To Asimona's surprise, the golem went crashing into the water, just as she intended. Once the splash had faded and the rock creature was gone, a strange silence fell over the area, except for the beating of wings. She looked up and realized that the owl was climbing higher and higher, clenching a stone in their claws.

"Hey, hold on a moment," she called up, unfurling her own wings to begin to climb into the sky. Only a few strokes of her wings got her up to the owl's level where she eyed the stone it clutched in its talons. "...perhaps we should bring that back down to figure out what's going on. Something strange is around and I think we'll need all the pieces of the puzzle if we want to work it out."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Talion
notes:

Talion ignored the indignant screech of the hybrid, and the resounding splash that followed it. No doubt it's some hoax or trap to distract me, he thought as he climbed higher and higher with each beat of his wings. Nothing mattered to the owl now but getting away to somewhere safe and quiet, so he could observe the dark, shiny gemstone of the giant fish.

However, those plans were foiled by the presumptuous dragon. The thing chased him down and then had the gall to suggest that he return the gem so they all could observe it.
Where were these stupid fucking demands when the bird-dog took the other stone for itself, Talion wondered silently as he hovered in the air before the dragon. The fact that the hybrid hadn't tried to escape, like he had, never even occurred to him. He was, as usual, trying to deflect attention and blame away from himself.

For a moment, it seemed as if he wasn't going to listen. The owl stared the dragon down with narrowed eyes, his talons clenched tightly around the hematite.
Then he caught sight of the other hybrid, the one that had tried to touch the fish, upon the ceiling. It held the blue stone in its oblong jaws, seemingly as possessively as he clung to his own prize.

"What about them?" He asked as he nodded toward the hybrid. "Are they gonna bring their 'piece of the puzzle' too?"

@Vinea @Skeena

Skeena looked between Asimona and Talion, bristling angrily. Her tail thrashed furiously, and the Voice in her head was shrieking at her to tear it apart, get back what was rightfully hers. And yet...

Her attention went back to the Dragon, finding the reptile had a good idea. The Jerboa hybrid took a deep breath, and nodded. "That's a good idea. There's no point in keeping it to ourselves if it will do nothing."

The owl's voice drew her attention back up to her Brother, and she called out, "Vinea! Please come down! We need to work together to see what these do."

@Vinea

Vinea curled in on himself, tucking the stone into the space between his chest and the stone ceiling. He twisted his head back, surveying the group down below at the sound of his kin's voice. The golem threat was gone, but these gembound might still steal his prize! He further pressed himself against the rock, tucking gliders against the glowing blue thing. "Skeena, no! They're just gonna take it from us!" The hybrid shrieked down below, tail arcing back as he narrowed his eyes. It seemed he'd need more convincing.

Her instructions to not touch the death-golem trying to kill everyone had gone, unfortunately, ignored. It didn't seem to matter too much, however, because it had been thrown away into the river where it would probably stay.

.... Probably.

White shook the lingering light from her fur and her feathers, looking around briefly. With the golem gone, she was free to hoard her shiny-- though it seemed to be claimed by someone else.

She ignored the owl and the dragon who were fussing over-- for some reason --the life-stone of the damn thing and instead began fluttering quickly towards Vinea. "That's mine!" She squawked.

It wasn't that White wanted a fight-- far from it. She just wanted her damn shiny. Once the hybrid arrived at the alien-hyena, she came to something of a pause, not sure where to go from here. Instead, she settled for simply attempting to dump a paw right onto Vinea's face.

@Vinea @Asimona @Talion

Asimona opened her mouth to respond and then closed it, realizing that the owl was right. She looked up at the hybrid, who she hadn't even noticed. Well, she had earlier, but she had been so distracted with the golem that she had ignored almost everything else that was going on. And then the white dog-bird went after it? Too much was going on!

"Hey, wait-" Asimona called, but the dog was already going after the hybrid on the ceiling. And the bird could easily turn and fly away with the life stone at any point in time. She had to stop this, now. They needed to figure this out!

She sucked in a huge breath, not bothering to bring up any magic as she wasn't intending to harm, but only to get them to pay attention. And when she opened her jaws, an powerful roar burst from her maw, thundering through Polaris, almost shaking the walls. It was deafening, even to Asimona who was surprised at herself for the sound, but hopefully it would be effective nonetheless.

