"Especially Reseda. She's already had her share." For the first time in his young life, Pride broke into hearty laughter. "...That she has, yes," he agreed, after some time, amusement lacing his tone. "I will not... spread around what you show me, then."

He shifted in place a bit, settling more comfortably on the stone, listening attentively to Envy's every word. "That... makes sense. Yes. I have not yet known--ahh. Adversity? That is a word. I think it is the one I need-... I have not known hardship. But I think it makes sense it would... push a strong one, to only grow stronger. To-... Overcome. I do not have those... hm. I don't know the word. Those goals. Goals will do. I just wish to be--the strongest that I can. To push myself. I don't know how strong others get, yet. There may be some too powerful to overcome--I do not feel I... must be stronger than them. Only the strongest I can be." Some faint flicker of concern, instinctive and too complex for him to really puzzle out just yet, warned him that in setting such a high goal for themselves, Envy might set themselves up for only misery.

He was unaware that Envy had tried, and failed, to use magic; instead he assumed they were waiting for him to go first. He looked forward, thinking. "The magic of... raw power is dangerous. I did not know it until I saw a... a young dog, she has nearly destroyed her leg with it. She was not careful, and it took her leg with it. It sends... energy, in all directions. It throws things away from it."

He turned his head slightly, facing away from Envy, and with a very idle movement, dipped it slightly. It took little effort, and his gesture was subtle at the most, yet a powerful shockwave rippled out from him--away from Envy--sending stones and dust flying away along a straight path.

The white fawn then turned back to Envy. "You can use it... directly, like that. Or with focus, in all directions. It is good, if... a larger enemy tries to grab you, bite you, or so."

@Envy

Envy nodded, seeming satisfied by the answer, and allowed themselves to grin despite themselves. Although the weasel would never admit it, they were enjoying this immensely, far more than they could have predicted. They were, for once, able to put the ever-present bitterness to the back of their mind, and genuinely smile. "Good. I'll show you what I know, then."

"That's right. I don't think anyone could do what I've done," they said, tail flicking as Pride spoke of hardship. "Everything just wants to kick me into the dirt, but every time it does, I get stronger. See?" As Pride spoke of only wanting to be as powerful as he could be, Envy tilted their head, seeming surprised. "Huh. Works for me," they said, tail flicking. "I'd have thought someone called Pride would only stand for being the best. Have you thought about that?"

Envy watched eagerly as Pride spoke of Energy magic, and offered all the standard warnings, the likes of which which Envy had heard many times before. "Yeah, yeah. Isn't that the same for a lot of magic?" Still, the story about the dog was a little bit sobering, and they made a mental note to be careful. Still, their eagerness swamped any trace of nervousness they might have felt. Envy darted away from the shockwave as it rippled out, sending a stone or two in their direction, despite being directed away from them.

They bounced and coiled excitedly. "Oooohh! Cool! Let me try now!" they tittered eagerly, seeming to forget the notion of demonstrating their own power. They rose up onto their hindpaws and bristled with the effort of tapping into their gem. They sucked in their breath, and then lurched forwards onto all fours in a single, fluid and dramatic motion. Their paws contacting the ground sent out the shockwave, which stirred up a small tidal wave of rock dust and sent pebbly rubble flying before them.

Magic thrilling through their paws, Envy pattered proudly over to Pride, looking up at him for a sign of approval.


"Speech."

@Pride

Pride listened, quietly. When Envy spoke, he tilted his head very slightly. He then shook it, gently dismissing the idea that Envy was presenting.

"Reseda spoke of sins. I think the word has... a bad meaning. But pride is not a bad thing. It is... pride in oneself. In what you can do. Overcome. You hold pride. I think it is... confidence. Knowing you have done your best, and grown stronger. But to wish to be greater than others is... also a wish to put others down. That is a--cruelty, in a sense. It is arrogance. I am not arrogant. I do not need to be. I am the best that I can be; that is more than enough." His tone was still gently peaceful, aloof, and confident; there was no trace of insistence, of argument in it. He was not trying to change Envy's mind--only to explain his own thoughts.

He pushed up, gangly legs unfolding, and moved toward Envy's side to watch as they performed their magic. He nodded, eyes widening slightly, impressed, as the weasel replicated the spell near-perfectly. "That is impressive. And on the first try. You have learned all of your magic this way?" He looked to Envy, then back to the tumbling pebbles as they rolled to a stop. "If you ever have trouble, with this magic, I--find it helpful to think of it as... opening a space at the end, and directing air from this side... to fill it. An action to create a reaction, rather than... brute force."

