The young white fawn had business here.

His stride through the thick underbrush was not the tentative wandering of prior days; instead it was infused with purpose, a determination in his grey eyes that had him pacing along the fern-lined paths with a steady step. His nostrils flared now and again as he took scent: the cool petrichor odor of rain on earth, the ranker stink of another creature's urine somewhere nearby, the smell of wet fur somewhere distant.

Pride took note, and disregarded it all; his attention was on the greenery itself. In the past he had used this cave to feed, browsing contentedly on all manner of greenery. He recalled, distinctly, some of the plants having a glue-like sap to them, and he remembered, too, the unpleasant stickiness of resin that had brushed across his fur and hardened there.

The weasel Envy had spoken of an agonizingly painful gem in their throat. He was unsure if it would help, nestled into the flesh as the stone was, but he was wondering if it was not worth a try: to utilize magic to move the sap, to coat a stone, and to solidify it. He was unsure if the latter were even possible, but he wished to try it. Experiments would be necessary, and practice--preferably on inanimate stone, before asking Envy to allow him to attempt on their gem.

Quietly thoughtful, yet intense in his pursuit, he picked his way over scattered stone and tangled root to the more deeply-forested areas of the cave, the tall trees towering high. Then he began to inspect their trunks, looking closely for any of that golden resin that might be dripping from them.

(ooc - anyone is welcome to join at any time!)

Pride found himself face to face with a golden cascade of sap, fresh and shimmeringly translucent, coating down one of the nearby trees. The bark had sustained some wound or other, and it appeared, in some sense, to be bleeding.

A tentative sniff gave off nothing but a healthy, piney scent, and Pride felt quite satisfied with his luck. Now, to find a stone. He turned, pacing back along the loose rocks of the trail, nosing them over. There.

He chose one, nudging it over until he could get a grip with soft lips. This he lifted and carried triumphantly back to the tree, tail flicking to and fro. This might turn out to be easier than expected.

He set the stone down before the sap, at the roots curling from the base of the tree, and focused. Here comes the tricky part. Or the first of two, at least. He looked to the sap, planning his move. First he would need to move some of the sap--without touching it--to coat the stone. Perhaps I should have brought more stones, first--but no. Let us try to get this right the first time.

With a focused flare of nostrils, he prepared to try to move the sap with magic alone. When working on Envy's throat--if they ever allowed it--this would be tricky, at best; he did not want to choke the weasel, or slap them in the face with a gob of sticky tree sap. He had to be exactingly precise.

He stared, and he stared. Nothing happened; there was no flicker of magicka.

...Perhaps I am overthinking this.

A second attempt, then.

The fawn took in a deep breath, and focused, feeling his magicka well up inside him this time. He concentrated on that feeling--on tapping into the thrum of shifting energies around and within him, on manipulating it, utilizing it.

Slowly, gradually, he managed to tear a small portion of the sap from the tree. He found it difficult: the sap was sticky, resisting his attempts, clinging to the bark; and even when he did pull some away, it came with more than he'd expected, leaving strings of hanging goop behind. He grimaced, and did his best to separate it.

This will take more practice than I'd thought. I will need to perfect it over many tries before ever going near a living thing with this. Cautious, he transferred the sap to the stone. There was a bit too much of it, but he could improve his sap-moving technique later. With a faint start he realized that, should Envy agree, he'd likely bring them to this same place--the same sap. I'll need to remember where it is, he thought to himself.

At length, the stone lying on the ground before him was coated in sap--a bit too much, a bit too bubbled in gobs and dripping goop. Undoubtedly were this Envy, they'd have been choking. No. This would not do. But for the next phase, it was enough to practice with.

Pride considered.

He knew that magic could be shaped to do... just about anything one wanted it to. Could he use it to freeze this sap in place? But that would be unpleasant, and would melt, eventually, into a sticky mass once more. He could test it, regardless. Freeze it, heat it--see what happened.

In the worst case, perhaps I might try mixing it with different things, to see if that helps to make it hard. Plants, sand--who knew what might work. He would try.

He focused again, eyeing the sap, and huffed softly.

Again the magicka flickered up, sputtering weakly, putting him in mind of a soft flame, or rustling leaves or the gentle batter of a butterfly's wings. It was not powerful and rushing, and it took effort to focus it.

The resin did begin to solidify, at least--or it looked that way. How long it would stay solid remained to be seen, and Pride decided to gather other samples to test with other magic, meanwhile. First, however, he approached and sniffed closely over this resin, daring even to touch it with his nose. No sticky goop came away on his snout, which was a good thing.

He turned, and began to gather stones, piling them beside the resin-coated one in preparation for further tests.

Rift was perched on a tree above the young deer, his tail gently swinging beneath him. It was no wonder the stag did not see him, he almost looked part of the scenery at this point - his fur turning green, plants and branches taking root in his skin, green crystal ear covered with leaves. He was truly one with the forest now. A plant, as Enka had told him. Well, perhaps not a plant, but as close as a gembound could get, most likely.

He wasn't sure what the stag was doing and he felt like he needed to know. He was the guardian of the forest, he was here to protect it. If the young deer was doing anything to hurt his precious trees and plants, he would certainly not be staying still.

He watched with interest as the deer used magic to coat a stone with the sap of a wounded tree, a tree that he had, coincidentally, had planned on fixing today. But if the deer was going to make it difficult for him to do his job, then things would get bad.

He reached forward and slowly began to make his way down the tree, quietly, trained limbs gracefully letting him move from branch to branch, down and down until he was at the lowest branch of the tree. With one last bound, he landed in the grass in front of the deer with a soft thump. He stood up tall, his tail slowly gliding over the earth. "What brings you here and what are you doing?" His voice was firm but not unpleasant or aggressive. Eridanus was, after all, an open cave and others deserved to be there. He just didn't want any trouble to enter the forest.