"STOP," she roared. "EVERYONE JUST CALM DOWN!" She let her voice fall away for a moment, breathing heavily and looking between each of the gembounds. "Can we all gather on the ground, please, so we can work out what's going on here?! We all want to know so why can't we just work together?!"

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Talion @Vinea @Skeena @White
notes:

Talion twisted his head around to look down at the hybrid on the cavern floor whenever they called out to their 'brother', Vinea. His heart-shaped face turned back up to the creature clinging to the ceiling whenever they shouted back at the first, whom they referred to as Skeena. Vinea outright denied their kin's attempt to persuade them, remaining as cautious as the owl.
That was probably for the best since the bird-dog finally seemed to realize that they no longer possessed the gem. Their shouts up at Vinea drew Talion's gaze down, and then back up again. It took all of his effort to remain as focused as he was on the chaotic situation, and to hover in mid-air. He didn't notice the dragon until the force of their voice sent him careening off to one side.

Talion turned the sudden dive into a wide, spiraling loop. He kept his talon firmly gripped around the stone as he slowly corkscrewed downward. His peppered wings flared whenever he got close to the cavern floor, catching him so that he landed without a hitch. In his mind, the whole thing felt extravagantly graceful, as if he had planned and executed a maneuver he'd been practicing forever.

The reality was that he had turned the unexpected into a nice show, but now he was at the mercy of the others. The realization of his vulnerability made the owl grip the dark stone even tighter. However, he made no move to fly away or escape. He didn't admit, even to himself, that it was because he didn't feel like he could without being chased down. For now, he silently accepted his fate, and decided to wait and see if the others would cooperate too. They will if they know what's good for them, he thought with a glance at the dragon.

@Skeena @Vinea

The bright blue stone in Vinea's grip suddenly--vanished.

One moment it was there; the next it was floating, midair, not far off from Asimona's location. It lowered itself to the ground, or perhaps simply fell gently, and then lay rocking to and fro.

First one glyph lit brightly, in flaring white--then another, and another.

They seemed to depict skulls and bones, and something resembling chains.

@Vinea @Skeena @Talion @Asimona @White

Talion huffed at the sight of the bird-dog booping Vinea in the face, but otherwise kept silent. It was a childish and ineffective move, he thought, but he dare wouldn't help the other Gembound out by pointing that out. He'd helped them already, and received no gratitude. Until that was rectified, and apologies for taking so long in doing so were said, he wouldn't be doing anything for them again.

The owl's icy glare instantly transformed into a dubious, wide-eyed look whenever the pale blue gem suddenly vanished from Vinea's grip. One second it was there, and then the next, it was floating in the air near the dragon.

Talion watched it slowly lower to the cavern floor with his beak agape, too stunned to do anything else. His large, dark orbs reflected the glyphs whenever they suddenly began to light up, one by one.

After another, seemingly long, moment of silence passed, one of the glyphs finally caught Talion's attention. It looked like a...bone? An ominous feeling settled into the owl's stomach as the gem began to glow brighter and brighter with each new glyph.

"I don't think it's safe! Get back!" Talion suddenly screeched, hoping to save any of the other Gembounds from getting close.

@Skeena @Asimona

SKEENA

Skeena grumbled unhappily as her brother simply tucked the stone between him and the wall, flicking her ears frustratedly. "Why should we keep it if we don't know what it can do, though?" she called back up to him.

And then, of course, the white bird-dog was fluttering up to Vinea. Skeena groaned, reaching up to rub at her muzzle. Oh this would not end well. "Vin-!" but before she could speak more, an echoing roar made her cringe low to the ground, silencing even the Voice. Looking up at the Dragon, she hesitantly nodded, knowing that she was already following what it wanted them to do.

The owl was sent careening, and at any other moment she would have laughed. However, she was instead drawn to the stone, as it began to float near the Dragon, before tumbling to the ground, beginning to glow brightly.

Tilting her head, she would ignore Tallion's warning. "Give me that stone, I want to try something!" and, whether it was offered to her or not, she would take it, even if she had to tear it from him. Then, she would turn around, and carry it up to the other Stone, pressing it against it.

"Stay away from me..."
'I'm a monster inside...'