Delicately, he made his way some distance from the weasel, so as not to hit them with the next spell. "And if you send it in all directions-..." He fell silent, focusing, for a long moment. For a beat he thought of Aster, of the puppy's screams, of the pain he'd felt through their mind link. He accepted this memory, then set it aside, focusing on the here and now: on his magic. On not replicating that horrific mistake.

The shockwave that erupted out from him was sudden, violent, and in all directions, sending blasts of stone, pebbles, dust and dirt tumbling and spinning through the air and rattling over the rock. He opened his grey eyes and raised his dipped head, blinking over at Envy.

"...Then it does that," he finished softly. "Though--practicing with the first one, first, is a good way to learn this magic."

@Envy

Envy slowly nodded, ears twitching. "Well, yeah... I thought that 'Sin' had to be a bad thing. I mean... it means doing something wrong and bad, doesn't it? And Envy is... I don't know. It's not like I can help it. Do you really think envy is a sin?" The weasel seemed slightly dissatisfied, or perhaps simply bored, unused to speaking slowly or spending any length of time in thought. "...Each to their own, I suppose."

They immediately perked up as the deer went on to congratulate them on their efforts, and preened thair chest as they nodded vigorously. "That's right! I've been told I have a gift," Envy said, smugly, splaying their forepaws dramatically. They listened to the fawn's words, nodding slowly, though not quite taking it to heart. "Yeah, yeah, I gotcha."

They watched eagerly as Pride went on to demonstrate the next spell, settling on all fours. Their eyes glittered with daring and confidence, the fur along their spine prickling upright. "no worries, I think I got it," the weasel said, sucking in their breath and arching their spine in focus.

The magic prickled, humming and fizzling just beneath the surface of their stone, but, like mist, it drifted out of their grasp. Envy's tail twitched in frustration. "Gimme a second," they muttered to Pride. "Just... preparing."


"Speech."

@Pride

Pride waited patiently, considering Envy's words as they gathered themself (for a rather long time) to cast. After a moment of thought, he spoke.

"A sin? I do not know about a sin. Is envy... a bad thing? I do not know enough about it," he began, simply. His words were honest; he was young. He had little experience in this. "I would assume that it is only bad if it brings... pain. Displeasure. If it torments you, or leads you to harm others, perhaps. If such things are bad." Truly, he had very little contextual knowledge in terms of morals, of right and wrong. He was unsure what others considered right, or wrong; thus far he knew when he felt wronged, and instinctively associated the behaviors that triggered that feeling with, "bad."

Reseda using him had felt... bad, evil. Morally wrong. He detested it, despised it, wished to punish her for it--given time--but not in any particularly vehement way, no. More... disdainful. Perhaps moreso because her attempts had been clumsy.

He glanced at Envy, and again focused on his magic, speaking softly once more. "Try to create a sudden void-space, very... abrupt, in a ring a distance around you. Allow only the space near you to... rush, to fill it. It is what causes the burst. An action, for a reaction--not merely... brute force."

This time, however, when he tried to call upon his magicka himself, it flickered and faltered. He tilted his head. "Strange. It does not work for me? Perhaps we have... overused the space, here."

His tone was puzzled; he still did not quite understand why sometimes, nothing seemed to happen at all.

@Envy

Envy flicked their tail at Pride's question, brushing themselves with their forepaws. They shrugged, tapping a hindpaw impatiently. "I don't know. I mean.... how to explain. It's like the nice things people have punching you in the gut. But Reseda called it a sin, didn't she? and that's what confuses me." They looked up as Pride spoke of it causing displeasure and pain, and theyfolded their paws uncomfortably against their chest, shrinking down a little bit. "Well, it... does. But it makes me strong, too."

They looked at Pride, seeming slightly tense as the fawn tried to tap into his own magic, only to relax slightly as nothing appeared to happen. "Yeah, yeah, I got it." They blinked as they listened to Pride's explanation of... the air being wrong? and although they weren't sure, Envy jumped at the opportunity to place the blame on something other than their own incompetence. They sprung upright, nodding vigorously. "Yes, yes, the space! Of course it was the space. Why didn't I think of that?"

The little weasel dropped onto all fours and scampered off, some distance from the fawn, preparing to give the spell another go. They turned in a circle, fur along their length bristling, then rose up onto their hindpaws and sucked in their breath in preparation.

A shudder of power ran through their body, and Envy felt themselves trembling with potential energy, which was soon expelled in a violent shockwave sending a wave of dust and pebbles rushing away from them. Shaking out the remaining energy as the power subsided, they bounded back to Pride in a green-tinted blur, barely able to contain themselves. They skidded to a halt in front of the deer, and dropped to the ground, rolling briefly onto their back before springing upright, quivering and thrashing their tail.

