Adventure.

The word weighed heavily on her mind, though she didn’t quite know how to express it outwardly yet. It was a concept that encompassed exactly everything she desired in this moment, to see and breathe in every single everything that this world had to offer. In some cases, this was a good thing- after all, it had lead her to this place, this beautiful green wonderland, an entire world full of things to eat and soothe that burning… that hunger, in more ways than one.

As she navigated the worn paths, prancing along on slender limbs, she closed her small teeth on a leaf here and a fern limb there, ripping them each out in turn and devouring them. This was a pursuit she probably would have spent her entire day on, given the chance, as she was quite a fan of this food business.

Instead, in her mindless wandering, she nearly plunged face-first into a pool of water, and only barely stumbled backward in time to prevent herself from doing so. A few small clumps of earth entered the water from her hooves, and she stood transfixed to watch the ripples bound across the water and lap against the sides of the pool. This had nothing on the absolute shock of looking directly down and realizing that yet another fawn stood there, this time oddly similar in color to herself, but sporting something huge and fascinating atop its head. She gaped at the thing, transfixed, and extended her nose to touch it- but it leaned to approach her. Confused, she paused, and it did too. Perplexed, Karma moved backwards slightly, rather unnerved by the actions of this strange fawn. Yet as she looked into the other’s face, it also seemed nervous. Could it be…? She shook her head in disbelief, but as her reflection did so in perfect sync, there could be no doubt. She wheeled, swinging her head through a nearby fern, feeling immense satisfaction as she felt the thing atop her skull make a connection with the foliage.

With that established, she whirled back to the pool’s edge, gazing at the mysterious rock in awe. Her mysterious rock. Despite the small vine now entangled around it, it was beautiful; as she tilted her head, it caught the light in hundreds of tiny fractal shades of indigo, violet, and ultramarine. As she looked, she leaned ever closer to the reflection, and in her focus accidentally touched the pool below.

She saw the stone glimmer brighter in the instant, though she wondered later if it was only her imagination. Almost immediately, the ripples extending from her contact morphed the pool, changing the reflection from her own to several strangers standing around it, frowning. Almost as soon as it appeared, the vision was gone, and she was left looking at her own face with an almost equally frustrated expression.

Suddenly, the gleam of the tanzanite stone in the water reminded her of the shining things adorning the neck of her white fawn friend, and she realized how far from him she’d wandered. Once more, she spun from her position, now with head high and eyes wide, fully prepared to go barreling down the path she’d come by to go find him- only to realize that there was quite a few more paths than she’d bargained for.

Being lost, she supposed, was perhaps the first drawback of adventures.

@Pride

Pride was equally as delightedly absorbed in feeding as was Karma. He had never seen such lushness--though admittedly his life had yet been short. Nor, however, had he imagined it; he had never had reason to. He had only seen swatches of struggling green growing up through stagnant water and old stone.

Kahma has good judgement... I will follow her more often.

Satisfied with all of this, he focused for a time on pulling down and consuming juicy leaves, on browsing the grasses below. It took some time for him to realize that Karma was not, in fact, anywhere near him. He lifted his head, looking around as he chewed, blinking.

She was nowhere to be found.

He considered, briefly. Calling out might be dangerous, but he might have no other choice. It might call in enemies, or predators. Thinking fast, he trotted up the trail, head tilted, then paused at a split. He focused, calling on his magicka to aid him.

Abruptly, the fawn seemed to split into two; one of him started up the left-hand path, the other, up the right. Both moved at a fast trot, the fastest speed the young gembound had yet attempted--and it was a slightly ungainly gait. At times, the gangly fawn and his double staggered, or stumbled.

At length the double found Karma up the trail, at a fork--it paused, watching her from a distance. Pride found it strange to receive this--vision, this sound, senses--from two places at once, but he turned, heading back toward it.

For a time, Pride's double stared at Karma in silence; then Pride himself came trotting up behind it, panting. With a glance at it, he dispelled it, then glanced to Karma and her pool--pausing for a beat to catch his breath, before speaking.

"Magic," he explained in a word, and then "Lost you. I... apologize."

@Karma

Vivid imagination, at times, could be a vice.

Unsure, the fawn took a few steps down one of the paths before her, attempting to convince herself that this was the path as she went. She was visibly alarmed now, ears twitching to examine each direction, short tail raised, muscles tensed for flight. Only a few steps later, she decided that it must be the other path, and returned to the pool to begin again. Each step was a little more alarming, as new possibilities of being alone and lost in this strange place formed in her mind. She had just returned to the pool again after deciding that yet another trail was not the one she’d came from when she noticed him, his soft white fur standing out in stark contrast amongst the greenery. Relieved, she sighed deeply and began making her way towards him, feeling the tension in her body soften as she walked.

