Kin-Kin's blade clinked softly against the crystals wrapped around her left forelimb as she strode through Polaris. Life seemed to be trickling back into the caves bit by steady bit, and it was putting the spring back in her step for sure. All she needed was to touch up on her magic skills and soon, the residents of Origin cave would look at her with wonder and awe in their eyes once more.

She could almost see it now... the dazzling lights, sparkling gemstones, and the crowds which gathered just to see her passing by. Of course, there'd never been anything on that scale before... She'd never strutted before crowds, except for the magicka competition where she'd earned the title she so loved to flaunt. But Kin-Kin dreamt of something solely about her, in the very center. Perhaps the loneliness had truly made her drunk with longing. But she could dream, couldn't she?

Kin-Kin hummed softly to herself and wandered by the spire as she practiced her noble strut, cape flowing behind her and chin held high. Pushing deep within herself, she tried to pull out the dormant power that made her beautiful.

After a few moments of pulsing, she was ablaze with gold.

---

words:
tagged: @Tukluk
ooc:
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Tuck was here in Polaris again, a place he could never consider home because Eridanus was his home, but it still held an important place in his mind. He loved the way Polaris made him feel. It made him feel… powerful, which, despite his rapid maturity, he still loved the feeling of. The feeling of knowing that his size didn’t matter, it was the weight of his actions that counted. It was the way he cast his spells. But, he had learned, it was also the way he spoke. The way he carried himself. The way he treated others. And the way he allowed others to treat him.

Which was why, when he saw the wolf in the distance, he cringed inwardly. Garmer, flying above him as he always did, searched his memories to understand the reaction. You two didn’t get along the day you hatched, the kyte finally said, laughing.

Oh, shut up, Tuck snapped, but grinned and allowed himself a laugh or two as well.

Shrugging, he decided to just go with it and ran-hopped over to the wolf, whose name he could not remember. He didn’t even know that she had won the Magicka Competition because after his complete failure, he’d run away crying, and the memory of what had happened before had sort of slipped his mind, especially after the long Sleep.

“Hullo,” he called out, trying to be cheerful even though he wasn’t all that keen on interacting with what he remembered to be a very annoying, snobby wolf. “I remember you! Do you remember me?” He puffed out his chest, feeling one cycle old again and slightly foolish, so he quickly ‘deflated’ his chest and just stood normally, looking up at the much bigger wolf, but this time, feeling a complete lack of intimidation. Besides, Garmer was still circling overhead, so what could possibly go wrong?

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."
This is Garmer.


tags: @Kin-Kin
notes:
words: 313

Kin-Kin's ears pricked, followed by a swift turn of her head as she was alerted to the presence of another being by the sound of their voice- a gruff, yet tiny and... somehow familiar voice...? Kin-Kin scanned the world around before realizing that the one she was looking for was - quite literally- right under her nose. Kin-Kin's head tipped to one side and lip lifted slightly in amusement as she bent down to study them closely. It took a moment, but she quickly recognized them as the Gemling who'd given her no end of joy in Eridanus, many cycles ago.

Her face split into a toothy grin that revealed pristine white fangs. "'Course I remember you, squirt," she chuckled. "How could I forget?"

She was almost tempted to remind them of their loss to her in the magic competition, because of course... it was them who scurried away blubbering. But she'd get to that. "So, it's been a while. How've ya been, kiddo? I... saw you, in the magic competition, I'm sure."

She settled back on her haunches in order to get a better look at them, as she waited patiently for the chance to boast her new title... and maybe piss them off in the process.

---

words:
tagged: @Tukluk
ooc:
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Tuck had matured quite a bit in the last five cycles, and was no longer bothered by his puny size. So, usually, being called a “squirt” or “kiddo” wouldn’t bother him. However, this particular wolf — and all wolves in general, it seemed — got on his nerves immediately. It was because she was always like this, every time he saw her. Granted, he’d only seen her a grand total of three times that he remembered, including right now, but still. She had this way of making him feel very small, like she was being condescending. He stared at her with a deadpan, irritated expression written all over his face, not saying anything for a good ten seconds or so.

