A rumbling disrupts the cave. An area of the distant fungi-stars that speckle the ceiling of Polaris are distorted in a strange, mirror-like way and ripple like water. A surge of magic is tantalizing, urging any Gembound by instinct to come and see what kind of magical font could be spewing this feeling. The rippling grows distressed, the image of the ceiling twisting and turning unnaturally until a loud and thunderous CRAAACK! echoes through Polaris and its tunnels. Drops of neon-blue liquid fall from this new opening, glittering the entire way to the cave floor where they hit with a loud pop and sizzle before dissipating. The drops turn to unsteady dripping, and then even more unsteady bursts of spilling blue liquid as a large, blue crystal begins to emerge from the rapidly growing rift in the ceiling.

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Participants:
Xerxes, Error, Remedy, Amras, Morigarra, Eythan, Kallista, Carni, Tukluk, Xireidi, Fortune, Albeon, Felina, Cure, Aries, Aeroth, Kin-Kin, Astaroth

The rumblings could be heard in Canis, although they were distant and it took Xerxes much time to follow the sound. Being the designated guard of the Marrowbound meant he had to protect, and when there was a strange cave-rattling sound, he must check it out.

He left without telling Carni, but he assumed the King would know where he went. It could he felt through the ground, heard in the tunnels and in the caves, there was no escaping the rumbling inside Polaris.

The closer he got, the more magick he felt pulling him closer towarss ghe cave, begging him to come in. He entered, but a loud CRAAACK! forced his body to the cave floor for protection. After a moment, when it seemed safe, the lion rose and continued farther into the room. He could hesr a dripping ending with a sizzle, and when he located it, looked up to find a neon-blue liquid dripping from this new opening in the Polaris ceiling.

Suddenly, the drips began to change and get unsteady while large blue crystals form and grow in the expanse that continues to open. Xerxes was shocked and took many steps back, though was intrigued. What exactly was going on? Was something going to come out of that giant rift?

Itchy. Irritable. Stiff and sore and all-around grouchy. It hadn't been able to sleep properly in days. Its body was feeling the strain of the sickness that had indeed overflowed into its host's system. A small price to pay. If this is how its victims would feel...

A rumbling stirred the hybrid from its restless sleep by the spire. The extra magicka from its homestead was something it needed, if it were to fight off this illness, but keep it living in its guts.

The rumbling grew louder. Annoyed, expecting golems mulling too close again or that damn fae stirring trouble up, the hybrid stood and looked out onto Polaris cave proper. It saw nothing, until a drop of blue plasma dropped to the ground.

Looking up just in time to see the crystal begin to form, the hybrid was left in an uncharacteristic state of shock. The magicka flowing from the rippling aura of this thing was intense. It wouldn't approach though. Instead, the hybrid turned and began a careful climb up the spire's face until it stood a few meters up on a smooth, inclined ledge. That long tail kept it steady as it balanced, looking out at the spectacle from the safety of its own battery.

Hopeful that she'd run into Amras again, Remedy had chosen Polaris as her hunting grounds yet again. Even though Eridanus had healed enough to support her and Cure's appetites again, and was easier to hunt in, she preferred the easy space of Polaris' wide expanse. Here, she could hunt from the air. Not to mention the chance of running into a new friend again. Maybe learning some more new tricks.

She'd been circling the air when the hum of magic began, and the rumbling soon with it. Her circles widened away from the it, despite the vibrating pull in her very bones to get closer. She was about to opt for a nearby ledge when...

Xerxes caught her eye. Well, damn, the dumb lion was still alive!

"Hey, rockhead!" She called down, good-naturedly, as she came to land some feet from him. Cure, guess who I found. I'll give you a hint. We're in Polaris and he's probably gonna headbutt some rocks while we're here. She sent the message through her link to her twin and settled in as if greeting an old friend- which she hoped, Xerxes still counted her as, despite their prior tensions and the whole Cure thing.

"I figure you'd died or something. Glad to see you breathing, though." She looked up at the ceiling again. "So what the fuck do you think is going on up there?"