The feeling of ease didn’t last for a terribly long time before she was disturbed again, this time by him. The creature before her was, by all appearances, her friend, but something was just a little off. Something about him was missing, and his stoic expression began to unnerve her. Her approach became more cautious and the smile that had appeared when she noticed him became weak and contrived. She had nearly reached the doppelganger, unbeknownst to her, when she heard another being approaching, and froze. She startled so badly that she jumped slightly when a second white fawn appeared, let alone when the strange one disappeared into nothingness. It was only when he spoke that she felt reassurance return to her, and a twinge of shame crossed her mind for the worry she’d caused him. She’d never seen him in such a state, ruffled fur and out of breath, and a brief flash of an emotion she didn’t recognize crossed her mind. It was nice, she thought, to be cared about.

She reached out gently to touch his shoulder in silent appreciation for his concern, doing so for only a moment before her mind spun on to other tasks. “Magic,” she repeated thoughtfully, turning the word over in her head like a wild thing might examine a shiny new stone. Her excitement about what she’d seen in the pool returned a heartbeat later, and she jumped at the opportunity to show him this new thing. “Look,” she said, turning tail to bounce back to the side of the crystalline pool. Just as she had previously, she reached out to just touch the surface of the water again, hoping to again see those strange faces peering into the water.

Perhaps she was distracted, given that her excitement at the other fawn’s return, or perhaps she was simply unlucky. Either way, it never occurred to her that she might be the only one able to see these strange visions in the water, and it didn’t matter much this time even if he could see what she saw. The strange faces did not reappear, though the fawn’s reflection disappeared for only a moment, and irregular, dark shapes wavered into view around the edge of the water. Just as she tried to focus on them, they were gone, and Karma was left feeling rather embarrassed by the whole thing.

@Pride

As Karma touched his shoulder, Pride was touched, as well, at his heart. He felt a faint warmth toward the other fawn--a vague affection, as he realized that he had some connection to this other Gembound. They were as allies, or family: they were in this together. They could look out for one another.

She asked him to look, and so he did, indulgently and dutifully pacing along behind on delicate hooves. He peered over her shoulder, at first, then moved up alongside to peer into the water, waiting, with pale eyes. He saw nothing, and at length--after waiting patiently for some time--he peered quizzically at Karma. He looked back at his reflection--then to her.

"The water? I see--you. And I, in the--water," he said carefully. He was describing, of course, their reflections. Had he known that she was attempting magic, he might have shown her another example of his own--but he did not. Quiet, he leaned down to drink, slaking his thirst stoked higher by running. When he'd taken his fill he turned, blinking grey eyes to Karma and waiting to see what it was she had wanted to show him.

@Karma

Disappointed and rather embarrassed, Karma chewed at her lip impatiently, staring at her own frustrated reflection in the crystalline pool. There was so much that she admired about the fawn standing beside her- the careful way he picked his footsteps, the way his white fur shone chromatic in the lamplight, and not least, his magic- but with that came a burning within her, a roaring forge of competitive feelings. She wanted to be better than this, to be more like him. A whisper of doubt frequently accompanied such thoughts, a deep dark feeling brewing in its own insecurities, speaking about how she wasn’t worth such lofty companionship nor such kindness. She buried it beneath her focus on the task at hand, shaking her head as if that could rid her mind of such ideas.

She resolved once more to show him what she’d seen. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, envisioning those strange figures as she’d seen them earlier. Lowering her muzzle to the surface of the water, she waited until she’d almost touched the surface with her nose before she opened her eyes to look over the surface once more. Perhaps it was these elevated expectations that left her feeling too nervous, or perhaps she’d simply exhausted the arcane energy that supplied her, but the result was all the same: nothing. Ripples moved away from the fawn’s reflection merrily, mocking her. “Sorry,” she said softly, perhaps apologizing to herself as much as to the white fawn. “Saw… more.”

@Pride

Pride peered down, then to Karma, then at the water. He took a step closer to the pool's edge, unaware of the other fawn's ideas of insecurity and competition. Instead he leaned his head down, nudging briefly at the rippling silver and then, quiet, drinking a little more. At length he pulled back, studying the pond.

"You saw more--in the water? What did you see?" He took a step in, and another, until he was nearly knee-deep, but dared not go further. The chill was almost pleasant, in a way, but he had no intention of diving in; Pride had no idea what swimming was, nor had he ever choked or drowned. He wasn't aware that might happen--he only knew that some instinct told him not to walk into the water entirely.

After a moment's reflection, he tried to open a link between their minds, that Karma might simply show him what she'd seen, but he found himself unable. He went back to peering into the water, trying--and failing--to see anything strange, mysterious, or "other" about it.

Perhaps she meant reflections..? He glanced up, then back to the water. "The... trees?" he asked, curiously, looking to her once more.

@Karma

As he tried to open the link between them, Karma looked across his face, and saw a face of concentration she recognized. When he did not appear in her thoughts, however, she found herself comforted a little despite herself. It was sometimes easy to forget that he wasn’t perfect, that she wasn’t the only one who made mistakes. The temporarily relief granted by the thought, however, was quickly replaced with shame. She didn’t want to take pleasure in his shortcomings; she wanted him to be as flawless as those stones nestled in the fur on his neck, and she wanted to be worthy of basking in that starlight. A shame, perhaps, that her greatest obstacles were her own misgivings.

