all welcome! this gross nerd finally sees the daylight after spending many years in his basement

It had been dark for a long time.

He had slept for a long time.

Bartos had lost track of the days a long time ago. Once, in his youth, he was foolish enough to believe he could monitor them. That he could dose himself with personal treatments, enough each day, to coax the darkness, the paranoia, the hatred and everything else foul from his mind. If he committed enough time to his research, he could keep himself reasonably sane and abate thoughts of his loved ones from consuming him. That if he found enough sleep, he would distract himself with dreams instead. But gradually, the time he spent awake began to ebb into time he spent sleeping. He spent long periods sedentary, simply gazing out of his den and observing the slow, idle affairs of the Gembounds in the cave, forgetting what he had set out to do in the first place. Forgetting his attempts at sanity. Forgetting his work.

A part of him hoped that if he slept long enough, he would retreat into his chrysalis like he had seen so many others do before. But it never happened.

That day, the cat stirred from another dream. He begrudgingly woke himself, blinking blearily into the dim lights with a groan rumbling in his throat. His leg ached. But it always ached. He stretched his long body and slowly lifted himself from the ground. The unexpected movement roused a tired, malodorous smell to waft from the layers of matted fur on his stomach.

How long had it been since he washed himself?

He lost track.

Bartos grimaced, pushing his glasses onto his nose with his paw. Perhaps a visit to the waterfall would do him good. But where was his shadow? The cat flicked his ears, peering around for a sign of the skinless beast, hoping her darkness would shield him from the cave's prying eyes. But he couldn't see her. He licked his lips and swallowed; his throat felt dry. He wasn't sure how long he would want to wait for her. But at the same time... did he really want to expose himself?

Wary, the cat slumped onto his haunches and frowned.

It came that time again when Winter felt the urge the hunt, when the rare hunger growled at her stomach and she had to leave Kielo to grave my themselves so that she could make a catch on her own. There were long stretches of time between her hunts so it was a thankfully rare occasion that she had to leave Kielo alone. However, it still hurt, leaving them behind even for a little while. So she slid unhappily across the floor of Pisces, chilled by the moist, cold air. She wanted to make this quick. She wasn't a fan of this room.

But then her constantly flicking tongue picked up a different smell. It smelled like a living thing, but not small at all and quite old and dusty, as if it hadn't moved for a very long time. She stopped the hunt, wondering if she should investigate. Would Kielo worry about her if she was gone too long? Maybe not, they knew that she could handle herself. But after the fight, they might get worried.

But this was worth checking out. At least she had that feeling.

She turned towards the smell and began to make her way close. A very disgusting stench began to fill her mouth as she approached, as if this creature had not been cleaned in a very very long time. She noticed the shadow of a creature against the stone and paused, suddenly nervous about approaching. What if it was dangerous? What if it didn't want her close?

She took a deep breath and called out quietly, "Hello? Is there someone there?"


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Bartos
Notes:

It wasn't often that he came to this cave--generally it was only for water, to wash a wound or to get a mouthful of clear and icy water. It was always refreshing, always pleasant, and he loved to sometimes sit and listen to the falls.

This time, however, he caught a scent: a rather rank one, rancid. If it wasn't illness, it was something close, and the hybrid turned, gently sniffing toward it. He tilted his head, tufted ears flicking to and fro, and changed course: heading instead toward the smell, head kept low, pale blue eyes wide with concern.

What if it's someone hurt? Someone sick? He knew there'd been illness going around, lately, but he wasn't sure how prevalent it was--or what it might smell like. Closer to, he extended his senses out, seeking the odor's source with his scent, his hearing--and his magicka. The familiar white-buzz of bacteria, like vision but in his mind, prickled at him. There--there was someone there.

At least--he thought there was.

"Hello?" he called out into the darkness, voice soft and gentle, touched with an almost naive, and obvious, worry. "Is--someone there? Are you okay?"

He turned toward the similar call from off to one side, blinking. So he wasn't the only one who'd noticed. Shy, he flicked his ears back, edging a little away--as if afraid that he might be intruding.

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

It was tempting to whisper her name into the air. To see if she would form out of the shadows, a beast dripping from darkness to land as a puddle by his feet. She could shield him. She could keep him safe under the cover of darkness while he made his trip to the lagoon. But with a sniff, he began to reconsider: a foul smell in the air promised that something had gone awry beyond his notice. He might have smelt it earlier, had he not been so sheltered in a den that stunk of only him.

Or he could just suck it up and go back to sleep. The thought was rather alluring...

