PRATA
put all your faults to rest, you can be king again

the child's chattering was momentarily ignored by prata as the snake raised herself purposefully above his height, and prata looked up at her with a subtle, suspicious glare at the obvious threat, but he did not move to escalate the situation. instead, he shifted his gaze quickly back to the child, a far more friendly smile on his face.

"why, thank you, but i'm afrai--" prata began in a gentle, friendly tone, but was quickly cut off by the child's fearful correction to their own words. worry washed over him once more, but he did his best to hide it; he knew how easy it'd been for him to misunderstand the concern of an older gembound as pity, an insult, when he was a kitten, so it'd be best to speak to this strange child the way he would an adult, more or less.

... especially if it was already being coerced by those with less pure intentions than he. even if this snake had helped the child with something, it was not grounds to demand any kind of repayment from an infant. someone had taught this child that there were dire consequences to the littlest of mistakes, more than likely, and prata could not just do nothing about that.

"hey, don't worry, i'm not going to hurt you. i have no reason to hurt a kid who made a little mistake! but, you know, there are gems like the one in my eye that aren't attached to another gembound's life source, and are okay to take. some people collect them, it's pretty cool." prata did his best to speak as casually as possible, despite his growing concern. the last bit was easy; prata loved gems, he loved his sapphire and his father's glittering blue opal, he loved the ones scattered across polaris, the "stars" on the roof of orion. they inspired his imagination of what it might be like beyond the caves, reflective and expansive and mysterious. hopefully, he thought, his positive tone would help the hybrid child relax.

he'd meant to ask their names, and to offer his, but the present situation, keeping the child calm, took precedence over that currently.

"meow."
others' speech.

@χάος

OOC: LOLOL

Huckleberry scurries behind the coiled body of Cháos. This pleased her. It deemed the child trusted her more than the cat who wore the superman 'S'. Sure Cháos was a villainous one but she had done no wrong. Let's break this party now. "If you're worried that I require a payment from this hybrid, so be it. I have asked that the child help me when need be." Being a snake had it's cons & pros.

Cháos is done playing around. She makes her distaste more clear. "You cat, ever offend me again and I v'ill eat you." Sensitive Cháos. Her words are rigid and demanding in itself. What the mongrel said after meant not a thing. Quickly the snake reveals her lengthy body while moving from the child. She slithers fast past the cat, leaving Huckleberry to it. While she goes, she says, "Till then Huckleberry."

Exit-

@Prata
@Huckleberry

Huckleberry had no idea what was going on between the snake and the cat, but he looked down, defeated and feeling aweful. Did he offend the cat? Had he been rude? Probably. He didn't want to be mean. He just really liked that eye! He wanted the eye! Not some other stupid gems sitting around the caves. Mama had collected gems that weren't lying around and that was really cool! He wanted them too!

But when the snake turned to leave, Huckleberry looked up, his ears perking. Why was the snake leaving? Weren't they going to play? Well, she seemed bigger and older and perhaps she had better things to do. They would play another time! He gave her a big smile. "Okay! Bye!" He waved his wings in farewell before turning to the cat.

"What is your name?" Maybe they would be his friend and play with him! Maybe he would want to help him touch the thing in the water. He hadn't forgotten about that, no, of course not!

@Prata

PRATA
put all your faults to rest, you can be king again

prata did not fear the snake, large as she was. okay, maybe he was a little scared of how easily she could actually eat him, but he didn't feel threatened just now. she wouldn't gain anything by attacking him right now.

as she made her threat, prata simply returned to a suspicious glare, narrowing his eyes. he would have to warn his father about her--gembounds with poor intentions were running amok in the caves, it seemed. it was his turn to live with them.

prata turned his attention back to the child. huckleberry, wasn't it? that was what the snake had called them. "my name's prata! is your name huckleberry, like that snake said?" he didn't know what a huckleberry was, but he knew what a berry was. they were very pleasing and round, but he didn't really have a taste for eating them. he liked to play with them as a kitten.

he wanted to ask if 'huckleberry' knew the snake, but that was probably pushing it. instead, he just sat down and tucked his paws into his chest, tail tip flicking behind him with curiosity.

"meow."
others' speech.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry looked quizzically at the cat. How did she know her name? Was she psychic? Or had they met before and she just couldn't remember? Or...wait, hadn't the snake mentioned her name? How did the cat know that it was her? Strange, but she didn't want to think about it. Instead, she nodded. "The name, yes, the name! It's Huckleberry! You got it right. Prata, yes, Prata, the cat is called Prata and the snake is called Anaconda and the bird is called Xervas and the other bird is called Eve. Yes, yes yes! That's right! And this...Prata! Hi, Prata! Do you want to play with me?"

Yes, play! Play! Huckleberry gave a small jump of excitement and twisted in the air, facing the cat again when he fell back to the ground. His wings waved merrily as he forgot about everything else and remembered the thing in the water. "There's a thing down there, yes, a thing! A big thing, a thing! In the water! I want to touch it, but can I swim? I don't know if I can swim! I want to try! Can I? Can I please?" He was so excited as he turned towards the edge of the river and hopped around, looking back at Prata for confirmation.

@Prata

PRATA
put all your faults to rest, you can be king again

the tomcat smiled at the request. he thought he would be a good example of how gembounds ought to treat each other, no tricks or hurting children! "i'd be happy to play with--" prata was cut off as the hybrid began speaking again, which was a bit rude, but he supposed that was just what energetic children did.

prata's eyes drifted to the water as huckleberry chattered about. a thing...? the generator, prata thought, as he inevitably caught sight of it straight ahead in the water. it was seated deep at the bottom of the river, as it always had been to prata. there was nothing new and fantastic about that.