"Speech."

@Pride

Pride watched closely, head tilted. The potential magicka in the air hummed around the little weasel, and before he could flinch too heavily, the space around them had burst outward with power. They were far from Pride, a safe distance, but the dust and pebbles that flew past him still had him briefly squeezing shut his eyes and turning his face away.

He was a little surprised, when he again opened his eyes, to find Envy at his feet, their little tail lashing. He snorted in amusement.

"How do you learn these things so quickly? That is--fast. Very fast. And it is all that I know, really--I can try to show you how to... lift things, to hold them? As I--lifted you?" His head tilted to one side, and he glanced around, looking for something he might pick up. There was a small stone nearby, and he concentrated on that, on manipulating it with mind alone.

There.

He felt his incorporeal grip on it--faint, tenuous, but there. When the stone lifted, and hovered, it trembled in the air--briefly faltering, almost falling--but Pride managed to regain control of it. He turned, concentrating deeply on the rock as he hovered it before Envy.

"Though--I do not know if this will interest you. If you are to fight, it seems... tossing things, is more effective... than focusing to merely pick them up?"

@Envy

Envy twitched and flickered, as their trembling gradually subsided and with it, the excess of energy that had surged through their body. They grinned smugly at Pride's question, placing a paw on their chest and giving a small bow. "What can I say? I'm a natural," Envy said, straightening up, with lilac eyes sparkling gleefully. They took a while to consider that, resting a paw on their chin, but found their attention soon drawn by a ravenous hunger gnawing at their belly. It seemed what little energy could be gained from grass was already spent. Their stomach let out a small growl.

Even though they watched Pride's pebble with a twinge of longing and jealousy, they had more important things to worry about, and slowly shook their head. After having been lifted by Pride themselves, they couldn't help but think of all the potentials; all the most powerful beasts of the cave lifted and held by such a tiny and seemingly defenseless creature, totally put to shame by their incredible power. It was almost too much to decline. "Hmmm... Later. I need to... Y'know... re-energize."

Envy looked around, mouth watering again, and lowered themselves onto all fours. Lowering their ears, they focused their attention on scraggly tufts of grass and moss growing nearby. But in their eagerness, the ability appeared to desert them, and they ended up scampering closer to the nearest tuft, coiling around and through them in desperation.

"Speech."

Pride listened, and watched, as before. The weasel spoke of needing nutrients--and then they were bolting off, scampering and twisting through the grass. How unpleasant. To be eternally hungry, and unable to eat. They must suffer greatly... What a cruel torment. His thoughts were not quite so well-spoken; half were still the vague concepts of childhood, but the meaning remained the same. Fate's cruel hand, or perhaps that of chance, had devised such pain for Envy to undergo for their entire lives.

The fawn knew that Envy did not wish to further discuss it--but at the same time, he determined then and there to explore what options he could. Tree resin still seemed a good bet, or the glue-like liquid within the stems of the dandelions. Surely if he could merey lift the sap onto the gem, and then solidify it there somehow..?

He looked away, aware that merely staring at Envy would be seen as rude, to say the least. At the same time, subtly, he extended out his mind in an attempt to brush across the weasel's, to listen to what they might be saying inside, or what they might be feeling.

It was rude, it was intrusive, but at the same time he was faintly curious, and concerned. He wasn't sure how much pain the weasel was hiding--but it mattered little; the link again failed to establish, flickering and fizzing away, and he left it at that.

For a moment he eyed grass in front of his own hooves, tempted where he lay to consume it, but realized again it would be rude to the apparently-starving weasel. He lifted his head again, turning to peer off over Orion.

@Envy

Envy tried again, their fur prickling in despair as hunger continued to gnaw at their belly, finally managing to force the floodgates open as magic fizzled throughout their body. A short sigh of pure relief escaped them, and the scraggly tufts of grass nearby withered and died almost immediately, the hunger completely fading for the first time in cycles. Finally, they looked back at Pride, awkwardly settling back on their hind paws and grooming their chest.

Had the deer been looking at them?

Envy felt suddenly uncomfortable, meeting their silvery gaze with eyes of lilac. They followed his gaze to the grass, and their eyes narrowed slightly. Finally, the weasel cleared their throat. "I'm going to go and practice magic," the weasel declared, flicking their tail. "If you need me, come find me. I'm a very busy weasel, but I'm usually somewhere in Orion."

They turned their back on the deer and skittered off for a few steps, only to pause some distance away, and turned their head back towards Pride, looking back at him over their shoulder. "Need any advice for the road?"

"Speech."

@pride