Envy narrowed their eyes almost to slits as they tried to understand Oliver's reasoning. "It'd be annoying until I proved them wrong," they said, with a small lash of their tail. "When I say things about other people, it's usually true. Besides, it doesn't affect me, so why should I care?"

They considered their offer for a moment, and then nodded, though they still had their doubts. If Envy couldn't find her, then surely this one would find it pretty hard to. But then again... they seemed older, and they were a lot bigger. Perhaps that would help? They shrugged. "...Sure, I'll sit on you." the little creature examined Oliver's body to try and find a way up onto their shoulders, which would no doubt give them the most prime view. "I can show you the way. It's pretty far... but that's probably just because of my... legs."

They paused to consider all of their questions, eventually shaking their head. "No, I've never left this room," they said crossly. "There's definitely a stream. I've seen it. I also threw up in it. But Amras found it."

Although said stream was more like a vast river to Envy, returning would reveal it to be little more than a trickle to Oliver.

"Mamma's brown. Really really light brown. Looks white until you put light on her."

---

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

tags: @Oliver
notes: here

Oliver helpfully crouched further down to the ground, spreading the feathers of one wing-arm down like a ladder, the moment he saw Envy looking over him for what he assumed was a way up. He remained gentle and amiable even as he listened, and found himself a little saddened by the weasel's lack of empathy.

"Everyone has feelings," he said in his simple, quiet way. "You should try to treat others how you'd want to be treated. Can you--do the magic again? You could do the magic and see what it feels like, if you don't understand. Try to-... be mean while feeling what it does? Is that how it works?"

He peered over at her, pale blue eyes blinking slowly, his entire demeanor and expression nothing but peaceful and kind. He kept the wing-arm extended down, hoping he could help this weasel.

Light brown, almost white. Big cat, and spots, and near some water--in this cave? He'd never seen any water whatsoever in Orion; he'd always needed to head elsewhere to find something to drink, whenever he passed through.

Also, Envy had apparently thrown up in the stream. Oliver considered this information, wondering if it were--at all important to the search, a bit bewildered; but he couldn't figure out how it might help find Envy's mother. Oliver filed the fact away in his mind, anyway, just... in case.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Envy

"Why should I?" Envy shot back. "No matter how bad they feel it's always gonna be better than how I do. Maybe they should try feeling how I feel, but that would involve stealing my magic!" At the mention of trying to cast the spell again, Envy again felt that desperate yearning for the perpetual state of calm that Oliver's voice implied... but also the terror of returning to their own sad, jealous little brain.

As the wing was offered to them, Envy spent only a moment longer preparing their plan of action. They nudged the larger glowing stone back towards Oliver with the tip of their blunt snout and grabbed the smaller one in their pointed little fangs, its feeling smooth and satisfyingly non-toxic against their tongue. Like a tiny dog with a ball they loped over to the hybrid's wing, scrambled up onto it and hurried to a spot in between their shoulderblades, small claws vying for grip on their long, black feathers and fur.

When they were there and settled, Envy spent a long moment examining the world around, how tiny all the rocks and pebbles looked from up here. How they wished that someday they could be this big.

"I'm ready!" they trilled around the stone they held.

---

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

tags: @Oliver
notes: here

"So you don't hurt people around you," Oliver said gently, waiting. As the weasel scrambled up his wing-arm and onto his shoulderblades, he continued. "Because it's not nice. What do you mean others will always feel better than you? Won't you be happy after you find your mom?" He was still cluelessly gentle in his question.

He leaned down, taking his own glowstone--careful not to move too sharply, lest Envy lose their grip--and plucked the stone up with one bird-taloned foot. This he clutched cautiously, and then leaned his muzzle down, transferring it to his jaws.

He held the stone in the end of his jaw, leaning it forward to shine some dim light ahead of them. The golden-white glow did not illuminate very far, though, and what it did light up was an eerie pool of dim light that bobbed and flickered with his every step.