When it registered that she had mentioned the Magicka Competition, he sort of… blinked back into existence, and looked away from her, trying to seem aloof. In his “aloofness,” he noticed a little blue flower just barely big enough to have petals, growing between some rocks nearby, and casually hopped over to it. He lifted a paw, palm upward, in the flower’s direction, as if to somehow stretch it taller with his mind, and on cue, the flower suddenly blossomed, shot upwards, and its petals opened wide to catch the light of Polaris.

“Ah, yes,” said Tuck, grinning from ear-to-ear, though Kin-Kin couldn’t see it because his back was turned to her. Quickly wiping the smile from his face, he turned to look at her as calmly as possible. “The Magicka Competition. I made a bit of a fool of myself, didn’t I?” He chuckled, inwardly glowing with pride that his Magicka was much stronger now than it had been back then. “Well, I’ve been practicing, you see? I’m much better now. And I can do more than just make flowers grow… if you want to see…”

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."
This is Garmer.

tags: @Kin-Kin
notes:
words: 308

Kin-Kin's lips stretched out into a grin and her tail swished at her rear, clearly painting her amusement at their expression and the clear irritation that their expression showed. The wolf was about to speak again when they hopped off. Rude- she was about to say as much in her usual sneering tone. But she closed her jaws as she noticed that they seemed to have a purpose about them- did they want to show her something?

Ears perking up, Kin-Kin padded after them, her steps slow and calm.

"Hah! Pretty good of ya to admit. I can respect that. I couldn't do it," she laughed. "Well, I could do anything if I wanted to, but... I can even make my failures look good, so why bother admitting it?" out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement that wasn't coming from the marmoset, and her gaze flicked from them to the little flower to which they splayed their palm. She saw the little plant bloom, and then looked back to the small monkey.

"Hey, that ain't bad, squirt! ...well, compared to what I've seen from most other Gembounds..." she told them- a compliment coming from her, if a little backhanded as she still put them on a lower pdestal to herself. A smirk once more snuck up onto her face.

"Oh? well, you ain't the only one. Heh-heh..." she motioned towards the blue crystal wrapped around one of her forelimbs.

---

tagged: @Tukluk
ooc:
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

RATED M FOR SWEARING.

God, this wolf really was full o’ shit, wasn’t she? Talking about how she could never admit mistakes, but that she didn’t even need to because she could make her mistakes look good, too. Ugh! Tuck thought he might throw up at all her bullshit. He vaguely looked down at… whatever it was that she’d motioned towards on her leg, and found his lip curled in anger of its own accord. “Do you have any idea how fucking stupid you are?” he asked her, head whipping up to stare at her. Garmer mentally screeched in alarm at the words, trying to warn Tuck to back off from his course of action. The wolf was much bigger than him, and Garmer wasn’t sure how well she could hold her temper…

“Every time I meet you,” he continued, ignoring his Bonded’s warning, “every time… you have to say something mean, or talk about how much better you are than everyone else! What the fuck is your problem? There are other Gembounds in this Cave whose Magical abilities exceed yours! You are not a Goddess! You’re just a wolf! Now get it through your big, fat head!” At this point he was panting and staring at her with blazing orange eyes, daring her to do something.

In the back of his mind, though, he was praying fervently that he wasn’t about to die… Little did he realize that he, himself, was guilty of thinking that he was better than others.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."
This is Garmer.

tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: This'll be fun lmfao.
words: 230+

Kin-Kin was quite taken aback by their sudden change of demeanor. of course, she'd enraged them on their first meeting... but it had never been quite this dramatic. She'd annoyed many little ones, caused their jaws to drop in awe or just been quite the bully. but never had one's rage been so explosive... except, perhaps, for Imperia... but they were always like that.