"that's the generator. the moving parts generate energy by pushing against the water as it flows, and that's what keeps the lights on in the caves. i don't think anyone's ever touched it since it was turned on," he explained simply, although he loved thinking about it, himself. he could never really know if anyone else had touched it! it was so mysterious.

"i feel like this river is a little deep and the current is a little too strong to practice swimming if you've never done it, too... i don't know if i'm strong enough to pull you back out if you got swept away! do you know of any other bodies of water that might be calmer?" prata asked. he himself knew of several more shallow, slowly moving bodies of water in origin, but being that this child was clearly too mismatched and strange looking to not be a hybrid, he assumed it had some parents around. they probably wouldn't like their child to be taken all the way to somewhere they'd never been with a stranger.

that said, though... where were huckleberry's parents? they'd been alone for some time, to have the snake from before try and pull something over their head. it was hard to get a word in with this kid, though.

"meow."
others' speech.

@Huckleberry

At first, Huckleberry looked at Prata sadly. But...he wanted to! He wanted to swim! But he remembered his failure to swim before. Maybe he shouldn't swim. Or he couldn't. Couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't. Didn't matter, he'd get there.

But why did Prata have to steal his fun? His face changed to anger and his eyes blazed as he looked away towards the thing in the water. But he wanted! He wanted to touch it, he really did! Why should they hold him back? It wasn't fair. "But I want to touch it," she whined, furiously. "Who cares about stupid swimming, I just want to go and see the generator thingy."

But then a great idea lit up in her head and, suddenly, she had to try it! Yes, she would! Her face immediately brightened as she looked back and she did a little jump with excitement. "Ooooo, I have a better idea! What would happen if if if I did this!" She turned towards the generator and hopped over to the edge, where she stopped and went still.

She took a deep breath, gathering all the energy she could into her head, into her gem. She pointed her head so that she was looking up, slowly starting to release the magic as stormclouds above began to form. It was straining sending so much electricity up into the sky, but it would be well worth the wait, she was sure. She tried to direct where the attack would go, but she suddenly felt her magic start to go out of control. She had to get it going before it dissipated. So she released the spell and let it do its work.

In a split second, three bolts of lightning came flying down from the sky, one hurling straight into the water towards the generator, one off into the distance, and the other only feet away from Prata. But Huckleberry didn't notice. He had jumped with surprise and had crowed joyfull at his success.

@Prata

The water acts as a conductor and the lightning spreads out over the surface, but it does not strike through the water. The hydroelectric generator is only slightly affected, and the lights in Polaris burn brightly for a moment before returning to their normal glow.

PRATA
put all your faults to rest, you can be king again

the child looked sad, then frustrated, and then wailed. prata's ears pilled back at the loud noise. had no one ever disciplined huckleberry properly before, or were they simply picking up the volatile habits of whoever had taught them to be fearful? who was raising this little one?

"there's really not much to see that you can't see..." prata trailed off as he was interrupted yet again by the poorly mannered child. oh indeed, it was frustrating, but he tried his best to remain clearly concerned, and not angry.

he watched quietly as huckleberry began to do... something? perhaps they were casting a spell... he couldn't imagine they had anything that strong, at this point. but as a hazy, thick gray fog began to well in the sky, prata's heart leaped up to his throat. he hadn't seen this before, but something with such a large area of effect couldn't be a low intensity spell.

nervously, prata tried to stop them, before they hurt someone--or something! "hhhey, hey, wait a second, hu--AHH!"

the cat leaped up with a feline squeal and scrambled away in a panic as a bolt of lightning struck only a few feet from his body. his long fur stood on end, though whether it was from the static electricity or his own fear was unclear.

he noticed the lights dim, then, as his eye, dilated in fear, burned at the brightness. prata hissed in pain, a sharp intake of breath, and squeezed his eyelids shut, pawed at his face while he crouched down. he'd thought the extra light was the spell, but had it struck the generator too? that was bad news.

the lights were still on, he could tell, but there was no way of examining what exactly had happened with his eye closed. he heard huckleberry cheer happily, probably surprised they could pull off such a strong spell. prata wouldn't really call that lucky, though.

he stood up then, both eyes still squeezed shut, scrunching up his face. "don't do that, huckleberry, you'll hurt--you could hurt somebody, you could break the generator, and the lights won't work anymore," it was difficult to talk properly with his upper lip scrunched up slightly, along with the rest of his face, causing his words to sound a bit toothy and tight.

his right ear stayed pulled backward, though not flat against his skull as it had been when the lighting first stroke. sometimes, he would lift a paw and rub it over his right ear and his right eye, although his left ear always stayed at attention towards the hybrid. prata had no idea how to explain to a child that what he'd just done was a bad idea. how would his father have said it? he didn't know... he wasn't a dad... AUGH!

"meow."
others' speech.

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry watched, eyes wide, as electricity jolted through the water and towards the thing. He leaned in close to try and get a better look when, suddenly, the lights around him got brighter. He whipped his head up and stared straight at the bulb above him, watching with awe as it got brighter for a moment before going back to its regular glow.

After a moment of silence, he breathed loudly, having been holding his breath with shock. He turned towards the cat, his eyes shining with glee. "WOW. Did you see that, Prata? I did that! I did it! I made the lights get bright! Me, Huckleberry! I did that!" He laughed loudly and leaped towards the cat, bouncing around him with happiness, completely oblivious to the fact that the lightning had struck so close to him only moments before.

The last sentence, though, caught his ear and he suddenly stopped in front and sat down, looking at him curiously. "The generator can break? But the lights are always on. The lights can go out? Wow. It would be dark. Can the lights go out?"

@Prata