Slowly, he started forward, walking cautiously once more so as not to drop his passenger. Quiet, speaking around the stone, he asked-- "Ith thith the right way?"

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Envy

"But it won't affect me," Envy said, blinking curiously. They thought back to their brief meeting with Khloros once again, and remembered the cryptic warnings they'd given, but they seemed unrelated. Envy snorted. "No-one can ever feel as bad as I do even if I do hurt them. always sad and always worse off than everyone else."

Envy's voice was whining pitiably, and they took a long time to consider the next question, their paws burying themselves in the hybrid's soft mane. They thought wistfully back to the feelings the link with Oliver had imparted, and realized that they'd never felt anything that good. Envy was jolted back into awareness as the hybrid began to move, digging small claws into their fur as they held on. The hybrid's walking speed alone felt crazy fast to the tiny weasel, even the tiniest motion causing their body to sway. "Well... maybe I'll feel a little better, but it'll never be as good as what you feel." Envy finally decided that they wanted that feeling again. But that'd be the last time. The contentment was just... so much better...

Envy closed their eyes and focused, burying their muzzle in Oliver's neck fur. With a pleasant ripple of magic causing their fur to stand on end, Envy felt all their sadness and regret and woes fade away, to be replaced by the hybrid's gentle demeanor. Envy felt their calm like an ocean lulling them almost to sleep, the blissful lack of poison, the hunger and thirst all gone.

And then, as before, Envy felt as though they were falling, tumbling, ripped away from the blissful touch of Oliver's emotions when they'd barely had enough. They felt the warmth fade into emptiness, the faintest twinge of bitterness creeping back into their heart. They felt the ache in their belly as though it belonged to someone else. A groan formed in Envy's chest; the return felt even worse this time, but they were desperately hungry for more.

The little one heaved a deep sigh, gaze drifting towards Oliver again as the hybrid spoke.

Blinking slowly, Envy slowly raised a paw towards a narrow side-street, full of crumbled stones. "Go up there..." they said hesitantly, as they struggled to recognize their surroundings from such a height. "Then keep going..."

---

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

tags: @Oliver
notes: here

Oliver dutifully plodded along in the direction that Envy pointed out, but frowned at the little one's words. He paused to carefully transfer the glow-stone from his teeth to one taloned foot so that he could speak more clearly, hobbling a little as a result as he walked and talked.

"Just because hurting other people doesn't hurt you doesn't make it okay," he said softly. "Pain is bad and it's not okay to hurt people and be mean." Still, despite Envy's complete lack of empathy, in his eyes--ironic, given the magic they were (unbeknownst to him) again using, he continued onward.

"If you're sad-... Stop being sad," he offered, quietly "helpful" as they moved along. He saw the side-"street" that they pointed out, and wondered vaguely if this were some sort of trap.

Maybe a bigger, meaner thing was waiting in the darkness, there, to kill him. And eat him. Hopefully not. The weasel seemed sad, and he felt bad, and despite its mean-ness, he still wanted to help it find its mother.

Carefully he wound his way into the crumbling and narrow darkness, picking his way along the loose stones and pausing now and again to lift his glow-stone to further illuminate the path ahead. After awhile he spoke, quiet, once more.

"Is it much farther?" he asked.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Envy

Envy bristled, hating the way they spoke, no matter how calm and calculated. With the feeling slowly trickling back in, their eyes began to bubble with tears, quietly sniffling again into Oliver's fur. They felt as though they were being told off, but Envy felt that their actions were entirely justified, no matter how misguided. "What if they hurt me first?" Envy asked.

The young one seemed mildly offended by the advice that they offered. "That's not how it works!" they yelled, almost dropping their pebble, only to grasp it securely again between their front paws. "Why don't you just turn into my mamma rather than finding her?" Envy's point was clear enough, but they felt the need to express it anyway.

Envy fell silent for a while, sniffling, watching the world passing slowly by. They entered the alleyway, and from here, Envy was sure that a straight path would bring them to the stream if they kept going. They couldn't hear the water trickling, but it couldn't be too far. Right?