Mid-yawn, a voice slithered into the air. Bartos closed his teeth and wrinkled his nose, whiskers twitching as he sensed movement - a slender body slicing the stillness. Cobalt eyes narrowed into the dim light. The cat lowered himself into a cautious crouch, peering through the grassy knolls that lifted up from the rocky maw of his den.

Then came another voice, louder. Two curious souls. What ever had he done to earn the attention of such insipid monsters? If merely waking was all it took, then certainly Bartos would have no greater excuse to turn right back into his den and go back to sleep.

He stepped backward into the sheath of darkness. His heart was a steady thrum in his ears, his eyes darting. Maybe if he remained still and absolutely silent, they would pass. He didn't want to risk retreating on the off chance that they would invade his den with their curiosity.

But, man. Was he thirsty. He was really feeling it now.

Winter saw the shadow of the creature within shift just a little bit and she flinched, hoping that she had not scared it. Then again, she was the one probably invading its personal space. Why was she doing this again? Just to sate her curiosity?

She moved herself back a little bit, noticing now the other creature that was arriving. A strange wolf and bird thing that looked just as worried as her. She decided that she would join this thing instead of intruding some random creature's cave.

She turned and slid towards Oliver cautiously, occasionally glancing at the shadow of the cat. "Hi," she greeted, quietly. "D-do you smell that too? I wonder if they're okay..."

She doubted that they were. Anything that smelled quite that horrible was probably either injured or very sick. She turned back to the shadow, wondering how she would approach this now. She didn't want to intrude or scare, but she did want to make sure that they were okay.

"Hello, are you okay in there? I-I just wanted to make sure that you weren't sick or anything. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." She dearly hoped that she wouldn't. After what had happened just the week before, she was still terrified of herself. She didn't want this creature to give her any reason to pull out her fangs.


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Oliver
Notes:

The hybrid blinked gently at Winter's approach. He edged closer to her, unafraid and unthreatening both, his voice quietly tentative.

"I smell it. I don't know, maybe it's--just a rat? But it seems a little bigger than-... Well, the rats around here, anyway," he said uncertaintly. He glanced around. The rats in Cetus might be huge, but the ones here weren't, as far as he remembered, quite that big. And this thing hadn't seemed quite rat-shaped, anyway.

When the snake called out, Oliver remained quiet. He offered Winter a reassuring wag of his tail--or tried to; all he really managed was a quiet rustling of the feathers that fanned from his hind end.

Close enough.

He decided to add his voice to hers, to add his reassurance to her own. "I'm-... Friendly, too, I don't want to hurt anyone? Are you okay? You smell sick. I might be able to help?" His brow furrowed with concern. He considered himself, first and foremost, a helper--a mender, a healer, a shoulder to lean on. Whatever was required, really. And tact didn't even strike him--he didn't bother to rephrase "you smell sick" in a way that might not be seen as offensive. He was matter-of-fact about it, though his voice was both worried and kind.

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

@Bartos

Tension wove through every fiber of his hide. His spine tightened, his tail hovering out behind him, its tip slightly crooked with unease. He watched the entrance of his den carefully and eventually saw a large, black form come into view. For a moment, his heart quivered with relief, attributing the darkness to the fetid composure of his ally - but it wasn't her. No, this creature was dense, feathery, and smelled warm. Bartos noticed the slick, white reptile at his paws as well.

A dog and a snake.

Instinctively, he took one more step back into his den as he listened to them speak among themselves, speculating as to what kind of monster was lying within the den hidden in the warrens. A rat, they suggested. Bartos fought back a scoff. It wasn't until the snake spoke that he finally bristled and drew his lips back with a hiss, a primal response, a wordless warning to keep their distance from him. They both cooed and promised they wouldn't hurt him, wanting to know if he was okay, if they could help him, if they could fix him.

Was this what he'd been reduced to? A charity case for bleeding-hearted children? Where was his shadow, declaring the importance of the scientist ferreted away in his nest? Where were the hybrids that shared his blood, who boasted what little love he could still muster? Where was Astraea?

Bartos leered at them.

"Wh-" he began, then coughed, realizing the sandpaper roughness of his disused throat. A frustrated growl edged from his chest. "What makes you think I need help? Go spend your sympathies on somebody else, pests."

The thoughts in his head manifested easily into a voice that sounded so unlike his own. When had he become so mean, so ill-tempered? Bartos grumbled, giving his pelt a brief shake in an attempt to dispel his own tension before settling back into a crouch. The sooner these two left, the better. But he wasn't so sure he'd be able to make the trip to the lagoon on his own, now. Especially not with nosy little gemlings getting up in his business.

