---


He'd waited hours until the coast was clear, or rather, until the close was clear and then after his body decided to wake up. The brief battle had left the tiny owlet exhausted and just a tiny bit famished. He could hear the tiny scuttling things around him and since he was stuck for a while, had decided to make do with eating what bugs that came his way. By the time it was all said and done he was pretty well-rested with a relatively full stomach. His body hurt, mostly his injured left foot, but he would live and that was all that mattered. So, once he rose, the owlet began to hop on his one uninjured foot out of the room of the stars and into a neighboring tunnel. One that he knew well for it lead to Canis, his birthing place. Before long he could see the area rising in front of him. Ah, the room of bones... Home.

He briefly placed his foot down to inspect it, noting the lacerations and the cuts. Perhaps there was something natural, something growing that could aid him. This would open up an opportunity to learn and he would make the most of it.


---

204 | notes | @Gabriel

"Talking!"
Thinking...

Gabriel was pleased that it'd managed to find its way back; the small dog could never have imagined that the world outside of its crystal casing would be so huge, and diverse, and... strange. It had been set on learning its way since the moment it had stepped out of its chrysalis and although it knew there was far more of the cave it had yet to explore, a thought had occurred to the pup that had caused it to turn back. That thought was that there was no point finding new ways if you didn't know the way that you'd come from. Gabriel had realized that in some ways, returning was more important than figuring out the whole world at once.

So, with that idea fresh in Gabriel's mind, the pup trotted back the way it had come, and now found itself wandering along the tunnel, back towards the Room of Bones where it'd been born. It was as it wandered this way that the dog began to catch whiffs of a familiar scent; one that it knew well. It was another of the Four Knights, Gembounds that Gabriel considered its brethren, comrades and brothers in arms. But that wasn't all... Gabriel smelt a soft, yet unmistakable salty tang which caused it to pick up the pace. The scruffy-looking, mostly naked pup easily recognized the scent. Who wouldn't?

Blood.

As the scent grew stronger, Gabriel began to follow the scent, looking closely until it found the source of the scent, and the one it was looking for. "Tacitus," Gabriel greeted, settling back on its haunches before the owlet. It could see now where the scent was coming from; the owl possessed a series of cuts on one of their limbs. "You are... well, I see." It was unclear whether Gabriel was joking, or whether it was referring to everything but the leg.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tacitus
notes: here

---


"Tacitus," The owl recognized the voice even before he turned his head to look. Excellent eyesight allowed him to see the form of the tiny canine that made its way towards him. He felt a certain fondness wash over him at the sight of the canine, his eyes softened as he came and approached his fellow knight. Carefully he mirrored the canine though he had no haunches to sit on and just very carefully settled with his legs folded beneath him. The words spoken by Gabriel were not lost upon him and he was unsure of the words were spoken in jest or if the dog was making a supercilious comment. Certainly not the former, he held the canine in high regards, far high than ninety percent of the others he came across.

"Gabriel." He replied in kind, giving a slight dip of his head in greeting. "In one way. My mind is always well when it is able to expand. My body, however, is not due to my last encounter." He was still sore from the encounter and his leg was setting up a throb, but he would ignore it for now. "There is much to be learned in these caverns despite the dangers. My research will never be done." He spoke this in an almost dreamy state, content to research for the rest of his life. He wasn't aware of how his fellow Knight felt on the subject but hopefully he would understand the love for science.


---

249 | notes | @Gabriel

"Talking!"
Thinking...

"An admirable stance to take," Gabriel replied to the owlet's words, shifting its gaze to Tacitus' wounded leg, but not appearing sympathetic. Quite the opposite, in fact; there was an unmistakable expression of curiosity and calm on the pup's face. "Our bodies are feeble things... especially now. It doesn't matter, though. This wound may open the door to many new experiments. Being alive is all you need." Gabriel nodded slightly.

"Indeed there is. I've been travelling, with the aim to learn every path and cavern. Even with my journeying thus far, there is much for me still to see. I could never have dreamed just how big this world could be. I will share my findings, if you wish?" Gabriel was impressed; this creature had by far the smartest outlook on life, of all the Gembounds it'd met so far. That being said, it hadn't met many, only knowing from what it had seen. Many seemed driven and controlled by emotion, whereas Tacitus, like Gabriel itself, was driven by purpose.

"As will mine."


"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags:
notes: here

---


When the owl expressed his inner thoughts the canine looked at his leg with curiosity, speaking his thoughts that quite mirrored his own. It was surprising to finally hear someone that thought similarly to he did, but was he to expect anything different from one who's shared his own hatching? "My thoughts exactly. Even now, I search for something to test on my leg to see if there is a thing that will alleviate the pain and make the wound heal so that I may remember it for future reference." Or perhaps the opposite, it was all a learning process, wasn't it?

Then Gabriel went on to further please the owlet. Share his findings? That would be most welcome! The things that Gabriel had seen were certainly different from his own experiences. Eagerly the owl nodded his head, eyes brightening with curiosity. "Please. If you would share what you have learned then I will do the same with my own findings, in this way we will both grow our own knowledge by this collaboration." To ameliorate their minds, that was the purpose of this meeting. Perhaps it would always be this way, they would go their separate ways but ultimately come back to share things that they had each learned in their separate encounters.