Envy nibbled at their lip. They had wandered quite far since they'd last been there. Or perhaps they were going the wrong way? Everything looked so different from up here...

"I think so. Just go faster," Envy said after a time, looking around and listening again. Seeing nothing familiar, Envy raised their head high, sucked in their breath and yelled. "Mamma!"

---

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

tags: @Aaliyah @Oliver
notes: here

Oliver frowned as he walked, shaking his head a little. This weasel was going to be a problem for others, once it grew up, and if weasels got really big, maybe even dangerous. Its nasty behavior was a really bad thing. Still, he spoke gently, though his words came a little more pointed--after they had called for their mother, of course.

"If they hurt you first, you can teach them not to be mean, or just leave them so they don't hurt you anymore. If you're mean to other people they'll leave you or hurt you second. And probably more because you're small. People don't like it when other people are mean to them. Most people would have left you behind by now, because you're mean," Oliver added more pointedly. "Or eaten you." It did not really occur to him that Envy might just be too young, too inexperienced, to really comprehend empathy.

Envy's other statement, though--what did they mean? Oliver was confused, and stated simply,
"I can't be your mother. I'm a boy and I don't have any babies, anyway." This made perfect sense to him. He had no idea how reproduction actually worked, but he knew he had a mother--and she was female--and a father, who was male. He couldn't be a mother--right? "Anyway, your real mom probably misses you."

Oliver kept picking his way up the loose stones in silence for a moment, using the stone to light the way. Finally he paused, tufted ears picking up the faintest trickle of water from somewhere ahead. He listened, for a moment, and then stepped a few paces forward, until his golden-white glowing stone, still clutched in his talons, showed a shimmering reflection in a small stream just ahead. Beyond this, the stone cliffs stretched high.

"Is this the place?" he asked.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

Li had lost Envy. She had gotten up to go hunting at one point, and when she returned, she couldn't find the little weasel. Days had passed since then. With every moment that passed that she couldn't find them, she just grew more and more panicky. Where were they? She had been searching for so long...

So when she heard a loudly exclaimed "Mamma!" she immediately looked up. She had been hanging around the stream, hoping Envy could find their way back. When she looked, she saw...some kind of hybrid. Eyes raking over them for a moment, she soon saw Envy atop the hybrid's head. "Envy!" She rushed toward them, ignoring the hybrid in favor of reuniting with the tiny creature. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"

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

tags: @Envy @Oliver
notes: here

Envy had sucked in a breath to give their predictably stubborn reply, only to find their breath cut short as they picked out a pale form in the dark past their escort's furry neck. All thoughts of retort were suddenly lost as they scrambled their way up towards Oliver's head, clambering up and over and pushing their pointed ears aside with gusto, provided they hadn't been shaken off. "MAMMA!" Envy trilled excitedly, their skinny form shaking with excitement as they watched the beloved feline form hurrying closer. "Mamma! I'm here, Mamma!"

Aaliyah's question caused them to stir in confusion; had their mamma been here the entire time? That couldn't possibly be right! They'd been back once or twice, to sleep mostly. And to eat, before they'd stopped completely. "I've done so many things, mamma! I've been so far! B-but I've been back here to look for you, and sleep!" They puffed out their chest excitedly, standing on their hindpaws as they reached desperately for the large cat. When they stretched, every bone seemed to stand out along their tiny form. "I don't need to eat any more, mamma! Isn't that good? Don't I look strong? Where've you been, Mamma?!" at the last, their excitement seemed to subside into a break of something resembling anger, but their joy was simply too great to be completely overcome.

Aaliyah leaned in close, and without much of a concern for Aaliyah's personal space or Oliver's face, they made an effort to leap dramatically the few inches from one hybrid's face onto the other. But it seemed like even those few inches were simply too much for the tiny weasel, and the moment they uncurled their body, they went tumbling down from Oliver, a shrill squeal escaping them.

---

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

tags: @Oliver @Aaliyah
notes: here