It was dark again.

Or maybe it was never light? Xin didn't know. All he knew was the darkness. All he knew was the pain in his stomach and throat. He hadn't eaten anything in...a long time. He also hadn't had anything to drink in a long time. He really only had the absolute bare minimum to survive, but even now he wasn't sure it was worth it. He'd lost track of Vivi cycles and cycles ago, and there was hardly a point to staying alive. He couldn't speak, he was mute. He'd never be able to speak. He'd never be able to properly have a conversation. Sure, he could use magic. That had worked. But it also made him really tired and just wasn't practical. It wasn't worth it to use that.

He had no idea where he was. Last he knew, he was in Polaris. He was only partially aware of where he was. He didn't think he was in Polaris anymore. A tunnel, perhaps? The path was well worn. He moved slowly. He'd eaten fairly recently, he thought, and had more energy than normal. Even so, he couldn't muster the motivation to move quickly.

---

"Hear my words in your mind"
"It's all in my head"

tags: @Winter
notes: here

Winter slid silently across the stone floor, her tongue occasionally flickering out to taste the air. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she know what she was going to do. She had hatched and...now what? Hunt? No, she was still digesting the fluid from her egg, however unpleasant it was. Drink? Well, sure, but it wasn't really a primary need at the moment and water wasn't too hard to find in the caves, especially for something as small as her. So then what? What was the point? What could she do?

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off, however, as her senses picked up on something just ahead. It was another animal, definitely bigger then her, and moving slowly. It was too big to be prey but definitely large enough to be a predator.

What was the best choice of action? It was dark, so it probably couldn't see her, but it may be able to hear her. She wasn't perfectly silent after all, it was hard avoiding every pebble. She could turn around, but then she would just have wasted time and she didn't see a point in going back to Polaris. No, she wanted to go forward.

But this creature also interested her. She hadn't met many animals yet since her hatching and she wanted to see more. Besides, it was walking slow and seemed pained. She couldn't help the curiosity. So she carefully slid forward, trying to be as silent as possible, her senses fixed on the animal in front of her.

@Xin

Xin didn't notice the white cobra. He didn't really notice anything. He may have seen a flash of white, but even if he did he wouldn't have paid attention. It was dark, he could barely see anything. He was just focused on putting one step in front of the other, then the other. Slowly walking...until he tripped on a pebble and fell with a soundless grunt. He couldn't even make a noise when he fell.

He lay there on the ground, cheek pressed against the cold floor, and didn't bother moving. He could just lay here until he died. This was fine. Everything was fine. Faintly, he could maybe hear a few pebbles moving, disturbed by something, but he paid them no mind. His eyes slid shut, and while he wasn't sleeping, he wasn't paying much attention to the world either.

---

"Hear my words in your mind"
"It's all in my head"

tags: @Winter
notes: here

Winter heard the animal fall and sped up. She quickly abandoned caution when she realized it wasn't moving anymore. Within a few moment, she was right by its side. She looked at it. She had no idea what it was called, but it was pretty cute. It reminded her of a really large fluffy mouse that wasn't prey. It's eyes were closed and it's breathing was faint. Winter wondering if it was dying.

Her instincts screaming for her to stop, Winter carefully lowered her head close and looked at its face. Her tongue flicked out and carefully brushed its fur. She could have laughed at how much it tickled. Carefully, slowly, she moved her head and bumped her nose against its cheek, wondering if it could move at all.

@Xin

Xin still lay against the floor, breath evening out as he slowly fell asleep. He was jerked awake, however, when something brushed against his fur. He frowned, and slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with a long, white...noodle? A noodle without legs, it seemed. As far as he could tell, anyway. It was dark, so dark. As the noodle bumped its nose against his cheek, he grunted. What was this noodle doing here? Where had it come from?

He watched it for some time, eyes bleary and he wanted very much to go back to sleep. To not wake up. But he couldn't do that. As far as he could tell, this noodle was young. Newly hatched, if he had to guess. Did he have to entertain the thing? He couldn't do that. He couldn't even entertain himself. He couldn't even speak!

---

"Hear my words in your mind"
"It's all in my head"

tags: @Winter
notes: here

Winter was relieved when he moved and opened her eyes and was thankful that he didn't become scared by her appearance. However, it didn't change that he wasn't responding or giving any indication that he was okay or that he cared.
She didn't really know what to do, she had never been in this situation before.
Heck, she hadn't really been in any situations before.

She wanted to help. But how? She had no idea what was this creature's problem,
nor did she have any skills that could probably fix it. Besides, he wasn't talking.
Maybe if she asked?

She leaned in again and pushed against his jaw to get his attention,
her tongue flicking out to sense if he was. "What's wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?"

@Xin

Xin knew the white noodle clearly didn't know what to do. But he still couldn't really do anything about it. Faintly, he could recall using a spell to talk to Vivi, but he didn't know if he had the strength for it now. He watched her for a bit more until she nudged him, pushing against his jaw. He flicked his long tail. Alright, better try then.

He focused, putting together a sentence, and sent it. He didn't know if it worked. Only one way to find out. "Nothing is wrong. I'm fine. Just....hungry."

---

"Hear the words in your mind"
"It's all in my head"

tags: @Winter
notes: here

Winter
In every heart
there is a room
a sanctuary safe and strong


Winter flinched when she heard a voice spring into her mind. Although it was garbled and a bit broken, she did manage to catch the word 'hungry'. Was that the thing in front of her talking? If so, that would easily explain what was wrong with it. If it was starving, she might be able to find it some food. "Wait here. I'll be right back." She turned and slithered away, her tongue flicking out trying to pick up the scent of prey.

It didn't take long for her to catch the trail of a mouse, which she found a few moments later. If was distracted, nibbling on a seed. Carefully, she softly slid her body closer and pulled back her head preparing to strike. Once she was ready, she shot from her hiding place and struck the mouth on point. The rodent squealed as her fangs sunk into its body. She was careful to keep the venom from running into the rodents body, however, since she didn't want to poison the creature she was feeding it to. Instead, she had aimed for its neck and, after a little biting, she punctured its throat and it died a moment later.

She turned back and made her way back to the hungry gembound and dropped the mouse in front of it. "I didn't know if you eat meat or not, but I caught you a mouse. Don't worry, I bit it dry so it's safe to eat." She leaned down and nudged the mouse forward so that it was in front of the animal's jaws, hoping that it had the strength to eat it.


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

tags: @Xin
notes:

Xin flicked an ear. "I'm not going anywhere." He waited for her return, looking around, though he still couldn't really see anything. He just waited for the noodle's return.

She wasn't gone for long, and soon came back with a mouse. Immediately, his mouth began to water. He glanced at the noodle as it spoke before beginning to sink his teeth into the mouse. The taste exploded in his mouth and before he knew it, the mouse was gone. He licked around his lips, satisfied for once. He glanced back at the white noodle and blinked. "Thank you."

---

"Hear the words in your mind"
"It's all in my head"

tags: @Winter
notes: here

Winter smiled at the gembound as he tore into the mouse. She was happy that he was able to eat it. It would have been awkward of he was a plant eater or something else. She didn't know how good she was at collecting edible plants. "You're welcome, it was no big deal. Do you want me to fetch you another one?"

Winter suddenly realized that she didn't know the creature's name. Nor did she know what he was. She felt kind of awkward asking, but she thought that there was no harm in it. "By the way, I don't think I know your name.
And, um, what are you?"

When I speak.

When I think.

@Xin