“More,” she said, nodding, reassuring herself as much as her companion. As he entered the water, she began to circle it, still staring into the depths but seeing nothing more than her own face, fractured by the ripples he’d created. “No,” she answered, glancing briefly to the trees as she paced as if to double check. “Faces.” Her voice was still soft as she paused, suddenly focused on him, eager for a distraction from this frustration.

“Magic…” she was pensive this time, thinking deeply about what she intended to ask. “Can you-“ her eyes closed briefly as she struggled to find the word she was looking for, teach. “Can you… look… show… me?”

@Pride

Pride watched the other fawn struggle with her thoughts, watched her circle the water. Faces. Faces, in the water? And not only their reflections..?

He peered into the pool. Her question was misinterpreted: he could not show her the faces. ""I cannot show you the--faces," he told Karma apologetically. But perhaps he could explain magic, as best he could? Once again, chagrined at his prior failures, he tried his best to open that link between them.

This time he felt it weakly flicker, and, with a faint sense of gratification, he focused for a moment on ensuring it would remain open. That done, he began to carefully speak, and once more his thoughts and intentions came along with the words.

"I have learned some magic from Reseda," he explained, the lizard's image forefront in his mind for a moment. "I know that... different people have different magics. Some have one use, some... another. Mine is magic of the mind, and magic of... energy. Throwing, moving things. Contacting minds, using the mind to move things. She says that others... can use noise or power, or water. Perhaps yours is water--I do not know. But I have never seen anything in water."

He paused to eye the pool once more, then looked to Karma, thinking--and, quite accidentally, stumbled upon what she had asked him. "I can try to teach you what I know, or... how to unlock your own, if you like. I do not know the magick's source. I know that sometimes, without reason, it fails. Even Reseda does not know why--not truly. It is perhaps... chaotic. But... try to focus inside yourself and feel a thing that... swells and wanes. It is not a constant, I think. It makes it less... reliable, but easier to... find, at first. To tap into. I can direct mine how I wish. I do not know how yours will take shape." He eyed the water, again, thoughtfully. "What sort of faces..?" he wondered, aloud.

@Karma

She looked with interest as Reseda appeared in her mind, and Karma began to understand. She tilted her head as she looked at it, pondering its capabilities as well as her own. Ribbons made of water appeared in her mind, swirling up and around her in elegant display. They grew stronger as she watched through her mind’s eye, eventually great geysers arching up and into one another. Better yet, they reached down to grab her in crystalline embrace, lifting her high above the treetops in an iridescent rainbow of water. She snapped out of the daydream almost instantly as he continued.

When he mentioned teaching her, her head snapped up suddenly to look directly at him, pleading. Yes! she nearly shouted in her head, nodding enthusiastically, violet eyes glittering. The simple ability to communicate properly had relieved her immensely, and the fawn nearly pranced in place in her excitement at this new prospect. As he looked to the water, curious, she attempted to conjure in her mind what she had seen. The details had already become a bit hazy in places, like a dream passes from consciousness given enough time awake. Few had true faces now, only silhouettes and eyes, though those too seemed to become less certain when she tried to look at them directly.

Taking a deep breath, and encouraged by his interest, Karma took a deep breath and slowly lowered her head to the pool once again. Just before reaching the surface, she closed her eyes, focusing. She opened her eyes cautiously as she felt the cold water touch her lip, then opened them wide as the ripples passed over the surface. Though she yearned to see if Pride was still connected, watching, she dared not disconnect her eyes from what she saw. Two faces, both unfamiliar to her. The details of their faces proved difficult to discern among the ripples, though they appeared to be large versions of the cat she had encountered. She could hear them speaking, though it was garbled and distorted such that she couldn’t quite make out the words. Much to her disappointment, the vision began to fade only moments later. Did you see? she looked back to the white fawn, a need to be understood apparent on her young face.

@Pride

Pride tilted his head, peering. He had seen them, through the link--he tried to keep it open, to explain. He found it flickering shut even as he rushed to say as much, and with a grim sense of disappointment, exhaled and set himself to the task of explaining it in simple verbal terms.

"I saw," he agreed softly, and gave a dip of his head in acknowledgement. One thing was clear, however; it would be difficult to teach Karma use of magic without a constant link, and he wasn't sure he could both maintain the link, and use his magic. Then there was the matter of the faces themselves. He tried to add tone to his voice, an inflection to add meaning to his words. "I don't know what they were, but I saw--in your mind. Not the water," he added, nodding to it; it still simply looked silvery, to him.

"I can try to teach you what I know. But I don't know if it will be easy. We can rest... sleep? It is safer, here. Then I can find you, and we can try to learn together."

He nudged the leaves nearby the pools, trying to indicate a nest, of sorts; sleep. He could return later, and practice with her then--if she was willing.

@Karma