound that was going to emerge from its chrysalis that day. It was hidden behind a couple of rocks and seemed to go unnoticed by the cave’s inhabitants – all but the golems, which had been busy “watching over it” till this very day.

Right now it was all alone. It was alive and struggling to escape the barrier around its body. And then it knew it was female. Her lungs started expanding and deflating rapidly and she just knew she had to escape this miniature prison. A weak snarl escaped her jaws as her body pushed against the chrysalis. Her paws scrabbled at the surface and her spine arched with each push. A crack formed. Then, another and another and she was freed. The chrysalis broke all around her, and thus was born Quix Rin.

The little fennec girl opened her eyes to the sight of golems busy clearing up the remains of her broken shell. She did not quite understand what was going on and took a look around her. The world was…huge. She was just a wee little thing, only 14 cm in height. As she got up onto her paws, the world that revolved around her still looked as huge. Cave walls expanding in each direction were so high up and the river was simply enormous. Feeling so overwhelmed by everything, the fennec fox chuffed, a cute sound produced when she blew her nose, sat down, and worked on brushing out the fur on her face and ears with her paws in a clumsily cute fashion. Oversized ears were proving a strain for this new youth. She felt fresh yet tired all the same and let out a huge yawn, then licked her muzzle.

What was that thing made literally of ears. It was gosh darn adorable was what it was, and it was only paces away from the golems that could probably crush it if they noticed it. The shimmery blue gems glinted in the light of the main cavern, perking the Fisher's interest.

He had returned to the generator, hoping to find one of his friends. Perhaps Tam, or Leon, or Maykna... Or any of his barkfriends. Ever since his nightmares had been getting worse, he longed for company and companionship and yet every meeting he had was fleeting and brief. He didn't know where this sudden urge to be with someone came from, but it made him feel weak and he hated it.

So when he spotted unusual moving and indeed, a hatching of a gembound, the mustelid slipped along the edge of the river. The stream had once tried to take his life, but he had escaped it once and now he did not fear it. He took a wide path around the golems-- he had yet to test his luck with them personally-- and made his way to the fox.

"Hey!" He woofed in the quietest bark he could manage. "How's it goin'? Whatever you do, don't zap anything alright?" The chances the fennec fox could zap anything were slim, but using any magic could alert the golems and hopefully the pup got the message. Fisher knew by now not to get too close to baby gembounds-- they had sharp claws and liked climbing things. He didn't really want to get climbed today. No way. Golems were also bad news, but he wasn't sure just what was up with them so he decided distance was good for them, too.

"I'm Fisher, by the way, so how about we get away from the rock-guys?" He wagged his tail at the tiny creature, hoping she wouldn't be difficult.

Quix was done licking her chops. More curious of her surroundings now, she cast her powder blue eyes around her, taking in the sights and sounds of nature. It had intimidated her at first and the cave, river, and moving rocks were still foreign from the world she had known in the chrysalis, but she felt slightly more secure in it since nothing bad had jumped out to attack her. That was, until this furry brown creature around twice her height scampered over and woofed to her.

The girl was born with extra sensitive hearing and so heard his scuttling towards her before he spoke – but being juvenile, did not make much of it. When he woofed at her though, her ears flicked involuntarily in huge surprise and she swivelled her head to look at him. He was so long and furry and so…cautious. The girl cheeks bunched up as she giggled at him and curled her furry tail around her flank in amusement. For some reason, she could comprehend language – probably fast intellectual development in the chrysalis. “Don’t wanna!” she replied him in a pointed fashion and got onto her four paws. His fur looked so warm and snuggly and her paws were itching. Slowly, the fennec got up and wiggled her butt, tail in the air, then one…two…three! She dashed at him like a quick sprite, aiming to pounce onto him and climb all over his snuggly fur.

Edit post-roll:

She got him easily enough, and her non-retractable, curved sharp claws hooked onto his fur as she clambered onto him (probably causing him some pain), but once she got onto his back she tucked her paws by her side. It was so comfortable that she curled up and leaned in to give his head a lick. ”Well, I’m Quix. You’re comfy.” her youthful voice rang out and she snuggled his fur further. He was so warm and toasty and comfortable…then her stomach growled noisily. "I'm hungry, Fisher." Large rounded eyes gazed at him imploringly. "Food?"

Back in Polaris. Cancer was beginning to get a strong memory map of this place. Unlike the other caves, where he only passed through each one once or maybe twice, Polaris was at the heart of everything- except the creepier, dead tunnels to the West. With his map almost complete, Cancer had left the fern jungle and his friend Bevy to return home- now he returned to the Core. The rush of magical energy greeted him like his falls might, with a spray that covered him completely- but this one wasn't physical. It was energizing. He felt alive here.

As he rounded the last bend of the tunnel he'd taken, the cat cast out his magic- tentatively, as not to either disturb the golems mulling about below, or waste some poor soul with that strange and powerful spell he'd learned- the hard way. His horns and eyes began to glow red, and he cast out a wave of magic to get a feel for the place...

...and he pricked up those ears when the outline of two creatures were drawn out before him. Down by the stream. He glanced over and spotted a somewhat familiar shape- he'd seen, or maybe scented, the musky creature in his travels. Brown slick fur, tiny frame but big muscles behind those long jaws. He made a note to be wary of those jaws. On its back, a smaller shape- and as he looked closer, something about it stuck a chord in him. The cat approached quickly, and offered both gembounds a smile. Upon closer inspection, he noted why the tiny gembound struck him so- that tawny coloration, those blue eyes, reminded him of Makyna... but more than that, the little lady had the same horns. The cat stopped dead after three paces. It certainly didn't look like a cat, but who was he to decide what species a newborn would be? The crystals decided that, didn't they? That head turned in and sideways in a concerned, unsure expression.

There's no possible way... how would that even work? Wouldn't one of us know? His head raced, those gears pushing into overdrive behind intelligent, and very disturbed, eyes. I could swear she looks just like she could be... Then, without thinking after further on it, the cub stupidly blurted out,

"Hey, put her down! She's not yours!" His protective protest surprised even him, but that nagging feeling he had wouldn't leave him alone. All he knew was that this new cub thing resembled him, and his special lady friend. They'd cuddled and kissed and all that romantic jazz. Surely, that was enough to make... babies? He felt weird thinking about it, like something wasn't right there. Had he gone too far with Makyna? How do I even explain this to the rest? Then, with a look of nervous anticipation, he realized one more flaw to this. How do I explain it to Leon!?

Fisher had known to watch out for those baby claws, sure, but the fennec fox lunged and he had to surpress a yelp of alarm (namely by chomping on his tongue by accident) as the pelt of sandy fur leapt up his bushy coat, pulling out plenty hair along the way. Whyyy..

But the pain was fleeting and now he had begun to creep away from the golems. The pup explained her name was Quix-- the fisher cat opened his jaws and mouthed out the sharp, awkwardly shaped but short noise. Like Quick but... Eugh. She apparently thought he was fairly comfy, but although he wasn't sure he wanted a leech riding him today when she asked for food he felt a pang of hunger. He hadn't eaten since yesterday. "Food? Sure. I'll catch ya something tasty. How's mouse sound?" He turned to make off to a tunnel when he spotted a flash of red. His eyes locked on a black feline, and his pelt crawled.

Idiot! Fisher didn't know anything about the golems but he was sure they would notice-- what the heck was that cat yowling about? This pup was his? Also he hadn't picked her up, the gembound had latched on to him. His ears laid back, knowing for sure he had seen the fox hatch. If she was his, why had he left her by all the golems?!

So Fisher did the sensible thing. He could hear the noise of moving, shuffling golems behind him and he didn't want to stick around. Narrowing his eyes, the mustelid decided the best thing to do was charge directly at Cancer. Maybe it would scare the harebrain off and get them all away from the golems before they started to attack.

