This thread is about a potential "guardians" group forming. I/Black will NOT be leading but all who showed interest will be tagged. Anyone else can join, as well. We're gonna just take it IC and see where it goes!

The black mastiff was pacing slowly through Polaris, not in any real rush. He was, as he often did, simply wandering--ambling, yet patrolling. He styled himself a guardian, though why, he had no idea. It was a task he had been born into.

The wolf present at his hatching had awoken him, declared him to be Void, and led him to the battle with Aquarian. Black had done his best, even as an oversized puppy, to protect the others present and to calm the situation once he had realized the truth of it.

He had been keeping watch, ever since, for Nemean: listening for her buzzing, following when he saw her. The last he'd seen, now, she'd been dragged off by another creature, a large, black bat with a beautiful green gem.

He rather liked that bat.

But there were other things, too, to worry about. The golems, for example. Somehow there seemed to be more of them than before, and they seemed a little agitated. Just the other day he'd found two crushed where they'd fallen into Polaris's river. This could be a threat--a problem--and it bore watching.

The mastiff made his way up past the Spire's crackling energy, along to the river and to the Dam up the way. He could see the large, crumbled wall far in the distance--and the distant, shifting movement of the dark silhouettes of the golems.

There are more than before, he thought to himself, brow furrowing. But why? Will this prove a threat?

But what could he even do? There was no one to warn. Oh, Astraea, perhaps--if the dog could find him--but otherwise? Who else was there to protect the caves, but the inhabitants themselves? And there was no organization to them. They went about their lives, hiding from those who attacked--or dying to them--and simply surviving. There was no structure. No order to it. There was no one to call for help, if Astraea and Tenzin could not be found.

This, Black slowly decided, was bad.

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@Glory @White or @Kera or both, @Rohan @Prata @美女 Měinǚ @Xireidi @Talion

The ponds of Pisces were a challenge, and there were many. Whatever had been the cause should have justice brought to it, but Rohan was not one for violence. He mulled over this as he made his trek toward Polaris—a great place to recharge, for it was ripe with magic—and considered the options he might have at his disposal. He was not in a position to judge or bring judgement onto another, and he had yet to discover the culprit. Rohan knew only the eyes of the plaguebringer. Even then, they were a haunting image as seen from under the water—likely, as Tenzin would had seen them. It was not evidence he could confidently report or share.

Rohan had not been in Polaris for some time. There was much surprise to learn the golem activity had increased, so he was swift to continue past the Spire and onward up the riverside. Still, much of Polaris was a great place to meditate if he could find a safe place to do so. And there, another: a black dog whom he did not know, but something about him was familiar. Perhaps their paths had crossed before, briefly, many cycles ago. When ice and fire warred.

"Lo, friend, have you seen the golems too?" the pewter wolf called out, pausing briefly to examine where the other was looking, then following his gaze.

He approached slowly to stand near the black dog, gazing out over the dam and toward the wall in the distance.

"I came to Polaris to meditate, for its magic—but it is different," he commented sourly before lowering to his haunches to rest, visibly exhausted both from his journey here and from his recent attempts at pond purification.

Occasionally, Kera liked to check in on Polaris. It was good to make sure that everything was still in working order. She stood by the Generator up to her ankles in water, listening to the sounds of gears turning below the surface. It was good. It meant that the lights would stay on, and that Nemean hadn't done anything to turn them off again.

The wolf waded out of the water again, coming near the dam. She took a moment to shake the water out her fur, to give a few brief licks to her shoulders, before continuing on, until two figures caught her attention out the corner of her eye.

She knew one of them-- Black, or just 'black dog,' --they'd met at the generator and went on to see Senka and Vahi in Orion. They hadn't spoken since then, however. The second was a great white wolf that didn't look too different from herself, but she had no idea who that one was.

... It didn't matter.

Kera approached, nails clicking against the cave floor. "Hello," she offered as she got close, sitting herself down onto her haunches. "What are you two doing?"

She brought her gaze up, briefly, to the golems by the dam at the mention of them. If they had been acting oddly, Kera sure as hell wouldn't know about it-- she didn't live in Polaris or tunnel N anymore. She didn't stay long enough to take note of the moving rock-creatures.

Orion was nicer, at least.

The wolf licked her muzzle and turned back to Black and Rohan. "It feels the same to me," she offered less-than-helpfully.

Glory swooped through the skies, his wings having grown larger and his white feathers starting to molt away, showing the beautiful golden brown underneath. His growing gem glinted in the lights from above, the flame pattern finally starting to appear on his head.

He had seen the stone creatures from afar and had flown over to see what they were. But he was no closer to any kind of revelation. All he could see were large rocks moving around a dam. How they got there and exactly what they were was still a mystery to him. He narrowed his eyes. Would these things become a danger and a problem?

He then noticed the congregation below and realized that they were probably there to investigate as well. He angled himself down towards the group, and flared his wings out at the last second, coming to a beautiful land in front of them. He stood up tall and looked around them. Two wolves and a dog. Lots of canines, but that was okay. "Hello, there, friends! Do you know of these moving stones? However much I fly above them, I can come no closer to discovering their origins!"