She stared at them for a few short moments, waiting for them to finish... and then her lips curled into a grin once more. "My little bouncing friend," she began, settling back on her haunches calmly in an indication that she wasn't going to attack. "I know I'm not stupid." For some time that was all she said, that smile still lingering on her face in an effort only to goad them further.

No-one had ever told Kin-Kin that she was nothing before. that she was not what she thought she was or who she was meant to be. The words brought back an uncomfortable pang of nostalgia, of being small, runty, and scared... hiding under a blue fabric for protection from the world outside. But she'd proven to herself time and time again that she was special. She was Kin-Kin, magickal champion of all the caves, and she wasn't about to let this... this runt tell her otherwise. "I am Kin-Kin, magical champion of all the caves. I've earned that title by giving everything I've got and leaving nothing to spare. What have you earned, squirt? Have you ever cared that much about anything in your life? You're lucky I don't skewer you where you stand. It's been so many cycles but you'd still get stuck in between my teeth! Disgusting!"

Kin-Kin parted her jaws slightly, sliding her tongue over those pristine white fangs.

"Funny, a minute ago I actually saw something in you. But I can see now that you ain't worth my time. You haven't grown, not in anything." She narrowaed her eyes, turning up her nose at them.

---

tagged: @Tukluk
ooc: this got intense owo
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Tuck listened to the wolf’s words with teeth grit in anger, his jaws working from side to side. Garmer drew closer then, in an attempt to diffuse the situation, coming to stand right up next to the marmoset and looking at the wolf with calm, but wary, eyes. He made a sound in his throat — one that meant he was feeling annoyed by this whole thing, but there was a bit of a whine in there, too, like a dog bowing its head in submission. Whether the wolf understood this noise or not he couldn’t tell. He just hoped it would be enough… Although, she didn’t seem to want a fight. It was Tuck who was itching to go, not her.

Garmer turned back to his Bonded, and flared a wing out, blocking the marmoset’s view of the wolf. Come, he said. She is not worth it. Ignore her. Let’s go.

Tuck, at this point, was covered in all manner of thorns and spiny things that were poking from his flesh, outwards through his fur. He looked like some kind of living, spiky pinecone. He shoved at Garmer’s wing with a tiny paw until the kyte withdrew it, retracting it back against his side so Tuck could look at Kin-Kin again. “Listen to me, you annoying shit. One day I’m gonna knock you down a peg. You got it?”

With that, he turned around and began hopping away, still seething in anger. Garmer walked at his side, instead of flying. He turned his head to look back at the wolf for a moment, then faced forward again. He hoped this wouldn’t devolve into a full-on fight.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."
This is Garmer.

tags: @Kin-Kin
notes: I’m making Tuck’s exit vague so if Kin wants to say something to him or whatever, she can. Or this can just be the end of it. Whichever.
words: 278

[Exit?]

The wolf finally glanced up as she finally appeared to notice the leathery beast that had stood in the shadows as it stretched out a wing so that she could no-longer see the small, angry creature that seemed determined to embarrass itself. Her ears twitched back for a moment, and then perked forward once more as she appeared to recognize their intent. her grin, which had flickered out of view for a moment in curiosity, once more returned to her gilded features.

When they withdrew that large wing, Kin-Kin was greeted by the sight of them bristling with many tiny spines, like a little porcupine. The wolf snickered slightly at that. "Oh, I'll look forward to that," she said, and there wasn't the hint of a lie in her voice. Clearly the wolf thought that she'd never be beat, especially not at her own game.

She watched them hopping away in the opposite direction, still covered in spines.

They'd definitely see each other again someday.

And when that day came, she definitely wouldn't lose.

When the she-wolf was certain that they weren't gonna turn back and set their beast on her, Kin-Kin turned tail and walked away, plumed tail swishing in their direction.

-exit Kin-Kin-

---

words:
tagged: @Tukluk
ooc:
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...