If not, he was fine with barreling straight into (or past, if he had any sense to sidestep) the cat.

The kit clung onto Fisher and was too busy nestling into his fur to notice him slinking away from the golems. Instead, she was just concerned with her needs and wants at that point in time. When he made that scratchy sound, she mewled in laughter, fluffy ears flicking. He was so funny!! What was that sound!! It tickled her. But then her stomach growled, and she wanted food, so when the larger brown Gembound replied her with “mouse” she scrunched her nose up and looked at him solemnly.”Mouse…can eat?” Quix had no idea what a mouse was. She just knew she had to eat to survive. Mouse…sounded, pretty darn good at the moment.

Just then, Fisher’s attention turned to another. The girl lifted her head and turned to look at this perplexed creature. He looked big, black and shiny. He had a nice swinging thing behind him…she wanted to grab it! He also had two pointy things which she eyed curiously. Fisher did not have that. The girl was still scampering through her thoughts when the mustelid suddenly charged forward, causing Quix to lurch forward and cling onto his back. They were getting mouse! And then the fennec had an epitome. He was MOUSE! Excitedly, the fennec tried to regain her balance on Fisher’s back and when he was nearing the huge black mouse, she flung herself onto its face, scraggly limbs with sharp claws extended towards the other in a hug-like motion. ”MOUSEEE!” she yipped in delight, oversized fluffy ears and tail quivering and extending out from behind her.

With the sudden burst of exertion,excitement, nerves and hunger, the girl’s magic began to work.

Cancer's eyes went wide when the brown gembound suddenly charged at him. Again, that flood of emotionless energy surged through him, his horns and eyes began to glow red and he tilted his chin up and back in a defensive position as his magic was cast, his target; his attacker...

...but a moving target wasn't easy to grab, and the cat found himself instead leaping out of the way, his focus fizzling out and thus, the spell never cast. He sailed over the heads of both smaller animals and landed behind them. "Wait, stop!" Why was it running? Why had it attacked like that? The whelp on his back was too much like Makyna in color, like himself with those horns... he couldn't let the thing take her. That could be his offspring, or some weird clone from their magic dna or something. "She's my daughter!" He called out, despite not having even thought such a word before. It hung in the air like a heavy realization might. The implication was great. Could it even be possible, though? The cub didn't understand nor care how that stuff worked- as far as he was concerned, the little ball of fluff was his to take care of.

[[ ooc;; so this morning this was a failure but its a barely successful because of a thing (madi said she was gonna get on fixing this lmao but yeah just so if anyones like whaa in the future that's whats uppp) ]]

The cat got right out of his way and that was just what Fisher wanted. He bolted yards up away from the feline before stopping with a triumphant spin, turning to face the so-called Father and the golems down bellow-- so far it seemed like they hadn't noticed them, or if they had they were too far away to chase. Good. His eyes were so fixed on the rock beasts bellow that he hardly even noticed more than the dark outline of the yowling cat, and he felt satisfied with the distance he had made from the danger. With that taken care of (if the golems did notice, they would go for Cancer first and thus the baby would be safely out of harms reach and Fisher could come into save the day!) he started to sniff around.

"Alright, alright, I'm stopped. You gonna help me find some mice or not?" He asked the stranger, not stopping for a moment to properly acknowledge them (this would prove to be Fisher's downfall in only a few moments), instead searching for some snack for the gembound kit. See, while he would have loved to get the vupline leech off of his back, he knew very well it was entirely up to her when she wanted to get off. If Quix knew the feline then she would surely go with him if she wanted.

His nose raised to the air, he sniffed and sniffed, and then his nose hit the ground and he was scuffling off to find prey. The easiest way to get a pest of you was to give them what they wanted and what she wanted was food, no doubt. He had to agree, mice came way before anyone else did, unless they were your best pals.

;; post roll!

Immediately the savory scent of mouse filled his senses and off he was like a bullet once more, his pelt streaking between a bunch of crystals, his paws slamming down on a mouse's tail before it could even hope to escape. The long noodle only just fit through the opening of glowing gem, but he had got his prize and that was all that mattered. His eyes glinted brightly, his hunting skills still quite up to snuff if he said so himself. He snapped the poor rodent's neck with ease and raised it high, lifting himself on to his hindlegs to tell the fox, 'time to get off, you!'

After she got off, Fisher gingerly made his way out of the cluster of crystals and just as gently placed the piece of meat on the rocky floor of the cave. "All yours, kid," he woofed softly, his tail wagging.

She was zoning in onto the goal! Large, broad muscled face of the chubby cub was within the grasp of her little paws when oops! He soared over both her and Fisher, causing Quix to grasp onto nothing but thin air. With a screech, the fledgling flailed wildly before dropping onto the floor like a deflated balloon. Her little fennec body registered the shock first, then the pain slowly crept in. It hurt her paws and her furry butt. Nonetheless, Quix was a brave girl! She held back her tears, and got up, then scrambled back onto Fisher - but not before shooting Cancer a glare with large, watery, guilt-tripping baby blue eyes.

"Bad mouse!" she scolded the leopard, disdain stretching across her features. Fisher was the best! He was so caring and snuggly and took such great care of her. As the Fisher cat turned to get some mice, Quix upturned her muzzle with a "Hmph!" at Cancer and flicked her tail at him, then nestled back down into Fisher's fur and looked in the direction her ride was heading towards.

It was adventure time! The girl was tickled and laughed heartily as he weaved skilfully between crystals and shot towards the mice - odd that they were so small unlike the horned one she had just met. Eyes rounded in awe as she witnessed how his arm shot forward swiftly and killed the thing, and she gasped with a "Wowww!" Waves of admiration for this guy were already flooding her. "I wanna be like Fisher" she announced in pointed fashion as he nudged her off his back and offered her what she presumed was his peace offering to her, a gift she was entitled to. Smiling, the little fennec would nudge Fisher's shoulder with both tiny paws before picking up the mouse skilfully between her little jaws. Then, she turned and trotted back towards the large mouse i.e. Cancer. They were not done hunting it yet!

Having reached the leopard, Quix sat down and ate her mouse, all the time glaring at him. Served him right that he didn't get the honour of being eaten like her current meal which was so toasty and delicious! That was one bad mouse. She would wait till her brown protector returned, then ask him curiously. "Kill this mouse next?" and tilt her muzzle to indicate Cancer was her next target for a meal.

Cancer watched the thing run away, and for a moment, he didn't bother to chase after it. He hesitated because, in his head, those gears were in overdrive. Daughter. Daughter. Like, as in, child? As in, offspring? Like, he made that? No, that wasn't right. Was it? He didn't remember doing anything like that. Makyna had cuddled with him, but that was it. Could grooming and cuddling make a baby thing? That brown rat just took his baby thing! After a second, fury boiled in his throat. That was his cub. That rat would regret his actions.

Cancer moved to follow them, but to his surprise, the little tawny babe came trotting back over. He backed up a step, anger giving way to confusion. Then, at the comment, he snorted.

"He can try." Cat snapped his tail tip side to side in annoyance. "I'm a Leopard, not a mouse. That," He nodded towards Fisher. "is the most rodent thing here right now, besides your meal, kid." Then, with a sneer, he added just for the other male, "You didn't even hear me, did you, rat?" This time, he moved to stand between child and brown thing, eyes narrowed. "Those horns, the blue eyes? This is mine and my..." He paused a second to think of a good word. Friend? That didn't cut it. Good friend? No. Lover? Oh, no no. Not quite that. Yet.

"She's my cub. Mine and my sweet's." But why was she hatched and created here, in Polaris? Could it have been during the rumble with the golems? "We lost her in a fight with those things." He nodded towards the golems passively. They weren't a threat, as long as no one used magic near them. "I'm taking her home, to her mother. Thanks for finding her. Now go away." Cold, Can. Cold as ice.