He was eager to hear what the small dog had found in its search. What new gembounds had it met and what other things had it learned. Even now as he waited he began to summarize his own experiences, noting down the important encounters and the knowledge he had gained on bodies and life... and death.


---

270 | notes | @Gabriel

"Talking!"
Thinking...

Gabriel nodded, consideration flashing across its features. "Can't say I've come across anything like that... yet..." the pup said. In the grand scheme of things, the pup hadn't found much at all, only locations. However, the pup wondered if the effect the owlet was looking for could be found in anything it'd already seen. "I feel we may find the answer in some kind of fungi or plant life." The pup thought deeply, large eyes closing for a moment. "Although... there may be another way, one readily available, but as of yet, untested."

Gabriel opened its eyes once more and fixed its gaze upon the owl. A smile once more traced its features. "I've mainly explored locations... There is not much to assume judging by what I've seen already," Gabriel began, waving its tufty tail from side to side as it considered, recollecting everything it had seen and found. "At the end of this tunnel there lies a room of maze-like structures, unnatural. They must have been put there by other beings, though by whom, I do not know. There are five exits in this cavern alone; showing this place to be far bigger than I initially thought. I then came to a room filled with lights... I traversed a tunnel laced with ice and came to an enormous swamp, but whilst I was there, the lights went out... as you can see. I felt my way back home using magic to retrace my steps." Gabriel paused, and it was obvious what the pup was thinking, but it voiced these thoughts anyway. "I plan to find out why."

By way of other Gembounds, Gabriel hadn't met many; that being said though, he'd been able to pick up tidbits of what he, and the other, could come to expect. Although by the looks of their leg, they had already found out that the other cave-dwellers could be somewhat... unpredictable. "The culture here seems largely driven by emotion, rather than logic and purpose as we are." Gabriel turned, facing back the way it'd come.

"It's fascinating... isn't it?"



"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags:
notes: here

---


Fungi or plant life? He considered that as well but for some reason when he spoke the name "fungi" he felt something within him. Something that was begging that he not ignore it. Where had this feeling come from? He didn't speak on that but instead said, "Magick. Perhaps there are ways for magick to heal wounds but I have yet heard of a spell that will do so." Certainly not from himself, he had yet to learn of his own magick. It was something that he needed to do as he could be hiding something within himself that would help heal his body.

The tiny owl then waited, eyes staring unblinkingly as he did when he was paying rapt attention to anyone. Everything the tiny dog said he made sure to take it in and grow his ken of the world. It seemed as if both of them had visited a lot of the same places like the room of mists and the room of mazes. It also seemed as if his small brother could not see in the darkness well either, fascinating. Perhaps those of the canid family had a difficult time in dark spaces while he could see relatively well with his well-adapted night sight. "I too have visited the room of mists and the room of mazes... But I also visited the room of waterfalls. The darkness is not much a hindrance to me but I too would be curious to know why the lights have gone. It is a topic that I will search and find the answer to as well."

On the topic of emotion the owl clacked his beak disdainfully as he thought of a few gembounds. "They are largely driven by emotion though I wouldn't call it 'fascinating'." He finally blinked, eyes seeming to reveal an inner annoyance at something. "Irritating, more like. All the same I am intrigued. I would like to study these emotions, to pick apart what's inside and see what drives them." He too felt emotions just like the annoyance he felt now and the anger that had driven him to scold the wolf pup. He used a wing to gesture to his injured leg then, drawing attention to it. "This was given to me by one creature who was driven by his emotions. He let his feelings cloud his judgement and good sense and attacked me, all the same, it was an informative encounter." He learned more about the cave and more about gembounds in general and how some of them thought.

"What I sought to learn in these caves are the differences in creatures and what lies within us. I was able to acquire a test subject in a cave rat and pick apart its insides to see what lies there." His head tilted to the side then, eyes burning with curiosity and an excitement as he remembered what all he saw. "Did you know that there are bones and organs and blood that fuels us and gives us life?" That was what he could see from the rat and what he assumed was true of all of them. Of course, he would need many more subjects of many different species but with the bones lying across Canis of all size he was certain that he was correct in his assumptions.


---

555 | notes | @Gabriel

"Talking!"
Thinking...

"With the nature of magic, I'd personally find it odder if there was no such spell," Gabriel murmured, words slow and voice deep in consideration. On its travels, the small dog hadn't come across much in the way of visible magic, however there were parts that seemed to come naturally to itself. It had no doubt that there was more magic out there, but exactly what kind of magic it was holding out for, it was uncertain. It had not yet figured out exactly what it was looking for within itself, and what exactly it needed to trigger its own magic. perhaps it was a simple matter of meditation, looking deeper into itself and eventually finding what it was capable of. "However... another thing I have learned is that magic tends to be notoriously unreliable. No matter what you do, it's generally down to luck whether or not you can reach it. Perhaps that is down to my own lack of skill, however."