@Pride

Almost-... The second gob of sap slowly dripped over the stone, no more cleanly than last time. He--

Thump.

Pride lifted and turned his head as the big cat landed beside the tree before him, tensed. For a moment he froze up, startled, the fear of prey at the sight of a predator briefly singing along his nerves. The other spoke--and for that, at least, he was grateful--but something in him prickled at its words. Irritation flicked in on the tail end of the fear, but he quelled it, taking a breath.

He lifted his head a notch--proudly, of course--and spoke.

"Are... introductions--not... polite?" he asked, staring at Rift with pale grey eyes, and a tone of mild reproach. "I am Pride. I am... testing, magic. And... I live here. What are you doing here?" The last sentence was delivered in the same mild, aloofly polite tone, repeating Rift's words back to him, as if to set an example for how to behave.

But Pride had no real issue with Rift. So long as the cat didn't plan to eat him, kill him, it didn't really matter--but still, one had to behave with dignity. Civility.

He pawed the ground in thought, and added, with curiosity now rather than indignance, "Do you receive much trouble here, that this is how you must patrol the forest?"

@Rift

Rift narrowed his eyes at the deer's agitation. Had he offended him somehow? That wasn't his intention, although he saw how his words and tone could have come across as rude. He wasn't sure if he fully believed the young deer, as there was a tree dripping with sap behind him and the stag's magic heavy in the air. However, he could see that there was no aggression in the child and he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.

He sniffed, trying to catch the whiff of the deer's pelt. It smelled like Eridanus, sure, but also like the room of stars, both hanging heavily off its hide. He also wasn't sure he believed that the stag lived in the forest, but there was no way to tell. And he didn't want to be intrusive about it, he just wanted to be sure that the forest would be safe. "I am Rift and I am the guardian of the forest. It is my duty to protect Eridanus." His voice was milder, but still rather firm, almost as if he was daring the stag to question it. However, he had no ill feelings towards him.

He suddenly turned around towards the tree and raised a paw, carefully scooping away the stick resin that dripped from the trunk. Once a good amount had been removed, hopefully enough for Pride to use, he touched his nose to the tree bark, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, resonating with the tree's life. At his gently command, the bark began crackling and growing, covering the wound. Once it was done, he stepped away. It wasn't a perfect job, but the tree would be able to heal now and grow naturally again.

He sighed as he turned back to Pride. "Unfortunately, yes. Most people don't understand the importance of this cave. There have been fires and plagues and huge creatures that cared little for the life in the forest. I must question everyone, for the safety of the plants and trees." He wondered if Pride would sympathize, or if he would laugh at his strange habits. But he didn't care, Eridanus was more important to him then anything.

@Pride

The fawn listened intently, politely, giving Rift his full attention. He was, at first, a little annoyed that the source of resin had been closed; it meant he would need to seek out a new one if he meant to help Envy. But at the realization that Rift considered himself a mender of the forest, the irritation melted away. It was a good goal, at the very least; a noble one, and likely a difficult one, at that, if the cat's list of troubles was anything to go by.

A guardian, hmm? He eyed the cat curiously.

"Good to meet you, then. Did you... appoint yourself, this title, this--task? Or was it granted to you--by another?" He asked this with the same dignified, respectful tone, confident, but each word was chosen carefully and with precision. With that came a flicker of further curiosity.

"Are there guardians then... of other, places? Other--things?"

He forgot, for the moment, his work on the stones, for now concentrating on Rift, and the strange, plant-wreathed cat's words.

@Rift

Rift blushed at the question, realizing that he hadn't really been appointed the task after all. He'd really just appointed himself as the guardian and had done his best to protect the forest ever since moving in. "Well, nobody gave me the title, I've just been doing my best to protect the forest. I care a lot about it and I'd rather keep it healthy and growing."

He licked his chest bashfully, hoping that he wasn't too arrogant in holding this kind of title before remembering that his paw was still covered with sticky sap. He raised it and opened his jaws, sending a strong stream of water, instantly washing away all the resin on his paw. He stepped away from the puddle of sap and shook the water off of his paw before giving it a few last licks to get most of the water out.

"I'm not sure if there's guardians of anything else. Perhaps the bone room, I hear that it a popular place. But Eridanus is particularly vulnerable because of all the delicate life and balance. It needs a guardian and protector." Perhaps that was true, perhaps it was not. Rift hadn't left the cave in many cycles, save for the Olympics. He had no idea of the state of the rest of the caves.

@Pride

Pride listened, again interested and polite, in a confident fashion. He was no subservient, but he was respectful as if Rift were an equal, proud in bearing and demeanor. The stranger's words were interesting, and Pride's grey eyes flicked over him in thought as the cat appeared rather bashful at his words--almost ashamed?

"Hm-... Well, it is a noble cause... to which to--set oneself." He considered this for a moment, then dipped his head in acknowledgement, as if agreeing with his own statement, or affirming it. "I have been to that place, too. I do not know of any--guardians, there. Nor of Orion." He considered this.

Did Orion need a guardian? He did not think so; but then, he had not seen much of the caves. He did not know all that much. He wondered at all the horrors that might exist, of which he remained blissfully unaware--and was reminded again of Envy and their suffering.

"If you are a--guardian, and you can mend things--have you heard of a small... creature, a weasel. Or any others--that have a stone within that harms them? I am trying to... find a way to seal theirs, so that they may... eat, drink. It burns them, and makes them ill. Perhaps you have... encountered--something like this before?"

His tone was thoughtful, if not quite hopeful--measured and steadied as he regarded the mountain lion with an appraising gaze. Perhaps Rift knew more than he; perhaps he knew enough to aid more than he himself could.

@Rift