_______________________________________________________

"I speak!"
I think.

tags:
notes:

Xireidi had been sleeping near constantly lately. His search for Batcat had been a time period where he'd foregone many of the comforts of life. He had hunted less, had barely slept at all, had only really interacted with others to further the goal of bringing light back to the caves. When the lights did finally return, rather unexpectedly after he'd left the area to attend to other matters, no words could describe the measure of his relief. Suddenly the caves were whole again, and with any luck they would stay that way for ages to come. There was not abomination of flame and shadow to worry about as he'd imagined in his youth, there was no great stone spider with venom like magic attacking the spire any time lately, and there was no dark fae of light threatening the generator now. His role as a defender had been put on hold as he finally had been able to enjoy the period of peace he'd fought so hard for.

Today Xireidi was wandering around Polaris, full and rested but not willing to let himself go completely. He still had to stay in shape for the next time something went wrong. As always his travels ended up near the Dam, where golems nearly always roamed. For the most part they were no threat as long as the gembound gave them space to do whatever they wanted. It was a dangerous area but not one that could be solved by a single gembound and not enough of a threat to warrant raising a militia to clear out. Whether the strange creatures had minds of their own they seemed to innately understand that if they kept to themselves they would not be harried in their work.

A group of canines and a bird had already gathered as Xireidi approached at his light jogging pace. "Is everything okay over here?" he called out as he slowed down to join the group, his eyes wandering to the direction of their gaze over the activity below. "No one wandered down into that death pit, did they?"

Hopefully not. A gembound skilled in stealth might be able to make it through the next of golems and out again without harm but if they got caught it would be much too easy to get overwhelmed before realizing it. Perhaps the group had gathered to jump in in case they couldn't get out? Then again it they others looked fairly relaxed, unless they were extremely confident this was more likely to be a meeting of curiosity than anything.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Black @Rohan @Kera @Glory
notes: None

Talion had not intended to return to Polaris so soon. After his last visit here, he had had every intention to stay as far away as possible, in any room but this one. However, it seemed like everywhere he turned, he was met with some snotty Gemling that was too full of themselves.
Since when had the caves been so busy, and so full, the owl thought for the umpteenth time. His large, dark gaze swept over the blue-washed landscape beneath him. He watched as Gembounds scurried to and fro, as they talked amongst themselves and cast spells. Everything seemed so normal, so easy, for everyone else.

From afar, it appeared as everyone but the owl knew exactly what they were doing and what they were supposed to do. Talion wasn't so lucky. In fact, he didn't even know where he was going at the moment. He was just gliding, putting as much distance in between him and the tunnel where the long rodent had been.

Somehow, that brought Talion over the Dam, where golems preferred to congregate. His dark gaze swept over the magically infused rocks. He had encountered their like before and did not prefer to do so anytime soon. His previous encounter had been some time ago, before he could even fly. He was more experienced now, and could probably escape without much harm if he needed to. However, Talion saw no reason to put himself in said danger. As far as he knew, there was nothing he wanted or needed by the Dam.

Just as the owl shifted his wings to catch an updraft, he spotted a group of Gembounds gathered together. For some reason, they stuck out to Talion. The majority of them appeared to be canines, with the only exception being some kind of large, brown bird. All of them appeared to be focused on the golems, which was strange. Usually, Gembounds avoided them. Even Gemlings seemed to learn pretty quickly to get away from them. So, why were these full-grown Gembounds hovering nearby, watching?

Intrigued, Talion turned toward the pack and angled himself so that he began a slow descent. He didn't want to swoop into something that could be dangerous. For now, he would wait and watch to see what was going on.

@Black

It had taken some getting used to, but Mongo was finally used to the skull.

The muscles on his neck had strengthened, bulking up to support its extra weight. Thankfully the horns were placed just so, so that they did not block any of his range of motion by hitting his shoulders. His single brown eye glistened through one hole, while light caused his Gem eye to sparkle, casting the rims of the bone hole in every color under the sun. If the skull didn't have the sharp fangs of a predator, it would have been rather pretty.

The Golems attracted him. The loud noises were easily heard, and he could sense the Magic in the air. So he stalked out into Polaris, approaching the Dam. Hopping easily up onto an outcropping of crystals. He watched as a large, black canine plodded onto the Dam. As he observed, a white canine - more finely built than the black one - approached the Dam as well, voice carrying out to him easily. And then, to his amusement, another white canine appeared. It looked to be kin of the first, although she was clearly a female.

Then was a bird, with beautiful, gleaming feathers. It, too, asked after the Golems. Then a final canine, this one red-brown in color. Finally, Mongo hopped down from his perch, and he slunk over to the group.

Peering at them one of a time through the holes in his skull, he hummed. "What's going on? Can't say I've ever seen this many Gembounds together before."

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Black slowly looked over those present, thoughtful. He settled himself firmly on his haunches and for a time, he was silent, mulling over the situation. Many had gathered here; perhaps for safety? He was unsure, but his prior comment--its subject--still troubled him.

"I do not believe there is anything to do, as yet," he rumbled slowly. "Yet it puts in mind the truth: when one is in danger, there are none to turn to."

He slowly blinked over the others. "But should you be attacked, and call, if I hear I will aid." It had not occurred to him that others might also think this way: he was "guardian," hatched into and assigned this very purpose.

Hell, he wasn't even sure how much use he could be against a golem. Sure, he'd fought the giant flesh monster--and two dragons, for that matter. And golems, he thought, in the past--if he cast his mind back. His forehead wrinkled deeply as he pondered this in silence. He might be able to aid--but one might not be enough.

________________

@Kera @Rohan @Xireidi @Glory