It seemed that the two knights had shared similar ventures, which was quite odd. In fact, the pup wondered if they might have just missed one another in their ventures. However, Gabriel had never visited the room of waterfalls before... The pup made a mental note of that. "I've not visited the waterfall room. yet. Pray tell, where does it lie?" it noted the clacking of the owl's beak at its mention of the emotion-driven Gembounds of these caves. Gabriel smirked slightly, realizing ahead of their words just how they'd received their wound. "I see. As would I." It would surely be a long and grueling task, requiring the study of many greater and lesser Gembounds. ...And most likely, many more experiences like Tacitus'.

To have been birthed alongside this owl who held such similar views as it did couldn't have been mere coincidence, could it? A smile had taken its place on the puppy's pointed muzzle.

"Your wound," Gabriel said suddenly, pricking up its ears. "May I see?"

The prospect of picking apart a cave rat to see what lay within was certainly an intriguing one, but also one that Gabriel could use. Of course, the dog had tasted the blood between its fangs and felt the crunch of mouse bones as well, but never had it killed for the sole purpose of looking. Perhaps next time, it should take more care with its eating. "Of course; I've tasted the blood of mice and felt the crunch of their bones, but never have I seen their inner organs. Can you tell, yet, how we work?" Curiosity caused the dog's eyes to widen, little teeth now bared in its smile. Its wispy tail wagged eagerly from side to side.


"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tacitus
notes: here

---


Tacitus listened, learning from his brother about the essence of magic. It made him wonder where such a spell might be hiding. If it would be difficult to come across or if he even possessed it in his arsenal. Surely magic could e a versatile thing, that one could learn different spells with enough practice or time... or was it all so fickle that it was up to chance if one would be able to get a certain spell. Hmm... A curious thing. Tacitus did not like to believe that something could not be mastered or learned without relying on the fickle chance. "Certainly it could be more than luck... I do not like the idea that chance is what guides anything, surely there are ways to pin down the exact nature of magic and practice it into reliability." He pondered this for a moment before shaking his head and moving on. There would be time to look into this more later.

"Through the room of mazes and then past the tunnels of ice and snow, that is where the waterfall room lies." It was a cold place but cold would not keep him from his studies and had not. He'd gone through the cold tunnels and the waterfall room without complaint.

Upon request to get a closer look at his wound the owlet complied and extended his wounded limb so that the dog could get a closer look. While he waited for the canine to speak his mind wandered, thinking over the organs and blood and bones that he had seen within the cave rat. "I cannot yet, I will need more specimens and more time to study. I have run into a problem here..." Gingerly the owl tucked his injured leg back under him, assuming that the canine had finished looking it over. "I am not much of a hunter myself, at least not until I am able to use my wings but even then I will not be able to take large creatures. So, I must depend on the aid of others or perhaps the luck of finding a dead specimen. Preferably, I'd like to study something alive or just recently dead from a fresh kill. To take anything larger than a mouse will require the co-operation of others." Here was the issue. How would he be able to guarantee a helper that wouldn't turn on him because he didn't view them as a "friend". He didn't particularly need "friends" but "research partners" united with the purpose of wanting to further their knowledge. "Securing allies with the emotional creatures of these caves could prove difficult."


---

438 | notes | @Gabriel

"Talking!"
Thinking...

"Well, I would assume so. It's all just speculation at the moment," Gabriel replied with the usual care it took when speaking. "We shall see given time. Practice makes perfect, as they often say." Gabriel approached the owlet, pausing as they described exactly how to get to the waterfall room. Gabriel felt like it had come close before- from Orion, it had once wandered into the room of ice and snow- however, it had not ventured much further before returning to continue its sweep of Orion.

"That's good to know. Thank you." Gabriel smiled gratefully- politely- at Tacitus before bending down to examine their extended forelimb. Sniffing at it briefly, the pup closed its large red eyes, laid back its ears and focused on the wound whilst trying not to let any of its other senses break through.

A soft glimmer sparked in the crown atop its head. Soon, Gabriel felt the life crawling on Tacitus's skin, festering around the wound and the blood that was clotting around its edges. Gabriel felt that that wasn't the best thing for the owl- but what could the puppy do about it? It'd have to consider it. In the meantime, Gabriel drew back slightly, though its still-lowered ears and abstract gaze indicated that it was still deep in consideration. Gabriel would think of something.

The owl went on to describe the many hindrances that it had ran into whilst conducting its research- hindrances that Gabriel could wholeheartedly sympathize with. "I may be able to help- I feel that your findings will be beneficial to both of us. There is a lot that I, myself, would like to know." As a duo, Gabriel possessed a little more of a hunting prowess- of course, the same size restrictions applied- whereas Tacitus possessed the talons needed to dissect their subjects. The more it considered, the more the tw seemed like the perfect pair. Of research partners, of course. "Indeed. We'll have to work around that, for the time being. There are simply too many, and emotions make it difficult to find one truly trustworthy."


"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tacitus
notes: here