@Cure @Xerxes

Amras Once more Amras was sitting on a rock in the middle of the shallows, not actively practicing this time but just letting his mind rest as the waters flowed by. The magic of this room was incredible, overwhelming. Its power seemed to almost make casting spells a completely different beast, more powerful but harder to control. With an ebb and flow he had to always be on his toes to keep any given attempt from blowing up in his face. A wave of magic hit him, more powerful than any he had witnessed before. The gryphon tried to ignore it at first, but as the soft fur and down feathers covering his body began to stand on edge it became impossible to passively tolerate. CRAAACK! The great noise shook Amras from any tranquility he might have still been holding onto and in a second he was on four feet and running toward shore. This was not the work of the spire, but something completely different. A rift was forming in the ceiling ahead, dripping a blue brighter than even his own feathers. By the winds... what is that thing? Wings unfurled as soon as the gryphon hit solid ground and with a short running start he took to the air, careful not to get too close to the dripping liquid. A gathering of gems was forming, with one or two recognizable faces among them. Hoping one might have better information that he had Amras swooped down and skidded to a landing near them, folding his wings back immediately and standing to his full two-legged height. "What's going on over here?" he asked the group in a tone much less composed than he usually kept. Pouch 1: Black talc stones x7 (medium) Pouch 2: Charcoal dust 50 in3 Pouch 3: Quartz sphere x1 (large, soft glow) Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium) Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" tags: @Remedy @Xerxes notes: None

Having distanced himself from his current caretaker, the babe had been wandering in Polaris for a while - finding things to poke at, study, or follow around. One such thing was the strange bipedal griffon, Amras. He was skeptical of the strange beast but born with an intrinsic acumen in regards to danger, so he followed after it. At some point in his wanderings Morigarra got off track again, and he ended up following a different trail until he spotted the familiar face of Xerxes; at about this time, the cave gave a terrible rumble, and the ceiling seemed to crack and crumble. Mori ducked and bolted towards the familiar beast, crowding close and protecting himself from whatever was coming by making Xerxes an effective meat-shield. Mori did not see the erupting crystal, as he was hunkered quite close.

Today was proving to be, objectively, the third worst day in his life—the second being that which he broke his pelvis and the first being the fall. Time blurred together as Eythan turned the core upside down in his mad search for the cassowary chick. He had nearly given up hope that the little lump had stayed in Polaris when the damn cave itself started giving birth to Spire Jr. The initial quake had stirred up quite a crowd, gembound already appearing to witness it.

Approaching, he found the familiar face of Xerxes. Nodding briefly at him, Eythan fell into place at the barbary lion's side. "Carni's going to have a fit when he hears about this, whatever it is." Glancing down at his paws, he happened to notice a runaway lump and actually hooted in surprise. "Holy shit, Mori. I thought you died."

Kallista had walked away from the place where she had met Li for the second time, and heard a crack. It wasn't until then that she noticed the surge of magic coursing throughout the area. Looking up, she saw drops of blue drip unsteadily onto the ground, and she frowned. What was that? Crystals were also beginning to form, and she felt a shiver down her spine. What was going on here?

Looking around, she noticed others approaching as well. They were all unfamiliar, and she felt the fur along her spine bristle. She forced it flat, however, deciding to get rid of her paranoia, at least for now. She could still feel the burns on her face, and of course there was the eye socket from her missing eye, but she ignored it the self-conscious feelings she normally had from it. For now, those could wait. There was something more important going on.

She looked around, hoping to find someone who at least looked friendly. There were quite a few weird looking gembounds, some of them surely hybrids. She ignored the hybrids, not wanting to approach one so soon after her own recent encounter with one. After a time to observing each gembound, she decided to just stick to her own self. Many looked rather intimidating, especially considering her own small size. She looked back up at the crystals growing and the blue liquid dripping, trying to make sense of it.

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ooc:
muse: surprisingly a lot? i literally just finished a 30-some thread w/ her and another character of mine,,,

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

A king's duty was to his kingdom. Now that it had begun to spring to life, he couldn't go exploring anymore.

So when Eythan had offered to take his unexpected ward out for an adventure, he'd trusted his brother to do so responsibly. Of course he did.

So when they were late returning home, and the caves began to shake, he had to remind himself that it couldn't possibly have anything to do with his family.

Coincidence.

"Coincidence my tail feathers, Eythan Vita!" He snapped, furious, as he came to land beside the gathering group, immediately waving a wing over his offspring protectively. "What's going on?" He spotted Remedy on the other side of Xerxes and for a moment he wondered if she, too, would be coming home. Briefly the two held a stare, but Remedy turned away, using the ceiling as an excuse. He turned blue eyes towards it too.

"Polaris never ceases to amaze..."

OOC: Here, everyone have a shit Tuck post.

Tuck came in long after a bunch of other Gembounds had filtered into Polaris. He was still Garmer-less, and for the first time in a long time, being around this many Gembounds made him feel small and helpless. Still, this loud rumbling that had come from Polaris drew him forward, especially when he started seeing weird blue stuff falling from the ceiling, and then crystals popping up everywhere! He hopped forward, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself, but still wanting to know why Polaris was seemingly destroying itself or… recreating itself. He had the vague sense that he could possibly die coming here, something he hadn’t felt for a long time, but he made himself push onwards.

A few Gembounds here seemed to know each other, but Tuck ignored them, focused only on whatever was happening with the blue stuff. He hopped between and around legs and creatures, moving ever-forward.