@Winter

Note: Madison knows that Oliver and Winter aren't gemlings, but Bartos just assumes Gembounds he's never met before are all dumb babies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ohhh, it is so cold here.

Pippy mustered up some bravery to travel further than usual, managing to go beyond Orion's borders, these other caves beckoning her. Although she took her time, monitoring every nook and cranny to ensure nothing who may have malicious intentions will jump out. One could do so many horrifying things to her; all these potential possibilities crowd into her mind like her mind became a forest; a forest containing so many scary things if Pippy doesn't go home right now. It becomes too much for her, and so she tries her best to shake them all out her mind and keeps on going.

Pippy soon arrives at some new place, which had so much water it was beckoning for her to go over and drink it without a care. It was so freezing in here too, her wings were like icebergs, so cold and so numb it was a challenge to move them.

A few steps in when she could get some feeling in her wings again, her nose instantly reported to her brain on this new overwhelming scent which surged towards her like a sneeze, and it wasn't a pleasant one, like it was a substantially invisible cloud washing over this whole room it made Pippy a little sick. Pippy got compelled to find out what was causing it.

Tracking it wasn't fun since she had to find a scent trail so she couldn't block this smell out but she tries her best not to let it sway her, determined to find a source.

Next, though her ears also reported to her brain new sounds, one was a voice which Pippy has memories of, and she got so happy from the possibility if it is who she believes it is, she hoped it is Oliver and not a stranger.

Now following sounds instead she found two Gembounds together one which to her joy was Oliver, reencountering them made Pippy so giddy she dashed a little over to where they and this other Gembound are around.

"Oliverrrrr!" she called out in such an excited child-like voice despite how she is physically a child no more despite what her tiny size suggests. her wings were windmilling as she tried to stop herself from falling over from going too fast.

Mercurius shook with the chill of Tunnel M, cycles of cold far too long and fluctuating viciously. He wasn't steady on his feet, shoulders weighed down by his swift departure from the magicka contest. Darkness crept in on the vestiges of his mind. Woes of age-old corruption coming to the front of his mind once more. Each heavy footstep dispelled the light dusting of snow upon the pass's floor, yet welcomed more worries, heady with the scent of nostalgia and worry---he was not the only one with the unconscious will of darkness. With greater magical influence, a greater lack of control formed.

He sighed, sharply inhaling the cold, wet muskiness of Pisces. As his paws ached against the monotonously frigid floor, he contemplated just turning around and meandering to a warmer place. Yet, he had to go to a place where Faelan would find him, wherever he had gone. The bone pit whispered slyly, teeming with ancient lore and stories to be spun from them. So, that would be his destination. Yet, waterfalls and slick grey stone must be traversed first. Unknowingly, so must old memories.

A voice echoed across the cavern, stilling his lumbering pace. It was achingly familiar. Part of one of many memoirs his life held, cracked and fragmented. Heavy paws fell upon the stone as he ran, heart full and hopeful, mind racing for the source. There were a few occasions where he nearly slipped, uncertain of the slickness of stone. Through the sheer force of will, he didn't slip and fall flat on his face. However, he nearly did upon seeing who found a way into deeper memorabilia.

"B-Bar... Bartos?" Mercurius murmured, ignoring the strangers. The cat before him was unmistakable, from the jagged blue gem ebedded into his chest to the round lenses on the bridge of his nose. "You're still here..."

@Bartos

She was a little reassured by the dog-bird thing's tail flick and she relaxed just a little, but then a cranky voice came out from the tunnel. An old voice, a very old voice, one scratchy and hoarse with disuse. She opened her mouth to reply when, all of a sudden, there was a loud cry. She looked back and saw the little bat rushing up to join the dog. And then her heart dropped to her stomach as she saw, behind the bat, a white lion bounding through Pisces.

She gave a squeak of fear and shot behind Oliver so that, perhaps, the lion would not see her. The last thing she needed right now was for a lion to come and attack. But it seemed that that was the last thing on his mind. After a moment, she peeked out and carefully made her way out from behind Oliver. She suddenly recognized the white lion - he had been one of the judges in the Olympics. She sighed with relief. Not a threat.

She turned to the shadow of the cat in his cave. "I'm sorry, I just caught a bad smell and I thought you might be ill. B-bartos? Is that your name? I-I'm sorry, if you need me to go, I'll go...."


"And still I feel I said too much."
"My silence is my self defense."

Tags: @Oliver
Notes: